ã€ŠCondemning the Heavensã€‹


 Chapter 0: Prologue

    Chapter 0: Prologue

    It was a cold winter day as snow fell heavily from the sky,ying itself like a white nket over the many trees within the innermost regions of the Northern Taiga in the continent of Chang¡¯an.

    The Northern Taiga was located in the Northern Territory, an administrative region of the Kingdom of Heping, and it upied more than half of the Northern Territory. This cold, deste forest was known as one of the deadliest regions within the entire Chang¡¯an continent.

    While the Northern Taiga was considered very dangerous, it was the core of the forest that was the most dangerous, and many came from far away to hunt on the outskirts of the forest. One would find many humans hunting beasts for their beast cores, skin, teeth, and horns as these were the parts of beasts that were highly prized. They would also search for treasures and herbs.

    The deeper one went into the taiga, the more dangerous it became. All the weaker animals lived on the outskirts, but the core regions were ces where not even the most skilled martial artists dared to venture. This was the ce where Primordial Beasts resided.

    While the outskirts were filled with noise from beasts and humans alike, the deeper parts of the Northern Taiga were eerily quiet.

    It was next to the borders of this massive forest that the town of Lingyun was located. It was early morning, and the snow fell from the cloudy sky, nketing the entire town, as the citizens awoke.

    This was but another typical day in one of the towns bordering the Northern Taiga. People were going about their own business. The scent of breakfast wafted in the air as mercenaries said goodbye to their families and ventured towards the dangerous forest that loomed behind the city. Women would walk around with their children in tow while on their way to work or to deliver various goods.

    While the town awoke, youths appeared from all the different houses and moved towards the outside of the city. They were headed towards a training field where three men were waiting for them.

    These three men wererge and burly. Their upper bodies were bare even though the ground was covered by more than a foot of snow, and scars adorned their suntanned skin.

    Their eyes were alert and filled with vignce as they observed the children who rushed towards them. The children were of varying ages; some were juvenile, while others were closer to adolescence. Some were excited and grouped together, while others walked on their own, dragging their feet behind them and looked anything but happy.

    The young ones were the most excited, while the older kids all seemed much more casual and carefree.

    The ones who were older all moved together to the training field and started to run around the training ground without anyone giving them instructions. From this one could see that they had done this many times before, and even those who were dragging their feet and felt unwillingness were now running as if their lives depended on it.

    The juvenile children grouped together in front of the three men and all of them started whispering amongst each other, stealing nces at the men¡¯s scarred bodies and speaking with admiration.

    One of these youths was Xue Wei, the son of the town¡¯s apothecary. He was around ten years old, and his face was filled with expectation as he looked at the three men. He looked at the men with big eyes filled with veneration.

    "Don¡¯t just stand there, get in line!" One of the men called out with a loud and rough voice. His voice traveled across the entire training field, and although his words were not directed at the older group of youngsters, they all flinched when they heard it. The younger children, however, did not show any fear at all, and they hurried into lines after which they looked at these three men with respect, waiting for their orders.

    "So, today¡¯s the day all the new kids start training, huh?" One of the men said to the others as he looked at the disorderly children moving into lines. Despite what one would think, his eyes did not show any excitement. Instead, if one looked closely, the could see a certain sadness and pain.

    "We keep on raising these children to be warriors, only to send them to the army where they will be ripped to shreds by Primordial Beasts, and those who survive are either crippled or be mercenaries to sustain themselves."

    "What do you expect?" One of the other two men asked with a sour expression on his face. He furrowed his brow and ced his hands on his sides as he swept his eyes across the many children in front of him. "We are not from any major family or sect. We have no ess to materials or resources; we don¡¯t even have ess to proper cultivation techniques. All we have is the universal method that the kingdom has passed down to towns like ours, for the sake of training soldiers for their armies."

    His voice was sour and filled with endless jealousy and regret. It was clear that he had experienced the vast difference there was between the poorer experts and the geniuses from the richer families and sects.

    "The sixteen year old children will be sent to the army soon. We won¡¯t see more than a tenth of them ever again, and the rest will undoubtedly be scarred for life. Such a waste of life!" The third person spat on the ground. His face was twisted, but he knew as well as the other two that he had no other option than to just do as he had been told. He was a veteran of the army, and he got his sry every month by ensuring that these children became useable warriors.

    "It is not all that bad," the first man chuckled. "Look at us. We found brothers in the army, and we managed to survive. It was a hellish time, but it also broadened our horizons. We finally realized that when you live in a small town like this, you are truly just a frog in a well."

    "Look at these children; they look at us with veneration. They think we are true martial experts, yet we who have seen what a real martial artist is know the truth. We are in fact only cannon fodder!"

    "Anyway, let¡¯s go and wee them. Tell them about the achievements of mankind and make them understand that their strength is needed!"

    Having said this, the three men walked forward and looked at the many children that were standing in front of them, looking at their faces which were filled with expectation.

    "Wee everyone! You being here means that you wish to be a martial artist! That you wish to be a Warrior!" the first man called out, his voice reverberating in the air and his words causing the children to ze with pride. They were to be Warriors!

    ¡°To cultivate is to be Warriors! The Warrior rank is split into Ordinary Warriors, Earth Warriors, Sky Warriors, and Heavenly Warriors. Each of these ranks are further split into nineyers.¡±

    ¡°We, the three Overseers of Lingyun town, have managed to cultivate to the firstyer as an Earth Warriors. This is the result of all our hard work throughout our lives!¡±

    ¡°In the surrounding air is energy. This energy can be absorbed by the body and refined into Qi. When the energy is being refined, it will travel through your body before being stored in the dantian. At the very beginning, you can only absorb wisps of energy, butter these wisps will turn into a steady stream of Qi. As you absorb wisps of energy, the more of these wisps you can contain in your dantian, the more talented you are!¡±

    Hearing this, Xue Wei clenched his fists. He had waited for this day ever since he was old enough to understand what it meant to be a cultivator, and he dreamed of the day he would be a true martial artist, ughter Primordial Beasts, and save mankind!

    "Now, listen closely. Many thousands of years ago, humans were nothing but livestock for the Primordial Beasts. We lived every day as ves! But one day, the humans caused a revolt and overthrew the Primordial Beasts! We defeated them, ughtered them, and took back the world which had been our prison for years. The remaining Primordial Beasts withdrew into the areas now known as danger regions, and no human cultivator dares to venture into them alone."

    "The Northern Taiga here is one such danger region, and it is our responsibility to ensure that the Primordial Beasts never again leave their prisons!"

    "They send beast horde after beast horde at our cities. They destroy our viges and kill our brothers and sisters! As long as these Primordial Beasts exist, we cannot live in safety!"

    "Because of this, the entire continent of Chang¡¯an has banded together. Every single youth is taught outstanding martial arts which have been provided to us by the king himself so that we will be warriors worthy of defending humanity! We will take our turn to fight the Primordial Beasts! We will gainplete victory so that our dear ones can sleep in peace at night!"

    "Everyonee here and get a copy of the martial art you will be practicing. Read it and try to understand it before tomorrow when we will start training for real!"

    Hearing these words, every child that was standing on the ground had faces red with excitement. This was the first time they would get to learn a cultivation technique, and all of them wished to be true martial artists, true experts that could fight toe to toe against these legendary Primordial Beasts that their parents warned them about at night.

    While standing in line, Xue Wei shuddered. He finally understood that he was going to be a cultivator ¨C he was going to fulfill his deepest desire!

    While looking at the children with pity, the three men gave out the copies of the martial art and said a few encouraging words to them before they shifted their attention towards the older students.

    "Don¡¯t ck off! Ten more rounds before we start the breathing exercises! Run till you are on the verge of copsing, run till you faint if need be!" The first man yelled out with a stern voice, and although the children all sighed internally, they all yelled back in unison, "Yes, sir!"

    The young children who had just gotten the copies of the technique did not stay on the training field. Instead, they all went back to the city once more, heading back to their respective homes with smiles on their faces. Today was the day that they were going to read their first cultivation technique and then they would be able to start cultivating.

    As they arrived in town, Xue Wei was looking at the copy of the cultivation technique in his hands, and he was filled with excitement. So excited that he did not look where he was walking, and before noticing it, he walked straight into arge man.

    Xue Wei instantly fell to the ground, and the cultivation technique he had just gained fell from his hand andnded on the ground next to him. Seeing that he had dropped it, the young boy did not panic but quickly picked it up before he stood up. He straightened his body and wiped the snow off his clothes.

    "I apologize for walking into you, sir," he said as he raised his head and looked into the eyes of a tall, handsome man.

    The man had long ck hair which was tied up beautifully on top of his head. His eyes were as blue as the endless ocean, and his body was draped in a dazzling blue robe with silver embroidery.

    Those deep blue eyes looked directly into Xue Wei¡¯s, and they instantly widened as they were filled with surprise and shock. Even so, he did not withdraw his gaze. Instead, it intensified over time.

    "Kid, look where you are walking," a chuckle sounded from beside the handsome man, and Xue Wei¡¯s eyes were finally dragged from the deep blue eyes that seemed to gaze into his soul. He saw that an alluring woman was standing by his side. Her hair was silver like beautiful moonlight, and her eyes were also blue, but where the man had eyes the color of the deep ocean, this woman had light blue eyes that resembled ice.

    When she saw Xue Wei¡¯s eyes, her brows furrowed slightly, and she looked as if she was deeply pondering something. Both she and the man were in deep thought as if running into Xue Wei had caused an earth-shattering revtion. Their change confused the young man greatly, and he decided to apologize once more thinking that they were very mad at him.

    "I apologize for bumping into you; I was too preupied today as something good happened," Xue Wei said with a slight bow, and the man finally snapped out of whatever had caught his mind.

    "Do not mind it; do not mind it at all," he said with a devilish smile on his handsome face. "We are travelers who havee to the taiga for a mission, but we seem to have gotten lost when we saw this small town, so we decided to stop for a few days and buy provisions."

    "I see, then you shoulde to my father¡¯s medicinal house! We sell the best pills, pastes, and herbs that are needed for a trip to the Northern Taiga!" Xue Wei said excitedly.

    Although the city had its own mercenaries who went to the outskirts of the taiga quite often, it was rare for travelers to stop by since Lingyun town was one of the smaller towns on the outskirts of the taiga. Most travelers would go to the bigger cities instead.

    "Your father owns a medicinal house? Could it be that he is an alchemist?" The man asked curiously as he squatted down to look eye to eye with Xue Wei, but the young child just shook his head.

    "Daddy is an apothecary! He can make pastes and is very proficient with raw medicinal herbs, but he cannot create medicinal pills." Pausing for a moment, the child smiled, showing two dimples on his cheeks like the very depiction of innocence. "But don¡¯t worry, father gets medicinal pills from the merchants so you can buy real medicinal pills at his shop too! You have toe visit!"

    Hearing the eagerness in the child¡¯s voice, the handsome man looked into the eyes of this youngster and smiled mysteriously.

    "Don¡¯t worry," he said as he gently patted the child on top of his head. "I will definitely make sure toe visit your shop. Now run along and do your chores," heughed, and Xue Wei nodded his head, bowed slightly to the man and woman, and rushed back home.

    "I have never seen anyone as beautiful as those two people," he mused to himself as he ran down the street towards his father¡¯s shop. "Maybe they are fairies! I¡¯ve heard in legends that such beautiful people exist, but I never thought they were real!"

    Thinking this, the small child justughed to himself and thought no more about the encounter. Although they were beautiful, they were both real. Thus they could definitely not be fairies, but the child was still dreaming when he reached home, and his eyes were sparkling with excitement as he saw his father.

    "You seem excited," his fathermented when he saw Xue Weiing inside the door. "Was it really that exciting to get the cultivation technique from those three old men?"

    "Don¡¯t call them old men. You¡¯re an old man!" Xue Weiughed. "They are at least a decade younger than you, and they are real martial artists! They served in the army and returned as heroes. Aren¡¯t they amazing?"

    Xue Wei¡¯s eyes glistened with excitement as he thought about this, but his father justughed and shook his head.

    "They are actually older than me. Older than me by quite a bit! But as you said, they are martial artists, and thus their life has been extendedpared to normal people like myself. I can prolong my life with the use of herbs, but my youth will never return."

    "Martial artists, on the other hand, are all able to prolong their lives. Those that are the same rank as our three old Overseers are able to live to be two hundred years old, double the lifespan of a normal person. And rumor has it that if you be strong enough, then one day you could even be immortal!"

    Xue Wei had never before heard his father speak about martial artists, but he was filled with excitement. He nodded his head seriously, showing that he was listening to what was being said.

    "I don¡¯t understand why you wish to be a cultivator, to be honest," Xue Wei¡¯s father said with a sigh. "I understand the allure of bing a hero, but heroes usually die young. Geniuses fall from the skies as often as the rain, and I would never want to see you, my dear son, die an early death. Also when you enter the army at the sixteenth year of your birth, you will not be justmon infantry like the others. Because of your background as an apothecary¡¯s son, you will be a member of the Medicinal Corps."

    "But father, I want to learn martial arts!" Xue Wei said pleadingly. The two of them had often discussed the same thing, but neither truly wished to give up. It was just that Xue Wei¡¯s father had backed down enough to allow him to go and pick up the cultivation technique and study it. As for whether or not he could truly be a martial artist, no one could tell. The road a martial artist tread was simply too long.

    Sighing, Xue Wei¡¯s father shook his head and waved his hand, "I need to look after the shop. Why don¡¯t you go to your room and study this martial art you received?" he said with a tired voice, but Xue Wei, who was caught up in his excitement, did not notice his father¡¯s tiredness and just ran out of the room to the back of the shop where their living quarters were located.

    Xue Wei ran to his room and sat down on his bed. His hands were shaking from excitement, and a silly grin was on his lips. He could not contain his excitement, and he instantly opened the copy of the cultivation technique and started to read.

    The martial art described inside was very simple. It exined how to breathe and which route the energy should flow through one¡¯s body so that it could be refined before one stored it in their dantian.

    Xue Wei read through the entire technique, not skipping even a word. He read it time and time again until he understood it by heart, and it was only then that he closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

    He sat down in a lotus position and closed his eyes. Breathing heavily, he absorbed the surrounding energy into his body. He could feel a slight golden wisp of energy enter his body, and he instantly started to rotate it in ordance with the way the book had described.

    As he rotated it through his body, he felt how pure energy was, but moments after, as the energy reached his dantian, it all dissipated through his body as if his dantian could not amodate it.

    Shock, disappointment, and disbelief filled Xue Wei¡¯s face. He had read that the amount of the energy that stayed in one¡¯s dantian depended on how talented they were, but to have all of it leave and not even a tiny bit remain truly left Xue Wei dumbfounded.

    Thinking that he might have done it wrong, Xue Wei decided to try once more. But after trying time and time again, he obtained the same result.

    "I better ask father!" he said to himself as he went towards the front of the shop. As he walked out of his room, his heart was trembling from shock. He felt how his dreams were on the verge of shattering, and he was tearing up but forced the tears to stay in his eyes and not overflow.

    Xue Wei was only ten years old. He had expected to be a talent only seen once a generation. He expected that he was a true master and would be a real martial artist! But he could see the truth before him! So far it seemed as if he was worse than trash at cultivating. He could see that his talents were so poor that he still might be a once in a generation cultivator, just not in the way he wished!

    Grumbling and feeling down, Xue Wei went towards the front of their store, but a frown took hold on his face on the way over. He was almost at the front, and as he reached it, a metallic scent filled his nostrils.

    "Is father dealing with corpse grass or blood ginseng?" he wondered as he opened the door. But the moment he opened it, he froze.

    In front of him was his father, but he seemed strange. Something was impaled through his chest. The more Xue Wei looked, the more horrified he became. He dropped the cultivation technique to the floor, his eyes widened in shock, and his mouth opened and closed, but no sound came out.

    Right now, a long arm covered with azure scales and spikes had been thrust through his father¡¯s chest; the metallic scent came from the blood which was oozing out like water from a broken fountain. The azure-scaled hand had small streams of blood flowing off the scales, giving the otherwise beautiful scales a menacing appearance.

    The moment Xue Wei opened the door, his father turned his head. His eyes misted over, and a trail of blood could be seen running down the corner of his mouth. Blood frothed at his mouth as he opened it.

    "Run... Little Wei... Run!" he whispered with what little strength he had left before his eyes werepletely devoid of all life.

    "Father! Father!" Although he had been told to run, Xue Wei¡¯s legs went soft, and they copsed beneath him. Tears streamed down his cheeks, and he started bawling out loud as he slowly climbed towards his father¡¯s corpse that was still hanging on the scaled arm.

    The arm was suddenly swung to the side, and the corpse of his father was flung into the wall. Blood sprayed everywhere and the sound of bones breaking made Xue Wei scream out and feel nauseous. As he reached his father¡¯s side, he saw arge hole in his chest where he had been impaled. With trembling fingers, he touched his father¡¯s still warm face that was sshed with blood and frozen in fear.

    A sound came from footsteps that moved towards him, and finally, Xue Wei looked at the arm that had killed his father and was about to kill him as well.

    The arm that was covered in azure scales and spikes slowly changed from the arm of a demon to the arm of a normal human. Even the sleeve of a robe appeared on this arm, a robe that seemed very familiar to the young child. His eyes followed up the rest of the robe till his eyesnded on the face of the handsome young man he had seen earlier that day.

    "Why?! Why did you kill father?!" he cried out, and suddenly strength came back to his legs as he charged at the handsome man.

    Not only him, but the noise had also caused others outside to notice that something was happening within the medicinal shop.

    A group of mercenaries broke inside, and they were instantly met by the scent of blood, and their faces turned pale when they looked around.

    The person the whole vige looked to when they were wounded, the one who provided them with pills and pastes,id dead upon the ground, and he had died a miserable death.

    The only two people left was a handsome man and the apothecary¡¯s child. A child who had tears all over his face; his eyes were listless, and his body was trembling as he was being held softly in the embrace of the unknown man.

    "You!" the first mercenary called out before he brandished his weapon and rushed into the store, but the unknown man did not as much as look at him. All he did was look at Xue Wei, whom he had captured in his arms, and he said something which no one could hear.

    Moments after, the child copsed. His eyes were closed, and his body limp as he lost consciousness.

    A soft expression was in the man¡¯s eyes as he looked down at the copsed child in his arms, while the woman who had previously followed behind him appeared at the door, her entire body covered in blood.

    "Oh, there are a few survivors!" she eximed excitedly as she saw the mercenaries charge at the unknown man. Moments after, their bodies exploded from the sheer pressure the woman released. Blood sprayed everywhere, but when it was about to hit the handsome man and the child, it was blocked by an invisible force.

    "Did you have to kill everyone?" the man asked with a sigh, and the icy woman nodded her head. Herughter that was as cold as a winter night rang through the town. "You should be happy. Now the Primordial Beasts from the Northern Taiga will be med, and no one will notice that a small child has vanished."

    "Have you not followed me for long enough?" The man asked, but the woman justughed once more, ignoring the question, so all he could do was sigh.

    "Although I did not get what I was looking for, I did manage to find something just as precious." A doting expression was evident in the eyes of the handsome man as he looked at the child in his arms, but his expression quickly turned dark as he looked at the woman once more.

    "I will return to the family five years from now," he said with cold eyes and a voice filled with hostility. "But if anyone tries to interfere with me in the next five years, I will kill them without hesitation, even if they are from my family," he sneered, and the woman bowed deeply before the space around her twisted slightly. She took a step forward, vanishing the very moment she did so. Had any of the martial artists of Lingyun town seen this, they would have been unable toprehend what had just happened.

    The handsome man took a nce at the town once more and sighed. Everywhere he looked, blood flowed in rivulets down the streets. The people living here had all died. Their bodies had exploded, and no one was left with aplete body.

    Not only had the grown-ups died extremely tragically, but every single child suffered the same fate as well. Seeing this, the man¡¯s face turned dark with anger. But he could do nothing to save them; instead, he just shook his head before he too caused ripples to appear around him before vanishing without a trace.

    Not long after, a group of mercenaries appeared on the outskirts of town. All of them were joking with one another about the bountiful harvest they had gained from their trip to the outskirts of the Northern Taiga.

    Their ecstatic expressions all changed the moment they noticed a distinctive scent. A scent that these mercenaries were all too familiar with ¨C the scent of blood!

    As they entered the city, their eyes turned lifeless and fearful. They all had family within Lingyun town, and when they saw the scenes in front of them, all of them rushed to see if their own family had survived, but the further into the town they went, the more horrified they became.

    The entire city had been destroyed. Every single being was dead, and no matter how much they searched, they found no survivors.

    The mercenaries were filled with sadness. Their loved ones had died, their families had been ughtered, and they quickly rushed out of the town and hurried to the closest city with the information. A short whileter, the Town of Lingyun was considered a town of the dead.

    The authorities all assumed that this mass ughter was just the work of Primordial Beasts from deep within the taiga that had decided toe out of the depths of the forest for a stroll. Everyone just assumed that the Primordial Beasts just happened toe across the small town of Lingyun and killed everyone in sight.

    It was known as one of the most devastating attacks in the proximity of the Northern Taiga in recent times, and the rumor about Lingyun Town started to spread throughout the entire continent of Chang¡¯an. It was simply too rare that the Primordial Beasts struck so violently.

    While the rumors about Lingyun spread everywhere, far away from the Northern Taiga, in the southern area of the Kingdom of Heping, a handsome young man with a child in his arms appeared.

 Chapter 1: Tiankong City

    Chapter 1: Tiankong City

    Trying to pry open his eyes, Xue Wei woke up with a thundering headache. He could not help but groan slightly as his head throbbed heavily, making him feel as if his entire body was floating and weightless. This was while his head, on the other hand, felt as if hundreds of Primordial Beasts were gnawing on it at the same time.

    Xue Weiid still, trying to ovee the throbbing pain in his head, but it seemed that the headache was stubborn. An unknown amount of time passed before he managed to ovee the pain and slightly open his eyes.

    He only managed to open his eyes slightly before a bright light forced him to shut them again. He tried to open his eyes once more, yet the same result urred. Every time he tried, the world outside shone so strongly that he closed them out of reflex, and it took a lot of energy to force them open once more.

    The shining light was like daggers that shot into his head, making his headache erupt with pain once more. And after every attempt, he needed to calm down before he once more tried opening his eyes.

    Sighing, Xue Wei could not think clearly. His mind was a muddled mess, and his body was wracked with pain. The only thing he knew was that he needed to open his eyes, and only after gathering everyst shred of energy avable to him from his frail body did he pry his eyes open.

    A sharp pain erupted in his head once more as the rays of light shone down on him, but Xue Wei used his willpower to force his eyes to stay open, causing tears to stream down his cheeks.

    "Where am I?" Xue Wei muttered to himself, confused, as he looked around the room in which he had awakened.

    The room was pretty big. It was beautifully adorned with blue silken curtains and chairs with embroidered cushions. Xue Weiid on arge soft bed with blue embroidered linen and pillows, and against the wall was a desk made from some sort of wood that he had never seen before.

    Xue Wei¡¯s eyes roamed across the room, and he could not help but frown, as his messy thoughts slowly straightened out.

    "Nothing here looks familiar," he said to himself, but as more and more of his memories became clearer, his face paled, and he suddenly lifted his hands and checked his body.

    He was sitting in the bed, wearing a white robe with blue embroidery of dragons. These colors matched the room and all of them were of the finest quality. Upon touching the fabric that the robe was made off, he could feel that it was the finest silk he had ever held in his hands, but when he tried to remember how he knew that this was much finer than anything else that he had ever touched, he felt a sharp pain in his head.

    Xue Wei doubled over and held his head in his hands as he grit his teeth, refusing to let out a scream. The more he tried to remember, the more the pain increased.

    "Who... Who am I?" Xue Wei stopped trying to remember, and instead, he went through the memories he had in his mind, but he was severely shocked.

    He found that he could speak a certainnguage. He remembered the daily life of the continent he lived on, and he knew about the fight between the humans and the Primordial Beasts. He knew that every expert had the duty to fight these beasts when they turned sixteen, and he was aware that he was from the Kingdom of Heping.

    He knew that he was born on the continent of Chang¡¯an and in the Kingdom of Heping. The Kingdom of Heping was split into the administrative regions of the northern, eastern, western and southern territories.

    Apart from the Kingdom of Heping, there were plenty of other Kingdoms and Empires on the Chang¡¯an continent, but none of them were at war with one another as all human resources went into fighting the Primordial Beasts.

    The more he remembered, the more memories flooded his mind, but he frowned. He could not remember anything about himself, and when he tried to think about his past, a searing pain burned in his mind, alongside a single image of a small vige that was located in the Northern Taiga. It was filled with snow, and he had a faint feeling of belonging to this vige, but there were no people, no names, and no family connections.

    Xue Wei staggered to his feet and scoured the entire room. Everything he came across was new to him, and the light was also different from what he was used to.

    Although he was unaware of who he was, he waspletely sure that everything around him was foreign. This was not his home, nor was it somewhere he belonged. Once again, the image of the snowy vige appeared in his mind, and he started panicking. Xue Wei had the impression that if he wished to get his memory back, then he had to find the vige that kept appearing in his mind.

    Xue Wei was only a ten year old child, and he was suddenly in the middle of an unknown world. His heart burned with anxiety. He did not know who he was, and he was terrified as to why he did not remember anything.

    Although he knew that remembering things would cause him to suffer pain, he still sat down in the middle of the room and covered his ears with his hands. He closed his eyes and tried to think very hard. He was trying to remember even the slightest clue as to who he was.

    The more he thought about it, the more intense the pain became, but he did not give up. Yet after trying for a full half hour where his body had been constantly wrecked with pain, he gave up. The only thing that hade to mind was the picture of the tranquil town covered in snow.

    Although he felt that this town was familiar, filling him with the feeling of inexplicable attachment to this snowy ce, he had no memories of it. No matter how deep within his mind he searched, he had no memories at all - everything was nk, yet he had plenty of knowledge in his mind.

    None of this knowledge was about himself though. His curiosity stirred as he moved towards a mirror that was leaning against the wall in a corner of the room.

    As he looked at himself, he instantly guessed that he was no younger than nine, but he could not be older than twelve either.

    He tried once more to remember, but the result was the same as before. All he got was a vague image of a snowy town.

    "That town has to be in the Northern Territory somewhere," Xue Wei mumbled to himself as he started to fully examine himself in the mirror.

    While he wouldn¡¯t call himself a pretty boy, he was rtively handsome. He had long ck hair that scattered down his back, and it also framed his delicate face. His eyes were as dark as the moonless night, and his lips had a healthy, rosy color to them. His body was neither tall nor short for a person his age. He was not very muscr, but he still had some muscle on his body, which made him seem healthy and well-proportioned.

    After looking at himself in the mirror, Xue Wei calmed down somewhat. He had been given a room with every necessity that one could need. He was wearing luxurious clothes, and he seemed as if he had been well-fed and attended to with care.

    "I am being treated very well here," Xue Wei mumbled to himself as he stopped looking at the mirror and instead moved towards the window that took up quite a bit of space in one of the walls.

    The window had a set of curtains covering them, and although they were translucent and did not block the light, they ensured that no one could look in or out. Lifting the curtains, Xue Wei looked outside. He found that he was within a beautiful old building in arge city. The noises from the bustling streets in the city were drifting through the window now that the curtains had been lifted, and the scents of all kinds of foods wafted through the air.

    In the sky above the city hung the sun, throwing ray after ray of scorching hot sunlight down on this city thatid out before it, but although the sun was scorching hot and Xue Wei had a hard time dealing with the heat, he saw that the citizens down on the street were not even breaking a sweat, even while hard at work under the sun. Clearly, they were all used to this kind of climate.

    Xue Wei could see the city thaty outside the walls of the mansion he was within, but he was astonished by the sheer size of the mansion itself. It wasrge and had a beautiful garden surrounding it. There was ake and even guards were patrolling the area.

    As Xue Wei looked around the surrounding areas with curiosity, he heard the door behind him open. He jumped in fright as he turned around. His heart was hammering in his chest, and his eyes were wide open as he stared at the man who had entered the room.

    In front of him was an extremely handsome young man. He seemed to be no older than twenty five years of age, and his hair shone in the light that reflected through the room. His eyes were a beautiful blue like the deep ocean, and his skin so pale it looked like porcin.

    On his lips was a gentle smile, and within the blue eyes that looked at Xue Wei was doting affection.

    "You are awake!" he eximed excitedly as he went in, but Xue Wei retreated a few steps until he was right next to the window, and if he retreated any further, he would fall out.

    Xue Wei felt that he knew this person. He felt that there was a dangerous air to him, but when he searched his memories, he realized he had never met this man before.

    "Who are you?" Xue Wei asked tentatively. He was on guard against this handsome man, but he also felt that he would not do anything to him. The doting affection within the young man¡¯s eyes said that he held no hostile emotions, but then why was Xue Wei so frightened just now?

    "You forgot me?" The man asked with a voice that was filled with disbelief, his eyes showing hints of sadness, and he instantly stopped in his tracks.

    "Little Wei, are you okay?" the man asked again, causing Xue Wei to frown and shake his head. He was filled with mixed emotions. Part of him screamed to escape from where he was this instant, while another part of him wished to stay. It was clear that this man knew about him, and he wished to know more too. This man could be his ticket to getting his memories back!

    Xue Wei sighed as he sat down on the ground and crossed his legs. He could feel a powerful rippleing from the body of this young man, and it was clear that there were no chances of escaping, even if he tried.

    Since this was the case, Xue Wei shook his head and decided to be honest with this man that seemed to know about him. He might end up getting some information about himself.

    "I forgot everything. Who am I? Who are you? Where am I, and what¡¯s going on?" Xue Wei was very calm considering that he had forgotten everything, and hearing his questions, the handsome man nodded his head in high praise of his ability to be calm in such a situation.

    "You are Xue Wei, my nephew," the handsome man said with a sigh. "Your mother died when she gave birth to you, so you lived with your father, who was an apothecary in the Northern Territory. Unfortunately, he had an ident during one of his herb gathering missions and was killed by a beast horde led by a Primordial Beast." The handsome man had a face filled with pain as he told the child this.

    "When I heard about it, I came directly to pick you up. I am your only living rtive, and I will look after you."

    "The shock of losing your father must have been a terrible experience for you. All the way from the Northern Territory to here, you never uttered a single word, and when you arrived here, you shut yourself up in this room."

    Hearing this, everything seemed unreal to Xue Wei. He had no parents, but he could feel the concern and care in the voice of this uncle of his. Hearing it, he instantly felt better. Although he grieved over the fact that his father had died, it was hard to truly grieve over a father he had forgotten everything about.

    Looking at the child, a strange gleam appeared in the eyes of the uncle, before it rapidly vanished and his concern returned.

    "My name is Xiao Lei, but you can call me uncle Lei. We are currently still within the Kingdom of Heping but no longer in the Northern Territory. We are in the Southern Territory in a city named Tiankong. It is one of therger cities in the Southern Territory."

    Looking at the child who was still seated on the ground, Xiao Lei turned quiet and waited for the child to say something. It was clear that he was digesting the information he had been given, and all of it must havee as quite a shock to the young boy. Therefore letting him take his time to ept it was the best course of action.

    "I see," Xue Wei murmured. "I am sorry for having be a burden to you." He sighed, but Xiao Lei just shook his head and smiled. "You are no burden. I have no family, and thus it will be nice to have someone to share thisrge house with."

    Hearing this, the child felt warm in his heart. Although he was an orphan, he was not alone, and he stood up and bowed deeply to his uncle. "Thank you for taking care of me!" he said with heartfelt gratitude.

    "To make up for this, I will train extra hard with the other youths! I will be an outstanding talent and will kill many Primordial Beasts in your name!"

    Making a promise like this, the face of his uncle turned strange for a moment, yet right after, it returned to normal and he sighed.

    "You do not remember this either?" he asked gently as he went closer to the child. "You are unable to cultivate. I have searched everywhere for a cultivation method that will allow for you to cultivate, but so far I have not found any."

    "I cannot cultivate?" Xue Wei asked, astonished, but Xiao Lei shook his head. "No, you cannot cultivate." He sighed.

    Hearing this, the small child, who had hoped to be a true hero, was depressed as he was incapable of even taking one step towards this dream.

    "Well, why don¡¯t youe with me and get something to eat? Even if you are incapable of cultivating, I will think of something for you," Xiao Lei said gently. Xue Wei, who was filled with despair, slowly nodded his head.

    To not be able to cultivate truly made one the scum of society. If you could not cultivate, it was impossible to do your duty against the Primordial Beasts, and not only this, it was also impossible to be a strong hero!

    The only safety that Xue Wei would have came from his uncle, but even so, he would be bullied by other children his age. Sighing, Xue Wei had a hard time epting this, but he could do nothing but curse his fate.

 Chapter 2: Useless Nephew

    Chapter 2: Useless Nephew

    "The master has taken in a family member, but I haven¡¯t seen him yet," one of the maids whispered to another while they were cleaning the rooms within the mansion.

    "Shush," the other maid said. "Don¡¯t talk about the young master! Although he hides within his room all the time, he is adored by Master. If Master catches us talking about him, then we will be severely punished!"

    "I know, but don¡¯t you think that it¡¯s strange that he has such affection towards a nephew he has never met before? Also, don¡¯t you find it weird that none of us have even seen his shadow yet?"

    Discussions like these had been the main topic for thest three days after Xue Wei entered the mansion together with Xiao Lei.

    When Xiao Lei took Xue Wei out of his room, the first thing they encountered was a set of maids that were discussing this mysterious new nephew. Noticing peopleing out of the room, they stared at Xue Wei, and when they noticed Xiao Lei, they understood that this was the elusive nephew everyone was talking about.

    Xiao Lei¡¯s eyes were harsh when he noticed that they had been staring at Xue Wei, and he understood that Xue Wei was feeling ufortable being stared at. It was especially difficult now he that he had lost his self-confidence due to being unable to cultivate.

    Xiao Lei lifted his hand and gently rubbed Xue Wei¡¯s head. He tried to make his nephew feel better, ring at the two maids shortly after. His voice was stern, and he frightened them both when he infused some Qi into his voice.

    "Leave now!"

    The two maids scurried away after hearing that they had been dismissed, and only when Xiao Lei and Xue Wei were the only ones left in the hallway did Xiao Lei¡¯s face turn gentle again.

    "Even if you are unable to cultivate now, it does not mean that you will never be able to cultivate. I will continue to look for something that will help you, and one day you too will be a hero."

    Xue Wei looked at his uncle and noticed the care and adoration within his eyes, which made the boy feel a bit better. He was not alone. He was together with his uncle, and this uncle truly cared about him, so even if he were to remain trash for the rest of his life, then he would want to be useful to Xiao Lei at least a little.

    Before meeting the maids, Xiao Lei decided to show Xue Wei around the mansion. He had never before been out of his room, and even his meals were brought to him by his uncle. Only now, after three days, did he start to show interest in the world of the living again.

    After a short tour, they had seen the majority of the mansion, but there was one room that Xiao Lei had saved for the end. He wished to show it to Xue Wei so that he could be happy.

    The room they were going towards was the library. Xiao Lei did not know much about Xue Wei¡¯s hobbies, but considering that he was incapable of cultivating, then the next best option would be to allow him to gain an understanding of the world and be as knowledgeable as possible by reading.

    When Xue Wei saw the library, his eyes lit up and gleamed with excitement. This was the first time he had shown such an expression since he hade to Tiankong City.

    When Xiao Lei saw his expression, his eyes softened and a bit of guilt could be seen within. Though, that was for but a brief moment, quickly reced by a ferocious gleam that also vanished moments after. All this happened within seconds, after which nothing but the doting expression was present on his face.

    Xue Wei noticed nothing. He was too busy looking at the many books around him. Excited, he went towards a bookshelf and slid his hand over the many book spines before finding one he found interesting and picking it up.

    He did not waste any time and instantly started reading. Seeing that Xue Wei was so interested in these books, Xiao Lei chuckled but said nothing while shaking his head.

    He stayed for an hour to watch Xue Wei. After realizing that he intended to stay and read for a long time, Xiao Lei said nothing and left. Before he vanishedpletely, he found a maid to whom he gave the task of waiting for Xue Wei and leading him back to his room once he was finished reading.

    Unfortunately, Xue Wei did not return to his room that night. He was only ten years old, but he spent all his time reading books in the library.

    Days went by, one after another, and Xue Wei would just sit still in the library reading one book after another. He was like a sponge sucking up all the information he could.

    While Xue Wei was within the library, many maids had been tasked with attending to him, and there was always a maid close by when he was reading. Even so, he never paid them any attention.

    ¡°You know, it is strange, but I have never seen the young master cultivate,¡± one maid would whisper in the shadows.

    ¡°I have been close to the young master while giving him his food, but he does not have the aura of a cultivator,¡± another would chip in, and soon every maid had noticed the odd actions of this young master.

    ¡°Do you think perhaps the young master is useless trash?¡± someone mentioned, and suddenly the rumor started taking root and growing stronger and stronger within the mansion.

    Although the rumor was growing, no one dared to say anything outright. Whenever Xiao Lei caught someone spreading these rumors, they would be severely punished, but he could do nothing about the rumors spreading like ripples in water.

    "Silence!" The instant they had been caught, Xiao Lei came into sight, and his eyes were filled with ferocity.

    "Master, forgive us!" one of the maids who spoke fell to the floor kowtowing, while tears started streaming from her eyes.

    She knew what had happened with the other people who had spoken about the young master, and she feared that it would be the same for her. If she were fired, her entire family would be in turmoil.

    No matter who it was, Xiao Lei would not let them off if he heard them talking about his nephew and calling him useless trash, but even his ferocious actions could not cut off the rumors and soon they spread throughout the whole city.

    While all of this was happening, Xue Wei was simply reading his books. He had heard about the rumor, but he had nothing to say about it because he was indeed useless trash. As a result, he did not care which kind of book he was reading, as long as it could help him increase his knowledge and escape his brutal reality of being useless.

    He read a great many things; some were about the Primordial Beasts, others were about the history of humans. Some were practical books about alchemy and refining weapons, while others were fiction and poetry.

    Xue Wei was not particr about what he read; he enjoyed all of it. When Xue Wei was reading, it was as if he forgot everything about how he was without any other rtives than Xiao Lei. He forgot about the fact that he could not cultivate, and he felt happiness from deep within.

    Xiao Lei came to visit Xue Wei from time to time. When he came, Xue Wei would happily put aside the books and talk with his uncle, and gradually, he became less and less alert around this older man.

    Xue Wei could sense the care that Xiao Lei felt towards him. Even though he was a busy man, he still took time every day to meet up with his nephew and see how he was doing.

    He would oftene around dinner time and bring a scrumptious meal which they then shared while talking about what they had done that day.

    Xiao Lei would talk about the city. He would talk about the people he had met and about the tasks he dealt with. Xue Wei was, for the first couple of days,pletely silent and only listened, but as the days went by, he started opening up to the older man and talked about the books he was reading.

    "Do you enjoy reading?" Xiao Lei asked, and Xue Wei nodded his head while looking slightly depressed. "When I read, I forget about everything I am missing," he said honestly while poking the Fierce Beast meat on his te, his appetite almost vanishing.

    Hearing this, Xiao Lei¡¯s eyes turned tender, and he rustled the young boy¡¯s hair once more with a smile on his face.

    "I am going out tomorrow. Why don¡¯t youe with me?" he asked. It had been two weeks since Xue Wei hade to the mansion. Apart from the first three days, Xue Wei had spent every hour within the library. He had even created a small nest of pillows and nkets on the sofa so that he could sleep in the room with all the books.

    Xue Wei was silent for some time, but when he saw the excitement on Xiao Lei¡¯s face, he sighed and nodded his head. He wanted to do something for this uncle of his who had done so much for him, who cared about him, so if it made him happy to go out together, then he woulde along.

    "You will? Amazing!" Xiao Lei was indeed filled with excitement, and he grinned from ear to ear as he started humming a small song. His happiness was contagious, and soon Xue Wei also grinned, something that rarely happened.

    That night, Xue Wei returned to his room. In thest two weeks, he had only returned to his room to change clothes and wash up, but this night he slept in his own bed for the first time since he found the library.

    He was unable to sleep and unable to rest. His entire mind was focused on the next day, and he was scared. He knew that the rumor about him had already spread throughout the entire city. The servants in the mansion were unable to keep such juicy information to themselves, therefore, every single person knew about how the amazing Xiao Lei, the hero of humanity, had taken in a nephew who was trash. He could not cultivate, and he would never be able to best his uncle¡¯s amazing achievements.

    Because of this, he was worried, but he still left his bed as the sun rose in the east. He dressed himself in his most beautiful robes. He chose a white robe with blue embroidery of clouds and phoenixes.

    He did not know anything about his previous life, but he knew he had never before worn as extravagant clothes as these.

    As he dressed himself, he looked like any other normal young master. His skin was fair after having been inside for as long as he had; his hair was long and glistening; and his eyes were bright and intelligent.

    The only thing that made him seem different was his aura. No matter what, he did not have an aura that contained Qi. He could not cultivate and only ordinary mortals were like this.

    Some women would never cultivate in their lives because they were not required to enter the war against the Primordial Beasts, and they had other tasks to deal with in human society. However, to see a young man not cultivating was truly a shameful thing.

    Although Xue Wei was an attractive young boy, he was clearly not a woman. Therefore, everyone who looked at him could easily determine that he was a piece of trash; he was someone that could not cultivate or save the world. He could not even kill a Fierce Beast.

    As Xue Wei thought about this, his already pale face turned even paler, and he started wondering if he had made the right decision to go out with his uncle.

    "I¡¯ll just tell him that I can¡¯t do it," he mumbled to himself, but just as he was about to do that, Xiao Lei knocked on the door. He entered, and his eyes were sparkling with excitement; his face showed a great smile. He was seemingly very excited, and seeing him like this, Xue Wei could not bring himself to ruin his uncle¡¯s cheerful mood.

    "Uncle, where are we going today?" he asked instead, and Xiao Lei went over to him and started to look at his clothes, straightening his belt and making sure he looked proper. "We are going to vist a good friend of mine," he said. "He has a son that is your age, so I¡¯m sure that the two of you will be good friends."

    Hearing this, Xue Wei almost snorted. It was probable that this person would pretend to be his friend because of his strong uncle, but he would never consider Xue Wei a proper friend... Who would? Xue Wei was incapable of cultivating!

    Xiao Lei seemed to understand his train of thought, and the excited smile dimmed slightly, but he quickly restored it back to its bright appearance and started ushering his nephew out of the room.

    "Come on,e on, I am sure that Shen Mu will be a great friend!"

    "Shen?" Xue Wei was quiet for some time while thinking. He had read every single book about Tiankong City, and one of them had mentioned the Shen family.

    The Shen family were the City Lords of Tiankong City, one of thergest cities in Heping Kingdom. They had been City Lords ever since the family had managed to produce a Heavenly Warrior in their midst, something that brought great pride to their family and established them as a true hegemon amongst the other families in Tiankong City.

    Xiao Lei was not from Tiankong City. He was a Primordial Beast Hunter and had estates all over the continent, but after he had taken in Xue Wei, he had not left Tiankong City.

 Chapter 3: Killing the Brave

    Chapter 3: Killing the Brave

    Xue Wei said nothing as the two walked out of the mansion. He had not left the house since they arrived. He had forgotten even arriving at the mansion, and thus everything was new and scary to him.

    He had not even been out in the gardens; all his time had been spent in his room or the library.

    Xue Wei was nervous. He looked down and felt as if everyone they passed by were looking at him, staring at him and whispering about him.

    Now and then he could hear the voicesment about him saying words like "trash," "useless," "Xiao Lei and his nephew,"

    Hearing these words, again and again, he walked faster and faster to get away from the voices that reverberated through his head, but suddenly he felt a warm hand on his shoulder, and he looked up to see a worried expression on Xiao Lei¡¯s face.

    "I can¡¯t let him worry about me," Xue Wei thought to himself as he saw the worried expression on his uncle¡¯s face. He took a deep breath and sent a smile to Xiao Lei.

    "Don¡¯t worry uncle," he smiled, "I am just not used to the bright sunlight. I did not know it would be this blinding."

    This excuse was rather good. The sun was truly strong, and it shone down on them, blinding people all the time.

    Seeing the smile on Xue Wei¡¯s face, Xiao Lei felt slightly troubled. He understood that Xue Wei did not want to make him worry, but he wanted to be relied on. Thinking like this, he started to worry about Xue Wei and whether or not he should have taken him out for this trip.

    "I am fine," Xue Wei assured Xiao Lei and nodded his head. "I might be trash, but I am your nephew. Just because I cannot enter the battlefield, I might be able to assist in other ways,"

    "Let us meet the Shen family. I am sure that we will be great friends in the future."

    Xiao Lei smiled at Xue Wei¡¯s pushiness and knew that this incident had sparked something inside of the younger boy, making something start to change. He was on the path to be someone who would not hide himself away. This could especially be seen with how he held his head high and the insecure air around him slowly changed to one ofplete disregard for all the people who gossiped about him.

    Still, although he was so indifferent, Xiao Lei felt his own anger rising more and more whenever he heard the word trash; the fires of anger and hate burned inside of him.

    The ones who were busiest discussing him were all mortals or ordinary warriors. None of them were of the higher ranks, as they had sensed the murderous atmosphere around Xiao Lei and had retreated fast.

    When they were halfway through town, Xiao Lei¡¯s mood had turned so sour that his eyes were shing with anger and murderous thoughts.

    "To think that a hero like Xiao Lei, a Primordial Beast Hunter like him, has to look after such a weak and feeble kid who cannot even cultivate," someone suddenly said in the crowd, and others nodded their heads ¨C someone even injected, "He is a Heavenly Warrior, something that one can only achieve if they are a once-in-a-generation genius, but now his nephew is trash, useless to the extreme."

    "Who said that?!" Xiao Lei could no longer stand the mocking and stopped right in his tracks, reaching out and stopping Xue Wei as well.

    Xiao Lei¡¯s eyes roamed over the crowd, and his magnificent aura was released. It was as if a sovereign was standing on top of a mountain and looking down on his subjects, ready to sentence them to death.

    "Whoever has the guts to say that my nephew is useless, I dare them to step forward," Xiao Lei said in a dangerously low voice, and his eyes narrowed slightly.

    He already knew who had spoken, but he was testing them. These experts were all ordinary warriors at most, and although they could barely pass as cultivators, they were nothing more than chickens on the chopping block to Xiao Lei.

    One of the experts stepped forward. "I said he was trash," he said bravely while pushing out his chest. "We have all served our time in the war to protect humanity, and that boy will never serve in any war, which makes him the trash of society!"

    Before the man had the chance to say another word, Xiao Lei flicked his fingers, and a gleam of light appeared. No one was able to catch how fast this gleam of light was, or what exactly had happened, but the only thing they did see was that the man who had spoken was now beheaded and lying on the ground.

    Xiao Lei¡¯s cold eyes stared at the corpse, and he snorted. "You think you can call others trash with your meager ability?" He then shook his head and patted Xue Wei¡¯s shoulder.

    For some reason, Xue Wei was not shocked by what he saw; his eyes were observing the murder of the brave man who had stood up to Xiao Lei without blinking. Not even a grimace appeared on his face when he saw the blood splurt from the severed neck, or when the corpse toppled over.

    The other people present on the other hand panicked. Screams appeared everywhere, and many tried fleeing for their lives, but then it turned eerily quiet as they all felt that their bodies went limp and they copsed on the ground.

    "Look at all you able men and women," Xiao Lei mocked, "One person dies and you all be panicked, yet my ¡¯useless¡¯ nephew, who you all look down upon can stand here calmly and observe what is happening. I wonder who is truly the useless one here."

    He red at them all, and they felt their bodies tremble. They all knew that Xiao Lei was a great warrior of the Heavenly Warrior rank. A fighter who had in more than one Primordial Beast, and a hero of mankind.

    But today they also realized that he was a murderous and decisive man who did not care much for the lives of themon man, and their hearts were filled with fear.

    "If I ever hear anyone call my nephew trash in the future, then don¡¯t me me for being rude," he said in a low voice, but although he did not speak very loudly, the voice traveled through the entire Tiankong City, stunning even the ones who had not known what was going on.

    Having said what he wished to say, Xiao Lei turned around and gently led Xue Wei towards the City Lord¡¯s mansion where the Shen family was waiting for them.

    What had happened spread throughout Tiankong City in less than an hour, and even the City Lord¡¯s Mansion knew about the incident before Xiao Lei and Xue Wei even made it to their destination.

    "This Xiao Lei is truly a troublesome person," Shen Bingwen, the City Lord of Tiankong City, sighed to himself when he heard the report. "Although he is a hero of mankind and a legend in the eyes of all the younger generation geniuses within the entire Heping Kingdom. He should know better than to suddenly kill a random person on the street."

    "I cannot send him to jail, nor will I be able to in any way judge him, even though there are multiple witnesses. They would never dare to go against him."

    "Well, when looking at who is most important, that Ordinary Warrior was no big loss, but if Xiao Lei is punished we might lose a great fighting power, and he might even leave Tiankong City."

    The City lord was confused. He knew that as a city lord he had to uphold justice for the murdered family, but at the same time, he also knew that there was no way he could use Xiao Lei. And truthfully, Xiao Lei was a good friend of his, so he did not wish to impede him.

    "Take out hundred gold coins," he ordered a servant, "and give them to the family of the inmoner and let the matter end there."

    Usually, a life lost would not amount to more than twenty or thirty gold, but this was a very important case as it was Xiao Lei who had murdered the man. Paying extra to make sure that they could live a good life was the solution that Shen Bingwen reached after careful consideration.

    "Xiao Lei and his nephew Xue Wei have arrived!" a servant announced for Sheng Bingwen, and the City Lord nodded his head, "Go fetch Little Mu and bring him to the study!" he ordered, and started moving towards the study himself.

    When he reached the study, he found that two people had already been led inside, one adult and one child.

    Contrary to what Shen Bingwen had expected, this child did not seem at all as he had been informed. His eyes were sparkling with intelligence that was rare for a ten-year-old, and his head was held high and not bent down as he carried himself with a certain aura that made him seem sophisticated and not at all as useless as everyone called him.

    "Hello, my dear friends," Shen Bingwen called out while spreading his arms wide and a great smile appeared on his lips.

    "Xiao Lei, it is great to see you again. It has been two or three years since Ist saw you! What have you been up to?"

    "And to think that you arrived back home with a family member! No one knows anything about you ¨C the only thing we know is that you became a very famous Hunter after killing three Primordial Beasts."

    Xue Wei listened with rapt attention and wide open eyes. He was very curious about this uncle of his who seemed to care so much about him, but who also never spoke about himself. This made him very curious as to what exactly his uncle was like in the eyes of others.

    He had already noticed that the maids and servants at home revered Xiao Lei as a god, but to hear that even esteemed experts like Shen Bingwen looked up to Xiao Lei surprised Xue Wei and made his heart swell with pride.

    Xiao Lei was surprised and slightly embarrassed as he heard his achievements being told in front of Xue Wei, and he quickly changed the topic, "Where is Shen Mu? I am sure that Little Wei and he will be great friends."

    As if he heard his name being called, a young boy appeared in the study. "Father, you called for me," he said with a nce at Xue Wei and Xiao Lei, curiosity clear on his face.

    "Yes, yes, our good friend Xiao Lei has returned, and he has brought with him his nephew, Xue Wei."

    "Xue Wei happens to be as old as you are, so why don¡¯t the two of you be friends?" As Shen Bingwen said this, Shen Mu looked at Xue Wei curiously and nodded his head, "It is my honor to meet the nephew of our famed hero Xiao Lei," Shen Mu introduced himself with a slight bow that Xue Wei quickly returned.

    "It is me who is honored," Xue Wei said, his voice clear as the cloudless sky. Although he said so, his face remained emotionless and calm, and silence descended onto the study.

    Xiao Lei and Shen Bingwen both began chatting with one another about what had happened within Tiankong Citytely while Xiao Lei had been absent, and they also broached the subject of killingmoners.

    "Don¡¯t worry," Xiao Leiughed. "Although I am not willing to kill more people, they will be very careful before they speak in the future. But I refuse to ept anyone bullying my nephew!"

    Seeing this, Shen Bingwen raised a brow. He could feel how deeply Xiao Lei cared for Xue Wei, but he also felt that there was more to this. It felt as if Xiao Lei had great expectations from Xue Wei. But what exactly could Xiao Lei expect from a person who could not cultivate?

 Chapter 4: Marketplace

    Chapter 4: Marketce

    The rest of the day, Xue Wei was stuck together with Shen Mu. Although Xue Wei could not cultivate, there were no signs of bullying from Shen Mu. Even when they were on their own, as the two grown-ups had left them for a bit, Shen Mu behaved in a friendly way and had an open-minded attitude towards Xue Wei.

    When it was time for them to go, Xue Wei and Shen Mu felt that they had known each other for some time. Shen Mu had been speaking a lot while they had been together while Xue Wei had been listening.

    Xue Wei was always eager to learn more things, and since he could learn about Tiankong City and Xiao Lei from Shen Mu, he used the time to have the other boy tell him all he could about the subjects.

    Xue Wei was unsure of how to react to Shen Mu¡¯s friendliness. Although he was very friendly, Xue Wei had a hard time understanding and trusting him. He could not fullyprehend how someone would want to be friendly towards a person who could not cultivate.

    Although this was the case, Xue Wei said nothing to his uncle about this doubt that had rooted itself in his mind.

    Xiao Lei had his doubts, but since Xue Wei said nothing, he did not inquire into it. As they returned to the mansion, Xiao Lei allowed for Xue Wei to return to the library where he once more buried himself in the books about the hidden wonders of the world.

    The rumors about Xiao Lei decapitating a mortalmoner spread through the city like wildfire. It was the most talked about topic, and no one was able to walk even two steps without hearing someone mention it.

    Xiao Lei was a hero of humanity. He had killed more than ten Primordial Beasts by now, and he was known as one of the most excellent Hunters that existed. He was supposed to protect the humans, but for this useless nephew, he had ughtered a man as easily as butchering a chicken.

    Together with this rumor, more stories about Xue Wei started spreading. Everyone heard about the fact that he was useless trash that could not cultivate, but no one felt sorry for the ten-year-old boy.

    Some felt that he was useless because he would be incapable of doing his duty in the war against the Primordial Beasts. Others felt jealousy over the fact that he was this cared for by a hero like Xiao Lei when he, in fact, was just a normal vige boy who happened to share Xiao Lei¡¯s blood.

    In the city, the rumor about Xiao Lei returning brought great joy to the younger generation. All of them looked up to this hero and wished to be like him in the future, however, when they realized that he had returned with a young nephew who was around their own age they all were filled with envy.

    When they heard that this nephew was even incapable of cultivating many of them had felt that it was heavenly retribution and some even felt smug about it.

    This smugness vanished when they heard about the execution of themoner, and all of them felt jealous again. What enabled this young man to be cared for so deeply? They wanted to have Xiao Lei as their mentor, but now that he was busy looking after trash, that dream had been shattered.

    Some noble born experts would go to visit the mansion where Xiao Lei and Xue Wei lived bringing along their sons, but when they arrived the envy from their sons was simply too obvious, and they were sent away.

    Shen Mu would sometimese to visit. He was the only one who was allowed inside, and he was also the only one who Xue Wei tolerated to be near him apart from his uncle.

    Although Xue Wei did not fully trust Shen Mu¡¯s motives, he had to admit that the other boy was very persistent, and also friendly. He never tried to cling onto Xue Wei. Instead, he would just sit down in the library and read books alongside Xue Wei.

    Sometimes, Shen Mu would suggest that they left the mansion and although Xue Wei did not agree at the start, he slowly gave up against Shen Mu¡¯s persistence and went to ask his uncle for permission.

    When Xiao Lei heard that Xue Wei wanted to leave the mansion on his own, and furthermore together with Shen Mu, Xiao Lei was filled with happiness.

    He then went to the storage room and, after a bit of searching, found a small bag which he filled with copper, silver, and gold coins.

    The bag was bulging with coins, and Xue Wei looked shocked when he received it. "What is this?" he asked in surprise, but Xiao Lei just smiled and pushed it into Xue Wei¡¯s hands. "Take this and buy whatever you find in town! Don¡¯t worry about the price, I have killed more than ten Primordial Beasts; their corpses have fetched me a pretty penny, so I can definitely support your shopping spree!"

    Xue Wei knew that there was no arguing with his uncle when he saw the great smile that was spread on his lips. Xue Wei could not help but sigh. He was feeling warmth in the deepest parts of his heart. It was clear just how treasured he was. Even if he was a useless trash in the eyes of others, his uncle would never consider him as such.

    As they went to town, Shen Mu was shocked. He could not help but gape with a little jealousy when he saw that Xue Wei had a purse filled with coins, and he himself only had his meager allowance.

    As they entered the markets, Xue Wei looked around with big eyes. Although he was very mature for a ten-year-old, this was the first time he had seen such a sight in front of him.

    Stalls were everywhere, people were screaming out their prices, and shops had opened up their doors, allowing for a steady stream of people to enter and leave their premises.

    Some shops sold medicinal herbs and pastes. When Xue Wei saw these herbs he could not help but frown. The herbs that were on disy were all herbs that Xue Wei knew about.

    Xue Wei was surprised. He had no memory of his past, but he still remembered every single nt and herb in front of him, and when he thought about it, a whole encyclopedia appeared in his mind filled with knowledge about the herbs ranging frommon to incredibly rare.

    Xue Wei was shocked, but his facial expression quickly returned to normal, and the surprise and shock he had felt were hidden deep within.

    Xue Wei had lost his memory, everything from before he awoke in his room at the mansion was gone, yet sometimes new information resurfaced in his mind, such as the knowledge about nts.

    Shen Mu had been too busy looking around to notice the strange change on Xue Wei¡¯s face.

    As they walked through the market, Xue Wei was looking everywhere. He had no use for medicinal herbs as he could not cultivate, but what he was interested in were books. If he could find books, then he would be happy, and that was his aim with this market trip.

    Shen Mu, on the other hand, had just started to cultivate. He was also a ten-year-old boy, and he was eagerly trying his best to break into the ranks of an Ordinary Warrior.

    Although he had been cultivating for a few months, Shen Mu had still not reached the threshold of being an Ordinary Warrior.

    He was still considered a mortal, but he would be a real cultivator soon. Shen Mu was eager to step into the firstyer of the Ordinary Warrior rank, and he had saved up his allowance to be able to afford a herb that would allow him to break into the firstyer of the Ordinary Warrior cultivation realm.

    Shen Mu would have bought a pill had he had the money, but he knew that pills were incredibly expensive and that it was impossible for him to get his hands on them.

    The herb he wished to purchase was the Rising Mountain Dewflower. It was amon herb from the mountains, but to Shen Mu, it was still an expensive nt.

    The pill version was called the Rising Mountain Pill, which was between double to seven times as effective as the herb itself, depending on the pill¡¯s rank. The higher the rank, the purer the medicinal extract within the pill was.

    While Shen Mu was busy looking around for the Rising Mountain Dewflower, Xue Wei had found a market stall with a wide selection of books.

    Xue Wei started looking at these books with a spark in his eyes, and he was filled with excitement when he suddenly felt someone ce their hands on his shoulder.

    Expecting that it was Shen Mu, Xue Wei scowled and turned around to tell this overly friendly person that he did not appreciate anyone touching him. However, when he turned around, he found that this person was not Shen Mu but an unknown person.

    Frowning, Xue Wei tried to leave, only to see that more people stood out from the crowd and surrounded him. When he looked around to see if he could find Shen Mu, he noticed that his first and only friend hadpletely vanished.

    "I assume you are Xiao Lei¡¯s nephew?" the person who had his hand firmly ced on Xue Wei¡¯s shoulder drawled the question and Xue Wei could easily detect the enmity that the other felt towards him.

    "I am, so what?" he asked, knowing full well that it would be a bad idea to admit to it, but he could not get himself to lie about his rtionship with his uncle. That rtionship was the only thing in the world keeping Xue Wei sane, and even if he had to endure bullies, he would not lie about it.

    "I am Li Jian. The young master of the Li family," the young man introduced himself. "I started cultivating earlier this year, and I am almost at the firstyer of the Ordinary Warrior rank. I do not ept trash like you in my city!"

    "Your city? As far as I am aware, the City Lord is the Shen family," Xue Wei said, without backing down, his eyes gleaming dangerously.

    Although he was incapable of fighting back if this young master wanted to beat him up, Xue Wei was not backing down, and he stared right into the eyes of Li Jian.

    Xue Wei looked at Li Jian and measured his appearance in front of him. The child was clearly the same age as Xue Wei, his skin was pale from spending most of his time inside, and his eyes were narrow. His eyebrows were sharp like swords, giving him a threatening air, and his long ck hair was tied on top of his head in a hairpin that resembled a crown.

    He wore clothes of great quality; the quality was no less than that of the clothes that Xue Wei had on. While Xue Wei¡¯s clothes were white and blue, this Li Jian¡¯s outfit was in white and golden colors.

    "I am from the Li family! We might not be the city lords, but we are the oldest family in Tiankong City. This is our turf, and you have nothing to do here!"

    The hand that was resting on Xue Wei¡¯s shoulder changed from a friendly touch to grab his clothes. Just as Li Jian was about to act, Shen Mu appeared from the side of the street, his breath ragged and his eyes filled with anger.

    "Li Jian!" he called out. "You know the rules, do not touch Xue Wei. If you do, you will be scolded by Xiao Lei! Did you not wish for Xiao Lei to be your mentor? This way all you will gain is being loathed by the greatest hunter of all time!"

 Chapter 5: Azure Dragon Scripture

    Chapter 5: Azure Dragon Scripture

    Li Jian scowled as he looked at Shen Mu with eyes that could kill. It was clear that had this other person not arrived, then Li Jian would without a doubt have caused problems for Xue Wei, but now that the son of the City Lord was present, he did not dare to do anything.

    "You won¡¯t be this lucky next time!" Li Jian sneered as he turned around and left, leaving behind only Xue Wei and Shen Mu where they stood.

    "I am so sorry!" Shen Mu said apologetically, and he truly looked incredibly sad. "I was too obsessed with getting my hands on a Rising Mountain Dewflower that I even lost track of you, and when I returned, I saw you were caught by Li Jian."

    "Li Jian is a no-good guy; he is not a nice fellow. Try to stay clear of him whenever you can." Shen Mu sighed, but although he looked sad, a twinkle sparkled in his eyes and his arms were grabbing hold of a paper bag with a jade case within. It was clear that this was his treasured Rising Mountain Dewflower.

    Xue Wei shook his head. "Don¡¯t worry about it," he said ndly. He was not disappointed in Shen Mu vanishing like that, because he had never really expected anything from Shen Mu, and although thetter considered them friends, Xue Wei still only saw him as an acquaintance.

    Xue Wei returned to look at the stall in front of him as if nothing had happened before and ended up purchasing a few books. Shen Mu tried to convince him to eat out at one of the dining ces, but Xue Wei was adamant on returning home.

    He had made it a ritual to always eat his meals together with his uncle, and this was something he did not want to lose out on.

    This was not thest time that Xue Wei visited town. As the weeks and months went by, Xue Wei went to the markets at least once a week to purchase newspapers, books, and other readable information from the vast world.

    It was not every time he went with Shen Mu, sometimes he went on his own, and when he did, he quickly experienced that Li Jian would know about himing out to do some shopping.

    Li Jian would not let go of any chance to ridicule and torment Xue Wei. At the start, this began as verbal sparring, but Xue Wei was very schrly. He had read so many books and knew so much that it was impossible to defeat him using words, and thus Li Jian had no other option than to resort to using his fists.

    At the beginning, it did not hurt Xue Wei too much. Li Jian was still just a mortal and a ten-year-old child to boot. Although he had gained some Qi, he was still not a firstyered Ordinary Warrior and thus his punches did not sting too much, but as time went on and he became stronger and stronger, Xue Wei became more and more alert.

    Li Jian made sure to always hit Xue Wei where the clothes covered his body so that no one would notice the bruises and wounds, but from time to time rumors of the bullying made it through town and arrived at the mansion, reaching Xiao Lei¡¯s ears.

    When this happened, Xiao Lei would be furious. He would explode with anger, and it took everything in Xue Wei¡¯s power to keep him from going to kill Li Jian, or at least beat him up.

    Slowly, years went by. Nothing much changed in the proceedings of Tiankong City, and although not many spoke about Xue Wei any more out of fear for what Xiao Lei would do if he heard them, everyone looked down on this particr young master. It was hard to respect someone who could not even be an Ordinary Warrior.

    "Trash! How can someone like you even be allowed outside! You should just be hiding inside your mansion. If it were not for your uncle, I¡¯d have crippled you for real already!" a cold and cynical voice sounded next to Xue Wei as he was walking on the street.

    As he heard the voice, he sighed internally and straightened his face,pletely hiding any and all emotion that could be shown.

    "Young Master Li, howe you are here? I thought it was time for you to train?" Xue Wei asked casually as he lifted his head and looked at the young man in front of him.

    Although some years had passed, Li Jian looked very much the same as he had done when he was a child, albeit his features had matured over the years.

    Xue Wei had learned at what time the young masters of the prominent families within Tiankong City were training. It was at this time he would usually venture out into the City, but from time to time he would be unlucky and run into a young master or young miss that was taking the day off. Today was exactly such a day, and Xue Wei could not help but sigh to himself because of his bad luck.

    "As if a piece of trash like you understands what it means to train in the first ce," the young master of House Li snorted as he looked at Xue Wei maliciously. "Beat him up!" he grinned to the men behind him, and without dy, the young men behind him all jumped out and started kicking and beating down on Xue Wei.

    These were all cultivators, and although they were only Ordinary Warriors, their strength far exceeded Xue Wei¡¯s. He could not even hold the slightest wisp of Qi within his body, and as a result, he was beaten rather badly.

    Usually, the young masters would not beat Xue Wei too much as they knew about the looming dragon behind him who would go into a fit of rage whenever Xue Wei came home wounded, but today they ignored every bit of caution and kicked and hit Xue Wei till his entire body was aching and yellow and blue bruises sprouted all over.

    Returning home, Xue Wei was not too worried about himself. What worried him was how his uncle would react when he gets to see these wounds, and he sighed as he entered his room. He was nning on telling a maid to draw a bath for him when he noticed, to his great surprise, that there were no maids or servants anywhere in sight. The mansion was eerily quiet.

    Looking around in his room, Xue Wei noticed that something was amiss. On the table were some things that he had not ced there, and he went to look.

    On the table were a leaflet, a document, a big chest, a handwritten note, and a ring. At first, Xue Wei picked up the note and read it.

    "Little Wei, it has now been five years since I took you in, and I have enjoyed every single moment of the time. I never once considered you a burden, and to me, you are more important than the entire world. Unfortunately, I need to leave for an unknown period of time. You can stay in the mansion as you please."

    "I know that in these five years that what has bothered you the most is not theck of memories, but the fact that you could not cultivate. I have spent a lot of time and resources, and finally I managed to get my hands on a cultivation technique which could be suitable for you."

    "The reason you cannot cultivate is not because of poor talent but because you need a special Martial Art manual, and this I have found for you. It is called the Azure Dragon Scripture and was originally made by the ancient n that controlled the Eastern Territory, but by now they are long since legends."

    "Do not share this Scripture with anyone else and when you have memorized it, burn the copy that I have left behind for you."

    "Secondly, I have also left behind the documents and deed of this mansion. If you are to live here, you should own the mansion. You can always give it back to me when we meet again."

    "Thirdly, I also left a chest filled with gold coins for you. Living is not free and especially not in a city like this. There should be enough gold tost you until I return."

    "Finally, I left you my ring. My ring is not an ordinary ring. It is the symbol of my family. When you get strong enough, you will notice that it also has some hidden uses, but you need strength first of all."

    "I have not told anyone that I have left for long. My friends and the major families believe that I have gone hunting Primordial Beasts for a couple of years. Do not tell them anything differently."

    "I look forward to seeing you again soon ¨C your uncle Xiao Lei."

    Having read the letter, Xue Wei felt both ecstatic and depressed. He was ecstatic at the prospect of him possibly being able to cultivate, but he was heartbroken that his uncle had needed to leave. Thesest five years had been great exactly because his uncle had been by his side to look after him. No matter how useless Xue Wei had been, his uncle Lei had never looked down upon him, nor had he treated him badly.

    "I will be strong and make you proud!" Xue Wei swore and ensured that no one could enter the room before he sat down and started reading the Azure Dragon Scripture.

    The scripture was very simr to the martial arts he had seen before, with the only change being that it flowed through a different pattern in his body before entering his dantian.

    The cultivation within the continent of Chang¡¯an was split into different ranks. The first rank was the rank of an ordinary Warrior, which had nineyers, then came the ranks of an Earth Warrior, which was simrly nineyers, followed by the rank of a Sky Warrior before one became a Heavenly Warrior.

    Heavenly Warriors were amazing; even Tiankong City only had three heavenly warriors, where his uncle was one of them.

    The majority of the younger generation were all Ordinary Warriors, but some of them were in the seventh and eighthyers, their strength nearing the Earth Warrior stage!

    Tiankong City was one of the major cities within Heping Kingdom and all the young masters were considered geniuses of their time.

    Although they had not been fed medicinal pills, their family had spent some copper, silver, and even gold on buying medicinal nts for their consumption to increase their strength.

    Xue Wei had never been able to cultivate, so he was not even in the firstyer of the Ordinary Warrior rank, but he was not going to give up easily. Now that he had understood that his uncle had found a chance for him to be a cultivator, he was willing to be even more hardworking than anyone else to make up for the five years he had not cultivated.

    As soon as he had learned the Azure Dragon Scripture by heart, Xue Wei took a small candle and burnt both the copy of the Martial Art alongside the note that his uncle had left behind before he picked up the ring he had been given and ced it on his finger.

    He took a deep breath and calmed his heart, which was beating rapidly from the excitement.

    Taking in a deep breath and seated in meditation, Xue Wei felt how the energy in the surrounding area all rushed towards him, and as he guided it through his body in ordance to how the Azure Dragon Scripture said he should do it, Xue Wei was hardly breathing due to being too anxious. Was this really going to work or was it just a pointless effort?

    The energy that flowed through Xue Wei¡¯s body slowly changed from a white mist-like energy into a dense golden wisp of energy. This golden wisp of energy entered his dantian and slowly rotated around itself in a never-ending spiral, sending pulsing waves through his body.

    Xue Wei opened his eyes, and he was ecstatic! This was only a small wisp of energy, but because of this, he had already be an Ordinary Warrior of the firstyer!

    "Nothing can stop me now!" Xue Wei said to himself, and his eyes gleamed with excitement.

 Chapter 6: Dragons and Dogs

    Chapter 6: Dragons and Dogs

    Xue Wei was excited beyond belief. He hade to terms with the fact that he would never be a great warrior, yet today the opportunity presented itself, and Xue Wei was eager to grasp it.

    Although Xue Wei wanted to do nothing else than just lock himself in closed-door meditation, he knew that there were other things he needed to deal with first.

    Although Xiao Lei had managed to find a scripture that worked for Xue Wei, the child could not help but be realistic about it. He was right now a mortal, and as a mortal, he could only go around one day without food before his condition would start to deteriorate, and his performance would decrease rapidly.

    Although Xue Wei had read about cultivators who were capable of going for months without food and water, he was painfully aware of his own mortality and knew that to survive he needed at least two meals a day.

    Looking at the desk, Xue Wei found that the items that Xiao Lei had described were there as exined, and he filled his purse with coins and took the deeds into his robes. He did not dare leave the deeds lying on the table so that everyone coulde and take them.

    Xue Wei started walking across the mansion and found that although many servants and maids had left, there were still three or four faithful servants remaining, including Xiao Lei¡¯s estate manager and two maids.

    Amongst the guards, less than half had quit their jobs. Usually when Xiao Lei went out on a trip, he would fire everyone apart from the manager and tell them that he would rehire them when he returned home, but this time he had asked all of them to serve Xue Wei, following his everymand.

    While the guards had epted this task, most of the servants were incapable of epting such a loss in status. To go from working for Xiao Lei, the hero of humanity, to work for Xue Wei, the trash of town, was simply too big of a difference and thus after Xiao Lei left, the majority of all servants decided to to quit their jobs.

    Xue Wei did not mind it. If anything, he felt sorry for their short-sightedness as he knew that he too would be a cultivator soon, and although it would take time for him to catch up with the other younger-generation geniuses, he had faith in himself and his ceaseless desire to work endlessly.

    Xue Wei had nned to go to town himself to buy provisions for the next long time, but when he saw that a few people had remained in the mansion, he smiled and started to feel the benefits of having people to help him out.

    "Manager Su, please wait," Xue Wei called out as he saw the manager walking across a corridor in front of him, and the manager raised an eyebrow and looked at Xue Wei.

    Although the manager did not like Xue Wei, he did not loathe him either, and since his master, Xiao Lei, had ordered him to look after this young nephew, he would do so within his might.

    "Young master, what can I do for you?" Manager Su asked with his dreary voice, and his eyes looking quite surprised. Xue Wei usually never spoke to anyone else other than Xiao Lei. Even Shen Mu had to use quite a lot of tricks to get an answer from this young man, and those two were considered best friends.

    "Manager Su, I know that uncle have left for some time. I am going to seclude myself with some books I have gained," Xue Wei said casually, "please use this gold to ensure that I have three meals ced in front of my door every day. When I finished reading these books and fully understand them, I wille out, but until then, please let no one interrupt me."

    The old manager Su had followed Xiao Lei for a long time, and he was rather smart. He was also a Sky Warrior, someone who was considered a strong expert within Tiankong City; he was even considered a strong expert within the entire kingdom of Heping.

    Manager Su could instantly tell that something was not as Xue Wei had exined, but he saw no reason to question him, and instead, he epted the purse that Xue Wei handed him and weighed it in his hand. It was clearly filled to the brim with coins, and this many coins could easily allow for the mansion to run for a long time.

    Manager Su¡¯s only task was to look after the mansion. He cared not for whatever Xue Wei was doing, or if he was there or not, and in fact, he was relieved when he heard that the young man would seclude himself in his room. That way he would cause no problems.

    Having handed the coins to Manager Su, Xue Wei had no reason to wait with his cultivation anymore and rushed back to his room where he locked the door, sat on the floor with his legs crossed and took a deep breath to calm himself.

    Xue Wei was fully aware that cultivation was not easy. He had tried so many times but failed every time.

    It was not that he could not sense the Qi in the surrounding air, nor was it a problem to drag it into his body, but as soon as it came to stay within his body, it failed and leaked out like the air of a broken balloon.

    Xue Wei steadied himself and slowly closed his eyes. He sensed the Qi that was everywhere around him, and he gathered a wisp of energy which he sucked into his body.

    He memorized the path that the Qi had to flow through his body and he led it through every single step before he reached his dantian.

    Xue Wei frowned. His dantian was supposed to be a cave-like existence within his body around his abdomen, but instead, he saw a small white pearl.

    This pearl was clearly located where his dantian was supposed to be, and when the Qi reached the pearl, it was dragged inside, and the white pearl started shining slightly.

    Xue Wei felt his body strengthening. From that one single wisp of energy, he could feel his entire body transforming, and he gaped.

    "My dantian is quite different," he mumbled to himself, "but it is able to contain energy! I am finally on the way to be a true cultivator!" Xue Wei¡¯s eyes gleamed with excitement. His breathing was ragged and his palms sweaty.

    He had been so worried that he would not be able to cultivate this time either, but he had seeded finally! Although it was only a single wisp of energy, Xue Wei felt better than he had ever felt before and he was sure that his strength and speed had already increased.

    "When I was younger, uncle examined my body and said that I did not have terrible talent but a special dantian. I wonder if this is what he meant." Back then, Xue Wei had not fully believed him, because when he had searched within himself, the dantian had looked exactly like any other dantian was described, like a small cave within his abdomen.

    However, today was different. As to when it had changed, Xue Wei did not know. He had not been looking at his dantian often because he had been depressed every time he did, but now he was surprised to find it had transformed into a small pearl.

    Xue Wei did not think more about it. Instead, he just grinned. His uncle was the most reliable Primordial Beast Hunter in the Heping Kingdom, and now Xue Wei was able to follow his footsteps.

    Xue Wei started cultivating from scratch. He had absorbed one wisp of energy, and it had been a sess. Xue Wei was not going to give up, and he grinned to himself as he slowly calmed himself. It was time for him to fully focus on cultivating.

    Xue Wei was now fifteen years old. He would have one year before it was time for him to go to the battlefield, and he understood that if he did not manage to reach a high enough rank on his own, his life would be endangered.

    If he lost his life, then he would not be able to live out his dream. Xue Wei turned serious and consumed one wisp of energy after another. He made sure to be careful with every single wisp and ensure that it followed the path perfectly, to purify it enough so that when it reached the dantian, it was of the highest quality.

    Day after day went by where Xue Wei was locked within his room. The remaining maids were curious as to what exactly was going on with their useless young master.

    He would have lived in the library every single day, but now he did not even leave his room, and while most of them were curious. Manager Su went to his room once with a meal to check out the situation for himself, and he was surprised when he sensed how the Qi in the air was being sucked into the room and vanished.

    A smile spread across his lips, andughter ran through the mansion that day. Manager Su was happy that he had never treated Xue Wei badly before, and now he knew that a dragon like Xiao Lei did not have a dog nephew.

    The days went into weeks and the weeks went into months. Shen Mu came a few times to visit, but the manager turned him away both times, saying that Xue Wei was busy examining an ancient script that took all his attention.

    In Tiankong City, it was not only Shen Mu who thought that something was strange. All the young masters and young misses were starting to wonder if they had beaten Xue Wei too badly, and that he no longer dared venture outside.

    Li Jian was especially in a bad mood because of Xue Wei¡¯s sudden disappearance. "Now that your uncle is gone, there is nothing to stop me from crippling you!" Li Jian sneered to himself, and he had great ns, but he never came into contact with Xue Wei. It was as if he had vanished into thin air.

    It was not before three months had passed that Xue Wei left the confinement of his room. He had managed to break into the thirdyer of the Ordinary Warrior rank, and although he was far from being as strong as the geniuses of the younger generation, the speed with which he was progressing was many times faster. If they had had three months when they first started to cultivate, they would have made it to the firstyer of the Ordinary Warrior rank, but Xue Wei had climbed all the way to the thirdyer.

    The first person that Xue Wei saw after exiting his room was Manager Su who was looking at him with a knowledgeable smirk.

    "Wee back to the outside world, young master," he said, and this time the young master was filled with a tinge of respectpared to before.

    "You have managed to be a warrior! What an aplishment. I am sure that your uncle would be proud of you by now," he said with his dreary voice, and Xue Wei shed one of his very rare smiles as he nodded his head.

    For once, Xue Wei was truly happy, but then he frowned. Xue Wei was aware that he needed more than just Qi if he wanted to survive in this world. He had to get his hands on some martial art skills, but to get those he had to enter town.

    Xue Wei frowned as he was reminded of what his uncle had said. That his ring was filled with secrets.

 Chapter 7: Azure Light Finger

    Chapter 7: Azure Light Finger

    This ring was said to be filled with secrets. However, how to unlock it was the real question.

    Xue Wei was unsure, so he excused himself and went back to his room where he sat down on the bed and examined the ring from all angles.

    It was a dragon that coiled itself around his finger, the eyes were two blue sapphires, and it looked very domineering.

    No matter how Xue Wei looked at it, it looked like an ordinary ring, and no matter how much he attempted to stare at it, nothing happened.

    "Uncle said that I needed strength to be able to unlock the secrets of the ring."

    "Strength... Qi... Of course!" Xue Wei had an epiphany. "To unlock the secrets of the ring, I need to infuse it with Qi!"

    Xue Wei did not waste his time and immediately infused his Qi into it. The moment he did, a brilliant light lit up the room.

    As the light shone, the ring turned hot. Although it was scalding, no mark was left on Xue Wei¡¯s finger, and he was not in any kind of pain.

    As he felt the heat, it grew stronger and stronger until it finally cooled off and Xue Wei saw how something was projected into the air in front of him.

    As he looked at the projection, an excited smile appeared on Xue Wei¡¯s lips. These were all martial arts, and they were all of the superior grade ¨C one of them was even profound grade!

    Martial arts were split into ranks; the higher the rank, the stronger it was. The ranks went from low, middle, high, superior to profound ranked.

    The higher the rank, the harder it was to train, but the more powerful it was as well. It was said that there were ranks above profound, but nomoners ever got into contact with these abilities.

    To think that Xiao Lei had prepared so many superior and even a profound ability for Xue Wei made him feel surprised but also very happy. Although he was at a lower realm, if he managed to perfect these martial arts, then he would be able to fight the other geniuses in town.

    Xue Wei did not want to lose even a moment, and his eyes roamed across the abilities in front of him.

    "Azure Light Finger, a superior martial technique which allows for the finger to grow hard as iron and release ranged Qi attacks. Can be used in both close quartersbat and rangedbat."

    "Shattering Mountain Fist, a superior martial technique which allows for the user to use their fist to shatter mountains. Can only be used in close quartersbat."

    "Sacrificial stab, a superior martial technique that can only be used while wielding a ded weapon. A cheap but effective killing move! Can only be used in close quartersbat. Sacrifices the soul of the wounded to the ancient gods."

    "Inner Might, a profound martial technique that allows the user to shape the Qi within the body to any weapon of their choice. Can be used in both close quartersbat and ranged attacks."

    ¡°Forbidden Rush, a superior martial technique that allows the user to increase their speed and merge with the wind. A support technique.¡±

    Having looked at quite a lot of the skills, Xue Wei had picked out those five to learn first. Although quite a lot of abilities were present in front of him, Xue Wei understood that if he bit off more than he could chew, then he would just not learn any of them entirely. Even five was pushing it.

    He could no longer stay in his room to practice, or he would destroy all of the furniture if he tried. Considering for some time, he thought about the grounds at the back of the mansion where he had seen his uncle train from time to time, but he was unsure if it was okay for him to go there to train.

    Leaving the room, Xue Wei went to look for Manager Su to ask for permission, and on the way he came across two maids who were cleaning together.

    These two maids were both young women, and although they loathed Xue Wei, they had stayed because they had a dream of one day bing Xiao Lei¡¯s concubines. By staying, they could get into his good graces.

    These two women saw Xue Wei walking past them, but they both frowned. Although Xue Wei was never cowering or hiding away, he seemed different now. He had an aura that made these two maids breathless and a heroic air around him that was very different from what they were used to.

    He seemed like a refined schr who had understood martial arts, and although these two women loathed him for being useless trash, they could not help but gasp at the changes that were happening to him.

    They both stared at him as he walked past them and down the corridor. It was not before a long time after that one of the maids regained herposure, and she nudged the maid by her side.

    "That was the young master?" she asked, stunned, unable toprehend what she had just seen. She did not even realize that she had referred to him as the young master and not ¡®the useless trash¡¯.

    Xue Wei did not care about what they said or how they reacted, all that mattered to him was to find Manager Su.

    He found him in the back garden where he was ordering a group of guards around, and when the manager saw Xue Wei again, a smile appeared on his lips.

    "What can I do for you, young master?" he asked. He had previously seen that Xue Wei had left his room for a short while but reentered it, and he had expected that the young man would seclude himself for an extensive period of time, not that he would emerge from his room this fast.

    "Manager Su, I am looking for somewhere to train some martial arts," Xue Wei did not beat around the bush and said so right away. He knew that Manager Su was an esteemed expert and that he had long since sensed the changes in Xue Wei, so hiding it seemed pointless.

    The guards who were present were also all Earth Warriors, the rank above Ordinary Warriors, and they could also sense Xue Wei¡¯s cultivation base if they wanted to.

    The guards looked at Xue Wei in surprise, and all of them quickly noticed the great changes that had happened to their young master.

    Some were perplexed, others were disbelieving, but most of them were relieved.

    They were working for Xiao Lei, but right now they had to take orders from Xue Wei. He was previously known as trash, but to reach the thirdyer of the Ordinary Warrior rank within three months was an amazing feat that only the proud sons and daughters of the heavens would be able to pull off.

    "You can use your uncle¡¯s training ground I am sure," Manager Su said like a gentle old grandfather, and he nodded his head to the guards, "excuse me," he said and led Xue Wei towards the training grounds that were exclusive for Xiao Lei.

    The private training ground was a lot smaller than the training ground for the guards. It had dummies made from ck gold, which had the ability to restore themselves when broken.

    Looking at these dummies, Xue Wei¡¯s usually expressionless face turned bright, and he nodded his head in approval.

    He remembered the abilities by heart already. His mind was incredibly good at remembering things, and after reading through the five abilities he had picked four times, he knew them by heart.

    "First, I am going to train the Azure Light Finger. When I finish that, then I will proceed to the Shattering Mountain Fist," he mumbled to himself and, without hesitating, andpletely ignoring that Manager Su was still present, began his training.

    Having decided on what to do, Xue Wei did not waste any more time. Instead, he rushed to the training field where he saw row after row of dummies.

    These dummies were not ordinary dummies, made of ck gold, a material which repaired itself after destruction. These dummies had been extremely expensive, but they were also very beneficial when it came to training.

    Even Xiao Lei had been capable of using them. He was a Heavenly Warrior who was capable of cultivating to an almost inconceivable level, and for these dummies to be able to withstand his attacks showed just how potent their self-repairing abilities were.

    Xue Wei had often seen his uncle train on these dummies and had often wished to be able to train himself, and now it was finally time.

    Xue Wei tried to send the Qi to his finger a few times before he managed to sessfully activate the Azure Light Finger. On his first attack the attack did not send, and exploded right on the tip of his finger, sending him flying backwards andnding with pain in both his body and his fingertip.

    Second time the beam left his fingertip but started dropping instantly, flying straight to the ground instead of towards the dummy.

    After this Xue Wei had one issue after another with trying to control the amount of Qi that he was sending to his finger. If he sent too much then he was incapable of controlling it, if he sent too little it would not evenunch the attack.

    After trialing and erroring a few times, Xue Wei finally got the hang of it, and he reached out for the Qi within his dantian and followed the superior technique of the Azure Light Finger. Suddenly, an azure light exploded from his fingertip; it was aimed straight at the dummy andnded with a ng.

    The attack was not overly strong, but Xue Wei had only used a small amount of Qi, as he wished to be able to control it, and it had proven sessful.

    The more Qi he used, the harder it was to control this light beam, but making his finger as hard as iron was as simple as thinking about it.

    Xue Wei spent the entire day in front of the same dummy, attacking again and again, using the Azure Light Finger¡¯s over and over again until his finger became so sore that he could barely move it.

    The martial attack should be rather difficult to learn since it was a superior-ranked martial art, but Xue Wei found that it was as easy as it was for a fish to swim in water. He had absolutely no problems performing this attack. The only thing he did have problems with was controlling when the beam of Qi got too strong.

    Although the Azure Light Finger was a superior martial technique and not a profound ranked one, it was still very useful to someone who had never before cultivated.

    Every single attack caused Xue Wei to use almost all his Qi, and constantly restoring it was causing his training speed to be many times faster than it was before.

    The manager was stunned when he saw how simply Xue Wei was disying his martial art, and from the aura of the attack, it was clearly ranked rather high.

    The rumors about Xue Wei having cultivated spread through the mansion like wildfire and everyone came to the training grounds where he was training to see it with their own eyes.

    Manager Su allowed for all of them toe and see him, but none of them were allowed to disturb him. They could watch, but if they said a word they would instantly be sent away.

    Xue Wei did not really care about how many people came to watch him ¨C all he could think about was practicing the Azure Light Finger.

    He felt how he was bing more and more proficient in it; his control grew better and better as he managed to use two attacks instead of one before he ran out of energy.

    He would throw attacks at the ck gold dummies before he would sit down and restore his energy while the dummies repaired themselves.

    At the start, everyone had been watching, but as the hours went by, more and more had to return to their chores. For some reason, no one gossiped about Xue Wei and his new abilities. They all kept it a secret.

    Not because they wanted Xue Wei to suffer from the bad rumors, but because all of them were eager to see the day that Xue Wei would shock the entire Tiankong City with a burst of power.

    Unknowing of all of this, Xue Wei continued to train day in and day out. He ate a few meals a day, but apart from that he would spend all his time cultivating and practicing his Azure Light Finger.

 Chapter 8: Forbidden Rush

    Chapter 8: Forbidden Rush

    Like this, a month went by. During this month, Xue Wei was spending all his time at the back of the mansion on the training ground. Here, he practiced the Azure Light Finger alongside the cultivation of his his internal Qi.

    During this time, Xue Wei had managed to break into the fourthyer of the Ordinary Warrior rank, and he even managed to reach the peak of the fourthyer.

    In this month he was never alone. Manager Su would spend most of his time watching over Xue Wei, and when he was needed elsewhere, a set of guards would be present.

    Xue Weipletely ignored the people around him. He would gobble down the food when it arrived as he was often hungry, but he would do nothing more than practicing his martial art and cultivating his internal Qi.

    Xue Wei had gotten familiar with the Azure Light Finger, and although he had not perfected it, his understanding of it was far better than he had expected.

    Azure Light Finger was a superior martial art, and it would take a long time to fully grasp every single detail of it and reach perfection, but as a superior martial art, it was truly superior to low, middle, and high-ranked skills.

    Although Xue Wei was only at the peak of the fourthyer, he was armed with an Azure Light Finger, a superior martial art. Although he could not defeat the other younger geniuses of Tiankong City, he would be able to surprise them and hopefully also wound them, giving him time to escape if he was ever bullied again.

    Xue Wei had nodded his head in approval when he managed to shoot a hole through one of the dummies. The dummies were made of ck gold, which was many times tougher than a human body, at least an Ordinary Warrior¡¯s body as that was still considered within mortal limits.

    As the rank went higher, one¡¯s body would be transformed by the Qi, and it would be tougher than even ck gold, but that would not be before the middle of the Earth Warrior rank.

    "Time for me to begin understanding the Forbidden Rush technique," Xue Wei decided and was just about to begin when he heard Manager Su behind him.

    "Ahem, young master, you have visitors," he said with his dreary and old voice. "Young Master Shen hase every day to visit you and I am unable to continue keeping him from entering. Today, he even brought men from the City Lord¡¯s Mansion with the purpose of forcing his way in to see you. It seems that the City Lord fears that you have been killed."

    "Killed?" Xue Wei chuckled and shook his head. "Well then, lead him in," he said before he returned to focusing on the Forbidden Rush.

    Right now, Xue Wei was within Tiankong City, the major city within the southern administrative region of the Kingdom of Heping; the southern administrative region was located in a hot climate, the temperatures rose every day while dropping drastically during the night.

    The sun shone all the time, and there was hardly any wind or even a gentle breeze. The Forbidden Rush was a superior supportive martial art, and it allowed for the cultivator to merge with the wind and use it as a means to move faster and more agilely.

    Practicing it in the middle of the southern administrative region might be difficult because wind was scarce here, but Xue Wei found that he had no problems remembering wind.

    When he closed his eyes, a small vige in the middle of a snow-coveredndscape appeared, and this ce was filled with wind. Snowstorms were the norm and Xue Wei could feel as if he was back in the middle of thisndscape whenever he closed his eyes.

    Although there was no wind in Tiankong City, the moment Xue Wei closed his eyes, he felt wind all around him. He could feel as if wind was making his hair and clothes flutter and he started moving in ordance to this wind he remembered.

    Fluttering like a butterfly, Xue Wei spread out his arms and moved faster than he had ever moved before. It was as if he had grown wings and was capable of taking flight.

    Jumping allowed for him to fly into the air and even reach above the mansion¡¯s walls, moving forward allowed for him to be a blur that merged with the little wind that was within the city.

    Xue Wei hadpletely immersed himself in the changes of the wind. He could feel the frost wind surround him and it all felt so real as he started fluttering around.

    "Your friend, young master Shen Mu, is here." sounded Manager Su¡¯s voice suddenly behind Xue Wei, interrupting him and causing the illusionary world he had been in to shatter.

    The wind he had been merged with vanished, and he lost control of his movements, losing his bnce, and fell to his butt.

    Truthfully, Shen Mu and Manager Su had been there for some time, observing Xue Wei. Manager Su had felt pride upon seeing Xue Wei, but Shen Mu had been filled with disbelief.

    He had feared that Xue Wei had died and had even gone as far as to have his father lend him the City Guard to enter the mansion to ensure that Xue Wei was still alive, but what he found was that not only was his friend alive, he was doing much better than ever before.

    He had been cultivating, and now he was practicing martial arts. Xue Wei stood up as if nothing had happened and dusted his outfit clear of dust.

    "Shen Mu, what brings you here?" he asked, his face once againpletely expressionless. Seeing this face that showed no emotion, Shen Mu could not help but sigh.

    They had been friends for a long time, but Xue Wei was still referring to Shen Mu by his full name. Although it seemed a bit rude, Xue Wei still considered Shen Mu his, albeit sometimes annoying, friend.

    Shen Mu was fifteen years old, just like Xue Wei. He was wearing clothes of the finest quality, and his ck hair was tied on top of his head with a hairpin.

    Whereas Xue Wei adorned clothes of blue and white colors, Shen Mu wore gold and red. His eyes were brown and they sparkled with intellect. Although he was not as well-read and informed as Xue Wei, he had learned from an early age how to behave and how to deal with leading many men. He understood the point of who to make friends with and who not to make friends with.

    At the start, Shen Mu had only tried to be friendly with Xue Wei because of his father asking him to do it, but then he had found that although this man was considered trash, he had a sharp mind and an unwavering determination.

    When he saw that Xue Wei was capable of cultivating, a great smile slowly spread on his face. He was still disbelieving, but after observing for some time, it was impossible for him to argue against what he saw.

    When Xue Wei stood up and went towards them, Shen Mu also stepped forward and observed Xue Wei from every angle while pacing around him. He stroked his chin in surprise, but after a bit of time, heughed out loud, his voice containing honest happiness.

    "It has been four months, but within these four months, it seems as if pigs can truly fly! You are a cultivator! And even at the peak fourthyer!"

    Shen Mu was one of the most talented geniuses within Tiankong City. Four months ago, he had been at the eightyer, but now he was at the ninthyer. It was clear that he too had spent thest four months breaking through. He was now only one step away from being an Earth Warrior and if luck willed it, then he would be able to be an Earth Warrior before it was time to enter the war against the Primordial Beasts.

    The ranks of the Ordinary Warriors were fairly easy to break through. As the title said, Ordinary Warriors were simply ordinary. They had the lifespan of a mortal, and although they could contain Qi in their bodies, that was it. Their bodies could use the Qi to attack, but the attacks were weak.

    Earth Warriors were much stronger. They had a lifespan of two hundred years, and it was not before then that people could be considered cultivators.

    Xue Wei gave a nce at Shen Mu and shrugged his shoulders. "I found that I am not as useless as everyone thought I was," Xue Wei said with a casual voice as if what he was saying had nothing to do with him.

    "This is so strange," Shen Mu continued smilingly as he shook his head, "You used to just read books or run around following your uncle, but now you are actually on the path to be a cultivator. Your talents are even quite good!"

    Shen Mu calcted on his fingers and then his eyes grew wide, "It has only been four months since Ist saw you and you are already at the peak of the fourthyer! Did you eat a whole lot of medicinal nts and pills?"

    Xue Wei frowned as he shook his head, "I haven¡¯t eaten even one of those pills or nts yet," he said truthfully. "I did not want to leave before I was strong enough to protect myself, should I run into Li Jian or someone else."

    Sighing, Xue Wei noticed that Shen Mu did not seem to listen to what was said and he smiled faintly.

    "Shen Mu, please stop staring at me like this," Xue Wei said with a wry smile on his lips. "Staring won¡¯t change anything."

    "Of course, you are right!" Shen Muughed, but he had a hard time not staring. The changes that Xue Wei had undergone were simply too stunning.

    "Come with me to visit Father. I am sure he would like to know what has happened. Also, since you are now a Warrior, you will have to join the war in a year, so we need to sign you up for the same army as me as well!" Shen Mu was quite excited about this and grabbed Xue Wei¡¯s hand and dragged him with him towards the outside of the castle without even asking what he thought of the idea.

    Xue Wei knew that he had to report that he was no longer trash, as any child at age sixteen had to join the army if they could cultivate, even the ones of major families and the ones fromrge sects, so Xue Wei was also required to be sent out to war.

    This was not something that Xue Wei truly minded; he had always wanted to join the war and make a name for himself, so for once he allowed Shen Mu to drag him along.

    The only thing that Xue Wei was worried about was running into Li Jian on the way, but he knew that if Shen Mu were with him, then he would be safe. Even though Li Jian was also considered a genius, his cultivation base was not as stable as Shen Mu, since he had used more external resources to boost it.

    Li Jian dared not fight Shen Mu head on, and even if he had the benefit of having more people, he did not dare to fight the next city lord.

    Fortunately, Xue Wei and Shen Mu did not encounter any of the other youngsters on their way towards the City Lord¡¯s home, and they quickly reached their destination.

    The reason that the Shen family were the city lords of Tiankong City was that they were the first family in the city to have a Heavenly Warrior. It was before Xiao Lei entered the city, and before the Li family managed to produce a Heavenly Warrior too.

    The Heavenly Warrior of the Shen family was exactly Shen Mu¡¯s father, Shen Bingwen, the current city lord.

 Chapter 9: Visiting the City Lord

    Chapter 9: Visiting the City Lord

    "Wee back, young master," the guards said to Shen Mu the moment they saw him. Yet none of them even so much as looked at Xue Wei. He was the trash of town, someone who was not even worth a greeting.

    If they had looked at him, they would have noticed the unmistakable air of an expert around him. Although it was still weak, it was there, and it was clear that he was no longer an ordinary mortal who could not cultivate.

    Shen Mu pursed his lips in displeasure. He wished that the guards were more polite, but just as he was about to speak, he saw that Xue Wei just smiled and shook his head almost unnoticeably.

    Shen Mu¡¯s lips turned into a tight line, but he said nothing. Instead, he just dragged Xue Wei with him past the many servants, maids, and guards that had allpletely ignored Xue Wei but politely greeted Shen Mu.

    The further into the mansion they went, the more upset Shen Mu became, but Xue Wei found it amusing how Shen Mu suddenly realized how everyone had treated him for the past five years and was agitated by it.

    Since Shen Mu was in a bad mood, the two of them rushed through the mansion towards Shen Bingwen¡¯s office.

    As they reached the office, Shen Mu finally let go of Xue Wei¡¯s wrist and straightened his clothes before he knocked on the door. Although he was the most outstanding genius in Tiankong City, Shen Mu was always nervous whenever he was in front of his father.

    "Enter." A stoic and prating voice sounded out. Shen Mu took a deep breath before he opened the door and let himself and Xue Wei inside.

    "Little Mu, little Wei, what can I do for you?" Shen Bingwen asked with a sigh as he raised his head from the papers he had been reading, and he looked at the two of them. "Have you been bullied again?" Shen Bingwen asked as this was the only reason that came to mind for their sudden appearance. Now that Xiao Lei was no longer here to look after Xue Wei, it was obvious that they¡¯d go to the grown-up they trusted the most, and that was Shen Bingwen.

    He internally sighed as he did not wish to be the one in charge of this, but when his eyesnded on Xue Wei, a peculiar light shone within, and he instantly stood up, his chair knocked away, and his mouth was wide open, his eyes almost popping out from their sockets.

    "Ordinary Warrior, peak fourthyer!" he eximed with a trembling finger that pointed at Xue Wei.

    He was even more shocked than Shen Mu when he noticed the change in Xue Wei.

    The reason he was even more shocked than his son was because that he knew that bing a fourthyer Ordinary Warrior in four months was simply impossible.

    Many of the experts in Tiankong city had started cultivating before the age of ten, but those who had started around the age of nine had managed to reach the ranks of the seventh, eighth and ninthyer.

    To see a child who was regarded as trash suddenly reach this stage that should have taken years of time in four months, how could he not be shocked?

    Seeing the expression on Shen Mu¡¯s face, Xue Wei wracked his brain for an excuse as to why he suddenly became as strong as he was.

    Xue Wei was not dumb; he knew that his advance was simply too fast to be considered humanly possible, and even he had a hard time understanding that he had managed as far as he had in such a short amount of time.

    "My uncle said that all the training I had done when I was trash had gathered in my body and was like a waterfall waiting to overflow. When I finally broke a hole in the barrier, allowing me to cultivate, my advance would be many times faster than others because the Qi has been hiding within my body."

    Xue Wei was just saying whatever he thought made sense, but the face of Shen Mu and Shen Bingwen turned better after hearing what he had to say.

    "Xiao Lei said that?" Shen Bingwen asked, but before Xue Wei had the time to answer, he was nodding his head. "That makes sense," he repeated to himself twice.

    "But does that not mean that you will catch up with the other geniuses fairly soon?" Shen Bingwen asked after a bit of consideration, and Xue Wei nodded his head, "I should," he said with a bit of uncertainty. Although he had managed to cultivate incredibly fast up until now, it was not certain that he could continue cultivating faster than humanly possible.

    Seeing the uncertainty on Xue Wei¡¯s face, Shen Bingwen sighed again. "Your uncle should have told us. If we knew it was only a matter of time before you shed your title as a good-for-nothing, then I am sure that others would have treated you better. I cannot understand why your uncle would let you go through this pain if it could be avoided."

    Xue Wei shrugged his shoulders. He could not very well say that this was just some excuse he hade up with, and thus he looked apologetic and answered, "I apologize for our selfishness, but now that it is revealed, there is no reason to keep it a secret anymore." Seeing that the two others were not willing to let the subject go, Xue Wei smiled and changed the subject away from his own sudden rise in strength.

    "Let us do the paperwork and have me signed up for the army alongside all the other youths from this city."

    Seeing the way he smoothly changed the subject, Shen Bingwen understood that there was no reason to ask questions. It was highly likely that Xue Wei would just avoid them, and since this was the case, they might as well just change the subject to signing up Xue Wei for the war.

    Xue Wei had always been a smart child. During all the time he had lived in Tiankong City, he would have spent all the time on reading books and following Xiao Lei around; his intelligence was highpared to other children his age, and his knowledge surpassed even that of adults due to him having been reading day out and day in.

    Although he was a smart child, he was also very obedient to Xiao Lei. He would do anything to make his uncle happy. Since he was incapable of making his uncle proud of him when it came to cultivation, he often made food for his uncle instead, such as snacks, lunch-boxes and so on.

    When it came to other people, Xue Wei was incredibly cold. He was considered friends with Shen Mu, yet Shen Mu knew absolutely nothing about Xue Wei, and Xue Wei never treated the other with any real friendliness.

    Shen Bingwen sighed. It was not surprising that Xue Wei was cold to anyone other than his uncle considering how he had been treated, but now more than ever was he happy that his son had done what he could to be at least considered a friend. It turned out that although this child¡¯s current achievements were low, his future achievements might not be so shabby.

    "Okay, I will sign you up for the army. You will be in the same battalion as little Mu. He will help look after you." Finding a stack of papers from a shelf behind him, Shen Bingwen wrote on one piece and filled in the forms. It took him around the time it takes for an incense stick to burn down before he finished.

    "Drop some blood on here," he ordered, and Xue Wei did what he had been told. Cutting a finger with a nail, he allowed for a drop of blood to fall on the paper. A golden gleam appeared from the paper before it turned slightly azure. The azure lightsted for merely a moment, and one could argue whether or not it had even been there, but as the azure light vanished, the paper returned to normal.

    Shen Bingwen looked with surprise at the paper. ¡°How surprising!¡± he eximed. ¡°I have never before seen an azure gleam, but the golden one means that the contract has been sealed. If you do not show up at the army office at the summer months of your 16th year of birth, then you will die.¡±

    "Okay, the formalities have beenpleted. In a little more than a year, the two of you will be heading to the front lines alongside the others of the same age of our Tiankong City."

    Xue Wei nodded his head. He was secretly very proud of what he heard. He would be going to the front lines! He would be fighting against the beasts, and he would be able to bring back glory for his uncle!

    On the outside, however, one could not even begin to guess the emotions that were ricocheting about inside Xue Wei. Since he had been beaten and bullied time and time again, he had learned topletely shut off his emotions, to not let anyone see how he truly felt.

    The only time he would be himself was when he was with his uncle. There he would cry andugh and y like the child he had been.

    "Well, there is no reason for us to stay here any longer," Shen Mu saidughingly. "Why don¡¯t we go to town and look at some nts and skills? I heard that a new merchant has arrived who even brought with him high-ranked martial art skills!"

    Xue Wei had quite a lot of money at his disposal and there were a few things that he needed. Although he had gotten enough skills from the ring that his uncle had left him, he could still use medicinal herbs to increase his cultivation speed.

    Although he felt that he hade far in the time he had locked himself up, he also understood that the reason he had managed to get that far was exactly because of the amazing scripture he had been given.

    But a scripture could only do so much. He needed to work hard to be able to continue his cultivation at his current speed, and medicinal herbs were exactly what he needed. Fortunately, he had a great understanding of medicinal herbs from the time before he lost his memory and thus he was quite certain of his own ability to find what he needed.

    He knew that some of the cheaper herbs, if used together, could make for great herbal baths that would help strengthen the body and increase the amount of Qi he could absorb.

    Usually, he would not have followed Shen Mu to town, as he knew that if he ran into someone, then he would get beaten up, but things were different now.

    Although he was not as strong as the Young Master Li and the geniuses of the town, he was no longer trash, and he had been able to increase his cultivation fast. Secretly, he hoped that they would be friendly towards him, but he also understood that that possibility was not very big.

    Still, he was no longer trash, so they had no reason to attack him, and even if they did, he had a superior martial art. By now, he had learned one of the attacks and had touched upon the Forbidden Rush, something which allowed for him to move as fast as the wind and avoid many of the attacks.

    Speed-enhancing and evasion techniques such as the Forbidden Rush were incredibly hard to obtain, and not many within Tiankong City had one, making it possible for Xue Wei to feel some sort of safety. Even if he could not win a fight, he could escape, even though he had only just touched upon the beginning of the Forbidden Rush.

 Chapter 10: King of the Mountain

    Chapter 10: King of the Mountain

    Shen Mu, who was walking by Xue Wei¡¯s side, was used to the young man being quiet, and he did not mind it. He was, however, quite surprised that Xue Wei had epted toe to town with him since he had avoided the city center due to the others bullying him.

    Although Xue Wei did not speak, there was a bright light in his eyes, and Shen Mu knew that he was simply too excited about being able to cultivate. He was also aware that Xue Wei was hoping that the others would ept him now, but he was more realistic about their reactions.

    If he had just reached the firstyer of the Ordinary Warrior rank, then they would not have minded, but Xue Wei was now at the peak fourthyer! In a mere four months, he had started to rush down the path of a cultivator with a speed so shocking that none of the others couldpete against it.

    Those who had hated him for being a piece of trash were likely to hate him for having too much talent, and no matter how he looked at it, Xue Wei was going to get beaten up. He was only a fourthyer expert, so how could he possibly withstand the ninthyer geniuses of the town as things were now?

    The sad thing was that many of them did not hate him because he was trash, being trash was just convenient for them to bully him and gave them a legitimate reason to beat him up. The truth was that all of them were jealous of him being Xiao Lei¡¯s nephew.

    Sighing, Shen Mu shook his head with a small self-mocking grin on his face. Although he was the one who had suggested they went to town, he never expected that it would happen and now he could only curse himself. If Xue Wei were to enter a fight, then he would have to stick up for him, and in the end, it was likely that he too would be drawn into a beating.

    Shen Mu would never let his friend fight alone, and he knew that although he was the strongest expert in town, he was not the only expert, and Li Jian had gathered a whole group of followers who would beat anyone and anything that stood in the way of bullying Xue Wei.

    Truthfully, while Shen Mu did not dislike Xue Wei, and he was genuinely shocked by the performance this young man had shown with his sudden explosive talent, he did not consider Xue Wei one of his good friends either.

    Xue Wei was simply too hard to get close to. He was never one to talk much; he kept everything he felt on the inside, and his eyes would always burn with defiance.

    This was also another reason why they had beaten him time and time again. One thing was that he was a piece of trash, another thing was that he refused to bow and grovel on the ground in front of them. His eyes were always shining with an unyielding spirit, and Xue Wei was without a doubt the smartest youth in the entire city.

    Although he was incapable of cultivating inner Qi, when it came to his mental age, it was many times more developed than any youth his age, and his knowledge even surpassed that of some elders.

    This was yet another reason that the young members of the city all hated Xue Wei. He could not cultivate, but he could do just about anything else, and this agitated them. They wanted to prove that he was truly worth nothingpared to them.

    But now Xue Wei had managed to get a cultivation base; he no longer wished to stay an ordinary youth with high intelligence.

    Xue Wei had always dreamt of making his uncle proud of him and to do so he needed to be one of the strongest experts. He wished to ughter Primordial Beasts like his uncle and gain recognition.

    His eyes shone with excitement as he thought about it, and he sped up slightly as he moved towards one of the shops selling medicinal nts and pills.

    Shen Mu, who waspletely in the dark about what Xue Wei had been thinking about, just followed behind. He had already epted that whatever would happen would happen and that he could not stop it no matter what.

    When he saw Xue Wei speed up, he was certain that the reason he did so was because he did not want to be caught by the others, not because he was eager to find the herbs he needed.

    Shen Mu agreed with Xue Wei on making their trip to the city markets as fast as possible, so he said nothing and just sped up as well.

    Unfortunately, things did not go as he wished. Li Jian and his followers had not seen Xue Wei in four months, and although Xue Wei did not often leave the mansion, he would at least enter the markets around once a month.

    Now it had been four months sincest, and Li Jian was missing his favorite hobby of bullying Xue Wei. He had even started worrying that Xue Wei would never enter the marketces again and thus he had paid beggars and othermoners to keep an eye out for Xue Wei.

    Whoever managed to bring news to Li Jian about Xue Wei entering the marketces could go and collect a silver coin from Li Jian, and a silver coin could feed a family of four for three weeks.

    The offer was simply too tempting for anyone to care about the possibilities of revenge from Xiao Lei who was not even present in the city, and as soon as they saw Xue Wei, a fewmoners vanished from the street as stealthily as shadows as they moved towards the Li residence.

    The firstmoner that made it to the Li residence found the Young Master Li at the family¡¯s training ground where he was practicing.

    "Young Master! Young Master!" someone called out, and Young Master Li scowled as he was interrupted in his training of a martial art skill. He turned around looked at the person who appeared in front of him, his scowl turning to excitement. He knew that there would only be one reason for amoner to arrive in front of him at this time.

    "I will go to town instantly!" he eximed and waved his hand, causing a whole group of experts to stop their training and follow behind him.

    Many of those experts were of minor noble families, whose families were beneath the Li family, and others were just opportunists who figured that following Young Master Li around would be beneficial to them in the future.

    This entire entourage moved towards the city marketce where Xue Wei was. Oblivious to thising threat, Xue Wei had entered the first shop he saw to spend some of the gold he had brought with him.

    The shop was covered in a dim light within the room, dust could be seen floating in the air, and a scent of herbs assaulted their noses as they narrowed their eyes, slowly getting used to the light.

    Xue Wei was easily able to see the different herbs and took a deep breath. For some reason, he felt emotional having entered the shop, but no matter how much he scoured his memories, it was impossible for him to figure out why an apothecary shop was something nostalgic for him.

    Without caring too much about it, Xue Wei shook his head and headed to the counter.

    The man behind the counter looked at Xue Wei with surprise. Everyone knew Xue Wei within the city and to see him in a shop was truly rare. Especially seeing him with such a casual expression as the one he wore right now. It seemed as though nothing could faze him; even if another expert appeared out of the blue, Xue Wei gave off the impression that he would not bat an eyelid.

    Still, this apothecary wanted Xue Wei to leave the shop as soon as possible. The longer he was in the shop, the more danger his shop was in. Every genius in town, except Shen Mu, hated him and a battle was bound to happen if they were to spot him.

    "I need five pieces of ten-year-old blood ginseng and seven stalks of forty-year-old corpse grass. I also need three sr flowers that are around thirty years old and finally one beast core of the earth warrior rank, the firstyer is enough."

    The apothecary was shocked when he heard the items that Xue Wei wanted to buy. Some of them were even poisonous! But all of them were easy to get their hands on; the rarest item was the beast core, but even that was somewhat easy to purchase.

    Without even moving, the clerk did the math. When he was done, he looked at Xue Wei as if he had seen an idiot.

    "That is a total of one gold, eighty-seven silver, and five copper coins," the clerk said with a doubtful expression on his face. Yes, Xue Wei was a young master, but did he really have the gold to pay this?

    Although the items were easy to find, the Fierce Beast core was different. Everything that came from beasts was incredibly expensive, and especially their beast cores. Even the ordinary noble-born would not buy Fierce Beast items.

    Without caring for the doubtful expression on the face of the young man, Xue Wei found three gold coins and handed them to the apothecary who instantly epted them and returned the few silver coins and coppers that were extra.

    Then he remembered that he still had not found the items and he hurried to pick out the items he had just sold. The core was ced in a jade box while the herbs were ced in metalwood boxes. He then packed all the things in a bag and handed it to Xue Wei.

    Metalwood was a specific kind of wood that was used to storing herbs and other valuable items in. It was highly sought after, and was often farmed by farmers in the northern areas of the Kingdom of Heping.

    epting the packed-up items, Xue Wei nodded his head and turned to leave. Yet the moment he left the shop, he saw that a whole group of experts were waiting for him outside. Sighing, Xue Wei put the items he had just bought into a pocket and looked at the Young Master Li that stood in front of him.

    Young Master Li was now a nineyer Ordinary Warrior much like Shen Mu, but he used his power for bullying others, and Xue Wei had no good impression of him.

    "Shen Mu, leave now, and I won¡¯t beat you up too," Young Master Li said in a dangerously low voice as he took a step towards Xue Wei.

    "Sorry, it turns out that Xue Wei is a friend of mine. How can I step aside while a friend of mine is in danger?" Shen Mu asked with a slight smile on his face, and the color started draining from Young Master Li¡¯s face.

    "So you only dare to venture into town when you have protection, huh? You useless piece of trash. If I don¡¯t cripple you today, then I won¡¯t be the young master of the Li family any longer!"

    He was livid with anger as he never expected that Shen Mu would actually stand up for Xue Wei.

    Everyone looked at Xue Wei, and their eyes were filled with enmity, and suddenly a chill shed by the eyes of the number two man under Young Master Li.

    "Young Master, take care of Shen Mu. The rest of us will thrash that piece of crap!" he eximed, but shockingly enough, all he heard was a chuckle from Xue Wei.

    "Would you look at that. It is like watching two monkeys ying King of the Mountain." He said lightly, yet his words were heard by everyone present, and their faces turned pale from the shock of his choice of words. Was this the young piece of trash? Where did he get the courage to say such words?

    "What did you just say?!" Young Master Li suddenly eximed, his face alternating between red and blue, anger shing in his eyes. He had never before been insulted in such a way.

    "I said, since you are a monkey, you are acting just as I¡¯d expect," Xue Wei continued as he shrugged his shoulders, a sinister grin appearing on his lips. He had endured for long enough; now it was time for some payback and to see just how powerful he waspared to these soon to be experts. At worst, he would be beaten badly, but that would not be the first time it happened.

 Chapter 11: Trash No More

    Chapter 11: Trash No More

    Xue Wei was fully aware that he was not Young Master Li Jian¡¯s match in a direct confrontation, but he had no intention of ying fair. Li Jian had never been fair before when beating him up, and Xue Wei was not going to be fair either.

    Xue Wei had touched upon the Forbidden Rush movement skill which allowed him to merge with the wind. Wherever the wind was, he could be too. Moving like the wind,ing and going as he pleased.

    Not only had he touched upon the Forbidden Rush movement skill, but he had also reached a high proficiency in using the Azure Light Finger, a superior martial art attack.

    Martial arts were split into five ranks. First was the low martial arts, then came the middle martial arts followed by the high martial arts. Then came the superior martial arts and finally the profound martial arts. There were legends of martial techniques stronger than these, but Xue Wei had never cultivated and reached a realm where he was allowed to know such secrets, and thus he did not know whether or not this was correct.

    From this, one could see that Xue Wei¡¯s abilities were some of the most outstanding martial arts in the entire kingdom, and although it was possible to buy superior martial techniques, they were expensive, and supply could not follow demand. Most families, even the Li family, which was a major family within one of the biggest cities in the southern region of the Kingdom of Heping, only had a few of them, and Xue Wei was sure that Li Jian could at most have learned one, if he had even been allowed to train such high ranked ability with his current strength.

    Although it was possible that Li Jian had trained a superior martial arts, he and Xue Wei were in the same position. Both of them were only Ordinary Warriors, and although Li Jian was at the ninthyer and Xue Wei the fourth, neither of them would be capable of unleashing more than five percent of the abilities¡¯ full potential.

    Since Li Jian was a ninthyered Ordinary Warrior, he should be able to exert five percent, while Xue Wei, who was only a fourthyer Ordinary Warrior should be able to show off around three percent.

    Although there was a difference between a ninthyered ordinary warrior and a fourthyered ordinary warrior, it was not impossible for Xue Wei to surprise Li Jian and injure him, giving him payback for all the years he had been bullied by him.

    Xue Wei looked at Li Jian with cold eyes. "You really think you are the king of the city just because you have a bit of talent?" Xue Wei asked, his every word causing young Master Li to be stunned, he was almost about to startughing when someone finally seemed to notice.

    "Young master! That trash is an Ordinary Warrior of the fourthyer! Fourthyer! Just what did that piece of trash eat in these four months to make his cultivation base soar to the fourthyer?!"

    As the young man spoke, everyone was filled with astonishment, but Young Master Li just sneered. "So what if you are a fourthyer Ordinary Warrior, I am a ninthyer, there is a massive difference between the two of us, and still you think you can talk as you please?" Li Jian forced himself to be calm.

    More and more spectators started watching what was going on, and he knew that if he showed even the slightest bit of hesitation, he would lose face. On the other hand, he could no longer back out with so many people observing him, and he did truly not believe that a fourthyered Ordinary Warrior would be able to pose any threat to him.

    It was within human nature to want to see a scene, and this scene was especially thrilling. The younger generation was always fighting each other, but the words that had been spoken this time were simply too arrogant. Coupled with them being spoken by someone that had been considered trash was simply outrageous and everyone wanted to see him getting beaten.

    "Everyone, move to block Shen Mu! I will personally deal with this piece of trash!" Li Jian called out before he pounced on Xue Wei.

    While Li Jian¡¯s friends lookedpletely stunned and not very happy, they did not dare dy. They knew that they were in for a beating since Shen Mu was a ninthyered Ordinary Warrior, but they were only at the seventhyer most of them; a few were at the sixthyer, while others were at the eight.

    No matter how much they ganged up on Shen Mu, if he decided to take them out one after another, they could do nothing to stop him.

    Although Li Jian¡¯s speed was faster than Xue Wei¡¯s normal speed, one could not forget that Xue Wei had touched the threshold of the superior movement technique Forbidden Rush, and that movement techniques were all incredibly rare. Xue Wei was certain that he was the only one within all of the younger generation of Tiankong City that had a movement technique.

    As he saw Li Jian move closer to him he just stood there, waiting for him while everyone in the audience sucked in a breath of air.

    "He has given up," someone said. "He is epting his inferiority, but did he have to rile up this young master? He is definitely going to be beaten badly this time," another said.

    "He has forgotten that his uncle is no longer here to look after him, and is now getting what he deserved!" a person in the audience sneered, and many nodded their heads. They all disliked Xue Wei, and seeing him getting beaten up made them feel superior, a feeling thesemoners did not often feel.

    But just as the words had left their mouths everyone was stunned silly as they saw Xue Wei moving in a strange and elusive manner.

    It was as if he was the wind, his body moved as if it was slow and gentle, but truthfully it was fast and ferocious.

    The first movement was seen by everyone, his body almost seemed to fall forward, but then suddenly he was gone from sight.

    This was a risk for Xue Wei. He knew that if he moved too early, then Li Jian would be able to follow up with another strike in the direction that he was moving, but if he moved toote, then he would have been seriously injured by the attack.

    Xue Wei was after all only a fourthyered Ordinary Warrior. He was nowhere near Li Jian¡¯s match, but he understood that as long as he had the Forbidden Rush and kept his head cold, then he would be able to avoid the attacks and keep himself safe.

    Since this was the case, Xue Wei felt the need to try something else. He knew that he would be able to use the Azure Light Finger, but he was also aware that if he used this attack then he could at most attack twice before running out of Qi. Since this was the case he decided to gamble.

    "Got to try something new," Xue Wei thought to himself. He had never before practiced the Shattering Mountain Palm, but he had read all about it before. With that in mind, he started gathering the Qi within his body.

    Xue Wei¡¯s eyes never left Li Jian as the feeling of vanishing from sight and re-appearing behind his target felt all too real.

    The moment he appeared behind Li Jian, he immediately thrust out his palm, which was infused with his Qi.

    Shattering Mountain Palm!

    The wind howled as his fist hit out with all the strength he could muster. Azure Qi covered his fist and when it made contact with Li Jian¡¯s back, the young master was shot forward like an arrow leaving its bow.

    Everyone stopped gossiping about how Xue Wei was trash and deserved to be beaten, and instead stared at Xue Wei with wide open eyes; no one spoke, even the henchmen who were supposed to attack Shen Mu had stopped in their tracks, and Shen Mu had not retaliated, as all of them stared at Xue Wei and the Li Jian who was lying on the ground.

    Li Jian was a ninthyer ordinary warrior, close to bing an Earth Warrior, and although he had taken a hit right to his back without any defense, he was not severely injured.

    Xue Wei stopped using the Forbidden Rush and stood where he was, looking at his palm with a smile on his face. This was the first time he had used the Shattering Mountain Palm, and the results had far exceeded his expectations.

    A mortal could on average lift fifty kilos of weight, while a firstyer Ordinary Warrior could lift a hundred kilos of weight. A secondyer could lift two hundred and a thirdyer could lift three hundred kilos. It continued like this up until the ninthyer where one could lift nine hundred kilos of weight.

    Xue Wei was unaware of how much he could lift as he had never measured it before, but when his hit connected with Li Jian¡¯s back, he noticed that his strength was more than the four hundred kilos he should be able to control.

    This was also the reason that Li Jian had been injured and shot out like an arrow.

    His face was nted solidly in the ground, his body in a miserable state. The reason he had lost the exchange so miserably was exactly because he had underestimated Xue Wei and because Xue Wei had taken him by surprise with his movement technique.

    "You were going to cripple me today, right?" Xue Wei sneered, and an azure Qi light shone on his finger just as Li Jian stood up once more. The Qi reached Li Jian in less time than it took to blink and a big hole was torn in his clothes around his shoulder, but the Qi light did not stop there, it continued to break through the defenses of Qi around Li Jian¡¯s body and wounded him, causing blood to flow out.

    Li Jian¡¯s face alternated between red and pale, and his eyes zed with anger from the humiliation. He gnashed his teeth and seemed to shred Xue Wei to pieces with his eyes, but he was more careful this time as he gathered the Qi he had in his body around his palm.

    Sonic Palm!

    He shot his hand forward, and the Qi traveled from the palm towards Xue Wei at a speed simr to the speed of sound. This was the only superior martial technique that Li Jian had learned, and it was his killing move. He took great pride in his Sonic Palm, but Xue Wei had already expected this and executed Forbidden Rush. Although he had not managed to dodge too elegantly, he had managed to narrowly dodge the attack.

    The attack had grazed his clothes, and torn a hole in his sleeve, but no blood had been drawn.

    His clothes and hair fluttered in the wind as he moved and many of the girls in the audience started to feel that Xue Wei was actually rather handsome.

    The already ugly face of Li Jian turned even uglier; his fist clenched tight as he looked at Xue Wei with a venomous re.

    No one else was fighting, everyone was observing Xue Wei and Li Jian, almost breathless as they had a hard time believing what they were seeing.

    Xue Wei was universally known as trash within Tiankong City, yet right now he was fighting a ninthyer Ordinary Warrior while only being at the fourthyer himself ¨C and not only that, he also had the upper hand!

    "So if you can¡¯t cripple me today, you will not be the Young Master Li anymore?" Xue Wei mocked Li Jian again, as his mouth curled into a cold and calcting smirk.

    "Come on, attack me! Show the world just how great of a warrior you are. I am only a fourthyer Ordinary Warrior; you are an esteemed genius of the ninthyer; so how can you possibly lose to someone as weak as me?"

    Xue Wei did not let up, he just stood there and threw every word that Li Jian had said back at him, causing the young master to be more and more furious.

    Finally, Li Jian could no longer take it, and he attacked Xue Wei wildly and ferociously without any care for how people looked at him. He screamed as he leaped forward at his fastest speed, Qi wrapped around his palm as he sent one Sonic Palm after another after Xue Wei. Yet, Xue Wei justughed as he used Forbidden Rush to dodge. Now, the difficulty had dropped as Li Jian no longer thought calmly about his attacks but just sent out attack after attack.

 Chapter 12: Toothless Tiger

    Chapter 12: Toothless Tiger

    "You are going to run out of Qi soon." Xue Weiughed at Li Jian, who was so furious that he was not even aware of the fact that he was using all the energy he could control without any restraints. Finally, he could no longer execute the Sonic Palm, nor any other martial arts for that matter.

    Truthfully, Xue Wei was not much better off himself. He had only executed Azure Light Finger and Shattering Mountain Palm once each, but those two attacks had taken eighty percent of his Qi. And while the Forbidden Rush depended more on external powers than internal, it still used up the final twenty percent that he had.

    Xue Wei¡¯s face drained of color, but so did Li Jian¡¯s. Although Li Jian was like a toothless tiger, he still had a body that was much more sturdy than Xue Wei¡¯s. If he got caught, then it was evident he would not have a good ending.

    "I should have learned Inner Might," he sighed to himself and decided that when he returned home, he would train Inner Might, the only profound ability he had picked out from the ring.

    "Anyone else who wants to cripple me today?" Xue Wei asked as his eyes looked over every single person that was standing around him, his eyes as unyielding as ever, and every follower of Li Jian shivered as they looked away.

    Shen Mu was astonished too, but he was also feeling a little proud. He was sure that Xue Wei would have been beaten silly, but seeing this friend of his disy such skills, he was astonished.

    "Man, that was amazing!" he called out and took a step towards Xue Wei. "That has to be one hell of a movement technique! I have never seen anyone use a movement technique before; I bet you are the only one within the entire Tiankong City with one! Your uncle must have passed it on to you before he left?"

    Shen Mu spoke just loud enough for people to hear what he said, and a mor instantly broke out. So the strange movements were due to a movement technique! They were all enlightened, and many looked at Xue Wei with jealousy.

    Xue Wei just shrugged his shoulders. "We should hurry back home,¡± Xue Wei said as he hurried next to Shen Mu.

    He had no more energy in his body, nor did he have a sturdy frame and all of them should be able to beat him easily. Even Li Jian had been inching closer to Xue Wei, but he dared not touch him now that he too had used all his Qi, whereas Shen Mu was by his side with all his Qi intact.

    ¡°You were lucky this time!¡± Li Jian sneered, feeling as if he had lost his entire face. He had not lost when it came to cultivation base, neither had he lost because of his strength being inferior, but because the other had an evasion and movement martial art.

    Xue Wei had to admit that he had been lucky. Li Jian and his ninthyered strength were many times stronger than he had expected. If not for his cool-headedness and Li Jian losing his calm, then the oue of the battle was likely to have been different.

    Xue Wei knew that the Azure Light Finger took around forty percent of his Qi, and a fully charged Shattering Mountain Palm was the same.

    A bit of perspiration dripped down his forehead as he thought about how close he had been to being beaten up, and not just him but also Shen Mu.

    Although Xue Wei could feel the loss of energy and somewhat feeble, his mental state had never been better. He had been bullied and abused for so long, and now he finally had been able to pay back those debts by just a little. He had been able to show that he was not trash, and he felt as if his shoulders were a thousand times lighter than what they had been before.

    His usually expressionless face turned into a smile, and his clenched hands slowly opened. He felt free for the first time, and he looked into the sky above, thoroughly enjoying himself. He felt restored.

    Shen Mu could feel that Xue Wei had spent all his energy and nodded his head before he escorted Xue Wei back to the mansion. When they returned they noticed that the manager was waiting outside for them.

    When the manager saw Xue Wei being walked home by Shen Mu, he was at first surprised, but then he noticed Xue Wei¡¯s state and his eyes turned dangerously dark.

    "Manager Su, do not worry," Xue Wei said with an uncharacteristic grin on his face. "Li Jian is much worse off than I am."

    "Mu, thank you for following me home. When I am at home, Li Jian will not dare do anything to me, so I am safe now," Xue Wei turned to Shen Mu and told him. This was the first time that Xue Wei referred to Shen Mu by just his first name, and Shen Mu couldn¡¯t help the smile that spread on his lips. It seemed that Xue Wei finally acknowledged their friendship.

    "Don¡¯t sweat it," Shen Mu grinned back and waved at Xue Wei as he turned around. "Train hard and show that Li Jian that not everyone is as useless as him. He just recently broke into the ninthyer of the Ordinary Warrior rank, so I will expect it to be a half year if not a year before he bes an Earth Warrior."

    Shen Mu started walking down the street, when he turned around and said onest thing to Xue Wei, "Show them all just how strong you are after your next secluded cultivation!"

    Xue Wei nodded his head solemnly and reached into his robes where he found the bag filled with medicinal nts.

    "Manager Su, please have the maids fill up a bath for me," Xue Wei requested, and the manager nodded his head solemnly.

    Although he was incredibly curious about what Xue Wei had meant when he said that Li Jian was looking much worse, he did not dare ask. He was confident that after a short amount of time, the guards and the maids would have brought a rumor back for him to hear.

    Xue Wei did not go directly to his room. Instead, he went to the back where the training grounds were located.

    He closed his eyes and remembered the feelings he had experienced when fighting Li Jian, and how he had narrowly escaped every attack by relying on the Forbidden Rush ability.

    He started moving like a flutter; although there was not much wind within the eastern region, it was as if his every move brought forth a gentle breeze, which slowly increased to be a current of wind and from that wind manifested a gale.

    Xue Wei moved faster than the eye could see; he merged with the wind brought forth by his movements, and he thoroughly began enjoying the feeling of the abstruse feeling of turning ethereal like the wind.

    He increased and decreased his speed ording to his wishes. He changed his directions with but a thought, and he was capable of jumping far into the sky.

    Currently, Xue Wei was only capable of performing these actions, but if he managed to reach a higher level, both of understanding the art and also of cultivation so that he could unleash more of its potential, then it would not be impossible for him to fly in the future.

    Xue Wei had read books about legendary figures who had managed to cultivate to a level where they were capable of flying, yet none of the books stated anything about the levels above the Heavenly Warrior level.

    Xue Wei came to a stop. This movement martial art did not consume much energy as it instead required the surrounding energy to disy its might, but it was still very taxing on his mind as he needed to keep everything within his inner eye so that he could calcte where to move to, how fast to move there, and what path to take.

    It was also because of this that Xue Wei noticed that Manager Su had arrived on the training ground, and he turned around after stopping.

    "Young Master, the bath has been drawn. You should go to your room and enjoy the bath."

    Xue Wei nodded his head, his face once again expressionless, but Manager Su knew from experience that Xue Wei was not deliberately acting cold towards him. This was just his usual self.

    Having nodded his head, Xue Wei went straight back to his room where he found a big wooden barrel filled with steaming hot water.

    He then reached into his robes and took out the bag of nts that he had bought earlier that day. Blood Ginseng and Corpse Grass were both widespread materials.

    The pharmacies could cultivate a Blood Ginseng. They were regr ginsengs that had been fertilized with blood until the root itself had turned crimson .

    The older the ginseng, and the more blood it had consumed, the more medicinal properties were within the nt.

    The ginsengs that Xue Wei had bought were only ten years old each. Although ten years seemed like a lot to a fifteen-year-old young man, they were not that old in the world of nts.

    Humans cultivated most Blood Ginsengs, but a few rare ones could be found in nature if there was some kind of bloody phenomenon. Xue Wei had read about a blood spring that was deep in one of the danger regions, and he knew that that ce had to have Blood Ginsengs inrge quantities. The naturally formed ones were also much more potent in energy than these domestically grown ones.

    But no matter how much Xue Wei wanted to get his hands on the naturally formed Blood Ginsengs, he knew it was impossible; and being realistic, he also knew that his body could not handle all the energy contained within them. It might just end up exploding.

    Since this was the case, Xue Wei decided to use the next best, which was a herb he knew he could control. And together with the Blood Ginseng was the forty-year-old Corpse Grass.

    Corpse Grass was also a widespread material. In fact, it was even moremon than Blood Ginseng and required even less work.

    Corpse Grass grew on top of corpses and took nutrients from the carcass. They could store a great amount of energy within their leaves from when the body was still present, and live for up to thousands of years.

    With Corpse Grass, the medicinal properties got stranger the older they were.

    Corpse Grass was poisonous. It was after all a herb that existed by living off the dead. However, Corpse Grass that were older were not poisonous any longer but were instead highly effective medicine for young and budding warriors.

    Blood Ginseng were filled with blood essence and consuming one directly was dangerous. But adding it to the bathwater was a great way of extracting the energy from the nt, allowing for him to absorb the blood essence and strengthen his body¡¯s exterior.

    The Corpse Grass was just old enough to have gotten rid of the poisonous aspect, but too young to contain too much energy. It was a thin bnce, so he had to be careful. The older the herb, the stronger it became. Although it lost the poisonous effect, it was also forty years old and had gathered energy for forty years.

    Although it was tempting to eat medicine with a lot of strength, the risk was too high. It could enter the body and break down the meridians, the channels within the body where the Qi flowed, and leave a warrior crippled for life; or if he was really unlucky, his entire body could explode.

    Keeping this in mind, Xue Wei took a knife and cut open the first of the ten-year-old ginseng. He then saw how small drops of liquid that resembled blood dropped into the bathtub.

    After careful observation and ten drops of liquidter, Xue Wei ced the Blood Ginseng back in the wooden box. He had not used more than a third of the medicinal fluid within the first ginseng, but it was already enough.

    The bath in front of him had turnedpletely red like blood, and Xue Wei took a deep breath. He then found the Sr Flower and took one of the petals which he dropped into the red water and then added half a leaf of Corpse Grass.

 Chapter 13: Concoction of Herbs

    Chapter 13: Concoction of Herbs

    The Sr Flower was a mixture of a sunflower and a lily. It shone with a golden light and was incredibly beautiful.

    The nt was extremelymon in the southern region of the Kingdom of Heping where the sun shone almost every day of the year.

    Getting his hand on three Sr Flowers about thirty years of age was as simple as getting his hands on the forty-year-old Corpse Grass.

    Then Xue Wei took the Beast Core he had purchased and used the Azure Light Finger to strike it. He aimed to break it up into smaller pieces, and he managed to seed.

    A resounding boom could be heard as the beam reached the core and shattered it into thousands of pieces.

    Beast Cores looked like ss-faceted diamonds. They were stored in the heads of beasts, just behind the forehead, and they gathered all of the beasts internal energy within.

    Shattering the core made it look as if it was made from ss, and small shards appeared all over his room. Xue Wei dropped one of the shards into the water basin before he started gathering all the others.

    From time to time, he would stir the bath water, which strangely enough did not seem to cool off at all in the time it took him to gather the shards and ce them on his table.

    Once he was done picking the floor clean of the shards, he took off his clothes and took a deep breath. "This is going to hurt," Xue Wei muttered to himself as he climbed into the bath.

    The moment his feet touched the water, Xue Wei gritted his teeth and fought back the urge to scream.

    The Corpse Grass was no longer poisonous, but it was still very violent in nature, and it was also a nt that had lived for forty years. This was just about the limit for how much energy they could contain before Xue Wei would receive injuries to his meridians.

    The energy entered his body from the foot that had touched the water, and it felt like thousands of needles were traveling through his body.

    The temperature of the water made Xue Wei feel as though he was being boiled alive, but the worst was the feeling of constantly having his body being cut by thousands of knives at the same time.

    The moment Xue Wei lowered his entire body under the water, his vision turned dark and he almost lost consciousness due to the intense pain;, yet by relying on his determination of bing a respected cultivator, Xue Wei forced himself to stay awake.

    He sat in the water, his head just above the surface, and was cultivating. The wisps of Qi that entered his body were numerous, traveling through the meridians in his body to be purified before being absorbed into the shining pearl in his dantian.

    Xue Wei could feel how his flesh was being strengthened by the Blood Ginseng he had added to the water, and he could not help but feel excited.

    "Earlier when I was fighting Li Jian, it felt as if my strength was superior to the four hundred kilos I should be capable of lifting. Was my imagination ying tricks on me?" Pondering on it for a bit, Xue Wei decided that when he finishes this session of secluded cultivation and fully grasps the Forbidden Rush and the Shattering Mountain Palm, he would find some remote ce to test it.

    It was not only Xue Wei¡¯s physical body that was improving, but Xue Wei could also feel how the energy from the water entered his body and pushed out impurities, making it possible for him to absorb more energy and faster than before.

    The water also contained a shard of the beast core of an Earth Ranked Fierce Beast. This was not only someyers above him but a whole realm above him, and the energy contained in that little shard already held as much energy as Xue Wei had with his fourthyer Ordinary Warrior rank.

    The energy from the core entered Xue Wei¡¯s body together with the whisps of energy, slowly getting refined.

    The concoction that Xue Wei had made felt so familiar. It was as if he knew it by heart, but he had never before experienced it on his own body.

    He did not know that, previously, he had often helped histe father prepare these baths for the wealthiest families in Lingyun Town.

    But now that he felt it on his own body, Xue Wei understood that although this method was an excellent way to cultivating, it was not suitable for everyone.

    If one were not able to calm their mind and keep rxed while feeling such intense pain, it would be a wasted opportunity as they would not gain more than what they could with regr, unassisted cultivation.

    Xue Wei sat in the bath all night, and the water turned more and more transparent. His flesh and blood absorbed all the blood essence of the Blood Ginseng, and the Corpse Grass cleared out his meridians. The beast core shard had been depleted, transformed into energy that had be part of his own cultivation system.

    Before entering this concoction of nts and a beast core, Xue Wei had been a peak fourthyer Ordinary Warrior. Now, after one night of training, he had broken through to the fifthyer. It made him clench his hands excitedly.

    This was not something he could do more than once every third day, or his meridians would not be capable of handling all the energy that went through them. But doing this once every third day also provided a significant effect.

    Another benefit of using nts instead of pills was that there were no pill toxins in using the raw materials. True, when using the nts alone, the medicinal strength could not be fully extracted, but the bit that could be extracted was already enough for an Ordinary Warrior.

    Pills were rtively rare, but Tiankong City was one of the biggest cities in the Kingdom of Heping, and thus it was natural for it to have an Alchemist Association.

    Pills were graded by low purity, middle purity, high purity, superior purity, and profound purity.

    You needed to be strong enough to consume a pill of certain purity.

    With Xue Wei¡¯s current strength, all he could consume would be a low purity pill. That kind of pills were filled with pill toxins. Although these pill toxins could be removed by for instance using Corpse Grass or other nts, it was a long and tedious process, and the pill toxins might even hurt his prospects.

    Because of this, not many were willing to buy pills of low and middle purity; they were simply too poisonous for the cultivators, and only those who had no other option would consume them.

    Sighing and shaking his head, Xue Wei stopped thinking about pills. Although he wished that he could take profound pills and be able to increase his cultivation base just like that, he was fully aware that it was suicide. Since this was the case, he could do nothing but consume the nts the way he did every third day, and spend the rest of the time practicing the Forbidden Rush and the Shattering Mountain Palm.

    Xue Wei¡¯s life fell into a pattern. He would spend his time training and practicing the Shattering Mountain Palm and the Forbidden Rush. And whenever able, he would take a herbal bath likest time.

    He eventually ran out of Corpse Grass, but Manager Su personally went to purchase some for him upon realizing this, and nothing interrupted Xue Wei¡¯s training regimen.

    Another month went by. While Xue Wei was busy training, everyone in Tiankong City was in deep shock.

    The same day as Xue Wei had battled Li Jian, a rumor had started spreading in the city stating that Xue Wei was actually not trash and that he was capable of going head to head with Li Jian because he possessed a movement martial arts skill.

    The first information was already enough to stun the entire city. Everyone had hated and loathed Xue Wei because he was useless, yet now, after having secluded himself for four months, he was better than the majority of the poption of the city.

    This alone had made many feel incapable of understanding what was going on. Some changed their opinions and started to consider whether or not they had been too harsh to him when he was weak, and how to be friendly with him now that he was in the spotlight, while others just hated him even more intensely than before.

    Some were of the opinion that since he had always been trash, he should just stay as the trash he was and be bullied forever. The fact that he had learned martial arts was actually enough to insult them on a personal level.

    Amongst themoners, the rumor about Xue Wei possessing a movement martial art was shocking, but they were notpletely aware of what it resembled, while many of the nobles werepletely aware of what it meant and they were all filled with greed.

    Fortunately, none of them dared move rashly because of Xiao Lei and the City Lord¡¯s Mansion. The only one who had the strength to move was the Li family, as they too had a Heavenly Warrior. But if he truly made a move, it would be seen as a revolt, and the City Lord¡¯s Mansion and all his supporters would love to use this opportunity to get rid of Li Jian¡¯s father.

    Amongst themoners, many of the maids and servants who had quit their job at Xiao Lei¡¯s mansion were filled with regret. They regretted it so much that their insides turned green, but they could do nothing about it. It was already toote to go back and beg for another position.

    But while the city was split amongst those who felt regret for not treating Xue Wei better when he was trash and those who hated him even more intensely, there was especially one young man who was filled with such enmity that he swore that as long as Xue Wei lived in this world, he would never find peace.

    This young man was precisely Li Jian, and his eyes were filled with hatred and resentment.

    "Father, we ought to kill him!" Li Jian sneered as he was in his father¡¯s study. These words were not foreign to Li Jian¡¯s father, Li Fang. He had heard them more than hundred times since Li Jian had returned home from the match that had ended in a draw between Xue Wei and him.

    "Father, he has a whole lot of superior martial arts. One of them is even a movement technique! Can it really be that we are too scared of Xiao Lei to try to get our hands on such treasures?"

    Li Jian had previously looked up to Xiao Lei like everyone else. However, his hatred towards Xue Wei had long since overtaken his reverence to Xiao Lei, and now he wished to kill both of them if possible.

    "You can kill Xiao Lei, and I will kill Xue Wei!" Li Jian said with certainty in his voice, but his father still said nothing. The Li Patriarch just sat behind his desk and looked at his son with a calcting gleam in his eyes.

    "I cannot go against Xiao Lei," he finally said with a sigh. "Even if I wish to do so, I cannot win against him. And do not forget that Xiao Lei is not alone, Shen Bingwen is by his side. If I have to face the two of them, I will die within ten moves."

    "But father, I cannot let things be like this. I am not satisfied!" Li Jian yelled loudly; his voice was so filled with madness and desperation that Li Fang knew that he had toe up with some sort of solution, or else his son would sink into insanity.

    "You can deal with Xue Wei, and I will shield you. You are both members of the younger generation and what happens between the younger generation cannot be controlled by us old geezers," he finally agreed.

 Chapter 14: Diviners

    Chapter 14: Diviners

    While Li Jian was talking with his father Li Fang, Xue Wei was training. He was ecstatic that he had managed to reach the fifthyer of the Ordinary Warrior rank and did not fear Li Jian any longer.

    Even if Xue Wei had heard what Li Fang said, he would still not fear Li Jian. Li Fang had made it clear that he would not act, and as long as he did not move, Xue Wei would be safe.

    Although Xue Wei was capable of using his Forbidden Rush to escape the attacks of Li Jian, he was also aware that he could not avoid the attacks from a Heavenly Warrior, in fact, he was quite certain that even an Earth Warrior would be able to defeat him easily.

    Although there was only oneyer between the ninthyer of the Ordinary Warrior rank and the firstyer of the Earth Warrior rank, there was an immense difference when it came to it.

    The difference between the Ordinary Warrior and the Earth Warrior was massive, and the further up one came in the ranks of cultivation, the harder it was to reach, and the more energy was needed.

    Because of this, it was also harder and harder to reach the higher ranks of being a Warrior. Xue Wei was very well aware of this, and he even knew that although it would, in theory, take Li Jian between half a year and a year to reach the Earth Warrior rank, there was plenty of ways to improve it, amongst one taking low purity medicinal pills.

    Although this would be a very desperate action, it was something that Xue Wei took into consideration. Right now Li Jian¡¯s Sonic Palm was not able to threaten Xue Wei, but if he reached the Earth Warrior rank, he would be able tomand at least seven percent of the ability¡¯s strength.

    With that upgrade, and considering that the Sonic Palm specialized in speed, Xue Wei knew that he had met a fierce opponent. His only hope was that Li Fang would never allow for his son to consume the low ranked medicinal pills.

    Xue Wei was living a simple life. His every waking hour was spent cultivating his abilities or his Qi, and he would not waste any time sleeping. Ever since he had be an Ordinary Warrior, every moment was squeezed for time, and he would even sit on his bed at night cultivating as his rest time, not allow himself even one moment of rest.¡¯

    A couple of weeks went by like this, Xue Wei continuously training Forbidden Rush, Shattering Mountain Palm and Azure Light Finger or was seated in the bathtub filled with the concoction of nt extracts.

    That was until the day that Shen Mu once more came to visit, his eyes were shining with excitement, and his face had a great smile stered on his lips.

    Manager Su let him in instantly, although Manager Su did not want anyone to interrupt Xue Wei, he also understood that this person was the next City Lord, and assumingly Xue Wei¡¯s only friend.

    Manager Su noticed that Shen Mu had brought with him a whole group of youngsters from the noble families within Tiankong City, but he did not allow even one of them to enter the premises.

    Shen Mu and the others did not mind. They were all fully aware of how they had treated Xue Wei in the past. Although this group had never bullied him, due to their rtionship with Shen Mu, they had never been friendly towards him either.

    Shen Mu rushed to Xue Wei who was currently in the training field. The eagerness with which he was moving was evident, and Xue Wei soon noticed him, stopped what he was doing and turned around.

    Xue Wei was drenched in sweat from constantly moving and usingbinations of the Forbidden Rush, Shattering Mountain Palm and Azure Light Finger. He had used all his Qi time and time again, only to restore it and he found that every time he was empty of Qi, his restoration was going much faster than when he had a bit left behind.

    "Wei, listen to this!" Shen Mu eximed the moment he saw Xue Wei move towards a towel and some water that a maid had left for him. "There are diviners in town!"

    Xue Wei, who had not been too interested in whatever it was Shen Mu had to say, suddenly widened his eyes in surprise. Had it been before then he would have told Shen Mu to leave soon because he was training, but now that he knew it was about diviners he was eager to see them too.

    "Real diviners?" Xue Wei could not help but ask a little doubtful, but Shen Mu nodded his head seriously, "they are here, and they brought some fierce beasts that they have tamed! They are going to be auctioned off this afternoon; the Tiankong Auction house has promised to let them use their auction hall without any form for amission fee."

    Xue Wei was stunned but also excited. "We should go see them!" he eximed excitedly, "Wait a moment I will quickly rinse myself."

    Shen Mu nodded his head. It was early in the morning, so they still had some hours before the auction started. Rinsing off the sweat would not take long and thus waiting was no problem.

    "I have to tell you though, quite a few of my friends have followed me. I don¡¯t know if they came to see you who is no longer trash or if they came to see the diviners or both," Shen Mu said honestly, "but since their old men follow dad unconditionally, I really ought to treat them with respect, and when so many of them requested toe with me I could not say no."

    Xue Wei was taken aback, but he quickly shrugged his shoulders. He did not care about them as they had never bullied him, but he never liked them either. As long as they did not cause problems for him, he would just choose to ignore them.

    After rinsing himself and changing into a clean set of clothes, he grasped his purse filled with coins and then Xue Wei walked out of the mansion gate together with Shen Mu. In front of him was a full twenty-four people standing, looking at him curiously.

    Some looked more hesitant than others, but they were all checking him out without an ounce of embarrassment.

    "Seen enough?" Shen Mu asked a little ufortable after a bit of time, and they all realized that they had just collectively stared at Xue Wei, but suddenly someone eximed, "I thought he was only at the fourthyer of the Ordinary Warrior rank, when did he be a fifthyered cultivator?"

    The others had also noticed Xue Wei¡¯s cultivation base, but no one had dared to ask about it. All of them were between the seventh, and the eightyer, only Shen Mu, and Li Jian were at the ninthyer at their age in the entire Tiankong City.

    These youths had all trained since they were ten years old, and when they realized that not even five months had gone by since his disappearing act and till now, and he had still managed to reach the fifthyer, this speed seriously made their cultivation speed seem as if it was a joke.

    "Let us get going," Xue Wei said casually, andpletely unperturbed, and he started walking towards the marketces in center of the city.

    "Mu, I do not know which one of the markets they are at, why don¡¯t you lead the way?" He stopped and asked after realizing that the group of more than twenty youths had not moved even an inch, not even Shen Mu had moved.

    "You broke through?" he asked surprised. Although he could easily sense Xue Wei¡¯s cultivation base now that he checked it, he had not done so earlier.

    It was right that Xue Wei had been a peak fourthyered Ordinary Warrior before when he had fought Li Jian, but to make it to the threshold of the fifthyer so swiftly was unheard of before.

    Xue Wei just smiled wryly, "you know about my situation," he said with a shrug of his shoulders, "it will get harder for me soon."

    The situation he was referring to was obviously the lie he had told Shen Bingwen before. That he had been gathering Qi in his body which had just waited for the dantian to open and now all this umted Qi was changing to increase his cultivation base.

    The exnation was aplete lie, and even Xue Wei did not know for just how long he would be able to cultivate at such a swift speed as he was doing now, but he had to say something to keep the curious experts at bay and do not cause aplete shock and horror, not to mention greed towards his Azure Dragon Scripture.

    "Anyway, what we should consider is not my strength but the Diviners. I am sure that Li Jian and his friends are already there and although we are too weak to purchase fierce beasts, I am sure that we do not want to be behind them in anything."

    Xue Wei did not care about beingter than Li Jian at the marketce, but he knew that these other youths indeed minded. There was a fierce battle between the Li and the Shen family, but so far it had only been in the younger generation as Li Fang was aware of his inferiority when Xiao Lei was counted in the equation.

    "What kind of beasts do you think the diviners have brought with them?" one of the youths asked, his name was He Mengyao. His name meant to be handsome, but contrary to his appearance he was rather short, and although he was lean he could be described as average at best.

    "I hope it is a Nine Headed Hydra," one of the girls, Luo Zhirou answered ecstatically.

    The others also started answering with which fierce beasts they hoped to see, but Xue Wei kept quiet and walked steadily with the group.

    This was the first time in his life that he was walking together with a group and he felt strangely tense and ufortable hearing the many chattering youngsters around him. He had never before experienced it and he was unsure of how to react, so in the end, he just stayed out of their discussion.

    No one was sending strange looks at Xue Wei any longer, and although he was the weakest of the group no one dared look down on him anymore. He had been able to avoid Li Jian¡¯s Sonic Palm so it was clear that they could not even touch the hem of his clothes, and his cultivation speed was also incredibly fast.

    These youths were all aware of different things, and they understood that with his current performance he would overtake them soon, and when this time came, they would want to be on good terms with him.

    "I haven¡¯t seen a diviner before," Luo Zhirou said with a low voice.

    "I know that they are monks but what else is there to say about them? I know that they can tame fierce beasts, but how are they able to do so?"

    Everyone was silent, and no one knew how to answer before Xue Wei sighed. "They can not only tame fierce beasts if the diviner is strong enough it can tame a Primordial Beast too."

    Hearing him speak the others were surprised, but they looked at Xue Wei curiously. "Do you know about diviners?" Luo Zhirou asked curiously, and Xue Wei shrugged his shoulders, "I know a bit," he answered evasively.

    "Can you tell us about them?" the girl asked once more and Xue Wei nodded his head, seeing no reason not to tell what he had learned while reading books.

 Chapter 15: Want to be a Monk?

    Chapter 15: Want to be a Monk?

    "I read a few books about diviners, and they are ever so mysterious as they seem," Xue Wei began as they were walking, and for once all of the young men and women were holding their breaths listening to him.

    Everyone knew that Xue Wei had read books about almost anything he could get his hands on and as a result of this, his knowledge far outstripped theirs.

    "On the continent of Chang¡¯an, all the kingdoms have temples, and the monks control these temples. Every monk on our continent is one single faction, but within these, there are different paths that one can take."

    "Some bes discipline priests or monks and fight against fierce and primordial beasts, some be monks and priests to heal and help others, and yet some be diviners."

    "To be diviners is the most mysterious but also the most restricted one amongst all the vocations that a monk and priest can pick."

    "Not much is know about what happens when one bes a diviner, but the only ones eligible are kids below the age of five years old."

    "They undergo some sort of baptism that allows for them to tame beasts but no diviner has ever told about this baptism before, so we don¡¯t know much about it."

    "Diviners are not allowed to join any factions. They can work for people if they get a high enough amount of money in return, but they always im the right to reject working with someone."

    "If a diviner breaks the code of conduct they will be chased down by other diviners and monks. Every priest and monk will go for the diviner and kill him at whatever possible chance."

    "A diviner is capable of defeating a beast at their own strength and maybe a bit stronger if the intellect of the beast is lower. If the diviner is strong enough, he is capable of taming Primordial Beasts even."

    "They are called diviners because they figure out where and when they can tame beasts by making divinations. Another reason is that they are divine fighters when they have fierce beasts under their control."

    "I know you want to know about the baptism, but I don¡¯t know about it," Xue Wei shook his head as he saw that Luo Zhirou was about to ask a question and she quickly got quiet again.

    "Also, I am not sure how their divination works, but I do know that when a diviner gives a beast amand, the beast will follow it unconditionally. Even if the beast already has a new owner, any diviner will be able to turn the beast against their owner, a reason that many people fear diviners."

    "Is that true?" Song Niu, another friend of Shen Mu, asked breathlessly. "Every esteemed expert above the Earth Warrior rank wishes to have a beastpanion, but only a few are capable of getting them," Xue Wei said.

    "Everymand from a diviner is a heaven-sentw for the tamed beasts. Even if it means to kill their owner."

    "There are around a thousand to two thousand diviners on the entire continent ording to my books, and these diviners are nomads that travel for a job. It is incredibly lucky that we will get to see them."

    "Although that Tiankong City is one of the major cities of Heping Kingdom, the Kingdom of Heping is rather small, and it also is quite weakpared to the outside world. We might be considered geniuses in the kingdom of Heping, but we are truly frogs at the bottom of the well."

    Xue Wei sighed and thought of all that he had read about the rest of the world, but the others did not seem to understand what he meant.

    They had already reached the center of the marketce they had been walking towards, and Xue Wei stopped speaking, but the way all of the young men and women looked at him changed entirely from the few words he did say.

    The marketce was bustling with sounds, and even more, people had appeared than usually. The stalls were all strangely quiet, and not many merchants were yelling out their prices, all of them were busy trying to squeeze their way closer and closer to a podium that had been erected in the center square.

    Although these people wished to have more space, none of them dared block Shen Mu and his entourage, and a lot of them gave Xue Wei an in-depth look of contempt mixed with fear and a few even reverence.

    At the very front of the podium were Li Jian and his henchmen. They were gloating and enjoying themselves as they joked amongst one another, yet suddenly one of them noticed Shen Mu and the group got quiet, all of them staring daggers at Xue Wei.

    "So you finally arrived," Li Jian sneered, and Shen Mu was about to respond when he saw that Xue Wei waspletely ignoring Li Jian and he had sudden enlightenment.

    Usually, Shen Mu would be riled up by Li Jian quickly, but he wanted to try and see how annoyed the other would be if hepletely ignored him. He knew form himself how frustrating it was to be ignored, Xue Wei had honestly ignored him many a time.

    "So this is the beasts?" Shen Mu asked his friends who all were at a loss for word. They were ready for the usual war of words against Li Jian and Shen Mu, but they saw him saying absolutely nothing to the other, it was quite clear that he was ignoring him, and watching how Li Jian¡¯s face turned red, it was clear that it was an even more sessful taunt.

    "Who do you think you are to ignore me? My father is also a Heavenly Warrior!" Li Jian almost spat out the words, and the audience who hade to see the diviners and the beasts were filled with excitement. They loved to see the younger generation fight amongst themselves.

    "I don¡¯t need to worry about a brat who can¡¯t even defeat a fourthyered Ordinary Warrior when he is a ninthyered cultivator himself," Shen Muughed and shook his head magnanimously as if he was taking pity on Li Jian, and Jian was feeling incredibly ufortable.

    "I can beat him!" he sneered, "I can kill him right now!" He eximed, and a Sonic Palm descended from the heavens at a rapid speed, but Xue Wei was faster.

    During theirst fight, Xue Wei had not even cultivated to the fifthyer, and he had never before tried using the Shattering Mountain Palm. Now he had spent a few weeks perfecting his understanding of both Forbidden Rush and Shattering Mountain Palm, and his performance was many times more astonishing.

    It seemed as if his body trembled slightly and then he vanished from sight before reappearing behind Li Jian.

    Shattering Mountain Palm!

    The attack descended onto Li Jian¡¯s back, and Xue Wei had held nothing back, added all his Qi into this strike.

    Li Jian shot forward again; blood spurted from his mouth this time. He had been wholly unprepared for the strike, and it had caused a lot more injuries to him that if he had been prepared. If he was prepared, although he would have been injured, it would not have been as bad as it was now.

    Like a leaf fluttering in the wind, Xue Wei vanished again and reemerged the ce where he was at first. His facial expression was the same as it had been before Li Jian had cast his sudden attack, and although his clothes fluttered slightly, he seemed so casual as if he had not even attacked.

    Xue Weipletely ignored Li Jian who was biting the dust on the ground and turned to look at the podium in front of them.

    Sitting on the podium on five regr chairs were five people. They were wearing monk robes, and their eyes were observing what was going on in the crowd.

    Xue Wei, looking at the monks, felt that their auras were simr to Manager Su and even closer to his uncle, Xiao Lei.

    Some of the five experts were looking at the actions of Xue Wei with interest, one of them especially had his eyes lightening with excitement, while two were looking with polite boredness. One was filled with apathy, and thest one was just smiling slightly, not disying any of his real emotions.

    "The rumor is true!" someone whispered in the crowd, and suddenly it burst, "he is not trash anymore!"

    "How did he do it? I cannot even see what his cultivation level is at?"

    "What kind of nt did that bastard eat to be so strong?"

    "A dragon uncle cannot foster a dog nephew; I guess some of Xiao Lei¡¯s strength is finally starting to rub off on him!"

    So many thoughts were being spoken out loud, and all of them were filled with excitement. Their words made it on top of the stage and the guy who was very curious about what he had seen raised an eyebrow.

    "You there, kid, they call you trash, and although your cultivation base is quite low for your age, you have a movement technique. What is this about?"

    "My lord, I have a special physique," Xue Wei said, once again willing to borrow of the excuse he had used to Shen Bingwen. He had read in books that many different physiques existed, and although he had never seen one and they were as rare as only one a generation in the whole continent would be born, he betted his luck on it.

    "My physique is such that I could not cultivate, but Qi gathered in my body whenever I was breathing. Back then, it was only a question about time before my dantian would unlock and when it did, all the Qi my body had gathered would quickly turn to be Qi within my dantian."

    "The unlocking of my dantian happened around four and a half month ago," Xue Wei said and looked as honest and upright as anyone could expect, and the monk nodded his head when he heard this.

    When Xue Wei said particr physique the other monks showed interest, even the apathetic and the two bored monks. Their eyes roamed over Xue Wei¡¯s body, but upon noticing that there was nothing unusual they just nodded their heads.

    The monk who was speaking rubbed his chin for a bit and nodded his head too, "to think that this small kingdom had a person with special physique. But I guess that you did not tell anyone about it before and was treated like trash?"

    Xue Wei politely nodded his head. He had been looking for a way to say these words out loud so that everyone could have an excuse for his fast cultivation base.

    The words unique physique caused a lot ofmoners to startle. They did not know about such a phenomenon, but after hearing Xue Wei exin what he did, they were all surprised and enlightened.

    "Young man, if you ever want to be a monk,e with us to visit our master," the speaking monk said with a smile, "although you cannot be a diviner I am sure you would make it quite well as another kind of monk."

    Xue Wei cupped his hands and bowed deeply to the monk, "Thank you for your kind offer," Xue Wei said politely. "I have to say that I am tempted, but I am also a warrior. I wish to fight the Primordial Beasts in the war. I wish to be a great figure like my uncle and ughter Primordial Beasts."

    Xue Wei was honest and upright, and the monk did not press further. He just smiled and nodded his head before he sat back down on the chair.

 Chapter 16: Wayfarers

    Chapter 16: Wayfarers

    When Xue Wei was lying about his condition, he was certain that he did have some sort of special physique. Otherwise, his body would not act the way it was acting, or his dantian have turned into a pearl.

    Even with Xue Wei¡¯s extensive knowledge about the different physiques that were out there, he had never heard of his physique before, and thus he was slightly frustrated.

    Was the pearl the reason for his cultivation to go so fast, or was there some other secret behind it? And why did he need a specific cultivation technique to be able to absorb the Qi?

    Xue Wei had many unanswered questions in his mind, and he knew that the only one who could answer them was his uncle. It was clear that his uncle knew more about his physique that he had said.

    When he examined Xue Wei¡¯s body, he had said that it was not ack of talent and that he would not forever be unable to cultivate, and just as he had left he had left an amazing cultivation technique behind.

    The more Xue Wei thought about it, the more mysterious his uncle seemed, and he was unsure of what exactly he would ask him first when they reunited again.

    "Now is not the time to think about this," Xue Wei mumbled to himself and began observing everything that was on the tform. Not only were there the chairs and diviners, but there were also two fierce beasts.

    The beasts within the continent of Chang¡¯an were categorized as mortal beasts first. That was themon horse, sheep, pig, cow and so on. Anyone could tame them as they had no ability for cultivation and intellect at the level of an animal.

    Then came the Fierce Beasts. Fierce Beasts were the beasts that could cultivate. Some of them had more intellect than others, and some of them were stronger than others. They ranged from the Iron Warboar which was almost as thoughtless as a mortal beast, and all the way up to the more dangerous and highly knowledgeable Cloud Leopards, Wind Wolves and so on.

    Above the Fierce Beasts were obviously the Primordial Beasts. The Primordial Beasts were born with a talent and intellect that could rival that of humans. They could take on a human shape, and their ability to fight was many times more frightening than the Fierce Beasts.

    The beasts on the podium were both Fierce Beasts. One of them was equivalent to the rank of a ninthyered Earth Warrior, while the other was the same as a firstyered Sky Warrior.

    Everyone present, Xue Wei included, were looking at these beasts, they could not help but dream about owning the beasts. How magnificent they would be if they came riding into the war on these beasts!

    One of the beasts was a ck Horned Mammoth, the ideal mount which could crush simrly and lower ranked Fierce Beasts, and which had an incredibly high defense so that it was near impossible to be taken down by others, and hence, the rider would be able to fight rtively safely.

    The other was a more offense-oriented beast; it was a Four-Tailed Scorpion. Although its defense wascking inparison to the ck Horned Mammoth, it was much better at killing beasts and could assist its owner in battle.

    Between the two of them, everyone clearly had their preferred beast. Some saw the defense of the ck Horned Mammoth as the best defense and therefore also the best way of staying alive and ultimately killing as many beasts as possible, while others felt that raising one¡¯s attack was the way to go.

    The ck Horned Mammoth was the Fierce Beast with the strength of a firstyered Sky Warrior, and because of this, most of the people found him most attractive. Xue Wei, on the other hand, preferred the Four-Tailed Scorpion.

    He was painfully aware that he would never get either of the beasts, he was simply too weak to control them right now, but he had a firm belief that in the future he would be able to get his hands on a Fierce Beastpanion.

    Suddenly Xue Wei¡¯s eyes collided with the eyes of the ck Horned Mammoth, and the moment they looked at one another, Xue Wei saw that the mammoth¡¯s entire body trembled, yet the second after it was gone and nothing could be seen. Xue Wei looked around, and although everyone was talking about how amazing the mammoth was, no one seemed to have noticed anything.

    That was, no one of themoners noticed anything.

    "Child,e up here." The monk who had previously been apathetic suddenly spoke out. His eyes prated into Xue Wei¡¯s body, and Xue Wei suddenly felt as if everything within him was seen through.

    Not knowing what was going on, Xue Wei did not dare hesitate and went straight to the podium.

    When he stood in front of the apathetic monk, he sped his hands together and bowed deeply, but the monk did not seem to care about such gestures and instead ced his hand on the forehead of Xue Wei.

    Energy rushed through his body, and as if it was scouring for something, and everywhere it went, Xue Wei felt a pleasant sensation in his body.

    The majority of the energy was searching his head as if it expected to find something, but no matter what they were looking for, nothing appeared.

    The apathetic monk frowned but after ten minutes did he withdraw his hand. He looked at the other monks and shook his head.

    "Child,e with me, I need to speak with you," he said after a bit of consideration and Xue Wei, who had no reason to decline nodded his head. He was quite perplexed as to what was going on, but he had a feeling that he had just escaped cmity.

    The two of them moved towards the Auction House of Tiankong City. It turned out that this was where the monks had found residence while they were in Tiankong City. The Diviners were against joining any faction, and although the City Lords of the city was responsible for looking after important guests, the Diviners would stay at the most neutral faction they could find.

    Xue Wei was taken to the Auction House¡¯s section for very important guests, and into a lounge of a massive suite.

    Here the apathetic monk sat down and gestured for Xue Wei to do the same.

    "How did you scare that big mammoth?" the monk asked right away but Xue Wei just frowned, had he scared the mammoth? He remembered it shaking, but it was not enough to be considered scared.

    Still, Xue Wei could sense that arguing with this Diviner would be pointless, and likely even change his situation to be less favorable, and thus he stood there, lookingpletely confused.

    "I do not know," he said honestly, "I looked the ck Horned Mammoth in the eyes, and it¡¯s body trembled. I did not do anything special. Could it have something to do with my special physique? Or could it sense the scent of my uncle on me? My uncle is a great Primordial Beast hunter."

    The monk seemed unconvinced. "Tell me about your past," he said in a gruff voice, and Xue Wei nodded his head.

    "I do not remember my childhood. My mother died while giving birth to me and my father died in an attack by the Primordial Beasts in the Northern Administrative Region of Heping. In the Northern Taiga."

    "My uncle took me in, and has been looking after me ever since; I was around ten years when it happened."

    "My body has a special physique so I could not cultivate but my uncle said that I would be able to cultivateter, and as a result, I spent all my time reading in the past."

    "Now that I am capable of cultivating I spend all my time on either practicing my martial arts or cultivating my cultivation technique."

    Xue Wei weaved in lies with the truths making him capable of hiding a few things about his body and the condition he had experienced before.

    He knew that lying straight to the face of the Monk would be noticed, but when he merged it with the truth, or at least what he considered to be the truth, then the monk too believed him.

    "I have only seen the fear in the eyes of the Fierce beasts when they encounter Diviners or if they are in front of a Primordial Beast," the monk exined.

    "You are clearly not a diviner, but I checked your body, and although your dantian is rather odd, you are not a Primordial Beast either. You do not have a beast core."

    "So that leads me to the question, what are you?"

    "I do not know," Xue Wei answered, feeling his palms sweaty. So the check had been to see if he was a Primordial Beast. Fortunately, it had proven that he was not. Otherwise, he would have most likely been enved by now.

    "My uncle checked my body before. He is a Primordial Beast hunter," Xue Wei continued and felt better. It was clear that he was no beast since his uncle was a human and even a beast hunter, but he understood that if this monk had wanted to get rid of him, it would be easy to say just a few words.

    "Well, I guess you really don¡¯t know," the monk sighed and looked annoyed as if he had wasted a lot of time for no reason.

    "Perhaps you are like the Wayfarers," he continued. "The Wayfarers who has activated their bloodline are feared by some Fierce Beasts. Maybe your physique is simr."

    Thest sentences seemed to be spoken to himself more than to Xue Wei, but Xue Wei heard what the monk said, and he also heard the words Wayfarers. Hearing them, he was rather curious. He had always wanted to meet a real Wayfarer, but they traveled in family groups, and it was very rare for them toe to a kingdom such as Heping.

    Wayfarers were nomads like the Diviners, but the Wayfarers traveled in family groups of up to thousand experts together.

    All wayfarers were hunters, and some of the most outstanding Primordial Beast hunters came from the Wayfarers.

    The reason Wayfarers were looked at with such curiosity was because of their bloodline. They shared an ancient bloodline of the War of God, a human cultivator who had risen against the Primordial Beasts, and by consuming the blood of a Primordial Beast, could the Wayfarers unleash their full potential.

    They only needed to consume blood from a primordial beast once to activate the blood within their bodies, but it was rare to find and kill Primordial Beasts, and as a result, they were always on the move to find new danger zones and suitable beasts to y.

    Xue Wei had neverpared his situation with them, but maybe there was something about it. Could he also have a special bloodline alongside his special physique?

    "Do not think too much about it," the monk sighed as he had lost interest in Xue Wei again, and Xue Wei nodded his head. He had to wait for his uncle to return before he could get any answers and as a result, he cupped his hands again and bowed to the monk before he retreated.

    Instead of returning to the marketce, Xue Wei went to the auction hall where they were going to auction off the two beasts. Although he could not buy them and was incapable of controlling them, he was still curious as to who would end up owning them.

    He was incredibly surprised to see that there was already a great line out the door trying to gain ess to the auction house, but due to himing from the VIP chambers, he was led into the auction hall right away.

 Chapter 17: Beast Auction

    Chapter 17: Beast Auction

    Having been led into the main hall, Xue Wei noticed that only those of certain status within Tiankong City were present.

    Although Xue Wei was a young master of Tiankong City, he was in fact not high enough profile to be allowed into the auction house that day, but because of his encounter with the monk he had been given a seat in the main hall.

    The Auction House had balconies with private rooms. There was a total of ten of them, and the ones who were allowed within the private rooms were the most outstanding experts and families within the Tiankong City or their guests.

    One of the rooms were reserved for the monks. Usually, one would be reserved for Xiao Lei, but since Xiao Lei was not there, the balcony was given to a less prominent family.

    One was kept for the Li family and another for the Shen family. The other seven went to the seven most prominent families in Tiankong City that did not have a Heavenly Warrior cultivator.

    The main floor had around five thousand seats, a whole lot, but they were quickly filled with noble families and their entourages.

    Xue Wei was seated in his position when he spotted Luo Zhirou together with the Luo Patriarch and the rest of their family.

    He then looked around and found that all of the young masters and mistresses had arrived together with their families, even Li Jian was there in the balcony along with his family, and Shen Mu was there together with Shen Bingwen.

    Shen Mu noticed Xue Wei¡¯s nce and waved slightly to him with a relieved smile on his face, which also contained quite a bit of curiosity.

    No one knew exactly why the monk had called out Xue Wei, but it was without a doubt something beneficial. If they had known that he had been interrogated instead, they would have been shocked.

    Fortunately, neither Xue Wei nor the monk was willing to start any rumors about Xue Wei scaring the mammoth. The ck Horned Mammoth was equivalent to a Sky Warrior of the firstyer, and it had gotten scared by locking eyes with a measly fifthyered Ordinary Warrior. If this were spread, then no one would be willing to buy the ck Horned Mammoth.

    Xue Wei was not willing to talk about it because it would just enhance about how strange and different he was. He was likely to be even more of an outcast than he already was now. Also, he did not understand why the beast had feared him, and thus he did not want to talk about it.

    Soon the entire Auction Hall was filled with people; a bustling and lively atmosphere was inside the hall, everyone was chatting with their friends and family.

    Xue Wei was alone, and as a result, he did not chat with anyone in particr. All he did was listening to the ones around him.

    Next to him was a person with a big bamboo hat. The hat was sorge and hanging from it was a cloth so that no one could see the face of the person. The body was shrouded in a massive ck cloak, but Xue Wei noticed the hand and frowned.

    The body was big and seemed to fill out the ck cloak, but the hand was elegant and slender. The skin was porcin white, and the nails appeared to be shaped so finely.

    Sensing the nce that Xue Wei gave the hand, the person by his side withdrew it and hid it beneath the cloak again. The movement was like flowing water, so graceful and elegant that Xue Wei was almost in a trance.

    Shaking his head, he awoke from a daze and looked around the rest of the room. He recognized quite a few of the people present in the auction house, but some hade from outside of town to participate in the auction.

    Suddenly, as thest seat was upied, the light in the auction hall dimmed, and everyone quieted down. No one spoke, and there was an excited feeling within the room. Everyone held their breath and wondered which one of the beasts would be up for sale first.

    There were only two beasts this time, and both of them were excellentpanions, but it was clear that the main families were here for the ck Horned Mammoth.

    ¡°Before we start the auction, I would like to say a few words of thanks to the revered diviners that has graced us with their arrival within Tiankong City.¡±

    ¡°Although Diviners are all over the continent, they are very rare to see within our city, in fact, we are lucky if there are a group of diviners that appears every hundred years. As a result, getting your hands on a Fierce Beast is a once in a lifetime opportunity. Do not hesitate, for if you do, it might take another hundred years before you get another chance!¡±

    "We will start today¡¯s auction with the Four-Tailed Scorpion," the auctioneer said as he nced towards the monks that were sitting on the highest ranked balcony.

    He was worried that they perhaps had hoped for him to start the biggest bidding war first, and then the rest would be desperate to get their hands on the scorpion afterward. The Auction House was taking a gamble and hoping to be able to sell the Four-Tailed Scorpion first and then make the price for the Mammoth go so high that it would shock the city.

    The people were aware of how he was thinking, but they could do nothing against his idea, and they knew that he would drive the prices up for the ck Horned Mammoth, but all of them wanted it, and they had no other option than to follow the rules of the auction.

    One silver was enough to pay for a family¡¯s expenses for three weeks, but everyone here was able to spend a tremendous amount of money for these beasts. They had taken all their liquid assets with themselves so that they were certain that they could get a Fierce Beast.

    "The Four-Tailed Scorpion is an offensive beast. It can assist you in the war against the Fierce Beasts and the Primordial Beasts. It will kill swiftly with its four stingers, and it will be deadly to even beasts at its own level."

    "This Four-Tailed Scorpion is equivalent to a ninthyered Earth Warrior in strength and can grow to be as strong as a Heavenly Warrior. Its potential is great!"

    "Everyone, we will start the bidding at a thousand gold coins. Every bid has to be raised with at least hundred gold coins at a time."

    "One thousand and four hundred!" someone yelled, and soon it was followed by another person yelling "two thousand!" "Five thousand!"

    Soon the price rose to ten thousand gold, an amount that far exceeded anything that the owner of the auction house had expected. He gulped and swallowed his saliva, if the bidding war for the Four-Tailed Scorpion was as ferocious as it was now, then it was hard to determine just how overwhelming the bidding war for the ck Horned Mammoth would be.

    Finally, the bids stilled slightly. The ones who kept bidding was the Shen family and an unknown person who hade from outside Tiankong City.

    The members of Tiankong City dared not bid for longer against the Shen family as they could feel his annoyance by being bid up all the time.

    Although they wished to purchase this Four-Tailed Scorpion, they knew that they had to stay within Tiankong City in the future and to annoy the City Lords of their city was simply suicidal. Only the Li family could afford to do so.

    Finally, the outsider gave up on the endeavor of winning the beast from the Shen family, but the Shen family¡¯s coffers had suffered quite a hit, losing a full fifteen thousand and seven hundred gold.

    This was the value of most of the smaller noble families, and they all felt their mouths go dry when they noticed how much money he had spent on just one beast.

    The Four-Tailed Scorpion ended up with the Shen family, but although they had gained one beast, the Li family could not help but snicker. They had already dug this deep in their pockets for one beast, they would have to dig even deeper if they wanted the second beast, and even if they were rich, they would be incapable of winning the bid.

    For some reason, Shen Bingwen lookedpletely calm as he saw the next beast being led up on stage.

    "This is a ck Horned Mammoth," the auctioneer began, his voice was filled with excitement, and his eyes shone as he knew that a desperate fight was about to ensue. "This ck Horned Mammoth is specialized in defense. As long as you use it as your mount during the war against the Fierce and Primordial Beasts, then you are safe. Although it is not very fast, it is as strong as a firstyered Sky Warrior!"

    "We will start the bidding at two thousand gold, and each bid has to be raised with at least two hundred gold coins each!"

    Just as he had said, this everyone got ready to bid. Everyone wanted to show their interest, yet before anyone managed to say something a clear voice sounded through the entire room, "I bid thirty thousand gold coins for this ck Horned Mammoth."

    The bidder was the cloaked person next to Xue Wei, and he raised an eyebrow in surprise. The voice that had sounded out belonged to that of a woman, and although she had masked herself, everyone could hear from her voice that she was not someone who was easily bullied. It was firm and decisive.

    The Li patriarch frowned when he heard the bid. He had expected that the ck Horned Mammoth would be more expensive than the Four-Tailed Scorpion, but he was not expecting that the first bid would double the price.

    He was quite unhappy that the price had been raised so much. He needed a beast if he wanted to stand a chance against the Shen family, but he also knew that if he ended up paying such arge sum of money, he would end up impoverishing his family.

    "Patriarch, we should get it no matter what!" one of the elders said with a serious expression on his face. "Our reputation will rise if we have a beast of this caliber in our family. Our shops and restaurants will be picked over the Shen family¡¯s ces, resulting in us earning more money."

    "Although it is arge investment we have no option, we cannot back down!" another elder agreed, and the patriarch clenched his teeth and thought for a moment. What the two elders said was right and he called out, "Thirty thousand two hundred."

    It was raised with the lowest amount possible to increase a bid with and some people looked down on them for this, while others were just shocked that they decided to bid such an outstanding amount of money.

    Unfortunately for the Li family, the rest did notst long. The woman next to Xue Wei snorted and called out again, "Fifty thousand gold coins."

    Hearing this everyone sucked in a breath of air. Thisdy was going against the Li family directly, and there was no respect shown.

    "We do not have fifty thousand gold coins," the Li family patriarch said with a pale face. He finally understood why the Shen family had paid such a high price for the Four-Tailed Scorpion. They were aware of this woman¡¯s identity and did not wish to bid against her. This alone showed quite a lot about the woman.

    "If it was a normal thing we could rob her," one of the elders said with a little annoyance, but Li Fang¡¯s eyes turned serious, and he shook his head, "We might be stronger than others, but we do not rob what does not belong to us," he said righteously.

    Although he was battling for the position as the City Lord, he was aware of what was right and wrong, and he did not wish to stray down the wrong path, in fear of it corrupting his heart for the martial arts.

 Chapter 18: Luo Zhirou

    Chapter 18: Luo Zhirou

    Since they no longer had the capacity to continue the bidding, the ck Horned Mammoth ended up in the hands of the strangely dressed woman next to Xue Wei.

    The price for these two mounts for exceeded a couple of years worth of value for the auction house, but they would be getting nothing as all of it went to the monks.

    "No wonder that monks live in fancy temples, where everything is well looked after. The Diviners finance everything that has to do with the monks and priests. Even though it seems like a lot of money, there are not that many Diviners out there, but there are so many temples. I guess they just barely scrape by."

    At first, Xue Wei had been amazed by the sheer amount of gold that they had gained, but after thinking a bit further, he realized that this bit of gold was not a lot for an organization that spanned the entire continent.

    Having finished the sale of the two beasts, the light slowly returned to the auction.

    "Thank you all for attending the beast auction today!" the auctioneer called out. "We are very proud to have been chosen by the esteemed diviners as the ones to handle their magnificent beasts. Now those two experts that made the winning bids, please wait to be lead to our office, and we will finalize the sale. Everyone else, have a pleasant day."

    Having said this, people started standing up from their chairs, and the doors opened. Everyone, except the Shen family and the strangely dresseddy, began leaving the auction hall.

    "I guess Shen Mu is going to go with his father," Xue Wei thought, "When he is with his father it will take some time for them to be handed the beast, and then I am quite sure that they will go back home right away to getting familiar with the Four-Tailed Scorpion."

    "Since that is the case, I should return home and cultivate." Xue Wei was amazed by the beasts. They had truly looked overwhelming and powerful, even more so than humans at the same cultivation base, but now that he had seen them, he understood that if he truly wanted to fight against Fierce Beasts, and one day against Primordial Beasts, then he had to increase his strength tremendously.

    Returning home, Xue Wei went to his room to change to more suitable clothes for training before he went straight to the back of the mansion where he started to train the Shattering Mountain Palm and the Forbidden Rush.

    He had gotten a good understanding of the Forbidden Rush skill and was now able to merge with the wind, almost teleport around.

    There was almost no wind in Tiankong City, but Xue Wei was now able to sense even the tiniest changes in the air which could be considered wind and merge with these. No matter how little wind there was, there would always be changes in the air, and these could be used just as well.

    As Xue Wei was training the Forbidden Rush technique, he found that his senses were heightened and strengthened. He could see much further than before and hear even the smallest sounds.

    He knew that some of it was because of him finally bing a cultivator, but he was also aware that his senses were heightened further than most Ordinary Warriors.

    Xue Wei also had a strength that was superior to other fifthyered Ordinary Warriors. As to how much superior it was, he still did not know.

    Xue Wei wanted to know, but he did not have anything to measure his strength with. He had heard about strength measuring stones, but his kingdom was simply too small to have them.

    The kingdom of Heping was a long kingdom. It was ced all the way at the edge of the continent, following the coastline from the cold north to the hot south. It was like a snake coiling its way down the side of the continent, and it was also the most impoverished and most underestimated kingdom in the entire continent.

    Xue Wei had read so many books about the vast world, and he knew that many kingdoms on the continent had great sects filled with martial art cultivators, martial art families and so many other things that the Kingdom of Heping did not have.

    Many of the experts of the Kingdom of Heping were just frogs in the well. The Primordial Beasts in the Kingdom of Heping were also the weakestpared to the rest of the continent.

    Most of the experts within the Kingdom of Heping would never leave, and thus they would never know what the vast continent was like.

    Xue Wei had let his thoughts wander while he had been training the Forbidden Rush technique.

    He found that his speed had decreased and his uracy was not as high as when he was focusing on his abilities.

    Since this was the case, then he decided to focus fully on his techniques. He continued to train the rest of the day and the next couple of days without interruption.

    After a few days, Luo Zhirou came visiting out of nowhere, and Xue Wei took the time to apany her.

    "I am sorry that I never treated you well before," she said as she handed him some sweets. "I was influenced by my friends and family. You were incapable of cultivating and seen to be the most useless person in the city, and although I know, my words won¡¯t change anything I still wish to apologize."

    "I made these sweets myself. It is my hobby. If I could, I would be someone who made sweets for others, but I am afraid that I cannot be one of those people. I have my family¡¯s expectations on my shoulders."

    "Anyway, when I started speaking with you when you followed Shen Mu to see the Fierce Beasts, I could not help but feel that you were so different from how everyone described you."

    "You are really smart, and you seem to know about so many things that the rest of us does not know about."

    "If it is not toote, then I would like to be your friend."

    Xue Wei had said nothing while Luo Zhirou was speaking and he saw how she was twisting her hands, filled with nervousness and worry, and he could not help but smile at her.

    One has to know that Luo Zhirou was recognized as one of the beauties in town. She was a heavenly-favored daughter within the Kingdom of Heping, and for her to visit him like this and to acknowledge her mistake had to be a challenging and difficult situation.

    "Do not worry," Xue Wei smiled, "I would like to be your friend."

    Although Xue Wei did not speak much, Luo Zhirou looked like someone had lifted a stone from her shoulders and she broke out into a great smile.

    "Thank you! I am so happy," she said as she almost jumped on the spot. Her happiness was obvious and as she realized how she was behaving she could not help but blush in embarrassment.

    Seeing her bashful expression, Xue Wei could not help but smile slightly as he shook his head.

    ¡°Now that both Shen Mu and I are at the ninthyer Ordinary Warrior rank no one will bully you with us around.¡±

    "Oh, you broke through to the ninthyer of the Ordinary Warrior rank?" Xue Wei asked surprised as he looked at Luo Zhirou.

    He had never expected that this person would be the third in their age group to reach the ninthyered level.

    "Yes," Luo Zhirou nodded her head, "I don¡¯t know how, I actually don¡¯t train even half as much as my older or younger siblings, but my cultivation is going much smoother than theirs."

    Xue Wei could almost not believe what he heard. It was clear that Luo Zhirou was gifted with cultivation. She was not cultivating a lot, but she was already at the ninthyer of the Ordinary Warrior rank.

    Xue Wei was deeply shocked. Although he felt that his cultivation technique was fast, it was after all a technique. If Luo Zhirou were serious when cultivating, she would be able to be an Earth Warrior already! Xue Wei shook his head in pity.

    "Well then, I better go now," Luo Zhirou said with lowered eyes. Her cheeks were still red.

    "Okay, well I will see you around," Xue Wei said as he followed her to the mansion gate.

    After saying goodbye the two of them went back to what they had been doing before. Xue Wei was training, and Luo Zhirou returned home.

    Xue Wei spent the next many days doing exactly what he had been doing; he was cultivating and training.

    At the end of the month, he felt that he was close to making another breakthrough, but he also found that he no longer had any medicinal ingredients for the herbal concoction he had been bathing in.

    "I need to go to the marketce," Xue Wei sighed. He felt it was a waste of time to go, but he dared not have his maids or servants get the herbs for him as they knew nothing about the materials he was getting.

    The only one who he would expect to do a proper job was Manager Su, but Xue Wei did not want to trouble Manager Su with such a small thing.

    Since this was the case, Xue Wei went to rinse the sweat of his body, dressed in some nice clothes, took his purse with gold coins and left the mansion, heading for the main marketce where hest bought the herbs.

    He did not fear anyone right now. Although he knew that the older generation would be able to defeat him and even kill him, he was also perfectly well aware that he had done nothing to warrant them to make a move on him.

    No matter who from the younger generation made a move, Xue Wei was certain that he could avoid them by relying on the Forbidden Rush, and since things were like this, Xue Wei did not hesitate to leave the mansion.

    It was a long time since Xue Wei had been in the city center on his own, it was before he was capable of cultivating but now he went with his head held high and filled with excitement. He no longer received looks of scorn, no one even dared look at him with hatred as he had been invited to a private room with the Diviners.

    The only ones who stilled looked at Xue Wei with hatred were Li Jian and his followers.

    As he made it into the city center, Xue Wei found that a caravan of Wayfarers had arrived in the city.

    Although Wayfarers were rare in the Heping Kingdom, they were much more usual than Diviners.

    Wayfarers needed the blood of primordial beasts to unlock their bloodline, and the primordial beasts within Heping kingdom were much weaker than the ones in the rest of the continent, so they were often hunted by wayfarers.

    The wayfarers that arrived sold everything from jewelry to books, to beast parts. They had souvenirs from the rest of the continent and sold it on their travels to sustain themselves. They also created jewelry themselves that was highly sought after.

    Xue Wei looked at the group and found that the caravan of Wayfarers was ratherrge, there was at least five hundred people in this group.

    The old were seated in the carriages, the young and the children were ying, and the adults were dealing with business.

    Amongst everyone, wayfarers were the only ones who were not expected to join the army as everyone knew that they were going to be primordial beast hunters as they grew up. Forcing them into the military would just be the same as making less Primordial Beast hunters grow up.

 Chapter 19: Wang Xiaoyun

    Chapter 19: Wang Xiaoyun

    Seeing that the Wayfarers were in town, Xue Wei wondered if he should join the group that was observing their goods. Although he no longer was reading books, he still found pleasure in knowing more, and thus, if they had some books he had not read, then he would dly buy them and read them at some point when he had the time for it.

    Walking towards the Wayfarers, Xue Wei¡¯s eyes roamed across the different experts that were present. One of them was a young woman. She seemed to be the same age as Xue Wei, but unlike the other experts, she was only an Ordinary Warrior ranked expert.

    Wayfarers had a tough time cultivating while they had not activated their bloodline, but from the moment their bloodline had activated, they would be capable of cultivating at a speed that would shock normal human beings.

    To have reached the seventhyer of the Ordinary Warrior rank was already a rather amazing aplishment, and Xue Wei appreciated her for that.

    When he looked at her, he suddenly felt how his heart stirred. She was beautiful. The most beautiful woman he had ever seen. She had long straight ck hair that shone with a luster that no one couldpare to, her eyes were brown as the beautiful leaves in autumn, and her skin was pale like porcin.

    But what drew Xue Wei to this woman was not her beauty, it was her eyes. The brown eyes were so dazzling and filled with life, so gentle and soft. When he looked into these eyes, Xue Wei almost forgot everything else.

    Xue Wei felt his heart beating rapidly, and his mouth opened slightly. He was not sure of what he wanted to say, but he thought that if he said nothing, then he would regret it for a long time.

    But he was at a loss for what to say, and all he did was standing there and looking at her with a lost expression on his face.

    The woman seemed to notice his stare and looked at him, her face turned surprised, but then she frowned.

    "Can I help you?" she asked as she went to Xue Wei¡¯s side and Xue Wei nodded his head, "Sorry," he said a little embarrassed by his previous behavior, "I am just surprised that I have never seen such a beautiful girl before, and to think you managed to reach the rank of a seventhyered Ordinary Warrior this soon, I was just surprised."

    The woman snorted and shook her head as if she thought he was just ttering her randomly. "So do you want to buy something?" she asked after a bit of time, and Xue Wei nodded his head, "do you have any books?" he asked.

    The woman was surprised but after a bit of time she nodded her head, e this way," she said and led him towards a caravan where a group of elderly experts was sitting.

    Elderly amongst the Wayfarers were all close to thousand years of age. These Wayfarers, the majority of them, women and men alike, reached the Heavenly Warrior rank and thus were capable of living for thousands of years. No one would ever underestimate these seniors, although they seemed as if their me of life could be extinguished at any time.

    "Greetings seniors," Xue Wei said as he cupped his fists and bowed to the elders that were sitting in the carriage, and the look of the woman by his side changed when she saw the way he was treating these older people.

    "Oh a handsome young man hase to us!" one of the older women cackled withughter, "what can we do for you? We only sell books here."

    "I am here for the sake of books," Xue Wei answered, and although he was usually expressionless, right now his face was gentle, and he showed respect towards the seniors.

    Xue Wei respected the strong, and especially the Primordial Beast hunters. Although he could remember nothing about his father¡¯s demise, he had been told that he died from a Primordial Beast attack, and he had internally gained a severe hostility towards these beasts. He had also grown up amongst people and knew how many disasters these monsters caused towards the human race.

    Xue Wei respected the hunters that protected the humans, and these hunters reminded him of his uncle, someone whom he admired and looked at with obsessed reverence, and as a result, he was incredibly polite towards them.

    "Which kind of books are you looking after little one?" one of the elders asked with a gentle smile on her face and Xue Wei shrugged his shoulders, "I am interested in all kind of books which contains knowledge. I am not interested in fiction."

    "We have these books about herbs and their uses. It contains all rare herbs from the entire continent. We also have these books about the different kingdoms and books about the different Primordial Beasts. We have books about the many sects of the continent and all martial families. What would you like to purchase?"

    "All these bookses from the outside of Heping Kingdom, and as a result, they cost one gold coin each."

    One gold coin was a lot of money for the majority of the citizens of Tiankong City, but Xue Wei was rather wealthy. His uncle had left a small fortune with him, and he had enough to live more than hundred lifetimes pleasantly in the mansion. To spend some gold coins on books might be a luxury for others, but for Xue Wei it was affordable.

    Xue Wei looked over the books. He had already read about these subjects before, but the ones about the sects and martial families had never been very in depth, and thus he picked up a weighty and thick book which looked reasonably old.

    On the front of it was the characters for martial arts, and beneath it was families and sects. As he quickly scanned through it he found that it was incredibly detailed and he nodded his head, "this one," he said decisively, and the elder nodded his head.

    "It is always good to be aware of what is happening around you. This is quite an old book, so it is notpletely up to date. However, the major sects and families are listed within, and only the new uing ones are not described. Perhaps this book can teach you that the world is vast and the experts are numerous as clouds in the sky."

    Xue Wei cupped his hands and bowed once more as he handed over the gold coin. "Thank you for your guidance," he said respectfully and ced the book in his bag around his waist.

    The beautiful woman led Xue Wei back towards the outside of the caravan again in pleasant silence, before Xue Wei finally asked, "what is your name?"

    The woman looked at him for some time. She had just arrived in Tiankong City that day and was unaware of the previous young man who could not cultivate, so all she saw when she looked at him was a youngster with a low cultivation base, yet something within her heart stirred. She was confident that he was not as simple as he seemed.

    "My name is Wang Xiaoyun," she answered after hesitating a bit of time, and Xue Wei repeated it, "Wang Xiaoyun. What an elegant name."

    By now they had reached the outside of the camp, and Xue Min was about to ask another question when Luo Zhirou appeared out of nowhere. "Wei! Here you are! I rushed to your mansion to find you to tell you that the Wayfarers has arrived, to think that you got here before even I did! That is astonishing!"

    It was not before then she realized the strange atmosphere surrounding Xue Wei and Wang Xiaoyun and a grin appeared on her face, "So sorry for interrupting," she said, "I will go find Big Brother Mu. When you are done chatting you shoulde find us."

    "We are done," Wang Xiaoyun said with a cold voice and turned to leave. Xue Wei was just about to stop her, but when he saw the cold look, she sent him he changed his mind.

    "If fates wills it, we will meet again," he mumbled to himself and allowed for Luo Zhirou to drag him away.

    Luo Zhirou snickered as she dragged him away, "you seem to fancy that Wayfarer woman?" She asked, but Xue Wei just shook his head, "there was something strange about her," he admitted, "but I don¡¯t know if I would consider it was fancying her. I do not know her after all."

    "I see," Luo Zhirou sounded as if she did not believe him at all, "Well, I will keep it a secret for you," she promised, and suddenly her eyes sparkled and shone with happiness as theynded on Shen Mu. She instantly let go of Xue Wei¡¯s arm and lifted a hand into the air. "Big brother Mu!" She called out.

    Seeing this Xue Wei was the one snickering and he whispered so lowly that only Luo Zhirou could hear him, "so the one you like is your big brother Mu. Don¡¯t worry I will keep it a secret for you."

    Luo Zhirou¡¯s face flushed beet red, and her voice trembled as she stuttered, "No way, I, uh, I only see him as an older brother!"

    "Zhirou are you okay?" Shen Mu had arrived, and he ced a hand on her forehead, "Your face is red. Did you catch a fever? You are a cultivator so catching a fever should be near impossible. Have you been training too hard? Are you okay?"

    Hearing how worried Shen Mu sounded, Luo Zhirou could not even say a single word, and instead, she nodded her head repeatedly.

    "She is fine," Xue Wei saidzily, but Shen Mu just shot him a nce and continued to fuss over Luo Zhirou. Seeing that it would take them quite some time, Xue Wei shrugged his shoulders and decided that it was time for him to leave the ce and return to his original aim foring to the marketce in the first ce.

    He left the crowded area and moved closer towards the inner area of the marketce. Here the shops were not doing great this day as the Wayfarers were taking all the attention, but some of themon citizens who could not afford to take a day off to drool over the items that the Wayfarers brought with them were still moving forth and back.

    Xue Wei made his way to the apothecary shop that specialized in herbs. This time when he entered through the door, the clerk behind the counter did not dare to look down on him, in fact, he was rather honored that Xue Wei would pick their shop once again to do business with.

    "Young Master, what can I do for you?" The clerk asked politely while Xue Wei looked around the shop.

    Xue Wei frowned. This time he was thinking of changing the concoction he had madest time slightly. He knew it was risky, but he was also aware that he had limited time to reach a strength suitable for him to fight Fierce Beasts.

    Seeing the Fierce Beasts that the Diviners had tamed brought him back to reality. Yes, he had cultivated to the fifthyer of the Ordinary Warrior rank rather fast, but he was still nothing when matched up against a Fierce Beast, let alone a Primordial Beast.

    "I need four sr flowers older than fifty years of age, three blood ginsengs older than sixty years of age, twelve leaves of corpse grass older than sixty years of age. I also need two beast cores of the Earth rank. The firstyer is fine. Apart from this, I will need two drops of Primordial Beast blood; the weakest Primordial Beast blood is fine."

    When the clerk heard these ingredients his face turned solemn. The age requirements were enough to be sufficient for Earth Warriors, and the Primordial Beast blood contained such power, even the weakest version, that he was likely to be experiencing severe pain from consuming it if he did not end up injuring his meridians.

    "Are you sure you wish to purchase these items?" The clerk asked worriedly. He was not asking because he feared that the customer did not have the money this time, but because of him being genuinely concerned that he would be wounded from the consumption of the ingredients.

 Chapter 20: Primordial Beast Blood

    Chapter 20: Primordial Beast Blood

    Xue Wei could sense the worry in the clerk¡¯s voice, and he nodded his head with a grave expression on his face.

    "No need for you to worry about me," he promised, "I know what I am doing. I am not going to consume it directly."

    Hearing his promise, the clerk felt a bit better, but he was somewhat puzzled as to how he nned on consuming the ingredients then.

    Xue Wei had always had the knowledge of how to make herbal concoctions mixed in the bath, but it was an ancient method to increase one¡¯s cultivation system that not many were familiar with. It was also considered outdated because much of the medicinal properties were lost this way.

    Although when one consumed a nt only thirty percent of the medicinal properties were released instantly, at least twenty percent would stay in the body, and the lucky couldter release more and more of this energy. When one took a pill, depending on the refinement process and purity, one could consume from seventy to hundred percent of the medicinal properties, but when one was making a herbal concoction only forty percent of the medicinal properties would be in the water, and from that one might lose even further of the medicinal properties if one was not able to absorb it all in a timely manner.

    Although it sounded like a lot less, one was capable of adding different medicines together and thus increase the potency of the herbal bath concoctions.

    When one ate medicinal herbs directly, one could only take one at a time, but when consuming the medicine while bathing was a gentle way of consuming the medicinal properties.

    As Xue Wei had said what he wanted to tell the clerk frowned but he waited no longer and instead started to find the ingredients that Xue Wei had asked for. Every herb was in small wooden boxes while the beast cores were in jade boxes. The Primordial Beast blood was in a jade vial.

    "That adds up to ten gold, seventy-seven silver and four coppers," the clerk said. The money was many times more thanst time, mainly because of the Primordial Beast blood.

    Xue Wei nodded his head, found eleven gold coins and handed them over. Although he had a lot of gold, he was still frugal with how he spent them, so he waited to be paid the change before he started leaving.

    The money he had all belonged to his uncle, and he did not want to use too much. It was okay to buy things that increased his knowledge or increased his strength, but it was not okay to just give it away for free. Hence he did not tip the clerk.

    As Xue Wei left the shop, he walked back towards the mansion to enter yet another and more potent concoction when his eyesnded on the Wayfarer¡¯s caravan once more.

    Shen Mu and his friends had all left, but Li Jian and his friends had arrived. They were all over the ce, some of them were looking at things, others were flirting with their girls or guys, and some were just looking at the others.

    Li Jian¡¯s group of henchmen contained a full twenty-three experts not counting Li Jian, and all of them were present.

    Xue Wei shook his head and was about to walk past them when some of the henchmen finally noticed him. "Look it is the piece of trash!" one of them eximed, and all of them turned to look at him.

    Although Xue Wei¡¯s reputation had changed, and they knew that they were no opponent for him, they still looked down on him because of his low cultivation rank, but Xue Weipletely ignored them as he continued to walk towards his mansion. He was long since immune to being called trash.

    Seeing that their words had no influence on him, that he did not even frown, the young man felt insulted, and he nced towards the Wayfarers that had heard his words and looked on interested. Even Wang Xiaoyun was curious about what was happening.

    Li Jian had also heard the voice that called out, and he turned around. His eyes were lightening with anger and resentment. He had wished for his father to step into the fight between these two experts to wipe his shame away, but he had declined.

    "I don¡¯t believe that your movement technique can save you from being overwhelmed by more than twenty people!" Li Jian sneered to himself, and then he lifted his hand, "All of you heed my order, surround the piece of trash and teach him a lesson!"

    Everyone was slightly nervous about it since they had seen Xue Wei fight toe to toe with Li Jian before, but they also had faith in their superior numbers.

    Since this was the case, they all rushed towards Xue Wei who just stood therepletely casually. He knew that he could not engage in a severe battle with this group, as he could not throw out more than three attacks before his Qi would run out.

    Not only this, but he also had all his purchased items, and he had to be careful about them. If he engaged in a full-scale battle his things were likely to be broken, and this was thest thing he wanted.

    "Little girl you seem rather worried," one of the elderly women cackled as she saw Wang Xiaoyun stand at the side, her hands twisting and her face staring at the battle.

    "Worried?" Wang Xiaoyun snorted, "Who would worry about that yboy?"

    "Little miss, we have to acknowledge our feelings," thedyughed at her, but Wang Xiaoyun did no longer listen and instead focused her entire being on what was happening in front of them.

    Xue Wei did not notice that the woman he found interesting was looking at him, all he was observing was his opponents.

    Xue Wei did not waste his time and activated the Forbidden Rush. "Sorry Young Master Li, I do not have the time to y with you today," heughed as he vanished into the wind as if he had teleported.

    Everyone present was surprised when they saw this. It was only the Ordinary Warriors that could not sense his movements, all Earth Warriors and above saw his changes and they sighed in admiration. The movement technique was truly exquisite.

    "He is not a simple one," the old womanughed again. "If you like him, then make him yours, little miss," she said as she stood up and ruffled Wang Xiaoyun¡¯s hair.

    Wang Xiaoyun¡¯s face reddened, and she stomped her foot on the floor, "Who said I like him? I only spoke with him once. He lives in this weak country, and his rank is low. Even I am above him, and I am a Wayfarer who has not activated my bloodline!"

    "Don¡¯t be so eager, your bloodline will be activated in another year, and at the same time this kid might be bringing us a surpriseter on." the woman snickered.

    "Anyway, we need to deal with a Primordial Beast soon. We came all the way here because they say that the Ice Harpy has been seen in this area and she is a real legendary Primordial Beast. If we can kill her, we will get a great bounty!"

    Wang Xiaoyun nodded her head. She knew that they only came to this remote kingdom because their targeted Primordial Beast had been seen here. Although the corpses of Primordial Beasts were worth a lot, the Wayfarers were arge group and needed money to provide for themselves. They needed time to hunt down Primordial Beasts, and thus their expenses were always too highpared to their ie.

    If they could go for specific Primordial Beasts who were known by the humanity, they could im a bounty when they delivered the head of the primordial beast, though they were allowed to keep the beast core themselves as the heads were only used to verify the dead Primordial Beast.

    Xue Wei was unaware of the conversation that had happened between the Wayfarers, as he had used his movement technique to escape the battle this time and rushed back to the mansion. He felt slightly unsatisfied that he was unable to fight them, but he dared not overestimate his own strength. He too knew that he was not their opponent when they all ganged up on him.

    As he returned home, he went straight to his room. He ordered the maid to draw a hot bath for him, and while he was waiting, he sat down and started reading the book about the sects and martial arts families within the rest of the continent.

    Xue Wei was entirely focused on reading, and it was not before he finished the first chapter about a Martial Arts Family known as the Ouyang family. They were famous for using fans, zithers, brushes and other artistic materials as their weapons and they had a history of over ten thousand years.

    The creator of the Ouyang family had been one of the experts that were ying a central role in the rising against the Primordial Beasts from back when the humans had been kept as ves and livestock. Ouyang Yong was a real hero of humanity.

    As Xue Wei had finished reading about the Ouyang family, he closed the book and turned his attention towards the bathtub.

    He then unpacked his many things and took small parts of every item. One leaf of Corpse Grass, few drops of blood essence of the blood ginseng, one petal of srflower, a shard from a beast core and a tiny bit of the drops of Primordial Beast blood.

    Xue Wei was aware that he could not handle a full drop of Primordial Beast Blood, so he split the drop into four portions, adding a fourth to the water.

    The water turned from red to ck, and the steam started to contain a potent scent of blood. This scent arrived through the entire mansion and even spread out from the estate, alerting everyone in the area as to what was happening.

    Manager Su rushed to Xue Wei¡¯s room when he smelled the scent of blood, his heart was beating rapidly as he feared that his Young Master was severely injured, yet when he entered the room he found Xue Wei seated in a bucket of water that waspletely ck, his eyes closed and his breathing regr.

    Xue Wei had learned to deal with the pain he gained from sitting in the herbal concoction, and although the pain was even more intense now, it was a pleasant sensation because he knew he was increasing his strength with each minute within the painful water.

    When Manager Su saw the concoction, he was at first surprised. He knew that it was possible to extract medicinal properties from nts by adding it to the bath, but he also knew it was an incredibly old-fashioned method.

    He looked at the table and saw a whole stack of medicines, he also saw primordial beast blood, and his eyebrow shot up in surprise. These items were clearly enough for Earth Warriors to consume, but Xue Wei was only a fifthyered Ordinary Warrior. Was he not worried about his meridians breaking from the overload of medicine?

    Manager Su quickly left the room after ensuring that Xue Wei was fine. He did not want to interrupt him, and instead, he ordered everyone to provide that no one entered the estate while Xue Wei was cultivating.

    People came to visit and asked what exactly the scent was from, but Manager Su was mysterious and apologised time and time again, but he did never go into details with what exactly had caused the smell, causing many to be curious.

    When the rumour about the blood started spreading through the town, the clerk from the apothecary shop could not keep his mouth shut, and soon everyone knew that Xue Wei had purchased Primordial Beast blood.

    Some wished that he would destroy his body from trying to consume such astonishing materials, while others hoped that he would be able to ovee yet another tribtion.

 Chapter 21: Saving the Ladies

    Chapter 21: Saving the Ladies

    Xue Wei was unaware of whatever the citizens were speaking about. He did not know that they were aware of him consuming Primordial Beast blood, and even if he knew, he would not pay it any attention.

    Xue Wei was in the concoction for a full week this time before the water turned crystal clear again, and during this whole week, his entire body and strength seemed to multiply.

    The Qi within his pearl-like dantian was growing denser by the minute, and he felt how his body was strengthened. He could feel that his body contained an explosive strength that it had not had before, and he knew that although some of this power came from the Primordial Beast blood, some of it also had toe from his own body.

    He was aware that his strength was superior to others at the sameyer as him, but it was not until now he realized that he could enhance it further by absorbing Primordial Beast blood.

    Having finished the concoction in the bath, Xue Wei could feel how his body was revolving with energy. It was as if he was a rocket ready to explode, and he knew that he needed an outlet for some of this energy or he really would damage his meridians.

    As a result, he quickly dressed and went to the back of the mansion to the training field where he started training.

    He felt as an overflowing fountain of energy, and he could continuously release one Azure Light Finger after another. He then tried the Shattering Mountain Palm, and the result was the same.

    One attack after another flew around Xue Wei as he attacked the dummies time and time again.

    The dummies were broken but restored themselves in a continuous cycle, and it was not before the night turned to morning that Xue Wei felt how the energy finally started to ebb out of his body.

    Although some of the energy was vanishing, a lot was staying within him, and he felt a power unlike any he had ever felt before. He had broken through to the sixthyer of the Ordinary Warrior rank just by absorbing a fourth of a drop of Primordial Beast blood!

    It was going to take a bit of time before Xue Wei could once more consume the concoction or his body would not be able to handle the sheer amount of medicinal properties released in his body, so instead, he returned to his old schedule of fighting the dummies and training his Qi the same steady way.

    After spending another week doing nothing but training, Xue Wei decided to go to town. He had no actual purpose for going, but he wished to see the Wayfarers. He had a hard time forgetting about the young miss Wang Xiaoyun that he had seen there.

    As he left the mansion, he saw that a lot of people were looking at him strangely. As soon as they saw him, they started whispering together, and some even tried to stretch their necks further to get a better glimpse of Xue Wei.

    Some looked depressed while others seemed excited, but everyone was looking at him as if he was a maniac.

    Although Xue Wei did not care about what others thought of him, he noticed the nces, and after a bit of time did their whisper enter his ears.

    "So he consumed Primordial Beast blood, but why is it that he seems perfectly fine?"

    "Do you think that his meridians are broken now? Do you think he has gained some severe injuries that cannot be cured?"

    "I hope he will be okay even though it was rather reckless to consume Primordial Beast blood at such a low cultivation level."

    From these whispers, Xue Wei quickly understood that the city had found out about him buying Primordial Beast blood, but he just shook his head and continued forward. It was not like he had ever nned for his purchase to be a secret.

    As he reached the Wayfarer¡¯s camp, Xue Wei¡¯s eyes roamed across all of them, and he found the group of seniors he had purchased the book from previously.

    Seeing them, Xue Wei instantly walked towards them and cupped his hands and once more bowed deeply. "Greetings Seniors," he said sincerely.

    Xue Wei had always had great respect towards the seniors that had been hunting Primordial Beasts, and these Wayfarers were no exception.

    "If you are looking for the little miss, then she is out looking at the city with a few of her friends," one of the olddies cackled with a high pitched voice that rung ofughter.

    Hearing her, Xue Wei was slightly stunned, but then he gave a wry smile. It was apparent that these experts could see through most of what others were hiding, they were great experts after all, and thus he just bowed again, "thank you for your help," he said before he turned around to leave.

    "He is a good boy," the old woman said after he had left.

    Xue Wei hade to town for the sake of seeing Wang Xiaoyun. He was not sure of what he wanted to say to her, but he wished to see her again. There was something about her that had made him unable to forget her, but at the same time, he also knew that they would have to part soon.

    Wang Xiaoyun was a Wayfarer. It was in her blood quite literally. She was the same age as Xue Wei which meant that when she turned sixteen, she would not be joining the army, but she would have her bloodline activated, and be a fierce cultivator that lived for the sake of hunting Fierce and Primordial Beasts.

    Xue Wei, on the other hand, had no other option than to enter the army. He was a regr human being, and although he was a young master, it was his responsibility to join the military and fight for humanity.

    Being painfully aware that the two of them had no future together, Xue Wei felt depressed, but he still could not help but want to see her.

    Xue Wei was wandering around the marketces, the restaurants and the different sightseeing ces in town aimlessly, trying to figure out where perhaps Wang Xiaoyun could have gone to when he heard a familiar voice.

    Amotion was going on in one of the edges of the marketce, and Xue Wei was drawn over by themoners who were looking anxious and the voice that was so familiar to him.

    "Listen up girls, it is your honor that I have taken a liking to you," Li Jian sneered as he and his group of henchmen were standing in a half circle around three girls.

    Xue Wei had never seen the three girls before, but he could see the fear in their eyes, and he could easily guess what exactly was going on.

    Although Xue Wei was no hero, he was not capable of just walking away when he saw Li Jian treat these girls as he were, and although he knew that he was not the opponent of all of these henchmen and Li Jian at the same time, he knew that he could at least escape unscratched.

    After having reached the sixthyer of the Ordinary Warrior rank, Xue Wei was now capable of unleashing a full eight attacks before he ran out of energy, and these attacks were with a strength that far exceeded his cultivation level.

    Although this was the case, Xue Wei knew that his benefity in his element of surprise, and thus he activated the Forbidden Rush technique and vanished into the wind only to re-emerge right behind Li Jian.

    Shattering Mountain Palm!

    The attack was instantly unleashed andnded right on Li Jian¡¯s back. Thetter was utterly unprepared for the strike and was mmed straight into the ground, his clothes dirtied, and blood was trickling in a thin stream from his lips.

    Xue Wei did not stop there. He pointed his finger towards the side of the half circle and released two Azure Light Finger attacks thatnded on two of the experts.

    "Run!" he yelled to the girls that instantly ran away while the henchmen started to understand what had happened at thest moment.

    Xue Wei did not hesitate, he merged with the wind once more and followed after the three girls. Two guys had chosen to chase them down, while the rest had split into two groups, one chasing Xue Wei and the others trying to assist Li Jian back onto his feet.

    Xue Wei fluttered here and there; it was impossible to fully see where he was as he was just moving too fast for the trained eyes of his pursuers.

    Xue Wei released another two Azure Light Finger at the two experts that were chasing the girls. He aimed at their legs and tore open their muscles so that they could no longer run.

    Those who followed behind Xue Wei sucked in a cold breath of air. If these two did not get assistance fast, then they would end up crippled. Although battles were ordinary in the younger generation, it was truly rare that one would cripple others. Still, Xue Wei had attacked without a care in the world for the consequences.

    Many of the citizens who were watching was snickering. Although they would never dare to say anything out loud, all of them were happy to see the young nobles suffer.

    The girls they had been hitting on weremoners, and nomoners would dare to go against the will of a noble if they wanted to keep living a peaceful life, but to be forced into bing a concubine, or only just a lover, was something that the citizens of Tiankong City loathed to see.

    Still, Li Jian was as overbearing as always. He did not care for the views of others, and he did what he wanted to do. His father was a Heavenly Warrior, and his older brothers were all doing heroic deeds in the army which allowed for him to act unbridled.

    Xue Wei did not care for such people. To him, these people who wished to harm him should die or be crippled for life. There was no such thing as mercy in his dictionary.

    So far he had been unable to do anything because he had not had the strength to back him up, but now things had changed. The people he was fighting was at most the eightyered Ordinary Warriors, twoyers above him, and they had the usual strength of an eightyered Ordinary Warrior while Xue Wei had enhanced strength.

    Also, the ones he had attacked had not been prepared for it, and thus his attacks had been able to cause some severe damage.

    Xue Wei stopped using the Forbidden Rush technique. He went to the girls and looked at them. Tears were flowing down their faces, but they seemed relieved.

    "Thank you!" one of them eximed. "Young Master Li will nevere after us again because seeing our faces will remind him of the suffering you made him experience! Thank you so much, I am sorry for having called you trash in the past!"

    Seeing the girl so happy, Xue Wei was about to go when she threw herself at him and started crying. Right at that moment, Wang Xiaoyun came walking past, and her eyesnded on Xue Wei who was being entangled by three crying girls.

    Wang Xiaoyun¡¯s face turned solemn and then red from anger. She said nothing but turned straight on her foot, her friends utterly unaware of what had happened, but they hurried to follow behind her, and Xue Wei, who was standing on his own, waspletely at a loss for what to say.

    He had never expected that going to town to look for Wang Xiaoyun would have such results and he could not help but feel a slight headache.

    Looking at the girls he slowly managed to get her to let him go, and after giving them a gold coin each, telling them to spoil themselves, did he rush after Wang Xiaoyun.

 Chapter 22: Blame Him, Blame You

    Chapter 22: me Him, me You

    Xue Wei felt his heartbeat quicken, and he escorted the three girls to a crowded area where Li Jian definitely would not disturb them. Not to mention Li Jian would be busy dealing with his two friends that had their muscles severed by Xue Wei.

    Since he was confident that the three girls would be fine, Xue Wei did not hesitate and once more started searching for Wang Xiaoyun.

    Having seen her leave in rage as she had before, Xue Wei was worried sick and wanted to exin the situation to her, but if he could not find her, he would have no luck.

    It was not before an hour had passed that Xue Wei finally located Wang Xiaoyun. She was with her friends at a dumpling stall buying dumplings, but while the other friends were giggling and having fun, Wang Xiaoyun¡¯s face was still overcast with anger.

    "This woman seems to hold a grudge," Xue Wei thought while his heart trembled. Although he was new to these emotions, he knew that he would feel ufortable if she continued looking this troubled, and he wanted to talk with her.

    Xue Wei walked towards the dumpling stall, and when the girls noticed him, they whispered in hushed voices and suddenly stood up. With loud shouts, they dered the weirdest things, "I forgot to water the Fierce Beasts, I better go back."

    "I forgot to buy some rice cakes for old granny; I have to go back too." Excuse after excuse was said almost in unison before they scrambled to rush away one faster than the other, the only one who was remaining was Wang Xiaoyun, and from the re, she sent Xue Wei, it was clear that he was anything but wee.

    "Sorry that I am annoying you again," Xue Wei said with a slight smile on his face when he sat down, "I did not mean to intrude, but it seems to me that you misunderstood the situation from earlier."

    "I don¡¯t know what you mean," Wang Xiaoyun said with a cold, dismissive voice and turned to look away while she ate a dumpling and chewed on it aggressively as if she imagined that the dumpling was Xue Wei.

    "I am sure you know what I mean," Xue Wei said with a sigh, "I am very interested in you. You seem like the most interesting woman I have ever met, why don¡¯t we get to know each other a bit better?"

    "Hey loverboy," Wang Xiaoyun said while finally facing Xue Wei, her face looking slightly confused, "you talk about wanting to get to know me when all you do is running around breaking hearts. My mother has taught me that I should be careful who I give my heart to, you are not ready for mine yet."

    "So there might be a possibility in the future?" Xue Wei grinned, and Wang Xiaoyun realized that her words had implied this. "Maybe we will meet again in the future and time will tell," she said as she pursed her lips, but her eyes were much kinder now and her voice a lot more cheerful.

    "Don¡¯t let it be too long into the future," Xue Wei grinned and ordered a te of dumplings which he started eating together with Wang Xiaoyun.

    The two were talking about everything and nothing. Wang Xiaoyun had long since heard the story about him being incapable of cultivating and then suddenly breaking through the bottleneck and soaring through a fewyers in a few months.

    "Your situation reminds me of myself," Wang Xiaoyun said as she stole a dumpling on Xue Wei¡¯s te as she had no more of her own. "I am able to cultivate a bit, but until I activate my bloodline, it will be much slower than others."

    "It might not seem like a lousy cultivation base right now, but it has taken blood sweat and tears to reach thisyer, and I am very proud. In a year when I am able to activate my bloodline, I will be a much stronger cultivator; I will even be able to jump straight to the Earth Warrior rank."

    "You werepletely incapable of cultivating, but you broke through at the same as I would have my bloodline activated, and suddenly your cultivation base has rapidly increased. Looking at you it even seems as if it is a very stable and solid foundation."

    The two talked about their past, Xue Wei could not speak too much about it as he did not remember much, but what he did remember amazed Wang Xiaoyun.

    Wang Xiaoyun was used to life on the road. She had traveled far and wide, seen many things that others had not seen and experienced things that the young people from the city of Tiankong could only dream about.

    At the same time, Xue Wei was amazed by everything that Wang Xiaoyun told him about. The rest of the continent was filled with experts, the real geniuses of the middle of the continent were fifteen but already at the ninthyer of the Earth Warrior rank. A few of the supreme geniuses had reached the Sky Warrior rank already.

    "In this kingdom, the Heavenly Warrior rank is the highest rank possible, but in the vast continent, geniuses exceed this rank and reach an even higher realm!" Wang Xiaoyun said with shining eyes. "I will be one of them too when my bloodline is activated."

    Xue Wei¡¯s eyes shone. He had heard about the higher realms before, but only vaguely, when he asked Wang Xiaoyun about it, the woman just shrugged her shoulders, "Sorry, no one will tell me about it yet either. They say I am not ranked high enough."

    "I have been in the Northern Taiga before," Wang Xiaoyun said. "The northern Taiga is a part of the northern kingdom of Heping, but it spreads outside of the kingdom¡¯s borders, the taiga is truly massive."

    "The taiga is very dangerous. Their of some of the most dangerous Primordial Beasts lies within its innermost regions, and no hunter who has ventured too deep into the forest has ever emerged alive."

    "Not even a group of Wayfarers or Diviners?" Xue Wei asked with big eyes filled with surprise. He knew that the Northern Taiga was dangerous, and he knew it was tremendous, but he had never known that no hunter had ever survived venturing into the innermost regions of the ce.

    "No one," Wang Xiaoyun shook her head. "It is aplete danger zone; you should not enter unless you have a death wish."

    Xue Wei and Wang Xiaoyun chatted until the day came to an end, and the sky turned dark. Stars came out, yet neither felt that they had spoken enough with one another just yet.

    It was not until the friends from the Wayfarer group returned to fetch Wang Xiaoyun that their conversation ended, and although Xue Wei had lost a whole day of cultivation he was feeling warm in his heart and happy. He did not feel as if he had lost anything but slightly gained something instead, and he was sure that he woulde looking for Wang Xiaoyun the following day.

    Xue Wei was in a great mood on the way back to the mansion, yet just before he reached the estate, he caught some chatter amongst themoners.

    "I heard that Xue Wei is too brazen recently. He crippled the sons of the He and Jia families."

    "I heard that they were going after some innocent girls and Xue Wei was protecting the girls, attacking them in the passing. What extraordinary power to be able to cripple two experts of higher strength when fleeing."

    "Although they were so many more people than him, he still managed to cripple two of them, that is quite an achievement."

    Hearing this, Xue Wei could listen to that the He and Jia young masters had indeed been crippled after his Azure Light Finger attacks. Xue Wei did not even for a moment regret his actions, but he was not going to meet the older generation alone.

    Instead, he activated the Forbidden Rush technique and elegantly jumped over the wall into his mansion. After preparing himself, did he head back towards the gate where all the mansion¡¯s guards and Manager Su was present together with arge group of experts that seemed to be waiting for him.

    Xue Wei lookedpletely casual as he walked towards the outside of the mansion. He did not fear these other families as all the guards and Manager Su was at least Earth Warriors, Manager Su was even a ninthyered Sky Warrior.

    "You bastard!" He Tong sneered as he saw Xue Wei move towards them with such a casual and carefree expression on his face. "How dare you cripple my son?! He had a glorious future ahead of him, now he will not even be able to partake in the military and will be looked down on by man and woman alike! You have destroyed his life!"

    Xue Wei looked at him and snorted, "what is the punishment for forcing themselves on women here in our Kingdom of Heping?" he answered the question with another question, and the face of He Tong stiffened slightly.

    "You will be castrated," Shen Mu¡¯s voice suddenly sounded throughout the ce, "If you force a woman, you will be punished with castration. I am here as the delegation from the City Lord¡¯s mansion."

    "It turns out that three women were being held against their will by young master Li and his friends. It turns out that your son, young master He and young master Jia both participated in this act."

    "We have spoken with the women in question. As things stand now they will not press charges, however, should the He and the Jia family press charges against their savior, then they too will go the way of the court, causing twenty-three young experts of the younger generation to be castrated."

    The faces of the He and Jia family members instantly turned pale. This was a threat towards them. If they truly wished to me Xue Wei then they had to drag the Li family and all their friends andrades into hell by having their children castrated, but could they allow for Xue Wei to go unpunished?

    The He and Jia family had brought members of every single family that supported the Li family to join their entourage to seek justice against Xue Wei, but now they were unsure of what to do. Everyone who hade to find justice for the two disabled boys was now ring at the He and Jia families, telling them with their eyes to drop the matter.

    Although they had hoped for a way to punish Xue Wei and get rid of him, they would never risk their own offspring in the process.

    These experts were all old cunning foxes. They knew that the Shen family had found witnesses and that they were protecting anyone who was important in the case. It would be impossible to get rid of them without alerting the Shen family, and if they were informed, then they could quickly dispose of their families for doing something against thews of Heping Kingdom.

    No one wished for this to happen and as a result, they all stayed quiet. One could hear a needle fall to the floor.

    "You should have been killed by Young Master Li when you were still useless," He Tong sneered at Xue Wei. "Although they bullied you and beat you up they never crippled you for real. They never actually tried to kill you! But now that you are getting stronger, you are trying to cripple them!"

    "I am warning you all! One day he will kill or cripple all of them because he holds a grudge against them!"

    The facial expressions of many people present turned sour when they heard this but no one dared toment, and Xue Wei just stood casually leaning against the gate of the mansion and his arms crossed across his chest.

    "Are you done?" He asked, and straightened himself before he stretched. "I don¡¯t care about your descendants, but if they continue to break thew, and to trouble me, don¡¯t me me for giving back of the same kind. It is not my fault that they could not even handle one attack of mine each, I mean they were both stronger than me by at least ayer."

 Chapter 23: Dreams

    Chapter 23: Dreams

    Xue Wei was incredibly overbearing, and everyone was surprised when they saw his carefree attitude. Had it not been for Shen Mu and the witnesses who could say that these three girls had indeed been mistreated by Li Jian and his friends, then today¡¯s matter would not have ended in as peaceful a way.

    This kingdom heavily relied on the power of their geniuses to stand against the Primordial and Fierce Beasts. To walk around killing or even crippling geniuses who had still not served in the military was simply akin to sentencing oneself to the same fate, yet Xue Wei had emerged unscathed from it.

    Xue Wei had a cold smile on his lips as he looked at Li Jian. The only thing he regretted was that the one he had crippled was not Li Jian but only the young masters of the He and Jia families.

    "You won¡¯t get through it so easily next time!" Li Jian sneered at Xue Wei as the Li family got ready to leave the Xiao Lei mansion. They simply dared not stay for long as they had already lost enough face.

    Li Fang had note, he was just too important a figure; and just as Shen Bingwen did note either but sent his son, Li Fang had also sent guards and two Elders from the Li family.

    The Elders were deeply embarrassed and wished that they could hide themselves underneath a rock. They hade in ir to get vengeance for their supporters¡¯ sons, only to find that the whole incident had been started by an order given by their descendant.

    He was the one who had ordered his followers to stop these three girls, and he had tried to gain them against their will. They were aware that this was something he had done before, but usually, themoners would never rise against the noble houses, especially not against a noble with a Heavenly Warrior in their household.

    Unfortunately, these witnesses had gained the protection of Shen Bingwen, and with him shielding them, they dared tell the truth.

    Usually, murder would not cause too much of a problem. As long as the family waspensated with some silver or even gold, then they would be able to ept their loss. However, it was different when it came to the geniuses of the younger generation. Every single action they made affected the situation between the Li and then Shen family, who were both fighting tooth and w to extinguish the other while keeping to thew that had been ced by the Kingdom of Heping.

    If one of the members did something inappropriate, then the other side would me them, and the worse their actions the better it was for the opposition. Because of this, the Shen family was secretly gloating now that they had the witnesses in their hands.

    They had taken a small victory against the Li family, and they secretly celebrated for Xue Wei crippling two of their geniuses as the fewer they had, the less of a threat they would be in theter generations.

    Xue Wei had no actual reason to ce himself in the midst of this battle for power. He was initially on the neutral side as his uncle was not interested in bing the next City Lord of Tiankong City, but because Xiao Lei was a friend of Shen Bingwen, and because of the apparent hostility that Li Jian felt towards Xue Wei, he had been pushed towards the Shen family¡¯s camp

    Slowly, everyone who had gathered in front of the mansion scattered. Some were feeling excited and happy, others dejected and angry.

    Especially the He and Jia families had a belly full of anger but nowhere to vent it. They knew that if they were to do something to Xue Wei now, they would get med for it, whether or not there was any evidence, and thus they could not risk taking vengeance just yet.

    "Just you wait until you enter the army," He Tong sneered sinisterly. "My other sons are still in the army, and they have managed to make a name for themselves. I will have them ensure that you do not return home, and this way your uncle can never me it on us!"

    Having reached this conclusion He Tong grinned to himself with a manic expression on his face. His other sons had done well in the army, and although they had not managed to be generals or anything too outstanding, they were still capable of making a new green member of the army encounter quite some troubles.

    The leader of the Jia family was thinking the same thing. He did not have as many sons as the He family, but he still had a few, and these sons were capable of causing enough problems for Xue Wei.

    These two men were both of the Sky Warrior ranks. They had a lifespan of five hundred years and had only lived around two hundred and fifty of it each. They were from the same generation, and they had taken many wives throughout their lifetime, producing multiple sons and daughters.

    But the ones who had been following Li Jian had been some of the more aplished ones, and seeing them suddenly turned to trash was a p in their faces.

    The moment thest people vanished, Xue Wei also returned to the back of the mansion where he continued to train. He was not going to waste his time sleeping, and although it was already dark, he ended up training the full night.

    Xue Wei stood up as the sun sent its first rays of sunlight down from the sky and stretched his body. He had entirely emptied himself of Qi earlier and had just finished absorbing and refining enough Qi to fill once more the Pearl-like dantian that he had.

    He quickly went to wash before dressing and rushing into the central marketce where the Wayfarers had parked their caravan.

    Xue Wei saw how the city was waking up. Shops were opening, and people were going about doing their morning business. Some were out buying food; others were out delivering messages. Everyone was busy, and the morning air was alive with the hustle and bustle of the city.

    As Xue Wei reached the Wayfarer¡¯s caravan, he saw that they too had awakened and were starting to open up their shops. The group of seniors was sitting and eating soup that had been brought to them by smaller children, while they were busy chatting with one another.

    The older children were setting up their stalls and preparing to sell their goods, and the teenagers were running around doing whatever they felt like doing. There was no one to supervise them.

    Xue Wei walked around the caravan, and although many looked at him curiously, no one tried to stop him. The seniors had long since noticed him, and since they approved of his presence, then no one would question their judgement. No one knew exactly how old or strong these seniors were, but if the caravan were truly in danger, or about to be in trouble, they would explode with power and any young man would be killed on the spot.

    Xue Wei had one aim in entering the Wayfarer caravan, and that was to find Wang Xiaoyun. When he saw the seniors, he cupped his hands and bowed to them from a distance, causing the old woman who had taken the most significant liking to him to smile widely and wave back at him. The rest just smiled gently.

    Xue Wei wandered past caravan after caravan until his eyes found Wang Xiaoyun and his face, which usually never disyed much emotion, suddenly lit up with a great smile.

    However, the smile on his face quickly froze when he saw that Wang Xiaoyun was not alone. With her was a young man, who seemed to be around seventeen years old.

    This young man was holding her hand, and they were talking about something in a heated manner. It seemed as if Wang Xiaoyun wanted to leave but the man would not let her, and it was clear that their discussion was getting more and more intense by the minute.

    "You have no right to tell me what to do! Even grandma Meng has given me her permission!" Wang Xiaoyun¡¯s voice ricocheted through the caravans as she pulled her hand free and turned around.

    When she saw Xue Wei, tears were falling from her eyes, and she ran to him, took his hand and dragged him with her away from the young man who looked as if he was billowing with anger and ready to explode at any moment.

    Xue Wei could not sense the cultivation base of this expert, and as a result, did not dare to stay behind in case he became the target for thetter¡¯s anger.

    "Do not leave!" the man yelled, but by then Xue Wei and Wang Xiaoyun had already gotten quite far away, and Wang Xiaoyun showed no signs of stopping. Her hand was gripping Xue Wei¡¯s so hard that her skin had turnedpletely white, all blood had been forced out of her hand.

    "Sorry that you had to see that," Wang Xiaoyun said with sadness in her voice as she finally stopped running when they reached a park in Tiankong City.

    "Did you get some breakfast?" Xue Wei asked, and Wang Xiaoyun shook her head. Buying some food at a stall, the two ventured into the park and found a beautiful tree to sit beneath where they could eat their breakfast together.

    At first, neither spoke, they just ate their food, but as time went on and as the food was eaten, they started talking.

    "What is your goal in life?" Wang Xiaoyun suddenly asked randomly, and Xue Wei was a little taken aback. "I want to regain my memories," he sighed.

    "I remember this small town in the Northern Taiga. I do not remember anything about it apart from its appearance. I do not even remember the faces of the people who lived there."

    "When I was ten years old, I lived in that town, but a Primordial Beast decimated the entire poption apart from me. I know nothing about the town apart from that."

    "Oh," Wang Xiaoyun was quiet for some time, but then her eyes widened.

    "Five years ago? It is Lingyun Town!" she said excitedly, and Xue Wei, who was listening to her frowned. The name sounded familiar, but he could not ce where he had heard about it before.

    "Five years ago the Ice Harpy appeared in a town called Lingyun, and she killed every single person. Lingyun Town is located in the Northern Taiga, and I am quite sure it is the only one that fits the description. It has long since be and of the dead," Wang Xiaoyun sighed.

    Xue Wei was lost in his thoughts. Ice Harpy. The name itself described what kind of Primordial Beast she was. He knew that this was the beast that the Wayfarers were after, but how strong she was, he had no idea.

    "So Ie from Lingyun Town?" Xue Wei suddenly felt something within him, as if he had found a valuable piece of information, but he was not sure of what it meant just yet.

    "So when you get your memory back, what do you want to do?" Wang Xiaoyun continued to ask, and Xue Wei pondered for a moment before a great smile spread on his face, "I want to hunt Primordial Beasts with my uncle."

    "I do not need riches or fame, I just want my memories back and to make my uncle proud. If I can have these two things, then I will live a happy life," Xue Wei said as he sighed andid back on the grass looking up at the blue cotton clouds that were drifting by.

    "What about you?" he turned toy on the side and looked at Wang Xiaoyun. "What do you want with your life?"

 Chapter 24: Masked Experts

    Chapter 24: Masked Experts

    Wang Xiaoyun was quiet for some time, pondering the question. "I don¡¯t know," she said after careful consideration.

    "I have no real goal in life. I obviously want to be a great Primordial Beast hunter and bring fame and honor to my family, but other than that I have no wishes."

    "Perhaps I was waiting for the knight in shining armor riding the white horse to appear in front of me," she sighed. Just as she had spoken Xue Wei raised an eyebrow andughed, "do you want me to find a white horse to be eligible for your love?" he asked teasingly but Wang Xiaoyun just snickered, "I would love to see you on a horse, I wonder if you are even able to stay seated on one!"

    "I will let you know that horseback riding is not needed," Xue Wei grinned back, the two of them teasing one another, "We are cultivators. We can ride mortal horses, but they are not very fast, as soon as we be Earth Warriors, our speed will outstrip them, but until then a few people will ride horses I guess."

    "Also, it is much more impressive toe riding on a Fierce Beast than any mortal horse. Why don¡¯t you imagine your hero on some sort of Fierce Beast rather than a white horse?"

    Xue Wei was teasing Wang Xiaoyun, and both of themughed. It did not take long before Wang Xiaoyun alsoy back and allowed for the soft green grass in the park to make afortable nket.

    Xue Wei and Wang Xiaoyun smiled at one another. They talked about random things, but neither approached the topic that made them the most worried.

    The rest of the day was spent in bliss for the two, they spent a long time on the grass in the park just talking with one another, and the rest of the day was spent strolling the bustling city¡¯s busy streets.

    "Are you avable tomorrow?" Xue Wei asked hesitatingly as they were about to part. It was once again dark, and it was clear that Wang Xiaoyun had to return to the Wayfarers¡¯ caravan as soon as possible, but neither of them wished to be away from one another.

    Wang Xiaoyun nodded her head and said nothing, her face was shing beet red, and she bit her lower lip feeling bashful. She knew that he wanted to spend more time with her, but she was also aware that it was not possible for the two of them to be together. She was after all a Wayfarer, and he was not.

    Wayfarers married other Wayfarers to ensure that their bloodline was as powerful as possible, and although the Wayfarers seemed few and far between, there were more than million of them. Every ten year all Wayfarers would gather to hold a celebration, and this was the location where most of them would get married.

    Watching Xue Wei vanish into the distance, Wang Xiaoyun shook her head, "Still, I cannot stop myself from loving him," she sighed, but the moment she had said that a cackling sound came from just beside her, shocking her deeply and causing her to tremble.

    The cackling sound was grandma Meng. "Young one, sometimes tradition is not everything," she said half seriously, halfughing. "Others has left the Wayfarermunity before for the sake of marrying normal people."

    "But grandma, I am the young miss of this tribe. If I leave, who will take over? Father only have me as a child." she interjected, but she could feel how her voice was weak and her eyes darted away.

    She was tempted to give up the life of a Wayfarer and live a casual and carefree life together with Xue Wei, but her family ties had made her torn, and ultimately she knew that she could not let her parents and family down.

    Even though she had fallen in love, love was one thing, but responsibility was another. She could not shy away from her duty as the young miss of the Wayfarer caravan, and thus her only option was to give up on love.

    "Well, don¡¯t worry too much," Grandma Meng smiled, but her smile contained a trace of pity. "Why don¡¯t you just look forward till tomorrow and make sure to enjoy yourself as long as itsts? I am sure that this young man is not stupid, he would never ask you to give up your family for his sake."

    Just as Grandma Meng was about to leave another shadow appeared in front of the two women, this time it was the seventeen-year-old boy who had been seen earlier this morning trying to hold back Wang Xiaoyun from going with Xue Wei.

    "Finally back?" He asked, his voice cold and his eyes dark with anger. "What does it matter to you?" Wang Xiaoyun asked defiantly while turning around to leave, but the young man caught her by the wrist again and started scolding her.

    "I might not be your real brother, but I have seen you grow up. What do you think you are doing, throwing away all honor and good name that we Wayfarers have by running around chasing that guy everywhere?"

    "Did you not know, he was considered trash for so long. It is as if the City itself is incapable of getting past the surprise that he is not scum of society, but you, you just throw yourself in his arms,y down in the park to chat with him and send him long nces as if the world revolved around him."

    "This is truly not eptable. Your father is not here, but if he were he would ground you!"

    Hearing the scolding Wang Xiaoyun¡¯s face turned paler and paler with each passing word. She started trembling with anger and did everything in her power to drag her arm back, but no matter did it help. The boy in front of her was a real Wayfarer, and one who had his bloodline activated more than a year ago. He was by now an Earth Warrior of the seventhyer, and he was many times stronger than the woman in front of him.

    Wang Xiaoyun¡¯s face contorted, and she sneered back at him, "you are not my father, and as you said you are not my older brother. Who do you think you are telling me what I can and cannot do?"

    Her words were dripping with anger. "Father might have adopted you when your own family died fighting the beasts, but you and I are not siblings. If what I do annoy you then look the other way!"

    Having said this, she ripped her hand to herself, turned around and left the young man standing where he was. His eyes were filled withplex and mixed emotions.

    "To think that a random young man suddenly is worth more to her than I am," he mumbled to himself, and a slight killing intent shed in his eyes.

    Wang Xiaoyun rushed back to her caravan where she went to sleep, half depressed and half ted. "I know that I cannot stay like this, but just one more day together with him would not be bad."

    Thinking like this, Wang Xiaoyun drifted off to sleep. While she was sleeping, Xue Wei was busy training under the moon. He dared not enter the bathtub with his herbal concoction because he knew that it meant that he would be in a trance-like state for an extended period of time, and then he would not be able to apany Wang Xiaoyun.

    Since this was the case, he did just do the ordinary cultivation. He would train his abilities until he ran out of Qi and then he would restore his Qi through cultivating his Azure Dragon Scripture.

    The night went by and the morning arrived. Xue Wei once more went to get Wang Xiaoyun, and this time she was waiting for him on the outskirts of the caravan.

    The two were in their own worlds, they were smiling and having fun, but they did not realize that more and more people noticed them.

    Xue Wei had always stood out. Everyone knew who he was, and seeing him together with this unknown girl people were caught by curiosity. There was a chance that she would be his wife and thus be in the family with the famous Xiao Lei. As a result, people tried to find out who she was and it was not hard to figure out that since this unknown girl had appeared at the same time as the Wayfarers, then she was one of them.

    The more skilled ones realized that Wang Xiaoyun was the young miss of the entire Wayfarer caravan and they leaned back, preparing to be entertained. Everyone knew that Wayfarers only married other Wayfarers, so at some point, the older generation would intersect them and their emotions.

    At the same time, Xue Wei was not very well liked in the city, and he had even crippled the sons of the He and Jia families, so it was likely that he would be able to create some problems for the Wayfarers as well.

    Most people found it entertaining to see what was going to happen, but no one felt sorry for Xue Wei or Wang Xiaoyun.

    The third day Xue Wei and Wang Xiaoyun were out walking together, they found themselves in the central marketce when suddenly they were surrounded.

    Three experts were standing in a triangr formation around them, all wearing masks. Their strength was clearly at the ninthyered Ordinary Warrior rank.

    "I would like to see how you flee this time," one of them sneered. "If you try we will take your little miss and y with her instead of you," another grinned while the third just stayed quiet.

    Xue Wei had heard them, but he just sneered at them. "You think that you can entice me to fight you from that alone? Who said that I could not take her with me?"

    Having said that, Xue Wei grasped Wang Xiaoyun¡¯s hand and activated the Forbidden Rush ability. Although he was not as fast as he was when he was on his own, he was still able to flutter away together with Wang Xiaoyun.

    A momentter they were a few meters away from the encirclement that they had been in, and they grinned together, turned on their tail and started to run away.

    They did not let go of one another¡¯s hand, instead, they squeezed their hands tight and ran, continued to run fast and far away without looking back and without caring for where they were running towards.

    This happened time and time again the same day. More than twenty experts of the ninthyer of the Ordinary Warrior rank were out looking for them, and every time they were being spotted they would have to run for it.

    At the start it was okay. It was even somewhat entertaining, but as it happened time and time again, Xue Wei understood that someone was targeting them.

    "They are getting into bigger groups," Xue Wei said as they had just escaped past seven experts at once. This time they had been gathered in an almost perfect circle making it near impossible to escape.

    Xue Wei had the support of the Forbidden Rush ability, and if he was alone then it was no problem to escape but dragging Wang Xiaoyun with him required extra focus, time and energy.

 Chapter 25: Pursuit in Tiankong City

    Chapter 25: Pursuit in Tiankong City

    More energy was needed when Xue Wei was moving with Wang Xiaoyun, and he was starting to feel its toll on his body.

    "We need to get away from here," he sighed as he shook his head. It had been amusing at first to flee, but now it was evident that this was a significant scale movement against him, and that their aim was him and Wang Xiaoyun.

    Fortunately, it was not only Xue Wei who had noticed this, but the other families had also seen the same, even themoners had noticed it, and people were starting to gossip about who exactly could be so brazen and try to attack Xue Wei in the middle of the day.

    Experts continued to move in bigger and bigger groups, yet as they grouped up, they also found that it was getting harder and harder to locate Xue Wei and Wang Xiaoyun.

    It was as if two sides were ying hide and seek. Xue Wei and Wang Xiaoyun were just two people, and they soon learned to hide in the crowded areas.

    Sometimes themoners would call out and alert the groups of pursuers where they were, but most of themoners had changed their opinion about Xue Wei after seeing him cripple two noble borns while protecting threemoner girls.

    To get vengeance for the many girls who had been abused by the nobility, they felt much better, and Xue Wei had achieved this revenge.

    "This way young master, young miss," a cksmith said with a smile and led Xue Wei and Wang Xiaoyun into the smithy.

    "If you walk through the back of my smithy you will reach a charming little restaurant. It is not very busy, but it is used by the majority of themoners around here. I doubt that the nobles and their guards have even heard about it."

    "Why don¡¯t you go there for the sake of having a bit of peace on your date? I will ensure that they do not know where you have gone and I am sure that the restaurant will not tell anyone either as long as you spend a few coppers."

    Xue Wei grinned and cupped his hands in respect. "I am very grateful for your assistance," Xue Wei said gratefully and Xue Wei and Wang Xiaoyun crossed the smithy and walked out through the back gate into a small alleyway where there was a little restaurant known as the ck Lion.

    The ck Lion was small; there was at most fifty tables with chairs. The room was dimly lit as the gate was in the alleyway, but the scent of food that wafted out smelled great, and Xue Wei felt his stomach rumbling.

    "Why don¡¯t we go in and enjoy ourselves?" Xue Wei asked, and Wang Xiaoyun giggled. She took Xue Wei¡¯s hand. Xue Wei felt afortable coldness, that was as if he had touched porcin and he squeezed the hand gently.

    There was no one within the restaurant, only a single waitress and a matron standing behind the counter were present. When they saw Xue Wei and Wang Xiaoyun, their eyebrows rose in surprise, but a smile also spread on their faces.

    "I assume that the young master has decided to hide here for the time being?" The matronughed, her big chest heaving up and down.

    Xue Wei was surprised that even this person knew about the current chase that was undergoing in the city, but he could only grin slightly as he nodded his head, "We are indeed on the run right now, and found your charming restaurant by the help of a certain cksmith. We would like to hide out in here for some time. Of course, you will be paid handsomely in return."

    Xue Wei picked up three silver coins from his purse and ced them on the counter. "We will take the room in the corner, and would like some food and wine. If we manage to get through the day unnoticed then I will double your pay," Xue Wei said, and the eyes of the matron shone, not with greed but with the pleasant surprise.

    "We will give you all the food and snacks you could possibly eat," the matronughed before she went beneath her desk and ruminated through some boxes. After a bit of time, she straightened her back and in her hand was a veil and a bamboo hat.

    "I can guarantee that my staff will not betray you, but I cannot say for sure that my other customers will not. Knowing those men that are trying to catch you they will offer up a reward for finding you soon."

    "Some will be tempted, and they will lead the people straight to my restaurant. Although I fear no one, I do not wish for my ce to be ransacked or destroyed by random vengeful cultivators and thus, if you could wear this then I will be very grateful."

    Xue Wei looked at the bamboo hat and grinned. "Sure thing," he said and epted the hat, ced it on his head and went to the darkest corner.

    Wang Xiaoyun grinned too as she epted the veil and hid away her face. Now they looked incredibly shady, but at least no one was capable of seeing who they were.

    Soon food and drinks made it to the table, and the two rxed as they started eating and drinking, chatting andughing together.

    Time went by fast; the two were not gulping down the food but taking it slow while chatting, so they did not feel full for a long time. All the dishes were made from mortal animals, and although they were not possibly able to increase their strength, they tasted amazingly well, and both Xue Wei nor Wang Xiaoyun who were used to eating Fierce Beast meat was astonished by how tasty these dishes were.

    Slowly more and more customers started to appear in the restaurant and although Xue Wei and Wang Xiaoyun were being noticed and nced at from time to time no one tried to interrupt the two in their talk together and the meal they were sharing.

    The restaurant turned bustling, and many people appeared in the small chamber. Many started ordering and eating their dinner, and after dinner, most stayed to enjoy some beer and wine.

    Xue Wei and Wang Xiaoyun waited for the sun to set before they rose to their feet and paid an extra five silver coins to the matron and made their way into the narrow alleyway.

    They were walking hand in hand, but they had kept the veil and the bamboo hat, hiding their appearances as they made it to the main road.

    As soon as they made it to the main road, the two were stopped in their tracks, both looking ck-jawed at sight in front of them.

    The main road was filled with one massive group of mask-wearing cultivators. There was around forty of them, and all forty were gathered together in onerge clump.

    In the middle of the group were two experts that were facing one another, mumbling words to each other with low voices.

    "We better get going," Xue Wei said as he tightened the grip on Wang Xiaoyun¡¯s hand. "This is something we cannot handle," she agreed, and her heartbeat started beating rapidly.

    Both Xue Wei and Wang Xiaoyun were feeling the cold sweat on their backs. Although Wang Xiaoyun was strong for a Wayfarer without her bloodline activated, she was not the match for even one or two of these experts.

    Now forty were gathered in one ce, and if they truly got entangled by the group, then they would have a hard time escaping.

    "Why hasn¡¯t that old man Shen Bingwen moved against them yet?" Xue Wei swore, but he knew he could do nothing. It was clear to everyone that these men were after Xue Wei, but they had not shown their identity so everyone was guessing as to where they could be from.

    Xue Wei and Wang Xiaoyun walked casually past the group of experts. They did not look at them; theypletely ignored them while talking with one another as if they were an old married couple.

    "Hey you two!" someone suddenly called out, and Xue Wei and Wang Xiaoyun stopped in their tracks and turned around. Their hands were shaking slightly.

    "Yes, the two of you, what is the point of those outfits? Why are you hiding your faces?" The one who was speaking was a person from the group of forty experts.

    His face revealed his doubt, and Xue Wei was gritting his teeth, "when I count to three we run," Xue Wei said with a very low voice that only Wang Xiaoyun could hear. "I have regained a lot of energy from the break we had at the restaurant. We will run all the way to the Wayfarer caravan. They will not dare touch you when you are there."

    "What about you?" Wang Xiaoyun asked with hesitation, but Xue Wei just gave her hand a soft squeeze. "I will be fine," he promised, "I have my Forbidden Rush, they won¡¯t be able to see me make my move."

    "I hope so," Wang Xiaoyun did not sound too confident, but she decided not to question him. She knew that she was dragging him down with her, so she agreed to the n of getting her home first.

    "I asked the two of you a question," the masked man repeated, but Xue Wei started counting below his breath, "one."

    "I am going to remove your hat if you do not remove it yourself." "Two."

    "You asked for this!" "Three!"

    As Xue Wei counted to three, Xue Wei and Wang Xiaoyun turned on their feet, and the Forbidden Rush exploded with the fullest power that Xue Wei could handle.

    Although he was still incapable of teleportation, and although any Earth warrior would be able to see his movements clearly, these were all below the Earth Warrior rank, and thus their ability to look at his movements were limited.

    If Xue Wei were alone, he would be able to escape easily, but he was not alone. He had Wang Xiaoyun with him, and he was pushing his ability to the limits, continually fluttering from side to side and further and further away from their original position.

    Forbidden Rush was not only made for evasion, but it was also made to increase the speed of the cultivator, but so far Xue Wei was incapable of getting too much speed as he could only control a certain amount of the ability¡¯s potential.

    Because of this, they were not much faster than the ninthyered Warriors, but they were slightly quicker, making it possible for them to continue fleeing.

    The forty cultivators were following behind Xue Wei and Wang Xiaoyun, their legs were running fast, and their eyes were filled with excitement. They had finally found their targets again.

    Xue Wei kept dragging Wang Xiaoyun through the city. Not many citizens were out on the streets any longer, but those that were was watching with big and curious eyes.

    It wasmon for people to attack one another, and bully each other in the city, but to cause such arge scale pursuit was just unheard of before.

    As they reached the Wayfarers¡¯ caravan, Xue Wei rushed to the safety of the carriages.

    He knew exactly where to go, and he headed straight for the senior¡¯s carriages where he stood gasping for air and holding Wang Xiaoyun¡¯s hand in his own.

    Grandma Meng was sitting outside of her carriage with a smallmp next to her. She was reading a book, and when she saw the twoing towards her, short of breath and with ragged hair and clothes, she broke out into her charismatic cacklingughter.

 Chapter 26: A Tearful Goodbye

    Chapter 26: A Tearful Goodbye

    "Look what the cat brought back," sheughed as she saw their messy appearances. "Well thank you for bringing the young miss home uninjured, but I think it will be for the best that the two of you do not venture out the next couple of days."

    "Unfortunately, the master is supposed to return tomorrow after gaining information, and as soon as he returns our caravan will be moving again. I am afraid to say it, but today is thest day that the two of you have been able to spend together."

    Grandma Meng was usuallyughing, but as she spoke her face grew solemn and her voice lower, as her expression turned apologetic.

    "You will be leaving tomorrow?" Xue Wei asked shocked, his heart aching and his chest feeling tight. Wang Xiaoyun also lookedpletely stunned and disbelieved at the senior in front of her.

    "That is right," Granma Meng said as she nodded her head. "We are not here for the sake of having fun, after all, we are here for the sake of gaining information about the Ice Harpy, and it seems that the master has gained the information we needed."

    "Since he has gained what we needed, it is of utmost importance that we continue our pursuit as soon as possible. If we cannot catch her our entire trip to the Heping Kingdom has been in vain."

    Xue Wei understood the basics of it, but his heart still clenched when he heard that the day of their departure was sooner than he expected.

    "I wille for you," Xue Wei said decisively as he gripped Wang Xiaoyun¡¯s arms and made her face him. "I know it is impossible for you to leave your caravan, but one day I will return to your side, when that happens I will make sure that your old man will approve of me!"

    Xue Wei vowed to Wang Xiaoyun who was filled withplex emotions. On one side she did not want to leave. She wanted nothing more than to stay in the city together with Xue Wei, but she knew it was impossible.

    She was after all a Wayfarer. It was in her blood, and she would have to take over the caravan one day. It was not possible for her to stay with Xue Wei in Tiankong City.

    Hesitating slightly, Wang Xiaoyun went closer to Xue Wei, stood on her tiptoes and gently pressed her lips against Xue Wei¡¯s.

    The touch was soft and gentle but contained so many emotions. Xue Wei could not restrain himself and dragged Wang Xiaoyun into his embrace and deepened their kiss.

    "Well now, I miss the days of my youth," Grandma Mengughed again, and Xue Wei and Wang Xiaoyun jumped from one another, both utterly red in their faces.

    "I promise toe and find you. You are the only woman for me." Xue Wei said thoughtfully as the redness quickly diminished and a stern expression appeared on his face.

    Tears welled up in Wang Xiaoyun¡¯s eyes, and she tried to speak, but no words left her lips. "wuuwuu," was all that she managed to say, as the tears streamed down her cheeks, and she softly nodded her head.

    "She will be waiting for you," Grandma Meng said seriously, and with onest nce at Wang Xiaoyun, Xue Wei nodded his head and turned around, started running away from the Wayfarer¡¯s caravan.

    On the way did he meet some of the masked cultivators, but these masked cultivators never got to see even a glimpse of him as he evaded them using the Forbidden Rush ability.

    As he made it back to the mansion, Xue Wei elegantly jumped over the wall and entered the estate.

    The first maid he found was given the task of drawing a warm bath for him. He had already been eager to increase his strength so that he could bring honor and fame to his uncle so that he could be strong enough to reim his memories, but now he had something else that was urging him to get stronger too.

    He wished to be by Wang Xiaoyun¡¯s side. He knew that she had a unique bloodline as she was a Wayfarer and that Wayfarers married others of their kind, but Xue Wei would not ept this fact. He would be so strong that they could not question his strength, so strong that even the Wayfarers would recognize him.

    Xue Wei went straight to his bedroom where a big wooden tub filled with steaming hot water was waiting for him.

    He had long since been ready for the next herbal bath, but because of him hanging out with Wang Xiaoyun he had never gotten to take the bath. He now knew that they were leaving the following day, and he was perfectly well aware that it would be impossible for him to say the second goodbye.

    Since he had already said his goodbye, it was time for him to increase his strength. Wang Xiaoyun was already stronger than him, and when her bloodline activated she would soar to the skies, be an even more outstanding cultivator.

    If Xue Wei wanted to catch up to her, or even overtake her, then he had to work harder than anyone else, but this was not enough to make him discouraged. He had his special pearl-like dantian and his Azure Dragon Scripture. He was capable of progressing at a speed that others in the Kingdom of Heping could not follow.

    Like this, the night went past, and when the morning came, Xue Wei was still in a deep trance within the water that had gotten slightly more transparent from the night before, yet far from being clear.

    At the meanwhile Wang Xiaoyun¡¯s father had returned and with him came a breeze of freshness. Every Wayfarer, apart from Wang Xiaoyun, was filled with excitement and could not wait to set out, yet their young miss was filled with sadness and mixed emotions.

    Before she could find nothing more exciting than the hunt to find their Primordial Beast, but now a quiet life together with Xue Wei did not sound too bad. Unfortunately, this was something she could never afford ever to say. She was the miss of the caravan and one day she would be the leader. If she ever mentioned a normal life, the caravan would be deeply disappointed in her.

    "You better keep your promise," Wang Xiaoyun mumbled to herself as she turned her back on Tiankong City and entered the carriage. The horses started carrying them out from within the city, and soon the many Wayfarers were nowhere to be seen.

    In all of thismotion with the wayfarers, the Diviners had also vanished. No one knew when they disappeared or why they just noticed that they were not to be found either.

    While this was the case, Xue Wei stayed inside his mansionpletely unaware of what was happening in the city, but the masked men continued to patrol the streets in abundance.

    They had been there when the Wayfarer¡¯s left and their faces had been dejected beneath the masks. Xue Wei had never been one who was wandering the city much, and the only reason he had done so for a few days in a row was Wang Xiaoyun. Now that she had left, he was all alone again and likely to cultivate.

    Not only was he likely to cultivate, he no longer had anything holding him down. He did not have to drag Wang Xiaoyun with him whenever he was trying to flee, and the Forbidden Rush ability could be disyed to the best of his ability.

    "Father, why have we not moved against the masked men?" Shen Mu asked curiously. He had seen how these masked experts had chased Xue Wei and Wang Xiaoyun, and he had been sure that his father would make the city guard move to apprehend them.

    "It is quite simple," Shen Bingwen sighed, "We know that they belong to the He and Jia family mainly, but a few of them are from the Li family. Although we know this, we cannot prove it unless we catch them, but on what basis are we allowed to catch them?"

    "They have not done anything wrong yet apart from slightly disturbing the peace from time to time. They have not even managed to touch the hem of Xue Wei¡¯s clothes, so to stop them on his behalf seems impossible."

    "If they beat him up, then I could use my power to stop them, but since they cannot even do this, then I cannot stop them. To everyone else, it looks just like two parties ying tag."

    "But father, you know as well as me that if they catch him, then it will not be a question about something as light as being beaten up. Xue Wei will be crippled for life!"

    "I know," Shen Bingwen sighed, "so let us pray that he will never get caught. There are only a few months left before it is time for you to go to the military camp. If he works very hard and stays in the mansion until then, then who knows what levels he can reach. Hopefully, he will not cause any problems before then."

    Shen Mu felt that his father was acting strange, but he was also well aware that he had to be careful with every single move he made, especially one containing the City Guard.

    Although the Shen family right now were the City Lords, it was not certain that they would remain in this position in the future. They had gained this post because they were the first in Tiankong City to obtain a Heavenly Warrior, but now that the Li family had one too, it was clear that they had a formidable opponent.

    The Li family had a longer history than the Shen family, and although their Heavenly Warrior had arrivedter, he was not much weaker than the Shen Heavenly Warrior.

    Shen Mu sighed. He understood that one day it would be his job to ensure that the Shen family maintained the strength and rank within Tiankong City that it had now. Shen Bingwen had ced all his hopes on this specific son because of his promising talent, and he wished for him to do him proud.

    Since he had to be the new head of the Shen family, Shen Mu knew that there would be times where he wished to move but would be incapable of making a move because his every action could cause problems for the Shen family. Although he valued friendship high, he always had to put the Shen family on a pedestal and view it as his ultimate responsibility.

    Time flowed like water within Tiankong City. Xue Wei finished his herbal bath and returned to the back of the training grounds where he again began the pattern drills for the Shattering Mountain Palm, the Azure Light Finger, the Forbidden Rush andtely he also started the Inner Might ability.

    Inner Might was his first profound martial arts ability, and this technique proved to be many times harder than both Shattering Mountain Palm, Azure Light Finger, and Forbidden Rush.

    It required a precise control over the Qi, and to be able to shape it outside of his body as well.

    Shaping the Qi proved to be the most troublesome aspect. At first, he decided to try and shape a sword, but the Qi did not even resemble a sword, in fact, it looked like a pool of Qi that wiggled slightly.

    The second attempt he managed to make the pool turn into a long thin line that looked like it was made from clouds. There was no sharp edge, no handle, nothing to make it resemble a sword.

    Xue Wei frowned. He had experienced a few setbacks with the Azure Light Finger, but it was so little that he did not mind it, and he had experienced even less of a setback from Shattering Mountain Palm and Forbidden Rush, yet now he was encountering a real problem.

 Chapter 27: Counterattack Begins

    Chapter 27: Counterattack Begins

    Xue Wei was aware that he only had a limited time before he had to head towards the military camp. He knew that he had to haveprehended the ability before it was time for departure.

    Most of the younger generation members already had picked the kind of weapon they preferred. Shen Mu was using a sword, Li Jian was using his fists and a saber, Luo Zhirou was using the fan and so on.

    Xue Wei had not been cultivating for long, and so far he had been focusing on increasing his strength alongside learning a few abilities that could save his life in a fight. He had not had the time to learn how to wield a weapon just yet.

    "I do not want to be locked down with one specific kind of weapon," Xue Wei mumbled to himself as he continued to stubbornly extract his Qi and try to shape it in the form of a sword.

    "When I have understood and trained this ability then I will be able to change weapon as easily as thinking about it. It will give me a great benefit in fights, and since it is made from Qi, I do not have to carry it around with me everywhere."

    "The downside is that it consumes quite a lot of energy to create these weapons and every single sh will make me lose energy, yet the weapon will constantly raise in quality as my Qi bes stronger and better."

    "But this is truly a profound ranked skill," Xue Wei sighed in praise. "Although I have had no issues learning the other ones, this one proves to be rather tricky. Well, I better take it slow and build the right foundations."

    Xue Wei knew that some things could not be rushed and instead, he sat down with his legs crossed and took a deep breath. He then spread out his hands and on top of his palms appeared a long thin streak of Qi which slowly started wriggling and twisting as it tried to take the shape of a sword.

    The days trickled by one after another. The first day Xue Wei managed almost nothing. The second day he managed to create the handle, but when he moved further down in an attempt also to create the de, the handle would be obscure and dissipate.

    When he managed to make the de and tried to create the handle, the de would simrly be transparent or dissipate. The sharp edge would not stay.

    Sighing, Xue Wei did not give up. He was as obsessed, staying seated in the same position day out and day in. His eyes were open and turned more and more bloodshot, but he was not bing less focused.

    On the fifth day, Xue Wei managed to create a sword. This sword wasying on top of his hands and felt as if it had been made from cold steel. It was firm and fit well in his hand when he grasped it.

    Jumping to his feet, Xue Wei ran to the closest ck gold dummy and got ready to attack. He stayed focused on the sword, ensuring that it kept its shape before he swung the sword diagonally from upside down.

    The wind howled from the attack, Xue Wei did not need to inject his Qi into the sword as the sword was made from his Qi and was sustained by a continuous stream of energy that was flowing from his pearl-like dantian.

    a loud ng sounded out the moment the two collided, and the recoil forced Xue Wei back a few steps, a smile was on his face as he saw a long gash on the dummy¡¯s chest, running exactly where the sword had cut.

    Qi weapons could be many times sharper than real weapons. Real des could only be sharpened to a certain extent as sharpening it further would mean the edge, while razorsharp, was too thin and would break or chip after one or two shes with the enemy. Because of this sharpness of real weapons had to be bnced with thickness and durability, however Xue Wei was able to make insanely sharp weapons as the de material was his Qi.

    Although these ck gold dummies were incapable of protecting themselves with Qi, they were sturdy, and their bodies were equal to a fifthyered Warrior.

    Xue Wei was now able to cut open the body of a fifthyered Warrior with a single casual swing of his sword created by relying on Inner Might.

    The sword dissipated the moment that Xue Wei had finished the cut as he lost focus, but he did not despair. Instead, he closed his eyes and imagined the sword once more, only to have the Qi shape itself as the sword almost instantly.

    Having understood the principles of creating the sword, it was not difficult to recreate it. Although he now understood how to create the sword, he was not aware of how to fight fluently with it, and thus he began fighting. He practiced against the ck gold dummies, his sword shing time and time again, and with each sh, a long wound appeared on the dummies.

    Sometimes the sword would vanish after a seeded attack, other times it wouldst for three or four assaults before it disappeared, but as time went on, Xue Wei got better and better at controlling the sword and able to keep it in his hands for as long as he wished for it.

    After feeling that he had mastered the sword, Xue Wei checked the time and realized that he had already spent more than five days on trying toprehend the Inner Might attack. It was time for him to return to the herbal concoction.

    After this Xue Wei returned to the painful concoction and increased his cultivation base. He then began to cultivate the Inner Might again, and this time he tried to create a spear.

    In the beginning, the spear looked rather pitiful, but as time went on it looked better and better, and soon Xue Wei started fighting with the spear. Although it took time to practice and to get used to this kind of weapon, it was shorter than the time needed to learn the sword.

    After the spear came the saber. After the saber came a fan. After the fan came a zither and the list went on. Xue Wei became more and more familiar with the Inner Might ability and was able to create more and more weapons than he had ever tried before and soon he could control them all with no problems.

    Thanks to the herbal concoctions, Xue Wei had also managed to reach the seventhyer of the Ordinary Warrior rank, and although it was only the beginning of the seventhyer, he could feel a new strength bursting in his body that had not been there before. It was as if he had finally started to feel the benefits of being a cultivator.

    "Well then, why don¡¯t we go and see if those people from before are still hanging around?" Xue Wei mumbled to himself. He knew he was no enemy to the masked opponents when he was facing them face to face, but Xue Wei had no intention of fighting them head-on.

    Xue Wei was not willing to let Manager Su worry about his actions, so he went to the room and changed into a ck outfit of trousers and a shirt. He then tied up his hair in a bun on top of his head with a ck silken ribbon.

    Then he looked at himself and nodded his head in approval. He was not wearing robes so moving would be easy. His hair was tied up so it would not get in the way, and he was wearing ck clothes so hiding in the shadows should be reasonably simple.

    Xue Wei elegantly jumped over the estate wall and entered the city casually while being on high alert. He used his heightened senses to keep an eye on what was happening around him regrly, and it did not take long before he found the first masked cultivator.

    "So they really did stay in town. I will bet theye from the He or the Jia family," Xue Wei sneered, but he quickly dodged to the side and entered a small alleyway that was located just opposite the masked expert¡¯s seating ce.

    This masked expert was wearing a mask on half his face, it was covering his eyes, nose, and forehead but his mouth was free, and he was sitting outside a drinking den, drinking some fine wine.

    Xue Wei grinned sinisterly as he roused the Qi within his body and created a zither. Zithers were exotic weapons. They attacked with sound waves, and someone like Li Jian who practiced the Sonic Palm should be able to work well with the zither.

    The reason Xue Wei had tried to learn the Zither was because of what he had read about the Ouyang family, and he found these exotic weapons very alluring.

    It had taken Xue Wei a couple of days to master the zither, and he was still a mere beginner, but he had uracy on his side, and he sat down in the dark alleyway and looked at the masked cultivator that was seated in front of him.

    "Let us see how you will deal with this," he grinned, and his hands rapidly started tapping the strings on the zither, releasing an avnche of sound waves that went straight for the masked cultivator.

    Xue Wei had chosen the zither because he needed a ranged weapon and his experience with the bow and arrow was still too little. Hence his best option was the zither.

    These sound waves rose in the city, and everyone close by looked confused as they heard the violent melody that appeared out of nowhere. The actors and entertainers used zithers, but everyone knew that a real expert could also use them to attack with.

    It just so happened that no one in Tiankong City was known to use zithers to attack, so when the violent melody sounded out, everyone was certain that some sort of performance was happening and they stopped what they were doing, looking around curiously.

    The masked expert was no different. He raised his cup to his lips and looked around only to suddenly frown as he felt a shockwave crush against his chest and throw him back like an arrow leaving the bow.

    The second shockwave did not hesitate to hit him straight in the face, but although it hit like a sledgehammer, the man was after all a cultivator two levels above Xue Wei, and a mask protected his face.

    The mask crumbled, and blood started pouring out a wound on the man¡¯s forehead.

    The man who was no longer masked jumped to his legs with a roar that shocked everyone present. What had happened was simply too fast for them to realize and when they noticed that something was going on, the man had already jumped to his legs.

    "You little devil, where are you hiding?!" the man screamed out as blood gushed out of the wound in his head, and from his mouth as a tooth had fallen out.

    "Time to get moving," Xue Wei murmured, and without waiting to see the show, he fluttered in the wind and vanished from the alleyway where he had been before.

    The masked cultivator was in a frenzy. He started roaring and smashing everything around him in an attempt to find the expert that had caused him to gain such injuries, but what puzzled him was that although he had been wounded, the reason he was wounded was that he had been unprepared. He could not think of anyone with a strength equal to his that would dare move on him as long as he was unknown and hiding behind the mask.

    "It couldn¡¯t have been?" The man suddenly felt a chill run down his spine. The strength that the assant had used was clearly quite simr to his own strength. If Xue Wei had managed to reach that level so fast, was that not a monstrous change?

    "I better go warn the others," he said while gritting his teeth. Luckily he had another mask in his bag, and he picked it out and ced it on his face, yet he knew it was pointless. All themoners and his assant had already seen his face. It was already known who it was that was hunting Xue Wei.

 Chapter 28: Unveiling the Enemy

    Chapter 28: Unveiling the Enemy

    Xue Wei, who had vanished without anyone being the wiser, strolled around the central areas of town to see if he could find more masked men, while his face turned more and more solemn.

    The man he had unmasked was one he had never seen before, but Xue Wei had not often seen the guards of the other noble families as he rarely visited them. However, he knew that when themoners saw him, they would be able to recognize him.

    All guards in Tiankong City had served in the military before they returned and took on a job as either a mercenary or a family guard. As such, they weremoners themselves, and there was always someone who would recognize them.

    Xue Wei did not have to move far before he found the second masked person. This time, the person was already walking on the street, which made it much more difficult for Xue Wei to attack him.

    He did not waste his time and instead found a new hiding spot. This time he did not pick the zither. Instead, he got ready to fire an Azure Light Finger beam.

    Although the attack from the zither was itself the product of a profound ability, it was roughly as strong as the Azure Light Finger, as the reason it had been graded a profound ability was because of its potential and ability to transform into any single weapon.

    The zither was good at attackingrge groups of experts, and had arge area of effect. But the Qi drain that was needed for the zither was also much more than for instance when he used the sword or a saber.

    Xue Wei waited for the right moment. He was not willing to identally attack themoners that were also on the road, so he waited for the moment where the masked man walked right past him.

    As the man walked past the alleyway, a big beam of azure light suddenly erupted on the street. Although it was in the middle of the day and the sun shone brightly, this light blinded almost everyone present.

    The masked man suddenly saw a bright gleam. In the next moment, he felt an intense pain in his leg. Just like how the muscles had been severed on the He and Jia Young Masters, the masked cultivator¡¯s muscles were also severed.

    Xue Wei once again did not wait and rushed out from his location to another ce, leaving behind a masked cultivator that was screaming out in pain and agony. It was not only the actual pain that caused him to scream out but also the mental setback he encountered when he realized that he had had the muscles in his leg severed. Although he would be able to continue cultivating, he would forever be slow and thus effectively be a cripple for life.

    Xue Wei knew that there existed pills that could restore severed muscles, but he was also aware that these pills were the rarest kind within Heping Kingdom.

    Pills, in general, were extremely rare within Heping Kingdom since it was the poorest of all the kingdoms and it did not have the ability to raise high-ranked alchemists.

    The alchemists that did exist within Heping Kingdom were at most capable of creating pills of medium purity. To heal an injury like the one this man and the He and Jia Young Masters had experienced, they needed pills of high purity. Pills that one had to travel to another kingdom to get their hands on; and even if they found one, gold might not be enough to purchase it.

    Pills of high purity were in Tiankong City as rare and elusive as tamed Fierce Beasts, and to expect the pill to be the exact same pill as the one they need was simply out of the question.

    Had it been the Li family, then they might have had a chance of obtaining a pill as Li Fang could go to the other kingdoms with his strength. But if he did so, he was likely to be traveling for quite some time, and he would be losing out on the chance of fighting for the City Lord¡¯s position.

    Having injured two of the masked men, Xue Wei felt a bit better. These masked men were enemies. They had threatened to y with Wang Xiaoyun, something that did not go down well with Xue Wei.

    Every dragon had a reverse scale, and so did Xue Wei. When this subject was touched, he felt no pity for the ones he had targeted. He would also do anything in his power to make sure that those who targeted his loved ones would never be able to do what they said.

    Although Wang Xiaoyun had left now and was in no more danger, Xue Wei would not forgive the masked experts. They had threatened with messing with Wang Xiaoyun, so now he would mess with them.

    Just as Xue Wei vanished and the masked expert started screaming in agony, the other masked expert came running. His face was pale underneath the mask, and when he saw the wound on hisrade, he suddenly felt grateful that he had only been smashed in the head. Although he had lost a tooth, he was not crippled.

    "It is that damned Xue Wei!" the masked man with blood on his face spat out. "This is the same attack as the one used to cripple the young masters. To think that he has gained such strength in such a short amount of time!"

    The expert felt his heart grow cold, and a shiver ran down his spine. He would never have epted this task had he known that he was up against such a little devil.

    "We cannot even impede him for this," the man said while gritting his teeth. "He has been hiding during each and every attack, and I am sure that his estate¡¯s manager Su will say that he was present in their mansion. Then it will be our word against theirs, and that is not strong enough to win a case. We need a witness!"

    As he looked around, he found that there was a dark alleyway right next to the ce where his masked brother was wailing in agony; and when he entered he found that there was a warm spot on the ground, yet there were no signs of life. No one would have noticed him in this alleyway.

    "There was also an alleyway close to where I was located before," the man said to himself and scratched his chin.

    Other masked experts came rushing towards the area. The rumor of the masked experts being targeted had reached all around the marketce by now, and those present hurried towards the location of the wailing masked expert.

    "What is going on here?" one of the masked experts asked, but before he had the time to look around, a loud, violent gale with a melody that sounded as if someone was heading to war came crashing towards him.

    It was as if a cavalry was trampling over them. All of them fell to the ground. Their faces were pale, and blood slowly streamed from the lips of the gathered masked experts.

    Some of them, the ones who had received the brunt of the force, had their masks cracking under the attack and splitting into thousands of pieces.

    The identities of three experts were instantly exposed, and themoners present glued their eyes to the faces of the no longer masked experts.

    "Check the alleyways!" one of the masked experts called out. It was the one who had blood around his mouth andcked a tooth. Although he was not amongst the highest ranked experts, he still had enough standing for the others to listen to him, and they split up to search the alleyways.

    Suddenly, a shrill shriek sounded out, and the others looked over only to find that another personid on the ground while gripping his leg with both hands as blood poured out from underneath his fingers.

    The faces behind the masks all turned ugly. The ones who had had their mask broken had quickly reced them with new masks, but it was toote to hide the damage done. They had long since been recognized.

    Xue Wei had been hiding in the shadows of the alleyways and attacked four times so far. Twice the attacks had crippled their targets, while the other two had caused the opponents to be unveiled.

    Now he just had to wait and hear the rumors about who these experts were, and then he would be able to move further with his n.

    "I cannot cause more damage than what I already have," Xue Wei muttered to himself as he turned on his tail and ran far away from the masked experts without even the slightest hesitation.

    He no longer had the element of surprise, and although he deducted that he now had the strength to fight them head on one-on-one, he knew that he stood no chance against a group of them. One thing was to jump a fewyers while fighting one on one; another was to do it in a fight against seven opponents.

    Xue Wei did not wait anywhere in the city. He had no other purpose than to cause problems for the masked experts and unveil them so that his suspicious could be confirmed, and thus he returned to the mansion as fast as he had left.

    Xue Wei noticed that there was a group of experts standing outside the gate of the estate. Some of them were waiting for Xue Wei to return home, and amongst these people were two masked cultivators.

    Fortunately, Xue Wei noticed them before they noticed him, so he turned down a corner after which he used the Forbidden Rush to jump the wall.

    "Manager Su, if you do not show us the little rascal, I will me this on him!" someone called out, and Manager Su¡¯s calm voice resounded with a hint of anger in it, "The young master is cultivating. He is about to break through. Who are you to interrupt the young master when he is cultivating? I can vouch for him being in the mansion, so take your leave now and don¡¯t disturb us, or don¡¯t expect me to keep this from Xiao Lei when he returns."

    Although the name Xiao Lei worked great as a deterrent, the Jia and He family leaders had rushed to the mansion to impede Xue Wei for the attacks on their guards. They knew by now that their men had been recognized. As a result, they could only hope that there was at least a little chance of ming Xue Wei and getting their vengeance that way.

    "Will you stop yelling at my front door?" Xue Wei asked as he stepped forward. He looked dashing in his ck clothes with his hair tied up.

    "I was busy cultivating and training, and all you do ise here to bber about some sort of justice. What kind of justice are you here to find me for?"

    It was not only He and Jia families that had made it to Xue Wei¡¯s mansion. Shen Mu, Luo Zhirou, and a few other younger generation experts had made it over and were curious as to what exactly was going on.

    "You have crippled my guards!" He Tong eximed with a loud voice as he pointed a trembling finger at Xue Wei.

    "Have your guards entered my mansion?" Xue Wei asked, and He Tong, looking as if he was spitting fire answered, "No! They were in the marketce. "

    "So it has to be me?" Xue Wei grinned, but his grin quickly turned to a sneer, "I have been in the mansion for all this time. If you find someone who can prove your im, then sure let us hear what he has to say. Until then please stop interrupting my training! I am in a hurry to reach a higher realm before heading out to the army."

 Chapter 29: Solid Foundations

    Chapter 29: Solid Foundations

    He Tong knew that he could say nothing. They had no witnesses, and Shen Bingwen would never judge anyone on something as simple as the He family¡¯s words.

    Gritting his teeth, He Tong waved his arm and turned around, getting ready to leave. "Watch your back whenever you roam around in the future!" he sneered at Xue Wei. Yet the moment those words escaped his lips, Manager Su¡¯s aura exploded out andid a heavy pressure on everyone present.

    Manager Su was angry. Usually, everyone forgot about this man¡¯s strength and saw him as a mere servant; but when he exploded forth with energy like this, then everyone had to take a few steps backward, He Tong included.

    This manager was a ninthyered Sky Warrior, just one step away from being a Heavenly Warrior. This strength was enough to create a faction within Tiankong City, but Manager Su had never done so and was content with just being Xiao Lei¡¯s subordinate.

    "Are you threatening my family¡¯s young master?" he asked He Tong with a solemn expression on his face and a menacing air around him.

    to

    Although infighting was illegal amongst those on the side of humanity, not all stuck to thesews. If someone from the older generation threatened someone from the younger generation, it was eptable for the threatened family to step in. In such a situation, it was likely that it would end up in a fight.

    Xue Wei was surprised to see the sudden murderous air that was released from Manager Su, but he also felt warmth in his heart. So far, only Xiao Lei had stepped up for him like this, but now Manager Su was doing the same. Although Manager Su was far from Xiao Lei¡¯s standing in Xue Wei¡¯s heart, he still raised his position by a notch.

    "Wha-what do you think you are doing, you ve?" He Tong asked, but his voice trembled and his body shook like a leaf.

    He Tong was the Patriarch of the He family and thus a Sky Warrior like Manager Su. However, there was a difference between them. He Tong had only been in the army for as long as he had needed to be there to do his duty, while Manager Su had paved a road through ughter and murder. He had been a mercenary when Xiao Lei had found him.

    Although they had the same cultivation base, Manager Su was stronger than He Tong. If it came to a fight, then He Tong would lose, and he would lose more than just face.

    He had already lost face from sending his men into town only to have them exposed by some unknown expert; two of his men even lost their ability to fight in the future, resulting in He Tong having to pay a fee to their families.

    Now, the entire city knew that the He family had deployed experts for the sake of capturing and injuring Xue Wei, something that was a great shame to them.

    Although Xue Wei had crippled the young master of the He family, it was not usual for the families to act against the younger generation. And although he had not asked any Earth Warriors to do battle, he had asked a whole lot of ninthyered Ordinary Warriors.

    Xue Wei stood there, leaning against the estate gate, and Manager Su stood right in front of him with a murderous look in his eyes.

    It was not only the He family that had lost something from this encounter; one of the unveiled experts had been from the Jia family. And although they had been present at the mansion when Xue Wei returned home, the patriarch had been wise enough not to make an appearance.

    The city was filled with people who were talking about these masked experts. They had been present for quite a long time, but no one had known for sure to whom they belonged, so they could only guess.

    Now that they had been unmasked, they naturally became the new topic of discussion, and everyone was filled with excitement. Some felt that they were shameless and despicable for trying to gang up on Xue Wei when all he did was save somemoner girls, while others were putting more focus on the way they had been beaten.

    Some felt sorry for Xue Wei; othersughed at the Jia and He families for not being able to deal with a single young man ¨C but most feared retaliation from Xiao Lei. As a result, they dared not speak too loudly about their opinions. Even now, five yearster, the memory of the man executed by Xiao Lei when Xue Wei first came to town remained clear in everyone¡¯s heads.

    ¡°Are you okay?¡± Manager Su asked worriedly as he looked at Xue Wei. ¡°I know that you are mentally strong, but you are being chased by some of the leading families within Tiankong City. Are you okay with this?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about me,¡± Xue Wei smiled a small smile. ¡°I have faith in my ability to stay alive. They went too far when they said that they would y with Xiaoyun; it is only fair that I actually give them back some pain and suffering.¡±

    Manager Su and Xue Wei had grown much closer in the time that Xiao Lei had been gone. Manager Su was genuinely concerned about Xue Wei, but he also trusted the young man when he said that he was certain in his ability.

    Saying this, Xue Wei clenched his hand and his face was serious. He had never forgiven them. Even now, he missed Wang Xiaoyun every waking moment, but the time he had with her had been interrupted by them, and they had even threatened her in his presence! This was simply uneptable.

    Xue Wei felt the pressure. He had thoroughly started a war with the He family, and they had already sent out their Ordinary Warriors. It was likely that the next that would be sent out would be an Earth Warrior. If he ran into such an opponent, Xue Wei would not be able to get off as easily as he had with the others.

    Even if the He family did not make a move, it was likely that the Li family or Jia family would make a move. If Xue Wei was found dead one day, with no assant found, it would definitely be med on the He family. Although they would not be able to go to court with no witnesses, they would still be looked down upon by themoners and have problems in the future to do business and hire guards.

    He Tong was well aware of this, and his face was pale from anger. He had no chance to change what had happened, and now he could only continue to walk down the path of hostility with Xue Wei and the Xiao Lei mansion.

    Xue Wei watched as everyone started to leave. A wry smile was on his lips, and although he seemed carefree, his heart was clenching and ufortable.

    He was nothing more than an ant in the face of experts like Manager Su and He Tong. Although he wanted to change his life and be strong enough to take care of himself, he was aware that it would take him quite some time to reach the Sky Warrior realm, not to mention the Heavenly Warrior rank.

    Xue Wei returned to the mansion and continued practicing the Inner Might ability. Although he had gained a basic understanding of the sword, saber, fan, and zither, he knew that he was far away from being able to call it perfected, and he also knew that he needed to learn how to use even more weapons.

    If he had learned the bow and arrow, then he would have been able to snipe even more experts in his small skirmish with the masked experts, causing even more damage to them and the families that they were from.

    "Oh well, looking back, I could have done many things differently," Xue Wei sighed to himself. "I should not be unsatisfied with the performance I already made. I crippled two experts and unmasked two more. This in itself is a great achievement considering that they were all ninthyered Ordinary Warriors and I am only a seventhyered Ordinary Warrior."

    "Yes, but be more careful," Manager Su suddenly appeared behind Xue Wei, startling him. "I have to admit that you did perfectly well this time, but in the future, you need to be extra careful when you go to town. He Tong is a wily old fox; he will do anything in his power to gain vengeance against you."

    Xue Wei nodded his head. He was perfectly well aware of this case, but he was not going to live in fear. "He Tong cannot move directly, and he cannot send too weak people after me as I will cripple them."

    "Not to mention, he cannot afford to have anything happening to me. If something happens to me, his family would be treated coldly by themoners, and he would lose too much business."

    "Right now, although he wants to kill me, he would never actually dare move," Xue Wei was certain that he was safe for now, "but I still have to be extra cautious when I move around. Other families might abuse this situation."

    "But for now it should be fine," Xue Wei sighed as he stretched his body. "I will be focusing on cultivating for the next month. I only have a few months before I have to enter the army. The trip will be bloody; although we cannot attack within Tiankong City, nothing is there to stop us when we leave the city."

    "I would want to get rid of Li Jian. After all he has done to me, letting him go would be the same as letting a tiger return to the mountain only to return to harm myselfter."

    "I need to cripple him or preferably kill him." Xue Wei¡¯s eyes were cold. Although he had never killed anyone before, he was no soft-hearted person, and he had been living under Li Jian¡¯s bullying thest five years. He knew that Li Jian wished to kill him, and if he were allowed to do as he pleased, then one day he would cause problems ¨C not only for Xue Wei, but also for all his loved ones.

    Although Li Jian¡¯s friends were also bullying Xue Wei, Xue Wei never intended to eradicate them. They had bullied him, yes, but mainly because their families belonged to the Li faction.

    Xue Wei was harsh on his enemies, but he was even harsher on himself. He knew that his uncle had hated how he had been bullied, but due to him never talking with his uncle about it, he never gave Xiao Lei the opportunity tosh back at the ones who were bullying him.

    Xue Wei knew that the bullying had helped to shape the person he was today. Had he not been bullied, who was to say that the sudden rise in strength would not have caused him to be as arrogant and disregarding as Li Jian.

    Thinking like this, Xue Wei sat down and once more began to cultivate the Inner Might technique. This time, he was trying to shape a bow and arrow. Of all the things he had experienced so far, the bow and arrow were the most difficult ones as it was not just one weapon but two that had to work together.

    It took him a full four days to gain a basic understanding of the bow and arrow. After this, he returned to the herbal concoction baths. Although the pain was scorching, the feeling of having his strength rise excited him. He was also aware that he had just broken into the seventhyer of the Ordinary Warrior rank, so reaching the eightyer would take at least another month.

    Although this was the case, Xue Wei was not in a rush. He understood the point that one could not rush their cultivation base if they wished to have a steady foundation.

    Xue Wei took it slow, absorbed the energy, and molded it into Qi in his small pearl-like dantian. The herbs continued to assist his increase in strength repeatedly; one strengthened his body, another his soul. One went for his Qi, and thest turned into a force that purified his body.

    All the medicines together were enough to make Xue Wei undergo overwhelmingly significant changes, and Xue Wei suddenly had a great idea. What if he also made an herbal concoction for Manager Su? He had been stuck in the bottleneck towards the Heavenly Warrior rank for many years now. If he could break into the Heavenly Warrior rank, the Xiao Lei mansion would suddenly be much stronger in Tiankong City.

 Chapter 30: Descent Into Madness

    Chapter 30: Descent Into Madness

    As the days went by, one after another, Xue Wei was busy cultivating his abilities and his Qi. He would spend a week in the medicine bath, and then a week out at the back of the mansion at the training fields.

    Sometimes, Shen Mu and Luo Zhirou woulde visit. They would not stay for long as they could feel the conviction in Xue Wei¡¯s entire being, but they still stayed for a bit to talk with him.

    ¡°Brother Xue, the whole town knows about you and that wayfarer girl ¨C do you miss her a lot?¡± Luo Zhirou asked one day, to which Xue Wei gave her a sad smile as he nodded his head. He saw no reason to deny it.

    ¡°I want to be strong enough to be worthy of her,¡± he said honestly. ¡°I need to be a peerless genius and an expert above the Heavenly Warrior rank if I want to make it work between us. I do not have much time!¡±

    Luo Zhirou sighed. ¡°Life is cruel,¡± she said. ¡°Not allowing two lovers to be together just because their families are against it. I am sure that one day you will be an expert that reaches the apex. You have your unique physique to help you, after all!¡±

    Luo Zhirou could feel that Xue Wei was truly depressed because of his sudden split with Wang Xiaoyun, and she often used the excuse of bringing him cookies toe and visit him to see how he was doing. However, slowly as the days went by, she noticed that all his negative emotions started changing into determination. He was utterly determined to be someone worthy of Wang Xiaoyun. He would be someone that all that knew him would be proud of knowing.

    When Luo Zhirou and Shen Mu were not visiting, Xue Wei was training and taking medicine baths.

    While he was bathing, Manager Su would also sit in a trance in a bathtub by Xue Wei¡¯s side and absorb his medicinal ingredients.

    At the start, he had been against the idea of also cultivating as he felt the need to look after Xue Wei at every waking hour, but after hearing Xue Wei talk about the allure of reaching the Heavenly Warrior rank and what benefits it would bring Xue Wei and Xiao Lei, Manager Su finally sumbed to the temptation.

    However, he would only agree as long as he was within eyesight of Xue Wei. After making such a big spectacle out of himself, Xue Wei was aware that many families were aiming for his head. As a result, it was safer to have Manager Su by his side.

    Xue Wei had personally made the herbal concoction for Manager Su, yet the manager refused to let Xue Wei pay for the materials needed.

    Manager Su¡¯s concoction needed a beast core equivalent to the Heavenly Warrior rank. However, there had been none avable in the entire Tiankong City. As a result, they went into the vault where Xiao Lei had left the most treasured items he had gotten while fighting Fierce Beasts and Primordial Beasts.

    Xiao Lei had fought many such beasts. The Primordial Beasts did also have beast cores, and Xue Wei, who was now the owner of the Xiao Lei Mansion, picked a Primordial Beast core to use in the herbal concoction for Manager Su.

    He never told Manager Su this fact, as he knew that he would refuse to use it. At this, Xue Wei could not help but sigh. It was clear that they had been left by Xiao Lei for his sake, but it would take a long time before he would be able to use such potent items ¨C and there was a full seven of them, which was why he decided to use one of them on Manager Su.

    He used the same herbs, but all of them were much older than the ones Xue Wei used for his bath. He also added a Rising Mountain Dewflower that was around five hundred years old.

    This concoction was so filled with energy that when Manager Su lowered his body into it, he hissed and his eyes bulged. "You brat, this hurts!" he eximed. Xue Wei just chuckled in response. Just being close to the fumes that came from the other bath was enough to make Xue Wei having a hard time breathing. With every breath, more and more energy entered his body.

    Each breath felt like swallowing small needles that then wandered through the various energy passageways in his body. And even more so whenever he entered his own bath.

    The water was powerful. Manager Su said nothing about his advances, but Xue Wei could guess that he experienced rather significant progress as he continued to enter the baths at the same time as Xue Wei. If it were pointless, then he would have given up after the first bath.

    It took the two somewhat equal time to absorb the energy in the bath. When they had finished, the two went out to the back of the mansion where Xue Wei started practicing again.

    This routine continued for three weeks before Manager Su excused himself. He had to go and deal with the managing of the mansion. So far, nothing had happened to Xue Wei, and when Manager Su left, he ensured that there was, at the minimum, three guards present to watch over him.

    Although they were in the Xiao Lei mansion, Manager Su was incredibly alert. He knew the extent of He Tong¡¯s power, and now enough time had passed for him to have descended intoplete insanity.

    His most promising child had been crippled. His guards had been crippled. He had been mocked in town, and people had stopped using his shops in a disy of support to Xue Wei for his protection of themoner girls.

    He Tong had lost all face that he could lose, and secretly he held a high enmity towards the Li family as well as Xue Wei. Although Xue Wei was the direct reason for all of this, had Li Jian not ordered his son to bullymoners and then chase Xue Wei, would he not be perfectly fine this day, today?

    "I need my revenge," He Tong screamed for the umpteenth time within the mansion, and all servants hid away out of fear. He Tong¡¯s wives dared not speak; his remaining children were silent.

    The only other sound at the He mansion was the constant sobbing of the Young Master of the He family. After realizing that the tendons in his legs had been cut and that his legs would never be as they were before, he was filled with depression. However, above all, he hated Li Jian and Xue Wei.

    "Father, you have to avenge me!" he howled, his howl causing everyone to shiver. The father and son pair had descended intoplete despair and insanity by now, and they would no longer be able to back down.

    He Tong had been waiting for the moment Manager Su left Xue Wei¡¯s side. He had waited painstakingly for more than a week, observing every single move that was made by the two. Although Manager Su had been on high alert, he was unable to sense a man who was out of the mansion itself.

    As Manager Su left, Xue Wei did not feel too ufortable. He had a tingling sensation telling him that he was being watched, but he did not find it strange considering the guards that were staring at him.

    Unfortunately, this feeling only got stronger and stronger. At some point, suddenly, he felt a critical sense of danger.

    Activating Forbidden Rush and without caring for his destination, Xue Wei flew into the air, continually changing his direction like a fluttering butterfly in the wind.

    Right where he had stood was arge crater on the ground, and a boom resounded out as dust billowed up and made it all impossible to see.

    Xue Wei did not slow down; his gut feeling told him that the moment he calmed down, he would be caught by whoever was chasing him, and he also knew that he had to move randomly if he wished to get through this.

    The power behind the hit that had left a crater on the training field was so powerful that if it had even grazed Xue Wei, he would have be a meaty pulp right away.

    Realizing that he was this close to death, Xue Wei did not panic. His eyes focused on the figure thatnded on the training field before they narrowed slightly.

    Everything in Xue Wei¡¯s body was screaming danger, and he knew that he had to get away. He used the cloud of dust as cover to rush away from the descending figure and maneuver through the grounds of the Xiao Lei mansion in no time by relying on the Forbidden Rush technique.

    Xue Wei did not slow down, moving irregrly. He moved in one direction at one time and then made a sharp turn to run in another direction to disturb the pursuing assassin.

    Although Xue Wei was fast and his speed was almost near impossible to see for an Ordinary Warrior, his pursuer was not an Ordinary Warrior and could see every move Xue Wei made with perfect rity.

    Unfortunately, one thing was seeing it; another was actually catching up with him. Xue Wei continually changed directions, jumping high in the air at one time and down on the ground at another.

    Xue Wei was like a fly that buzzed about. Although he used a movement technique, he was only just fast enough to escape his pursuer despite pushing his speed to the limits.

    In almost no time, Xue Wei had reached the marketce, but he did not stop for even a moment. He knew that he would be killed if he did.

    The pursuer had truly descended into madness. He did not mind who would be sacrificed along with Xue Wei. As long as Xue Wei died, he would be satisfied.

    The intense chase continued through the entire Tiankong City before Xue Wei returned to the Xiao Lei Mansion, hoping that Manager Su was avable.

    Just as he arrived, Xue Wei could feel a deadly aura surge out from within the mansion. Immediately following that, a loud shout resounded through the entire area as Manager Su charged out from inside the mansion.

    Xue Wei could feel an aura even more intense than the one he had felt when Manager Su had released his aura earlier.

    Usually, one could not guess the cultivation bases of those ranked higher than oneself. They could be in the same rank as oneself, just a fewyers above, or they could, in theory, also be Heavenly Warriors.

    The only time one was capable of guessing the strength of a Warrior was the moment their aura was released. This aura was usually converged within the cultivator, waiting to be released, and one would typically release it during a fight if it were face to face, as the aura could boost morale, increase one¡¯s ferocity, and also intimidate their opponent.

    The aura could be different all depending on what kind of background the cultivator had. He Tong¡¯s aura was heavy. It was overwhelmingly powerful to someone like Xue Wei, but there was no special trait to it. He Tong had not gone down a path of killing, so it did not have a natural killing intent added in. He had not gone down the road of righteousness, so it did not feel otherworldly.

    The only thing that Xue Wei could feel was an overwhelmingly dense aura that had locked onto him, making his every move slower and slower. The blood in his body began to roil, and his heart started to beat rapidly If this continued, then he would, without a doubt, be caught.

    Manager Su, on the other hand, had walked a road of killing when he was younger. He had paved his way through the corpses of Fierce Beasts and seen hisrades die repeatedly, so the aura he released was fierce and cold. It felt as if one had fallen into a freezingke.

    The aura erupted instantly when Manager Su saw what was happening, and it enveloped everything around the two, Xue Wei and his pursuer.

    Xue Wei suddenly felt that the aura that had been pushing down on him, the aura that had been making it impossible for him to disy the utmost of his abilities, had been lifted. He darted behind Manager Su like an arrow leaving its bow.

    At the same time, Manager Su nced at Xue Wei to ensure that the young man was uninjured. When he saw that he was in one piece, albeit soaked in sweat and looking incredibly exhausted, he heaved a sigh of relief.

    "He Tong, you scoundrel! Attacking the younger generation is a serious crime ¨C allow for me to administer the correct punishment!"

    Manager Su stepped forward, and each step he took made the ground beneath his feet crack open. His aura gathered momentum and increased step by step. He Tong¡¯s face turned ugly. He understood that he had indeed kicked a ho¡¯s nest this time.

    "You old ve, how can you be so much stronger than me?!" he shrieked out as he dashed backward, trying to avoid Manager Su¡¯s attack.

 Chapter 31: A Heavenly Warrior Emerges

    Chapter 31: A Heavenly Warrior Emerges

    Manager Su did not respond, but he did continue to step forward. It seemed slow, but every single step was taken right after another, and he constantly sped up.

    There was no hint of martial arts behind his movements, and there was no gracious ir to the steps he took. Every single step was basic but seemed to contain a myriad of different powers.

    Xue Wei looked on in shock before an excited and genuine smile spread on his face. Manager Su had broken through to the Heavenly Warrior realm.

    It seemed that He Tong had finally grasped the same knowledge, and his eyes were filled with disbelief as he tried to back away from Manager Su; yet the entire aura had locked down upon him, making it near impossible to even make the slightest movement.

    The higher one reached in rank, therger the gap was between the realms. Although He Tong was in thestyers of the Sky Warrior rank, he was a realm below Manager Su, which in return caused the man to be like an ant in front of an elephant.

    Xue Wei was excited. He did not believe in showing mercy to his enemies, and from the look on Manager Su¡¯s face, he did not look favorably on that subject either.

    Just as Manager Su finally reached out his hand and was about to grasp He Tong¡¯s neck, a snort sounded out. Someone¡¯s arm shot forward, grasping Manager Su¡¯s hand and stopping his advance.

    Manager Su looked at the hand that had stopped him. His eyes traveled from the hand to the shoulder before itnded on Li Fang¡¯s face.

    "What gives you the right to interfere?" Manager Su asked with a chill in his voice. "This man has hunted down my young master through all of Tiankong City. There are plenty of witnesses. I cannot allow such a person to continue living. Who knows when he will descend into madness again and once more try to attack my young master?"

    Hearing this train of questions, Li Fang¡¯s face turned ugly. "Well said!" Shen Bingwen appeared from the side. All of a sudden, all three Heavenly Warriors present in Tiankong City were gathered in one ce.

    "I sensed the fluctuations in the air; it seemed that a Heavenly Warrior was emerging. Who could have expected that it was old Manager Su?" Shen Bingwen said with a friendly smile,pletely ignoring that Li Fang held his hand in a firm grip and that He Tong was standing trembling on the ground not far away.

    He Tong seemed to have reached the end of his wits. His eyes were darting from one side to another, focusing briefly on Shen Bingwen, Li Fang, and Manager Su.

    Li Fang¡¯s face was ugly. He too had felt the fluctuations in the air, indicating that someone was breaking into the Heavenly Warrior rank. Upon realizing that the man in question was the servant of Xiao Lei, he had felt ufortable.

    Although Xiao Lei had never before wanted to engage in the fight for the City Lord¡¯s position, he had often supported Shen Bingwen. And now that his house had two Heavenly Warriors, it was likely that it would be even more difficult for Li Fang to take over.

    Not only this, He Tong, although not the strongest supporter, was a supporter to Li Fang. The fact that he had done such unbing actions like hunting down a younger generation member ¨C and even failed at it ¨C proved that he and his followers would take a severe hit in their credibility.

    All families within Tiankong City, nobles or not, earned their money from farms and fields outside the city, shops, and restaurants within the city.

    Themoners were perfectly well aware of which shops belonged to which families, and they were very likely to decide not to support one faction if they did something uneptable. To lure customers back, they needed to sell rare materials and items, or they had to lower the prices so that people would pick their shop for a bargain.

    Either decision they made would make them lose money, and losing money meant that they would be unable to make a move on the City Lord position for some time.

    If this continued, then more of Li Fang¡¯s supporters would support Shen Bingwen instead. Not to mention that themoners would support Shen Bingwen since he had the backing of two Heavenly Warriors.

    The appearance of a Heavenly Warrior was indeed something that brought great joy to Shen Bingwen and much agony to Li Fang.

    "So we need to decide what to do with He Tong," Shen Bingwen said. He was partly depressed that they had arrived so fast, as there was no chance for He Tong to die now. However, at the same time, he also knew that if He Tong were killed, then uncertainty and disturbances would appear in Tiankong City.

    "Take him to court," Manager Su sneered. "Lock him up and don¡¯t let him out. He aimed to kill my young master. With intent to kill a younger generation member who has yet to fight the Fierce and Primordial Beasts, I am sure that the charge is rather harsh. Crippling his dantian, perhaps?"

    "He Tong is a veteran from the army. To cripple his dantian is rather extreme when the person in question ispletely unharmed and standing right beside you," Li Fang intercepted, but Manager Su was having none of it.

    Although Manager Su had a lower rank than both Li Fang and Shen Bingwen, both of these two had to acknowledge him now that he had reached the Heavenly Warrior rank, and he was well aware of this. Especially because Manager Su had a killing intent added to his aura.

    Those with killing intent in their auras had climbed out through a mountain of corpses and had seen death as an everyday urrence. As a result, their ability to fight was many times more formidable than others. Although he was only a oneyer Heavenly Warrior, for now, he was not one to be taken lightly.

    "It is shameful that a veteran of the army would stoop so low as to attack a member of the younger generation. If we do not make an example of this, I fear that in the future, others might try something simr," Manager Su protested, and Li Fang knew that there was not much he could say.

    Shen Bingwen would side with Manager Su to get on his good side, and that would be two Heavenly Warriors against one. Even if he wanted toin, he would not be able to do so.

    "I will take my leave," Li Fang said through gritted teeth. He felt powerless, and although he had always believed in fighting fairly for the position he wanted, he could not help but feel that things were getting out of hand.

    Shen Bingwen waved his hands, and a group of guards appeared to escort He Tong back to the City Lord¡¯s mansion.

    "I will lock up He Tong for now," Shen Bingwen said with a friendly smile on his face. "We will look for witnesses who saw what happenedter today, and then you two will act as witnesses too. When all information has been gathered, we will go to court to judge him. I will do my very best to ensure that you get justice," he promised Manager Su.

    Although Xue Wei was important because Xiao Lei highly valued him, Manager Su was now even more important. To ensure that he was satisfied, Shen Bingwen would go to great lengths.

    What wondered Shen Bingwen was why Manager Su suddenly looked at Xue Wei with such reverence. It was clear that he truly treated him as his young master now, and not just as he used to do in the past.

    Shen Bingwen also left the mansion with He Tong in tow. They returned to the City Lord¡¯s mansion right away, leaving only Xue Wei and Manager Su in the Xiao Lei estate.

    "To think that he was so brazen as to try and kill you right in front of me," Manager Su harrumphed with a bit of displeasure, but Xue Wei just grinned. "It was close this time, but it seems that the pressure was just what you needed to break through. Congrattion on bing a Heavenly Warrior!"

    Manager Su was no longer upset. His face flourished a great smile, and he nodded his head in approval. "Your herbal concoctions are truly able to do wonders. I have not had any progress thest twenty years, but the moment I tried your herbal concoction, I could feel energy flooding my body, and thisst thrill surely ended my bottleneck!"

    "I am grateful for the assistance that you and your uncle both have given me," Manager Su bowed deeply to Xue Wei, who quickly helped him straighten his back again. "Think nothing of it," Xue Wei said, his statement heartfelt, "now that uncle is not here, you are the closest to family that I have."

    Although Manager Su had never really paid much attention to Xue Wei before, he had been willing to stay behind and look after him even though he thought he was trash. Not only this, he had been willing to fight for him repeatedly, and the consideration he showed was making him feel more at ease. To the orphaned Xue Wei, it felt a lot as if he had found himself a grandfather.

    Both the young and the older man smiled at one another before they started snickering. "I wonder how the He family is going to manage now," Xue Wei could not help but grin. He was not usually one to find pleasure in others¡¯ despair, but considering that He Tong had almost killed him, Xue Wei had no positive emotions for their family at all.

    On the other hand, the Jia family had stayed quiet. They had not said a word after their young master had been crippled, and they had not shown any kind of retaliation. This act made Xue Wei worried. He knew that they were as upset as He Tong, but their actions showed that they could endure.

    "Due to the danger, from now on, I will follow you wherever you go," Manager Su dered, but it was no different for Xue Wei. He had already spent thest couple of weeks almost glued to this manager, so having the next couple of months be the same was no issue. As long as Manager Su did not interrupt him in his training, Xue Wei was satisfied.

    The days went by, one after another. Xue Wei cultivated and trained. He would do everything in his power to gain strength, and he could feel that the chase he had experienced had also pushed his potential higher, allowing for him to have a minor breakthrough to the peak of seventhyer of the Ordinary Warrior rank.

    He was just one step away from reaching the eighthyer of the Ordinary Warrior rank, and he knew that he would reach it at any moment. Thus he did not rush it, and rightfully so. A few dayster when he was training the Sacrificial Stab ability, he broke through naturally. When he did, it was as if a new world opened for him.

    His body became lighter, his flesh and blood tougher. His eyes seemed to be able to notice smaller details than before, and the colors looked much more vivid in front of him. He could feel that the higher rank he came, the more in tune with nature he became and the more of nature¡¯s power he could wield.

    His senses were enhanced, and he could absorb more Qi at a time than before. When looking at his body, he found that the pearl-like dantian of his had changed to be slightly azure and was growing in size.

 Chapter 32: He Tongs Trial

    Chapter 32: He Tong¡¯s Trial

    Xue Wei had broken into the realm of the eightyered Ordinary Warrior, and his body continually enhanced itself while taking nourishment from the energy present between the heavens and the earth.

    "As things are now, there should be no opponents for me here in the Heping Kingdom within the Ordinary Warrior rank," Xue Wei mused to himself. He was well aware that he was within an impoverished kingdom and thus the martial arts legacy was somewhat limited, but he still felt a bit of pride when realizing that he was able to jump ranks while fighting.

    Although he could not fight an Earth Warrior just yet, he had confidence in his ability to escape. He was also certain that Manager Su¡¯s protection would deter quite a few people from trying to attack him.

    After reaching the eighthyer of the Ordinary Warrior rank, Xue Wei returned to cultivating and training. He did not waste even a single moment as he knew that his strength was truly too little.

    Xue Wei was not only cultivating in this period of time. After having talked with Wang Xiaoyun about Lingyun Town, he had spent some money to get information about the Northern Taiga and the specific incident rted to Lingyun Town, which gave him a whole lot of information.

    The entire town had been killed by a passing Primordial Beast. It was a really rare episode, and many Primordial Beast hunters had done everything in their power to hunt down whichever Primordial Beast had done it.

    After a bit of time, they med it on the Ice Harpy, something that made sense to Xue Wei. Wang Xiaoyun had said that they were hunting the Ice Harpy, so for her to know the history of Lingyun Town was normal. What did puzzle him, however, was that there was no information about any surviving child.

    All this information confused Xue Wei, but he knew that he would get no answer before he had talked with Xiao Lei about it. Furthermore, he knew that it would be a long time before Xiao Lei returns. It was likely that they would not meet before a decadeter, since Xue Wei had to be in the army for a decade.

    Putting the worries on the backburner, Xue Wei sighed as once more focused on getting stronger. No matter how many questions he had, he understood that strength was needed to get the answers. In order to be with Wang Xiaoyun, Xue Wei needed more strength. He needed to be powerful!

    While Xue Wei and Manager Su spent most of their time cultivating, the whole of Tiankong City was filled with gossiping and disbelief.

    He Tong hated Xue Wei. Everyone knew this fact, and they were well aware that this young man had been chased earlier by unknown cultivators ¨C yet, for once, he had been chased by a Sky Warrior, and he had survived it.

    Everyone knew that Xue Wei had a movement martial art. Although it was astonishing and rare, no one had truly managed to fully grasp what it meant until now. To be able to outrun a Sky Warrior when one was only an Ordinary Warrior was a heaven-defying feat. Although Xue Wei had run blindly and constantly changed directions, these people did not know about it.

    They were certain that Xue Wei had simply outrun He Tong, and that he had strength far outstripping his Ordinary Warrior rank.

    Because of this, everyone was eager to show their goodwill towards Xue Wei. If he had this kind of strength already, no one knew how much he would grow in the future. It was likely that he would be another Xiao Lei, a Primordial Beast hunter with a great many beasts in.

    Beasts were born either Mortal Beasts, Fierce Beasts, or Primordial Beasts. A Mortal Beast could never be a Fierce Beast, and a Fierce Beast could never be a Primordial Beast.

    Although Primordial Beasts, in general, were stronger than Fierce Beasts, they were weaker at birth, and a Primordial Beast could not start cultivating before the age of thirty.

    Primordial Beasts aged much slower than humans and Fierce Beasts, but they were born with an inborn strength that made it near impossible for others to attack them, and they were exceptionally protective of their young ones as their reproduction speed was slower than the other races.

    Primordial Beasts could control Fierce Beasts. Just like a tamed beast had to follow the orders of a Diviner, the Fierce Beasts also had to follow the orders of Primordial Beasts. The only beasts that could go against the Primordial Beasts¡¯ control were tamed and mortal beasts.

    Xiao Lei had hunted down more than ten Primordial Beasts. These beasts were all of varying age, but all of them had a strength simr to that of a Heavenly Warrior.

    If Xue Wei could kill just one Heavenly Warrior Primordial Beast, then he would be a hero of humankind in the Kingdom of Heping.

    Since Xue Wei was likely to be such a hero, everyone wished to show their goodwill. Many came to the mansion to deliver presents, or to just say that they would dly witness against He Tong. Even those who had not truly seen anything had already heard enough about what had happened between He Tong and Xue Wei, and thus they wanted to be of use.

    Manager Su sent everyone to Shen Bingwen. Shen Bingwen had already promised that he would deal with the case against He Tong. Since this was the case, Manager Su was not shy about using him as manualbor.

    Xue Wei was unaware of the sudden rise in fame he had gotten, but he would not have cared even if he had been aware of it. These people had looked down upon him for years already. They had disliked him, and some even hated him. For them to suddenly want to be friendly with him was clearly because they saw that, now, he had the potential to be a great Warrior while simultaneously having the backing of two Heavenly Warriors.

    Xue Wei continued to train all up until the day of the trial. He then went to prepare, put on his finest clothes, and tied his hair up in a beautiful bun on top of his head with a small golden crown tying it up.

    Manager Su had also prepared. Although the clothes he wore were of the highest quality, they were allpletely ck and made him look like a servant. There was nothing fancy about Manager Su¡¯s appearance.

    When one looked at the two, Xue Wei and Manager Su, one could instantly see that it was a young master and his servant, yet when they saw the fierce look within Manager Su¡¯s eyes, everyone felt a chill run down their spines.

    Xue Wei walked first, with Manager Su following right behind him. The two walked towards the City Lord¡¯s mansion where the court was located, intending to be part of He Tong¡¯s judgement. They were both the prime witnesses and also the ones who wished for He Tong to be crippled.

    When they arrived, half of the courtroom had already been filled with people. The rest were streaming in through the open door; some had ugly expressions on their faces, while others looked calm and collected.

    The audience was split into two. One group wished to gobble up the other, but both understood that this was just pro forma judging. Two out of three Heavenly Warriors had already decided on the fate of the head of the He family, and thus he would be unable to avoid his fate.

    Those who were hisrades were swearing in their minds. They too wished to rip Xue Wei to shreds, but they would never do so as they knew how valuable the young warriors were to the kingdom.

    When they had been at the front lines, they were still valuable, but many returned to settle down or carry out other chores that kept them far away from the battlefields.

    Had He Tong seeded in killing Xue Wei, it was not a question about allowing He Tong to live. He would have been executed on the spot as Manager Su clearly looked at Xue Wei as his benefactor, but had Manager Su not managed to break through, it could have gone either way.

    Shen Bingwen would not make too much of a fuss for a dead genius, while Li Fang would do all in his power to protect his supporter.

    Unfortunately, things had escted far above and beyond what He Tong had expected. Not only had he failed to kill Xue Wei, but Manager Su had also broken through to be a Heavenly Warrior.

    A listless and despaired He Tong was led into the courtroom. His hair was messy and his clothes disheveled. His eyes were dim, and it was clear that he had finally calmed down and realized what exactly he had done.

    Havinge to terms with everything, he was naturally also aware of the punishment that would follow. Shen Bingwen and Manager Su would cripple him.

    Although his family might be able to sustain itself for some time due to the Elders in the family, it was without a doubt that He Tong would not be able to maintain his position within the family. Although the family would survive, He Tong was going to live a life worse than death.

    Not only this, but he also realized that all the actions he had made had turned him, and his family, against themoners. Thesemoners would use his shops and restaurants much less now than they had before, and only travelers who had no idea of his deeds would buy their wares unless they lowered their prices.

    As He Tong was ced in the courtroom, the entire room was filled to the brim, and it was pindrop silent.

    Shen Bingwen started by calling up Xue Wei to give testimony, and following him came Manager Su. Both honestly recounted the incident, not withholding anything. Xue Wei even disyed his movement martial art to prove that he could move fast enough to stay alive.

    After them came a bunch ofmoners who had noticed what had happened. And finally, He Tong was questioned.

    "He Tong, leader of the He family, hasmitted a great offense," Shen Bingwen said seriously. "After careful deliberation with the involved parties and in light of the fact that the victim did not die, we have decided only to cripple your cultivation, allowing for you to continue your life."

    No one was surprised with the verdict, but everyone was rather shocked that Shen Bingwen made it sound as if he had been merciful.

    He Tong¡¯s face paled, and Li Fang gritted his teeth. Li Jian, who was also present in the hall, stared at Xue Wei with eyes that looked as if they would slice him into pieces.

    But a decision had been made, and no one could do anything about it. Even Li Fang was powerless when Manager Su and Shen Bingwen worked together.

    As the case finished, everyone started spreading the word. Manager Su personally took on the task of crippling He Tong, and a group of He family members picked him up and brought the copsed He Tong back to the family with them. Although he was their family head, the Elders that had been present knew that things were likely to change now and that Li Fang definitely had his ns with the He family.

    In the Shen family, everyone was cheerful. Shen Bingwen was walking around with a great smile on his face, and he felt that a heavy weight had been lifted from his shoulders as Manager Su was his new backup.

    With Manager Su¡¯s assistance, his position was rock solid in Tiankong City. Although the city lord expected Li Fang to be filled with pent-up anger and frustrations, he also admired Li Fang and knew that he would never venture down the path of wickedness for the sake of reaching his goals.

    "Was this heaven¡¯s retribution?" Li Fang whispered to himself with half-closed eyes in his study.

    "I have spoiled my son too much, and he has gone down the wrong road. I know of all the atrocities he hasmitted, but I never said anything about it. Now, he has caused two of my followers to lose their most promising members of the younger generation and a strong backer."

    "But worst is the fact that Manager Su managed to break through! That old man has never been even close to breaking through all these years, so howe he suddenly broke through now?"

    "Young man, what if I could give you everything you wanted?" A voice suddenly sounded in the room. Li Fang stood up in shock and looked around, yet no matter where he looked, he saw nothing.

    "Do not tempt me!" he yelled. "I will not be someone else¡¯s puppet, and I will not go against my martial heart!"

    "That is too bad," the voiceughed with a dryughter that sounded as if the dead wereing back to thend of the living.

    "At least I know that your son will ept me," the voice mocked, and the room was eerily quiet all of a sudden. Li Fang turned deadly pale.

 Chapter 33: Temptation

    Chapter 33: Temptation

    "Don¡¯t you dare!" Li Fang yelled out loudly, and his voice shook the entire Tiankong City. Everywhere in the mansion, people were startled awake, wondering what exactly had happened.

    Manager Su and Shen Bingwen also heard the yell and were shocked as to what could cause the otherwise very calm and collected Li Fang to be agitated enough to lose his self-control and yell like that.

    Shen Bingwen instantly went to visit Manager Su. "Mister Su," he had changed the way he referred to Manager Su now, as he was also a Heavenly Warrior. "I wonder if you would do me the honor of going to Li Fang¡¯s mansion to see what¡¯s happening together with me?"

    Manager Su looked at Shen Bingwen and shook his head, "I apologize," he said seriously. "Although I am very curious as to what has happened in the Li family¡¯s estate, I cannot leave Xue Wei alone as he would be in danger if I do. At the same time, I cannot bring him with me either, as that might bring even more danger."

    Shen Bingwen was surprised. He had never expected for Manager Su to be so loyal to Xue Wei, a young master who had only just recently begun his meteoric rise.

    "I see," Shen Bingwen knew that it was pointless to ask for more, and he started pondering. Li Fang was an upright man, so he would not set up a trap, but he had a bad feeling about it.

    Still, although he had enmity with Li Fang, Shen Bingwen understood that if he had truly encountered a bad situation, Shen Bingwen ought to support him. Li Fang would not hesitate toe to his aid.

    Upon reaching this conclusion, Shen Bingwen sighed and moved towards the Li family mansion. It was not only him who was curious; all Sky Warriors and evenmoners were making their way towards the mansion gates.

    If there were a battle, they would be eager to see what would happen. If they were having internal struggles, then they would wait for servants to bring gossip.

    Inside the Li family¡¯s mansion, Li Fang had rushed from his study towards Li Jian¡¯s room. Everywhere he went, he found no servants; everything was deserted, and a gloomy feeling loomed over the entire mansion.

    No one dared to exit their rooms as they had heard the yell from Li Fang, not even his wives or children.

    As he reached Li Jian¡¯s room, Li Fang did not even knock before he barged in. Inside, he found his son lounging on the bed, eating grapes hand-fed to him by a frightened maid.

    Li Jian¡¯s one arm was hooked around the maid¡¯s waist, and her entire body was trembling, but she dared not stop feeding her master for even a moment.

    When Li Fang entered the room, Li Jian flinched and sat up in a start, about to unleash profanities upon whomever had disturbed his good time. But when he saw that it was his father and the seriousness on his father¡¯s face, he quickly swallowed every word back down.

    "Father, what can I do for you?" he asked humbly. Although he was not scared of his father, he understood that everything he had was because of his status as the genius son of a Heavenly Warrior.

    "You there, leave!" Li Fang sneered at the maid who looked as if she had just been excused from a death sentence, and she hurriedly withdrew from Li Jian¡¯s bed and into the darkness of the mansion.

    After this, Li Fang closed the door and sat down on a chair next to the bed. He looked at his son, dismayed and annoyed. Since when had he be so unbridled? So selfish and so wicked. It was everything that Li Fang went against.

    He knew that Li Jian had always been cheeky. He had done many things when he was a child, but he had been admonished for it until he turned ten and he showed a great talent for cultivation.

    Since then, Li Fang and the Elders of the Li family had allowed him to do almost anything he wanted, which had resulted in quite a few unfortunate situations for the Li family, including a bad reputation.

    Sighing, Li Fang knew that it was toote to change things now, but he wanted nothing but to protect his family and thus he had no other option than to warn Li Jian.

    "A mysterious entity has entered our mansion," Li Fang said, sincerely. "It is tempting us with promises. Offering to fulfill our deepest desires."

    "If you hear this entity speak to you, decline!" Li Fang said sternly. "If I find out that you have epted assistance from this entity to gain your vengeance against the young nephew of Xiao Lei, then I will kick you out of the family and cripple you!"

    This was a legitimate threat. As much as it might shock Li Jian, it hurt Li Fang just as much. Li Jian was his son, and no matter how vile he was, Li Fang loved him. He did not wish to be forced to cripple him or even kick him out of the family.

    Unfortunately, Li Fang was a realist. He had seen and heard just how much Li Jian hated Xue Wei, and he knew that given the chance, he would grasp it. Even now, when he had threatened him, he saw a manic gleam within Li Jian¡¯s eyes that could not be hidden.

    It was clear that he was thinking of a way to make it happen without getting found out.

    Sighing and shaking his head, Li Fang stood up, feeling pain in his heart. He regretted. He regretted so much that Li Fang had grown up the way he had, and that he had failed as a parent.

    Just as Li Fang left the chamber, he felt Shen Bingwen¡¯s arrival and sighed. He had indeed lost his temper before when he had been startled by the strange voice, and now he had to exin to Shen Bingwen. However, thinking for the better of the city, he thought it would be a good idea to mention that some insanely strong entity had appeared in Tiankong City.

    Inviting in Shen Bingwen, Li Fang went to his study once more, where he exined what had happened.

    Shen Bingwen was surprised. He knew that Li Fang was upright and straightforward, but for him to instantly decline the temptation was out of Shen Bingwen¡¯s expectation. He could not help but wonder what he would have done had he been in Li Fang¡¯s position, and the answer made him shiver.

    Li Fang, on the other hand, felt ufortable. He had not said anything about the voice wanting to tempt his son, but he feared mentioning it would make Shen Bingwen do something he could not approve of.

    The two chatted for a moment, but neither had their minds set straight. Both were busy thinking about their things, and as a result, they quickly split up and went their separate ways.

    Li Fang went to one of his wives, while Shen Bingwen returned home to his mansion, both in deep thought.

    "I cannot keep little Jian under control any longer. I gave him a warning, but even I know that he will not follow it. I just hope that he can truly do this so that no one notices anything."

    Li Fang did not feel sorry for Xue Wei. In fact, he did not like Xue Wei at all. But he knew that he could do nothing against him, and his heart would not allow him to make a move on a child.

    While Li Fang¡¯s hair was turning white from worry, Li Jian was silent in his room. Usually, he would send for his maids to service him throughout the nights, but for once, he did not do that. Instead, he was waiting for the owner of this strange voice to appear.

    "Young Master Li," an alluring voice sounded in the room, and the alert Li Jian straightened his back, his eyes looking calcting as he observed the entire room.

    The voice was different this time, but Li Jian had not heard how it had soundedst time, so he did not know what to expect other than some strange voice.

    "Show yourself," he said lightly. "I would like to know who I am dealing with."

    The alluring voice chuckled, and with a swooshing sound, a woman appeared in the middle of the room. She had hair as silver as the moon¡¯s light; her eyes were blue like ice; and she was wearing a white and blue dress, making her seem like an otherworldly fairy. Her skin was pale like porcin, and her lips were red like roses.

    Li Jian looked at the woman with wide open eyes. Suddenly, he could not refrain from feeling a fever growing in his body. Although Tiankong City had some beautiful women, none of them could hold a candle to this woman in front of him; even Luo Zhirou was nothing more than just an ordinary girl inparison.

    A sh of anger passed through the eyes of the woman, but it was gone as soon as it had appeared and Li Jian did not notice it. He was too busy staring at the woman¡¯s well-proportioned body.

    "What can I do for you?" he finally asked after swallowing his saliva and realizing that he had been staring for far too long in an inappropriate way.

    "I believe it is more a question about what I can do for you," the woman smirked, and her voice was like soft silkying itself over Li Jian. The sound alone tempted him into losing himself and just following her everymand.

    "I want to kill Xue Wei!" Li Jian said through gritted teeth. "Xue Wei is everything that I hate. Either he dies, or I die, we cannot both be alive in this world, and he is bing more and more of a threat!"

    "A few months ago, I might have been able to kill him, could I catch him, but his damned movement martial art is enough to make it impossible for me to move against him."

    "Not only this, although he wasn¡¯t unbeatable at the beginning, I hate to admit it, but his strength is the real deal. I will be hard-pressed to fight him in the future," Li Jian became more and more frustrated. He started gnashing his teeth against each other, and his fists were tightly clenched, so tight that all blood had left them and his fingernails were digging into his palms.

    "So you want to kill this Xue Wei?" The woman asked with a twinkle in her eyes and a sweet smile on her face.

    "Yes," Li Jian nodded his head; a hint of excitement was in his eyes.

    "And if you cannot kill him, you do not believe that you will continue to live in this world?" she continued to ask. Li Jian, who was slightly confused by the sudden question, nodded his head. "Yes," he said after a bit of consideration. "I cannot live as long as he is alive. He and his family are standing against the rise of my family. Were it not for Xiao Lei, the Li family would be the City Lords of Tiankong City."

    "Oh, so you wish to kill his entire family, including Xiao Lei?" The woman was surprised, but then she startedughing out loud as if she had heard the best joke of the century.

    Li Jian frowned when he heard herughter, but he was unsure of what exactly she meant with it. Was it child¡¯s y for her to kill them and thus she wasughing, or did Xiao Lei have strength above this elusive woman?

 Chapter 34: Departing Tiankong City

    Chapter 34: Departing Tiankong City

    "My father cannot sense your presence, so you are clearly above the Heavenly Warrior rank," Li Jian said, feeling slightly annoyed by theughter. He could feel that she was notughing with him, but at him.

    "Since you are stronger than the Heavenly Warrior realm, you should easily be able to deal with Xiao Lei. Is there any reason for you tough so much about it?"

    "Xiao Lei was my hero, but he never looked at me. He never even nced my way, yet some piece of trash was able to get all of Xiao Lei¡¯s attention."

    Li Jian¡¯s hands trembled, and an ugly expression appeared on his face.

    "So, to sum it up, you want me to assist you in killing Xue Wei and Xiao Lei?" the woman chuckled as she slowly sat down on the chair where Li Fang had sat earlier.

    "Yes!" Li Jian nodded his head. "That other Heavenly Warrior too, Manager Su!"

    "Once Manager Su and Xiao Lei are gone, my father can take over the position as City Lord and I will be the new young master of Tiankong City. One day, I will take over his position and be the City Lord of the city, and all will listen to my orders!"

    The more Li Jian spoke, the wider the smile on the silver-haired woman¡¯s face grew.

    "I will help you," the woman said. "I cannot act directly, but when you are traveling towards the army, I promise to make sure that a great surprise will appear!"

    Hearing this, Li Jian was somewhat disappointed. "You sounded as if you would help me, but you are telling me to wait a couple of months?! And that you cannot even act on your own? Then what use are you?!"

    "I need to be certain that Xue Wei dies! He has to bepletely dead ¨C and preferably suffer before he dies!"

    "I know," the womanughed slightly. "I promise that only one of you will survive the trip. I can give you my word, in which I will step in and do the deed myself if my n does not work."

    "But you should want my help to be as subtle as possible," the woman said with a mysterious smile on her face. "If I act, then more chaos will ensue; and I can promise you that your father will realize that you have made a deal with me if Xue Wei drops dead all of a sudden with no exnation."

    Li Jian frowned, but after considering it for some time, he nodded his head. Although he wanted his vengeance, he did not want to get crippled or expelled from the family. If she could use some other means to get rid of Xue Wei, then all he had to do was wait a few months to see what would happen.

    "Well then, thank you for your cooperation," the womanughed again. Her voice became distant as she spoke, her figure vanishing into the shadows. It was as if she had melted into the shadows and thest thing that Li Jian heard was the pearl-likeughter of the woman who had vanished entirely.

    Like this, rumors started to spread through Tiankong City of a mysterious stranger visiting the Li family mansion at night. However, no one knew anything about the purpose of this visit, so assumptions were as many as stars in the sky.

    Some thought that Li Fang had found a backer that would assist him to be the new City Lord.

    Others thought that it was a master thief that hade to steal everything the Li family had gathered over the years.

    A group of people thought that it was an expert that had decided to settle down in the Li family mansion without telling Li Fang, causing him to yell the way he had when he noticed the expert.

    There were many rumors, but neither Shen Bingwen nor Li Fang said the truth to anyone, causing the rumors to be just that, rumors.

    The only ones who knew what had happened were the two Heavenly Warriors, and after a bit of time, Manager Su and Xue Wei.

    At first, neither Shen Bingwen nor Li Fang had nned on telling Manager Su or Xue Wei about what had happened. But after careful consideration, they agreed on it being for the best to tell these two about it, as it seemed as though Li Jian was a potential target for the strange voice.

    Where Manager Su¡¯s eyes turned dark, Xue Wei waspletely carefree. He understood that if this powerful expert was truly aiming for his life, he had no way of protecting it. If the expert could sneak into the Li mansion without even Li Fang¡¯s notice, that person was stronger than Manager Su, Shen Bingwen, and Li Fang.

    Even if they went together against the enemy, no one was able to say who would emerge victoriously.

    Xue Wei knew too little about the realms above Heavenly Warrior rank, but he could imagine that it was apletely different realm; a realm where strength would multiply many times and thus the Heavenly Warriors could not bar this expert if their choice was to kill him.

    On the other hand, he could not help but feel strange. Why would such an esteemed expert try to contact Li Jian and the Li family, trying to tempt them? It made no sense.

    Did the Li family have something unusual that the esteemed expert wanted, or did the expert just want to see chaos and disaster wherever it passed? Temptingmoners and trying to make them fall to their heart demons?

    Xue Wei shook his head. He was not going to spend his time wondering about something he had no power to change. Instead, he decided to spend the time cultivating, spending as much time as he could to increase hisbat power and getting familiar with his techniques.

    Although he was decent with his techniques, he was still far from being able to grasp the true meaning behind them fully. As a result, he needed to train more to gain the thorough understanding of the abilities.

    He followed the same pattern as before. He would spend five days to a week absorbing the herbal concoction followed by a week of training his abilities and normal cultivation. He could feel how his body was growing stronger for every single day that passed, and that he was gaining more and more Qi within his pearl-like dantian that started to shine with a stronger azure shine.

    Soon, the time hade for Xue Wei to depart for the army. Thest couple of months had passed fast to him, and he had not encountered any problems. Li Jian and his friends were doing their best to avoid him whenever they were in town.

    No one wished to be crippled, and he had already crippled two of them when he was weaker. Since then, he had grown much stronger, so strong that everyone assumed that he was the strongest within the Ordinary Warrior rank within Tiankong City.

    A few weeks before the departure, Xue Wei had finally broken through into the ninthyer of the Ordinary Warrior rank. Although he was only in the initial stages, he was certain in his strength.

    In Tiankong City, there were no strength measuring stones, so Xue Wei did not know how much his power surpassed the strength of an average ninthyered Ordinary Warrior; yet when he¡¯s lifting things that he knew the weight of, he felt that he could lift at least five hundred kilograms more than he should, which is a significant amount.

    Clenching his fist, Xue Wei felt how he had managed to perfect the Forbidden Rush for his level.

    There was only so much he couldprehend while being at the Ordinary Warrior rank, but to haveprehended as much as he could, Xue Wei was able to flutter in the wind while being weightless. He could jump around two hundred meters in the air, but it was still impossible for him to be able to fly or walk on air.

    The closest he could get would be to merge with the wind and allow the wind to blow him around, but this was not very convenient as he could not control his destination this way.

    Xue Wei was deep in thought about the Forbidden Rush technique when Manager Su appeared behind him and cleared his throat. "Young Master," he said, "it is time for you to depart."

    "Here is a bag. It contains a canteen, some rations, gold, clothes, and so on. It should be enough for you on your way to the army. When you are in the army, you will be given some clothes, armor, and be fed by the army dining hall."

    Manager Su had taken great care to pack therge bag for Xue Wei. He had packed everything that he thought Xue Wei might need, and he had packed a whole lot of gold, enough gold to make it possible for Xue Wei to livefortably for a few decades, even when using the herbal concoction.

    The bag was heavy, but to someone like Xue Wei who was a ninthyered Ordinary Warrior, it was simple to bear.

    "Well then, Manager Su, look well after the mansion until I return," he said with a smile on his face, and Manager Su nodded his head seriously.

    "Be careful," he warned. "We don¡¯t know what Li Jian is up to. Hopefully, he listened to his father and did not do anything silly, but who knows."

    "You will be in the army for a decade. After this decade, you will be able to return to Tiankong City. I believe that you will have be a great figure by then."

    "Of course, you can also choose to stay in the army and make a career for yourself, or you can be like your uncle, Xiao Lei, and be a Primordial Beast Hunter."

    "I wille back as soon as I finish my military service," Xue Wei promised. "I will be a Primordial Beast Hunter like my uncle, and kill many Primordial Beasts to make him proud."

    "Well then, take care," Manager Su said nothing more than this and smiled as he nodded his head. "I will always be waiting here for you and your uncle."

    At the start, Manager Su had not disliked Xue Wei, but he had not liked him either. Now, things had changed, and Manager Su felt almost as if it was his grandchild that was leaving to explore the vast world of the Heping army.

    He would be fighting against hordes of Fierce Beasts; he could even encounter Primordial Beasts. He would be in danger repeatedly, but no matter how worried Manager Su was, he said nothing about it. He felt that Xue Wei needed to do his best and step out onto a broader stage.

    He had already be a genius of Tiankong City. Although Tiankong was arge city within the Kingdom of Heping, the world was vast. It was clear that Xue Wei would one day explore the rest of the countries much like Xiao Lei did from time to time.

    Xue Wei said his goodbye and got ready to leave. He headed towards the outskirts of town where other experts were present, waiting for the group to set out.

    Although the group of experts from Tiankong City was split into two groups, Xue Wei knew that when they were going towards the army, all of them would go together. They would have a group of guards with them, all at the Earth Warrior rank that would guard them all the way to the army.

    Everyone kept a cordial and proper rtionship during this trip. No one knew who they would be sat in a group with when they reached the army, and thus many gave up on being split into factions in the next decade where they had to trust theirrades with their backs.

 Chapter 35: Goodbye Tiankong City

    Chapter 35: Goodbye Tiankong City

    Having said their goodbyes, the entire city was gathered outside the city gates to watch how their young ones were ready to leave for the army. Not even a third of them would return home after the decade had passed.

    There were a couple of thousand young women and men, as all themoners were there too. Most of them were between the fifthyer of the Ordinary Warrior rank, and then there were Luo Zhirou, Shen Mu, Li Jian, and Xue Wei at the ninthyer of the Ordinary Warrior rank.

    Some looked scared about the world they were about to embark upon, while others seemed excited. In theory, those who were ranked low would be the first to die, and these young people were aware of it.

    A couple of the low-ranked even shed a few tears over their unfortunate situation. It could be that their cultivation talent wascking, or perhaps they had just not focused enough on cultivating. Either way, they knew that their chances of survival were slim and they could onlyment over their fate.

    Even these low-ranked experts knew that their sacrifice was needed for the kingdom and humanity, and none of them was willing to run away. They knew that if they did, not only would they be impeded, their entire families would be punished.

    Xue Wei observed everything with a calm and distant gaze. Thesemoners had never treated him well, nor had they treated him poorly because he was Xiao Lei¡¯s nephew, but he knew that they had looked down upon him before.

    He knew that they had found pleasure in talking about and mocking him, and thus he felt no remorse for their fate. In this world, only the strong could survive. He had felt it on his own body repeatedly during the five years where he could not cultivate, and now he was much more rational and cold towards those he did not feel any kinship with.

    Although he had decided not to seek vengeance against anyone other than Li Jian, he still felt nothing for the group of followers he had; neither did he feel anything for Shen Mu¡¯s friends apart from Luo Zhirou.

    Luo Zhirou had admitted to her error in front of him. She had apologized sincerely, and she had even brought a gift of apology. Although the present had been mere snacks, he could not help but feel that she had put some consideration into it. Also, he had seen how nervous and scared she had been of him not epting the apology. As a result, his impression of her had risen to be favorable.

    The rest of Shen Mu¡¯s friends were different. Although they would talk to Xue Wei as if they were friends or acquaintances, they would never admit to having been wrong, and neither would they apologize for treating him the way they had thest five years.

    As a result, Xue Wei saw them more as a bunch of followers of Shen Mu, and for Shen Mu¡¯s sake he would be cordial when dealing with them. However, he would not go out of his way to be friends with them.

    Xue Wei stood on the edge of therge group of youngsters, looking at Tiankong City. He had no memories from a world outside of Tiankong City, yet sometimes, during thest five and a half years, he had had visions of a tranquil and idyllic small vige sat on the outskirts of a big snowy forest.

    After talking with Wang Xiaoyun, he discovered that this vige was known as Lingyun Town, a small town that had been subject to the rage and destruction of a Primordial Beast.

    No matter how much Xue Wei tried to remember this episode, he had no memories of it, and his head would start throbbing painfully.

    "I will find out when I go there," he mumbled to himself. "If it was a Primordial Beast attack and everyone died, why did I survive?" he could not help but wonder. But after sighing, he knew that it made no sense to consider it anymore. Instead, his eyes narrowed as he looked around the dense cluster of youngsters waiting to depart.

    Suddenly, a chill went down his spine, and Xue Wei turned around in a rush. There, behind him, was a woman. She was wearing the same outfit as she had dressed in the auction house, and she was riding on the ck Horned Mammoth.

    This woman¡¯s face was hidden beneath a bamboo hat with a veil around it, and her robe covered her entire body. It was impossible to see where she was looking, but Xue Wei had a feeling that she was staring right at him.

    He shivered, and he sensed a deep feeling of danger and threat. It was as if he was standing right in front of a murderous Fierce Beast that was at least a couple of ranks above him.

    He swallowed hard as he looked back at the woman, but all of a sudden, the feeling of danger vanished, and the ck Horned Mammoth started moving with the woman seated on top of it.

    Everyone had been observing it with reverence. It was no secret that an unknown figure had bought the ck Horned Mammoth, and now that they had seen her, they were filled with curiosity. Everyone was discussing animatedly amongst themselves.

    Xue Wei frowned. "Why would she have such killing intent towards me?" he asked himself. "There was nothing in the Auction House. Could it be because of me seeing her hand? But that is rather far-fetched."

    Xue Wei was in deep thought, unsure of what exactly could cause this woman to show such hate towards him.

    "Her strength is the real thing," he continued. "She was able to release such a heavy atmosphere, yet the only one who noticed it was me, the target. Not even old man Bingwen or Li Fang noticed anything."

    Xue Wei¡¯s eyes grew round as he reached this conclusion, "Don¡¯t tell me that she¡¯s the unknown person who infiltrated Li Fang¡¯s mansion."

    "It would make sense then," he paused for a bit and rubbed his chin. "She had no enmity with me during the auction house because there was nothing between us, but after talking with Li Jian, I have be her target."

    "If that is the case, then I am indeed very unlucky," Xue Wei sighed. "She should be in a realm above the Heavenly Warrior rank, and she should be able to kill me with but a nce, but she did not do it. What does this mean?"

    Xue Wei was confused. "Okay, let us see it from the start," he decided.

    "We met at the auction house; there was no hostility between us. We met again now, and she released a heavy atmosphere that could threaten me. However, considering her strength, this atmosphere must be a tiny bit of her real power."

    "Why would she only release a bit and not it all? Did she not agree with Li Jian to kill me, or does she have some other ns?"

    Sighing, Xue Wei shook his head, "I can do nothing but wait and see what happens. Even if I ask old man Bingwen about her, I fear that he would not tell me anything."

    "But considering how he was eager to get his hands on the lower ranked beast, he should know about her, at least a little."

    Shaking his head, Xue Wei sighed again, "I will have to be alert on this trip, but if that woman truly wishes to kill me, then I won¡¯t be able to survive. Still, I will do my very best to stay alive as long as I can."

    Having reached this point, Xue Wei was filled with energy. He could feel it flooding through his body, and he knew that he was ready to depart. Whatever happened would happen, and he was just too weak to go against it. Since this was the case, then he would just have to hope for the best.

    While he was thinking like this, Li Jian nced at Xue Wei. His mind was filled with venomous thoughts. Suddenly, a sinister smile curled on his lips.

    "Just you wait," he grinned to himself, "in a few days, you will no longer be able to live. I will ensure that you will die on the way to the army. The mysteriousdy promised me that you would die!"

    "I will make it so that your body will be left in the wilderness with beasts gnawing at your bones. No one will be able to find you again, and it will be done in such a way that I can never be charged for it! I cannot wait to see what she has in mind."

    Everyone said their goodbyes, and slowly, the entourage of young experts began moving.

    "Everyone, get moving!" the captain of the guards yelled out. "I will be leading you, and we have to rush through thendscape to make it to the army."

    "We will be going through dangerousnds, so be ready to defend yourself at all times!"

    "We might encounter bandits, and we might encounter Fierce Beasts!"

    "We will only rest at night, and everyone is in charge of dealing with their rations. I am not running a charity here; if you cannot provide your food and water, you will be left behind when your energy runs out!"

    The captain kept yelling things while they were moving and the faces of everyone present turned paler and paler. Xue Wei had been aware of this beforehand and had arge bag filled with rations, a canteen with water, and other necessities, but even he felt the pressure from this captain.

    "We will be traveling for close to two months!" the man called out again. "We are currently in the southern areas of Heping Kingdom, but the army camp for all recruits is in the central regions. To get there will take us two months, and these months will be dangerous."

    "We will encounter danger on the way, and some of you will die. If you cannot trust yourrades with your back, then you are likely to be the first to die; no one can fight alone in these situations."

    "I am a Sky Warrior, and all the guards are Earth Warriors. We should be able to get rid of any possible threat. But if you are in danger, then know that you cannot desert yourrades. Instead, fight to the death! Any deserter will have their families marked as the family of a deserter. I will keep count on who dies throughout the entire trip!"

    "Now, no more talking. Spend all your energy on moving. Some of you are too weak, and the trip will be long. Try not to die from exhaustion on the way!"

    Having said this, the captain said no more, and he just began moving. The couple of thousand youngsters that were following behind him all felt ufortable and worried. They knew that life in the army would be harsh and that many of them would die, but to think that they would die already before they made it there. That was simply inconceivable.

    Xue Wei was not too worried about himself. He knew that there were bandits within Heping Kingdom, but most of them were Ordinary Warriors, and although they were many, it would require quite some guts to attack a group of more than a couple of thousand experts.

    The only thing Xue Wei truly feared was a beast horde. Primordial Beasts controlled beast hordes, and if one of those attacked them, they were likely to have a whole lot of sacrifices amongst their people. It would be impossible to get unscathed out of a beast horde, as they fought with an unending ferocity, and they had bodies stronger than any human of the same cultivation stage.

 Chapter 36: Fierce Beast Sand Snake

    Chapter 36: Fierce Beast Sand Snake

    Marching forward, the group dared not even talk together with their friends. Everyone had the words that the captain had said in mind, and focused on nothing else than moving forward.

    Everyone was on high alert. Some feared that they would encounter bandits, others were certain that they would be left behind.

    Some felt despair at the fact that they would be traveling for two months and that they might not have brought enough food and drink, while others were feeling less worried as they already knew about this and had packed enough dried rations tost for two months.

    Although Ordinary Warriors had walked down the path of cultivation, they were still much more like average mortals, and they needed to eat at least once a day to have enough energy to move forward steadily.

    There were no breaks throughout their journey before the sun started to set. "The temperatures here in the desert turn very cold at night," the captain warned. "I would suggest you get some sleep so that we can continue forward tomorrow. Those who do not get enough sleep might fall behind tomorrow."

    Worry filled the hearts of all present, and they hurried down to sleep. Many of them had not brought anything as they thought the army would provide everything they needed, having forgotten all about how long the journey to the recruitment camp would be.

    Manager Su was aware of everything that had happened, and he had packed anything that Xue Wei might be in need of. Although some had looked at him as if he was stupid before, because of the massive bag that he had on his back, now they all looked on with jealousy at the nkets and dried meat he withdrew from the bag.

    He wrapped the nket around him and started chewing on the dried meat before he ced his legs across one another and rested his hands in hisp.

    He was going to cultivate throughout the night. Now that he was joining the army, he knew it was no longer appropriate for him to use the herbal concoctions for baths. He was not even aware if he would be able to get his hands on any herbs or beast cores.

    Xue Wei knew nothing about the recruitment camp. He knew it was the ce where every recruit from the entire Heping Kingdom would be gathered, and that he would have to go through vigorous fighting and training before he could be considered a real soldier, ready to be shipped into the army.

    In such an environment, he would progress rapidly. His superiors would always push him, and although he wouldck the energy from the herbal concoctions, he should still be able to rely on his special physique to absorb energy faster.

    At the same time, he would be able to hone his skills with his techniques. He would experience real life-and-death battles, and he would not be subject to everyone¡¯s ridicule.

    Xue Wei was excited about going to the army. He was excited about being pushed to his limits day after day, and he was looking forward to the day he would be on the front lines fighting against Fierce and Primordial Beasts.

    It was not only him; every young person felt the adrenaline pump in their blood. This was apletely new experience for all of them. Most of them had never before left Tiankong City, and now they were going to the central region of Heping Kingdom.

    As a result, they were all unable to fall asleep. Sleep was the first thing that a cultivator could go without, as their bodies were being nurtured through meditation and absorption of Qi, but only a handful of the youngsters had been able to cultivate throughout the night. The rest had been far too scared or excited.

    Xue Wei was one of the young men who had managed to cultivate throughout the night, and as the sun¡¯s first beams of light shot through the morning air, Xue Wei stopped cultivating. He took the nket he had on his back and packed it down, after which he found his canteen and a strip of dried meat.

    Gnawing on the dry rations, Xue Wei felt that although they were anything but delicious, they could fill up his stomach. Meanwhile, a group of themoner youngsters were looking at the nobles with jealousy and salivating expressions.

    Especially some of Li Jian¡¯s followers were being looked at with great jealousy. They had small meat buns with them that they gulped down greedily. Others, like Li Jian and Shen Mu, also had some different fruits to eat. It was clear that their mothers had felt worried for them and had packed snacks and other goodies to make their trip towards the army as pleasant as possible.

    Xue Wei had no one to think like a mother for him. He had heard from Xiao Lei that his mother died when giving birth to him, and the first ten years of his life were spent together with his father.

    When his father died, Xiao Lei took over looking after him, but he too also had to leave. The only one left who cared about Xue Wei was Manager Su, who, although he looked at Xue Wei as a grandson, was not prone to spoiling him.

    Xue Wei did not mind, though. He knew that he was truly valued highly by Xiao Lei and it made him feel all the affection he needed.

    As they had eaten their breakfast, everyone got ready to move forward again. Another day of traveling was in front of them, and while some of them felt ufortable and hungry, the majority felt fine.

    Some had been out hunting. Although there were not many animals in the desert, there were some nts and mortal animals that could easily be caught.

    The captain had not stopped anyone. If they died, then so be it. His job was just to guide them towards the recruitment camp; he did not have the task of looking after them.

    Traveling through the desert, the captain and his men were casual. None of them was on high alert.

    "Although we are going to go through some dangerous areas, this is one of the safest ces on our entire journey," one of the guards said to hisrade, someone who had never tried guiding youngsters to the training camp before.

    "There are no bandits in the middle of the desert ¨C it is simply too rough an environment. And although there are some Fierce Beasts, there is not enough to make a beast horde."

    "Since it is a low-risk area, we can rx, but don¡¯t tell the youngsters. They benefit from the constant vignce. You know it yourself; when you enter the army, you need to be on your guard all the time. You cannot trust anyone apart from yourself and your team; even, sometimes, you cannot trust your team either."

    Xue Wei had his senses heightened after he started practicing the Azure Dragon Scripture. He focused his awareness, zeroing in on their conversation with his hearing that was equivalent to an Earth Warrior already. He heard them speak, but he could not help but snort.

    Xue Wei had spoken a lot with Xiao Lei about Primordial Beasts before. Primordial Beasts loathed humans because they had caused an uprising against them, and they had revolted, cast away their status as ves and livestock, and had be the dominant race on the continent.

    If the Primordial Beasts were to know that a band of youngsters aiming for the army was moving through an area close to them, they would, without a doubt, gather a beast horde to attack them.

    The fewer humans that survived, the fewer people had the chance of bing Primordial Beast Hunters in the future.

    Also, Xue Wei could not shake the feeling of being preyed upon earlier by the woman on top of the ck Horned Mammoth, and he knew that their trip was likely not to be calm.

    But Xue Wei said nothing. He knew that these guards would just dismiss whatever a young man had to say. He was not an Earth Warrior yet, so it was natural that he would be discriminated against.

    Also, he was aware that he had no proof. He could not very well say that he thought that some extreme expert woulde and cause problems for them, or that the Primordial Beasts would take whatever chance they had to get rid of them.

    "Fortunately, most of the Primordial Beasts are in the Northern Taiga. It is quite rare for them to wander about in the rest of the kingdom. But then again, we never know where the beasts are."

    "Primordial Beasts are able to take human shape, and as a result, we do not know whether or not the person next door is a Primordial Beast."

    "At least, Fierce Beasts are unable to take on a human shape. They can only stay in their beastly forms, and even the more intelligent ones are incapable of ever turning into humans."

    ¡°I know for a fact that the Primordial Beasts made many experiments on humans back when the humans were the ves of the Primordial Beasts. No matter how much they loathe us humans, they still knew that we had some traits that theycked ¨C and as a result they wanted to mix our races.¡±

    ¡°They tried everything, but the closest they got was the ancient War God and his brothers, the heroes of humanity. Those that today are the ancestors of the wayfarers.¡±

    "And it is impossible to get mixed races, no matter how you try. Every book that I have read says that if someone tries to mix the races, humans with Primordial Beasts or Primordial Beasts with Fierce Beasts means that the mother and child will always die. There is no way to survive, and thus the Fierce Beasts arepletely incapable of getting the bloodline of the Primordial Beasts, and the only way that Primordial Beasts can affect humans is through the Wayfarer¡¯s bloodline."

    "Because of this, the enmity between beasts and humans has never let up. It is against heaven¡¯s will to create mixed races, and this has meant that only humans and Primordial Beasts can take human shape, but it also means that every stranger has to be treated cautiously. You never know when you are dealing with a Primordial Beast and when you are dealing with a real human."

    Xue Wei sighed. He had never before seen a real Primordial Beast, and thus every knowledge he had came from Xiao Lei and the books he had read.

    Just as he sighed and shook his head, he suddenly felt the ground trembling. They were walking on sand, so their every step caused them to sink slightly into the ground. But now, they all felt the tremors that ran through the ground.

    The guards¡¯ faces turned severe, and they stopped being carefree. "We are under attack," The captain yelled out, and the many guards wielded their weapons. Some used spears; others used swords. Some had sabers and others knives, and there were even ones using halberds and other more exotic weapons.

    So far, no one could see whomever it was that wasing their way. All they could feel was the entire ground shaking. Suddenly, right in front of them, a massive Sand Snake dug out of the ground.

    Underneath it were thousands of smaller snakes that broke through the surface of the desert. These snakes all ranged from strength equivalent to the thirdyered Ordinary Warrior rank to the firstyer of the Earth Warrior rank.

    On the other hand, the giant Sand Snake was as strong as a firstyer Sky Warrior, oneyer beneath the captain, whose his face was pale. Although he was oneyer above, this Sand Snake was massive, and it possessed quite a formidable strength both in defense and offense. Fighting it would require all of the captain¡¯s focus, and many of the Earth Warrior guards would have to assist him.

    Xue Wei did not rush. He saw how many of the experts were panicking. This was their first encounter with a wild Fierce Beast, and Xue Wei could feel the dense air of danger descending upon them all.

    Everyone acted differently. Some froze on the spot, others fumbled with their weapons, and yet an entirely third group yelled as they threw themselves at the horde of sand snakes.

    Xue Wei did none of that; he just calmly observed what was happening. He could sense a strange feeling of awakening from slumber.

 Chapter 37: Killing Intent

    Chapter 37: Killing Intent

    Xue Wei felt his blood boiling within his body. He could feel his senses heightening, even further than they were before, and his eyes could see the movements of every single one of the weaker Sand Snakes.

    The Sand Snakes that were equivalent to an Earth Warrior were being dealt with by the guards, while all the ones with strength equal to the Ordinary Warriors were ignored entirely.

    They poured towards the group of youngsters, and the thick scent of blood permeated through the air. It was as if this scent of blood stimted Xue Wei and he felt how his hand clenched tightly, and a killing intent started surging within his body.

    He felt as if his soul was split into two, one part of him was eager to enter the battle, to fight and to kill. He was thirsty for blood and wanted to massacre anyone who stood in his way, that being both humans and beasts.

    At the same time, he also felt a calmness descend onto him. It was as if his soul had left his body and observed everything from the outside. He could see himself standing still, one hand clenched tightly, and at the same time, he could also see a whole lot of youngsters fighting for their lives.

    These Sand Snakes were small, all between one and two meters long, and they slithered between the people. They were not poisonous, but they were strong, and their bodies were d in sand-colored scales that were almost impossible to prate by someone at the same level of strength.

    At the same time, they had a set of sharp fangs and a mighty body, allowing them tocerate their enemies with their fangs while holding them in the right position with their one to two-meter long bodies.

    The snakes killed more and more of the young, inexperienced experts. Where all the noble-born children were able to hold their heads high and were capable of disposing off the snakes one after another, themoners were not as great at it, and many got injured or died.

    The snakes quickly lost many of their kin too, and as they ventured further into the ranks of youngsters, more and more beasts were killed.

    Finally, they reached Xue Wei. Whenever they did, his hand would flicker out, and a Qi sword appeared in his palm. This sword was as sharp as a razor and created by Qi.

    Swinging the sword constructed from energy casually, he chopped the snakes into pieces one after another, and soon they did their best to avoid Xue Wei. However, he had felt the joy of killing, and he could not contain his excitement as he moved further and further towards the center of the many snakes.

    It was as if the snakes wished to avoid him. The killing intent surrounding Xue Wei kept growing. He was bing more and more immersed in the feeling of killing, and to his surprise, he found that he was enjoying the experience of chopping up one snake after another.

    A sinister smile yed on his lips, and his eyes were filled with a chilled gleam. He was sshed red with the blood of his enemies, and he could not help but feel strength soaring in his body.

    Xue Wei had killed hundreds of Sand Snakes; behind him was a path of corpses, and he continued to advance until he reached the fighting ground of the two Sky Warriors.

    By now, Xue Wei¡¯s entire body was drenched in blood; his white teeth were exposed in a gleeful smile; and it was clear that he had been enjoying the killing. The killing intent had also rolled off from him in waves, affecting both snakes and humans in the surroundings. Everyone had been able to feel the killing intent and it had caused them to feel fear to their cores.

    The battle soon ended. Xue Wei had killed arge number of snakes, and the rest of the youngsters and guards had cleared up the remaining ones.

    Xue Wei had been in a trance-like state. He had been entirely consumed by the feeling of ughtering and found that he had enjoyed it, but the moment heid eyes on the fight between the two strongest members of the group, the Sky Warrior Captain and the Sand Snake with the same strength as a Sky Warrior, he awoke as if someone had dumped a bucket of water on top of his head.

    His face grew pale, and he felt nauseous. He could not understand who he had been just moments before, and the Qi sword in his hand vanished. Fortunately, none of the snakes in the surrounding areas dared to get close to Xue Wei, and Xue Wei slowly regained some color in his face as he took a few deep breaths.

    "What happened," he asked himself. "Why did I suddenly get so overwhelmed by the urge to kill?"

    He frowned and turned around only to see that the surviving members of the younger generation were looking at him as if they had seen a ghost ¨C even the guards were wary as they looked at him.

    The strength Xue Wei had disyed was almost equal to an Earth Warrior. He had shown raw power output that had shocked them all, but what had scared them silly was not that he had killed so many snakes, but the expression on his face when he killed them. The fact that he had found the whole situation thrilling scared them.

    Sighing, Xue Wei did not try to exin anything. His face returned to a casual and cold expression, and he returned to the group of youngsters, yet everyone moved out of the way for him and even Shen Mu and Li Jian looked frightened.

    "I am used to being alone," Xue Wei sighed. "This is nothing new." Having convinced himself that their reactions did not hurt him, he sat down with his legs crossed, his hands on hisp, and started pondering on what had happened to him.

    The moment the fight had begun and the scent of blood permeated the air, it was as if his soul had split into two. One was his usual personality. It was calm and collected, but it had left his body and kept an eye on everything that had happened.

    At the same time, he also had experienced a strange baleful killing aura surging within his body, and when he started cutting up the snakes, this urge to kill had taken over. He had almost entirely lost control over himself as he enjoyed the feeling of killing those snakes, and he could not help but feel slightly scared and very uneasy.

    Xue Wei did not like the idea of losing control over himself, and he knew that he had to be more careful in the future so that it would not happen again, but he also knew that this was his very first life-and-death struggle. He might have experienced some real difficulties had it not been for this strange baleful killing intent growing within him.

    Xue Wei was not the only one who had sat down to cultivate, but where Xue Wei was looking back on the actions he had made, the others were trying to restore their Qi after having been forced to use all the energy that they had to kill the snakes.

    Some were trying to heal their wounds, using herbal nts they had brought with them from home or trying to purchase herbs from those who had some by paying them.

    Everyone knew that their fate now was in the hands of the captain. If he failed the battle against the Sand Snake, then the Sand Snake would kill everyone present. But if the Captain won, then the Sand Snake would die, and they could resume their journey.

    It took a full three hours from when the snakes appeared until the giant Sand Snake that had arrived died. The Captain had killed it, but he too was looking ruffled, and his clothes were disheveled.

    He quickly cracked open the skull of the beast and picked up something that looked like a faceted gem, the beast¡¯s core.

    "We need to keep moving right away," the captain yelled out, but his face turned ugly when he saw that at least a hundred to two hundred of the youngsters had died in the attack of the Sand Snakes.

    "Do a death count; write the name of those who died and then we move. The likelihood of another Sand Snakeing is very low, but it is still possible."

    The guards got to their feet and gathered all the dead youngsters. Theyid them in a line, and the captain found a set of papers and took a count. After this, he humphed a few times before he packed the papers away again, not allowing anyone else to see the papers.

    "Okay, we start moving now!" the captain called out, and everyone started to follow him once more, away from the sight of carnage.

    Where no one had dared to talk before because of the warnings that the captain had given them, now none of them dared speak because they had realized that this warning was real.

    They were bound to run into problems along their travel, which took months, and now they knew that it was indeed a deadly journey they had embarked upon.

    While they dared not speak, many were looking at Xue Wei with horror in their eyes, but some also had curiosity while others had veneration.

    Strength was what determined one¡¯s future aplishments, and no one could question Xue Wei¡¯s strength anymore.

    Many of thesemoners had heard about Xue Wei¡¯s meteoric rise, but they had had a hard time believing it. Now when they saw his raw power on disy in a fighting environment, no one questioned his strength any longer.

    Xue Wei waspletely unaffected by the many gazes he got, and he was not even the slightest bit worried about the other experts. What he worried about was his killing intent. Why did he have such killing intent hidden within himself?

    He could not understand it; was it because he had experienced something bloody in his past, or was he merely just inherently a lunatic?

    Xue Wei wished that Xiao Lei was by his side so that he could discuss with his uncle about how he felt, but he also knew that this was not an option. He only had himself to rely on.

    Not going to give up, Xue Wei spent all the time on the road searching his body, yet no matter how much he searched it, he found no hidden secrets other than the peculiar pearl-like dantian.

    The following two days werepletely normal. No one dared to speak with Xue Wei, not even Shen Mu or Luo Zhirou spoke with him, but they would often look at him with worried eyes, while Li Jian had started a rumor that had spread fast, saying that Xue Wei was a bloodthirsty killer that would kill all of them if given the chance.

    Xue Wei did not care about it, but many of themoners and noble-born were filled with worry and distrust towards Xue Wei. They feared that he would use the power he had disyed earlier to attack them.

    Thinking about this, Xue Wei could not help but snort in contempt. He was only a ninthyered Ordinary Warrior, while there was a Sky Warrior as a captain. Even if he wanted to get rid of the others, he did not have the opportunity to do so.

    All in all, the only one that Xue Wei wanted to kill was Li Jian, but he also knew that it was impossible as things were now.

    No matter what he did, the Sky Warrior captain would notice it, and that would be the same as signing his death certificate.

    Xue Wei was not that stupid. As a result, he kept his murderous thoughts to himself. He knew that he and Li Jian would one day face off against one another, and that when that time came, Xue Wei should be able to kill him as easily as killing chickens. Although he was only a ninthyered Ordinary Warrior, he almost had the same strength as an Earth Warrior. Although any average Earth Warrior could fight Xue Wei to a standstill, no one in the Ordinary Warrior rank was able to beat him.

 Chapter 38: Sacrificial Stab

    Chapter 38: Sacrificial Stab

    The next couple of days went smoothly. They managed to leave the desert, and every youngster, Xue Wei included, was brimming with curiosity as they observed their surroundings.

    They had lived in Tiankong City their entire lives, and the desert was located next to it.

    Although they had left the desert, the warm weather persisted, and all of them were sweating to keep up with the Captain.

    "I don¡¯t feel good about this trip," The captain said to his next-inmand as they rushed forward as fast as the youngsters were capable of following.

    "We¡¯ve already encountered a giant Sand Snake in the middle of the desert, which is the safest of all the areas. We already lost one hundred and sixty-nine youngsters, and that is before we¡¯ve even reached the bandit-infested areas or the forests filled with magical beasts that¡¯ll attack us at night."

    "Us guards will be able to keep our little lives, but those youngsters will be in mortal danger time and time again."

    "I know that it will help those who survive in bing less of a weakling, but at the same time I cannot help but feel that something is aiming for us. My senses are tingling and have been since we began. There is a constant danger looming over our group."

    Hearing the captain speak, the next-inmand was pale. He was after all an Earth Warrior. If something that threatened a Sky Warrior was present, it meant that they, the leaders of the group, would also be in significant danger.

    "Do you have any idea as to why this is?" the next-inmand asked the captain, but thetter shook his head.

    "I don¡¯t know," he said honestly. "I have had a bad feeling since we left Tiankong City so it might just be my bad nerves and the knowledge that we will experience some battles throughout our journey."

    "Although humans, in general, are on the same side, there will always be bandits, and these bandit groups number up to a couple of thousands of bandits in each group."

    "Such bandit groups will not be scared away by our numbers. Those little nobles will have quite a bit of treasure on them, and although we guards will be hard to deal with, they will have enough people to keep us upied while they charge at the youngsters."

    The next-inmand was quiet. He had also transported youngsters more than three times, but he had never experienced as bloody a start as now.

    "Maybe we might get lucky," he sighed eventually. "We can do nothing but hope that our luck will return. If it doesn¡¯t, then we will fight to the best of our ability."

    "One of the recruits is quite strong, too. I saw him fight against the snakes; he killed hundreds of them, but the downside was that it looked as if he was enjoying himself."

    "We need strong warriors, but those that lose themselves to the fight are not necessarily great warriors, as they rely too much on instincts and not enough on their senses and a calm mind."

    The captain nodded his head, "I have heard about him. He is that piece of trash who turned genius overnight. I guess he is filled with pent-up frustrations from when he was treated like trash and as a result releases his feelings while fighting. After a bit of time, he should be able to keep himself under control again."

    "But although he is strong, he is at most equal to a weak Earth Warrior. This in itself is already a great achievement for someone in the Ordinary Warrior rank, but at the same time, it might not be much help against the bandits. Still, his survivabilitypared to the others is much higher, since he even managed to escape from He Tong."

    The two spoke with low voices, and no one else could hear what they said. It was no problem for them to talk and move at the same time as their strength was far above the typical youngsters that were running and thus they often discussed the situation.

    The group marched past a barrennd that bordered to the desert. Dry grass was on both sides of the road, and little vegetation could be seen on the t ground, as everything had withered because of the high levels of sunshine and low level of humidity.

    The gravel on the road crunched under their thousands of feet, dust was kicked up, and some coughed as they had no water with them.

    From time to time, the entourage would make stops at small streams to fill their canteens. Those who did not have canteens would drink their fill and hope tost until the next time they had a water stop, which was roughly once a day.

    They had no food with them either, but they had in thousands of Sand Snakes, and many had brought some of the meat with them. Although it could notst long, it couldst longer than mortal beast meat, and so far it was still fresh.

    Making fires and roasting the snakes was the option of many of the youngsters in the group, while Xue Wei just stuck to his dried meat.

    They were rtively safe in the openndscape of the barrennd. It was t and stretched out as far as the eye could see. No one was capable of making an ambush here, only some underground beasts could cause some problems. However, just as before, if beasts were on their way, then the ground would tremor to warn them.

    The next couple of days, the group advanced slowly through thendscape. The barrennd turned into a forest, and they slowed down. The captain walked with light steps, and his senses were on high alert.

    This was a bandit-infested location where one knew that there were quite a lot of bandits, but there were also a lot of Fierce Beasts in these forests. Although most of them would stay away from such arge group of people, the strongest beasts might be alerted and attack them.

    They were still walking on a road that cut straight through the forest, but no one spoke although the speed at which they traveled had been slowed down. Everyone looked around them, and Xue Wei had his senses heightened to their limits as he had a feeling that something was wrong.

    The eerie silence in the forest did notst long. They continued walking for half a day when they suddenly came to a stop.

    "We have been surrounded," The captain said with a loud voice, "It is bandits this time, and they will be even more ferocious than the Sand Snakes fromst time. Take everything you have learned from yourst fight and try to survive!"

    The captain instantly drew his weapon, and everyone else followed suit, except Xue Wei who closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

    He could feel the urge to do battle rise in him again. But this time he had been prepared, and he used his calm and collected part of his soul to overwhelm the other part.

    "I will not let you out unless I am on the verge of death!" Xue Wei said to himself. He did not like the part of him who found pleasure in killing others.

    Just as they had drawn their weapons, Xue Wei sensed that the bandits were moving. Suddenly, the crowns of the trees next to them were ck from bandits that were standing on the treetops. Some jumped down on the ground, some stayed in the tree crowns, but there were at least as many bandits as there were people in their group of new recruits.

    These bandits also varied in strength from the thirdyer of the Ordinary Warrior rank to the first and secondyer of the Earth Warrior rank.

    On top of this was their leader who was at the ninthyer of the Earth Warrior rank. Although he was weaker than the captain of the group of youngsters, overall, the bandits held the advantage in strength.

    "Brothers! We will interfere with their captain, the rest of you kill and pige. If there are pretty girls, just wound them and let us take them back with us!" the bandit leader yelled out. Fifteen of his men, all at the ninthyer of the Earth Warrior rank, jumped down from high above in the trees and surrounded the captain.

    "KILL!" someone yelled out, and all of them rushed towards the youngsters. Some of the youngsters were terrified, their faces pale and their hands that held their weapons trembling, while others looked excited.

    After experiencing the first life-and-death battle against the sand snakes, the youngsters were split into two groups. One was terrified and had a hard time moving and defending themselves, while the other was excited and filled to the brim with confidence.

    In the army, this was precisely the way these two groups were. One was cowardly and feared death and more likely to be killed, while the other consisted of energized and excited experts. They were dancing on the de of a sword, ready to fall into the abyss, but this was what made them feel alive.

    Xue Wei was also one who was eager to do battle. He wanted to fight; he wanted to feel the blood boil in his body, feel the strength soar and the feeling of having someone else¡¯s life and death in his hands. He wanted to kill.

    Xue Wei sat down on the ground and made a zither from Qi. After this, he started ying on it as note after note followed by shockwaves exploded out and pushed back a whole group of bandits, causing three of them to vomit blood on the spot.

    Another note was released and with it a shockwave, yet this time it was not aiming for a full group of bandits but for two of the experts that had been pushed back.

    The shockwave was sharp like a de, and it headed straight for the heads of the two experts. One of them could feel the tremor of the air proving that it was on the way, and managed to lift his weapon just in time to block the attack, while the other never noticed what happened before his head was severed from his neck, blood spurting out as his head rolled away.

    "Hmm, the zither is a great weapon. I can use the soundwaves in every way I wish, but my experience with the zither is too low. I need to try using the sword," Xue Wei decided after some time and stood up. The zither morphed into a sword made from Qi, and without noticing it, a smile had once again emerged on Xue Wei¡¯s face.

    Xue Wei started walking slowly towards the outskirts of the group of youngsters. This was where the bandits were most numerous, and he wished to disy his skills to their limits. Sacrificial Stab was an attack he had learned just before leaving Tiankong City, and it was one of the superior attacks that he had picked from among the ones in the ring his uncle had given him.

    Sacrificial Stab was an attack that sacrificed the soul of the killed to the ancient god. In return, Xue Wei would be given a divine boon to increase his strength, and ording to what he had understood from the technique, this boon stacked.

    "I never had a proper time to try it out," Xue Wei smirked. "Sacrificial Stab requires the soul of a human to be sacrificed so it is not as useful as one might think, but against such a massive group of bandits, this is indeed the perfect attack to try out."

    Everyone who saw the smile on Xue Wei¡¯s face felt a chill run down their spines, but at the same time, they felt relieved. As long as Xue Wei started acting, many of the enemies would be wiped out, and the pressure on the rest of them would be lessened.

 Chapter 39: Third Layer Earth Warrior

    Chapter 39: Third Layer Earth Warrior

    The bandits felt the dangerous air surrounding Xue Wei, and many of them could not help but look at him as he slowly strolled towards them.

    His sword was in his hand, hanging level to his body. When they looked at it, they saw that it shone with an azure light.

    "You guys, go and stop that kid!" someone yelled out, and five ninthyer Ordinary Warriors stepped forward. Theypletely ignored everyone else and headed straight for Xue Wei.

    Xue Wei did not seem to care. He was heading forward at the same pace as he had moved at before, but just as the first person appeared in front of Xue Wei, the young man thrust out the sword so fast that no one was able even to see the movement he made.

    The man he was up against was a ninthyered Ordinary Warrior, but they were nothing more than ants in front of Xue Wei. When he used the Sacrificial Stab, they died instantly; the Qi sword pierced his heart fast and painlessly.

    The bandit did not even know what happened before he was dead. Xue Wei dissipated the Qi sword, and with but a thought created a new sword in his palm. He turned towards the next one of the five experts.

    He could feel a strange energy bursting into his body. The Sacrificial Stab was an old heritage skill from the monks and priests.

    All priests and monks in the continent were of the same religion. They all revered the ancient god, a figure that had created the world and had transcended the limits of mortality. This religion was named after this god and the outsiders often referred to it as the Church of the Ancient God.

    This religion was known to be very mysterious. No one knew much about what exactly went on behind the scenes of the temples, but one thing was certain, the monks and priests were not to be messed with, they were one of thergest organisations on the entire continent.

    The Ancient God had left behind different abilities and techniques as his heritage, all of them now owned by the monks and priests, and the Sacrificial Stab was one that the monks used quite frequently. As to how Xiao Lei had gotten his hands on it, no one knew, and Xue Wei did not care. He just felt the divine boon make its descent upon him and felt how he grew stronger and stronger.

    He felt the Qi in his body roiling as the soul of the target dissipated into thin air. A redyer of energy shrouded Xue Wei¡¯s body, and he felt that his strength had almost grown by a quarter of his usual strength.

    This strength made his body feel hot, the energy was slightly out of control at first, but it quickly settled down, allowing for Xue Wei to integrate it into his own strength.

    "Well then, let us see if it truly stacks," Xue Wei mumbled as he swung the Qi sword and shed at a bandit that was wielding a pair of battle axes.

    The first sword sh was blocked, but the attack was enough to push back the bandit and for marks to appear on the axes.

    As soon as he was pushed back, another group rushed forward, but Xue Wei brandished his weapon and swung it twice, blocking the iing attacks and returning them with some fast attacks. One of them was a Sacrificial Stab; it was so fast that the target had no chance to go against it, so he died on the spot, and his soul was sacrificed to the Ancient God, causing the red energy shrouding Xue Wei to increase in size. The energy that Xue Wei could control once more grew by an additional fourth of his original strength.

    Suddenly, his strength had soared through the heavens. And together with his strength, his speed also reached another level. By using the Forbidden Rush movement technique, Xue Wei was now capable of bing a shadow moving around on the battlefield as he pleased.

    One Sacrificial Stab after another was unleashed, and every attack killed a target, continuing to increase Xue Wei¡¯s strength. The malicious red energy that had surrounded him grew in size and got deeper and deeper in color.

    Xue Wei would be able to use approximately ten attacks of Azure Light Finger or Shattering Mountain Palm, but things were different with the Sacrificial Stab.

    If he did not manage to sacrifice a soul to the Ancient God, it would instead be an attack that relied on Xue Wei¡¯s inner Qi to be activated. However, the moment a soul was sacrificed, it would be a free attack, allowing for Xue Wei to use it wantonly, not caring about the expense.

    Xue Wei¡¯s strength and speed were continually growing, and soon he had more than doubled his strength. Behind him was a road of corpses, all of which had been killed by a simple stab through their hearts ¨C none of them had had a chance to retaliate.

    At the start, only a few of the bandits noticed what was going on, but as Xue Wei killed his way further and further into the group of bandits, more and more died to his sword. His strength kept soaring, making them all feel the pressure, so the Earth Warrior bandits started to aim for Xue Wei.

    Xue Wei had expected this. He wanted to try and challenge his strength, see how far he could go. To do so, he had to challenge the next rank. Ordinary Warriors were not his opponent, not even without increasing his strength.

    At the same time, he was also aware that it was not possible for him to stand against an Earth Warrior as things were now. There was simply too far a gap between the two ranks. As a result, his only option was to boost his strength and then fight to his heart¡¯s content.

    The first Earth Warrior to notice him was a thirdyered Earth Warrior. He frowned as he saw the elusive movements of Xue Wei and suddenly a hint of greed appeared in his eyes.

    He had a great beard adorning his rough and sunburned face; his body was dressed in the same ck clothes as all the others; and his eyes were brown as the autumn leaves, while his ck hair was cut short so as to not be in the way when fighting.

    This Earth Warrior was many times stronger than the normal Xue Wei who had not boosted his strength by relying on the Sacrificial Stab.

    Xue Wei could feel that the boost he had gotten would continue to sustain him for at least half an hour, but he was worried as to whether or not it was enough.

    Had it been a firstyered Earth Warrior, then Xue Wei would not have feared him with all the extra power he had gotten from the Sacrificial Stab, but things were different. This was a thirdyer Earth Warrior, and he was feeling slightly nervous. The palm that held his sword was starting to be sweaty.

    "Well then, why not boost my strength a little more?" Xue Wei asked himself. Although he could feel the killing intent within him, he had not allowed for it to take over and ce him in a trance-like state again.

    He was still thinking rationally, and as he looked around, he found that a lot of bandits were pressuring the other youngsters. A grin appeared on his face, and he instantly turned and fled, away from the Earth Warrior, towards a group of bandits of the Ordinary Warrior stage.

    Sacrificial Stab!

    The sword shed out time and time again; the Sacrificial Stab executed multiple times, and seven experts fell to their knees, their eyes filled with disbelief and their souls dissipating into thin air.

    At the same time, the deep red energy shrouding Xue Wei turned darker, and now it was almost ck.

    Xue Wei could feel that although his strength was still being increased, it was not being increased as much as it was at the beginning.

    "Not enough!" Xue Wei said to himself as he looked over his shoulder. The thirdyer Earth Warrior had a face filled with anger as he chased after Xue Wei. Although the bandit would have been much faster were it any other time, Xue Wei had the Forbidden Rush and the augmentation from the red energy shrouding him.

    Xue Wei did not stop there; he continued to rush towards the next person, and the person after that. He attacked one bandit after another, and the Sacrificial Stab was being unleashed continuously, killing a bandit with each strike.

    Xue Wei¡¯s strength was constantly rising until finally the energy surrounding him had turnedpletely ck and could no longer increase.

    By now, Xue Wei had killed over two hundred bandits, so many experts that the others were looking at him with disbelief in their eyes. He had moved so fast that no one had seen how he did it ¨C they had just felt the dangerous air around him, and the pressure he emitted, before their opponent had fallen down. Now that he hade to a stop and was looking at the one chasing him, the thirdyer Earth Warrior, Xue Wei took a deep breath.

    "You killed so many of my brothers!" the man shrieked, madness spilling from his eyes. "If I do not kill you now, I am not worthy of my name!"

    Laughing out loud, Xue Wei flipped his hand, and the Qi sword appeared in his palm once more.

    Xue Wei knew that he could not afford to be carefree now. He had to be careful, he had to be serious about this battle. At the same time, despite his calm, all of his clothes were drenched in the blood of his enemies and drops of blood ran down his face as a sinister smile yed on his lips.

    "Bring it on!" Xue Weiughed as he activated Forbidden Rush. Although his speed had been increased, he was aware that he needed his movement technique to avoid this thirdyered Earth Warrior bandit.

    "Flood Dragon Thrust!" the bandit called out. A spear in his hands shot out and the Qi that had been imbued into the spearhead acted like a flood dragon. It roared out, and the Qi took the shape of a dragon head.

    Xue Wei knew that this was a severe attack. The bandit wanted to kill him right away, but how could Xue Wei allow for him to attack him so quickly?

    He pushed the Forbidden Rush to the fastest speed possible, and his Qi sword brushed against the side of the spear, allowing for Xue Wei to use the power of the spear to make an elegant retreat.

    The strength behind the Flood Dragon Thrust was so horrifying that although Xue Wei had maxed out on his sacrificial boost, his hands went numb. This made him understand that although he had increased his strength tremendously, he was in a significant disadvantage against this person.

    Having retreated, Xue Wei used the strongest Azure Light Finger he could muster, shooting a beam of Azure Qi towards the bandit.

    The bandit was surprised by this sudden attack, but he did not panic. Instead, he lifted his spear and used the body of it to block the beam, only to have an ugly expression on his face as he was forced back five steps. He felt blood well up his throat.

    Forcing the blood back down again, the bandit stared at Xue Wei with venomous eyes, and Xue Wei now understood that there was a significant difference in strength. Although he was strong and he should be able to deal with a twoyer Earth Warrior, the thirdyer was just too strong.

    "Well then, I cannot kill him, but he cannot kill me either!" Xue Wei was stubborn. "I have half an hour to fight him. In this time, there should be a backup, and until then I will hone my skills."

    Xue Wei stomped on the ground. A big cloud of dust appeared around him as he shot towards the bandit that had been pushed back.

    The Sacrificial Stab was unleashed, and the bandit quickly tried to defend himself.

    He managed to raise his spear in time, and a loud hong sounded out as the two, Qi sword and spear, collided.

    The force behind made Xue Wei retreat again, but the bandit was not much better off. He had not had the time to defend himself, and this time he could not force the blood down his throat and vomited a mouthful of blood as he struggled to get to his feet.

    "Perhaps I do have a chance after all," Xue Wei thought to himself as he once more stomped on the ground and used the rebound to rush towards the bandit, both hands holding the Qi sword.

 Chapter 40: Genius Camp

    Chapter 40: Genius Camp

    Xue Wei would not allow his enemy to get back up, so he advanced again. After every single sh, the sheer power of their sh would force him back. However, by relying on the Forbidden Rush and his boosted speed, Xue Wei would quicklye to a stop and be able to advance again.

    He threw out one attack after another with the sword in his hand, but he dared not use the Sacrificial Stab wantonly anymore as he knew that he could not kill the thirdyer Earth Warrior that easily. Furthermore, if he used the Sacrificial Stab too many times, he would use up all his energy and would be spent and easy to crush.

    Xue Wei continued to attack with the sword form of his profound technique Inner Might, but he frowned as he felt that although his regeneration and absorption speed of Qi had multiplied by many times due to the Sacrificial Stab, he was not restoring enough Qi to continue using the Qi sword for much longer.

    "I have to bet it on this," Xue Wei frowned as he retreated another hundred meters from the thirdyer Earth Warrior bandit. He then stomped hard on the ground as he advanced at a rapid speed.

    He once more used the sword to make three attacks at the bandit to upy him, but he made his strikes softer than before so that he would not be thrown back by the rebound.

    Instead, he continued forward and was almost standing right in front of the bandit.

    This bandit used a spear. Although he was somewhat decent at using it in ranged attacks, his meleecked sorely. He lifted the spear to protect himself, but he was toote.

    A rock-like palm suddenly soared and steered right towards the bandit¡¯s head. The spear was too far away and the bandit¡¯s reaction time was slow, so he did not manage to raise the spear in time. The palmnded on his right temple.

    A crack could be heard as the palm continued in through skin and bone and embedded itself within the bandit¡¯s head.

    The bandit¡¯s eyes were filled with disbelief, and Xue Wei retreated as fast as he could. While the bandit had not raised his spear in time to protect himself, Xue Wei had still acquired a wound in the exchange; the spear grazed his chest and caused his blood-soaked clothes to be shredded apart as a gash appeared on his chest.

    Blood welled out, but Xue Wei used his remaining Qi to stop the blood flow. He knew that he should have asked Manager Su to bring some herbs for him. Had he had a Rising Mountain Dewflower, he would have been able to heal the wound in no time.

    Xue Wei sighed, but he then noticed that the entire area was silent. There were no sounds of battle that could be heard anymore and no one was trying to rush towards him to kill him even though he was wounded.

    He looked around him and found that all the bandits were dead and that the guards from Tiankong City alongside the other youngsters had created a ring around him and the now deceased bandit.

    "Not bad kid!" the captain suddenly called out. "Although I imagine you used some ability to boost your strength, you still managed to kill an expert at a realm above you ¨C and not even in the first but the thirdyer! This is an achievement you can be proud of; it seems that you might be able to make it into the genius camp at the recruitment camp."

    "We only have a few people who make it into the genius camp every year, so if you make it, it will be a great honor for your family and friends. You should aim for the genius camp! In there, you get more resources, better skills, and more training."

    "I thank Captain for the pointers," Xue Wei said politely as he cupped his hands. Blood had sshed all over him, and he looked ferocious and dangerous as he stood there with blood all over him, as even streaks of blood could be seen on his face.

    "You are a fierce warrior. Although some of these other youngsters fear you, you are the kind of warrior that can be a peerless Primordial Beast Hunter! You fight with your life on the line, going to the edge of the abyss, and keep struggling! You do not turn back in the face of a challenge. You are indeed a true warrior!"

    Hearing all this praise, Xue Wei felt slightly awkward. He could not help but rub his nose slightly as a small smile appeared on his lips. He had never before received such praise from anyone other than his uncle on those asions when he had cooked for him, so he was slightly embarrassed by it.

    "Senior, I wonder if you can tell me more about the genius camp," Xue Wei asked as he started stripping off his clothes, and found some clean clothes in the bag that Manager Su had given him. Fortunately, he had at least ten sets of clothes, so even though some of them got destroyed, he would not have to walk naked.

    "Join me at the front," the captain said as they started moving again. "I will tell you about the genius camp."

    Xue Wei quickly changed his clothes and tossed the old ones on the battle-ravaged ground before he promptly made his way to the front of the entourage.

    The captain was waiting for him, and a position to the right of the captain had been prepared for him.

    As they started to move again, the captain began to exin. "The army obviously consists of soldiers, but the soldiers have different ranks depending on their strength. Although Tiankong City is one of the major cities of the Kingdom of Heping, it is not the biggest, and our geniuses are not the most outstanding."

    "Those geniuses thate from the capital are able to reach the strength of an Earth Warrior before they make it to the army fields. As a result, almost all the spots in the genius camp goes to them."

    "The Genius Camp is a camp where the experts are gathered. They get special training from Primordial Beast Hunters, and they get more cultivation resources than others. They get a lot of privileges."

    "When it is time to make the groups that go to the front line, they will make a battalion on their own. This battalion will consist of five hundred experts, as that is how many are allowed in the Genius Camp."

    "They will be sent to deal with the most dangerous tasks, but they will also be hunting together with Primordial Beast Hunters, as they will be the true elite."

    "Everyone wishes to make it into this battalion, but not many are able to do so. If you can do it, you will be a hero for the entire Tiankong City."

    "I heard about your issues with the He, Jia, and Li families. If you enter the Genius Camp, your rank will be equivalent to the City Lord¡¯s and they would not dare to do anything to you as doing something to you is the same as going against the kingdom itself."

    "My guards and I will be waiting at the recruitment camp for a few weeks to ensure that everyone is settled in properly and bring back news of how the experts have been ranked since the nobles would like to know about their ranks."

    "Ranks?" Xue Wei asked. He had never gotten too much information about the recruitment camp from Manager Su since it was a long time since Manager Su had been in the army and was unaware of how things were now.

    "They are not only ranked in the genius camp and then everyone else. The experts are divided up among nine ranks, ording to their rank. A oneyered Ordinary Warrior will be ranked in the ninth rank; secondyer ordinary warrior will be in the eight rank, and so on."

    "The higher rank you have, the more items you will get and the easier it will be for you to raise your strength."

    "You will be at the recruitment camp for a year. From the time you arrive until the next batch of recruits arrive, the recruitment camp will be your home."

    "While you are at the recruitment camp, you have to fight tooth and nail for cultivation resources. Your cultivation speed will be fast because many of the items you can¡¯t get in Tiankong City are avable for the recruits."

    "We all know that the Kingdom of Heping is poor, but the army of Heping Kingdom is not that badpared to some of the other kingdoms. This is because the majority of the taxes goes into ensuring that the recruits and armies are well fed and given ess to cultivation resources."

    "Fortunately, the Kingdom of Heping has only one danger zone, and that is the part of the Northern Taiga that is within our kingdom. Although some Primordial Beasts will venture into the area, they only live in the northern parts. And even though we have beast hordes all over, the likelihood of running into a Primordial Beast is rather small."

    "Thank you, senior, for exining things for me," Xue Wei said politely as he cupped his hands.

    "It is my pleasure," the captain said withughter. "I believe that helping you now will be beneficial for me in the long run; you cannot be someone who is able to y a thirdyer Earth Warrior while still being a ninthyer Ordinary Warrior by being average."

    "I am ttered," Xue Wei said with an embarrassed smile on his face as he rubbed his nose, and he genuinely was ttered. This captain had been in Tiankong City for a long time and knew about Xue Wei¡¯s history, but he still seemed to have a very favorable opinion on him.

    "Well then, back into the group with you," the captain smiled as he continued to move forward. The entire group was surrounded by guards to protect them, and those that were on the outside of the guard line were in much more danger.

    Xue Wei did not hesitate and rushed into the group of youngsters. On the way, he could not help but chuckle.

    The strongest noble-born children were marching right behind the captain; their ears stretched to hear everything that the captain and Xue Wei had been talking about.

    The further into the group that Xue Wei went, the weaker the experts became. It was clear that many had not known about the ranking of the recruits either, nor about the genius camp.

    Even though Li Jian¡¯s face was ugly when he overheard the fact that Xue Wei seemed to have the strength to enter the Genius Camp,a sinister smile still appeared on his lips. "I made a deal with that woman ¨C she will ensure that he does not get to the recruitment camp alive!"

    Li Jian was not stupid. For a giant Sand Snake to attack them when they were still in the desert proved that she was doing her best to kill Xue Wei, but Xue Wei had much betterbat ability than expected. It would be hard to kill him with the means she had tried so far.

    The other youngsters had a wistful expression on their faces as they dreamed of being able to join the Genius Camp. Especially Shen Mu and Luo Zhirou were eager to participate when they heard about the extra benefits one would get, and they were lost in their reverie for a bit while marching on.

 Chapter 41: Friendship

    Chapter 41: Friendship

    The next month of the trip went without a hitch. No bandits appeared to attack them, and no Fierce Beasts emerged to fight them either.

    Li Jian was getting more and more nervous as they came closer and closer to the recruitment camp. Xue Wei was still alive, and the closer they got, the more likely he was to stay alive, which was something that he could not ept.

    Xue Wei was aware that something was agitating Li Jian, and he was observing him with vignce from time to time.

    Xue Wei knew that he could not afford to be careless. The woman that had appeared when they were about to leave Tiankong City was indeed not someone he could disregard.

    Since not much had happened in a month, the previously nervous and worried youngsters had rxed significantly and were now talking together while marching.

    Strangely enough, neither Luo Zhirou nor Shen Mu came to talk with Xue Wei; it was clear that they were still scared by his disy of bloodthirst during the battle with the Sand Snakes and the bandits.

    Although he was observed with reverence from some, he was also feared by everyone. They had all been brought up in a safe environment, but now they had seen real fighting for the first time, and they had also understood the difference between them and Xue Wei.

    No one wasfortable whenparing themselves to Xue Wei. It was as if he was a real warrior. The kind of expert that they had read about and heard about, the type of warrior that would go on and catch Primordial Beasts.

    There was a bit of jealousy in the hearts of some, as they too wished to be as fierce in battle, but most were scared and rightfully so. How could someone who had been trash for so long have such an innate killing intent?

    Everyone was puzzled and the rumors that had started spreading about Xue Wei and his killing intent, merged with the imagination of everyone made them all fear that he would take his vengeance because there had been a time they had looked down upon him.

    He was without a doubt the strongest expert in the group of youngsters. If he wanted to take revenge, even if he did not kill them, he would at least be able to make their lives a living hell.

    This was especially so if Xue Wei went to the Genius Camp at the recruitment camp. If he was considered a real genius, then their lives would be hard to predict.

    "We ought to go and apologize," someone whispered to his friend, who nodded his head but spread his arms. "We should," he agreed, "but even though we ought to do so, do you want to go and talk with him when you saw him chop down ninthyer Ordinary Warriors as if they were weeds?"

    "You think he will take the chance to take revenge?" the first youngster shivered as he thought about it. "Maybe we should wait for someone else to test the waters. If they survive, we will do the same, but if they get ughtered, then they can only me their luck."

    The second friend nodded his head. "We don¡¯t have any other option. Although it might seem less sincere only to try after others have paved the road for us, it is better than risking our lives."

    Unfortunately, it seemed that everyone shared these thoughts; even Shen Mu and Luo Zhirou were ufortable about Xue Wei¡¯s sudden disy of bloodthirst and hisbat ability.

    Although they knew that Xue Wei was continually increasing his strength, they had not been able toprehend that he had overtaken them in strengthpletely.

    He had been trash for so long, and although he was no longer trash, he had been lower ranked than them. He had not been able to threaten them, and they had never fought him, resulting in them slightly looking down on him.

    Now that he had disyed a power stronger than theirs by a lot, they did not know how to deal with it.

    Although Li Jian was Xue Wei¡¯s enemy, he was the one who was the most aware of Xue Wei¡¯s strength. He had fought against Xue Wei and knew from early on that not only did Xue Wei have abilities that made it hard to counter him, he also had physical strength superior to other cultivators of the sameyer.

    At the start, Luo Zhirou and Shen Mu had not contacted Xue Wei at the beginning because they had been stunned by how he suddenly was much stronger than what they initially thought. Time just passed and slowly it became more and more awkward.

    Finally, Luo Zhirou could not endure it any longer. With a wail, she rushed towards Xue Wei when they were having a break.

    "Brother Xue!" she called out. Although her voice was not too loud, every youngster and even many of the guards quieted down and discreetly listened in on the conversation.

    "Zhirou, what can I do for you?" Xue Wei asked as if it was just yesterday they hadst spoken, and his question made Luo Zhirou both feel calmer but also guilty.

    "I¡¯m sorry," she said while bowing to Xue Wei. "I did not mean to wait this long before talking to you, but you are horrifying!" she eximed as she rose her head.

    "How can you be so fierce? Attacking and killing as if it was nothing. I killed one bandit, and I felt so bad about it that I had nightmares for weeks afterward, not to mention the physical pain and me vomiting!"

    "I don¡¯t know... but I am not too averse to death or blood. Instead, it ignites something within me, making me feel a thrill as if I am walking on a tight line... and the smallest mistake will prove that I die. while winning means I live. To be frank, those are the moments i feel the most alive.¡±

    Xue Wei decided not to say anything about the trance-like state he had been in, and just described how it had been for him when fighting the bandits.

    He had, as far as he was aware, never before killed anyone, either. But when he searched his body and memory for any vestiges of the feeling he had when he first chopped down a bandit, he found nothing.

    It had felt the exact same way as when he had sliced up the Sand Snakes. To him, humans and Fierce Beasts were the same ¨C there was simply no difference between them.

    "Am I inhumane?" Xue Wei asked himself aloud, but Luo Zhirou was by his side, and she answered him with a shake of her head. "No," she said seriously. "You are not inhumane; you are just realistic. If we want to survive in today¡¯s world, we need to be able to sacrifice others, and we need to be able to kill when the need arrives."

    "I am too weak." Luo Zhirou¡¯s hands were tightly clenched, and her face was serious as she looked at the heavens above, "I wish I too could transform into some sort of bloodthirsty warrior who would not even look twice at the ones I killed, but I know it is not possible. I am too soft and too weak, and I will always be like this."

    "I am very proud to have a friend like you," she continued. "I know that you will be someone big within The Kingdom of Heping! While I, on the other hand, might not even survive this decade in the army ¨C and if I do, then I won¡¯t be used as anything else than a chess piece for my family to marry me off to other families when I go home."

    Luo Zhirou sighed, and Xue Wei felt somewhat sorry for her, but he could say nothing against it. This was the nature of their culture.

    "You could always forge a way to marry Shen Mu," Xue Wei leaned close to Luo Zhirou and whispered in her ear so that no one else could hear what he said, but Luo Zhirou¡¯s face turned beet red instantly. It made everyone curious as to what he had said.

    The majority assumed that he had offered himself as the marital partner, but a few were certain that this was not the case. They knew about the rumor with Xue Wei and a certain wayfarer woman, and it would be strange if he reced this wayfarer woman that easily.

    Also, some were just hoping that they would be picked as Luo Zhirou¡¯s partner. She was one of the beauties within Tiankong City, and she was also able to fight. More importantly, she enjoyed doing chores like cooking and baking, something every wife should excel at in their opinion.

    Shen Mu, who had spent a lot of his time together with Xue Wei and Luo Zhirou previously, felt a little odd at seeing his two friends chatting like this, and a pang of pain passed through his heart when he noticed that Luo Zhirou turned red from something Xue Wei said.

    "No need to wait any longer, or else it will just get more awkward," Shen Mu mumbled to himself and went over to talk with Xue Wei.

    "Hey, long time no see," Shen Mu said with a hushed voice. He felt guilty for treating Xue Wei differently.

    "Hey," Xue Wei beamed at Shen Mu, which further aided guilt in taking root in thetter¡¯s heart.

    "I¡¯m sorry for noting earlier," Shen Mu sighed, but Xue Wei just waved a hand at him. "How many times have I not ignored you in the past? No matter what I did, you would alwayse back like a leech, trying your best to get to know me. For you to ignore me once, is this not considered okay? I mean I am not in any position to me you at least."

    "Also, I have very few friends," Xue Wei had a self-mocking, self-deprecating smile on his face. "Two people I would consider friends, and those two friends are the two of you. Apart from you, I only have Uncle and Manager Su close to me."

    Xue Wei sent a warm smile to the two people in front of him, who both looked incredibly relieved and smiles also started spreading on their lips.

    "Honestly, I understand your fear," Xue Wei said with a low voice. "I am not toofortable with my sudden bloodthirst either, and I can imagine it must have been very terrifying to see for others. I am sorry you had to witness it, but in the end, I have to do anything I can in a life-and-death battle."

    Xue Wei was honest with his two friends, and both Luo Zhirou and Shen Mu finally started feeling that some of the walls surrounding Xue Wei were beginning to crumble, allowing for them to get to know who he was inside.

    "You should not worry about it," Luo Zhirou said fervently. "You have been saving a lot of our group members. Without you in the team, I fear that at least double the number of deaths would have urred during the bandit attack. So although you are pretty frightening, you are ourrade who makes it reassuring instead of scary."

    Hearing Luo Zhirou say so with a stern voice, Xue Wei could not help butugh at her. It was as if she tried to convince him that it was indeed a good thing that he was bloodthirsty and cold-blooded when it came to murdering their enemies, even though she would still tremble in fear from just looking him in the eye as soon as he entered the blood-soaked stage.

    "Well, nothing good wille out of being too friendly with our enemies," Xue Wei finally sighed. "I wish to be someone my uncle can rely on. I want to be a person that he can look at with pride. To do so, I will be a blood-soaked demon if I have to. I will shed the blood of humans, Fierce Beasts, and Primordial Beasts alike. Anyone who bes my enemy will have to die!"

 Chapter 42: Imminent Peril

    Chapter 42: Imminent Peril

    The conviction in Xue Wei¡¯s eyes was so overwhelming that both Luo Zhirou and Shen Mu shivered. They knew that he was not joking.

    "You can only kill humans that are bandits or evil!" Lou Zhirou interjected with her brows knitted together, a worried expression on her face. Xue Wei smiled at her.

    He said nothing, neither declining nor approving, but he smiled and ruffled her hair as he gently chuckled.

    Lou Zhirou pouted slightly. "You should take me seriously," she muttered, but she wanted to look adorable in front of Shen Mu, so she did not re up at the dismissal that Xue Wei showed in response to her words.

    Xue Wei talked a bit more with Lou Zhirou and Shen Mu about what they had experienced so far during the trip, about the Genius Camp and what ranking they would get during the recruitment and about the army that they would be joining.

    As Xue Wei was alone once more, he looked at Luo Zhirou who had left and bared his teeth in a sinister smile. "I don¡¯t care whether or not people are good or evil," he muttered to himself. "I will kill anyone who stands in my way, whether it is an angel or a demon. For me, it does not matter."

    As Xue Wei said this he startled and a shiver ran down his spine. ¡°Why would I think like this?¡± he asked himself with befuddlement. ¡°I am not some bloodthirsty murderer, even if all of them think so, I am just a normal child!¡±

    As Xue Wei was thinking about this, he was feeling ufortable. ¡°What is happening to me?¡± he questioned himself, but he did not have a long time to consider it as he was pulled out from his thoughts by a loud voice.

    "Everyone, stop what you are doing!" the captain called out as he looked around him with a frown on his face. He soon kneeled on the ground and ced a hand on the soil, the scowl on his face deepening.

    "Something is not right; everyone, get ready to defend yourself if things go awry!"

    Everyone felt nervous. So far, the captain had battled with a Sky-realm giant Sand Snake and a group of bandits without ever losing hisposure, but he had not been as solemn as he was now.

    It was clear that whatever wasing their way was a dangerous threat to all of them, not only the young ones but also the guards.

    Everyone understood that this was a severe threat to their group. They did not hesitate as they brandished their weapons and waited nervously for whatever it was that the captain had noticed.

    "This is the best location for us to encounter a beast horde. We are just on the outskirts of the forest, and the beasts can onlye from in front of us."

    "Beast horde?!" as soon as he said beast horde, everyone paled, and arge group of them trembled.

    They had heard about beast hordes before. They were the real terror of any army and wandering mercenary group.

    Primordial Beasts controlled beast hordes, which could range from some hundred beasts to hundreds of thousands.

    All the beasts were Fierce Beasts, and thus their strength could not be underestimated.

    "Will we even survive this?" one of the more petrified experts asked with tears in his eyes. "We are still not at the recruitment camp, but we already lost this many of ourrades. Were it not for the ferociousness of Xue Wei, who we all had considered trash, then we would have lost even more of our brothers and sisters."

    "Don¡¯t jinx us!" another expert sneered. "The other experts have made it to the recruitment camp every single year; we will too!"

    "There is a real Primordial Beast controlling this group!" someone eximed in shock, and a tremor ran through the entire group. It wasmon knowledge that Primordial Beasts controlled beast hordes.

    Everyone knew that Primordial Beasts existed in every strength, shape, and size. Some of them were strong; some were weaker. Some of them had appearances almost simr to humans, while others looked beastial in their original shape.

    Primordial Beasts are incapable of cultivating for some time after birth. They were as weak as ordinary mortals. However, as they grew older, they would be familiar with the method of cultivating and their strength would skyrocket.

    If they were lucky, they would be up against a young Primordial Beast that had just started training and hence gotten its human shape under control. A Primordial Beast of that kind might not prove too problematic as there were a chance that the beast horde would be small and that the captain could face off against the primordial beast. However, if it were a fully grown one, then they would have a very slim chance at survival.

    "Was she a Primordial Beast?" Li Jian suddenly muttered to himself, his face filled with shock and his eyes open wide. He had not wanted to believe it, but considering that a Giant Sand Snake had attacked them and also now a beast horde, everything pointed towards the fact that she was a Primordial Beast.

    "I colluded with a Primordial Beast," he said again, his voice so weak, and trembling. He could not even hear it himself, and the turmoil in his heart was unbearable. He hated primordial beasts, but he equally hated Xue Wei.

    "It will be fine," he mumbled, trying to convince himself. "I did nothing wrong. As long as Xue Wei dies, I will be okay. No one will ever know of this deal I made."

    Li Jian was more scared for himself than the others. If the world knew that he had worked together with a Primordial Beast, he would get executed right away.

    "I should be safe. The beasts should know not to touch me," Li Jian said to himself again and again. He had a deal with the Primordial Beast, and the deal was that Xue Wei would die, while he would survive.

    At the same time, the first beast was visible in the distance. The beast horde was leveling the forest in front of them as they ran towards Xue Wei and the rest of the group.

    "The beast horde consists of around five thousand beasts!" the captain called out. "There is one Fierce Beast equivalent to a Sky Warrior, around a thousand with the same strength of the Earth Warrior, and the rest are Ordinary Warrior¨Cranked."

    "Although this does not sound too bad, it is, in fact, a disaster for our group!" The captain said with a grave expression on his face.

    "I will be dealing with the one that has a strength equal to mine, but we only have around five hundred guards at the Earth Warrior rank, whereas they have a thousand beasts at this level. Each beast has physical strength superior to humans at the same strength, so although they might not be as intelligent, they will be hard to kill fast. That means that five hundred Fierce Beasts with the strength of Earth Warriors will be roaming free."

    "At the same time, there are more than three times as many Fierce Beasts as you guys, but I am not so optimistic that I think that each of you can defeat and kill three beasts each!"

    "In situations like these, you need to let go of all your hesitation. This is a battle where our entire group is facing peril, but it is against Fierce Beasts!"

    "We have to kill these Fierce Beasts with all that we have. We have to rely on someone to kill a whole group of them; we need to not give up hope!"

    "We can do it!" every guard called out in unison. Theirbined strength was unfathomable for an Ordinary Warrior like these youngsters, and their voices made the ground shake and the iing beasts hesitate slightly before continuing their charge.

    "Here they are!" the captain yelled as he brandished his weapon and jumped into the midst of the beast horde. Everywhere he went, beasts were chopped in half as he made his way to the back of the army where the Fierce Beast with the Sky Warrior strength was located.

    He was not the only one who had decided to help out the weaker experts. The Earth Warriors were sweeping through the beasts with the strength of an Ordinary Warrior and did not stop their ughtering before they reached a suitable opponent.

    Slowly, they were bing fewer, and even fewer who were engaged in battles with weaker beasts, as all of them had found suitable beasts to fight against. Unfortunately, the beasts were many times more numerous than this group of young experts. As a result, one after another, the human experts died.

    These humans did not go down without a fight. They all fought to theirst breath and would try to take as many beasts with them to the grave as possible.

    Whereas some of them failed to kill even one beast, others managed to kill up to six before they died, though they were the minority.

    Xue Wei stood in the middle of the group. Fights happened everywhere around him, but no beasts went towards Xue Wei. In fact, it looked as if all of them were walking a massive detour around him.

    At first, Xue Wei had not noticed it too much. He had thought that the beasts were too busy looking for weaker prey, but even the Earth Warrior beasts turned their tail whenever it came to confronting Xue Wei.

    After realizing this, Xue Wei decided to test it out and moved towards a Fierce Beast. The more intelligent ones would try and resist the urge to flee, while the ones with the least intellect would run away in a rush.

    "I wonder why they fear me like this," Xue Wei pondered. He was not busy killing the beasts just yet but instead trying to understand what was going on. Could it be because of his killing intent? However, although it had surfaced within him, it had not been let out yet.

    Xue Wei¡¯s hand flickered as a wave of Qi exited his body and he sat down on the ground with a zither created from the Inner Might profound technique in hisp.

    "Since they are noting to me, I don¡¯t have to fear them suddenly surrounding me," Xue Wei muttered to himself as he plucked his fingers on the strings, releasing three notes.

    These three notes were deep and profound, carrying with them some heavy atmosphere and arge-scale attack that pushed back around two hundred beasts around him.

    The youngsters that suddenly had the time to take a breather, as the beasts had been pushed back, all looked at Xue Wei with incredulity.

    He had shown them his overbearing and bloody fighting with the sword. He had shown them how he would kill one bandit after another without resting, and even eventually ughter a thirdyered Earth Warrior.

    But now he was sitting still with a zither in hisp as some refined schr. He was sending out note after note of music and the soundwaves transformed from being walls that pushed the Fierce Beasts back into a sharp sound wave that would cause deep gashes to appear on the bodies of the weaker beasts; some of them lost limbs, and some even lost their heads!

    Xue Wei was calm. Since the beasts kept running away from him, his only option was to use long ranged attacks.

    Xue Wei felt that he was bing one with the music that he was ying. He even went as far as to close his eyes as he yed one note after another.

    This fight he did nothing but give support to the others, each of his notes pushed back the beasts in his surrounding area, while the weaker beasts would receive wounds, a few of the weakest beasts and the ones injured by the other youngsters would die.

    "This is taking a toll on my Qi reserves," Xue Wei sighed as he realized that he had used more than half of his Qi, but he had managed to kill quite a few beasts, but more importantly, he had assisted hisrades greatly and ensured that only a few had died.

    The majority of the killed beasts were all weak. They were below the fourthyer of the Ordinary Warrior rank, and thus they had been unable to withstand even a singlerge-scale attack.

    Although Xue Wei was killing and pushing back a mountain of Fierce Beasts, more and more appeared. The cultivators around Xue Wei were rtively safe as their opponents would be thrown back from time to time as an effect of Xue Wei¡¯s attacks.

    The ones further away were fighting for their lives. They were in imminent peril, falling one after another to the beast horde. There were only four experts in the entire group who were ninthyered Ordinary Warriors, and those were Xue Wei, Luo Zhirou, Li Jian, and Shen Mu.

    Luo Zhirou, Li Jian and Shen Mu were gathered at the same location and were doing their very best to take care of as many beasts as they possibly could. Yet, even though they were killing quite a few beasts, they had at most killed a hundred beasts cumtive among them, a far cry from Xue Wei¡¯s performance.

 Chapter 43: Beast Horde

    Chapter 43: Beast Horde

    The youngsters were not the only ones dropping in this battle, but the guards were also losing more and more of their members.

    These guards were all exceptionally skilled inbat and were used to fighting against Fierce Beasts. All of them had gone through a decade in the army, and as a result, they did not panic when the beast horde enveloped them.

    These veteran soldiers now turned guards knew that their lives were on the line the moment they had epted the mission to lead the youngsters to the recruitment camp, but many of them had done it multiple times, and none of them had ever experienced as bloody a trip as this one.

    Each guard was in a life-and-death battle with at least one Fierce Beast each, and some of them even took on two at a time. Because of this and how the younger experts sacrificed themselves, the number of beasts slowly dwindled, but more and more human cultivators appeared on the ground withrge wounds that had caused them to lose their lives.

    Xue Wei was starting to feel beads of sweat appear on his forehead. He was urging the Qi within his body to hold on until the battle finished, but he also knew that he could not continue for much longer.

    He had by now, single-handedly, killed more beasts than any other of the youngsters, and rivers of blood flowed like a stream on the ground where he sat, yet no beast dared advance towards him.

    A ¡®weng¡¯ sound sounded out from the zither. With thest amount of Qi that Xue Wei could muster, he conjured arge-scale wall to knock down every other beast again while killing the lower-ranked beasts that dared to enter his area of effect.

    Letting out the final note, the zither in Xue Wei¡¯s hands vanished, and he was left with only an ounce of Qi that had returned to his body when the zither vanished.

    "I can¡¯t fight barehanded against Fierce Beasts," Xue Wei muttered to himself, feeling incredibly feeble. "I do not have enough Qi to use Shattering Mountain Palm or Azure Light Finger more than just once."

    "What I could do is create another Qi weapon and use it to fight!" Xue Wei had decided.

    "If I go too close to the beasts, then I will be scaring them away. That is rather a peculiar situation. But I cannot use the zither to attack any longer, and a bow and arrow would also require me to have more Qi so that I can create arrows."

    Contemting what to do, Xue Wei stood up and observed the battle that was going on in front of him.

    There were now less than half of the youngsters still standing, and the guards had been reduced to two-thirds of their original numbers.

    Although this was the case, the beasts were not in a much better situation. Corpses of beasts were everywhere. Especially around Xue Wei and the experts close to him. There was a whole circle of beast carcasses stacked on top of one another.

    Just as Xue Wei started to feel that he had done a great job, he felt a sudden chill running down his spine. As he raised his head and looked into the distance, he saw the ck Horned Mammoth standing behind them on the road with the ck-cloaked woman seated on top.

    A shiver ran through Xue Wei¡¯s body. He did not know why, but he had a feeling that this woman was looking at him, and he could feel the sheer pressure a single nce from her gave him.

    "Could she be the Primordial Beast?" Xue Wei questioned himself. "Her hand looked pretty human at the auction house," he mused, once againpletely ignoring the battles that were ongoing around him. "But Primordial Beasts can take on human shape after reaching a certain point in their cultivation."

    "If she is a Primordial Beast, I would also bet that she was the entity that broke into the Li Mansion and was unsessful in tempting Li Fang that old bugger, but who knows whether or not she seeded in tempting Li Jian."

    "Knowing Li Jian¡¯s hate for me, he would approve right away. He most likely did not know anything about the woman in question."

    Xue Wei continued to deduct what he could from what he had seen so far, and the battle raged around him, but no beasts moved close to him.

    "If it is indeed her, then Li Jian should have realized it by now," Xue Wei reached a conclusion.

    "This trip has been way more dangerous than usual trips to the recruitment camp. The only excuse can be that someone is targeting us, or some of our group."

    "It would make sense for it to be a Primordial Beast who has made some deal with Li Jian, but then it does not make sense that the beasts are not even ncing at me. It is as if they fear that I will kill them with a single re."

    "I do not know if this is because there is something in me that scares them," Xue Wei continued to muse, "or if that woman has ordered them to leave me be."

    "There was something with the ck Horned Mammoth back then. That time when I first met it, but something like that should not be enough to deter a full beast horde."

    "Since this is the case, then I assume that the woman is not done ying with us just yet. She is ying with us like a cat with a mouse, toying with our lives. This is truly a terrible feeling."

    "At least we are more than halfway now. However, if she sends another beast horde after us, I fear it will be the end of us."

    "It is also peculiar that every group has been tailored to our strength. Even the bandit group was just around the same strength as us."

    "Could she have managed to move the bandits too?"

    "Xue Wei, you despicable beast!" Li Jian suddenly yelled out, "we are all fighting for our lives here, and all you do is standing still while thinking? Can we trust someone who is that inactive?!"

    As Li Jian yelled, he infused Qi into his voice so everyone on the battlefield heard him. He wanted to drag Xue Wei¡¯s name into the mud, yet when people looked towards Xue Wei and saw the many corpses that were littered on the ground, no one dared to look down on him. He had been the one to kill the most beasts, and his support had been very important for the experts that had been close to him.

    Xue Weipletely ignored Li Jian, who was in a life-and-death struggle with a Fierce Beast; sweat beaded on his forehead and an injury could be seen on his arm.

    Sneering, Xue Wei used the Qi he had gotten back from recalling the zither to create a spear. Although he was not formidable with spear techniques, he knew he could aid his friends significantly with this weapon and that the beasts would, hopefully, not run away from him when he still had some distance between them.

    Walking towards Luo Zhirou and Shen Mu, who were fighting shoulder to shoulder against two Fierce Beasts at the peak of the Ordinary Warrior rank, close to breaking into the Earth Warrior rank, Xue Wei wielded his spear and stabbed out.

    A wail resounded in the surroundings as the beast copsed. Xue Wei did not have any fancy spear techniques, nor did he have the Qi to use them if he did have them, but he had strength that far outstripped any average Ordinary Warrior.

    This simple stab that Xue Wei performed went straight through the Fierce Beast, skewered it, and killed it instantly.

    Luo Zhirou took a deep breath and wiped the sweat from her face before she engaged in battle with the next beast that came her way. This beast was not as strong as the previous one, but she had also used up some of her energy, so Luo Zhirou was not able to fight another peak ranked beast.

    Xue Wei went to assist Shen Mu after this, and another thrust was sent out, after which one more beast died. Shen Mu nodded to Xue Wei in gratitude, but he had no words to say anything as he knew that he was in a rush. He instantly rushed to the next beast that he could fight.

    No one dared let up; only Xue Wei was rtively safe in the midsts of the beast horde. When he turned to look where the ck Horned Mammoth had been just moments before, he found that it had vanished without a trace.

    Frowning, he did not know whether or not he was fortunate or in for it now, but he knew that he did not have the power to go against whatever strength this woman controlled. As such, his only option was to hope for the best and continue to fight against these beasts.

    Slowly, the battle died out. One-third of the youngsters remained, while half of the guards had survived.

    The captain was still alive, but he was severely wounded, and they would have to stay at their location for a short period of time while he took some medicinal nts to heal himself before they could advance again.

    "Since we will be staying here for some time, feel free to roast some meat to regain your strength. If youck money, you can also carve out some of the Beast Cores and take them with you. The recruitment camp is held just outside of the capital, and there should be more than one opportunity to enter Sacred City."

    "As a result, you can earn a bit this way. However, the Beast Cores of the beasts equivalent to an Earth Warrior all belong to my guard brothers. They were the ones who slew them, so they are the ones who will benefit from it!"

    The order was clear, and although many of the poorer young ones were filled with dissatisfaction over not being able to get their hands on even one beast core from an Earth Ranked beast, they quickly forgot their indignation as they dug out one beast core after another from the heads of these Fierce Beasts.

    Themoners were not the only ones who had be filled with greed, but even the nobles and Xue Wei also started to take one beast core after another.

    Xue Wei knew that Manager Su had packed a rather significant amount of money for him, but he also knew that he could always use more money. The road of cultivation was long, and when he reached the Earth Warrior rank, there were certain pills that he would be able to consume that could increase his cultivation speed or enhance the strength of his body.

    These pills were not cheap, as just one cost around a hundred gold coins, something themoners would never be able to afford. even Xue Wei, who had enough money to livefortably for many lives, felt great pain when it came to parting with a hundred gold coins.

    Because of this, he decided to take as many beast cores with him as he could. If he could sell them and earn more gold in the capital, he would be able to afford more medicinal herbs and pills.

    It was not only he who thought like this, but everyone in the group of youngsters shared his sentiments. Thus, they all began harvesting beast cores.

    The task was not straightforward. The carcasses of these beasts were sturdy, and the skull was especially hard. It was near impossible for the weaker experts to carve a hole in the skulls so that they could take out the beast cores.

    It was easier for the stronger ones, but even they struggled. Xue Wei, on the other hand, was using his increased strength to quickly dig out one beast core after another, which ended up in his bag.

    He did not stop before he felt that his bag could no longer hold any more beast cores, and then he found a big hog-like monster with three serpent tails and ming hooves. The beast was meaty. Xue Wei started deboning it and thenter started a fire where he roasted the meat.

 Chapter 44: Primordial Beast

    Chapter 44: Primordial Beast

    Everyone was busy harvesting beast cores, but as they could carry no more, they slowly had to stop. Instead, they started to roast the meat to get some more energy.

    There were so many dead Fierce Beasts and only so many surviving humans that everyone had managed to get their hands on quite a lot of beast cores.

    After that, all of them ate the roasted meat while they watched the guards ce all the human casualties in a big pile.

    "Burn them," the captain ordered after a bit of consideration. "We cannot bring their bodies with us, but we cannot just leave them here either. They will be food for other Fierce Beasts otherwise. They fought bravely; they do not deserve to have their remains gnawed on by Fierce Beasts."

    Hearing this, the majority of the youngsters that had been eating happily suddenly swallowed hard and lost their appetite. As the scent of burning flesh got more dominant, many even vomited as they realized that the scent they had found so delicious just moments before was simr to the one of theirrades being burned to ashes.

    Luo Zhirou was a tough girl. Although she preferred to bake cakes and make food, she was still not easy to push around, but even she felt sick after realizing that the scent of burning humans was everywhere.

    The captain said nothing as he stood in front of the massive pyre. Instead, he made a military salute to the dead. No one spoke either; everyone was busy with their thoughts. Some were petrified over what had happened, while others were in deep thought about how they had survived but their friends had not.

    Xue Wei was carefree. He did not know these people that well. No one from Shen Mu¡¯s group had died; all of them had fought rtively close to Xue Wei and had received significant assistance from him, and those, in the whole group, who died had been the weakest amongst the entire group.

    Although they had died, Xue Wei did not feel a hint of guilt or remorse. He had already done everything he possibly could to assist the other experts who fought the beast horde together with him, and it was impossible for him to do more than he had.

    Since he knew that he could not do more than he had, then why should he feel sorry for them or guilty about not doing something impossible?

    Still, he respected that they had fought the beasts to the death. For that, he too stood up, stopped eating, and bid his farewell to the many souls of the departed.

    "You fought bravely," he muttered as he stood in front of the pyre. "Be satisfied with your performance and head for the cycle of reincarnation. Who knows, you might be a heaven-sent genius in your next lives."

    He knew that amongst the dead, many were jealous of him for his sudden surge in talent and even more who were looking up to him.

    "I could not save you," Xue Wei continued mumbling, but then his eyes turned sharp, and he nced at Li Jian, "but if these attacks were caused by someone¡¯s greed and desire for vengeance, then I swear that I will avenge you!"

    Thest bit was said with a hint of killing intent. As he said it, the me within the pyre suddenly turned incredibly violent as it roared and a small ball of fire shot towards Xue Wei, where it hovered in the air in front of him for a moment before it burnt up.

    Xue Wei was stunned. He had not expected the fire to react the way it did, but he nodded his head solemnly and gripped his hands.

    "I might not be righteous," he said honestly, "but when I promise something, no one can make me go back on my promise."

    Xue Wei had not been the only one to stand around the pyre with a lowered head while muttering some words of parting, but it was only his words that had caused such a strange effect. As to whether or not it was a coincidence, no one knew.

    "I believe you heard me," Xue Wei sighed. "I hope it will help you get some peace."

    Having said that, he returned to Shen Mu, Luo Zhirou, and the rest of their friends. He was deep in thought as to how exactly he should get rid of Li Jian.

    By now, Xue Wei had no doubt that the reason that they were having such a hard time on their way towards the recruitment camp was because Li Jian had made a deal with a Primordial Beast. The problem was just that he did not know whether or not this deal only included his death, or if it also included the death of everyone else.

    So far, many had died, but Xue Wei had not been in any real danger. Looking at Li Jian, he saw that the other was also looking at him while gritting his teeth and a hint of madness could be seen in his eyes.

    "Captain," Xue Wei suddenly called out, and the captain came to his side. "What can I do for you?" he asked politely. Although he was much stronger than Xue Wei, he knew that thetter had much better talent than him and that he would eventually be overtaken.

    It was only a matter of time, and as a result, he wanted to forge a good rtionship between the two.

    "Captain, I have a theory. I wonder if you would be willing to listen to it?" Xue Wei asked politely, and the captain nodded his head.

    "I think I know why so many things have happened to our procession, and I think I found the cause for it," he continued. He was not speaking with a low voice, and many heard what he said. Although no one went closer, everyone quieted down and raised their ears to hear more.

    When Xue Wei nced out the corner of his eyes, he saw that Li Jian was paling and that his hands were constantly tightening and loosening again and again.

    "I don¡¯t know if Captain heard about themotion in the Li Mansion before we departed?" Xue Wei asked, and the captain thought back to what had happened.

    "I did indeed hear that some amazing expert snuck into the Li Mansion, but as to what this expert wanted, no one knows."

    "The expert wanted to tempt Li Fang into doing a deal with them, but Li Fang is a righteous man. He instantly declined."

    "What does this have to do with our group?" the captain frowned as he asked, but Xue Wei did not hasten his exnation.

    "My theory is that this expert was a Primordial Beast," Xue Wei continued, and suddenly everyone gasped for air. "I also think that most of us have already seen this Primordial Beast, as it was the same person who purchased the ck Horned Mammoth at the auction."

    Xue Wei continued, "This woman released a killing intent when she saw me, but not one that contained any force behind it. It is truly peculiar ¨C she could kill me easily, and from the killing intent, I could feel that she wanted to kill me, but she did not."

    "Now, I do wonder why she did not kill me. But after contemting, I realized it was because this would make it too easy to guess who made a deal with her," Xue Wei continued and the captain, who was feeling rather lost, suddenly focused.

    "Are you saying that someone is doing all of this to kill you?"

    "I do not know if I am the only target," Xue Wei said honestly, "but imagine that you have lost everything you once had because of a person. Would you not also make a deal with someone to get vengeance?"

    Just as Xue Wei asked this, Li Jian scrambled to his feet, his body was trembling and his face red.

    He lifted a hand and pointed it at Xue Wei, "You are ndering me! You are trying to put the me on me! But we all know that you hate me, and the reason behind this is that you want to frame me!"

    "I have never made a deal with a Primordial Beast; I would never betray humanity! I may hate you, but I am not blind!" Li Jian continued to spit out words, but Xue Wei just crossed his arms over his chest as he listened with a mocking smile on his face.

    "Are you ming Li Jian?" the captain asked after a bit of time, but Xue Wei justughed.

    "I was going to me the He family. I caused them to lose their most outstanding genius of the younger generation, and their family leader was also crippled because of me and Manager Su."

    "In all of Tiankong City, I expected the He family to hate me the most, but seeing how nervous and anxious you are, I wonder, Li Jian, are you perhaps hiding something? Are you iming to hate me even more than the He family? Did you perhaps strike a deal with a Primordial Beast?"

    Xue Wei was smiling brightly now, and his every single word caused Li Jian to be pale and unable to speak.

    He cursed himself for having opened his mouth and said something in the first ce, because now everyone looked at him with strange expressions. Did Li Jian genuinely have something to do with this?

    Li Jian was the one who jumped out like an arrow from a bow, ming Xue Wei and defending himself, but had he had any reason to defend himself? Why would he defend himself if he had done nothing wrong? Xue Wei had not even med him.

    Thinking like this, everyone started to feel somewhat puzzled. Had Li Jian gone mad?

    "You don¡¯t trust me?!" Li Jian scowled. "I need to cool off!" he eximed as he stood up and got ready to leave the camp.

    "We will be leaving in two hours," The captain said absentmindedly while watching Li Jian enter into the forest in front of them.

    "Captain, should we let him go alone? Will it not be dangerous?" one of the guards asked, but the captain just waved his hand. "We have already killed all the beasts. I doubt that the Primordial Beast will make a move on a single person since it has not wiped out our group just yet." The captain sighed.

    "There are no Fierce Beasts left within the forest. All of them were part of the beast horde we fought. Just let him cool off, I am more worried that Xue Wei might be speaking the truth and someone truly made a deal with this Primordial Beast since it has never before been this dangerous."

    "We will take these two hours of break, and then we will move on. We will press our speed as much as we can so that we can reach the recruitment camp as soon as possible!"

    While the captain spoke with his guards, Li Jian entered the forest. He was gnashing his teeth, and his nails dug into his hands.

    He felt terrible, and he knew that although people did not fully believe that he had colluded with a Primordial Beast, the seed of doubt had been nted, and it would only grow worse with time.

    "Ai, you look dejected," the alluring voice he knew so well called out, and Li Jian stopped in his tracks as he looked at the woman he had struck a deal with.

    "We had a deal!" he eximed. "You promised me that you would kill Xue Wei! Why is it that so many of ourrades have died, but he is perfectly fine?!"

    The woman startedughing, but herughter was no longer the pearl-likefortableughter, but one that was maddening and filled with killing intent.

    "Believe me, I wish to kill him," she said as she wiped away a tear from her eye, "but you see, I think you kinda misunderstood something. I never promised you that I would kill him," she grinned, "I promised that this world would not have the both of you in it!"

 Chapter 45: Turned Traitor

    Chapter 45: Turned Traitor

    "You are protecting Xue Wei?!" Li Jian asked with disbelief in his voice, but the woman just snorted. "Who wants to protect a measly human child? I pretended to make a deal with you because I had to check certain things, but now that my examinations are finished, I truly have no use for you anymore."

    "I never thought that you would be so stupid as to leave the camp, but now that you have, killing you will ensure that I keep my promise."

    "I don¡¯t care about keeping promises to humans. On the other hand, killing you should make me feel some joy."

    The woman was talking slowly, but Li Jian felt his blood turn cold, and the world started distorting around him as he got dizzy.

    "I need to escape!" Li Jian yelled as he turned on his heels and started running away. Though the moment he tried taking his first step, he felt a strange pressure pushing him, keeping him in the same position and same ce as before. It was impossible to move.

    "Think you can already leave?" the woman grinned. "You should have already realized that I am a Primordial Beast. Anyone who has seen my human appearance has to die!"

    "I cannot afford to lose my cover as a young richdy from the middle of the continent. Fortunately, I was wearing that ridiculous outfit whenever the others saw me, so you are the only one who has seen my beauty."

    "Still, I am not sure if I should let the others be. Oh well, I will decide on thatter. First, I have to deal with you."

    "Now, if I just kill you, I will get hunted down by your father. That would prove rather troublesome, so I will need you to make a testimony and sign it with your blood."

    "I have pen and paper here. Now write everything you have done, every agreement you made with me, and that you were aware that I was a Primordial Beast, but you did not hesitate to make the deal anyway."

    "Also, make sure that you do not describe my appearance. If you do, you will suffer greatly."

    "If you do not write this testimony, then you will also suffer terribly. But if you write it, I will let you die so fast that you won¡¯t even notice the pain."

    Li Jian was shivering and scared. He knew that there was no way to escape. He had invited this cmity, and now he had to face the consequences.

    He regretted. He regretted so much that his insides turned green, but although he regretted, he could not change the past.

    Gritting his teeth, he picked up the pen and paper. He was afraid of death, but he was even more-so afraid of dying in pain. Li Jian did not doubt for a moment that when this Primordial Beast said that she would make him suffer, his life would be a living hell.

    "Who cares about honor when I am dead?" Li Jian asked himself as he began to write. He wrote exactly what the woman had asked him to write, the entire experience, but he did not dare leave even hints to the woman¡¯s appearance or gender. He feared that she would look for a reason to punish him.

    As soon as he finished, Li Jian cut his finger with a nail and pressed a bloody fingerprint on the paper. A light shone, and then the paper seemed to dry the bloody fingerprint on top of it.

    The woman waved her hand, and a small breeze appeared that made the testimony fly from Li Jian¡¯s hand to the woman¡¯s.

    "Thank you," she grinned. A momentter, the entire area froze. Ice appeared from underneath the woman, and everything it touched was frozen within seconds.

    Li Jian looked at this frost and its rapid advance. His heart was beating fast, and he knew that his death had arrived.

    Moments after, a scream escaped his lips and then frost grounded his feet to the soil. His legs froze moments after, and following this his entire body turned into an ice statue.

    "Better hurry up and scram," the womanughed. "If I stay here, I would just want to kill all the humans when I see them, but they still have some use."

    "Oh well, I managed to kill one human, although it is far from satisfying me; it will have to make do for now."

    Having said that, the woman vanished into the shadows. Moments after she had vanished, a group of guards appeared in the distance.

    Previously, when Li Jian had screamed, everyone had heard him, even the group of youngsters and guards.

    The group who had already feltfortable and started toe to terms with having survived the beast horde tensed up and looked scared at one another.

    "Guards, form teams of ten and examine the surroundings. Find the young master of the Li Family!" The captain ordered, and the guards all acknowledged his order before splitting into groups and descending into the forest in front of them.

    "Everyone else stays here with me," the captain ordered, and the youngsters nodded their heads, the majority of them looking worried.

    The guards went away, and suddenly a loud whistle sounded through the forest. Soon, the guards returned to the group of youngsters.

    Most of the guards observed the others, but one group headed straight for the captain. Two of the guards were carrying a frozen Li Jian, while another was carrying a piece of paper that he quickly handed to the captain.

    The captain epted the piece of paper with a frown on his face and a nce at Li Jian.

    "I, Li Jian of the Li Family within Tiankong City, hereby dere myself guilty of colluding with a Primordial Beast."

    "I was blinded by greed and a wish to get vengeance, and thus I colluded with the Primordial Beast to exterminate Xue Wei."

    "The Giant Sand Snake, the bandits, and the beast horde were all controlled by this Primordial Beast."

    That was where the testimony ended. There was nothing of begging for forgiveness, not even a sorry to his father for letting him down. At the time when Li Jian had written the testimony, the only thing on his mind was that he would die.

    He had no space for anyone else. He felt no remorse, nor did he feel guilty towards his father. The only thing on his mind was regret because he had ended up paying the ultimate price.

    The captain¡¯s face was at first rather peculiar when he looked at the letter, but when he got further down the text, , filled with disbelief and finally rage.

    "That bastard!" he yelled out with a voice filled with Qi, and everyone shook. No one had heard what he had read, but they could tell from the rage in his voice that it was something that made him livid.

    "Leave his corpse to be gnawed upon by the beasts!" the captain ordered. "We have to leave right away! This bastard conspired with a Primordial Beast, and considering the ice that has been used, it seems as if he has been working with one of the most dangerous Primordial Beasts of our region, the Ice Harpy!"

    Xue Wei raised an eyebrow when he heard this. The Ice Harpy was the Primordial Beast that the Wayfarers had been chasing.

    She was known as one of the most terrifying Primordial Beasts in the entire Heping Kingdom. No one knew her actual strength and anyone who had tried to capture or kill her had died in the attempt.

    "Let¡¯s move!" the captain continued forward. He did not pause at all for the rest of the day, and even when it turned dark he pushed the group forward.

    "If we allow for this Primordial Beast to gather another beast horde, we are in a terrible position."

    "I know that we will encounter danger traveling through the night, and I am also aware that we will be exhausted, but we have no choice!"

    No one questioned him. They had heard that Li Jian had betrayed them, and had thrown his lot together with a Primordial Beast, and everyone who had known him was filled with disgust towards him.

    They feared for their lives, they feared for their friends, and they feared for their future. Having worked together with a Primordial Beast could cause the execution of one¡¯s entire family, as it was simply the most frowned upon taboo of the world.

    These friends knew that they too would be judged by the others. They had befriended a traitor! Although the reason behind it was due to their families being under the banner of the Li family, they had still happily followed Li Jian¡¯s orders, and some of them had done so with pride.

    Now they all wished that Li Jian was someone they had never known before. They wished that their families had thrown their allegiance towards Shen Bingwen instead.

    Xue Wei felt puzzled. This Primordial Beast clearly wanted to kill him from the killing intent he had felt earlier, but he was still alive.

    Not only this, Li Jian was now dead. He had been frozen to death. And not only that, he had been left in the wilderness to be eaten by the beasts.

    Like this, the group rushed through thend. At the start, they all had energy, but as they got further and further, more and more of them lost their focus and sumbed to tiredness. After four days of constant travels, they finally had to take a small rest.

    The captain was no longer calm and collected. He and the other guards were looking around them continually, observing the surroundings and never letting their guards down.

    That night, everyone thought that something would happen, and many dared not sleep, while the weaker experts were so overwhelmed by exhaustion that they slipped into sleep instantly as theyid down on the ground.

    Xue Wei was not scared about whatever mighte for them during the night, but he was not willing to spend the night sleeping either. As a result, he sat down and cultivated.

    He knew that if the Ice Harpy wanted to kill them, they would have long since been dead. If she had wanted to continue toplicate their trip, then it would not have been as painless as it had been thest four days.

    As soon as the sun rose in the sky, the captain once more forced them all to start moving onward again. They would then travel for four days and four nights straight before they finally took another rest. This way, their trip was many times faster than nned, but all of them, including the guards and the captain, were exhausted, both physically and mentally.

    They rushed through viges and all kinds ofndscapes, but their group avoided all major cities before finally they all looked in front of them. After traveling for one and a half month, Xue Wei was the first of the youngsters to see a massive city towering in the distance.

    "We are heading for the capital first," the captain said. "There, we will stay for a week before we make it to the recruitment camp. You will be able to sell your beast cores, but you have to pay for amodation yourself. Those who do not show up at the appointed position seven dayster will be treated as a deserter!" the captain warned.

    Everyone was filled with excitement as they looked at the towering city in front of them. They had finally managed to get through the hellish journey ¨C and although they expected it to be hard in the army, it was still a new chapter in their lives. A chapter they had all looked forward to begin.

    Xue Wei unconsciously clenched his hands into fists. He could not help but feel both excited and intimidated. Now he would be able to take the first step towards bing worthy of Wang Xiaoyun and someone who would make his uncle proud.

 Chapter 46: The Capital

    Chapter 46: The Capital

    The entire group of youngsters looked around with big, wide open eyes. They knew that Tiankong City was a major city in the Heping Kingdom, butparing it to the capital was the same as seeing an ant next to an elephant.

    As they moved through the gates, everyone was stunned silly by the sheer size of the city wall alone.

    It was more than five times as tall as the city wall surrounding Tiankong City, and the gates were equally impressive.

    A steady stream of people entered and exited these gates. Some were in caravans, while others were on their own. Some rode on horses, while others walked on foot.

    Some were dressed in fine clothes, while others were in rags. Some were beggars, and yet some were noble-born.

    It was impossible for the group to hesitate at the gates, as the ones from behind pushed them further into the city, and the group was filled with dread as they followed behind the captain, fearful of losing him from their sight.

    They walked down major roads and came further and further into the city. At the outskirts, the town had mainly consisted of houses and residential areas with the odd inn and restaurant here and there, but the further into the town they came, the more marketces they found.

    It was on one of these marketces that the captain finally came to a standstill in a corner, and everyone grouped around him.

    "We will meet outside of the gate where we entered at noon a week from now," the captain announced. "Those who do not show up are on their own to get to the recruitment camp. If you do not make it, it will be treated as if you deserted."

    Having said this, the captain gestured for the guards to follow him, leaving behind the youngsters.

    "Well, we ought to first find ourselves an inn," Shen Mu said as the first and the others nodded their heads. Themoners who did not have any coins with them decided to split up into groups consisting of their friends before they ventured into the city in search of somewhere to sell their beast cores.

    "They will not all make it back alive," Xue Wei mumbled to himself. If they were prudent and only sold one or two beast cores at a time, they should be fine. But if they sold more, they were likely to be targeted by thugs within the city.

    Too much wealth could easily cause people to go blind with greed and not care about the consequences. Especially since thesemoner experts were all using some clothes of varying quality. Some of them were of excellent quality, as their families had saved up for a good set of clothes, while others were wearing clothes made from more ordinary fabrics.

    Those with clothes from ordinary fabric were especially likely to lose their little lives. They were not nobles and their background wasn¡¯t terrifying. It was highly unlikely that anyone would find the thugs and cause problems for themter on.

    Being realistic about all of this, Xue Wei just shook his head and smiled slightly. He did not have a favorable impressions of these youngsters. Although they were now looking at him with reverence, they had all looked down on him before. Although he would never go as far as to kill them himself for revenge, he would not go out of his way to save them either.

    "Well, should we look for an inn?" Shen Mu turned to look at Xue Wei. Although the leader of the group was Shen Mu, he felt that it was only natural that he asked for Xue Wei¡¯s opinion since he was undoubtedly the strongest amongst them.

    "Sounds good," Xue Wei said, not saying much more than that. He was not in a rush to get rid of his beast cores, and as long as no one knew what was in his bag, he would be fine.

    He also acknowledged that going together as a group was a lot safer than going alone. Although his strength was slightly overwhelming amongst the group of youngsters, he was also very well aware that these thugs in the city were all ruthless and used to fighting. The majority of them were Earth Warriors.

    Although Xue Wei could kill a oneyered Earth Warrior, hold his own against a secondyered Earth Warrior, and escape from a thirdyered Earth Warrior, he was also aware that he was not as formidable as the youngsters made him seem.

    This was the capital; it was filled with hidden dragons and crouching tigers. Geniuses were as vast as the clouds in the sky here. Although he had reached the ninthyered Ordinary Warrior rank within half a year¡¯s time, he also understood that he had not had enough time to cultivate. He was simply not capable of reaching the strength of an Earth Warrior just yet, making it impossible for him topare to the most talented geniuses of the capital.

    "I have never been in the capital before," Shen Mu said after hesitating for a moment. "I know nothing about this ce," he continued with a sigh, and only then did Xue Wei speak.

    "The capital is split into the outer city and the inner city. To enter the outer city is free and everyone cane and go as they please. The inner city, on the other hand, is different. There, you have to pay a silver coin for entry, but it is also many times safer than the outer city."

    "The outer city has a guard corps often referred to as the Mastiffs, while the corps within the inner city are known as Bloodhounds."

    "The Mastiffs are bribed by many of the underground organizations and the thugs. They will only move on direct orders from the Bloodhounds, and the majority of their payes from money they are given by the shady organizations to overlook their way of working."

    "If you die in the outer city, you are fortunate if they even bother to cremate your body and not just dump you in the river that runs through the city."

    "The inner city, on the other hand, is almost free of crime. Certain syndicates have been allowed ess as long as they follow certain rules, but in general, you are much safer inside the inner city."

    Xue Wei finished his recount of the capital, and all of Shen Mu and his friends stared at him with shock in their eyes.

    "How do you know all of this?" Shen Mu could not help but ask, but Xue Wei just smiled slightly. He knew a lot more about the capital than that, but he figured that the most critical information was about the safety levels of the outer and inner cities.

    This was the benefit of having read every single book in the library back at the Xiao Lei Mansion. He had indeed gained a world of knowledge, and some of the books had naturally been about the capital of the country he resided within.

    "I suggest we go to the inner city in that case," Shen Mu made a quick decision, and the others nodded their heads. They all were acutely aware that they were weak. Since that was the case, the most suitable course of action for them would be to lower the risk of danger happening around them.

    Xue Wei looked at the sky above and frowned. "We have to hurry up," he said with a sigh. "The gates to the inner city close at sundown, so we have at most two hours to get to the inner city gates. At least I saw a map of the capital once, so I should be able to lead us there, but we might make a few detours as I do not want us to enter small alleyways or underground markets."

    "Our best option is to find the main road; it will lead straight to the gates," Xue Wei deducted, and no one questioned him, all of them observing him as if he was their new leader.

    It was not only them, but other nobles who had previously followed Li Jian had also stayed back to hear what Shen Mu was nning. After overhearing what Xue Wei had said, all of them nodded their heads in unison and decided that they would follow this other group into the inner city.

    And thus it ended with around fifty young nobles from Tiankong City following behind Xue Wei as he made his way through the capital.

    Although they were in a bit of a hurry, Xue Wei still ensured that his speed was slow enough that he could observe everything that happened around him.

    They quickly found the main road and followed it. It ran next to the river, which came into sight shortly after. It was a beautiful sight that they had never before seen in Tiankong City.

    It bustled with life around the river. Some were cleaning clothes; others were gathering water. Children would y on the riverside, and elderly men were sitting ying chess with one another down next to the river bends.

    Small vessels were sailing on the river, bringing items from one ce to another or cruising customers back and forth.

    The city thrived. The road they were walking on was filled with carriages, caravans, horses, and even Fierce Beasts could be seen from time to time.

    It was clear that having a Fierce Beast in the capital was a rare urrence, but far from as rare as it was in Tiankong City. Mortal beasts could be seen everywhere, dragging carriages or being used as mounts.

    Although they were good mounts, the truth was that any cultivator of the fifthyer of the Ordinary Warrior rank was faster than any mortal horse could ever be. However, it was unbing to run within the city and much more elegant to ride on mortal beasts while looking down on the masses.

    "Look!" one of the noble-born suddenly eximed as he pointed in front of them. There, a second wall stood tall, separating the inner and outer cities from one another. Although this wall was not as tall as the first one, it was even more terrifying.

    On the top of the wall were guards marching and ring down at everyone who came too close. Anyone who tried to sneak over the wall would be killed on the spot.

    "Don¡¯t point," Shen Mu said breathlessly. He could feel the pressure emitted by these guards, and he felt rather nervous that they would find this group of country bumpkins unsuited to enter the inner city.

    "Get in line," Xue Wei said. Everyone had been speaking throughout their trip towards the inner city gates, everyone apart from Xue Wei. He had beenpletely quiet as he observed the surrounding areas, and the differences between Tiankong City and the capital.

    "Although the Heping Kingdom is considered a poor kingdom with ack of cultivators, the capital is still this stunning. I can¡¯t imagine what the rest of the continent¡¯s cities looks like," Xue Wei mumbled to himself and for once felt small. Clenching his hands and finding his determination, Xue Wei smiled to himself.

    "One day, I will see the rest of the continent. I will see the most marvelous sights, and I will do it together with Xiaoyun and Uncle!"

    Xue Wei did not have any doubt in himself. "Even if I am far behind the others in terms of cultivation, I just need to work harder than them; then the world will be open to me! If I work hard and prove my worth, then one day I too will be a legend!"

 Chapter 47: The Capitals Young Master

    Chapter 47: The Capital¡¯s Young Master

    The group was very humble when they all handed over one silver coin each to the guard at the front gate of the inner city, and their hearts were beating rapidly as they entered.

    The inner city was different from the outer city. The roads were fenced, and while it was paved with stones in both outer and inner city, they were much more leveled-out here. It was clear that someone had gone to great lengths to make the inner city look much more upscale than the outer city. There, a road had been built for walking and getting from one point to another, yet here it had to suit the overall look of thendscape.,

    More Fierce Beasts were visible on the roads. Some were used as mounts, while others were walking side by side with satisfied cultivators. No children were running on the street randomly, but a few were walking holding their nanny¡¯s hand.

    It was clear that everything in the inner city was orderly. Guards were walking on patrol on the streets, observing everything that happened around them with a keen eye, and many of the guards kept an eye on Xue Wei and the group, as they were neers.

    Xue Wei was aware that they could not loiter around, so he instead hurried to lead the rest of the group towards an inn he had spotted in the distance.

    The inn was named the ck Hancock and seemed to serve as both a restaurant and an inn. It was an upscale ce with a steady stream of people entering and exiting.

    Outside were small tables, and some experts were seated while drinking wine; youngsters a few years younger than Xue Wei and the others were eating together while boasting about their cultivation base.

    As he looked at them, Xue Wei¡¯s eyes narrowed. One of these youngsters was already at the ninthyer of the Ordinary Warrior rank.

    To reach this stage at the age of fourteen or fifteen was simply outstanding. Had it been in Tiankong City, he would have been seen as the number one genius of the century, if not even a millennia.

    Just as Xue Wei looked at this youngster, the youngster also looked at them, and his eyes rested on Luo Zhirou before they brightened.

    "Big sister, why don¡¯t youe sit with us?" he called out, his voice not low at all, and everyone present heard what he said.

    Many of the cultivators who were sitting at the same restaurant leaned back in their chairs with a smile on their faces. They all knew this young master and knew of his position within the capital. It would be interesting to see just how these country bumpkins would react.

    Luo Zhirou¡¯s face paled, but she quickly regained her wits. She understood the significant difference between Tiankong City and the capital, but she was not willing to go to them.

    "I am ttered, young master, but I must decline your invitation. I am in a hurry as you might see, and have no time to entertain a genius such as yourself."

    Her words were flowing like water in a stream, beautiful and clear, calm and collected, with no show of her real emotions. Xue Wei could not help but praise her.

    "I asked you toe join me," the young master frowned. "Since I asked you to join me, you have no option. Nowe here!"

    Hearing this, Shen Mu took a step forward. "I understand that you, young master, is a peerless genius and from a great background, but this does not mean you can snatch whomever you wish from the roads as you please."

    Shen Mu was frowning and considering what was for the better. What he was doing now was simply inviting danger to himself and his family, but his heart told him that if he did not stand up for Luo Zhirou right now, then he would lose something valuable.

    Xue Wei said nothing, he just stood at the back, his eyes glistening slightly and showing that, although he had not stepped up, he had everything under control.

    "Seems like the feelings are mutual," he grinned to himself as he saw Shen Mu step forward, and a feeling of relief flooded him. "I do not have many friends, but those two are true friends. Knowing that they can have a good life together makes me content."

    Having said that, he decided to just watch what would happen between the young boy and Shen Mu. It was not his ce to save Luo Zhirou ¨C that was a job for her knight in shining armor.

    "You dare go against me?" the young manughed. He was behaving with an arrogance that made Xue Wei¡¯s eye twitch, as it reminded him too much of Li Jian.

    "I dare not go against you, but I have to protect the wishes of mypanion," he said steadily. Although Shen Mu knew that what he was doing could be considered wrong, he felt better and better the longer he stood in front of Luo Zhirou.

    The young man snorted and shook his head. "It is that girl¡¯s luck that I have taken a liking to her," he said, and from his voice, he truly believed this.

    "If she bes my concubine, she will get many resources she could never get back in your backwater town. She will live a life of luxury. She will get a life everyone wishes to have. Not only this, her family will benefit greatly from having connections to the capital. And although I have many concubines, I treat all of them well."

    "Even though the young master is giving me such credit, I feel inadequate and unable to ept such grace. I wish not to change my life as it is now."

    Luo Zhirou was still incredibly polite, but she was also steadfast. She knew that no one had the position to tell him off other than herself, and she was already certain as to what she wanted.

    Although she knew that what he said made the most sense, she could not lie to her heart, and in her heart, she wanted to marry Shen Mu.

    "I see." The young man said nothing after that, but he looked at Luo Zhirou as if he had seen a very silly person. To reject him was truly the most ridiculous choice she had made, in his opinion.

    But this young master was an esteemed genius within the capital, and he knew that it would be beneath his status to snatch a woman off the street. If he did do that, then his reputation would be wed forever, and thus he just snorted and shook his head before he returned to eating.

    "Such a stupid woman, to think she could not even see Mount Tai in front of her!"

    "She is just a brainless idiot, to think that she did not consider her future at all!"

    "She might look good, but something is wrong with her mind to turn down Elder Brother¡¯s offer."

    "I am more enraged about that young man who dared to go against Young Master!"

    Everyone had been busy discussing Luo Zhirou and trashing her, but the moment thest voice spoke, everyone quieted down.

    A dangerous gleam appeared in the eyes of the young man, and suddenly all hispanions exploded with noise.

    "Yes, who does he think he is?!"

    "To think he had the guts to stand up against our hero!"

    "Elder Brother will be a Primordial Beast Hunter as great as Xiao Lei in the future, who is he to stand against him?"

    "Does he not respect the authority of the capital?! Does he think that because he is some noble-born child from some backwater ce, he can do whatever he wishes here in the capital and act so unbridled in front of our elder brother?!"

    The more they spoke, the worse the light within the young man¡¯s eyes turned. He clearly became more and more agitated, yet on the surface, on his face, not even one of his emotions were shown.

    Shen Mu was in an awkward position. He wanted to enter the inn already, but he was aware that if they started leaving now, then that would be even more insulting than what he had done previously.

    To the side, Xue Wei was standing casually, leaning against the fence of the road leading into the inn, a slight smile on his face.

    Xue Wei¡¯s uncle was renowned throughout the entire Heping Kingdom. When it came to having a background, no matter how great the background of this young lord was, it could notpare to his.

    Although this highborn boy was a ninthyered Ordinary Warrior, it had still taken him around four years to reach this rank, while Xue Wei had entered the ninthyer Ordinary Warrior rank after roughly half a year.

    So regarding talent, Xue Wei towered over this child. And when it came to strength, Xue Wei had never feared anyone at the same rank as himself. He did not fear this child either.

    While the group belonging to the young master still had yet to notice Xue Wei, the experienced experts had already seen him, and their eyes were twinkling with excitement.

    Xue Wei had a calmness that none of the other youngsters possessed. It was clear that he had something backing him, as to whether this was strength or an outstanding background, these people did not know, but they could not wait to see what was happening.

    Xue Wei looked at Shen Mu, who turned around and looked at him at the same time. There was a helpless look in Shen Mu¡¯s eyes. Seeing this, Xue Wei decided that it was time for him to make a move.

    He straightened his back and coughed so hard that all of the people who had been speaking were silenced instantly.

    "How audacious!" someone eximed, shocked from the group around the young master. "To think you have the gall to interrupt us!"

    "That is a good joke," Xue Weiughed as he looked at the speaking person right in the eye and released a sliver of the killing intent that he had suppressed deep within his body.

    The moment this young boy looked into Xue Wei¡¯s eyes, he became tongue-tied. He said nothing, his eyes opened wide and sweat pooled on his face.

    He was frightened. He felt that he was standing in front of a Primordial Beast in its original shape that was just waiting to gobble him up. He was so scared that he peed himself and lost consciousness right away. The illusion brought forth by the killing intent was indeed too frightening for him.

    The young master frowned, surprised at heart, when he saw that Xue Wei knocked one of his men out with a mere nce, but he was not the only one who was surprised.

    "What a dense killing intent! This kid must have climbed out through a cave of corpses!" one of the experts eximed in shock, and the others nodded their heads.

    "So the killing intent can be used this way," Xue Wei thought to himself, full of surprise by how useful this hard to control emotion truly could be to him.

    The youngsters who hade with Xue Wei were not surprised. Xue Wei had created miracle after miracle in front of them, so to make a sixthyer Ordinary Warrior copse with a glimpse was not too shocking.

    "You there, young master," Xue Wei looked at the young master. Although he had at first thought this boy was simr to Li Jian, he had realized that this young master had some principles that Li Jian did not. Where Li Jian would have forced himself onto the woman on the street, this young man would never do something that obvious.

    Still, it was clear he was itching to teach Shen Mu a lesson from talking back to him, and this alone was reason enough for Xue Wei to step in.

 Chapter 48: A Commoners Past

    Chapter 48: A Commoner¡¯s Past

    Xue Wei did not care too much about who was right and who was wrong. It was clear that this young master had intended to let their actions slide today, had it not been for the provocation of his followers. Thus, Xue Wei decided to take out some of his annoyance on one of them.

    He was calm and collected as he looked the young master in the eye, and even the young master felt his soul tremble from the overwhelming killing intent and the sudden illusion that it brought with it.

    "Who are you?" Although he was shocked and scared, the young master managed to calm himself enough to ask the question without his voice trembling, but the truth was that he felt weak inside.

    He had wanted to gain a beauty, but now it seemed he might have offended a great warrior.

    "A genius from a backwater ce is nothing!" one of the followers spat out, but a p from the young master instantly silenced him.

    "Excuse him, he knows nothing," he said apologetically. His voice was slightly trembling by now, and his back was drenched in cold sweat.

    Although this young master was aware of his strength, he also knew that he had met someone much more dangerous than he could imagine.

    The many friends were shocked when they saw the p, but upon thinking a bit for themselves, they realized that their young master was protecting them.

    If Xue Wei was capable of making one of them pee his pants and lose consciousness from a nce, then who knew what would happen to those who truly enraged him?

    The various experts that listened in on the conversation all approved of the actions of the young master. For now, the most important thing was to stay alive. After that, he could always return for revenge.

    Xue Wei knew that this young man was not as saintlike as he might seem. He was being pped in the face right in front of his followers and had to lower himself in a well-renowned restaurant within the Inner City. It would not take long before rumors about his experience would have traveled across all of Inner City, and he would lose a great deal of face from it.

    It was clear that he needed to wash away this shame somehow, but to do so, he had to be alive. Right now, he was not sure he knew what exactly he could expect from this insane man in front of him.

    "You keep calling us country bumpkins, and that wee from a backwater province, but do you even know who it is that is in front of you?" one of the nobles from Tiankong City suddenly sneered, and the young master had a strange gleam in his eyes, but everyone suddenly got interested. Could this young man with peculiar strength and overwhelming killing intent have some backing just as shocking?

    "You might be some young master of the capital, but this young man is the only living rtive of Primordial Beast Hunter Xiao Lei!" The noble who spoke was a previous follower of Li Jian, but right now he took pride in being on the same side as Xue Wei.

    "He is Xiao Lei¡¯s nephew and the reason that Xiao Lei has spent five years not hunting for Primordial Beasts! He spent five years looking after this nephew of his, and he dotes on him so much so that he would killmoners who talked bad about him!"

    This young noble did not hide anything at all. He had a hideous expression on his face and a loathing gleam in his eyes.

    He had constantly been pressured by Xue Wei¡¯s identity back in Tiankong City, and he knew just what it meant to go against Xiao Lei. Now he wanted others to feel the same pressure.

    The expressions on the faces of everyone else turned serious. Had this noble mentioned any other Primordial Beast Hunter, they would have scoffed at him, but he mentioned Xiao Lei.

    Xiao Lei was the Primordial Beast Hunter in the entire Kingdom of Heping who had killed most primordial beasts, and he was still going strong. No one knew exactly how strong he was, but he was a true hero of the entire kingdom.

    "Anyone can im that they are Xiao Lei¡¯s nephew," one of the followers mumbled, but the young master¡¯s face alternated between pale and red. It was clear that he too wished not to believe it, but he did remember some drama five years ago when the capital had heard about Xiao Lei taking in a nephew.

    Then he frowned. "Xiao Lei¡¯s nephew was rumored to be trash," he finally said. "Utter trash. Unable to cultivate. That rumor even reached us here in the capital. You im that this guy is his nephew? Since when did he turn from trash into expert?"

    "You don¡¯t need to understand, but he has a special physique," another noble-born said. Xue Wei said nothing; he just stood and frowned, not sure he was happy with how much these nobles on his side were saying, but at the same time, he knew that it would be investigatedter, and thus he could not keep it hidden. Since that was the case, they might as well use this chance to intimidate their enemies.

    "A special physique?" Everyone present frowned. It was no secret that there existed special physiques in the world, but they were so rare that not many knew about it.

    The moment the young master heard about it, though, his eyes bulged, and a vein started throbbing on his forehead.

    The observing experts were also shocked beyond words. They had heard about special physiques before, but to think they would see a genius with a unique physique was truly unexpected.

    "What are the special traits of this body?" one of the experts could no longer stay quiet and asked the question that all wanted to know.

    "I don¡¯t know," the noble-born who had spoken before said while shaking his head, disappointing everyone, but he did continue. "He managed to go from being a mere mortal to being someone at the ninthyer of the Ordinary Warrior rank within half a year. He is also much stronger than any average expert on the same level, and his Qi is denser ¨C he has more Qi than others of the same stage, so he is capable of challenging those of a higher rank."

    The experts were baffled when they heard this. Six months to reach the ninthyer of the Ordinary Warrior rank? Stronger than average cultivators on the sameyer? Denser Qi and more of it? This was simply a heavenly blessed physique. As long as Xue Wei did not die young, he would without a doubt be the next glorious Primordial Beast Hunter within Heping Kingdom.

    The young master also paled. He understood that the value of such a genius far outstripped even his own value, and he could not help but feel inferior for the first time in his life.

    "Well, I am honored to meet such a genius today," he finally managed to squeeze out the words, attempting to be polite, but he knew that it was impossible.

    "Spare the chatter, I know you don¡¯t feel honored," Xue Wei sighed. "Anyway, we have no more to discuss with one another. We are here to find an inn for the next week¡¯s time, and not to make enemies or friends. Let us just pretend that today never happened."

    The young master felt partly grateful for the fact that Xue Wei was not going to pursue the matter further, but he was also filled with zing jealousy and an unreconciled heart. He could not ept that he had lost face in front of everyone in Inner City.

    The conversation between the two groups had gone on for a short period of time, but many had stopped close by to see what had happened. Everything the young master was involved in was always entertaining for themon noble, but this time he had truly dropped a stone on his own foot.

    Not only had he failed in acquisition of a beauty, but he had also managed to lose a great amount of face. Although no one dared to tell him that to his face, everyone knew it, and they would be gossiping about it for the following year.

    Xue Wei wasted no more time as he strode past the tables filled with people and into the restaurant. The group of nobles from Tiankong City were first stumped by his actions, but they quickly scrambled to follow him.

    As the group of fifty youngsters entered the restaurant, the entrance got incredibly crowded, but instead of shooing them out, the manager hurried to greet them politely.

    "Young masters and misses, please, please, follow me into the inn!" he said as he was rubbing his hands. This manager had long since heard about the drama that was unfolding outside the restaurant and had listened in on everything that had been said.

    He had heard that Xue Wei was Xiao Lei¡¯s nephew, which alone gave him special treatment, but to have a special physique on top of that made him a truly important guest.

    "We would like to rent some rooms," Xue Wei said as he looked at the innkeeper. "We are fifty-three experts, seventeen women, and thirty-six men. Please arrange our lodgings so that women and men do not share a room, that is if you do not have enough for us to have individual rooms," Xue Wei requested.

    "That is no problem; we have five rooms with space for five that can easily hold twenty-five of you young men. Then you can have another five twin rooms, for the other ten, and finally a single room for the final guy."

    "For the girls, we can also provide three of our five-man rooms, and then one twin room. That way all of you will not be alone in the rooms, as I can imagine it is unnerving to be all alone when you are new to the city. You have to decide on one guy to be alone though," the manager of the inn was lightning fast in nning who could go where, and no one questioned him.

    "That sounds great," Xue Wei agreed readily without asking the others for permission and then he withdrew ten gold coins.

    Although ten gold coins was an astronomical figure, it was just barely enough to cover the rent for a week for fifty-three experts within the Inner City of the capital. This, of course, included breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

    "Xue Wei, you take the individual room," all of the youngsters said in unison, "take it, so we do not interrupt your cultivation."

    The truth was that many of them still feared him, but after seeing him step up to help them in the situation they had been in before, they did feel much morefortable around him.

    Receiving the keys, everyone split up into the groups they had agreed upon before, and then the manager led them up a set of stairs that were right next to the counter, to the first, second, and third floor.

    The inn was a beautiful building that had five floors and a cer. The cer was where all the wines and food were stored. The ground floor consisted of the kitchen and the restaurant, while the first, second, and third floor housed the rooms for the inn.

    The fourth floor was where the offices and rooms for the staff to live in were located. It was a beautiful building, painted red and golden. It was made from some sort of heavy wooden material and seemed as sturdy as if it was built from stone.

    Everyone eventually settled into their rooms. The first floor held the five-man rooms, while the second floor had the twin rooms, and the third floor held the single room for Xue Wei. It was also the floor with the best view of all the rooms belonging to the inn, allowing for one to have a great view over the skyline of the inner city.

 Chapter 49: Trouble is Brewing

    Chapter 49: Trouble is Brewing

    As soon as all of them had assessed their rooms and felt content with what they saw, they all went down to the restaurant.

    They had spent a month and a half on the road. All they had eaten were dried strips of meat or roasted Fierce Beast meat that had been nd because they had not had any spices to liven it up.

    "I apologize, but we do not have tables that fit a full fifty-three experts in one sitting. You will have to split up in groups," the innkeeper said with a smile on his face and all of them split up into groups.

    Shen Mu, Luo Zhirou, and Xue Wei all stayed together at a small table in the corner while the others moved about and found seats for themselves. It was arge restaurant, and it couldfortably hold more than five hundred guests at once.

    Everyone was eager to start eating, and fortunately there were a whole ten waitresses within the restaurant, not counting the one behind the counter dealing with drinks.

    The main topic within the inn was the loss of face that the young master had suffered and the emergence of a new genius.

    Although Xue Wei¡¯s current strength was not overwhelming, the fact that he had reached it in such a short amount of time was shocking, and no one knew just how much strength he had.

    "I bet his cultivation base is incredibly unstable and that he is a paper tiger in reality!" one of the guests in the restaurant said loudly. He too was a ninthyer Ordinary Warrior, but he seemed to be around fifty years old.

    "Old Wu, you are just jealous!" another voice called out withughter. "You spent forty years just to reach the ninthyer of the Ordinary Warrior rank, but he spent merely half a year! I get why you are jealous, but don¡¯t forget the facts."

    "This youngster managed to cause one of the children to copse from a nce alone! Tell me, could you even make a mortal copse from a nce alone?"

    The man known as Old Wu was silent. He simply could not respond as he knew that he did not have the strength to make anyone copse without touching them.

    "Don¡¯t you think it was exaggerated?" someone else asked hesitatingly. "I cannot imagine that even an Earth Warrior can make someone copse from a single nce ¨C only at the Sky Warrior realm might one be able topress their Qi to pull off such a feat."

    "They say he has a special physique! I heard that it was something about him having the strength of a thousand men at the same level!" someone eximed. As soon as the words had left his mouth, Xue Wei almost choked on the drink he had ordered.

    It was not only him, everyone from Tiankong City had strange and rather amusing expressions on their faces, but no one spoke up to talk about him.

    "I saw the young man; he was a true dragon amongst men! Even his clothes, although travel-worn, had the aura of being worn by someone outstanding!"

    Xue Wei waspletely stunned with every additional thing that was being said by these experts. He had suddenly been ced up there as a real genius, one that the kingdom had never before seen, and this made him stunned but also ufortable.

    "If people honestly believe that I am that strong, then I will be killed fast. No one wants to allow for such a perverse genius to be born; even the royal family will be against my rise as I will be able to threaten themter on."

    Xue Wei wanted to correct them, but he knew that even if he corrected the ones within the restaurant, it was worthless. The rumors had long since spread through the entire Inner City, and they were just getting more and more colorful the further they went.

    "Oh well, although themoners might believe in this." Xue Wei sighed as he leaned back in the chair. "I know that those that truly matter will not believe it so easily. They will make tests and examinations and ask that young master about what truly happened. When they hear how simple it was, they will leave me be... I hope."

    "If all goes wrong, they have to reconsider since my uncle is Xiao Lei. Would they want to cause problems for the biggest Primordial Beast Hunter of the kingdom, who is revered and respected by the public as their number one figure?"

    Thinking like this, Xue Wei felt a bit better, but he was still rather ufortable with the conversations he heard within the restaurant. The stories were getting out of control, and some of them even imed that this young hero who had emerged was a direct descendant of one of the heavenly War Gods of the dark era.

    It wasmon knowledge that the War Gods were all the ancestors of the Wayfarers; and if he were a descendant from one of these War Gods, then he would be a wayfarer, but wayfarers never participated in the war, so why would he be there?

    Xue Wei shook his head as he gave up thinking about all the strange rumors that were beginning to spread.

    Instead, a slight smile rose on his face as the first set of dishes were brought to their table by an attractive woman. This woman nced at Xue Wei clearly with curiosity, but she dared not say anything. As a result, she just hurried to ce the tes in the middle of the table, curtseyed to them, and scurried away with a face as red as fire in the firece.

    Xue Wei chuckled but said nothing as he looked at the dishes. He had not had real food for so long, and he was salivating as he looked at the dishes in front of him.

    He had expected in dishes considering the food was included in the room¡¯s rental fee, but the dishes in front of him were anything but simple.

    There was a stew made from Fierce Beast meat and vegetables; there was roasted Fierce Beast meat. On another te were roasted greens with garlic and butter.

    There was a total of ten dishes on the table, and all of them had a scent so heavenly that Xue Wei could almost not hold back. He picked up the chopsticks and his te and took some of the food onto his own te before quickly starting to eat.

    Seeing that Xue Wei dug into the food, neither Luo Zhirou nor Shen Mu held back and began eating too. Those two had also lived on dry rations and nd, roasted meat for thest month and a half and were now so excited to have some real food with great taste.

    Xue Wei nced at the other tables and saw that everyone from his group had been given the same food, food that was much better than what they could demand with their rental fee.

    The other tables belonging to people who were not from his entourage had food ced upon them too, but these were more humble dishes.

    The wine that Xue Wei and his friends were given was also a very delicious fruit wine.

    This fruit wine was fresh and delicious as it entered their throats, cleansing their pte after eating a bite. Xue Wei, Shen Mu, and Luo Zhirou spent a good hour in the restaurant eating the dishes, enjoying everyst bite and chatting happily with one another about what they could expect from their time in the army.

    "We already know that we will be entering the same gamp as the other ninthyered Ordinary Warriors." Shen Mu sighed with a bit of depression but also a bit of pride. Although he could not make it to the Genius Camp, he could make it to the next best.

    "Do you think you can make it to the Genius Camp?" Luo Zhirou asked Xue Wei with a bit of hesitation. Xue Wei was only a ninthyered Ordinary Warrior like the others, but he had a fighting strength that did not match that of his cultivation base.

    Xue Wei shrugged his shoulders. "I don¡¯t know," he answered honestly. "It quite depends on what exactly the test is. If there is a way to disy my fighting strength, then I should be fine, but if it is about cultivation base alone, then I am not an Earth Warrior yet and thus not allowed to join."

    Xue Wei did not say anything about it, but in reality, he hoped that it was a test ofbat power. He sincerely wished to join the Genius Camp. Not only for his own sake, but for the sake of his uncle and Wang Xiaoyun. If he wanted a chance to be stronger, then he needed the resources that he could get in the Genius Camp.

    Xue Wei wanted many things. He wanted to be strong enough to make his uncle proud. He wanted to be epted by Wang Xiaoyun¡¯s family. He wanted to regain his memories.

    Having read about the vast world from a very young age when he had no memories, Xue Wei also wanted to be able to roam the rest of the continent. He wanted to experience all the wonders he had read about. He wanted to be the first person from the Heping Kingdom to transcend the Heavenly Warrior rank.

    Xue Wei had many dreams. He was aware that to make these dreamse true, he had to do many things, but the first step on his road would be whether or not he could enter the Genius Camp.

    The rest of the meal was eaten withfortable conversation before they had finished it all. The sun was setting behind the city walls, but even so the Inner City still bustled with life.

    Streetmps were lightening up the roads and streets, small torches andmps lit up the shops, and noise drifted out from every single restaurant and entertaining space in the Inner City.

    Carriages and pnquins were transporting citizens through the bustling streets, while others were on horseback and a few were moving on their feet.

    Just as Xue Wei finished eating, he looked up and saw three figures entering the restaurant and going straight to the counter belonging to the manager.

    Here, they spoke together with hushed voices, and soon after the three men were looking at Xue Wei with eyes that neither disyed open hostility nor any respect and positivity.

    When Xue Wei tried to sense their strength, a frown appeared on his face. These three men had an aura simr to the one Manager Su had, meaning that they were all at the Heavenly Warrior rank. It was even possible that they were stronger than Manager Su.

    "Trouble is brewing," Xue Wei muttered to himself, but he kept calm on the surface, and he did not lower his gaze when his eyes locked onto the eyes of the man walking in the middle of the other two.

    The two looked at one another, their wills shed, and although Xue Wei was much weaker than this Heavenly Warrior, his determination was not to be belittled.

    "Young hero, may I ask what your name is?" the guy in the middle asked while they were still a bit away, and the entire restaurant quieted down as they observed Xue Wei.

    The inhabitants of the Inner City dared not utter a single sound, some of them were even afraid to breathe. It was clear that they knew who these three figures were, but since they did not speak about them, Xue Wei was clueless.

    "This young one is named Xue Wei," Xue Wei answered honestly and calmly as he cupped his fists and made a fractional bow.

 Chapter 50: Golden Chambers

    Chapter 50: Golden Chambers

    When Xue Wei only bowed fractionally to the man in the middle, one of the guys on the man¡¯s side took a step forward and harrumphed. His voice was so loud that many people present in the restaurant started feeling ufortable.

    Shen Mu and Luo Zhirou, who were right next to Xue Wei, both felt like an explosion had ensued in their minds; blood leaked from their ears, and they were dizzy. None of them dared to speak, but Xue Wei¡¯s eyes turned serious, and a deadly gleam appeared deep within.

    These men had not even introduced themselves. They had been rude, and considering their rudeness Xue Wei had still responded politely.

    They had even gone as far as to wound hisrades. As to why he was not injured, he did not know, but he felt a tremor in his soul when the expert harrumphed.

    "Shao Qiang!" The middle man looked displeased as he nced at the man who had acted, but although he seemed unhappy, he did nothing more. Following that, he once more turned to Xue Wei, his face filled with a smile.

    "I am here on behalf of Crown Prince Dong Jie. He is holding a banquet tomorrow evening and would love for you and a few of your friends to participate."

    "Crown Prince Dong Jie is a good friend of your uncle, and he wishes to extend this friendship to cover you as well. He also wishes to get to know the rising genius who has appeared out of nowhere. It is not every day one is fortunate enough to encounter a genius with a special physique."

    Xue Wei was stumped when he heard that what these men were here for was to offer him an invitation to a banquet with the most prominent person in the entire Heping Kingdom.

    Right now, the Crown Prince was rather steady in his position, and the only one who could threaten him even slightly was the Third Prince.

    However, because of several factors, the Crown Prince had gained his position, and the King favored him heavily.

    The Crown Prince was born from the Queen, whereas the Third Prince was born from a less popr concubine.

    The Crown Prince was older than the Third Prince, and he had cultivated for a longer period of time. Hence his strength was superior.

    Although the Third Prince had more talent than the Crown Prince, and even though he was much more ruthless, everyone flocked to the Crown Prince¡¯s banner, and only a few experts and politicians decided to support the Third Prince.

    Even though Xue Wei was an uing genius, he was the nephew of Xiao Lei. Anyone who reeled him in had gained a significant backing.

    Xue Wei was perfectly well aware of this. What they wanted was not him, and although his talent was extraordinary and making them interested in taking him in, they would never go as far as to hold a banquet for him.

    "Seems like uncle has a great influence still," Xue Wei smiled to himself, but he quickly nodded his head in response to the invitation. "I would be happy to partake in the banquet," he said.

    Although he was aware that they did not want him at the banquet but his uncle, he was also aware that life would be very troublesome if he insulted the future ruler of the kingdom.

    "Your lordship mentioned that I could bring some friends," Xue Wei continued and looked at Luo Zhirou and Shen Mu by his sides and smiled. "I will be bringing two. They both know how to behave," Xue Wei promised, and both Luo Zhirou and Shen Mu felt warmth in their hearts knowing that they were the ones he wanted to bring along.

    Although they were aware that this was a great opportunity for them, they could not help but feel slightly scared and nervous. They had always thought they came from a major city and that they were in the upper echelons of society, but now they understood that although they were nobles where they came from, they were nothing more than country bumpkins to these people in the capital.

    "Well, we have delivered the message from His Highness in that case," the person in the middle said and gave a slight nod to Xue Wei before he turned around and left.

    As soon as he left, the previously quiet restaurant exploded in an uproar. "To think that Duke Zhang made a personal visit to see this person! He is much more formidable than what I expected at first ¨C perhaps all those rumors are true!" someone eximed, and Xue Wei was surprised when he heard that the person in question was a duke.

    One has to know that reaching the rank of a duke was very difficult. For the nobility, only one rank was above the duke rank, apart from the Royal family, and that was the marquis.

    Bing a marquis was near impossible. They were considered royal highnesses and only the most heroic figures of a generation were given this rank. Not even Xiao Lei had been allowed to be a marquis.

    Although bing a marquis was possible, there were currently no one who had been bequeathed this rank in the entire Kingdom, but there were a full five dukes. Three of these dukes supported the Crown Prince, while the other two were neutral.

    Duke Zhang was a duke that Xue Wei had read about before. He used to be a Primordial Beast Hunter as well, but he had only killed two Primordial Beasts when he was still active. Now he was an official at the royal court and held a high position as the Grand Chancellor, the highest-ranking executive official of the Heping Kingdom.

    "I guess it makes sense that his guards thought I acted imperiously," Xue Wei sighed, "but how was I to know who he was when he did not introduce himself?"

    "Not to mention that his actions were overbearing to the limit of what even I can ept. Although neither Luo Zhirou nor Shen Mu encountered great trouble or experienced any serious wounds, they were still bleeding, and it has made my first impression of them poor."

    Xue Wei looked at Luo Zhirou and Shen Mu, expecting to see anger on their faces after having been treated the way they had. But instead, they were expressing excitement

    "You will bring us to the banquet?" Luo Zhirou asked with a voice trembling with excitement. Her eyes were glistening and a smile that she could not control spread on her face.

    "Of course." Xue Wei smiled and nodded his head. "I have to bring my friends, and you two are my friends," he said cheerfully, hiding the feelings of injustice he held within, but he had not forgotten it. He was very curious about how the Crown Prince would treat him and his friends.

    "We have to go shopping!" Luo Zhirou eximed. "We need to get our hands on a present for our host tomorrow, and I need to purchase a dress. I did not pack any pretty dresses since we were heading for the army and I doubted that there would be any big banquets at the army camp."

    Luo Zhirou blushed slightly, but both Shen Mu and Xue Weiughed at her.

    "This is the capital; the shops are open far into the night, so let us go and find something. But do we need to bring some sort of present to the Crown Prince? Will we be able to provide him anything he could be interested in?"

    Hearing that, the two others became quiet for some time before they gave Xue Wei a wry smile. It was indeed impolite to show up at a banquet without a present, but at the same time, their gift would just embarrass them.

    "We can always give him some beast cores," Shen Mu attempted to find something they had that they could give but Xue Wei shook his head. "We only have beast cores of Fierce Beast equivalent to Ordinary Warriors. Although it might be of use to us, the fact is that he is the Crown Prince. He has avable to him the best resources our kingdom has to offer. He would not even pick up such a beast core if it was in front of him."

    Shen Mu hung his head, but Xue Wei just shrugged his shoulders. "Well, we can go to the Golden Chambers. It is an auction house that spans the entire continent, and it is also the only auction house in the entire city. It has two branches in the capital, one in the outer city and one in the inner city."

    "This auction house might have something valuable. They don¡¯t only do auctions, as you can also buy a lot of things in their stores, while it is all the rarer materials that are being auctioned off."

    Xue Wei smiled as he spoke. "The Golden Chambers are never closed. They are open throughout the entire day ¨C including the night ¨C never missing business; and as the years have gone by, more and more of the shops in the inner city have matched their style and are open nearly all hours of the day."

    "The inner city is mainly inhabited by cultivators. And as you know, although we are still considered mortals we do not need to sleep any longer. Cultivation can change our need for sleep, and thus we never know when we need to go out buying things."

    "Okay, okay!" Shen Muughed. "You have convinced us, let us grab our bags from the rooms upstairs and go to the shopping streets to see what exactly we need. If we fall over something outstanding, we can buy it for the Crown Prince. If we can¡¯t find anything, then we still ought to at least get a dress for little Zhirou. Although we are considered country bumpkins here, we can at least look the part as nobles!"

    Shen Mu and Luo Zhirou had been given a fair amount of money by their individual families, just like Xue Wei, but Xue Wei had at least ten times their amount of money as he was the sole heir of Xiao Lei. Meanwhile, the Luo and Shen families had other youngsters. Both Shen Mu and Luo Zhirou had other siblings, cousins, uncles, nephews and so on.

    Together, the group went to their rooms, grabbed their bags, and got ready to stroll into the bustling city.

    Although the sky was dark, the city streets were lit by streetmps, and every shop had torches and othermps to light them up.

    Many of the local inhabitants were on their way home after ying outside the entire day, but others were on their way out after having practiced all day. Restaurants and drinking dens were filled to the brim; all of them had experts walking in and out, and some were sober while others were drunk.

    "Well, where should we go first?" Shen Mu asked as they entered the busy streets. Both Shen Mu and Luo Zhirou were looking around with big eyes filled with the wonders of the capital.

    Although Tiankong City was a major city within the Kingdom of Heping, it was nothingpared to the capital. The capital was at least ten times bigger. It had so many people living here, and the whole feel was different. It felt so much more luxurious and had a feeling of being from another world.

    Xue Wei was leading his two friends. "We will go to the Golden Chambers first." he said, having made his decision early on. "I want to see if they have any interesting things, and at the same time we will be able to get rid of all our beast cores."

    Their bags were still filled to the brim with beast cores. It was natural for them to have acquired as many as they had after the fight with the beast horde, and now it was time for them to truly profit.

    "Although it is dangerous to sell all at once, that only matters in normal shops. Doing business with the Golden Chambers will be safe."

    "In that case, we know where to go!" Shen Mu decided, and Luo Zhirou nodded her head. She truly did not care where they went as long as she was capable of experiencing this wonderful city¡¯s nightlife.

 Chapter 51: Golden Chambers Pagoda

    Chapter 51: Golden Chambers¡¯ Pagoda

    The walk towards the Golden Chambers should not have taken long. It was not that far away from the restaurant, but they were looking at every beautiful pavilion, pagoda, and all the other beautiful buildings on the way over. They stopped at every small bridge that ran across the smaller streams that were spreading through the capital and looked at the dark water that ran beneath them.

    Some of these streams had water lotuses sprouting from the dark water; some of them were light purple, and others were white and seemed celestial against the dark water.

    These water lotuses were unable to hold any medicinal properties, as they were mortal flowers, but their beauty was genuinely able to help make the Inner City glow in the dark. Xue Wei could not imagine just how beautiful it would be during the daytime.

    The trio made their way through the Inner City. They heard rumor after rumor about Xue Wei¡¯s sudden appearance and his special physique, not to mention his uncle being Xiao Lei, causing everyone to put him high on a pedestal and expecting him to be a dragon amongst men.

    Xue Wei smiled wryly as he shook his head while Shen Mu and Luo Zhirou justughed at it.

    After seeing the beauty of the city, they finally reached a massive pagoda. This pagoda was made of pure gold, marble, and the rare material wood jade.

    Wood jade was a kind of wood that had crystallized and looked like jade. It was the most expensive kind of wood, and although crystallized it was incredibly sturdy. Not only this, it was often used to carve figures and statues.

    Wood jade could have different colors, but the mostmon color was pale green. Hence it had beenpared with actual jade since its discovery.

    Most cultivators had at least one carving of wood jade with them. Although it did nothing to one¡¯s cultivation base, it still managed to help one keep a calm heart. When one had a wood jade carving with them, they would be able to nurture their souls, something that was very hard to do otherwise.

    Although wood jade carvings were extremely precious, they were also incredibly expensive, especially those made from the hardest-to-find colors.

    Wood jade carvings made from green wood jade were as expensive as their weight in silver. Wood jade carvings made from other colors could be even more costly than literally their weight in gold.

    Xue Wei had long since nned on buying a wood jade carving, but it was impossible for him to buy one in Tiankong City. Since that was impossible, getting his hands on one had be one of his goals now that they were going to the Golden Chambers in the capital. It was also the reason he had suggested for them to go there and not to any other casual shop.

    Outside the pagoda were four houses, one to the east, one to the south, one to the west, and one to the north. These four houses contained the shops where one could buy and sell materials, items, and treasures. The pagoda itself was only used when it was time for the actual auction to be held.

    Xue Wei, Shen Mu, and Luo Zhirou had stopped in their tracks as they saw this beautiful building. The gold, marble, and wood jade glistened in the light of the thousands of torches that were hanging on the walls of the pagoda alongside the thousands ofmps scattered around the four houses.

    The gold, marble, and wood jade was glistening in the light, it was a sight to behold, and Xue Wei, who had read about it, was almost breathless just looking at it.

    Not only him, but also Shen Mu and Luo Zhirou were shocked to their cores. They had never before seen such extravagance. They had never before seen such a magnificent building, and now they were to enter it.

    Xue Wei calmed his heart and took a deep breath. He closed his eyes for a moment and then opened them again, possessing a look filled with determination.

    Moments after Xue Wei, Shen Mu, and Luo Zhirou moved towards the house in front of them. They were in need of a shop where they could discreetly sell all their beast cores and at the same time buy the necessities that they needed before the big banquet.

    The house they entered was filled with weapons and armors. It was clearly weaponry, and although everything within this store was of great value, it had nothing to do with what Xue Wei and his two friends needed.

    Although the sun had set and the sky was dark, the inside of the shop was filled with light, and many cultivators could be seen within.

    "It seems that we are not the only group who arrived early," Xue Wei pointed out as he saw a whole lot of smaller groups of experts that were salivating over quite a few of the weapons and armors.

    There were also genuine customers in the shop, and they were all apanied by an attendant from the shop. These attendants were showing off the weaponry and armors, allowing for the customers to get familiar with the items before deciding whether or not they¡¯d buy it.

    Seeing that there was nothing for them in this ce, Xue Wei, Shen Mu, and Luo Zhirou instantly turned on their feet and left.

    "It requires quite a bit of self-control to leave this ce," Shen Mu sighed. "Although I have a decent sword I was given by my father, a single nce at the items in that store made me understand that my sword can at most be considered mediocre."

    "I feel the same way," Luo Zhirou shook her head. "I have a beautiful ribbon and fan, both of which has served me well on the way here from Tiankong City and helped me kill multiple Fierce Beasts and bandits, but they were nothing in front of the weaponry in this Golden Chamber¡¯s shop."

    "Keep in mind that everything that is disyed at these shops is considered the average-ranked items," Xue Wei said with a wry smile. "If it were rare, it would be sold at the auctions."

    Shen Mu, Luo Zhirou, and Xue Wei were quiet as they headed for the next building, hoping that this time they had managed to find the right shop.

    As they entered the building, Xue Wei¡¯s eyes widened in pleasant surprise. In front of him opened up a sight filled with herbs, woods, jades, minerals, ores, gems, and beast cores.

    This was indeed the correct shop, the ce where they could sell their beast cores and at the same time purchase the wooden jade carving Xue Wei wanted.

    As they entered, Xue Wei headed straight for the beast cores. There were beast cores of beasts equivalent to the Ordinary Warrior, Earth Warriors, and Sky Warriors present, while the beast cores of the Heavenly Warrior equivalent usually were sold on the auctions.

    "Hmm, the beast core of a beast with the strength of an Ordinary Warrior ranges from fifty silver for the firstyer to three and a half gold for a ninthyer," Shen Mu said, his eyes zing with excitement. Although he had brought a lot of gold, he now knew that his beast cores were worth much more than the gold he had brought with him.

    Xue Wei saw his change in expression andughed, "Don¡¯t expect to get even half the price when they do a deal with you."

    "The Golden Chambers needs to make a profit when they sell, so I will expect us to be given around thirty percent of the sales price. Although it sounds like a little, it is still the best way to get rid of the beast cores," Xue Wei exined.

    "We need to remember that out of those seventy percent, they need to pay for the assistants here in the shops, and they need to pay the taxes to the royal family, and they need to pay to keep their shops looking the way they look. Not to mention, on top of all of that, they still need to have a profit themselves."

    "But would it not be better to sell it somewhere else then?" Luo Zhirou asked with a frown. Although she did not doubt what Xue Wei had said was correct, she could not help but feel that they were wasting their beast cores this way.

    "I will be selling here," Xue Wei said decisively. "Here it is safe," he added.

    Xue Wei said nothing more than that, but Luo Zhirou seemed to understand what he meant, and her face paled slightly by thinking about what could have happened had she gone somewhere else.

    Shen Mu was the same. He had been temporarily blinded by greed when he had heard that he was only getting thirty percent of the sales price, but when he thought about it more deeply, he understood that this was indeed the safest solution.

    "My lords anddy, what can I do for you?" a gentle voice sounded next to Xue Wei, Shen Mu, and Luo Zhirou. There stood a lovely woman. She was not very tall, and although she was not a beauty that could ruin nations, she had a cute face and had a feeling of someone men naturally wanted to protect.

    When they looked at her, Shen Mu¡¯s eyes widened slightly, while Xue Wei was utterly unaffected. "Ouch!" Shen Mu screeched out, stunning everyone present in the surroundings. Looking down, he saw that Luo Zhirou had twisted the skin around his waist, wholly taken him by surprise. Although he was about toin to her, when he saw her pouting, his heart melted and a smile grew on his face.

    Xue Wei grinned and then cupped his hands to the attendant. "I apologize," he said and noticed that the girl too was chuckling slightly.

    "We are here for two purposes," Xue Wei said with a low voice so that others could not hear what he had to say. "First, wee to sell beast cores. Although they are all of the beasts equivalent to the Ordinary Warrior rank, we have them in vast quantities."

    "Oh?" The woman lifted an eyebrow in surprise. "How vast?" she asked again. If the order were too big, she would have to fetch a manager or an Elder.

    "Hmm, I have several hundreds," Xue Wei said after contemting for a bit. "Five hundred or so?" he said with uncertainty, but the number alone was enough to make the attendant¡¯s eyes open wide in shock. "Five- five hundred?!" she eximed in shock, and Xue Wei nodded his head. "My friends have a few too," he added.

    "My lords anddy, please follow me," the attendant led them into some rooms that were behind the shop itself in the back of the building. Here were the appraisal rooms, and she prepared some tea for them. She had already transmitted the situation to the manager through amunication orb and were now serving the three of them while waiting for him to arrive.

    "The item you are bringing is not of great value individually," she began, "but when added up, they are a whole lot of money. I am not allowed to make such important decisions, and thus I have called the manager. Please be patient; he will be with you shortly."

    These attendants had the permission to sell any item and ept any payment without any limits, but as soon as it came to buying, they had quite a few restrictions, as they were not taught to be appraisers but trained to know everything about every single item on sale in the shop instead.

    The three youngsters were not in a hurry. They all looked around and saw various art pieces adorning the room. They also enjoyed the tea, but they were all a bit fidgety. It was a lot of money they were trying to gain.

    "Sorry to have kept you waiting," a voice suddenly sounded through the door, and an elderly man walked through. Although he was elderly, his eyes were as bright as the starry sky, and his skin was as smooth as a newborn baby.

    When he saw Xue Wei, he raised an eyebrow in surprise and then he smiled. "To think that young master Xue Wei has graced us with his appearance." heughed and cupped his fists before giving a slight bow to the three.

 Chapter 52: Selling Beast Cores

    Chapter 52: Selling Beast Cores

    Xue Wei frowned. How did this person already know who he was? He had not even introduced himself, but this man had already exposed Xue Wei¡¯s identity.

    Seeing the frown, the man just smiled. "I am the manager of this store. Long ago, when we were informed that Xiao Lei had a nephew, we were all given a portrait of you to recognize you, should you one day appear in the capital."

    "It was only after this that we were informed of the unfortunate situation that you were incapable of cultivating. Fortunately, it seems that you have gained a blessing in disguise and now have a special physique."

    "To be honest, I had forgotten all about the old picture, yet when I heard about your illustrious arrival in the capital¡¯s Inner City, it was impossible for me not to find it and examine it once more."

    "Hence, when I saw you, I could instantly recognize who you were." The manager chuckled.

    "To think that our store would be honored by your presence this soon, I had not expected this," he continued, and Xue Wei finally felt morefortable. The exnation was reasonable; the fact that the Golden Chambers had done some research was also reasonable. Xiao Lei was after all the most prominent figure in the Heping Kingdom after the King and, in some way, he was seen as more of a hero than even said king himself.

    "I¡¯ve already heard the gist of the situation from miss Tie," the manager said as he changed the subject to that of business. Although he kept his friendly smile on his face, his eyes were now sharp and calcting.

    "I was told you have more than five hundred beast cores. Although all of them are of varying strength and none exceeds that of a beast equivalent to a ninthyer Ordinary Warrior, this is still arge transaction."

    "Fortunately, beast cores of Ordinary Warrior¨Cequivalent beasts are what we sell the most!" the manager continued with a snicker.

    "These beast cores are used to fuel many of our things. For instance, themps that lit up the pce are all fueled by this kind of beast core. They are needed to keep the fire alive in the smithies when they create cultivators weapons; even though they are not ranked treasures, if one wants to make a weapon that a cultivator can use, then the me must be infused with the energy of a beast core."

    "These beast cores are also used by certain restaurants, where the energy is fused with the fire when roasting meat to infuse even more energy into the meal."

    "They are ground up and used in alchemy; they are used when making armors. Even the needle used to sew the clothes for cultivators are created from this kind of beast core. As such, we never have enough beast cores of the lower grade, and thus we would be more than willing to buy all the cores you have with you."

    The manager had not needed toe with such a thorough exnation as to what exactly the beast cores were needed for, but because he respected Xue Wei, or more importantly respected his talent and his uncle, he had decided to be straightforward with him.

    "I cannot give you the full sales price for these items," he continued and shook his head apologetically. "Our shop needs to make a profit, or we will be punished. Usually, we will buy at around thirty percent, but because of your talent and the sheer amount you are bringing, I can offer thirty-five percent of the sales price. It is truly the highest price I can offer."

    "We are humbled that you are willing to go to such lengths for us," Xue Wei was the one who answered. Although five percent more might not sound like much, but when it came to around five hundred beast cores, the five percent suddenly became quite noticeable.

    "Okay, the big question is ¨C how many beast cores do you have, and whatyer are they?" the manager asked, and then Xue Wei picked up his bag and spilled its content all over the table.

    "We are going to be here for a long time," Luo Zhirou could not help but say with a slight chuckle as she looked at beast cores rolling all over.

    "This is indeed around five hundred," the manager was equally shocked. Just how could one single person hunt down so many beasts at equal rank for their cores? Was he truly as prodigious as the rumors around him suggested?

    "We encountered a beast horde on the way over," Xue Wei exined. He knew there was no reason to be quiet about it as the news would spread from the soldiers anyway, and the Golden Chambers would be some of the first to know about it.

    "A beast horde?!" The manager was shocked. One has to know that although the beast hordes appeared on a weekly basis, it was where the armies were located. A Primordial Beast controlled each of the beast hordes, and for a Primordial Beast to find interest in their group, it was truly a lucky chance that they had survived.

    "What happened with the beast leading them?" the manager asked while almost holding his breath, but neither Xue Wei nor the two others could answer him.

    "We never saw the Primordial Beast," Xue Wei finally sighed. "One of the members of our group had colluded with the beast to have me killed, but he failed and paid the ultimate price instead."

    "A human colluded with a Primordial Beast? This is getting more and more outrageous!" the manager could not help but shout when he heard this, but Xue Wei just faintly smiled.

    "I see, so because of this Primordial Beast and human working together, you were attacked. I assume it was a weak Primordial Beast since it did not just do the deed itself. Makes sense for it to hide from your group, too." The manager nodded his head repeatedly as if he had just figured it all out.

    "Well, in that case, let us see how many beast cores you managed to harvest," the manager said as he nced at the cores that were stacked on the table, and a few had rolled off to the ground.

    "You have four hundred and ny-three beast cores. Of those, one hundred and eighty-seven are equivalent to a ninthyer Ordinary Warrior; two hundred and one equivalent to eightyer Ordinary Warriors; and the remaining one hundred and five is a mixture of randomyers all beneath the eightyer."

    "As a sign of our consideration, we will set the price of all of those as seventhyer Ordinary Warrior rank cores."

    After calcting how much this totaled, the manager mumbled to himself and waved his hand, after which everything vanished into thin air. Another wave of his hand caused gold to appear on the table. "This is your payment," he said with a smile.

    "What was that?!" Luo Zhirou was the first to exim. All of them had seen something that reminded them of magic, but they could notpletely understand how he had done it.

    Seeing their three shocked expressions, the manager burst intoughter. "This is a storage ring. You can get storage treasures of all kinds, but they are incredibly rare and also very costly. Even if you had all the gold in the world, you would not be able to purchase one."

    "That expensive?" Luo Zhirou was shocked, and her petite hand covered her lips as she cried out.

    "Even the smallest of them are considered ranked treasures and not even most Heavenly Warriors can afford one. In fact, only a minority of them can."

    "If they cannot be bought with gold, then do you need blood stones?" Xue Wei suddenly asked. He had read many books and knew a lot of things, but he had never before seen a bloodstone.

    These bloodstones were different from ordinary stones. They were considered the blood of the continent, imbued with a strange energy that one could extract and use to strengthen their cultivation base.

    These bloodstones were simr to beast cores, but where beast cores were violent in nature and hard to process, the bloodstones were gentle in nature. It was easy to draw out every single ounce of energy.

    The manager raised an eyebrow when he heard what Xue Wei had asked, while Shen Mu and Luo Zhirou looked puzzled. "Bloodstones?" they asked.

    "You will indeed need bloodstones to purchase a storage treasure. Any ranked treasure has to be purchased with bloodstones unless it is half a step away being a treasured weapon."

    "Bloodstones are hard to get your hands on in the Kingdom of Heping. You can barely get your hands on a handful, as we have no bloodstone deposits, and all bloodstones are brought in from the rest of the continent."

    "It is also because of this that we do not have any cultivator cities in Heping Kingdom, nor do we have anyone who has managed to break through past the Heavenly Warrior rank, though someone spectes that your uncle might have done so. Otherwise, he might not have been able to kill as many Primordial Beasts as he has."

    Xue Wei knew about the bloodstones, but he had never before heard about storage treasures. He could not help but feel an urge to get one deep within, but he also understood that right now he did not have the qualifications to own one ¨C just as he were likely to be killed for owning too precious an item.

    "Well then, let us calcte your friends¡¯ beast cores," the manager said with a smile and began to sort out their beast cores into ranks and strength. After making a final count, he also paid them thirty-five percent of their sales price, and then he smiled at the three.

    "Thank you for doing business with us. Can we perhaps help you with something else?"

    This was what Xue Wei had been waiting for, and he cleared his throat. "I am looking for a wood jade carving. I am not looking for anything too outrageous, just a simple figure."

    "A wood jade figure?" The manager was surprised, but then heughed. "Sure," he said, "I can get you a wood jade figure. If you want a simple one, I can give it to you as a symbol of gratitude for having brought yourrge batch of beast cores to us."

    Although wood jade carvings were expensive formoners, they were truly nothingpared to the vast amount of beast cores that Xue Wei and his friends had brought.

    "Miss Tie, bring me three of the horse figurines made from high-grade green wood jade," he ordered, and the female attendant instantly bowed in acknowledgment before she hurried out of the room.

    Moments after, she returned with three fist-sized figurines, all shaped like horses in various poses. These horses were all made from high-grade green wood jade.

    All the different kinds of wood jade were categorized into low, medium, high and superior and profound. A shop like the Golden Chambers did not even carry low or medium grade wood jade; they only carried high and superior quality.

    The profound kind was simply so rare and hard to get one¡¯s hands on that when they did emerge, they would have to be auctioned off. And most of the time, the price would be paid in bloodstones.

    "Take these," the manager epted the three horse carvings and gave one to each of the youngsters. "If you have more to sell in the future, or to buy, then pleasee to our establishment again."

    Having said that, the three youngsters all stood up and bowed deeply to the manager with cupped fists.

    "Thank you for your hospitality," they said in unison before they all left the room, feeling excited beyond belief. Although they were not poor before, they were now rtively rich, and they had even acquired for themselves wood jade carvings, which made them incredibly happy.

    "Onwards to find clothes and a present for now!" Luo Zhirou eximed as she grabbed Xue Wei and Shen Mu around their arms and dragged them with her out of the shop.

 Chapter 53: Fabrics

    Chapter 53: Fabrics

    They left the shop and headed for the next house. This house was filled with clothes, furniture, cutlery, and other things that one could need for everyday living.

    This was, fortunately, the next shop they had been looking for. As they entered, they looked around with eyes filled with wonder before they moved towards the clothes area.

    Xue Wei looked at the fabrics and sighed in praise. They had all kinds of colors and patterns. From embroidery of flowers, phoenixes, dragons, to all kinds of mythical beasts, they had plenty of options.

    There was every kind of pattern, and the fabrics were all of the highest quality. Some of them had embroideries made from pure gold and silver; others had the clothes weaved from various kinds of silk. There was even silk produced by Primordial Beasts! That was the silk from the Thunder Spider. A spider that would make a spider at the top of trees and soak its body in thunder, which made its silk much more durable and carry traces of lightning.

    There was also another kind of silk made from a Primordial Beast, but it carried traces of immortality and was as expensive as a treasured weapon, and hence not easily essible to people.

    The Thunder Spider made manys everywhere in the forests, anding across it was not too rare, but the silk made from the Immortal Larvae was somethingpletely different.

    The Immortal Larvae was a Primordial Beast with traces of immortality. As long as it had energy in its body, it was impossible to kill, and the silk it spun was also impossible to break for ordinary weapons.

    This fabric was without a doubt the most expensive of all the fabrics present, but there was also the medium ranked fabrics that had been created from Fierce Beasts, before one went to the low-grade materials made from mortal beasts.

    Everything that Xue Wei had been wearing so far had been created from mortal beasts. It was the finest quality that one could get, but it was after all still made from mortal beasts. As a result, it had no effect during battles. It could be prated by any weapon, and it held no extra power or abilities.

    "This is so expensive!" Luo Zhirou said with shock as she looked at the fabrics in front of her. Although they had just sold hundreds of beast cores, they could not afford clothes made from the Thunder Spider¡¯s silk.

    The middle-ranked clothes that were made from the silk of Fierce Beasts were more affordable, but even this made Luo Zhirou¡¯s and Shen Mu¡¯s hearts sting with pain.

    "Well, we have been invited to the pce for a banquet," Shen Mu said as he grit his teeth. "I will not be happy if I am not looking dashing! This little amount of money, I will earn it again one day."

    With Shen Mu having said this, Luo Zhirou seemed to have agreed as she nodded her head. Xue Wei also agreed that it was a great investment, but his reasoning was a bit different.

    "Although we are going to the banquet, these are clothes that will prove beneficial to us in the future," he said with a slight chuckle.

    "Look at this fabric. It is made from the silk of a zing me Spider. It has an inherited me within and has some resistance to fire. Even if you were to enter a burning house, your body would not catch on fire, and you would not even be able to feel any difort."

    "Although this is useful in battle, I am more interested in the inherited me. If you insert some of your Qi into the clothes, you can even make the clothes sprout fire out of nothing. Having fireballs appearing in the middle of a fight can be of great use!"

    The fabric that Xue Wei held in his hands was red like blood, and on it was golden embroidery of a dragon.

    "I will be taking this," he decided straight away and turned to look for an attendant. Here, the fabric had still not been turned into clothing, as every piece of clothing was tailor-made, but it could be finished within half a day as they had tailors waiting at the back of the store, spending all their time sewing clothes for the customers.

    "I want this," Luo Zhirou had also made a decision on what fabric she wished to wear. It was a blue fabric with a pattern of water lotuses made from a Water Lotus Larvae. It had its name because, although it was a Fierce Beast, it was usually found amongst the water lotuses in the wild.

    This fabric had a gentle nature of water, and if one injected energy into the fabric, one could summon water globs just like the fireballs of the fabric Xue Wei had picked.

    At the same time, it was very sturdy and had a high amount of defense. When it came to what element was best suited for defense, it was without doubt water and earth. Water was formless, able to both defend and attack, and this fabric had a beautiful bnce of both.

    "I will take this then," Shen Mu made a decision too as he took a ck fabric. There were no embroideries on it so far, but the material had a beautiful sheen to it, and when he ordered it made he was likely to also ask for embroideries around the edges, just simple borders to make it lively.

    This ck fabric was the most expensive one of the three. It was made from a Void Larvae, a Fierce Beast that was skilled in hiding in the cracks of the world. It was even capable of splitting the void and teleporting away, which made capturing it incredibly difficult, and finding its silk even more so.

    Seeing that all three of them had already found the fabric that they wished to purchase, three attendants came to their aid.

    "Please follow me," all of them said in unison as they each picked a roll of fabric and started walking towards the back of the shop.

    There were multiple rooms, and inside of all these rooms were various treats and drinks on a table to the side, but there were no chairs to sit down on.

    "Please stand in the middle," the attendant asked Xue Wei as she took a notebook and a pen from a pocket and a measurement tape from another pocket that she held up against him.

    Xue Wei stood in the middle, and the woman measured his entire figure, after which she scribbled down his measurements on the notebook.

    "The clothes will be ready for you to pick up in seven hours," the woman said, and Xue Wei nodded his head.

    "Please follow me," she continued, and they went to the counter where Xue Wei was given a small gem. This gem had the character for the number eight carved into it. "When youe back, please use this gem as proof of your order. You pay a deposit now, and the rest of the price when the clothes have been fitted to you."

    "Sounds good," Xue Wei nodded his head in approval and ced ten gold coins on the counter, which was the deposit. Another seventeen would have to be paid when he came back to pick up the clothes.

    While he paid, Luo Zhirou and Shen Mu also exited their rooms and paid their deposits after getting a gem each. Luo Zhirou¡¯s had the character for nine while Shen Mu¡¯s had the character for the number ten.

    "Well then, now we just need a gift," Luo Zhirou said, but the three of them turned silent. It was not that they did not wish to purchase a gift, but who knew what was useable for the Crown Prince.

    "Well we can always just give him some gold," Xue Wei sighed. "Although he has all the resources that he can wish for in the imperial family to boost his strength, he has to have his own economy to bribe officials and pay his servants, keep his mansions thriving, and so on."

    "Does he not get paid an annual amount of money from the taxes?" Shen Mu asked, puzzled, and Xue Wei nodded his head. "All the children of the king gets their yearly sry, if you will, as a part of the tax-payers money, but at the same time the King has many children and the kingdom is in constant war with the beasts, meaning armies are in constant need of being maintained. He cannot afford to splurge on his sons."

    "I see." Shen Mu nodded his head, feeling enlightened. Although the Crown Prince would receive some minimal allowance for simply being a prince, he still had to earn money elsewhere to afford the things he needed to pay for.

    "We have to be careful when we go to the banquet," Xue Wei warned them. "We know no one there, and at the same time we have already drawn attention to ourselves. The Crown Prince is likely to try and draw us into his camp, but we have just arrived in the capital, so joining a faction just like that would be too reckless."

    Luo Zhirou and Shen Mu were silent, but after a bit of thinking, they nodded their heads.

    "I think it is true that we have to be careful with whom we support," Shen Mu said after a bit of consideration. "But at the same time, I also need to be loyal to the royal family. I am after all the next City Lord of Tiankong City. Serving the royal family will be for the best, and the King has long since favored the Crown Prince. As long as he is alive, he will be steady in his position."

    "So you want to be reeled in by the Crown Prince?" Xue Wei asked with a frown, and Shen Mu nodded his head hesitatingly. "I understand why you feel indecision, but my family has never been close to any royalty, and this can be an opportunity for us to change this. If I manage to strike up a rtionship with him, even if that is with me being his vassal, then I would be able to improve the growth of my family in the future."

    "I see," Xue Wei knew that it was pointless to try and discuss it with him, and thus he just respected his friend¡¯s decision.

    "I will do what Shen Mu does," Luo Zhirou said after a bit of consideration. "I wish to be a supporter for Shen Mu, and I will follow his decision."

    Xue Wei had already expected this, so he just nodded his head.

    "Let us return to the inn. We still have quite some hours before it is time for us to pick up our clothes. The banquet is in the evening, so we should rest and cultivate hard."

    Neither Luo Zhirou nor Shen Mu disagreed with Xue Wei. As a result, they rushed back to their inn where they entered their rooms and sat down on their respective beds.

    Of the four girls Luo Zhirou shared a room with, two were present, while the final two were nowhere to be seen.

    Seeing that they were there, Luo Zhirou was as quiet as she could be as she moved to her bed and started cultivating. Shen Mu was the same; only Xue Wei was benefitting from the single room.

    Like this, the next couple of hours passed. The rooms were continually being entered and left by their roommates, but as proper cultivators neither Luo Zhirou nor Shen Mu were disturbed by this. It was not before Xue Wei appeared outside of their doors calling for them that they woke up from their meditation.

    It was finally time to pick up their clothes and prepare for the banquet.

 Chapter 54: Towards the Banquet

    Chapter 54 - Towards the Banquet

    It took them another hour to get the clothes fitted, and then they bought a small cloth made from Primordial Beast silk.

    This cloth was then used to create a purse where they together added a hundred gold coins.

    This was quite a lot of gold, and it hurt all three of them to put that much money into it, but they still understood that the Crown Prince needed a great gift and thus they epted the losses.

    "Well, we have gotten some amazing clothes that can be used both in battle and for banquets." Xue Wei smiled. "We also got our wood jade carving for free. Although we spent a lot of gold, all the gold we have spent is gold we have gotten from beast cores. We have not even taken any of the money we were given by our families out yet."

    Hearing this, both Luo Zhirou and Shen Mu felt better. It was indeed true that they had not spent any of their money yet. The money they had spent were what they had gotten from the beast cores.

    "We should thank Li Jian for bringing such wealth to us," Shen Mu joked, and Luo Zhirouughed while Xue Wei just smiled.

    He was still ufortable about the female Primordial Beast he had seen twice now. Both times she had been wearing arge bamboo hat with a veil to hide her face and arge cloak to hide her body.

    "Oh well, I should be safe for now," he muttered to himself. "I am in the middle of the capital. Even if a beast horde appeared, I would be safe. If the Primordial Beasts could wipe out the Heping Kingdom¡¯s capital, they would have done so a long time ago."

    "And the recruitment camp is ced right next to the capital, so the next year I should be safe." Xue Wei decided.

    Still, inside his mind was a tiny part of him that could not be convinced. There was a constant feeling telling him that he was in danger.

    Shaking his head, his reason pushed this feeling of danger to the side, and he smiled with his friends once more.

    Together, the three made their way through the inner city. The pce was located in the midst of everything, and it was also here that the banquet was being held.

    Although the Crown Prince had estates outside of the pce in the city itself, he held all of the major gatherings at his chambers in the pce, and today was indeed a major gathering.

    "To think that His Highness the Crown Prince is holding such a grand banquet is truly an honor," Shen Mu said, a little bit astonished.

    "This banquet has been in the works for a long time in advance most likely," Xue Wei said. "The Crown Prince has most likely made a banquet to wish all the geniuses of the noble families good luck in their endeavor when ites to military service. We are likely to encounter arge group of experts today, and many of them will be young masters of the capital."

    Shen Mu thought about it for a bit, and then he nodded his head a bit, looking embarrassed. "That makes sense," heughed. "Thinking that he would make a banquet just for our arrival would be quite a stretch. I wonder if we can mingle sessfully amongst them."

    "I am sure that some of them will be reasonable," Xue Wei smiled, but he thought that at the same time it was likely that many of them were arrogant. They had been brought up in the capital, and the majority of them were supposed to be Earth Warriors. They would never acknowledge the three of them as they were still Ordinary Warriors.

    The fact that they had been given an invite was already very shocking, but it could be argued for since he had a special physique and his uncle was Xiao Lei, but Luo Zhirou and Shen Mu had no such backing. All they could rely on was their rtionship with Xue Wei.

    "Oh well it will be fine," Xue Wei muttered to himself, "the main target will be me. I already insulted one of the nobles from the capital, and at the same time, I have a special physique. Having a special physique will make many of them jealous."

    "Jealousy is ugly, but hopefully no one is overly hostile." Xue Wei¡¯s eyes turned dark, and a sinister smile appeared on his lips, "if they do, then I do not mind teaching them a lesson."

    Xue Wei was rather certain in his own strength. Although it was impossible for him to kill these noble-born youngsters, he could still teach them a lesson as long as they were at the firstyer of the Earth Warrior rank.

    All of them were in deep thought as they made their way towards the pce that was towering in the distance when suddenly they heard the sounds of horse hooves galloping behind them.

    "Out of the way!" someone yelled hostilely, followed by the sound of a whip shing. Xue Wei stopped in his tracks and turned around to see what was happening behind him, and his eyes turned serious.

    A young man was riding a horse that was galloping through the busy streets. He was swinging a whip in his hand, and itnded on the face of amoner, rupturing the skin and causing him to forever be disfigured.

    Xue Wei did not see himself as a hero of mankind, but he was not so arrogant that he would treat others like ants. He knew how it was to be looked down upon, which as a result never made him underestimate or undervalue human life.

    "You three, out of the way!" the young man called as he looked at Xue Wei, Luo Zhirou, and Shen Mu, who were all standing in the middle of the street.

    Xue Wei looked at Shen Mu and Luo Zhirou and saw undisguised disgust in their expressions. Both of them loathed arrogant masters to the extreme, and the sight in front of them had filled them both with the utmost dislike towards this young master that seemed to be the same age as themselves.

    Xue Wei nodded his head in high praise. The young man on top of the horse was clearly an Earth Warrior of the firstyer. He was wielding a whip, and he was mounted on a horse. Although the horse was a mortal beast, it was still a beast and could prove to be a great assistance to the rider when speeding along like this, but in other situations, it could also be the cause of a disaster.

    Xue Wei looked at the mortal beast, and as soon as their eyes locked onto one another, the horse neighed and started thrashing under the control of its young master.

    The young master held hard on the reins and used the whip to whip the horse so hard that blood started to seep down the hind legs.

    The horse was in a frenzy. It seemed as if it had lost its mind as it was thrashing around, neighing and bucking, trying to get as far away from Xue Wei as possible.

    The young master on top of the horse could not understand what was going on. He was clinging on for dear life, feeling as if he would be thrown to the ground at any moment and lose all of his face.

    Right then and there, he had no mind to figure out what had happened. Luo Zhirou and Shen Mu were also puzzled; only Xue Wei knew that he had caused this, but he was confused as to how he had managed to do so.

    He had been capable of scaring the ck Horned Mammoth just by looking it in the eyes, and now he had driven a horse to madness from doing the same.

    It was clear that he had some effect on beasts of all kinds, but he considered it a part of his special physique.

    Xue Wei had read books about special physiques before, and one of them had included a physique that had the power of transforming one into a celestial human. Since that was possible, then it wasn¡¯t so far-fetched for someone to have some sort of control over beasts too.

    Had it not been for the Diviner already checking him, he would have feared that he was a Primordial Beast given that he had some traits like them, but the diviner knew what a Primordial Beast looked like and he had already scrutinized him, making it impossible for Xue Wei to be one. If he had a beast core, then he would have been captured back in Tiankong City.

    Xue Wei put the thoughts about the origin of his special physique to the back of his mind and startedughing as he saw the unkempt appearance of the young master.

    However, hisughter made the already maddened horse panic further, and it neighed once more but lost bnce and fell backward,nding on the young master, squashing him into the dirty street.

    Although the streets were neat and kept tidy in the Inner City, they were still dusty, and a cloud of dust rose up as the horse managed to swing its legs around and get back up to its hooves again, running away as fast as it could on trembling legs.

    The young master who had been smashed underneath the horse got up with much difficulty. His clothes were no longer spotless, his tied-up hair was messy, and his pale skin had be grey from the dust on the road.

    "You!" he eximed and took a few steps towards Xue Wei and his two friends. He raised his hand that was holding the whip, and his arm was trembling from anger.

    "What did you do to my horse?!" he asked so furiously that his face had turnedpletely red.

    "Who did what?" Xue Wei asked with a slight smile on his face as he spread his hands out to the sides. "Did you see us do anything? We were just standing there, petrified, when you came riding towards us. How can it be our fault that your horse went wild? Who knows, you might have treated it badly?"

    The young man was trembling from anger, and he raised his whip and swung it at full strength towards Xue Wei, Luo Zhirou, and Shen Mu,pletely disregarding the difference in their strength, knowing full well that such a swing would easily kill a cultivator at the ninthyer of the Ordinary Warrior rank.

    Xue Wei took a step forward and activated the Forbidden Rush movement technique before he vanished and appeared right next to the whip.

    He reached out his hand and infused it with Qi to protect himself when he grabbed the tail of the whip from the air.

    A slight sting could be felt in Xue Wei¡¯s hand as he gripped the whip, but he quickly continued to rotate the qi within his body. Following that, he shot out towards the young master.

    Shattering Mountain Palm.

    He released one of his strongest attacks right away, aiming it at the young master¡¯s stomach, intending to injure but not kill. Although he had been outrageous, Xue Wei had long since realized he acted rashly because he had the ability to do so.

    Even if Xue Wei had some protection due to personal clout, he could not randomly kill the youngsters of the noble ss in the capital.

    "Watch it," Xue Wei sneered as the palm connected with the surprised young master. Although he was an Earth Warrior, he had been raised in the capital and wascking real fighting experience. He had been so shocked by Xue Wei catching his whip that he never realized what had hit him before he was on the ground vomiting blood.

    "I will get you for this!" he sneered with blood trailing from the side of his lips, but Xue Wei paid no more attention to him and turned around. He knew that this young master would be no threat to him anymore.

    "Come on," he said with a smile to the stunned Luo Zhirou and Shen Mu. "The banquet is starting soon."

 Chapter 55: Attending a Banquet

    Shen Mu and Luo Zhirou were rather befuddled as they followed behind Xue Wei.

    Everything had happened so fast that they had not seen exactly what had happened, and they were in a trance-like state, trying their best to make heads and tails of what they had seen.

    The horse had suddenly gone insane. There had been nothing to warrant this madness; it had happened out of the blue.

    Luo Zhirou and Shen Mu both looked curiously at Xue Wei. Had he done something to be able to control the thoughts of a mortal beast, which seemed to be an impossibility?

    Together the three made their way to the pce gates. Here, the guards were looking fierce and strong. Each and every one of them was of the Sky Warrior rank, and their strength was magnificent inparison to simple Ordinary Warriors like Xue Wei, Luo Zhirou, and Shen Mu.

    "Halt," one of the guards called out as he saw Xue Wei and his friends. He frowned. He knew that the Crown Prince was hosting a banquet tonight, but the usual guests were all Earth Warriors. To see three Ordinary Warriors meant that their background was formidable or they had some other redeeming qualities.

    "Please announce your name," the guard said. He was neither hostile nor polite, but he was very straightforward.

    His strength allowed for him to be smug, but he also understood that these children were the next generation¡¯s Primordial Beast Hunters. They would be amazing figures, and insulting them would be pointless for him.

    "Xue Wei. I brought two friends with me," Xue Wei introduced himself. The moment he mentioned his name, an eyebrow on the guard¡¯s face shot into the air.

    He too had heard about the new unique genius that had appeared in the city from out of nowhere. He had stunned all the upper echelons of the capital with his brazen behavior, his shocking background, and his special physique.

    Everyone knew that he was only an Ordinary Warrior, but they were also aware that he had not cultivated for more than half a year. When taking that into consideration, his talent for cultivation was simply so outstanding that no one was able to catch up with him at the rate he was going. Even if he were an Ordinary Warrior now, it was highly likely that he would be an Earth Warrior in a month at most.

    "This way please," The guard bowed slightly and gestured with an arm, leading the three into the pce grounds.

    The guard led them all the way through the many gardens scattered across the grounds. There were stone gardens, bamboo gardens, flower gardens, and evenkes and streams. It continued on for a long time, and they walked past many mansions, pces, pagodas, and pavilions on their way towards a beautiful pce in the distance.

    "This is the Green Jade Pce," the guard introduced. "It is the ce where His Highness the Crown Prince usually hosts his banquets. It belongs to His Highness the King, but he often lends it out to his sons when they have special events ongoing."

    The guard provided a quick introduction of the building where the banquet would be held, and he smiled with good will towards Xue Wei.

    "His Highness, the Crown Prince, values talent a great deal. It is your honor to be invited to his banquet like this, but be careful. Not all of the King¡¯s children look at the Crown Prince favorably, and those who flock to his side might encounter unknown danger."

    The guard decided to warn him. He had a good impression of this young man who was neither too humble nor too arrogant.

    "Thank you for your warning," Xue Wei said with genuine gratitude. Few people had shown concern for Xue Wei in his life, and those who did were in his opinion worthy of him treating them with respect.

    Truthfully, Xue Wei had already spoken with Luo Zhirou and Shen Mu about joining a faction. He was not eager to join one, but he knew that they wanted to as soon as possible.

    Xue Wei, Luo Zhirou, and Shen Mu walked the final part of the way on their own. There was a beautiful trail leading in and out through the environment of a stunning stone garden.

    The trail led through the many beautiful corners of the garden so that one would see the wonders of the ce before reaching a building made solely from green jade and gold.

    This was the Green Jade Pce, and it was outstandingly beautiful as it towered in front of them, sparkling in the light of the setting sun.

    Bustling noises came out from the open gate, and another two Sky Warrior guards were keeping a watch at the entrance.

    There were no one else on the way towards the banquet, as it seemed that all of them had arrived already, but Xue Wei did not feel any pressure. Instead, he leisurely strolled in and smiled at the two guards whose faces twitched a little from the carefreeness that Xue Wei disyed.

    Shen Mu and Luo Zhirou were feeling ufortable showing upte, but they knew that they would be in the shadows of Xue Wei, and could not help but heave a sigh of relief. Xue Wei had be a towering person to them. Someone who would protect them from the rain and the wind, someone who would take all the troubles they might encounter and dispel them.

    As they reached the entrance, the two Sky Warrior guards looked at them, but they did not stop them. Instead, they just observed them as the three of them entered the pce itself.

    The moment they entered, a herald was waiting, and he looked at them with a dismayed expression on his face. "Follow me," he said grumpily, "you arete," he continued toin. However, since he was showing no respect to Xue Wei, Xue Wei on the other hand did not disy any respect to him either.

    As they walked up a set of stairs, they finally reached arge hall that was filled with young men and women that were mingling with one another. A few were of the ninthyer Ordinary Warrior rank, but the majority were firstyer Earth Warriors.

    Some beautiful women looked like otherworldly fairies; there were young men who looked as if they cared as much about their appearance as these women, and there were men as burly as a bear.

    Everyone was wearing their most outstanding outfits, and the majority wore outfits made from Fierce Beast materials. Some of the outfits were made with leather, others had fabric made from silk, and a third group was wearing fur.

    The experts were mingling together in groups. Some of them were standing at a table with drinks, sipping some wine, and others were at a table with food while nibbling on some snacks.

    There were also groups all over the floor chatting merrily with one another, a cup of traditional wine in one hand.

    Almost everyone present had weapons draped around their bodies, either swords hanging from their waists or on their backs, spears on their backs, whips hanging around their waist, and so on.

    It was clear that all of them were cultivators, their senses were heightened, and their eyes gleamed withpetitive spirit. Xue Wei looked out over the entire hall with his eyes, and they narrowed as theynded on someone who stood at a podium while talking with a small group of experts where there were even some secondyer and thirdyer Earth Warriors amongst them.

    This young man seemed to be between twenty and thirty years old. He was wearing the most exquisite clothes made from silk that was harvested from a Primordial Beast, and with a fur lining of Primordial Beast fur.

    This young man was not very old, yet when Xue Wei looked at him, he felt an acute sense of crisis that he had only met when encountering Shen Bingwen, Li Fang, Manager Su, and the mysterious female Primordial Beast.

    It was clear that if he was not already a Heavenly Warrior at such a young age, then he was not far from bing one.

    It was clear that he was the Crown Prince. He was an incredibly attractive young man. His skin was white as porcin, his eyes dark and deep like a fathomless deep. His eyebrows were nted upwards like a sharp sword and his features were like the finest carving of a heavenly ruler.

    The moment Xue Wei¡¯s eyesnded on him, the man stopped talking and lifted his head, looking straight at Xue Wei. A smile then blossomed on his handsome face, and he said a few words to the ones surrounding him before he made his way towards Xue Wei and his friends.

    Everyone had noticed what was going on. The moment Xue Wei entered the hall, they noticed him, yet many of the ones present deigned him unworthy of paying their attention to and thus they continued their conversations.

    It was not before the Crown Prince himself began moving towards Xue Wei that people started wondering who exactly this unknown figure was.

    The ones who were smarter amongst the group of nobles instantly guessed his identity and smiled as they too tried to get a good first-hand impression from this young man.

    There were also those who disliked Xue Wei from the rumors, but although they disliked him, they would not mention it when seeing the smile that had blossomed on the Crown Prince¡¯s face.

    "You must be Xue Wei!" The Crown Prince said as he lifted his hand and gestured for Xue Wei and his friends to follow.

    "I was starting to get worried that you would not join us." Heughed, and Xue Wei politely smiled.

    "It is my honor to be invited to such an event, so of course we will show up," Xue Wei said as he cupped his hands to the Crown Prince, showing proper etiquette.

    Everyone held their breath as they observed how the interaction between Xue Wei and the Crown Prince transpired.

    Many were secretly wishing for Xue Wei to insult the prince somehow, but so far that was not happening. On the other hand, others had a favorable impression of him and were almost nervous about their interaction, hoping that he would behave correctly so that he could be another pir of support for the Crown Prince¡¯s side in the fight for the throne.

    "Come with me," The Crown Prince said, and from his tone, Xue Wei could instantly tell that he was used to issuing orders and that he was used to them being obliged.

    Although there was a slight hint of an order behind this sentence too, Xue Wei did not mind and followed behind the Crown Prince through the entire hall. He ensured to look around at the same time and saw that there was a massive tform just next to the podium he had been standing on before, and he instantly knew what this was for.

    Xue Wei had read many books about the Kingdom of Heping. In the Kingdom of Heping¡¯s capital, it was usual to hold banquets amongst the younger generation. Furthermore, when they held these banquets, they also reserved time to exchange pointers.

    Thinking of this, Xue Wei¡¯s face sank a little. He had faith in towering over any other ninthyer Ordinary Warrior with no issue. He was even confident in his chances against an average oneyer Earth Warrior, but when it came to the two and threeyer Earth Warriors, his biggest chance was to escape.

    It would have been possible for him to kill them using Sacrificial Stab and also taking advantage should they underestimate their opponent, but in the long run he could only run away. A sparring match where one party constantly ran away was not worth watching.

    "Oh well, maybe no one will challenge me," he muttered to himself with a self-mocking smile. As always, he understood that personal strength was all that mattered and if he wanted to do good in this life, then he needed to stand above all others.

 Chapter 56: Challenging Xue Wei

    "Your Highness, please introduce us," a seductive woman said as she looked at the trio with curiosity.

    She was clearly aware of who they were, but she also understood that it would be considered rude if she just went towards him and began talking with this young man without addressing the Crown Prince.

    The Crown Prince smiled amiably and could not help butugh slightly. "I do not believe that you have not heard of him before," he said withughter in his voice. "It is Xue Wei, the previously useless nephew of our Primordial Beast Hunter Xiao Lei. He has shocked the entire capital by disying an outstanding talent for cultivation and for having a special physique that gives him certain benefitspared to other cultivators."

    "The other two are his friends, Miss Luo Zhirou of the Luo family in Tiankong City and Mister Shen Mu, son and heir of the City Lord of Tiankong City."

    As the Crown Prince introduced Luo Zhirou and Shen Mu, they were both greatly shocked by the fact that he knew about them. They were of the impression that they were just unimportant followers, but the Crown Prince had gone out of his way to investigate them. As such, they were notpletely invisible.

    "Mister Xue Wei! What a pleasure to make your acquaintance!" the seductive woman raised her hand and hid her mouth behind it as sheughed slightly.

    "I have heard about your illustrious figure thesest few days. To think that such a genius is amongst us." She continued tough as if she had experienced the funniest thing possible, and while Xue Wei frowned a little due to herughter, the Crown Prince and the other experts surrounding him were all smiling as if it was natural for this particr woman to behave like this.

    But it did not seem as if the woman had finished yet; she also seemed topletely ignore the frown on Xue Wei¡¯s face as she grabbed his hands and looked deep into his eyes.

    "Tell me, is it true that you killed a whole beast horde on your own? Is it true that you have gone from being a mortal to bing a ninthyer Ordinary Warrior in half a year?"

    "I also heard that your strength is many times stronger than any average Ordinary Warrior. How are you able to tell? Have you measured your strength? How did you do so?"

    Questions rained down on Xue Wei, and he was unsure of which question to answer if any of them at all.

    Others were observing him curiously, waiting to see what he would answer. His words would determine how he would be viewed by many of these experts.

    "Our group was indeed unfortunate and encountered a beast horde on the way here," Xue Wei acknowledged. "The beast horde was not as terrifying as the ones we have heard of; it mainly consisted of beasts as strong as Ordinary Warriors and a few equivalent to Earth Warriors. They were being led by one beast of the Sky Warrior stage, and there were only a few thousand."

    The Crown Prince nodded his head with a smile as he praised Xue Wei in his heart. To downy the fact that they had met a beast horde would make others underestimate the young man. It was clear that Xue Wei would rather be underestimated than be respected by these capital noble-born youngsters.

    The woman pouted when she heard his story. "That¡¯s it?" she asked in a disappointed way, but a few of the other boys were hesitating slightly.

    A few understood that he was underying the fact. A beast horde was never simple, and they were always controlled by a Primordial Beast. Even the simplest horde was controlled by one, and thus they were truly dangerous.

    Others did not understand this point at all. They thought that the rumors had been blown out of proportions and that Xue Wei had benefited from this.

    Many looked down on him. If this rumor was exaggerated, then for sure the others were too. Even if he had managed to go from being a mortal to bing a ninthyer Ordinary Warrior in half a year, did that not just mean that his foundations were terrible?

    Everyone had their own thoughts about the young man in front of them, but while a few had understood that he was not as simple as he seemed, the majority of them looked down on him already.

    Some even snorted when he finished speaking. The Crown Prince was one of the few that understood what it truly implied to meet a beast horde; he also understood what it meant to cultivate through nineyers in six months. Even if it was an unstable foundation, it was not something that just anyone could do.

    Not to mention, anyone knew what an unstable foundation meant. A few people from the capital had unstable foundations because they had been incapable of giving up on the sudden boost in strength, but the majority had their families knocking on their heads telling them what a proper cultivation base should be like, and thus they cultivated steadily instead.

    Those with a cultivation base that was unstable were often looked down upon, and Xue Wei had now been regarded as one of them.

    Sensing how the eyes that looked at him contained scorn and schadenfreude, Xue Wei smiled slightly. This way, he had a chance on the dueling tformter if they were to challenge him, but he also understood that it was unlikely that he would be able to do anything other than draw a tie with anyone of the secondyer Earth Warrior and above.

    "Now that all my guests have arrived, please feel free to share your pointers on the podium. Be mindful of not wounding one another; this is an exchange of pointers, not a life and death battle."

    At the same time as that was announced, Xue Wei, Luo Zhirou, and Shen Mu were led by the Crown Prince towards the group of experts he had been standing with previously.

    Here, a few greeted Xue Wei after having greeted the Crown Prince, but the majority deemed him unfit for their attention. Seeing this kind of reaction, Xue Wei felt relieved.

    Some youngsters jumped to the podium right away, and the sparring started. It was two Ninthyer Ordinary Warriors, and their strength was equal in every aspect.

    They exchanged pointers in an orderly manner, taking turns to disy their might, but in the end, they had to acknowledge that it was a tie and they left the stage.

    Others jumped on stage and disyed their martial arts; all of them were doing their best to show off in front of the Crown Prince. They wanted to be handpicked by him to be groomed into bing a new Primordial Beast Hunter or a pir of strength for the royal family.

    Unfortunately for them, the Crown Prince was not observing the sparring on the podium. Instead, he was deeply focused on a conversation with Xue Wei.

    "Your uncle has been out hunting for a long time this time," hemented, and Xue Wei nodded his head. "Your Highness, Uncle informed me that he would be busy for some years, might even be a full decade before he returned. He has gone hunting Primordial Beasts after all."

    "I understand that it is impossible to know where to find these Primordial Beasts and that one can at most hope to encounter them. I expect that he is killing a whole lot of Fierce Beasts too. If he can diminish the numbers of Fierce Beasts with strength equivalent to Heavenly Warriors, then that, too, will be a great aplishment."

    Xue Wei nodded his head, "Your Highness is too kind. I am sure that Uncle would be honored to know that even Your Royal Highness is worried about his well-being."

    "Still, I know the strength of Uncle, and he is not one to be easily done in. As long as he hunts in the Kingdom of Heping, he will be absolutely safe."

    Xue Wei waspletely certain when he spoke. To him, Xiao Lei was the mountain that held up the sky and ensured that no matter what the world would not copse over him.

    Since this was the case, then it was clear that he would be able to survive anything that the Kingdom of Heping had to offer. He had hunted Primordial Beasts many times before, and he had always been sessful.

    Xue Wei¡¯s certainty affected the Crown Prince. "He has nothing to fear in the Kingdom of Heping?" He muttered to himself before his eyes turned bright.

    "There is a rumor that Xiao Lei has long since transcended the Heavenly Warrior stage, perhaps this is so?" he muttered to himself so low that no one heard him, but his lips rose into a great smile. Getting a good rtionship with Xue Wei was paramount now.

    Many of the youngsters in the group were unhappy. They wished to strike up a rtionship with the Crown Prince, but he was busy chatting with someone who they did not deem special in their eyes, and thus anger roared in the minds of many.

    "I would like to challenge Xue Wei!" someone suddenly called out. The entire ce went silent, and the Crown Prince frowned. On one side, he was pleased with the fact that Xue Wei would be trialed on the podium. He too wanted to see if he had any special abilities.

    On the other hand, he was very displeased with the fact that he was being interrupted in the middle of a conversation with someone. It was ack of respect towards him as the Crown Prince, but his curiosity won over. He smiled at Xue Wei.

    "Someone has challenged you. The expert is a ninthyer Ordinary Warrior, and you are the same age. You have no reason to decline the challenge."

    Xue Weiughed too. He did not fear anyone of the Ordinary Warrior rank, and thus he just shook his head and moved to the stage.

    He could have activated the Forbidden Rush movement technique and arrived on the stage with ir, but he was not willing to disy his Forbidden Rush technique anytime soon.

    If he wished to have a chance against a secondyer Earth Warrior, then he needed to depend on Forbidden Rush, which was his trump card.

    Walking steadily up to the stage, Xue Wei looked at his opponent. It was a young man; his hair was tidy and neatly tied up on top of his head with a small hairpin made from gold that kept it in ce.

    He wore a set of clothes made from Fierce Beast hide, and his body was burly and filled with strength. It was clear that he had trained his body alongside his Qi.

    It was quite rare for someone to train their bodies alongside their Qi, as it was something that took time, and in the end, it was a pointless activity as one¡¯s body would be enhanced the more Qi one absorbed. Eventually, even though someone had cultivated their bodies, they would be overtaken by others in the form of physical strength too.

    This young man held absolute confidence in himself. He was currently the expert in the capital with the most physical strength beneath the Earth Warrior rank. His muscles bulged under the Fierce Beast Hide.

    "You can always give up before we begin." He grinned at Xue Wei, who just shook his head. Comparing physical strength? This was something that he was actually quite interested in.

    "I heard that you have a strength to match thousand Ordinary Warriors," the man continued as he looked at Xue Wei, "but looking at your frail figure, you cannot have trained your body. Compared to me, you are just a weakling who has only cultivated Qi!"

 Chapter 57: Communication Orb

    Xue Wei looked at the buff man in front of him and shook his head. "I want to defeat this guy, but I can¡¯t do it too cleanly," he thought as he wondered about what to do.

    The opponent did not waste any time and rushed at Xue Wei; the entire podium trembled from the weight thatnded every time he took a step.

    Xue Wei narrowly dodged a few attacks. He had not shed with the other because he wanted to gauge his own strength first.

    If he sent out an attack and defeated him straight away, he would have wasted all the time he had spent to make himself seem like a weakling.

    As a result, he was just narrowly escaping every time. He could feel the wind of the punch fly past his face, his body, and his limbs.

    The punches were indeed backed by a strength that Xue Wei had never before seen amongst other Ordinary Warriors, but his own strength was simrly overwhelming. After a moment, he finally decided it was time to sh head-on with the burly youngster.

    The longer he spent dodging the attacks, the crowd started to progressively boo at him, yelling for him to stop being such a scaredy-cat, and some even called for him to stop wasting time on the stage, yet the judge and the Crown Prince looked on with a frown on their faces.

    They were much higher ranked than the other people present. They could see that there was no hesitation or panic whenever Xue Wei moved. It was clear that he was not as backed into a corner as he seemed.

    At the same time, his eyes werepletely calm; his actions were constantly under control. The Crown Prince smirked when he saw this. "Seems like I was not mistaken," he said to himself.

    Xue Wei threw out a punch that contained twenty percent of his strength. He was still testing the waters, yet when he threw out the attack the majority of the experts in the hall looked at him with disdain.

    Everyone was waiting to see the oue of the sh. The Crown Prince and the judge, who were of a much higher rank, could see that the punch that Xue Wei threw out was a casual one with not even half his strength, their eyes narrowing slightly.

    The two fists shed, and a boom resounded in the hall. The burly young man was stopped in his tracks while Xue Wei took five steps back.

    He then looked at his fist, which ached slightly, and acknowledged that he had overestimated his strength.

    "Well done!" The burly man was shocked, as he had been stopped by Xue Wei with raw strength. That had never happened before.

    Xue Wei, on the other hand, was also shocked that he had been forced backward and that his fist was hurting.

    "No more underestimating, I am going to use half of my strength this time," he mumbled to himself. Although his voice was very low, both the judge and the Crown Prince heard him, their faces twitching slightly.

    They knew for a fact that when they were as young as Xue Wei, they were likely not to be his opponent.

    The shine in the Crown Prince¡¯s eyes grew. He truly wanted to recruit this young man, and he decided to start with showing goodwill towards his friends. If he became good friends with Shen Mu and Luo Zhirou, it was likely that Xue Wei would join him too.

    Having decided on this, the Crown Prince shifted next to Luo Zhirou and Shen Mu, where he began chatting with them about the oue of the fight.

    "Xue Wei will win," Luo Zhirou said straightforwardly. "He is much stronger than anyone else here, not counting Your Royal Highness or the esteemed judge."

    Luo Zhirou was of the impression that Xue Wei was a god that had descended from the heavens, someone who had strength like no one else and abilities that others could notprehend.

    Shen Mu was a little more reserved about what he said, but in his heart he too hadplete faith in Xue Wei.

    The other experts surrounding the Crown Prince were looking at them with various expressions. Some looked on with loathing andplete disregard, while others had expressions of confusion and deep thought.

    Things did not add up. Xue Wei had downyed his abilities so far, at least a group of experts were certain of this. When they heard the certainty in Luo Zhirou¡¯s voice, they felt even more sure of this fact, and when they saw how he had not been judged as the loser just yet by the judge, they understood that he was hiding a lot of strength.

    "This man is the nephew of Xiao Lei," one of them mumbled to himself. "He has a special physique, and he is shrewd. This is a young man we should not make into an enemy."

    While this guy made this conclusion, others had the same thought, but many werepletely disregarding of his potential.

    The burly man on the podium charged at Xue Wei again, but this time Xue Wei was prepared, and half his strength was inserted into his arm as he threw out another punch.

    The speed of this punch far exceeded the speed of the previous one. The pupils of the burly youngster¡¯s eyes contracted, and he tried to avoid the collision, but he was toote.

    The two hands collided in the air and he was the one forced back this time. His entire body trembled as he took a few steps back, and each step made small almost invisible cracks appear all over the podium floor. From this, one could see how much strength was added to this attack.

    "I am convinced of my defeat," the burly man gave Xue Wei a long nce as he jumped from the podium and an uproar ensued in the hall.

    Xue Wei cupped his hands to the expert and was about to step off the podium when a oneyer Earth Warrior jumped onto the stage.

    "Your physical body is strong, but this is an exchange of pointers. I wonder if I can make you serious enough to use your martial art skills. That is, if you have any."

    There was mockery within the voice of this other youngster. Xue Wei looked at him and noticed that he was wearing clothes made from Fierce Beast silk too. It was purple with golden embroideries. His hair was half hanging, half tied up. His face could be considered handsome by some.

    This young man was another noble-born son of the capital. He had consumed a fair deal of medicinal nts for him to reach the level he were at, and he had decent talent. Otherwise, it would be impossible to make it to the firstyer of the Earth Warrior rank at his age.

    Xue Wei frowned. He had just engaged in a sparring match, and so far no one else had fought more than one battle at a time. In fact, no one had been up on the podium more than once.

    "You are not scared, are you?" He snickered, but Xue Wei just nced at him with a bored look on his face. "I find it unbing of me to hog the space on the podium when this is for all the geniuses present," he said casually.

    "Were the Crown Prince to enjoy watching me perform another exchange of pointers, then, of course, it is a different matter."

    Having said this, Xue Wei was testing the Crown Prince. Allowing for the other youngsters to bully him when he was the host would be frowned upon, but the prince was likely also very curious to see his prowess.

    This was quite a dilemma to give the prince, and while the prince and some realized the point behind Xue Wei¡¯s question, others thought he was just looking for a way to escape the exchange of pointers, and their opinion on him was constantly dropping.

    The Crown Prince thought for a moment, aware that no matter what he said, he would disappoint someone.

    His main aim was to recruit Xue Wei, so it was obvious that he should not be disappointed. At the same time, it would also be righteous to stand up for Xue Wei since he was being bullied. However, although this was the case, the Crown Prince was aware that Xue Wei had used no energy in the previous spar and was at his peak condition. He was also eager to see just how many tricks this young man had hidden.

    Sighing, he stood up. "We have many young heroes present who have not disyed their skills just yet," the Crown Prince said with a smile on his lips. "To ask for young master Xue Wei to participate in another exchange of pointers when he just finished one is not the act of a gentleman." The Crown Princeughed. "I understand that all of you are eager to experience the strength of this young genius, but he should be allowed time to rest as well."

    The opponent on the stage had his face turning red after being told that his actions were not gentlemanly by the prince himself, and he cupped his hands before he quickly jumped off the stage.

    Xue Wei followed him down the stage, feeling rather good. He had thought that the prince would not be able to contain his curiosity and request for him to partake in one more spar, but he had taken Xue Wei¡¯s side and protected him from this bullying that the noble-born youngsters of the capital had nned for him.

    Xue Wei returned to the prince¡¯s side and was surprised to find that the Crown Prince was speaking cordially with Shen Mu and Luo Zhirou.

    It was clear that with the current rtionship between the three, these two would seed in forging a rtionship with the Crown Prince ande under his wings.

    Xue Wei could not help but praise the Crown Prince for his swift decision-making and his decision to not stop at anything to pull in Xue Wei. He was also aware that the prince operated not for his sake, but it was for the sake of his legendary uncle, Xiao Lei.

    The rest of the night, no one else dared to challenge Xue Wei. It was clear that the Crown Prince was looking out for him, and thus they were aware that going against Xue Wei would be the same as going against the Crown Prince himself.

    The ones who had realized that Xue Wei was hiding his power all came to talk with him. They wanted to leave a positive first impression, so they tried their best to be friendly with both him and his two friends.

    Others did not even deign to give him one look. They felt that he was riding on the coattails of the rumors and in truth was a paper tiger.

    Many went onto the podium to disy their skills, but all the second and thirdyer Earth Warriors were staying down. It was clear that they did not feel a need to disy their skills to be respected, as their cultivation base was already proof of their superiority.

    "Luo Zhirou, Shen Mu," The Crown Prince called out, and the two hurried towards him and bowed deeply.

    He then handed them two bracelets made from braided ck Primordial Beast leather. On this bracelet was a small misty white pearl.

    "This is amunication orb," the Crown Prince introduced it. "Each person¡¯s orb has a specific aura, and if you touch twomunication orbs together, they will be able to find the specific aura again, and you will be able tomunicate with one another on a distance of ten thousand kilometers.

    "They are rather rare, but all my followers have one each. I have already connected it with mine and your ownmunication orbs. This means you can contact me or each other whenever need be."

 Chapter 58: Leaving the Capital

    Bliss. The expression on both Luo Zhirou¡¯s and Shen Mu¡¯s faces were that of utter bliss.

    They cupped their hands and bowed deeply to the Crown Prince,pletely incapable of expressing their gratitude with words.

    Xue Wei watched the scene with a smile on his face. He was quite satisfied with how things were progressing. Although he had no intention of siding with a faction, his friends were eager to do so considering how much of a blessing it would be for their families.

    Xue Wei knew that they were different from him, and he was happy for them, but he also understood that this Crown Prince was doing it for the sake of him and his uncle.

    "We will not let you down, Your Royal Highness," Luo Zhirou said while bowing. Shen Mu also said, "We will forever be your loyal subjects."

    The Crown Prince seemed satisfied with what they said, and he waved his hand. "I look forward to working with you in the future," he said with an amiable smile on his face before he turned to Xue Wei.

    "You might want amunication orb too?" he asked, tempting Xue Wei, but Xue Wei understood that epting anything from this prince included being indebted to him.

    "No need, Your Highness." Xue Weiughed. "I have no one I need tomunicate with. Had I known they existed, then I would have asked my uncle to give me one, but since I cannot get into contact with him, it is pointless."

    The Crown Prince was slightly disappointed, but this was what he had expected. He had a hunch Xue Wei would do what he could to stay away from a specific faction, and his only aim with today¡¯s meeting was to sow a seed of friendship in his mind.

    Xue Wei, Luo Zhirou, and Shen Mu said their goodbyes to the Crown Prince and what other experts they met on their way. As they left the building made from jade, they found that the outside waspletely dark and that only the path they had to walk had been lit up by the most beautiful streetmps made from various colors of jade.

    "Thank you for allowing us to follow you to this banquet," Luo Zhirou and Shen Mu would repeat the same thing over and over again like a broken record. "We were able to forge up a rtionship with the Crown Prince, and now we will be able to see our families flourish in the future."

    Xue Wei said nothing. He just smiled. There was truly no need for thanks between them, because they were true friends.

    As they made it back to the inn, they found that many of Luo Zhirou¡¯s and Shen Mu¡¯s friends were waiting for them, eager to hear what they had encountered. They too were noble-born youngsters of Tiankong City, and they understood just how big an opportunity they had lost out on.

    Because of this, some of them held a grudge against Xue Wei. They had wanted him to bring them too, but others understood that they had no great rtionship with him and thus it was natural for them not to be invited. Those experts were regretting never acknowledging Xue Wei in the past as Luo Zhirou had done.

    Xue Wei excused himself and slipped upstairs to the room he had for himself, where he sat down and started cultivating.

    He had gained a good understanding of the one person he had exchanged pointers with that day, and he had felt the power of his attacks.

    This man had practiced his body and Qi at the same time. The qi would usually transform one¡¯s body, so the more Qi one had, the stronger one would be, and the more powerful one¡¯s physical body would be as well. Qi was rebuilding the body.

    The burly man he had faced earlier, however, had walked down the unconventional path and had trained his body, resulting in a buff appearance.

    However, this buff appearance was not only for show, he also had at least double the strength of any average Ordinary Warrior.

    Still, Xue Wei had only needed half his strength to force him back five steps and make his entire body shake and tremble from the impact.

    Xue Wei was very well aware that his own body was not trained. It was clear that he had not had the time it took to strengthen one¡¯s body, and the only strength he had was gained through his cultivation of Qi.

    Still, he was many times stronger than an average Ordinary Warrior. It was clear that his special physique was quite unique.

    The next couple of days were spent in leisure at the inn. A few gifts arrived to Xue Wei from the Crown Prince and a few other experts that wished to establish a good rtionship with Xue Wei, but otherwise he had peace and quiet to train.

    As the seventh day arrived, all of them checked out from the inn in the early morning and made their way to the allocated destination where they had to meet up with the captain, themoners, and the guards.

    As they arrived at the location, they found that some of the othermoner youngsters were already there. They all looked rather different from before. Some were wearing fine clothes and looked almost like nobles; others looked even more haggard than before.

    There was one-third of themoners who had not appeared by the time the captain and the guards arrived, and none of them seemed shocked by this.

    "unting one¡¯s wealth is the same as having a death wish within the capital," he sighed as he shook his head and looked at the now much smaller group than it had been when they set out two months prior from Tiankong City.

    "It feels like a whole lifetime since we left," one of themoners said with sadness in her eyes. She had lost quite a few friends on this trip, and she had the impression that this was just the beginning.

    Others nodded their heads when they heard her. They had been through life and death struggles on their way, had experienced the vastness of the capital, and had gotten rich overnight, but while some had managed to keep their wealth, others had lost it as fast as they had gained it, robbed by thugs in the outer city.

    When the Captain saw that the entire group of nobles were still intact ¨C in fact, all of them seemed to be better than when they arrived ¨C he could not help but be surprised.

    "Well done, I guess that you all went to the Inner City?" he asked curiously, and Xue Wei nodded his head, "We stuck together in the Inner City. It is much safer than the Outer City, and we had a few errands to run as well."

    "Well thought!" the captain praised them. "I did not think you would be smart enough to enter the Inner City since it is much more expensive, both the entrance fee and the inn. I imagine that a group like yours would have cost around nine gold, if not more."

    Hearing this, the hearts of themoners clenched. Nine gold was simply too much money; they did not even own that much after selling off their beast cores, so for the noble children to fork out such an amount for the sake of amodation for a single week was simply unattainable.

    "Well, enough about that. Now we are all gathered. We will wait another half hour and then we will be going to the army camp," he decided. The half-hour went by fast; themoners were gathered even more in groups now than they had been before, and some of them were paranoidly looking around and ring at anyone who looked at them, trying to act menacing and intimidating.

    No one spoke with people from outside of their groups, even the nobles were somewhat nervous and talked only with their good friends.

    Xue Wei, Luo Zhirou, and Shen Mu were standing together. The three of them said nothing and just waited for the half-hour to pass by.

    As the half-hour was over, the captain finally turned away from the guards he had been speaking with. "Time is up," he said with a stern expression. There were no more people appearing. Their group, which had started with around a thousand, now amounted to around four hundred.

    "It is not often that our group diminishes as much as it has," the captain said with a bit of sourness in his voice. "We lost both good guards and promising talents in the battle against the Sand Snakes. Even more were lost in our fight with the bandits, but most losses were incurred during the beast horde."

    "We have also lost quite a few youngsters here in the capital. Their first visit will also be theirst. I am saddened that so many died on the way, but I am proud of those who managed to prevail through these life-and-death trials."

    "You have now experienced what real life is like. Your time in the army will be like this, time and time again you will experience life-and-death battles. Many of you will not survive, but those who do will be stronger, and you will be the pir of support for our entire kingdom."

    The captain had not talked much before on the way to the capital, but now that they were on the final stretch from the capital to the recruitment camp, he was suddenly very talkative.

    They walked through thendscape outside of the capital towards the recruitment camp. Xue Wei noticed that many other youngsters were moving in the same direction as them.

    The only difference was that there were not many big groups. Most of the youngsters were alone or escorted by a single guard, and all of them came from the capital.

    As they went further and further into thend, bigger and bigger groups of youngsters could be seen heading the same direction. As the many roads started to converge into one, more people appeared, and soon the entire road was filled with people.

    Although many guards could be seen on the roads, the majority were youngsters at the age of fifteen and sixteen. These youngsters were moving towards the same destination, and soon they saw a city made from tents in the distance.

    The camp spread as far as the eye could see, and some tents rose into the sky while others were small and could, at most, house one person.

    As they got closer, they saw a sea of people waiting outside the campgrounds, and even more people were arriving.

    Soon, Xue Wei and the group he belonged to had made it to the grounds. As Xue Wei looked around, he noticed that all these people were the arriving youngsters from every part of the kingdom. So many children were here, although the majority were men, but also many women had arrived. Only a few women had been tasked with other jobs than joining the army.

    The captain moved to the side and stopped. "Everyone, go and stand together with the other youngsters. Us guards will return to the capital to wait and hear news of how you have all made it in the rankings and bring that news with us back to your families."

    "We cannot guide you any further if you want to survive the next decade in the army; take your life into your own hands and persevere!"

    Having said that, the captain saluted and turned around. He and the guards all vanished into the distance, leaving behind arge group of youngsters that felt a wide array of emotions.Some of the emotions ranged from confusement to excitement, but a majority of it was nervousness.

    They were at a loss for what to do, and they all started looking towards Xue Wei, as he was the strongest in their group. Frowning, Xue Wei scanned the area and saw the same happening all over.

    "Well, for now, we are going to do as Captain said and join up with the rest of the experts. I am sure that when all of us are gathered, we will begin some sort of dividing into ranks."

 Chapter 59: Who Wants to be a Genius?

    Having made a decision as to what he was going to do, Xue Wei did not waste any more time and went towards the body of youngsters.

    As soon as he reached them, he calmly stood in line and observed his surroundings. More and more youngsters appeared and stood on the field in front of the tent camp.

    No one spoke to one another; there wasplete silence. The only sound that could be heard was the rustling of clothes when the nervous experts shifted their weight from one foot to another as they waited for their turn to be integrated into the army and be told what division they would be ced within.

    The day turned to dusk, and the sun started setting, but youngsters were still arriving from all over the Heping Kingdom.

    When the sun hadpletely set, more than two hundred thousand young men and women had gathered in the field, and it was filled to the bursting point.

    Xue Wei waited patiently like everyone else. He squinted his eyes as he looked at the many other youngsters surrounding him. There were so many different people waiting for the army camp to open. Some were wearing fine clothes, others were wearing rags, but all of them were cultivators of varying strength.

    As the sun set, the stream of youngsters that were arriving slowly died out and everyone seemed to have made it in time for the beginning of their army career, but no one came out to fetch them.

    The hours ticked by slowly. The night was passing slowly, but no one dared to speak with each other, as everyone was patiently waiting for the armymanders toe out and greet them.

    Soon it was dawn, and the sun once more rose in the sky. It was not before now that there was some sort of movement in the tent camp that they were standing in front of.

    A group of two hundred men stepped forward, and in front of them was a small stout man.

    Although he was small, no one dared look down on him; he had a menacing air around him that was filled with killing intent, and a long scar on his face made him look sinister.

    The man was treated very respectfully by the others, and Xue Wei could instantly determine that he was themander.

    Xue Wei looked straight at him. His eyes were clear and filled with curiosity as to what would happen now, while the majority of the youngsters around him had lowered their heads, unable to look him in the eyes directly.

    "Wee to the Recruitment Camp!" the stout man called out. "I am Commander Chen, I have been leading this Recruitment Camp for thest twenty years and have seen heaven-sent geniuses every single year."

    "My job is not to pamper you! My job is to make you into a killing machine that will be able to kill Primordial Beasts in the future!"

    "The majority of you will not survive the decade you are in the army, but those who do are often those that have disregarded everything and done all their best in the Recruitment Camp. Follow our rules, and you will have a bigger chance of survival. Follow our training schedule, and you will understand how to fight!"

    "Depending on your progress, you will be able to im better benefits, and everyone is ranked in the group depending on theiryer, and their fighting prowess."

    "Right now, all of you will be checked by my captains. They will check your bone structure to ensure that you are as old as you im. After that, you will be ced in a group of others with the sameyer of strength as yourself."

    "You are allowed to challenge those oneyer above you, but be aware ¨C the challenge is deadly!"

    "Still, if you have faith in your strength, then it is worth it! The reward is more resources and thus bigger chances at survival!"

    "Now get in line!"

    Everyone did exactly as they were told, and now voices could be heard from within the group of youngsters. Everyone was excited.

    "Xue Wei, do you think that we should challenge the rank above ours?" Shen Mu asked fervently. He had a gleam in his eyes and a rosy color on his cheeks, but Xue Wei shook his head.

    "I am going to attempt it, but I would not suggest you do to so," he said honestly. "I have my special physique to save me, but you do not have anything like that. You heard the Commander; the trial is deadly. It is not worth it to risk your life against such odds to join the genius camp."

    Shen Mu¡¯s enthusiasm lowered a bit as he thought about it, and Luo Zhirou hadtched onto his sleeves, her eyes disying worry. She did not want him to risk his life to join the genius camp.

    "We will be here for a year," Xue Wei continued, "In a year, the two of you will make it to the Earth Warrior rank for sure, and then you too can join the Genius Camp. And even do so without risking your lives," Xue Wei persuaded, and Shen Mu seemed to have understood that he was correct as he nodded his head.

    The two hundred captains were standing in a line, and the youngsters were heading towards each of these captains. The bones on their arms were checked, and their rank was examined.

    After this, each person was moved to a specific location depending on their rank, and then they all just started chatting with one another.

    Xue Wei was rather far behind in the line of people, and it was not before the sun stood high in the sky that it was Xue Wei¡¯s turn to be examined.

    "Name," The captain asked curtly. Xue Wei answered politely, and then he was asked about his age, about his rank, and then the man grabbed his arm.

    Xue Wei felt foreign energy entering his body, and the killing intent in his innermost being started roaring and struggling within him.

    It was as if it saw the intruding energy as an enemy that needed to be eradicated.

    Just as the energy had entered his body, it dissipated just as soon again, and the killing intent within Xue Wei slowly settled, but he was ufortable.

    The Qi that this captain had been using was different from the Qi that Xue Wei was using. It waspletely white, while Xue Wei¡¯s had an azure gleam.

    Did his strange body also change the quality of his Qi? Xue Wei was in deep thought when the captain called out to him, "Go to your rank. You are at the ninthyer of the Ordinary Warrior rank; there is a group of those, find them on your own."

    The captain said nothing else and turned to the next person in line. Each and every one of these captains had to go through more than a thousand people, and thus they wanted them to hurry up as much as possible.

    Xue Wei casually walked towards the group of ninthyer Ordinary Warriors. There were a few familiar faces from the banquet, but the majority were unknown.

    It did not take long before Luo Zhirou and Shen Mu made their way towards the same group of people, and they smiled to Xue Wei, who was observing what was happening around them.

    It took a full day for the people to get split into groups, and once again dusk arrived with the chilled night. They had been forced to be outside one night already, and now they were forced to spend another night outside.

    Worst was that many of the youngsters had no drinks or food. Only a few had their dried rations and canteens from their travels towards the recruitment camp.

    The experts from the capital were aware of this and had meals with them, but the majority who had been on the road for long were unaware of what had been expected of them.

    As the sun rose the second time since arriving at the recruitment camp, the stoutmander appeared in front of the groups again.

    Looking at the groups, the one with Earth Warriors was the smallest followed by the group of oneyered Ordinary Warriors. After them came twoyered Ordinary Warriors, thirdyer Ordinary Warriors, and finally ninthyer Ordinary Warriors.

    The fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, and eightyer were ratherrge groups with the seventhyer being the biggest of them all.

    "Now we will make a few derations. Those who have broken into the Earth Warrior rank will form our new Genius Camp! If you wish to join the Genius Camp, you have a possibility to do so!"

    "You have to be a ninthyer Ordinary Warrior and have the strength of an Earth Warrior. The trial is deadly, and we cannot guarantee your survival. In fact, only one out of ten manages to survive it."

    "Now, those who wish to challenge the trial for the Genius Camp, step forward!"

    Xue Wei gave ast nce at Shen Mu and Luo Zhirou and saw worry in their eyes before he took a few steps forward and arrived in front of the group alongside another seventeen youngsters.

    "So out of around ten thousand, only eighteen has the courage to take this test? Hoh, it seems that this year has quite a few cowards," themanderughed before his eyes scanned the eighteen youngsters in front of him.

    Of these eighteen, there were two women and sixteen men. The women looked like otherworldly fairies, and even Luo Zhirou looked in next to them, while the men were of different stature.

    "Very well then, follow me," themander ordered as he turned around and walked into the figurative city of tents. The eighteen youngsters dared not wait, and thus they all followed behind him into the camp. Amongst the group, none of them were any that Xue Wei had seen before, and from this, he made quite a few guesses.

    The test was truly to see whether or not a person had the same strength as an Earth Warrior. For an average Ordinary Warrior of the ninthyer, that would simply be impossible unless they had something special to rely on, and even those who considered themselves peerless geniuses in the capital understood that the true difference in strength between them and the Earth Warrior rank was toorge.

    "Well I have the advantage of having fought against an Earth Warrior before," Xue Wei calmed himself. "I know my strength, when pushed to the limits, is equal to a secondyer Earth Warrior, so I should be able to pass this trial."

    "But as for the others, if they don¡¯t have anything to depend on. They will not make it."

    Xue Wei had no illusions about the fight in front of him. Although the honor and benefits were really tempting, one had to be alive to benefit from it.

    Xue Wei shook his head as he kind of pitied the people who were together with him, yet as soon as the feeling was there, it was reced by a sudden disregard.

    He feltplete disregard for human life and could not even pity their loss of life the slightest. The battlefield was a murderous ce. He had already seen much death and murder on the trip, and he felt that his killing intent, his disregard for human lives, and hisck ofpassion were constantly growing. He was turning into something that made him feel ufortable.

    Fortunately, he did not have a long time to contemte, as they had reached the very center of the tents, and there was a massive arena. The arena was one of the few things that were not made from tents; it was made from stone and seemed to raise itself far above them.

    "Wee to yourst stand!" Themanderughed out loud as he rubbed his stomach.

 Chapter 60: Deserter

    Everyone was curious as they looked at this arena. It wasrge and appeared to have various cages all over it. In these cages were everything from Fierce Beasts to humans. Some of them were Ordinary Warriors; some were Earth Warriors.

    There was no one above the ninthyer of the Earth Warrior rank, all of them were here for the sake of being sparring partners, but Xue Wei could not help but feel curious as to what kind of enemy he would face. The only reason they could have been brought here was for the sake of facing off against a real opponent in a life-and-death battle.

    As they entered the arena, they found that there was a closed fighting stage in the middle which was caged by a formation that made it impossible to leave without permission from the gatekeeper that controlled the formation.

    There were enough seats to house at least twenty thousand observers in the arena, and Xue Wei made a rough count of the cages that exceeded ten thousand given that there were also some located beneath the ground.

    "This is the Ring of Trials," themander introduced the name of the arena, "As soon as you enter the arena, only one wille out again. You can be facing a criminal, a deserter, or a Fierce Beast."

    "Of these three categories, the deserters are often the trickiest to deal with as they have already undergone survival training before deciding to flee for their lives."

    "After themes the Fierce Beasts. It needs no exining, as we all know how dangerous Fierce Beasts are."

    "Finally is the group of criminals." themanderughed as he made a brief exnation as to what kind of criminals there were. "We have rapists, bandits, murderers. All kinds of criminals end up in our cages if they have the right cultivation base and have been sentenced to death."

    "We promise these criminals that if they kill ten recruits, they are allowed to be sent to another ce where they will live much better than they do here."

    "If they die, they get nothing and their bones and flesh will be used to feed the Fierce Beasts in confinement."

    "Of all the creatures we have captured, only a tenth are Fierce Beasts, and they are usually saved for the Genius Camp to use to get used to life-and-death battles against their kind."

    "So today, you will either encounter a deserter or a criminal. I hope for your sake that you will encounter a criminal, as the deserters are anything but easy to deal with, even for someone above their rank."

    His words caused some of the experts present to feel even more worried and uncertain about the decision they had made. Could they truly survive this?

    Xue Wei was thrilled. He wanted to fight the opponent as soon as possible; his fighting spirit was rising with each and every word that themander uttered.

    He could also feel his killing intent moving within him, bursting with the desire to leave his body and envelop everyone around him.

    Themander nced at everyone with curiosity to see how his words had affected them. When he saw how some of them were already cowering in the face of such odds, he snorted.

    Then his eyesnded on the two women, and he nodded his head and praised them in his mind. They had not changed expression at all, their demeanor as cold and disconnected now as it had been before.

    "Well then, go down and line up," themander ordered with a smile on his lips, and the youngsters dared not say anything as they all rushed down the stairs to the arena grounds.

    The first one to arrive was also the first to enter the formation and the stage.

    It was a young man. He was either fifteen or sixteen years old, and his body was rather underdeveloped.

    Still, he had a confident air about him as he stepped into the arena and Xue Wei frowned when he saw a few of the young man¡¯s movements. They were elusive but not as formidable as the Forbidden Rush movement technique.

    "Well done," themander praised him from the very start. "To have a movement technique and already understand as much as he has, there is a chance that he might seed!"

    Unfortunately, a movement technique alone was not enough to prevail against the criminal he was up against.

    He spent all his time fleeing from the attacks, and he found no opportunity to return with an attack of his own, causing him to eventually run out of energy and be decapitated by the criminal.

    The next person in line was one of the women. She too floated to the stage as if she was a leaf falling from a tree. Clearly, she too had a movement technique.

    "I thought that I was special for having a movement technique," Xue Wei mocked himself, "but it seems that I am not the only one who has one here in the Kingdom of Heping."

    Xue Wei observed the fight. This woman was much more aggressive than the young man who had fought previously. She likewise used her movement technique to avoid attacks, but she wielded a sword, and her qi had a frozen attribute to it so whenever she attacked frost appeared on the de and the criminal.

    This frost was not difficult for the criminal to disperse, but he needed to spend some energy to do so. As a result, the woman held the upper hand, though the fight was very bloody, wounds appearing on bothpetitors, and it was not before the criminal made a mistake that the fight ended with his heart being skewered by the woman.

    Panting heavily, she could not avoid gripping her fists tight as she knew that she had now made it. She was a member of the Genius Camp.

    After her, the other woman was eager to engage in battle. While the first woman had an ice attribute to her qi, this woman had one of fire. From this alone, one could see just how much of a genius the two women were.

    After seeing two women seed in the trials, others became cocky and overconfident and the challengers died one after another until the only one left was Xue Wei.

    So far, no one had encountered a deserter. All of them had beenmon criminals, and all of them had been at the firstyer of the Earth Warrior rank.

    Out of those seventeen, only two had seeded, and now it was time for Xue Wei to give it his all.

    Themander had not paid much attention to Xue Wei, as all his focus had been on the two women, but now that he looked at Xue Wei he frowned.

    Most people who saw all the blood and gore that they had seen today would have felt bad or nauseous, but when he looked at Xue Wei it seemed as if the young man had be even more energetic, filled with fighting spirit the more death and blood he saw.

    "Most will feel sick when seeing this much blood and gore, but it seems it is exciting him instead," themander frowned. "Some youngsters who get excited by blood turn out to be our biggest enemies, with the rare few bing our most revered heroes."

    Xue Wei could feel the killing intent threatening to burst out from within him, and he rushed to the stage where he was to fight someone else.

    Just as he stood on the stage, a malicious grin began spreading on his lips, a grin he could not control, and his hands were shaking slightly from excitement.

    It was clear that he was bursting at the seams to begin the battle, and that he would not hesitate to kill his opponent.

    "This kid has great potential if he can be molded. His fighting spirit is without a doubt proof of his gant heart."

    Right then, a person appeared on the stage, and themander sighed. "He is done for." He shook his head in disappointment. "To think that he would encounter a deserter. Even if he has the ability to fight a oneyer Earth Warrior, there is a difference between the quality of the two."

    Themander did nothing but feel that it was a shame that this youngster would die, but he noticed that one of his subordinates were fidgeting randomly and looking ufortable.

    "What¡¯s wrong?" he asked with a frown. These men had seen death many times, and they had been in beast hordes many a time, but now this fidgeting subordinate of his seemed ufortable as if he was watching his own son going into the lion¡¯s den.

    "You know I got rescued by Primordial Beast Hunter Xiao Lei once before?" he asked tentatively, and themander nodded his head. Everyone who knew this person had heard the story about when he was saved by the best Primordial Beast Hunter of all time in the Heping Kingdom.

    "His nephew. This is his nephew!" he eximed afterward, and the face of Commander Chen turned pale, then red, and then pale again.

    His eyes bulged out, and his jaw dropped. Everyone in the capital had heard that Xiao Lei adored his nephew more than anything else and that he was a piece of trash that could not cultivate.

    "No, it can¡¯t be!" he eximed with fear in his voice. "He was incapable of cultivating; he cannot be here now!"

    "He is the hottest topic of gossip in the capital right now," another person said hesitantly. "He has a special physique. He has trained as a mortal to a ninthyer Ordinary Warrior in half a year. Not only this, the Crown Prince looks at him favorably."

    "But most importantly, Xue Wei is the most treasured person for Xiao Lei. Who is to say what he might do if he finds out that he died in the Recruitment Camp?"

    Thinking for a moment, themander cleared his throat. "We cannot change the rules just because of his background," he eventually said, sighing.

    "Everyone knows the mortality rate of the Genius Camp test, and this is why so few try it each year. Xiao Lei can me no one but his nephew for his untimely death."

    It was clear that no one thought he would be able to survive the encounter with a deserter.

    On the stage, the grin on Xue Wei¡¯s face had turned as wide as it could. in an instant, the killing intent erupted from his body without restraint and locked onto the opponent, enveloping him.

    To the deserter, it was as if he had been thrown into a bucket of cold water. His hands started trembling, and his mind felt feeble. It was as if he was struggling to stay awake; the cold was so invading that he could not understand what was going on and cold sweat started dripping from his forehead.

    On the stands, everyone turned quiet, and a severe expression appeared on the face of themander.

    "This kid... what mountain of corpses has he walked through to acquire such a killing intent? I don¡¯t remember hearing about any cases where a lot of people have been killed, so has he been ughtering Fierce Beasts in the thousands? Or is something else the origin of this intent?"

    Themander knew that one was incapable of getting a killing intent without experiencing some terrible things in one¡¯s life, usually. To have this killing intent and only be fifteen years old, it showed that Xue Wei was truly special.

    "Perhaps he will actually be able to make it through the trial," one of them muttered, but the others were not optimistic.

    At the same time, Xue Wei felt like a free beast that had just been released back into the wild. He merged with the Forbidden Rush movement technique and vanished from sight.

    Although all the experts of the higher ranks could see his movements, everyone around the Earth Warrior rank had difficulty locating him.

 Chapter 61: The Prophet

    "What an elusive movement technique!" themander could not help but praise as he saw Xue Wei¡¯s movements.

    But before anyone had time to react to the statement, Xue Wei had appeared behind the deserter and threw out a palm attack.

    Shattering Mountain Palm!

    The deserter was incapable of sensing Xue Wei¡¯s movements, yet the moment the attack was executed he felt an intense danger descend upon him, and he narrowly escaped the attack by rolling to the side.

    Xue Wei¡¯s palmnded on nothing, but he did not panic. He once more turned elusive like the wind and vanished from sight; the deserter was the one who started to panic as he sensed the next attack descent.

    The deserterpletely depended on his instincts and feelings of danger to avoid the attacks, but the more he avoided, the more worried he became.

    The attacks did not seem to be weaker and weaker. Instead, they seemed to gather momentum, and at this point one attack would be enough to kill him.

    At that moment, the worry had overtaken the deserter¡¯s mind. Moments after, a grunt escaped his lips as he was sent flying like a kite cut loose from its string.

    Blood sprayed from his mouth as he continued to stumble forward, but he had no time to say anything before he felt a coldness arrive at his throat, and his eyes turned dim.

    The decapitation had been so swift and painless that the deserter never even noticed what had happened before he died, and even the experts on top of the observation tform were stunned, at a loss for words.

    The attacks had been wless from beginning to end. Xue Wei had used the Forbidden Rush movement technique to the fullest, making it impossible for the deserter to even know where he was. And although he had managed to avoid a few of Xue Wei¡¯s attacks, they had be increasingly fierce as Xue Wei felt his blood boil and his fighting intent soar.

    The moment one of his attacks had struck his opponent, Xue Wei had materialized a sword in his hands and followed him, chopping off his head while he had no chance to defend himself.

    As the headnded on the ground of the battle tform, Xue Wei alsonded a bit away. His clothes were as immacte as they had been before the battle, not a drop of dust to be seen on them.

    Unlike the other two, he was not out of breath. his appearance was calm, and he flickered his hand, making the materialized sword dissipate into thin air once more.

    As he stepped out of the arena, his killing intent hadpletely vanished, and now his eyes were calm and collected. The malicious smile and eagerness to do battle that he had shown before were nowhere to be seen.

    Themander and everyone else were genuinely shocked. They had never expected that this young man would be able to kill a deserter as cleanly and as easily as he did.

    This fight was the simplest of them all, and also the only one where the challenger had not been wounded. He had not been pushed to reveal much of his strength either; it seemed like the only thing he had to rely on was his movement technique.

    "Congrattions," themander stepped forward, and he congratted the three victors. "This year, more than the average number has made it through the test, but we still lost some amazingly talented individuals during these trials."

    "We will mourn them, but this is the harsh reality of life. To gain something you have to give something. You have to risk your life to gain lucky chances, and entering the genius camp is, without a doubt, a lucky chance for you."

    "The other groups have been led to their respective areas; now you will be led to the Genius Camp. Follow me."

    With themander having said that, the group exited the arena and went towards a small district of tents where a lot of chatting was happening.

    This was the Genius Camp. The closer to the center of the tent camp one was, the more talented the residents.

    "Every division has its own ranking system," themander exined, "and being ninthyered Ordinary Warriors, the three of you are ranked the lowest amongst the Genius Camp."

    "The higher ranked you are, the more resources you will get. The way to rise in rank is to make breakthroughs in the differentyers, or to defeat someone in a sparring match."

    "If you defeat a first ranked expert, you will swap positions, making you first ranked, and your opponent is demoted to your rank. This is to encouragepetition amongst cultivators and to convince people to continue cultivating hard."

    Xue Wei contemted for some time. He was currently just a ninthyer Ordinary Warrior, but he could match up against twoyer Earth Warriors. As such he was aware that if he wanted to gain a better ranking, then it was possible.

    But he had to be careful. If he were to go against the thirdyered Earth warriors, he would have no other choice than to run for his life, and eventually he would run out of energy, making it impossible for him to keep it up. As a result, he would be defeated.

    "Fighting outside of official challenges is forbidden, killing your opponent is forbidden, and stealing each other¡¯s resources is also forbidden. Everyone gets judged based on their strength, and this means you get what you deserve!"

    "We are here," he announced, and suddenly they arrived in front of a group of tents. There were around ten thousand tents, but only around half of them were upied.

    "Take a tent each and im it as your own," themander said. "Your training will start tomorrow morning. For now, you should familiarize yourself with yourrades. In the future, these experts are the ones who will have your back. You need to trust them asrades and as brothers!"

    Xue Wei smirked. He understood that in theory themander was right in what he said, but he also knew that it was not that simple. Since they wantedpetition between these geniuses, it was clear that there would be someone that rubbed others the wrong way, and there would be different grudges that could not be controlled.

    "Oh well, that¡¯s not up to me to care about," Xue Wei shook his head as he continued to smirk and look at everything that happened around him. Many experts hade to observe them with curiosity.

    Xue Wei did not appreciate being a monkey in a show, so as a result, as soon as he noticed that themander had no more to say, he saluted themander before leaving the location and heading towards the tents, interested in finding one that suited him.

    All the tents were white. There were ten thousand of them, but five thousand had been upied already and Xue Wei was rather shocked by how many people the Genius Camp counted.

    As he found a tent, he sat down, crossed his legs, ate some of his dry rations, drank some of his water, and decided to cultivate through the night.

    The rest of the camp was busy and bustling with life as everyone started getting to know each other, but Xue Wei had never been good at socializing, and he preferred staying in his tent cultivating instead.

    The moon settled over the camp and everyone had returned to their own tents, preparing for the following day where they were to start the first day of training.

    The following morning, Xue Wei awoke from his trance and got ready. As he exited the house, he found that others were also exiting their tents, all of them looking around with curiosity. When their eyesnded on Xue Wei, they all raised an eyebrow in surprise.

    Many of these experts had seen him at the Crown Prince¡¯s banquet, and they were surprised to see that he had made it to the Genius Camp.

    Some thought he had cheated or used some sort of treasure to make it to this stage, while others were even more convinced that he was not as simple as he seemed.

    Xue Weipletely ignored them as he looked around. Seeing that no one moved, he too decided to stay put as well and observe his surroundings.

    Soon, a captain appeared. "Everyone follow me," he ordered and brought the group with him to arge empty field that was located just behind the tent city.

    Here a group of experts was waiting for them, amongst those were themander, a group of captains, a few generals, and finally a blue haired man who seemed quite different from the others.

    He had a different air about him, and when Xue Wei¡¯s eyesnded on him, the man also locked his eyes into Xue Wei¡¯s. As they looked into the eyes of one another, Xue Wei felt danger. He felt an indescribable danger as if he had encountered the most dangerous creature in the entire continent.

    The blue haired man frowned when he looked at Xue Wei. His frown was mixed with surprise and slight confusion, but his face quickly returned to the originally calm and collected, slightly mocking, expression it had before.

    As everyone gathered in the field, Xue Wei made sure to be at the back; he wished to draw as little attention as possible, sa it was clear that this man was anything but as friendly and as simple as he seemed.

    "Everyone, congrattions on making it to the Genius Camp, for this, I apud you."

    "We are very fortunate this year," themander continued, and Xue Wei noticed how he was groveling in front of this unknown blue-haired young man. He realized that he was someone very important.

    "From the middle of the continent, the only prophet to exist in thesends of ours hase to the Kingdom of Heping on some personal business. We managed to convince him toe and view this year¡¯s Genius Camp, and he will divine us a prophecy for this years Genius Camp!"

    "He will look at each and every one of you and give you an inkling of what we can expect from your lives. This is something that only your generation is capable of experiencing. This is something that only has happened this one time, and we ought to be very gracious and grateful to mister Lan for bestowing us this honor."

    Everyone was excited. It was rare to encounter an expert from the middle of the continent, and it was even more exciting to meet the one and only Prophet in existence.

    But everyone was eager to know what had brought him to the Kingdom of Heping. Their kingdom was poor in resources and had nothing amazing to speak of. For him toe here, was there some sort of hidden treasure?

    Xue Wei did not think like that. All that was on his mind was how to avoid the encounter with this man. Staying at the very back of the group of youngsters, he spent some time observing the man.

    He looked to be in histe twenties. He had long beautiful blue hair that was half hanging, half tied on top of his head with a beautiful golden hairpin that resembled a crown.

    He was wearing a beautiful white robe that was obviously made from Primordial Beast silk. The white robe had a blue pattern of snakes embroidered on it, and a few flowers were also adorning the beautiful robes.

    He was clearly the most elegant person Xue Wei had ever seen, even more, elegant than Xiao Lei, and he seemed to be the most fearful expert he had ever seen ¨C even more powerful than Xiao Lei and the Primordial Beast woman.

    Xue Wei kept staring at him with a feeling of dread as he saw the line in front of him dwindle in size constantly, making it closer and closer to the time for him to be examined by this unknown prophet.

 Chapter 62: A Madman

    "Oh, there is only one left." The prophet smirked knowingly as his eyesnded on Xue Wei. It was very much akin to a monster eyeing prey, and Xue Wei could not help but feel ufortable.

    "I am fine," he said hesitatingly. "I don¡¯t need to be told about my future prospects."

    "Now, now, young man, don¡¯t hesitate. It is not like I will bite you," the prophet said, and the smile on his face widened. It was as if he had found himself a new favorite toy, and that he knew something about Xue Wei that Xue Wei himself did not know.

    "Tell me about yourself," the prophet asked, and Xue Wei hesitated slightly. "I grew up in a small town when I was a child. I am an orphan now, and my uncle has looked after me."

    Xue Wei tried to say as little as possible. He had a feeling that the more he spoke, the more he¡¯d regret it.

    "I see, youe from such humble origins, but when I look at you, I see a person who will be a great person. You will be a great warrior who makes the world change! That is if you manage to survive until you grow up."

    Xue Wei frowned. The words he said were basically useless. "Is he just some sort of chatan? His prophecy is so loose, and anyone can fit the bill," he muttered to himself under his breath, but the moment Xue Wei spoke the eyes of the prophet glimmered and a toothy smile appeared on his lips.

    "Well, I am done. Why don¡¯t you ask this young man to show me around?" Prophet Lan asked themander politely while looking at Xue Wei with attention on his face, but Xue Wei quickly shook his head, "I am new here, I am not able to show anyone around."

    Themander frowned. He was an experienced man, and he had noticed how Xue Wei had attempted to avoid this prophet a few times already, yet every time Xue Wei had tried to avoid him, the prophet had done all in his power to spend more time with the youngster.

    "Mister Lan is a heavenly-sent genius, even within the middle of the continent, and he is the only prophet that our world has seen!" Themander praised Prophet Lan to the skies, and with every word he said, Xue Wei¡¯s face twitched.

    "Mister Lan is going to be with us for a period of time before he continues on his adventures. While he is here, Xue Wei is to be his guide."

    Hearing this, the face of the prophet blossomed into a smile and he gave a satisfied nod of his head.

    "Xue Wei is a great name!" he said with exaggerated praise. "I will be honored to deal with someone like you while I am here in the camp. Your destiny is bright and shining; your behavior is knightly and gant. You are a dragon amongst men and a peerless youth!"

    The more Lan praised him, the higher his voice got, and soon it boomed through the entire area, making every other member of the Genius Camp stare at Xue Wei with animosity, jealousy, andplex emotions in their eyes.

    "He is doing it on purpose," Xue Wei sneered with a low voice, and his eyes were zing with anger. "He is intentionally making the others hate me, but why? I have never met him before, nor have I insulted him. I just want him to stay as far away from me as absolutely possible."

    "I won¡¯t," a voice suddenly emerged in Xue Wei¡¯s mind, making him jolt in surprise. "Now, now, don¡¯t act so scared, this is a simple trick ofpressing one¡¯s voice and sending it with Qi into the mind of another. It is frequently used in the rest of the continent, but I guess this backwater ce is too uncivilized to know how to do it."

    "Now, you be a good boy. Do what I am telling you to do and show me around the army camp for the next two weeks, and I will in return teach you a thing or two."

    Xue Wei was appalled. He clearly had no option other than to do what this strange prophet told him to do, but why was the prophet so interested in him?

    "Don¡¯t think about it too much," the disembodied voice amusinglyughed inside Xue Wei¡¯s mind. "I am a collector of strange and weird things, but I have never seen anything as rare and interesting as you. It is only natural that I want to see just what you are capable of doing with your life and to allow me to have my curiosity satisfied. I will in return teach you some things that are useful to you."

    Xue Wei was unable to answer this Lan figure. He had no means to do so either, and if he spoke out loud, others would hear him instead.

    Themander was aware that something was going on right now, and he dared not interrupt the conversation between the prophet and the young man, so he just waited while antsy on the side.

    Although he had a great rank within the Kingdom of Heping, he felt trepidation whenever it came to this prophet. If he wished, he could wipe the entire Heping Kingdom from the face of the.

    Although humans did not fight one another, no one wished to provoke a terrible existence. In the middle of the continent, almost every influential figure owed this prophet a favor. To go against him was trulymitting suicide.

    "Everyone return to your tents. You will have today off to look through the camp and familiarize yourself with the various locations, such as the dining hall, the infirmary, the bathrooms, and so on. Tomorrow, we will take you to the restricted area where our military-grade martial arts, resources, and other interesting items that only the strongest are allowed to enjoy are stored!"

    "And you, Xue Wei, your task is to just follow Mister Lan around. When he has finished his visit to ourpound, you will be allowed some time in the restricted areas too. But for now, learn as much as you can from this great individual."

    Xue Wei grimaced, but he still bowed to acknowledge that he had heard the order, and then he dragged his feet towards Lan, looking at him with dismay written all over his face. Meanwhile Lan grinned from ear to ear.

    When everyone else had left, Lan ced his hands on Xue Wei¡¯s cheeks and started pulling them. "A smile won¡¯t hurt!" he said cheerfully, but Xue Wei just scowled. He was not in the mood to smile at this strange and also rather dangerous prophet.

    "Don¡¯t look so glum; I promise you I will help you be number one in this strange little camp that someone so optimistically named a Genius Camp."

    "I don¡¯t need your help," Xue Wei snapped back. He was not sure why, but something about this prophet made him mad beyond belief. A single look at him and he could not help but feel a headache from the great smile the man had on his lips and the cheeky look in his eyes.

    "Oh, believe me, you will!" Lan grinned back. "I can also help you learn how to use the heritage ring on your finger. And I can teach you how to telepathically transmit your voice into the mind of your peers."

    The prophet was tempting him with a lot of strange things, and Xue Wei was shocked the more he heard. Although he was unsure of why this prophet had taken a liking to him, he would be lying if he said he wasn¡¯t tempted, but he also knew that there was no such thing as a free meal in this world.

    "What do you want in return?" he asked while on high alert, and his eyes narrowed.

    "It¡¯s simple," Lan said with a grin, "I want your dantian. I¡¯ve never before seen such an amazing dantian that is shaped like a pearl. You are a one in a trillion for having such a special physique! It is not a beast core, but it is not a normal dantian either. I want this for my collection!"

    Xue Wei¡¯s face turned pale, and he suddenly felt a danger to his life that he had never felt before. Without a dantian, he would without a doubt be aplete cripple, but this man had requested his dantian so casually as if it was something that could be traded away easily.

    "Look at you, all scared," Lan beganughing again. "I am just joking, just joking," he said as he waved his hand at Xue Wei who had begun to retreat backward.

    "Although I am quite curious as to what it will evolve into. Will it be something formidable that I have never seen before or will you flop and be a useless genius that could not survive the test of time?"

    "How should I know?" Xue Wei snapped back. "You are the prophet here, not me."

    "That¡¯s true," Lan rubbed his nose and looked a little embarrassed. "I am a prophet," he repeated the words and his cheeky expression returned to his eyes, his lips once again blooming into a great smile.

    Xue Wei rolled his eyes. He quickly understood that he was dealing with a madman. He was impossible to understand, and he would do whatever he wanted to do whenever he wanted to do it.

    "Well then, Mister Lan, please tell me what you wish for me to do now?" Xue Wei sighed andmented his fate. There was no way for him to escape the task of apanying this Lan guy, but he truly had no idea as to where things were, so he was useless as a guide.

    "Well, let us stroll the area and get familiar with the dining hall and all those things that themander mentioned first," Lan decided and started walking, not waiting for Xue Wei to follow.

    While walking through the tent camp side by side, neither of them said a word, but by now Xue Wei had understood that this dangerous man was not that dangerous as long as one did not oppose him. On the other hand, he was incredibly odd and hard to figure out.

    As they walked around in the tent camp, many of the geniuses came up to greet Lan. Some had a few questions, others just wished to curry favor with him.

    But strangely enough, Lan was not friendly at all. Although he was smiling at them, his face showedplete and utter boredom. He did not even pretend to listen to them.

    This strange change in behavior from how he treated Xue Wei and how he treated everyone else puzzled not only Xue Wei but also the other geniuses.

    Not many believed that Xue Wei was special. Most knew that his advance was rushed and thought he had an unstable foundation. Some even thought he had cheated to manage to enter the Genius Camp.

    How the prophet treated Xue Wei made the others jealous. They were anything but happy with his sudden rise to fame, but none of them dared to say or do anything about it right now as it was clear that Lan favored him.

    The two walked through the entire camp, and Xue Wei was capable of looking for the things he needed to locate. He was now able to look around the area, when Lan stopped in front of a tent.

    "This is our tent, huh?" he asked and all color drained from Xue Wei¡¯s face. They were in front of Xue Wei¡¯s tent, but he had never in his wildest dreams thought he had to share it with anyone. It was not veryrge and although it could hold both of them it would be a tight squeeze.

    "You don¡¯t have a guest tent for yourself?" Xue Wei asked with a trembling voice.

    "Don¡¯t know, don¡¯t care." Lan answered and entered the tent that Xue Wei had imed to be his own, causing Xue Wei to stand outside trembling from anger.

    "Don¡¯t tell me he has fallen in love with me," Xue Wei said through gritted teeth, but then a voice appeared in his mind, "you wish."

 Chapter 63: Voice Communication

    Xue Wei stood outside his tent, fuming with anger. He had intended for hisst words to cause the crazy prophet to be self-aware and maybe even angrily stomp out of the tent when his sexuality was questioned, but it seemed that Lan did not care at all.

    Xue Wei grumbled. His tent was just big enough for himself, and now that they shared it there was almost no space for anything other than their beds.

    Xue Wei looked appalled when he entered the tent and saw that Lan had not even found a second bed but had upied the one bed that was present in the tent.

    "What do you think you¡¯re doing?" Xue Wei asked with a frown on his face when he saw Lan sitting on his bed as if it was only natural.

    "Oh, I am the guest, so it is only natural that this bed is mine. I mean, you would not request a guest to sleep on the hard ground for two weeks, would you now?"

    "If the guest is some weirdo like you, I wouldn¡¯t mind being impolite," Xue Wei mumbled to himself,pletely aware that no matter how low his voice was, Lan would hear it, yet this time the prophet decided not to react to what the other said, deciding to just smile mischievously.

    "This is going to be a long two weeks," Xue Wei sighed, not even bothering to lower his voice as he sat down on the cold hard ground that was the floor of the tent.

    The only soft part of the tent was the bed, but fortunately one no longer had much need for sleep as soon as one stepped down the path of cultivation. As long as one meditated and absorbed Qi from the surrounding air and refined it into one¡¯s own Qi, then one could remove all fatigue from the body.

    Since this was the case, Xue Wei decided to ignore Lan and instead focus on his trainingpletely. He understood that as long as he was unable to break into the Earth Warrior rank, he would not be amongst the strongest in the Genius Camp. In that case, he would not get the best rewards and resources.

    His aim with being in the army was to be an entity that everyone had to respect, but the only way to be such a person was to train diligently and have ess to the materials and resources that the Genius Camp had to offer.

    Right now, he was at the lowest rank of the Genius Camp, which meant that he would receive the least resources every cycle. Although it would be a significantly higher amountpared to what the ninthyer Ordinary Warriors in the other division received, it was truly nothingpared to the top expert in the Genius Camp.

    "Well, since you are not going to pursue the fact that I took your bed, I will teach you the voicepression trick," Lan said magnanimously as he looked at Xue Wei.

    Although Xue Wei was unhappy with Lan, hearing this, he suddenly felt that learning this skill would make it worth for him to give up his bed for the next two weeks.

    His eyes gleamed with excitement, and his back straightened. He perked up, and although he was not about to forgive what the prophet had done to him, he was not so stubborn as to say no thank you to something so obviously practical to him.

    "Got you interested for once," Lanughed, his eyes once more shining mischievously, and Xue Wei suddenly started wondering if he had been cheated.

    "Don¡¯t worry; I promised I¡¯d teach you, so I will teach you." Lanughed and seemed as if every little action Xue Wei made truly entertained him.

    "You are a rarity. You would fit so nicely in my collection," Lan sighed again and shook his head. "Well, for now, try and focus on your voice, merge it with your Qi, as if you¡¯re coating a bubble, and send it towards me."

    Xue Wei looked at Lan with confusion. Compress his voice? How was he supposed to do that?

    Lan shook his head, "You are supposed to be a heaven-sent genius for goodness sake, try thinking a bit!"

    "I am thinking!" Xue Wei protested, but his voice was a bit weaker than before. If he had some kind of starting point to go off of, he would understand what Lan meant, so he could not help but feel inadequate for the first time since he set off on the path of cultivation.

    "Well, I guess it is because no one here in the Kingdom of Heping has the ability to do so. I will help you so don¡¯t worry ¨C even if yourprehension were as bad as an earthworm¡¯s, I would still not give up!"

    "Why thank you forparing me to an earthworm."

    "No worries. Now what you should do is to think of the sentence you want to say. Then guide a stream of Qi into your mind and then project it towards the person you wish to speak with."

    "You could have given me that exnation from the start," Xue Wei grumbled.

    "It would not have been fun if I did that, now would it?" Lan grinned, but Xue Wei just snorted at his obvious amusement.

    Still, Lan was teaching him how topress his voice, so he stoppedining. Instead, he attempted to do what Lan had told him, and sent a message to him.

    "Can you hear me?" was what arrived, which made Lan look at Xue Wei with a smile on his face that grewrger by the minute. "You managed to sessfully transmit a message already on your first attempt... not bad at all!" Lan praised.

    "The sound was very uneven, and some of the words were loud while others were silent. You will need to bnce the Qi so that it is even with every single word." Lan suddenly looked serious as he began exining things to Xue Wei, taking the younger manpletely by surprise.

    Xue Wei listened intently and nodded his head solemnly. He was going to try his best and sent another sentence towards Lan.

    "Much better this time!" he praised. "Once again!"

    And like this, most of the day went by. Xue Wei had been capable of transmitting a sentence right away, but to bnce the Qi and make the sound natural was something he found was a lot harder than he had expected.

    "Okay, you have learned it now," Lan nodded his head with satisfaction. "It took you a few hours, but for you to learn it so fast shows that yourprehension is not bad. Still, it is not great either as I had to exin to you what you were to do and you could not figure it out on your own."

    Xue Wei smiled wryly and shook his head. No one would have been able to understand his first way of describing the technique, but things were different now that he understood it.

    "Well then, why don¡¯t you lead me to the dining hall?" Lan asked. They had spent most of the day wandering the tent camp and had stopped by their tent, where Lan taught Xue Wei how topress his voice.

    "Do you think they are distributing food thiste?" Xue Wei asked, frowning. The sun had already set, and it was past dinner time. But on on second thought, Xue Wei recalled that Lan was an esteemed guest. Xue Wei could not imagine them saying no to him.

    While Xue Wei viewed Lan as a weirdo and a madman, it was clear that everyone else revered him.

    "Tell me, you are not a real prophet are you?" Xue Wei sent to Lan, which made Lanugh, but the man did not answer the question. Instead, he just smiled at Xue Wei.

    In Xue Wei¡¯s eyes, Lan was an extremely skilled martial artist, but he was not a prophet. He was able to observe things that others did not notice, but this was not enough to call him a prophet.

    Seeing that he was not going to answer the question, Xue Wei just snorted and came to the conclusion that Lan was indeed a fraud. And he was good at what he did.

    "Since you won¡¯t answer that question, then what about your collection? Which kind of things do you collect?" Xue Wei asked.

    In fact, Xue Wei was practicing his ability to converse through the mind, and since he had no other person to talk to, he had no option than to strike up a conversation with prophet Lan.

    Lan finally seemed interested. His eyes burned with excitement, and he stopped in his tracks, turned towards Xue Wei, and the biggest, happiest grin the younger of the two had seen appeared on the lips of this older man.

    "I am collecting anything rare. That can be beast cores, herbs, minerals, ores, treasures, pills. Everything that is rare is of value to me. Why have you taken an interest in my collection? Have you decided to be a part of my collection now?"

    When Xue Wei heard this, he shook his head silently. "I am not going to be a part of your collection," he said seriously. This time, he was not using thepressed voice because Lan had not done so either, and his response made the prophet seem disappointed.

    "Let us go and get something to eat," Xue Wei said again and started walking towards the dining hall, this time leaving Lan to follow him. However, Lan took one step, and suddenly he was next to Xue Wei once more. It was as if he hadpressed space itself and teleported. This was done so casually that Xue Wei, who was watching him, realized that the man was without equal among the ones he had ever met or heard about.

    Xue Wei and Lan made it to the dining hall. They could smell the scent of food in the air, and when they arrived at the dining hall, they found that it was filled with youngsters.

    When Lan and Xue Wei entered everyone turned around to see who it was, and many of the expressions were filled with jealousy.

    The dining hall was a tent like the others. There was a kitchen in one end of the tent, and in the other end was a tall podium where themander and various captains were seated around arge table with benches.

    On the ground in the middle were also many tables and benches for the geniuses of the Genius Camp, and they were all filled to the brim.

    "Mister Lan, pleasee sit with us," themander requested, and Lan nodded his head as he went to fetch a tray of food before heading to themander¡¯s table.

    Xue Wei knew that the invitation was not extended to him, so he too went to get a tray of food, after which he started looking around the tables.

    It was not until the final table that he found a spot to sit, but as soon as he sat down, he felt everyone staring at him with anger and jealousy in their eyes. What made this weakling think he was better than them? What made him so special that Prophet Lan went out of his way to take care of him?

    Everyone waspletely convinced that Lan was a prophet and that he knew things that no one else knew. As a result, they also thought that he had noticed something in Xue Wei¡¯s future that made him a special figure.

    These geniuses had never before been stepped over by anyone else, and now they felt that a weakling beneath their strength was doing just that.

    Xue Wei was used to being hated, so he did not do anything special. He just started eating his meal andpletely ignored everyone else.

    Seeing hisplete and utterck of reaction, some of the stronger experts clenched their fists with the desire to put him in his ce, but whenever they thought about it they would nce at Lan and stop themselves. Their vengeance could wait until the prophet had left.

 Chapter 64: Dining Hall

    "He is doing it on purpose," Xue Wei mumbled to himself. "I bet he is doing all of this on purpose. He wants me to suffer. He wants me to be hated by all of them."

    "I bet he is having a whole lot of fun right now," Xue Wei continued, but he refused to look at Lan and his smug face more than necessary. He poked the food with his chopsticks and could not help but praise the quality of the food that they were provided in the Genius Camp.

    The meal consisted of meat from Fierce Beasts alongside different medicinal herbs and roots.

    These medicinal herbs and roots were so weak that one had to eat an astronomical amount to see any actual change in one¡¯s cultivation, however when eaten in a meal, these limited portions of energy would spread through the body and assist in supporting the foundations and make them even steadier.

    Xue Wei had eaten food like this at special asions, but to eat it daily was simply wasteful. Were they given special treatment today, since it was the first day, or was the Genius Camp wasteful with their resources?

    The Kingdom of Heping was a poor country. Thus it should not be able to provide the soldiers with such luxurious food every single day, so Xue Wei,pletely ignorant of whatever was happening around him, ate every singlest bite on the te.

    When he finished his meal, he went back with his tray to the people behind the counter that had delivered food to him before. Without waiting for Lan, he headed straight back to his tent.

    As he exited the dining hall, Xue Wei saw a whole group of experts waiting for him outside. All of them red at him and looked around to see whether or not they could find Lan.

    But Lan was not present, and one of the geniuses left the group unnoticed and stood at the entrance to the dining hall, keeping an eye on Lan.

    "You are on your own this time, kiddo," Lan¡¯s voice sounded in Xue Wei¡¯s mind. "You will get stronger, or you¡¯ll get beaten to a pulp. Either way, you will learn something."

    "Is this another one of your teaching lessons?" Xue Wei sneered back with hispressed voice, and Lan¡¯sughter rang through the entire area.

    No one knew what he wasughing about apart from Xue Wei, who furrowed his brows. His eyes narrowed, and he could feel the killing intent within him growing dangerously out of control.

    "He is doing it on purpose," Xue Wei shook his head with annoyance. "What did you just say?" someone asked when they saw Xue Wei¡¯s reaction, but Xue Wei just looked at him as if he was looking at trash.

    "I was not speaking to you," Xue Wei snapped at the genius in front of him.

    The genius that was standing in front of him was a oneyer Earth Warrior. When he looked around him, he saw that everyone present were at the firstyer apart from two at the secondyer.

    Although he could deal with firstyer Earth Warriors easily, and could tussle with someone at the secondyer, there were simply too many experts surrounding him right now.

    "When in doubt, flee," Xue Wei quickly made up his mind. It was clear that Lan wanted him to face off against the entire Genius Camp, but Xue Wei was aware of his own shorings and simply activated Forbidden Rush.

    Having activated his movement technique, he could easily sidestep the attacks that suddenly rained down upon the location where he had been standing moments before.

    Their attacks had been dyed by a few seconds. It was clear that they had not channeled the attacks before they suddenly saw him vanishing into thin air, and thus their attacks also hit nothing but the location where he had been standing.

    "He vanished!" someone eximed, but the others just looked at him as if he was an idiot. It was clear that he had vanished, there was no reason to mention it.

    "It seems his uncle valued him greatly and gave him an outstanding movement technique," one of the twoyer Earth Warriors said as he stroked his chin.

    "You guys are better off not trying to make things difficult for him like this," a voice sounded from behind, and the others turned around to see a thirdyer Earth Warrior behind them.

    "We cannot ept him! He is a simple Ordinary Warrior, and he is close to the prophet from the central of the continent!"

    "He will be cocky if we do not teach him a lesson!"

    "We cannot ept him as he is. He is a shame to our Genius Camp!"

    "Do you think the Prophet fell for his handsome looks?"

    So many of the experts called out at the same time, and the thirdyer Earth Warrior that had appeared behind them just shook his head smilingly.

    "I never said that we could not teach him a lesson. I merely said that we could not do it like this."

    "For instance, if he is wounded during practice no one can say anything about it."

    "If he were to encounter an ident, then who is to be med?"

    "What if he were to encounter a Fierce Beast or a deserter in the arena, what good is his movement technique then? Fleeing can only work so far. I heard that one could bribe the gatekeepers of the Arena to rig the matches."

    "We have to do things like this," the thirdyer Earth Warrior continued. "He is highly revered by the prophet and his uncle is Xiao Lei. We cannot afford for him to know what happened."

    The truth was that this young man was just as tired and against Xue Wei as the others, but he was also aware that it was impossible to get rid of Xue Wei without Xiao Lei knowing what was happening if they didn¡¯t move covertly.

    Since that was the case, he might as well share his many thoughts on how to get rid of him with this group of people. If he were lucky, one of them would do just what he had given as an example, and then he would be rid of a troublesome person.

    "You fled fast!" the annoying voice of Prophet Lan appeared in Xue Wei¡¯s mind once again when he had fled from the group of youngsters.

    This time, Xue Wei was incapable of answering him. He was simply too far away, and he growled in annoyance at knowing that the next couple of weeks would be filled with conversations with this madman who wanted to pit him against the world.

    Xue Wei arrived at his tent and entered it before he sat down on the ground, and sighed as he looked at the bed which he had given up for the next two weeks.

    The ground was cold and hard, but fortunately he was no longer a mortal, which meant this level of cold could not make him sick.

    Just as he entered his tent, Xue Wei finally felt a calm descend upon him. The killing intent and urge to fight, brought about by the overwhelming number of people he encountered and fled from before, was suddenly gone.

    He knew that he had no chance to defeat the group of experts, but he had still felt an urge to do battle. He had felt an urge to kill everyst one of them.

    Although the reason they disliked him was because they felt he had been praised too much and given too much credit, and was almost overshadowing them despite actually being the weakest amongst them rank wise, was something that he could understand, he also knew that if one were to rank them on battle strength, then he was far from being the lowest ranked.

    In the Genius Camp, there were a full fifty-four thirdyer Earth Warriors; a hundred and seventy-three twoyer Earth Warriors; three ninthyer Ordinary Warriors and remaining mine thousand seven hundred and thirty-four were oneyer Earth Warriors.

    Xue Wei would at least be ranked in the top hundred if he were to fight them, and he understood this. He also knew that although Lan had not seen him fight, this strange prophet had already gauged his strengthpletely and knew exactly how strong he was and what he was able to do.

    "No more thinking about him. It makes me so angry," Xue Wei muttered as he slowly emptied his mind of thoughts.

    As his mind was emptied, he focused solely on his breathing. On the energy all around him and on how he drew it into his body. He rotated this energy through his meridians and absorbed it into his strange and unique dantian with every cycle.

    The evening turned to night and Xue Wei waspletely lost in his cultivation. He did not even pay attention to the mad ramblings of Lan that came from time to time. In fact, he paid it so little mind that he forgot what had been said the moment he heard it.

    Lan seemed to sense that Xue Wei was cultivating, and as a result he stopped bothering Xue Wei. As for Lan¡¯s true purpose, no one seemed to understand it.

    That night, Lan was busy drinking and chatting with the upper echelons of the Recruitment Camp while Xue Wei was cultivating.

    Although Lan did not return to im the bed, Xue Wei had already taken the payment for leaving the bed untouched the next two weeks, so even if Lan were to find a tent on his own, Xue Wei would stay on the floor for those two weeks.

    When one made a promise, one had to keep it.

    As the sun rose in the sky, Xue Wei awoke from his meditation. His eyelids lifted and he looked straight into the smiling face of Lan, who was so close that their noses almost touched.

    A shriek of surprise escaped Xue Wei¡¯s lips as he scrambled backward,pletely taken by surprise.

    He had not sensed Lan. Even now, when he looked at him, he could not sense him. If it was not because he could see him right in front of him, then he would not have known that he was there.

    This was a state that Xue Wei had never seen anyone achieve before. Even the Heavenly Warriors were incapable ofpletely hiding their presence, and this disy of might made Xue Wei extremely tense and ufortable.

    "Rested well?" Lan asked with a smile on his face that kept blooming. The uglier Xue Wei¡¯s face became, the happier Lan seemed to be.

    Lan then turned around and left the tent. "Wash up fast, we are going to the dining hall, and then we will find a field where I will teach you a few moves."

    Hearing this, Xue Wei was all of thrilled, troubled, and annoyed. He knew that this was an expert with the kind of strength he had never seen before, and as such to learn a skill from him would be truly magnificent.

    He was troubled because of their rtionship. Would he really teach him a skill out of nowhere, or would he want something in return? It was hard to say. Maybe he would even ask for Xue Wei¡¯s dantian again. Just the thought alone made Xue Wei grimace.

    Finally, he was annoyed. No matter what, he could not bring himself to suddenly be fond of Lan. Lan was truly troublesome. He did things so differently, and he was a royal pain in Xue Wei¡¯s behind, constantly doing all in his power to enrage him.

    Still, the annoyance was quickly overpowered by the interest in whatever it was that he wanted to teach him. Without realizing it, a small smile had crept up on Xue Wei¡¯s face.

    "Let us go and get some food then," Xue Wei said with a grin to Lan, and the two of them went together to the dining hall once more.

 Chapter 65: Fake Snake

    Just like the previous day, Xue Wei was eating on his own while Lan joined the captains, generals, and themander at the podium that was at the opposite end of the kitchen in the dining hall¡¯s tent.

    The food was not as extravagant as it had been the night before, but it was not much worse either.

    There were almost no mortal nts or meats in the meal; all of it was beneficial to cultivators, to increase their cultivation base, to purify their bodies of pill toxins or imperfections, including various nts to strengthen the body itself.

    Xue Wei ensured that he ate every singlest bite on his te before he rose from his seat and went outside the tent to wait for Lan.

    Usually, he would never wait for that madman of a prophet, but since thetter had promised to teach him something today, he was secretly feeling excited.

    After seeing how easily Lan had taught him how topress his voice, he felt that Lan was a great teacher. Although he had many shorings, he did have a great ability to teach Xue Wei.

    As Xue Wei waited, he had expected that the other geniuses in the camp would single him out again, but to his big surprise none of them even spared him a nce, something that made him feel much morefortable.

    Being ignored was something he was used to, and this was something he found strangelyfortable, since he genuinely did not like it when they paid too much attention to him.

    "Waiting for me? I feel special and grateful. Are you perhaps finally willing to join my collection?"

    Lan¡¯s voice sounded next to Xue Wei. This time, it was not low, and it was notpressed either.

    A group of geniuses was present, and their eyes bulged, their jaws dropping and their heads shaking as they stared at Xue Wei and Lan, waiting to hear whatever the answer was. Their shock came from hearing Lan asking whether or not Xue Wei wanted to join his collection. Was this esteemed prophet collecting humans?

    Suddenly, some of them felt sorry for Xue Wei. Was this prophet really such a person? In that case, had they not been fortunate to avoid the attention of this prophet?

    The female geniuses in the Genius Camp, albeit few, were just as shocked. Some of them had harbored dreams about bing his sweetheart and entering the Center of the Continent together with him.

    Xue Wei was aware that Lan was doing all of this on purpose. Xue Wei felt that the prophet wanted to destroy his dignity throughout.

    "Why don¡¯t you stop this already?" Xue Wei sighed and shook his head. He was annoyed, but for some reason, his killing intent was no longer rising.

    "Well then, follow me," Lan said as he started walking away from the many staring geniuses. Xue Wei shook his head.

    Lan was aware that Xue Wei knew the truth about him, that everything he did was for the sake of causing problems.

    "Still, this is entertaining," Lan said out loud as he chuckled, not caring about Xue Wei hearing him at all, towards which thetter just sighed.

    "I better learn something good from this," he said, uncaring of whether anyone heard him or not.

    As they reached one of the fields outside, they saw that everywhere they looked, experts were training. There was no one close to them, and they could train on their own, but others would be able to observe them.

    "This¡¯ll do," Lan chuckled and looked at Xue Wei. "Disy your attacks, attack me with everything you have!"

    Xue Wei, not needing to hear this twice, instantly used the Forbidden Rush Movement Technique to lessen the distance between him and Lan.

    Azure Light Finger!

    The Azure Light Finger shot out and headed straight for Lan while Xue Wei followed up. The next moment, Xue Wei had already traversed the distance between his original position and Lan, arriving right next to the prophet and sending out a Shattering Mountain Palm.

    The Azure Light Finger hit Lan straight on his chest, but nothing happened; his clothes were not even dusty from the two attacks that had sessivelynded in the same spot.

    Xue Wei knew that Lan was strong. But to not even be able to leave a single speck of dust on Lan¡¯s clothes was shocking to the extreme.

    "If those two attacks cannot do anything, then let us try something else!" Xue Wei grinned, finally feeling energized as he let go of all of his troubles and submerged himselfpletely in the feeling of fighting Lan.

    Although Lan was not doing anything at all in return and just standing there, allowing all the attacks tond on him, Xue Wei still felt much better after letting go of it all.

    Xue Wei, who had realized that neither his Shattering Mountain Palm nor his Azure Light Finger worked, quickly changed to the Sacrificial Stab.

    The Sacrificial Stab was able to sacrifice the soul of any that was being killed with this attack, but when he created a sword from Inner Might, he found that Sacrificial Stab was also incapable of even scratching the prophet¡¯s clothes.

    After trying everything he had at his disposal, time and time again, Xue Wei found that he could not do anything to Lan, so he came to a standstill back at his original position.

    He was breathing heavily as he had used attack after attack, depended on his Forbidden Rush repeatedly, and also executed his profound technique the Inner Might.

    "Not bad, you have some very strong attacks," Lan praised him. "Your attacks are all superior, except for one of them which is Profound, if I am not mistaken?"

    Xue Wei nodded his head but said nothing.

    "Well, they are great, I guess you got them from the heritage ring on your finger. Tell me, who gave you this heritage ring?"

    "My uncle. His name is Xiao Lei, and he is a Primordial Beast Hunter of the Kingdom of Heping. He is the kingdom¡¯s pride and joy!"

    "I see," Lan smiled, but his smile was not friendly as usual. Instead, it was rather cold and cynical. "So it was Xiao Lei."

    "Do you know Uncle?" Xue Wei could not help but ask, and Lan startedughing. "I know him," he said with a mocking smile.

    "I should have known you were rted to him," he said after a bit of contemtion.

    "How would you describe my uncle?" Xue Wei could not help but ask breathlessly. He wanted to know much more about his uncle, but it was hard when he did not know where he was or what he had been doing thest half year.

    "The Xiao Lei I know is a fake snake," Lan said after thinking about how to say it.

    "A fake snake?" Xue Wei frowned. The Xiao Lei he knew was someone he cared for deeply, someone whom he loved and someone who looked at him with tender and gentle eyes.

    Even when he was trash, his uncle had never looked down on him. He had always been sincere, always done his best. How could such a person be considered a fake snake?

    "You can¡¯t talk bad about my uncle!" Xue Wei defended Xiao Lei after thinking of this, and Lan looked at him with pity. "Don¡¯t worry. You are a fake snake too. Fake snakes tend to flock together," he said followed byughter.

    "Well, enough about that. Your ring is a treasure that I want to get my hands on, but I have no use for it. When one refines a Heritage Ring, one needs to use the blood of the person it is for. Only the person whose blood is imbued within the ring can use this heritage ring, so even if I got my hands on it, it would be useless for me."

    Xue Wei listened intently, but part of his mind was shaking from knowing that Lan referred to his uncle as a fake snake.

    Was there something that he did not know about? Xue Wei did not know, but he was more determined than ever to realize what it was his uncle was hiding from him.

    Still, a part of him was listening intently to Lan and his exnations. "A Heritage Ring contains arge amount of skills and abilities that can be passed on. To get your hands on these things, you need a certain strength."

    "Let me have a look at your ring," Lan requested, but Xue Wei hesitated. "Well you can also give me your hand," Lan joked. "I do not mind observing it when it is on your hand, but then everyone will truly start to believe that you are interested in men."

    "It is all your fault!" Xue Wei sneered, but he felt much more calm about it and took the ring off and handed it to Lan.

    Lan observed the ring for a long time before handing it back to Xue Wei. "This is made of a beast bone," he introduced. "A bone of a Primordial Beast. In fact, not just any Primordial Beast ¨C but a Ruthless Cinder Tiger. They control fire and are not easy to deal with; their bodies are massive and their strength and speed out of the ordinary. They are some of the most dangerous Primordial Beasts out there."

    "This ring has been made with your blood and such a bone. It is able to contain a whole lot of abilities and skills."

    "From what I can see, you should be able to unlock it once every time you advance a grade, so you already opened it once when you were an Ordinary Warrior, and next time you can open it will be when you are an Earth Warrior, which is soon."

    "Then you should be able to open it at Sky Warrior rank and Heavenly Warrior rank."

    "Of course, you can also open it when you reach the Knight and Saint ranks."

    "Knight and Saint ranks?" Xue Wei asked curiously, and Lan looked at him in an appalled way. "Right, you are from this poor and uneducated country. I always forget that."

    "Enough with your trash talking of this ce, just tell me about it," Xue Wei said impatiently, and Lanughed. "You want to know? Too bad you are too weak for now. When you be an Earth Warrior, I will tell you the truth about it."

    "So you think I will be an Earth Warrior while you are here?" Xue Wei asked curiously, and Lan just shrugged his shoulders. "Who knows."

    "Well, now I will help you," Lan said with a smile. "Your Shattering Mountain Palm, your Inner Might, and your Azure Light Finger are not bad, but you can increase the strength of all three."

    "Your Forbidden Rush is already pretty muchpleted as it is with your current ability. You will not be able to improve that one much, but you can improve the other three. Just leave it to me!"

    Lan had a maddened expression in his eyes and a manic grin on his face.

    Xue Wei shivered when he saw this, but he said nothing. He wanted to be stronger and stronger, and getting Lan¡¯s help would expedite that.

    Xue Wei had never had a proper teacher before. He had been incapable of cultivating initially, and now that he could cultivate he had been left alone by his uncle.

    To gain pointers from an expert who had transcended the limits of the kingdom he lived in was indeed a great opportunity. Although he found him annoying, mad, and saying things he disliked, Xue Wei still felt that he could learn a whole lot from this prophet.

 Chapter 66: Earth Warrior

    Lan truly did as he had promised. He and Xue Wei spent the rest of the day where Xue Wei continuously released one attack after the other, only to be told by Lan how to make the flow of Qi within his meridians change.

    Xue Wei learned how to enhance the strength of his attacks further; he learned how to control the uracy of the attacks better than before and how to control much energy he wished to use on the attack.

    He was learning how to control the flow of Qi within his body perfectly. Previously, he had been using full power every single time he released an attack, but now he could fully control that strength.

    "You are learning fast!" Lan praised him with a grin on his face. "Now onto thest thing I am going to teach you today."

    "I will teach you how to overdraft your energy," Lan said seriously. Lan¡¯s usual manner of joking and teasing was suddenly gone, reced by a solemness that made Xue Wei observe him seriously.

    "I hate fake snakes, but for some reason, you happen to be a deviant in this case," Lan said. "You are interesting, and you have a dantian I want."

    "So please remember, what I am about to teach you is something that you can only use when you are in imminent peril. This is something you can use if you are sure you will die, as the overdraft is very bad for your body and meridians."

    "Still, it is a life-saving measure, so I will teach it to you." Lan then began teaching Xue Wei on how he could absorb more energy from his dantian in a short period of time. The amount would be too much for his meridians to handle, and they would start breaking apart if he did it for more than a short moment.

    Xue Wei began to do as Lan had instructed him, yet he was stopped moments after. "I told you only to do it during imminent peril, and now you were about to do it right away? Isn¡¯t that a little premature?"

    Xue Wei realized that Lan was correct and paused. "If I can¡¯t try it, then how can I know how to do it?" Xue Wei asked curiously, but Lan just shrugged his shoulders nonchntly. "It¡¯s all about knowing the theory and then hoping for the best."

    Xue Wei was a little perplexed as he looked at Lan. "So I will not know if I am capable of doing it ¨C and since I cannot try it, all I can do is hope for the best?"

    Xue Wei understood that trying it out now would be a very bad idea. If he ended up wounding his meridians and body, it would take him an extended period of time before he healed. In that case, he would be incapable of reaching the Earth Warrior rank soon, and even less likely to learn other useful skills from Lan.

    "Okay, teach me the basics, please." Xue Wei finally reached the conclusion that it was better to know about it than not knowing about it.

    "It is not that difficult," Lan exined. "Force your Qi to leave your dantian in a faster andrger quantity. You will need to be able to control the amount of Qi you use before you can do it, but I already taught you how to regte the Qi flow within your body. When I told you how to limit the amount of Qi you send out, you just do theplete opposite and request for more to be transferred through your meridians."

    Xue Wei contemted a bit as he sat down. He limited the amount of Qi that roamed his body, and felt how he became sluggish. He then increased the flow of Qi within his body, from a small drizzle to a steady stream, and he instantly felt the difference.

    "Oh, I see!" Xue Wei nodded his head as it made sense to him. He finally managed to understand what it was like, but he also understood that it would be dangerous to attempt it, which was why he stopped right away.

    "See, it is not so hard is it?" Lan asked with a smile, and Xue Weipletely forgot that he was cross with the prophet and gave him a beaming smile to disy his happiness and gratefulness. This trick, although not tested and tried, was clearly a useful trick that could one day save his life.

    "That was it for today," Lan dered as the sun had begun setting in the sky. The other experts were also leaving the field with their tutors, and Xue Wei suddenly realized that the entire day had gone by in a sh.

    "We skipped out mid-day meals, so we need to go and get our dinner now," Lan said as he started moving towards the city of tents once more.

    "Tomorrow, I will teach you something fun," the prophet said with a mysterious smile on his face, and Xue Wei could not help but look with big eyes filled with focused impatience.

    He had already learned so much from Lan, but he could learn even more? This was truly a blessing. Even if everyone thought he had be the ything of this mysterious and rather odd prophet, Xue Wei did not mind, as he was getting the most insightful training that he had ever before experienced, and he could feel himself progress by leaps and bounds.

    The rest of the evening went on as the day before. Lan was gone most of the night before he arrived in the tent and imed the bed while looking at Xue Wei, who was in the midst of his training, and nodded his head in silent praise.

    The energy in the air was disrupted by Xue Wei¡¯s constant absorption of some of it, and slowly it got more and more chaotic as Xue Wei absorbed more and more into his body while his dantian kept swelling and shrinking in rapid session as it absorbed the energy.

    The azure gleam given off by his dantian was getting stronger and stronger; soon it no longer looked like a pearl but more like an azure bead.

    This azure bead was now more than twice the size it had been when Xue Wei started his cultivation that night.

    On the bed, Lan looked at Wei, and a smile spread across his lips. "Well done, brat," he praised with a low voice. "Seems like I did not need to give you a helping hand this time... your ability to cultivate is far above anyone else I¡¯ve seen, and even my uncle could not match your speed."

    Xue Wei did not hear anything that Lan said, as he was too busy consolidating his foundations, and beads of sweat appeared on his forehead.

    The entire energy in the surroundings was filled with turmoil, and from this others could also sense that someone was breaking through.

    The more curious people in the tent city decided to exit their tents and follow the energy to the epicenter of where it was most chaotic to see who was breaking through.

    They were curious to know, as they had to know if another monster of the thirdyer had appeared in the camp.

    When they arrived at Xue Wei¡¯s tent, they all looked at one another and frowned.

    Knowing that Xue Wei was residing within the tent, all of them were suddenly feelingplicated.

    Some of them were relieved by the fact that it was Xue Wei. He would at most be a oneyer Earth Warrior, making one more Earth Warrior emerge in their camp, but if it had been someone who reached the thirdyer rank, then it would have been much different.

    Others were not toofortable about it because they knew that as an Ordinary Warrior he had the strength of an Earth Warrior, yet now that he had be an actual Earth Warrior, who was to say that his strength had not multiplied greatly?

    Xue Wei waspletely unaware of the audience he had attracted outside the tent; he was solely focused on his cultivation base and the consolidation of his new realm.

    Lan had long since noticed the people that hade to scout Xue Wei, but after seeing that he was not being disturbed, Lan quickly rxed again.

    The group quickly dispersed. No matter what they thought about Xue Wei breaking through, all of them realized that they could do nothing about it, and all they could do was to return to their own tents.

    The rest of the night passed followed by the sun rising in the sky, yet Xue Wei was still absorbing the Qi from the surrounding air wantonly as if his body was an empty reservoir that was being filled with water.

    The sun rose to the middle of the sky, shining down on everyone, but Xue Wei showed no intention of awakening from his meditation. It was not before the sun was starting to set again that Lan could feel how the absorption of Qi was slowly dwindling down to a reasonable level.

    Xue Wei opened his eyes, and a beam of light shot out from within. A breath of foul air escaped his lips.

    "Well done, you made it to Earth Warrior already!" Lan praised him while pping his hands.

    Xue Wei, forgetting that he was not too keen on this prophet, sent him a beaming smile and nodded his head. "Thanks!" he eximed, filled with excitement. Lan looked at him, seemingly contemting something.

    "Well. I was going to teach you about the different ranks when you became an Earth Warrior, so I¡¯ll tell you about it now," Lan decided.

    "I was nning to teach you something awesome, but considering that it is already gettingte, I have a feeling that it is not the most suitable time to go to the fields. We will simply not have enough time!"

    "Your body should be nourished from the Qi you absorbed into your flesh and body, so going to the dining hall tonight can be skipped,"

    "But it is filled with medicinal properties," Xue Weiined, "I need them to increase my strength, especially now when I have just reached the Earth Warrior rank!"

    "Open your mouth," Lan ordered, and hesitatingly Xue Wei did as he was told.

    Lan flicked his fingers, and a small red bead-like thing entered Xue Wei¡¯s mouth and went straight down his throat, almost choking him in the process.

    Just as Xue Wei was about to cough, he felt that the small bead transformed into liquid and fell down his throat, into his stomach where a wave of heat started radiating through his body.

    "What¡¯s this?" he asked in amazement as he felt the impurities in his body being eradicated by this heat, burnt to a crisp and forced out of his system.

    "It was a Scarlet Corpse Pill. A pill that is concocted from Corpse Grass and Blood Ginseng. It is very mild in nature, and this one had a purity of a hundred percent, so you don¡¯t have to worry about pill toxins. Since you turned into an Earth Warrior, you should just barely be able to consume it."

    Lan spoke as if it was natural for him to hand out medicinal pills of such caliber like candy, but Xue Wei was horrified. Pills were a rarity in the Kingdom of Heping, and especially pills of one hundred percent purity.

    To randomly give away such pills like this was enough to shock him, but at the same time, he started to feel grateful to this prophet.

    "Maybe I misjudged you at the start," Xue Wei said with a small smile on his face, but Lan just grinned.

    "I can give you much better stuff if you promise to join my collection," he tempted, but Xue Wei just shook his head wordlessly.

    "You said that you would tell me about the different ranks thate after the Warrior ranks?" the younger man changed the subject elegantly, to which Lan chuckled before he began to exin.

 Chapter 67: Becoming a Dragon

    "It is quite simple," Lan said with a chuckle. "Above the Warrior ranks are the Knight ranks. Ordinary Knight, Earth Knight, Sky Knight, and Heavenly Knight."

    "After Knightse Saints. Ordinary Saint, Earth Saint, Sky Saint, and Heavenly Saint."

    "And after Saints?" Xue Wei held his breath as he asked, but Lan justughed. "After Saints? Who knows. Heavenly Saints are as rare as ice in the desert, and to reach even above the Heavenly Saint rank is simply not something that people have been able to achieve in millennia. It is all legends about what is above."

    "What is your rank then?" Xue Wei asked another question that had confused him for some time. To think that not even his attacks could cause dust to appear on his clothes; he had to be magnificent.

    "What rank do you think I am at?" Lan answered the question with yet another question and smiled slightly.

    Looking at Lan, Xue Wei could guess that he was not going to answer the question in a straightforward way, so he took a moment to contemte.

    "I do not know about the strength levels of the various ranks," Xue Wei said tentatively, "but I have a feeling that you are very highly ranked."

    "I have an impression that you are way stronger than any other creature I have ever met before."

    "Creature, you say?" Lan could not help butugh at that, and Xue Wei embarrassedly rubbed his nose, "I mean, I once saw someone I believe to be a Primordial Beast, and she was very strong. Yet you seem way stronger than her; I would guess that you are a Saint of some sort?"

    Instead of answering the question, Lanughed again. "Someone you believe to be a Primordial Beast? Why so?"

    Xue Wei did not hide anything and told Lan the entire story, after which Lan frowned. "So that¡¯s their game," he shook his head and looked at Xue Wei, who seemed very confused and looked at the prophet while unsure of what the man was thinking.

    "Never mind, you are fortunate to have encountered a Primordial Beast and lived to tell the tale," heughed again, and Xue Wei nodded his head, paying no more attention to the prophet¡¯sment.

    "Well, it is toote now to go train, so go get some rest, consolidate your foundations a bit more, and then we will go out tomorrow. I have something very peculiar to teach you. It has to do with your Azure Dragon Scripture."

    Xue Wei gave Lan a long nce, but he did not say anything to him and instead he just nodded his head and sat down on the ground once more, focusing on absorbing more energy from the surrounding air and converting it into Qi within his body.

    The night quickly passed, and as the morning broke, birds sang in the sky and the sun was rising in the sky.

    Lan and Xue Wei left the tent together,pletely ignoring the many strange nces that the two of them were getting, both having their own thoughts andpletely ignorant of what others might think about them.

    "It is time for us to get some food. Although I gave you something very nutritiousst night, it cannot rece real food, and you haven¡¯t eaten for days as you were consolidating your newfound realm."

    As soon as Lan spoke, everyone perked their ears up to hear his words, yet they were so suggestive that some of the girls blushed and others almost vomited.

    Xue Wei sighed. "Enough of that chatter, they are already thinking the worst. No need to keep making them believe that I am into men,"

    "You know, I might even think the worst ¨C your reaction is so dull, at least everyone else is reacting amusingly."

    "So you are doing this to be amused?" Xue Wei asked with a sigh, and Lan just shrugged his shoulders. "If I didn¡¯t do it for fun, then what other reason could I possibly have?"

    "Whatever," Xue Wei sighed. "Just stop it now. I do have a sweetheart; it would be a shame if she heard about me cheating on her with someme prophet."

    "Oh, you have a sweetheart?" Lan suddenly got interested. "Tell me about her, what is she like?"

    A bright light shone in Xue Wei¡¯s eyes as he thought back to Wang Xiaoyun and the very short time they had spent together, and about the promises they had made to each other.

    "Her name is Wang Xiaoyun. She is a Wayfarer, and although it is difficult for us to be together I swore that I would be a strong enough partner for her family to approve of me!"

    Lan suddenly startedughing, and he wasughing so much that he clutched his stomach with his arms and almost doubled over.

    Xue Wei had gotten used to his strange behavior so he said nothing, but he just stood there staring at him with a dull, distant gaze.

    "Sorry," Lan said as he wiped a tear from his eye, " it¡¯s just, you want to make the Wayfarers ept you. That is rather hrious."

    Xue Wei felt anger rise in his chest as he heard this. He red at Lan. "Why is that amusing?" he asked, but Lan just continued giggling uncontrobly.

    "Well, you know that Wayfarers are against marrying out of the family because they will lose their bloodline." Lanughed. "But you have a special physique, so it should be fine if you ever manage to produce some offsprings."

    Xue Wei was confused, annoyed, and slightly angry as he went to get a tray of food and moved to a vacant bench.

    Contrary to his expectations, Lan sat down with him on the bench, but the prophet was still not entirely done giggling.

    Xue Wei ate his food with his head down, and everyone else had decided to stay away from the prophet. Although they knew he could teach them many things, they could not help but be scared about what he might ask in return.

    Just look at the pitiful Xue Wei. Although he had gotten great benefits which everyone credited to Lan, they also all were of the impression that he was now the ything of a prophet.

    As they finished the food, the two walked towards the fields surrounding the tent camp again, and here they found a ce where there were not many other cultivators.

    "Your cultivation technique is quite different from normal techniques," Lan started to introduce. "It originates from the Azure Dragons, and dragons are the kings amongst beasts. This specific scripture is increasingly rare, and as far as I know only two copies exist in the entire continent, so for you to be able to cultivate it is truly marvelous."

    "When you cultivate the Azure Dragon Scripture, you will be able to transform yourself into a dragon forcefully."

    "I can transform into a dragon?" Xue Wei¡¯s eyes widened in surprise. "But does that not make people think that I am a Primordial Beast?"

    "Don¡¯t worry, it is like the Wayfarers and their abilities. If anything, they will think you are a Wayfarer."

    "I see," Xue Wei had never seen the Wayfarers fight, as he only knew that their bloodline would be activated when it came into contact with the blood of a Primordial Beast, but as to what changes that happened, none of his books had ever specified it.

    Xue Wei nodded his head. "In that case; I would love to learn it," he said excitedly. He had read about dragons before; they were indeed the king of beasts.

    To gain the strength of a dragon, even if it were just a part, would make his body stronger than any other cultivator. To be able to transform into a dragon ¨C would he even be able to soar in the sky then?

    "Well, I say that you can be a dragon, but the truth is that you will at most be able to shapeshift a part of your body for some time."

    "Like at the beginning, I will teach you how to make your arms transform. I think that is the limit for you for now."

    "But don¡¯t you worry, as the time goes by you will be more familiar with it, and then your ability to transform will also increase. Who knows, one day you might be a real dragon!"

    Xue Wei¡¯s eyes shone with excitement. "Please teach me," he said breathlessly. Although he hated Primordial Beasts more than anything, he could imagine his strength raising to heavenly proportions if he managed to be a real dragon.

    In that case, he would be able to face the other Primordial Beasts at equal footing in terms of natural gifts. He would be able to face them equally, and even overpower them as everyone knew that dragons reigned supreme.

    "Okay, use your cultivation technique," Lan ordered, and Xue Wei did exactly what he had been told. Although his uncle had told him to never show this technique to anyone else, Xue Wei understood that since Lan had already realized which technique he was using, it was useless to try and hide it.

    Instead, he should take all the assistance he could get to increase his strength, which was why he rotated the technique freely, making Qi roam his meridians.

    "Well done, now visualize the arm of a dragon while you are doing this."

    "A dragon arm?" Xue Wei frowned. He had never before seen a real dragon, but suddenly a picture spawned in his mind, a picture of a dragon arm that had impaled the chest of some man.

    When the picture appeared in Xue Wei¡¯s mind, he was incapable of seeing who the arm belonged to, and the face of the man who was impaled was alsopletely blurred in his memory.

    Suddenly, a sharp spike of pain appeared in his mind, a pain so intense that he could not help but cry out and double over on the grass.

    His hands were cradling his head as he rocked back and forth, trying to make the pain less unbearable, but it was impossible and moments after the entire world turned ck as Lan¡¯s hand had descended and caused him to lose consciousness.

    "So he has taken your memories too?" Lan muttered, his face suddenly turning soft. He then bent over and lifted up Xue Wei and started to make his way back to the tent city.

    Others had noticed that something strange was going on, some had even heard the scream Xue Wei had released, but no one dared near him, apart from the higher ranked members in the recruitment camp.

    "Esteemed Prophet, allow us to carry this lowly one to his tent," one of the captains said as he went towards Xue Wei and Lan, but Lan just red at him and the captain instantly retreated. It was clear that he was not going to let anyone else take over the task of tending to this young man.

    When they were back in the tent, Xue Wei was being ced gently on the bed, and Lan sat by his side.

    "You remind me of myself," Lan sighed. "Perhaps that is why I want to help you. Your past is not much better than my own, but hopefully your future can be brighter."

    "Now, should I break the spell that holds his memories hostage, or should I let him experience them little by little?" Lan contemted for some time. "I think I will leave them for now," he decided. Then he waited for Xue Wei to awaken so that he could be told what exactly he had experienced.

    Lan picked up a single blue pill and dropped it into Xue Wei¡¯s mouth. "Well then, now you should wake up soon," he said and leaned against the bed as he rxed.

    Two momentster, Xue Wei rightfully awoke. His face was pale and his body trembled, but he was no longer in pain.

    "What happened?" he asked, a perplexed look on his face when he realized that he was in his tent once more and no longer out on the grassy fields where they had been training before.

    "Well, I was hoping you could tell me that," Lan gave a slight smile.

 Chapter 68: Heritage Ring

    "I imagined a dragon arm," Xue Wei said while frowning. "I saw something, but I can¡¯t recall what it was." He shook his head.

    "A dragon arm?" Lan mused for a bit of time, but then he shook his head. "Don¡¯t worry about it," he said after a bit of consideration.

    "I will show you what a dragon arm looks like," he said, and a book suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

    It was clear that Lan had a storage treasure of some kind, and Xue Wei was curious about what it was.

    Seeing his curious demeanor, Lan chuckled, but he did not exin anything. Instead, he opened the book on a certain page where there was an azure dragon.

    "Azure dragons," he introduced, "are the kings of dragons, a type of beast that one has to respect for their strength and also upright behavior."

    "A Primordial Beast can have an upright behavior?" Xue Wei asked curiously, and Lan smirked. "Just because they are beasts does not make them that much different from humans."

    "They kept us as livestock and ves for centuries, so I would not consider that upright behavior," Xue Wei frowned, but Lan justughed at him again, something Xue Wei had gotten very used to over the past few days.

    "They are as upright as humans," Lan snickered. "Don¡¯t you use Diviners to enve beasts now? Don¡¯t you eat Fierce and Primordial Beast meat whenever you get the chance? Use their silk and hide to make clothes, their bones and cores to make weapons, lights, and other necessities?"

    Xue Wei suddenly gasped. He had never thought about it like this before; what the beasts had done to the humans, the humans were now doing to the beasts.

    "This needs some consideration," Xue Wei said with a thoughtful expression. He had always thought their cause had been righteous in his mind when he wanted to be a Primordial Beast Hunter, but these beasts were in fact also just forced to act the way they did by their nature.

    "It won¡¯t change anything," Xue Wei finally sighed. "I am a human, so obviously I should side with the humans, protect them, and defeat as many Primordial Beasts as possible. The only thing is that I will now be more realistic about them. I cannot hate something that just follows their nature like this, since I am not different from them."

    Lan nodded his head in praise at how easily Xue Wei epted the mentality of the beasts, but he said nothing more and handed the book to Xue Wei.

    "Look at this dragon and tell me what exactly it looks like," Lan ordered and Xue Wei nodded his head.

    "It looks like a dragon. Dragons have many shapes such as turtles and fish, but the majority of them are snake-like with four legs, two front legs, and two hind legs."

    Xue Wei said what he had read about dragons in books, but then he looked at the picture. There was a snake-like dragon.

    "Azure scales," Xue Wei was deep in thought, and as he thought about the front legs, or arms, of an azure dragon, azure scales started to sprout from his skin,ing from within the skin and breaking through,yering themselves all over his lower arms and fingers.

    His fingers also changed, as ws emerged on the fingertips in lieu of simple nails, bing thicker and merging into only three ws.

    His arms grew in size, and Xue Wei could feel how he became much stronger than before. The Qi that flowed through his veins became denser, purer, and seemed topletely change its nature, while the physical strength alone rose to double or triple of what it had been before, and this was only after transforming his arms!

    Xue Wei stared in shock at his arms. It had been so simple to transform them; it was as if it came naturally to him to switch to the dragon arms.

    "This is because of your Azure Dragon Scripture," Lan praised. "Although it should not be very difficult, you are quite skilled to be able to do it as fast as you did."

    Xue Wei felt a hint of pride in his heart and was very satisfied with his aplishments.

    "You know, you have to be careful and only use this in life.and.death situations," Lan warned him. "Although many would assume that you are just a Wayfarer or cultivating some sort of beastly scripture, some will notice it as being dragon arms, and then you might be captured for the sake of stealing your scripture. It is very rare and incredibly powerful after all."

    Xue Wei nodded his head after musing over Lan¡¯s advice. It was true that he was not unique when it came to being capable of transforming part of his body into that of a Primordial Beast, but the ability of being able topletely transform into an Azure Dragon had to be kept a secret.

    "Well, don¡¯t look that troubled," Lan grinned. "Here in the Genius Camp, even if you only rely on your Shattering Mountain Palm, your Azure Light Finger, your Forbidden Rush, and your Sacrificial Stab, you are still above the others."

    "You have not fought anyone since you became an Earth Warrior, so we do not know how strong you arepared to the other geniuses, but don¡¯t forget that you just broke through to the Earth Warrior rank."

    "You have the ability to unlock the Heritage Ring once more, and then you will be able to get your hands on new techniques."

    "Do you want to open your heritage ring now, or do you want to wait until tomorrow and we do it early in the morning, and look through the skills avable and pick a few to train?"

    Xue Wei contemted and then looked at Lan. "Let us do it now," he said, incapable of hiding the eagerness in his voice and the excitement in his eyes.

    "Okay," Lan agreed. He, too, was slightly curious about what exactly this Xiao Lei, the leading figure of Heping Kingdom, had left behind for his nephew.

    Xue Wei took a deep breath and moved slightly to settle into the position in which he was sitting.

    He then reverted his arms to human arms with but a single thought, and then he looked at the ring on his hand.

    Withdrawing a single thread of Qi from his pearl-like dantian, Xue Wei guided it through his meridians towards his hands, where he made it leave his body and enter the ring on his finger.

    As soon as he did that, the tent shone with an azure light and holograms of five different abilities appeared in front of him.

    "Arcane Fist, a profound martial technique which allows the user to punch in an elusive, mysterious manner that seems to make their fist vanish. Sometimes, it produces extra fist imprints, and other times it vanishes from sight. Very hard to block. Can only be used in close-quartersbat."

    "Seed of Mirage, a profound martial technique that allows you to grow a spectral seed made of Qi. Each seed takes three breaths of time to grow, and when they have fully grown, they be a clone which can attack on its own with a strength depending on how much Qi has been inserted into the seed. The clone knows all attacks that the owner controls."

    "Heart of Fire, a profound martial technique that allows you to burn one drop of heart blood essence. Increases one¡¯s strength threefold for a period of thirty breaths of time. After the duration of the drop of heart blood essence ends, one will instantly feel fatigued and seriously injured."

    Xue Wei paused and looked at Lan. "What is heart blood essence?" he asked curiously.

    "Everyone has three types of blood; there is the ordinary blood which you will spill randomly when injured, then there is the essence blood which is very hard to restore and increase, and finally is the heart blood essence." Lan began exining.

    "If you use some of your blood essence, it will restore itself over time, but if you use heart blood essence, you will need to use outside help in the shape of medicinal nts to restore it."

    "The heart blood is very precious, but if the question is about dying or using a drop of heart blood, then use the heart blood!" Lan specified.

    "Using your blood essence can boost your strength for a very short amount of time, or increase the power of a specific attack if you merge the essence blood into the Qi and thenunch said attack."

    "Using blood essence will make you tired and exhausted, but your blood essence will restore itself if you leave it be for long enough. Your heart blood essence is, unfortunately, much more difficult to restore."

    "I know of a few medicinal nts that can help, but they are far beyond your reach right now."

    "So this Heart of Fire is another life-saving ability," Xue Wei mused as he nodded his head. "It would be a great ability to learn, but it is not the most important one of them for now, so let us see what else this ring¡¯s got."

    "Mind Infestation, a superior martial technique that allows the user to invade and prate the mind of one¡¯s opponent. Superior ranked ability but has the potential to reach profound-stage levels of power if the user has a strong soul. The ability depends fully on the user¡¯s soul to seed."

    "Kick of Forgotten Kings, a profound martial technique that allows the user to be imbued with the might of the forgotten kings and unleash their strength in a powerful kick. Can only be used in close quartersbat."

    Xue Wei had read the final one of the abilities out loud as his eyes glistened with excitement. All five of these techniques sounded amazing!

    "So now that we have looked at them, which one would you like to begin with?" Lan asked, his eyes not disying any of his innermost emotions. Xue Wei was left guessing as to whether or not he was impressed with the quality of the abilities he had been given.

    "I don¡¯t know," Xue Wei said seriously as he looked at the five abilities once more. "I think that the most beneficial one, for now, would be the Seed of Mirage," he said thoughtfully.

    "I already have a palm attack, and while the Shattering Mountain Palm is only a superior martial technique, it is without a doubt still better than what most cultivators here in the Kingdom of Heping has ess to."

    "Because of this, I would postpone learning the Arcane Fist for now." Xue Wei concluded.

    "Then we have the Heart of Fire. While it is a very promising life-saving ability, I would rather rely on my transformed arms for now since I have already mastered that."

    "Mind Infestation is very interesting," Xue Wei continued, "but I have no clue as to how strong my soul is, and since itpletely depends on the strength of one¡¯s soul, it might be better to focus on those I know will for sure strengthen me."

    "Finally, we have the Kick of Forgotten Kings. That one is also very interesting," he concluded. "I currently have no kicking arts, and thus it could prove to be very useful, but for now something about the Seed of Mirage calls me."

    "So, I understand that you want to focus on the Seed of Mirage first, followed by the Kick of Forgotten Kings?" Lan asked, and Xue Wei hesitated for a moment, thinking about the pros and cons of both before he nodded his head.

    "Great!" Lan eximed happily, and Xue Wei felt a calm descend upon him. He had decided which skills to focus on first, and now he had a full nineyers through the Earth Warrior stage of time to perfect these five abilities. It should be possible.

    "I already taught you everything about the Forbidden Rush, the Shattering Mountain Palm, and the Azure Light Finger, so from tomorrow onwards I will drill you in the Seed of Mirage until you perfect that one too!"

 Chapter 69: Soul Crystal

    Xue Wei felt excited. Although Lan¡¯s training method was rather spartan, it was also proving to bring many benefits to him.

    Lan was a tough but very skilled teacher. He would drill the abilities so hard into Xue Wei that he could do them even during his sleep.

    The following day, they went to their special location on the field. Once more, Lan began to exin how to best understand and use the ability. He did this every time.

    "The Seed of Mirage focuses on the word ¡®mirage¡¯. The mirage is based on illusions, and it spans over many different types of attacks. One can hide in the illusions and cover all tracks of oneself, making it so that no one can sense that they are there."

    "It is possible to use the mirage to change the appearance of a person, and it is possible to make people see things that are not there."

    "Your Seed of Mirage is creating a mirage ¨C creating a replica of something out of nothing."

    "As such, it is a very high ranked ability among the category of skills that use mirages, as it enables you to create something real from nothing. It creates real copies that can attack and not just confuse."

    Lan introduced the mirage to Xue Wei. Xue Wei listened intently and made sure that everything Lan said was forever engraved in his heart so that he would not forget it in the future, and that his abilities would continue to improve.

    The Seed of Mirage is an ability where one creates a seed from Qi. The stronger one is, the more seeds one can create. And at the same time, one could also determine how strong it would be by how much Qi was provided to it.

    The strongest the copy could be was half of his strength, but the Qi used to create such a figure was equally high.

    The first attempt of the seed that Xue Wei made was thrown out, and both Lan and Xue Wei were eagerly awaiting the three breaths of time for the seed to sprout, only to see that nothing happened.

    They both felt rather anticlimactic as they had watched the seed with bated breath only to see it dissipate into nothingness.

    Lanughed at it, and Xue Wei felt rather embarrassed, but then they began anew.

    The Seed of Mirage was harder to understand than what he had expected. The first seed that sessfully sprouted turned into a blur that also dissipated into thin air, as it could not hold its shape.

    After trying for half the day, Xue Wei was capable of creating a figure thatsted for five breaths of time before it could no longer hold its shape. Although it was a short amount of time, the clone was already capable of sending out a few attacks.

    Every attack it sent out was aimed at Xue Wei so that he could get a feel for how powerful the attacks were and how much Qi he should send into the seed.

    At the start, he had sent so little Qi into the seed that it was incapable of sprouting.

    After that, he slowly adjusted it and found that the more Qi he added, the longer itsted and the stronger the clone was.

    As time went on, Xue Wei became more and more proficient at creating the seed, and he found that the clone would act ording to his own thoughts without a need tomand it.

    It waspletely loyal, did exactly what it could to work with Xue Wei¡¯s own ns, and he found that itplimented his fighting style quite a bit.

    It took three days for Xue Wei to finally get it under control. During these three days, they were at the field from early morning tote evening.

    Many an expert had nced at them to see what exactly they had been doing, and they were curious as to what exactly Xue Wei was being taught by the prophet. Even the upper echelons of the army were curious. Some of them even felt slightly sour in their hearts for not being given the same attention.

    Although the youngsters knew about Lan being a prophet from the center of the continent, they did not know exactly how strong he was or how outstanding his reputation was.

    They were very well aware of what he could do, however. They knew he could topple kingdoms and destroy empires with the wave of his hand, and now he was patiently teaching a random youngster.

    Xue Wei continued to study the Seed of Mirage for a few days more before he felt that he had grasped the technique.

    Having been able to understand a technique in just a week was incredibly fast. During this week, Lan had been Xue Wei¡¯s sparring partner.

    After Xue Wei had gotten a good understanding of how much power the clone had depending on the Qi he used, he and the clone had fought against Lan in an attempt to get used to the coordination between himself and the clone.

    "I only have a few days left here," Lan said as the night drew close and they were walking towards the dining hall.

    "You have already learned the Seed of Mirage, which you can use as you please. Your next ability to learn is the Kick of Forgotten Kings. Then you will be fully prepared for whateveres your way," Lan assessed.

    "You will have your Azure Light Finger for ranged attacks, your Shattering Mountain Palm for close quartersbat. You will have Forbidden Rush as a movement technique and Seed of Mirage as an auxiliary technique. For weaponry, you have Inner Might, and you will have Kick of Forgotten Kings as a leg attack."

    Xue Wei nodded his head. When he learns the Kick of Forgotten Kings, he would indeed be an all-rounded martial artist.

    The only thing that he would becking was a spiritual attack, one like the Mind Infestation, but that one required spiritual energy or soul power. Because of that, Xue Wei was not sure if he was suitable to learn it.

    "I will gift you onest thing," Lan said as he sighed. "You will have to owe me a favor for this though," he continued.

    "The thing I will give you is a Soul Crystal. Soul Crystals are crystals that resonate with one¡¯s soul; the brighter the light is, the stronger your soul is, and the more spiritual power you possess."

    "This Soul Crystal can be used multiple times, and it is very sturdy. Just don¡¯t break it and you should be able to have use of it for quite some years," he continued, and Xue Wei nodded his head. His heart was heavy; he knew that this had to be a great treasure, but Lan still gave it to him.

    "If you feel bad, then be a part of my collection," Lan snickered, but Xue Wei just snorted. He had no interest in bing the property of someone else.

    Lan shrugged his shoulders and did not mention it anymore. Instead, he tossed a small, transparent, faceted gem towards Xue Wei who caught it a bit awkwardly, fearing that he might drop it.

    "Okay, now add some of your spiritual power to the gem," Lan said, and Xue Wei did as he was told. The gem started glowing with an azure light, and it became brighter and brighter until they were blinded by the bright light of the gem.

    "Your soul is definitely strong," Lan said with a perplexed look. "But I should have guessed such, as special physiques often require a strong soul, so it makes sense for you to have such a strong soul. You can use Spiritual Energy to ovee many of your opponents," he said smilingly.

    "With this amazing result, I would even suggest that you try out the Mind Infestation before you learn Kick of the Forgotten Kings," Lan decided.

    "The next couple of days, we will focus on the Mind Infestation, and you will continue to train it while I am gone until you have it under control and can kill someone with only a nce," Lan said, and his words caused Xue Wei¡¯s eyes to widen in surprise.

    "Is the Mind Infestation that great?" He asked, remembering that it was ranked as a superior grade technique with the potential to be a profound technique.

    "Yes," Lan nodded his head seriously. "If your soul is strong enough and you have a useable technique, you will be able to make others fall into a deep slumber or even extinguish their soul. It is difficult to fend off an attack from a cultivator with great spiritual power unless your martial heart is extremely calm and determined, or your own spiritual force is stronger."

    "You are one of the cultivators with a naturally strong spiritual force, but your martial heart is still being tempered as you are not aware of just what your goals in life are yet. You do not know your own martial path, and thus the shape of your martial heart is still in its infant stages."

    Xue Wei nodded his head. He had some goals in life, but he understood that he needed to temper himself to grow a martial heart.

    Xue Wei wanted the Soul Crystal so that he could assist Luo Zhirou and Shen Muter on with their own soul power. If they had strong spiritual power, then he wished to teach them the Mind Infestation.

    Although Xiao Lei had left the attacks for him, he believed sharing it with his best friends was eptable.

    He was worried about them. While it is true that the mortality rate of the Genius Camp was equal to the other camps, he felt that his chances of survival were much higher than theirs, so he wanted to help them as much as he could.

    Because of that, he promised himself that he would go to visit them soon and see if he could teach them the Mind Infestation. If he could not, he would think about some other ability to impart to them.

    Lan smirked as he saw Xue Wei in deep thought, but he said nothing. The prophet just waited for him to finish his thoughts.

    "I want to learn the Mind Infestation," Xue Wei said after a bit of time, and then he hesitated to continue, but Lan nudged him on. "What¡¯s wrong?" he asked.

    "You have had the Soul Crystal for a long time... howe you did not want to reveal to me until now? You could easily have done so back when we were nning the order in which I learned my new skills from the Heritage Ring, and when we talked about the Kick of Forgotten Kings being the next skill I practice?"

    Lan¡¯s one eyebrow rose in surprise when he heard the question, and then he nodded his head. "Makes sense that you are wondering about this," he said.

    "A Soul Crystal is very important and very rare. I only have around twenty of them," Lan said. "My decision to give one to you was basedpletely on yourprehension. If you were able to learn the Seed of Mirage before I was gone, I would help you examine your potential in regards to spiritual power, but if you did not have the necessary talent, then I concluded that it was better for you to not attempt the spiritual energy attacks. They require not only great spiritual energy but also a great amount ofprehension," Lan exined.

    "I did not want to give you any pressure, so I said nothing, but you made it in time. So I will gift you the Soul Crystal as intended, and you can spend the next couple of days to gain an elementary insight into Mind Infestation."

    Xue Wei understood this and nodded his head. He then kowtowed to Lan. "Thank you so much for all your assistance," he said with sincerity. "¡¯You have been my first teacher, and I will forever remember your care and consideration in my heart. When, and if, I get strong enough to repay your kindness, I will walk over a sea of mes and cross a mountain of knives if need be."

 Chapter 70: Guinea Pigs

    Chapter 70 - Guinea Pigs

    Seeing Xue Wei¡¯s humble behavior, Lan snickered. His eyes zed with amusement, but he said nothing to destroy the mood.

    Xue Wei felt veryplex emotions. He could not wholly forget his original hesitation when it came to this prophet, but at the same time, he had been a benefactor to Xue Wei.

    When someone showed him such kindness, even if Xue Wei felt that he had some secrets that made him incredibly dangerous and someone to stay away from, he could not help but disy his gratitude.

    He would also make sure to repay this gratitudeter on when he was strong enough to be relied upon, but he was already starting to fear that he would be told to go collect some rare materials for him in some godforsaken ce where he was toozy to go himself.

    Still, Xue Wei knew how much the assistance he had been given meant to him, and thus he would go herb hunting withoutints if it ever came to that.

    Xue Wei rose again and sighed. He could see that Lan¡¯s eyes were gleaming with excitement, but he had no interest in knowing why the prophet was having so much fun or what he was nning.

    Instead, he sat down and contemted the Mind Infestation Spiritual Technique and tried to figure out the tricks, the difficult passages, and the theory behind it.

    Instead of cultivating that night, he spent all the time trying to understand the Mind Infestation technique.

    Lan did what he usually did during the night; heid down on the bed and slept through the night. It was clear that cultivating was not a priority for the prophet anymore, and as to why Xue Wei had multiple theories.

    One was that he was so strong that it did not matter any longer, as he could not reach a higher realm. Another was that he had reached a realm where even when he slept his body would naturally consume the energy of the surrounding air and convert it into Qi.

    Xue Wei had long since decided not to worry about Lan¡¯s decisions and training. By putting his mind to the task at hand, he managed to gain quite a few insights into the Mind Infestation Spiritual Technique by the time morning arrived.

    "We will stay in the tent today," Lan dered as they awoke to the sound of birds in the sky and the scent of breakfast from the dining hall.

    "In the tent?" Xue Wei asked curiously, and Lan nodded his head. "Mind Infestation is a Spiritual Martial Arts, a technique that depends on your mind and your soul."

    "When you practice such techniques, it is paramount that you are in quiet and calm surroundings, or it might bacsh and wound you in the process."

    "The field is good for training physical techniques," Lan said, "but when ites to spiritual martial arts, it is important that we find a calm ce first. In this camp, the most secure ce is in the tent."

    Xue Wei nodded his head in approval. After thinking about it, he understood the reasoning and could not wait to get started.

    "Okay, we have no one to attack," Lan contemted. "If you try to use a spiritual martial arts on me, it will cause a bacsh and seriously wound your soul, if not kill you since my soul is many times stronger than yours at the current point in time."

    "Well, for now, you need to learn the difference between spiritual power and Qi," Lan began.

    "I already described what spiritual energy is: it is the power of your soul and mind. The more you use it, the more mentally exhausted you will be."

    "It will be restored when you¡¯ve used it, but you run the risk of corrupting your mind if you use too much. If you want to be a strong spiritual martial arts user, you will need a steady martial heart to keep you from bing corrupted."

    "Although the use of spiritual martial arts is very difficult and has quite a few requirements, it is still a good idea for you to learn Mind Infestation. Although your martial heart is still growing, you are not weak, and your determination is great. You shouldn¡¯t be corrupted by one single spiritual martial arts."

    Xue Wei sat down and searched inside of himself. He almost saw a full picture of himself from the inside; he saw his meridians, his dantian, and his head.

    He could see the gleaming azure Qi run through his meridians, and then he found a golden light that had gathered in a ball in his mind.

    This ball of golden light was growingrger at one moment and smaller at another. When Xue Wei tried to spread his senses, he saw that the golden light started turning into halos that spread from his body and out towards the rest of the surroundings.

    "Oh, so it¡¯s like this," Xue Wei muttered. He then focused on sensing Lan, who was right next to him, and he felt how this golden energy gathered around Lan.

    "So everything that has to do with my senses, everything that has to do with my mind, is spiritual energy. I found my reserves, but how to use it?"

    Lan said nothing; he just sat there watching Xue Wei with a small smile on his face and a calcting look in his eyes.

    Xue Wei was unaware of this calcting look that flickered in Lan¡¯s eyes, just as he did not see the smug smile that crossed his face.

    "Naive child, far too naive," Lan whispered as he looked at Xue Wei, and his words caused Xue Wei to startle awake. "Did you say something?" Xue Wei asked. He had been too focused on his spiritual energy to hear what the other had said, but he was sure that Lan said something.

    "Oh, don¡¯t mind me," Lan smiled. "I just thought that the weather is great today. Anyway, how is it? Have you found your spiritual energy?"

    Xue Wei frowned but nodded his head. "I found it," he said. "I was trying to figure out how to convert it into energy to be used though. I can understand how to make it when I am using my senses and other things like that, but I do not know how to actively ask for it to work."

    "It¡¯s simple," Lan exined. "With a simple thought of yours, it should be responding. The reason it hasn¡¯t done so is that you are too obsessed over it, so it is overloaded. Try sitting down and emptying your mind. Then find a suitable target in the camp, and try using the Mind Infestation against them."

    "The further away they are, the better it is," Lan exined. "The further away, the weaker the attack will be, and many won¡¯t even be affected by the attack, but you will get used to it and get a feel for the attack."

    "Later on, when you use it against someone close by, you will know how to do it."

    Lan smiled, and Xue Wei nodded his head hesitatingly. "Is it okay to try it on random people in the camp?" he asked, a little confused. Using someone as a guinea pig without their permission was not his style, but Lan had said they would not even notice it, and he could learn from it. As long as they did not notice or experience any difort, it could not be considered too bad right?

    "Just do it, they will be fine," Lan ensured and encouraged Xue Wei, and he finally nodded his head, closed his eyes, and took a deep breath.

    He spread his senses and noticed how his spiritual energy was floating out of his body in waves of golden light.

    It came into contact with one expert after another, but Xue Wei remembered that Lan had ordered him to pick someone far away, and thus he continued to send out his waves of spiritual energy until he got aplete understanding of how far his range was.

    He could spread his senses to a full five hundred meters around him, sensing every living being within these five hundred meters, and although he could not hear or see what they were doing, he could pinpoint their location.

    Xue Wei found many experts in his range, but he picked a young oneyer Earth Warrior that was located around four hundred and seventy-five meters away from him.

    This expert had a strength simr to his own. His stature was simr to his own, and his distance was suitable.

    Xue Wei remembered the Mind Infestation and all the insights he had gotten during the night of contemtion. He knew that he would be able to invade the mind of his opponent if they were close to one another and that he should be able to take over.

    He sent out a stream of spiritual energy that prated the mind of the young man who he had targeted, and the moment the spiritual energy prated his head, Xue Wei suddenly felt as if he could stir the mind of his target.

    He could just sense the possibilities. He could sense that if he wished, he could take over the mind of this expert and control him. He could roam through his memories, and he would be able to put him to sleep or even cut off his dantian, break his meridians, and make himmit suicide by self-detonating the dantian.

    Xue Wei was scared when he realized how much power he had over this other person, so he instantly cut the connection between them.

    In all this time, it was as if his soul had been split into two; half of it had been in his own body, and he was able to control it as he wished, and the other had been in his target, but he was deeply shocked.

    "I thought you said they would not notice anything!" Xue Wei hissed at Lan who just shrugged his shoulders.

    "He won¡¯t notice anything," he said with his carefree attitude. "He will just feel dizzy for a bit. It cannot be helped since you are much stronger than the target you chose. You have to at least go against the thirdyer Earth Warriors before you are able to see any resistance."

    Xue Wei grumbled, but he also felt rather powerful. He could not help but feel excited about this Mind Infestation.

    "Does it work for Fierce and Primordial Beasts as well?" he asked breathlessly, and Lan contemted for a moment.

    "It works against anyone who has a soul," he said with a decisive nod of his head. "If you are against someone who has a soul, then you can use your Mind Infestation."

    "Some beasts have really low spiritual energy, whereas others are specialized in spiritual energy, so you need to be careful about what you are attacking, but you can try it when you feel sure of yourself," Lan warned him.

    Xue Wei understood it naturally. If he encountered a Fierce Beast specializing in spiritual energy, he would be in for a serious battle, one that he might even lose.

    While he had strong spiritual energy, Xue Wei understood that he did not specialize in spiritual martial arts, and thus he would be at a disadvantage if he encountered one who specialized in it.

    "Well, try again!" Lan encouraged him, and Xue Wei chuckled while shaking his head. Lan clearly did not care about what happened to the other experts in the camp.

    "I would even suggest you try and make your next target fall asleep. It is a harmless joke after all," Lan grinned, and Xue Wei found himselfpletely shocked by these words.

    "Is that not, a little bit too, uh, you know, wrong?" Xue Wei asked, and Lan just grinned. "No," he said.

    "Have these geniuses ever done anything for you?" Lan asked and put a lot of pressure on the word ¡®geniuses¡¯ to make Xue Wei understand that he clearly did not mean that they were geniuses, and Xue Wei shook his head. Although many of them had been ignoring himpletely, a few had been interested in him, but no one had tried to make friends with him.

    "Since that is the case, why not just use them as guinea pigs? It¡¯s not like they will be harmed."

 Chapter 71: My Darling

    Hearing Lan describe it as such, Xue Wei could not help but agree. Although many of the experts werepletely ignoring him, a few were even rather hostile.

    "I guess as long as they aren¡¯t harmed," Xue Wei said hesitatingly. He truly wished to try out Mind Infestation, so much so that his reasoning had gone a little out of the window.

    Seeing how easily Xue Wei agreed, Lan snickered, but he said nothing and Xue Wei once more sat down and reached out with his senses to find another target.

    At the start, he did nothing more than enter their minds, and slowly adjusted to the feeling of his soul being parted into two.

    He never stayed in the minds of his targets for more than a few moments, as they werepletely vulnerable in that state.

    Soon, a rumor started spreading through the Genius Camp about the young experts spacing out for a short moment,pletely unaware of what was happening.

    Xue Wei then went further and started using his ability to put them to sleep, making his targets fall asleep while they were in the middle of walking.

    The rumors were filled with confusion and surprise, but when they asked the captains and themander what was happening, they soon found out the cause for their strange experiences.

    Someone was cultivating a spiritual martial technique, but as to who it was, they would not say.

    Everyone was enraged. All the oneyered Earth Warriors experienced falling asleep while randomly walking through the camp, and the more people Xue Wei practiced Mind Infestation on, the better and better his control became.

    Soon, the day arrived where Lan had to leave. The entire Genius Camp had gathered together to say their farewell. Some were filled with indignation, others with disgust, and some with disappointment as they looked at this prophet.

    It was clear that Lan knew exactly what every single person was thinking, but he was unfazed by it as he turned to themander and cupped his hands.

    "Thank you for allowing me to stay here for some time," he began stating his farewell, "I am hesitant to leave. While I was here, I found something precious. Something that I wish I could take with me, but I understand the rule that everyone must participate in the army."

    Lan sighed and shook his head with a depressed expression on his face.

    "My darling Xue Wei, it will be so hard to be without you in the future, but look after yourself! I will eagerly await the day you finish your military service; then I hope you wille to the center of the continent to find me!"

    Hearing Lan speak, everyone felt a shiver run down their spines, Xue Wei included, and a look of disgust appeared on his face.

    It was clear that Lan had every intention of keeping this silly masquerade up all until he was gone. However, although it annoyed Xue Wei to no limits, he still felt that he owed Lan a debt of gratitude, and thus he said nothing to make him lose face in front of the whole group of people.

    Seeing him being quiet, the others¡¯ eyes almost bulged out, and the girls were blushing. It was not every day they saw such a heated love story being enacted right in front of them.

    "Well then, I am off," Lan said, and right after his voice had appeared, he vanished into thin air.

    It was as if he had teleported. A slight ripple in space could be felt by themander, but no one else could even sense this ripple, and some of them rubbed their eyes, unable to believe that he had vanished right in front of them.

    Themander smiled wryly; he knew that the strength of this man was so shocking that not even Primordial Beasts would fight him.

    As soon as Xue Wei saw Lan vanish, he turned around and left. He had now learned a whole lot of things from Lan, and amongst others he had learned how to perfect his Shattering Mountain Palm, his Azure Light Finger, and his Sacrificial Stab.

    He had learned how to transform his arms in ordance with the Azure Dragon Scripture.

    He had learned the Seed of Mirage, learned how to create copies of himself, and he had learned the Mind Infestation.

    Alongside this, he had also learned how to control his strength, control his Qi flow, and take control over the attack he was executing.

    He had also been taught a few life-saving abilities. All in all, Xue Wei understood that he had learned a lot from Lan, and his strength was now more than double what it had been when he had met this annoying prophet.

    "Time for me to learn the Kick of Forgotten Kings," Xue Wei thought to himself, "but first I have to im my resources and the things that I was promised to me by themander when Lan leaves."

    "I am still rankedst. Although I have broken into the firstyer of the Earth Warrior rank, I have not challenged anyone yet," Xue Wei mused to himself as he walked back into the tent city.

    The middle of the tent city was where the Genius Camp was located, and it was also the location of all the other tents that contained all the things useable for the geniuses.

    There was the arena where one could battle against Fierce Beasts, deserters, and criminals.

    There was a tent that contained martial techniques. There was a tent containing medicinal herbs.

    The dining hall was located in the middle of the Genius Camp together with the baths and thetrines.

    There were also training fields with dummies made from ck gold, only avable for the members of the Genius Camp.

    There was also a tent called the contribution point tent. One could gain contribution points in specific ways; the easiest way was that one would be given a specific amount of contribution points every month, depending on one¡¯s rank.

    One could also gain contribution points from participating in the arena or challenging the higher ranked experts on the Genius Camp ranking.

    Having a breakthrough to a higher level also granted you contribution points.

    These contribution points could be exchanged for medicinal herbs and martial arts techniques. A few shops within the Inner City of the capital also epted contribution points as a currency, so that one could buy armor and weaponry, but the price was rather exorbitant.

    Xue Wei went to the contribution tent first; here he found a captain who had the task of looking after the tent.

    "Name?" the captain asked as he looked into a big book that was right in front of him, and Xue Wei answered right away.

    The captain flipped through the book before he found a page where it said: Xue Wei.

    "You have broken through to the Earth Warrior rank ¨C this gives you a thousand contribution points," the captain said. "Apart from that, you have five hundred contribution points from passing the test to join the Genius Camp, and finally you will get three hundred contribution points for your current rank in the Genius Camp Rankings."

    The captain hesitated for some time before he opened his mouth again. "You can rent a high ranked martial technique for five hundred contribution points, a superior for five thousand contribution points, and a profound for ten thousand contribution points," he started exining.

    "These techniques are gained through the blood, sweat, and tears of our soldiers, and thus they are hard to get your hands on, but if you do not have martial techniques, then you will die soon. Even if you have strength, it is useless if you cannot use this strength."

    "I would suggest that you do not use your contribution points for now and save them up so that you might be able to buy one superior skill when you are about to leave the camp next year."

    Xue Wei cupped his fists and thanked the captain before hepletely disregarded what he had said.

    It was not that what he had said did not make sense, but Xue Wei had his Heritage Ring and was able to pull out a wide array of abilities whenever he felt like it.

    Currently, he had techniques that could save his life and make him a serious opponent for even the thirdyer Earth Warriors, but what he needed from the contribution points was medicinal herbs.

    He wished to increase his strength as much as possible. Although he was not going to rush it, he was still not going to be slower than necessary.

    Since this was the case, he went straight to the tent that sold medicinal herbs.

    The tent city was bustling with life, as the other geniuses had also gone back to the tent city after seeing Lan off, but this procession of experts all made space for Xue Wei while looking at him with strange expressions on their faces.

    Xue Weipletely ignored them, but before he could reach the tent that sold medicinal herbs, he was blocked by a group of youngsters.

    "Your protection has left," one of them said with a voice that dripped with enmity. "Back in the capital, do you remember crippling a young man who had done nothing to you? All he did was riding the streets and minding his own business?"

    Hearing the way it was being described, Xue Wei snorted but he said nothing. He just crossed his arms over his chest and looked at the speaker.

    The speaker was a oneyer Earth Warrior. He was a youth like all the other ones present in the camp, but his stature was also very average. He was not too tall, neither too short.

    He was wearing silk made by Fierce Beasts, but when looking closer Xue Wei saw that it did not seem to have any supplementary effects.

    He had an arrogant expression on his face, and it was clear that he was a noble-born youngster from the capital who looked down on everyone and did not know the difference between heaven and earth.

    Others saw what was happening and came to a stop to see how it would y out. That was when someone suddenly took a step forward. "Please don¡¯t cause trouble for Young Hero Xue Wei," he said with a smile on his face.

    "Young hero?" The arrogant person snorted at the word, but he then seemed to choke on the words when he realized who it was that spoke.

    "Of course he is a young hero," the person who interrupted continued to speak casually. "Our esteemed Crown Prince has acknowledged him as a friend, and we all know that he only acknowledges dragons amongst men. He is the only family member of Primordial Beast Hunter Xiao Lei, and a dragon does not father dog sons; it is clear that he is no ordinary individual."

    "If this was not enough, then we all know that this young man has a special physique. Just look at him. In little more than half a year, he has already managed to break into the Earth Warrior rank. Now tell me, if that is not the stuff heroes are made of, then what is it?"

    Xue Wei felt that this person was praising him excessively as if he had some other purpose, but he was not about to say anything. For now, he was not in the mood to fight anyone, so even if this person had an ulterior motive, it was better than engaging in a battle with the group of experts that had blocked his path.

    Xue Wei just stood back, his arms crossed over his chest as he curiously observed what was going on as if it had nothing to do with him.

    The others were also observing what was happening with increasing intensity. They were curious as to who exactly would win this verbal sparring.

 Chapter 72: Forgotten Kings

    The guy who had blocked Xue Wei¡¯s path snorted. "A dead genius is not worth anything," he said casually, as if he was nning to kill Xue Wei, but hearing hiseback Xue Wei just snickered.

    It was not only him, but the guy who came to his aid seemed pleased. "So you n on killing the only living rtive of Primordial Beast Hunter Xiao Lei? Are you sure that you and your family will be capable of withstanding his wrath when he realizes that you caused his death?"

    "I also would like to say that he is a person of significance to the prophet from the center of the continent who just left. If the prophet finds out that you killed his, uh, special friend, right after he had left, do you think that he will just stand by and watch? Do you think you and your family can shoulder the extinction of our country?"

    The more this person spoke, the more worried everyone else became, and they started looking at one another with hesitating looks. Was Xue Wei truly that dangerous? Not because of himself but because of his background? That could not be right, as they were all noble-born members of the capital. They were used to being the ones above all others, but now they had to lower their head to someone who was not even on their level?

    Some were unhappy with this; others were unreconciled. All of them understood that this person who had appeared out of nowhere was exaggerating, but everything he said were possible situations. It was no secret that Xiao Lei doted on his nephew ¨C even the noble-born from the capital knew this ¨C and that killing Xue Wei would incur his rage.

    Although no one knew how Prophet Lan would react if Xue Wei was killed, there was a chance that he would fly into a rage, as it was rather obvious that he had been very fond of this youngster.

    And the Crown Prince had also disyed his stance at the banquet a few days back. He would protect this youngster if he had to, so if Xue Wei died he was likely to be the first to execute the ones behind it to appeal to Xiao Lei.

    Thinking of all these things, the faces of the men who had blocked Xue Wei turned pale, and their limbs trembled slightly, but they had mounted the tiger and it was not easy to get off again.

    "Xue Wei crippled my cousin when he had done nothing wrong! In the middle of the streets of the Inner City, my cousin came riding casually, minding his own business when suddenly this Xue Wei attacked him, only to get crippled by his own panicking horse."

    "He must have used some sort of forbidden technique to assault his horse and then caused this so-called ident to ur!" the cousin spoke with a loud voice, and from time to time people would nce at Xue Wei to see how he was taking these usations, yet Xue Wei just stood still, leaning on one leg and having his arms crossed over his chest as a small smile yed on his lips.

    Xue Wei understood that he did not have to defend himself this day. The person who had jumped in had to be one of the Crown Prince¡¯s followers whose task was to ensure that life was as simple for Xue Wei as possible, while making thetter know that he could thank the Crown Prince for this calmness in his life - this was also why his helper had mentioned the Crown Prince as one of the first protectors of Xue Wei.

    Xue Wei had to admit that the Crown Prince was doing rather well. He was skilled and quite shrewd toe up with such a n, but Xue Wei had a better impression of him because of it.

    "It is a shame I cannot openly support him since it will show where my uncle puts his allegiance, and I cannot do that for him," Xue Wei muttered to himself. The Crown Prince was someone he hade to respect and acknowledge. He knew how to conduct himself and how to reel in people.

    "Oh well, there is no reason to stick around anymore," Xue Wei continued. While the two people who were facing off against each other began another round of verbal sparring, Xue Wei slipped off to the side and left the two to do what they wished to do.

    He then made his way into the tent that sold medicinal nts and other items that could help improve one¡¯s cultivation base.

    Looking around, Xue Wei started to consider what to do. "I cannot make herbal concoctions any longer," he sighed. "I am not sharing baths with a whole group of men, and it¡¯s not very convenient to sit in a concoction in the middle of the shared bathroom.

    "Since that is the case, then I have to focus on herbs that can be consumed directly. I haven¡¯t consumed any medicinal herbs directly since it is limited how much of the energy I can absorb from each nt, but now it seems that I do not have much of a choice."

    Xue Wei went to the counter and contemted for a moment longer before he started speaking to the patient clerk that was in charge of this medicinal nt tent.

    "I would like to buy ten Rising Mountain Dewflowers and five stalks of Corpse Grass."

    "Please wait a moment," the clerk said with a nod of his head. "That is one thousand and fifty contribution points."

    "The Rising Mountain Dewflower costs a hundred contribution points each, whereas the Corpse Grass costs ten contribution points a stalk."

    Xue Wei nodded his head and handed over his que where his contribution points were recorded in. Moments after, the clerk handed it back together with a few jade boxes of the mostmon jade make and ced it all in a few paper bags.

    Having received the items, Xue Wei cupped his fists and turned around to leave. He had no reason to stay in the middle of the tent city any longer. Instead, he needed to return to his own tent and start consuming the medicinal herbs.

    Xue Wei took a different route on the way back to his tent. He smoothly avoided the big group of people that had been arguing about him and managed to return to his tent without any problems.

    "So, Rising Mountain Dewflowers raises one¡¯s cultivation base. The energy within it will be converted into Qi that one can im as one¡¯s own."

    "Unfortunately, it is impossible to consume much of the medicinal properties within the herb because of the nature of human bodies. There is one other option though, to withdraw a bit more energy from each of the herbs, and that is to eat it together with a bit of Corpse Grass."

    "Corpse Grass cleanses the body, but it also mildens the medicinal properties of other herbs, which is why it is used in so many medicinal forms. Eating a full stalk of Corpse Grass is too much and will prove detrimental to my foundation, but half a stalk of Corpse Grass alongside one Rising Mountain Dewflower should let me bring out half of the medicinal properties within the nts."

    Xue Wei had gotten used to talking with Lan thest two weeks, but now he realized that he was all alone, yet he still spoke to himself slightly while getting ready to consume the medicinal pills.

    Xue Wei sat down with his legs crossed and his palms resting in hisp, one Rising Mountain Dewflower in one hand and half a stalk of Corpse Grass in the other.

    He then steadied his breathing slowly, closed his eyes, and found inner calm. He felt how his entire body slowly rxed; all his muscles, which usually were taut and ready to spring into action at every moment, were now soft and rxed.

    His breathing became steady and deep, and his body became heavy. It was not before he reached a stage just before entering a trance that he lifted the two herbs to his mouth and bit the petals of the Rising Mountain Dewflower and stuffed the half a stalk of Corpse Grass into his mouth.

    He felt how the flowers at first were coarse to chew on, but as he chewed on them, he felt them turn into a liquid stream of energy that entered through his throat and into his meridians.

    His entire body felt hot. Not a burning hot but a pleasant sensation. The Qi was white in color, yet as it roamed through Xue Wei¡¯s meridians and ended in his dantian, he could see with his inner eye how it gained an azure gleam.

    "The azure color must be because I am studying the Azure Dragon Scripture," Xue Wei mused. "Everyone else I have seen have white Qi, and the Qi that I consumed from the Rising Mountain Dewflower was also white. I guess the Azure Dragon Scripture truly is as rare as Uncle and Lan said."

    Having consumed one Rising Mountain Dewflower, Xue Wei felt a rise in his cultivation base. It was not amazing, but it was still rather good considering that this improvement hade about due to eating just one medicinal nt.

    "I shouldn¡¯t eat more nts until I digest this fully," Xue Wei decided. "If I get too much outside energy without integrating it perfectly, then my foundations will be unsteady, and that is something I cannot afford to do."

    "I can consume one herb a day, but since I already consumed the herb for today, I guess it is time for me to contemte the Kick of Forgotten Kings."

    Xue Wei began cultivating the Kick of Forgotten Kings. The first night was spent contemting on the ability, and after that he spent every day at the martial arts training field practicing the ability on the ck Gold dummies.

    At the start, not many were interested in his training, but as time went on and they realized how magnificent the attack was, more and more came to watch him train.

    Xue Wei did everything he had been taught by Lan when training, and soon he was capable of fully controlling the ability.

    It was not before then that the other people in the Genius Camp realized that Xue Wei was a force to be reckoned with. The second and thirdyer Earth Warriors were all worried that now that he had learned such a strong skill, his next aim was to challenge them and take over their spots in the rankings.

    Fortunately for them, Xue Wei did not seem to have this in mind, and instead he went to find themander.

    "Commander, sir," Xue Wei greeted themander with his fists cupped. "I have learned a new skill and would like to train it against real enemies. Could it be possible for me to use a few enemies in the arena?"

    "A few?" themander asked with surprise. Usually, one of their geniuses would only fight one opponent in the arena at a time, but it seemed that Xue Wei had something else nned entirely.

    He nodded his head, "I fought one before, but now I would like to fight a few stronger experts. I need to challenge myself. And if I want to truly gain some experience, then I have to go through life-and-death battles. There are no forests anywhere close to the camp where I can go and hunt Fierce Beasts, so my only option is to fight in the arena."

 Chapter 73: Suicide

    "Are you sure that you don¡¯t want to just challenge one opponent and then spend some time to digest and ponder on said fight, rather than start another battle right away?" themander asked with some confusion, but Xue Wei shook his head.

    "I need something to pressure me, and to do that I would like to face at least a few people. I would like to face either four or five experts in a row, or have a fight against three opponents at once."

    "Three at once?! No ¨C not an option at all!" The Commander was horrified. He was of the opinion that Xue Wei was clearly suicidal to even think about fighting more than one enemy at a time.

    Xue Wei just shrugged his shoulders. "I got a lot of lifesaving abilities and treasures from Lan," he said casually, putting all the responsibility on Lan.

    "I learned quite a few abilities when he was here, and I should be able to hold my own against three Earth Warriors," he continued to exin, but themander was impossible to sway.

    "Okay, since that is impossible, allow me to fight a few monsters one by one ," Xue Wei was also not just going to give up just like that. "I am sure that I will be able to survive."

    Themander started sweating. He could sense that Xue Wei was unbending in his request, but at the same time he understood that if he identally got Xue Wei killed, then quite a few people woulde after him.

    "Why don¡¯t we do like this?" Xue Wei finally sighed. "I will fight one opponent. After that opponent dies, I will take a five minutes break, and then I will say whether or not I am fit to continue fighting. If I am not in a good condition, I will stop; and if I am, I will keep fighting?"

    Themander¡¯s eyes started shining with light. "That is not a bad idea!" he eximed. "We will do it like that. You can enter the arena tomorrow morning; by then the opponents will have been prepared."

    Xue Wei nodded his head and cupped his fists. Although it was not exactly what he had wanted, it was not a bad solution, and he would be able to test his strength against real opponents in a proper life-and-death battle.

    Although it had only been Xue Wei and themander within the tent discussing the possibility of Xue Wei fighting in a tag fight of opponents, themander still had to tell the staff in the arena about the things that they had to do, and thus the rumor about his impending battle spread through the entire Genius Camp, stunning many.

    Some were apprehensive and filled with confusion as to why Xue Wei would fight so many people at once, while others nodded their heads and seemed to understand that Xue Wei was finally about to start shining. A small group of people looked forward to his misfortune as they did not believe in Xue Wei¡¯s abilities. However, as time had gone by, more and more saw Xue Wei as a mysterious figure with immeasurable strength.

    This was especially so for those who had seen him practicing the Kick of Forgotten Kings, alongside those who recalled how Lan had given him special attention and knew that the two of them had been training in the field for almost two weeks.

    "He has never actually disyed his strength," one of the experts said. "He had to disy it to enter the Genius Camp, but none of us got to see it back then, and now, after entering the camp, he is at the lowest of positions, never challenging anyone, so we haven¡¯t seen his prowess."

    "It is as if we are to see a dragon emerge, see a genius being born," another expert said. "He will emerge victoriously and challenge three experts."

    "That¡¯s a load of crap!" another expert interjected, "he can at most handle two challenges in a row."

    "No, no, no. I believe he will prevail over five opponents!" More and more people pitched in their own opinions and thoughts of how long they thought Xue Wei couldst, and a betting pool suddenly emerged.

    The pool only dealt with gold pieces, and you could not bet more than ten gold pieces.

    The more battles he won, the higher the odds were, and the more one would get paid out. Although some people thought he was able to win three battles, not many bet higher than that.

    The Arena was used around once every month, but not more than that as these geniuses tended to rather challenge other geniuses than jump willingly into life-and-death battles.

    As the morning broke, many experts gathered in the arena way before Xue Wei even arrived. The ones who had arrived first were all the thirdyer Warriors. Although they knew that their rank was above Xue Wei, none of them dared to take him lightly and wished to know exactly how strong he was.

    Then came the smarter ones in the lower ranks. The ones who could use their guesswork to deduct that Xue Wei was no ordinary individual and wanted to see his strength for themselves.

    Amongst these people came a few who wished to see him being torn limb from limb, but not many of those appeared at the arena as they had sensed the atmosphere and knew that something was amiss.

    Xue Wei casually did what he did every morning. He went to wash and consumed a Rising Mountain Dewflower alongside half a stalk of Corpse Grass.

    He then sat down until all the energy had been changed into a steady stream of Qi that permeated all of his body.

    Only then did he stop his meditation and head towards the Arena. By now, a tense atmosphere had covered the blood pits. They had never experienced something like this before; even many of the captains and themander himself appeared at the Arena to oversee what was happening.

    As Xue Wei arrived, everyone noticed how calm and collected he was. He strode forward as if he had no care in the world, and his eyes werepletely glued to the arena tform, as he ignored the roar of excitement that came from the audience.

    Xue Wei looked at the arena tform and slowly moved in through the formation that was integrated into the stage. He then noticed how all sounds were blocked out ¨C all that he could hear was his own heartbeat and the sound of his feet hitting the ground before he came to a standstill.

    "I am here to test my abilities," Xue Wei muttered to himself. "Since that is the case, I will need to try out the Mind Infestation first. All I have done so far is making people fall asleep, but I need to remember what Lan told me: be careful with using Mind Infestation against Fierce Beasts."

    Xue Wei gestured to the staff overseeing the blood pits that he was ready. A momentter, the figure of a human appeared in front of Xue Wei. When Xue Wei looked at opponent, a snicker appeared on the youngster¡¯s face.

    A human! Just what Xue Wei needed. This human even seemed to be a simple criminal, a oneyer Earth Warrior.

    "I guess they have decided to change the usual idea of having a random opponent, and instead start with the weakest," Xue Wei mused as the criminal locked his eyes on Xue Wei and snickered maliciously. "A mere oneyer Earth Warrior wants to defeat me?!" heughed.

    "I¡¯ve killed multiple oneyer Earth Warriors before ¨C killing an inexperienced genius like you is simplicity itself!"

    Xue Wei said nothing and just stood there as he reached out with his senses.

    Mind Infestation!

    The ability wasunched, and the charging criminal suddenly came to a standstill. His eyes were vacant, and his body suddenly slumped to the ground.

    "Let us try to see how it is to kill like this," Xue Wei contemted and took control of the criminal¡¯s body,pelling him to self-detonate his own dantian.

    The explosion of his dantian was strong. It was the dantian of a oneyer Earth Warrior after all, and his entire body exploded into bits of flesh, blood, and bones that were strewn across the entire stage.

    The gory sight made many of the onlookers turn pale. "That¡¯s a Spiritual Technique!" someone finally eximed, and everyone suddenly remembered the rumor about experts randomly falling asleep in the middle of the camp.

    Seeing how this man had his dantian exploded, those in question suddenly felt very lucky that all they had experienced was falling asleep.

    "Such precise control!" themander mmed his hand into the armrest of the chair on which he was seated, and his eyes shone with excitement.

    "He used a simple spiritual technique and managed to get rid of one person that fast," themander praised him again, "so let us see how he does against a Fierce Beast."

    It was clear that Xue Wei had not used much energy in the final battle. The criminal he was up against was an ordinary opponent, so it was natural for him to not have a very strong soul.

    Five minutes passed, and Xue Wei gestured towards the staff that he was ready for the next opponent, after which a Fierce Beast appeared in front of them.

    This Fierce Beast was close to five meters long, and it resembled a lizard.

    It was green and had scales all over its body. Its four legs were sturdy and thick like logs. A slithering tongue left its mouth as if to taste the air.

    It had a spiked tail, which had seven different spikes on each of the sides, and they were very sharp.

    Its red eyes were glued to Xue Wei, and it was clear that this beast was ferocious, filled with anger and hatred towards humans for holding it captive.

    Now that a young person had appeared in front of it, the Fierce Beast was clearly ready to rip him to shreds, but Xue Wei also knew that it might not have the chance to do so.

    The beast was equivalent to the strength of a oneyer Earth Warrior. However, although it had superior strength to its human equivalent, Xue Wei was cut from simr cloth. His body had a strength far superior to that of a oneyer Earth Warrior.

    The beast did not waste any time; it rushed towards Xue Wei with its mouth open, disying two rows of razor-sharp teeth.

    Xue Wei did not use the Mind Infestation against this beast. He was worried about what Lan had said. Instead, he too rushed forward. He wanted to see who woulde out on top if they were topare physical strength.

    This beast had no high intellect, but the closer it got to Xue Wei, the worse it felt. It was clear that it was filled with contradicting thoughts and emotions, but it did not stop its advance.

    Xue Wei sent out a palm that did not contain any special ability, just his raw strength. When it came into contact with the Fierce Beast, the Fierce Beast suddenly trembled and fear filled its ferocious eyes.

    The beast had used all its strength, but it tried to shrink back in that moment. Xue Wei could feel the fear in the Fierce Beast, and he could feel that this beast was trembling.

    Xue Wei frowned, but the beast retreated after their collision. It retreated further and further away from him as if it feared him more than anything else. Suddenly, when it saw the dangerous gleam in Xue Wei¡¯s eyes, it let out a wail and lifted its spiked tail and dragged it over its throat, killing itself in the process.

    Blood spilled down from the neck of the beast, and its eyes seemed to shine with a light of reverence before they dimmed.

    Everyone on the stage was silent. The Fierce Beast hadmitted suicide, a sight they had never before seen or expected to see. What was happening?

 Chapter 74: Bloodlust

    Xue Wei had previously seen the fear in other Fierce Beasts¡¯ eyes and knew that they would avoid him when they had the chance, but to see onemit suicide right in front of him shocked him to the core.

    "What happened?" someone asked. "He must have used another Spiritual Technique and taken control of the Fierce Beast," someone answered hesitatingly.

    Even themander was frowning, and finally he reached the same conclusion as the speaker from before.

    That Fierce Beast hadmitted suicide. It had to have been done by Xue Wei somehow.

    Xue Wei¡¯s eyes glittered. He knew that he had done nothing. "What is it that scares them to the point of killing themselves?" Xue Wei wondered to himself.

    "I don¡¯t think Fierce Beasts are this horrified in front of a Primordial Beast even, so why are they so fearful of me? I have already been examined by a Diviner and a prophet ¨C it¡¯s clear that I am not a Primordial Beast, but what am I then?"

    Xue Wei shook his head and decided not to dwell on it too much. Right now, he was in a life-and-death battle. If he were too preupied, he would fall to enemies he usually did not hold in high regard.

    Having decided not to think about it any longer, Xue Wei¡¯s mind descended intoplete concentration again. He sat down for five minutes and pretended to be restoring his energy, but the truth was that he had not used any so far, and thus he just sat down and contemted the fights.

    The third battle was about to begin, and Xue Wei looked at the figure that appeared in front of him. This time, it was a deserter, the same category as the enemy that Xue Wei had faced back when he had been taking the trial to join the Genius Camp.

    Xue Wei observed his opponent. So far, he had faced two opponents where both battles had had some sort of unknown factor to them.

    Since this was the case, Xue Wei did not dare slight the opponent in front of him. Each individual had their strengths, and this expert was likely to also have some hidden strength. If Xue Wei allowed for him to use it, then it was likely that the fight would drag on and he would spend more energy than needed.

    Since this was the case, as soon as the deserter appeared on the stage, Xue Weiunched the Forbidden Rush movement technique.

    Azure Light Finger!

    An azure beam shot through the arena and headed straight for the deserter who, with a shocked expression, tried to avoid the beam by throwing himself to the side.

    Right at that moment, Xue Wei appeared in the air right above the deserter who had thrown himself sideways and was losing his bnce.

    Shattering Mountain Palm!

    The palm descended with an azure gleam to it. The power of this palm made the air tremble and cracking sounds could be heard.

    Xue Wei descended like a god of death; the deserter could feel nothing but his heart tremble when he lifted his arms and covered them with Qi to protect himself.

    Unfortunately, this was far from enough to stop the Shattering Mountain Palm after Xue Wei had perfected the ability together with Lan, and the sound of arms breaking could be heard followed by the deserter being mmed into the ground. Blood sprayed from his mouth, and his eyes bulged out in shock.

    Xue Wei used the Forbidden Rush Movement Technique to once more vanish into the thin air, and then he emerged right next to the deserter.

    Kick of the Forgotten Kings!

    This time his leg swept out andnded squarely on the chest of the deserter. More blood sprayed from his mouth as the sound of bones breaking could be heard.

    The man¡¯s body was forced into the arena ground, and soon the eyes that were filled with shock and disbelief slowly turned dim.

    Life had left the deserter after only two attacks. It had been an overwhelming victory, and Xue Wei had disyed two abilities that were of at least the superior rank.

    The audience was quiet, and everyone was reeling in shock.

    "I thought he specialized in spiritual arts?" someone muttered, and as the words left his mouth, an uproar exploded on the stands. Xue Wei had truly shocked them all with his disy of raw power and ruthlessness.

    What scared them, even more, was that, unknown to Xue Wei, a sinister grin had spread on his lips as the blood had sshed onto the stage.

    With a final nce at all the gore that was on the stage, Xue Wei sat down and started cultivating.

    This time he had used a bit of his energy to dispatch the deserter as soon as possible, but not enough to truly be of an issue.

    Still, to ensure that he was at peak condition for each battle, he did not waste time, and five minutes had quickly passed before he stood up, his eyes zing with the will to do battle and his lips curled in a cruel smile as he wished to kill.

    He wished to kill everyone that he could find on the arena floor. He wanted to test his skills, and he was even more-so eager to smell the scent of blood.

    Xue Wei felt it again. His body was boiling as if it was on fire. He could not stop before he got to fight, but another part of him was calm and collected, observing everything that was happening.

    This calm and collected part of him was capable of stopping the bloodlust if it pleased, but Xue Wei wanted to try his best. He wanted to let go and fight. To test his limits and to see how far he could go. What was his strength equal to?

    Thinking like this, he allowed for the bloodlust to take root, but he still kept an eye on it, ensuring that it did not cloud his judgment. That he did not go berserk.

    Five minutes went by, and Xue Wei stood up once more. His eyes were clear, but a malicious gleam could be seen within.

    Then a figure appeared on the tform once more. This time it was a secondyer Earth Warrior ¨C a human. "Criminal or deserter?" Xue Wei mumbled to himself. "I don¡¯t know," he finally concluded. "I better assume it is a deserter," he grinned and flicked his hand. Qi gathered in his palm, and suddenly a razor-sharp sword appeared in his hand.

    A real sword had to bnce sturdiness with sharpness. Although they wished for the de to be incredibly sharp, it might not be possible due to it breaking after a sh or two.

    But Xue Wei¡¯s sword was made from Qi. It was different from a sword made from metals and could be as sharp as one wished for it to be.

    Xue Wei once more depended on Forbidden Rush and shed into the wind. His figure was elusive and near impossible to catch a glimpse of. It was as if he was teleporting around the entire stage, appearing here and there for a short moment in time.

    The eyes of the human opponent constricted when Xue Wei appeared right behind him. He could not see him, but he felt a sudden and very intense feeling of danger.

    He dodged to the side without thinking of what to do, fully relying on his instincts. Just as he did, he felt something sharp slice down past his throat and instead embedded itself in his shoulder.

    Blood sprayed everywhere, dying Xue Wei¡¯s clothes red, and even a few dropsnded on his cheek, running down, looking like bloody tears.

    These bloody tears mixed with the sinister grin on his face made him seempletely insane, and everyone who watched the sight in front of them shuddered in fear.

    Even themander was worried about the disy of ferociousness that seemed almost bestial.

    Xue Wei flicked his hand and the sword that he had created vanished, causing even more blood to spray from the wound. Instead of relying on the Forbidden Rush, Xue Wei just called forth another sword and slowly stepped towards the wounded human enemy.

    Clutching his wounded shoulder, the human got to his feet and retreated as fast as he could, but with every movement he made, more blood dropped onto the ground.

    His face was pale, and his body trembled. He could feel the killing intent in Xue Wei was constantly growing, and it felt as if he was up against a Primordial Beast that had transcended the strength of the Heping Kingdom.

    He felt despair. He felt so much regret for having been a criminal in the past, and he felt like weeping, but no tears appeared on his cheeks.

    Xue Wei smirked as he took the final step towards the criminal. With a casual sh of his sword, the criminal¡¯s head went flying in the air. Xue Wei coldly looked at the rest of the body as it slumped to the ground, a fountain of blood spraying out from the neck.

    Xue Wei gave a final nce at the body before he found a clean ce on the tform and sat down, starting to meditate.

    Once again, he had not spent a whole lot of energy, but he understood that the next battle would be harder. Therefore he needed to be as prepared as possible.

    Themander was torn. On one hand, he wished to allow for Xue Wei to continue this bloodbath. He wanted to see where the limitsy with this youngster that was so obsessed with killing, but at the same time he feared the bloodlust that could be seen and felt when it came to Xue Wei.

    Bloodlust was good in battle. It allowed for one to use all of one¡¯s potential while frightening and intimidating others. Unfortunately, it could grow too dangerous and take over the control of one¡¯s mind, making them into senseless killing machines on the battlefield, not caring for friend or foe, just ughtering through anything thates into sight.

    Whenever themander looked at Xue Wei, he saw a cold and callous person who enjoyed ughter, but he also saw someone who was still in control. It was clear that he had not lost himself to the bloodlust but was using it to improve himself.

    "Xiao Lei, what exactly have you done to this child?" themander muttered under his breath. "He is merely a fifteen-year-old child, but he is already much more terrifying than most soldiers in the army." Fortunately, no one heard those words, but they had all felt the killing intent that was billowing out from the arena. Those that came into contact with it felt their bodies tremble, and their faces turned pale. It was as if they had been dropped into a bucket full of ice cold water.

    Five minutes went by in a sh, and then it was time for the next battle tomence, where one more Fierce Beast appeared on the stage. Xue Wei looked curiously at this Fierce Beast, curious as to what exactly it would do to him. Was there a limit to how strong a beast could be before his unseen power would no longer frighten them?

    He looked straight into the eyes of the beast and saw how it covered in fear, trembling as it retreated backward while crouching low with a growl.

    "Interesting," Xue Wei muttered to himself. "Very interesting." he continued.

    "Maybe I need to attempt my Mind Infestation anyway? It might backfire, but if it does not, then I might be able to get some clues as to why it fears me." Xue Wei had been worried about the beasts being specialized in spiritual energy and the soul, but he understood that if he wanted answers then he needed to take a risk.

    Taking a deep breath, heunched the Mind Infestation.

 Chapter 75: Unconscious

    The Fierce Beast crawled away from Xue Wei until it reached the formation wall and could get no farther. As it felt the Mind Infestation reach out for its mind, it had the choice to struggle, but instead it instantly allowed Xue Wei to ess its mind.

    Xue Wei went through the beast¡¯s memories. It had been in a beast horde roused by a Primordial Beast and had been severely injured but not killed.

    When the fight had ended, they had taken it prisoner and kept it in a cage until it was healed, after which it had fought against other experts in the Genius Camp.

    This beast had an average level of intelligence, but it had no reason to fear Xue Wei ¨C it was as if there was a deeply ingrained instinct within it that told it that Xue Wei was someone that should not be touched.

    Xue Wei sighed. His more calm side could sense the suffering the beast had gone through time and time again while being captive. Thus, he decided to put it out of its misery.

    "Fierce Beasts do not have a dantian that they can self-destruct simrly to the humans. Instead, they have a beast core." Xue Wei thought for a moment.

    "It seems that beast cores are very different from dantians, and much more sturdy. No wonder that they are being used as a treasured material in almost everything in our everyday lives."

    "But to execute this beast... I wonder how to do it," Xue Wei pondered. He then controlled the beast¡¯s body andpelled the creature to slice its own throat with its ws, but nothing happened. The throat was protected by thick skin, and although the ws were sharp, they were not sharp enough.

    Xue Wei could feel the onset of a headache from using his energy too much. Although the beast did not fight back, the mental connection itself still consumed his spiritual energy.

    Withdrawing from the mind of the beast, Xue Weiunched the Forbidden Rush movement technique and appeared right in front of the beast that was still dazed.

    The beast, in a frenzied panic, tried to retreat, but it already had its back against the wall of the formation, so it was incapable of getting further away.

    Shattering Mountain Palm!

    The palm descended on top of the beast, but instead of avoiding it, the beast rushed towards the palm, not protecting itself with Qi or anything.

    It twisted in the air and revealed a small patch of soft skin that was located just at the side of the temple.

    The Shattering Mountain Palmnded right on this location. Xue Wei could not help but wonder why exactly this beast was so eager to ept death.

    Blood sprayed from the mouth of the beast and tears of blood fell from its eyes.

    The beast kept staring at Xue Wei. Even in death, there was no ferocious or hateful expression in its eyes, just reverence, and wonder.

    Xue Wei instantly sat down. He then understood that it was impossible for him to restore his spiritual energy as soon as he wished, how it slowly restored itself and that it would require time.

    "I won¡¯t be able to rely on spiritual energy in the future," Xue Weimented to himself as he stood up again once the five minutes had passed.

    "Perhaps I was too rash. I want to fight as many opponents as possible, but this tag team is wearing me down. My Qi is untouched, but my spiritual energy is already running low."

    "On the other hand, the experts I am up against now are all much stronger than the ones I faced before. Although I have a strong soul, their souls are likely as strong if not stronger. Relying on the Mind Infestation will not be easy."

    "I have yet to use the Seed of Mirage, and the opponents I face have not seen my fights, so they don¡¯t know of my abilities. I guess it is time to try strength against strength!"

    Having said this, a new figure appeared on the stage. This time, it was a human, but this human seemed very cautious as he lifted a single sword in his hand. He did not charge at Xue Wei. Instead, he took a stance that allowed for him to both advance and defend at the same time.

    Xue Wei praised the criminal, but it was not enough against him. "Time to test that mirage out," he mumbled as he conjured a seed of mirage which he tossed onto the stage.

    No one seemed to understand what this ball of Qi was. And although his opponent observed both Xue Wei and the seed, the former was not advancing.

    Xue Wei was not in a hurry either. He just stood there, casually looking at the deserter while waiting for his seed to sprout.

    As it did, it took the shape of a second Xue Wei. It even wore clothes identical to Xue Wei¡¯s red robes, and its hair was tied with a red ribbon and had a hair pin simr to the one Xue Wei was wearing.

    The hair of the two fluttered in the wind that easily bypassed the formation, and they moved at the same time. Their speed was the same, and they seemed to try a pincer attack against the deserter.

    As their timing waspletely in sync, Xue Wei had needed to be slower than he usually was, but both he and the clone simultaneously used the Forbidden Rush technique. Although they were slower than Xue Wei¡¯s peak, they were fast enough to make the heart of the deserter clench in fear.

    He was capable of avoiding one of the two attacks, but he had no faith in avoiding both. "The copy might not be able to attack," the deserter mumbled, "but which one is the copy?"

    It was simply impossible to tell now, as the two had moved at a speed much faster than expected. When they arrived, the deserter went with his gut feeling and jumped backward, away from the real Xue Wei, which revealed an opening for the copy to unleash a Kick of Forgotten Kings in his direction.

    The kick connected with the waist of the deserter, and the deserter shot out like a kite with a broken string.

    Although the copy had used a profound ability, it was after all a copy, and the attack contained at most twenty percent of Xue Wei¡¯s strength.

    Although the deserter had been kicked far away, he had sustained no serious injuries, and no bones had been broken despite the throbbing pain in his waist.

    His eyes were vignt, but a look of surprise and relief flooded his eyes. Xue Wei, on the other hand, narrowed his.

    Xue Wei understood that his copy did not have the strength that he himself wielded, but he had hoped for a bit more damage than what had happened.

    But fortunately, the copy did not hesitate, it continued to pursue the deserter. Although the deserter did not fear the damage done by this copy, he feared getting entangled with it, and that Xue Wei would arrive while he was upied.

    Xue Wei did not waste his time observing the deserter and the copy struggle, no longer trying to hide his speed. When he vanished all of a sudden, the deserter¡¯s eyes filled with despair and unwillingness.

    Rushing down to the copy and the young man, Xue Wei did not hesitate for even a moment. On the way, an Azure Light Finger sliced down through the air, causing the hairs on the back of the deserter¡¯s neck to tremble. He threw himself to the side, once more receiving an attack from the copy to borrow from the impact and create some distance between himself and Xue Wei and his clone..

    "Dy, I got to dy. He is only a firstyer Earth Warrior, a wholeyer beneath me. I will be able to get rid of him if I just hold on!"

    Xue Wei was easily capable of guessing the thoughts of this person, and his eyes shone dangerously.

    "I won¡¯t die," he said casually as he came to a standstill in the middle of the stage, just looking at the deserter who was also trying to be as far away from Xue Wei as possible.

    Xue Wei did not do anything. He just stood still. Shortly after, a seed of mirage sprouted. The third seed of mirage also appeared, alongside a fourth and a fifth.

    These Seed of Mirage copies were the weakest versions Xue Wei could make, all four of them with equal strength, but together with Xue Wei and the first clone they posed a serious threat to the deserter.

    Xue Wei had spent a lot of Qi to create these five additional seeds of mirages, but there was no time limit to the duration of these mirages. He could dismiss them, and they were capable of getting destroyed by damage.

    They could also vanish after using too much of their Qi, and every attack they performed drained the Qi they were made of, but for now they were all of great use to Xue Wei. He did not expect them to finish the battle for him, but their numbers alone were enough to cause problems for the deserter. Moments after, all of themunched the Forbidden Rush movement technique.

    Forbidden Rush did not use much Qi, as it relied on the wind and one¡¯sprehension of wind, but it still required some. The clones could use Xue Wei¡¯s abilities, and theirprehension was equal to Xue Wei¡¯s as they were connected to him through the mind. However, at the same time, they did not have the strength to push their speed to Xue Wei¡¯s level.

    Still, to a single secondyer Earth Warrior, it was impossible to see the movements of the original Xue Wei, but he could just slightly glimpse the copies. Even then, seeing five of them rushing towards him, he felt worried and sick.

    One attack numbed him, but if he was hit by five of them at the same time there was no telling as to how injured he would be.

    He backed up as far as he could until a sense of crisis emerged in his heart. Just as he tried to escape, a palm descended through the air.

    Shattering Mountain Palm!

    Xue Wei, far from showing rm on his face, brandished a cruel smile as he shifted his weight, almost imperceptibly, and redirected his palm through the air.

    The deserter was hit squarely in the back and staggered forward, the hit having sent him off bnce.

    Not missing the chance, Xue Wei¡¯s body merged with the wind as he vanished from behind the deserter and appeared right in front of him.

    He then drilled his fist into the pit of the deserter¡¯s stomach, after which he delivered a follow-up blow to his back as he was doubling over.

    After the Shattering Mountain Palm, Xue Wei delivered a series of blows. Although they did not contain any martial arts technique, they had strength far superior to a oneyer Earth Warrior. And when these attacksnded on the deserter¡¯s body, he felt as if a carriage had mmed directly into him.

    His eyes rolled to the back of his head. he was not dead, but he had lost consciousness.

    Everyone in the arena kept quiet. They were witnessing true life-and-death battles, and it was natural for one party to die, but when knocked unconscious the opponent was often left alive.

    Xue Wei, however, had not been treating his enemies in any good way. All of them had experienced a sinister and grim end. When Xue Wei looked at the unconscious deserter, there were no feelings of remorse, no feelings of guilt, and no feelings of pity in his expressions.

    All the people in the audience watched with bated breath as they waited for Xue Wei to decide what he was going to do with this unconscious person in front of him.

 Chapter 76: Crimson Devil

    Xue Wei looked at the unconscious deserter in front of him, and then he picked up the the sword that thetter had dropped on the floor and slowly walked towards him.

    Everyone held their breaths. All eyes were on Xue Wei as he grinned and lifted the sword above his head before shing it down, separating the head from the body of the deserter.

    The head rolled on the ground. The eyes were closed and blood sprayed from the headless neck. Xue Wei looked on with a smile on his lips that caused the hearts of the present people to constrict.

    Some of the blood even sshed on Xue Wei¡¯s red clothes, but it was hard to see it as his clothes were already red.

    Having finished the battle, Xue Wei looked at the many observers with a cold look. His eyes were as sharp as swords, and his gaze was like an overwhelming attack on the soul of the person he looked at.

    The ones his gazended on felt as if their bodies had frozen rock solid. At the same time, they also felt as if their souls were trembling and ready to ascend to the heavens, leaving their bodies for eternity.

    They all were filled with the thought of standing in front of a demon that had spawned from hell. This was not human behavior. The bloodthirst and obvious enjoyment from killing was so demonic that they feared Xue Wei more than ever before. Even the thirdyered experts were worried.

    So far, Xue Wei had easily dispatched all his opponents. Would he be able to continue? When they were at his cultivation rank, they were incapable of doing what he did now.

    "He is the crimson devil of the Heping Kingdom," someone suddenly muttered and the others nodded their heads. "He fights so cold-heartedly that you¡¯d think him inhuman," another agreed.

    "Do you think he chooses to wear red clothes so that you cannot see the blood that sshes back on him?" someone asked, and many looked thoughtful upon hearing this suggestion.

    "He is going to be either our biggest hero or the worst cmity for our kingdom," another voice said.

    On the balcony, themander shook his head. "Everyone knows what this man has gone through."

    "His family got massacred by a Primordial Beast, and he saw his entire vige getting murdered right in front of him."

    "Episodes like this change a person. The endless battling that we go through in the army changes a man whether he likes it or not. No one knows if these experiences awoke something that has been sleeping deep inside of him."

    "This young man has a devil in his heart, but at the same time, all warriors do to a greater or a lesser extent."

    "No one is truly good or evil, that includes Xue Wei and me."

    "What happens is that we arrived on the battlefield with a strong mind, mentally sane and prepared to do battle. We then fight with a ferocity that can drive a man mad, ughtering beast after beast and criminal after criminal."

    "It is at this point we start wondering. Who is the real us? Is it the desperate one on the battlefield fighting with all that they¡¯ve got, drenched in the blood of our enemies, or is it the calm and collected person who stays at home in the time of peace?"

    Themander was quiet, but everyone on the balcony had heard him, and all of them shuddered.

    Were they likely to be like Xue Wei? A cold-blooded killing machine that found pleasure in seeing the warm blood trickle down the enemy?

    Xue Wei snorted when he saw the scared expressions on everyone¡¯s faces and sat down to meditate. This time, he had used quite some energy, but he had five Seeds of Mirage that were surrounding him. Although he was incapable of restoring the energy spent to summon them immediately, they still protected him.

    Xue Wei took a deep breath. He had not regained any of the energy he had used, and he was about to face a thirdyer Earth Warrior.

    He felt his blood run cold. His killing intent soared, and his will to do battle could no longer be controlled.

    His dark eyes were like the sea in the dead of night, filled with murderous intent, and it was as if this intent was permeating through the five Seeds of Mirage, causing them to be just as dangerous to look at as Xue Wei was.

    A figure appeared on the stage. It was a thirdyer Earth Warrior, and from his appearance, Xue Wei could guess that he was a criminal.

    He carried himself with a haughtiness that a deserter would never have.

    Deserters lived on the edge. They were hunted down by the army and beasts alike, having nowhere to seek refuge. Only those that left the country had a chance at survival, but with the strength one could gain in the Kingdom of Heping, it was not easy to survive in the rest of the continent.

    "One against five?!" the criminal called out, filled with unhappiness. "I thought you army folks were eager for a fair battle, and now you want me to fight against five kids?!"

    He red at Xue Wei and the Seeds of Mirage, when he frowned all of a sudden. "Wait, they are all the same kid. And they are a oneyer Earth Warrior. Don¡¯t tell me you threw them here for me to kill them as I please?" the criminalughed out loud.

    "Sure, I will grant you your wish. I will kill him like I killed thest kid that challenged me!"

    Themander¡¯s face was ugly. He knew this criminal. He had already killed four geniuses of the genius camp ¨C why on earth had he been summoned?

    It was the man who brought prisoners from the dungeons up unto the tform that decided the matchups, and to have picked this criminal meant that the person in charge of picking experts was against Xue Wei. He might even be trying to directly make things difficult for him, maybe even killing him.

    Themander frowned, but when he looked at Xue Wei, he did nothing more. The young man was zing with intent to fight. His five clones were eager to engage in battle. When one looked at them, it was like looking at a group of wolves that had starved for days and finally found a sizeable prey.

    Grins were all around the faces of the young man and his copies. All of a sudden, all of them vanished from where they were, as all of them had simultaneously activated the Forbidden Rush Movement Technique.

    As they all vanished, the criminal finally started to seem as if something was wrong. He had a hard time locating the many fleeting shadows, and when he noticed one of them he did not know whether or not this was a copy or a real person, making his heart jolt with fear.

    He had just spoken such brazen words, iming that he would kill the kid, but right now he was not even capable of touching him.

    "Kid, I don¡¯t believe your strength is as great as your speed! Let me stand in instead of your parent and teach you some proper manners, to not ask for more than you can handle!" The criminal refused to give up just like that, but then he felt an overwhelming killing intent that previously had been scattered suddenly intensified, and the person that had been running around suddenly stood still right in front of the criminal with his five copies right behind him.

    "What did you just say?" Xue Wei sneered, his first words since he had entered the arena. His eyes were filled with a dense hatred that had not been there before, and the smile on his face had vanished and was reced by a sneer.

    Xue Wei did not have parents, and the only one he considered his parent was Xiao Lei.

    Hearing this criminal say that he would stand in his parent¡¯s ce was the same as saying that Xiao Lei had not done a good job as a guardian, and this was something that caused great animosity within Xue Wei. No one was allowed to question Xiao Lei. No one was allowed to criticise him.

    The criminal stuttered and tried to say something, but he felt that he had just descended into hell, that hell¡¯s watchdog was standing right in front of him, ready to gobble him up at any moment. The killing intent was dense, and it kept climbing.

    Xue Wei took a step forward. With each movement, his momentum was growing stronger and stronger. His rage was also clear to see on his face, and his hand was trembling.

    With a flicker of his hand, a sword appeared within it, but just as he reached the criminal, the criminal finally seemed to have regained his senses. With a horrified expression on his face, he panted loudly and widened his eyes in fear.

    "What are you?!" he eximed as he was pressed against the formation wall. "I thought we had a chance to fight back; this is straight out ughtering! I demand justice from the army; this is not eptable!"

    While he was roaring on top of his lungs, Xue Wei and his copies took one step closer after another. Every dragon had a reverse scale, and Xue Wei had one too. His reverse scale was the ones he held dear, and Xiao Lei was exactly one of these people.

    Xue Wei had already sentenced this person to death. He did not care about the fact that the criminal was a thirdyer Earth Warrior while he himself was only a oneyer, all that mattered to him was to ughter this person.

    Xue Wei¡¯s eyes were like slumbering embers, not fully lit ame, but filled with hatred and anger, ready to explode at any moment.

    Seeing this, the criminal was wondering what he had said that could have caused this person to transform into the devil himself like this.

    Not rushing, Xue Wei took one step after another towards the criminal. He lifted the sword in his hand and shed out. The criminal scrambled to the side, and his legs were trembling, but then he gritted his teeth.

    "I am not going to be able to avoid all his attacks," the criminal said under his breath, "but he is twoyers beneath me in strength. He might be able to hit me, but if I use my Qi to protect myself, his attacks should not be able to wound me. No matter how intimidating he is and how dangerous he might seem, he is still only a oneyer Earth Warrior!"

    The criminal was continuing to tell himself that things would be much better, that he was safe if he just defended himself using his Qi and that Xue Wei was weaker than him by a fewyers and thus would not be able to break through his defense.

    The protectiveyer of Qi managed to fully cover the criminal¡¯s body just as the sword came into contact with it.

    Xue Wei had not held back; he had used his entire strength, and the sharpness of the sword was so frightening that some of the girls in the audience closed their eyes as their faces paled.

    The criminal felt a sudden feeling of pain and agony in the arm that he had reached out with to block the sword. However, when he looked at his palm, he saw a deep cut in his hand, a cut so deep that the bone was visible.

    This hand had been protected by both his Qi and the bodily strength he had from being twoyers above Xue Wei, yet he still experienced some serious pain and injury.

    "How?!" The criminal was livid with anger and filled with disbelief. "How can you wound me?! I am twoyers above you! I am using my Qi! You cannot defeat me! I am stronger than you!" The criminal was going mental. He had defeated a few geniuses of his own rank previously, but now he was being defeated at the hands of a weaker expert. Was this even possible?

    "Take back what you said," Xue Wei said, his voice dangerously low. "Don¡¯t ever say that you are my parent again." His expression then turned to one of insanity as heughed out loud. "Oh well! What does it matter? dead men tell no tales!"

 Chapter 77: Fighting Ends

    The madness on Xue Wei¡¯s face made the entire crowd fear him. At this point, even the captains felt that they were looking at an insane madman.

    Xue Wei on the other handpletely ignored the many looks and advanced towards the man with sinisterughter. His killing intent had reached a teau, and his anger could no longer fuel his rage and potential anymore.

    His fighting ability was at its peak. But together with this sudden strength came a wanton consumption of Qi.

    Xue Wei had let reasoning fly out his mind. Instead, consumed by the desire to kill this expert in the most painful way possible, he no longer thought rationally and forfeited any considerations forter battles.

    Everyone could see that when the criminal had mentioned his parents, the young man had gone insane, and his murderous thoughts had soared to the heavens.

    All of them knew of Xue Wei and the fact that he had no parents, and thus they were not too surprised about his reaction, but they now all kept in mind to never insult the Crimson Devil¡¯s parents or even mention them in front of him.

    Their eyes were glued to Xue Wei as he fought against the criminal, and when they saw how the wind picked up, affected by the chaotic Qi, and how his hair whipped about in the wind, they all felt as if they witnessed the emergence of a different person.

    All of them had seen Xue Wei before. He had been calm and casual. He had never before done anything that could warrant such behavior. Amongst the audience, quite a few were feeling worried about what could have happened if they had acted on their impulse to make things difficult for Xue Wei.

    In the arena, Xue Wei was fighting against the criminal. He had used the overwhelming killing intent to make the criminal panic and render him incapable of fighting back, which gave him the advantage. However, the longer it took, the more used to the situation the criminal became, so his will to survive caused him to fight back.

    When he began retaliating, it was simple attacks at first. But soon, their fight became more and more intense as the killing intent had less and less of an effect on him.

    Xue Wei used the Forbidden Rush and the sword created from the Inner Might techniques to their limits. His five copies were flying in the air in an attempt to confuse the criminal.

    It was clear that they did not have sufficient strength to injure the criminal, so trying to do that would be futile and a waste of energy.

    Since that was the case, Xue Wei had decided to use the group of copies as a way to confuse the criminal instead. Although the criminal had regained hisposure and the ability to fight back, he was not able to see the difference between Xue Wei and the copies when they were moving fast while using the Forbidden Rush movement technique.

    This was his trump card and also the reason why he still held the upper hand.

    Xue Wei could use his superior speed to evade all damage altogether. On the other hand, getting hit just once would seriously injure him.

    Still, he fought as if he did not really care for any injuries he might sustain. He fought as if all that mattered to him was killing the opponent regardless of the loss.

    He was like a rabid dog, fighting back with everything he had. Suddenly, at some point, Xue Wei was like a blur in the air and headed straight for the criminal.

    The audience could not see Xue Wei¡¯s actual figure, and even the figures of his copies. All they could see were ck blurs shing by, and on the other side was the criminal with his clumsy movements as he tried to avoid the attacks.

    Xue Wei suddenly came to a standstill, which allowed the audience to see that he had note out of itpletely unscathed. His body had wounds all over, and his clothes had be disheveled.

    But his wounds were nothingpared to the wounds that the criminal had been inflicted with.

    He had multiple cuts all over his body, and many of them were very deep. Blood dripped from all the wounds, dying the clothes of the criminal almost ck.

    Standing and staring from across each other, the criminal and Xue Wei were filled with hatred, but the criminal was also feeling fearful.

    Xue Wei was like a beast,pletely filled with hatred and no reasoning.

    "Let us end this," Xue Wei growled as he rushed forward again, and the sword in his hands was like a snake of lightning that swept down from the clear sky.

    While he was attacking, the criminal also seemed to gather all his focus and Qi in ast-ditch attempt at killing Xue Wei.

    The Qi shrouded the criminal like a thick, protectiveyer that tried to block the sword that was descending upon him. At the same time, he punched out his fist.

    The palm connected with Xue Wei¡¯s abdomen just as the sword sliced through the protectiveyer of Qi andcerated the body of the criminal. The Qi sword dissipated into his body and traveled through his meridians, destroying them from the sudden influx of chaotic energy.

    As the meridians ruptured due to the invading Qi, the criminal felt agony so deep he couldn¡¯t describe it with words.

    Blood started oozing from his nose, ears, and eyes. He stumbled forward and opened his mouth, only to have blood bubble out. He shrieked in pain before copsing on the stage.

    Xue Wei had been thrown backward by the fist that had connected with his abdomen, and he too had thrown up a bit of blood. He pressed his hand against his side, feeling as if his organs had been shifted out of ce.

    His face was pale, and he felt as if his entire body had been ripped apart from the hit.

    Xue Wei had been fully focused on attacking, so although his body was sturdier than any other firstyer Earth Warrior, it was not enough to bridge the gap between the first and thirdyer.

    Xue Wei had used almost all of his Qi in the wanton attacks he had rained down on the criminal in an attempt to break through his defenses and wound him for good.

    It was in a desperate moment he had disregarded all his defenses to ensure that his final attack wouldnd, and when it did, he too had taken serious damage.

    Now, his final Qi was made into a sharp sword once more, and Xue Wei went towards the criminal slowly.

    The criminal was not unconscious, but he was riddled with wounds, one more serious than the other, and it was impossible for him to move.

    Xue Wei dug the sword into the criminal¡¯s hand and twisted it. "So you are going to teach me instead of my parents?" Xue Wei sneered.

    He lifted his sword, watching the blood well up from within the wound, and then chopped down, cleanly chopping off the criminal¡¯s legs with a cold expression on his face.

    After that, he severed the criminal¡¯s arms and looked on as the criminal slowly bled to death.

    While watching the criminal bleed out, he said nothing. He just stood there, observing him.

    The wind picked up and Xue Wei looked into the sky, after which he sighed. He shook his head. Instead of sitting down and waiting for another battle to begin, he left the formation and the arena, walking back to his tent where he sat down and started thinking back on the fights he had had.

    At first he had released his killing intent and allowed for the wildness within him to shine through because he thought it would make his fighting skills better than they were when he was cool-headed, but he realized now that it was not the case.

    "I am way more emotional when the killing intent has free reign," he mumbled to himself. "It affects my fighting style, and although it allows me to explode forth with more power than usual, Ipletely forget about regting my energy consumption, which makes mest for a shorter time."

    "If I were to fight a battle with a cool head, I am able to properly make use of my Qi, but I am also unable to disy the same ferocity and the same amount of strength."

    "I guess each battle is different, and depending on the battle I am fighting, I will have to determine if it is feasible to release the killing intent."

    "Although I could overwhelm the thirdyer criminal with my killing intent and make me gain the upper hand, I fear that if I had faced him without it, I would have long since been defeated."

    "The thirdyer expert is my limit. I will be able to fight someone at the thirdyer, but if they are a genius at the thirdyer, then all I can do is rely on my overwhelming strength and Forbidden Rush Movement technique to flee."

    Xue Wei nodded his head and started cultivating. He had reached a deeper understanding of the different skills hemanded, and of himself, and now was the best time to gain enlightenment.

    While Xue Wei was busy cultivating, the rest of the camp was filled with a bustling atmosphere, and everyone was talking about what they had seen in the battle.

    "He is the Crimson Devil! No two ways about it, that man is too inhuman to be one of us!"

    "Did you see his red clothes? He must wear red so that the blood of his enemies does not show when it sshes back on him."

    "Did you see how he tortured the final person? I cannot believe that he is only as old as we are. I have never even killed someone before, but this lunatic already murdered a whole group of people, and they were even stronger than him!"

    "Did you see his fights? They left my heart growing cold and my body shivering."

    "Although he is a bloodthirsty killer, I cannot help but wonder if he will be a goodrade or not. I mean look at him going on a killing spree in the middle of a beast horde. He will make it safer for the rest of us, but what if he gets so blinded by his killing intent that he cannot distinguish foe from friend? I really don¡¯t know if it is good or not for him to join us."

    The entire camp was bustling with conversations like these discussing the battles.

    Those who had seen the battles retold what had happened to those who had not seen them, and many of the stories became more and more ferocious and out of hand the more they were spread.

    Xue Wei was referred to as a real devil lord, and no one referred to him by name any longer ¨C everyone now called him the Crimson Devil.

    Those who had enmity with Xue Wei cleverly managed to hide this enmity, and those who wanted to reel him in for the sake of establishing a better connection between their families and Xiao Lei¡¯s all tried to get closer to him.

    The days went by slowly. Some people sent messages home to inform them about the battle between Xue Wei and the captive beasts and humans, and the Crown Prince also gained knowledge about the fights.

    His lips rose into a grin, and he nodded his head when he got the message.

    "It seems that trying to reel him in was a good decision. Showing friendship to him will be one of the better things I have done," he nodded his head, very pleased with himself.

 Chapter 78: Group of Geniuses

    Time slowly went by in the genius camp. The geniuses spent all their time training together with the captains, learning survivability and about the different Fierce Beasts and Primordial Beasts that they might encounter.

    When they had spare time, they would be either at the training ground practicing their skills, challenging one another to gain better cultivation resources, or spending these resources to buy martial arts.

    Some bought raw materials, but sparingly, as they wanted to save up their points for martial arts techniques.

    Although the families had a few techniques that were outstanding and their younger generation had learned one or two of these skills, it was nothingpared to the allure of a Profound or a Superior martial arts technique.

    Having one more ability was the same as having more versatility in battle situations, which made it easier for one to survive.

    Xue Wei was different. He did not find any interest in the martial art skills because he had gotten quite a few from the Heritage Ring that his uncle had left behind for him.

    As a result, he spent all his points on raw materials. He soon found that although he was ranked lowest of all in the entire group, his cultivation base was skyrocketing due to the assistance of the herbs he had purchased with the contribution points.

    Although he could gain more points if he challenged someone above him, he had no urge to do so. Currently, he had plenty of points, and he got more every month. It was enough to sustain his use of herbs, and challenging the other geniuses was something he would rather avoid for a certain reason.

    Xue Wei had realized that the more he fought, the harder it was to keep the sudden urge to kill at bay.

    The more he fought, the more it broke out, and it was starting to change his entire view of society and other people.

    Xue Wei had always been a gentle person. He wanted the best for his dear ones, and although he did not care about the others, he was not so cold-blooded as to wish that they would die.

    Unfortunately, things were changing within him. When he encountered someone who was annoying him, that could be someone who was slow in the dining hall queue, or someone who bumped into him when they were walking in the city of tents, then an urge to kill them would re up within his body. On top of that, the urge was so strong that he had to use everyst iota of his willpower to extinguish it again.

    He could feel the killing intent smoldering within him ¨C it was changing him, and it was making him feel worried and a little scared of himself. Was he trustworthy?

    While Xue Wei pondered this, he also knew that these feelings should be easier to control if he grew stronger, so he threw himself and all his focus into cultivating and enhancing his strength.

    Xue Wei was not the only one who was giving it their all; everyone in the Genius Camp was training hard, and slowly the months went by.

    After two months, Xue Wei had managed to break into the secondyer of the Earth Warrior rank. After another three months, he had reached the thirdyer. Another three months following this and he was amongst the seven fourthyer Earth Warriors in the entire camp.

    Xue Wei was still at the bottom of the rankings at his level but everyone in the entire camp considered him the strongest. When he was a oneyer Earth Warrior, he had been capable of killing a thirdyer Earth Warrior, so how absurd was his strength now?

    Ever since back then when he was a firstyer Earth Warrior and fought multiple times in a row in the arena, Xue Wei had not fought against any living being. No one was silly enough to find faults or problems with him either, and he had not joined the arena again.

    The summer had turned to fall; fall had turned to winter; and winter had turned to spring. Xue Wei had almost been at the camp for a full year, and during all this time he had soaked in all the knowledge rted to survival on the battlefield from the captains.

    He had spent many days in front of the ck Gold dummies training his martial art techniques and had managed to perfect all the abilities he had received from his Heritage Ring.

    He had already perfected the Seed of Mirage, Kick of Forgotten Kings, and Mind Infestation earlier, but he had also managed to learn and perfect the Arcane Fist and even gained an understanding of the Heart of Fire.

    Every time he became stronger, he would also spend time focusing on his old skills ¨C the Forbidden Rush movement technique, the Shattering Mountain Palm, and the Azure Light Finger ¨C and ensure that they properly scaled with his strength, optimizing the usage of said strength.

    Although it had almost been a year since the fight against the criminals in the arena, Xue Wei¡¯s title as the Crimson Devil had stuck, and sometimes people wouldment about how magnificent and bloody his fighting had been.

    Every time someone was in the arena, they would bepared to the Crimson Devil. If someone imed to be the strongest, they would be reminded that the Crimson Devil existed, and they would quickly stop.

    Xue Wei was aware of this fact, but he said nothing about it. He simply did not care about how the others viewed him.

    During this year, Xue Wei had often gone to visit Luo Zhirou and Shen Mu. Both of them were in the ninthyer Ordinary Warrior camp, unable to break through to the Earth Warrior rank. And although Xue Wei sometimes gave them some of his medicinal nts, they still were far from their breakthrough.

    In the Genius Camp, Xue Wei was a loner. He did not do anything to start a friendship with any of the other young geniuses, and the others felt he was unapproachable, making it impossible to connect with him.

    Many of them had been told to try and reel him in, be friends with him, or at least make him owe them a favor so that they could use him, or his uncle, in the future.

    Unfortunately, everyone who tried was met with an ice-cold look in Xue Wei¡¯s eyes and an unapproachable attitude. It was simply impossible to be friendly with him, and none of them were as thick-skinned as Shen Mu had been and clung to him no matter how grumpy he was.

    "These people are not interested in me," Xue Wei sighed to himself and shook his head. "What they want is the power my uncle possesses and the potential I am showing. I do not wish to be someone else¡¯s tool, and even less do I wish to be a burden to Uncle. Although I might be a little lonely, I would rather be lonely than sumb to these fake people!"

    Having reached this conclusion, Xue Wei once more focused fully on cultivating. Like this, the year eventually passed.

    The summer soon arrived, and with the summer everyone gathered at the fields outside the camp. Here, themander looked at the nine thousand geniuses that had remained alive.

    One thousand and seventy-four had died during this year in the Genius Camp; they had all died from fighting in the arena. Although the majority had managed to survive the arena battles, a few had not been that lucky.

    "This is the end of our recruitment camp!" themander announced with a strong voice that spread across the entire area. "You have spent some time learning how to survive. You have learned about Primordial and Fierce Beasts! You have fought bravely in the arena battles, a ce where you have also lostrades. This was the ce where you all were to build friendships, and you have now be a strong battalion."

    "But this is just the beginning!" themander spoke, and everyone was silent as they listened to his words. "You will now be ced in groups of five. The five in these groups will be brothers and sisters!! Your family, and those you can entrust with your lives!"

    "In a battle, you will fight side by side with these four other people, and you will be willing to trade your life for theirs!"

    "Fight as brothers, fight like sisters, fight as a family. Don¡¯t let anyone injure the dear ones around you!"

    "You will be given three days of spare time. After these three days havee to an end, you are to depart the capital together with General Xiang. The Primordial Beasts never hesitate to fight us, and the beast hordes are increasing. You will be needed to fight together withst year¡¯s genius camp at the Northern Taiga!"

    Xue Wei felt a sudden rush of emotions within him. He came from the Northern Taiga, a small town called Lingyun town. Maybe it was even possible for him to return to his birthce and see what it was like this day today? .

    Could it help him regain his memories? Could it perhaps allow for him to feel like aplete person again? He did not know, but he had some hope.

    However, now was not the time to think about it. Themander started calling out the names of the groups that were teamed together, and Xue Wei was amongst the middle of the people that were called out.

    He found himself in a group of five, where two were oneyer Earth Warriors, one was a twoyer Earth Warrior, and thest was a threeyer Earth Warrior.

    The thirdyer Earth Warrior was named Tie Haolong; the secondyer Earth Warrior was a woman named Song Yuyan. The two oneyer Earth Warriors were named Xiao Jie and Gu Dixing.

    "It is a pleasure to meet you all," Tie Haolong spoke with a smile on his lips, and he extended his hand to greet all of them.

    He was a head taller than Xue Wei; his hair was tied on top of his head with an elegant coiled dragon hairpin. He had two sharp eyebrows that resembled swords, and his eyes were clear and sharp. His facial features were pleasant to look at, and his lips were arched in a pleasant smile.

    Tie Haolong was dressed in a beautiful sky blue robe that was made from Fierce Beast silk. It was adorned with silver embroideries of clouds. His hand, which he had extended to greet them all, was cool like porcin, the skin was pale and beautiful.

    All in all, Tie Haolong was very pleasing to the eye. He was a young master of the capital.

    Song Yuyan had blushed slightly when she shook Tie Haolong¡¯s hand, and she nodded her head as she introduced herself.

    She could be considered pretty, but Xue Wei, who was a friend of Luo Zhirou, found her a littlecking. She was not ugly, and she had some features that made her cute, but she was not a country-toppling beauty.

    Fortunately, she was a secondyer Earth Warrior, and this alone showed that she was well above the average genius in the Genius Camp. One should not underestimate her because of her somewhat ordinary appearance.

    She too was wearing a dress made from Fierce Beast silk, and her colors were purple. She had a beautiful hairpin in her hair that entuated her beautiful eyes.

    Xiao Jie and Gu Dixing both introduced themselves as well. Xiao Jie wore clothes made of hide from a Fierce Beast. He was the biggest of them all, his body bursting with energy, and he had swelling muscles.

    He was also the only one in their group who had short hair. His eyes were wild, and a grin was spread across his lips. He could not remove his eyes from Song Yuyan.

    The final person in the group was Gu Dixing. He was a quiet person, and the only one in the group who did not wear clothes made from a Fierce Beast.

    He was amoner who had outstanding talent, and his biggest wish was to be a guard of one of the major families as soon as he had managed to survive the military time.

    Having introduced themselves, all four turned to look at Xue Wei with expectant eyes. They were excited to hear the Crimson Devil introduce himself.

 Chapter 79: Armor

    Xue Wei sighed. He was not sure he would be a benefit to this group of people. In fact, he was certain that when a fight breaks out, their group will be one of the most troubled ones in the entire battalion.

    Still, he understood that it was important to have a cordial rtionship with these people, and thus he gave a quick introduction of himself.

    "Pleased to meet you all. I am Xue Wei, the nephew of Primordial Beast Hunter Xiao Lei. I am a fourthyer Earth Warrior."

    He had nothing else to say, but he could see that his group had many things they wanted to ask him.

    Tie Haolongughed in a friendly way when he saw that Xue Wei had introduced himself, feeling a little relieved. Xue Wei was legendary for not wanting to get to know anyone, so just the fact that he had introduced himself was already a great aplishment.

    "As I said before, I am the young master of the Tie family within the capital," Tie Haolong said again, and the others listened to him attentively. "I would suggest that we go to the capital now. We have three days to get to know one another, and in these three days I suggest that you stay at my Tie family¡¯s mansion. We can get to know each other better there, and I would like to host a banquet so that we can mingle and be good friends."

    Xue Wei frowned and was about to say that he was not willing to stay at the Tie Mansion until he saw how the others were filled with excitement, with a shine in their eyes, and their bodynguage indicated that they could not wait to go to the Tie Mansion.

    When he noticed their eagerness, Xue Wei did not want to be the one to burst their bubble, so he sighed and nodded his head, reluctantly agreeing to go there.

    He knew that this Tie Haolong was anything but an ordinary individual. To reach the thirdyer of the Earth Warrior rank showed that he was a very talented young man, and he even knew how to make these people he met for the first time today follow him unconditionally with only a few words.

    "This is the most dangerous type of person," Xue Wei concluded after seeing how Tie Haolong conducted himself.

    Together, the group returned to their tents, packed the few belongings they had, and left the tent city. They would not being back here, as their year as recruits was over and now it was time for them to be genuine soldiers.

    On the way to the capital, Tie Haolong spent the time talking with everyone in the group. However, whereas Xiao Jie, Gu Dixing, and Song Yuyan did everything in their power to answer all his questions, Xue Wei stayed quiet and alert.

    He walked at the back of the group, a few steps behind the others, and one could almost begin to doubt whether or not he belonged to this group of experts.

    Xue Wei did not care. Although Tie Haolong had tried to engage in conversation a few times, he quickly smiled wryly and gave up. He quickly came to the conclusion that the Crimson Devil was as much of a loner as the rumors said.

    Tie Haolong clearly wanted to have a good rtionship with Xue Wei, so he slowed down and walked side by side with Xue Wei.

    "You know, we should all go to the Golden Chambers," he said, as if he had just been hit by a bright idea. "We should get our hands on some armors. We are not able to be soldiers if we are not wearing armors."

    Everyone nodded their heads, all apart from Gu Dixing. He was nervously fiddling with his clothes.

    Seeing his actions, everyone could guess that he did not have the money to purchase Fierce Beast armor, but Tie Haolongughed out loud and pped him on the shoulder, "Don¡¯t worry brother Gu."

    "I will pay for the armor for all of us. My Tie n might not have many things, but money we have in surplus. I can at least afford a piece of armor for each of us."

    "Do not decline me, any of you," he said magnanimously. "I am looking at this as a future investment. We are a team, we rely on one another, and we have to be able to turn our backs to each other, knowing that our brothers, and sister, will guard it unconditionally!"

    The speech made everyone, apart from Xue Wei, look at Tie Haolong with a feverish reverence in their eyes, but Xue Wei just snorted in his heart.

    Although Tie Haolong had done all of this for the sake of the team, and although he seemed heroic, Xue Wei had noticed that he had constantly nced at him to check his reaction. Was his every move an attempt to get Xue Wei on his side?

    Even if Xue Wei did not want to be his supporter, he understood that he would be seen as Tie Haolong¡¯s brother no matter what. They were in the same group, and thus their rtionship had to be good.

    Tie Haolong clearly wanted to use this to his advantage, and Xue Wei could not me him. At least he was trying to build a genuine rtionship with him, but he still did not want to ept it, as his eptance also indirectly meant getting his uncle¡¯s favor.

    Xue Wei was in deep thought while walking, but he had to admit that Tie Haolong was correct when he said that he needed to get his hands on a set of armors. He also needed to get at least one more set of clothes, as he would be traveling the kingdom in the future.

    As a result, he did not decline when Tie Haolong suggested that they went to the Golden Chambers.

    Their group was not the only one on the way towards the capital. Every single group of the recruits was on its way to the capital, and chatter could be heard everywhere.

    Gu Dixing was quiet and listened attentively to the others as they spoke, while Tie Haolong told the rest of the group about everything he knew the army and how it worked.

    Xue Wei listened as well, but he was not as eager as the others. He had read many books about the army and knew more or less everything that Tie Haolong was saying.

    Soon, the horde of recruits reached the capital. All of them entered the Outer City, and here the recruits started spreading. Many of the lower ranked recruits which were first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventhyer Ordinary Warriors spread out through the Outer City, looking for inns or finding a home of one of theirrades to stay at while waiting out the three days before it was time for them to depart for war against the Primordial Beasts.

    Others continued on into the Inner City, mainly the nobles and the higher ranked experts.

    While most headed back to their mansions, Xue Wei followed Tie Haolong and the others towards the Golden Chambers.

    "I am sorry for rushing you," Tie Haolong apologized, "but we need to keep in mind that everyone is going to be needing armor. As a result, we need to hurry and get our hands on it first."

    Gu Dixing, Xiao Jie, and Song Yuyan nodded their heads seriously. "We need our armor fast," they agreed, and all of them rushed towards the Golden Chambers.

    As they entered the building that sold fabrics and clothes, Xue Wei recognized a few people from hisst visit, and they seemed to recognize him too. However, they also recognized Tie Haolong.

    Moments after, the manager of this shop appeared out of nowhere. "Young hero Xue Wei, Young Master Tie Haolong and your friends, it is a pleasure for us to greet you in our humble shop," he said with a bow.

    "We assume that your group just finished the recruitment training regimen and you are here for some armor for each of you? Please tell me the specifics, and I will ensure that they are made promptly."

    While the manager spoke, another three groups appeared in the Golden Chambers¡¯ shop, all of which were clearly young masters that were as eager to buy their armor as Tie Haolong. When they noticed that a group had already appeared, they could not hide the sour look on their faces, but they quickly turned to the servants that hade to get their order.

    Xue Wei stepped forward, "I am looking for a piece of armor made with the exterior parts of a Red Scaled Earth Dragonhorse," he said with a stern voice. "I am aware that the Red Scaled Earth Dragonhorse is a Fierce Beast with a diluted bloodline of a dragon. Its scales are obviously red, so is its hide. I want the armor to be made from the hide and the scales of this beast."

    "I am also looking for three sets of robes made from a Great Fire Worm¡¯s silk."

    The Great Fire Worm was one of the most famous Fierce Beasts when it came to silk. It was a creature that produced red silk that had the element of fire imbued into it.

    This silk was incredibly expensive, and only the richest could afford to wear it.

    Hearing that Xue Wei wanted three robes made from that silk, Tie Haolong¡¯s face dropped, but when he saw Xue Wei taking out his purse, he felt a little better but also insulted. He had promised to pay for the armor of all his ¡¯brothers¡¯, but he had also understood that even he would have money problems if all of them wanted armor on the level of the Red Scaled Earth Dragonhorse.

    The manager smiled as he saw Xue Wei withdrawing his purse and instantly led him to the counter where he paid the price of the items, and then he was led into a small room where a woman started measuring his figure.

    He had experienced thisst time too, and now he just casually stood still, allowing for the woman to measure his arms, legs, waist, and so on.

    After finishing, Xue Wei saw that the others were being measured right at that moment, andhe received a token from the manager.

    "You can return tomorrow to pick up the finished products. I promise that they will have been made to the best of our ability and that they will be beautiful but also sturdy and a great assistance in a fight."

    Xue Wei nodded his head. He then found a ce to wait for the other four.

    While he was waiting, more and more people arrived in the shop. Although it was a rather sizeable shop, it was soon filled to the brim with young experts that had arrived tomission some armor.

    As Tie Haolong and the others finished, the group gathered outside once more. All of them had their tokens in their hands, and their eyes were glistening with excitement.

    Especially Gu Dixing was excited. He had not only gotten a set of armor, but Tie Haolong had also bought a set of Fierce Beast silk robes for him.

    "Now, let us return to my family mansion," Tie Haolongughed happily. "I would be honored to host a banquet for my newfound brothers and sister. I wish to show my sincerity and give us a chance to be closer!"

    Xue Wei said nothing against it. Following that, all of them headed towards the Tie mansion. The Tie family was rather significant within the capital; their family had many officials in the court, and they had quite a few strong cultivators.

    As they reached the mansion, a whole group of servants was waiting outside. When they spotted Tie Haolong, they all bowed deeply. "Greetings, Young Master Haolong. Greetings, Young Master Haolong¡¯s friends," they said in unison.

 Chapter 80: Straight Talking

    Xue Wei was surprised when he saw how the maids were waiting for them, and even more so when he entered the mansion and was led to the dining hall where a feast had been prepared.

    Although Xue Wei was surprised, his face did not disy any of his emotions, while the others did nothing to hide their surprise, which made Tie Haolong chuckle.

    He then lifted his sleeves and showed off a braided cord around his arm with a small bead ced within it.

    "This is amunication device," he introduced. "It is a thing that allowed me to inform my family that we were on the way and have them prepare the meal in advance."

    "Thesemunication devices are very rare," Tie Haolong continued the exnation, and his face grew stern all of a sudden, his eyes solemn. "Only a handful exist within each of the noble families, and they are guarded as treasures. Only the important members are allowed one of these devices, and I was only granted one because I had to go to the recruitment camp."

    Xue Wei almost snorted. Was Tie Haolong not indirectly stating that he was an important member of the Tie family this way?

    But when he thought about it, he had to admit that it made sense. A family had to put value on the members that showed promising potential and to have made it to the Genius Camp showed that he had talent.

    Finishing his time at the Genius Camp as one of the few thirdyer Earth Warriors showed that he was very much above the rest of the geniuses, only overshadowed by a few figures.

    When such a genius emerged, it would be strange for the family not to consider him important in their ranks, and Tie Haolong also had a way of manipting people.

    During this time, everyone in the group, Xue Wei included, had already agreed that Tie Haolong was their leader. He was the one in charge of their group despite not being the strongest, and this in itself was quite a feat.

    But Xiao Jie, Song Yuyan, and Gu Dixing had given him their full support; and they would follow him blindly in the future and had ced all their faith in him knowing what was the best for their group.

    Xue Wei had conceded the position of leader to Tie Haolong simply because he could not be bothered to step up and take over.

    He also knew that he would not be able to unite their team with his apathetic and uninterested personality, and worse, when fighting, he would not be able to keep a cool head and properly calling the shots.

    The night was spent with all of them eating their fill at the feast. While Song Yuyan, Xiao Jie, and Gu Dixing were busy narrating their entire lives to Tie Haolong, Xue Wei was smiling as he listened to all three despite the bombardment of personal information.

    Xue Wei could not help but raise an eyebrow in surprise. His impression of Tie Haolong was a scheming and shrewd person, but right now he was patiently listening to everything these people had to say with a smile on his face and even the rightments at the right times.

    Xue Wei had tomend him for his way of epting anything that was being said to him. He was hospitable, friendly, and attentive to their every need. He showed genuine interest in what they had to say, and he was happy to assist in anything he could assist with.

    At the start, Tie Haolong had tried to pull Xue Wei into the conversation, yet after being met with single sentence answers and an apathetic expression, he quickly understood that it only made the conversation among the group awkward, so he decided to focus on making Xiao Jie, Song Yuyan, and Gu Dixing feel better.

    Xue Wei had nothing against Tie Haolong and the others, but he did not know them either. He was always cautious when it came to forging new rtionships.

    He had already experienced it once, people trying to reel in his uncle through him, and it wasn¡¯t as though his early experiences were any help in making him socialize with others - the thought of it alone made him recall nothing but the memories of being hurt by others. He was socially awkward when it came to strangers, and his only friends were Shen Mu and Luo Zhirou.

    He had never really learned how to behave amongst other people, and he genuinely preferred being quiet and just listening to the others talk.

    He wanted to know what they had to say; he wanted to listen and learn about them so that he slowly could get an impression of what kind of person they were.

    So far, he was able to see that these four people were good people. They had an urge to distinguish themselves in the army, much like himself, and their age was very simr, so they had a lot inmon.

    Xue Wei ate his fill, drinking the wine and listening to the conversations. The more he listened, the morefortable he became.

    He was no longer on high alert, and he too knew that if he wanted to make things work in the future, then he needed to be good friends with these people.

    Tie Haolong was shrewd and calcting, but he was not a bad person. He showed genuine interest in the others¡¯ lives. Although Tie Haolong might have some ulterior motives towards Xue Wei, Xue Wei concluded that even if he were not the nephew of Primordial Beast Hunter Xiao Lei, the former would have behaved the way he was behaving now.

    What Tie Haolong truly wished for was to be the leader of their group. If he could lead their group, he would be getting the most honor if their group managed to stand out in the future. However, at the same time, he would also take the me if they did badly.

    Xue Wei was not interested in takingmand. He just wanted to fight and distinguish himself so that he, in the future, could be a great Primordial Beast Hunter.

    As the night continued, Xiao Jie got drunk from drinking too much wine; Song Yuyan was also slightly drunk, but she quickly switched to fruit juice when she felt that her cheeks were turning flushed; and Gu Dixing, who had never before experienced a feast like this, had drank and eaten so much that he had copsed under the bench, snoring loudly.

    Eventually, only Tie Haolong and Xue Wei were sober, with Song Yuyan to the side. They looked at one another, their eyes clear and their faces both sprouting smiles.

    It was clear that now they needed to have a serious talk.

    "You are the strongest in the group," Tie Haolong began, and Xue Wei nodded his head. "That I am," he agreed.

    "Your personality sucks," Tie Haolong continued, and Xue Wei nodded his head again. "That I cannot argue with," he said.

    Tie Haolong was surprised when he heard this reply, but then he burst intoughter.

    "I actually have nothing against you," Tie Haolong chuckled. "I respect your strength, your talent, and your fierce fighting style. When you fought in the arena, I was there watching, and I was surprised to see such bloodthirst, such inhumane fighting methods, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized that this world only has room for the fierce."

    "To be honest, I kinda envy you. Your ability to go berserk like this is astonishing. Your talent is heaven-sent, and your special physique is once in a million."

    "I fear that you are the kind of person that cannot sumb to anyone, incapable of listening to orders," Tie Haolong continued. "I cannot control you, but I can ride on your coattails and gain fame."

    "Our group will, in theory, consist of four people who work together and one person who sweeps through the battlefield like the embodiment of war itself. Killing everywhere he goes and ensuring that no one survives."

    Xue Wei said nothing. He knew that he was capable of keeping his killing intent under control, but he also knew that the killing intent was constantly growing and that he needed an increased cultivation base to be able to keep it in check.

    Since this was the case, he did not mention anything about the fact that he could, in fact, if needed, fight in a cold, callous way devoid of emotion, much different to his fierce and emotional disy from earlier.

    "Our group is a group of misfits," Tie Haolong continued. "There is no need to mention you, but if we look at me, my strengthys in nning and preparation. This is great in many situations, but not so much when you are facing a bloody beast horde. Then you need to be able to think on the spot and make difficult situations. I have a wealth of experience from climbing the ranks of my family to back me up as the leader, but truth be told, even I wonder if I am suitable for the role."

    Tie Haolong gave a self-mocking smile and shook his head. "Well, either way, I am better than you," he sighed after a bit of thinking, and his conclusion just served to make Xue Wei chuckle. It was true that although Tie Haolong had some faults and shorings, they were much better than the ones Xue Wei had.

    "Although you don¡¯t speak much, and although you are seriously antisocial andcking in every aspect when ites to knowing how to act when being part of a group, you are not a bad person," Tie Haolong said after a bit of silence, and Xue Wei could not help but snort. Was he praising him or insulting him? It was hard to say.

    "I dislike you ¨C no, I envy you... but I also revere you, look up to you, and wish to befriend you," Tie Haolong finally said, and then heughed out loud.

    "I must have been drinking more than I thought I had," he muttered after a bit of time, and Xue Wei smiled wryly.

    "We can be friends," Xue Wei said after a bit of time. "After all, we have already opened up to each other and shared some wine. We understand one another. Although we are different, we can still be friends."

    "Be friends..." Tie Haolong paused after muttering the two words, his mind abuzz with thoughts that only he knew, but slowly a splendid smile grew on his lips. "We can be friends. Of course we can!"

    "We start as friends. Fight side by side. Our trust in one another is not something that is built in one day. It is something that we will nurture slowly. All of us will have a brotherly connection for life when the ten years are up. We will face dangers, brave life-and-death situations, but only by relying on each other will we have a chance at survival."

    "We are friends from today onwards ¨C so in the future, you can call me brother!" Tie Haolong smiled, and then he swayed a little before his face mmed against the table, his snoring resounding in the hall.

    Seeing this, Song Yuyan giggled. She was still slightly tipsy, but it was not so much that she had lost control of herself or in any way had be incapable of separating truth from fantasy.

    She had listened in on their conversation casually, and she had been surprised by how frank Tie Haolong had been, yet even more surprised when Xue Wei had acknowledged them as his friends. She understood that this was a great development.

    She then looked at Xue Wei who was seated opposite from her and raised her ss. "Xue Wei, my friend, I apologize for not toasting to you with wine, but I fear the prospects of getting drunk. Since this is the case, allow me to give a toast for our newfound friendship with fruit juice!"

    Xue Wei said nothing, but a small but warm smile was evident on his lips as he lifted his cup and clinked it against her cup.

    "To our newfound friendship!" he too said before emptying the cup in one go and slowly sliding down from the bench, as drunk as the other three men.

    "Oh, my." Song Yuyan giggled a little more before sipping her fruit juice and shaking her head in amusement.

 Chapter 81: An Invitation

    The following morning, all of them woke up with a headache. They had either been sleeping on the hard ground of the banquet hall orid across the hard table, so their entire bodies were aching slightly from the ufortable positions.

    As they awakened, all of them, apart from Xue Wei, had a sheepish expression on their faces. Although Xue Wei felt rather embarrassed too, he did not show it on his face.

    Tie Haolong, who now looked very unkempt, with untidy hair and crumpled clothes, cleared his throat.

    "Please follow me. I will lead you to the chambers you can use for the next two days until our first deployment as soldiers."

    "I imagine that we will not be using our rooms much," Tie Haolong continued, "so I suggest we prepare and tidy ourselves a little before we head out for the Golden Chambers¡¯ shop again. Given that a day has passed already, our armors should be finished by now, yes? I am sure you are all as eager as I am to see the finished product in preparation for the war against the Primordial Beasts and their hordes."

    The others nodded their heads. It was obvious that all of them needed to change their clothes and freshen up. Their hair was a mess ¨C strands had loosened from their buns ¨C and framed their faces, and their clothes were wrinkled and not very suitable for them to wear in public.

    It was easy to smoothen out the fabric of the fierce beast silk, but although they were capable of doing so, the clothes still reeked of wine and food. They clearly needed to be cleaned.

    Xue Wei was led to a small but cozy set of chambers. It had a living room, a bedroom, and a bathroom. He headed straight for the bathroom to freshen up, tidy his hair, and wash his face.

    He quickly untied the red ribbon that held his hair in position and allowed for all of it to cascade down from the top of his head, after which a smile appeared on his lips.

    Xue Wei¡¯s hair was long and lush; it was ck like a raven¡¯s feather and had the same shine to it.

    With experienced hands, he once more gathered the hair on top of his head and tied it with another ribbon. This second ribbon was, like the first, made from the same kind of silk as his Fierce Beast robes.

    He then stripped out of his clothes and washed himself before he adorned a set of the clothes he had worn when he first entered the capital.

    Although they were not made from Fierce Beast silk, they were still better than wearing something that smelled of wine and food.

    He then washed the clothes and activated the me in the clothes itself, watching as the me danced on top of the fabric. It was hot enough to burn anyone who tried to touch it, but it also made the water dissipate into steam, vanishing into thin air.

    Having dried his clothes, Xue Wei was about to change into them again when he decided to keep them for when he was about to march out of the city.

    He was likely to be treated to yet another, albeit smaller, feast today too. As a result, it was possible he would end up drunk once more, which would make the clothes smelly again.

    Although it was easy to clean them, doing so would also wear down the silk. The more often it was cleaned, the more worn down it would be, especially the silk that Xue Wei had picked that had the element of fire. This element would be destroyed upon too many washes, whereas it would not have mattered if he had picked Fierce Beast silk with a water attribute.

    This was also why the water-attribute silk was in higher demand than its fire-type counterpart despite being less luxurious. Fire-type silk was more vtile and could perform better in fights, but it was also more fragile. Most noble-born within the capital wore clothes that had been created from water or ice attributed Fierce Beast silk.

    Tie Haolong was like the others; his robes were made from Fierce Beast Silk with the water attribute. The water attribute was not so powerful, but Fierce Beast silk regardless of attribute was ayer of protection by itself. Furthermore, even if the water silk did not grant you the ability to directly attack, its utility in creating water orbs and slowing down the enemy was not to be belittled.

    After having freshened up, all of them met outside the Tie Mansion, and Tie Haolong raised an eyebrow in surprise when he saw what Xue Wei was wearing. It was not until now that he understood why he had purchased more robes - he simply did not have enough of them so far.

    Together, the group made their way towards the Golden Chambers. At the same time, they all chatted with one another. Despite Xue Wei being silent throughout, none of the others felt that the silence was oppressive. Instead, it wasfortable.

    Song Yuyan was smiling mysteriously while Tie Haolong walked with light steps and behaved as if there were no problems whatsoever. Bing friends with Xue Wei was a benefit for both him and his family, and he could not help but feel gratified about howst night¡¯s talk had gone.

    Xue Wei was the same. He had acknowledged the others in this group as his friends and genuinely viewed them as such. This made him feel warm and fuzzy in his heart. For someone with so few friends, he had now gotten four more.

    Although he was not ready to consider them brothers or sisters just yet, even he was looking forward to fighting by their side and one day bing martial siblings with them.

    Without saying anything, Xue Wei vowed to do everything in his power to ensure that no harm came to these four people, that he would do everything in his power to protect them.

    This was quite different from Xue Wei¡¯s usual thoughts of just improving himself and bing stronger and stronger. He wanted to disy his might to the Wayfarers and get the acknowledgment of Wang Xiaoyun¡¯s family, but now he also wished to protect these people.

    "Nine years," he muttered to himself. "After nine years, we will be brothers and sisters."

    Although he had spoken slowly, his words had been heard by the others, and their hearts zed with pride.

    When they walked down the street, they saw how every citizen of the Inner City would look at them curiously. They heard them talk about the new batch of experts going to the recruitment camp that was about to begin soon, and they also spotted an increasing number of groups of noble-born youngsters a year younger than them streaming into the city.

    When they arrived at the Golden Chambers, they found that there was a whole queue outside the entrance; many were here to pick up their armors, while others hade to purchase Fierce Beast silk robes.

    Last year, when Xue Wei hade to the capital, there had been a lot of disturbances, and a lot of situations that had caused the entire capital to gossip about what he had done, about his talent and about his special physique. Yet it was different this year.

    No high profile figure had emerged from outside of the capital, and everything was rather peaceful.

    After picking up their armors and robes, the group went to a restaurant to eat a meal while chatting and discussing their next actions.

    "I suggest that we use my family¡¯s martial art grounds and have a few bouts against one another. We need to know each other¡¯s strengths and shorings so that we can assist one another when we are fighting side by side," Tie Haolong suggested, and the others nodded their heads. It was indeed a good idea.

    If they wanted to trust in one another, they first needed to know how they fought.

    However, just as they returned to the mansion, a flustered servant came looking for them. "Young Master Haolong!" he called out frantically.

    "We have been searching for you all over the Inner City!" heined, but Tie Haolong did not get insulted by this sudden outburst. Instead, he smiled and ced a hand on the servant¡¯s shoulder.

    "What is wrong?" he asked curiously, and the servant disyed a cushion he had in his hands with a letter on top.

    "This came from His Highness the Crown Prince¡¯s pce. It was addressed to you, Young Master. We obviously dare not open such important information and could only scurry around the Inner City looking for you."

    Tie Haolong¡¯s face alternated between excited and worried as he slowly reached out to pick up the letter. He then opened it and read it, and the more he read, the more puzzled he became.

    "It is an invitation," he said after a bit of time, "an invitation to join his banquet tomorrow night. It will be ourst night in town, and he is hosting a great banquet for the ones who just exited the recruitment camp and also for the young geniuses that are going to enter the recruitment camp this year."

    Tie Haolong frowned. "It is not unusual for His Highness the Crown Prince to hold such banquets, but it is the first time I have heard of him inviting both the new and old recruitment camp geniuses. What exactly is he nning?"

    Although Tie Haolong was speaking to himself, the others could hear his words and understood that this invitation was no ordinary one.

    "Should we join?" Song Yuyan was nervous. If Tie Haolong was not certain as to what the aim was, was there a chance for it to be dangerous?

    However, after a bit of time, Tie Haolong¡¯s smile returned to his lips and he nodded his head. "We ought to show up," he had made his decision.

    "This is His Highness the Crown Prince. If we do not show up, we will be insulting him since he personally sent us an invitation. Also, if we want to know what is going on, the best way to figure it out is to actually participate in the event."

    Xue Wei nodded his head. What Tie Haolong said made sense, but he still felt rather odd. As if there was something that he could not fully put his finger on, but he knew something was off.

    "Oh well, it is just another banquet," Xue Wei sighed and shook his head as he mocked himself. "Since when have you been afraid of a banquet?" he asked himself, and he understood that no matter what, he had to go and see what was going on.

    "With Luo Zhirou¡¯s and Shen Mu¡¯s current situation of being affiliated with the Crown Prince, they ought to also be there," he continued his contemtion, "and I have not seen them for some time. It would be fun to catch up with them again and hear how they are doing."

    Xue Wei did not have amunication device, so it was not possible for him to contact those two friends of his whenever he wished. He had to visit them in an old-fashioned way.

    Everyone in their group was filled with mixed emotions. Tie Haolong was puzzled as to what the Crown Prince was doing. Song Yuyan was slightly worried. Gu Dixing was very excited as he had never had the chance to even see royalty before, and Xiao Jie was rather collected about it all.

    Xue Wei had a feeling of difort, but at the same time he also wanted to know what was going on.

    "Well, for now, let us go to the training field and do some sparring. I suggest we try training with our armors on so that we can get used to how it is to move with them on."

    Having said that, all of them headed to the back of the mansion where the training grounds were located. It was time to learn one another¡¯s fighting styles.

 Chapter 82: Unexpected Visit

    "Again!" Xue Wei called out with a domineering voice as the four others were thrown through the air,nding heavily on the ground a few meters away.

    They jumped to their feet and looked at one another, hesitating slightly before they nodded their heads and charged at Xue Wei, one from each direction.

    Xue Wei activated the Forbidden Rush, and then he swung around, sending out four palm strikes.

    These palm strikes did not contain any mystical martial arts technique, but the power of Xue Wei¡¯s physical body was enough to send them all tumbling back as if they had run directly into a wall.

    Xue Wei moved with grace and elegance; he was not overtaken by the murderous air or any menacing grins as if he was fighting to kill. Instead, he was calm and collected.

    "Again!" he yelled again, and the four once more got up from the ground, charging at him. All of them were armed, and none of them held back their martial arts techniques. However, Xue Wei was a higher rank than them, and he also had the benefit of a stronger body than the average fourthyer Earth Warrior.

    "Xiao Jie, Gu Dixing, attack first! Take his attention. Song Yuyan, soundwaves to confuse! Get ready to attack!"

    Xiao Jie used a saber to attack, and Gu Dixing used a sword simrly to Tie Haolong, who called the shots, and Song Yuyan was using a guqin as a weapon.

    A guqin was a weapon in the zither family; it had seven strings and was ratherrge. It was a feminine weapon, a weapon that mainly attacked through sound waves.

    This group had at first thought that Xue Wei was joking when he said he would face them all barehanded and without using any martial arts techniques, but after having pounced at him a few times and being smacked to the ground every time, their strategy had changed drastically.

    Now all of them were truly enlightened. Xue Wei was much stronger than all of them added together, and if they wanted a chance to injure him, or at least touch his clothes, then they had to work together.

    Xue Wei chuckled when he saw their determination, but it was not that he looked down upon them, nor was he starting to release his killing intent. The reason he chuckled was that he had never before trained with others, so the experience made him happy.

    Xiao Jie and Gu Dixing had wasted no time to do what Tie Haolong had called out for them to do, rushing towards Xue Wei with their saber and sword lifted in the air, a stream of Qi on the weapons¡¯ des.

    These two had also managed to get their hands on some martial arts techniques from the Genius Camp, their techniques respectively enhancing the saber and the sword.

    "Sword Soaring the Heavens!" Gu Dixing yelled out as he jumped and descended through the air, not protecting his body at all and focusing all his strength on his attack.

    "Killing all Foes!" Xiao Jie eximed as the attack Killing all Foes activated and the Saber shone with a light stronger than when it had had Qi inserted into it.

    This light almost blinded the others, as a killing intent roared out from the saber.

    At the same time, the sword in Gu Dixing¡¯s hands seemed to turn into a flood dragon that was rushing towards Xue Wei. Both attacks were formidable, but it was not enough to make him feel threatened.

    Xue Wei nodded his head in approval though, to have been able to train these skills to the point that they had proved that they were anything but ordinary. They truly deserved their titles as geniuses of the Heping Kingdom.

    Having sent out two fists that collided with the sword and the saber, Xue Wei was forced a few steps back. Both of his hands werepletely numb.

    He could not help but praise his newfound friends even more. When Xue Wei was pushed back, Tie Haolong suddenly appeared out of nowhere and swung the sword in his hands and chopped down towards Xue Wei¡¯s shoulder.

    Tie Haolong seemed to be alone, but when he attacked, Xue Wei felt the sudden pressure bearing down on him together with a few notes of the guqin that Song Yuyan was ying on.

    Song Yuyan was a supportive character. She was strong as the others because she was an Earth Warrior, but her fighting style focused on enhancing herrades. She could increase their strength, enhance their speed, and also disturb others with her sound waves.

    Xue Wei could feel that Song Yuyan was trying her best to confuse him, slow him down, and affect him with her ying.

    It required all of Xue Wei¡¯s attention to keep a level head and properly engage Tie Haolong.

    Tie Haolong had appeared just as Xue Wei had been forced to take a few steps back, with the support of the tones that were creating sound waves, increasing Tie Haolong¡¯s speed and strength and at the same time also causing Xue Wei to slow down.

    Xue Wei lifted his arm. He retracted it and punched out with all his physical strength.

    Xue Wei did not dare to meet the de head on, but what he did was hit the side of the de, causing the weapon to be flung out of Tie Haolong¡¯s hands.

    Xue Wei¡¯s other hand was thrown out, and this punch caused Tie Haolong to be shot backward.

    Everyone was breathing heavily. Xue Wei was smiling, but his clothes were a little disorderly from the battle.

    "Well, this is just the beginning!" Tie Haolong stood up and dusted his clothes off of the dust that had gathered on them after he had been pushed to the ground.

    Xiao Jie, Song Yuyan, and Gu Dixing all went towards Xue Wei and Tie Haolong. Their faces were smiling, all of them feeling rejuvenated.

    "Well, we do not have more time to train," Tie Haolong sighed. "We should probably wash up or we will bete for the Crown Prince¡¯s Banquet."

    Everyone nodded their heads. They needed to have both their clothes and themselves cleaned before it was time to enter the royal pce. They had been working up a sweat. Even Song Yuyan, who had just spent time as a supportive character in the match previously, supporting them with her guqin, was also sweating.

    The group was exhausted, but all of them felt energized and happy. Their group was bing much tighter knit, and they were able to talk with one another about random things as they went back to the mansion and their own rooms. All of them felt at ease with one another, and none of them felt any pressure or difort any longer.

    As Xue Wei closed the door to his chambers, a smile was evident on his lips and he was feeling casual and free.

    "Young Master is feeling pleased with himself?" An alluring female voice appeared in the room, and the previously calm and casual Xue Wei suddenly became tense and turned to look into the room with caution.

    There, right in the middle of everything was the woman in ck. Her face was no longer hidden behind the hat and veil. Instead, it was on disy.

    Her hair cascaded down from her shoulders, framing her face and glistening in the sunshine that shined in through the windows. The color of her hair was silver like the rays of moonlight that descended during the night.

    Her eyes were blue like ice, and Xue Wei could not help but shiver when he felt her eyesnd on him, the woman¡¯s lips curling into a mocking smile as a gleam of insanity and madness appeared in her eyes.

    "Xue Wei, I have waited a long time to see you," she said and dragged the word long as she gracefully stood up from the chair she had been sitting on.

    "I bet," Xue Wei answered. He was worried. This was the Primordial Beast that had caused no end of trouble for them on the way to the capital, and now she appeared in the middle of the Tie mansion, but no one seemed to even realize she was there.

    The Tie family was not arge noble family when it came to cultivators, but they still had one Heavenly Warrior in their family, yet even he was seemingly incapable of sensing this woman who had appeared in his room.

    "No need to sweat like this," the woman chuckled with her voice low so that Xue Wei had to strain his ears to listen to her. "I will not harm you," she continued.

    "Why don¡¯t we strike a deal?" she asked curiously, but Xue Wei just snorted. "Thest person that struck a deal with you got killed by your own hands. Do you think I am foolish enough to make the same mistake?"

    "Oh you knew?" The woman raised an eyebrow in surprise and wonder, but there was a mocking tone to her voice. "Well, it does not matter if you do not wish to make a deal with me. I have other means to get what I want."

    "Is it not dangerous for a Primordial Beast such as yourself to be in the midsts of the capital where the experts are numerous as the clouds in the sky?"

    Xue Wei knew it would have been for the better to not ask such a question, to acknowledge that he knew that this woman was a Primordial Beast, but he was genuinely curious. Also, the woman knew that he knew. What was the loss of asking?

    "To these experts, I am a young woman from the center of the continent." The primordial beast chuckled. "I am here on a self-tempering journey."

    "They will do anything to ensure that I do not get insulted, aggravated or in any other way troubled. They would never believe that this young miss is actually a Primordial Beast."

    "Why are you telling me this?" Xue Wei frowned. "I am loyal to the humans and I will tell them the truth. Your cover will be blown and you will be hunted forever!"

    The woman startedughing out loud. "This Kingdom of Heping wants to hunt me?" She giggled as if she had heard the funniest joke of the year.

    "I guess I should introduce myself. I am Chu Huiyin, but most humans know me as the Ice Harpy," she introduced herself. When she did, Xue Wei¡¯s face turned pale.

    "Ice harpy?" he asked fearfully and the woman nodded her head proudly. "I am from the center of the continent, and I am only in this part of the continent for one single purpose, but telling you that seems wasteful as I would have to kill you afterward."

    The woman looked genuinely sorry about that fact, but Xue Wei could see more and more madness swell within the eyes of the woman. Whenever she looked at Xue Wei, although she contained it well, there was a killing intent so strong that Xue Wei did not know where such hatred coulde from.

    "Why are you really here?" Xue Wei asked after a bit of time. He had epted that this was likely to be his end, considering how much hatred was hidden within the eyes of the woman, but she just shrugged her shoulders.

    "I wanted to see what you looked like. Nothing special, it seems. For another expert to strike a deal with me to kill you kept me curious about your personality. Now that I have seen you, I have to agree with him. You are definitely a disgusting character."

    As she said thest words, the woman suddenly took a step forward, causing Xue Wei¡¯s entire body to tremble and tense up, yet moments after she vanished into thin air. It was as if the step she had taken had caused her to step into another world.

 Chapter 83: Pure Yang

    Xue Wei was left behind, puzzled by what had happened. The woman wanted him to die, no doubt about it, but she had notshed out and had instead hidden her killing intent deep within. She had even tried to make a deal with him.

    But what had he done to warrant such hostility other than being human when she was a Primordial Beast? Was it perhaps because his uncle as a Primordial Beast Hunter had killed numerous of her friends? If so, why had she not killed him instantly rather than try to convince him into striking up a deal with her?

    Xue Wei was puzzled. She had vanished with a sh as if she had never been there in the first ce before he could figure anything out.. Although this deeply shocked Xue Wei, he quickly washed and changed his clothes while cleaning the robes he had been wearing before.

    Wearing a new set of robes, Xue Wei had spent the entire time contemting what had happened, but no matter how much he thought about it, it was impossible for him toe to any conclusions.

    When he exited the room, he was still thinking about it, and it was not before Tie Haolong and the others came to greet him that he parked it at the back of his mind.

    "She might just have visited to mess up my peace of mind," Xue Wei mumbled to himself. "She might have realized I knew what and who she was, so she wanted to warn me. I can¡¯t very well tell everyone that she, some miss from the center of the continent, is Primordial Beast. Especially not with the strength she has. If we attempt to capture her, we will definitely bring misfortune upon ourselves."

    "But what happened to Xiaoyun and her family members? They were hunting the Ice Harpy. She is here, looking just fine, but I haven¡¯t heard a word about Xiaoyun since then," Xue Wei was starting to feel worried.

    Although his time with Wang Xiaoyun was short, and one could consider his emotions for her pure infatuation and superficial, they were not so simple to him. When he met her, he lost his heart at that moment, and his emotions were genuine. He truly had no space for any other woman than her, yet now there was a chance that she might have encountered some mishap.

    On the other hand, it was also likely that the Wayfarers had not managed to locate the Ice Harpy. With her cultivation base, it would be impossible to find her unless she wished to be located.

    "Brother Wei?" Tie Haolong looked at Xue Wei with curiosity. Xue Wei shook his head as he smiled back, "Don¡¯t worry worry, I was just thinking about a few things. Do not be surprised."

    Xue Wei grinned and waved his hand, "We cannot afford to let His Highness the Crown Prince wait."

    "That¡¯s true," Tie Haolong agreed, his head nodding, but his eyes were still searching Xue Wei. It was clear that something had happened that had caused him to be surprised or shocked and descend into deep thought, but what could possibly have happened at his Tie mansion?

    Xue Wei said nothing to give him an idea, so Tie Haolong did not ask any questions, but their group was rather silent as they moved towards the Crown Prince¡¯s abode together.

    As they arrived at the residence, they were once more greeted by a group of guards of the Sky Warrior rank, all of which looked dignified as they observed these youngsters with pride.

    Although they were from various factions, they were still all to be a part of the army. They would all be important figures for the kingdom, whether they survived or not.

    If they survived, they would likely be either Sky Warriors like themselves, maybe even Heavenly Warriors. On the other hand, if they did not survive, they would be heroes of the nation, the ones who had given the ultimate sacrifice for their homnd and their citizens. These people deserved all the respect that they could get.

    Because of this, these children were looked at with respect. Although they had no choice but to enter the army, they were still heroes of the nation.

    As they entered the building, they could hear the sounds of a zither that yed alongside a lute. There were women who mingled in between the tables of the many people, catering drinks and snacks to the many visitors, and there were geniuses from all over the country, but those from the capital were a majority.

    As they entered, their names were called out by a herald, "Young Hero Xue Wei, Young Miss Song Yuyan of the Song family, Young Master Tie Haolong of the Tie family, Young Hero Gu Dixing, Young Master Xiao Jie of the Xiao family."

    Song Yuyan, Tie Haolong, and Xiao Jie were all of the noble families within the Kingdom of Heping. Hence they were referred to as either Young Master or Young Miss. Gu Dixing and Xue Wei were not nobles, which was why the herald had to refer to them as Young Heroes.

    As soon as Xue Wei¡¯s name had been introduced, everyone in the room turned silent and looked towards the entrance of the chamber. Everyone had heard rumors about this young man. He had one of the most menacing nicknames in the history of the human army, Crimson Devil, and he was rumored to be inhuman.

    The ones present were all geniuses in their own right. They had heard about Xue Wei through connections or had personally witnessed his gruesome disy of fighting in the arena.

    Xue Wei had already be a living legend in the Recruitment Camp, but now he was even more than a legend.

    Many of the young experts that were supposed to enter the Recruitment Camp this year also looked at Xue Wei curiously. They had only heard about him from others, and thus they had a hard time fully understanding whether or not his strength was genuine or if it was just some rumor that had grown.

    Many of the geniuses that were present saw themselves as peerless talents, so they had a hard time putting others in their eyes. Especially the people that came from outside of the capital.

    Xue Wei was special. He had a special status because of his uncle, but he was also said to be inhumane while fighting, a bloodthirsty, murderous personage who could only be described as the ¡®crimson devil¡¯.

    Such a description, for those who had not seen the fight, seemed as if it was exaggerated. As if it was a rumor that had been blown out of proportion.

    "Young Hero Xue Wei!" The Crown Prince was the first to step forward. "It is our honor that you attend our banquet today," he said smilingly, and just as he stepped forward, Xue Wei¡¯s pupils contracted into small dots. Right by the side of the prince was the ck-d young woman with silver hair and ice-blue eyes.

    When she saw Xue Wei, she smiled and lifted her cup in a silent greeting, her actions causing the Crown Prince to be stumped for words.

    "Mydy, you know our Young Hero Xue Wei?" he asked hesitatingly. Xue Wei, who knew of her real nature, was curious as to how she was going to answer.

    "I know of him," sheughed with a pearl-likeughter. "We have encountered each other three times now, once in Tiankong City when I was roaming through the countryside, once here in the capital, and now the third time. One has to admit that there seem to be some sort of fate tying us together."

    Having said this, the woman winked at Xue Wei, who forced a smile in return. He now understood why she had visited him earlier. It was to warn him.

    She had disyed her capabilities and made him understand that no one in Tiankong City were her match. If he called wolf and everyone got ready to fight her, it was likely that not even the capital would remain standing. That the streets would turn into rivers of blood and that every single citizen would be in.

    "Mydy, it is my honor to meet you again," Xue Wei said sarcastically before he turned his attention to the Crown Prince once more.

    "Your Highness, this one feels fortunate to be invited to your esteemed banquet."

    "You are all geniuses of the nation, dragons amongst men, phoenixes soaring the skies. For this kingdom to have such promising talents, we are very fortunate." the Crown Prince smiled, and it was clear that he was serious about what he said.

    "Now, do not stand on ceremony. All of us are friends here. Do enter and mingle with the other geniuses. I am sure that a few of them recognize you from previous encounters."

    Saying this, Xue Wei looked around, and truthfully so he encountered experts from the Recruitment Camp, but he also noticed a face that he had not thought he would see.

    This was the young master he had met the first time he arrived in the capital, and he was rather pale when his eyesnded on Xue Wei.

    Luo Zhirou and Shen Mu were both next to the Crown Prince. It was clear that they were his loyal subjects, loyal followers, and were regarded rather highly by the Crown Prince.

    What made Xue Wei sigh a breath of relief was knowing that if the Crown Prince had only valued them because of their connection to Xue Wei, they would never have managed to reach the position they had now. To reach that position, they had to disy their own ability, and the Crown Prince had deemed them worthy of his time and trust.

    "Young Hero Xue Wei, how could you ignore me like this?" Chu Huiyin came towards Xue Wei, her hand still elegantly holding a cup of rice wine, her face blossoming into a great smile of an innocent girl, and her demeanor that of a young girl in love.

    "Why would he have the honor of getting the attention of this woman?" someone muttered, just loud enough for others to hear.

    "I hear he is into men, that prophet from the center of the continent took a fancy to him," another joined in, and for once Chu Huiyin¡¯s eyes disyed utter surprise, after which they turned dangerously dark.

    "You!" she said as she pointed at the man who had previously spoken, "what did you just say?"

    The man trembled slightly when he saw the enraged expression on the woman¡¯s face, but he cleared his throat and said with a loud voice, "You should not fancy this young man. He is already taken! In the training camp, he was very close with Prophet Lan from the center of the continent."

    Chu Huiyin was filled with disbelief, her entire face contorting with shock as she slowly turned and looked at Xue Wei.

    She then moved faster than anyone could see. Within a moment, she was standing next to Xue Wei and her nail had cut his arm, from which blood dripped down.

    Completely ignoring the others, Chu Huiyin slid her finger down the cut and afterwards lifted the finger to her lips and tasted it. Only then did her expression rx.

    "You!" she turned around and looked at the man who had spoken before. "Don¡¯t speak nonsense; his yang energy is still pure, so it is impossible for him to have been together with anyone!"

    Xue Wei was shocked by her actions. She was definitely not moving for the sake of saving his reputation ¨C she was genuinely scared of him having been with the prophet.

    The young man who had said that Xue Wei was gay was stumped for words. He had been present back when Xue Wei and Lan shared one tent, and seen how they had behaved.

    He had even heard how Lan had called Xue Wei his darling and asked for him toe to the center of the continent. Was all this just for show?

 Chapter 84: This I Vow!

    Xue Wei was as puzzled as everyone else present, though his reasons werepletely different.

    The many spectators were of the impression that this young woman was infatuated with Xue Wei, and that she had feared that the love of her life had been gay, but Xue Wei knew better.

    The killing intent that Chu Huiyin had shown in theirst encounter was not for show. Xue Wei was certain that this woman wished to rip him to shreds at any given moment, so the infatuation that the others saw was clearly just a method to get close to him.

    Why was she so interested in him? Why was she in such a panic when she thought he was into guys? It was clear that that had been no act but rather her actual emotions as she had moved almost with a frenzy.

    She had not cared the least about her reputation by cutting his arm and tasting his blood. It was strange indeed.

    Meanwhile, Xue Wei grumbled about the fact that he had been cut. Her nail had cut him as if he was made from tofu, and she had not cared about his wellbeing at all.

    Furthermore, how was she capable of determining whether or not he had pure yang energy within him by simply tasting his blood? Xue Wei was certain that even if he tasted his own blood, he would not taste anything else other than the metallic taste of blood itself.

    Chu Huiyin¡¯s face, which previously had an expression of extreme anger and malice, turned calm once more.

    "Please don¡¯t spread false rumors," she said to the man who had said that Xue Wei had long since lost his purity, that he had given himself to the prophet. "Young Hero Xue Wei is a true dragon amongst men. Why would he fancy another man?" she asked coquettishly, as if she was a young woman that had been wronged.

    Everyone was rather unsure of what had happened. Only a few experts, the Crown Prince and Tie Haolong included, were frowning and looking at Chu Huiyin with distrust; everyone else had long since dismissed her violent reaction as mere jealousy.

    Xue Wei knew that talking with this Ice Harpy about the Wayfarers would be unwise. He could possibly reveal her true identity this way, but then he would run the risk of revealing the fact that he cared for someone among the caravan of Wayfarers that Wang Xiaoyun belonged to, which would lead to her unleashing her fury upon them.

    It was clear that she hated Xue Wei. That hatred would extent to anyone he cared for, and thus they would be easy targets. Xue Wei was not willing to see this, so he kept his mouth shut about the Wayfarers.

    Then a thought hit him. The strongest person he had met was without a doubt Lan. Although this Chu Huiyin was strong, she did not seem as strong as him, so was it possible for Xue Wei to perhaps get some help from an unexpected front?

    Just as Xue Wei was about to proim his rather dubious love for Lan, he stopped.

    Chu Huiyin suddenly turned around and looked at him; her eyes were sharp like two swords, and she seemed to be trying to swallow him with her eyes alone.

    "Do not even think about that," she said with a warning voice. "Lying to me will do you no good. Now be a good boy and apany me," she ordered. Xue Wei, who had schemed to put Lan and Chu Huiyin up against one another, could only breathe out and shake his head. The words he wanted to say were forever buried in his chest.

    "Please enjoy the evening," Xue Wei said to his four newfound friends before he allowed Chu Huiyin to drag him with her towards a remote corner.

    There were a few ces to sit down, and the Ice Harpy sank herself into the soft cushions once she took a seat, after which she patted a cushion next to her. "Sit," she said. However, although a warm and soft smile yed on her lips, Xue Wei could sense the murderous air behind it.

    He had no choice but to sit, and he felt exhausted. This woman would not leave him be, but she would not talk straight either.

    "So, are you close to Prophet Lan?" Chu Huiyin asked after a bit of time. Xue Wei, who now knew that lying would get him nowhere, just shrugged his shoulders.

    "We spent two weeks together," he said, and then the Ice Harpy nodded her head. "Makes sense," she said, "he has always had a peculiar attraction to the odd and strange, the rare and the abnormal."

    "Well, thank you," Xue Wei said dryly, clearly understanding that he was the one being described as odd, strange, rare, and abnormal.

    "It was not apliment," Chu Huiyin said smilingly. Xue Wei said nothing as a maid approached them, bringing with her snacks and drinks.

    Both Chu Huiyin and Xue Wei epted a cup of rice wine and a few snacks that they ced on the table that was next to the cushions. The maid went away shortly after.

    Neither spoke for some time, just drinking the sake and eating snacks.

    "You know I will kill you one day, right?" Chu Huiyin suddenly said. "I hate you. I hate you more than anything else in this world, so you will have to die by my hands. I want to savor the feeling of hunting you. I want to experience you being in despair. I want you to beg for mercy before you die."

    Chu Huiyin¡¯s eyes had an insane gleam to them, and her voice was getting lower and lower, as if she feared that someone would listen in on her abrupt confession. Each and every single word was filled with malice; her eyes were lit with madness, and her lips were curled into a sinister smile that seemed to already feel the pleasure of torturing him throughout.

    "I don¡¯t believe that you can," Xue Wei said hesitatingly, almost surprised at the discovery he made, and his words caused the smile on Chu Huiyin¡¯s lips to freeze. Her maddened eyes looked at him. "Why not?" she asked with a raspy and hoarse voice.

    "If you could kill me, you would have done it already. I know you hate me, and when we were alone in the Tie mansion, you could have killed me with no one being the wiser as to what had happened.

    "You could have killed me at any time in Tiankong City, and all the me would have been on the Li family. On the way here, we encountered beast hordes and bandits, no doubt roused by you, but even then you did not kill me."

    "So even when you dream of killing me ¨C you clearly want to do it more than anything else, even now you wish to kill me ¨C why don¡¯t you just do it?"

    "Could it be because of Uncle?" Xue Wei was speaking lowly too, ensuring that no one heard them. When Xue Wei mentioned his uncle, Chu Huiyin¡¯s face changed; she grimaced and looked away.

    "Don¡¯t mention this ever again," she said through gritted teeth, and stood up. "I better go and greet the Crown Prince again. Being with you is such a bore," she continued, and then she walked away, vanishing into the crowd of people.

    Xue Wei stayed in the corner for a bit of time. "It seems that Uncle is not as weak as a Heavenly Warrior," Xue Wei muttered to himself. "For this woman to fear him, he might even be a Saint?" Xue Wei was unsure. He had never before seen anyone above the initial three Warrior ranks, but he understood that it was not as simple as it seemed.

    Still, this woman had feared his uncle, so was the hatred she felt for him also due to this Uncle, or was there some other reason?

    Xue Wei was deep in thought for a long time before he shook his head and smiled wryly. With the information he had, it was simply impossible for him to be able to reach any conclusions. Since he could not do so, thinking about it was a waste of time.

    Downing the rest of the rice wine in his cup, Xue Wei left it on the table and started mingling with the many geniuses in the hall.

    All of the ones from thest year¡¯s Genius Camp looked at Xue Wei with a mixture of reverence and fear, while the ones who were to go into the following year¡¯s recruitment camp were filled with curiosity and burning with an urge to battle him.

    Unfortunately for all of them, he was at the fourthyer of the Earth Warrior rank, a rank way above any of them. This meant they did not even have the qualifications to challenge, and none of the fourthyer Earth Warriors from the previous year¡¯s Recruitment Camp were silly enough to challenge him either. They knew of his might; challenging him was the same as asking to have their faces pped in public.

    The rest of the banquet happened without a hitch. Many of the younger geniuses spent most of their time on the stage that had been prepared, sparring against one another and disying their skills.

    The older geniuses all chatted and did their best to build friendships and findrades.

    They all understood that now it was time for them to enter the real world. It was time for them to engage in frenzied battle for thend, its people, and its resources.

    In theiring life, they would encounter Beast hordes time and time again, so the more friends they had, the more people were likely to assist them in the war.

    With more allies, they were also more likely to survive. Tie Haolong had also spent the entire night chatting with one captain after another, trying to get new allies and good friends.

    Everyone knew that Xue Wei was in Tie Haolong¡¯s group, which meant everyone had been polite and friendly towards him. To be able to fight with Xue Wei would prove beneficial to them all.

    It was well past midnight when Xue Wei and Tie Haolong reunited with Xiao Jie, Gu Dixing, and Song Yuyan. Together, they headed back to the Tie mansion.

    Just as they were about to leave, Chu Huiyin appeared again. She was beaming at Xue Wei this time. "We will see each other again soon," she promised, and waved her hand delicately at Xue Wei as they withdrew from the party.

    For most of the time on their way back, no one spoke, but as soon as they had left the royal grounds, Tie Haolong looked at Xue Wei and asked with a low voice, "That woman, she is not a good one. Do you truly know her?"

    "I have encountered her a few times," Xue Wei acknowledged, "but I dislike her as much as she dislikes me," he continued.

    "We both wish to kill each other with a hatred that I cannot really exin. She hates me to the bones, but the feeling is mutual. Just sharing a room with her today has made me feel ufortable."

    Xue Wei was not overreacting. His uncle was a Primordial Beast Hunter, and Xue Wei wished to be one too. He truly wanted nothing more than to kill this Ice Harpy, but he also understood that he did not have the strength to do so right now.

    In fact, the entire capital did not have the power to deal with her, and thus he had stayed quiet. But in his heart, he had already decided that there would be a day when he would kill this Ice Harpy.

    He would never let her kill him, but one day he would be stronger than her and kill her. This he vowed to himself while walking back to the Tie Mansion.

 Chapter 85: Collision

    The time had gone by fast, and it was now the day for them to gather once more with the rest of the recruitment camp.

    This time it was not only the genius camp that was gathering, but it was also the entire recruitment camp. All of them had been gathered at the designated military post.

    Here, themander and all the captains were standing on a podium and looking down at them all.

    "Wee!" the voice of themander boomed in the crisp morning air, and everyone stood straight as they looked at him, all with various expressions on their faces. Some were worried, others eager.

    They were about to enter into a stage of their life filled with endless battle. It was also time for them to ept that not a lot of them would be capable of surviving.

    "We are now sending the groups out to various locations to hold our stand against the beasts. The entire Genius Camp is to be sent to the Northern Taiga. This is the most dangerous of all the areas, but risk and reward go hand in hand."

    "Geniuses, you will encounter both Fierce and Primordial Beasts. These beasts will im your lives, but those who survive will be stronger and stronger. One of ours will be avenged with ten of theirs, and slowly you will get the upper hand in the exchanges."

    "As long as the strongest and most dangerous Primordial Beasts stay within the innermost regions of the taiga, then you are safe."

    The unsaid words were making everyone shudder. If one of the old monsters from the innermost regions came to visit them, they would not survive even if they had nine lives like a cat.

    Xue Wei felt his blood boiling just thinking about it. He wanted to do battle; he wanted to kill beasts. He wanted to begin the time in the military. He wanted to forge a name for himself and be a Primordial Beast Hunter. He wanted so many things, but he knew that to start it, the first step was to protect the Northern Taiga.

    The other experts were ced in other locations. Some of them were danger regions, but none of them as dangerous andrge as the Northern Taiga.

    The following day, all the geniuses were ready to set out. They were eager to disy their might and flirt with death when a frantic messenger arrived.

    "My lords, there is a beast hordeing this way! It isrger than any other horde I have ever seen; it has beasts equivalent to Heavenly Warriors, and they are numerous!"

    "They are being led by the Ice Harpy. We got a small glimpse of her earlier. She was in her Primordial Beast form, and she was flying through the air gracefully like a winter breeze."

    "They are heading straight for the capital." the messenger dared note with any suggestions as to how they could protect themselves against this beast horde, so all he did was report back what they had seen.

    "Everyone, get in formation!" themander who was in charge of the recruitment camp suddenly yelled out, his voice cutting through the entire campground before he sent a few orders through themunication device on his arm.

    Within moments, the entire capital was in an uproar. The Heavenly Warriors from the various families donned their armor, brought their personal guards, and all the mercenaries within the city also got ready.

    The rumor of the beast horde spread like a wildfire; within moments, all knew about it and every man and woman who cultivated stepped into their armor.

    "Move to the capital!" themander ordered the entire group of recruits towards the capital once more, which was the location where they would fight.

    The recruits were now real members of the army. There were many of them, and they were stationed on top of the walls of the capital.

    The stronger Sky Warriors and Heavenly Warriors were waiting on the outside of the walls for the beasts to arrive.

    If the rest of the group were to enter the fray on the ground in front of the capital, they were likely to be wounded or even killed by the shockwaves of the fights of the higher ranked cultivators.

    Everyone waited patiently. Xue Wei stood together with Tie Haolong, Song Yuyan, Xiao Jie, and Gu Dixing. They had all worn their armor and the Fierce Beast silk robes.

    Everyone held their weapons with sweaty palms. Although they had fought frequently, from time to time experiencing real fights in the training camp, they could not bepared to the battle they were about to experience.

    Only the Arena could provide something simr, but even so it was not the same. In the arena, the cultivators could focus on one single opponent, yet here it was a free for all. At one point, they might be two or even more cultivators to kill one beast, but simrly they might be sieged by a group of beasts, forced to fight more than one at a time.

    Realizing this, everyone was nervous, but while Xue Wei was nervous he was also feeling the urge to do battle burn within him; his killing intent was rising to the skies, his face turning manic, and a sinister smile spread on his lips as he clenched his hands into fists.

    When Xue Wei had been a year younger and this killing intent and urge to fight had roused within him, he was capable of staying clear-headed if he wished however, now, as time had gone by, he found himself having more and more problems staying calm and collected. His personality was changing; he was not as reserved any longer.

    He was bing cold and casual towards anything and everyone. Only a few people caused him to behave differently. Only a few people made him consider them as real friends, and he was willing to do anything for the sake of his friends.

    "If you face too many beasts,e to me," Xue Wei said beneath his breath to his friends in the group, "I will help you kill any beasts that might gather around you. I should be able to hold my own against a beast that¡¯s stronger by oneyer."

    The others nodded their heads. They knew that Xue Wei was serious about helping them and they felt gratitude in their hearts. They were eager to start the battle now. They felt that with the menacing Xue Wei on their side, they would be able to defeat anyone that mighte their way.

    A whole group of Heavenly Warriors had gathered at the front of the capital, and behind them were the Sky Warriors. All of them were veterans who had gone through multiple life-and-death situations; they had battled their way through mountains of beast corpses, and waddled through rivers of blood.

    Now they were ready to face one more beast horde; their everything was given to battle against these beasts that were emerging in the distance.

    Everyone on the city walls held their breaths. At first, they had thought themselves safe as they were such a distance away from the Heavenly Warriors and their battleground. They were on top of the city walls, and it was impossible for the beasts to climb the walls, especially with an army of superior cultivators beneath it.

    However, when they looked at the horde that was approaching, the hearts of many youngsters sank. The sky was ck It was clear that amongst these beasts were arge amount of flying beasts.

    These would without a doubt attack the ones at the top of the walls, and they would attack with all that they had. Looking at the horde, there was at least a million beasts rushing their way, and around two hundred of these beasts were equivalent to a Heavenly Warrior ranked expert. Ten thousand were equal to the Sky warriors, and the rest were in the various ranks of the Earth Warrior and Ordinary Warrior stages.

    In front of the beast horde was a Primordial Beast flying. When looking at this figure, everyone lost their breath at the beauty.

    It was a beautiful harpy. Her feathers were white and blue like ice, and her facial features were as if the most beautiful fairy had descended from the heavens above and her silver hair billowed in the wind.

    "I recognize her!" someone cried out, and others were starting to feel the same way.

    "Speak, where is she from?!" themander heard the outcry and appeared within moments to question the person.

    "She was at the Crown Prince¡¯s banquet. She used the alias as an expert from the center of the continent. She was oddly interested in Xue Wei."

    This person was incredibly cunning. He was from the Genius Camp, and he was of the fourthyer of the Earth Warrior rank.

    He was said to be the second strongest expert in the entire Genius Camp, defeated only by Xue Wei ording to the rumors, and this was something he had a hard time epting.

    Themander frowned when he heard the words before he turned and looked at Xue Wei, "Do you know her?" he asked. Xue Wei shrugged his shoulders. "I have met her three times," he said honestly, "Once back in Tiankong City where she purchased a Fierce Beast at an auction, once here in the capital, and then again at the banquet."

    "When we were heading to the Recruitment Camp, our entourage was stopped by groups of Fierce Beasts; we even encountered a beast horde and bandits. It seems that this woman must have had a hand in everything. Less than half of us arrived here."

    "This woman seems to have taken an interest in you," Themander said. "What is your rtion to her?"

    "She said she wanted to kill me," Xue Wei said dryly. "She imed she hated me and that my death would be by her hand."

    "It is his fault that the beast horde ising!" someone yelled, but themander just snorted.

    "She is a Primordial Beast," he said with disdain in his voice. "It is only natural that she hates humans. She might have taken this young man as an excuse tounch an attack, but the truth is that she and we will always be facing one another. We will never be able to live while the other survives!"

    "As a result, we should be happy that they have brought themselves to our doorstep!" themander spoke loudly, and everyone could hear what was being said. "We will now kill the beasts; show no mercy, have no second thoughts. These beasts are vile; they are the tools of the Primordial Beasts to kill us! A retreat is not an option. Behind these walls are our dear ones. Our loved ones. Should we fail, then their lives will be forfeited, and they will be the livestock of these beasts once more!"

    "Fight!" someone yelled, and soon everyone was yelling at the top of their lungs in an orderly fashion. "Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight!" It was like a drumbeat, and even the nervous and worried youngsters were being inspired by the atmosphere and started to gather their courage and their fighting spirit. They had something to fight for. They had something to protect.

    Themander nodded his head in approval when he saw the light in the young men and women¡¯s eyes and felt how their spirits were raised, filling with an urge to protect what they held dear.

    The beasts had now arrived, and there was no time for them to steel themselves anymore. It was like a massive wave rolled over them, threatening to drown them all in moments after the collision.

 Chapter 86: Brother!

    Beasts were everywhere on top of the walls. Wails and screams started to sound out together with a metallic scent of blood.

    No one had time to look out for theirrades; it was everyone on their own. Even Xue Wei was surrounded by arge group of beasts, all of them trying their best to kill him.

    An epiphany then struck Xue Wei. Was the reason that these beasts had feared him not because of the Primordial Beast, the Ice Harpy? Had she made these beasts act up, and if she had, what was her purpose in making it seem as if the beasts were scared of him?

    These beasts around him were at least not the slightest bit scared; They attacked with unmatched fierceness, and they swarmed all of the martial arts cultivators on the walls and those outside the wall.

    The flying beasts were all of a strength ranging from Ordinary Warriors to Earth Warriors; not only did they innately have superior strength, they also had the advantage in numbers. At every moment someone died or was crippled in the fight, their careers as a soldier ended right then and there in their first real battle.

    But although the beasts had been like an avnche that hade crashing down onto them, the humans were slowly starting to show just why they were able to overtake the beasts in the first ce.

    The coordinated attacks of the five-man groups ensured that they could stay alive once they rallied together, and although they were besieged from all sides, they were able to withstand it for the time being. Sometimes even killing a beast.

    Xue Wei had been separated from his group. He had been standing a bit away from them, and this small distance alone was enough to force them apart when the beast horde arrived. At least Song Yuyan, Xiao Jie, Gu Dixing, and Tie Haolong were together and had their backs facing one another; this way, they too were able to sustain themselves.

    While they were busy surviving, Xue Wei was feeling more and more energetic; the smile on his face grew more and more brilliant as his armor, which was already red, became ck from the coagting blood as he slew one beast after another.

    Xue Wei did not care at all. Blood soaked his clothes, and rivers of blood were blossoming beneath him.

    Beasts were flooding towards him like a massive wave, but all the other humans had wisely withdrawn. Everyone who saw him only saw a butcher who killed a beast with every attack, none of them containing any profound skills or magnificent weapons. Simple palm-strikes and kicks were all that were necessary for him to cause the beasts to suffer such devastating fates.

    It had to be said that the beasts that besieged Xue Wei were all beneath him in rank and thus did not pose any serious threat to either him or his friends, but even so he was not going to let them go. Anything and anyone who came within reach of Xue Wei had a pitiful end.

    Xue Wei ripped the wings of a flying beast that had descended from a higher altitude, and a cry resounded past the throat of this beast.

    Another one was kicked in the head, causing the skull to fracture and the beast to die on the spot. A third was struck by a palm right on the chest, causing the ribcage to explode and puncture the heart, resulting in the beast¡¯s instant death.

    "Bring it on!" Xue Wei¡¯s eyes were zing, his body was soaked in blood, and even his face had blood drops dripping down the cheeks.

    Aughter erupted from deep within Xue Wei, which reverberated through the entire battlefield. The joy Xue Wei felt when he was fighting could not be exined; the feeling of having fresh blood on his hand was liberating.

    It was as if he could die at any moment, that when he took someone¡¯s life, he also acknowledged that others could take him. It was in these moments that he was feeling the most alive. When flirting with death, he was no longer feeling dull or cautious. He let it all go and could fight with a ferociousness befit only for madmen, exuding a bloodlust that made him seem inhuman.

    There were a lot of experts on the city walls. Although the beasts were everywhere, a few of them caught a glimpse of Xue Wei. When their eyesnded on this person who stood on a mountain of corpses,ughing like a madman as the blood gushed down from beneath his feet, they all felt their bones grow cold and a shiver that ran down their spines. All of them were feeling relieved that this man was on their side, and not a foe to battle.

    Stronger and stronger beasts appeared on the battlefield. The weakest had been sent first to overwhelm their side, and to waste their energy, but the beasts with strength equivalent to Ordinary Warriors had all be in. At this point, Xue Wei had still not used any of his Qi.

    Beasts with strength simr to those of the Earth Warriors arrived at the top of the wall. Xue Wei¡¯s eyes glowed with excitement at the sight. Amongst the surviving experts, many of them also understood that the brief calm they experienced right now was but the eye of the storm. They had fought against some of the beasts, but the most dangerous was still ahead of them.

    In this pause where no wind blew, no beasts appeared, and no sound could be heard. All of the experts on the wall noticed Xue Wei and the mountain of corpses that wasying in around him, the fact that his clothes were soaked with blood, the blood that had run down his cheek, and the homicidal grin on his face.

    It was at this point that many realized that Xue Wei was indeed a Crimson Devil. It was a nickname fitting for him; he was a true devil. He was simply inhuman, and even more bloodthirsty than even the beasts. He was exactly like the old legends of the devils and demons.

    Xue Wei snickered and suddenly started transforming his arms. He had found that he was enjoying the feeling of ripping apart his opponents. He had enjoyed seeing the blood spray everywhere, as well as disfiguring and killing creatures with his hands alone.

    A barely sane part of him also wished to test his dragon arms. This was a method he had been taught by Lan, but it was a method specialized to his Azure Dragon Scripture.

    The eyes almost popped out of the eyes of the experts on the wall when they saw the azure scales that started to break through the skin on Xue Wei¡¯s arms.

    They stared when they saw how the fingers turned to ws, how the nails became razor sharp and frightfully long.

    The entirety of his lower and upper arms shimmered with an azure gleam, the scales simr to the clear blue sky.

    These beautiful scales made everyone hold their breath. They all knew what it meant to be able to transform into a beast; only Wayfarers and Primordial Beasts had this ability, but now Xue Wei was capable of doing it too.

    He was no Wayfarer, that much was certain, but he was not a Primordial Beast either. So what could he be?

    Xue Weipletely ignored the many strange gazes that he was being given, and he snorted in contempt when he saw a few people¡¯s eyes light up with malicious thoughts. It was clear that they were ready to make him out to be a Primordial Beast, ready to do all in their power to get rid of him.

    Xue Wei knew that the ability he controlled came from his Azure Dragon Scripture, but he was not willing to tell anyone about this. Instead he lifted his head and looked at the many beasts that wereing towards them.

    Seeing how Xue Wei¡¯s face changed from having just released a snort to reverting into that manic smile of his, and how the disdain in his eyes turned into excitement, the rest of them followed suit and looked at the sky, taking a deep breath. The next wave was upon them!

    The flying beasts were all equivalent to Ordinary and Earth Warriors. There were no Sky Warriors amongst the flying beasts, something that puzzled Xue Wei, but he did not bother too much with it right now. All he wanted was to kill, kill as many as he possibly could.

    Xue Wei¡¯s arms were eye-catching and domineering. They ripped even the Earth Warrior beasts to shreds. Some of them were wed to death, others were ripped apart. Some were crushed under the weight of his fist, and yet others were struck down.

    Xue Wei was using the Forbidden Rush movement technique to the fullest, and he was disying his ability to kill one beast after another, easing the pressure on many of the other experts. Although many had seeds of doubt growing in their minds after seeing the scaled arms, none of them said anything as they felt grateful for the breather.

    Xue Wei nced into the air and noticed that the Ice Harpy was hovering in the air, not participating in the battle, which was something that relieved him.

    If she decided to take part in the battle, the tables would be turned on the humans, and their main Heavenly Warrior experts would be in in a heartbeat.

    The Sky Warriors and the Heavenly Warriors were all engaged in a deadly battle against various beasts of simr strength.

    Xue Wei was puzzled as to what was the Ice Harpy¡¯s n. She could not possibly be leading a beast horde to its death for nothing, could she? There had to be some sort of ulterior motive behind it, right?

    A part of Xue Wei was worried for the human side of the war, but he was not capable of much else than pushing this worry to the back of his head and instead focusing on killing the beasts that came at him.

    "We are almost there, hang on a little longer!" themander¡¯s voice boomed on the battlefield, and Xue Wei finally looked around to see that it was not only beast corpses that littered the ground ¨C human remains were also aplenty.

    There were also many wounded beasts and humans on the grounds, who had slim chances to survive whenever the shockwaves from some of the battles reached them, with the asional human or beast smashing into them after an exchange with someone from the other side, and so on.

    Xue Wei was wondering what had happened. The beasts that hadnded on the wall were at most of the fourthyer of the Earth Warrior rank, all of them the same strength as him.

    The battles slowly died out on the wall, but Xue Wei continued to flutter like a leaf in the wind, ripping more beasts apart. He was relieved to find that the transformation of his arms required little to no Qi for some reason, even less than he used to sustain his Forbidden Rush movement technique, which also used barely any energy.

    Xue Wei then noticed that many were looking at him with doubt. Not only the ones on the wall, but also the ones on the ground. The higher ranked experts looked at him with worry and uncertainty.

    Suddenly, just as everyone looked at Xue Wei, the Ice Harpy gave a snicker, descending from the heavens at a rapid speed.

    She was so fast that no one was capable of reacting in time. When she was right in front of Xue Wei, her talons locked around his shoulders, and she flew into the air with him before he had the time to answer.

    Intense pain shot through his body as the talons dug into his flesh. Blood started seeping out through where the ws were embedded on his shoulders.

    "We have to flee, brother! It is no longer safe here!" The Ice Harpy yelled out just as she flew away, ensuring that her voice was by no means suppressed and that everyone present would hear her words.

 Chapter 87: Intricate Trap

    "Brother?" The same question exited everyone¡¯s mouth at the same time, including Xue Wei.

    Xue Wei started struggling, only to realize that he was in a tight grasp and that he would not be able to free himself. Rather, every time he moved, he caused extra wounds to open on his body.

    Xue Wei¡¯s killing intent started soaring to the heavens. He understood what the Ice Harpy was nning, which made him feel a burning anger rise in his chest.

    "Who is your brother?!" Xue Wei sneered at Chu Huiyin, who just snorted in reply, "If it weren¡¯t because I want them to hate you as much as I do, then I would have never called a disgusting human like you my brother." She grimaced as if it truly was the most disgusting thing she had ever experienced.

    Xue Wei was puzzled. "Why not just kill me then?" he yelled at her, feeling utterly powerless, but he did want to at least be able to control the terms of his death. He was not willing to be tortured to death by this woman, so he was already starting to rotate the Qi in his body with the intent to self-detonate his dantian, seeking to kill himself and possibly her in the process.

    "You want to die?!" the Ice Harpy screeched aloud,ughing, "Why don¡¯t I help you? If you survive this, then you will be the enemy of both beasts and humans alike. This is truly gratifying!" Chu Huiyinughed out loud, her voice tinged with madness. Suddenly, her ws released their grip on Xue Wei¡¯s shoulders, causing him to fall through the air.

    Chu Huiyin had carried him far into the sky, and they were now very far away from the capital, so when he fell, Xue Wei realized that it would be impossible for him to survive this fall unless he could lessen the impact somehow.

    He had looked down and saw that they were so high up in the sky that everything beneath him looked like ants. They were on top of a forest, but every tree seemed to be so far away from him that he could reach out and grasp them. He felt the wind against his head as he plummeted to the ground, and although he was falling fast, the forest seemed to stay far away from him.

    He activated the Forbidden Rush movement technique and started to merge with the wind. Unfortunately, his body was rather wounded from the talons that had been piercing his shoulders, leaving behindrge, bleeding gashes around them, so he couldn¡¯t perform at his peak.

    As he fell, he managed to slow his descent enough to drift down almost like a leaf that fell from the sky. His falling speed diminished drastically, but he was still falling towards the ground, towards a massive forest. And the closer he got, the harder it was to control the Forbidden Rush movement technique due to his wounds, meaning his descent to the ground started picking up in speed again.

    Xue Wei was losing a lot of blood, and his head was spinning. He lost consciousness the moment before he reached the crowns of the trees, losing control over the Forbidden Rush movement technique as he plummeted through the canopies without anything to cushion his fall.

    One branch after another slowed his fall, but these branches wererge, so although they were shaking and creaking, they did not fall or break from the impact. With only the first hit, he broke a few ribs, and the second one caused him to get a concussion.

    When he finally wasying on the ground, his entire body was riddled with cuts, bruises, and some gaping wounds that were bleeding profusely.

    Xue Wei awoke to a hammering pain in his entire body. Only then did he remember what Lan had told him about the Azure Dragon Scripture¡¯s shapeshifting ability¨C to not use the dragonization on his arms since it could cause a misunderstanding.

    It was he himself who had made it possible for Chu Huiyin to take advantage of the other experts¡¯ doubts to proim that they were brother and sister.

    "Now it is clear that they will see me as a Primordial Beast," Xue Wei grimaced and then hissed in pain. "If they don¡¯t assume that I am a Primordial Beast, then they will at least assume I have sided with the beasts. This is a great n, you damned bird woman."

    Xue Wei gritted his teeth and tried standing up, only to realize that his body would not listen to hismands. Instead, he dragged his sore and wounded body to the foot of a great tree, where he sat down and started circting the Qi within his body to slowly heal the wounds.

    At the same time, in the Capital of Heping, the entire army was in an uproar. "The Crimson Devil was too inhuman; it is only obvious for him to be a Primordial Beast. I should have guessed it before," someone muttered and others nodded their heads.

    "His clothes were so soaked in blood that they had turned ck. This is not something a human can achieve ¨C he is a monster! I wonder why he infiltrated our army though? What were his ns?" another pondered.

    "If he was a Primordial Beast, then why did he fight for us?" someone asked tentatively, but he was quickly red at by the others, so he ducked his head and kept the questions about what really happened to himself.

    Themander¡¯s face was ashen. His eyes filled with unreconciliation when he saw how many people the human side had lost. After making a headcount of the dead, he lifted his head and roared to the heavens.

    "We lost so many experts in this battle," he began to speak soon after. His voice was injected with enough Qi to be heard at the furthest ends of the capital, to ensure that all could hear what he was saying.

    "These experts were new to the battle, but this was also the biggest battle we have had for a very long time. To have their first battle against such a beast horde is truly unfortunate."

    "As to why these beasts have decided to strike at such a strange time, we do not know."

    Suddenly, a gleam appeared in themander¡¯s eyes. He almost smirked, but just before the smile appeared on his lips, he raised his hand to cover his mouth, scratching his cheek, and straightened his face.

    At that moment, he looked like a cunning old fox that had everything within his grasp, and he seemed as if he was well aware of what was happening. In fact, he did not seem to really care about the massive losses they had gained. Everything seemed to be going ording to n.

    All of thissted for less than a moment. It was impossible for those who noticed the strange expression on his face to fully grasp what they had seen, and before they couldprehend it, themander continued his speech, stressing each and every one of the next words.

    "We lost many of ourrades, but there is one man who can never be forgiven!"

    "Xue Wei, the traitor of humankind! We will start a hunt to kill him. He is much more dangerous than the deserters, he is far more shrewd than the normal Primordial Beast!"

    "We do not know whether or not it is a Primordial Beast who has pretended to be Xiao Lei¡¯s nephew after killing the real one! In fact, I assume it is!"

    "We all know that Xue Wei¡¯s entire family was killed by a Primordial Beast, leaving just him alive. This was likely a way to con the hero Xiao Lei and make him believe that this abnormality was his nephew!"

    "He has tricked the hero of our nation, and I would believe he has done so for the sake of killing him! We cannot let this youngster live! He is a terrifying Primordial Beast; we need him to die!"

    "Genius Camp members, follow me!"

    Having said this, themander left the battlefield, and everyone from the Genius Camp followed behind him towards the old tent camp.

    "I have a special task to all of you," he announced. "All of you have to give chase! We will turn the entire country upside down and send a message to all other neighboring kingdoms with a portrait of him. We will not allow for him to slip through our, and we will only rest when his head is severed from his body!"

    Themander ordered the execution of Xue Wei as simply as if he was trying to kill someone else. Many were puzzled. Was this truly the right way to go about things? Was Xue Wei not innocent until otherwise proven? Had the Ice Harpy not just tried to frame him?

    Although many questions swirled in the minds of these experts, none of them spoke up. If themander had made his decision, then it was likely that he had a reason to do what he had done.

    In fact, not many cared about Xue Wei. He was but a tool to get close to Xiao Lei, and he might even be a hindrance since everyone knew that Xiao Lei only had eyes for his nephew.

    Many of the geniuses were eager to start hunting him. They had never liked Xue Wei, and now that he was less fortunate, they were finding pleasure in another¡¯s misery.

    Only a handful of the experts present were deep in contemtion, Tie Haolong being one of them.

    Things did not add up, but they could do nothing. All of them were just recruits, whereas themander was the leader of all new and old recruits, with decades of experience under his belt. Going against him was simply impossible, and all of them could feel that the general mood was not in Xue Wei¡¯s favor.

    The group of geniuses was quickly reorganized. Many of the teams had lost a member or two, resulting in them being mixed up once more, after which they were sent out to search for Xue Wei.

    In truth, this was a desperate measure. In fact, no one knew how strong the Ice Harpy truly was, and since they had left together, one would assume that they were still together, but themander was blinded by rage.

    "When you find them, send a message back to us instantly. We will then dispatch our Primordial Beast Hunters," themander managed to once more hide the smile on his face as he sent them out on their mission, and all of the geniuses split into their groups before they spread out to begin the hunt of Xue Wei and the Ice Harpy.

    Another thing, which puzzled many, was how the Commander dared send the Genius Camp. Was Xue Wei not currently being protected by the Ice Harpy? If he was, then it was suicide to throw all of these experts to find him, unless perhaps themander knew something the others did not?

    While the geniuses rushed in the same direction that Chu Huiyin had flown, Xue Wei was sitting still under the tree, directing the Qi flow through his veins by meditation. He was shocked to find that his regeneration speed was much faster than he had expected. It would take him at most one month to be fully healed, something that waspletely unbelievable considering the seriousness of his wounds.

    Xue Wei¡¯s soul energy was constantly spread out to the limit on vigil to see when someone arrived close to him, and he could sense that many beasts came close, but as soon as they caught a whiff of the scent of blood from him, all of them turned tail and ran as fast as they could in the opposite direction.

    "I should have listened to Lan," Xue Weiined to no one in particr. "I just had to get caught up in the moment and disy my Azure Dragon arms; I could not contain the excitement and allowed my bloodlust to get the better of me."

    "Now I am definitely seen as a deserter, if I am lucky. A conspirator with the Primordial Beasts if I am somewhat unlucky, and as a Primordial Beast if my luck is all the way down the gutter." Xue Wei shook his head, but then he got dizzy and grunted.

    ¡°I hate her! I want to kill her!¡± Xue Wei growled. He felt the anger rise within him again. He felt betrayed. His heart felt as though split into two parts, one part telling him that he should rush back to the capital and exin that it was all just the Ice Harpy ying games with him and another part telling him that it was now toote.

    His life had been turned upside down and he felt powerless. He had lost all power to control his own life, and he was now on the run. Beasts and humans alike would kill him if they got the chance to do so, and he knew that there was no one who would support him anymore.

    The despair of the situation crept up on Xue Wei. He started to understand what it truly meant to be all alone against the entire world.

    Previously, he had been alone because he had wished for it, but now that he was forced down a road of solitude, he felt the weight of having let his uncle down weigh heavily on himself.

    ¡°Will I ever see Uncle again?¡± He muttered to himself as he felt his eyes sting with tears. ¡°Will he believe me, or will he think that I had something to do with the Primordial Beasts? Will he alsoe to hunt me like the others?¡±

    ¡°No! Uncle will believe me!¡± Xue Wei clung unto the final hope he had and tears started dropping from his eyes. ¡°I can never be a Primordial Beast Hunter now... instead I am likely to be grouped together with the enemies of the kingdom.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know where to go. What am I to do with my life from now on?¡± Xue Wei¡¯s voice was trembling, and he truly felt all alone against the entire world. ¡°What can I do now? What am I to do? Should I just go back and let them pass judgement on me, hope that they will be lenient?¡±

    ¡°It is all that damn bird¡¯s fault!¡± Xue Wei felt the anger rising within him again. The sadness and despair was pushed aside by the anger and the indignation. ¡°If she had not done all of this, then I would have been fine! For how long has she been nning this?!¡±

    "And to think that I thought she couldn¡¯t kill me. How full of myself I am," he snorted. "She can kill me as easily as she wishes to, but there are things worse than death. How am I to ever face Uncle now? Will Uncle even believe me or will he believe the others? Will he also begin hunting me from now on?"

    "Will I ever be able to gain fame and recognition? How will I make Xiaoyun¡¯s family acknowledge me when I am known as someone in cahoots with the Primordial Beasts?"

    Xue Wei sighed as he felt hopelessness wash over his body. How was he supposed to do anything now? His aim of bing a revered Primordial Beast Hunter had been ruthlessly destroyed by some random action from Chu Huiyin.

    Xue Wei suddenly feltpletely listless. All his dreams, all his ns, everything had been destroyed by Chu Huiyin.

    "I guess what I should do is to go to Lingyun Town," Xue Wei sighed to himself after a bit of time. "First, I need some sort of goal. At least I have gold coins and money on me. I should be able to manage this trip. But I need to disguise myself somehow."

    Xue Wei thought deeply about it.

    "When I reach the Northern Taiga and the Lingyun Town, my wounds should havepletely healed, and then, depending on what I find, I can start on a new path."

    "Although one path is shattered, others open up. If all goes bad, I will go to the center of the continent and find that phony prophet. He told me to find him, but then again he might betray me in a heartbeat if he learns of the bad name I have now."

    Xue Wei was indecisive about his future ns. There seemed to be negatives and benefits to everything he could do.

    ¡°I guess I should understand myself before trying to understand someone else,¡± Xue Wei muttered to himself. ¡°The Primordial Beasts were said to have killed my family. I want to see if this is truly the case. I cannot remember anything at all about what happened in the past, all I remember is the days together with Uncle. If I want to move forward, then my memories must be a good tool to understanding myself and the situation I am in.¡±

    "Okay, first Lingyun Town," he decided and struggled to get to his feet. "Then I can see what to do afterward. For now, I have to know of my roots!"

 Chapter 88: The Meadow

    Xue Wei was filled with righteous indignation and anger towards Chu Huiyin.

    The longer he walked, the more upset he became. He was not only upset with Chu Huiyin, but he was also very upset with himself.

    Giving up on his rational thoughts and allowing himself to let go of his sanity and use the dragonized arms to fight in a battle where he was surrounded by experts who knew very little about the different transformations of other cultivators was by no means a smart move.

    A skill like the Azure Dragon Scripture, which aimed to imitate the most amazing beast of them all, the Azure Dragon, was easily misunderstood in the uneducated lens of the Heping Kingdom. Even in the center of the continent, people would be worried if they saw it.

    "The bloodlust might be good for fighting," Xue Wei said through gritted teeth. His entire body was aching. The wounds, although no longer bleeding, were still deep and immensely painful.

    "But even if it makes it so that I can fight better than others, I am also more likely to not think straight." Xue Wei sighed. "When I fight, I am to leave my bloodlust as thest means to protect myself. I will rely on my rational thoughts at all other times, and reserve the instincts as the final resort."

    The battle Xue Wei had been in had changed him and his view of himself.

    He never wanted to be just a frenzied killing machine. He did not want to let it all go. He wanted to be able to keep himself under control.

    Xue Wei¡¯s demeanor had changed. He was moving as if he had the entire world on his shoulders. He was listless and dispirited. He felt lost. Everything he had strived for had been lost in such a swift change of events, and now he was stuck in a hopeless situation where he did not know what his next step would be.

    Xue Wei had his items with him in a bag. They had been on their way towards their military stations when the beast horde had surprised them, and thus they had all their things with them when they started fighting.

    Xue Wei had been fighting with his bag on his back the entire time. When Chu Huiyin had grabbed him, the bag had remained on his back. Now that he was back onnd again, free from Chu Huiyin, he looked at himself.

    His robes were tattered and destroyed. His armor was not much better off. The spaulders had been punctured multiple ces by Chu Huiyin¡¯s sharp talons in her true form. Other cuts and tears had appeared in the collision with the trees and their branches.

    Xue Wei sighed when he saw the state of his clothes. He reached into his bag to find a new set of clothes. He took out another set of clothes made from Fierce Beast Silk, but then he paused and hesitated before shaking his head and stuffing it into the bag again.

    He then took out a set of ck clothes that Manager Su had given him when he left Tiankong City.

    These clothes were a lot less remarkable than the red robes he had been wearing in the capital. He was going to travel through the Kingdom of Heping, after all. If a rumor of some noble-born youngster wearing robes of Fierce Beast material were to spread, then the army could easily guess that it was him.

    Xue Wei grimaced in pain as he changed his clothes from the robes to the clean ck suit. Although a few scratches could still be seen on his face, all the serious wounds were now covered.

    He could not help butment slightly that he did not have a bamboo hat to cover his face, but he had to make do with what he had.

    Xue Wei would have burnt the clothes to dust if he could, but these robes were made from a fire attributed Fierce Beast, and normal mes had no effect on them.

    Since this was the case, Xue Wei just left the tattered and blood-stained clothes on the ground and started limping away from the tree under which he had found slight respite and shade for a short while.

    The Qi continued to wander through his meridians, slowly making adjustments and improvements to his condition. It was nourishing his bones and organs, healing his fractures, and ensuring that his body would be even stronger than it had been before when he had fully recovered.

    Previously, the Qi had only been in his meridians, but now it was passing over into his flesh, entering his organs, entering his bones, and simultaneously strengthening all parts of him.

    If he were to survive, then he would have an even sturdier body than before. This sturdiness was not outwardly visible, but it was a bone-deep transformation that changed nothing about his slim and lean figure, instead making his bones as strong as jade.

    Unfortunately, this was a process that would take quite some time. His body was exhausted, and his Qi, although initially vigorous, started revolving through his meridians at a gradually slowing pace. The wounds required an inordinate amount of Qi, so there was little left for everything else

    Xue Wei shambled along on his journey for a few hours before he was forced to sit down and take a break. He simply had no more Qi in his body, no more energy to continue walking on, and thest few steps had been on sheer willpower, his body in such intense pain that each and every step caused his eyes to cken.

    Taking these final steps, Xue Wei decided to sit down. He knew that if he copsed, it was highly likely that he would never awaken again. As such, his only possible option was to sit down and slowly absorb more energy from the heavens above.

    Xue Wei had exited the forest and was now in a small meadow. He could hear the river not far away, and he could sense the dew in the air, descending andying itself like beads of ss on the grass.

    This meadow was empty of all traces of humans. In fact, ever since Chu Huiyin had dropped him above the forest, Xue Wei had seen no other living creature. The beasts avoided him; even the small bugs did so. Xue Wei started to feel as if he was the only living being in the entire universe.

    The meadow that he hadnded in had a small purple mist running through it, and Xue Wei feltfortable as he was in it. The Qi in the air was denser than any other ce he had been at, and he greedily absorbed all the energy that he could, feeling how he slowly was rejuvenated.

    His body became lighter, and the wounds started to close rapidly. The speed with which his condition was improving was many times faster than it had been before; his fractured bones started to mend themselves, and the open flesh wounds on his body started to close at a visible speed.

    Xue Wei was shocked. He knew that this was without a doubt not an inherent ability of his unique physique but rather the purple mist drifting through the meadow.

    From a nce, if one did not look at the purple mist, one would think that it was an ordinary meadow, but the mist made it much more mysterious.

    Xue Wei¡¯s Qi reservoir was being filled rapidly, his body was being enhanced, and even his meridians widened and became much more sturdy, able to transport arger amount of Qi through his body.

    Xue Wei stopped in the meadow for a full day, just sitting still and allowing for the energy to flow into his body in a steady stream.

    "This is great!" Xue Wei felt relief. "If I stay in this meadow for a few days, I will be able to recover to my peak," he muttered to himself. Suddenly, right as he said that, he caught a glimpse of a massive beast that was looking at him from the surface of the river that was not too far away from him.

    The moment the beast noticed his nce, it vanished without a trace. In that brief instance, Xue Wei estimated the creature¡¯s rank to be around the Heavenly Warrior levels through his senses.

    Xue Wei broke out into a cold sweat. Was this mysterious meadow the territory of this frightening beast he had caught a glimpse off? If it was, why would it allow him to stay here calmly and absorb the purple mist?

    One has to know that the purple mist was a natural treasure of some kind; it was able to increase his body¡¯s innate talent and capabilities within just a day, and it also bolstered his Qi regeneration.

    It was the ideal ce for cultivation, but this purple mist¨Cenergy could not be unlimited. To share it with Xue Wei was absurd.

    "I better not linger around," Xue Wei made a swift decision. He was not willing to take the risk of provoking the beast to attack him because he wanted a share of the pie. Although aware that this would prolong his period of convalescence, Xue Wei understood that his condition would be in a much better state than it had been a day prior before his arrival at the meadow.

    Xue Wei saw a group of bamboos close by. Although he was in a hurry to leave, he decided to spend some time to create a bamboo hat that could hide his features while traveling towards the Northern Taiga.

    Although he had not met any humans so far, he was not so naive as to think that it was possible to get to the Northern Taiga without meeting another person.

    These people would definitely recognize him if the army came searching and spread wanted posters with his mugshot, and all he would invite to himself was a witch hunt on his way to the Northern Taiga.

    His hands were skilled as they neatly created the bamboo hat. He put it on, obscuring his features from view, after which he gave a slight bow in the direction of the river, towards the hidden beast. For some reason, he felt no hatred towards this beast even though it was clearly a Fierce Beast of certain strength. Instead, he felt gratitude towards it for letting him use the purple mist without interrupting him.

    Xue Wei then muttered the words he had heard themander say back in the training camp, "We are neither good nor evil. We are no different from the beasts. And as long as the humans and beasts are at war, the fights will continue on, with neither side holding the advantage and no clear victory in sight."

    Xue Wei still felt hatred towards beasts. He was after all human and had grown up with a strong animosity towards the beasts. however, for the first time ever, he did not wish to be a Primordial Beast Hunter. He just wanted to be stronger. So strong that he could make his uncle proud. So strong that Wang Xiaoyun¡¯s family would approve of him. So strong that he could get his revenge on the Ice Harpy. So strong that he would never be in danger of being killed again.

    The further away Xue Wei walked, the more he started to feel invigorated. So what if he could not join the army? So what if he could not be a Primordial Beast hunter.

    Originally, he was trash not worthy of being alive, but now he could cultivate. Originally, he was not able to be a Primordial Beast Hunter or join the army.

    But with every step, he was more energized. He was himself, free from any restraints. So what if others thought he had mingled with Primordial Beasts, and so what if they thought he was one himself? What mattered was that his conscience was pure, and he would exin himself to all that mattered to him. The rest could gossip as much as they wanted to for all that he cared.

 Chapter 89: Grasslands

    Xue Wei was unaware of how his mental state had changed from when he entered the purple mist to when he left it.

    when he entered it, he had been hopeless and ready to give up everything, even to the point where he would not struggle if the army ever managed to catch him.

    When he left, he was invigorated. He felt energized and his mental state was different. It was as if he had gained rity in the short time he was in the purple mist, as if his mind was clearer now, and that he had put everything he had chased in the past behind him.

    This was no small change. It was the same as taking everything he had wished for so far, all his goals and all the expectations he had of himself, and throwing it away.

    He now understood that the most important thing was to be true to himself. What others meant and thought mattered not. Although he would be chased, he was not willing to let go, nor was he ready to plead forgiveness for having done nothing wrong.

    As long as he was true to himself, he was able to stand tall. As long as he was true to himself, he would continue onwards.

    The purple mist he had entered had recreated him. Not only had it entered his body and changed his body structure, innate talent, and meridians, it had also entered his mind and made him much more clear-headed.

    As to what this purple mist was, Xue Wei did not know. He was certain it was some sort of natural phenomenon and that it was a rare treasure, but nothing more than that. It was not untilter that he understood just how lucky he had truly been.

    Leaving the meadow, Xue Wei looked back at the purple mist with a final, longing nce, but he knew that he was pressed for time. Since he could guess that he was from the town of Lingyun, others would be able to guess the same. The army would definitely deploy some of their forces around the remains of the city to keep a lookout for him.

    As he left the meadow, he found a small dusty animal trail that traveled through the grasnds. This animal trail was clearly used by migrating beasts, Mortal and Fierce Beasts alike, but no such beasts showed themselves when he traversed it.

    The grasnds had grass up to two meters tall. It was a dangerous area, and Xue Wei understood that he was in the Eastern Administrative Region of Heping.

    The grasnd was arge area of the Eastern Administrative Region of the Kingdom of Heping. This area was known as a danger zone because of the many beasts that lurked in the tall grass, but some still ventured through it.

    Bandit groups were known to roam the areas as they could have some semnce of peace from being persecuted by the army here, and the only thing they had to worry about were the beasts.

    Mercenaries would also roam the grasnds, in an attempt to hunt down beasts or look for treasures or herbs.

    Xue Wei was not here for those purposes, but he quickly understood that it was a dangerous area. Although the beasts seemed to leave him alone, the humans were unlikely to give him the same courtesy, so he became increasingly alert.

    He spread his spiritual energy to the limits to sense the surrounding areas, but he did not encounter anything. One has to know that the grasnds covered arge area. It was bordered on the south, west, and east by forests, and only the northern region was upied by human civilization.

    Because of this, most of the humans who entered were in the northern part of the grasnds, and Xue Wei had entered it from the south-eastern side.

    He only had a few days ahead of him before he would be able to make it to the northern side of the area. Even so, he was still on high alert.

    Previously, he had behaved brazenly and rushed. He had not thought things through, nor had he thought of the consequences, but now it had changed.

    Every action had a counteraction, every single gesture would cause a reaction from others, and now that he had understood this, Xue Wei also understood that he had to be careful. He could not let anyone trick him again.

    Xue Wei tentatively continued forward. He was careful and calm. Suddenly, after three days, his spiritual senses reached the first humans he had seen in a while.

    It was a group of three. All of them were in the tall grass off the beaten path, lowered over a beast corpse.

    Xue Wei wisely decided to enter the opposing side of the beast trail. He did what he could to avoid them, and he kept vignt.

    It was as if Xue Wei could see them, but it was impossible for him to hear what they said. It was clear that the three of them were engaged in a discussion. Xue Wei managed to get past them without being noticed.

    Since then, Xue Wei encountered quite a few experts. Most of them he managed to avoid by taking a detour, but some of them were not that simple.

    Xue Wei had to run away quite a few times. In those cases, he would enter the depths of the tall grass, not caring whether he would encounter a beast. While he had no qualms fearlessly hiding in the grass like this, those he encountered were not eager to follow him, condemning him dead from his risky tactic.

    Almost everyone was eager to kill him. The bandits and the mercenaries alike. If he died in this deste area devoid of human life, no one would investigate the cause of his death; rather it would be med on the beasts.

    Since they could avoid responsibility, why not try to earn a bit of extra money from attacking humans and beasts alike?

    Beast corpses contained much wealth, but so did humans. While the beasts had to be dismantled in order to be sold first, the humans were walking bags of money.

    Xue Wei was a single person. His strength was only that of an Earth Warrior, even if he could fight equally with a fifthyer Earth Warrior, and maybe even remain undefeated against a sixthyer Earth Warrior if they were one on one. However, these mercenaries were all in groups, and they were all on average a fifthyer Earth Warrior or higher.

    Fortunately, Xue Wei had the Forbidden Rush movement technique. Although he was slightly hindered by therge grass, he was still able to move faster than the other experts, and managed to flee for his life.

    The closer and closer he got to the northern area, fewer people started attacking him, mainly because there were witnesses to see what was happening.

    Xue Wei¡¯s face was hidden beneath the bamboo hat. Although some people found it peculiar and a little entric, no one questioned him.

    Xue Wei left the grasnds and stepped into a dusty road. This road was filled with experts moving to and from the grasnds; there were caravans of apothecaries and herb gatherers who came from far away to harvest rare materials and herbs that were growing exclusively in the Grasnds.

    There were not many rogue cultivators in the Kingdom of Heping. This was because every youngster was expected to spend ten years in the army. And when they finally ended their service in the army, they would be guards, mercenaries, or even be lords in the various towns.

    Traveling the world alone was not something many experts did, so the sight of Xue Wei walking the streets alone while wearing his bamboo hat caused quite a few people to nce at him a few times before they continued onwards on their journey.

    Xue Wei did not care at all about these people¡¯s attention that was on him. Instead, he continued to move further and further north.

    He would stop in the smaller towns and viges and listen to all the gossip he coulde across while paying a few silvers for a room overnight and some good food.

    He never took the bamboo hat off while speaking with people. While many were curious as to why he wanted to hide his identity, many guessed he was hiding from someone or something, but no one truly wanted to figure out what exactly he was hiding.

    The rumor about Xue Wei had not made it that far either, so no one had heard about the newfound Primordial Beast that should have appeared in the capital of the Kingdom of Heping.

    "You fled quite far," a voice suddenly sounded leisurely from behind. Xue Wei could not help but sigh when he heard it. He knew this voice all too well.

    "Haolong, what makes you think that you and your group is capable of stopping me if I wish to leave?" Xue Wei asked. Neither of them breached the subject of whether or not he was guilty.

    Xue Wei had always considered Tie Haolong to be a smart person, and thus this person would also know that he was innocent. Anyone who could think for themselves had reached this conclusion, but his fate had been sealed by themander who had lost his sanity after the fight.

    "You should be proud. You are known as one of the most wanted Primordial Beasts within the entire Kingdom of Heping," Tie Haolong tried to joke, but the joke was rather dull, and no oneughed.

    "Like the Ice Harpy has her nickname, you too have been given one; the Crimson Devil."

    "We are the first group to head towards the cold north. Everyone else headed south since that is the direction the Ice Harpy went when she fled with you."

    "But we will quickly be overtaken by the real Primordial Beast Hunters." Tie Haolong sighed. "There is a bounty on your head now. The Primordial Beast Hunters do not really care whether or not you are a real Primordial Beast. As long as they can make money from you, they will be happy."

    Tie Haolong shook his head depressedly. "Well, we are incapable of capturing you," he said as he spread his arms helplessly. "We have intercepted you, but from here on we cannot do much else. You are the Crimson Devil, a bloodthirsty creature that will do anything to eradicate your enemies. If we make a move, we are likely to lose our little lives, and thus we will stay our hands."

    Tie Haolong knew that their group was superior in numbers, but he, a thirdyer Earth Warrior, was the highest ranked in their group, .

    They simply had no chance of defeating Xue Wei even if they tried to capture him, but from what Tie Haolong had said, Xue Wei could sense that he never had thoughts of doing such in the first ce.

    "We will report to our superior tomorrow that we saw you," he said after a bit of time. "But I cannot do more for you. Live well and leave the Kingdom of Heping as soon as you can!"

    Xue Wei smiled wryly. He was not able to leave just yet, but he understood that he had to do so eventually. Now that he had run into Tie Haolong, his pursuers would know that he was going north and then it would be easy to guess where exactly he was heading towards.

    As Tie Haolong had said, the Primordial Beast Hunters did not care about their target¡¯s circumstances. All they wanted was the bounty that had been ced on his head, and now they were starting to move.

    The road ahead was no longer a safe or rxed trip. It would be a trip fraught with danger, where the enemy was so overwhelmingly strong that Xue Wei had no chance to withstand it should he get caught.

 Chapter 90: Lightning Sparrow

    Xue Wei and Tie Haolong looked at one another; one¡¯s features were hidden beneath a bamboo mask, the other stood confidently in his white robes, looking dashing and giving off the air of a young master fresh out of the capital.

    "We might meet one day again," Xue Wei said before he turned around and fluttered in the wind like a leaf, leaving with his fastest speed and traveling as far as he could with the Forbidden Rush movement technique.

    While traveling, Xue Wei¡¯s heart was warm, but he was also worried. He had known Tie Haolong for a short time, but this person had already done him a huge favor by not contacting the Primordial Beast Hunters the moment he located him, and instead warned him about the forces that wereing for him.

    Xue Wei knew what this meant. If anyone from the group betrayed him, Tie Haolong would suffer unspoken hardships. He might even be seen as someone who colluded with beasts.

    There was no doubt that Song Yuyan would keep quiet, and so would Gu Dixing, but Xiao Jie and the new person that Xue Wei had never seen before and who had looked at Xue Wei with a hostility that was clear in their eyes, were unpredictable factors.

    They were firm in their belief that Xue Wei was a Primordial Beast, and they poured all of their hatred for him through their eyes when they saw him. Now that they knew that Tie Haolong was friendly with him, they might even turn on him.

    "Since he risked his own neck for my sake, then I have to make the best of it," Xue Wei said through gritted teeth. His wounds had fully healed, and the rush through the Eastern Administrative Region of the Kingdom of Heping had strengthened him in more ways than one.

    But he understood that now he no longer had the time to rx. If he wanted to reach Lingyun Town, he had to rush it. He had to rely on the Forbidden Rush movement technique for the future, even if it would most likely give away his identity. Albeit careful of using it, he would have to risk it frequently from now on.

    "I got myself into this mess," Xue Wei said to himself as he steeled his resolution. "I will get myself out of it, too. I will leave the kingdom as soon as I have seen Lingyun Town."

    "I cannot afford to let myself get caught," he continued with a determination evident in his eyes. "I have too many people who believe in me. Uncle will definitely know the truth considering that he gave me the Azure Dragon Scripture. Lan, too, knows the truth. And I am sure that Xiaoyun will believe me when I tell her the secrets behind it."

    "For these three people, I cannot allow myself to get caught." Xue Wei motivated himself. "I might feel alone right now, but I am never alone. My dear ones believe in me, and I believe in them," he said as he continued to rush forward elegantly.

    He then neared arge city, one of the few cities that bordered the Northern Administrative Region of the Kingdom of Heping. It was one of the most important trade points in the entire kingdom. When he saw the gates, he instantly came to a standstill.

    Guards were waiting at the entrance, checking the appearance of everyone who sought to enter the city. Some of them held a wanted poster in their hands, and they were eager to check everyone, their eyes shining with light.

    The guards were at most within the Earth Warrior stages, the highest ranked being a seventhyer Earth Warrior, but Xue Wei knew that other, stronger, experts would appear if he made a ruckus here.

    He, therefore, turned to leave, but unfortunately he had gotten too close, and one of the guards noticed him turning to leave.

    "Hey, you there! Halt!" he called out. Xue Wei knew that if he truly allowed them to see his face, then he would be done for, which was why he executed the Forbidden Rush movement technique to the limits and rushed in the opposite direction.

    It was not hard to enter the northern regions of the kingdom, but Xue Wei was now aware of the magnitude to which the kingdom wanted him dead. They had used their shadow crows to send pictures of him to all major cities!

    "It seems that they just wanted an excuse," Xue Wei muttered to himself while fleeing at his fastest speed. The seventhyered Earth Warrior was hot in pursuit, but he did not have a movement technique and slowly fell behind.

    He was constantly yelling into amunication device that hung around his arm, telling whoever was on the other end about the direction that they were traveling. This made Xue Wei feel a sense of crisis.

    This person was likely a Primordial Beast Hunter. If he was lucky, he was a Sky Warrior, but the likelihood was small. It was most likely a Heavenly Warrior, as most Primordial Beasts Hunters were Heavenly Warriors.

    If a Heavenly Warrior was chasing him, Xue Wei knew that even if he had the Forbidden Rush movement technique, it would be impossible to escape. It might even be impossible to escape from a Sky Warrior if he did not have a headstart, so he ran with all that he had.

    He was floating forward with speed so shocking that the seventhyered Earth Warrior on his tail quickly understood that it was impossible continue the pursuit, and thus he took the means to contact the resident Primordial Beast Hunter of their trading city.

    Suddenly, a sharp whistle sounded, and a Fierce Beast descended from the sky above. The Fierce Beast was a tamed beast, and flying tamed beasts were the most versatile and also most expensive toe across.

    "What luck I got," Xue Wei wanted to cry, but he had no tears. Although he could use the Forbidden Rush to move like the wind, how could hepare to a flying beast?

    The most depressing thing was that it was a Lightning Sparrow, a bird that was built for speed and agile movements. It was notrge, and was justrge enough to bring one person on its back, and it was not great at battling, but Xue Wei did not doubt that the person on top of the bird was brilliant when it came to doing the fighting while the bird was skilled at doing the catching up with him.

    "Your friend, that kid from the Tie family, has been charged with treason!" the person on top of the bird yelled out. "He has been found guilty in aiding a Primordial Beast, and he is being sent back to the capital where he will have the death penalty!"

    "Don¡¯t you feel guilty?" the person on top of the birdughed as he saw the distance between them narrowing. He was like an overlord that had descended into the battlefield, and had his enemy on a leash,pletely under control.

    Xue Wei gritted his teeth. "You are lying," he muttered to himself, "Haolong is smarter than that," he tried to convince himself, "Haolong would never let them catch him. And even if he is caught, what can I do? I need to escape first of all. If I manage to escape, I can get some information, but if I get caught I can only share his fate!"

    The person on the Lightning Sparrowughed out loud as he saw Xue Wei speed up even further. "It is hopeless," he chuckled. "You wille with me back to the capital where we will keep you in prison. We have contacted a Diviner who wille and tame you. If that fails, we will execute you as a person who colluded with the beasts. Either way, your life is forfeit. Why struggle so hard?"

    Xue Wei did not answer; he just kept running. The more he ran, the more exhausted he became, but he understood that he had no other option. He used all his energy to run away. While running, he felt the same familiar killing intent rise within him.

    He felt how his head turned light and he felt his blood boil. He wanted to kill the fellow behind him, he wanted to stop himself from fleeing and instead face off against this special person on top of the bird, but Xue Wei kept a clear head. Although he had all the symptoms of the killing intent breaking through, he was not going to let it make him throw away his life again, and he kept fleeing in a straight line deeper and deeper into the Northern Administrative Territory.

    "Kid, you run quite fast!" the person who was pursuing himughed. He was still acting as if everything was within his control and going ording to n, and it made Xue Wei frustrated beyond belief.

    The day turned to night, and Xue Wei kept fleeing. He ran through many ces, through forests and fields, past rivers and mountains. No matter where he went, the beasts rushed away from him, something that made the man on top the Lightning Sparrow rather puzzled.

    While Xue Wei was incapable of seeing the retreating beasts, the man could see them easily. Every time Xue Wei got close, they would retreat and watch.

    "He must still have the scent of the Ice Harpy on him," the pursuer muttered. "It is natural for Fierce Beasts to fear the stronger Primordial Beasts, and the Ice Harpy is without a doubt one of the strongest that have ever been born."

    "If she left a mark on him, or her scent, it makes sense that they will not attack him. She must value him greatly," the pursuer¡¯s eyes were glistening with excitement, but Xue Wei was feeling more and more exhausted.

    He had run for a day without a pause, and it had caused him to use up almost all the Qi in his body. Had it not been for the Forbidden Rush movement technique borrowing the force of the wind and being less reliant on Qi, he would have been caught long ago.

    Xue Wei felt his energy leave him, and hopelessness started to wear him down. He raised his head to the skies, and a resounding roar ripped its way past his throat and escaped his lips.

    It was a bestial roar that was filled with the most primal emotions of grief, indignation and unwillingness.

    The moment the roar escaped his lips, the Lightning Sparrow faltered in the sky.

    It cked outpletely and plummeted to the ground together with its owner, both of them falling through the sky down to the ground.

    The Primordial Beast Hunter on top of the Lightning Sparrow was a Heavenly Warrior, but after having met Lan, Xue Wei understood that a Warrior was but the beginning of cultivation, and even though they were strong inparison to Xue Wei, they were truly fragile whenpared to other cultivators.

    The Heavenly Warrior that had been chasing him was capable of flying to some degree, but he was currently strapped to the bird. And even if he could fly, it was the very elemental stages of flight - he would never be able to catch up with Xue Wei; he would only be able to soften hisnding.

    He was not as fortunate as Xue Wei either when it came to possessing a movement technique that granted him greater bodily control and speed. While strapped to the Lightning Sparrow, he plummeted to the ground, falling at rapid speeds, and his face was white from fear. Such a fall was likely to kill both him and his mount.

    Xue Wei did not linger around to figure out if he died or not. He rushed away as fast as his legs could carry him. He ran for his life now that he finally had the chance.

    "I wonder if Chu Huiyin has done something to me which affects other beasts," he muttered to himself in curiosity, but he did not have the time to test it now, nor did he have any desire to figure it out. As long as the beasts stayed out of his way, he would stay out of theirs.

    What did matter to Xue Wei, however, were the words that the pursuer had said. Was Tie Haolong truly in danger? Was this a trap to ensnare him, or had they truly decided to execute him for assisting Xue Wei in escaping? He needed more information before he could decide on his future actions.

 Chapter 91: Repaying Kindness

    Xue Wei had been fleeing northwards this entire time. However, after losing his pursuer, he started changing his direction.

    He ran west for a long time, after which he finally started moving south again.

    He knew that he had to find information on Tie Haolong, but visiting human settlements included exposure and potentially drawing even bigger figures to himself

    "My only option is to return the way I came," Xue Wei said as he sighed. "I can get information when I reach the capital... if I manage to reach it in time."

    Xue Wei could not help but grumble, "I want a flying beast, too. If I had a flying beast, the trip to the capital would be simple. Now that I don¡¯t, I have to walk through the same hardships as I encountered on the way here."

    Just as Xue Wei said this, a bird cry resounded in the sky. When Xue Wei looked up, his face paled.

    A Lightning Sparrow was closing in on him again. This sparrow flew faster than it did previously, and thunder rumbled in the sky due to the speed with which it moved. It was clear that it had broken through from having a strength equivalent to the Sky warrior into one of the Heavenly Warrior.

    "Damn it all!" Xue Wei swore as he sped up his retreat. He had intentionally ensured that he had not been moving anywhere near other people, yet this beast had found him anyway and was now catching up to him with a speed much faster than theirst encounter.

    In front of him was a forest. This forest would be able to help him escape, but he was unsure of whether or not he could make it in time, as the Lightning Sparrow was simply too swift.

    "Why did it have to break through now of all times?!" Xue Wei could not help but grumble. "Is the goddess of fortune really that much against me?!" he cried out, but he did not lower his speed, frantically running for his life.

    Just as he could see the beginning of the forest and a slight trace of hope began to spread in his body, a w suddenly and gently wrapped around his shoulder and lifted him into the air.

    "Let me go!" he cried out and tried wriggling out of the hold, but the bird held on to him with its ws and slowed down drastically. Another bird cry was issued, but it was not before now that Xue Wei realized that the person who had been riding the bird previously had not said a single word.

    He felt puzzled. Said rider had mentioned and relished in Xue Wei¡¯s misfortune, yet now he was quiet.

    This did not add up. However, when Xue Wei looked upwards, all he could see was the lower body of the bird, which gently rode the wind towards some unknownnd.

    "Where are you taking me?" Xue Wei muttered, but the bird just happily chirped as if it was replying to his question.

    They flew for two whole days, and during these days, the bird held him gently in its ws, ensuring that he was not wounded. Xue Wei had stopped struggling too.

    He had a strange feeling that there was no rider on top of this bird, as he had not heard any sounds other than the pping of the bird¡¯s wings alongside the cheerful chirps that it released from time to time.

    At the start, Xue Wei had been worried about where they were going, but the sight of the incredibly familiarndscape beneath him made him realize that he was now flying back the way he had walked previously.

    They were nearing the area where the Ice Harpy had dropped him, the speed with which they were traveling much faster than it had been when he had been on foot.

    Xue Wei could notprehend what the bird was thinking, nor was he able tomunicate with it, but he still got the impression that the beast wanted to help him. Was this because he had the scent of the Ice Harpy, or was it because it genuinely wanted to help him?

    The bird was happy, there was no doubt about this. It chirped happily, and the ws that held onto him were steady and strong, but they did not stab into his flesh like Chu Huiyin¡¯s talons had done.

    The bird had been quiet at the start as if it was nervous and worried, but it made progressively more noise as they traveled, and eventually it started chirping non-stop.

    Xue Wei could feel the happiness in the bird, and suddenly he had a thought. "Do you understand me?" he yelled, and the bird tweeted in return.

    "If you understand me, chirp twice!"

    The bird chirped twice. Xue Wei was stunned. This beast was a Fierce Beast. They were known to be of lower intellect than Primordial Beasts and humans. However, this specific Lightning Sparrow was quite intelligent.

    "Are you helping me? Chirp twice if you are, once if you are not."

    Again, the bird responded to him with two chirps, sounding quite happy as it pped its wings with renewed strength.

    "Can you take me to a forest close to the capital?" Xue Wei asked again, and the bird nodded its head, an almost human reaction that shocked Xue Wei.

    "Did you break the bond between you and your master? Chirp twice for yes, once for no,"

    The bird chirped twice again. "Is it to show me gratitude that you are helping me now?" he asked again, and the bird chirped twice to show that it was.

    "Thank you," Xue Wei said from the bottom of his heart. He had always thought that beasts were too controlled by their instincts; that they were evil and would kill on a whim.

    "Humans are no different," he said with a sigh. He had seen the ugly face of the Primordial Beast Hunters that he had looked up to before. These honorable hunters were in fact not honorable at all. They were willing to do anything for the sake of money.

    They would even turn on their own kind. As a result, they had lost all of the respect Xue Wei held for them.

    On the other hand, this Lightning Sparrow was showing him respect and gratitude. The one who was supposed to be his enemy for life was helping him to repay a debt of gratitude instead of trying to kill him. In fact, although this Fierce Beast was not created for the sake of fighting, it was able to kill him within a moment. It possessed the strength of a Heavenly Warrior after all.

    "Those who show me kindness, I will return to them the kindness a hundredfold," Xue Wei muttered to himself. Ever since he had been captured by Chu Huiyin, he had felt the world around him change, and he changed with it.

    At the start, he had been filled with grief, remorse, and guilt. He had med himself for giving in to the killing intent and using his beast arms, allowing for the Primordial beast the Ice Harpy to frame him, but the more he thought about it, the more he realized that she would have done the same thing no matter what he had done, putting him in the exact same situation no matter what.

    Then he had understood. That in this world, there were no good or evil, there wasere only you and yourpanions against the rest of the world.

    "I will no longer judge anyone based on their appearances or races," Xue Wei muttered. "I might be able to find a friend in the most unexpected situation," he mused, looking at the sparrow above him.

    He knew that this sparrow was only helping him to repay him for having broken the chains that tied him to the Primordial Beast Hunter. They had no longsting rtionship, but they could still help one another this time.

    Xue Wei arrived at the capital within four days, a speed so fast that no one could have imagined his advance being so fast.

    They arrived in a forest at the outskirts of the northern parts of the city walls, and Xue Wei was ced on the ground for the first time in four days. The Lightning Sparrow had been able to fly for four days straight. It was exhausted, but it felt happy having broken the chain of karma that tied the two of them together.

    Xue Wei bowed to the bird. "Thank you for your assistance," he said sincerely. He felt as if his mind had been muddled before, constantly brainwashed about how evil the beasts were, how they were the enemies that needed to be killed and that they were without any emotions,controlled only by their urges.

    While Xue Wei truly did hate Chu Huiyin, he did not hate this Lightning Sparrow. The Lightning Sparrow had allowed him to see that just as every human was different, so were the beasts.

    While there were vile beasts that truly had no intelligenceparable to the humans and werepletely controlled by their instincts, there were also those who were gentle and friendly.

    "I am not in a position where I can see the best in others though," Xue Wei mocked himself. "I am the enemy of both humans and beasts alike, and it seems that I will not be able to make any new friends for a long time."

    "Still, I need some information about Tie Haolong. I am not sure what I can do, but I cannot do nothing. He is a friend, and I would rather die by my friend¡¯s side than run with my tail between my legs and let him down."

    Xue Wei had reached a decision, and he would bet his life on it.

    "Be careful not to be taken captive again," Xue Wei said to the Lightning Sparrow. It once more nodded its head before it chirped onest time and swung its wings around as it turned before it vanished from the area.

    Xue Wei stood still for a long time to watch the sparrow turn into a speck of dust in the distance. He then sighed.

    He found his Fierce Beast robes and dressed into them before he ced the bamboo hat on his head. Although it was quite rare to be alone and wearing a bamboo hat in the rest of the kingdom, it was really not that rare in the capital.

    Here, you could find every kind of person in one ce, and many of them wished to remain unknown.

    Previously, there had been a barricade at the entrance of the capital checking every single one for their facial features, but they had stopped doing that after hearing news of Xue Wei¡¯s location.

    It was slowing down everyone¡¯s entrance into the city, and there was no way for Xue Wei to return to the capital that fast unless he could teleport. No one ever expected that he would fly with a Fierce Beast that specialized in speed.

    Since this was the case, Xue Wei could casually walk into the Outer City, and he found a small inn where he found a corner to sit down. He paid a few silvers for some food and drinks and stayed there to listen to the gossip currently spreading in the capital.

    Many topics were being spoken about but nothing of interest to Xue Wei. It was not before an hour after taking his seat that the table next to him suddenly caught his attention.

    "Do you really believe that he is a Primordial Beast?" someone asked with a snort, and Xue Wei listened with interest while feigning uninterest.

    The ones speaking were two burly men. Both of them were wearing nice clothes, but neither¡¯s outfit were made of Fierce Beast silk or hide.

    "I don¡¯t think so," the other man replied. Both of them spoke lowly, clearly worried about someone overhearing their conversation.

    "From all the rumors that go around, it is as if they are forcefully portraying him as a Primordial Beast or someone in collusion with Primordial Beasts. But remember, he is said to have lived with the Hunter Xiao Lei for so long. If he was truly one, would he not have noticed?"

 Chapter 92: Conspiracy

    Xue Wei was surprised that even some random cultivators and mercenaries were able to guess that he was not a Primordial Beast. But if that was the case, why were the upper echelons eager to make him out to be one?

    "What do you know?" someone suddenly said from a table not far away. "They are using this as an excuse to take down Xiao Lei," he spoke in a low voice as he slowly moved towards the table.

    "Take down Xiao Lei?" one of the burly men asked with confusion, and the man who wasing towards them nodded his head vigorously.

    "In this kingdom, when you think about the most illustrious person, who is it?"

    "Primordial Beast Hunter Xiao Lei."

    "Indeed. In most kingdoms, it would be the King or the Emperor or his princes, but here it is a measly hunter. He is not even nobility!"

    "It is the upper echelons of society who are certain that this nephew of his is a Primordial Beast, and they are hunting him with everything they got under this premise."

    "But in fact, what they want is to make this Xue Wei out to be a Primordial Beast to lower Xiao Lei¡¯s reputation. They want to turn on him, make him less famous. If they could, they would have killed him outright for being more famous, more well-liked, and more powerful than the royal family."

    "They might even use him of being an aplice of the Primordial Beasts as they did with his friend, that person from the Tie family."

    Everyone in the restaurant felt enlightened when they heard this, but they also felt fuming anger in their chests.

    Although they had been whispering, the entire restaurant was now so silent that one could hear a pin drop, as everyone had been listening in on the conversation.

    "But Xiao Lei is a hero of mankind. He has fought for humanity and has continued to strive to do the best for our kingdom. To be treated like this is truly disgusting," someone muttered, and many nodded their heads.

    "Right now, Xiao Lei is out hunting Primordial Beasts, putting his life at risk. Meanwhile, the humans he is trying to protect are all trying to get rid of his only flesh and blood."

    "I bet it was someone who colluded with the Primordial Beasts to do this! It has to have been nned. They wanted to get rid of Xiao Lei, so they made this n long ago and leaked information to the Ice Harpy. How else is it possible for her to have done as she did?"

    "It is obvious that the Primordial Beasts hold a grudge against Xiao Lei. How can they even consider working together with his flesh and blood?"

    Many started speaking at the same time, and all of them were at first slightly angered, but then theypared it to their own situation and they became livid with anger.

    "It is easy for the nobles to put all the me on Xiao Lei and his family! They can do whatever they want to just because of their heritage!"

    "They never risk their lives, yet those who do gets treated like this?!"

    "It is people like that Tie Haolong who are true men! Fighting for brotherhood! Doing what they believe is right!"

    "Let us go spread the facts about this kid¡¯s fate!" someone eximed, and the others lifted their hands, shouting, "Yes!"

    After that, they all rushed out of the restaurant and split on the street. They went to drinking houses, gambling dens, pleasure houses and so on, spreading out to tell the truth about Xiao Lei.

    Even now, the people in the Outer City trusted Xiao Lei. They had more faith in Xiao Lei than they did the royal family, and they were willing to spread the news of him being mistreated even if it meant that they would be punished severely.

    In fact, a few of them hoped that someone, and not themselves, would be punished so that they could im that the nobility was doing everything in its power to kill the truth.

    Xue Wei had stayed in the restaurant. His emotions were in turmoil.

    He knew that his uncle was a hero to mankind, but to see how the average cultivator was willing to take his side that easily made him feel his heart swell with emotion.

    He was proud of his uncle, the man who had the power to cause such devotion amongst themon folk.

    Xue Wei was in deep thought. He had always thought that the people up high had just wanted to get rid of him, but was there perhaps some other reason behind their actions?

    Was there perhaps a conspiracy against his uncle, such as these people had assumed?

    The Ice Harpy had appeared back in Tiankong City, and it seemed that every action she had made was against Xue Wei.

    It made sense that she held a serious grudge against Xiao Lei, who had killed so many Primordial Beasts. Maybe she decided to take her revenge on Xue Wei instead?

    Had she worked together with someone else all along, or was it all just a coincidence? Xue Wei felt that he needed to know. If someone wasere going after his uncle, he truly wished to get to the roots of it and protect his Uncle. The only downside was that he was too weak.

    Xue Wei was simply far too weak to be able to get to the bottom of anything right now. He was not even able to save himself if he ran into a Primordial Beast hunter, but he still wished to do his best.

    After finishing his meal, Xue Wei left the restaurant and headed towards the Inner City.

    He found that Tie Haolong had been sentenced to death for aiding a Primordial Beast in escaping, and his execution was to be carried out fourteen days after, as they had to wait for Tie Haolong to arrive at the capital first.

    Xue Wei checked into another inn than the first one he had resided in a little more than a year prior, and he quickly went to his room. He had to figure out how to save Tie Haolong.

    In his room, Xue Wei sighed deeply and sat on the bed. He hade this far, and he was now in the capital, but what could he actually do? Was it possible for him to somehow intercept them and release Tie Haolong?

    Xue Wei did not doubt that if he seeded in releasing Tie Haolong, he would flee the kingdom together with him and head for the center of the continent.

    Just as Xue Wei was deep in thought, he heard someone knocking at the door. "We brought you a meal on the house," a male voice sounded from outside of the room, and Xue Wei jolted.

    He spread his spiritual energy and sensed that the entire inn was crawling with experts, all of them of high rank, the majority being Sky Warriors. He sighed.

    "Seems like I will be incapable of rescuing Haolong now," he sighed.

    As he spread his senses, he could see that the entire inn was surrounded, and there was even a group of experts flying in the air on Fierce Beasts. He knew that he was done for.

    "I apologize, Uncle," he continued to talk to himself, "I was incapable of protecting myself, and now they will likelye after you. Whether or not they did it intentionally, they will use this to get rid of you. I hope you never return to the Heping Kingdom, which is filled with ungrateful bastards."

    Xue Wei was seated on the bed and looked at the door. He did not even move to the window to attempt to escape, because he knew that arge group of cultivators was waiting for him outside, and an escape from here would be impossible.

    Since this was the case, why not just wait casually for them? They had imed that he was a Primordial Beast, so they would not kill him right away. Instead, they would try and tame him with the help of a Diviner.

    Xue Wei called out, "Stop pretending already, juste in." A rustling sound could be heard from outside the door before it was kicked in and a group of cultivators swarmed into the room, their eyes vignt and their faces contorted with hatred.

    "Primordial Beast spawn!" someone yelled and was about to spit on him when Xue Wei used the Forbidden Rush to move away. His movements were elusive and elegant.

    He avoided the spit. The expert who had tried to spit at him was quickly pped on the back of his head by another expert.

    "What do you think you are doing?!" he eximed. "This kid has decided toe with us ¨C as things are now, do you want to anger him? As long as he is docile, things are good. If he transforms back into a beast, then who knows what kind of danger we have to face!"

    Xue Wei just stood at the back of the room with his arms crossed over his chest and gave the speaking experts a rather annoyed look. Did these experts truly believe he was a Primordial Beast? Then again, they were members of a noble family, so it was likely they would believe anything said by their ancestors.

    "Now,e with us," the one who had berated the other expert behaved neither politely nor arrogantly. He was on the contrary very neutral.

    Xue Wei shrugged his shoulders and followed them. He was surrounded inside a pack of twenty Sky Warriors, neen on the ground in a formation around him and one in the sky.

    From this, one could see just how difficult it was to get one¡¯s hands on a flying Fierce Beast.

    They had made it to the castle, a ce where Xue Wei had been twice before for some business, yet this time he was not heading towards the Jade Pce, nor was he heading towards the Crown Prince¡¯s chambers. Instead they were going towards the prisons.

    They had marched through the majority of the Inner City, and many had seen him. The captors had even walked a longer way to ensure that everyone knew that specifically their family had captured him.

    They had a crest on their chests, and although Xue Wei did not know which family this crest belonged to, the rest of the city did.

    When Xue Wei had reached the castle, the entire city was in an uproar, as news of his capture spread through the Inner City to the Outer City like rings in the water.

    His captors treated Xue Wei rather well; none of them tried to torture him or make him feel humiliated, but they were not friendly either.

    It was clear that they understood that this case had to be treated with caution. Xue Wei was assumed to be a Primordial Beast, but it was not certain that he was one. If he was not, then why could he transform his arms?

    If he was not, why would the Ice Harpy refer to him as her brother? Everyone knew that the Ice Harpy hated humans more than anything. She took great pleasure in ughtering humans when she was bored.

    The city was bustling with life and rumors; people were arguing all the time about what they were going to do, and what Xue Wei¡¯s fate would be.

    The majority did not believe that he was a Primordial Beast, but no one dared to say it out loud. They feared retaliation from the nobles.

    Xue Wei paid no attention to it all. He knew that it was likely that there was no one who had worked together with the Harpy, but they decided to act ordingly and use the timing of her stunt to their advantage.

    He was likely to be dered a Primordial Beast and then be executed. This way they could start their next move against Xiao Lei, and take some of his fame and power away from him.

    Xue Wei could not help but sigh as he stood in the cell he had been given, ncing about. He was still regretting his actions from before, but now everything was out of his hands. The only thing he could do was to wait and see what would happen.

 Chapter 93: Prison

    Xue Wei looked around the prison cell he had been given. It was almostpletely barren. A bit of old hay that smelled as if it had started to rot wasying on the hard ground.

    The entire prison was filled with criminals and deserters, yet the Fierce Beasts were held elsewhere.

    "So they group me with the humans," Xue Wei muttered with a wry smile. It seemed more and more likely that someone had started a conspiracy against his uncle rather than actually expecting him to be a Primordial Beast.

    Xue Wei found a ce on the ground with no hay and sat down. He had still not given up on surviving. He knew that his chances were slim, but he did not want to go down without a fight.

    Xue Wei spread his spiritual energy far and wide to grasp the prison¡¯s structuralposition. The cell he had been ced in was clearly made for Earth Warriors with a low amount of Spiritual Energy, because his senses easily prated the cell¡¯s mechanisms against the use of Spiritual Energy and started roaming the prison.

    He found that there were around a hundred prisoners within the range of his senses, and all of them were quiet and in the middle of cultivation.

    There were three guards that patrolled the area. They were Earth Warriors of the seventhyer. Their strength was not overwhelming by any means, because the prison overseers and the guards themselves were certain that no one would be able to escape the heavily armed doors.

    Xue Wei snickered when he noticed this and started to feel as if he might have a chance anyway.

    He located the first one of the guards andunched Mind Infestation. This attack let him easily enter the mind of the guard and find his weaknesses, his strengths, and it also allowed him to control the guard.

    Xue Wei was calm and collected. Although this was a life and death moment, he understood the importance of being calm and not overlooking a single detail. If he allowed his killing intent and the urge to battle to take over, it was certain that he would never exit the prison.

    The guard made his way towards Xue Wei¡¯s cell. He fiddled with his keys as Xue Wei went through the memories of this guard to figure out which key it was that he had to use.

    This guard was informed Xue Wei was assumed to be a Primordial Beast. He had trustedpletely in the information he had been given.

    Xue Wei snorted. He thenpelled the guard to move closer to his cell while at the same time observing the surroundings for any guards that might end up walking in on the scene.

    Xue Wei made the guard open the cell. He knocked the guard unconscious swiftly, without killing him, as he had enough issues already. Killing even a mere guard could only worsen it, not improve it.

    Since this was the case, Xue Wei used his Mind Infestation to make the guard fall unconscious for a few hours, and started sneaking around thebyrinth that was the prison.

    He had his spiritual energy spread all around him for the sake of noticing all the changes in the surrounding air. His every sense was heightened as he snuck around.

    The prison cells were all closed by massive doors that no one could look through, which caused the other criminals to be incapable of noticing this sneaking escapee.

    Had they seen him, they would have without a doubt called out and alerted the guards out of jealousy. All of them wished to escape, yet the only escape that was from this prison was death.

    Xue Wei snuck from one side to another in search of the entrance. The guards became more numerous the further he went, but Xue Wei knew that hiding in the shadows alone was not enough.

    As he reached the entrance, he saw that four guards were ced here, all of them at the ninthyer of the Earth Warrior rank.

    "Let us create some chaos then," Xue Wei mumbled to himself and found the keys he had taken from the unconscious guard. He then started unlocking one cell after another until at least a hundred prison cells were unlocked.

    Xue Wei did not open the doors; he just unlocked them. The loud clink could be heard by the prisoners, but they all assumed that it was a guard who was entering their cells with food or for some other reason, only to see that nothing happened.

    Xue Wei snuck back to the entrance and hid in the darkness of a corner, eyes narrowed, and waited for the chaos to ensue.

    Some prisoners were rather fast at exiting their cells. However, they did so with caution, while others stayed within their cells for longer.

    Xue Wei was patient. He noticed how many of the experts exited the cells and snuck around like him in their attempt to escape. None of them were bold enough to walk in the middle of the hallways, and all of them hid themselves to the best of their ability.

    Although they hid themselves, there were a few people who were noticed, and suddenly a loud whistle sounded in the prison ward. "Prison break! someone has escaped their cells!"

    The moment the yell resounded, the four guards at the entrance of the prison exchanged nces. "The Primordial Beast!" they yelled in unison before they all, without double-checking their surroundings, rushed towards Xue Wei¡¯s cell.

    Xue Wei, who had been waiting for this could not help but snicker slightly. Things were going ording to n.

    While no one had taken the clothes he had been wearing, they had taken his bamboo hat and his bag filled with his herbs, money, and spare clothes.

    They had also taken his armor. While Xue Wei would miss these things, he was not about to start looking for them. Instead, he slipped to the side as soon as he exited the prison and hid in another shade of darkness.

    He did not move too far as he knew that reinforcements would arrive soon, and the further away he went the more likely he were to run into them.

    Hiding in the shadows close to the prison was risky, but it was also Xue Wei¡¯s only option. He could already hear the sound of running steps towards him, and he observed as Sky Warriors started entering the prison.

    Xue Wei nted five seeds of Mirage, after which he made all five of his copies rely on the Forbidden Rush movement technique to flee in different directions.

    They would continue existing as long as they had Qi to fuel them, and even if they ran to the center of the continent they would not copse.

    At the same time, they had a mental link to Xue Wei so he could sense them all the time, which allowed him to know whether or not they had been dispelled.

    Xue Wei stayed in his hiding ce and slowly started to climb the wall. He aimed toy on top of the prison. As long as no flying beasts came by, he would be safe.

    Just as he started climbing, he noticed that the first one of his clones had been captured. The clone had made it just outside of the pce before it was apprehended.

    Xue Wei could feel that the clone had not been killed. It had only been severely injured, and it was still capable of holding itself together. As such, it was clear that the person who had caught him had no intention of killing him.

    The second clone was caught in the middle of the Inner City. This one was treated the same way as the first and was also being moved back to the pce.

    One after one, the clones were captured and brought back, allowing Xue Wei to understand that the entire capital was on high alert. It was impossible to escape as things were now.

    All Xue Wei could do wasy low, and hope that he would be able to leave after some time.

    He managed to climb to the top of the prison and saw that everyone else was bringing the five Seeds of Mirage clones towards another prison, the prison for Fierce Beasts.

    Xue Wei could not understand what they said to the copies. He could sense them, and they could sense him, but their connection was not strong enough to exchange sensory information so that he could see and hear what they could see and hear.

    Xue Weiidpletely still while on the roof of the prison. He did not move at all; his senses were still heightened to their limits; and he caught whiffs of conversations whenever someone passed by below.

    "We don¡¯t know how he escaped."

    "He is to be ced together with the Fierce Beasts for now. The security there is much better."

    "I heard that it was the Tie family that caught him."

    "It was the Long family that found him."

    "What are you talking about? It is the Wang family that captured him."

    The discussion continued about who had captured Xue Wei even as the guards left the range of his senses.

    "I hear he is a Primordial Beast, but why did he not just transform and break his way out of the prison instead of relying on schemes and his wits to trick everyone?"

    "You know nothing. If he made such a ruckus, he would have been caught instantly."

    "I hear that he has already been caught though, so it does not make much of a difference."

    Again, they walked out of the reach of Xue Wei¡¯s hearing. In this manner, Xue Wei waited for a few moments before the entire castle was in an uproar.

    "There are five Xue Weis!" someone came running from far away and told the guards at the Earth Warrior prison. "The Tie, Long, Su, Wang, and Xiao families all caught a Xue Wei lookalike and were immensely proud of themselves as they marched towards the Beast Cage to lock him up," the one who hade running was speaking with a hushed voice as he looked at the guards guarding the entrance.

    "The first ones to arrive were the Long family. They were all high and mighty while presenting a beaten up Xue Wei, and demanded that he was kept securely in the future."

    "Then the Tie family came and disyed another beaten up version,"

    he snickered, "then came Su, Wang, and Xiao families with the same beaten up version. All of them werepletely stumped for words and filled with disbelief when they saw the beaten Xue Wei that the others disyed."

    "We don¡¯t know how many copies there are of Xue Wei, neither do we know if we have caught the right version," the guy continued to say.

    "What we do know is that things have gone horribly wrong. Also, the Outer City is starting to gather in groups that are demanding Xue Wei¡¯s release."

    "They im it is a conspiracy to get rid of Xiao Lei, and they demand justice and a fair trial."

    "A few people from the Inner City have even joined them, and ¨C just between us ¨C I heard the manager of the Golden Chambers of the capital requested an audience with the King. I can only guess it was on behalf of this guy."

    "He isn¡¯t a Primordial Beast?" One of the guards asked in shock, and the one who hade running shrugged his shoulders. "I don¡¯t know, but there is some reason behind what themoners are saying. Either way, there will be a riot soon, so prepare in advance. No matter who is right or wrong, we follow orders. So what if an innocent man gets killed? Innocent people die every day. I am sure the nobles have their ns, and if we wish to stay alive, we have to follow orders well."

    "Anyway, I need to run," the man said and ran away, leaving the guards to debate amongst themselves.

    Xue Wei, who was on top of the prison and had heard everything, felt excited about hearing that the Outer City was preparing a revolution. If they caused enough chaos, then Xue Wei could use this opportunity to escape ¨C and hopefully escape together with Tie Haolong.

 Chapter 94: Sudden Changes

    Xue Wei was patientlyying on top of the Earth Warrior Prison and waited for the day toe to an end.

    He was a cultivator, soying in the same position for a long time was in no way a problem.

    There was no one flying in the sky, so Xue Wei was temporarily safe. He continued to listen to everything that was discussed by the guards below.

    Although he eavesdropped for a whole day, the subjects all revolved around the same things: Xue Wei¡¯s escape, Tie Haolong¡¯s execution, and the riot in Outer City.

    After a few hours, Xue Wei realized that it was impossible for him to get more information from these guards, but he could not move so he just listened to what was being said.

    Sometimes, a few experts appeared with news about the Xue Weis that had been captured.

    The five versions of Xue Wei had been trapped in one cage each. These cages were different from the cells of the prison as in they were literally massive cages made from ck gold. They were impossible to break as they would restore themselves every time they were damaged, and it was possible to see through into the cages to observe the ones trapped within.

    A group of Sky Warriors had been ced around the cages to observe the group of copies, waiting for them to dissipate so that they could find out whoever was the original copy.

    Unfortunately for the Sky Warriors, these copies were unresponsive and did not use any of their Qi, resulting in them being capable of remaining intact for a few years before they would dissipate.

    Night descended, and the guards were changed. Xue Wei climbed to the back of the prison and began climbing down.

    The city was still in chaos. Nobles were searching everywhere for Xue Wei or more of his copies, but to no avail.

    Xue Wei, on the other hand, was moving in the shadows. He was extra cautious and alert. Unfortunately, he quickly found that the Inner City was filled with search parties in every corner, and the entrance and exit to the Outer City was closed down.

    It was clear that the entire Capital was on lockdown. People were searching far and wide, but Xue Wei was confused as to why no one was using Spiritual Energy to search for him.

    "Is the center of the continent really that much more developed than the Kingdom of Heping?" Xue Wei muttered to himself.

    "I had not heard about Spiritual Energy before, but Prophet Lan taught me how to use it. It is incredibly simple though," Xue Wei mused about how no one seemed to use their spiritual sense to search for him, and that the prisons had had no protection against the spiritual sense either.

    Was this truly something they only knew in the central countries?

    Xue Wei could not help but be surprised, but he found no other exnation. This discovery made him understand that Lan had truly helped him immensely.

    Although it was Lan who had taught him how to transform his arms into scaled monstrous arms, he never med the prophet. Instead, he med himself for not listening to the warning he had been given.

    It took him an hour to move fifty meters, and the night was breaking into dawn by that point. Xue Wei had not gotten far. His heart started beating fast; would he make it to a safe location before the light returned and everyone would notice him?

    Suddenly, a loud screech sounded not far away from Xue Wei, and he hurriedly tried to hide, when he saw that the Lightning sparrow appeared in the sky.

    It had arrived without any prior notice and the speed with which it moved was so fast that when the people noticed it, it had already reached Xue Wei.

    Once again, the ws gently grabbed Xue Wei. When it swept him up in its firm grip, the sparrow pped its wings so fast that thunder rumbled in the sky. It sped far into the sky in an instant, towards the forest outside the city.

    They soared through the air, their speed so fast that no one could catch up to them.

    Xue Wei and the sparrow did not stop before they were at a mountain deep in the forest outside the capital.

    The birdnded on the ground after releasing Xue Wei and chirped happily.

    "You saved me again?" Xue Wei was perplexed. The thread of karma that connected them had already been undone, so it was acting out of kindness this time.

    The bird nodded its head in a human way.

    "Tell me, can you do me one more favor?" Xue Wei asked tentatively. Although he did not wish to ask for assistance from someone else, he knew that he definitely needed this beast¡¯s support if he wanted to seed in his uing endeavors.

    The bird cocked its head for a bit as if it did not fully understand what Xue Wei had asked of it. It chirped a little as it looked at him.

    "Can you help me?" Xue Wei asked, and the bird suddenly seemed to understand him. It pped its wings happily and chirped in a cheerful voice.

    "In a few days, I need us to return to the capital," Xue Wei continued. "The big group of houses," he added when he saw a doubtful expression on the eyes of the bird.

    "A friend of mine is going to be executed. I need to save him. Can you help me?"

    The bird nodded its head solemnly; it was no longer cheerful but instead serious.

    The day was bright as the two sat next to one another on the mountaintop and Xue Wei spoke of the ns to save Tie Haolong. The bird would chirp twice whenever it understood what was being said, and once when it was confused as to what exactly Xue Wei was exining.

    Although only Xue Wei was capable of speaking, the bird had a very high intellect, and it was capable of making itself understood.

    Xue Wei and the bird nned all day long., As the time passed, it was soon evening. They were looking at one another as one would at a friend, and the racial differences did not divide them.

    "There are another seven days before it is time for Tie Haolong to stand trial," Xue Wei muttered, "but there is a chance that they will do it sooner rather thanter since they want to lure me out."

    "So far, my copies from the Seed of Mirage are still active and sitting like good boys in their cages, but I think they have understood that the five copies are just that, copies."

    "Since that is the case, they have to do what they can to lure the real one out, and their best bait is without a doubt Tie Haolong."

    Xue Wei was partly speaking to himself, partly to the Lightning Sparrow.

    He sighed. "I can¡¯t just return to the capital like that," hemented. "After thest time, they are sure to have tightened the security. Trying to enter will mean that I will be caught."

    The bird chirped happily and suddenly its massive size shrunk to that of a small bird, simr in size to the mortal beast the ck Bird.

    Although the color of its feathers was still brilliant and blue, it was easy to mistake it for a bird you would often see in the gardens.

    The bird used a wing to point at itself, and Xue Wei looked at it with astonishment.

    "You will do the scouting?" he asked, and it nodded its head happily.

    "You are doing a whole lot for me," he continued, and although the reaction was hard to read, Xue Wei could have sworn that the bird shrugged its shoulders.

    "Oh well, if you can get information on the date for Tie Haolong¡¯s execution, then I will be incredibly grateful," he said. Although Xue Wei was not eager to take the help from others, he knew that he could not afford to be picky when it came to the life of a friend of his.

    To save Tie Haolong, he would be willing to do almost anything. It was also rewarding to have a beast in the Heavenly Warrior rank assisting him.

    Xue Wei was left behind as the bird shot out from the mountainside, heading towards the capital with speed so fast that it had already vanished from sight within a moment.

    Being alone, Xue Wei decided to cultivate. He knew that it could take some time to get some information, so instead of worrying needlessly he decided to spend his time cultivating. Worrying would do him no good anyway.

    As to how much time had passed before the sparrow returned, Xue Wei had no idea.

    Xue Wei quickly turned serious when he saw the Lightning Sparrow in front of him. It had flown at its highest speed, and its eyes disyed worry and urgency.

    "The execution is starting soon?" Xue Wei could guess what was happening just from looking at the sparrow, which nodded its head vigorously.

    "Let us go!" he eximed, and instead of being grabbed by the ws of the sparrow, he jumped onto the back of it after it returned to its original size. Together, the two soared through the sky in a hurry towards the capital.

    They made their way to the capital, and they could sense it seething with energy. They flew high in the sky so as to not be noticed and to see what was going on underneath them.

    The Outer City was eerily quiet on this day, and the closer they got to the Inner City the more puzzled Xue Wei became. Groups of Outer City citizens had gathered in groups and were throwing stones at the Inner City castle walls. They even engaged in tussles with the guards that they saw.

    The Inner City gates were closed even though it was in the middle of the day, and groups of Outer City citizens were trying to break through the gates, all of them roaring and screaming while fighting with all their might.

    The guards were doing their best to knock them down; they dared not kill too many as it could spark a true revolution instead of the current small-scale riot.

    Xue Wei and the Lightning Sparrow easily passed the wall to the Inner City and observed this ce with caution and hesitation.

    The Inner City was in turmoil. Some experts were here and caused problems, but the majority were all moving towards the central square that was right outside the pce.

    "So that¡¯s where they will execute him," Xue Wei mused. "We will fight in the sky first," Xue Wei decided. As they closed in on the square, they saw three experts flying in the air, all on Fierce Beasts equivalent to the Heavenly Warrior rank.

    These three experts paid no special attention to Xue Wei. They knew that to have a flying Fierce Beast one usually needed to be a Primordial Beast Hunter, and when they saw it was the lightning Sparrow, they already had determined who it was.

    Xue Wei and the Lightning Sparrow were so high in the sky that the others could not make out his size or appearance.

    The original owner of the Lightning Sparrow had not dared to tell anyone that his beast had regained its freedom out of sheer shame, so none of the ones present were informed of it.

    The lightning sparrow casually pped its wings and hovered in the sky, far above the others, as Xue Wei looked down on the stage. No one was there yet, but it would not take long before they would bring Tie Haolong out. When that time came, Xue Wei would save him!

    Xue Wei felt nervous. As he looked down, he saw multiple experts of various strength, but there were quite a few Heavenly Warriors. Although the Lightning Sparrow had simr strength, it was impossible to go up against this many alone. They had to rely on the Lightning Sparrow¡¯s superior speed if they wanted to seed!

 Chapter 95: Escape

    Time went by slowly. Xue Wei was nervous and ufortable. So far, he had been okay because no one hade to contact him, but if any of the other Primordial Beast Hunters felt like chatting with him, then his cover would be blown, and he would be incapable of saving Tie Haolong. In fact, he might not even be capable of protecting himself.

    The Lightning Sparrow was also nervous; Xue Wei could feel that its body was tense and that it kept observing everything around them lest someone sneaked up on them.

    The time was slowly going by. Only when the sun was high in the sky did some activity begin on the stage.

    A group ofw enforcers moved onto the stage, followed by an executioner and two guards that dragged Tie Haolong with them.

    Tie Haolong held his head high. He walked without hesitation; he looked at everyone present with eyes ming with anger.

    He said nothing. He just walked forward, walked towards the ce where he was forced to kneel.

    A judge appeared on the stage and lifted a scroll from which he read out loud, "Tie Haolong, disowned by the Tie family and judged guilty in colluding with a Primordial Beast, you are at this moment sentenced to death!"

    Tie Haolong said nothing, but his eyes were zing with anger. It was clear that he was not reconciled with what was happening to him, but he also understood that speaking with them was simply a waste of time. He could do nothing, but he would at least go down with dignity.

    Xue Wei¡¯s eyes narrowed. "Not yet," he whispered as he saw how Tie Haolong kneeled in front of the executioner.

    Everyone was quiet. All eyes were on Tie Haolong, and that was when Xue Wei struck. "Now!" he eximed, and the Lightning Sparrow shot down with such speed that thunder rumbled in the sky, and no one was prepared for it.

    The Lightning Sparrow reached out with its w and grabbed Tie Haolong within it before it beat its wings a few times and took to the sky again.

    No one noticed what had happened before it was toote and the Lightning Sparrow was in the air with Tie Haolong hanging from the w.

    "You are not going past here!" someone screamed, and Xue Wei looked up only to find that their escape route had been blocked by three flying Fierce Beasts and their owners, the Heavenly Warrior Primordial Beast Hunters.

    They had not wasted any time, their palms already sending attacks towards Xue Wei and the Lightning Sparrow, but fortunately he had the Lightning Sparrow which excelled at agility. It managed to barely dodge all the attacks, but it was not easy as the Lightning sparrow was one against three and it was carrying two people.

    "Surrender, criminal!" someone yelled as he descended to attack Xue Wei and Tie Haolong again.

    Down on the ground, the onlookers watched with bated breaths. They had finally understood what had happened, but it was toote for them to respond.

    Now, the only ones standing in between Tie Haolong and Xue Wei¡¯s escape path were three Heavenly Warriors and their Fierce Beasts.

    Although the tamed beasts only had the strength of Sky Warriors, they were three against one, and they had surrounded them.

    Attacks were raining down on them, all of which belonged to the Superior category. The shockwaves of the attacks, although they did not hit them, caused both Xue Wei and Tie Haolong to turn pale.

    The Lightning Sparrow was hit by a palm strike from behind and was shot far into the sky, but it kept hold of Tie Haolong, and Xue Wei kept his bnce. The bird screeched, and suddenly wind started surging in the area.

    Big, ck clouds appeared in the sky, and a dangerous rumbling of thunder appeared. The lightning within the clouds descended with a p and struck towards the experts, but they managed to fend it off fairly easily.

    The Lightning Sparrow had a few attacks it could use, but right now its talons were upied by Tie Haolong, so it had to use the most lethal but also the most energy consuming attack it had.

    It had summoned a lightning storm, and although the experts managed to easily fend off the first couple of lightning bolts, they continued to descend and interrupt and harass the three Primordial Beast Hunters.

    The Lightning Sparrow was injured. It had been heavily injured by the attack that hadnded on it, as its defenses were very weak.

    Xue Wei knew that the Lightning Sparrow was wounded, and his heart sank. It would be able to fly, but not at its highest speed. It would not be able to flee at a rapid pace. All it needed to do to escape was give up Xue Wei and Tie Haolong.

    But the bird chirped lowly with a voice that was filled with resolution. Although Xue Wei could not understand the Lightning Sparrow¡¯s words, he could sense the determination and the decision that this sparrow had made. Either they made it to safety, or they died together!

    The sparrow suddenly threw Tie Haolong into the air, shocking everyone present, including Xue Wei, but then it turned into a blur and caught him on its back. Xue Wei grabbed him reflexively, and the sparrow began their escape anew.

    "Hey," Xue Wei said calmly after grabbing ahold of Tie Haolong.

    "Hey," Tie Haolong responded, perplexed at what had happened to him. Everything had happened so fast. He had epted the fact that he would die on this day, and he did not regret his decision at all, as he was proud of having done what he felt was right.

    His family had done nothing to try and get him released. In fact, they had disowned him the very moment they heard about the rumor, leaving him to fend for himself, and he had lost all hope of salvation. Yet here he was, on the back of a Lightning Sparrow with Xue Wei, who had risked his own life to prate into the middle of the city to save him.

    Tie Haolong did not speak any words of gratitude; he just kept the gratitude in his heart. This man had saved him, and he had given him a chance to live on. This life was granted to him by Xue Wei, and thus he was willing to start from scratch somewhere else.

    That was the genuine thoughts that went through Tie Haolong¡¯s mind when he looked at Xue Wei.

    The three, two men and one beast, were all nervous as they saw the three Heavenly Warriors on their flying beasts closing in on them.

    "Escape! No need to stay here any longer!" Xue Wei shouted. Meanwhile, on the ground, a group of experts started rioting.

    "Young Hero Xue Wei, we believe in you!" someone yelled out loud.

    After this yell, more and more threw themselves into the battle. At the same time, arge group of experts from the gates of the Inner City emerged. It was clear that all of them hade from the Outer City. They had managed to break through the gates and were now flooding the area, ready to fight for what they believed in.

    They did not fight because they liked Xue Wei. In fact, Xue Wei was not important, but Xiao Lei was, and everyone was of the impression that he was being framed.

    They wanted to protect the hero of humankind, the man who had grown from being a simple cultivator in the Kingdom of Heping to be the biggest hero of all time.

    They were willing to throw their lives away for him, as he was someone who had saved them multiple times.

    All of them were veteran soldiers, and they had all experienced multiple perils, of which many survived only because Xiao Lei hade to their rescue.

    He had not saved every single person in the Kingdom of Heping, but he had saved many, far more than any other, and tales of his exploits had reached others, making them respect and revere this hero who took the time to save battalions of soldiers whenever he happened to be there.

    Moving against him was the same as moving against the citizens of the kingdom, and thus their eyes were filled with rage as they all threw themselves at the guards andw enforcers that they found around the stage.

    Although a big battle began on the ground, no one were in the mindset of killing one another. The rioting experts just wished to trash thew enforcers and the guards to show them their opinion about the matter, and thew enforcers were aware that if they started wantonly killing the citizens, then it was likely to turn into a revolution.

    While the two groups fought on the ground, Xue Wei, Tie Haolong, and the Lightning Sparrow were being thrashed around in the air. The Lightning Sparrow was constantly evading attack after attack, using its acute senses to ensure that they were still not defeated, yet it was weaker than the three Heavenly Warrior Primordial Beast Hunters. It was starting to feel weakened.

    Xue Wei and Tie Haolong looked at one another. They saw no hesitation in each other¡¯s eyes, and they even grinned slightly.

    "Let us rush out!" Xue Wei said after a bit of time and poured all his energy into the Lightning Sparrow beneath him, trying to replenish what little he could of its energy reserves.

    Tie Haolong did not waste any time and did the same, both of them aware that the energy that they could offer was very little when it came to a Fierce Beast, but it was better than nothing, and the Lightning sparrow¡¯s speed started picking up again.

    The sparrow suddenly darted through a small hole in the encirclement of the three experts, and the three of them flew towards safety.

    Unfortunately, the Heavenly Warriors were very experienced when it came to such pursuits and at the very moment that Xue Wei and the Lightning Sparrow shot out, a palm descended onto Xue Wei.

    It was impossible for Xue Wei to move in time, there was simply too little space for him to move. If he did move, the attack wouldnd on Tie Haolong, and neither could possibly survive such a blow head-on. This was a Heavenly Warrior they were up against.

    Right then, Xue Wei had decided to take the hit, using all of his Qi to form a barrier in front of him, However, before he could react, he felt someone pull his shoulder backward, tossing him down onto the back of the bird so that he ended upying down on his elbows rather than standing up.

    "Idiot!" Tie Haolong sneered. Everything was in slow-motion for Xue Wei. He fell so fast that he could not move, yet the thing that happened in front of his eyes took forever.

    The palmstrike descended onto Tie Haolong, causing his chest to cave inwards. Blood gushed out of his mouth and he copsed onto the back of the bird.

    Although it looked as if it took forever to Xue Wei, it had in fact all happened in an instant as the Lightning Sparrow shot past the other Heavenly Warrior.

    They had left the pincer attack and were now free to flee, but a sad chirp could be hearding from the bird as they flew at a rapid speed towards the mountains again.

    While they flew, Xue Wei quickly rolled the crumbled up Tie Haolong onto his back, only to see that his chest had been destroyed. His ribcage had been shattered, and his heart was punctured by the many splinters.

    "No!" Xue Wei felt his eyes moisten and a low growl escaped his lips. "This can¡¯t be true! We escaped, you will survive!" he growled out, partially to convince himself.

    "I... am going to die," Tie Haolong said with much difficulty and with a raspy voice. "I am... jealous of you... But I admire you..."

    "Thank you... You made me feel like I was worth something... You came to save me..."

    "I once said that I would make you call me your brother," Tie Haolong said with much effort, after which he coughed up more blood, "but I guess it is toote for that."

    Xue Wei shook his head soundlessly as tears fell from his eyes. "You are my brother," he stated seriously with a sob, "and as your brother, I will make sure to avenge you!"

    A slim smile appeared on Tie Haolong¡¯s face and he seemed content. "Thank... you..." he said before his eyes turned dim and his body limp. However, even in death, Tie Haolong held a gratified smile on his lips.

 Chapter 96: Departure

    A roar split the heavens as Xue Wei let out his grief. It was heart-rending and filled with sorrow.

    Xue Wei did not have many friends, and Tie Haolong was someone he considered an equal. Tie Haolong had tried to save him. He had been someone who had managed to tear down the walls of Xue Wei¡¯s heart despite the short time they had known each other.

    Xue Wei felt a gaping pain in his chest; he had never before experienced a loss of such magnitude, and although he had lost his parents at an early age, he had no recollections of it, which did not hurt as much as this did. Ignorance was bliss, after all.

    Xue Wei cried. He was filled with agony, and the Lightning Sparrow was also crying by his side. Although the Lightning Sparrow did not know Tie Haolong, it could feel the grief in Xue Wei and reacted to this.

    While the two, sparrow and young man, were lost in their sorrow of losing Tie Haolong, the capital was in an uproar.

    The flying Primordial Beast Hunters tried to track down Xue Wei, but they could not do so. It was impossible to find them, no matter how much they searched.

    All of them were aware that the Lightning Sparrow was incredibly fast. If it flew for a few days, it would be impossible for them to catch up. Due to this, they were searching half-heartedly.

    The city itself was turned upside down by the brawl between the Outer City¡¯s and the Inner City¡¯s citizens.

    The pce guards were sent out to subdue the unruly bunch, and more than a thousand experts were sent to the prisons to cool down. Although the royalty was unhappy with the reaction these people had had, they dared not risk a revolution, and thus everyone was released again shortly after daybreak the following day.

    Originally, the nobles had been split into two factions, one that had protected Xue Wei and defended his case, and another that was against him, iming him to be a Primordial Beast or a beast aplice.

    Now that Xue Wei had appeared on the back of a Fierce Beast, the group who had previously protected him was quite hesitant. The ones who had been against him were now voicing their concerns even louder than before, and even the capital that previously had revolted started to waver.

    Was this child truly a Primordial Beast? How was it possible for him tomand a Fierce Beast if he was not? It was clear that he was not a Diviner, so how had he gotten his hands on this famous Lightning Sparrow that every beast hunter knew was the property of someone else?

    Everyone was worried and started to second-guess themselves and their actions. Had all of them been blinded by their respect for Xiao Lei and had the prosecutor been right all along?

    Soon, as the facts started to dawn on everyone, the kingdom was once again united. All of them were of the impression that Xue Wei had been a traitor nted by the Primordial Beasts that had abused Xiao Lei and his kindness.

    After a few days, the ones who had initiated the riot were now the ones who were proiming their hate for Xue Wei.

    The rumors about someone nning to execute Xue Wei for the sake of besmirching Xiao Lei¡¯s public image was quickly left alone. No one spoke about it any longer, and everyone involved, although still reverent of Xiao Lei, could not help but sigh at how he had been tricked by the Primordial Beasts.

    After a few days, apany of a hundred experts was gathered in the pce. They weremanded by Captain Yuan Chao.

    "Your task will be simple. All of you will chase down the traitor that goes under the name Xue Wei. He is to be killed on sight. He is to be executed with no questions asked."

    "Your mission might take years. It might take you out of the familiar settings of the Heping Kingdom, but never forget, you are hunting him because he is a Primordial Beast or an associate of the Primordial Beasts. He is our enemy, and he has caused serious damage to our kingdom. We need him dead!"

    "Do not return before he has died."

    These were Yuan Chao¡¯s orders, and hispany of hundred men all nodded their heads in unison and called out, "Understood!"

    All of these men were all experts that had long since reached the Earth or Sky Warrior rank. All of them had long since finished their ten years in the army, but they had decided to stay there to make a career for themselves.

    Thispany was one of the strongestpanies that the Kingdom of Heping had avable. Only a few were stronger, as thispany consisted mainly of Sky Warriors.

    The day following that, the group left the capital and set out towards the direction that they had seen the Lightning Sparrow fly with Xue Wei and Tie Haolong.

    Meanwhile, Xue Wei burned Tie Haolong. He gathered his ashes and was at a loss for what he should do with them.

    Should he scatter them on the mountain top? Should he scatter them over the capital? What was the right decision? He simply did not know, but after considering it for some time, he buried his ashes at the location where he had called him his brother.

    "We became family here, so although it is not the greatest memories, it is one I will never forget," Xue Wei muttered to himself.

    "I will have to leave the Kingdom of Heping soon, but I swear to you that one day I will return. And when I do, I will ensure that they all pay back for what they did to you!"

    Xue Wei said, his words heartfelt. He truly wished for Tie Haolong to hear him, but he knew that Tie Haolong had long since entered the circle of reincarnation. He would never hear Xue Wei¡¯s voice again.

    Sighing, Xue Wei looked at the Lightning Sparrow. "This is where our roads will part ways," Xue Wei said as he gently patted the Lightning Sparrow¡¯s head. "If I travel with you, I will be easy to notice. Also you have done so much for me already, so it is only fair that you finally get to enjoy your new-found freedom."

    The Lightning Sparrow chirped with a bit of sadness, but its eyes were resolute and it nodded its head.

    After this, it spread its wings and swept up to the sky, screeching out loud before it vanished into the distance. It was gone in a blink of an eye, leaving Xue Wei all alone.

    Far away, in an unknown dark ce, Xiao Lei was sitting in a lotus position, slowly inhaling and exhaling, trying his best to calm himself.

    While the room wasvish, there was an unmistakable heavy atmosphere around him, and it was clear that he was not there because he wished to be so.

    He was focused on cultivating and increasing his strength when suddenly aughter erupted in the room and an alluring woman with silver hair appeared in the doorway.

    "Well, you seem to be spending the time leisurely!" she said. Hepletely ignored her, continuing to cultivate.

    "I saw your little toy not so long ago," she continued, and this time her words caused a reaction. Xiao Lei was still quiet, but he opened an eye and nced at her with a bone-chilling gaze.

    This did not seem to faze her though, as she continued. "There is this rumor that he has a rtionship with that phony prophet," she continued. To this, Xiao Lei¡¯s eyes widened slightly.

    "Don¡¯t worry, I already checked. He is still useable for us, so who cares what rtionship he has with that old man."

    "Anyways, I managed to cut him, I framed him, and now he is being hunted down for being a Primordial Beast. You should have seen them," she startedughing.

    "I am not really sure if he is still alive though," she seemed to be pondering something, "I made sure he lost a whole lot of blood, and then I dropped him from a high altitude. Even if he is still alive, he will have lost at least ayer of skin, if not two or three."

    Xiao Lei¡¯s eyes were alit with anger. Before the woman had time to react, he turned into a blur and appeared in front of her, arm raised. A t hand ced a p right on her cheek, sending her flying into the room, so far that she mmed into the wall. When she fell to the ground, her entire face was swollen.

    "Touch him again, and you will die," Xiao Lei said with a dangerously low voice, but Chu Huiyin, who had a hand on her cheek, could not help butugh as she spat out blood.

    "You are a captive! Primordial Beast Hunter Xiao Lei, do you think that you would have been able to aplish what you have without our help? Now it is time to pay back, and you stay like a good boy within this camber until we allow you toe out again."

    It was clear that Chu Huiyin was having fun, but although she spoke as such, her eyes were darting from side to side, showing fear in her expression.

    Xiao Lei snorted. "You think that you guys are enough to defeat me?"

    "I am here because of our deal. I will honor my part, you will honor yours."

    "But if I hear that any of you have killed him, then I will kill you all ¨C and don¡¯t question me, you know I am capable of doing so."

    When Xiao Lei threatened Chu Huiyin, her body shivered uncontrobly. She had an urge to throw herself prostrate on the ground, seeking to do nothing but admit her wrongdoings and beg for forgiveness.

    Trembling, Chu Huiyin decided to escape the room. She fled with her tail between her legs.

    Xiao Lei snickered when he saw her leave. "I know you hate him more than anyone else in this world, but I will not let anyoney a hand on him. Even if he will hate me in the future, I will do what I can to keep him safe. I cannot afford to let him be the enemy of both humans and Primordial Beasts."

 Chapter 97: Condemning the Heavens

    The sun shone brightly in the sky above. The sound of animals was ever present in the forest. Mortal birds were chirping, and a mortal deer fearfully advanced through the dense thicket in fear of arousing the attention of a Fierce Beast or a human.

    Suddenly, this lively forest turned deadly silent. The birds dared not chirp, and the deer dared not move.

    It was as if a predator had started to move within the ecosystem; the entire area was silent, yet the animals still dared not move.

    Finally, the sound of rustling appeared, after which a young man stepped out from behind a dense cluster of branches and bushes.

    This young man was wearing tattered red clothes that had seen better days. Although his clothes were made from Fierce Beast silk, they were clearly worn down from extensive travel through deste and difficult areas.

    He had worn his clothes when the beast horde attacked back in the Kingdom of Heping¡¯s capital. They had been worn when the Ice Harpy had dragged him away, which left behind gaping holes by his shoulders.

    These clothes had been worn when he was in prison andter on when he was escaping. He had worn them when he went to save Tie Haolong and when heter fled the battle. He had even worn those same clothes while cremating Tie Haolong.

    Xue Wei had long since wanted to change them, but he knew that it was too risky for him to enter a vige or city. He was simply too easy to recognize, and he knew that there would be someone chasing him.

    Because of this, he had traveled in deserted areas. In ces filled with beasts and no humans.

    Along the way, he found out that the beasts went silent and tried to hide their presence whenever he came by; even the Fierce Beasts tried to dig themselves into a hole, so although Xue Wei was traveling through extremely dangerous areas, he did not encounter any difficulties in the form of having to fight beasts.

    As he came out of the forest, he found that a small vige was present in front of him. Contemting for some time, Xue Wei wondered what his ns were.

    "I wish to visit Lingyun Town," Xue Wei pondered. "I know that it will be incredibly dangerous and also a little stupid to go since I am likely to be chased and captured. Still, something is calling for me. If I do not go, this unrest will never leave my body."

    "As to what I can do after visiting Lingyun town, I guess I will decide by then."

    "I guess one option is to enter the center of the continent and visit Lan... but at the same time, this seems rather risky too. I have no intention to follow Lan, which means his incentive to assist me will drop drastically. At the same time, everyone in the Kingdom of Heping knows about my rtionship with Lan; if they can¡¯t find me any other way, then they will move towards the center of the continent. I highly doubt that they will let me be."

    "In that case, finding him might be as dangerous as going towards Lingyun town. Also, I cannot forget that I am currently marked as a criminal, someone who is colluding with Primordial Beasts."

    "Although Lan is strong, and although he has a group of supporters, the truth is that every strong man will have strong opposition. If rumorse out about Lan supporting someone who might be a Primordial Beast, he will be put in a tough spot. He will be forced to deliver me to the government."

    Xue Wei pondered deeply, and then he sighed. "I want to kill Chu Huiyin. She has caused much trouble for me; she has framed me and taken everything I wanted away from me. It is only fair that I return the favor, but to do so I need to be incredibly strong."

    "But Chu Huiyin is not the only thing I care about," Xue Wei said, his eyes turning serious and his lips tightening to a straight line. "I need to avenge Tie Haolong. I cannot ept that he sacrificed himself for me so that I could escape, only to be left unavenged."

    "Until I get revenge for Tie Haolong ¨C and revenge for myself ¨C I will not allow anyone to stop or capture me."

    Xue Wei was chatting to himself, his eyes which had been slightly lost were now focused. His determination was strong. They wanted to destroy his life? They will see how he takes his revenge on them, see how he kills them all!

    They wanted to condemn him? See how he condemns the world. See how he condemns the heavens!

    A slow fire started burning inside Xue Wei. He felt energized ¨C he felt strong enough to be able to stand against the entire world if need be.

    Xue Wei once more nced at the vige in front of him before he merged back into the forest. He waited for the night to fall.

    These citizens were all farmers. Although they had previously been cultivators, none of them had been talented. They were very well aware of the fact that if they went to do work as mercenaries or soldiers, they would die.

    Instead, they had settled as farmers. Some grew medicinal herbs, while others grew more mundane crops necessary for their livelihood.

    Xue Wei watched as the men and women returned from their fields once it was dusk and entered their small homes.

    Clothes were washed and hung outside to dry in the gentle summer breeze, and Xue Wei waited until all lights were turned off and all of the vigers had gone to sleep.

    It was at this time that he snuck into the vige and swiped some clothes that he could fit in.

    Although these clothes were made of ordinary beast fabrics rather than the Fierce Beast silk his own were made of, they were clean and soft on the skin.

    They also made it possible for Xue Wei to almost blend in as amoner.

    All men his age were in the army, even the ones a year younger than him had just entered the recruitment camp, so seeing a young man travel the roads usually meant he was a deserter or on a mission.

    In such a situation, Xue Wei would still stick out like a sore thumb when he was traveling in the crowded areas, and he understood that it was better to avoid them as much as possible.

    Unfortunately, as he traveled further and further north, it was impossible topletely avoid areas inhabited by humans, and Xue Wei, who thought that he could never be too cautious, created a bamboo hat he wore on his head.

    His sleeves were long and reached past to cover his hands. The bamboo hat cast an obscuring shade over his face, and he was tall enough to seem like an average adult despite having yet to finish his growth spurt.

    He was lean of build, and although he had some muscles, one could see that it belonged to a youth. Fortunately for Xue Wei, his baggy robes were more than enough to hide that.

    Xue Wei could feel his heart hammering away in his chest as he reached the end of the animal trail he had been traversing.

    This trail ended as it connected to a road that crossed through the forest. Although the road seemed somewhat empty at the moment, Xue Wei could sense and see on the many trails that were evident on the road itself that it was well used.

    Taking this path would make it possible for Xue Wei to reach the Northern Territory sooner than if he continued to travel through the wilnds, but he also understood that with this speedy travel came more dangers in the form of random encounters, possibly with hostile forces.

    If it were just normal soldiers that were after Xue Wei, he did not fear them too much. However, if they were Primordial Beast Hunters, then he was in for a lot of trouble.

    Xue Wei understood that he had yed it safe for around two weeks now, traveling in areas vacant of human presence. And although he had avoided danger by doing so, he had also lost a lot of information about what had been going on in the rest of the kingdom.

    Xue Wei was torn, but then he shook his head, and his eyes turned ruthless. "I won¡¯t gain anything if I do not risk something as well," he mumbled to himself with conviction evident in every single word.

    "I will avoid the bigger cities, but the smaller ones I can enter," he decided.

    "I have no money... they took all my items when I was captured, but I can still listen to conversations from the shadows."

    Xue Wei had made a decision, and he saw no reason to waste any time. He was close to the Northern Territory by now, and he could feel the excitement grow with each step he took.

    The road towards a small vige meant that Xue Wei once more had to enter the world of humans once more.

    As he did, his worry about being penniless was quickly addressed. He had to walk through a small canyon. This canyon looked peaceful and average from the outside, yet when Xue Wei entered he soon found that it was anything but that.

    Here, he encountered more than one life-and-death situation. He was forced to flee at times, and forced to rely on his bloodlust at other times.

    Finally, when he came out on the other side, he had gained the possessions of three bandits. Although it had not made him rich, he had earned enough money to be able to enter an inn and ask for a simple meal once in a while. This would make information gathering much simpler.

    He had also managed to get a few different sets of clothes that he changed into. And although his bamboo hat had been damaged, he quickly made a new one.

    The canyon had taught Xue Wei to always be on guard. While the canyon itself gave off a simple and beautiful image, danger had lurked around every corner, and it was only now that he understood just how threatening the outside world was. And he¡¯d only begun exploring the depths of the Kingdom of Heping, a backend kingdom that others looked down upon for simply being too weak.

    Xue Wei walked down a dusty road. His ck clothes had long since been covered with a wholeyer of dust, and his hair swayed like tight ropes every time the wind passed by due to the dust that had settled in the long ck strands of hair that could be seen beneath the bamboo hat.

    Xue Wei wore simple ck shoes with nearly worn-down heels, and he could feel that he had walked for a long time before a small vige finally came into sight in the distance.

    Xue Wei had always lived in major cities such as Tiankong City and the capital, so when he saw the small town he was heading into, he looked around curiously before he got a grip on himself and slowly headed straight for the middle of town where the inn was located.

    The town was big enough to have an inn, and it also had various shops, but it was not big enough to be considered a city.

    Xue Wei walked straight into the inn where he found a table in the back. The lighting there was dim as it sat in the shadows and not many would notice it.

    It was early morning, and Xue Wei ordered some breakfast, paid for it together with a room, and leaned back, ready to listen in on the conversations of both patrons that frequented this inn and other travelers. He knew that it would take quite a long time before such visitors appeared, but he was hungry and wished to sit down for a bit.

    Despite being an inn in a small town, the staff were all experienced. Although the seat he had picked was inconspicuous and many would expect that it was an error, the truth was that it was there especially for those seeking information. Only those who wished not to be noticed and still gather information would sit in such a ce.

    Because of this, they did not even blink an eye when Xue Wei stayed seated even after finishing his meal.

 Chapter 98: Seed of Doubt

    The morning was slow in the small town. Some caravans and travelers passed through, but none of them stopped. It was clear that all of them wished to travel without rest until evening.

    Xue Wei was not in a rush. He ordered a few more dishes, paid with the small amounts of money that he had, and then slowly ate it. The food tasted great. For a long time, Xue Wei had been on the run and lived off whatever he had been able to acquire in the forests and on the ground. He had not even been able to eat meat as the beasts had avoided him like the gue.

    This had caused Xue Wei to starve. He had been eating root vegetables and other nts. He had eaten berries and fruits. Fortunately, it was in the middle of summer, so the wild was filled with these nts.

    Xue Wei was now eating meat for the first time in around a month. This was something he wished to savor, and he enjoyed eating it slowly without hurrying. Although he was on the run, he felt like a new person.

    He was silent while eating, but his mind was filled with thoughts of what he wanted to do, his eyes set with determination. The food kept invigorating him the more he ate.

    Although he was a wanted person, he stopped paying attention to anything and allowed for his mind to wander. Suddenly a light shone in his eyes. He started to feel that he had never felt this much alive before. He was right on the edge of life and death with every move he made.

    Deep in thought, the day turned to evening. More and more people filled up the inn, and many came from caravans that were transporting goods. Some were travelers traveling on their own, while the rest were mercenaries that were in smaller groups on their way to the dangerous regions to earn some money.

    These people loved gossiping, and many of them started talking with people from other groups in the hope of finding more information.

    "Have you heard about the hunting squad that the royal family has sent after the criminal?" someone suddenly asked, but the others scoffed at him. "Even the animals know about that. What about it?"

    "Well, we met the hunting squad!" the person who had spoken chortled, clearly very pleased with himself. "The hunting squad is specifically picked by His Highness the King to hunt down the criminal. As you know, most information about them has been quitecking, but if someone offers to buy me some wine, I will dly tell you all I know!"

    Xue Wei was about to jump in and offer him some wine when he realized that it would seem strange to do that. He forced himself to calm down and instead prayed that someone else would step in.

    Fortunately for Xue Wei, everyone was eager to hear these rumors. After a moment, three cups of wine had been ced in front of the loud-mouthed caravan guard.

    "Well, how to begin," the man took a deep gulp of the cup of wine and looked around with glistening eyes, clearly eager to tell what he knew.

    "The king himself found a hundred experts and asked them all to hunt down the criminal. These experts are eighty Sky Warriors and twenty Earth Warriors."

    "The captain is a Sky Warrior of the ninthyer. He is not to be underestimated."

    "We met them around two weeks ago. They were heading the same way as us in the beginning, so we traveled together, but suddenly they changed their direction."

    "They tried to locate the criminal in every vige and city we went through, but no one had seen him. I guess they assumed that he had stayed away from the main roads, and traveled in the wilderness all the way."

    "The captain is very well-known in the army; his name is Captain Yuan Chao. I got to know a little from him," the man continued to speak, and more and more cups of wine appeared on his table, all of the people wishing to hear him speak more. Even the inn itself offered a cup of wine on the house.

    Xue Wei listened intently as well. He could not help but grimace underneath the bamboo hat. He was being chased by eighty Sky Warriors, and the leader was a ninthyer Sky Warrior? Wasn¡¯t that almost the same as sending a Heavenly Warrior after him?

    At least from what he had understood, no one had been able to find his trail and follow him. Xue Wei understood on the other hand that this could also prove to be a dangerous thing for him. If they could not find him, then they would split up and go to the ces he was likely to visit.

    There were only a few ces he could go to, one of them being back to Tiankong City to seek shelter under Manager Su. Another would be the center of the continent and seek out Prophet Lan, while the final location would be Lingyun Town.

    These pursuers were not slow, and since this Yuan Chao was famous in the army, he could not be dumb either, so Xue Wei instantly assumed that when they suddenly broke up from the caravan, they had either split up into three groups, one heading for each location, or they had decided to gamble on one of them and left the other two up to fate.

    The man paused slightly. "We don¡¯t know more than that," he sighed. He was slightly tipsy from all the wine he had received, but he was also cheerful from having shared such delicious gossip with others.

    "I heard that he stole the Lightning Sparrow from one of the most esteemed Primordial Beast Hunters in the country," someone muttered, and the others looked at him with perplexion. This was old news, so for him to say it, he had to have something else to follow up with they thought. "We are poor people," he continued, "so for us to get a Fierce Beast as apanion is probably impossible, but imagine those who have spent a fortune on a Fierce Beast, only to see it revolt against them."

    "Also, has it not struck you that the only ones being able to control a Fierce Beast are the Diviners, but this kid could still do it."

    "What is he?" he then asked, and the others were quiet as they too mused on the same question.

    "Even a Primordial Beast cannot remove the bond between a tamed beast and its owner without direct intervention, but this child was able to do exactly that."

    "At the same time, I got some gossip from Tiankong City about where he used to live. A Diviner took an interest in him around two years ago, and this Diviner had taken him aside for a talk. If he was truly a Primordial Beast, do you not think that the Diviner would have noticed it? Their entire lives practically revolve around those, and to let go of one so young would be the greatest shame of their lives."

    "This leaves me incapable ofprehending. Who is he? The Ice Harpy made an appearance and called him ¡®brother¡¯. The Diviners do not think him beastly. The kingdom is on the other hand trying to capture him. Usmoners are unaware of whether he is human or beast. But there has to be some connection between them."

    Everyone in the inn was quiet as they contemted. Some had deep furrows in their brows, while others were slightly confused.

    Finally, someone sighed. "I don¡¯t care," the person said after a bit. "In the start, everyone thought it was a way to try and turn Xiao Lei into the public enemy, but now everyone is convinced that he has conspired with the beasts."

    "As to what he is, I would say he is a human. The Ice Harpy is strong; I bet she has just used her powers and made it look as if he did it all. As to why he is so valuable for the beasts, I am sure it has to do with his connection to Primordial Beast Hunter Xiao Lei."

    Someone else seemed to disagree. "I don¡¯t think so. If he were valuable because of his connection to Xiao Lei, then he would have lost all importance the moment that he was exposed," he pointed out.

    Some nodded their heads, others frowned. Right now, the kind of rumors being spread were few, most of them being spections as to what Xue Wei could be, and these spections stumped him.

    Him, a beast? Some people truly thought so. But what they said rung true in his heart. What was he? Everywhere he went, the beasts would hide and cower as if they feared to disturb him. He had somehow managed to help the Lightning Sparrow break the bonds it was caught under.

    The Ice Harpy knew a great deal about him and seemed to value his pure yang blood for some reason. There were many things that did not make much sense even to Xue Wei, the one in the middle of everything.

    Pondering about it, Xue Wei stood up from his seat and went to the room he had rented. He took a quick bath before he sat out on his journey once more.

    When he had stood up in the inn, no one had been shocked by his presence. Everyone had been in the army before and had at least some sort of cultivation base. They could all vaguely sense Xue Wei¡¯s strength, but no one asked about his purpose there. When he left after the discussion began to go off-topic, they all thought that he was not interested in such a subject and decided to leave.

    Xue Wei, on the other hand, had been shocked by the questions they had raised about his heritage.

    While thinking about this, Xue Wei¡¯s thoughts were muddled. "Who am I?" he muttered to himself as he left the small town. "I know nothing about my heritage. I only know what Uncle told me. Where am I from? What happened to me? Why did my memories vanish?"

    Xue Wei was filled with questions. For the first time in his life, he started to question the authenticity of what Xiao Lei had told him.

    He did not for a moment doubt that Xiao Lei loved him and cared deeply for him, but how much of what he had told Xue Wei was the truth? Had he lied about some things to hide the truth from him?

    Xue Wei suddenly remembered how Xiao Lei would always avoid certain topics. He would do anything to protect him from harm. He would be unwilling to tell Xue Wei about his previous life, always saying things like, "I don¡¯t know, I did not live with you back then," or, "there is no need to try and force yourself to remember, just be happy with how life is now."

    The more Xue Wei thought about it, the more unsure he became. It was so bad that Xue Wei did not even look at where he was going,pletely absorbed in his thoughts. Fortunately, it was in the middle of the night, and there was no one on the road.

    He had gotten a few kilometers away from the town when he stood still in the middle of nowhere. He calmed himself and took a few deep breaths.

    "Uncle is a good man," he assured himself. "Everything that he has kept from me is for my own sake," he continued. "If he is going to lie to me, then he has a good reason to do so. I will look for him when i finish my visit to Lingyun town." Xue Wei finally made a decision as to what exactly he wished to do with his life while aiming to be strong enough to gain vengeance for himself and Tie Haolong.

    "When I know the truth from Uncle, then I can n things ordingly." Xue Wei felt relieved after reaching a conclusion. Even now, when someone had sown a seed of doubt in his mind, he ended up trusting his uncle unconditionally.

 Chapter 99: Black Dog

    Xue Wei had finally entered the Northern Territory. From all the books he had read, he knew that the Northern Taiga took up a great amount of space within the Northern Territory, so he would encounter it sooner orter.

    When he found the Northern Taiga, it was simple to just follow around the edge of it until he reached Lingyun town, but he also understood that this was the moment where he had to be careful and on high alert.

    This was a ce where humans hunted for treasures. Although they mainly targeted Fierce Beasts, some of them would not shy away from killing a single young man in their pursuit of fortune.

    Xue Wei was already a hunted man, so if someone saw his youthful appearance, then their first assumption would be that he had escaped from the army and would not hesitate to attack him as a result. Deserters were hated all over the kingdom.

    Xue Wei reached the edges of the taiga without any issues, but many were curious about him. He was dressed in all ck clothes, and his head was hidden beneath a big bamboo hat, hiding all his features.

    Everyone knew that someone with an appearance like this meant they were eager to stay out of people¡¯s sights, but this just made them even more curious about him.

    Fortunately, Xue Wei was traveling the edge of the taiga. Although he met mercenaries and groups of apothecaries surrounded by guards that were going to find herbs, none of them truly had the time to deal with him.

    They were all either traveling to the taiga to start their hunt as soon as possible, or returning with all their bountiful harvest.

    As he traveled, Xue Wei found that it was safer for him to travel inside of the taiga. He did not have to fear the beasts, as none of them wanted to be close to him, nor he did have to fear the humans either, as they were too busy fighting against said beasts.

    Xue Wei came across many fights while traveling. Some were bloody and desperate, others beautiful and elegant. But no matter what he saw, Xue Wei did not intervene. He would not save any of the beasts, and he did not save any of the humans either.

    It was not before he sensed a greatmotion in front of him that he changed his tactics. There was a beast, a massive ck dog, that was being targeted by around fifty cultivators.

    These cultivators were all at the higher end of the Earth Warrior rank, with some at the ninthyer and others at the eightyer.

    The beast that they were chasing seemed to have a strength equivalent to the ninthyer of the Earth Warrior rank, but it held its own against this massive group of people; it scratched and bit, kicked and wed at them, leaving one person after another with a wound more serious than thest.

    "Dammit! This is not a simple ck dog!" one of the people swore. Another added in, "it has such fine fur ¨C we need to capture it already. If we can capture it alive and get our hands on a Diviner to tame it, it will be the best we¡¯ve ever done!"

    "As if we have the money for a Diviner! Let us just kill this monster. It has already killed half of our men and wounded the rest of us."

    "I agree. Although it might be fighting desperately, it won¡¯t be able to survive for much longer. We might have sacrificed half of our men, but we have severely wounded and tired out this beast!"

    Xue Wei had avoided all sort of battles up until now. However, when he saw the beast that was cornered from every direction and riddled with wounds, he felt his heart ache slightly as it reminded him of himself.

    This dog had eyes filled with despair and unwillingness to give up. It was fighting against the world; no one came to assist it, and it was not strong enough to defeat the enemies in front of it.

    It opened its mouth, and briefly it seemed as if it had swallowed the sun and the moon. The area turned as dark as the darkest of nights. Although it was in the middle of the day, there was no light that prated the tree branches, and everything seemed to bepletely enveloped in darkness.

    Xue Wei frowned. He knew that special beasts had different abilities, this could be seen on the beast hides and silks woven by the humans that also carried some of these abilities, but it was the first time that Xue Wei had seen them disy something more magnificent than just hurling fireballs, water balls, or other inherent abilities.

    Xue Wei felt his blood run cold. This ability was dreadful. Shortly after the darkness descended everywhere, he started hearing screams. He felt a breeze spread through the area, and then someone yelled out, "Be careful! He is a celestial dog! He is capable of devouring the sun and the moon ¨C devouring us is a simple matter!"

    After this was said, rustling sounds could be heard, and Xue Wei assumed that this was the result of people fleeing as far and as fast as they could.

    Xue Wei remained in his hiding ce behind arge tree, ensuring that no one managed to find him, and then he just patiently waited for the light to return in the area.

    It happened slowly, and when it did Xue Wei saw that the ck dog wasying on the ground. Blood poured out of its wounds, painting the grass on the ground red.

    Around him were the remains of humans. Some of them had half their torsos removed, clearly showing that they had been ripped in half and devoured by the ck dog. Others had their limbs torn off, and some had lost their heads.

    All of them were either dead or unconscious, or close to dying. The only one still standing was the ck dog, but it too was on the verge of copsing.

    Xue Wei sighed. He was reminded of the Lightning Sparrow when he saw this ck dog, and he knew that not all beasts were hostile towards all humans.

    He was unsure if he should try and help this beast. It was obvious that it could be the worst decision of his life, but after thinking about how much the Lightning Sparrow had done for him, he felt that he should give something back to the beasts.

    Sighing, Xue Wei stepped out from his hiding ce and casually walked closer to the beast. He was not scared of the ck dog, as it was quite obviously on the verge of copsing at any moment. That final attack had to have used up the veryst bit of energy left in it. .

    Xue Wei came closer to it and then squatted down in front of the beast. He then reached out his hand and gently touched the different wounds to assess their severity, after which he found various herbs in his bags.

    Although all of his items had been confiscated from him in the capital, he had traveled through the wilderness for a long time ande across various herbs he had picked up by chance.

    At the same time, he had gained the bags of a few experts he had in on the way, and they also possessed some herbs of moremon origin.

    When Xue Wei reached out his hand and touched the wounds, the beast flinched. Unwillingness and despair were evident in its eyes alongside hatred.

    It growled out loud and tried to stand up, but its legs copsed beneath it, and its wounds started to bleed more than before.

    "Sit still," Xue Wei scolded the beast, but it just looked at him as if he was an idiot. It growled with a low voice, and Xue Wei pondered what to do.

    The aggressors from earlier had fled, but they would find reinforcements ande back soon enough, this was something Xue Wei did not want to stick around for.

    cing the herbs in his mouth, Xue Wei chewed it slightly before he ced the paste on the wounds, allowing the medicine to work its magic on them.

    "What are you doing?!" a deep and growling voice sounded. Xue Wei, who was confused, looked around but could find no one. He spread his spiritual energy, but there was no one apart from himself and the beast.

    He then looked at the ck dog with questionable eyes. "Did you just speak?" Xue Wei asked hesitatingly, and the ck dog looked at him with anger in its eyes.

    "Are you poisoning me?" the voice continued. Xue Wei sighed before he whacked the ck dog on the back of its head.

    "Can¡¯t you feel that the pain is lessening?" he asked in disbelief. "Can¡¯t you see the bleeding is stopping?"

    "I am obviously saving your life!"

    "Stop it right this moment!" the ck dog growled. "Who gave you the right to try and save me?! You are a filthy human, and you think you can just try to kill me as you please and save me when you want? I don¡¯t want to be kept alive to be someone¡¯s pet!"

    "Pipe down, will you!" Xue Wei was getting a headache; all he wanted to do was save the beast, not get into some discussion. "Do I look like a Diviner to you?" he asked, and the beast gave him a long re before it slowly shook its head.

    "No. I am not a Diviner, so I cannot tame you," Xue Wei continued. "A Fierce Beast saved my life, and now I am trying to return the favor to your kind. I saw you being hunted and almost killed, and I saw your struggle for life. It reminded me of myself," Xue Wei exined as he ced more and more herbs on the wounds and saw the blood coagting at a rapid speed.

    He then nodded his head approvingly and was satisfied. "Well then, you can talk, that¡¯s a shocker," Xue Wei said after a bit of time, but the beast just snorted.

    "I am a Primordial Beast. Of course I can talk," the ck dog said proudly, and Xue Wei raised an eyebrow in surprise. "Oh, you are a Primordial Beast?" he asked casually, as if it did not matter.

    Xue Wei had wanted to be a Primordial Beast Hunter. He had wanted to execute beasts like this one, but after his life had been turned upside down, he no longer felt too much enmity against the Primordial Beasts. He did, however, hate the Ice Harpy with a vengeance.

    "Fear me!" the beast growled. Xue Wei broke intoughter, the firstughter he had had since his life turned upside down. "You are half dead. Why would I have to fear you?" he asked while chuckling, but then his face turned serious. "Someone¡¯s here," he muttered, and his spiritual energy felt the approach of five experts.

    The eyes of the ck dog turned vignt but also depressed and sour. He was clearly expecting that Xue Wei would escape at any moment and that he would be left to fend for himself, but Xue Wei did not vanish as he had expected.

    Instead, he stood protectively in front of the ck dog, and a Qi sword appeared in his hands.

    "Focus on consuming the energy of the medicinal nts," Xue Wei muttered, and then a smile spread across his face. "If they want me to be a colluder with Primordial Beasts, then why don¡¯t I be one?" heughed and then activated the Forbidden Rush movement technique. If he was to fight, then he wanted to have the advantage. He was going to attack first and ask questionster¡ªto their corpses.

 Chapter 100: Hei Gou

    Xue Wei vanished like a shadow, merging with the wind. The ck dog could no longer see him. It could not help but question itself whether this was because of its injuries making its mind muddled or if Xue Wei¡¯s movement technique was that much superior.

    "Look, it¡¯s still here!" one of the people who walked through the thicket located the ck dog, and his eyes were filled with excitement.

    He was the strongest in the group, a fifthyer Earth Warrior, and he felt incredibly fortunate at the moment.

    "I knew we would benefit from following that massive group of cultivators," the expert continued. "The dog used thest of its energy to get rid of them, and now we can just step in and take the loot with that group from earlier being none the wiser!"

    Just as he spoke and took a step forward, a light shed, and a swishing sound could be heard.

    The expert who had been speaking never even noticed what had happened, his face filled with confusion, when his head started toppling over and fell to the floor.

    The cut had been so fast and so sudden that his headless body took an extra step before it too slumped to the ground.

    The remaining four experts stopped in their tracks, their faces filled with fear and disbelief.

    The attack had been so smooth and perfect,unched right when their senior brother was busy chatting and showing off, and it had ended his life easily.

    Xue Wei smirked while merged with the shadows, but he did not waste time.

    While they were all filled with shock and dread, before they had time to channel the Qi in their meridians and block any potential attacks, Xue Wei appeared on the left of one of the others. With a swish of his hand, this person too lost his head.

    The remaining three experts were so frightened that tears appeared in their eyes. With the overwhelming killing intent that was bearing down on them, their legs trembled, and although they had summoned a Qi guard around their bodies, they knew fairly well that this expert was beyond their strength.

    Xue Wei knew that if he were not fast, then one or two of them would run away. He did not wish to create future trouble for himself, so he was moving swiftly, cutting one head after another until only one remained.

    "Monster!" the final person called out. "You are going against your own kind to assist a beast! You will be hunted down and ughtered like the beast you are trying so eagerly to protect!"

    "Well then,e and try me," Xue Wei¡¯s voice drifted out from the wind right next to the speaking expert, who felt his heart jump in fear. Moments after, his head had been severed from the head.

    Xue Wei released his breath after thest person died, and rushed back to the ck dog thaty there while looking at him with disbelief and a little bit of hope in its eyes.

    "You just killed humans," the dog stated. Xue Wei shrugged his shoulders. "If they knew who I am, they would have done all in their power to kill me first," he said in a matter-of-fact way.

    "Have you betrayed your own kind for the sake of bing the ve of us beasts?" there was a bit of contempt in the voice of the ck dog, and Xue Wei just red at him.

    "Beasts or humans, it does not matter to me," he replied straightforwardly. "Beasts want to kill me; humans want to kill me. I don¡¯t even know what I am, where I am from or what to do in the future. If someone shows me respect, I will respect them a hundredfold; if someone wants to harm me or my dear ones, then I will gain my vengeance times thousand."

    The ck dog looked at him with astonishment, and suddenly its body shrunk. It transformed from a massive magical beast to be a wounded and battered human.

    This human seemed stoic; the face was serious, and the eyes were solemn. It looked at Xue Wei with a pair of eyes that showed a mix of emotions. They contained hatred, disbelief, shock, interest, but also gratitude.

    "You are weird," The human-form Celestial Dog said with a strange deep voice. Its human form, although battered, was incredibly handsome. His raven ck hair was messy and seemed to be stiff from dried blood, but even so it could not mask the handsome features of this beast in its human form.

    "I am Hei Gou," the dog introduced himself. "I am a Celestial Dog."

    Xue Wei pondered for some time as he looked at this dog turned human, before he shook his head. "Great to meet you," he said after a bit of hesitation, "but we need to get going now. If we stay here, we are likely to be the target of others who will return to capture you."

    "You can go ahead and leave me, I don¡¯t think I am in any position to move right now," Hei Gou sighed, his voice containing bitterness and hopelessness, but Xue Wei just shrugged his shoulders and went over to the tall human-form dog.

    He then grabbed the arm of the ck haired man and dragged him to his feet, slung his arm over his shoulders and neck, and supported him as he slowly began to move away from the location.

    "Your abilities are quite astonishing," Xue Wei said after a bit of time, and Hei Gou snorted in response as if to say that it was obvious.

    His heart was in turmoil. Although he was feeling grateful for the fact that someone was trying to save him, he could not help but also feel that something was wrong. This was a human! Why would a human ever try to save a Primordial Beast? Why would a human ever say the things this one had said? Not to mention, why did he not feel any animosity towards the person in front of him?

    Xue Wei was walking slowly to ensure that Hei Gou could follow him. "You know we won¡¯t make it away in time! The others will return soon, so why are you not running away yet?!" Hei Gou sneered, but Xue Wei just smiled.

    At that point, a group of experts appeared in front of Hei Gou and Xue Wei, blocking their way. Xue Wei had sensed them from before, but their movement speed had been truly superior to his and he had almost no time to prepare.

    "Halt!" one of the people in this group called out, and Xue Wei stopped in his tracks. He felt how Hei Gou¡¯s body tensed up. He was grinding his teeth and his eyes were showing unwillingness.

    "Where are you going?" the person who had asked them to stop started questioning Xue Wei and Hei Gou.

    "We are brothers in arms," Xue Wei said with a sigh, his face looking devastated as he shook his head. "We have been given a short break from the army to visit our families, so we decided to pass through this area in the hopes of capturing some Fierce Beasts on the way home to help our families economically."

    Xue Wei continued his exnation, and Hei Gou, who was by his side, had apletely expressionless face, yet he was at heart more and more confused about what was going on.

    "We haven¡¯t encountered any Fierce Beasts so far, but when we reached a clearing not too far from here, there was this big ck dog," Xue Wei continued. His eyes suddenly lit with excitement, but it went away as fast as it came, reced by sadness.

    "We thought we could take it down. It was severely wounded, you see. It seemed as if it had fought desperately against a group of experts and narrowly won the fight, only to be so injured, so we thought that we could easily pick up the spoils of war."

    Xue Wei spoke with a bit of a rushed voice as if he was excited, but a slight hint of fear had also crept into it, which the person in charge of the group instantly picked up.

    None of the people in the group interrupted Xue Wei as he spoke. Instead, they continued to listen intently. Any and all information would be beneficial to them.

    "Anyway, we tried to attack this dog, but it was simply too strong. I was standing further away and used my ranged Qi martial art while my brother here took care of the upfront melee."

    "Unfortunately, we underestimated the beast¡¯s capability while injured. It was so strong! I wish we could have killed it, but in fact we only just narrowly managed to escape with our little lives intact."

    Xue Wei¡¯s face was filled with horror as if he had relived something horrifying, and moments after he shook his head once more.

    "When we fled, the beast did nothing to follow us, so I think we are safe. I don¡¯t know whether or not the beast is still in the clearing or if it managed to sneak away. my brother and I are simply too weak to confront such a monster!"

    Xue Wei¡¯s body was shaking slightly as if he had been scared to death, and the person in charge of the group nodded his head time and time again.

    "Okay, kids, I understand that it must have been terrifying for you to encounter such a beast. We have no time to chat with you, as we need to capture it as soon as possible, so please excuse us!"

    Having said this, the leader of the group rushed away and the others followed close by.

    Had this been any other time, they would not have hesitated to instantly kill Xue Wei and Hei Gou to take their things, but Xue Wei had already said that he wanted to hunt beasts for the sake of helping his family, revealing that he did note from a rich family. He had also said that they had not encountered any beasts on their way, which meant that they had yet to find anything worthwhile.

    Andst but not least, the group knew the value of the ck dog - although they did not know that it was a Celestial Dog, a Primordial Beast, they knew that it was a powerful, unique Fierce Beast with incredible value. As such, they had no time to waste on Xue Wei or Hei Gou.

    As the group vanished, Xue Wei started moving forward again at a slow speed,pletely ignoring the strange gaze that Hei Gou was giving him.

    "Why?" He could finally no longer remain quiet and asked Xue Wei. "Why are you helping me? We don¡¯t know one another; we aren¡¯t even the same species. You should hate me by nature, but you are saving me instead! This makes no sense!"

    Hei Gou was agitated. His voice was low so that no one could hear it other than Xue Wei, and Xue Wei just shrugged his shoulders as he continued to drag Hei Gou further and further away from the location where they had been fighting earlier.

    He kept watch of their surroundings by spreading his spiritual energy to the limit, spreading it like a nket around them to avoid crossing paths with someone.

    "It is really very simple," Xue Wei said, sighing. "I am neither the friend of beasts nor the friend of humans, I am just all alone against the entire world. Seeing you struggle for your life reminded me of myself. I wish that, one day, when I am struggling like this, someone wille and save me. Not only that, most of the beasts I have encountered so far have treated me with kindness, so I guess I would lose nothing by returning the favor."

    Hei Gou frowned but said no more. His body, however, was less tense and he tried his best to move as fast as he could together with Xue Wei.

 Chapter 101: Companion

    The duo met more than just one group of experts on their way. Every time they encountered a group, Xue Wei¡¯s face would be a picture of innocence, his voice would be filled with emotion, and he would trick every single group.

    Sweat was beading on Xue Wei¡¯s back every time they encountered such a group, but his acting did not disy any such emotions.

    "Why are you going this far to protect me?" Hei Gou finally asked after they had met the seventh group on their way.

    Xue Wei gave him a long nce and pondered for a moment. "Why indeed," he said after a bit of time.

    "I told you, I think it is because you are like me, all alone in a world of pain and danger. Also, right now, your life depends on me. What kind of person would I be to let you die when I hold your life in my hands?"

    "You are an insane person," Hei Gou could not help but chuckle. "Every other human would love to have my life in their hand and end it personally, but you are doing everything in your power to keep me alive."

    "You know that every single group we meet poses a great threat to us. You know that even if my cover isn¡¯t blown, the fact that I am this wounded means that basically anyone can kill us right now. We are only alive so far because of luck."

    Xue Wei shrugged his shoulders as he steadied his grip on Hei Gou. "I don¡¯t care. My life is on the line no matter what I do, so traveling together with you might even prove to be beneficial to me," he said after a bit of thinking.

    Hei Gou looked at Xue Wei, his eyes filled withplicated emotions. It was clear that he was having a hard time understanding what exactly Xue Wei meant, and why this human went out of his way to assist him.

    "Perhaps you can answer a question for me," Xue Wei suddenly asked as they were moving further away. "Fierce Beasts avoid me, no matter what. The few times I have encountered them, they have done everything in their power to avoid me; some evenmitted suicide when confronted by me. Back when I was merely an Ordinary Warrior, a few of those beasts had fear creeping into their eyes, and there was even a time it happened when I met the eyes of a beast equivalent to a Sky Warrior."

    "They fear you?" Hei Gou was surprised as he looked over Xue Wei once more. The youngster nodded his head seriously, "I have been in contact with the Ice Harpy a few times," he continued. "Could it be that her scent or something got attached to me, making them fear me?"

    "Hmm," Hei Gou paused and looked at Xue Wei. His face went closer and closer until he was almost touching Xue Wei¡¯s face before he sniffed.

    "This is odd," he said, puzzled. "My senses are weakened right now because I used my secret technique, but there is indeed some sort of strange scent to you."

    "I myself have never met the Ice Harpy so I do not know if she smells like this, but it does not smell like a Primordial Beast I have ever met before. Nor does it smell human."

    Hei Gou continued to sniff, which made Xue Wei feel increasingly ufortable, until he could no longer stand the strange ck dog in his handsome human form being that close to him and pushed him away.

    "Hey! I¡¯m an injured person," Hei Gou called out frantically as he staggered backwards and fell to his butt. "Ugh," he winced in pain when hended, but his eyes when looking at Xue Wei were filled with wonder.

    "So did you notice anything from my smell then?" Xue Wei asked impatiently as he hoisted Hei Gou up once more and slung his arm over his shoulders, ready to continue their advance.

    "Well, you smell good," Hei Gou said. "Embarrassing as it might sound, there is something sweet to your scent. I don¡¯t really understand it ¨C do you think perhaps there is a third race in this world? A race that is neither beast nor human?"

    "What are you talking about?" Xue Wei asked with a snort. "I have read so many books but I have never encountered anything of the sort. There are no traces of other lifeforms than humans and beasts, so I don¡¯t think it is possible."

    "You never know," Hei Gou was not keen on giving up. "In the innermost regions of the Northern Taiga there are both fairies and sprites. They are not beasts, and they are not humans either."

    "I heard that there are other creatures spread all over the world in hiding, mainly in the danger zones or in deste areas. I know that they are hiding from humans and beasts alike, never allowing anyone to see them."

    "Sprites? Fairies?" Xue Wei was shocked and looked at Hei Gou with narrowed eyes filled with disbelief and skepticism.

    "Hey, don¡¯t look at me like that," Hei Gouughed before starting to cough, causing a bit of blood to trail out of the corner of his mouth. "I only saw the sprites once. It is really difficult to locate these creatures, and when you do locate them, actually seeing them is even harder. They are very skittish, so the slightest sound makes them hide away."

    "You are joking with me aren¡¯t you?" Xue Wei was puzzled. Why had this ck dog suddenly opened up to him? Was he even more wounded than Xue Wei had expected, or was he seriously starting to consider the fact that Xue Wei had saved his life?

    "I¡¯m not joking. Why don¡¯t we go together to see them one day?" Hei Gou was smiling as if he had reached an answer to an important question. He seemed rxed andfortable, and his change in behavior caught Xue Weipletely by surprise.

    "Uh, well, I don¡¯t think it will be possible for me to go into the innermost regions of the Northern Taiga," Xue Wei said after a bit of time. "I might be able to avoid some Fierce Beasts, but I have this thought that the beasts within the Northern Taiga are far stronger than just the Warrior rank. In fact, I imagine that there are even Saints in there. I am not sure my little life will manage to survive there for long."

    "Well then, we will find sprites and fairies other ces," Hei Gou said with a dashing smile on his handsome face, as if he was talking about something very natural, but Xue Wei narrowed his eyes so much that they were slits so thin he could barely see through them.

    "We? What do you mean we?"

    "You saved my life, take responsibility!"

    "What do you mean responsibility? You¡¯re not some woman I¡¯ve taken advantage of,"

    "Oh mister, please be gentle. Mister, I was not ready for this, please take your time?" Hei Gou¡¯s voice was high pitched and sounded like a woman¡¯s, making Xue Wei shiver all over in fright.

    "Stop that!" he eximed, and Hei Gouughed out loud, which once more caused him to cough.

    "Well, it does not matter what you say or mean," Hei Gou wiped the blood with the back of his hand. "I am a dog, and dogs are loyal creatures. You saved my life, and have given me a new leash on it. I will follow you from now on; anything you ask of me I will do, and I will not bat an eyelid even if that is to fight other beasts or humans."

    Xue Wei stared at the dog, and Hei Gou looked back at him with a smirk on his handsome face, his expression one of a puppy that had just found its owner.

    "You want to follow me?" Xue Wei asked disbelievingly, and Hei Gou nodded his head solemnly. "I would have died without you. I am quite curious about what exactly you are. I believe you are neither human nor beast...or so I think because of your scent...."

    "My family won¡¯t care what I do. I am just one of many Celestial Dogs in our pack. Even if I had been killed by these humans, no one would have cared about it. Even my parents do not care about my life and death. As such, the only one I have ever met who actually cared is you."

    "Since you cared enough to save me, is it not only okay that I also repay you? I mean following you will be fun, I have no doubts about it."

    "So you want to follow me because you think it will be fun?" Xue Wei asked with a speechless look on his face. Hei Gou looked at him and smirked. "Well, that is one reason, but I am genuinely happy about the fact that you saved me."

    Xue Wei shook his head. "Do as you please," he said after a bit of time. The two once more began moving forwards in search of a safe spot where Hei Gou would be able to recuperate from the wounds and the injuries he had sustained.

    "So tell me, how long are you going to stay like this? You won¡¯t suddenly be a big ck dog, right?" Xue Wei asked anxiously. Although Hei Gou was seriously injured, he was still in his human form, and they were capable of tricking anyone who hade their way, but if he suddenly lost control of his shape, then Xue Wei knew that they would be in serious trouble.

    "I can stay in this shape as long as I am conscious," Hei Gou said casually as if the wounds were not troubling for him. "I will only return to my original form if my mind is no longer able to be held together by my willpower, and that¡¯s if I copse from wounds and injuries."

    "I see," Xue Wei suddenly felt much safer after hearing this. He could not help but sigh in relief.

    "Well, we are almost out of this area, and then the chasers who are after you should no longer be someone we will run into," Xue Wei said tentatively as he considered what they had gone through so far. "I would have liked it if we could enter a small town and heal you there, but I am afraid that¡¯s not an option for us right now."

    "Why not?" Hei Gou asked curiously. To him it did not matter where he healed as long as he could heal, but he was curious about this human who had killed other humans to save a Primordial Beast.

    "I told you already, did I not?" Xue Wei asked. "The humans want to kill me. In fact, they want to kill me even more than they want to kill Fierce Beasts. My bounty might even be higher than some Primordial Beasts."

    "Why? That is quite rare," Hei Gou asked curiously. Xue We red at him in return. Hei Gou¡¯s curiosity was truly not caring at all for how sensitive the subject might be for him.

    "I was deemed someone who colluded with the Primordial Beasts, someone who is known as the Ice Harpy¡¯s brother."

    "If you are her brother, then why are you all alone right now?" Hei Gou asked in puzzlement. Xue Wei just shook his head.

    "She tricked them into believing that was the case. In fact, I think her goal is to make me suffer as much as possible. My uncle is a famous Primordial Beast Hunter, and I think there might be some sort of history between them."

    "Well, don¡¯t worry too much about it. You might not have been guilty before, but now you are in fact colluding with a Primordial Beast," Hei Gouughed out loud as if he found everything amusing.

    "You picked it yourself as well, so now we will be loyal to neither humans nor beasts."

 Chapter 102: Sovereign Beast

    Xue Wei looked at Hei Gou for some time,pletely stunned by his words before he startedughing out loud. It was as if a knot in his chest had loosened itself. The world, which had seemed colorless since his escape and Tie Haolong¡¯s death, suddenly seemed vibrant once more.

    "You will follow me, right?" Xue Wei asked once more to bepletely certain, to which Hei Gou nodded his head. His yful eyes turned solemn, and his lips, which had been curled into a smile all along, straightened out.

    ¡°We might not even make it out of this forest alive. When I first saw you, I felt as if death hade for me. But instead of death, it was new hope. It was someone willing to put himself at risk for my sake. I have never before experienced anyone showing me kindness before, and thus I am actually rather unsure of how to repay you.¡±

    Hei Gou was slightly flustered, smiling with embarrassment. ¡°Since my life is pretty much forfeit already, why don¡¯t I just put it in your hands? I have done some things that the Primordial Beasts are unhappy with, and I am being chased. The humans will want to kill me too. In this dark world, I never expected to meet a kindred spirit who would give me a ray of hope in surviving for just a little longer.¡±

    ¡°I own nothing, and I have no way of repaying you other than giving myself to you.¡± Hei Gou looked at Xue Wei, who once more felt goosebumps all over his body when he heard the words. The ck dog snickered in amusement.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I might be as handsome as a god but I am not into men either!¡±

    Hearing this, Xue Wei felt a bit better, but he also understood Hei Gou¡¯s emotions.

    Hei Gou had mentioned that he was being chased. He was desperate. He was alone against the world, against the beasts and the humans. Was this not the exact same situation that Xue Wei was currently facing?

    Thinking like this, Xue Wei felt much better. He had found someone who was in the same position as himself. Someone as desperate to live, and to find a ce where he belonged as himself.

    ¡°I will follow you around to repay the kindness you showed me,¡± Hei Gou said solemnly. His eyes were glistening. At the same time, Xue Wei also saw a pitiful expression in the ck dog¡¯s eyes. An expression of fear. Fear of being abandoned once more.

    Xue Wei could see the determination within those solemn ck eyes of Hei Gou, and he did not question the dog further and nodded his head.

    "In return, I will promise to treat you like my brother. You are my martial brother, my friend. We will tour the world together. We will reach the apex! There is nothing that can stop us as long as we have each other¡¯s back, and there is no one who will not tremble when hearing our names."

    "We will save who we wish to save, kill who we wish to kill, and condemn any who stands in our way."

    Xue Wei was also very serious as he swore this. Hei Gou felt a shiver run down his spine. He could already imagine how terrifying they would be - they would be the true terror of the entire world. A duo that no one would dare to provoke.

    "Following a man like you is not so bad. Not bad at all!" Hei Gou said in high praise. "We will condemn all that stands in our way, huh?"

    "Yes," Xue Wei¡¯s eyes were zing with a determination that the ck dog had never seen before. "We will condemn beasts and humans alike. We will condemn fate and karma. We will even condemn the heavens, should they wish to strike us down! Nothing can get in our way of reaching the apex!"

    "Right you are!"

    "Let us be blood brothers!" Xue Wei suddenly said. "That way, we will forever be loyal to one another."

    "Sure!" Hei Gou agreed easily and cut his arm so that fresh blood started spraying from the wound he had made.

    Xue Wei was notte in returning the gesture, and soon a cut simr in size appeared on his arm. The two, man and dog, pressed their arms against one another, and their blood started mixing.

    It made them feel invigorated. They felt their bodies boiling with the urge to prove their worth, and all the wounds on Hei Gou¡¯s body started to heal at a rate visible to the naked eye.

    Both Xue Wei and Hei Gou stared at the wounds. Hei Gou could feel how his snow-pale skin started to turn red as if he was flustered, and then the wounds started closing.

    "What¡¯s happening?" Xue Wei asked in rm as Hei Gou¡¯s face turned beet red. He was gasping for air; his eyes turned from ck to red; and his entire body started trembling.

    Energy ripples started emanating out from within his body, as if he had so much energy that he could not contain it.

    The snow around him melted, the barrennd sprouted green grass underneath him, and everything happened within moments of the two pressing their arms together and sharing their blood to be proper blood brothers.

    By now, the two had moved far away from the original location where Hei Gou had been wounded. Few people frequented this area, so they were rtively safe from others interrupting them. Xue Wei¡¯s brows were furrowed as he watched Hei Gou. His eyes were narrowed and he did all in his power to assist Hei Gou.

    He ced him on the ground, made sure that he wasying on his back, and then touched Hei Gou¡¯s forehead, only to feel a burning sensation as if he had touched hot charcoal.

    "Can you hear me?" Xue Wei asked anxiously, but there was no reply. Hei Gou was panting heavily. He had closed his eyes, and by now all wounds on his body had vanished.

    Still, the ripples of energy that were expanding from within his body were getting increasingly strong.

    Xue Wei was at a loss for what to do. He found a stream close by and ced cold towels on Hei Gou¡¯s forehead to lessen the heat at least a tiny bit.

    Like this two days passed by. In these two days, neither humans nor beasts arrived in the small location where Xue Wei and Hei Gou were located.

    Xue Wei continued to wipe down Hei Gou¡¯s body so that all the sweat did not make him sick, and he also checked his condition from time to time.

    The first day, the ripples of energy continued to increase until they peaked at the first night, and since then they had diminished until now where they were gone.

    Still, Hei Gou had not awakened. His eyes had not opened, and his breathing was still rapid.

    As the second night came to an end, Hei Gou¡¯s eyes finally fluttered open. The already handsome guy was even more handsome than he had been before.

    It was as if he had shed his old body and gotten a new one created from pure jade. He was picturesque and reminded Xue Wei of a statue of some god of beauty.

    Xue Wei was stumped for words when he saw Hei Gou wake up. He said nothing. Instead, he just smiled and felt relieved.

    "What on earth are you?" Although Xue Wei was quiet, Hei Gou was not.

    "You are definitely not human, some sort of mutation has happened to me! My bloodline, although noble and being a Celestial Dog, has improved in purity! I am not far from a dragon right now when ites to the purity of my blood! In fact, I think my beast shape has changed slightly too!"

    "Purity? What are you talking about?" Xue Wei asked curiously. He had never spoken with a Primordial Beast before, so he did not know how exactly the beasts determined their ranks.

    "Beasts are split into various groups, but what determines what group a beast belongs to is actually the purity of their blood."

    "When the world was created, the beasts and humans were created with it. The humans were mortals but were taught the miracle of cultivation. But although this was the case, the beasts reigned supreme because of one thing that made them superior."

    "Back then, Mortal Beasts, Fierce Beasts and Primordial Beasts were not the only kinds of beasts. Back then, there were also Sovereign Beasts."

    "Sovereign Beasts are the ones with the purest blood. Their blood is sacred to any other beast. I am not sure why, but there was a great mystery behind the blood of the Sovereign Beasts. Unfortunately, all of them perished long ago, so they have be myths by now."

    "The Sovereign Beasts were, ording to legends, donating their blood to the other beasts, to help them gain enlightenment."

    "I am not exactly sure what this enlightenment is, but it was a sacred ritual. The blood of the Sovereign Beasts would be infused into our ancestors, and this is what had determined the purity of the descendants."

    "Many families decided to make arranged marriages with the ones of the highest purity of blood to safeguard their legacies."

    "My family, although mainly consisting of Celestial Dogs, has multiple branches within it, like the families of most other beasts."

    "I am from a very mediocre group of Celestial Dogs; the blood purity of my family is rather low, and my prospects are also limited."

    "Even if I died, no one in my family would care, not even my parents would bat an eyelid at the fact that I would perish."

    "Since this is the case, why not screw those who do not care for me and follow the only person who ever showed me consideration? Who cares if I am going to follow a human? That is better than being alone for the rest of my life."

    Xue Wei listened to Hei Gou¡¯s speech and his eyes bulged slightly.

    "Wait, wait, wait," he said as he raised an arm and looked at Hei Gou. "I have never before heard about Sovereign Beasts. What are they?"

    "I do not know much, but I know a few rumors and legends. Let me tell you about them. They are the supreme sovereigns of this world. They are four races, the Azure Dragon, the Vermilion Bird, the ck Tortoise, and the White Tiger. These four races of beasts all safeguarded an area of the world. One in the north, one in the south; one in the east and one in the west."

    "These four races were towering above any other, and they were the main reason why the beasts reached their peak of strength."

    "What happened to them? No one knows. Some rumors say that they transcended mortality and rose to the heavens, others im that they went extinct because too many beasts tried to absorb their blood, and yet some are certain that they are still alive this day today, living in hiding somewhere in the midst of the vast world¡¯s most dangerous regions."

    "I think that the higher-ups of the Primordial Beast rankings are aware of what happened to them, but someone as lowly as myself will never be told," Hei Gou sighed.

    "When I was a small pup, my mother would tell tales about the Sovereign Beasts and our time of glory, back when humans were livestock and ves."

    "I listened intently, not because I felt superior, and felt that humans were supposed to be our ves, but because the Sovereign Beasts seemed like the most sacred creature I had ever heard of."

    Hei Gou¡¯s handsome face twisted slightly into mncholy as he was reminded of his childhood.

    "Truth be told, I ran away from home," he sighed after a bit of time. "I was nothing more than a chess piece to my parents. Much like how human youths are sent to the battlefield to fight against Primordial Beast and the beast hordes, the Primordial Beasts are simrly sent to the battlefield to fight against humans."

    "I was tasked to go hunt down a Primordial Beast Hunter of the Heavenly Warrior rank. I, someone with the strength equivalent to, at most, a Sky Warrior, was sent to my death."

    "The moment I got the order, I ran away. I was never chased. I think they did not care since a Primordial Beast with my strength will never survive for long alone."

    Xue Wei said nothing; he just looked up into the crowns of the trees above them. Hei Gou also remained quiet as he reminisced about his past.

    "My uncle is Xiao Lei," Xue Wei finally said after a long time. "He is a famous Primordial Beast Hunter."

    "I have no parents, nor memories of my early life. All I know is that when I was around ten years old, my father died due to an attack by a Primordial Beast. Before that, my mother had already died."

    "This is what my uncle told me. Although this is the case, I never felt sad or felt like I wascking anything. I was loved dearly, but now I start to fear: what will I do if one day I stand face to face with my uncle again, and what will I do if he is going to hunt me down like all the other Primordial Beast Hunters? Can I really fight him?"

 Chapter 103: Handsome

    "Xiao Lei," Hei Gou muttered the name to himself. "Xiao Lei... I have heard the name before. There was something about him, but I do not remember what exactly it was."

    "Perhaps there are some Primordial Beasts seeking revenge on him since he is a Primordial Beast Hunter, but somehow I cannot remember what exactly it was I heard about him."

    Hei Gou shook his head apologetically while Xue Wei shrugged his shoulders. It was no wonder that the Primordial Beasts had their own experts to hunt down Primordial Beast Hunters, as they were the bane of many a Primordial Beast that had either not reached maturity, a high enough rank of cultivation, or both.

    "How old are you?" Xue Wei asked Hei Gou suddenly, and the ck dog shed a grin at his newfound friend.

    "I am still very young, only thirty-four years old by now," he said with pride in his voice. "Primordial Beasts live much longer than humans, and they are considered kids until they turn thirty. From thirty to hundred is when they are youths, so on."

    "The body of a Primordial Beast takes a long time to mature, and thus it is impossible for a Primordial Beast to cultivate before it turns thirty years of age."

    "It has been four years since my beast core was created, which as you might know is what allows me to cultivate In thesest four years, I have done pretty well considering the purity of my bloodline and the assistance I was given by my family."

    "You have lived more than twice as long as me," Xue Wei said with shock. Hei Gou just shrugged his shoulders. "I am young," he said casually. "I am a beast, so you can¡¯tpare our ages in the same frame of time. I will always have a longer lifespan than you, and thus I will age slower. In fact, if we were to look at you and me, I fear that I might be younger than you when ites to my rtive age with my own ilkpared to you and yours."

    He sighed deeply before he shook his head. "Don¡¯t misunderstand though," he said sheepishly, "I am not a brat, nor am I childish. I am a true Celestial Dog!"

    "Right," Xue Wei could sense that this was something that truly mattered to Hei Gou, so he just agreed with him readily. He had no reason to try and start a discussion about seniority, as all he had wanted was to know about hispanion¡¯s age out of curiosity.

    "Well, now that my wounds are all healed, my energy is fully recovered, and my body is in a condition far better than it has ever been before, why don¡¯t you tell me what our ns are for the future?" Hei Gou said, cutting straight to the point.

    "I am heading for Lingyun town," Xue Wei said honestly. "I need to see the vige where I am likely to originate from. I have lost so much, I would like to at least know my origin."

    "After that, I have no actual aim in life other than strengthening myself. I have to take my vengeance against the Ice Harpy, and I need to avenge a friend of mine who sacrificed his life to save me when we tried to escape from the capital of this rotten kingdom."

    Xue Wei¡¯s eyes zed with fury when he thought about Tie Haolong¡¯s sacrifice. He would never let this go unavenged.

    "I see," Hei Gou could feel that this truly mattered to Xue Wei, and nodded his head solemnly. "So we have one more brother, and that brother is one I have never before seen, and never will. His sacrifice will forever be remembered, and his soul will live on in you."

    "Although the Kingdom of Heping is rather weak, it is still a kingdom. To get vengeance against a kingdom, don¡¯t you need to be at least a Saint? Perhaps a Heavenly Knight will also be able to get the vengeance you are seeking, but this is something that is far into the future."

    "The same goes for the vengeance against the Ice Harpy. Every Primordial Beast knows about the Ice Harpy Chu Huiyin."

    "She is one of the most dangerous beasts alive. She hates humans with a fervor that cannot be exined, but she does not shy away from killing beasts too if they step in her way."

    "Chu Huiyin is known as one of the few survivors of the Golden Age of Beasts, back when we held the world in our hands. She is an old monster who has lived for an eternity. In fact, no one knows exactly how long she has lived, and no one knows what exactly her goal is either."

    "She belongs to the upper echelons in the world of the Primordial Beasts, something that I have never been allowed to understand or hear anything about. Simple Primordial Beasts like myself know nothing of what the stronger ones do, what they think, and what their aim is. We just get given orders and have to follow them."

    "But Chu Huiyin is very famous. She has killed many a beast, and sometimes the parents used her as a way to scare their cubs and pups when they are small."

    Xue Wei¡¯s eyes had turned solemn. He nodded his head. "So what you are trying to say is that Chu Huiyin is so strong that fighting her will be near impossible for us. That fighting her will require being stronger than even the kingdom that has killed my brother?"

    Hei Gou hesitated for the first time before he spread out his arms. "I do not wish to lie to you," he said a little helplessly. "I really think that Chu Huiyin is one of the strongest Primordial Beasts that exist. To have her as your goal, you will need to be the strongest human in the world!"

    "Then I will be the strongest in the world," Xue Wei said, his eyes zing with determination. "I will gain my revenge, or I will die trying!"

    "Right now, she has not paid any attention to me, but who knows how long it will be until she returns to torture me or try to cause more problems for me? I don¡¯t know if she is acting like this because of my uncle, or if it is because of her interest or boredom, but I have a feeling that I am very far from being finished with her."

    "Okay," Hei Gou acknowledged Xue Wei¡¯s goals in life, "so this is our long-term goal, what is our n after we have visited that Lingyun Town of yours? I assume you don¡¯t n on just hanging around before a Primordial Beast Hunteres along to capture you?"

    "No," Xue Wei grinned finally, "I am acquainted with a prophet called Lan. I n to give him a visit."

    "You know the Lan? Even the beasts are aware of this prophet and go to visit him from time to time," Hei Gou sounded shocked when he said this. "One of my family members went there once to receive a prophecy, but apparently only half his prophecies turn out to be true. Some call him a trickster, while others say that he only tells the truth to those who are genuinely sincere."

    "I don¡¯t know what my family went to visit him for, but I am sure it was rather important. Rumor has it that he cares not whether his guests are humans or beasts, as long as they have some kind of treasure that can rouse his interest. He collects rarities, so it can be hard to move him."

    "He and I had a short friendship," Xue Wei exined. "I do not know if he will hand me over to the authorities, but I don¡¯t think he will. I need him to help me out with a few things. When that¡¯s taken care of, I will roam the vast world, get stronger, and experience what life is truly like."

    "I see you have made your decision," Hei Gou nodded his head casually, stood up, and wiped the dust off his robes. "Well then, let us start moving again," he said with a devilishly handsome smile on his face.

    "But damn, what kind of creature are you? The mixing of our blood truly managed to rebuild my entire body. Even my original shape has changed ¨C it has mutated!"

    Xue Wei was also at a loss for words. "I am just a normal human being," he said casually. "I do, however, practice a rather rare and magnificent cultivation technique. I am sure that the reason for the changes is due to that one."

    Xue Wei could find no other reason, and thus he just med the Azure Dragon Scripture for all the doubt and uncertainties he¡¯d hadtely.

    Hei Gou looked at Xue Wei with questioning eyes and a bit of curiosity, but he raised no questions.

    The two, beast and human, said nothing as they walked side by side through the wilderness. No beasts or humans troubled them; they managed to get through the dense pine forest with no problems.

    From time to time, they would exit the forest itself and enter a vige to ask for directions. Whenever they did this, Xue Wei would have his face hidden beneath a bamboo hat, while Hei Gou would wear a brilliant smile and coax everyone into answering every question that they might have.

    At the same time, he was also a master in managing to get food from the viges without having to give anything in return. His handsome features were truly marvelous when used against people, and Xue Wei had to admit that Hei Gou had learned how to use it to the fullest. He was truly a maniptive sort of person.

    Xue Wei was astonished time and time again. Hei Gou looked so genuine and friendly, but the truth was that he trusted no one, other than Xue Wei. He never felt anything for humans, so he felt no guilt from tricking them with his looks and friendly smile.

    Xue Wei and Hei Gou did everything they could to stay away from major cities, but they did enter one town that wasrger than the average vige they had visited so far.

    The moment they visited the town, Xue Wei felt cold sweat bead on his back, as he saw wanted posters with a portrait of him, a description of him, and a promise of fortune for whoever could locate his whereabouts.

    Hei Gou looked curiously at it; a knowing smile was on his lips, and he chuckled slightly.

    "You are really famous," he said with a low voice that only Xue Wei could hear, yet the words caused the human youth to snort. "Not as famous as you. Look at every girl; they are ready to throw themselves at you if you as much as wink at them."

    "They are disgusting," Hei Gou sneered, his face finally showing another expression than the friendly smile he had been sprouting for days on end.

    "I don¡¯t mind that they are humans, since I have approved of you, but they don¡¯t even know me. They know nothing about me. All they know is that I am handsome and thus they think that I am a trophy they can take home with them."

    Xue Wei said nothing, but he understood Hei Gou. He too had experienced that people did not spend enough time to get to know him and had judged him due to what they had heard or seen.

    "We are almost at Lingyun town!" Hei Gou said excitedly, changing the subject. "We should arrive in a day or two. Then we can finish the first part of our travels, and you can hopefully regain your memories!"

 Chapter 104: Hei Gous Plan

    The snow fell from the sky that was nketed by one massive grey cloud.

    The temperature was low, and every time Xue Wei or Hei Gou took a breath the air turned to steam.

    Their advance was slower than before. Every step they took caused them to sink deep into the hills of snow.

    The duo had been following the main road most of the day, but when they reached the point where the road split into two and one of the roads lead towards the remains of Lingyun town, the ground had gotten more difficult to traverse.

    Lingyun Town had been deserted for more than six years now. It was the scene of a Primordial Beast attack, which as a result meant that no one dared to venture there. What if the beast decided toe back? Some also assumed that a ce of the dead was filled with bad luck, which could affect anyone who went there.

    This had resulted in very few visitors in Lingyun Town. Although the road signs still showed the direction towards this town, very few went there. The amount of people who were not Primordial Beast Hunters to visit this ce could be counted on one hand.

    Since no one visited the town, no one bothered to keep the roads clear either. This was the reason Xue Wei and Hei Gou were walking knee-deep through snow.

    The snow impeded their movement, but neither Xue Wei nor Hei Gou were bothered by the cold and snow despite how tedious it was to walk through and the intensity of the weather. Not even the fact that they had to expend a slightlyrger amount of energy bothered them.

    "We need to be careful," Xue Wei said after a bit of time. "I fear that there will be an ambush once we get to Lingyun town. The people who are chasing me should know that at some point I am likely to return to Lingyun Town to visit my roots."

    "Since this is the case, if they are patient enough, then they will have been waiting here for a long time and waited for me to arrive."

    "Oh, then I have an idea," Hei Gou grinned, and Xue Wei looked at him curiously.

    "I am a Primordial Beast," he pointed out. Xue Wei crossed his arms across his chest and shifted his weight to one leg while looking at the ck dog with an appalled look on his face. It was not something he was likely to forget anytime soon.

    "I might be fairly weak for a Primordial Beast, but I am still a Primordial Beast. I can rouse a horde of Fierce Beasts to fight against the masses of humans."

    "Even the beasts with an equivalent strength to a Heavenly Warrior are forced to follow mymand as I am a Primordial Beast above the age of thirty."

    "Since this is the case, why don¡¯t we go to the forests and make a massive beast horde. Send the beast horde to the small vige that¡¯s our destination and sneak in when they are going rampant."

    "The Primordial Beast Hunters might be able to defeat the beast horde when it arrives, but they are not likely to be able to cause problems for us as they will be too busy fighting. We will sneak in while the fight is ongoing and then sneak out again before the fighting dies down."

    "Since I am already an aplice to the Primordial Beasts, I might as well use their strength," Xue Wei nodded his head. "Let us do that."

    "Also, it seems that there has been made a specific militarypany with the sole purpose of capturing and killing me. If we are unlucky, then they might also be here, so I suggest that we rally a massive beast horde. We cannot afford to bezy, nor can we afford to gamble with our lives," Xue Wei said solemnly.

    "A wholepany made for the sake of capturing you? Damn, they truly seem to be extravagant with their way of capturing you. Even Primordial Beasts themselves do not have such a thing following them."

    "But hey, does that not mean, that no matter where we go, we will constantly be chased by a group of strong experts?"

    "Pretty much," Xue Wei grinned. Although Hei Gou had seemed nervous at first, he could not help but grin as well after a bit of time.

    "We will face whatever tribtiones our way. We will kill anyone who stands in our way. Be it apany or heavenlyw; it does not matter. We will never bend, we will never break!"

    Hearing Hei Gou¡¯s words, Xue Wei startedughing, but there was pride in hisughter.

    "That is exactly what we are. The rest of the world wants to condemn us, but we will get our revenge. We will prove to everyone that our urge to survive is stronger than anyone else. We will never give up!"

    Hei Gou, whose face always had a yful smile curling on his lips and whose limpid eyes were always filled with carefreeness, suddenly had a heroic air to him.

    His eyes were zing with determination. The slight smile he always sported was gone now, and instead his mouth was cracked into a smile so big that all his white teeth were disyed.

    It was clear that he was honest with his emotions at that very moment, and his emotions were making Xue Wei change too.

    "You are right!" he eximed. "We brothers are more astonishing than what anyone else can imagine. We will survive! We will never bend, never sumb and never give up. We will fight till ourst breath!"

    Hearing Xue Wei repeating his words, Hei Gou had a face filled with excitement, and he could not help but throw his head back andugh out loud as he looked at the sky above them. The snow that slowly descended from the all-epassing grey clouds above filled his vision.

    "I have never felt as free as I do now," Hei Gou said with a grin on his face as he turned to look at Xue Wei.

    "We will get through this, and then we will roam the world. I will get to see things I have never seen before. I will get to experience a life I could never even have dreamt about."

    "The biggest issue is that we need to be careful of Diviners," Hei Gou sighed. "I don¡¯t know much about Diviners, only that they areplete trouble for someone like myself."

    "We will try to avoid them," Xue Wei said with a nod of his head. "No one else should be able to see that you are not a normal human, and since they won¡¯t know better, we will be safe."

    "Anyway, your idea was great," Xue Wei had a mischievous smile on his face. "Let us go and rouse the Northern Taiga¡¯s Fierce Beasts and begin a true battle against the hunters and other people who might be hiding out in Lingyun town to catch me."

    "Just wait a moment," Hei Gou said as he sat down in the middle of the tall hills made from snow. He almostpletely vanished into the snow itself.

    Xue Wei was incredibly curious about the method that Hei Gou was using, and he spread out his spiritual energy to sense what exactly was ongoing.

    The only thing that Xue Wei sensed was a trembling group of shockwaves that was being sent out in every single direction.

    These shockwaves were not made from spiritual energy, nor were they made from Qi. It seemed as if they were made from a whole different kind of energy, but Xue Wei could not pin down what kind of energy it was. He had no idea that any other kinds of energy than the ones he knew existed, so he was truly intrigued.

    Itsted most of the day, where Hei Gou was just sitting still, sending out one shockwave of energy after another. These were all made within the exact same timeframe, allpletely the same.

    As the sunless cloudy sky turned dark, Hei Gou finally rose to his feet once more. His face was slightly pale, but his eyes were zing.

    "You seem quite interested in the ways of the Primordial Beasts," Hei Gou said with a slight smile on his face. However, although he was seemingly joking as always, Xue Wei could see that he was exhausted and worn out.

    "I am curious, but don¡¯t go out of your way to answer me right now, instead get something done about thatck of energy. We can¡¯t have you copsing on me," Xue Wei grinned. He was indeed curious, but he did not doubt that Hei Gou would tell him whenever the he was ready to do so.

    The location where Xue Wei was standing was eerily quiet. There were no living beings in the air, whether that be Fierce Beasts or humans, and there were not even any birds in the sky.

    "This is as if we are the only two people in the entire world," Xue Wei sighed as he too sat down in the snow next to Hei Gou, who by now hadid down and allowed for the snow topletely cover him.

    Xue Wei did noty down in the snow. He just sat down and listened to the silence that enveloped him. Neither he nor Hei Gou spoke for a long time, bothpletely enveloped in their respective thoughts.

    The two friends were sitting like this for a long time, before finally the ground started trembling.

    Xue Wei shot to his feet in alert, while Hei Gou just sprouted his usual cheeky smile and remained in the same rxed posture on the ground.

    "I used the strongestmand that I can control," he said with a voice that sounded so smug that Xue Wei wanted to punch him in the face. "I havemanded every beast within this region of the Northern Taiga toe and assist us."

    "Truthfully, I am likely to get into a whole lot of problems when they find out that this is what I have been doing, but honestly I don¡¯t think I can get into much more trouble than I already am. I ran away from my duty. I ran away from my family. I use my powers for personal gain. It seems that I am actually a bad boy."

    "Stop acting," Xue Wei grinned in reply when he saw Hei Gou pretending to wipe away tears from his eyes. Instead, he looked at the massive beast horde that was starting to gather around him.

    There were all kinds of Fierce Beasts. Strangely enough, none of them even as much as nced at Xue Wei,pletely ignoring him. This time, no one showed fear towards him, but they did not show hostility either. It was as if he did not even exist.

    Hei Gou, on the other hand, was being treated like a king that had just returned to his kingdom, and every Fierce Beast was curious about him and looked at him with adoration.

    "Fierce Beasts can have intelligence equal to humans," Hei Gou said with seriousness in his voice. "But even if they have the intelligence, they are always looking up to Primordial Beasts. They will do anything they are ordered to when it is a Primordial Beast that gives the order."

    "These Fierce Beasts are pretty much just ves to us Primordial Beasts. It is truly a depressing subject, but it is also very important. We have always been taught that the Fierce Beasts are in truth nothing more than our tools to defeat the humans and take back the utopia we had previously."

    "I do not believe in this utopia, neither do I believe that it is really a good idea to keep the humans as livestock, but I am just one single beast. It is limited what I can do alone."

 Chapter 105: Lingyun Town

    Xue Wei looked at Hei Gou with a puzzled look. He then raised his head and looked at the many Fierce Beasts that had gathered around them, and snorted.

    "Just a single beast. Not able to do much," he said in a joking manner. "You have roused a beast horde. Although humans can control an army, I think it is rather astounding that you could get such a big group of beasts to gather so fast."

    Hei Gou scratched his head in embarrassment for a bit of time and said no more. The beasts kept arriving from within the Northern Taiga. Some were wounded after encountering humans on the way. But as long as they had not died, these beasts would continue onwards towards the task that had been given to them by the Celestial Dog.

    "I am likely to be chased even more vigorously after this," Hei Gou said after a bit of time. "Previously, I would have been attacked due to the fact that I ran away from home, and any Primordial Beast that saw me would kill me, but no one would be sent to hunt me down."

    "Now I am using my power to rouse beast hordes even when I have not been permitted to do so. They might even send hunters after us."

    "Is that different from thepany that¡¯s chasing us?" Xue Wei grinned. "We are outcasts; neither beasts nor humans will hesitate to kill us. Being chased might prove problematic, but how are they going to locate uster on?"

    "We will just take a quick trip to Lingyun town, and then head to the center of the continent. I am sure that it will be even harder for them to locate us in that ce."

    Hei Gou nodded his head. The slight insecurity in his heart vanished when he saw that Xue Wei had no fear about the future.

    "Right, let them chase us if they want!" Hei Gou grinned as he looked at the many beasts that were moving towards Lingyun town. Once all of them had passed the two of them, Xue Wei and Hei Gou finally continued on to their destination.

    The distance was short, and all the beasts had run rampant into the town. Although they were doing their best to not destroy the vige itself, it had been left to the elements, and the snow had almostpletely buried the area.

    Many of the houses had roofs that had copsed from heavy snow andck of treatment; there were houses that had turned to ruins, and only a couple of the houses had held up against the strong weather.

    Every road in the city was currently filled with Fierce Beasts that patrolled the area, on the constant lookout for humans.

    Here and there, the shing of weapons and ws could be heard. Although the humans had done what they could to hide themselves, they had not all been sessful. A few of the humans had been unnerved by the sheer amount of beasts, resulting in them being found.

    Xue Wei strolled into town together with Hei Gou. Neither of them hid their presence, nor did they try to sneak in. Instead, they just walked leisurely, as if there was no one hunting them.

    Many of the humans who had beenying in wait for Xue Wei to arrive saw them enter the town. Xue Wei had removed the bamboo hat, revealing his features, and everyone could recognize him right away. While they did recognize him, none of them could remember ever seeing anyone as handsome as Hei Gou.

    "Primordial Beast," someone muttered to himself, and at that moment everyone reached the exact same conclusion.

    There was no longer any doubt about Xue Wei colluding with a beast considering that a whole beast horde had been roused to attack the city at the same time as Xue Wei appeared.

    No human from the Kingdom of Heping would ever travel together with him, and the only answer would be that this human that was by his side was a Primordial Beast.

    "It makes sense," another human said to himself from his hiding space where he was observing the situation. "The Ice Harpy called him her brother, so for him to travel alone would be too risky. I am sure that this Primordial Beast is a bodyguard issued by the Primordial Beast Society."

    "This just leaves the question, is he a human or beast himself? Is he being valued highly because of his mission to be Xiao Lei¡¯s nephew, or is there something we do not understand in this?"

    Although most of the humans were in hiding, none of them were in a panic because of the sheer amount of beasts around them. The beast horde had at most a few Fierce Beasts equivalent to Heavenly Warriors. The humans had a dozen or more that hade to lie in wait for Xue Wei.

    "Although I admit that this is troublesome," one of these people said, sighing, "we will be able to escape with no problem because of our strength, but touching Xue Wei when he is moving freely inside this massive group of beasts is a dream that cannote true."

    Xue Wei walked down the streets of Lingyun Town casually and without any special expression on his face. On the other hand, when they were on their way over, Xue Wei had been nervous.

    He felt that his memories were about to return to him, and he could not help but feel worried. Was he going to hate beasts again after remembering what he had gone through in the past?

    Xue Wei was worried on the way, but when he saw the buildings in the distance, he started to feel a bit of familiarity. It was as if he had been here before, as if he had just returned home. The feelings of nervousness and fear were reced with rxation andfort.

    Although Xue Wei was getting feelings of familiarity, and although he had no doubt in his mind that this was his home, there were no signs of his repressed memories resurfacing.

    Xue Wei frowned as he walked further and further into the town. There were buildings that he could vaguely remember. Faces appeared in his mind, and he suddenly remembered what the vige had looked like in its prime.

    Even back then, some of the houses in the vige had been worn down due to the vigers being poor. He remembered people looking poor, wearing tattered and patched up clothes, but even when that was the case, the faces that floated in Xue Wei¡¯s mind were all happy.

    The further into town they got, the more faces surfaced in Xue Wei¡¯s mind. However, there were still a lot of questions in Xue Wei¡¯s mind that remained unanswered. What he remembered was the everyday life in the vige, but he had no memories of his own life.

    He could not remember his rtionship with those people he remembered. He could not remember what exactly his father looked like, nor could he remember what he was doing.

    While Xue Wei was deep in thought, Hei Gou was constantly on alert by his side.

    Hei Gou had long since realized that there were plenty of human experts in the vige. He was also aware that they were only there for the sake of capturing Xue Wei, and since he had decided to be Xue Wei¡¯s brother, he would truly give his life to keep him safe.

    Sometimes, Xue Wei would awaken from a stupor and move towards certain houses. He would ce his hand on the house and mutter a few words in a voice so low that Hei Gou could not hear it, and then he would move to another house.

    Hei Gou had ordered the Fierce Beasts with a strength equivalent to a Heavenly Warrior to stay by their side all the time, alongside a group of beasts with strength simr to Sky Warriors.

    Although Xue Wei and the beast horde had a lot fewer beasts at the Heavenly Warrior rank, their beasts were all willing to sacrifice their lives if need be. They would fight desperately, while the humans, although eager to get their hands on Xue Wei, were not willing to sacrifice their lives.

    At the same time, one has to remember that beasts were stronger than humans. Beasts that fought with reckless abandon were a force to be reckoned with.

    The group of beasts and Xue Wei went further and further into the vige. The more houses they came across, the more solemn Xue Wei became. He stopped listening to anything that was going on around him and waspletely caught up in the thoughts of the faces and names that appeared in his mind.

    They had entered the vige through what used to be the main street, and soon they arrived at what used to be the center of the vige.

    It was a small square, and it was here the shops were located. Xue Wei looked on at all these shops and was reminded of the faces and names of whoever lived in the houses.

    He saw the cksmith and the inn. There was the tailor and the bakery. Finally, Xue Wei¡¯s eyesnded on a house that made him frown. No matter how much he thought about this house, he could not remember it.

    There were no faces that came to mind, no names. It was as if it was a big hole in his memories as if someone hadpletely cked out everything that had to do with this house and those who lived within it.

    Sensing this, Xue Wei decided to go towards this house. He and Hei Gou entered it together, side by side.

    Hei Gou¡¯s senses were high on alert, Xue Wei was still deep in thought.

    Xue Wei looked around the room. It seemed to be the shop of an old apothecary. One could see old withered nts randomly spread in the shop; nothing had been taken by others as they feared to gain a curse from the Primordial Beast who had attacked the vige in the first ce.

    As Xue Wei looked around, he saw stains on the floor and the wall. These were bloodstains, but there was no corpse or a skeleton left behind anywhere on the ground.

    Someone had to have buried all the dead people, but from looking around this shop, Xue Wei could feel something very familiar but alsopletely foreign.

    At the same time, Xue Wei felt danger lurking in every corner. His head started throbbing in pain the more he looked into the room. Even so, nothing came to mind.

    This was a headache that Xue Wei was very familiar with. He had experienced it when he was younger every time he tried to remember his past, but in the past few years, he had not tried to recall those memories that often as he had been satisfied with his life.

    Xue Wei walked further into the store. He felt as if he knew theyout of the house by heart, but no memories came to mind despite that.

    Hei Gou and Xue Wei made their way to the residential area. Here, they managed to find two bedrooms. The interior of one of the rooms seemed like it had belonged to a child, while the other had a more solemn, mature air to it, a child and a parent¡¯s room respectively.

    Everything felt so familiar. However, although it felt familiar, Xue Wei had no memories of this ce.

    The frown on Xue Wei¡¯s face turned deeper, and sweat started beading on his brow. He was ufortable. The headache was raving, and hisck of memories was starting to puzzle him.

    For the first time, Xue Wei suddenly felt something strange. It was as if something within his mind was trying its best to burst out, but another power was holding it back. The sudden emotion caused Xue Wei to feel his head throb in excruciating pain.

    Hei Gou was looking on with worry in his eyes. It was clear that Xue Wei was in pain, but he could do nothing about it. At the same time, both of them were the target of dozens of Primordial Beast Hunters. If the slightest mishap happened, then they were likely to die.

 Chapter 106: Memories

    Xue Wei did not seem to give the dangers any thought. He was fully engulfed in the brief and few memories that sprouted in his mind from being within this ce.

    His nostrils were assaulted by a familiar scent, a scent that was not actually present in the house. And it was one that brought with it a lot of emotions and familiar feelings.

    Xue Wei closed his eyes, and a silhouette appeared in front of him. This silhouette was unlike the others, with features impossible to make out, and his entire body was covered in shadows. The more Xue Wei tried to remember the features of this figure, the more pain he was in.

    His head felt as if it was splitting; sweat beaded on his forehead, and he bit his lip to try and relocate the pain.

    The more he thought, the more pain he experienced. However, even though the pain was making him dizzy and making it impossible for him to stand straight, he continued to do everything in his power to turn the silhouette into a full figure that he could recognize.

    The more he pushed his mind, the more he felt that something was breaking his mind. It was as if he had a dam partitioning a certain part of his memories away from him, and the more he kept pushing and nudging it, the more fragile it became.

    The memories on the other side of the dam were trying their best to return to their original ce, eroding the dam in the process, but at the same time, they were not strong enough to do so on their own.

    Xue Wei, who was pushing it with all his might, quickly realized that it was not happening as easily as he would have wanted.

    He was deep in thought, frowning and in pain. It was impossible for him to focus on anything other than how to be able to get his hands on his memories, while Hei Gou was busy keeping vigil of their surroundings.

    Hei Gou was not willing to let anyone get in the way of their objective, but he started to feel nervous. They had been in the building for as long as it took for three incense sticks to burn, which was longer than expected.

    The longer they stayed in one ce, the more likely it was for the humans to attack them. The longer they stayed in one ce, the more time they gave the humans to n their attack. Not only this, the humans would also have time to consider the pros and cons of attacking together, even go as far as to start debating how to split the reward. As a result, Hei Gou ordered all the beasts to gather around Xue Wei.

    The Fierce Beasts with strength equivalent to the Heavenly Warrior rank were already standing in the middle of the shop. They were all on high alert and ready to attack anyone that came towards them.

    "This is strange," Hei Gou said to himself, puzzled when he saw how the Fierce Beasts were even more alert than he had expected.

    "They are protecting a human, but they are notining about it or even fighting against mymand."

    "Instead, all of them are giving it their all, and when they look at Brother Wei, they are truly admiring him. Could it be that he really isn¡¯t human? But if he is not human, howe I cannot feel anything special from him? He feels like anyone else."

    "I should experiment with itter," Hei Gou sighed. "I managed to undergo aplete rebirth after sharing my blood with Brother Wei. I don¡¯t know what exactly happened, but this mutation has made me many times stronger than I was before, and I feel like my potential is also unlimited now."

    "Brother Wei has given me so much. He saved me knowing full well that he was putting himself in danger. He never wavered or backed down. He did everything in his power to save me. Now I want to repay him. In fact, I will never be able to repay him for what he has done."

    "For the first time in my life, I feel as if I belong somewhere. I will cross mountains of swords for him, and stride through rivers of mes if need be. I will never forget the kindness he showed me, and how my world has changed because of this kindness!"

    Hei Gou was talking mainly to himself, but a few beasts seemed to hear him. All of them were eager to listen in on the rtionship between Xue Wei and Hei Gou. When they heard the ck dog say ¡¯brother,¡¯ their eyes filled with reverence.

    The small apothecary shop was almost an impregnable fortress with beasts standing everywhere around it, and with the strongest beasts inside the building closest to the center where Xue Wei and Hei Gou were located.

    But just as Xue Wei was starting to pant heavily and fell to his knees, Hei Gou heard a shout from outside. His eyes widened in shock, and his heartbeat rose drastically. At the same time, he was thinking as fast as he could

    Xue Wei was clearly not in a state where he could fight. In fact, Hei Gou could not help but wonder whether or not it would be possible for this friend of his to flee, or even move an inch, which filled him with dread.

    The constant sound of battling was urring outside the shop, and they were getting closer and closer. It was clear that the Primordial Beast Hunters had gathered together with the aim of killing Xue Wei and were now ughtering all the beasts that were in their way.

    These beasts did not even attempt to flee for their lives; many of them grouped together and threw themselves at their much stronger opponents, ready to sacrifice their lives in a heartbeat with no regrets whatsoever.

    Because of the beasts being so sacrificial, and not caring about their lives at all, they managed to take down a few of the humans. They threw themselves at the hunters and allowed the stronger beasts behind them to cut them down together with the human enemies they were holding down.

    "This is not going to work!" Hei Gou was nervous. He knew that although a few humans had been killed, it was far from enough to deal with all of the human forces. Their only option was to flee.

    Hei Gou looked around and saw that humans were closing in from every direction, trying to make a pincer attack on them.

    "So, my body mutated through the blood brother ceremony. I know for a fact that I have gotten wings now. I am not sure how they work, but I think it is our only chance!"

    Hei Gou looked at Xue Wei, and then his eyes turned solemn. Suddenly, ck fur started sprouting all over his body, and his arms turned into sturdy, massive front paws with ws. His face turned into that of a dog. His eyes, however, stayed the same post-transformation.

    Hei Gou looked very simr to how he had been before, but there was one massive difference. Not only was his fur much more glistening and healthy-looking than before, but he now had a pair of wings attached to his back.

    These wings were sorge that they seemed to fill up the entire shop, and therge Primordial Beast instantly grabbed the copsed Xue Wei, ced him on his back, and then gave the sign to the Fierce Beasts with strength equivalent to Heavenly Warriors to shatter the roof of the shop. In a rain of splinters, Hei Gou took to the sky.

    The Primordial Beast Hunters were all Heavenly Warriors, and all of them were capable of flight. However, although they were able to fly despite their human nature, their speed was many times worse than a flying Primordial Beast ¨C even worse than a flying Fierce Beast, which was why the Fierce Beasts which could fly were seen as treasures in the Heping Kingdom.

    Hei Gou was not used to flying. In fact, he had never tried so before, but when he started swinging his wings, he found that it was much simpler than he had expected.

    He soared into the sky, followed by all the flying beasts that were in the beast horde, and then he cut the connection to the Fierce Beasts, allowing them to flee whenever they felt like it.

    He then started flying at his highest speed far away from Lingyun town. With him came all the flying beasts. The humans were not willing to give up just like this, so they all followed suit.

    Although their flying speed was much slower than Hei Gou¡¯s, Hei Gou was still new to flying, and thus the humans managed to barely keep up.

    In Lingyun Town, the beasts, which had now been freed, did not scatter erratically. Instead, they did everything in their power to stall for time against the humans. Even though many of them threw themselves at death¡¯s door, none of them seemed to care about it as they continued to slow down and kill one hunter after another.

    Hei Gou could feel that Xue Wei was trembling. He could feel that there was something seriously wrong with his friend. Urged by his worries, he managed to bruteforce mastery of flight.

    The longer the chase became, the more the humans fell behind, incapable of keeping up. When their chase had gone on for half an hour, the humans were finallypletely out of sight.

    With Xue Wei and Hei Gou now out of harm¡¯s way, the beasts that had followed them all started flying their own ways too. After a final nce at Xue Wei and Hei Gou, they chirped, roared, and screeched their farewells in unison before they returned to the Northern Taiga from where they had originated from.

    Hei Gou flew past many forests. He flew past mountains and rivers, prairies and meadows.

    It was not before he found a naturally made cave on one of the mountains that they passed that he stopped his frantic flight, flying into it. It was an empty cave that seemed to have housed an expert in the past; the cave was equipped with a stone bed, stone chairs, and stone tables.

    Everything was covered in dust, and Hei Gou instantly entered, ced Xue Wei on the bed, returned to his human shape, and began cleaning.

    He would constantly nce at Xue Wei, worried about his friend. He was aware that what his brother was currently going through was something he could not help him with. It was something Xue Wei had to fight and conquer on his own.

    Hei Gou gave a final nce at Xue Wei before he descended from the mountain and started searching for food in the wilderness.

    He hunted a mortal beast, found some herbs, roots and other nts, and found a stream of fresh, clear water.

    He quickly packed everything up and returned to the cave as soon as he could, only to see that Xue Wei was still drenched in sweat, and his face was pale.

    "You have to pull through this!" Hei Gou said anxiously. "I will cook you some good food, so don¡¯t care about anything else, just get past this and return. I do not wish to be alone again!"

    The travels with Xue Wei had truly changed Hei Gou, and by now he valued Xue Wei as a genuine brother of his. Seeing him in pain truly was painful for Hei Gou as well.

    While Hei Gou was worried, Xue Wei was deep within his own world of dreams. This was a ce where he did not know what exactly was reality, what was memory, and what was illusion.

 Chapter 107: World of Fog

    Everything was foggy. Xue Wei was lost in a world of limitless fog; he felt like he was floating, and everything passed by him so fast.

    Silhouettes and figures appeared by Xue Wei¡¯s side. Some shed by in the blink of an eye, and others moved past at a snail¡¯s pace. However, all of them had one thing inmon ¨C all of them were indistinct and impossible to identify.

    Xue Wei reached out his hand in an attempt to stop a few of them, but he found that they turned to smoke and dissipated right in front of him as soon as he came into contact with them.

    Puzzled, the young man started walking aimlessly within the world of fog,pletely unaware of what was going on.

    As he kept walking, he had lost all his memories of what had happened to him prior to his appearance in the world of fog.

    Here in this world, he felt no pressure; there was nothing urging him to move, but he still felt curious. Just what was the origin of this ce? For what reason had he appeared within this location?

    Xue Wei was confused as he continued walking, yet even after walking for what felt like an eternity, Xue Wei realized that there was no end to this realm of fog. The only things he encountered in this never-ending world were the silhouettes that appeared from time to time.

    Walking in the fog, Xue Wei felt that everything was calm andfortable. Nothing was getting in the way, nothing was stressing him. In fact, he felt no danger and was at peace with himself.

    The more he walked, the more the number of silhouettes appearing around him increased. The further into the world of fog he went, the faster these figures shed past him.

    Some would hold hands, and an echo ofughter emerged from every direction in the world of fog. Child-like silhouettes ran around in groups, and their voices too echoed in the fog.

    The silhouettes became more and more realistic the further Xue Wei walked. They turned from mere silhouettes into lifelike figures, their bodies became less transparent, and their faces began to have features that resembled real people.

    These people had faces that Xue Wei suddenly remembered. There was the cksmith of Lingyun Town. He suddenly remembered how he had run errands for his father to the cksmith on a weekly basis, and that the cksmith and his wife doted on him as if he was their own nephew.

    He saw the faces of the children that ran in the fog, and was reminded of those he used to y with when he himself was a young child.

    Where Xue Wei had changed and matured, bing a young man, these people had not changed a day since the fateful encounter six years prior.

    These children were his friends; these people were his kin. Each person he passed by brought with them memories of a time long gone.

    Each memory was a treasure that returned to Xue Wei¡¯s mind; he felt that something that had been missing for years was returning to him. He felt as if the constant self-doubt he had had was vanishing. The fears he had had about himself were also being extinguished with every memory that returned to him.

    Although Xue Wei had been incapable of cultivating, his childhood was filled with heartwarming andfortable memories, and these memories that started taking root in his mind brought with them a feeling of being good enough.

    Xue Wei feltfortable. He felt as if he was bathed in a soft and gentle embrace as these faces floated through his mind and brought with them everyday memories.

    Albeit a small town, Lingyun Town still had a popce of around a thousand. All of them more or less knew each other. And although they were not all equally close, Xue Wei was right now remembering every single person and the encounters and episodes he had experienced with each of them.

    The first memories were the faintest. The people he had yed with the least, the people he had dealt with the least. However, the deeper into the fog he went, arger number of memories pertaining to people close to him, good friends and those with whom he had many memories, surfaced and assaulted his mind.

    "If I walk deep enough, will I encounter my parents?" Xue Wei could not help but ask himself. As he thought of this, he could not help but feel excited.

    Although he had lived six years without even remembering his father, he knew from the moment he entered the apothecary shop that he had once been truly loved by his father.

    Reaching this realization, Xue Wei sped up within the world of the fog and moved further and further into its depths, on the search for any of the figures that floated past him and added to his memory as they passed by.

    More and more of these memory fragments appeared. The experts who were in charge of training the youngsters in the city also appeared, filling Xue Wei with dread and reverence, a feeling that he remembered from the time he was a small child himself.

    Another eternity went past, and fewer and fewer figures appeared. The further Xue Wei walked, the more important the memories he recovered were, but the less frequent they became as well.

    Finally, the steady stream of memories and figures vanished and Xue Wei reached the end. There, not one but three figures were waiting for him.

    The first one had a gentle,fortable and familiar feeling to them; the second felt dangerous but also loving; while the third waspletely frightening.

    Xue Wei frowned. Why on earth were there three figures? Who were they?

    He reached out, trying to remember something, and the moment he came into contact with the gentle and soft figure, the first of the three, he was assaulted by memories of his father.

    Although he was filled with memories because of this, there were a few things that were impossible to remember no matter how hard he tried to recall them.

    Xue Wei could not remember the face of his father. Every memory he recovered was filled with love and tender care, but his father¡¯s face was blurry and impossible to see in each one.

    Grumbling, Xue Wei wondered what was happening. Even the members of the vige that he had never had much to do with were now a clear memory in his head; he could remember every single hair on their head. However, he could not remember his father, the one who he had spent the most time with out of all of them?

    This was truly a difficult situation for Xue Wei, and he paused to think about what to do for a moment. He was frustrated because of the inability to remember, his feelings were chaotic for a moment before they finally calmed down once more.

    "Since I can¡¯t remember Father fully, why don¡¯t I try the other two?" he muttered to himself. However, the moment he reached towards the two figures, he heard a screech simr to that of a bird, followed by a high-pitchedughter, and then the fog that had surrounded him for what felt like an eternity suddenly vanished.

    Xue Wei felt as if he was falling into a big ck hole, and his world became unstable, but he remembered everything that had happened as his eyelids twitched. After a few moments of helplessness, he felt that light had returned to his world and he could open his eyes.

    The world of fog and memories waspletely gone. Xue Wei instead looked up at a stone ceiling, and he had a puzzled look on his face.

    "Where am I?" he muttered to himself as he propped himself up on one arm to get a better look at what was happening around him.

    He was located in a small cave. He wasying on a stone bed, and there were stone chairs and tables not far from it.

    Hei Gou was standing not far away, looking outside with solemn eyes. He had clearly not noticed that Xue Wei had awoken.

    Xue Wei¡¯s body felt as light as a feather He felt invigorated and energized, and even his mind felt much clearer than it had been before, but he was still puzzled regarding his new environment and the stream of memories he had seen.

    "I remember everything apart from Father and those two figures," he muttered to himself, finally causing Hei Gou to look behind him as he heard the low voice.

    Hei Gou¡¯s handsome face was haggard. His eyes had dark circles beneath them and he had lost weight.

    "Thank god you woke up!" he eximed excitedly. Xue Wei, who felt bad about Hei Gou¡¯s exhausted appearance, nodded his head with a smile on his face.

    "Sorry, how long was I out for?" he asked. Based on what Hei Gou looked like, Xue Wei had a feeling he had been out for quite a while. The ck dog quickly answered, "You were out for three weeks." There was relief in his voice.

    "I was worried that you might die!" When he said this, Hei Gou¡¯s voice trembled slightly. "You might not know this, but although we met each other a rather short time ago, I feel that you are very important to me. You are my brother!"

    Xue Wei¡¯s heart turned soft when he heard this. He nodded his head. "Why don¡¯t you go rest for a bit?" he asked gently. "I will keep watch. I am sure that you have not slept or rested for these three weeks. If you continue like this, you will copse!"

    "I will," Hei Gou did not attempt to pretend that he was okay. The moment Xue Wei got off the stone bed, Hei Gouid down, almost copsing to the floor. Within moments, his eyes closed and he managed to fall asleep.

    His breathing was steady and calm, and his entire body seemed as if it was on the verge of copsing. Xue Wei smiled gently when he saw this and sat at the entrance to the cave where he had a good view of everything that happened outside, without the outside being able to look inside the cave.

    "So I can¡¯t remember my father," Xue Wei muttered to himself. "I don¡¯t remember anything about his death, and I do not remember his face. I can remember all the experiences we shared, but when ites to his death, it is as if something is blocking me. It is the same with his face."

    Xue Wei pondered on the issue for some time while stroking his chin. "There were two other figures. Both of them felt incredibly dangerous, but whereas one of them also had a loving andfortable feel, the other was cold as ice."

    "These two people were shown at the very end together with my dad. They must be very important."

    Xue Wei muttered to himself as he continued to ponder in silence about what had happened. "Since they give me a dangerous feeling, I guess they have something to do with the death of Father."

    "Could it be that someone does not want me to remember?" Xue Wei suddenly had the feeling that there was something deeper than just having forgotten his father¡¯s face.

    "Now I can remember the food my father gave me. All the lectures, the discussions we had, and the love he shared with me. But although I remember all this, I do not remember his face. It is as if something is blocking it."

    Xue Wei was deep in thought when he saw that a group of people suddenly flew past the mountain.

    Xue Wei paused his thoughts, held his breath, and observed the group that was flying through the area.

    "Why are there so many Heavenly Warriors here?" Xue Wei muttered to himself. "And why are they all moving in a particr pattern. Are they looking for something?"

    Suddenly it dawned on Xue Wei what was going on. "Dammit," he cursed, "I was too slow in waking up ¨C they are going to systematically scan the area to find traces of me and Hei Gou. They caught up too fast!"

 Chapter 108: What Should I Do?

    The search was troublesome. These experts were systematically scanning the ground and forest that was located beneath the mountain on which they had found refuge.

    There were experts split into groups; some were moving on the ground, traversing the forest from beneath, while a small group was patrolling the skies on flying Fierce Beasts.

    They werebing through the area with meticulous care, and Xue Wei gritted his teeth and felt ufortable.

    He knew nothing of Hei Gou¡¯s change ¨C that he now had wings and was capable of flying at lightning speed ¨C as he had been unconscious when they escaped Lingyun Town.

    "I need to save my newfound brother," Xue Wei mumbled to himself as he looked at Hei Gou with worried eyes.

    Hei Gou was in a deep sleep. His eyes were closed, and his breathing was steady. When Xue Wei looked at Hei Gou, he was reminded of the ck lines under his eyes and how his body had seemed incredibly feeble the moment that Xue Wei had awakened.

    Xue Wei knew by instinct that Hei Gou had watched over him, day in and day out, for a long time. The ck dog had ensured that he was safe, and constantly worried about what to do should their pursuers catch up to them.

    Even though Hei Gou had known that their lives were at risk and that someone would eventually discover their location, he had still faithfully remained by Xue Wei¡¯s side, knowing full well that he was putting his life at risk.

    Xue Wei, who knew all of this, had not said any words of thanks to Hei Gou. He had instead kept the warmth in his heart, and he would do anything to protect his brother.

    The hunters came closer and closer to the mountain. Xue Wei¡¯s body tensed more and more. He started considering his options.

    Should he run away? Use his own body to lure the experts away from Hei Gou? Although that was risky for him, it was likely that it would be the best solution. Even so, he could not guarantee they would leave the mountain residence unchecked the moment Xue Wei showed himself.

    Hei Gou was still deeply asleep. The ck circles under his eyes were slowly vanishing, and he seemed as if he was improving by the minute.

    Since Hei Gou was getting better, Xue Wei did not want to trouble him, but he was at aplete loss for what to do.

    He sat down and started thinking about what exactly was happening. He knew that the more he thought, the more danger they were in, but he was hesitant. He did not wish to leave Hei Gou now that he had finally found a friend, but he was also willing to give up his life for said friend, knowing full well that his friend would do the same for him.

    Xue Wei was deep in thought when he suddenly felt something moving in the cave. When he looked up, he saw that Hei Gou was awake and sat on the stone bed while looking at him with worry in his eyes.

    "You did not sleep a lot," Xue Wei said, but Hei Gou just shrugged his shoulders. Although he had not slept for a long time, his face was much less haggard than before. The charming smile that he always wore was back in position.

    "Well, what is happening? You look as if you are about to make a life-changing decision? It is natural that I cannot sleep when you are making the atmosphere so tense!"

    Xue Wei grimaced. He knew that he could not hide anything from Hei Gou at the current point in time, so instead he pointed out of the cave, moved to the side, and allowed the ck dog to see for himself.

    When he saw what was happening outside, his handsome face turned solemn and his smile faltered for a short moment.

    "I knew they were supposed to arrive sooner orter, but this is unexpected and rather unfortunate," Hei Gou sighed and Xue Wei nodded his head.

    "I am thinking of using myself as bait," Xue Wei said. "I will run away as fast and as far as I can while you move the other way. They will chase me so you should be able to escape safely."

    Hei Gou¡¯s face turned dark, and the smilepletely vanished. An ice cold feeling started spreading from his body, which took Xue Wei by surprise.

    "I am not going to run away!" Hei Gou hissed. Were he not worried that his voice would alert the pursuers of their location, then he would clearly have screamed at the top of his lungs.

    "We are in this together so we live and we die together as brothers!" he eximed fervently. "Also don¡¯t give up just yet," the smile returned to his lips.

    "We have one path of escape," he said and his voice was suddenly filled with confidence.

    "I told you before," Hei Gou said with a grin, "my body transformed the moment I merged my blood with yours."

    "I am now not just an ordinary Celestial Dog. I am a mutated one. My body has grown wings, and I will be able to outrun most Fierce Beasts equivalent to the Heavenly Warriors, but I do not know for how long I will be able to keep that up."

    "The only reason I am able to do so is because my strength is equivalent to a Peak Sky Warrior, as I am a Primordial Beast whose body has mutated."

    "The mutation has improved everything about me; I am a serious contender now when ites to the youths with the highest potential in the current younger generation of Primordial Beasts."

    "Since this is the case, I imagine that it is possible for me to fly away from the Fierce Beasts on our tail." Hei Gou sounded confident, but when Xue Wei looked at him, he saw a slight hesitation within his eyes.

    "I will dly put my life in your hands," Xue Wei said decisively. "If we get caught, then so be it, we will figure out something together. And if we die, then we have at least lived a few days more than we would have on our own."

    Hei Gou nodded his head. "I will rest for another hour," he said decisively. His smile was nowhere to be seen, and although he sounded confident, he knew that his physical condition was far from optimal.

    "I am going to cultivate too," Xue Wei said. "Perhaps I can have a breakthrough in the Azure Dragon Scripture," he said after a bit of hesitation. However, the moment those words left Xue Wei¡¯s mouth, Hei Gou stared at him with an open mouth.

    "You are cultivating the Azure Dragon Scripture?!" he eximed, almost forgetting to keep his voice down. Xue Wei, who just realized that he had revealed his secret, nodded his head.

    "I am keeping it a secret, but you are my brother. I guess you knowing is no problem."

    "The Azure Dragon Scripture is a scripture that the sovereign beasts created!" Hei Gou said excitedly. "It is a legendary scripture that only the chosen can train. How on earth did you get your hands on such a rare and outstanding technique? You are from the small Kingdom of Heping!"

    "Rx," Xue Weiughed, "I will tell you all about it when we have spare time, but right now we need to focus on survival. I will see if I can break through. Right now, I can transform my arms into that of an Azure Dragon¡¯s; perhaps I will be able to learn how to sprout wings all of a sudden?"

    Xue Wei was half joking, half serious, but Hei Gou just snorted and shook his head. His eyes showed reverence when he looked at Xue Wei, but they also showed warmth.

    These two outcasts had found one another and managed to be friends in a life-and-death situation. In this world they had no one but each other, and they truly valued one another highly.

    Although their time together was brief, they had already gone through so much together that they would always trust each other with their lives.

    Xue Wei and Hei Gou sat down in the lotus position and started cultivating. Their goal was to improve their condition so that they could flee as fast as possible when the time came; neither believed that they would be able to fight against the group of Heavenly Warriors that was chasing them. They also both swore in their hearts that there would be a day when they would return and get revenge.

    Not for their own sake, but because the hunters had put their valued friend in danger.

    Both emptied their minds of thoughts and descended into deep meditation. They felt at peace and at one with the world surrounding them. They felt how energy was roaming from the outside world into their bodies.

    It was traveling through their meridians and changed from the essence of the heavens and the earth to their personal Qi.

    Xue Wei¡¯s Qi was azure in color; it was all stored within the pearl-like core inside his dantian, and right now Xue Wei felt that his body was filled with energy. He felt that his body was at the peak of what he could expect from it.

    He had been sleeping for a long time, and his body had continuously absorbed energy while he was unconscious, causing him to be overflowing with Qi.

    Hei Gou, on the other hand, was like a used cloth. He was exhausted. His body was constantly absorbing the surrounding energy wantonly, as if he did not even care whether or not his body had time to properly transmute it.

    The hour went by fast. Although Xue Wei had hoped to have a breakthrough in the Azure Dragon Scripture, this did not happen. As for Hei Gou, although his condition improved slightly, it was not enough to say that he was in a good state.

    Xue Wei and Hei Gou looked at one another. Although they were filled with uncertainty about their future, neither of them were hesitant and neither of them regretted their decision.

    Xue Wei nodded to Hei Gou, who started to transform back into his original shape.

    Last time Xue Wei had seen Hei Gou in his true form as a Celestial Dog was when he had saved him. Back then, he had been a massive ck dog, but the ck dog that appeared in front of the youngster now was at least twicedouble as big as it had been previously, and a set of ck crow-like wings extended from its back.

    The massive dog¡¯s eyes were gentle when they looked at Xue Wei, but the young man could not help but take a deep breath in shock. "You are a big doggie!" he eximed in shock. Hei Gou growled at him in response. As to whether or not it was a proud growl or a dismissive growl, Xue Wei had no idea.

    "Okay, well, let us move!" Xue Wei said after having stared at him for a whole minute. He jumped onto Hei Gou¡¯s back, and the big crow-like ck feathered wings started pping.

    "I am going to go all out," Hei Gou said with a smirk on his face, revealing his sharp canines. "I am a Celestial Dog. My ancestor was named Tian Gou and he could swallow the sun and the moon. Although I might not be strong enough to swallow those yet, I can absorb all light in an area. It should give us some time to escape!"

    Having said this, Hei Gou¡¯s wings started pping with lightning-like speed. Hei Gou and Xue Wei shot out from the cave in the mountain in an instant.

 Chapter 109: Pursuit

    The sudden appearance of Hei Gou and Xue Wei caused an instant reaction from the many people who were scanning the area.

    Although the ones on the ground did not notice what was happening, the ones in the sky were much more alert when it came to changes in their vision. When they saw a ck line shoot through the air, all of them instantly gave chase.

    Xue Wei had been unaware of Hei Gou¡¯s ability to fly, but these hunters had seen it before. They knew that he could fly and were as a result even more alert when it came to the sky.

    "They are desperate!" someone eximed. "They are too naive if they think they can escape from us!"

    "Be careful!" another yelled. "We don¡¯t know what tricks that Crimson Devil has at his disposal. Remember how the lightning sparrow was taken from its owner? Maybe he can take our beasts away from us, or make them turn against us if he so pleases!"

    "This is not simple at all. We need to be careful. However, we have been given our orders and capturing the Crimson Devil is our most important task; even hunting Primordial Beasts has been put on pause to ensure that he dies!"

    "The bounty is great, so I will be the one who captures him!" someoneughed. He was flying on a Fierce Beast of the swallow family. His beast had a speed that was not much inferior to the Lightning Sparrow.

    "You can keep dreaming. This kid is only an Earth Warrior, and although he has a flying Primordial Beast with him, it¡¯s only equivalent to a Sky Warrior. Those two alone are weakpared to us! Killing them will be my achievement!"

    "Stop bragging both of you!" a third one yelled with a voice filled with annoyance. "Although those two are weak, they have managed to stay alive up until now. We also don¡¯t know if the Ice Harpy is going to show up."

    "We do not know if the Crimson Devil is human or Primordial Beast, but it is clear that he is very important to some of the high ranked Primordial Beasts. Furthermore, having been given the task to act as Xiao Lei¡¯s nephew for years, he cannot be simple."

    "In fact, we should realize that he is as conniving as a sly old fox." Despite all of them pushing their mounts to fly at their fastest speed in pursuit of Xue Wei and Hei Gou, they were able to speak to each other almost leisurely.

    Truth be told, the Primordial Beast hunters were having a hard time taking Xue Wei and Hei Gou seriously.

    Both of them were incredibly weakpared to the hunters. If they were standing right in front of the hunters, both Xue Wei and Hei Gou would be killed with a simple p from any one of them. They could not fight back. They could not even decide how they would die, and everything would be in the hands of the hunters.

    "Well, the dog is able to fly rather fast," someonemented with surprise as they continued the pursuit.

    "Even if it is fast, it is only at the Sky Warrior stage. Our beasts have a slight advantage, so the dog is just tiring itself out. If they think they can escape us, they are seriously naive."

    Everyone else seemed to agree with this person. At this point, none of them were truly giving it their all. They were just leisurely following Xue Wei and Hei Gou. Although their tamed mounts had to fly at the fastest speed that they could handle, these hunters never feared losing track of their target.

    At the start, Xue Wei had observed that Hei Gou moved as fast as lightning, but his speed dropped around the half-hour mark.

    When he looked back at the pursuing hunters, he could see that the gap between them was closing. But Xue Wei did not panic this time. Instead, he ced his hands on Hei Gou¡¯s shoulders and closed his eyes.

    He found his inner center, his dantian, and started rotating the energy within his body before pouring it into Hei Gou.

    Hei Gou, who was feeling his energy depleting at a rapid pace and who was getting more and more worried, suddenly felt his body swell with energy.

    He felt a pure energy enter his body, an energy which was far purer than his own. When it entered his body, he suddenly felt incrediblyfortable.

    The fatigue he had been feeling was being pushed back. His aching body hurt less, and his speed started picking up again.

    Hei Gou felt invigorated, so much so that a smile disying his canines spread on his face.

    He wanted to ask Xue Wei how he had managed to get such pure energy, but recalling the fact that Xue Wei practiced the Azure Dragon Scripture made him understand.

    Hei Gou cultivated the Moon Eating Scripture, which was a scripture passed down from his ancestor Tian Gou. When perfected, one could devour any light source and use it to attack.

    The Moon Eating Scripture was specially tailored to the Celestial Dogs. Their affinity with devouring light was so strong that this would be the most perfect scripture for them to cultivate. On the other hand, the blood purity of the Celestial Dogs had decreased constantly, causing their affinity with the scripture to decrease as time went on.

    Although Hei Gou¡¯s body had mutated, he still had Qi within his body from before, and this Qi was not even half as pure as Xue Wei¡¯s. As time went on, the body would naturally purify it to suit its new constitution, but this was a long process of removing impurities. Furthermore, although it had been three months since his physique had mutated, he had not even purified a tenth of his Qi.

    The purity of Qi determined many things. With purer Qi, the consumption of energy was reduced when using a technique, and the technique would be more powerful.

    If two experts were facing off and one of them had purer Qi than the other, he would hold the upper hand in the battle because the pure Qi would enhance his performance.

    The Qi¡¯s purity was determined by the scripture one cultivated. The cultivation method that Xue Wei originally would have trained back in Lingyun town was of the lowest quality, which meant that the Qi he would have gathered would also have been rubbishpared to the Qi he possessed now that he cultivated the Azure Dragon Scripture.

    Another thing that determined the purity of one¡¯s Qi was the condition of one¡¯s body.

    If one had many impurities in the body, these impurities would cause leaks in the flow of one¡¯s Qi and make it less pure.

    Impurities coulde from having consumed medicinal pills with low purity or from allowing one¡¯s body to be in bad condition for a long period of time. This was also the reason why so little of Hei Gou¡¯s Qi had been purified. He had neglected his body to keep watch over Xue Wei, which had in return caused his Qi to deteriorate.

    One¡¯s body would always be ustomed to its own purity of Qi. So albeit feeling much better because of Xue Wei sharing his pure energy with him, Hei Gou soon started to feel a sharp pain in his head .

    His body was simply not used to such pure Qi. He could feel that his body, from tissue to meridian, was bursting with energy like never before. However, at the same time, his body could not withstand this level of energy purity.

    Xue Wei could feel that Hei Gou was in pain. He could feel the dog¡¯s body trembling beneath him, but he gritted his teeth and prayed that the ck dog could endure the pain.

    Their only chance of escaping was to use Xue Wei¡¯s pure Qi. While it was painful for him, Hei Gou noticed that Xue Wei¡¯s pure Qi mixed with his own rapidly expedited the purification process that he had neglected so far.

    Noticing this, he was excited. Although it was painful, he was gaining something from it, which also implied that they were able to continue their escape.

    "They are not bad," one of the pursuers praised them withughter. "We have chased them for three hours now, and they¡¯re still going strong. Some of the other hunters have already dropped out of the chase because their mounts cannot keep up."

    "I know," another agreed, "a Primordial Beast is indeed different from a Fierce Beast. Although it is only equivalent to a Sky Warrior, it can move as fast as our Fierce Beasts with strength simr to Heavenly Warriors, not to mention it also has the energy to prolong the pursuit for this long."

    "Well, it does not matter," a third man shrugged his shoulders. "It might be a Primordial Beast, but it is still only as strong as a Sky Warrior. Eventually, that dog will run out of Qi and then we will catch up to them. It is just a matter of time."

    These Primordial Beast Hunters were certain of their victory so they took the time to chat amongst themselves mid-flight. It would only be a matter of time before they catch up at this pace.

    "It is a shame we have to kill the Primordial Beast," a fourth man that was pursuing themmented. "That thing is a flying ck dog. I have never heard about this species before, but it is certain that it would be worth a lot. Since it is a dog, it would be great in battle, and the wings give it the abilities of a flying beast. In every aspect, it is a perfect pet."

    "We can always try to subdue it," the second man suggested. "We might be able to capture it alive and have a Diviner tame it for us. We can share it between us since we are all working together."

    "Dream on, it¡¯s obviously the Crimson Devil¡¯s bodyguard. I am sure it is someone that the Ice Harpy has prepared for him," the third man interjected. "Since this is the case, I doubt he will give up easily and allow us to subdue him. Especially not since we are killing the Crimson Devil as soon as we get close enough."

    "I know I am not supposed to say this, but have any of you ever considered that there is a chance that Xiao Lei will take his vengeance on us for killing his beloved nephew? We all know he doted on him more than anything else... he might even forgive him for having colluded with Primordial Beasts."

    "Don¡¯t say things like that!" the first person scolded him. "Xiao Lei is a victim of the Primordial Beasts¡¯ schemes. He would kill that Crimson Devil himself if he had the chance."

    At that point, the group looked back at Xue Wei and Hei Gou, only for their faces to turn slightly pale.

    Hei Gou had elerated in a sh. In an instant, he had moved so fast that only a ck blur could be seen in the distance.

    "How did he do that?!" the pursuing beast hunters were shocked. "That dog is only as strong as a Sky Warrior. Its strength should be used up by now, but it is moving faster? Can we even catch up now? It must be their final desperate attempt to escape, so the dog probably can¡¯t continue at this speed for a long time, right?"

    They were all speechless and waited for the sudden boost in strength to stop, but that never happened. They urged their beasts to move faster, but even then it was impossible to catch up to Xue Wei and Hei Gou.

 Chapter 110: Blood Essence

    The Primordial Beast Hunters were not wrong when they assumed that Hei Gou was burning all his energy to be able to increase his speed.

    They had, however, underestimated his willpower.

    "No!" Xue Wei called out in despair when Hei Gou picked up in speed. "Don¡¯t do it! We can escape without you burning your blood essence!" he said in panic, but Hei Gou did not reply and instead pushed himself harder.

    A red mist had started to appear around Hei Gou. He was exhausting all his energy for the sake of fleeing. Every single ounce of energy in his body was being squeezed out so that he could fly faster.

    Xue Wei was filled with fear. Blood essence was something that should not be burned unless one was in a serious life-or-death situation. When one burnt their blood essence, one would be weak for a time afterwards until the depleted blood essence was restored.

    Even worse was burning the heart-blood essence, the blood essence that was stored in one¡¯s heart. This could never be replenished unless one used treasures, herbs, or pills of sufficient quality, and each one of these were incredibly difficult to obtain.

    Since these items were so difficult to obtain, mostmon people would never even see it in their lives. In fact, even the entire Kingdom of Heping would be incapable of producing such a treasure from their treasure-houses.

    So far, Hei Gou had only burnt his normal blood essence, but Xue Wei looked on with worry and could see that the ck dog¡¯s eyes were filled with determination. He would burn his heart-blood essence if he had to, to ensure that they could escape.

    "Look at the red mist that appeared around him!" one of the Primordial Beast Hunters called out. "Their speed has increased drastically... the dog must be burning blood essence! Don¡¯t lose sight of them! He¡¯ll run out of blood essence to burn soon enough!"

    "We cannot allow him to escape! I know that we cannot ask of our beasts to burn their blood essence since we own them, but our control over them is limited. We just have to hope that the sudden boost in his strength is temporary."

    The faces of the other hunters were ugly. They had expected this to be a simple hunt, but the Primordial Beast that Xue Wei was flying on had burnt its blood essence, causing him to suddenly pick up in speed and widen the gap instantly. Even if they wanted to catch up, it would be impossible at this rate.

    Since they could not catch up, all they could do was simply watch as Xue Wei and Hei Gou vanished into the distance. Their faces turned darker and darker. Their certain victory was now no longer so certain.

    "He has burnt his blood essence," the calmest of the hunters said in a serious voice. "It is true that they have escaped us, for now, but do remember that the Primordial Beast used its blood essence. It will be weakened for some time, which means they won¡¯t be moving as fast. Now that we know they are two, we will adjust our search ordingly. We will find them eventually, so let us continue our pursuit."

    Hei Gou and Xue Wei had long shaken off the pursuers, but Hei Gou did not stop burning his blood essence.

    "Stop it now! We have a big lead. You will only harm yourself like this!" Xue Wei was in pain when he saw that Hei Gou was still trying his best, but the beast did not listen to him. Instead, it changed its direction. So far, they had fled towards the south all along, but now they were heading west.

    Hei Gou was flying nonstop for a full day while burning his essence blood. When the moon rose to the ckened sky, the blood mist that enveloped them was now so dense that it looked like a red cloud.

    They had been flying at high altitude, and now the moon in the sky caused Hei Gou to feel even more exhausted. Before long, he could no longer maintain flight.

    The flying dog, who hadpletely ignored Xue Wei¡¯s attempts to stop its wanton consumption of blood essence, finally descended to the ground.

    It changed its body back to its human shape, revealing that breathtakingly handsome face. The shadows of exhaustion lurked on Hei Gou¡¯s human face, which looked so pale that it had turned grey.

    All blood was drained from his face, and he was staggering while trying to move.

    "You dolt!" Xue Wei scolded him, "You know there¡¯s terrible consequences to burning your blood essence like that! What is the point of surviving if I have to see you die from over-exhausting yourself?!"

    "I won¡¯t die from this," Hei Gou said, panting, with a weak voice. It was a struggle for him just to stay standing, and speaking made him almost copse right then and there.

    Xue Wei sighed deeply, unsure of what exactly to say. He knew that they were temporarily safe now due to Hei Gou¡¯s sacrifice, but he also knew that they would be chased down by the Primordial Beast Hunters endlessly as long as they were still within the boundaries of Heping Kingdom.

    "You flew west all the time right?" Xue Wei finally decided not to continue talking about the sacrifice Hei Gou had made. He would instead make sure that the sacrifice would be worth it in the long run - that they would escape Heping Kingdom together safely.

    "We are not far from the border," Hei Gou replied, nodding his head, but the movement caused his body, which was currently exhausted to the limits, to double over. He fell t on his face.

    Xue Wei rushed to his side and helped him roll over onto his back. It was a miracle that Hei Gou was capable of maintaining his human form with his current condition, but Xue Wei understood that he was doing it for the sake of not attracting any trouble to themselves in case someone noticed them.

    "Grab onto me," Xue Wei said and hoisted Hei Gou up. He ced the ck dog¡¯s arm over his shoulders and supported him while he slowly began to move.

    "This reminds me of the first time we met," Xue Wei said with a slight smile on his face. "You decided to follow me with no real reason, simply because we were in the same position. Who would have thought that we would actually feel such a connection after a short amount of time."

    "I feel that you only decided to join me because you did not want to die alone, and you knew that we would never make it out of the forest... but looking back, we made it out just fine. We even managed to escape the death trap that was Lingyun Town."

    "Now we havee this far with your sacrifice. I am not going to make it all pointless in the end. We will survive."

    Hei Gou did not speak. He was spending all his remaining energy on shuffling his feet along. Meanwhile, he felt a constant stream of gentle Qi running into his body from Xue Wei.

    Although this Qi was very pure, the amount that was poured into his body was now much smaller than what he had to handle earlier during their escape, which made him feel much morefortable rather than painful.

    "I feel like crap," Hei Gou finally said. His voice was hoarse and his handsome face was twisted in a strange grimace.

    "But if we can survive this way, then so be it," he continued.

    "Well done!" Xue Wei smiled, his words spoken solemnly. There was no doubt that they were said from his very core.

    "Tell me about your life while we walk. If I listen to some stories, I might forget my pain," Hei Gou requested. Xue Wei thought that it was the least he could do.

    "I was born in Lingyun Town. However, as a matter of fact, I had no memories of this ce for the past six years of my life." Xue Wei began.

    "I regained some memories back when we visited, when I passed out inside that pharmacy, but the key memories are still hazy. It is as if something is blocking them."

    "Anyway, I can tell you about my life that started six years ago." Xue Wei did not hesitate and began to tell Hei Gou about how he had awakened in Xiao Lei¡¯s mansion, unaware of who he was.

    Xue Wei told him about how his uncle had doted on him, and how he had been trash that could not cultivate. How everyone apart from Shen Mu and Luo Zhirou had looked down upon him and tried to bully him.

    He told him about his crush on Wang Xiaoyun. "When I first met her, it was as if I had been dropped from the sky. Butterflies flew in my stomach and I was nervous like never before. She is a blinding person. I admire her so much, and she is kind like the gentle breeze."

    Xue Wei sighed, "I swore to her that I would be a Primordial Beast Hunter with a name so illustrious that I¡¯d make her Wayfarer peers and elders acknowledge me and make her mine, but that is not going to happen now," Xue Wei smiled wryly.

    "But that does not mean I am going to give up on her. I guess that if I cannot get the permission from her family, then I will just elope with her. She makes me feel whole... she is like the moon, a shining light on the darkest moments of my life."

    "So young and already having a lover!" Hei Gou nodded his head. "No wonder you were so creeped out by my attempt at humor before. So it was because you already have someone in mind. I am sure that if you did not have a woman in your heart, you would be slightly swayed by me. I mean look at this handsome face, who can not enjoy perfection?"

    Xue Wei got goosebumps listening to Hei Gou, but he also felt slightly better knowing that the return of Hei Gou¡¯s narcissism meant that his condition was improving.

    "I don¡¯t like men, and definitely not you!" Xue Wei denied him with a straight face, and then Hei Gou grinned, shing that charismatic smile that always yed on his lips.

    "I don¡¯t like men either, but when you put it like that, it kinda hurts my feelings," he joked around. However, the moment he said that, his face turned solemn.

    Xue Wei had no time to retort, he too had noticed that someone had arrived not far away from them. The person did not seem to be overly strong, as they had been able to sense him, but they both feared the worst.

    Just one person recognizing them could lead the Primordial Beast Hunters barreling in their direction.

    If the hunters managed to catch up with them once more, the duo would have no way to escape anymore.

    "Kill first, questionster," Xue Wei said brutally. A killing intent soared within his body. The threat that this person posed as a potential whistleblower confirmed and amplified Xue Wei¡¯s rational conclusion that he had to get rid of the stranger, and his eyes turned slightly red.

    Hei Gou was of the same opinion, but he knew that he would be able to do absolutely nothing to help Xue Wei in his current condition, so instead he released his arm that was slung over Xue Wei¡¯s shoulders and sat down on a branch.

    "I will leave this to you!" he said excitedly and stuck up his thumb while smiling at Xue Wei.

 Chapter 111: Breakthrough

    Hei Gou was exhausted, but he was still energetic enough to make fun of their hopeless situation.

    Xue Wei could not help but snicker when Hei Gou gave him the thumbs up, shaking his head in amusement.

    He moved towards the figure that had appeared in their vicinity with the Forbidden Rush technique¡¯s ghostly movements, and he used the Inner Might technique to create a sword from Qi.

    Kill first, ask questionter was Xue Wei¡¯s current state of mind. Although the humans they encountered on the way might not try to kill them, it was possible they would inform the Primordial Beast Hunters of their location should they encounter each other ¨C and then their chase would be never-ending.

    It was better if no one noticed them, and those who did were better off dead.

    It was a lie to say that he was not nervous. He was a simple fourthyer Earth Warrior, an expert so weak that he was not able to withstand a single strike from a Heavenly Warrior, and even Sky Warriors would give him no other option than to flee.

    Although he might be able to fight those a bit stronger than him, he was not confident in being able to fight Sky Warriors.

    He possessed the Forbidden Rush, an amazing movement technique that allowed him to move with unprecedented speed, which was now what he used tounch an attack on the person who was moving towards them.

    The sword in his hand was thin and made from Qi. Xue Wei was ready to attack with it, and his eyes turned sharp. His mouth curved up into a slight smile that conveyed his excitement at the prospect of fighting someone.

    Although he was worried, he was also excited. He had been hunted for so long now without the ability to fight back, so for him to be able to fight this figure meant that he could vent some of his frustrations.

    The distance between them vanished in mere moments before Xue Wei saw the person who was on his way towards them.

    He looked to be in his mid-twenties, and it appeared that his cultivation had stagnated at the sixthyer of the Earth Warrior rank.

    This individual was clearly someone who had just gotten out of the army the previous summer; his age was just about right.

    When one ended their military career, they returned to their homes and had to find a new ce in their lives. This particr man had most likely chosen the life of a mercenary and was out hunting for the weaker Fierce Beasts and searching for herbs he could sell for some easy cash.

    "Lucky person, to survive the army," Xue Wei thought to himself, "but his luck ended the moment he started heading towards us. I wonder if it is his good luck or his bad luck to have lived a little longer!"

    Xue Wei¡¯s personality was genuinely gentle and friendly, but he felt something arise within him. A primal feeling of wanting to kill and this feeling was incredibly hard to suppress. In fact, it surfaced andpletely changed his emotions, making him feel no sadness and no empathy towards anyone else. To him, the only thing that mattered was himself and his close ones.

    Xue Wei felt no remorse about the fact that he was about to kill a man who had done him no harm, but when he thought about the fact that this man staying alive might prove to be dangerous to Hei Gou, and also himself, he felt that there was no other option than to kill him.

    The strong survived in this world, while the weak would be enved or killed.

    The person who was on the way towards them was still unaware of the danger that was fast approaching him, and Xue Wei intended for it to continue in this fashion.

    Just as Xue Wei was about to descend upon the person, thetter of the two finally noticed that something was wrong.

    He lifted his head, and his eyes widened in surprise when he saw that a light beam was heading for his neck.

    Xue Wei¡¯s Inner Might sword was so fast that only a beam could be seen. When the mercenary lifted his head, a puzzled look on his face, he suddenly felt confused.

    His eyes showed bewilderment, his body tensed up, and moments after it no longer mattered. His head had been cleanly severed from his body. Even in death, this young man never realized what had happened to him. In fact, he never even managed to close his eyes, as they kept staring into the distance with a puzzled expression.

    Just as the person died, Xue Wei felt that his body shook. Thest couple of months, where Xue Wei had been on constant alert, it had been difficult for him to find time to cultivate, which hindered his progress past the fourthyer of the Earth Warrior rank.

    On the other hand, the constant vignce had caused his spiritual energy to undergo an evolution. It had be stronger on a daily basis, making his mind and soul much more powerful than that of a normal Earth Warrior. In fact, his soul was currently as strong as Hei Gou¡¯s, a beast with a strength equivalent to a Sky Warrior.

    At the same time, his mentality had also undergone a series of changes. He had gone from being a naive young man with a bit of knowledge to now know what the world was like.

    He had been forced to look at what his own morals were like, what he believed in, and what goals he had in life, which tempered his martial heart and made him that much more certain in himself and his path in life.

    Xue Wei was currently incapable of being consumed by heart demons because his foundation of the soul was strong and his belief stronger. The fact that he kept fighting for what he believed in caused the foundations of his martial heart and his soul to be as firm as they could be.

    When Xue Wei had been unconscious for those three weeks to regain his memories, his body had perpetually absorbed energy on its own, but that energy was not the refined type he could produce while awake, and Xue Wei had been too focused on the foggy world with the many memory shadows to even feel his body.

    But now that he had returned to his body, now that he was once more utilizing the Azure Dragon Scripture and his martial arts techniques, he felt as if he finally was close to a breakthrough.

    Rightfully so, after his body shook, all the essence of the heaven and the earth in the surrounding area flooded into Xue Wei¡¯s meridians, where it was being refined at a frightening pace.

    The breakthrough to the fifthyer of the Earth Warrior rank was imminent.

    "Since I started cultivating up until now, the slowestyer was without a doubt getting from the fourth to the fifthyer of Earth Warrior," Xue Wei contemted.

    "This is not because of the increase in difficulty, but because I simply haven¡¯t had the time to cultivate. It was impossible to refine the energy when i was unconscious but every cell in my body was absorbing energy that has been overflowing until now when I have finally refined myself. It has finally broken through to the fifthyer!¡±

    Xue Wei knew that this was but a minor breakthrough, but it was the first real breakthrough his cultivation base had seen in the past few months, and it made him eager to work harder at improving his cultivation.

    "Although I wish to increase my strength soon, I cannot afford to risk my foundation," he muttered to himself as he walked back to Hei Gou after searching the corpse for anything of value.

    "I know that speed is good, but my body needs to be able to keep up. Fortunately, my soul is already at a level above the Earth Warrior stage, and my foundations are as solid as can be because of the experiences I have been through and the Azure Dragon Scripture, but I need to continue with my cultivation seriously. If I make any wrong decisions, my prospects will go out the window!"

    Xue Wei felt a shiver run down his spine. He was far from being alone on the path of cultivation. In fact, every human and beast within the continent cultivated, but where most peerless experts had someone to guide them, Xue Wei was now all on his own. No one would go out of their way to give guidance to a criminal who was known to collude with Primordial Beasts.

    Previously, Xue Wei had the support of the Heritage Ring that his uncle had given him, but when he had been taken prisoner back in the capital, all his possessions had been confiscated, including his ring.

    No one knew it was a Heritage Ring, but they did not allow for him to keep it, and when he fled it was impossible for him to recover it.

    Since he had lost his Heritage Ring, he had also lost the guiding light that supported his future cultivation progress. He would have to gain everything on his own from now on. He would have to rely on fortunate encounters to get his hands on any new techniques.

    Fortunately, he had some very strong techniques at his disposal already. He had a steady foundation of those as well, and it should keep him satisfied until he reached the realm above the Warrior ranks.

    Deep in thought, Xue Wei reached Hei Gou, who looked at him with surprise in his eyes. "You dealt with it quickly!" he praised him, "and you even managed to break through at the same time. Not bad, not bad at all."

    Hei Gou was weak at the moment, so weak that he had not even been able to observe the swift assassination earlier, so he did not know how overwhelmingly one-sided Xue Wei¡¯s actions had been. All he had done was sit calmly and try to restore his Qi and blood essence.

    The Qi was replenished at a much more rapid pace than the blood essence.

    Whereas Qi was constantly flowing into one¡¯s body from the surroundings, the blood essence relied on the body itself to restore it, and he was acutely aware that the process might take up to a full year before he was fully healed of the blood essence he had used. In fact, the only reason it did not leave evesting effects on him was because of the mutation his body had undergone. Without such a sturdy and formidable body, he would have sumbed to his wanton use of blood essence, and his body would have fallen apart with nothing left to support it.

    Xue Wei was bursting with energy after the breakthrough, so when he saw the haggard Hei Gou, he almost felt embarrassed. It was truly two different ends of the scale.

    Again, Xue Wei supported Hei Gou, and the two of them once more moved towards the border. Once they crossed the border, they would shake off the majority of their pursuers save for the truly stubborn ones, which would afford them a less stressful time.

    Their advance was slow, but together they stubbornly continued to move forward. They journeyed through forests and fields, mountains and valleys.

    They continued to avoid the human settlements. And every time a human crossed paths with them, they would instantly kill the person in cold blood. Fortunately, they had not encountered any strong opponents so far.

    The further they traveled, the better Hei Gou¡¯s condition became. His body was no longer hunched forward, his wax-pale face had recovered its originalplexion, and his body had stopped trembling.

    Although he was still feeling feeble and knew that it would take a long time to recover his blood essence, it was much better than before. He started moving around again, helping Xue Wei taking care of the experts that came their way.

    Like this, they traveled for a full month. During this month, they did not stop to rest more than absolutely necessary. On the other hand, since their speed of travel was slow, it was possible for them to cultivate at the same time, and both Xue Wei and Hei Gou experienced a rapid growth in strength.

 Chapter 112: In the Name of Justice

    Hei Gou was able to move on his own now. He could fight for brief amounts of time, and hisplexion had improved significantly. However, Xue Wei knew that it was not that simple.

    He had consumed almost all of the blood essence he had within his body, and it was something that took a long time to be restored, which could be seen in how short of breath he was while fighting.

    Hei Gou¡¯s Qi was constantly being purified while they were traveling and as a result his strength was skyrocketing, but the fundamentals of his body were still weak.

    This was why they continued to move at a slow speed. Hei Gou¡¯s body could simply not sustain traveling faster than they were.

    Fortunately, none of the Primordial Beast Hunters had been able to track them down after losing sight of them, and their current circumstances were much safer than they had been before.

    Day after day went past in a blur. Xue Wei and Hei Gou survived in the wilderness by living off of nts and roots, asionallying across mortal beasts for a change, but all the Fierce Beasts were gone from their sight. It was as if they fled as soon as they caught a whiff of the two experts.

    Finally, after traveling for a full eight days like this, they reached a wide-open prairie. This prairie was ratherrge, and both Hei Gou and Xue Wei were filled with excitement as they left the bush and reached this area.

    The prairie was now known as the Flowing Blood Prairie. It was a ce filled with different tribes that were always fighting one another. The original name of the prairie was Purple Cloud Prairie because long ago legend had it that a purple cloud had appeared over the prairie and gifted every cultivator within with exceptional cultivation talent.

    Now, the name had changed to the Flowing Blood Prairie. Since then, many wars had erupted between the different tribes, and massacres were a normal sight in the prairie. Apletely different set of rules applied to those who lived here: the tribesmen were not even expected to join the army.

    The Flowing Blood Prairie was considered a no-man¡¯snd. It did not belong to any particr kingdom, and it was instead the border between Heping Kingdom and three neighboring kingdoms: the Great Fire Nation, Zhanshi Kingdom, and the Empire of Danmai.

    These three nations were also considered outskirt kingdoms of the continent, but they were many times more developed than the Heping Kingdom just from the fact that they were closer to the center of the continent.

    The Kingdom of Heping¡¯s territory was like a crescent moon from north to south on the east side of the continent. This was also the reason why it was possible for Xue Wei and Hei Gou to escape the boundaries of the kingdom as fast as they had. It was a narrow country, and by traveling west, they managed to quickly leave.

    "I am not hallucinating am I?" Hei Gou asked hesitatingly as he looked at the Flowing Blood Prairie that was right in front of him. He rubbed his eyes and soon a smile appeared on his lips.

    "We did it!" he eximed loudly. "We really did it! We have escaped that damn ce, and now the hunters won¡¯t hunt us any longer!"

    "That is true," Xue Wei smiled too, but he was a bit more hesitant. "I don¡¯t know if they willpletely give up on capturing us, but I know for a fact that our journey starts from here on out."

    "To be honest, whether we¡¯re being chased or not changes nothing. We are on our own, and we will have to rely on our own abilities to make it through the difficulties we face in the future."

    "But for now, the biggest issue will be whether or not we can pass the Flowing Blood Prairie alive. You would normally be fine with your Sky Warrior strength, but I am a mere Earth Warrior. Not to mention you are severely wounded still."

    "We will fight our way through the prairie!" Hei Gou said with a grin on his face, but he was slightly more worried now than he had been before. "If we have to go down, then let us live a life of no regrets. Let us live every day as if it is ourst. If we have to go down in this Flowing Blood Prairie, then we will go down in a ze of glory!"

    Xue Wei smiled wryly. "Of course, but we will do everything we can to stay alive first. Don¡¯t be eager to die."

    Hei Gou embarrassedly rubbed the bridge of his nose as he smiled. "I know," he said. "I will do everything in my power to let us survive!"

    The two grinned, and slowly moved towards the Flowing Blood Prairie.

    Back in Heping Kingdom¡¯s capital, Shen Mu and Luo Zhirou were held for questioning. They were known to be good friends of Xue Wei, and thus many were looking at them with hostility.

    A trial was held to determine whether or not these two experts were aware of Xue Wei¡¯s real agenda, or if they had been tricked by that convincing act of his.

    By now, there was no doubt amongst any of the people in the entire Heping Kingdom that Xue Wei had tricked Xiao Lei into believing that he was his nephew when in fact he was nted by the Primordial Beasts with some strange purpose that had yet to be determined.

    Themoners and most of the nobles were of the expectation that Xue Wei had been nted by the beasts with the sole purpose of killing Xiao Lei. Because of this, many had offered themselves to hunt him down, but the higher-ups in the kingdom all declined these people taking justice into their own hands.

    Their reason was that they had already sent a group of Primordial Beast Hunters to capture him, and sending anyone else would be the same as sending them to their own death.

    Rumors of what had happened in Lingyun Town quickly spread throughout the entire kingdom and many were stunned silly. If there had been doubt before about him colluding with the Primordial Beasts, this doubt had now been extinguishedpletely as he had moved under the cover of a beast horde.

    Shen Mu and Luo Zhirou were both stunned silly when they heard this. Both of them felt betrayed and unaware of what exactly had happened. No matter how much they thought about it, they could not make sense of any of it.

    Xue Wei had not been able to cultivate initially, for a long time. He had been hated and looked down upon by everyone, but then he started to rise like a shining star, bing much more magnificent than the others.

    Had he perhaps struck a deal with the Primordial Beasts back then? Shen Mu could not help but consider this.

    "I don¡¯t think he did," Luo Zhirou shook her head at Shen Mu when he suggested it. "I don¡¯t think that he was actually siding with the Primordial Beasts before this, but he had no other option than to turn to them after we pushed him away. I think that humans pushed him towards the Primordial Beasts."

    Luo Zhirou¡¯s voice was steady but low. She knew that this was something she was never allowed to say, and the only reason she dared to do so was because Shen Mu was the one standing in front of her.

    Shen Mu panicked when he heard her words. "Don¡¯t ever mention it again," he whispered frantically while looking around to see if anyone had heard the words spoken by the young woman.

    Luo Zhirou looked at Shen Mu with a bit of aplicated look in her eyes. She pitied the man who had to forget all about friendship for the sake of his family¡¯s survival, the man who had to do what the majority wanted as heir to his family and the city lord¡¯s sessor back home.

    At first, Shen Mu had feared that the Crown Prince would withdraw all the support he had given them before, but strangely enough the Crown Prince did no such thing.

    In fact, it was the Crown Prince that in the end managed to support Shen Mu and Luo Zhirou enough to make the jury believe that they had been deceived by Xue Wei.

    Shen Mu and Luo Zhirou were quickly forgotten by themon people, but the nobles never stopped monitoring them. If they disyed even the slightest sign of betraying humanity, they would be killed right away.

    While the capital was filled with trials to check whether or not people were connected to Xue Wei, there were more and more members of the team of Primordial Beast Hunters that gave up their hunt for Xue Wei.

    Although they were tempted by the bounty on Xue Wei¡¯s head, they all knew that it was like looking for a needle in a haystack. They had all lost their window of opportunity to find him.

    The only group continuing their hunt was thepany controlled by Yuan Chao. He would never give up hunting for Xue Wei.

    There were multiple reasons for this captain of the human army to want to continue his pursuit of Xue Wei.

    First off was the fact that Xue Wei was his target. His entirepany had been tasked with the capture of this young man, and they would never step down before they saw his head severed from his body.

    The other reason was that Yuan Chao was a very just man. He wanted to protect the citizens as much as he possibly could, and he was very loyal to the kingdom.

    When Yuan Chao was a child, his parents were both in the army, and both died in a trapid down by humans who had colluded with Primordial Beasts. This trap had killed an entire battalion of soldiers and there were no survivors.

    When Yuan Chao learned about this, he felt his heart burning with agony and sadness over the fact that humans would turn against their own kind, and now that he was tasked with finding such a person, he would give it his all to ensure that no others would end up as victims to such cruel methods.

    Yuan Chao was a very renowned hero in the army. He did nothing for the sake of improving his military career, all he did was kill Fierce and Primordial Beasts.

    Many expected him to be a Primordial Beast Hunter the moment he broke through to be a Heavenly Warrior.

    "Everyone, the beast and human has passed through this ce!" Yuan Chao eximed excitedly as he observed the dead person that was right in front of them.

    "These people have all been killed in one move. Some of them are killed by ws, and some of them have their heads severed."

    "The speed with which they travel is slow considering how long that goes between the killings. I imagine that we will catch up with them when we are in the Flowing Blood Prairie."

    "Captain," someone called out, "please enlighten me, are we truly going to leave the kingdom and enter a no-man¡¯snd for the sake of capturing that kid?"

    "Exiting the territory of our kingdom is nothing," Yuan Chao said decisively, "We will enter the center of the continent if we have to! We will chase him to the ends of the earth to give justice to all the lost souls that he has harvested!"

    "Be aware, we have killed his martial brother Tie Haolong. His Royal highness has decreed for us to not return empty handed. His Royal Highness has informed us about his wicked deeds, and we have thwarted his n to kill Xiao Lei. It is expected that one day, if we do not kill him, he will return to kill us! This is something we can never allow to happen, and thus we will capture him and kill him in the name of justice!"

 Chapter 113: Little Lao

    "So you tell me that this is a ce where blood flows as regrly as water?" Hei Gou asked with a slight smile on his lips. He looked around, but no matter where he looked, all he saw was mortal animals and empty prairie.

    "We want to avoid humans," Xue Wei reminded him, and Hei Gou just nodded his head absentmindedly.

    "I know, but I have heard famous stories about the Flowing Blood Prairies and how it is so dangerous to enter it ¨C that only a select few make it out alive ¨C but we have been traveling for a full day, and we have not even encountered a single person."

    "I don¡¯t think that people are traveling alone here in the prairie," Xue Wei said hesitatingly. "I think they move in groups of hunters together; hunters that hunt Fierce Beasts, other humans, and Primordial Beasts."

    "If we encounter such a group, I fear that we might be in serious trouble, so for now let us be grateful that we have not encountered anyone."

    "That¡¯s true," Hei Gou agreed, but secretly he was curious about these tribesmen that lived in the prairie.

    "This is my first time leaving the Heping Kingdom," hemented after a bit of time. "I wonder how different the world is outside of this small kingdom. Do you think these people look the same as you, someone from Heping Kingdom?

    "Maybe they are taller, more muscr, or perhaps their skin is different?"

    Hei Gou was excited, and Xue Wei just snickered. "I read a book on the people of the tribes here, once. The tribesmen look the same as us, though they are likely to be more muscr since this area is even more of a dog-eat-dog world than the rest of the continent."

    "Oh, they look the same as everyone else?" Hei Gou was disappointed. "I thought I would get to see someone who looked different. Maybe I will see that when we travel further into the continent."

    "I think everyone on this continent more or less looks the same," Xue Wei said with uncertainty as he remembered the books he had read before. None of them had stated anything about different bodies or skin colors.

    "On this ne there are other continents besides ours, too," Xue Wei continued. "I don¡¯t know much about the other continents, though. They were just briefly exined in the books, but there was nothing on the environments, the races living there, or even where they were located."

    Xue Wei sighed. He had been very obsessed with the other continents when he had been reading the books in Xiao Lei¡¯s library. However, no matter how much he read, he could not find anything rted to these things no matter how much he digged.

    "I haven¡¯t really ever read a book," Hei Gou said with slight embarrassment. "I was busy ying with the other cubs when I was a child, and as I grew up, our y turned into fighting practice. Then I became old enough to cultivate, and all my energy went into that."

    "I did know about our continent and the things in it, but I never really imagined that there would be more continents out there. Did you call it a ne? What is a ne?"

    Xue Wei smiled, "I just call it a ne because I imagine the world as one big ne. I don¡¯t know much about the outside world; everything I know is hints and exnations in books I have read in the past, but they never exined much. I still think that if you want to see other races, then the other continents are your best shot."

    "I also wonder what the other continents are like," Xue Wei sighed. "Are there fights between Primordial Beasts and humans there as well? Are there other races that we have never seen before? Are there other cultivation methods? What are they like?"

    "I read a legend once," Xue Wei continued about what he had read while they were walking. Hei Gou listened intently. Even though they were deep in conversation about the other continents, neither of them allowed for their taut bodies to rx, and Xue Wei had his spiritual energy spread to its limits, observing everything that was happening around them.

    "The legend said that there was a time when all the continents were one piece ofnd." Xue Wei began. "Beasts and humans were created by the creator, and they lived side by side in the world. They would fight one another asionally, but neither held the upper hand."

    "Then peerless Emperors and Saints appeared. War broke out, and the fighting was so intense that the piece ofnd was cleaved into thousands of pieces, creating continents all over the ne."

    "That is the most I have managed to learn about the other continents. As to whether or not it is urate, I do not know," Xue Wei said with a sigh. "I do not know if the Saint-ranked experts are capable of cleaving the world apart and causing it to shatter into thousands of pieces ofnd, but I¡¯m guessing that since someone was strong enough to create a world, there has to be someone with a cultivation base strong enough to do so."

    Hei Gou was breathless as he listened to Xue Wei; his eyes were glistening, and his head was nodding like a chicken eating grains.

    "We will go to the other continents at some point!" he eximed. Xue Weiughed. "Of course we will," he replied.

    "On this continent, we are hunted by the Heping Kingdom. No matter where we go, we will be seen as a troublesome pair; a human and a Primordial Beast together is simply the same as asking for trouble. Maybe things are different on the other continents. We will see," Xue Wei grinned.

    "But first we have a lot of things that we need to do here on this continent of ours. We have a lot of grudges that need to be repaid, and we have a few favors to pay back as well."

    Hei Gou nodded his head, and his eyes turned slightly red from the excitement that he carried within.

    "Anyway, how are you feeling?" Xue Wei finally asked after a bit of time. He had been observing Hei Gou, and he was surprised to see that the blood essence was restoring itself at an unprecedented speed. He had never imagined that it would be this simple for Hei Gou to restore his blood essence, but it seemed that he was going against nature.

    "I am feeling great!" Hei Gou grinned and shed a fanged smile to Xue Wei. "The mutation seriously changed my body for good. Even the blood essence that should take me a year to recover has almost recovered in a week¡¯s time. I still need around thirty percent, but that¡¯s about it. In another week, I will bepletely healed."

    "That¡¯s so fast!" Xue Wei had already guessed that he was doing well, but hearing it from Hei Gou¡¯s own mouth still shocked him.

    "Something is approaching us!" Xue Wei suddenly said in rm, and Hei Gou caught on a split second after. Although Hei Gou was a beast with a strength equivalent to a Sky Warrior, Hei Gou and Xue Wei had equal spiritual energy.

    They noticed the approaching group of experts at the same time, and their hearts started beating rapidly.

    "They are five experts, and they are heading straight for us," Hei Gou said. Although he had wished to encounter the people from the Flowing Blood Prairie, he was suddenly aware that this encounter could result in their death.

    The group of five experts that was rushing towards them traveled at a rapid speed. They were mounted on Fiery Horses, mortal beasts that lived exclusively on the Flowing Blood Prairie, which were incredibly fast.

    "Halt!" someone called out, and Xue Wei and Hei Gou stood back to back and looked at the five experts that all surrounded them.

    The speaker was a young woman; her face was covered behind a veil, but the veil could not hide her beauty. Her body was curvy and full, her eyes bright like the stars, and her ck hair cascaded down her back and framed her face.

    "You are in our Chaos Vultures¡¯ territory ¨C state your reason to be here," she said, her voice cold and rife with killing intent. She was ring at Xue Wei at first, but her eyes shook the moment she turned to look at Hei Gou.

    The other four experts were all men. All of them had very muscr bodies. Their upper bodies were bare, and they wore baggy ck pants.

    Belts with weapons, canteens, and other items were strapped around their waists, and they looked at Xue Wei and Hei Gou with hostility.

    The woman dismounted her Fiery Horse and started walking towards them. She raised her arm and reached out towards Hei Gou. The coldness she had disyed before was gone and her eyes were filled with disbelief.

    The four men brandished their weapons and looked at Hei Gou and Xue Wei for some time with bewilderment, but after a bit of time they did not take action.

    "Should I deal with her?" Hei Gou whispered lowly with confusion in his voice. Xue Wei contemted for some time before he shook his head. "Let us see what she wants first," he said after making a decision.

    "Little Lao, is that you?" The woman asked, shocked as her hand reached Hei Gou and stroked his handsome face, but Hei Gou was not pleased with the fact that she touched him and his hand shot out, pping her hand away, while a low growl escaped his lips.

    The gesture was fast, and it caused the four experts on their Fiery Horses to advance with shouts of anger, but the woman just lifted her hand and stopped them.

    The woman was stunned. Her eyes disyed disbelief and her hand that retracted the moment she felt a steady body instead of a phantom withdrew rapidly while shaking.

    ¡°You... You are real?¡± the woman¡¯s voice trembled, and she shook her head as if she could not believe it. The four experts apanying her also revealed looks of disbelief, but their faces also contained traces of distrust, incredulity, and hesitation.

    The woman¡¯s face disyed multiple emotions. First it was joy, then it was sadness followed by her lips tightening, and finally she seemed to awaken from a stupor.

    "You are real, so of course you cannot be Little Lao,¡± the woman said with a sigh. It seemed as if she hade back to her senses, but a tinge of pain was evident within her eyes.

    "You look exactly like my childhood sweetheart," she exined after having paused for some time. "His name was He Lao. He died when he protected our tribe against the Crimson Smanders."

    "Please return to our tribe with us," she suddenly said and mounted her Fiery Horse once more. "We will treat you well, so don¡¯t worry."

    Xue Wei and Hei Gou looked at one another. They saw indecisiveness in one another¡¯s eyes, unsure of what to do. They knew it would be difficult to escape if they entered their tribe, but considering their current strength, they were pushing it if they wished to fight their way out.

    Not only this, having a ce to rx for a bit with no need to constantly fret about their pursuers would let their exhausted minds get some much needed rest, and it would also allow them to focus on their cultivation.

    "Don¡¯t decline," the woman noticed their hesitation. "If you decline, I will be forced to kill you. The rules of the Chaos Vulture Tribe is to kill anyone who is seen on our territory with no exception. However, because of your appearance, I am genuinely inviting you toe stay at our tribe."

    There was a crafty smile on her face.

    "Little Lao¡¯s parents have been filled with loneliness after his death, and they have so many things they wished they could have told him. Although you are not him, you look like him, and it will soothe their aching hearts. Think of it as doing a good deed in life."

    Hei Gou was about to refuse, but Xue Wei nudged him with an elbow. "It¡¯s good to do good in life," he grinned, "so why don¡¯t we take this miss up on the offer? Let us go to their tribe and see what it is like."

    Hei Gou lookedpletely lost when he heard that. He looked at Xue Wei when a chill suddenly ran down his spine. Thispanion of his had an innocent smile on his face and his eyes were filled with wonder and gratitude. This was the exact expression that Xue Wei had disyed while tricking the many pursuers when Hei Gou had first met him, and he knew that this young man was about to pull another trick.

 Chapter 114: Chaos Vulture Tribe

    Xue Wei was hesitant. He considered exining his n to Hei Gou through voicepression, but he was worried that the tribesmen were capable of capturing their conversation in one way or another.

    Although he had learned the voicepression trick to stealthilymunicate with others, Lan had never told him how secure it was.

    Since he was unsure of whether or not these other experts could hear what he said, he decided to stay quiet.

    The group moved slowly past the prairie. The Fiery Horses trotted along slowly so Hei Gou and Xue Wei could follow them.

    Hei Gou and Xue Wei observed everything around them. A few mortal beasts were in their sights, but they encountered no Fierce Beasts at all on their trip, something that did not puzzle either of them, but the other experts, the tribesmen, were all shocked and confused as to why there were no dangers lurking at every corner trying to kill them.

    They ceased moving at a leisurely pace, going as fast as they could, and the four men that escorted the woman were constantly on the lookout for Fierce Beasts.

    The prairie consisted of different grasses, herbs, and shrubs. A few trees stood proudly here and there. The sight waspletely different from what Xue Wei and Hei Gou had seen growing up.

    The duo was filled with curiosity towards this new world, and they observed everything with big wide open eyes and their faces disyed excitement.

    Xue Wei was not too worried about entering the tribe. Had these people wanted to harm the two of them, then the fight would have happened already, but them being unscathed was a clear sign that they had something else nned for them.

    Xue Wei could not help but wonder exactly what this something was. He also wanted to know about the different rumors, information, and other pieces of news that he could get from entering this tribe.

    Back in the Heping Kingdom, he had to avoid the human settlements as much as possible due to the bounty on his head, but things were different here.

    In this ce, his bounty held no allure as no one knew about it. And at the same time, these tribesmen might have gotten wind of curious rumors, information, or something useful from the center of the continent.

    They were moving swiftly through the prairie, but it took them four hours to reach the tribe despite their haste.

    When they got close, people belonging to the tribe started appearing in their surroundings. Some adults were harvesting nts and herbs while the children were fighting and ying together, and there were youths sparring against one another.

    Every single person who appeared stopped what they were doing and greeted the group. Many of them ended up staring with surprise at Hei Gou, and soon the group had a whole tail of experts following them.

    "This tribe is bigger than I expected," Xue Wei muttered to himself as they saw the tents that rose in the distance.

    These tents were all made from Fierce and Primordial Beast hide, leather, skin, and fur. The same materials they used for their clothes.

    The tents were round, and it was clear that they were used to a nomadic lifestyle, traveling around the prairie to hunt down their targets time and time again.

    Xue Wei had previously assessed the woman and the four men who had shown them the way. The woman was a Sky Warrior, of what rank he did not know, and the four men were all Earth Warriors.

    When they walked further into the tribe, Xue Wei saw that although some of the smallest kids were all Ordinary Warriors, the tribe had arge quantity of Earth Warriors and Sky Warriors.

    Contemting for some time, Xue Wei felt better. Although the tribe was bigger than he expected, and likely had a couple Heavenly Warriors, maybe even an Ordinary Knight, he also understood that both he and Hei Gou were rtively safe.

    This was the Flowing Blood Prairie. As long as they did not run into a Diviner, they should be able to keep up the illusion of Hei Gou being a human.

    Diviners were incredibly rare within the entire continent, so to find one in the first tribe they went to in the Flowing Blood Prairie was very unlikely to happen.

    Xue Wei had mainly epted the invitation to visit the tribe to get his hands on information, but he had also done it for another reason.

    Hei Gou and he had been on the run for a long time without any moment to actually wind off and just rx.

    Now that they entered the tribe, they would be able to take it easy for a while, and during this time, Hei Gou should be able to adjust to the changes that had happened to his body and finish convalescing his blood essence.

    Xue Wei was not dumb; he knew that if the tribesmen had found only him, he would have likely not made it out in one piece. It was because of Hei Gou¡¯s resemble to the Little Lao these tribal people had mentioned that they were willing to invite them in.

    If someone came after having tracked them down in the future and they were not toorge of a threat, then the tribesmen would kill them. If they could not kill them, then they would ignore them. Outsiders would definitely not be invited into the tribe without a very good reason.

    As Xue Wei was deep in thought, their group arrived at the first tent. From here, they saw a full city of tents, and although it was much smaller than the makeshift city that Xue Wei had seen back in the capital¡¯s recruitment camp, it was still a magnificent sight with around ten thousand tents.

    Each tent was muchrger than the tents at the recruitment camp. Back there, only one person lived in each tent. Here, however, every tent housed an entire family.

    These families could count from two people up to ten. The tents had to have enough space for ten people to sleep within themit. Although it might get crowded, the tents were trulyrge, enough to amodate every family.

    Children of all ages were running around past the tents; some looked to have a purpose, while others were ying.

    Women were walking, carrying baskets filled with roots, vegetables, and furs.

    There was a bustling atmosphere within this tribe and everyone was busy doing their own thing, but when they saw the woman and her four guards arriving, all of them respectfully greeted her.

    Even more of them were curiously looking at Xue Wei and Hei Gou, and some of them showed shocked expressions whenever they recognized the face of thetter.

    The woman who was leading them did not hesitate and led them straight towards the middle of the tribe, where a tent ten times the size of the others had been erected. There were guards all around this tent, and all of them were equipped with spears and observed their surroundings with a very alert demeanor.

    They looked at the woman and nodded to her as she led the group of seven into the tent.

    Xue Wei expected an unbearable amount of heat inside the tent. The weather outside was fairly warm, scorching almost, and these tribal tents were made from beast hide, which made him believe that they would soak up and trap the heat inside.

    He was pleasantly surprised when he felt a fresh breeze move past him when he steopped foot into the tent, causing it to be incrediblyfortable. He looked around only to realize that there were four massive seashells ced in a square formation inside the tent, one in each direction.

    These seashells were all facing the same way, and he could sense that the breeze that circted around in the tent came from them.

    Xue Wei had never before heard of or seen anything like this before, so he was seriously curious about it, but he knew better than to start questioning the tribesmen about such a thing when they had just arrived as, bluntly said, captives.

    Hei Gou had simrly seen the shells, and he too was curious about them, but he had no intention of asking about it just yet either. Where Xue Wei was incredibly casual and calm, Hei Gou had still not gotten used to the fact that they had entered a settlement of humans, which made him appear terribly stiff and ufortable. This was the most humans gathered in one ce he had ever seen before, and it scared him silly.

    If they found out about his origins, he knew he would be done for, and he was shocked to see that Xue Wei could behave so casually even in this situation.

    As they entered the tent, the seashell was not the only thing that caught Xue Wei¡¯s attention. There were also seven men inside the tent, and all of them were either middle-aged or elderly.

    These seven men were clearly in deep discussion, yet when they sensed someone entering the tent, their discussion died down and they looked to the entrance.

    All of them were shocked, yet one of them started tearing up when they spotted Hei Gou¡¯s face. The man jumped to his feet and the stool he had been sitting on ttered as it was knocked over by his sudden movement.

    "Little Lao?" he asked with a trembling voice and slowly started walking towards Xue Wei and Hei Gou.

    Hei Gou¡¯s face turned unsightly and he took a few steps back before the woman that had brought him there stepped between the elderly man and Hei Gou.

    "Uncle Zhang, I am afraid that it is not Little Lao," she said apologetically, "but when I went out to hunt today, we encountered this young man and hispanion. He ispletely simr to Little Lao in appearance, which was why I decided to bring him back for you and the others to see him."

    "I do not know whether or not it will make you feel at least a little peace, but I genuinely hope so," she said with a heavy heart. The old man nodded his head. There was a mixture of slight disappointment but also relief and longing in his eyes.

    "Come in, both of you,e in!" he eximed and spread open his arms to bid them wee.

    He whistled out loud and suddenly four men appeared in the tent opening, cupping their fists and bowing to the old man.

    "Elder Zhang, you called?" one of them asked as he was bending forward in a deep bow.

    "Find some stools for these youngsters to sit on! I wish to have a good conversation with them!"

    The four men acknowledged their order and vanished. After but a moment, they returned with seven stools, one for each of the people in the group.

    These seven stools were ced next to the ones of the middle-aged and elderly men, and the man they referred to as Elder Zhang gestured for them to sit down.

    "I wee you to the Chaos Vulture Tribe," the man said with a smile on his face. "Why don¡¯t you introduce yourselves a bit?" he then asked.

    "I am Xue Wei, and this is my brother Hei Gou," Xue Wei did not bother to try and hide their real names. He had a feeling that if he tried to lie too much to this person in front of him, they would be in more trouble than they could handle.

    "What brings two young men such as yourselves to our Flowing Blood Prairie? Looking at your skin, you have not been here for long, as it is simply not tanned enough. And your clothes, they bear a different kind of abrasion. Considering this, you ought to be from the Kingdom of Heping... and if that¡¯s the case, should you not have been in the military?" the old man did not let up and asked a lot of questions in one go, leaving Xue Wei smiling wryly, unsure of which question to answer first.

 Chapter 115: Little Tribe Chief

    "Senior, we are on our way to the center of the continent," Xue Wei answered with a slight smile on his face. Hei Gou was still alert; his body was straight like a rod, and his eyes kept darting from side to side.

    What caused him to be this scared was the five old men in front of him. They were clearly much stronger than both he and Xue Wei, so strong that he waspletely incapable of sensing the depth of their strength.

    Since their strength was this immeasurable, it was clear the two of them would have been dead right now if it was what they wanted.

    Xue Wei, on the other hand, was extremely rxed. He had a feeling that these men would not do anything to him. Since that was the case, why be nervous?

    The old man that was referred to as Elder Zhang had a good impression of Xue Wei in his heart. To think that a man like him had appeared was truly something that he was astonished by. This young man was carefree and casual in front of someone who could take his life with but a p of their hands.

    This required incredible willpower and determination. But it also required a certain amount of confidence and a daring personality.

    In this regard, Xue Wei was already better than most of the experts in his tribe, as most of them would shiver in fear whenever they were close to him.

    Even now, the young woman who was sitting next to Hei Gou looked at this elder Zhang with a reverent expression and slight fear in her eyes.

    Xue Wei did not answer all of Elder Zhang¡¯s questions, and he in fact only answered the one regarding their journey by elegantly and stealthily disregarding the rest of them.

    "To think that you two young men are going to the center of the continent at such an age and with such a strength," he said with a nod of his head. ¡°That is suicidal,¡± he added.

    "Since you came from the Kingdom of Heping, you can be considered to be great geniuses. However, the moment you enter arger stage, you will realize that you were in fact just frogs at the bottom of a well," he said sagely and nodded his head.

    "You two must have started cultivating when you were ten years old. To reach the rank of a fifthyer Earth Warrior and a firstyer Sky Warrior is indeed not a bad aplishment at your ages, especially you, the Sky Warrior rank one," Elder Zhang praised, "but even in our tribe, we have a couple talents at your age with the same kind of strength."

    "We are also considered a part of the barrennd, the uneducated area with poor and underdeveloped martial arts, yet even here your aplishments are considered ¡®decent¡¯ at most."

    Hei Gou was a proud figure and he was no longer feeling scared, instead he was so upset that could no longer hold back.

    "Old Geezer, we are not as simple as you think!" he eximed. However, before he had the chance to continue, Xue Wei gave him a firm, in nce and smiled, which made Hei Gou instantly shut his mouth and sit back down.

    Xue Wei¡¯s gaze instantly brought him back to his senses, to the reality of things. Hei Gou could read from Xue Wei¡¯s determined eyes a sort of resignation that told him his choice to act up and reveal their identities would be respected, but the weight of thetter¡¯s gaze also seemed to ask if the former could shoulder the responsibility of doing that.

    Hei Gou realized what it meant to take responsibility in this situation. It meant that the two of them would undoubtedly die, which instantly made him shut his mouth tight like a m.

    Elder Zhang was surprised. When he heard Hei Gou make such an outburst, he expected to sound out some of their secrets. But when Hei Gou was silenced with but a mere nce from Xue Wei, the elder started to understand the dynamic in this duo, realizing he had given Xue Wei less credit than deserved.

    It was true that his strength was something easily squashed beneath the hand of the elder, but some humans had a destiny that could cause unexpected things to happen. If destiny willed it, even if he were to try and p this kid to death, then it was likely that some extreme expert would descend and kill him.

    Elder Zhang felt a chill when he realized what he was thinking about. Then he snorted at himself in contempt. He was an esteemed expert at the top of his food chain, an expert that had experienced many things, and now here he was, feeling a threat from Xue Wei, a simple Earth Warrior, who simply posed no threat to him in any imaginable way.

    Waving his hand, Elder Zhang sought to dispel his embarrassment, but he made no mention of it. He was not the kind of petty man who would kill someone just to erase such embarrassing thoughts.

    In fact, he looked favorably on Xue Wei and Hei Gou. Hei Gou reminded him of his long lost Little Lao, and Xue Wei was a rather interesting figure as well.

    Although the others were more interested in Hei Gou than Xue Wei, this elderly expert was much more interested in Xue Wei. Although he was weaker, he seemed to have more secrets, which made the elder curious.

    "The two of you will be shown to a tent where you will be staying temporarily while we figure out what to do with you. Make sure to visit Little Lao¡¯s parents while you are here. Also don¡¯t cause trouble and don¡¯t try to leave the tribe grounds. Although you are not exactly held captive, you are not someone we can trust either.¡±

    Xue Wei would not decide for Hei Gou, but the ck dog had the feeling that Xue Wei sought to remain within this tribe for some time, so he nodded his head quickly, agreeing to the condition that the elder put forth.

    "Little Tribe Chief, show them to a free tent, where they can reside for the duration of their stay. They are brothers, so it is only natural for them to live together. After they have settled in, lead them to Little Lao¡¯s parents so that this boy, Hei Gou, can meet them. I am sure they have already heard about this young man¡¯s arrival and are eagerly awaiting a chance to see him."

    Having said this, Elder Zhang returned to the other elders and Xue Wei, Hei Gou, and the Little Tribe Chief rose to their feet and left therge tent in silence while apanied by a retinue of four guards.

    When they left, the other elders looked at Elder Zhang with curiosity. "We have never really had captives or guests in our Chaos Vulture Tribe before. I never thought you would dly invite them to stay in our tribe, even go as far as to warn them not to leave. Are there any secrets"

    "Secrets?" Elder Zhangughed. "Those two have nothing but secrets, but these secrets are most likely best left untouched. I have a feeling that we will greatly benefit from being friendly with them in the future."

    "Benefit?" one of the other Elders frowned. "You say that we will benefit, but you stated yourself earlier that, albeit outstanding in the scope of the Heping Kingdom, they are nothing to write home about when ced amongst the geniuses of the center of the continent. They have a long way to go in this case."

    "I think that there is something we cannot see there. I have a hunch about these two young men," Elder Zhang said with a slight smile on his face. At this, the other elders, although seemingly unconvinced, decided to drop the subject.

    Elder Zhang was the ultimate expert of the Chaos Vulture Tribe. In fact, he had even founded the tribe a long time ago.

    Everyone within the Chaos Vulture Tribe knew that the strength of this elder had long since exceeded the Warrior ranks, but no one knew of the specifics.

    If this Elder Zhang had made a decision, everyone within the sect would follow it unconditionally. Since he had decided to permit Xue Wei and Hei Gou to stay, the rest of the tribe was instantly in favor of the two young men.

    As they left the tent, Xue Wei and Hei Gou looked at the woman by their side with puzzled and curious looks. "Little Tribe Chief?" Hei Gou was the first to ask, and his question caused the woman to grimace slightly.

    "I am currently the Tribe Chief of the Chaos Vulture Tribe," she said with a heavy sigh. "I am the youngest Tribe Chief our tribe has ever had, and the only reason I am is because of my father wishing to pursue his martial arts in the center of the continent. So he irresponsibly left the position to me and went out traveling before we had the chance to stop him."

    Hearing this, one of Xue Wei¡¯s eyebrows rose in surprise, while Hei Gou¡¯s jaw dropped. Both of them had never expected that this was the reason behind her being the Tribe Chief of the Chaos Vulture Tribe.

    "But to be a Tribe Chief at such a young age is an achievement nheless," Xue Wei said after a bit of time. "If the elders had no faith in you, they would never have allowed you to assume the mantle of this position."

    Hearing this, the face of the Little Tribe Chief, which had been filled with self-ridicule, suddenly rxed slightly, and gratitude was visible within her eyes.

    The Little Tribe Chief was a beauty. She had a face that could rival any other beauty Xue Wei had seen, and even Wang Xiaoyun was not superior in this aspect. Of course, when Xue Wei looked at this woman, the feeling he had waspletely different from when he looked at Wang Xiaoyun, but he had to acknowledge her beauty.

    The Little Tribe Chief had a blush on her face as she said no more and led the two brothers towards the outskirts of the city of tents.

    "I apologize for making you stay this far out," she said after a bit of time and sighed deeply. "The only free tents are out here. We always set up around ten empty tents for when we have marriages, but they are always on the outskirts of our tribe as every family has to contribute with achievements towards the tribe to move further in."

    Xue Wei and Hei Gou nodded their heads when they heard this; it made perfect sense to them.

    They entered the tent and found that it waspletely barren. The Little Tribe Chief was rather embarrassed when she saw this, and her pretty face shed red, but Xue Wei and Hei Gou said nothing and just smiled at one another. This tent was also much hotter than the main tent housing the elders. But despite that, it didn¡¯t matter much because the energy in the Flowing Blood Prairie was much more dense than what could be found in Heping Kingdom, which led the two of them to immediately take a seat on the ground in a meditative position,mencing with their cultivation without wasting a single second.

    Seeing this, the Little Tribe Chief blinked with surprise. These two did not even care about the fact that they were sitting on the tent floor itself. They did not evenin about the immense heat that swirled out from the tent. And they did not even say anything about the fact that there was no beds or nkets, either.

    "Two freaks!" she eximed in her heart, but she said nothing out loud. Instead, she shook her head and decided to leave. She had a feeling they would remain in that state for quite the amount of time, given the determination with which they entered meditation.

    Since this was the case, the Little Tribe Chief decided to go and scour the tribe for extra furniture, nkets, and whatever these two newly arrived experts could need.

    Thinking back to the praise she had gotten from Xue Wei earlier, her heart fluttered slightly and a look of determination appeared in her eyes. She would prove to everyone that she deserved her position as the Tribe Chief!

 Chapter 116: Life in the Tribe

    Time passed by fast in the Chaos Vulture Tribe. Soon, Xue Wei and Hei Gou had been in the tribe for a full week.

    During this week, Hei Gou had apanied the bereaved parents of Little Lao a few times., Each time he did, he would return with a face filled with wonder and amazement.

    "Wei, did you know, I am actually able to ease someone¡¯s pain by simply staying by their side?" he asked with astonishment ¨C and somewhat rhetorically ¨C by the time he returned that day.

    Xue Wei smiled at the sight of Hei Gou¡¯s confusedly delighted face. "I know," he said. "Even people like us who live amidst bloodshed can cause someone to be happy with a single word."

    "It is something we should be happy about, and strive to do whenever possible. Of course, for someone like us, it is not something we will be able to do often."

    Hei Gou nodded his head and smiled. "Your cultivation has been improving rapidly these past few days," he said, changing the subject by praising Xue Wei.

    "It hasn¡¯t been long since you broke through to the fifthyer of the Earth Warrior rank, but you¡¯ve already reached the sixthyer! At this pace, won¡¯t you break through in a month again? How can you be so fast?"

    Xue Wei considered the question for some time and pondered on what exactly could be the cause, but then he reached a conclusion. "I guess it is because of the months I was unconscious, and the months I was chased," he said with uncertainty. ¡°The pressure pushed me.¡±

    "For a long time, I was stuck at the fourthyer of the Earth Warrior rank. I had no time to cultivate because of me being chased andter spending that much time unconscious, but my body might have still consumed energy passively. I believe this energy is now being refined and giving me a sudden breakthrough in cultivation."

    "Don¡¯t you have to watch out for cultivation deviation then?" the ck dog asked worriedly. He knew that it was good for Xue Wei to enhance his strength, but everything had to be done gradually. If one rushed to the higher ranks, it was likely that they would suffer greatly in the long-term. Especially if they ended up suffering from cultivation deviation. Then their cultivation would end up bing useless, and persisting down this path would ultimately end up with them destroying their bodies and bing a cripple.

    "I should be fine for some time," Xue Wei said confidently. "My foundations are stable as a mountain after being stuck on the same level for as long as I have, if we are to speak rtively. Even if I were to advance a few levels, my strength should increase without any foundational consequences."

    Xue Wei was quite certain. Nothing about his cultivation base hinted at a deviation. In fact, he felt it to be steadier than ever before.

    He had previously advanced at an incredibly fast pace, but even back then he had not felt any signs of Qi deviation. And now that he had spent several months at the same rank, it was as if his cultivation base had been solidifiedpletely.

    Seeing that Xue Wei was so certain, Hei Gou nodded his head. He did not doubt his friend in the slightest and was instead thrilled to know that his friend¡¯s strength was growing.

    "My cultivation base has also grown stronger and much more stable recently," Hei Gou said casually "The thing is, though, that despite growing stronger at a pace I could never even have dreamt about in the past, I still have not had a breakthrough."

    Although Hei Gou appeared to beining, his face revealed a devilishly handsome smile and his eyes wereughing. He already knew that it was impossible for him to ask for more than what he already had gained, but he still wished to break through too. He wanted to hurry up and be strong enough to ughter all the people that were chasing them.

    "Wei and Gou, are you here?" a melodious and graceful voice sounded from outside the tent. Xue Wei and Hei Gou recognized it right away. "Little Tribe Chief," they called out in unison with a smile and went to receive her by pushing open the tent p

    The Little Tribe Chief had worked hard all this time, as evidenced by the things that decorated and filled out the previously empty space of Xue Wei and Hei Gou¡¯s tent behind them. She had managed to get her hands on two beds for the two of them, the strange seashells that blew cold air, and other furniture that the pair might need.

    For the entire week, she hade multiple times a day, each time bringing something smaller than thest to decorate their tent with.

    Every time she visited, the Little Tribe Chief would look at Xue Wei with uncertainty in her eyes, and Xue Wei and Hei Gou treated her very amicably, almost like a sister. They were both fond of her because she had treated them so kindly from the get-go.

    The Little Tribe Chief entered the tent again. This time her hands were filled with snacks.

    Usually, all meals were had together in the middle of the tribe where big bonfires would be lit to roast Fierce Beasts every single day. Here, they could eat to their heart¡¯s content.

    Before the meals, someone would stand up and make an offering to the gods that these tribesmen believed in for the sake of safe passage for the lost warriors of that day and every day prior, and then everyone would be quiet and mourn. However, as soon as it was time to eat, they would once more return to their cheerfulness. The tribe members felt that this was what they ought to do for the ones who had sacrificed their lives to put food on their tes.

    The snacks that the Little Tribe Chief had brought with her were a bag of small nuts, some berries, and other delicacies that were hard toe by in the middle of the prairie. She seemed to be looking forward to eating the snacks as she ced them on the table in the middle of the tent.

    "I happened toe across a lot of berries and nuts when I was out hunting today," she exined shyly while avoiding eye contact. "When I picked them, I decided to share with my friends, so I hope you will enjoy it."

    Xue Wei and Hei Gou were both surprised. They knew that their rtionship with the Little Tribe Chief was good, but they had never before seen her act all shy and embarrassed. In fact, she had done everything she could for them so far, finding furniture and so on for them, but she had always been very straight forward. Seeing her act all shy caused them to be puzzled.

    Neither Xue Wei nor Hei Gou had any experience with women. They noticed that the Little Tribe Chief was sending Xue Wei continuous nces, but whenever they tried to establish eye contact she would lower her eyes to the ground.

    Both were confused. What did this mean? They had no idea. Why had she suddenly changed her behavior? They still did not know. In fact, the sudden change in her behavior had caused both of them to be extremely puzzled. They said nothing as they sat down and started eating the nuts and berries, both tactfully deciding to ignore it, hoping that it was just a strange phase the woman was going through.

    The Little Tribe Chief shook her head with a self-mocking smile on her face as she once more nced at Xue Wei. Although Hei Gou was the one who looked like her old sweetheart, it was Xue Wei who attracted her eyes.

    All of this stemmed from a curiosity she had had when she found them in the prairie. This curiosity had been increased when she saw that Elder Zhang had taken an interest in this young man, and then it had moved on to emotions when he calmly stated that she was indeed good enough.

    Since then, Xue Wei¡¯s every single action hadunched him deeper and deeper into the woman¡¯s heart, but she was also aware that Xue Wei waspletely ignorant of her emotions. She did not know what she should do about them; they had arrived fast, and she felt like a boat in the middle of a storm when she thought about him, unable to think clearly.

    In fact, ever since Xue Wei had praised her when he first entered the tribe, the Little Tribe Chief had constantly been reminded of him. His every move was something she now observed with great attention. She found that her eyes were always searching for him, her thoughts always revolving around him. As to why, she had only recentlye to a conclusion, and this conclusion was what had caused her to suddenly be shy and embarrassed whenever she was close to him.

    Unfortunately for her, he did not seem to have any intention of trying to figure out why she was suddenly so shy. He was only hoping that she soon returned to normal.

    The Little Tribe Chief was in deep thought when she was arranging the snacks on the table. She mocked herself for having fallen in love with some stranger she had met only a week ago.

    At the same time, determination appeared in her eyes. She was not going just to let this young man be ¨C she would figure out her feelings for sure soon enough.

    These thoughts made the Little Tribe Chief feel slightly embarrassed in her heart, but she had made a decision, and she stuck to it till the end.

    After cing the snacks on the table, she was about to leave when Xue Wei, unknowingly, called out. "Why don¡¯t you stay and enjoy them with us? The more, the merrier, and you were the one who brought the snacks here after all," he said with a slight smile on his face. The young woman felt a blush creep up on her face. She gave a timid nod before sitting down from across them, intending to stay for a bit longer.

    The conversation casually ended up being about the tribe and all rumors that entered the tribe from experts that returned from outside the tribe. Xue Wei and Hei Gou were unaware of most news as they had been cultivating, but the Little Tribe Chief dly epted the task of enlightening them.

    There was news about how some tribes had gone to war, and there was also news about some Primordial Beasts that had caused beast hordes to appear in the southern area of the Flowing Blood Prairie.

    Apparently, a new force had appeared in the prairie as well. It was a military force from the Kingdom of Heping, and it seemed as if this group was searching for something.

    Xue Wei could not help but smile slightly. So there were still some stubborn experts willing to leave the Heping Kingdom to catch him? He had somewhat expected it, but hearing it now impressed even him. In many ways.

    Hei Gou did not think too much about it as he snacked on the berries and nuts.

    They talked for a long time. At some point, the Little Tribe Chief finally said what she had nned on saying from the start, "Elder Zhang said that, if you are willing, you cane to the training field tomorrow and try sparring with the youngsters of the Chaos Vulture Tribe."

    "Although Wei¡¯s strength is a bit inferior, it is still beneficial to fight and move around instead of just cultivating in solitude all the time."

    Xue Wei smiled but said nothing. Was he really that weak? He had only cultivated for around a year and a half. Despite this, he could rival experts with greater cultivation bases than himself inbat strength. He had Profound-level martial art techniques, and he even had the Mind Infestation that relied on his incredibly strong soul to attack and invade the mind of stronger opponents.

    "Tomorrow?" Xue Wei was smiling slightly, showing absolutely no worry on his face, which surprised the Little Tribe Chief.

    Although there was no one in the group of youngsters that had reason to kill or cripple Xue Wei and Hei Gou, they would not hold back and fight with all that they had, which was likely to cause these two outsiders to suffer some injuries.

    At least this was what the Little Tribe Chief waspletely sure about. She had no doubt in her mind about this actually, so she had hoped that Xue Wei would have declined the invitation. He was after all not very strong cultivation-wise.

    She was sure that she was underestimating Xue Wei, but the thought of him sparring with her fellow tribesmen, powerful warriors in their own right, still made her feel hesitant. Still, she could do nothing since it was Elder Zhang¡¯s request, and at this point she could not help but wonder. Was there perhaps something about Xue Wei that the elder could see that she could not?

    When the Little Tribe Chief left the tent, Xue Wei and Hei Gou looked at one another and smirked. Both of them had waited for a chance to disy their ability and train against more suitable opponents, as their private spars did not satisfy either of them due to the difference in strength.

    "Seems like we will have to thank Elder Zhang tomorrow," Xue Wei grinned. Hei Gou nodded his head. In their minds, the only thing that mattered as of now was getting stronger and bing peerless experts.

 Chapter 117: Putting on an Act

    The following day, Xue Wei and Hei Gou followed the Little Tribe Chief towards the outskirts of the tents where a group of youngsters had gathered.

    None of them had begun sparring against one another just yet. All of them were chatting about various subjects, and the main subject was naturally the two experts apanying the Little Tribe Chief.

    This Chaos Vulture Tribe had never had any guests staying in their territory. Although it was not a rule to kill any human cultivator they came across, it was an irond rule to never bring them back to the tribe with them.

    Now, this rule had been broken by their Little Tribe Chief. Originally, everyone had expected that the elders would have objected to these two people staying in the tribe. however, not only had the elders allowed them to stay alive, they had also even said it was okay for them to stay for some time.

    This was something far out of these youngsters¡¯ imaginations. Just what was it about these two strangers that caused the elders of their Chaos Vulture Tribe to be intrigued to the point of breaking an irond rule that had been in ce for hundreds of years?

    "Maybe they¡¯re loaded with treasures?" someone muttered with a low voice. Despite the low volume with which he had spoken, all of them, cultivators with enhanced hearing, heard what he said.

    "Yeah, they must have provided some sort of benefit to the n for the elders to allow them to live," another agreed with a nod of his head, not even bothering to lower his voice.

    "Look at them. Although I have to admit that the fake Lao has a good cultivation base, that friend of his is so weak!" someone said with a voice dripping with disdain.

    "It is quite weird, but that fake Lao seems to listen to the voice of the weaker expert. Should it not be the other way around?" someone asked suddenly, and the others pondered on this for some time before they realized that he was correct.

    "Perhaps his intellect is low," another person guessed. "It could be that he simply doesn¡¯t know how to think for himself and lets this person take all the decisions for him. In fact, he might just be his dog, a dog with a decent strength but still just a dog."

    The more these youngsters spoke, the more respectless their words became and the louder their voices were.

    It was to the point that the Little Tribe Chief¡¯s face becamepletely red with anger and embarrassment. She had been tasked with looking after these two by Elder Zhang, but now she was stuck in a hard ce.

    She could not choose to side with Hei Gou and Xue Wei in this matter, as they were outsiders and she was the current tribe leader of the Chaos Vulture Tribe, but the things said by her fellow kinsmen still enraged her.

    The Little Tribe Chief felt her blood boiling and her anger rising. However, when she turned to look at Xue Wei and Hei Gou, all she saw were twopletely casual men who did not mind thements in the slightest. In fact, it looked as if they had not even heard the words that had been said earlier.

    The Little Tribe Chief was at a loss for words when she saw their behavior. She had never expected that they would be so carefree, but a slight warmth rose in her heart at the sight.

    Although she was happy that Xue Wei and Hei Gou did not react to the insulting words spoken by the group of youngsters, it did not mean she would let it slide, and mes of anger rose in her chest.

    "These two youngsters are our guests, and you are treating them like this?!" she eximed with the anger evident in her voice.

    "Elder Zhang is the one that invited them to stay, but you guys are clearly not fulfilling the duty of a host!"

    "I guess this is because you have never had guests before, but I still expected you to have somemon sense!"

    The Little Tribe Chief held nothing back as she rebuked the youngsters from her tribe, and all of their faces went red from embarrassment and anger.

    Although they were angry, they dared not voice out anyints. Even though this woman in front of them was younger than some of them, she had a talent that was outstanding amongst the younger generation in the Chaotic Vulture Tribe, and she was also the Little Tribe Chief. If theyid a hand on her, then the punishment would surely be execution.

    No one spoke for a long time, and a tense and ufortable atmosphere had covered the training field. Only Hei Gou and Xue Wei, who continued to stand side by side with smiles on their faces, were seemingly unaffected.

    Many of the young men and women within the training ground had ugly expressions on their faces.

    They were proud sons and daughters of the heavens. They thought of themselves as peerless talents, especially whenpared to a no-name such as Xue Wei, but they had been scolded by their Little Tribe Chief for belittling thetter.

    This truly made them feel unhappy. It made them feel unresigned, so their inability to me the Little Tribe Chief made them set their sights quite literally on Xue Wei and Hei Gou.

    A few people on the training field were not too bothered by what had happened. They had not joined in on the trash-talking, which made them feel exempt from the tribe chief¡¯s admonishment.

    These seven people were all of the Sky Warrior strength. They were the absolute elite of the Chaos Vulture Tribe¡¯s younger generation, and they had felt it beneath their dignity to behave like the others had. When they looked at Xue Wei, there was a bit of disdain in their eyes, but the sight of Hei Gou made them vignt.

    It was impossible for these experts to see whatyer Hei Gou was at. All they could feel was that he was at the Sky Warrior rank ¨C but was he a firstyer or was he a ninthyer?

    If he was a firstyer, then they had no reason to fear him. However, if his strength was at the ninthyer, then they had no chance of defeating him. Even their Little Tribe Chief would lose to him if he were at the ninthyer.

    Xue Wei quickly noticed the disdain in the eyes of these experts, something he was far too used to from back when he could not, in fact, cultivate at all, which made the corners of his lips curl up into a sneer.

    These experts had trained since they were ten years old, whereas he had only trained for little more than a year. It was simply wrong topare their natural talent to one another, but he also knew that he could never exin this withouting off as a braggart or a liar.

    Xue Wei was not worried though. Back when he was a fourthyered Earth Warrior, he was capable of defeating people above hisyer. Now that he was a sixthyer Earth Warrior, he had a feeling not much had changed since then. The only question was how strong they were.

    Xue Wei did not doubt that he could at least handle the seventhyer Earth Warriors, and hopefully also the eightyered. If he was lucky, he might even pull off a draw against a ninthyer Earth Warrior.

    In the group of youngsters from the Chaos Vulture Tribe, there were at least a few hundred people. Amongst these few hundred people, only around twenty were Sky Warriors, and thirteen were at the firstyer ¨C thest seven were at the secondyer.

    The rest were Earth Warriors. Xue Wei was not delusional enough to think that he would be capable of handling a Sky Warrior, so after ncing briefly at them, he settled his focus on the Earth Warriors.

    Hei Gou, on the other hand, was looking at the Sky Warriors curiously. There was an intent to do battle in his eyes that were shing with excitement.

    "Think you can defeat them?" Xue Wei asked Hei Gou through apressed voice. Hei Gou snickered when he heard it. "We have never had a chance to go wild. Whenever we fight, I have always been holding back. Sadly, these small ants are nothing in my eyes if I use my weapon."

    Hei Gou still did not know how topress his voice, so he answered Xue Wei out loud. He did not even bother to lower his voice. His words caused everyone to be shocked, Xue Wei included to a lesser degree.

    Then he startedughing. "Good brother!" he eximed. "I will deal with the Earth Warriors; you take care of the Sky Warriors."

    The Little Tribe Chief who was standing by the sidelines was dumbstruck when she heard this.

    Xue Wei was only at the sixthyer of the Earth Warrior rank, but he said to leave the Earth Warriors to him? Was that not too boastful?

    And although she could not see Hei Gou¡¯syer, she herself would never belittle the strength of her tribesmen. Yet Hei Gou did not seem to hold them in much regard.

    "You are too arrogant!" someone eximed. It was a seventhyer Earth Warrior, and he stepped angrily towards Xue Wei.

    "You are here as a guest, yet you dare belittle us! Do you look down on the Chaos Vulture Tribe that much?!" he yelled. As he came closer, he raised an arm to p Xue Wei, intending to send him tumbling to the ground.

    Mind Infestation!

    Just as the p was about to descend, the young man stopped moving. His entire body was frozen, before it started trembling. And then he knelt in front of Xue Wei.

    The kneeling youngster said nothing. Xue Wei had not moved at all, but the person who had yelled angrily was now kneeling in front of Xue Wei, seemingly as if he had lost his mind.

    The entire training field became dead silent. None of them said a thing, and one would be able to hear a pin drop to the floor as they collectively stared at Xue Wei, who just stood as confidently as ever.

    "Are they putting on an act?" someone asked in confusion. "Has that guy befriended the strangers while we weren¡¯t watching, and are they now trying to intimidate us?"

    When this theory came out, others began believing it. No one had seen Xue Wei move, but the person was still kneeling on the ground in front of him.

    Xue Wei snorted and released Mind Infestation, causing the young man to return to his senses. He was aware of everything that had happened and his eyes filled with dread and fear. He had beenpletely at Xue Wei¡¯s mercy.

    Standing up on trembling legs, this Earth Warrior fled the scene as if he was fleeing from a devil. In the young man¡¯s heart, this outsider was indeed a true devil.

    The training field was filled with loud voices that were animatedly discussing the scene that had happened in front of them. All of them were filled with disgust towards the fleeing person and belittled Xue Wei.

    Only the Little Tribe Chief was stunned. She knew that Xue Wei and Hei Gou had never interacted with anyone else from the tribe, so it was clear that the one they were fighting was serious as well. It seems Xue Wei had an ability that could deal with stronger opponents!

    At first, the seven secondyer Sky Warriors had looked at the outsider duo with disdain as well, but when a few of them noticed the stunned expression on Little Tribe Chief¡¯s face, their brows furrowed and they could not help but wonder if there was something unexpected behind their kinsman¡¯s sudden shift in behavior.

 Chapter 118: Spiritual Power

    "Fight me!" another person stepped forward. This time, it was a sixthyer Earth Warrior.

    Xue Wei nced at him with disinterest. Although the expert had a strength simr to his own when one looked at theiryer, Xue Wei felt as if he was looking at a dead man.

    "You want to fight me?" Xue Wei asked with a snicker. "Sure, why don¡¯t you try to see if you can make me lift my arms."

    Hearing this, the entire audience gasped, and res were sent to Xue Wei. He was ridiculing the youngsters of the Chaos Vulture Tribe with a smile on his face, and he was making all of them feel insulted and frustrated.

    "Beat him up!"

    "Tear him to pieces!"

    "Show him that the experts of the Chaos Vulture Tribe are not to be made fun of!"

    Everyone yelled in support. The young man snickered and felt as if his strength was soaring. He had support. He was strong. He was not someone to be looked down upon!

    Mind Infestation exploded forth. The moment it was used, the young man was standing still, his eyes vacant, and his body turned limp. It made him instantly lose consciousness.

    Once more, everyone was quiet. "What happened?" someone finally asked. Even the Sky Warriors frowned.

    "He did not move," someone finally said. When everyone looked at the speaker, they saw that it was one of the strongest experts in the younger generation.

    "It couldn¡¯t be just another one throwing away his face for this stranger¡¯s sake, right?" someone asked hesitatingly, but his words caused the others to frown.

    "Every member of our Chaos Vulture Tribe are filled with pride," the elite who spoke before said seriously. "They would never let their pride be trampled over by someone they do not know. I imagine that he is using some sort of secret technique to defeat his opponents!"

    "Well said!" an ancient voice sounded out and everyone turned around to see Elder Zhang and the other elders moving towards the training ground.

    Seeing these elders, the faces of the youngsters turned serious and reverent. They bowed deeply.

    The Little Tribe Chief hurried over to walk by their side, and the group entered the training field.

    Elder Zhang looked at Xue Wei with eyes full of interest. "Spiritual force!" he eximed with a grin on his face. Everyone was silent as they looked at this elder curiously. What was spiritual force?

    "This young man has a soul much stronger than other experts at his level, and he is using a martial technique that allows him to rely on his soul¡¯s strength rather than Qi. As long as you have a soul that is weaker than his, you will sumb to him."

    "Soul? Spiritual power?" They were all puzzled. They knew they had a soul, but none of them had ever trained it before. Was there a reason to having a strong soul?

    Hei Gou remained silent, but a smile spread on his face. He was a Primordial Beast, and Primordial Beasts were known to have very powerful souls. There were also many Primordial and Fierce beasts that specialized in their spiritual energy and their soul force.

    He had been surprised as well when he saw Xue Wei use the ability at first, but he had quickly understood what he was doing. Despite the surprise he felt in his heart, he still felt it was usible. This was the man who had caused a mutation to ur in his blood and body; he clearly had no limit to his secrets.

    Whereas Hei Gou was not too shocked any longer, every other person on the training field was shocked. Even the other Elders were surprised.

    "Martial techniques which rely on spiritual power are incredibly rare, especially in our part of the continent," one of the other Elders added with surprise.

    This Elder had also looked at Xue Wei with a slight bit of disdain in his eyes before, but that changed to a slight bit of terror when he realized what Elder Zhang had said meant.

    "So he had good luck and had a fortuitous encounter," someone pitched in, snorting. No one saw exactly who said it, but many had the same thoughts.

    "Fortuitous encounters and luck are also part of someone¡¯s strength." Elder Zhang smiled. "Also, even if you were fortunate enough to acquire such a skill, would you be certain that your soul is strong enough tounch an attack of this level?"

    The speaker was quiet. No one stepped forward to disagree with Elder Zhang. However, this was not because they agreed with him, but because they respected him boundlessly in their hearts.

    Even though they respected him, the same could not be said for Xue Wei. And all of them were more eager than ever to put him in his ce and look good in front of Elder Zhang.

    "Young hero, can youe here?" Elder Zhang asked as he looked at Xue Wei. The boy nodded his head, and made to approach Elder Zhang.

    When he started walking towards the elder, Hei Gou followed behind him. He still felt ufortable about the strong experts that were looking at them.

    "Don¡¯t worry, I won¡¯t harm him," Elder Zhang said consolingly,ughing when he saw how on edge Hei Gou looked. Xue Wei smiled too.

    "If a senior of your strength wishes to kill me, even this good brother of mine would be incapable of saving me," Xue Wei said tly. This was not ttery. It was a statement of fact. Hei Gou¡¯s face turned ugly.

    Elder Zhang looked at Xue Wei with surprise. "You know my strength?" he asked curiously. He knew that Xue Wei was merely an Earth Warrior, which should make it impossible for him to figure out the older man¡¯s cultivation base, but he felt that Xue Wei still had a grasp of how strong he was.

    "If I am not mistaken, you have moved beyond the Warrior realms," Xue Wei mused out loud. "As to whether you are an Ordinary Knight or an Earth Knight, I am notpletely sure."

    When Xue Wei mentioned ¡®Knight¡¯, all of them were shocked. The members of the tribe looked at Xue Wei as if he was silly, while the Elders seemed surprised.

    "This kid has gone mad," someone said in the group. "What is a Knight?"

    "Maybe ¡®Knight¡¯ is realm above ¡®Warrior¡¯? We all know that Elder Zhang is superior to a normal ninthyer Heavenly Warrior, so could it be that he is aware of the realms above the Warrior ranks?"

    All of them had different ideas, but most of them looked down on Xue Wei. Only a few, the more intelligent ones, appeared contemtive. It was as if a new world was opening up in their heads.

    Even Elder Zhang was taken by surprise. When he heard Xue Wei¡¯s response, he startedughing out loud. "Youngster, you are definitely not ordinary!" he eximed.

    "Not many know that the stages after ¡®Warriors¡¯ are referred to as Knights universally. We here in the Flowing Blood Prairie call the rank above the Warriors for Prairie Monarch," Elder Zhang said.

    "This Flowing Blood Prairie has seven Prairie Monarchs that have strength above the Heavenly Warrior rank. Back when the Prairie Monarch title was established, we did not know about the Knight ranks," Elder Zhang exined.

    "The Flowing Blood Prairie has always been a deserted area far away from the center of the continent. The men and women that live here are soaked in blood, and we climb out from beneath mountains of corpses."

    "Since it is like this, it was a shock to us when the first expert from our tribes transcended the Heavenly Warrior rank, who we decided to call the Prairie Monarch."

    "The Prairie Monarch was the unquestionable leader of the prairie for a long time, but it didn¡¯t take long for a second Monarch to appear. These two Monarchs rallied people under each of their banners, which resulted in a war for supremacy that turned the prairie into what it is today, the Flowing Blood Prairie."

    "Since then, more Prairie Monarchs have appeared. There are now seven of us, the highest ranked experts in the entire Flowing Blood Prairie."

    "As time went on, the travelers from the center of the continent appeared in ournd and informed us of the Knight ranks. For someone like you whoes from a weak kingdom like the Heping Kingdom to know about the Knight ranks is quite outstanding."

    "I have some friends from the center of the continent," Xue Wei said casually, but his casual statement caused everyone present to be stunned. This young man they had all looked down upon had a great background?

    Where the upper echelons of the Chaos Vulture Tribe were shocked, the youngsters were jealous. Why did this guy, a young weakling in their eyes, have so much good luck?

    "I bet that friend of his from the center of the continent has given him everything he has on a silver tter. His talent must be very bad," someone muttered, but the silence in the field made it so that every individual in the area heard it.

    "Don¡¯t let me intrude on your sparring," Elder Zhang said. He sat down on the ground with his legs crossed, and looked at the youngsters. "We came today to see the strength of our younger generation, so feel free to spar!"

    The youngsters did as requested, finding an opponent after mingling for a bit, after which they engaged in serious sparring in hopes of catching the tribe elders¡¯ attention

    A few of the eightyer Earth Warriors looked at Xue Wei like a tiger staring down its prey, sinister smiles spreading on their faces.

    They all felt that they had what it took to fight Xue Wei. Xue Wei was only a sixthyer Earth Warrior. Even if he had a strong soul, was it truly strong enough to threaten them, eightyer Earth Warriors?

    Although they wished to fight Xue Wei, they were a little hesitant. They did not think they would lose, but they thought that it might end up with them being ridiculed for using their superior age and strength to bully the weak.

    Xue Wei had acute senses, so he instantly sensed the hostility. When he turned around to look at who it was that was releasing such hostility, he saw an eightyer Warrior that was standing right behind him and staring at him with bloodshot eyes and tightened fists.

    Xue Wei frowned. Had he perhaps insulted this person before? Xue Wei was not sure, but this was an eightyer Earth Warrior. Xue Wei also wanted to test just how much his soul had advanced after his constant use of spiritual energy when they were fleeing. He wanted to see if he could rely on his soul to defeat an eightyer Earth Warrior.

    Seeing the sinister smile that was spreading on Xue Wei¡¯s face, the eightyer Earth Warrior started to feel ufortable. In this case, the saying that it was impossible to get off the tiger after riding it was true.

    "You want to challenge me?" Xue Wei asked, the sinister smile on his face growing broader. "I would love to ept your challenge."

    Xue Wei¡¯s words were heard by everyone present. The ones who were already sparring stopped their fights to see Xue Wei and this eightyer Earth Warrior fight.

    The eightyer Earth Warrior was unhappy, but he knew he could not step down. If Xue Wei had said nothing, he would have had a way out. Now, however, if he backed down, it would be the same as saying he did not have the courage to face a sixthyer Earth Warrior.

    Xue Wei stepped out into the field. The others made a circle around Xue Wei and the eightyer Earth Warrior.

    "Dare you face me without using your spiritual power?" The eightyer Earth Warrior suddenly asked, stunning Xue Wei.

    Not only him, the rest were stunned as well. This was a question that the others wished to ask, but no one dared to ask it.

    "Fight you without using my spiritual power? Sure, why not," Xue Wei said with a shrug of his shoulders. This surprised the crowd even more. Even Elder Zhang and Hei Gou had faces filled with disbelief.

 Chapter 119: He Ji

    "Youngster, don¡¯t be rash," Elder Zhang said to Xue Wei through voicepression. Xue Wei turned around and answered in the same way, "Senior, do not worry about me, I know my own limits."

    When Xue Wei replied through voicepression, Elder Zhang¡¯s eyes widened in surprise. Never had he expected that this youngster would know how topress his voice like himself.

    The Elder stroked his beard, a smile on his face. He looked at the Little Tribe Chief and noticed how she was anxiously looking at Xue Wei. Her small hands were clenched in front of her chest, and her lips were pressed tightly together. It was clear that she was very nervous about Xue Wei sealing his trump card.

    "Little Tribe Chief, you like this youngster?" Elder Zhang asked gently. Only he, the Little Tribe Chief, and the other elders heard the question. They turned to look at young woman, whose face had turned beet red.

    "Elder Zhang, what are you talking about?" she asked, feigning ignorance, but she dared not look at him.

    Seeing this, the eldersughed heartily. All of them were close to the Little Tribe Chief and knew her tics, so they easily figured her out.

    "He is not bad," one of the other elders said with a nod of the head. "He has courage. Going up against an eightyer Earth Warrior without using his specialty, that immense spiritual power of his, is something that requires guts. Guts like those are definitely needed by our Chaos Vulture Tribe."

    "He has at least one friend in the center of the continent, so he cannot be a simple person," another agreed.

    "Since he has a strong soul, it¡¯s likely he focuses more on soul attacks and mental strength rather than raw capacity for Qi. That could exin why he is only at the sixthyer of the Earth Warrior rank."

    All the elders were excited about Xue Wei¡¯s performance, their impression of him bing favorable. Especially because Elder Zhang looked at him with such a positive eye.

    The more they praised Xue Wei, the happier the Little Tribe Chief became, but the more embarrassed she became too.

    The elders had not lowered their voices when praising Xue Wei, all of which had been heard by the tribe¡¯s youngsters. Their faces were twisted with jealousy and dislike.

    They had been born in the Chaos Vulture Tribe, but this was the first time they had seen the elders praise someone ever since the rise of their Little Tribe Chief. No one from their tribe had had that privilege ever since.

    Even the faces of the Sky Warriors had turned slightly ugly.

    Xue Wei, the person in question, stood casually and observed the eightyer Earth Warrior in front of him.

    The opponent wielded a saber, and a menacing expression could be seen on his face.

    "No one will do anything for a dead genius," the youngster from the tribe said to himself in his heart before rushing at Xue Wei with a firm grip on his saber.

    He did not have any movement technique, simply dashing at the other. Xue Wei snorted.

    Forbidden Rush!

    As if his body had merged with the wind, Xue Wei fluttered in the air and easily avoided the saber that came crashing down.

    Xue Wei shook his head, calmly watching his opponent as he turned around. He had decent speed, but Xue Wei had previously used the Forbidden Rush movement technique to escape a Heavenly Warrior for some time, so evading an eightyer Earth Warrior¡¯s attack was almost child¡¯s y.

    Xue Wei was ying around. He kept merging with the wind and fluttering like a leaf in the air. To many of the experts present, it looked as if he was teleporting from one ce to another, leaving only an afterimage behind.

    This continued for a few minutes before Xue Wei evaded the umpteenth attack and appeared far away from his opponent. "You¡¯ve lost," he said with a t voice devoid of emotions.

    "I have not lost!" the opponent said through gritted teeth while panting heavily.

    "You lost," Elder Zhang said from a distance. "It is impossible for you to even touch the hem of his clothes, let alone defeat him."

    "I have more energy than him!" the opponent argued back. "I will be able to hold out until he runs low on energy, which means it will be his loss!"

    "Do you think so?" Elder Zhang looked at him as if he was looking at a small child. "Look at you now, already out of breath, and then look at your opponent. He has not even used his Qi yet."

    "His ability is supported passively by the wind around us, and his affinity grows stronger alongside the wind. Furthermore, he uses a minimal amount of Qi to use that movement skill of his."

    Xue Wei¡¯s opponent was now quiet, but his face still disyed unwillingness.

    "Take a sh of mine, and I will acknowledge that you are stronger than me!" the young man continued. Before Xue Wei had the time to respond, however, the Little Tribe Chief had taken a step forward and pped him, the loud p resounded on the sparring field like a thunderp through quiet weather. The Little Tribe Chief was clearly unhappy.

    "You have already lost enough face!" she eximed angrily. "First off, you are an eightyer Earth Warrior, whereas he is sixthyer."

    "Two, you asked him not to use his forte, spiritual power, to which he obliged."

    "Three, you cannot ept that you cannot defeat him because his speed exceeds your own to a point where you can¡¯t even touch him."

    "Finally, four, you still have the guts to ask him to take one of your blows head on? What will you do if he receives it? Will you ask him to bind his hands behind his back and allow you to ruthlessly stomp on him without fighting back?"

    "This young man has already shown enough consideration to you by not using his spiritual power; now you want him to not use his movement technique as well? He is twoyers beneath you, yet you are the one who asks your opponent to lower his strength?!"

    The more she spoke, the redder the youngster¡¯s face became.

    Everything that the Little Tribe Chief had said was correct and hit him in the sorest spots. This guy was thoroughly humiliated, but he dared not vent his anger on the Little Tribe Chief. Which is why resorted to instead sending Xue Wei a re filled with anger, embarrassment, and hatred.

    Xue Wei noticed it easily, but he did not care. Even if he had to exchange blows with this eightyer Earth Warrior, he would not back down.

    His body had a strength superior to others at the sameyer from the moment he started cultivating. Furthermore, the further he got down the road of cultivation, the bigger this advantage became.

    He could feel that his body possessed the sturdiness of a dragon¡¯s scales - most likely because he was cultivating the Azure Dragon Scripture.

    Xue Wei had not been in direct confrontation with anyone for a long time. While it is true that he had carved a path of blood on their way out of Heping Kingdom, all of those experts had been weaker than him or Hei Gou so he had never had a chance to fully bring to bear his power against an enemy he could consider his equal.

    "So an eightyered Earth Warrior is only so-so. Anyone else at the eightyer want to give it a go? Or perhaps someone at the ninthyer? I am not going to be unfair, I wee any challengers in the Earth Warrior rank." Xue Wei asked with a loud voice, causing the faces of the tribe¡¯s younger generation members to sink.

    Someone had to step up since he was calling out everyone from the Chaos Vulture Tribe. If they didn¡¯t, they would never be able to lift their heads in front of Xue Wei in the future.

    "If me using my movement technique is too troublesome, I can promise to not use either that or my spiritual energy," he continued with a grin on his face. What he said stunned them all.

    Not running away? Not making them go mad? Was this just a bluff, or did he have more tricks up his sleeve?

    None of them really knew, but where others had been eager to challenge him in the past, the rest chose not to be rash anymore. They were not so stupid as to think that this young man was willing to throw away his face for nothing.

    Silence permeated the atmosphere in the training ground before a sigh could be heard. A young man had stepped forward.

    Xue Wei narrowed his eyes when he saw that this person was a ninthyer Earth Warrior, a whole threeyers above him. His pulse quickened as adrenaline rushed into his body.

    "Wei, are you sure you can win?" Hei Gou asked with a low voice next to him. Xue Wei smirked in response. "I don¡¯t know," he said honestly, "but I will do my very best!"

    Up until now, Xue Wei had had the strength to defeat experts twoyers above him, but his opponent this time was threeyers above him, and he had promised not to rely on Forbidden Rush.

    This made things much moreplicated, yet Xue Wei had no regret. He hade to the sparring field for the purpose of testing his strength. To test his strength, he could not always use his spiritual energy, neither could he rely on his speed every time. He wished to test his martial techniques and bodily strength. He also wished to test how much power he gained from the extremely pure azure Qi that was running through his body.

    Everyone gathered around Xue Wei and the youngster. This young man seemed to be a year older than Xue Wei.

    Based on appearance alone, Xue Wei saw a youth that he could not afford to take lightly. This young man had sword-shaped eyebrows, eyes like a phoenix, and, albeit not as handsome as Hei Gou, he would hold his own in the looks department.

    His eyes were as clear as a stillke. Once he stood opposite of Xue Wei, he cupped his fists and bowed. Xue Wei returned the gesture, as it was clear that this man felt respect towards Xue Wei.

    "My name is He Ji. I am the cousin of thete He Lao, whom your brother resembles."

    "It has brought my family great joy but also sadness to see someone so simr to our beloved Lao, so it is with mixed emotions that I look at him today."

    "I originally thought that this Hei Gou was the only talented figure out of the two of you, but it seems that I was mistaken."

    "I will challenge you to a spar. I am very curious as to what it is you rely on when you say that both eight and ninthyer Earth Warriors can challenge you, and you will not use your movement technique nor spiritual power attack.¡±

    This person was extremely polite and exined his thoughts clearly. Everyone could sense that there was no hostility in his words, and that this was indeed just a spar that depended on one¡¯s capabilities and where neither would injure the other intentionally.

    Xue Wei had a favorable opinion of this He Ji in front of him. He was straightforward and honest. It was clear that he had great talent when it came to cultivation and that he would go a long way. In fact, Xue Wei would not be surprised if this young man one day grew up and became a Prairie Monarch like Elder Zhang.

    "Come at me!" Xue Wei took a stance in front of He Ji. Qi roiled around him and suddenly a sword had manifested in his hand.

    While He Ji also fought with a sword, his was weaker due to itsposition of metal as opposed to Xue Wei¡¯s sword of Qi

    When Elder Zhang saw the Qi sword, his eyes glistened with excitement. Although he thought Xue Wei was biting off more than he could chew, he could now not help but feel that maybe he was wrong.

 Chapter 120: Sparring Against He Ji

    He Ji was surprised at the sight of the Qi sword, but he did not hesitate and lifted the sword high into the air before shing down at Xue Wei with around seventy percent of his power.

    He dared not use his full power from the start in case he might end up severely injuring Xue Wei, but another part of him wished to see whether or not this young outsider was truly as magnificent as he imed.

    Xue Wei¡¯s eyes narrowed. He could sense that this He Ji was not going all out, but even so the strength of this young man from the He family was no joking matter. This was a true ninthyer Earth Warrior.

    There was no doubt that Xue Wei could defeat him if he relied on his Mind Infestation, but he also understood that this would be a very tight battle without having ess to Forbidden Rush and Mind Infestation.

    The Qi sword in his hands swung out and met He Ji¡¯s descending sword stroke. A loud ¡®ng¡¯ resounded in the sparring field as the two weapons collided against one another.

    Xue Wei continued to pour Qi into this sword, to maintain its form, but he felt a shockwave of energy pouring into his arm from the collision.

    He gritted his teeth. Even when He Ji did not go all out, he was still capable of causing Xue Wei to feel as if the bones in his arm were on the verge of splintering.

    "Time to try something different," Xue Wei thought as he retreated a few steps, swung his body around itself, and kicked out.

    Kick of the Forgotten Kings!

    The duo was close to one another, so He Ji couldn¡¯t help but set his jaw with a serious look on his face when he saw Xue Wei spin his body around before the kick came crashing down on him. This was not a simple kick!

    Azure Qi coated the leg as it connected with He Ji¡¯s waist. The tribal youngster tried to move his sword to the side to block it, but he was not fast enough, forced a few steps back at the end of Xue Wei¡¯s spinning movement.

    The crowd was shocked; a ninthyer Earth Warrior had actually been forcefully pushed back by a sixthyer Earth Warrior. This was something that they had never expected to see.

    He Ji was the most surprised one on the sparring field. He had known for sure that Xue Wei was not to be taken lightly, but the fact that he was capable of fighting back to such a degree had stunned him.

    Xue Wei was also surprised. He knew that the Kick of Forgotten Kings was a profound martial arts technique, but it had only been able to push him back so far.

    He Ji was still at his peak condition, so from this Xue Wei could sense that there was a massive difference between the two. Rather than feel dejected, however, a smile sprung up on his face. This eagerness to do battle was something he had almost forgotten.

    Although he wanted to fight with all he had, he was not willing to let himself be consumed by his innate bloodlust at present.

    There were a lot of hidden aces up his sleeve that Xue Wei was not willing to use in this sparring match. Firstly, he would not use the Forbidden Rush as promised. Secondly, the first use included Mind Infestation.

    Thirdly, he had learned the hard way why he should not use the transformation skill of the Azure Dragon Scripture. Lastly, he had no confidence in being able to keep his sanity while letting his bloodlust loose.

    These abilities were all sealed, so Xue Wei was facing a mammoth challenge that he himself had no confidence in winning.

    But even so, a grin was spread across his face. Before He Ji could recover from being pushed back, he maintained his momentum and advanced, yelling, ¡°It¡¯s not over yet!¡±

    Shattering Mountain Palm!

    Arcane Fist!

    Two hands, two abilities. One hand contained within it the power of the domineering Shattering Mountain Palm while the other rippled with the aura of the elusive Arcane Fist.

    Xue Wei had sessfully trained all the abilities he had gotten from the Heritage Ring with the exception of the Heart of Fire. Heart of Fire was ast resort attack, ast stand where one would burn their heart blood essence, and thus it was not something you could feasibly practice.

    "Harrumph!" He Ji forcefully stopped his recoil by stomping on the ground, and shot forward once more. The sword in his hand went horizontally against both the Shattering Mountain Palm and the Arcane Fist at the same time, the collision erupting into a billow of dust and the visible ripples of a shockwave.

    Two beams shot out from the cloud of dust. Both Xue Wei and He Ji were retreating fast, their clothes disheveled, and their eyes were filled with a fighting spirit.

    "Again!" Both of them yelled out. Xue Wei used the Arcane Fist and the Shattering Mountain Palmbination attack again. This time, he was using everything he had in the attack. His strength waspletely maxed out.

    He Ji was also using a martial art technique, but Xue Wei was unsure of what the name of the technique was as he had never heard of or seen it before.

    Small dots of light like rain drops through a shower was lit up, and gathered at the tip of the sword that He Ji held in his hands. These dots of light were individually weak, but when they merged together, even Xue Wei could feel a bit of dangering from this swordlight.

    Once again the two shed, but Xue Wei was the one suffering a loss this time. He Ji was not holding anything back, injecting everyst shred of strength he had into his martial arts technique. Although Xue Wei was relying on high ranked skills, he was still at a disadvantage.

    His organs were shaking from the impact, but Xue Wei was too excited to notice it. Previously, he had been able to fight above hisyer, but this was the first time he had really been able to have a hearty fight with someone who had a battle strength simr to himself.

    He had either fought beasts that wouldmit suicide, humans he could kill within a few moves, or fled from battle against Sky and Heavenly Warriors.

    Xue Wei was sent flying back, but he managed to regain hisposure with a backflip,nding and looking up at He Ji with a smile as broad as he was enraptured by the allure ofbat.

    He Ji staggered backward a couple steps before finally regaining his bnce. He looked in shock at Xue Wei; this young man was truly too ferocious.

    "Seems like I am not going to be able to win this spar by being upfront, huh," Xue Wei muttered to himself. He was at a disadvantage in almost every exchange of blows, but he was not willing to give up just yet.

    Seed of Mirage!

    Suddenly, a seed of Qi left his body, followed shortly by two more. Three Qi seeds hovered in the air. The crowd was curiously trying to figure out what exactly they were, but He Ji had not even time to look at them before he felt danger descending upon him

    Azure Light Finger!

    A beam of azure Qi shot out from Xue Wei¡¯s fingertip and shot towards He Ji at a rapid speed.

    Azure Light Finger was only a superior martial art technique, but it could be used from a distance, which allowed Xue Wei to push He Ji into the defensive, giving himself ample room to get closer again.

    "I can¡¯t believe that I can¡¯t even scratch him," Xue Wei thought to himself. He was not interested in seriously injuring his opponent, simply wishing to push his abilities to their limits after all, and this was the best chance he would have to see just how his raw strength and Qi handled someone threeyers above him.

    He Ji was a youngster from the Chaos Vulture Tribe and thus he had climbed out from a mountain of corpses. He had been in many life-and-death situations so far where he had faced Fierce Beasts with strength equivalent to his own, and even the adult cultivators of enemy tribes had died at his hands.

    When fighting these experts, he had always felt a sense of crisis, knowing that a single wrong step would cause him to lose his life. and now when he was fighting against Xue Wei, he could not help but feel the exact same.

    Xue Wei was rushing towards him; his hands were covered in azure Qi again, one of them being a fist and the other a palm.

    The palm that soon descended upon He Ji had a domineering aura that would permit nothing to stand in its way, as if it was a sovereign high up in the skies looking down upon the mortal world.

    The fist was elusive; sometimes it was transparent, at other times a myriad of fist imprints appeared in the air, making it increasingly difficult to determine which one of the imprints were the real fist.

    It was near impossible to block the Arcane Fist because of its elusive nature, and the fact that it was a profound martial arts technique made it that much more dangerous.

    Just as he raised his sword, ready to send out sword-light that could crush the fist and palm imprints, he heard the audience gasp in unison. It was clear that something had happened.

    Looking behind Xue Wei, He Ji¡¯s face turned ugly. There, three copies of him were leisurely walking towards them, azure Qi flowing up their bodies. Suddenly, He Ji did not have to protect himself against just two attacks from the main body, but five from all iterations, faux or not. The three copies each punched out with their individual Arcane Fists

    Xue Wei snickered when he saw the darkened expression on He Ji¡¯s face. It was clear that He Ji was unsettled with the many skills that Xue Weimanded, and even less when some of them were copies.

    "I do not believe that your copies have as strong an attack as you!" He Ji muttered to himself. At the veryst moment, he decided to block the two attacks from the real Xue Wei, allowing for the other Arcane Fists to hit his body. It was simply impossible for him to block all of them with a single sword.

    Three Arcane Fists connected with He Ji¡¯s body. While individually weaker than the main body, the three copies had abined attack power that did not actually deviate much from the original.

    Xue Wei was panting, feeling feeble. He knew this spar was his loss if He Ji had somehow managed to ovee the pincer attack, so he fought to keep standing, eyes peeled on the tribal genius

    He had used all his Qi. Right now, he was managing to stand up only through sheer force of willpower. He wished to see how He Ji had fared, and whether or not he was capable of defeating a ninthyer Earth Warrior with his strength alone.

    He Ji had been sent flying by the three Arcane Fists, but the three copies had also vanished. They had used all the Qi within their bodies tounch those three Arcane Fists at their highest potency.

    There was pin-drop silence in the field, and every spectator stared at the dust cloud that had risen after He Ji had crashed into the ground.

    It felt like an eternity where everyone was staring at a dust cloud while trying to spy the oue of the fight.

    Then the dust cloud slowly started settling again, and one could see He Ji sitting on the ground. His hair and clothes were filled with dust, and his face had an expression of utter disbelief.

    "Just how many strange attacks do you have?" He Ji asked curiously before standing up once more.

    His clothes were in rags and tatters. Despite none of Xue Wei¡¯s attacks drawing blood, it was clear that He Ji had taken quite the damage as was visible from the many bruises that covered the exposed parts of his skin.

    Seeing that He Ji stood up once more, Xue Wei could only shake his head. "I admit defeat," he said, but no one jeered at him. No one joked or said that he was a weakling. In fact, each and every single person in the crowd was thinking that he was a monster.

    "You did not lose to me," He Ji shook his head. "You had a few handicaps... you didn¡¯t use your movement technique or your spiritual energy attack. I have a feeling that you¡¯re hiding even more.

    ¡°Had this been a battle for life and death, then I fear I would not be alive right now," He Ji mocked himself. His words shocked his fellow tribesmen. Could it be true that Xue Wei had other tricks up his sleeves?

 Chapter 121: Physical Strength

    Elder Zhang smiled when he heard what He Ji said, and nodded his head approvingly.

    "You will be a great soldier for the Chaos Vulture Tribe in the future!" he eximed as he stepped forward and ced a hand on He Ji¡¯s shoulder.

    He found a few items that he gave the stunned young man. "Take this as a reward for the tribe!" the elder said, and handed it over to He Ji, surprising everyone present.

    When they looked at what it was, jealousy was evident in the eyes of everyone present.

    "This is... those are medicinal pills!" someone eximed, and even Xue Wei and Hei Gou were curious.

    Medicinal pills weremon in the center of the continent, but they were increasingly rare here in the outskirts. In fact, they were so rare that the only pills that Xue Wei had seen were those of very low purity.

    Low purity pills were not very useful, as consumption of them, while providing you with an increase in strength, would infuse you with all of the impurities left over inside from the poorly done refining process. It was like ingesting poison for a boost in strength, which was temporary at most.

    In the end, the medicinal properties would not make up for the impurities incurred from eating low purity medicinal pills.

    The pills in He Ji¡¯s palm were not low purity pills. In fact, it seemed as if they were at around fifty percent purity.

    Although this might not sound like a lot, it was still considered a rare treasure in the Flowing Blood Prairie. In the Kingdom of Heping, there might not even be more than ten such pills totally in cirction at any given time.

    Xue Wei frowned. He was curious about the pills because he had only seen low purity pills before, but that did in no way mean he would consume pills of fifty percent purity himself.

    Even though half of it consisted of medicinal properties that benefited one¡¯s cultivation, there were still impurities in the pills that would linger in the body if one did not have a way to expunge them.

    Medicinal herbs could decrease the amount of impurities one had in the body, and one could also to a certain degree cleanse one¡¯s body with Qi.

    But these methods only got you so far, and eventually the impurities would stack up.

    The more impurities in the body, the less pure one¡¯s Qi would be. At the same time, it would also affect your constitution.

    The more impurities there were in one¡¯s body, the longer it took to refine Qi. Also, if these impurities stacked up, one¡¯s body would be weaker and weaker to the point that it would be unsuitable for cultivation.

    Someone like Xue Wei, who had a very pure Qi, could consume a lot of medicinal pills before it would be as irreparably grave as that, but he also knew that if he started consuming these low purity pills, then his high purity Qi would be ordinary in no time.

    Since this was the case, Xue Wei did not envy He Ji for having been gifted those pills. Even the slightest impurity would significantly lessen the purity - and by proxy the advantage - of Xue Wei¡¯s Qi.

    The experts of the Chaos Vulture Tribe all had Qi with slight impurities. To them it was not a big problem to consume pills, as they would need to consume a vast amount to have their Qi tainted with enough impurities to make it unstable.

    He Ji would be capable of breaking into the Sky Warrior rank by relying on the pills he had been given, and this was something that made him ecstatic.

    The eyes of the Sky Warriors narrowed. There was greatpetition between the cultivators of the Chaos Vulture Tribe, and to have another expert bing a Sky Warrior meant one morepetitor for their positions and their privileges in being prioritized first for the distribution of medicinal herbs and nts to the tribe members.

    In the Chaos Vulture Tribe, the strong were revered. The stronger one was, the more resources one could enjoy.

    Xue Wei went next to Hei Gou and Elder Zhang. His clothes were messy, and strands of hair had gotten loose from the bun of hair he had on top of his head. He looked rather attractive in a very disheveled manner. Many of the girls present felt their hearts sway.

    However, when he stood next to Hei Gou, his attractiveness was quickly overshadowed. This primordial beast was truly too handsome!

    "Well done," Hei Gou grinned at Xue Wei and nodded his head, "but now it is my turn!"

    He stepped forward, and a savage aura spread from his body. He retrieved a set of ws from his robes and attached them to his hands.

    "Who wishes to spar with me? I would suggest only the strongest of the Sky Warriors to step up! Or does this crappy tribe not contain any true experts? It would be so embarrassing for you all if I ended up wiping the table clean with your most outstanding geniuses!" he called out. The Sky Warriors frowned. This challenge was really too brazen.

    ¡°What? Are you unconvinced? Well then bite me, a small tribe like yours wishes to have this young master taking you seriously? Be honest, you just want to wash away the shame from Xue Wei beating your Earth Warriors and now you want to take it out on me! But tough luck, I am not just going to let you stomp all over me. In fact, I am going to stomp all over you!¡±

    Although what Hei Gou said was rather outrageous, no one dared to look down on him. They had seen Xue Wei¡¯s abnormal disy of power, so what would they do if this person was as monstrous, if not more?

    Xue Wei hid his face in his hands. He had been rather condescending when he was fighting for the sake of rousing the opponents, and now it seemed as if Hei Gou was doing the same, except he was taking it to apletely new level.

    It was not only him who seemed to think so. The Elders that were present all looked ugly, their faces were a sight to behold, but neither of them dared act. These two were guests of Elder Zhang and they respected him, but even so they felt that Hei Gou had gone over the line.

    Even Xue Wei felt that Hei Gou had gone over the line. The tribe had treated them kindly ever since they came to their tribe. Xue Wei had done some slight insulting of the younger generation to rouse their battle intent and allow him to thoroughly test his abilities, but it seemed as if Hei Gou was insulting them just for the sake of insulting them. As to why Xue Wei was rather puzzled, but for now he would trust his friend and not question him. He felt as if Hei Gou had a reason to act as he did.

    Finally, someone stepped forward. He was a secondyer Sky Warrior, and his eyes were narrowed slightly.

    "I would like to exchange a few pointers with you," he said as he cupped his fists and bowed to Hei Gou.

    Hei Gou snickered and nced at Xue Wei. "Seems like you intimidated even the Sky Warriors," he said,ughing. His words were arrogant and did not show any respect to the expert that had stepped forward.

    Hei Gou had grown up in a very different environment than these Chaos Vulture Tribesmen and Xue Wei. He did not know much about how to behave in a group of people, and Xue Wei could not help but shake his head in disbelief.

    "Go battle," he said in an exhausted way as he looked at Hei Gou. It was clear that the faces of all present had turned hostile; even Elder Zhang¡¯s face was rather unsightly. If Hei Gou had not looked like his Little Lao, it was likely that he would already have stepped up to teach this noisy child a lesson.

    Xue Wei was eager to observe Hei Gou spar. So far, he had only seen him overwhelm his opponents and kill them in cold blood, or when they were sparring together, in which he was holding back.

    When Xue Wei and Hei Gou sparred, he never even used his ws. But now that he was up against genuine Sky Warriors, he was going to be using his weapons, and eagerness could be seen in his eyes as he stepped towards the enraged expert from the Chaos Vulture Tribe.

    This expert had disyed respect, yet Hei Gou had disyed apleteck of respect in return. It was only natural that this Sky Warrior from the Chaos Vulture Tribe was furious.

    Xue Wei was the kind of person that would show respect to others if they showed respect to him, but Hei Gou was different. He did not care at all about other people. Especially not humans; humans were after all of a different race than his own, and he knew that if they were aware of his real identity, none of them would hesitate to attack and kill him.

    Being aware of this, Xue Wei made no gesture to disagree with him. The damage had already been done, and even if Hei Gou apologized, it would be toote to do anything about their unfavorable impression of him.

    Hei Gou took a stance in front of the human expert that had stepped up to his challenge, and a snicker appeared on his lips. He had not been able to fight with all his strength before, but now he felt that he had a chance to show off his strength and really enjoy a battle to his heart¡¯s content.

    The two experts looked at one another. One was devilishly handsome, with a smirk on his face, and the other had a face contorted with anger and shame.

    The moment Hei Gou took a stance could be considered the moment that their spar began. Without wasting even a second, the human cultivator rushed at him with a sword in his hands. He raised it high above his head and shed it down with all his might.

    It was clear that this expert intended to cleave him in two to wash away the shame he had experienced.

    This was a simple spar, but the young tribesman had attacked viciously, so both Hei Gou and Xue Wei¡¯s eyes suddenly turned cold. It made sense that they were angry after being insulted as much as Hei Gou had insulted them, but to try and take revenge by killing him was enough to make both Xue Wei and Hei Gou unhappy.

    A ferocious killing intent exploded forth from Hei Gou, causing the expressions of many of the people present to turn pale.

    This ferociousness was only found in beasts and people who had climbed out from mountains made from corpses. The question that rung in the mind of everyone present was how many people had this young man killed to be able to acquire such a killing intent?

    The expert who was descending through the air was the prime target for the killing intent. His body trembled and his eyes showed traces of fear.

    His face went pale, and he wanted nothing more than to cancel the attack he had initiated. Unfortunately, he had gathered too much momentum, and trying to stop now would only injure him. All he could do was hope that Hei Gou showed him mercy.

    Hei Gou¡¯s trademark smile had turned chilly. He lifted his arms, swept his ws out and struck the sword head-on.

    The Sky Warrior had used a martial arts technique, but Hei Gou had a far superior body. He already had a strong body because he was a Primordial Beast, and a beast¡¯s body was many times stronger than a human¡¯s, but undergoing a mutation pushed the strength of his body even further beyond.

    The powerful swipe that Hei Gou unleashed was enough topletely tear apart the sword attack of the human cultivator, and the rebound attack sent him flying back in a sorry state.

    Hei Gou had strength equivalent to a Sky Warrior, but he himself actually didn¡¯t know whichyer of the human system he was equivalent to.

    It was hard to determine whichyer a Primordial Beast was equivalent to due to many of them having a physical strength above theyer of their Qi.

    Some beasts had a superior physical strength that could rival a ninthyer Sky Warrior, while their capacity of Qi might not even be able to rival a thirdyer Sky Warrior.

    Hei Gou had a body that could rival a ninthyer Sky Warrior after the mutation, only a step away from having a physical strength equivalent to a Heavenly Warrior.

    His Qi, on the other hand, was only equivalent to a person at the secondyer of the Sky Warrior rank. Furthermore, when someone with a high cultivation looked at him, they would see a secondyer Sky Warrior.

    It was not only beasts that could have a physical strength that was higher than their Qi. Human cultivators could be cultivating a body-enhancing martial arts technique, or they could have consumed medicinal nts or herbs that increased their physical condition.

    Hei Gou had a physical strength equivalent to a ninthyer Sky Warrior, but although he could use his physical body topletely overwhelm the weakeryers in the Sky Warrior rank, it was impossible for him to face up against a ninthyer Sky Warrior based on his strength alone. His Qi was simply too weak to support the rest.

    "Seems like he is invincible in the loweryers of the Sky Warrior rank," Xue Wei muttered to himself, impressed with Hei Gou¡¯s disy.

    ¡°I told you already, this tribe might be something in the Flowing Blood Prairie, but my brother and I have our eyes set on something much bigger than this! This is nothing but the beginning of our journey, and you are bound to be defeated by us if you are from the same generation!¡±

    The faces of everyone present was turning ugly. Hei Gou had insulted their tribe, but when they saw how easily he dispatched his opponent, they found it hard to retaliate. In this world, strength was what allowed someone to be arrogant.

 Chapter 122: Losing Freedom

    The entire sparring field was silent. No one said anything. They just looked at Xue Wei and Hei Gou with shock evident on their faces.

    These two experts were from the backwater Kingdom of Heping, the most primitive kingdom in the entire continent, yet they were capable of fighting and dominating other experts at their own level and even those above them despite their humble roots.

    Hei Gou remained in the field in the hopes of someone stepping up to challenge him. However, the strongest experts in the younger generation were secondyer Sky Warriors, and thus they all gave up stepping forward after seeing the fate of thest person.

    Hei Gou shrugged his shoulders, but he noticed that everyone looked at him with displeasure.

    "This ought to be our end of the trip to the Chaos Vulture Tribe," Xue Wei smiled wryly. He had wanted to stay for longer, but things were not too suitable for them to stay.

    Initially, they had been invited because of Hei Gou, and now they were being alienated because of the ck dog as well.

    The Little Tribe Chief¡¯s face was filled with reluctance when she looked at Xue Wei, and Elder Zhang was also rather unhappy with how things had went down.

    "You like him, right?" Elder Zhang asked in a low voice to the Little Tribe Chief. Although her face flushed red, she understood that now was the time to be honest. "I like Xue Wei," she acknowledged after hesitating for a moment.

    "He can be a great tribe chief alongside you," Elder Zhang nodded his head as he looked at Xue Wei with greedy eyes. "Unfortunately, that young man who looks like Little Lao is not suitable to stay in the Chaos Vulture Tribe. He is far too arrogant."

    "I do not think that they will split up," the Little Tribe Chief said hesitatingly, but she too felt that this Hei Gou was too arrogant and brazen to fit into their vige. Arrogance was okay, but being respectless to the tribe was not allowed.

    "Little Tribe Chief, lead them back to their tent and make sure they do not leave the tribe for now," Elder Zhang gave her the final order before he turned around and left with the other Elders, heading for the central tent where they could discuss their ns.

    Xue Wei sensed that something was not right. He saw the Little Tribe Chiefing towards them, which made him protectively stand by Hei Gou¡¯s side.

    "You want to protect me?" Hei Gouughed slightly when he saw Xue Wei¡¯s actions. Xue Wei snorted, "I know I am not strong enough to protect you, but we are on this journey together so I might as well try."

    "Rx, both of you," the Little Tribe Chief said, having overheard their conversation. A sad smile appeared on her lips. "We are not here to judge you; we just wish to guard you on the way back to your tent so that no one attacks you out of anger."

    "So basically we are prisoners now?" Xue Wei asked wryly. The Little Tribe Chief did not answer this question.

    "This way, please," she said as she gestured for the duo to follow her.

    "Should we make a run for it?" Hei Gou asked. Xue Wei could not help but stagger when he heard Hei Gou state that out loud without bothering to lower his voice.

    "Idiot, if we make a run for it now, we will not even get to the other side of the training field."

    "d you realized that," the Little Tribe Chief sighed as she nodded her head.

    "Following me back to your tent will be your best solution. From there on, just do what you are being told."

    Hei Gou shrugged his shoulders and followed Xue Wei, but he noticed that Xue Wei was observing the surroundings with a tentative expression on his face.

    When they returned to the tent, Xue Wei found that four guards of the ninthyer of the Sky Warrior rank had been positioned around it, all of which were looking very menacing and fierce.

    His expression turned sour, but he knew that right now there was nothing he could do against the Chaos Vulture Tribe and their menacing attitude.

    "Sorry, it seems that I made the wrong decision when we entered the Chaos Vulture Tribe," Xue Wei said to Hei Gou as they were seated in the middle of the tent, finally alone.

    Inevitably, he knew that every word he spoke would be heard by the Sky Warriors.

    Hei Gou looked at Xue Wei and saw the former ce a finger on his lips and wink at him before using hispressed voice to covertly speak to Hei Gou.

    "We are going to escape this ce as soon as we can," the concentrated voice said, apressed booming resounding in Hei Gou¡¯s skull. "It will not be easy considering the strength of those old men guarding the tribe, but it should be possible."

    Hei Gou snickered and nodded his head. He said nothing, but his eyes were lighting up.

    "I think that the tribe will turn hostile towards us the moment we try to leave," Xue Wei continued throughpressed-voicemunication.

    "But first, let me teach you how topress your voice," Xue Wei said and started guiding Hei Gou.

    "I guess we should start cultivating for real this time, yeah?" Hei Gou said out loud as he stretched, his words reaching the guards outside. One of them nced inside the tent and saw the two youngsters seated in meditation position before he grunted, ¡°good, you better behave!¡±

    These guards were all secretly puzzled. They had heard about Hei Gou being arrogant in front of the younger generation and how he hadpletely besmirched the Chaos Vulture Tribe¡¯s face, but to only take the two young men prisoners for something of this severity seemed extremely lenient.

    Not only did it seem extreme, in case someone had tarnished the name of their beloved tribe, was it not best to kill them on the spot? Why keep them alive like this?

    As long as he was a prisoner, not only were four of their influential members forced to act as guards, they also had to feed them and always be on high alert to ensure that they did not escape.

    In the Flowing Blood Prairie, another group of experts was hurrying along. This was thepany from the Kingdom of Heping that was currently chasing Xue Wei and Hei Gou.

    "We have been capable of following the two beasts through the Kingdom of Heping because of the trail of corpses they left behind. It was truly stupid of them to not dispose of the bodies. In fact, killing them and not killing them made no difference since we could easily locate their trail, but now, despite us having a spent some time here in the Flowing Blood Prairie, it¡¯s like they have simply vanished!"

    "I guess they could have been killed by a tribe and perished in this vast prairie," someonemented. However, Captain Yuan Chao¡¯s expression remained rigid, immutably stern, and his voice boomed as he called out, "We will not think them dead before we see their corpses with our own eyes! Either we find them, or we find their dead bodies. Even if we have to turn this prairie upside down, we will do so!"

    The group of a hundred experts continued onward. Underway, they would sporadically encounter a few scouting teams from the local tribes. They, as arge procession of powerful cultivators, could not move through the prairie unnoticed unlike Xue Wei and Hei Gou, so they ended up killing these scouts every time they crossed paths.

    Before killing them, they would take out a painting of Xue Wei and question the tribesmen on whether they had heard or knew anything rted to the person in the drawing, but the answer was the same every time. No one had seen him.

    Thepany consisted of old soldiers, and they had in magical beasts time and time again while being in the army, yet this was the first time they had to kill humans on such arge scale. Many of the experts felt terrible about it, but eventually the frequency of these encounters desensitized them to the act.

    The people who they encountered became buried in the prairie forever, their blood joining the rivers of blood that had once flowed in the Blood Flowing Prairie in its most bloody days.

    The soldiers also sent out scouts to avoid the tribes. Everyone knew that the tribes in the Flowing Blood Prairie were hostile towards other people and it was, in their eyes, impossible for Hei Gou and Xue Wei to have entered a tribe to find shelter.

    The majority of the soldiers held disdain in their hearts towards these two experts. They were merely two young whippersnappers in their eyes, and the strongest was equivalent to a Sky Warrior. For a Sky Warrior to move through the Flowing Blood Prairie was incredibly risky already, and the other was merely an Earth Warrior, who could be considered useless baggage.

    For them to have survived was unlikely, but the Captain never wavered. He did not give up or say that they should retreat.

    "The Crimson Devil is a true danger to our kingdom," he said solemnly when he noticed the morale fall to an all-time low. "We cannot give up before we know for sure that he has perished. This is the order given to us by His Royal Highness!"

    Yuan Chao was not willing to go back on the order he had been given. He would hunt Xue Wei to the ends of the earth if he had to, but he knew that their task was not as simple as it seemed.

    After all, had someone already killed him and disposed of his body, then they might as well spend the rest of their lives on this search for someone who had long ceased to exist.

    Yuan Chao was indeed in a dilemma. He too thought that it was impossible for Xue Wei and Hei Gou to stay alive in the Flowing Blood Prairie, but they had only been in the Prairie for a month. If they returned to the Kingdom now without proof of the Crimson Devil¡¯s death, it was likely that hispany would be sent out once more.

    The fact that they were killing scouts from every tribe was something that eventually would cause everyone in the Flowing Blood Prairie to band together against them, but at the same time Yuan Chao knew that if they did not kill these scouts, the entire tribes woulde facing them.

    If they were to face an entire tribe they would die, and all he could do was hope that these tribes would not realize that their scouts had been killed by humans and would me Fierce Beasts.

    He knew he was gambling with his and his men¡¯s lives and because of this he wished for nothing more than to return to the kingdom, but just as he was about to give up, a man appeared in front of him.

    "Captain, a group of youngsters is up ahead!" A scout returned to give information to Yuan Chao. The captain nodded his head and sighed. "Let us go and see whether or not they know the Crimson Devil," he said with exhaustion.

    He did not enjoy killing other humans; in fact, he felt it was deplorable to kill them since all of them fought against Fierce and Primordial Beasts just as they did, but he was of the opinion that not doing this would only invite unwanted attention to hispany, potentially concluding with it beingpletely wiped out. This was something he could never allow to happen.

    The group moved towards the youngsters. When they were close enough, they saw that it was a group of seven Earth Warriors.

    These youngsters quickly realized that something was wrong, but they had already lost their window of opportunity to escape.

    "Excuse me," Yuan Chao politely called out, stepping towards them. He was polite and refined and went straight to the youngsters with a painting in hand.

    "We are looking for this primordial beast named Xue Wei, also known as the Crimson Devil. He has gained the nickname from a murderous streak that once left him bathed in the blood of his enemies, regardless of whether a beast or human stood before him."

    The captain handed over the painting to a young man who epted it hesitatingly. He knew that it was likely that they would die here today, but he would cling to anything for a shot at survival. If he yed this right, then they would be able to get out of it alive.

 Chapter 123: Summoned

    The youngster epted the painting and looked at it curiously. He knew much about Primordial Beasts since he lived in the Flowing Blood Prairie, as the few that could survive in theirnd were incredibly powerful, and the tribes have had a long history fighting with them.

    Looking at the painting, the young man furrowed his brows. It was clear that he was in deep thought.

    "This is your Crimson Devil?" he asked while frowning. "I have never heard about this Primordial Beast before, is it a newly emerged one? The name is indeed domineering, even more so than most Primordial Beasts," he asked curiously while deep in thought.

    "He is the brother of the Ice Harpy. He emerged in the Kingdom of Heping a few months ago during a beast horde. It seems he was undercover as a human, intending to trick and kill our most famous Primordial Beast Hunter."

    Yuan Chao did not keep anything hidden. He was feeling rather energetic at this very moment when he saw the frown on the young man¡¯s face. From this, it could be inferred that he had had some sort of encounter with a person that looked like him, and this alone was already a great achievement for these soldiers.

    "You say he is a Primordial Beast? Which kind of beast is he?" the young man continued to ask, sounding out the details, and while the soldiers were impatient and unhappy, Yuan Chao was patient.

    "We do not know," Yuan Chao answered honestly. "We have never seen him in any other shape than his human shape, but hispanion once changed his form to be that of a massive ck dog with wings simr to the ones on a ck crow."

    The eyes of the youngsters all widened in surprise when they heard this, and then they grit their teeth. It was clear that something was wrong with them.

    "Have you seen him or not?" Finally, one of the soldiers could no longer take the suspense and sneered at the young man. He thought that they would kill these youngsters anyway so why not try and threaten them into speaking sooner rather thanter?

    Yuan Chao nced at the soldier and conveyed disagreement with his eyes, but he said nothing. Although he did not agree with the rushed approach this soldier took, he had to admit that he too was impatient to know what these tribal youngsters knew.

    "I know him," the youngster said with a sigh. "He is in our tribe right now. Are you sure that he is a Primordial Beast? You have never seen him take on a beastly shape."

    "We don¡¯t know for sure whether or not he is a Primordial Beast," Yuan Chao said honestly. "But even if he is not a Primordial Beast, he has conspired with them to cause chaos in the Kingdom of Heping. Even here in the Flowing Blood Prairie, you all ought to know that someone who conspired with a Primordial Beast is to be in as soon as possible."

    "This is a serious usation," the young man sighed. "The one I know cannot threaten our tribe as we have a Prairie Monarch, but I guess we ought to return to the tribe and inform them."

    "Tell us where the tribe is located," Yuan Chao requested. "We are here for the sake of killing the Crimson Devil. If he is in your tribe, then your tribe is where we are going."

    "I am afraid that is not eptable," the young man suddenly looked serious and shook his head. "I am not allowed to return to the tribe with a force like yours following me; it is likely that it will be seen as treason. I cannot tell you where our tribe is located out of fear of you telling other tribes, which could potentially result in us being wiped out."

    "This is not the time to care about your rules!" a soldier sneered. "Your life and death are in our hands! If you want to live, then you take us to your tribe right away!"

    "Then kill me!" the young man did not hesitate and called out. "I would rather die than go against the rules of our tribe! We are all proud men of the Chaos Vulture Tribe. Even if we are young, everything we have has been given to us by our tribe, and now you want us to betray it for something as simple as our lives?!"

    The young man was seriously furious. Yuan Chao was impressed by him.

    "Well, if we cannot go to the tribe with you, then what can we do to ensure that our target dies? We need proof of his death, preferably his head."

    "That¡¯s not really our problem is it?" The young man did not back down. He was a proud member of the Chaos Vulture Tribe, and he knew that he and his friends were likely to die at their hands today.

    "Why not allow one of us to return to the tribe and inform the Elders of all this new information? You can keep the rest of us hostage so that the person who leaves is bound toe back with news of what to do with this young man you im to be a Primordial Beast?"

    "That won¡¯t do," Yuan Chao was not dumb, he knew that it would be the same as putting their necks at risk. "If youe back with arge army ready to wipe us out, then we will have no chance of doing anything against you."

    The youngster and Yuan Chao looked at one another; their eyes were both unyielding and unhappy.

    No matter what they came up with, it could result in either the tribesmen suffering losses or the soldiers putting themselves at risk.

    Since neither side was willing to back down. Yuan Chao sighed and a cold sh appeared in his eyes.

    "I am sorry to make this decision," he said after a bit of time, "but since our two sides cannot find a solution, you and your friends will have to leave your lives behind. We will personally find the Chaos Vulture Tribe and figure out what to do after this!"

    Having said this, Yuan Chao did not waste any time. He rushed forward and drew his sword, shing out and slitting the throat of the young man he had spoken with.

    The other soldiers did not waste their time. Swiftly, the remaining six scouts from the Chaos Vulture Tribe also became corpses that were buried in the Flowing Blood Prairie; their blood seeped into the dark-red ground.

    "Captain, are we going to enter the tribe on our own? This young man said they had a Prairie Monarch ¨C do you reckon that is an existence at the Heavenly Warrior rank?"

    "I do not know," Yuan Chao said seriously. "But we ought to look for this tribe. We should get as much information about them as we can while we are moving."

    "It was hard to find someone who knew about the Crimson Devil, but I bet that anyone we meet from now on knows about this Chaos Vulture Tribe. Getting information should not be too hard, and then we will act ordingly."

    Yuan Chao sighed, "We are not strong enough to take on a whole tribe from the Flowing Blood Prairie, but this tribe is bound to have some enemies. If we y around the different forces, we should be able to benefit from the chaos and y the Crimson Devil and hispanion while they are fighting."

    The eyes of the soldiers lit up when they heard this. "The reason these youngsters had to die is so that they do not tell their tribe about us. Letting the Chaos Vulture Tribe know of our existence is the same as foiling all our ns.¡±

    "If the Chaos Vulture Tribe knows that these two are Primordial Beasts, they will never hand them over to us. Instead, they will keep them captive until they can get their hands on a Diviner to tame them. No one will kill a Primordial Beast that can be tamed unless they have no other choice, like us."

    The soldiers were enlightened. If they had let the youngsters leave, then they would have been in danger, and they would not have been able to kill the Crimson Devil and hispanion.

    Having reached this decision, the group left the corpses in the prairie and started their journey forward once more. Another set of scouts were sent out to find other experts that they could interrogate.

    While Yuan Chao and hispany had discovered Xue Wei and Hei Gou¡¯s location, the two individuals in question were currently stuck within their tent in the Chaos Vulture Tribe.

    Hei Gou had learned how topress his voice, and the two spent their time discussing how to flee the camp.

    "Our biggest issue is that the Elders are here. Especially Elder Zhang will be difficult to escape from," Xue Wei sighed. "I apologize for getting us into this chaos, but we will manage one way or another."

    Hei Gou nodded his head; he did not seem too bothered. "Although we are stuck in this ce, it is not too bad. They feed us every day, and they leave us alone, so we have peace to cultivate. You have broken through to the seventhyer of the Earth Warrior rank, and my Qi has also increased drastically."

    "We are their prisoners, but it seems that we are not being mistreated. I do not know what their aim is, but it is clear that they have something nned for us." Hei Gou shrugged his shoulders.

    "We are here now, might as well eat and cultivate as much as we can. It is a peaceful time. Eventually, they will have to migrate from here to another location; I do not believe that we cannot escape by then."

    Xue Wei nodded his head. "That¡¯s true, so let us give cultivation our all for now," he agreed. The two sat down and started cultivating once more. Right now, they could not escape, but that did not mean that they could not bide their time.

    Just as they sat down and got ready to cultivate, they sensed movement from the tent entrance.

    The Little Tribe Chief popped up. Her eyes were filled withplex emotions as she looked at Xue Wei and Hei Gou, and a sigh escaped her lips before she started speaking.

    "Xue Wei,e with me." She did not give any information as to why he should follow her, and there was no room for discussion.

    Both Xue Wei and Hei Gou frowned. Neither of them wished to be split up right now, as they were captives, but in the end he knew that he had no choice.

    As Xue Wei exited the tent, he found that an additional four Sky Warriors were waiting outside. These Sky Warriors were clearly the guards that were meant to escort the Little Tribe Chief and Xue Wei towards their destination.

    Walking through the tribe, Xue Wei looked casual andfortable. He had a slight smile adorning his lips, and his eyes calmly observed the daily life of the tribesmen.

    Although he looked very casual, the truth was that his spiritual energy was spread to its very limit, granting him sight of everything that was happening around him. He tried to discern the patterns of their everyday routines.

    If he understood their habits and their schedules, it would be much easier to escape.

    His spiritual energy continued to observe everything around him as they moved further and further into the middle of the tribe. Many of these tribesmen looked at Xue Wei curiously. They were all curious about these two so-called prisoners, as the Chaos Vulture Tribe never took captives. To have been made captives meant that the Elders had something nned for them, and they were all curious about these ns.

    They arrived in front of the biggest tent in the tribe, the tent belonging to the Elders. When they entered, Xue Wei felt a group of gazes lock onto him.

    He felt ufortable. These eyes were like a wolf looking at amb; there were no gentle intentions behind them. All of them made Xue Wei feel like they wanted something from him, but he was clueless as to what that could be.

    "Little Tribe Chief, make our gueste forward and face us," Elder Zhang¡¯s voice sounded out. Xue Wei¡¯s eyes turned hard. It was clear that they had nned something big this time.

 Chapter 124: New Blood

    Xue Wei¡¯s face turned ugly. He was not willing to be disyed as a creature in a cage, but he knew that not only did his life depend on his performance, Hei Gou¡¯s did too.

    Stepping into the tent, Xue Wei decided not to disy any form of weakness. He strode forward with steady steps, and his eyes were bright and tranquil.

    Although he was very angered at the moment, he kept his emotions in check, revealing none of them on the surface.

    His eyes quickly got used to the dim light within the tent. He spotted a full thirteen experts seated around a table in the middle of the tent, all of which were looking at Xue Wei, clearly evaluating him from top to bottom.

    Xue Wei said nothing. He just stopped and stared back at these Elders, observing every one of them, immediately memorizing their appearances and taking note of their strength.

    Elder Zhang was the first one he observed. The man yfully stroked his long white beard with his hand, and a self-satisfied smile was on his lips as he asionally stole nces at Xue Wei.

    When looking at the Elders, Elder Zhang was without a doubt the oldest of them all. The rest seemed to be between middle-aged to elderly, but none of them hadpletely white hair and beards like Elder Zhang. The majority of them had grey hair or ck hair with grey stripes.

    These Elders all looked at Xue Wei as if he was a treasure to im.

    Xue Wei shuddered when he saw these gazes. He felt like a beautiful virgin being tossed to a brothel, with all the patrons being eager to undress him with their eyes.

    He could not help but wonder what exactly he had done to cause these old men to look at him with such greed.

    "Xue Wei, we have summoned you here today because we have some things we need to talk to you about," Elder Zhang said with his old voice.

    "Do not mind us keeping you captive for now... if you work with us, we will dly have you freed soon," he continued. However, his words did not cause Xue Wei to be relieved. As a matter of fact, it made him more worried than before.

    "This freedom, at what cost does ite?" Xue Wei asked with narrowed eyes. He understood that these men wanted something from him, but he was uncertain as to what exactly they could want from him.

    He was an Earth Warrior. Although he had broken through to the seventhyer of the Earth Warrior rank, he could still not be considered an outstanding genius.

    In fact, Hei Gou looked to be as old as Xue Wei, and he was already a Sky Warrior; in appearance alone, the former even seemed to be mighty among Sky Warriors.

    So if these tribesmen were looking for someone reliable, they should have been calling for Hei Gou, but it was Xue Wei they had summoned, whichpletely confused him.

    "Let us get straight to the point," Elder Zhang said after a bit of time. The aged man sighed.

    "When I created the Chaos Vulture Tribe, I brought with me five friends. These five friends brought their families, and our six families together created the Chaos Vulture Tribe."

    "In the Flowing Blood Prairie, it is tough for the tribes to have contact with one another as there is always blood feuds between us, and we try to kill each other as soon as we get a chance."

    "This results in our tribes having an issue with not getting enough fresh blood into the tribe."

    "Now you and your friend has arrived. We should have killed you both by now, but we are impressed by your abilities. We want both of you to be members of our tribe."

    "For now, we obviously cannot trust youpletely, but as time goes by you will be givenplete freedom when you have proven your allegiance to our tribe."

    "Although your friend is arrogant, he has the power to back up such arrogance. We want the both of you to assimte into our Chaos Vulture Tribe. In fact, it is the best option for you. If you do not join our tribe, then you will stay captives until we convince you to join us."

    Elder Zhang was not asking for Xue Wei¡¯s permission or opinion. He had already decided that Xue Wei and Hei Gou were to join their tribe, and they had no say in the matter.

    Xue Wei¡¯s eyes glistened dangerously as he thought about it. He was not willing to be forcibly absorbed into their tribe, but he knew better than to state his honest opinion right now.

    Xue Wei still had much to do.

    But Xue Wei was not going to argue with these Elders from the Chaos Vulture Tribe, as he knew that arguing would change nothing. They were the tribe¡¯s captives, and now they had no other option than to pretend to cooperate.

    "Tell me, young man, what do you think about our Little Tribe Chief?" Elder Zhang asked as silence descended in the tent.

    The question seemed to catch everyone¡¯s attention, and all of them looked at Xue Wei; even the Little Tribe Chief looked at him with a blushing face.

    Xue Wei looked at her for some time and sighed. "She is a nice girl," he said casually, not being too friendly or hostile.

    His tone of voice was polite, but it was also distant. It was clear that the friendliness that Xue Wei had felt towards the Little Tribe Chief before had taken a hit after their change in attitude towards Xue Wei and Hei Gou.

    Her blushing face drained of color and turned white; she was quickly able to tell that Xue Wei was answering politely, and not being genuine.

    Elder Zhang sighed when he saw this. He knew that their change in attitude had honestly hurt the trust between Xue Wei, and the tribe, but he also knew that there was no other option for them than to wait and see what would happen after some time.

    "Take him back to the tent," Elder Zhang ordered. He had already told Xue Wei what he needed to know; the young man was now aware that he was being seen as young talented blood to the tribe.

    Xue Wei¡¯s eyes were shing with a cold light as he exited the tent. He did not disy any emotions on his face, but it was clear that he was unhappy.

    All the way back to the tent where Hei Gou was waiting for him, Xue Wei said absolutely nothing. He just walked quickly; the casual and carefree expression from earlier was gone, and instead a dark face was all the Little Tribe Chief saw.

    As they reached the tent, Xue Wei did not even say his goodbye to the Little Tribe Chief. Although he had to be polite to the elders due to their strength and the fact that Hei Gou was bound to him through his actions, he had no interest in being friends with this woman ¨C at least any longer.

    The guards were all displeased by Xue Wei¡¯s reaction, but the Little Tribe Chief shook her head.

    "Don¡¯t mind him. He was not pleased with the Elders¡¯ decision," she exined, so that the guards would be less upset with him.

    "What happened?" Hei Gou asked with apressed voice. He noticed the dark expression on Xue Wei¡¯s face and could infer that he was genuinely pissed off.

    "They want to force us into bing a part of their tribe," Xue Wei answered, also with his voicepressed.

    "They want us to marry into the tribe so that we can be their pawns; it is simply uneptable!"

    "What are we going to do?" Hei Gou asked in a slightly panicked way. He was a Primordial Beast, and although he had taken human shape, he was aware that it was impossible for him to conceive with a human.

    "What can we do?" Xue Wei sighed and shrugged his shoulders. "For now... we can do nothing. We have to bide our time for an opportunity to escape, but for now, our most important mission is to raise our strength. The stronger we are, the more likely our escape attempts are to seed!"

    After Xue Wei left the Elders¡¯ tent, the Elders were looking at one another in dismay. The only one who looked somewhat pleased was Elder Zhang.

    "Elder Zhang, it seems that he is not very interested in our Little Tribe Chief. She likes him, and his talent is eptable too. His fighting ability is outstanding, but what can we do if he is not interested in her?"

    "Elder Zhang, please don¡¯t forget that these two are forced to stay with us. We cannot trust them!"

    "We don¡¯t need to trust them, all we need of them is to bring fresh blood to our tribe!"

    Everyone was eager to discuss these two people that had appeared, initially as guests.

    "That young man Xue Wei is going to harbor ill will against us," one of the Elders said with a sigh. "Although he seemed to be understanding, a grudge is definitely forming in his heart."

    "Since he is forming a grudge against us, if we cannot control him, then we ought to ughter him! We do need new blood in our tribe, but at the same time, we also need to make sure that we are not going to get injured!"

    "Old Man Liu, you want your grandchild to be married to the Little Tribe Chief! We know you have always wanted those two children to be connected. Now that another child has appeared, it is natural that you are against him, but you have to admit that for the sake of the tribe, this youngster will be a much more suitable choice!"

    "Even if this young child has a grudge against us, he is smart. He knows that both his and his brother¡¯s lives are in our hands. As long as they wish to survive, they have to do what we tell them to do."

    The speaker was incredibly smug, and he snickered as he stroked his mustache. His words made some of the other experts nod their heads and agree.

    "For the sake of our tribe, we will keep these two experts under control. As long as we have Elder Zhang, a Prairie Monarch, in our tribe, we are safe and sound. Even if they gain strength rapidly, they will need at least fifty years to be as strong as him!"

    "During these fifty years, we will manage to have them produce a lot of offsprings. Even when they be as powerful as Elder Zhang, will they actually be willing to oppose our tribe? They might end up leaving, at worst, but they will still leave behind their descendants and enrichen our tribe¡¯s legacy!"

    All the elders present, apart from the man called Old Man Liu, were snickering and praising themselves. Old Man Liu, on the other hand, had a dark face and was apparently unhappy.

    Elder Zhang was smiling like the others; he too felt incredibly proud of their achievements, and he found no mistakes in their n. Strength was what mattered, and as long as he was strong, he could suppress the two young men and force them into marriage with women from their tribe.

    Back in the tent, Xue Wei suddenly shuddered.

 Chapter 125: Wang Xiaoyun

    While Xue Wei was busying up with an escape n, a different group of experts back in Heping Kingdom was on the move.

    This was the Wayfarer¡¯s group of experts. They had been spending thest few years hunting down the Ice Harpy ¨C and although they had killed other Primordial Beasts in the meantime, their primary target had never changed.

    The Ice Harpy was an existence that was renowned as one of the strongest Primordial Beasts in the eastern part of the continent, and she had a reputation for wantonly killing scores of humans just for the fun of it. Her massacres weremitted with indiscrimination, be it vige or a stray soldier she met by coincidence on the road, and a trail of blood would follow everywhere she went.

    They had been on her trail for a long time, but they had not once pinned down her location until now.

    Strangely enough, their investigations revealed that she was still in the Kingdom of Heping, a kingdom where there the Ice Harpy had no equal and where she could act with impunity.

    Deep inside the Northern Taiga the group had sat up camp. While many were busy roasting Fierce Beast meat on the bonfires, a young beautiful woman d in a green dress was sitting with an elderly woman.

    "Grandma, do you really think that Xue Wei is a Primordial Beast? Or do you think that he has by chance been tricked by them?" Wang Xiaoyun was anxious and had been feeling depressed thest couple of months after hearing that her sweetheart stood used of being a Primordial Beast.

    "I do not think he is one," the grandmotherughed gently as she rubbed Wang Xiaoyun¡¯s head, "but even if he is not a Primordial Beast, there is sufficient evidence that he has colluded with them. Even if he holds a special ce in your heart, you cannot let love blind you."

    "We are Wayfarers. We will never let those who work with the Primordial Beasts be; they ought to be in. It is likely that he was forced to work with them because of the extenuating circumstances behind his usation, but the fact that the Primordial Beasts did not instantly kill him when he found them means that he has offered them something."

    "Word is that he is currently traveling with a Primordial Beast. A beast that resembles a ck dog with wings."

    "When we have sessfully hunted the Ice Harpy, our next target is likely to be this ck dog and the Crimson Devil. By then, calm your heart ¨C you cannot go against our family."

    "We will be hunting Xue Wei?" Wang Xiaoyun¡¯s face turned pale, and her lips trembled. Her hands were clenched into fists.

    The elderlydy sighed when she saw the significant chance that had urred in Wang Xiaoyun¡¯s expression. "We are Wayfarers. Our lives are tied together with Primordial Beasts. When we activate our bloodline and be warriors, the warriors we be are far more magnificent than the norm."

    "Our type of warriors are superior because of the Primordial Blood that flows in our veins. It has mutated our Qi and bodies. Although we seem like any other person, our bodies have be as if made from iron."

    "Our ancestor became like this because of the Primordial Beasts. They did experiments on him and his many brothers and sisters. In the end, the majority of them died; only a handful survived and became the ancestors of us Wayfarers."

    "This hatred towards the Primordial Beasts must never be forgotten. They treated us as ves and livestock. They made us into experimental subjects and did not care at all about what was eptable."

    "The Primordial Beasts are all terrible." The older woman¡¯s face turned into a hideous grimace as she thought about the Primordial Beasts.

    "For our ancestors, we fight them. For the peace of humankind, we will kill them. This is our responsibility; and although I quite liked that little boy, I will still ughter him now that he is working together with a Primordial Beast."

    "Grandma, please excuse me." Wang Xiaoyun¡¯s face was so pale that she looked like a wax figurine, and her lower lip was trembling. Her eyes were moist and her voice was shaking. She excused herself and almost ran from her grandmother¡¯s side towards the carriage that belonged to her.

    The grandmother who was left behind sitting in the darkness sighed and shook her head with sadness in her eyes. "I am sorry, my little one," she sighed, "but the truth is that he has chosen to ally with the Primordial Beasts, and thus our sides will always be against one another."

    "You think he chose to ally with the beasts?" Resoundingughter rang through the entire campsite of the Wayfarers, and a beautiful woman descended from the heavens above.

    Her hair was silver like beautiful rays of moonlight; her eyes were blue like the coldest ice; and her skin was pale like porcin.

    Her body was perfectly curvy, her waist so slim that a single arm could hold it, and her overall beauty was just breathtaking. When looking at her descending through the air shrouded by the moonlight, she did not look mortal at all. In fact, she looked like an immortal fairy.

    "Normally, I would not personally havee to find you all since it is much more fun to trick Wayfarers into wasting their time, but I heard something interesting this time," sheughed out loud as she looked at the grandmother.

    The loudughter had rmed the entire camp, and everyone had drawn their weapons and were moving towards this otherworldly fairy. The first to arrive was Wang Xiaoyun.

    Although Wang Xiaoyun was a beauty, she could not help but feel inferior whenpared to this woman in front of her. They were leagues apart! But she soon recognized the face. This was the human shape of the Ice Harpy! Their target and objective throughout many years!

    This Ice Harpy was looking at Wang Xiaoyun curiously, but deep within her eyes was a hostility that could make anyone feel ufortable.

    "So you two were talking about Xue Wei?" she asked, her voice chiming with amusement. "It is true that I tricked them into thinking that he is a Primordial Beast. He will be chased by everyone now, beasts and humans alike ¨C is it not thrilling?" The Ice Harpy¡¯s head lifted up as she chortled loudly once more.

    "I wish I could kill him personally, to be honest. But since I¡¯m not allowed to kill him, who says I cannot kill his sweetheart?" she continued. A murderous gleam appeared in her eyes when she looked at Wang Xiaoyun.

    "I wonder what expression he will make when he realized that I have killed you?" A sinister expression fluttered past the Ice Harpy¡¯s face and made her look ferocious.

    The Grandmother¡¯s face turned pale. "Save the young miss!" she eximed, and suddenly Qi appeared on her body and exploded outwards.

    "Oh?" Chu Huiyin¡¯s eyes glistened, and a smile spread on her lips. "Someone who has reached the Sky Knight rank? To think that I would encounter someone like you in this tiny kingdom," she mocked, and feathers started to sprout from her body.

    Her feet turned to long legs with talons, her arms torge broad wings with blue and white feathers.

    A screech exploded out from her throat, and she ascended into the air. Suddenly, Qi manifested around her, and crescent moons started to attack everything and everyone in the camp.

    Blood sttered as many of the Wayfarers were cut into pieces, their corpses not evenplete as they copsed to the ground with eyes both wide open in terror and utterly devoid of all life.

    The attack was so fast that no one, not even the grandmother, realized what had happened.

    A dozen or more crescent moon des of Qi descended from the sky, and all of them killed at least one, if not multiple, of the cultivators.

    The grandmother¡¯s face turned serious, and she shouted as she flew into the air to fight against the Ice Harpy, only to find that the Primordial Beast was snickering at her and not taking her serious at all.

    "You there, sweetheart of Xue Wei, look how I ughter your family!" she eximed excitedly. More and more crescent moons appeared every time she pped her wings.

    These attacks caused blood to flow like rivers and corpses to stack like mountains. No one had the time to act before they were in, and the grandmother was gritting her teeth when a sword appeared out of nowhere and struck at the Ice Harpy in the air.

    "Oh so you actually know how to move even though you are just an olddy?" the Ice Harpy said with a snicker and easily dodged the attack, continuing her massacre.

    Time shed by in a red hue, and the area was filled with screams of despair and the scent of blood, corpses littering the entire campground.

    Slowly, the screams died out, and no one could talk anymore. In fact, as time went by, only two survivors were present in the entire Wayfarer camp: one was the grandmother who had chased Chu Huiyin all the time, and the other was Wang Xiaoyun.

    Both of them had eyes red with grief and anger. Both wished for nothing more than to rip the Ice Harpy to shreds and ensure that she no longer existed in this world ¨C they wanted to destroy her soul and make it so that she could no longer enter the cycle of reincarnation.

    Unfortunately, neither of the two could bring that feeling to fruition. Numerous Knight-ranked experts were among the toll of casualties, but even they had been killed as quickly as chickens on the chopping board.

    "This is all my fault," Wang Xiaoyun med herself. She was present to hear the Ice Harpy¡¯s statement about the reason for her attack, which was her being Xue Wei¡¯s sweetheart, and she did not realize just how terrible it was to be the enemy of one of the strongest Primordial Beasts in the continent until now.

    "Do not me Xue Wei or yourself, little one," the grandmother said slowly. She turned to Chu Huiyin "You, Ice Harpy, are a primordial beast, so you will kill us whether or not we had anything to do with him. It is no hidden fact that you enjoy ughtering humans everywhere you go! But who would have known that we would underestimate you as much as we did!"

    "Well, that is true," Chu Huiyin did not deny it. "But it is also true that I am killing you all right now for the sake of seeing that filthy, abominable Xue Wei¡¯s face contort with pain and agony. I hate him more than anyone else. He is even more disgusting than normal humans. He has to live a life of suffering! He cannot be allowed to be happy! For his unhappiness, I will hunt and kill anyone who is close to him; I will cause the whole world to turn against him, and I will destroy his life and force him to live through it!"

    Chu Huiyin waspletely incensed. She was lost in her thoughts and did not seem to be paying attention to the grandmother.

    Seeing that the Ice Harpy was not paying attention to her, the grandmother did not squander this opportunity,unching a furious offensive. A brilliant shine exploded out from her body as she rushed at the Ice Harpy.

    Her body seemed as if it had been made from ss and filled with a prismatic light. This ss was slowly breaking, and her body was showing cracks and started to fall apart, yet when she reached Chu Huiyin her body had turned into a zing sun of Qi.

    This zing sun of Qi had no emotions left; there was no flesh and blood, everything in the body, including the soul, had been transmuted into pure energy. This energy detonated the moment it came into contact with the Ice Harpy.

    The explosion that erupted was so powerful that it swallowed even the distant Wang Xiaoyun and flung her back like a kite that had been cut free.

    Blood sprayed from her mouth and her vision ckened as she lost consciousness.

 Chapter 126: A Significant Loss

    Time went by slowly, Xue Wei and Hei Gou were still confined within the tent, unable to leave.

    They spent their time cultivating, waiting patiently for the time for the tribe to start migration once more.

    Xue Wei had been summoned a few times to the Elder¡¯s tent to be informed about their ns, but not once did they seek his input. It was clear that they would not permit him to disagree with their ns.

    Last time Xue Wei had been summoned, he had been informed of the marital rites of their tribe and what he could expect. He was also informed that he was supposed to marry the Little Tribe Chief.

    Xue Wei had not med the Little Tribe Chief too much previously. They were no longer on good terms after their freedom had been taken away from them, but he had initially felt that it was all because the Elders had forced it on her.

    When he saw her red face after they told him of his arranged marriage, he felt annoyance. Was the reason they had forced him and Hei Gou to stay because their precious little girl had fallen for him?

    "I¡¯ve done nothing to warrant such emotions from her," he muttered to himself while sitting in the tent reminiscing about what had happened thest month.

    The nuptial rites were exined to Xue Wei. In the Chaos Vulture Tribe, one would be engaged for a hundred days before the marriage ceremony took ce.

    This was something that caused Xue Wei a bit of relief. It seemed that it would take some time before the marriage was finalized.

    He was also informed that the Chaos Vulture Tribe would be migrating soon. Their tribe had a cycle of relocating twice a year, depending on the seasons.

    They would at random swap between seven different locations in their territory each time. When they had exhausted the poption of Fierce Beasts in one ce, they would move to the next, and so on.

    It had now been three and a half years since they hadst been at the location they were moving towards, and the Fierce Beasts were back in abundance.

    Albeit always fighting against the beasts and losing good men and women to the cause, this very same fight for survival was also their livelihood. They got everything they needed to sustain their lives from these Fierce Beasts, from the leather required for their tents to the food they put on the tables.

    Without the Fierce Beasts, these tribes would not be able to sustain themselves. The Flowing Blood Prairie was unsuited for the cultivation of crops, and thus all they could eat were a few herbs, nuts, roots, and berries that one could harvest in the wild.

    Their engagement ceremony would be held as soon as they had migrated, and then the wedding would be held a hundred dayster.

    As to who Hei Gou was to marry, no one knew just yet, but it was certain that it would be a talented young woman from the tribe.

    Xue Wei had broken through to be an eightyered Earth Warrior during the time they had been held captive. The recent boost in his cultivation speed was slowly dying out, the energy that had been stored in every cell of his body was slowly being depleted, eventually normalizing his pace of improvement.

    Hei Gou, on the other hand, was still rapidly advancing. His body had now reached a level equivalent to a firstyered Heavenly Warrior in raw strength; and his Qi was now incredibly pure and on the level of a fourthyered Sky Warrior.

    The Elders and the Little Tribe Chief were the only ones aware of Hei Gou and Xue Wei¡¯s rapid progress in strength. At first, they had felt relieved and excited to see their rapid improvement, but after a bit of time, they frowned. Were these two sacrificing their future prospects for the sake of rapid advancement so they could escape?

    That had frightened the Elders, and Elder Zhang had immediately summoned Xue Wei and Hei Gou. After observing them, he realized that they were not sacrificing their future for short-term gains.

    This made him feel even more puzzled. How could they advance so fast without suffering from Qi deviation?

    "They must have eaten some precious herbs back in the Heping Kingdom," Elder Zhang concluded. "Their talent is above average, and then they consumed some sort of treasure that allowed them to promote their ranks so drastically."

    The other Elders nodded their heads, epting this reasoning, and waited for the cultivation to stabilize.

    Another three weeks went by, and a lot of sounds entered the ears of the duo imprisoned in the tent. During these three weeks, neither of them had had any breakthrough, but they had managed to stabilize their cultivation bases, once more resulting in their foundations bing as stable as mountains.

    "There is much more activity outside the tent," Xue Wei said with apressed voice to Hei Gou while sitting across from him, watching the shadows that were being cast upon the tent walls from the procession of people outside of the tent.

    "It seems that they are getting ready for the migration," Hei Gou agreed with a nod of his head. The two were eager to see them migrate, as this was the best chance they had to escape from their wretched fate as the tribe¡¯s pawns.

    Suddenly, a strange sound of someone blowing a horn sounded. The sound seemed toe from far away, but it was enough to cause widespread panic outside.

    The guards that had been guarding their tent day in and day out were suddenly gone, and the previously bustling area was devoid of life. It was as if everyst person who had been in this area of the tribe had ran off towards the horned sound.

    "This is our chance!" Xue Wei hissed. He jumped to his feet, and Hei Gou followed suit.

    "We have to get very far. If that old geezer Zhang knows how to use Spiritual Energy and he uses his Knight-ranked spiritual energy to search for us, it is certain that we¡¯ll be found if we don¡¯t get far, far away from this ce."

    "Well then, time to fly!" Hei Gou said with a snicker. Together, the two rushed out of the tent, only to see that there was absolutely no one in sight. They had all gathered at the other end of the tribe, armed with weapons in hand while staring straight at a billowing cloud of dust that wasing towards them from the opposite side.

    "We will wait for them to sh," Xue Wei said with a low voice. "Right now, I am quite sure that Elder Zhang has everything under his gaze, including us. If we try to escape now, he mighte running."

    Hei Gou nodded his head. They had but one chance to escape this Chaos Vulture Tribe ¨C they should not blow it by being impatient.

    "Who do you think it is that¡¯s here?" Hei Gou asked curiously. Xue Wei shrugged his shoulders. "I don¡¯t know," he said honestly, "but I do hope it is someone who is here to fight the Chaos Vulture Tribe. The longer they fight, the more time we have to escape and the less likely it is that they will capture us."

    Neither Xue Wei nor Hei Gou held any good feelings towards the Chaos Vulture Tribe any longer. They had enjoyed the time they could rx and cultivate, but to be forced into marriage had caused them to be upset and annoyed. Although it was not to a point where they would wipe out the tribe were they to have the option, neither felt bad about leaving them to their own devices and to face their trouble on their own.

    Xue Wei and Hei Gou had snuck out of the tent and were observing the rest of the tribe in the distance, neither moving an inch.

    The dust cloud wasing closer and closer, and soon one could see the outline of a vast army that was marching towards the tribe. This army was being led by apany of experts from the Heping Kingdom, and when Xue Wei saw them, he frowned.

    Why was there apany from the army here? Was it the group that he had heard was said to be chasing him? But if it was, how did they know that Xue Wei was here?

    Xue Wei frowned. "It seems like we need to use fake names in the future," he mumbled while his eyes shed with a dangerous light.

    "We need to leave now!" he eximed, and Hei Gou could hear the urgency in his voice. He instantly transformed his body to be that of arge ck dog with a set of crow-like wings.

    Xue Wei jumped up onto the back of the dog. Once Xue Wei grabbed on tightly, Hei Gou leapt up into the sky and beat his wings with every fiber of his being, shooting into the distance like a shooting star.

    The first few moments filled Xue Wei and Hei Gou with utter terror. They had fled before the other group had arrived, meaning that if Elder Zhang had been observing them, he would have time to stop them, but fortunately for them, Elder Zhang had learned how to cultivate on his own and thus did not know about Spiritual Energy.

    While Xue Wei and Hei Gou gambled on escaping, Elder Zhang¡¯s entire attention was on the group that wasing for their tribe. His eyes were filled with anger and were as if they could spit fire at any moment.

    Not long after Xue Wei and Hei Gou had vanished into the distance, the group that wasing for the Chaos Vulture Tribe arrived, but they stopped a few hundred meters away from the perimeter of tribesmen, a couple officers from the Heping Kingdom stepping forward.

    "Esteemed tribesmen of the Chaos Vulture Tribe, we have arrived today to request that you hand over the criminal Xue Wei and hispanion Hei Gou."

    "Criminal?" The tribesmen were surprised and looked at one another with confusion. They had guessed that he had escaped from the army, but even being a deserter was not enough reason for so many experts to chase him.

    "Xue Wei, also known as the Crimson Devil, is suspected to be a Primordial Beast. If he is not a Primordial Beast, then he is a human colluding with them. He is known as the brother of the Ice Harpy, and he travels together with a Primordial Beast going by the name of Hei Gou. This beast is a big ck dog with wings."

    "Do not think you can keep them for your own purpose ¨C we are here to take them away, and we do not mind using force!"

    The entire Chaos Vulture Tribe was silent. They were all shocked when they heard this; their hearts were racing and their eyes were wide open. Xue Wei was a Primordial Beast? If he was, then this could exin his ability to fight experts above his own rank. But they had already decided that he was to be the son-inw for the Chaos Vulture Tribe, so believing an outsider like this was not easy.

    "Someone, go fetch Xue Wei and Hei Gou," Elder Zhang finally said with a frown on his brows. He needed to figure out what exactly had happened.

    The guards who usually held Xue Wei and Hei Gou prisoners rushed back to the tent, only to find that it waspletely empty. Their faces paled as they rushed back to Elder Zhang.

    "They have escaped!" the bravest of the guards said with a trembling voice. "They must have used the chaos as a diversion. But they are only within the realms of Sky and Earth warriors; they should not have been able to get far!"

    "Idiot!" Yuan Chao sneered at the tribe¡¯s soldier that came with the news. "One of them is a strange ck dog with wings. He can fly! Furthermore, he can even outrun Heavenly-Warrior level Fierce Beasts!"

    "Although we might be able to run as fast as he can fly, don¡¯t forget that there are no obstacles in the air! We cannot catch up with them!"

    The faces of the people on both sides turned severe, and the tribe that had followed the soldiers were apparently unhappy with the fact that they had traveled so far for nothing. Meanwhile, the Chaos Vulture Tribe was also filled with ugly expressions.

    They had lost not only a son-inw, but they had also lost two Primordial Beasts they could have tamed. It was indeed a significant loss for their tribe.

 Chapter 127: Vermilion Forest

    Xue Wei and Hei Gou continued to fly for two days straight. During this time, both of them were on constant alert, observing everything around them.

    While flying, Xue Wei spread out his spiritual energy to help them avoid all the tribes, but they were still spotted by a few groups of tribe scouts and experts out hunting, that were traversing the Flowing Blood Prairie.

    These people noticed a ck blur that rushed past them in the sky, but they did not see what exactly it was.

    Xue Wei and Hei Gou finally rxed after two days. They had switched directions a few times and were now flying south.

    Although there was no mistake that their pursuers knew that they were aiming for the center of the continent, they dared not travel the direct way.

    Elder Zhang was aware of their destination, and his flying speed was bound to be swifter than Hei Gou¡¯s.

    If they were to fly west, it was very likely that they would be captured rather fast, so they instead opted to move south.

    The south was still a part of the Flowing Blood Prairie, but after two days they had almost reached the end of the prairie and were almost at the kingdom located beneath the prairie and west of the southern territory of the Heping Kingdom.

    This kingdom was almost as unassuming as the Kingdom of Heping; its geniuses were just a bit better than the Kingdom of Heping¡¯s, and their structure was simr.

    Children aged fifteen or sixteen were sent to the army where they would undergo training in preparation for the battles against Fierce and Primordial Beasts. The most outstanding amongst them would be Primordial Beast Hunters, while the rest would return to society after finishing their time in the army.

    This kingdom was incredibly small. It was as wide as the Flowing Blood Prairie and only as long as the southern territory of the Kingdom of Heping.

    This tiny kingdom was known as the Vermilion Forest Kingdom, and it had gotten its name from the vermilion-leaved trees that covered ny percent of its avablend in one massive, vast forest.

    This Vermilion Forest was not counted as one of the danger zones, but it was still a ce that demanded caution once ventured into, and many of those who entered would end up dying, leaving their corpses behind, hidden under the fallen vermilion leaves.

    This Vermilion Forest was Xue Wei and Hei Gou¡¯s destination. "We cannot head straight for the center of the continent since they will most likely try to cut us off midway by predicting our path. If that¡¯s so, why don¡¯t we just head to another weak country and stall for some time to strengthen ourselves?"

    The Vermilion Forest was not as dangerous as the Northern Taiga, but it was still dangerous enough to produce some threats for the two friends, which could possibly force their potential out and arouse their talent and make them step onto an even higher stage.

    They descended through the air andnded on the ground. Hei Gou once more took on his human form. The two of them smiled at each other, feeling much calmer due to their n, and headed straight for the edges of the Flowing Blood Prairie.

    They did note across any humans or Fierce Beasts. All they came across were skeletons of beasts and humans alike, but none of these remains had any valuables on them. They had already been stripped of all treasure they might possess.

    The two friends were chatting casually while walking forward through the vast expanse of barrennd. Their moods had visibly improved, the tension seeping out of their previously stiff bodies. Having escaped the Chaos Vulture Tribe¡¯s confinement, they felt much more at ease.

    "Do you think that the tribe can survive the cmity it was facing?" Hei Gou asked curiously. "I don¡¯t know if I want them to be destroyed after treating us the way they did, or if I want them to flourish since they did not kill us."

    "Don¡¯t think about them any longer." Xue Wei shrugged his shoulders,pletely carefree and not paying any attention to the tribe at all. "Although we were forced to stay with them for some time, we benefited greatly during our stay."

    "When we get strong enough, there is no reason to take revenge on this tribe because our karmic ties have already been broken. They helped us, but at the same time they held us captive."

    "Now that we have escaped, there is no reason for us to hurry anywhere and risk ourselves. We have nothing urgent to do in the center of the continent, and the geniuses there will be much more domineering and forceful than the ones from a small Chaos Vulture Tribe. If our strength is not sufficient to keep ourselves alive, then we will be some of the youths that lose their lives on their quest to be strong."

    Hei Gou sighed. He was naturally arrogant as a beast, but he knew that Xue Wei was correct. Although he was superior to human cultivators, there existed monsters out there who could easily put up a fight against Xue Wei and Hei Gou, especially at their current cultivation level.

    As they wandered through the Flowing Blood Prairie, thendscape started to change. It changed from being dusty ground with sparse vegetation into fertile soil.

    "We ought to use different aliases too," Xue Wei muttered once they had formally moved into thend of the Vermilion Forest Kingdom. "I never thought we would be caught because of our names in the Chaos Vulture Tribe, but that was because I was not careful enough."

    Xue Wei nced at Hei Gou and looked at him up and down before nodding his head. "We can act like brothers from the Flowing Blood Prairie that havee to the Vermilion Forest Kingdom to temper ourselves." Xue Wei decided.

    They had been provided with the clothes of the Chaos Vulture Tribe back then and were currently wearing fur clothes that made them seem like real tribesmen.

    "This setup is also able to exin why we aren¡¯t currently serving our time in the army," he continued. "If we wear clothes native to the Kingdom of Heping or this Vermilion Forest Kingdom, then we will only raise suspicion as potential deserters."

    Hei Gou looked impressed. "I don¡¯t like these fur clothes," he said, sighing, "but I guess it is suitable for us to use it to avoid suspicion."

    Xue Wei said nothing as he continued walking on the fertile soil. Soon, they reached fields that were being cultivated by farmers, and these farmers raised their heads when they saw Xue Wei and Hei Gou.

    They frowned but quickly rxed after seeing that there were only the two of them. It was not an entire tribe that hade to ravage theirnd and loot their valuables.

    Xue Wei smiled at the farmers, and Hei Gou quickly did the same. His devilishly handsome face with a blinding smile shocked the farmers into speechlessness, and it was not before fur-clothed youngsters had moved past them that they realized that they had been in a daze.

    "Excuse me, young masters," one of the farmers finally spoke up. "I was wondering if you would honor us with a moment of your time. We are eager to hear news from the Flowing Blood Prairie."

    Xue Wei and Hei Gou looked at one another. They had been burnt already and were not silly enough to follow another stranger into a ce they knew nothing about so they both shook their heads apologetically.

    "We are in a rush," Xue Wei smiled. "We will definitely tell you more when we return, but for now we have to continue our travels."

    The expressions on the faces of the farmers turned slightly dangerous for a moment and a cold gleam passed in a few pair of eyes, before rapidly vanishing.

    "I see." the farmer had a smile on his face that seemed heartfelt, but Xue Wei had caught a glimpse of the cold gleam in his eyes and knew that no matter how good an actor this farmer was, he was no innocent soul.

    "We have to get going," Xue Wei muttered to Hei Gou with apressed voice. "Something is off. I think they have some experts living in their vige and are waiting for them to arrive. If it is a Sky Warrior, we are safe since you can deal with them, but if it is a Heavenly Warrior, then we have quite a sticky situation."

    Hei Gou was rmed. He had never expected that such a remote ce would have an expert hiding amongst them, but when he thought of how they had behaved, he had to agree that it was indeed possible.

    "We will take our leave now," Hei Gou said, the first sentence that he had spoken to the farmers. They all looked at him with panic in their eyes. It was clear that they had not expected such a decision to be made so fast.

    ¡°Young Masters from the prairie, the road to the capital is a long one! We are a small vige, true, but we would love to host the two of you in exchange for news from your homnd. Please, I ask of you. In fact, we have just finished a new batch of homebrewed wine and were thinking of preparing one of our mortal beasts for a feast. Come join us.¡±

    Xue Wei and Hei Gou did not pay attention to them and elected to swiftly escape the premises. This vige was not veryrge, and the vigers were all Earth Warriors, but their speed could not follow Xue Wei and Hei Gou, even if they tried their best.

    After Xue Wei and Hei Gou vanished into the distance, a short moment went by before three men arrived. One of them, the one in the middle, was burly and rather short, but the atmosphere around him was cold and filled with killing intent. His brow was furrowed into a frown, and his teeth were being ground against each other.

    On his right side was a young man. He seemed to be around twenty-five and had just gotten out of the army. His entire bearing was casual and calm, his face revealing handsome features. A smile hung on his lips as he looked around.

    Thest person, on the left, was a middle-aged man. His hair had streaks of grey, and he had a massive beard that hid the bottom half of his face. This beard also had streaks of grey. When coupled together, the wild beard and the long hair made him seem like a slob that did not care about his appearance at all.

    All three were wearing clothes of decent quality, yet none of them were from the silk, leather, or hide of either Primordial Beasts or Fierce Beasts

    If Xue Wei had been here, he would have been shocked. Although these three were wearing mortal clothes, their clothes had no patches on them, which could be seen on most vigers. Their clothes had not even one speck of dust, and they seemed to be newly woven. It also seemed to be made from silk from a mortal beasts, and although these clothes were below quality of Primordial and Fierce Beast fabrics, they were high above average mortal clothes.

    In the outskirts of the country, seeing someone wearing such new clothes was indeed shocking. It was not something one saw often, and when they did, the owners were not some random people from a farming vige but some young nobles from the cities.

    "Tell me, where did they go?" One of the men asked in a deep voice, and the farmer was trembling as he pointed in the direction that Xue Wei and Hei Gou had left.

    "Harrumph," the man who spoke was not in a great mood. "Two kids who have not even grown up wants to escape from us? They are simply ying with fire!"

    "Well, big brother, they are struggling to stay alive! We will hunt them down and enjoy the hunt, and then we will take all their valuables!"

    "They should not be too strong, so catching up to them should not be a problem either. One of them is an Earth Warrior, so it is impossible for them to fly - all they can do is run," the bearded man said casually. The other two nodded their heads before their trio shot out in pursuit of the two stragglers.

 Chapter 128: Caught Up

    "We are most likely not being chased anymore," Xue Wei said after they had put some distance between themselves and the vige. "Thepany from the Heping Kingdom is going to suffer some misfortune now. They lured two tribes into a confrontation, but their target was not there."

    "Those two tribes will not ept that kind of conclusion, so all their rage will be taken out on thepany of soldiers."

    "If they somehow manage to survive this cmity, they will most likely continue their search for us in the center of the continent, considering they know about Prophet Lan and me. I have a feeling that even the two tribes involved, the Chaos Vulture Tribe especially, will dispatch a team to hunt us down now that we¡¯ve ran afoul of so many people and factions..."

    "So the fact that we¡¯re here in the Vermilion Forest Kingdom instead will probablye as a total surprise to them, if they ever discover our whereabouts that is. After all, they¡¯re trying to read our minds - so why would we go to this ce, right? The kingdom is so small, and it isplete trash when ites to the standard of cultivation, barely better than the Kingdom of Heping in that regard."

    "Besides, this ce has a more diluted density of natural energy from the heaven and earth, which means we¡¯re handicapping ourselves in terms of training speed. However, there is one thing we need to take into consideration."

    "Albeit dyed, the speed of our progress won¡¯t be affected as much as you¡¯d think - at most like fifty percent? Rather than living a frantic life of being hunted, we can roam freely ¨C and way more safely ¨C in this ce, and we can rx our mental state slightly. This will allow us to carefully raise our strength instead of constantly sacrificing long-term sess for short-term survival, which will greatly benefit us in the long run."

    Xue Wei exined what he had thought and why he had made the decision to go to the Vermilion Forest Kingdom. Hei Gou nodded his head in approval. Everything his friend said made sense to him.

    "Another thing is that if we wish to increase our strength, we need to face off against both beasts and humans alike. We need an ample amount of battle experience, which is our biggest w at present," he continued.

    "Although we have fought and killed many people, the truth is that we have not been in any truly challenging fights. Either our opponents have not been able to push us to our limits, or they have been so strong our only option was to flee."

    "We don¡¯t know the actual limits of our strength, and we need to fight to find out! "

    Xue Wei¡¯s eyes glistened with excitement as he spoke. He was excited about what their future might hold, and even more so about how their strength would soar and their lives would progress.

    "What nice sentiments," a drawling voice suddenly sounded from behind Xue Wei and Hei Gou. The both of them had been too rxed and had expected to be safe, yet now they found that three men had already surrounded them.

    There were three of them, all men; a beardy one, a young one, and a short but burly one. Hei Gou and Xue Wei¡¯s faces instantly turned serious when they saw these two, and their eyes glistened. This was their first life-and-death encounter in the Vermilion Forest Kingdom, so they were eager to try out their new strength.

    Xue Wei was currently an eightyer Earth Warrior, and Hei Gou had a Qi capacity equivalent to a fourthyer Sky Warrior, while his physical strength had just broken through to the Heavenly Warrior rank.

    These three, however, were not easy targets. Two of them, the burly man and the middle-aged man, were both ninthyer Sky Warriors, while the young man was a firstyer Sky Warrior.

    Hei Gou and Xue Wei looked at one another, and while Hei Gou withdrew his ws, Xue Wei started operating his Qi within his body, ready to use any of his attacks to engage the enemy.

    "Leave the two old men to me," Hei Gou said with a growl that originated from deep in his chest. His eyes were piercing like swords and his lips curled up into a sinister smile.

    Xue Wei nodded his head while looking at the young Sky Warrior. To have be a Sky Warrior at the age of twenty-five was a considerable feat, especially considering that it was amoner who had reached this rank.

    The two parties did not exchange formalities or speak to each other. It was clear that these three were bandits ¨C they robbed anyone who came by and lived off the vigers when they were idle.

    Xue Wei and Hei Gou could feel their killing intent, so asking about their purpose was stupid. Instead, they prepared to face these three experts.

    Hei Gou¡¯s ws were shining in the sunlight; they werepletely ck, and Hei Gou attached them to his hands. The two bandits did not disturb him. The bandits did not mind waiting, in fact they were chuckling as if this was his futile struggles to survive and they would dly let him have his final struggles.

    Xue Wei had been activating the Qi within his body, but he had not used the Inner Might to create a weapon. Instead, he was preparing to fight with his martial art techniques.

    Although the Inner Might was great, he had no sword arts. He could use the sharpness of the sword created from Qi to kill many people around his own level, but these bandits were all Sky Warriors. To fight them would not be as simple.

    Instead, he put his faith in his other martial arts techniques. He believed that he would be able to fight appropriately while using them, and if all went haywire, he still had the Heart of Fire, the transformation of his arms, and the blood essence at his disposal.

    Xue Wei had multiple hidden cards, but even then he could not help but feel his body shaking. So far he had only fought against people in the Earth Warrior ranks. He had never before fought against someone who was a Sky Warrior, apart from Hei Gou who sometimes sparred against him.

    The blood boiled in Xue Wei¡¯s veins, and his body trembled with excitement.

    Thest person he had fought against was He Ji, who was a ninthyer Earth Warrior. Back then, he had not used the Forbidden Rush movement technique, nor had he used Mind Infestation.

    Now he had no restrictions, but this opponent was in apletely different realm than himself. Although it might not seem to be a big difference when counting sub-realms, a person who has stepped into the Sky Warrior realm was not to be underestimated by someone in the realm below.

    Xue Wei was unaware of it, but a wide grin had spread on his face from the expectations he had of this battle. That smile made the bandit across of him frown.

    Why would this kid who was a mere Earth Warrior be so eager to do battle with a Sky Warrior?

    Shaking his head, the bandit muttered to himself, "So you want to seem mysterious? That is so silly. You will just die much faster!"

    Having said this, the young man did not hesitate. He shed forward with a sword in his hands.

    The bandit did not have a movement technique. Instead, he had the speed of a Sky Warrior. Although he was fast, Xue Wei did not think too much of the man¡¯s speed. He had the Forbidden Rush movement technique that would allow him to flee from a Fierce Beast with the strength of the Sky Warrior rank ¨C and maybe even a slow Heavenly Warrior beast.

    His movement speed was equivalent to Hei Gou¡¯s flying speed. The Forbidden Rush movement technique truly lived up to being a superior martial art.

    Xue Wei did not, however, use the Forbidden Rush movement technique to evade the bandit¡¯s attack. Instead, he took a step backward, activated his Qi, and rotated it through his body.

    Arcane Fist!

    Arcane Fist was a profound martial art technique. It was a step above the Shattering Mountain Palm, and even the Azure Light Finger, in grade.

    This Arcane Fist was not a scouting attack. It contained his full strength, and the fist that shot forward to meet the weapon held a thousand illusions, with fake fist imprints in the air, and an overbearing atmosphere that caught the young bandit by surprise.

    This young bandit did not use a martial art technique to sh down at Xue Wei, but he had coated his weapon with ayer of Qi.

    Although he felt oppressed by the atmosphere of the fist art that Xue Wei had disyed, he did not think that this youngster in front of him was truly dangerous. The boy was after all only an Earth Warrior, a whole realm below him, and he continued to press on with his attack.

    Only a brief instance had passed from the moment the young bandit had noticed the fist art until the sword and fist collided against one another.

    A resounding boom shook the ground, dust billowed up, and shockwaves crashed against Hei Gou and the other two older bandits.

    Neither of these three had started their fight yet, opting to instead observe the battle between Xue Wei and the young bandit, but the faces of the two older bandits turned severe when the dust settled.

    Neither Xue Wei nor the young bandit had lost ground. Although it had been a bare fist against a sword, the fist had not sustained any damage, not even a scratch.

    Although neither of the two had been pushed back, Xue Wei frowned. He knew that what he had used was a profound martial arts technique, something that was not easy toe by, but although he had used that at his full strength, he had still not managed to push back the Sky Warrior. This alone showed that the gap between the realms was in no way easily traversed.

    "I know no sword skills, so although I can make an insanely sharp weapon from Inner Might, I will not be able to use it to the fullest. It is the same with every single attack I use," Xue Wei muttered to himself.

    "The Arcane Fist could do nothing to him, so how can the Azure Light Finger or the Shattering Mountain Palm do anything? They are only superior ranked martial arts."

    "I can try the Kick of Forgotten Kings, Mind Infestation, and Seed of Mirage," Xue Wei reached a conclusion. Shortly after, all of a sudden, five beams of light surged from his body before vanishing into thin air.

    These beams of light were precisely the Seed of Mirage. Xue Wei had expended quite a bit of his Qi to create five seeds.

    Although it was quite an expenditure of Qi, Xue Wei did not mind it. It would be able to help him, in the long run, to confuse the opponent and hopefully help him find the weak point where he could strike and end the battle once and for all.

    The two older bandits noticed that the younger one was not a guaranteed winner of their fight. Their expressions turned grave as they turned to look at Hei Gou.

    Both drew their weapons and went straight for the ck dog.

    It was clear that these two middle-aged men had fought side by side many years prior. Their movements were fluid and their attacks able to make a pincer attack on Hei Gou, instantly taking the upperhand from him.

    Xue Wei did not have time to see how Hei Gou was doing on his side. He was busy dealing with the young bandit, who was finally starting to take him seriously.

    Although he had not been forced to step back, his sword hand had turned numb, and his entire arm started aching.

    He gritted his teeth as he understood that he was at a disadvantage in their previous encounter, but he did not overthink it.

    "I underestimated you, but that will not happen again! Windwolf Sword sh!"

    As he called out the name of his martial art technique, the wind in the area picked up, and a wolf¡¯s howl seemed to appear in the air as the sword shed down.

 Chapter 129: Windwolf Sword Slash

    This was a formidable martial art technique. Xue Wei¡¯s eyes gleamed with excitement when he saw it.

    If he could defeat this young bandit, did that not mean that he would get his hands on his items, and most likely also a martial art?

    This martial art might not be a superior-grade ability, but even a high-grade weapon-based martial art could be elevated to superior-grade levels of power whenbined with a weapon manifested through the profound-grade martial art Inner Might

    The young bandit noticed Xue Wei¡¯s strange gaze, and shuddered. It was as if he was a small rabbit in front of a tiger.

    He snorted as he carried out the sh. The wind was howling, and the sword was swift as the wind, but Xue Weimanded the Forbidden Rush movement technique and had the ability to merge with the wind.

    When he sensed the might of this attack, Xue Wei instantly employed the movement technique and dodged to the side.

    His body seemed to be one with the wind, allowing him to avoid the de easily, but when he dodged it, he could sense how the wind turned chaotic.

    Being merged with the wind, he had problemspletely stabilizing himself. He was thrown helter-skelter around every spot the bandit¡¯s sword shed past. Although he tried to affect the wind, he could feel that the Windwolf Sword sh was no ordinary attack.

    "Stop moving, you ant!" the young expert cried out, his eyes turning red from frustration. Although he could not hit Xue Wei, Xue Wei was notfortable either, being blow here and there and everywhere by the wind.

    Xue Wei was buying time. He knew that his Seed of Mirage was going to activate soon, but he also knew that he was caught up by the winds of the Windwolf Sword sh.

    The current chaotic winds that the Windwolf Sword sh had caused affected Xue Wei¡¯s control over the Forbidden Rush movement technique, because this technique depended on the wind¡¯s flow to work. As a result he was thrown here and there and everywhere by the gale that was rising from each sh of the bandit.

    As the Seeds of Mirage sprouted and turned into five copies of Xue Wei, who at that moment stopped using his Forbidden Rush movement technique, but with his fastest speed moved behind the bandit, relying on the confusion of the sudden emergence of more copies.

    He did not waste time. During the time he had been thrashed about by the chaotic winds created by the Windwolf Sword sh, Xue Wei had been rotating the energy within his body, ready to attack at any moment.

    It was precisely at this moment that heunched an attack.

    Azure Light Finger!

    A beam of azure Qi erupted from behind the young bandit, but a sudden sense of crisis made him roll to the side, only getting grazed by the beam.

    Although the beam only grazed him, it managed to draw blood. A clean cut on his cheek caused blood to run down in steady streams, and the young bandit felt his heart go cold as he realized that this attack, had he not dodged it, would have killed him.

    Although he was shocked, he had ample fighting experience, both against humans and Fierce Beasts, so he maintained hisposure and swung his sword at Xue Wei, only to see the young man vanish from sight once more, his afterimage being split apart by the sword sh.

    The young bandit gnashed his teeth in anger when he saw that his target had vanished, yet moments after his eyes widened in surprise when he noticed five identical copies of Xue Wei around him. All of them rushed at him..

    At first, he was convinced that it was some sort of trick. That they were afterimages that had appeared because Xue Wei moved too fast, but his eyes turned severe when they started to execute martial arts skills.

    These martial art skills were abination of Azure Light Fingers and Shattering Mountain Palms, but they made the young bandit feel ufortable when coupled together.

    The attacks rained down upon him. Although these attacks could notpare to Xue Wei¡¯s actual strength, the fact that there was five different attacks caused some of them to hit him.

    These attacks did not cause any serious damage, but it did cause his anger to rise to another level, clouding his judgment.

    Xue Wei understood it himself. Anger could amplify his strength, but his reasoning went out the window, and this was precisely what he had been waiting for. The more agitated this young bandit became, the more excited Xue Wei became.

    Xue Wei was lurking in the wind, moving back and forth, trying to make himself invisible to the naked eye. He was waiting for an opportunity, and when he saw that the young bandit was getting eaten up by his rage, a small smile yed on his lips. That was when Xue Wei made his move.

    He was as agile as a flood dragon, and the way he smoothly moved along the ground was like a fish in water. Within a second, he had appeared right behind the young bandit. Instantly, a dazzling azure light shone.

    Arcane Fist!

    The fist descended onto the bandit, catching him by surprise and causing him to stagger forward, yet this was not everything. Xue Wei spun around himself and followed up with another attack.

    Kick of Forgotten Kings!

    A kick descended onto the young bandit and forced him to spit out blood as he doubled over. The kick hadnded right on his waist, and he had felt his bones creaking. Although none of them broke, he was in acute pain, and his organs were in utter disarray, causing him to vomit out a mouthful of blood.

    Xue Wei did not stop there. He followed up with yet another attack. Shattering Mountain Palm descended onto the back of the bandit, causing him to fall to the ground.

    Although the bandit was injured, he was still alive. Xue Wei was aware that when this young bandit managed to catch his breath, he would be able to retaliate even more violently than before. At this point, Xue Wei would have lost his element of surprise and the edge he has had so far.

    Gritting his teeth, Xue Wei knew that he had to use some of his trump cards.

    "Gou!" he called out. "We have to kill them! No one survives this!" he eximed. Suddenly, his arms transformed from human arms into the ws of a dragon.

    Azure dragon scales broke through the skin. The ws were razor sharp, the scales indestructible.

    Xue Wei rushed forward with the aid of the wind and the Forbidden Rush movement technique.

    He was intent on ending the life of this young bandit, yet when he transformed, he felt the killing intent that he had always tried to suppress bubble over, his eyes turning red.

    Emotions overtook him. Suddenly, the desire to kill anyone who stood in front of him, rip them apart, and make them suffer pulsed through his mind and body.

    The killing intent was potent, and it was impossible to stop it from leaking from his body.

    The moment it enveloped the young bandit, he felt as if he stood in front of the most frightening creature he had encountered in his life, unable to withstand and left only with the option to wait for the beast to gobble him up.

    His eyes turned listless, his body started trembling, and his weapon fell from his hand.

    Xue Wei did not waste any time. He strode towards the young bandit and raised his arm. The fingers of his hand wrapped around the neck of the young bandit. His hand closed in with crushing force, causing the bandit¡¯s throat to issue some low bone-cracking noises.

    "Younger brother!" one of the older bandits called out in agony and rushed towards them, but Hei Gou intercepted him before he could reach Xue Wei, the target of his ire.

    "Don¡¯t think you can stop us, old geezer!" he eximed. Hei Gou¡¯s ws swept down, leaving behind six scars on the middle-aged man¡¯s face.

    So far, Hei Gou had been fighting the two Sky Warriors of the ninthyer. He had not gained the upper hand, but the same could be said for them when they had to work around his Heavenly Warrior-level physical strength.

    Hei Gou had a speed unlike any other. He had his own innate abilities, where one of them was the ability to swallow all light, resulting in a field of darkness where only he could see, but he also had another innate ability.

    This second innate ability that hemanded was a movement ability. He could turn into smoke and evade attacks, his movements elusive and unpredictable.

    The innate abilities of Primordial and Fierce Beasts were different from martial art techniques. Whereas the martial art techniques of humans had various ranks, the innate abilities of the Fierce and Primordial Beasts grew alongside the beast itself.

    When the beast was equivalent to an Ordinary Warrior, the innate abilities were as powerful as some low-ranked and middle-ranked techniques. When they were Earth Warriors, they wereparable to middle-ranked and high-ranked martial art techniques.

    A beast with a strength equivalent to a Sky Warrior had innate abilities that were simr to high-ranked and superior-ranked martial art techniques, and a Heavenly Warrior¡¯s abilities were equal to superior-ranked and profound techniques.

    The only downside for the beasts was that they could not learn a wide array of martial art techniques. Where a human could acquire as many techniques as they pleased, beasts were stuck with the innate abilities that they unlocked from their memories as they grew stronger and stronger.

    Currently, Hei Gou had unlocked two innate abilities. One was the all-epassing devouring of light which was the first ability he had acquired.

    The second ability was his movement ability. This one allowed him to turn into smoke, merge with the world, and ghost around wherever he pleased. It was near impossible to hit him, as he could be smoke in an instant, making his shape obscure and impossible to catch.

    These two innate abilities, coupled with his physical strength that was equivalent to a oneyer Heavenly Warrior, Hei Gou was capable of fighting back against the two ninthyer Sky Warriors.

    Xue Wei observed that Hei Gou¡¯s battle was at a stalemate, but his face was severe. They could not afford to let these two humans survive, as Xue Wei had revealed his transformed arms. He had already once learned the lesson about disying his transformed arms ¨C never again would he allow ignorant people to misunderstand.

    He still held the young bandit by the neck in his hand, but the young man had already died. The bones in his neck had been utterly crushed between Xue Wei¡¯s fingers, and a secondter he was tossed away like a bag of bones and meat that Xue Wei could no longer be bothered to look at.

    Xue Wei sat down on the ground. He wished to assist Hei Gou, but he understood that he could not get close. Although he had been able to deal with this young firstyer Sky Warrior, there was more than an entire realm ¨C counting sub-stages ¨C between himself and the two ninthyered Sky Warriors.

    Since he could not help directly, Xue Wei decided to do what he could, so he rotated his remaining Qi within his body and used Inner Might to create a zither.

    He started plucking the strings, sending out one soundwave after another. These soundwavecerations were as sharp as swords. Although they could not seriously hurt the two ninthyer Sky Warriors, they were able to annoy them and cause shallow wounds, which made the small streams of blood run down their skin from the parts of their clothes that had been ripped apart. They seemed to be in quite the sorry state.

    Hei Gou¡¯s lips curled into a snicker as he, once more, wholeheartedly threw himself into the battle. It was clearly a battle of life and death; the survivors were the kings, and the losers lost everything including their lives.

 Chapter 130: Reaching the Vermilion Forest

    With the backing of Xue Wei¡¯s soundwaves from the zither, Hei Gou was finally able to gain the upper hand against the opponents.

    Defeating them was one thing, but killing them was something else entirely. If it was someone significantly below yourself in strength, then killing your opponent would be easy to do, but these two bandits were not that much weaker than Hei Gou. Killing them became much more difficult.

    Especially when these two experts were doing all they could in their power to flee. They had long since understood that their lives could be forfeit in this match. So they could not help but feel their intestines turn green from regret, yet regret could not help them now, and they were forced to see it through.

    The ws on Hei Gou¡¯s hands gleamed in the sunshine that shone down from above. The ws were made from ck Star Metal, a metal that was exceedingly rare in the human world and could only be found in the danger zones of the continent.

    Since it was native to the danger zones, it was naturally incredibly rare for humans to get ahold of it, yet now it appeared in Hei Gou¡¯s hands.

    Xue Wei pondered on it for a time, but then he realized that just because it was rare to humans did not mean it was unique to the Primordial Beasts.

    A set of ws made from this precious and hard metal in the human world would cost a fortune, but for the Primordial Beasts who lived in the danger zones, it might be as ordinary as iron was to humans.

    The eyes of the two remaining bandits did not even notice the metal these ws were made from. Instead, they were distracted by the pain of the many cuts on their bodies made by those ws.

    Every swipe of Hei Gou¡¯s ws caused new wounds to appear. Meanwhile, Xue Wei was harassing them with his sharply cutting soundwave attacks by ying the zither of Qi, which meant they were caught between a rock and a hard ce.

    It was impossible for them to retreat, and it was also impossible for them to advance. One side held deadly ws, the other supported with disturbing sound attacks that, albeit weak, made the two bandits leave openings for the ck dog to bank on.

    The two bandits felt like crying, but they had no tears. They fought desperately, but their faces disyed despair. They had already realized that it was toote for them to turn the battle around and all they could do was hope for a miracle.

    Unfortunately for them, no miracle urred. After fighting for a few more moments, a w was disyed by the middle-aged man, and Hei Gou seized the moment to sh out with his ws, tearing open the man¡¯s throat.

    The man¡¯s eyes were filled with despair and unwillingness. Blood gushed out of the three shes that were evident in his throat before he slumped to the ground.

    Thest man was trembling. He knew that since hispanion had died that he had no chance to survive, so he stopped struggling. He wished for nothing more than an easy, painless death. Hei Gou calmly obliged.

    He shed his ws down. Three gashes appeared on the body of the burly man from his shoulder to his waist in a diagonal line, making his body seem as if it had been split into thin slices of meat.

    Even Xue Wei, who was rather cold and indifferent, could not help but feel that this was an extreme way of killing. The bandit was not even left with aplete corpse.

    Xue Wei and Hei Gou both hurried over to the dead bandits. They rifled through their pockets and took the three bandits¡¯ valuables.

    Neither of them had storage treasures, so most of their valuables were held in pockets and small bags they had around their waists.

    Xue Wei was ecstatic. He found the Windwolf Sword sh amongst the items of the young bandit. And although the bandit did not have much else of value, this martial art technique alone was already a great help since Xue Weicked martial art techniques that focused on weapons.

    Hei Gou did not even nce at the martial art technique. He was a Primordial Beast, and thus his abilities were all innate abilities. He had no interest in these martial art techniques.

    "There is no real value in their purses," Hei Gouined. "I thought they were great bandits since they are rtively strong considering the country we are in, yet their value is this low?" He could not believe it.

    "They likely left their valuables back in the vige," Xue Wei guessed. "The vige is theirir, and thus their valuables are likely to be left there. We cannot return right now since we have been chased for some time. We were careless. We cannot afford to be careless again."

    "If we manage to be much stronger during our time in the Vermilion Forest, we can pass by the vige on our way back, but our main aim is not to kill and rob ¨C it¡¯s to be stronger before we head towards the center of the continent."

    Hei Gou smiled embarrassedly and rubbed his nose. He said no more. He just epted what Xue Wei had said. Together, the two started moving towards the Vermilion Forest again.

    Neither of them had been in the Vermilion Forest Kingdom before, so they were unaware of what way to go, but they pressed forward.

    When they encountered people, they would pretend to be a couple of brothers that came from the Blood Flowing Prairie with the aim of tempering themselves. Coincidentally, no one assumed that they were deserters from the army, or criminals in any way.

    In fact, most of the people they came across were incredibly helpful. Although a few groups attacked them, most of them were friendly and helped to guide them towards the Vermilion Forest.

    Xue Wei went by the name of He Jie, and Hei Gou was He Lin. They had taken the family names from the Chaos Vulture Tribe, and just two random given names.

    What shocked Xue Wei was that he heard the name Crimson Devil a few times on people¡¯s lips alongside the name of the Ice Harpy.

    "The Ice Harpy has eradicated yet another Wayfarer caravan," someone would gossip to Xue Wei. "It happened in the Kingdom of Heping, actually a lot of things happened there recently. A new Primordial Beast that is known as the Crimson Devil has appeared. Now the Kingdom has sent all their Primordial Beast Hunters to capture him, yet they failed!"

    Xue Wei frowned. The Ice Harpy had eradicated a wayfarer caravan? A sudden fear arose in his heart. Could it be Wang Xiaoyun¡¯s caravan? She had told him that they were chasing the Ice Harpy.

    His eyes ckened for a moment and everything went cold. He suddenly felt as if something had left his life as he staggered, before quickly collecting himself again.

    Xue Wei felt ufortable. He felt worried and sick within, but he knew that he could not return to the Heping Kingdom to find out whether or not it was Wang Xiaoyun¡¯s caravan that had been eradicated.

    "Were there any survivors?" Xue Wei asked. His voice trembled slightly, but the only one who seemed to notice was Hei Gou. He looked with worry at Xue Wei before he remembered the stories that this friend of his had told him about his sweetheart, a Wayfarer he had met in the Kingdom of Heping who was hunting for the Ice Harpy.

    "We do not know, but if there were no survivors, how could the rumor about the destruction spread?" one of them asked with a frown on his face. Xue Wei nodded his head.

    He knew instinctively that there were many reasons for it to be public information: One, someone could havee across the corpses and spread the news; two, a survivor; three, it could be that Chu Huiyin was deliberately sharing the news.

    Still, Xue Wei desperately hoped that it was the second option and that Wang Xiaoyun was one of the survivors. He did not believe in God, but he could not help but pray for her safety.

    Hei Gou and Xue Wei bid their farewell to the ones that they conversed with and started walking towards the direction they had been pointed towards.

    Although Hei Gou and Xue Wei were asking for directions, never once did they let down their guards. They had learned that not everyone could be trusted. Some of the experts they encountered led them to remote areas in an attempt to rob them.

    New wounds and scars littered their bodies. Their clothes were in tatters, and they looked miserable, but at the same time their gazes became much more chilling, their bearings extraordinary.

    When someone looked into their eyes, it was as if they looked into the eyes of a dormant, yet very dangerous beast that might awaken at any moment.

    Many were deterred by these eyes, but a few continued to challenge them.

    Finally, after traveling the roads of the Vermilion Forest Kingdom, Xue Wei and Hei Gou arrived at a small vige.

    This was a vige belonging to mercenaries with only a few shops. It was the mercenaries¡¯ families that lived in this ce, and the men and women would venture into the Vermilion Forest to hunt Fierce Beasts.

    Some left for a day at a time, others went deeper into the forest and spent up to a week before they returned to the vige.

    Merchants and caravans went through the vige on a monthly basis where they would stop and buy the things that the mercenaries had for sale.

    Because of this, many experts were walking in and out of the vige. Although it was a small vige, it was a rather bustling ce.

    Hei Gou and Xue Wei, who were still under the disguise of two tribesmen called He Jie and He Lin, walked into the vige under the rays of a burning sun.

    Behind the vige, these two experts could see the Vermilion Forest proudly towering.

    It was a beautiful sight as the vermilion leaves were glistening under the sun¡¯s shining rays.

    This Vermilion Forest seemed so tranquil from the outside. The trees were all tens of meters tall, and the vige bordered straight up to the forest, allowing the youngsters to hide under the shade of some of the trees while chatting.

    It was in the afternoon, and all martial art training had finished for the day. All the adolescents aged fifteen and below were in the shade rxing their exhausted bodies that had been working hard in the middle of the heat and under the sun¡¯s rays all day.

    Although many experts entered the vige, few looked like Hei Gou and Xue Wei who wore fur clothes, which were so warm that one would feel hot just looking at them.

    Their peculiar appearance alongside their age made many observe them curiously.

    Xue Wei and Hei Gou had a few silver coins, and they went straight to the small inn that was in the vige.

    This inn served as both an inn and a restaurant for the small vige, and since it was in the afternoon, the ground floor was so bustling with mercenaries and merchants that even Hei Gou and Xue Wei had problems making their way to the counter.

    Many of the patrons of the restaurant looked at Xue Wei and Hei Gou with curiosity. A few had a bit of wariness in their eyes, but most of them did not seem to feel threatened by the two and were mostly curious about their out-of-ce, strange clothes.

    They instantly determined that the two came from the Flowing Blood Prairie, and were very curious as to what kind of news they could give them.

 Chapter 131: Rumors

    Xue Wei and Hei Gou both looked curiously at the vige. Although it was many times smaller than Tiankong City, it was the first ¡®proper¡¯ human settlement either had visited in a long time.

    When on the run, they did everything they could to avoid human settlements. Although they had lived amongst others in the Chaos Vulture Tribe, that was a nomadic society with tents for houses.

    This was something that reminded Xue Wei of his home, which made a slight tinge of sadness wash over his heart. A sense of loss followed this sadness, but Xue Wei quickly picked his saddened heart up from the floor and clenched his hands.

    The Kingdom of Heping was no longer his home. They had hunted him and killed Tie Haolong, who was like a brother to him. It was only fair that he took vengeance when he became stronger. At the same time, however, he had mixed emotions because it had also been the ce he had grown up. Most of his earliest, happiest memories came from this ce as well.

    Xue Wei could not help but sigh as he looked up into the dazzling sun and squinted his eyes.

    "The sun is the same; the air is still fresh. People behave the same no matter where you go, so it does not matter where I am. It is a shame that I have nowhere to call home, but I have a friend by my side, and I am not alone. I should not be greedy. Being with a brother is already better than having that empty home in the Heping Kingdom where I was bullied every single day," Xue Wei muttered to himself.

    Hei Gou did not notice Xue Wei¡¯s sudden onset of mncholy; his eyes were wide as saucers as he looked at everything around him.

    Although they had been in viges before, it was a rare thing, and he was now excited to see more of the way humans lived their lives.

    This vige was the same size as Lingyun Town, but it was filled with life. The streets were bustling as carriages came driving down the roads, mercenaries returned from their work in the Vermilion Forest, and women and children rushed about on their way to deal with the chores they had.

    Xue Wei awakened from his strange trance and looked around. "Let us find an inn. We can stay in a proper bed for the night, and then head out to the Vermilion Forest tomorrow. No one here knows us, so we will continue to call ourselves He Jie and He Lin," he said with apressed voice.

    Hei Gou returned to his senses as he heard Xue Wei¡¯s voice. Xue Wei did not mind Hei Gou looking so surprised and bedazzled as they walked through the vige. They were supposed to havee from the Flowing Blood Prairie where everyone lived a nomadic lifestyle, so it was natural for them to be stunned upon seeing such a vige like theirs.

    In fact, Hei Gou¡¯s reaction made the people who noticed it chuckle and be thoroughly convinced that these two experts came from the Flowing Blood Prairie on a journey to temper themselves.

    Seeing that Hei Gou was not answering, Xue Wei smiled and shook his head as he dragged Hei Gou with him towards the inn that was located right in the middle of the vige.

    Many small children ran right behind Xue Wei and Hei Gou. Every one of these children curiously looked at the two strangers. It was clear that they wished to ask lots of questions, but their upbringing had taught them that strangers could be dangerous and thus no one dared to be the first to engage the two strangers.

    Xue Wei chuckled when he saw this. After regaining some of his memories from Lingyun Town, he remembered being exactly like them, running right behind the mercenaries as they returned from the Northern Taiga to hear their tales of the Fierce Beasts they had fought or the treasures they had found.

    If merchants came to town, the children would gather at the square in the middle of the vige to get a nce at what they were selling or buying, and if some wandering strangers appeared, they would also curiously follow them to hear about the happenings of the outside world.

    These children were all learning martial arts, but the truth was that they were weak. Their entire world was the vige in which they lived, and that would be all they saw until the day they were drafted into the army.

    They were too weak to enter the hunting grounds, and their task was to cultivate for the sake of facing the beast hordes. No one allowed a child beneath the age of twenty-five to be a worker of any kind. These children were supposed to cultivate and gain strength for the sake of the kingdom¡¯s future.

    Since this was the case, the older children would be the most curious about the outside world. The older they got, the more curious they would be the more time they spent confined to the boundaries of their respective viges, but they were often too proud to go and observe the strangers.

    Hei Gou did not understand this. At the same time as the children were following Xue Wei and Hei Gou, some of the mortal beasts in the vige started acting strangely. A few dogs ran to Hei Gou with wagging tails and licked his hand before he shooed them away.

    This scene made many puzzled, as these dogs were ferocious guard dogs. Although they were not Fierce Beasts, they could still cause some damage to humans with their sharp canines and theirrge sizes.

    They were in no way docile animals, but they had shownplete and utter endearment towards this young man from the Flowing Blood Prairie.

    This caused Xue Wei to break out in cold sweat suddenly. Were they now going to be exposed because of this?

    Fortunately, no one paid it too much attention other than being stunned for a moment. As they made their way into the inn, the previously loud and bustling ce turned quiet, with the patrons curiously looking at Xue Wei and Hei Gou.

    "I would like two rooms," Xue Wei said as he reached the counter and ced enough silver on the table to pay for the rooms.

    The matron behind the counter nodded her head and picked up two keys that she threw to the two young men. Each key had a number on them. One was number seven, the other number eight.

    "The rooms are upstairs. Make yourselves at home," she said, grinning. She was a rather stout woman with a big smile on her face. She looked very friendly and straightforward.

    Xue Wei and Hei Gou nodded to her and headed to their rooms where they found two servants busy filling two big tubs with warm water.

    They quickly scrubbed the dirt off their bodies, causing them to feel rejuvenated, before they jumped into the water. Both sighed with relief, and their bodies were almost screaming in joy when they felt the warm water soften their skin.

    Hei Gou was thest to finish his bath. After switching into a new set of fur clothes from the Chaos Vulture Tribe, the two walked downstairs to listen in on the conversations of the Vermilion Forest Kingdom¡¯stest affairs, and what they could expect from their new environment.

    As they entered the restaurant section of the inn once more, the patrons shifted their attention to them. They both felt like two sore thumbs sticking out as they moved to an empty table.

    Xue Wei ced some silver on the table and ordered some simple dishes and wine.

    Although they were not wealthy, they could afford a few meals and a ce to stay for a few days, but their ns were different. They wished to enter the Vermilion Forest as soon as possible the following day, but charging into a forest without knowing the least bit about it was unwise.

    Noticing that all eyes were on them, Xue Wei could not help but cough and stand up and cup his fists. "Excuse me, everyone. We are just two brothersing from the Flowing Blood Prairie. There is no news from the prairie, as the Prairie Monarchs have not made any moves in a long time. Although skirmishes appear between the various tribes, nothing major has happened that we can tell you about, and thus I hope you will all return to your discussions and pay us no heed."

    The men and women within the restaurant were all slightly disappointed when they heard this, but they were also relieved at the same time. The Flowing Blood Prairie was not a threat because the Prairie Monarchs were on different sides, but if they choose to band together, then a kingdom like the Heping Kingdom and the Vermilion Forest Kingdom would have no chance of withstanding them and would end up being swallowed up whole by the Flowing Blood Prairie¡¯s tribes.

    Xue Wei¡¯s politeness also managed to make the experts present feel favorable towards them, and soon the establishment returned to its previously bustling and noisy state

    Xue Wei and Hei Gou received their food and drinks and slowly started eating while listening in on anything that was being said across the restaurant.

    "I heard that his Highness the Crown Prince has sent an ambassador to the Kingdom of Heping because a new Primordial Beast has emerged in their territory. I don¡¯t know much about it, but it should be a serious contender on the list of the most deadly beasts in our region of the continent!"

    Hearing this, Xue Wei¡¯s eyebrow rose slightly, and he almost chuckled. Rumors had the ability to grow the further they went.

    "I heard that a Primordial Beast that resides within the Vermilion Forest is on a rampage and causing great trouble at the western and southern border of the forest. At least us here in the northern border are safe."

    "The yearly recruitment camp began a few months ago... I wonder how my son is doing in the army."

    "I heard that Du Fang met with disaster in the Vermilion Forestst week. His widowed wife is now forced to enter the forest to find herbs for a way to put food on the table and save her children from starvation."

    "The butcher is buying Fierce Beast cores from Ordinary Warrior ranked Fierce Beasts to give them to his son so that he can cultivate faster than the other children, but no matter how much he tries he is but a frog in a well. Even if he consumes these cores, doesn¡¯t he use the same cultivation technique as the others? He is going to be cannon fodder like everyone else from our vige."

    They were all talking about random things within the restaurant. Although Xue Wei and Hei Gou listened intently, they did not get much information other than that some Primordial Beast had run amok in other areas of the Vermilion Forest.

    Looking at one another, Xue Wei and Hei Gou nodded their heads, ate thest of their food, and went upstairs to their rooms.

    As Xue Wei entered the room, heid down on the bed for a short while, pondering on everything that had happened to him in thest couple of months. He was still considered a youngster, but he felt that he had already gone through more than most would in an entire lifetime. However, things were far from over.

    Sighing, he shook his head and rested his eyes for a short while before stretching and enjoying the soft feeling of the bed.

    Time ticked by slowly and he had soon rested for a full hour. After the hour was up, he sat up on the bed and began cultivating. An hour of rest was already as much as he could afford, and just enough to calm his mind.

 Chapter 132: Ghost Village

    After resting for an hour, Xue Wei got up from the ground and sat in a lotus position on top of the bed. He closed his eyes and steadied his breathing.

    He could feel the energy of the heavens and the earth in the surrounding air and how it all entered his body with each breath he took. It roamed through his meridians. Whenever he started cultivating with the support of the Azure Dragon Scripture, this scattered energy was slowly refined into Qi.

    The entire night was silent, no one disturbed the two guests in the inn, and they spent the whole night cultivating by themselves.

    As morning broke, the two friends gathered in the restaurant once more to get their breakfast. They ate a filling meal, and paid a few silvers to check out of their rooms.

    Where the restaurant had been filled with people the evening before, it was now rather empty. Not many were there for breakfast; most ate at home before embarking on a new day¡¯s trials.

    As they left the restaurant, they encountered every child aged ten and above rushing out of their homes towards a training field where they were going to practice their martial arts and cultivation techniques.

    Xue Wei smiled as he saw them rush to the outskirts of town where the training fields were. He was reminded of his eagerness to learn martial arts when he was their age. Although he did not remember anything that had to do with his father, he did remember certain aspects, amongst which were the memories of him trying to be a martial artist and failing.

    The two friends gathered their stuff and left the vige, going straight into the forest. This forest was breathtakingly beautiful. Every leaf had a shade of red. Some were Vermilion, some were bright red, and there were even scarlet leaves.

    The trunks of the trees were also all in a shade of vermilion. The sound of mortal beasts could be heard as soon as one entered the forest. Birds sang in the treetops, and mice ran across the forest floor.

    Now and then, a deer could be seen in the distance. However, the moment it noticed Xue Wei and Hei Gou¡¯s presences, it would skitter away in fright.

    They walked deeper and deeper into the Vermilion Forest. The deeper they went, the deeper the color of the trees seemed to be and the denser the trees¡¯ crowns were, blocking out almost all sunlight and making it so that it felt as if they were in their own world, where the only color was red.

    The treetops blocked the sunlight, and the few rays that shone through the leaves had been dyed red, making everything seem as if it was painted with blood.

    After reaching this deep into the forest the surroundings turned eerily quiet. The two friends could no longer hear the sound of the mortal beasts, and there was no sign of life left in the area. The only sound that entered their ears was the sound of branches cracking underneath their feet.

    Both Xue Wei and Hei Gou frowned. Something felt off, but they could not put their hands on what exactly it was. The eerie silence was like a heavy nket that hadid itself over them, creating an ufortable atmosphere. Both friends were on high alert, and their entire bodies were taut.

    They stopped in their tracks and tried looking behind them, but it seemed as if every direction was the same no matter how much they looked around. All they could see were incredibly tall vermilion trees.

    They then tried to climb up to the top of the trees. But when they got a view from above, all they could see was a vermilion sea of leaves and treetops as far as the eye could see

    Xue Wei frowned. Neither he nor Hei Gou had spoken to one another while walking, but they could easily guess the other party¡¯s concern. Because of the strange silence, neither of them felt a need to talk. In fact, they feared something would happen if they broke this silence.

    They walked for a full day, unsure of what else they could do. When the sun started to disappear and the forest turned dark, both of them each found a tree where they jumped up to the tree top and sat on a thick branch.

    Although both were on high alert, neither of them said anything and began their cultivation while having all their senses heightened to their limits. Although they were cultivating, they knew everything that happened around them, yet nothing happened. The leaves didn¡¯t shake despite the gentle breeze that rolled through, no rodents were scurrying about on the forest floor, and no owls or other birds had appeared in the night either.

    The night was tranquil. Nothing out of the ordinary happened, and it was not until the following morning that they saw the first living creature they had seen in a long time.

    As the sun rose in the sky and the red rays of sunshine shone through the dense group of leaves once more, Xue Wei and Hei Gou awakened from their cultivation.

    On the ground below, a human figure had appeared. When Xue Wei and Hei Gou looked at him, they found that he was a firstyer Sky Warrior, but unlike most humans that traversed into the Vermilion Forest, this human did not seem to have any sense of rm.

    He was walking through the forest as if it was his back garden; his steps were bouncy and fast.

    Xue Wei and Hei Gou stared with astonishment at one another, but they quickly descended from the tree. Xue Wei started hearing rustling from around them and spread his spiritual sense to cover the area surrounding them. He found ten people that were heading towards the same direction as the first man they had seen.

    These people were all casual and carefree. Xue Wei and Hei Gou decided to follow them, but at a distance, relying on Xue Wei¡¯s spiritual energy to locate them to ensure that they would not be noticed.

    They followed the group for a full three hours. After these three hours, Xue Wei stopped in his tracks, causing Hei Gou to bump into him. The two of them were both shocked. Right in front of them was arge vige.

    This vige seemed to be deserted. When one looked at the fence around the vige, it was made from half-rotten wood, and the gate was hanging on its hinges.

    Still, these ten people that they had been following were all heading into this vige, and they seemed as if they had a purpose in being here.

    "Should we enter?" Hei Gou asked with apressed voice. Xue Wei pondered for a moment. "It might be a lucky chance for us," he said hesitatingly.

    "The experts we saw were all at the most a seventhyered Sky Warrior, and the majority were ninthyer Earth Warriors."

    "We can defeat them if we push ourselves, so I guess we should try!" Xue Wei¡¯s eyes glistened with excitement. He had heard about ancient ruins before, and now he was curious as to whether or not this old vige was an ancient ruin filled with treasures and lucky chances for them.

    Hei Gou seemed to share the same thoughts, grinning widely. Although it was dangerous, risk and reward went hand in hand. The two friends inched closer and closer to the broken gate where thepany from before had entered.

    They snuck close to the gate. Xue Wei frowned. "Ever since they entered, I have been incapable of sensing any lifeforms," he said through apressed voice. "It is as if they vanished from right in front of us."

    Hei Gou was startled. "Do you think it is the entrance to another dimension?" he asked curiously.

    "I know that there are peculiar dimensions within the Northern Taiga. We were always warned about them since entering means you might not be able to exit because of the trapsid down, or if you can¡¯t find the mechanism to leave."

    "Dimensions like those are ancient, as old as the world itself, from back when sovereign beasts roamed the world and experts were as numerous as the clouds in the sky."

    "These experts could rip apart a hole in the fabric of reality and create a small world of their own in theyers they tore apart. These worlds they created were used as their abodes or ces to leave their legacy. If this truly is a ce like this, then we are incredibly fortunate!"

    Xue Wei was surprised. He had never heard about these separate dimensions before despite having read thousands of books, but this was due to his humble roots and the level of knowledge avable to his old home.

    Xue Wei grew up in the human world where there were no such remnants of the old age, but these things existed aplenty deep in the danger zones.

    Both Xue Wei and Hei Gou felt their heart rates speed up. "A legacy you say?" Xue Wei licked his lips curiously. "I lost my Heritage Ring, so it would be good to get abilities from other ces. If I can get a legacy, would that not improve my strength drastically?"

    Hei Gou was aware that any skills and abilities were useless to himself, but most ces that had a legacy also held various treasures. He could use pills, herbs and other treasures to raise his cultivation base, as well as find new metals to reinforce his ws.

    Both Xue Wei and Hei Gou were eager to enter, but they were also cautious. They understood that if they were not strong enough, then they would end up bing corpses.

    Feeling slightly nervous, the two looked at one another. They were standing right in front of the broken gate, unable to see anything else than an empty yard, the people that had entered had vanished, and their hearts quivered slightly.

    "Let¡¯s go!" Xue Wei finally said with a deep sigh. Steadily, he stepped into the broken gate, followed closely by Hei Gou.

    A mist seemed to billow out from inside the gate. The deeper they made it into the fog, the thicker it became, clouding their vision.

    At the start, they could see a few meters in front of them, but after walking for ten minutes they could not even look at their hands. They ended up finding a rope in their bags and tied it around their waists to avoid getting separated.

    It was impossible to tell the time of the day because of the mist. There was no sunshine, no light source, and no sound.

    The two walked on and on, but no matter how much they walked, they could not seem to get out of the mist. The amount of time they had walked was also impossible to be determined. On one hand, it felt as if they had just entered, while on the other it felt as if a year had already passed.

    They continued to walk forward aimlessly. There were no signs of life in this fog; not even insects could be found.

    Finally, after walking for an unknown amount of time, the bustling sound of a vige entered their ears. This was the sounds of faint voices that were being brought over by the wind.

    Some of them were supposed to be loud, but it all petered out into a low mumble. Although it was impossible to understand what these voices said, the fact that there were voices made both Xue Wei and Hei Gou feel incredibly relieved. They had started to fear the dead silence of the fog that they had been walking through.

    Xue Wei and Hei Gou wished for nothing more than to rush towards the voices, but they halted instead.

    "This could not be a trap, could it?" Xue Wei asked with apressed voice. His voice carried a trace of hesitation. He was eager to see if there was a vige, but he would not risk their lives due to extreme loneliness forcing him towards the sound of life.

 Chapter 133: Thousand Mist Village

    Slowly, the two inched closer and closer to the bustling sound. They were on high alert, their heads turning left and right to ensure that no one was creeping up on them.

    But no matter how much they looked, nothing happened. There were no traps, and the voices became louder and louder until it was as though they were right next to them. However, the voices abruptly went silent all of a sudden.

    The sudden silence was incredibly eerie. Xue Wei could feel how his heart started to beat rapidly. He was worried, the only reason it would be quiet was because whatever was speaking had noticed that something was off.

    Although it had suddenly turned silent, the voices had been all around them, so Xue Wei steeled himself and continued moving forward with Hei Gou attached to him through the rope.

    Hei Gou was quiet, but Xue Wei felt relieved knowing that his good friend was right behind him. Together, they continued to walk towards the unknown.

    This fog that had shrouded them like a nket suddenly lifted, and Xue Wei and Hei Gou suddenly found themselves in the middle of a vige.

    This vige seemed faintly familiar; it reminded them of the ghost vige from outside the dimensional gate, yet some things were different.

    This vige was not as worn down. The palisades were not rotten but instead made from young, sturdy tree trunks. The road was not cracked but finelyid with small stones that almost shone with a polish from the wear of frequent traffic.

    Although it was a busy vige, it was now currently so silent that one could hear a pin drop. When Xue Wei and Hei Gou looked around, they were rather stunned.

    They were on the main road of the vige. This road was bustling with life; many experts were standing and looking at them, all with various expressions on their faces.

    Some looked horrified and scared, others looked hostile and angry, and yet some seemed intrigued and curious.

    All of them were staring at Xue Wei and Hei Gou, who both felt stumped for words.

    "Uh I think we took the wrong turn in the fog," Hei Gou said as he yanked the rope that kept him and Xue Wei together.

    "We might want to turn around and return to the fog," Xue Wei agreed, sweating profusely.

    When the two turned around, there was no fog. Instead, the road continued behind them ¨C and there was no shortage of people looking at them from that direction.

    "I think we might have made a mistake," Xue Wei lifted his hands and looked around. Although there were many people, only a couple of them were ninthyered Sky Warriors. The rest were below that, with the majority being Earth Warriors.

    Xue Wei did not find this strange. It was a small vige, and most small viges only had ess to the most basic of cultivation methods, so there was a limit to how strong these people could be. In fact, it was already somewhat surprising that some of them had reached the Sky Warrior rank.

    Back in Lingyun Town when Xue Wei had been a kid, he and the other children had looked up to the three overseers in charge of training the youngsters, and those three were only Earth Warriors.

    So whenparing this vige to Lingyun Town, it was no doubt better off, but the power it boasted was not enough to deter Xue Wei and Hei Gou too much.

    "Who are you?" one of the men around them on the street suddenly asked. His voice was condescending, and his demeanor arrogant.

    This man was a Sky Warrior of the thirdyer, one of the stronger experts present.

    "Did we travel back in time?" Xue Wei asked Hei Gou,pletely ignoring the thirdyer Sky Warrior that had asked him who they were. Hei Gou, following Xue Wei¡¯s lead, just shrugged his shoulders.

    "It could be that we are in some sort of illusion,pletely cut off from reality and viewing a vision of the vige from when it was in its prime?"

    "Either way, we seem to be in a rather tough position right now." Xue Wei sighed and looked at the different people who were looking at them with mixed emotions. Some of them looked at them with hostility, others with curiosity. But all of them had caution in their eyes, and a wariness in their demeanor.

    "Are you deaf? You were asked a question!" a young man chimed in. His voice was slightly high-pitched and was annoying to listen to, mainly because he had yelled out at the top of his lungs.

    Xue Wei took off the rope that connected him to Hei Gou and put it away into his bag.

    Afterwards, he turned and looked at the young man who had yelled. Despite the annoyance he felt towards this loud-mouthed and arrogant fellow, Xue Wei could only sigh in his heart. They had just fled the Flowing Blood Prairie because of their overbearing attitude, so it was not a good idea to start off on the wrong foot with the people inside this alternate dimension.

    "I am sorry, but could you tell us where we are?" Xue Wei asked politely. He was not being humble or hostile, just polite, but his question seemed to tick off the guy who had yelled earlier.

    "I did not tell you to ask questions!" he yelled. "I told you to identify yourselves!"

    Xue Wei sighed. His head was throbbing. This person made his mood turn sour, but he knew better than to act against him while being in unknown territory.

    Instead, he turned to the first man who had spoken, the thirdyer Sky Warrior.

    "Could you perhaps give us an exnation?" Xue Wei asked gently. "We were lost in a fog must have ended up in your vige my mistake. We saw a run down vige which we entered, but somehow we ended up here."

    The man frowned. His eyes were haughty, and it was clear that he was a renowned expert within the vige. His bearing said that he was an important man.

    "You are in the Thousand Mists Vige," he said. His tone was not polite at all, but he was not being unreasonable either.

    "The Thousand Mist Vige is filled with fog all year round, and only by walking through the fog can you enter our vige."

    "Entering the vige is simple," he continued, "but leaving is not."

    "Is this a threat?" Xue Wei¡¯s body turned taut and his eyes sharp. He was unsure of whether or not it was the people making it hard to leave or if it was some natural phenomenon like the fog.

    "You can take it as a threat," the man said, slightly annoyed. "You can choose to turn around and leave right now, then no one will say a word about it, or you can choose to live out your lives in this small vige together with us."

    "In that case, we will be leaving now," Xue Wei said casually and turned around to walk towards the vige gates that could be seen in the distance.

    These gates were not like the others they had seen before entering the fog. The old gates were hanging on their hinges and were rotten to the point of falling apart, while the gates here were of high quality.

    The man was stumped by Xue Wei¡¯s decisiveness in wanting to leave right away

    "Are you not curious about what this vige might be hiding?" the man asked, slightly confused, but Xue Wei just nced at him.

    "This vige, from when we entered until now, has not had even one Heavenly Warrior. How could such a ce happen to have any great treasure? We came here by mistake, and staying here a lifetime is out of the question, so we might as well leave right away."

    The man was stunned when he heard this. Then he startedughing. "Don¡¯t always judge a book by its cover," he chuckled. "Well, I will not stop you. Feel free to leave if you can."

    Hearing this, Xue Wei felt ufortable. Both he and Hei Gou turned right away and started moving towards the gates at a rapid speed.

    However, something strange happened. Although they were moving towards the gates, it seemed as if the gates were moving further and further away from them. They seemed to be moving the wrong way.

    Xue Wei frowned. The two of them stopped. The ck dog waspletely confused, and looked at Xue Wei with almost pleading eyes as if he wished for this friend of his to tell him what was going on.

    Xue Wei¡¯s face was dark. He turned to look at the man with whom he had spoken to before and found that he was standing right by their side with a smile on his face.

    "It has taken a liking to you," he said with a snicker that contained a hint of evilness. "Since it likes you, you will never be able to leave."

    "It?" Xue Wei asked with annoyance in his voice. Was this vige trying to be mysterious or was there something hidden inside it that could cause this ufortable feeling he was having in his stomach?

    "You will know soon enough," the man grinned widely. "Why don¡¯t you follow me? We will go visit ¡®it¡¯. If you are lucky, it will just want to suck some of your blood, but if you are unlucky, your entire life will be forfeited."

    It was clear that this man took pleasure in the misfortune of others, and he seemed to want to rub salt into the wounds.

    "Come,e, I will take you there," he continued. However, Xue Wei hesitated. It was clear that there was some sort of power in this vige that prevented them from leaving.

    This power already held the upper hand. Meeting it prematurely might end up with them being severely injured and killed, but if they did not meet this strange power, then it would be impossible for them to leave.

    "We are stuck between a rock and a hard ce," Hei Gou said with a sigh. "But why don¡¯t we try to take a look at this power? Perhaps it is something simple," he said.

    "I guess we don¡¯t have much of a choice," Xue Wei replied, sighing. "This strange power is what keeps us locked here, so we kinda have to see what sort of power it is."

    Hei Gou and Xue Wei had been speaking throughpressed voices, but when they nodded their heads, the grin on the man¡¯s face turned even more sinister.

    Xue Wei was aware that it was likely a trap, but really, what choice did he have at the current point in time?

    They might have stepped foot into an illusion. They might even have been dragged back in time. This could be their chance to understand what exactly had happened to them, and to understand what kind of vige this was.

    While walking behind the man, they continued to look around and observed their surroundings. Many of the inhabitants in the vige looked excited, but a few seemed worried. Their worried expressions made Xue Wei frown.

    The two of them were new in the vige. None of these vigers knew either of them, so their worried expressions were not for their sake. This showed him that what they were going for was likely to be a problem for the vigers as well.

    The vigers seemed to have various expressions, some pleased and others unhappy. This difference in the mood of the vigers puzzled Xue Wei.

    Were there different factions in this vige? One that saw pleasure in their problematic situation, and another who saw it troublesome?

    Xue Wei was starting to be genuinely interested in what was happening in this vige. Albeit feeling heavily ufortable in their new environment, he could also feel a pressure that was bearing down upon them, one that came from a foreign power, and felt as if it even affected the energy of the heavens and the earth as well.

    They were getting closer and closer to this foreign power, and Xue Wei¡¯s expression became uglier and uglier.

 Chapter 134: It

    "Qing Li! Who are these people?" one of the vigers asked. The vigers started following them along the way. The man who had been escorting Xue Wei and Hei Gou was named Qing Li, who stopped in his tracks, his smiling face grimacing when he saw the man that had spoken.

    "Long Tian, this has nothing to do with you!" he eximed. "I already gave them the option to leave, but it will not let them leave, so I am going to be gentle and bring them to it right away. They have to go there sooner orter anyways."

    "What is the rush? Is it because you were led there right when you came to the vige and now you want to see others in the same kind of miserable situation so you can feel superior?" the man called Long Tian sneered back without hiding anything, revealing Qing Li¡¯s ugly nature.

    Xue Wei¡¯s face did not change. He had felt the immense pressure in the distance the moment they arrived, and knew that it was in no way a pleasant encounter that they had in front of them, but the sight of the others still being alive meant that it was likely that they were also going to survive it.

    "Shut your mouth!" Qing Li exploded out with anger and embarrassment. He never thought that this Long Tian would expose him so ruthlessly, but a smile crept onto his lips when he saw that Xue Wei did not seem to care.

    "See, they don¡¯t care about your meddling," he sneered. "They just want to get it over with, and then we will see if ¡®it¡¯ will let them leave!"

    Xue Wei and Hei Gou were curious about what this ¡¯it¡¯ was. It was not a being since it was being referred to as a ¡®it¡¯, but they had no idea what exactly it could be.

    They were being led to the other end of the vige, where arge temple stood erect.

    This temple was many timesrger than the most significant building in the vige. It was well-maintained and seemed to be a ce for someone to visit whenever they felt a need to be cleansed or pray for something.

    Xue Wei had seen a few temples here and there, but it was rare to see one in a vige. Only now did he understand that the temple was not there because of the vige, but the vige was there because of the temple.

    Although the vigers were not monks, they all did something to provide for the temple, and their purpose in life was to ensure that the temple was in good condition.

    Xue Wei was curious. Which god did this temple represent? The architecture was simr to the other temples he had seen paintings of in his books, but was this perhaps a ce for Diviners?

    The vige had seemed as simple as any other vige, but uponying eyes on the temple, he understood that it was not as simple as it had appeared.

    The monks were a strong faction within the main parts of the continent. They had fighters, Diviners, and even fanatics that only pursue the pinnacle of martial arts.

    It was rare for the monks to visit a remote ce like the Heping Kingdom, but perhaps a secret base was located within the Vermilion Forest Kingdom? Xue Wei was curious.

    Was ¡¯It¡¯ perhaps some sort of power that gave the monks their strength? Was it a divine boon or a personification of a god?

    They were getting closer and closer to the temple. Even the ones who had previously seemed gleefully awaiting the scene of their misfortune turned solemn, and sweat started to bead on their foreheads.

    Qing Li continued to lead the group, and Long Tian followed from behind. Qing Li moved dramatically slower at this point. He was no longer swaggering around, and instead every move he made was timid and forced.

    Although the heavy pressure was focused on Xue Wei and Hei Gou, it was also pressing down on the others. Because they knew what was waiting for them, their hearts were beating rapidly, and fear took root in their minds.

    Xue Wei and Hei Gou also started sweating, but instead of being scared, they were curious and alert. They understood that something serious was about to happen, but they had no idea what that was.

    Just as they were about to enter the temple grounds, a young woman appeared. She was wearing a white dress. Her hair was tied on top of her head, and her eyes resembled the eyes of a phoenix.

    Her body was slender, and curvy, which the white dress did well to entuate, but no one sent her a lustful nce. In fact, all the gazes on her were filled with fear and reverence.

    This woman seemed very young, around the same age as Xue Wei, but her eyes were deep and unfathomable as if she had seen apletely different world than they had.

    She carried herself elegantly, and the aura she exuded was filled with solitude and sadness.

    Her gaze traced over the many vigers, and all of them lowered their heads so as to not meet her eyes.

    Xue Wei was curious. Was this the ¡¯it¡¯ they had been talking about? But it was clearly a woman.

    "Are they the strangers that are causing it to be so restless?" she asked with a gentle voice that made Xue Wei imagine a stream of water over a riverbed of stones.

    "Yes, young priestess!" Qing Li was the first to answer, nearly jumping out as he did. "I have taken it upon myself to bring them to it! I hope yourdyship will allow us to go through!"

    The woman looked at Qing Li for some time, her eyes devoid of emotion. Her face was expressionless. "Sure," she said after a bit of time, "let them enter."

    Qing Li heaved a heavy sigh of relief. He had feared punishment from the woman, but it seemed that she too wished for ¡®it¡¯ to meet these two intruders as soon as possible.

    "It is more restless than ever before," the woman sighed. "I have never seen it be so riled up before; these two young men are clearly exactly what it needs. Who knows what will happen to them."

    Xue Wei was listening attentively to their conversation. From what were saying, he understood that the young woman was in charge of the temple and represented ¡¯it¡¯.

    On the other hand, he realized that the vigers contributed heavily to the upkeep of this temple despite their ordinary farm-hand lives, repaired the temple whenever needed, and ensured that the priestess was well-fed and well-dressed.

    "It is in here," she said suddenly after walking through the temple itself, and the pressure was already so heavy that every step Xue Wei and Hei Gou took, was even more challenging than when they were walking knee-deep in the snow back in Lingyun Town.

    Their legs felt as if they were made of lead. They dragged their feet as they moved, and sweat started running down their backs and foreheads.

    In front of them was a door that was filled with paper talismans all over it. These yellow pieces of paper were stuck to the door, giving it an ominous vibe.

    Without anyone touching the door, it started opening with loud creaks. Inside the door was darkness. Pure darkness. Even if it was a room without windows, there should still be some light, or at least the light from the opening of the door should brighten up what was inside, but nothing could be seen other than pitch ck darkness.

    Thenughter rang out from inside. A piercing and mind-rendingughter that invoked nothing but despair. Their entire beings felt cold, and their bodies started trembling. Fear was evident on the faces of each and every person in the vicinity around and inside the temple.

    Xue Wei¡¯s heart started sinking into the pits of his stomach. Thisughter was truly sinister and even he was affected by it.

    "This is interesting," he mumbled to himself as he looked behind him and saw Hei Gou acting just as terrified as the vigers.

    "Well then, let us see what is hiding in the darkness," Xue Wei muttered before his eyes turned sharp and he stepped forward.

    The pressure was getting many times more intense the closer he got to the door, but at the same time, he felt a suction force.

    It was not before now he realized that the pressure that was pressing down on him did note from this thing they said was ¡¯it,¡¯ but from the talismans that were subduing whatever was hiding within.

    Since this thing had been summoning Xue Wei and Hei Gou, the talismans had also affected them, but now that he was so close to whatever this ¡®it¡¯ was, he could feel the calling for him, the suction force and the eagerness to have Xue Wei enter the room.

    Although he felt the evilness within theughing voice, Xue Wei was not scared. There was this thought convincing him that he would be fine and that nothing terrible would happen to him.

    The moment his foot stepped into the room, he felt his entire body being swallowed up by the darkness.

    All his senses were blocked; he could not see, hear, smell or touch anything.

    "Finally, a worthy one hase," the sinister voice snickered. "Why don¡¯t we make a deal? Give me a bit of your soul and I will make you incredibly strong!"

    This sinister voice was in no way domineering or frightening, in fact it sounded rather cheerful and energetic. Xue Wei had a hard time taking it seriously.

    "Idiot, who would ever give away their soul?" Xue Wei snorted. "I am not so naive that I will give up myself to be powerful!"

    "Oh really? That is a shame," the sinister voice reverberated through Xue Wei¡¯s mind. "If you had said yes, I would have taken over your body and been reborn!"

    "So you admit it? Isn¡¯t that just rude?" Xue Wei was stunned to hear the voice admitting it so readily, but he also did not hate that about ¡®it¡¯. In fact, the only thing Xue Wei could feel in the face of such honesty was admiration.

    "Well, you denied my offer so fast... it is not like you will change your mind, so telling you makes no difference."

    "Well, you should not think about taking over my life in the first ce!"

    "Why don¡¯t you give me just a bit of your soul energy?"

    "I don¡¯t want to."

    "Your Qi?"

    "No."

    "Your blood?"

    "Not even a drop."

    "Stingy."

    "What are you even?"

    "Oh, right. You are in the middle of my world of darkness."

    "You don¡¯t say."

    "I am the heroic spirit of the sword!"

    "What sword?"

    "The sword! The sword that makes them all shiver in fear. The sword that has been here for thousands of years! The sword that has in immortals!"

    "That sounds quite fancy."

    "I am quite amazing kiddo, so why don¡¯t you give me a bit of your soul?"

    "Not happening."

    A deep sigh could be heard within Xue Wei¡¯s mind, and suddenly the darkness turned to a dim-lit room.

    In the middle of the room was a sword. This was a beautiful sword with a dragon coiling itself between the handle and the de; the dragon¡¯s mouth was open and served as the guard, and the de itself was long and sharp.

    The sword hung on heavy ck chains, and talismans were ced all over it. Every inch of the sword was covered with yellow talismans to keep it from breaking free.

    "Seems to me that you are a prisoner, not some heavenly sword," Xue Wei mocked. The sword trembled slightly.

    "If I were not so unfortunate to fall from the sky, I would never have been in this embarrassing situation!" the haughty and sinister voice of the sword retorted, but in Xue Wei¡¯s ears, it sounded a lot like a whining child.

 Chapter 135: Contract

    Xue Wei was puzzled, though. He had previously heard about peerless treasures with a soul, but this was the first time he had ever encountered one.

    "So why are you so casual with me?" he finally asked after a bit of time. Xue Wei could sense that every viger within the vige feared it more than anything else, but here he was having a casual conversation with it. He could not feel any hostility from the sword at all.

    "It is simple," the sword went on, sighing. "I have been stuck in this hell-hole for thousands of years. I wish to go out. I wish to slice the heads off people. I need to eat souls to survive, but the souls I get here are weak and so unsatisfying."

    "This vige has been hidden from the surrounding world," the sword continued. "I am sure you came across a formation when you tried to enter this ce, and that formation is meant to keep humans out."

    "Sometimes, a few humans break through it anyway, but it is mainly beasts that make it through. The formation was never meant to block beasts, as these humans need something to eat."

    "Anyway, when a humanes in, they will be taken to me as a sacrifice, and I will swallow their soul to nourish myself. These vigers, in fact, feel very fortunate whenever someone wanders into this dimension because it means they have to give up less of their souls to satisfy me."

    "Some obviously feel like they are the devil¡¯s goons, forcing unknown young men and women to sacrifice their lives, but the majority take great pleasure in this."

    "Unfortunately, I know that I will never be able to escape from this ce if I do not strike a deal with someone. From all the people who have appeared in thest couple of thousand years, you are without a doubt ¨C albeit not the strongest ¨C the one with the most potential."

    "At the same time, you carry a faint scent of death. It is clear that you have killed before, and that you will kill again. In your hands, I will live again and be able to experience life that is worth living. I was not always a sword, after all!"

    The sword suddenly stopped speaking and coughed slightly as thought to clear its throat, which it did not have.

    "Forget thest bit I said," it said solemnly, "I am a sword, and as a sword, my job is to take lives. These paper talismans and this disguised realm has sealed me for a very long time, and I fear that I will never see freedom again at this rate."

    Xue Wei listened to the sword and mulled over the words. He could not trust this swordpletely when it came to it; it lived on soul energy, after all. No one could tell whether or not it would turn on him and im his life the moment he released it.

    "I can kill you already," the sword said, guessing Xue Wei¡¯s thoughts, "but I can take an oath under the Nine Heavenly Tribtions that I will serve you well."

    Xue Wei was startled. Taking an oath under the Nine Heavenly Tribtions was a very old saying. If one were not to uphold their word, even if they were the strongest being on the, they would be sted into bits and pieces by the strong tribtion lightning that would descend from a heaven above the heavens.

    Hearing this, Xue Wei¡¯s eyes narrowed, and his heart started beating rapidly. He had no weapon, and had relied on the Inner Might martial arts technique up until now. Although this ability was incredibly profound at his current level, and even held certain advantages, creating and maintaining a weapon made purely of Qi was still a drain on his Qi reserves.

    Every sh with an enemy would drain a lot more Qi than it would if he used a traditional weapon.

    "Okay, swear to the Nine Heavenly Tribtions," Xue Wei said with a snicker on his face. "Then I will start removing the paper talismans, and we will together figure out a way to deal with this vige. I fear they will not just allow me to walk out of the door with you in my hands."

    "They won¡¯t," the sword agreed. "In fact, they will all try to kill you, and destroy me, should they have the chance."

    "I am seen as an evil weapon because I require the souls of others to grow stronger." The sword sighed. "But I am also able to cultivate. I had a cultivation base so profound that you could not believe it, but then I fell from the heavens, and my cultivation base dropped as a result."

    "My strength has dwindled over the time, and now I am a mere Sky Warrior in strength."

    "Fortunately, the strongest person in this vige is also a Sky Warrior. Although I can assist you in taking him on, I cannot defeat all of them at once."

    "I know your friend out there is no simpleton either. He should be able to also deal with a few of the vigers, but not all of them." The sword sighed.

    "So we need toe up with some other n if we wish to escape this ce." The sword started mulling over what to do for a bit of time, staying quiet.

    "Don¡¯t remove the paper talismans sealing me yet," he ordered Xue Wei, "Temporarily, escape is impossible, so we might as well put up an act."

    "They will know that something is wrong the moment Ie out of this chamber alive," Xue Wei retorted with a snort, but the sword just trembled. "That is not necessarily true," it said hesitatingly.

    "I can indeed kill someone and consume their soul, but that requires a huge effort from my side," the sword exined. "In fact, the easiest is to shave away a bit of the soul and consume that. Every time I get hungry, I will shave away a bit of a soul. When I get hungry again, I will take another slice from someone else."

    "In fact, this means that there is now no one, not even a child, with aplete soul in this vige."

    "I usually consume a bit of someone¡¯s soul once every two days, and they are rotating to let me consume their souls. They have no one else to send to ughter, so they sacrifice themselves to keep me pacified."

    "Although I am chained here, and even though my strength has dropped to the Sky Warrior levels, I can annihte the entire vige if I pull out all stops, because my foundations are inherently on a higher level, and we would meet mutual destruction."

    "That¡¯s why they do not mind undergoing immense pain to sacrifice some of their soul every second day."

    "So it is simple. You just have to look listless, have your face grimace with pain when you leave the room, and they will think that I have shaved off a part of your soul. Then in two days, they will most likely send your friend in to have me shave some of his soul off. It will continue like this until I have consumed your entire soul and you die."

    Xue Wei considered what the sword soul said and nodded his head. "I can ept it, but what do you want in return? There is no such thing as a free lunch in the world. You want to leave here, but you must want something else to pledge yourself to me. It is no simple thing."

    "Sharp boy," the sword said. As to whether or not it was praise, Xue Wei could not understand from its tone of voice.

    "I require sacrifices once we¡¯re out of here, be it a human or a beast. I want you to kill the vilest creatures around, the more wicked their deeds, the better it is for me. I am an evil spirit, and I benefit from other evil spirits. Although I can benefit from honorable souls and straightforward souls as well, I will not gain as much as I do from vile scum. Evil breeds more evil, and that helps my cultivation."

    Xue Wei mused for some time. He had already epted that he needed to kill people to stay alive as he was chased, but it seemed that this sword wanted him to go out of his way to ughter injustice in the world.

    "I am no righteous person," Xue Wei said with hesitation, "so I will not go out of my way to find people who havemitted evil deeds due to some vignte sentiment. However, if we happen to cross paths with a tyrant or an evildoer, I don¡¯t mind obliging. In a way, it might help me get some karmic luck in return."

    The sinisterughter erupted once more in the small dark room, and soon symbols that Xue Wei had never seen before started floating in the air.

    "Give me a drop of your blood!" the sword said with a rush, its voice filled with equal amounts excitement and exhaustion.

    Xue Wei hesitated for the briefest of moments, but then he gritted his teeth and shed his finger.

    ¡°Hey kid, what¡¯s your name?¡± the sword suddenly asked. ¡°Xue Wei,¡± he answered straightforwardly.

    "I swear to the Nine Heavenly Tribtions that I will never turn against my master Xue Wei. May the heavenly tribtions strike me down should I go against my words!" the sword said weakly. The sound of rumbling thunder could be heard from above, briefly shaking the world.

    Outside the room, the vigers heard the sound of the rumbling thunder. They saw how the clear sky suddenly turned dark.

    No one knew what could be the reason for this sudden change in the weather, but they knew it was an ominous sign.

    Inside the room, Xue Wei¡¯s cut on his finger produced a single drop of blood. A suction force seemed to draw it out, making it float towards the sword.

    The moment the sword came into contact with the blood, a thundering boom resounded and the entire temple started shaking from the subsequent shockwaves.

    Xue Wei felt dizzy. Although it was just a single drop of blood, the connection with the sword was as strong as it could be - and the obstruction of the talismans started to affect him as well.

    Every talisman present was bearing down on the sword, making it impossible for it to move an inch, and it was almost as if this feeling was transferred to Xue Wei himself.

    "You didn¡¯t warn me about the talismans," Xue Wei heaved a heavy sigh while adjusting himself. The talismans were bearing down upon him, making it incredibly hard to breathe, but he couldn¡¯t just tear them off lest their n backfire.

    Right now, Xue Wei was not strong enough. He was not strong enough to safely take the sword out of the vige through a wall of vengeful vigers, so he had to act covertly to seed.

    "I used too much of my energy," the sword said after a bit of time. "I will need you to wait in the vige for at least a month before I am at the peak of what little strength I have left, and only then can we n our escape. At least you wille in every fourth day to ¡®have a bit of your soul shaven off¡¯, so we can nter," the sword said with a weak voice.

    "By the way, I have a name. A name that once resounded throughout the eleven continents. My name is Tianyi. As for myst name, I have not used it in eons, and I fear that I will never use it again."

    Having said this, Xue Wei felt how the sword grew weaker in his consciousness until finally it entered into deep slumber. Their minds were somewhat connected, though it did not share their feelings or thoughts. However, it was still possible for them to sense the rough location of the other and their current status. They had signed a contract.

 Chapter 136: Stike a Deal

    Xue Wei exited the room of darkness. His face was haggard and hisplexion pale. His eyes were drooping, and he seemed to be in severe pain.

    He had remembered what Tianyi had told him and acted exactly as they had nned.

    Hei Gou¡¯s face turned ugly, but it quickly straightened out as Xue Wei sent him a voicepressed message.

    Hei Gou¡¯s expression froze in ce, bing a strange mixture of amusement and crying.

    Xue Wei had not said much other than, "I am stealing their treasure," but this already showed what he had been doing inside the room.

    It was clear that they had been brought here because of something that would not benefit them, but now it seemed that Xue Wei had turned it around.

    This made Hei Gou unaware of whether or not he shouldugh or cry, making his handsome face turn into a hideous expression. Fortunately, all the vigers and the priestess were busy observing Xue Wei and his appearance that wascking all energy.

    "I see that it liked your soul," Qing Li gloated, but he dared not speak too loud. He had been scared silly earlier when the thunder rumbled, and the temple shook, but now he reached the conclusion that the reason for this to happen was because ¡®it¡¯ was very pleased with Xue Wei¡¯s soul.

    The priestess frowned. Her eyes gleamed with intelligence, and she was quiet as she looked at Xue Wei from top to bottom.

    "You there, speak up. What happened inside the room?" the priestess asked with a stern voice that was filled with uncertainty and a bit of fear.

    "I don¡¯t know," Xue Wei answered with a frown on his face before grimacing. "I stepped into a world of darkness. I could not see anything at all, and within this world, something seemed to cut through me and remove a part of me, though I do not know what part of me this was."

    "It was excruciating pain and I almost cked out," he continued as his body started trembling at the memory. The priestess nodded her head, satisfied with the answer.

    "The two of you will follow me," she said, the stoic air returning to her. It was as if nothing had happened that day that could shock her.

    Xue Wei and Hei Gou obliged without resistance and followed the woman towards the depths of the temple.

    Qing Li wanted to tag along, but Long Tian stopped him. In the end, only the three of them set out, while the rest all retreated to the vige itself.

    After walking slowly into the deeper parts of the temple, the priestess came to a halt. She turned around and looked at Xue Wei before she snorted.

    "You did not lose any of your soul, and the natural phenomenon that appeared made me think that perhaps it is time for it to once again appear in the world," she said.

    Her face was still expressionless, her voice devoid of emotions and her bearing stoic. Hearing her words, Xue Wei was stunned and looked at her with wide open eyes.

    "I don¡¯t know what you mean," he mumbled with a low voice. "Who said anything about losing my soul?" he asked. In response, the woman just snickered.

    "Don¡¯t try to trick me," she said with slight amusement. "I have been the priestess of this temple since I was five years old. The ritual to be the new priestess is horrible, and it connects you to the sword. I heard what you two spoke about within the room, and I have to admit that I hope for it to happen too."

    "I am a young woman, but I have been locked up in this vige since birth. My soul is slowly being shaved down little by little, and my life will be forfeit. Right now, I am already a little too old to do my duty, but I am supposed to find a husband and produce a child as soon as possible."

    "When my child turns five years old, this child is supposed to take over the job as a priestess, and the mother¡¯s life will be forfeited."

    "Will she be used to feed the sword with her soul until she dies?" Xue Wei asked, and a sad smile appeared on the priestess¡¯ face. "Something like that," she replied, without going into details.

    Xue Wei paid it no heed. He did not think that it mattered too much and instead wondered how to deal with the vigers.

    "Would it not be ideal for the entire vige if I take away the sword?" Xue Wei asked after a bit of silence. "As things are now, all of them will die young as they will give up their souls to the sword one after another."

    "This is also the reason why no one here has managed to reach a high cultivation rank; they are simply not able to live long enough to seed."

    "It is true that they are giving up their lives," the priestess said with a solemn face, "but they have no choice. This vige exists for the sake of holding the sword captive. We can never let it go," she said, sighing deeply, and did not hide the fact that she disagreed with that.

    "I will take you to two rooms. No one will be watching you, and you can roam around as you please. Since you have entered the vige, there is no exit for you ¨C other than when you be a corpse and scatter your ashes from a mountaintop."

    "The nearest thousand kilometers from the vige is a no-man¡¯snd," the priestess continued to exin with her gentle but very emotionless voice.

    "The beasts below the Heavenly Warrior rank can enter, but only a very few humans are capable of trespassing. The beasts, we hunt and use to sustain ourselves, use their hides for our clothes and so on."

    "These formations are for the purpose of confusing trespassers and making them turn around and return the way they came from. Only certain people have been able to walk through the confusing formations and arrive at the vige. And when they arrive here, other formations with illusions will cause the vige to seempletely deserted and destroyed."

    "Then another formation of a world of fog should send even more back to their starting point. To get through all these formations is difficult, but the two of you managed to do so."

    "This makes me think that there is something extraordinary about the two of you," she continued to exin. "My single goal in life is to produce a daughter who can be the next priestess in this temple and then forfeit my life. I have to oversee every single ritual of sacrificing of the souls to the sword spirit, and when I break their soul apart, I need to pay with a small bit of my own soul."

    "Although I use only a tiny fraction of my soul, if they were a hundred units, then I would use one for each ritual, but it stacks up much faster for me as I have to oversee every single ceremony. Right now, only half of my soul remains, and I have already consumed a Soul Mending Magnolia to restore my soul somewhat."

    The priestess sighed while shaking her head, and looked into the distance. "When I was younger, I once questioned this mentality, but I was nearly beaten to death by my mother. It is one of the few memories I have of her." The priestess sighed again and shook her head.

    "I always loved hearing stories about the outside world. About a world where humans were brave and fought against beasts. A world where they were united against evil."

    "I dislike the sword. It is vile and disgusting, but after all the years I have spent in this temple, I also seem to know the most about the sword spirit."

    "The spirit is very knowledgeable. It has lived a long life filled with exciting adventures and life-and-death situations."

    "I do not want to go through such things," the priestess continued, "but I want to see the cities where humans live together in great numbers, where there is no one who sees me as a priestess."

    "Although I am respected in this vige, they all hate me. I am after all the one who is shaving away their souls every two days, and at the same time I am also the one who is closest to the damnable sword that has doomed our vige to our pitiful lives."

    "They only tolerate me because they know my life is short and that I will die in at most ten years."

    "I want to live a life as a normal person. I don¡¯t want to be a genius or a heaven-sent talent. I just wish to be a very normal person."

    She hesitated for a bit, and only then did Xue Wei and Hei Gou realize that she was just as old as Xue Wei himself.

    "What I am trying to say is, I will not cause problems for you when you are trying to take away that sword. It is a vile spirit that lives on other¡¯s lives, and I cannot agree with that. But at the same time, it is also my only acquaintance since it is the only one I have been able to speak to. So I do wish for it to cause havoc in the world, especially after hearing that what it wants is actually the souls of other wicked creatures."

    "Since I will allow you to take the sword with you, I also want to leave this vige together with you two. Take me with you when you leave and bring me to the capital of whatever kingdom we exist in."

    "I have plenty of gold and silver coins stored away. You do not have to worry about me being okay when you leave me. I just have never left the vige, so I fear I will get lost on my own."

    Xue Wei contemted for some time before he turned to Hei Gou. This was a serious decision, and he could not make it without his good friend¡¯s opinion.

    "I am fine with bringing her to the capital," Hei Gou said with apressed voice when asked for his opinion. "We have to hide here in the Vermilion Forest Kingdom for quite some time, so going to the capital could be considered a fun tempering trip."

    "Also, I can feel that you want the sword, so why not do something about getting it? This vige of experts is not very pleasing to the eyes, so why don¡¯t we take the sword and start ughtering our way out of the vige? I am capable of dealing with quite a few Sky Warriors at once since my physical strength has reached the firstyer of the Heavenly Warrior rank."

    "You can deal with quite arge group of Earth Warriors on your own," Hei Gou continued, "and with the aid of this sword, we should be able to do even better."

    Xue Wei frowned when he heard this. "It is true that we can deal with groups of people, but this is a whole vige with around a thousand people, if not more."

    While the two were discussing, the priestess was patiently standing aside. She guessed they weremunicating somehow, but she was unaware of how to talk with others in such an unconventional way.

    "Okay." After deliberating amongst themselves, Xue Wei turned to the priestess. "We will help you escape in return for you allowing us to take the sword with us."

    For the first time since they saw the stoic priestess, a smile bloomed on her lips; a smile that was filled with hope and relief.

    "You have my eternal gratitude," she said those heartfelt words while her hands were cupped over her chest and she bowed to the two friends.

 Chapter 137: HatChapter a Plan

    The priestess led the two young men to their appointed room. Afterwards, she left them, returning to her daily chores.

    Although she had been promised a ticket to freedom ¨C and she was likely much more happy now than she was before ¨C her face was stillpletely expressionless.

    Xue Wei was starting to understand that the experiences from his childhood where he was ostracized and bullied might not be the worst fate out there; others might have experienced much tougher things.

    This woman had on the surface been honored and respected, but the truth was that the vigers had always despised her.

    Living in such a situation, she was always careful with what she did. She had to be gentle and feign ignorance to the hatred directed at her. She had to live a double life.

    Right now, the vigers were already very unhappy with her. She was already this old, but she had yet to disy any willingness to conceive a child with one of the vigers and let the bloodline of the priestess continue.

    Xue Wei and Hei Gou rested in the room for a few hours. The room was somewhat sparse in space, but there were at least two beds for them to sit ory down on. Other than the two beds, there was nothing in the room.

    The beds were also old, but they seemed to have been maintained regrly, and thus they did not copse when the two of them took a seat.

    "Are you okay?" Hei Gou finally asked after a long time spent in silence. "I am quite curious about this sword that you met," he continued, his eyes brimming with curiosity. Xue Wei chuckled.

    So far, they had been in the presence of either the vigers or the priestess, so he had not been able to exin what he had experienced fully until now.

    Xue Wei exined everything that had happened inside the room of darkness with the sword, and he was very straightforward with his words. Hei Gou¡¯s eyes widened in surprise.

    "A wicked soul in a strong sword consuming the souls of the vile to increase its cultivation levels. This is seriously weird. He, that Tianyi guy, might consider himself evil because he consumes the souls of others, but he pointed out specifically that the souls he wanted were the souls of those doing sinister deeds. Then is he not a vignte? Someone protecting the weak and poor, killing the tyrants and the evildoers?"

    Xue Wei shrugged his shoulders. "I don¡¯t know for sure," he answered. "The reason he wants the evildoers is because their energy is beneficial to him. If the souls of the pure were useful to him, he might be eager to kill those too."

    "There is no telling whether or not he would mind massacring tons of innocent people for the sake of his cultivation," he continued. "I don¡¯t know if he is a truly evil spirit or not, but he is definitely not someone who cares deeply about others. He will do what benefits him and stick with it."

    Xue Wei had not spoken with the sword for long, but he had long since understood the character of the sword. It would do almost anything as long as it benefitted itself.

    They discussed for a long time about their current predicament, fully aware that their situation was somewhat risky.

    They were stuck in a vige filled with hostile men and women. Most of them wished for nothing more than to have these two strangers be killed by their nemesis, the sword.

    While a few felt guilty and ufortable about it, the majority were celebrating because it meant that it would prolong their lifespans.

    Xue Wei and Hei Gou finished discussing their course of action after a while, and decided to leave their new chambers to look around. They had already received permission to wander around the vige as they pleased, as it seemed impossible for them to escape the hidden realm.

    Since this was the case, the two of them decided to stroll through the vige to see if there was any way of sneaking out, or if they had to prepare to fight their way out.

    It would be ideal if they could escape by sneaking out, but a walk through the vige told them that the entire ce was walled in behind a very tall palisade, and that only one gate led out of the vige.

    This gate was under constant watch; the vigers had guards there all day and all night. Although the ones guarding the exit were all easy to overpower for the of them, Xue Wei and Hei Gou were also aware that the rest of the vige would rush to the gates the very moment they make a move ¨C and then their situation would be difficult.

    It would be less difficult to escape if they were alone, but they had to bring the priestess with them.

    "We can fly over the palisades," Hei Gou said with certainty, but Xue Wei shook his head. "I think it is impossible. The formations should have blocked the sky."

    Hei Gou frowned. "They can do that?" he asked. Xue Wei shrugged his shoulders. "I don¡¯t know," he said honestly, "but I could imagine that it is possible. Imagine what would happen if what we went through whileing here happened in the sky? We would bepletely incapable of telling what¡¯s up and down, back and forth, and there¡¯s no telling what we¡¯ll end up running into while flying blindly."

    Hei Gou¡¯s face turned a little pale at the remark, but he said nothing more and just sighed.

    "This is troublesome. First, we were captive in a tribe. Now, we are captive here. Both ces had their own agendas, and we are stuck waiting for the opportune moment to run. Will we ever not be on the run?"

    Hei Gou seemed to be giving up, but Xue Wei nodded his head. "The reason we are in this situation right now is that we are weak. If we were just a few ranks stronger, then this vige would never be able to contain us. If we were Heavenly Warriors, then we could wash the streets with the blood of those who want to sacrifice us to Tianyi."

    Hei Gou nodded his head, finding truth in what Xue Wei said. "Right now, we are genuinely weak. We are still mere Warriors, and in fact only a Sky and Earth Warrior, you and I respectively, to boot. Although we can leapfrog levels in terms ofbat strength, we are still helpless against the masses and some of the real, properly trained Heavenly Warriors."

    "Since this is the case, why not spend the next few days focusing on cultivating? We will be able to raise our strength and wash away the shame of being held captive!"

    "I like this kid," a voice suddenly sounded in Xue Wei¡¯s head. Thetter instantly knew that it was Tianyi.

    Startled, Xue Wei looked around, but there were no signs of the sword having appeared by his side. Instead, the sinisterughter rang out in his mind.

    "We have made a contract," he reminded the confused young man. "Our souls are connected. Everything you see, I also see. Everything you experience, I also experience."

    "Seeing these vigers take pleasure in your misfortune was especially enjoyable. When I see them, they are cowering in fear; their eyes are wide and filled with tears, and they are trembling from head to toe. It is definitely quite a difference seeing them like this," the swordughed. Xue Wei was only then starting to understand that everything he had seen and experienced had been shared with the sword.

    "You did not mention this when we made the contract," Xue Wei pointed out. But the sword casually ignored his words, and changed the subject.

    "It seems as if this escape mission is not going to be as easy as I thought," it said. "I have a few suggestions as to what we can do," it continued. Xue Wei sighed, tossed aside the thoughts of Tianyi having deceived him, and listened to the words the sword soul said next.

    Xue Wei was in deep thought, pondering the n that the sword had made. It was risky, but considering their situation, it was likely their only option.

    "Let us return to our room," Xue Wei finally said after a bit of thinking. Their n was risky, and he needed to hear Hei Gou¡¯s opinion on the matter first.

    He was willing to let Hei Gou in on their ns, but not the priestess. Although she was on their side, he knew nothing about her, and if she identally spilled their ideas, they would be in for a very unpleasant time.

    The two returned to their room, where they discussed long into the night. The fact that they could talk together with the sword Tianyi was somewhat fortunate for them, as they got a much better understanding of every member in the vige.

    "Wait, you know a soul ability?!" Tianyi¡¯s voice hammered in Xue Wei¡¯s mind when he casually mentioned Mind Infestation, and then he started giggling like a little child that had confirmed its belief that Santa existed.

    "These experts might be stronger than you," Tianyi said straightforwardly, "but they have all lost a bit of their soul. The older they are, the more of their soul they have lost."

    "Although it would be impossible for you to affect someone that much stronger than you in normal circumstances, these are like chickens waiting to be ughtered."

    "Let us mess up the n slightly; I have a great idea of what to do!"

    The childish mischievousness in Tianyi¡¯s voice caught Xue Wei off guard, but when he heard the n, the color drained from his face. There were no immature parts in this at all; it was sinister through and through.

    Night descended over the vige, and every viger started returning to their homes. Xue Wei had been waiting for this time. It was time to start the first part of their n.

    Under the cover of the night, he left the temple and headed towards the gate where ten guards were stationed.

    They were all Sky Warriors, with the strongest being a ninthyer Sky Warrior. He was the one in charge of the patrol, and he took his job seriously, always on high alert while observing everything in their surroundings.

    Seeing this, Xue Wei snickered. It was precisely as Tianyi had told him.

    This ninthyer Sky Warrior was middle-aged, but he seemed weaker than most middle-aged cultivators ¨C as if he was older, somehow. It was clear that the many times his soul had been shaved down had caused him to age prematurely.

    Mind Infestation!

    Xue Wei was close enough tounch the Mind Infestation martial arts technique. He had expected a bit of struggle from the guard¡¯s mind, but nothing happened. Moments after, he had takenplete control over this man¡¯s body.

    His soul was so weak that it couldn¡¯t even notice the mind invasion, and Xue Wei quickly went on to the second stage of the n.

    He quickly caused the mind-controlled man to run amok. He drew his weapon and started swinging it around, his attacks raining down on the other nine guards. The first volley of swings caused his unknowing fellow guards to be severely injured.

    Blood sshed onto the palisades. The nine other experts were no match for this man, but instead of making him kill them instantly, Xue Wei made him cause an uproar and waited for more to arrive.

    He slowly killed off the guards one after another, making the mind-controlled guard turn to the experts that came to see what was going on.

    At the start, he had ordered him to be casual, but as time went on, Xue Wei ordered the man to attack more violently. Eventually, when the vige¡¯s stronger experts arrived, he told him to go all out.

    "Ke Fang, what are you doing?!" one of the arriving men asked in disbelief. "Why are you ughtering your ownrades?!"

    Just as he asked this, the mind-controlled man turned to the speaker. Instead of answering, he rushed towards him, sword held high in the air before shing down, causing ripples to appear.

 Chapter 138: Swallowing the Moon

    The widespread uproar caused even more people to appear. No one understood what was going on, but all the ninthyer Sky Warriors banded together to take down Ke Fang, the guard who had seemingly lost his mind.

    Xue Wei was still hiding. He was not close, but he was not far away either. He was hiding on the rooftop of a nearby house, cloaked in the dark of the night where no one could see him and a smirk was spread on his lips.

    This Ke Fang had been gloating earlier that day when he saw Xue Wei and Hei Gou strolling through the vige, yet now he was under the control of the people he had looked down upon.

    It took time for the other experts to take down Ke Fang. Although he was one against many, he had been fighting with reckless abandon and was desperately trying to take down as many experts as possible.

    Eventually after an hour, when he had caused severe injuries, there was no more Qi left in his body, and he was fighting solely based on his physical strength.

    "Now the big question is whether or not he will be killed, or if I have to end it," Xue Wei wondered to himself as he looked at the scene that was ying out in front of him.

    The ninthyer Sky Warriors were all angry beyond belief. They could not understand what was going on, and no matter how much they tried, they saw no reason for Ke Fang¡¯s sudden mental copse.

    "Don¡¯t kill him!" someone yelled out. "We need to investigate what is causing him to behave like this!"

    Hearing this, Xue Wei shook his head. As if he would ever give them the chance to question the man he was controlling. Using Mind Infestation, hepletely eradicated the guard¡¯s soul.

    Finally, Ke Fang¡¯s eyes turned dim, and his movements stopped. He no longer struggled but instead copsed on the ground.

    It was impossible to live without a soul, so when Xue Wei extinguished the soul of the expert, his life also vanished together with it.

    Xue Wei turned around and rushed back to the temple without being noticed. He knew that they would start searching the surrounding areas after realizing the man had died to see if they could find the cause for his sudden revolt.

    Xue Wei had a sinister smile on his lips as he rushed back to the temple. On the way, he ran into the priestess, who was smiling slightly at the sight of him, but he just nodded his head and vanished into the room he had been given.

    "How was it?" Hei Gou asked right away when he saw Xue Wei entering the room. Thetter grinned, nodding his head. "ording to n," Xue Wei announced.

    They then sat down and discussed the next part of the n. During the following day, Xue Wei and Hei Gou left the temple and walked through the vige, only to find that a somber and depressed atmosphere covered it.

    A funeral was underway, and arge pyre was evident in the middle of the town, where the corpse ofst night¡¯s crisis were being burnt on their tforms, after which their ashes would be gathered and handed over to their families.

    No one paid attention to Xue Wei or Hei Gou. The two of them were being treated as if they were air. The vigers were unhappy with what had happened, and shocked, unable to fullyprehend it, but they did not connect the sudden change in Ke Fang¡¯s behavior to these two strangers.

    If anything, the me was being put on the sword Tianyi. Maybe it had gained so much strength that it was capable of invading the minds of the experts in the vige? No one knew, but this was the theory that Xue Wei heard the vigers mutter to one another. A snicker escaped him for a second before he steeled his expression and straightened out the look on his face.

    The two friends did not stay in the vige for long before returning to the temple. And when they did, they ran into the priestess on the way.

    The priestess looked at them with a contemting gaze, but she asked nothing and said nothing either. She just let them pass her and enter the temple. As to whether or not she had guessed the truth, Xue Wei did not doubt that she knew, but she had long since steeled herself for the fact that to gain freedom she had to be willing to sacrifice the other vigers.

    Xue Wei could only feel praise for her. She had grown up together with the vigers, and although they all secretly hated her, they were the reason she had been alive for so long. They had looked after her and provided her with anything she might need, but now she was still able to sacrifice them for her own future.

    The following night, Xue Wei once more snuck out of the temple and went down to the gate. Once more, he controlled another guard, who went on to ughter everyone that came close to him

    He failed to take out the entire vige this time as well, but the other ninthyered Sky Warriors were starting to feel the toll after fighting two desperate experts two nights in a row.

    This continued on the third night, but this time one of the sane Ninthyer Sky Warriors made a mistake and died.

    The day after that, the vigers stopped guarding the gates out of fear for the same thing happening again. The experts opted instead to patrol the vige.

    This time, the weaker experts startedmitting suicide. One after another, they would brandish their swords and slice their throats. When they did, their eyes werepletely nk and filled with nothingness, each one of them not even pausing for a moment to consider what they were doing.

    Day after day, more and more people died. It was a massacre, and the streets in the vige were painted with blood. Everyone was ming the sword, but they were also starting to fear one another.

    It was a week after beginning their covert massacres that Xue Wei, Hei Gou, Tianyi, and the priestess started the next part of the n.

    It was in the middle of the night - a time where everyone had opted to hide in their rooms because they feared suicides and deaths. The three gathered in Xue Wei¡¯s room before they headed to the chamber where Tianyi was sealed.

    Xue Wei quickly removed all the talismans that were on the sword. Removing the talismans was simple. When they were taken off, he felt that there was no longer any weight pressuring down on him, making him feel light as a feather.

    "Let us move," Xue Wei said with a low voice. In the darkness of the night, the three snuck out of the temple and made their way into the vige.

    "Watch out for patrols. Although I think most of them will have hidden away due to the risk of being ¡®possessed¡¯, it is not impossible to run into someone," Xue Wei instructed them with hispressed voice.

    All three of them were feeling tense, their bodies rigid as they slowly advanced into the vige.

    They had no choice but to cross the entire vige. Every time they came across a loud sound, or a house with light shining out of the windows, they would stop and breathe as quietly as possible while scouting out the obstacle before determining whether or not it was safe to continue forward.

    Xue Wei was leading the group, Tianyi in hand, ready to silence anyone that obstructed their way. The priestess was in the middle, and Hei Gou was in the rear. They walked silently through the dead of night, but their hearts were stuck in their throat, the adrenaline pumping through their veins.

    "They will notice your disappearance tomorrow," the sword said to the priestess. "We need to get out of the Vermilion Forest as soon as we can. These vigers will not let you escape easily, especially not since you are escaping with me."

    "Although they hate you and me to the bones, they still feelpelled to take their job seriously. That is, the job to keep me captive and to sacrifice their souls."

    "If they had not had this strong sense of responsibility, they would never have stayed in the vige knowing full well that it would be the death of them. Still, not even a single person decided to desert their cause, not even the children consider it a fact. They are all giving their lives to keep me captive ¨C and although they hate it, they will do so without hesitation."

    "This is the scariest kind of people to be chased by. The kind of madmen who are willing to give up their lives can fight with a ferocity that no man has ever seen before. They can call forth a power so overwhelming that it is hard to stand against them without equal will."

    Xue Wei said nothing and moved forward even more cautiously than before. His eyes swept every nook and cranny of the road through the vige as they crossed, and his spiritual power was spread as far as possible to keep an eye on their surroundings.

    He found that many people were in their houses, but a few were outside, picking up wood to keep their fires burning or going to the restroom.

    They were walking in the cover of the darkness, but suddenly a patrol seemed to appear from behind and in front of them at the same time. If they turned to the side, they would be seen from the lights in the windows.

    "We are going to be noticed!" Tianyi suddenly transmitted to the others, his voice slightly panicked. Xue Wei felt him gather power, but then Hei Gou stepped forward. His body transformed into a massive ck dog, and then he swallowed all light in the entire vige.

    It seemed as if he had swallowed the moon; the rays of moonlight could not shine down onto the vige any longer, and the only light that one could see was from the houses where fires were burning, but the darkness suppressed even that.

    An uproar erupted in the vige. Everyone noticed that the moon vanished, but Xue Wei, Hei Gou, the priestess, and Tianyi did not have a lot of time to consider the shocked and alerted state of these people. Instead, they climbed onto Hei Gou¡¯s back, who flew towards the vige gates through the darkness he had conjured.

    The patrol which had been in front of them suddenly felt something breeze past them, and they all drew their weapons, but they could not use them due to the immense darkness - if they tried, they were likely to wound each other instead of whatever had just gone past them.

    Hei Gou remembered the words spoken by Xue Wei before. He flew at a low altitude, but high enough to not be noticed by the people who they were escaping from.

    Xue Wei knew that devouring the light was Hei Gou¡¯s ultimate innate ability as a Celestial Dog. He knew that it would have drained him of some energy, but this act had saved them nheless. When theynded at the gates, Hei Gou changed back into his human form. After that, the four escapees headed deep into the fog that was pervading the area outside of the city gates.

    When Hei Gou transformed into a human again, the moon reappeared in the sky. During its absence, nothing had been seen, and no one had moved. It was simply impossible to walk in darkness so dense that they could not even see a hand in front of themselves, let alone move.

    As the moon returned to the sky, one man saw the appearance of three figures, and his eyes constricted. He instantly recognized the white dressed young woman who was now heading out of the vige.

    The only woman in the vige who would wear such white clothes was the priestess, and she was not allowed to leave the vige.

    "Heed my call! The priestess is escaping together with the strangers!" he yelled at the top of his lungs with Qi infused into his voice, which traveled across the entire vige in no time. "They have taken it and are escaping our sight! Gather up right away and let the chase begin!"

 Chapter 139: Jiang Fengmian

    "Damn!" Xue Wei heard the voice as clearly as everyone else, and he knew that they had been noticed.

    "What to do now?" the priestess asked, for once slightly unsettled about what was happening around her. But Xue Wei just nced at her and snickered. "Now, we start fishing for people," he said with a grin on his face.

    "Fishing for people?" the priestess was surprised. She had no idea what Xue Wei meant, but it did not sound pleasant.

    "They will not leave us alone, so our best option is to find somewhere where we can put up an ambush and deal with them," Tianyi voiced his agreement. "We can easily deal with the vige¡¯s remnant experts! What we need to do is split them up. I have not killed anyone for quite some years; it is about time for me to let loose again!"

    "You killed my mother," the priestess said in a low voice, startling Xue Wei and Hei Gou. Tianyi snorted in response, replying, "I never wanted to kill your mother. If you say I killed her, then is it not also urate to say that you killed her?"

    "I did," the priestess agreed, her voice filled with agony. Xue Wei frowned. Was there something he had not understood about this situation? Hei Gou was also simrly puzzled and confused, but they both realized that now was not the time to question their past.

    Although Tianyi made it sound as if it was easy, the fact was that the ¡¯remnant experts¡¯ of the vige amounted to at least a couple hundreds.

    Albeit true that the majority of them were Earth Warriors and simple to kill, they had the advantage of numbers.

    If they disregarded everything and threw themselves at Xue Wei and Hei Gou, the two of them would stand no chance of surviving.

    They had entered the fog, and were now trying their best to get through it. It was the same as thest time Xue Wei and Hei Gou had entered it. Their sense of time felt diluted again, but unlike before, they did not care about their destination. As long as it was far away from the vige, they would be satisfied.

    The priestess, Hei Gou, and Xue Wei were attached to one another with a rope they had bound across their waists so that they would not separate from one another. When they finally made it out of the fog, they were once more greeted by the familiar red light that was ever present in the Vermilion Forest during the day, as the sun shone through the dense red tree crowns above them.

    From the light, they could see that it was now midday, which in other words meant that they had walked a whole day and a half through the world of fog.

    Suddenly a rustling appeared in front of them, and an unknown expert who had yet to discover them walked in their direction.

    "Hide!" Xue Wei shouted with apressed voice. The rest of his team hid behind the towering and thick logs of the trees.

    "Let¡¯s assess the situation first," Xue Wei continued to speak with apressed voice. He knew that this person could not hear him, but hisrades could.

    At this point, Xue Wei¡¯s biggest worry was the priestess. She had hidden as requested, but he was worried that she would feel pity for the vigers she had lived with for so many years and jump out to warn him.

    However, his worries were proven wrong, and the man continued walking through the area without being interrupted.

    Xue Wei noticed that there was no one else but him in the vicinity. The expert was a rtively young man. He was an Earth Warrior of the eightyer, and his eyes were always on alert.

    Suddenly, they lit up, and he bent down to look at the footprints he had found on the forest floor.

    Noticing these, he quickly saw that they scattered. This made his glowing eyes turn severe, and after the seriousness turned frightened. He nced at the trees and stood up before he started backing up. It was clear he had noticed them.

    He then started fiddling with a warning light he held in his hands, but before he had the chance to do anything, Xue Wei stepped out from his hiding spot andunched his attack.

    Mind Infestation!

    The young man struggled for a short while before he was incapable of fighting back, and then he turned limp, staggering to the ground before his eyes dimmed and all life left his body.

    "Hurry, stand next to him," Tianyi ordered. Xue Wei did as he was told, and then he felt a strange power enter both his and Tianyi¡¯s sword-body.

    "You benefit too," the sword pointed out. "Because of our contract, you will benefit every time I consume a soul," he exined. "You might be even more wicked than me, getting addicted to this boost in your own soul," he snickered.

    Xue Wei shook his head. Although his spiritual power was increasing from consuming souls, he would never kill innocents for that purpose alone.

    "But I will soon be able to make a soul body," Tianyi said casually. This confused Xue Wei. What was a soul body? He knew he had to ask, but now was not the time.

    "Let us move to the next ce," Xue Wei ordered. He did not want the corpse to be found, so he covered it under a thicket with branches and leaves.

    At least the man died through spiritual means and not blunt force, so the cleanup was effortless and straightforward.

    Once the scene had been cleaned up, the group started moving around in the forest. Xue Wei¡¯s spiritual power was spread to the limits to find targets for them, and they would strike rapidly after locating an expert.

    Currently, the experts were walking one by one in the forest. All of them held warning lights in their hands, but none of them had the time to light it before copsing without any sign of life.

    At the start, the priestess had seemed ufortable with the killing. Her face was pale and her lips trembling, but over time she became desensitized to it.

    Although she had been ufortable at the start, she had not said anything. Her eagerness to find freedom was so immense that she would sacrifice the entire vige for her sake.

    After walking around the forest for around three or four hours, killing all along the way, they suddenly saw a bright light explode above the forest, not far away from them.

    "Were we too bad at hiding our tracks?" Xue Wei guessed. He knew it would happen at some point, but he had hoped that it would happenter rather than sooner.

    "I assume that they will not walk alone from now on," Xue Wei assumed. "But as to how big their groups will be, it is uncertain. We cannot just escape the forest, as their determination to retrieve the priestess and Tianyi is so strong that we have no choice than to take down anyone who gets in our way."

    "So far, we have killed only seventeen people. Although seventeen people sounds like a lot, it really is not much rtive to the couple hundred they have."

    The others showed approval. Hei Gou was tired of being chased, and Xue Wei was equally tired of it. So if they wanted to take a breather in the middle of the Vermilion Forest Kingdom, they had to get rid of these people who were chasing them.

    The group did not start aimlessly wandering the forest again. Instead, they inched closer to the ce where the warning light had been lit, and here they observed what was happening.

    One hundred and thirty-seven people were standing together around a body that had been dragged out from the bushes.

    "He has not shed any blood, but he is dead. It¡¯s the same method used on those experts from our vige when they went mad. All of them ended up dying eventually without wounds."

    "It seems that it really has some power that the rest of us had never known about before."

    "It is truly cunning! It must have been nning this for a long time!"

    "I don¡¯t understand why our priestess would be so blind as to side with it. She should not forget the sacrifices she had to make for the sake of keeping it sealed!"

    "All of you quiet down!" Qing Li stepped up and called out. The moring experts quieted down. Qing Li was indeed a very renowned figure in the vige.

    "I am sure that it is the two strangers who have given it its new power. There must be something special in their souls. Also, I do not doubt that they were the ones who convinced and seduced the priestess to leave with them," he said in a voice filled with certainty.

    "Do not forget that everything began happening when they showed up! If the priestess truly wished to escape earlier, she could have just unsealed the sword and let it deal with us all! Although it is weak, I expect it to have some secrets that can be used to kill us all!"

    "The only reason it has not done so was because our vige sealed it! Now it is free, so we are all at risk, but we cannot give up just because of this!"

    "We should split intorger groups of ten each," he continued. "If we are fewer, we are easy pickings, but if all of us are together, then the sword can unleash some frightening ability to get us all down in one go."

    "I don¡¯t believe it is capable of doing so multiple times, so it is safest to go in groups of ten!"

    Qing Li waspelling as he spoke, and every other member of the group believed him.

    They quickly split up into groups and started walking through the forest once more. Two groups passed right past Xue Wei and his group, without noticing that they were there.

    Xue Wei and the others waited until everything turnedpletely silent once more before they started discussing what to do. "Ten men a group is truly a troublesome amount for us," he agreed.

    "Each group has seven Earth Warriors and three Sky Warriors. I should be able to deal with all the Earth Warriors now that I have the support of Tianyi, but can you deal with three Sky Warriors at once Gou?"

    Hei Gou pondered for some time and then nodded his head. "My physical strength has stepped into the ranks of the Heavenly Warrior, so I should be able to deal with three Sky Warriors at once. Our biggest problem is if they release a warning light. That¡¯s our only limiter."

    "It is true that I can deal with them if they were gathered in one ce, but the price I have to pay for it is rather high," Tianyi added. Xue Wei frowned. "Why did you not say so before?" he asked. "They were all clumped up just now... we could have wiped them clean. If they light a warning re, it will be a tide-like battle with new opponents appearing from every direction, streaming in like water to the sea."

    "I really don¡¯t want to use that method unless it is ourst resort," Tianyi returned. "I almost have enough soul power to be able to create a soul body. If I use my energy, I will be dormant. When that happens, I will also be incapable of helping out any more. I will be a simple normal sword until my soul gathers enough Soul Power again."

    Xue Wei considered it for some time, but then he understood that that was indeed quite a drawback.

    "Okay, first let us try and see if we can deal with one group. If we can deal with one group, then the rest should be somewhat doable," he said decisively and smiled.

    "Miss priestess, stay away and be safe," he ordered her. She nodded her head. "My name is Jiang Fengmian," she said in a low, wispy voice. "I am named after my mother, who was named Lin Fengmian."

    "I don¡¯t like having this name because I had to kill her with my own two hands, but I think I need to face my crimes and ept my own destiny. Come back soon, and I will exin why the vige is so obsessed with sealing the sword."

 Chapter 140: Two against Ten

    Xue Wei was stunned when he heard the priestess¡¯ statement, but he did nothing but nod his head, understanding that now was not the time to ask questions. With a final nce at Jiang Fengmian, he turned to focus on their troubles at hand.

    The group set out to look for their first group of pursuers, to figure out whether or not it was possible for them to take on ten at a time. It did not take long for them to locate their first targets.

    A group of experts had taken position at a small clearing atop the trees, observing the area below for any trespassers.

    "Stand back," Xue Wei ordered the others with apressed voice transmission.

    Mind Infestation!

    Xue Wei did not hesitate and threw a Mind Infestation probe at the strongest Sky Warrior in the group, a fifthyered Sky Warrior who was standing in the middle and supervised their group as a whole.

    At first, they noticed nothing. The group¡¯s supervisor had not said anything from the beginning, just overlooking their performance, yet when they saw that he stood stiff like a board ¨C and not even blinking his eyes ¨C the others started to frown.

    "Zhao Ming, what are you doing?" one of the nine called out and stepped in front of the nked-out man, snapping his fingers at him to bring him back to reality.

    Unfortunately for him, his supervisor was currently entirely under Xue Wei¡¯smand. Although unaware of what was happening, the one leading their group in front of him suddenly drew his sword and sliced him into two equal parts.

    Just as he was about to check why his superior had stopped in his tracks, his life ended. The scene was so unexpected that it took the other eight by surprise, but Xue Wei did not let up just yet.

    He instantly ordered this Zhao Ming tounch even more attacks, to kill as many as possible. At the same time, his voice transmitted to Hei Gou, "It is our time to shine!" before he darted out from within the thicket and charged at the other Earth Warriors with Tianyi in his hands, wreaking havoc among them.

    The unsuspecting experts were stumped, unable to put up any real resistance as Hei Gou, Zhao Ming, and Xue Wei swept them up one after another.

    The element of surprise on their side shocked the eight remaining warriors, dying their reaction time. They had never expected that Zhao Ming would turn on them, and even less that the ambush would be done with such ferocity that Hei Gou and Xue Wei disyed.

    Hei Gou was waving his ws around, slicing throats wherever he went. Xue Wei was wielding Tianyi, the weapon that these experts feared more than anything. Even though they had a chance to call for reinforcements, their hopelessness won over their better judgment, resulting in a miserable death for the lot of them.

    When it was over, Xue Wei shattered Zhao Ming¡¯s mind and watched as the man, a Sky Warrior no less, slumped to the ground, dead.

    "Why not keep him?" Hei Gou asked. Xue Wei shook his head in response. "I can only control one person at a time," he admitted. "Our tactic will not allow us to bring him with us."

    After saying this, he started the cleanup of the battlefield. Unlike before, there were bloodstains on the ground, which were not easy to cover up, and the corpses were hidden underneath bushes. Fortunately, everything within this Vermilion Forest was red, so one had to look carefully to notice the blood that had sprayed in the wake of their small massacre.

    As soon as the corpses were hidden, Xue Wei and Hei Gou returned to the group and continued on. They were now confident in dealing with ten at a time, so they were feeling less nervous, but they did not dare let their guard down. They were still alert and filled with vignce, keeping an eye out for everything.

    If they identally ran into two groups at once, their problems would more than just double. There was also the possibility of someone not being so stunned by the sudden friendly fire, and fighting back. If that happened, the battle would drag on, and the ruckus might attract other teams over.

    There were many things to consider when they thought of how smoothly the first battle had gone, but the main reason it had gone well was luck. They had been lucky that the other nine experts had been so unprepared. There were three Sky Warriors in each team; one was mind-controlled, one was dealt with by the mind-controlled expert, and the final one was dealt with by Hei Gou.

    Still, although aware of this, they had no other option than to press forward. They found another group soon enough. And after scouting the area, ensuring that no other team was in close proximity, they sneaked up on them.

    Where the first group had been standing still in a clearing, this group was currently walking in a long line along a small, narrow animal trail. Xue Wei assessed that this team had three Sky Warriors, one at the seventhyer and two at the secondyer. It was clear which one was his target this time.

    Mind Infestation!

    The attack wasunched, and the expert at the very front of their group stopped. He had stopped very abruptly, so the others almost bumped face-first into him and each other. They were surprised by his sudden change in action.

    "Hey, did you find something?" one of them asked excitedly. However, there was no answer save for the sound of steel being unsheathed.

    The others were eager to hear what he had found, so they also drew their weapons, their eyes filled with excitement.

    Xue Wei¡¯s target was the seventhyered Sky Warrior. He was at the front of the group, while the two secondyered Sky Warriors were at the back. Xue Wei had wanted to use the one he had mind-controlled to take out the secondyered Sky Warriors, but he was aware that it was not easy.

    Instead he nned to make Hei Gou keep the other two Sky Warriors tangled while the mind-controlled Sky Warrior assisted him in whittling down their numbers, leaving the weak Earth Warriors with no chance of survival and then assist Hei Gou with the two Sky Warriors.

    He wanted to make the expert speak, but his skill with Mind Infestation was still not at a level where he could do such things. The ability needed more strength behind it to do so, and Xue Wei¡¯s power was just too low still.

    They were all puzzled. Even Hei Gou and the priestess were wondering what exactly Xue Wei was waiting for. Xue Wei could not help but pause, however. He understood he could not get his hands on the secondyer Sky Warriors, so he decided he should cause as much ruckus as he could.

    Reaching this conclusion, Xue Wei sighed and gave his order. The expert under his control instantly lifted the spear in his hand and lunged it at hispanion.

    The expert was holding a spear in his hands, and he infused it with Qi under Xue Wei¡¯s orders, and struck out with the spear, instantly impaling three of the Earth Warriors. With a powerful wave the three were thrown aside, hitting the trees and copsing on the ground devoid of all life.

    "What are you doing?!" they called out. However, the mind-controlled expert did not care and continued to advance with steady and threatening steps, his every step causing pressure to descend on the poor Earth Warriors.

    The secondyer Sky Warriors at the back knew that things were terrible, so they rushed ahead to confront the other Sky Warrior. They had not even thought about escaping. Instead, they advanced, in an attempt to save the other vigers.

    Xue Wei was somewhat surprised to see this self-sacrificing behavior, but it did not deter him from carrying out his task. His original target was the two secondyered Sky Warriors, so for them to deliver themselves was perfect.

    "Let us sneak up on them and take them out, one after another," Xue Wei muttered to Hei Gou throughpressed voice transmission.

    The other experts in the group, the Earth Warriors, were all observing the battle between the three Sky Warriors with bated breath. They knew it was a serious battle, a battle that was likely to determine their future, but they dared not flee.

    Since this was the case, Xue Wei decided to sneak up on them. They were too focused on their front to notice anything. A momentter, Xue Wei stood behind the first person, fluidly slitting the throat of one before thrusting the sword into the heart of another.

    At the same time, Hei Gou had acted. He had a set of ws on each hand, and he swiped down on two experts at once.

    The remaining two Sky Warriors noticed this far toote. They saw theirrades suddenly copse, blood spraying from their wounds.

    They yelled out and retreated towards Xue Wei and Hei Gou with the intent of attacking them first, but they were too slow.

    All four Earth Warriors had died alongside the three earlier experts killed by the mind-controlled Sky Warrior. Hei Gou had broken through to the Heavenly Warrior stage with his physical strength, and he was eager to test his strength against the two Sky Warriors. He moved like the wind, rushed up to the remaining four, and swiped his ws through each of them before they could even blink, instantly killing them

    "Hah, I killed much more than you did!" Hei Gouughed and wiped his ws clean of the blood.

    "It was no race," Xue Wei pointed out. His reply caused Hei Gou tough. "It might not have been a race or apetition, but isn¡¯t it a good idea to bepetitive?" he asked with a snicker. Xue Wei just shook his head.

    "If you want to bepetitive, why don¡¯t you go kill all the Sky Warriors in the future? We don¡¯t have a lot of time, and it seems that the guy I am controlling is rather weak considering his high rank."

    Xue Wei did not hesitate and shattered the soul of the seventhyered Sky Warrior, killing him, and quickly the two of them started the cleanup.

    Although Xue Wei could instantly kill experts like this, the strain on his soul was rather immense every time heunched the Mind Infestation skill. He had to preserve his power so that they could deal with as many groups as possible, before his soul was weakened too much.

    They became more and more proficient at killing these groups and cleaning up after themselves.

    One group after another died, but the more they killed, the more careful and cautious Xue Wei became.

    "Why?" Hei Gou asked when Xue Wei warned him the umpteenth time about being careful, fast, and not leaving behind any openings.

    "We already control the field. We have killed so many, and not many can be left. We have theplete upper hand as well," Hei Gou argued.

    Xue Wei just shook his head, "They will notice the dead soon. The fact that we have been able to clean the scenes so well up until now is going against my expectations," he exined.

    "When they realize we can deal with their groups of ten, they will regroup again. This time they might just move as one group. If they do, then we will have problems."

    "Although we have killed many so far, there are still around fifty people left. If they band together, then I don¡¯t know how to deal with them, other than depending on Tianyi."

    This reasoning seemed to make Hei Gou nod his head. A solemn expression appeared on his face. "Let us be careful," he said.

    The group continued moving on and managed to find another group of ten, which they demolished before a re suddenly lit up in the sky some distance away.

    Likest time, Xue Wei¡¯s group of three inched towards the location of the meeting ce. They wanted to listen in on what was being said and what their ns were.

 Chapter 141: Bai Tianyi

    Xue Wei, who held Tianyi, Hei Gou, and the priestess hid behind arge and wide tree trunk and observed the vigers.

    Groups appeared from all directions. Except,pared to earlier, the amount was much smaller.

    In theirst meeting, they had been more than a hundred experts, yet now they were less than forty.

    The group continued to wait for more to arrive, but their faces turned pale after ten minutes.

    "They cannot all have been killed, can they?" one of them asked with a stutter. Qing Li, who was fortunate to be still alive, also had an expression filled with horror.

    "No," he said hesitatingly, "I am sure that they have a good reason for not being here... let us move in onerge group and find them!"

    They were visibly shocked by what they saw when they did, however. The first group that they found had been wiped out; it wasn¡¯t exactly that they didn¡¯t die with perceivable wounds, but at least one person in every group seems to have died of ¡®natural¡¯ causes, which caused considerable confusion.

    They had tried to track their missingrades in the forest, temporarily putting the thought of killing Xue Wei and Hei Gou on hold. In the end, what they found were the corpses of their fellow warriors stuffed under the bushes and the dense vegetation.

    Despite the red-leaved forest acting as camouge, the scent of blood was hard to hide alongside the stickiness of blood that had stained the surfaces of the leaves.

    The truth was that Xue Wei was aware that they could not hide their tracks for long, so he had not done too great of a job at hiding their victims. He knew that one group being found meant that the others would be found soon after.

    In fact, this was what he wanted. He wanted this group of experts to feel worried, scared, and unsure of what to do.

    The more nervous they became, the easier they would be to deal with. Xue Wei wanted to deal with them all in one fell swoop.

    Xue Wei was not willing topletely wipe out the vige because the children and their mothers were a moral factor that deterred him, so he would rather get rid of whoever pursued them. Once they get rid of the men obstructing their way, they should be able to safely continue their journey.

    The women were also cultivators, so it was possible for them to sustain their families, but they would not go hunting for Xue Wei, Tianyi, and the priestess because their priority was looking after their children and not regaining the sword.

    At least, this was what Xue Wei was hoping for.

    Although Xue Wei had no issues with killing these men who were hunting them down, going back to the vige to kill the women and children left behind was something he wouldn¡¯t do.

    Although they also had looked at him with hostility, they had not actively taken part in the chase, so he would not include them in the massacre. As long as they did not pursue him, he would leave them alone.

    Xue Wei was no stranger to being pursued. He had been hunted for so long that it had be a part of who he was, but now the hunted had be the hunter.

    Back in Heping Kingdom, it had been impossible for him to fight back because the pursuers were simply too powerful, but now it was a different story.

    It was not possible for Xue Wei to turn the tables on the ones chasing him before, so he was taking out all his pent-up resentment and frustration on these vigers.

    Killing so many apart from around forty experts had already made him feel much more tranquil. The rage that had been building up inside him for a long time had started to be smaller.

    However, it was impossible for him topletely extinguish the mes of anger and rage that he felt. He still felt hatred towards the Kingdom of Heping after the death of Tie Haolong. He felt hatred towards them for chasing him as far as they had, and for not even listening to his exnations, just taking the words of the Ice Harpy for granted.

    He felt anger whenever he thought about all the times his pursuers had almost caught him, and how they had chased him through the entire kingdom, and then they had sent a wholepany to follow him into the Flowing Blood Prairie.

    Now they were in the Vermilion Forest Kingdom. And although they were away from their original pursuers, they were once again targeted by others.

    This alone had caused Xue Wei to fume with anger. Could he not go anywhere without being chased? Could he not enjoy just a bit of peace anywhere?

    He channeled all these negative emotions towards the battle against the vigers, and felt no remorse after killing them one by one.

    In his eyes, they had signed their death sentence when they had decided to chase him and his allies.

    Xue Wei and Hei Gou did not immediately follow therge group of experts. Instead, they retreated and started discussing what options they had.

    Earlier, they were up against ten-man groups, and they could tentatively handle two groups at once if the two groups only had one Sky Warrior each. But now the remaining four groups had banded together.

    There were now twelve Sky Warriors and twenty-eight Earth Warriors. Even if they gave it their all, fighting that many might be too much for them.

    "We can always try," Hei Gou suggested. "Take control of the strongest of them and have him cause a ruckus. We sneak up on them as always and kill them one after another. And then when they notice us, we go all out!"

    "We can try," Xue Wei said hesitantly. It was true that the ten-man groups had not caused them any problems so far, but four times the numbers did not mean a mere four times increase in difficulty - the two scenarios were leagues apart.

    Still, what option did they have? They had to try their best to get rid of all their pursuers.

    "Our biggest problem is if they split up," Xue Wei sighed. "As long as we don¡¯t run out of Qi, I believe we have what it takes to kill them, but if one of them flees, he can cause a lot of problem for us in the future."

    "Don¡¯t worry," the priestess stepped forward. "They will not flee. They cannot flee," she said with certainty in her voice.

    "I think it is about time for me to tell you the truth about our Thousand Mist Vige and the sword you know as Tianyi."

    Xue Wei and Hei Gou nodded their heads. It was indeed an excellent time to tell them exactly what was going on.

    Jiang Fengmian sighed while looking around. "It is a fairly long story, so let us find somewhere a little less obvious."

    Although they had hidden behind a log of a massive tree, if anyone came from any of the other directions, spotting them would be very simple.

    Since this was the case, the group started wandering the forest until they found a small cave. They entered the cave after hiding the entrance with some branches, leaves, and other nts.

    "Are you sure they will continue to search when they find no tracks of us?" Xue Wei asked. The priestess nodded her head. "They will keep looking until they die," she said with certainty.

    "A long time ago, the Vermilion Forest was a forest like any other," she began. "It was brown during winter, green during spring and summer, and orange during autumn."

    "Inside this forest, there were many viges like the Thousand Mist Vige. Some Fierce Beasts lived there, but no more than we could handle. There were no Primordial Beasts, not even in the innermost regions of the forest."

    "This was long ago. Back when there were no different continents, back when every piece ofnd was gathered together as one."

    "It was before the big battle between humans and beasts; it was when everyone lived peacefully side by side."

    "These humans and beasts all strove to be the kings and queens of the world; they fought to be the strongest of them all; and they fought relentlessly day in and day out."

    "Amongst these people, one was known as the strongest. This man was Bai Tianyi. He was so strong that no one could fight him. He was the very pinnacle of every cultivator in the world, but he was wicked."

    "He had reached the apex, but he was not satisfied. He started experimenting on his soul. Although he had many years of longevity, he wished to be an immortal. To reach this goal, he would do anything."

    "The other experts got wind of his absurd ns, but it only filled them with greed. It was said that Bai Tianyi seeded in his experiments, and they too wished for eternal life. They banded together to fight him and take the secret from him."

    "At this point, the battle broke out. However, Bai Tianyi dissipated into thin air right then, and a sword spirit appeared in the spot he had been. A spirit so overwhelming that no one could fight it. It ughtered every person who stood against it; it split the world into many parts that floated away from one another, bing the continents."

    "Blood rained from the skies; everything was painted red. But this massacre cost a lot for the sword spirit as well."

    "The spirit was exhausted and fell to the ground. Itnded in the middle of the Thousand Mist Vige, which at that time was named the Thousand Blossom Vige."

    "Three experts, who were on the verge of death, followed the sword to the vige, where they overwhelmed the sword. The sword spirit was weak after dealing so many experts, thousands of experts, deadly wounds, if not killing them already."

    "Even though they managed to suppress the sword spirit, the dying experts realized that it was impossible for them to kill it."

    "No matter what they did, the spirit was hanging on to life by the skin of its teeth. In the end, they sacrificed the rest of their lives to seal it, covered it with sealing paper talismans, and put up many formations around the Thousand Blossom Vige, turning it into the Thousand Mist Vige we know today"

    "They also implemented a failsafe: every man in the vige above the age of sixteen had to swear an oath to the heavenly tribtions that they would forever sacrifice their lives to keep the sword sealed."

    "Then they picked a young woman. This young woman was fourteen when they found her, and then they branded her with their energy. This was the key to keeping the sword controlled."

    "The energy roamed in her blood. She was not the owner of the sword, nor did she have a connection with the sword, but she hadplete control of all the seals that imprisoned it."

    "This energy had to be transferred through the bloodline, to a sessor who would continue the duty of looking after the formations," at this point, the priestess¡¯ voice trembled, but she steeled herself and continued the exnation.

    "The sessor has to absorb the energy into her soul upon bing the next priestess. There are two things this child has to do. First of all, they have to be the direct descendant, and secondly, they have to kill their own mother with their own hands to inherit the energy."

    After saying this, the woman was silent for a long time. Tears had pooled in her eyes when she was exining the process, which were now dripping down one after another. She seemed lost in thought and pained, and both Xue Wei and Hei Gou were genuinely shocked by what they heard.

    This woman had to kill her own mother to be the next priestess? It was no wonder that she wished to escape! As soon as she produced an heir, she knew that this child would have to do the same to her, living with the same pain and guilt for the rest of their lives!

 Chapter 142: Stars are Falling

    "How wicked!" Xue Wei swore when he learned the truth about the priestess and her bloodline. She nodded in response. "In the oath that the vigers swear, they also have to swear that they will make their descendants swear the same oath."

    "Once upon a time, a young man refused to take the oath and ran away, resulting in his father dying through the destruction of his soul. Since then, no one has even thought about escaping from this fate."

    "What about you?" Xue Wei asked curiously. "Don¡¯t you have to swear an oath as well? Are you not going against that oath right now?"

    Jiang Fengmian shook her head sadly. "I don¡¯t have to swear the oath. The experts who made all of this happen were certain that the vigers would be able to keep me, and my ancestors, in check."

    "It is the same with the women and the children; they are not forced to make the same oath, because the experts were certain that they would just do their best to support their spouses and friends."

    "At the same time, if they try to escape, they will be found again. Don¡¯t forget, the experts ced down quite a few formations, where the Thousand Mist Formation is the most prominent. Those who try to escape will wander through the formation for the rest of their lives and eventually perish, sooner orter."

    Xue Wei was silent and contemtive. The sword in his hand was known as an evil spirit, but he felt differently about its actions prior to the big battle.

    The only thing this sword wanted was to achieve immortality. As to how it went from being an expert at the apex to a sword spirit, Xue Wei was unsure, but he was confident it had something to do with the experiments made by Bai Tianyi.

    These other experts had wanted to acquire his methods and resorted to such ruthless means to ensure that he would never again be free. It was apparent to Xue Wei who the evil ones were, on a personal level.

    Xue Wei and Tianyi¡¯s minds were connected after establishing their soul contract, so the former could vaguely understand thetter¡¯s mindset. The sword spirit could sense not only Xue Wei¡¯s need for answers, but also a hatred towards the apex experts that had caused all of this to happen to begin with.

    Not because he felt sorry for the sword, but because generations of vigers had been treated as ves.

    "Don¡¯t think like that!" Tianyi suddenly said with a stern voice. "Do not feel sorry for them. They are our targets. If you want to do them a favor, then kill them! Then their descendants will finally be free, and they can once again live a life of freedom."

    "The ones who have already taken the oath have no chance of ever tasting freedom again. The best we can do is exterminate them to the veryst person."

    Tianyi was harsh, but Xue Wei understood that he was correct. If they allowed just one person to return to the vige, then the next generation would also be forced into taking the oath and the cycle would remain unbroken.

    Xue Wei nodded his head. His heart, which had wavered slightly, was now firm again, and his eyes were narrowed with decisiveness as he returned to the task at hand.

    Hei Gou had no thoughts of pity towards the vigers. He was a beast, and he did not care for others than himself and his dear ones.

    Xue Wei did not feel that Hei Gou was inhuman. He was just following his nature, and it was not possible to change his views on things, so why even bother trying?

    "I will mind control the strongest person in the group and make him cause as much ruckus as possible," Xue Wei briefed the others on their first move. "I leave all the Sky Warriors to you. Don¡¯t let them rush over and focus me," Xue Wei warned Hei Gou.

    "I will try to deal with all the Earth Warriors, but since I have quite a few more experts to deal with than you,e to assist me as soon as you can!"

    They had no in-depth n. Their only hope was to take the oath-sworn warriors from the vige by surprise with internal turmoil and attack them with the element of surprise, blitzing through their numbers .

    Xue Wei and Hei Gou left the priestess at a safe location inside a cave nearby before they snuck up to therge group of experts. The priestess was not someone they wished to risk in the free-for-all that the battle would turn intoter on.

    It did not take them long to locate the big group. They were around forty experts, so they moved quite slowly. Especially since they were focusing on their surroundings to locate Xue Wei and Hei Gou.

    They saw no signs of their two targets, but what they did find was one corpse after another. Now that they were turning the forest upside down, every single body was being discovered.

    Some of them had already been partially eaten by wild beasts, but most were fresh with wounds all over and blood still about to coagte.

    These experts from the vige knew that what they were doing was suicide. They had already acknowledged that if they moved together, the sword could annihte them through one of its secrets, but moving alone would also lead them to their deaths.

    Since this was the case, they decided to gamble on moving together, but all of them had long since given up on actually winning this battle.

    Their eyes were listless, and their moods became more and more depressed with each corpse they found.

    It was currently night, and the Vermilion Forest had a dark and menacing appearance.

    Therge group of experts stopped in their tracks, set up a makeshift camp, and started to eat their rations. But none of them spoke, each and every one in deep thought.

    Xue Wei and Hei Gou used the cover of the darkness to arrive next to the group. They were so close that one would be able to find them instantly if it had been during the day.

    That¡¯s when theyunched their attacks! Mind Infestation was the first skill Xue Wei used. He targeted a ninthyer Sky Warrior who started running rampant in the middle of the group, and then he drew Tianyi and slipped into the fray.

    This battle was chaotic. As soon as the Sky Warrior had gone mad, the rest ran at him to try and calm him down, but at the same time Xue Wei and Hei Gou appeared from behind them.

    Xue Wei had not had enough time to understand the Windwolf Sword sh fully, so he could only use the closebat attacks he already knew.

    Azure Light Finger was unleashed at full power towards a fleeing Earth Warrior.

    As the beam continued on its trajectory towards its target, Xue Wei immediately turned to swing Tianyi at another Earth Warrior. Both died instantly, at the same time. But by now, the warriors were aware that it was an ambush, so their eyes narrowed as they grasped their weapons with coldposure.

    Although they had been listless from staring death in the eyes, the sight of Tianyi gave them hope and invigorated them, so they pounced at Xue Wei, its wielder.

    Hei Gou was dealing with the Sky Warriors, but he spent most of his time running around. These experts were not dumb either; they were aware that they were not the ck dog¡¯s opponent, but it was different with Xue Wei.

    Xue Wei was also the one who held Tianyi in his hands, so in their eyes, Hei Gou was nothing more than an annoying fly that continued to harass them.

    In an attempt to get Tianyi back, these Sky Warriors selected three of their strongest to fight it out against Hei Gou and the controlled expert.

    The rest instantly turned on their feet and rushed towards Xue Wei, who was already swamped with Earth Warriors.

    These Earth Warriors were easy to kill for someone who possessed the strength to kill a Sky Warrior, but it was different when they came at him like a flood, turning it into a battle of attrition.

    Xue Wei conserved as much Qi as he could, sending shes out with the sword instead, but even so, a bit of Qi was still needed to efficiently wield the sword, coating and infusing it. Only then would he be strong enough to cause damage to these experts.

    Tianyi continued to absorb souls. Every time someone died, their soul would be consumed by Tianyi. Considering their depressing lives, this was an even more depressing end, but Xue Wei did not stop him.

    These vigers had always treated Tianyi with disgust, hatred, and disdain. Now it was his turn to show them just how powerful he was. Although it was not their fault, these experts had ultimately willingly continued the tradition of making their descendants swear the oath just to save their own hide.

    As the Sky Warriors reached Xue Wei, the young man had no other option than to run for his life. He could not run far away, but he could still maneuver around the battlefield and take out Earth Warriors.

    Forbidden Rush!

    The movement technique let Xue Wei dance around the battlefield like a leaf in the midst of a hurricane. He was not fleeing aimlessly but aiming for the ces where he could find an Earth Warrior, and then a bright sword light would flutter before yet another expert would fall.

    Unfortunately, these Sky Warriors did not give up. They soon understood his ns and tried taking precautions. They started guessing where Xue Wei would show up next and hurried there to try and guard theirpatriots, returning fire when possible.

    Two of the Sky Warriors had made the correct judgment, and the moment Xue Wei materialized in front of them, they swung out their weapons, giving him two wounds; one was a sh on his chest, the other was a stab on his arm.

    Blood flowed, and the battle became even more chaotic. Minor wounds continued to riddle Xue Wei¡¯s body, but he did not give up and continued rushing for the Earth Warriors.

    Eventually, only a few of the Earth Warriors remained, each guarded by a Sky Warrior. That was when Xue Wei¡¯s rampage ended, leaving him clueless as to his next move. He came to a standstill, and both sides observed the other, spying for an opportunity to make the first move.

    "Let me take over!" Tianyi¡¯s voice resounded in Xue Wei¡¯s mind. "I could not handle their numbers initially because it would exhaust the rest of my remaining soul energy, but these few ones should be within my ability!"

    Having said this, the sword moved on its own, taking flight. It expanded in size as if it was made from Qi, and then it sent out four massive light beams towards four of the Sky Warriors.

    The speed of these light beams was so fast that even Xue Wei had trouble seeing them, and then they collided with the Sky Warriors.

    One of them had managed to lift his sword to try and block it. But he was incapable of doing so, his sword was cut through like a hot knife through butter, ending his life the instant after.

    The other three were the same. They died instantly. When the dead Sky Warriors started copsing to the ground, Xue Wei used the Forbidden Rush to swiftly dispatch the Earth Warriors that had lost their guards.

    Shattering Mountain Palm!

    Arcane Fist!

    Kick of Forgotten Kings!

    Azure Light Finger!

    Four attacks were used in a row, all of which were each aimed at one of the surviving Earth Warriors, killing them in quick session.

    Tianyi consumed his soul energy unreservedly, sending out more attacks to eradicate the rest of the experts.

    Every single person involved in this battle was unaware of it, but something happened in the outside world at the same time as Tianyi had begun unleashing his power

    Stars were falling. From every inch of sky above.

 Chapter 143: Twelve Great Families

    "Father, look at the sky!" a child cried out while looking out of the window. The scene this child saw was being repeated an unknown amount of times throughout the entire world.

    In the beginning, one star had started falling from the sky, but after a brief moment, more and more stars fell from the heavens, painting the entire night sky with beams of light as they descended towards the ground.

    There were millions of stars in the skies, but that night, over half of them began copsing and descending towards the earth.

    Many of these stars burned up before they hit the ground, extinguished like dying lights in the sky, but a fewnded with massive explosions on all the different continents.

    If anyone was not awake at this point, the event certainly woke them. This phenomenon sent ripples of shock throughout the world; something like this had never before happened before, so many started making divinations about it.

    Some were certain that this was a good omen that would spell the prosperity of their race.

    Others were certain that a genius unlike any other had been born in the world, that the stars had disyed theirplete and utter support for this genius by descending to the ground and weing his arrival.

    Many different theories were being spread all over the different continents, but not a single person in the Vermilion Forest Kingdom noticed anything.

    The phenomenon of falling stars began the moment the sword had swelled in size to kill off their remaining enemies, and ended the moment it returned to its normal appearance.

    None of the people present had noticed anything or felt any changes, but this was not the case for the rest of the world.

    In the center of the Chang¡¯an continent, Lan sat outside a small shabby cabin located inside a luxurious yard within his mansion. Next to the cabin, argeke flowed out of his mansion, which bordered the entire western side of the city. However, there was no sign of life within a kilometer radius of his mansion, indicating that the entirety of this area belonged to him, cut off from the rest of the city. Theke seemed to be the reason that the city had grown here in the first ce, one and beginning from the riverbank before the cabin. The cabin itself seemed as if it had existed for a very, very long time in the same old spot. Perhaps it was older than even the city itself.

    He had two cups in front of him, yet he was using only one of them, and no other guest was present.

    Lan seemed to be in deep thought when a sigh escaped his lips. He looked into the sky and saw the first shooting star, after which the other stars started to fall rapidly.

    His brows furrowed and his eyes focused. He lifted his hand and emptied the cup of wine he had in front of him and closed his eyes.

    As to what he was doing, no one would know, yet moments afterughter rang through the entire courtyard.

    "To think that that old Bai Tianyi has banded together with youngster Wei!" he said,ughing. "I guess this means that only amusing things will happen in the future! I cannot wait to see it; I had even forgotten everything about old Tianyi. To think that fate has such unusual changes..."

    He wasughing to himself while pouring another cup of wine, which he quickly emptied with a swig.

    "I wonder how the descendants of those old goats will take this?" he wondered before he leaned back and continued to enjoy his wine.

    At another ce in the center of the continent was the Ouyang Family. The Ouyang Family was one of the oldest families on the entire continent; their history was ancient, dating back to when they were ves to the primordial beasts, where the Ouyang family existed as one of the few families that fought against the Primordial Beasts.

    They went through the annals of history with a spotless reputation, and their younger generations were always ranked as the true geniuses of the younger generations of the entire continent.

    The Ouyang Family specialized in zithers, guqins, brushes, fans, and other artistic items for weapons. They were known to be elegant and refined, beautiful and outstanding.

    It was precisely in this Ouyang Family that the Elders had scrambled to meet up, all of them wearing frightened expressions on their faces.

    "It happened!" one of them eximed with shock. The others gave him a condemning look. It was apparently not his ce to say so.

    Understanding this, he bowed in apology and looked at the family patriarch, who was sitting still with closed eyes and his hands cupped in front of him.

    When the elders finally turned silent, he opened his eyes, and instantly it was as if a heavy pressure had covered all of them.

    "Our ancestor told us that our greatest enemy, the sword spirit Bai Tianyi, had been dealt with by them. But if one day the stars are falling, then it means that this vile spirit has been freed and ising for revenge," he said thoughtfully.

    "The other eleven great families are on the other continents, so they cannote right away to help us deal with Bai Tianyi."

    "We do not know who had the power to unleash him, nor do we know the current situation or exact location of the sword spirit, as the information has been lost throughout history, but we know that he was here on this continent."

    "This means that we are the vanguard of the twelve great families in the task of apprehending the immortal sword spirit."

    "I know that many of the other great families wish to subdue this vile sword and make it be a ve to their whims, but this sword is regarded as a vile and disgusting creature that will not pause at anything for its own benefit."

    "It will ughter innocents and humans as well as beasts. Such mentality cannot be allowed to exist in our world; we have to eradicate itpletely!"

    "We will send out two Sky Knights of the fifthyer and give the same instructions to all of our younger generations. If they find a person with a talking sword, then they are to report back and kill them as soon as they can!"

    "The individual who has decided to work with such a vile creature can only be a wicked person as well."

    "In fact, send someone to Prophet Lan. He might be able to point us towards the right direction!"

    On the other continents, the other families were discussing the same thing. Who should they send to pursue the sword spirit Bai Tianyi?

    In the end, every family sent a group of Sky Knights alongside a handful of their younger generation geniuses.

    Things were exactly as the Ouyang Patriarch had expected. Apart from him, only one other family wished to eradicate the sword; the rest wanted to take control of it.

    The truth was only revealed to a few select families. The majority of the human civilizations and all the societies of Primordial Beasts were unaware of what had happened, yet the falling stars phenomenon had still shocked everyst one of them.

    In the Vermilion Forest, the remaining people of the vige had all been overwhelmed and killed.

    This time, Xue Wei and Hei Gou did nothing to clear the field. The corpses were left untouched, left to the elements. They had already gotten all they needed.

    Rushing back to the cave, they found Jiang Fengmian waiting for them. She was still as emotionless as ever, but if one looked carefully, then they could see her fists being clenched tightly into fists.

    "We need to clean ourselves," Xue Wei pointed out. Their clothes and bodies were stained with blood from head to toe, not only from themselves but also from their enemies. They had to get rid of it before they could emerge from the depths of the Vermilion Forest.

    Having said this, they found a small stream where they cleaned themselves. Xue Wei and Hei Gou changed their clothes and threw out the old ones. Had they just been bloodied, then they could have washed them, but they had also received injuries which had caused gaping holes to appear on their clothes.

    "To be honest, you are quite weak," Tianyi sighed. "Your foundation is strong, but you don¡¯t have a lot of strength. Instead of wasting too much time, why don¡¯t you start cultivating properly?"

    Xue Wei smiled wryly, "It is not that I don¡¯t want to," heined, "but no matter where I have gone, I have been chased. I need to find some time to cultivate."

    "Are you telling me that you aren¡¯t using the pressure given by the ones chasing you to break through?" Tianyi was shocked. Xue Wei was confused.

    "Cultivation is by sitting still, entering a meditative state and rotating the Qi in my body, refining it and slowly merging it with my body to be my own. How can I do this while running?"

    "Your body can do it unconsciously, you don¡¯t need a meditative state to do that, nor do you need to spend your energy on it. Every step you take can be used to cultivate."

    Xue Wei was suddenly very interested. "How?" he asked curiously. If he could cultivate with every step he took, would he still be stuck as an Earth Warrior?

    "First, show me your cultivation technique," Tianyi said. Xue Wei did just that.

    "Woah!" Tianyi sounded astonished. "This is... well, nevermind."

    He had lost his cool for a moment, but when he realized this, he quickly returned to his stoic and holier-than-thou personality. However, deep inside he was shocked. And since Xue Wei and he had a connection, how could Xue Wei not sense these real emotions?

    "Well, you just keep rotating the Azure Dragon Scripture in your body while walking, if you do it for long enough, it will be like a habit where your body will do it by itself even when you do other stuff. At the start, it does require some effort, but that is repaid thousandfoldter on."

    Xue Wei did not waste any time and attempted it. In the end, Hei Gou ended up leading the group on the way out of the Vermilion Forest, while Xue Wei was in deep thought, trying to focus on simultaneously walking and practicing the Azure Dragon Scripture.

    It took them a week to get away from all the formations. During this time, no one came to look for them. It seemed that the experts of the Thousand Mist Vige had all died, and the women were not intent on taking revenge.

    When the women in the Thousand Mist Vige realized what had happened, their eyes turned red with grief and hatred. They honestly hated Xue Wei and Hei Gou to the core, but at the same time, they did not try to gain vengeance.

    "This is our new chance," someone said in the end, sighing. "We can be a proper vige, and our children will no longer have such a bleak future. Let us bury our dead ones and grieve for them, but then we will have to move on and flourish! We will be what we once were, a typical vige!"

    The one who spoke was Qing Li¡¯s wife. Tears were streaming from her eyes, and she was holding onto two children who were sobbing loudly from the loss of their father, but her voice did not tremble, and her eyes were firm and unyielding.

    "Let us burn down the temple!" someone eximed. "Let us burn it to the ground and never again see it!" another added.

    Like this, the Thousand Mist Vige turned back into the Thousand Blossom Vige, and it flourished for a long time toe. The temple had been burnt down, and with it went all their sorrow, anger and unhappiness.

    Meanwhile, Xue Wei was getting somewhat proficient at using the Azure Dragon Scripture while walking. At the start, he had walked into trees, stumbled over roots, and slipped on the leaves. Now he could keep an eye around him while doing it, and he was able to split his mind into two. One part was focused on cultivating, the other allowed him to keep an eye on their surroundings while engaging in idle conversation with Hei Gou and Jiang Fengmian.

 Chapter 144: Freedom

    Hei Gou was used to Xue Wei leading the way for the two of them, but this time things were different. Xue Wei was utterly obsessed with making his body get used to passively using the Azure Dragon Scripture¡¯s Qi flows. The group had left the Vermilion Forest and were walking on the roads that ran through the Vermilion Forest Kingdom.

    "Have you never wondered why Primordial Beasts are so strong?" Tianyi asked. Xue Wei wondered for a bit before he understood the crux of the problem.

    Primordial Beasts were stronger than humans of the same age. Even Hei Gou, who was considered a very average beast, had strength equivalent to a Sky Warrior after only five years of cultivation. This alone was a shocking feat, but for Primordial Beasts, it was indeed nothing.

    "They can cultivate constantly. After their core is created, they will be able to cultivate at any moment in time ¨C even in their sleep, their bodies cultivate without conscious input."

    "It is also possible for humans to imitate this, but it requires diligent practice. That is your goal!"

    Tianyi was ced in a very in leather scabbard by Xue Wei¡¯s waist. It looked very ordinary and even a bit shabby, but Tianyi¡¯s voice continued to echo in Xue Wei¡¯s head.

    The priestess and Hei Gou were chatting with one another, though they were unsure of what exactly they should talk about, so their conversation was about simple things such as the weather or the dusty road. Even a discussion about a capital neither had seen before was brought up to avoid ufortable silence.

    Xue Wei waspletely ignorant of the difort his twopanions were feeling. He was getting better and better at making his body refine the Qi on its own, but he still needed some more time to fully internalize it.

    As they walked down the dusty road, they were the targets of quite a few bandit groups, but none of them could truly pose any threat to the trio.

    The priestess had never before cultivated, as she had not been allowed to cultivate by the vigers out of fear for her getting too strong, so she was no help and spent most of her time on the sidelines providing either aid orpliment every time they were done with a fight

    The group stopped in a few viges along the way, and stayed in a few inns to cleanse themselves and get a proper night of rest every once in a while. Although they did not have much money, they could get by with what they salvaged after every encounter with a group of bandits.

    Although they were far from being considered wealthy, they had enough money to stay a few nights at the inns, and even more so buy a few simple meals.

    The priestess had not taken anything with her from the temple in the Thousand Mist Vige. Although she had many gold and silver coins she had forgotten them in the rush to leave. She also owned ornaments that were made from gold, jade, and gemstones, but it would be far too unhandy to bring those with her since she did not have a storage ring or spatial treasure of some kind. In the end it would be troublesome to return to the vige for the coins and thus she was incredibly poor.

    It had also been impossible for Xue Wei and Hei Gou to take any of the weapons and items from the vigers they had killed, and since the vigers did not use coins to sustain their vige, they had not found any valuables either. All they had to live off were the coins they had taken from bandits that they had encountered on the way to the Vermilion Forest.

    While they weren¡¯t wealthy enough to purchase medicinal nts or pills to aid them in cultivation, they could at least afford to livefortably

    Day after day went by on the road. They would set out during the morning and look for a ce to rest during the night. Sometimes, they would stay in an inn, in a town, or a vige if they came across one, but many a time they had to camp overnight under the moonlight in the Vermilion Forest.

    As they traveled, Xue Wei became increasingly proficient at his new cultivation method. In fact, it came almost naturally to him, and even Tianyi praised him for that.

    "When I was trying to learn it, it took me a full five years to reach the point you are at now! You are a natural at this!" the sword praised him. "You¡¯re almost as good as a Primordial Beast at it already. I don¡¯t know how you did it, but it is indeed a feat you can be proud about!"

    As Xue Wei got better and better, he started to notice the tense and awkward atmosphere between Hei Gou and Jiang Fengmian.

    "So, miss Jiang, what are your ns when you reach the capital?" Xue Wei asked in an attempt to elevate the mood.

    "I intend to join a temple," she said with certainty in her voice. "I wish to be a real priestess and take care of those in need. I know that I am now too old to begin cultivating, so my worth on the battlefield is useless."

    "But there should be temples in the capital, considering the size of the faction backing up the diviners, priests, and monks across the entire continent. They ought to have branches in every kingdom. So if I join them, I might be able to do something good."

    "My entire life has been about harming others. I killed my mother, and I destroyed the future of many men in the vige. It is time that I atone for these sins."

    Her voice was low but filled with a determination so unwavering that it surprised Xue Wei.

    He knew that she had decided to end the curse on the vigers. Although she had been hated by these vigers day in and day out, she still felt guilty for their deaths and wished to repent.

    It was true that it was partly her fault for allowing Xue Wei and Hei Gou to escape, but truthfully, the only other option was to have her be a cold corpse in the forest somewhere alongside the vigers.

    "A priestess, huh?" Hei Gou was the first one to speak. He nodded his head. "You will make a good priestess. You do care about others enough."

    Xue Wei was surprised to hear thating from Hei Gou. Had these two really gotten to know each other so much that he could tell her personality from this alone?

    Jiang Fengmian stopped in her tracks and looked at Xue Wei and Hei Gou. Her usually stoic and expressionless face was suddenly filled with a gentle smile, and a few tears were in her eyes.

    "I, Jiang Fengmian, swear that I shall never mention the matters about Bai Tianyi, Xue Wei, or Hei Gou to anyone. Should I fail to keep this oath, let the Nine Heavenly Tribtions smite me down and destroy my soul forever!"

    Xue Wei and Hei Gou had stopped and were looking at her with confusion, yet when they heard her vow, their eyes widened in surprise.

    "How fierce!" Xue Wei could not help but grin. "No hesitation!" Hei Gou said with praise as well.

    "She is a woman of character," Tianyi agreed. The sword strangely gave off a vibe someone nodding their head would give you.

    "I am forever grateful to you," Jiang Fengmian said. "You took me from hell and are giving me the option of a new future. When you should have questioned whether or not I would bring you into a trap, you trusted me. When we fled, Hei Gou showed me his true form with no hesitation."

    "I do not care about race; I do not care about the world. All that matters to me is to live a peaceful life where I can tend to other poor and unfortunate souls. Thanks to you, I have the chance to do so now. The least I can do is show my conviction. It would be bad if I could not even do this little bit!"

    Jiang Fengmian had never been one to speak a lot, but now the floodgates had opened, alongside the tears that trickled down her cheeks.

    "A new future..." she muttered to herself and looked up into the clear blue sky above her. "No longer captive and forced to make people suffer. This is freedom!"

    Her voice was so loud, her demeanor like a tormented person finally finding freedom. As if she had been captured in a dark room for a long time and finally saw the sky again.

    Xue Wei and Hei Gou could easily understand her feelings. Although their past was not as tragic as hers, they too had experienced their share of unfair treatment, and they also felt that they had finally found freedom. They felt that their steps were lighter, and together the trio started walking again towards the capital.

    The group was no longer awkward. There wasughter amongst them, and they spoke about their past. Since the priestess had sworn never to mention Xue Wei and Hei Gou to anyone, the two decided to tell her about their history, which shocked her.

    First, she was indignant, but then she understood that there was nothing she could do. She was just too weak. She was only one woman, and she was not even a cultivator, but she felt sorry for them, who had gone through such horrid experiences, being forced to flee to a low ranked country to find a bit of peace of mind ¨C and that in vain, as well.

    The three became friends on the road. They shared everything with each other, and Jiang Fengmian was very energetic. As she said, they were the first friends she had ever made.

    Together on the road, four weeks went by as their journey continued. During this time, Xue Wei, who was now cultivating every moment of the day, broke through to the Sky Warrior rank at record speed.

    He reached the firstyer of the Sky Warrior rank the day before they arrived at the capital. His face was filled with a dumb smile, but both Jiang Fengmian and Hei Gou knew why.

    Xue Wei had struggled to cultivate before. But now it was going so rapidly that he himself could not catch up. He feared that the quality of his Qi would drop, but that could not be further from the truth. The purity remained unchanged, and his cultivation base grew even when he slept.

    This sudden change in his efficiency of Qi refinement boosted his cultivation base through multiple breakthroughs, and it was also because of his newfound cultivation method that he was not obstructed when he crossed over from the Earth Warrior realm into the firstyer of the Sky Warrior rank.

    That morning, the group woke up in a small suburban vige next to the capital. They had arrivedte afternoon the day before, but they decided to spend a night in the vige and set out the next morning instead of rushing to the capital.

    They had heard much gossip while traveling. The most prevalent topic were the falling stars. Although they were quite curious about it, Xue Wei, Hei Gou, and Jiang Fengmian quickly figured out that it had happened when they were in the Vermilion Forest, and neither of the three thought it had anything to do with them so they did not pay too much attention to it.

    What they did pay attention to were the rumors from the Flowing Blood Prairie and the Heping Kingdom about a newly emerged Primordial Beast called The Crimson Devil.

    Unfortunately, news about the Crimson Devil had now died out. It had been exciting some weeks or months prior, but now that he had been missing for some time, the rumor faded away into obscurity.

    Xue Wei and Hei Gou did not intend to attract attention, so they did not ask questions about the topic either.

    Noticing that they could get no vital information from this ce, they went back to their lodgings.

    The following day, the three gathered in the restaurant where they had some congee before they checked out, paid their fee, and moved towards the capital. It was time for them to deliver Jiang Fengmian to the temple so that she could begin her new life.

 Chapter 145: A Shabby Temple

    Xue Wei had previously been in the capital of the Heping Kingdom, so he was familiar with the size and scale of such a famous city - it was in no way a small amount ofnd.

    But Hei Gou and Jiang Fengmian had only been to smaller cities, so when they saw the towering wall that surrounded the town, they could not help but gape in astonishment.

    Hei Gou and Xue Wei had avoided the major cities like the gue for a long time now, but that was because they had been chased. They were now in much better condition, and they knew that there was a very little chance of anyone recognizing them in this kingdom.

    Jiang Fengmian was stunned by the sheer size. She too had only seen smaller viges and towns throughout their journey, and although thest town they rested in was by no means small, it was dwarfed by the bustling city in front of them.

    The walls were not made from wood but from stones that had been stacked on top of one another until they were so tall that one could not see past it. There was a massive gate in front of them. This gate was so tall that even if ten Hei Gou¡¯s stood on each other¡¯s shoulders, they would still be unable to reach the top.

    Guards were both patrolling on top of the walls and clustered together at the entrances to the city.

    The caravans and merchants had to pay a fee to enter the city for their business, so there was a long line of people who were trying to enter.

    Whereas the merchants had to pay, themoners could freely enter as they pleased, but they still had to wait for their turn in the line.

    Xue Wei had seen something simr in the capital of the Kingdom of Heping.

    "Let us hope that the temple is not located within the inner city," he said with a sigh. Although they had some coins, it was likely to cost a whole silver per person to enter the inner city, which would financially stretch them.

    They patiently waited in line while discussing what they had seen so far and were looking forward to seeing. Hei Gou and Jiang Fengmian were eagerly debating how marvelous they thought the city to be, and how it was so different from where they came from.

    The surrounding travelers could not help but smirk slightly while thinking of them as country bumpkins, but a closer look made them notice the age and strength of the two youngsters apanying the powerless woman.

    Although Jiang Fengmian did not know how to cultivate and was rtively weak, neither Xue Wei nor Hei Gou were weak, both of them being Sky Warriors.

    Their age also seemed to be young, so young that one would expect them to still be in the army, but here they were, free as a bird wandering the capital.

    Many were curious, but no one thought that they were deserters. Deserters would never wander into the capital this brazenly, so they were likely to be on leave.

    Another thing that drew attention to their group was Jiang Fengmian. She was a beauty, but more than that, there was not a shred of spiritual energying from her. A youngster that had not cultivated was truly shocking. Even women were taught how to cultivate, but this woman had no Qi within her body.

    The trio moved forward in the dense crowds of citizens. They aimed to find out where the temple was located, but none of them knew where to look.

    Was it in the outer city where they were located, or was it in the inner city where they had to pay an entry fee?

    After walking for some time, they reached a marketce where many carriages were parked, selling their wares from their stalls.

    "Excuse me," Xue Wei stopped a child that was running around and passed him five copper coins. Although most adults would frown at this low amount of money, a child would be excited as they could spend the money on sweets.

    "Can you tell me the way to the temple?" Xue Wei continued. The child clutched the coins in his hands and nodded his head like a chicken eating grains.

    "It is in the Westward District of the Outer City," the child said hurriedly, afraid that the adults would take the coins back if he were not fast enough.

    "Right now, you are in the Southern District, so you head west, and you¡¯ll find an area where the temple is located! But be careful, the temple is located in a rather rough neighborhood!"

    Having said this, the child sped away with his copper coins, not saying anything else. Xue Wei could not help but chuckle. To a child in the capital, five copper coins should not be a lot, but it seemed that it was a fortune to this child.

    "A rough neighborhood?" Jiang Fengmian was frowning. "I thought the temple would be flourishing and helping all the poor and unfortunate souls. Why would it be located in a rough area?"

    "It is exactly because of that that it is a rough neighborhood," Xue Wei exined. "The temple is helping the poor and the homeless, giving them food and shelter, causing more and more poor and homeless to converge to that area."

    "Since many of the outcasts appear in one area, it will be ratherwless as they will do anything to get their hands on some money to survive yet another day."

    Jiang Fengmian finally seemed to understand that her benevolent intentions also included treading on a path of danger.

    She would have to help those in need, but not everyone in need was going to ept their lot in life and would instead fight to change their destiny.

    She might get caught in between; she might even get killed. Still, Xue Wei could see that her eyes pooled with determination and her hands clenched into fists despite her initial shock.

    Seeing this, Xue Wei nodded his head. They continued towards the western district of the city.

    The southern area where they were was filled with marketces and shops. It was a prosperous ce with well-maintained buildings and beautiful parks.

    The further west they went, the less pristine the buildings became. Fewer and fewer shops were present, and all they found were smaller food stalls, restaurants, and drinking houses.

    The area changed from being a major attraction to bing a residential area. It was clear that the residents around here were on the lower end of the middle ss, and the further west they went the more this status dropped.

    Many of the houses looked so shabby that they might even copse at the first sign of wind.

    The houses were pretty much old, run-down shacks. They could never be considered proper homes, and they were all packed together so tightly that only one main road led forward, the rest were narrow alleyways reeked of a repugnant smell.

    Sometimes, a waft of blood drifted by, which made Jiang Fengmian¡¯s expression turn grim. Hei Gou and Xue Wei also slowed their advance and kept an eye on every single corner of the street.

    There were many shady spots in this area. There was almost no sunshine that shone down on the road, and all the alleyways were ck from the shadows of the houses and the shacks beside them.

    Sometimes, they could sense movement within these shadows, but they had yet to see someone actually approach them.

    People were moving on the road, but the majority of them wore ragged clothes with holes everywhere that had not even been patched up.

    Children moved in groups with vignt eyes. They came from the same direction as Xue Wei and his two friends, clearly returning from a session of pickpocketing and stealing in the southern district of the city.

    They walked further and further into the grim atmosphere of the western district. Xue Wei and Hei Gou walked on either side of Jiang Fengmian and were incredibly close, so close that their shoulders almost touched, but Jiang Fengmian did not mind this contrary to their beliefs. In fact, the two of them were the reason that she still felt somewhat safe. She had seen what they had been capable of in the Vermilion Forest, and now their strength made her feel secure.

    Together, the three ventured deeper into this darkness, unsure of what exactly they were looking for. What did this temple they were looking for look like?

    They guessed that it was a building bigger than the shabby shacks that they were walking past, but the boy from earlier had not told them anything about its appearance.

    They made it deep into the western area before they found a building that might be the one they were looking for.

    When one thought about a temple, they would think about a big magnificent building with a stunning, grand appearance, but this was more like a massive haunted house.

    The majestic building that it had once been was nowhere to be seen. In its prime, it would indeed have been a magnificent sight to behold, but now things had changed.

    The previously white and beautiful exterior was now cracked; the marble it had been made from was no longer smooth and beautiful, and it was covered in ayer of dust.

    Where there had been jade carvings in the walls, there were now holes and fissures. Evidently, these had been stolen long ago.

    There was nothing on the temple that could decorate it. The only things left were the barren walls and the staircase leading up into the temple itself.

    The trio looked at this staircase, which seemed to be worn down over multiple years. It was the only shiny area of the temple from the many feet that had traversed these steps time and time again.

    In fact, these steps were somewhat slippery when the group stepped onto them, but they eventually made their way up the stairs and got a look at the insides of the temple itself.

    The sight that met them was arge hall, a hall much more extensive than they had expected. From the size, one could quickly determine that this had once been a solemnly beautiful ce to perform ceremonies and hold sermons.

    Unfortunately, that was a time of the past; now it was dusty and dirty. There was one altar with candlelight, but the rest of the temple was shrouded in shadows.

    Although it was a temple and one would expect it to be filled with monks, priests, and priestesses, there was no living being inside the hall apart from the trio.

    There was not even any of the poor paying their respects or praying for a better future. There was no one at all.

    Xue Wei went towards the altar where there was candlelight. He felt that this was the most important ce in the entire temple since someone had bothered to light the candles around it, but he could not understand what the point was since no one was here to see it.

    He started searching the temple, but he could find no one, and no one came out to greet them. It was not before Xue Wei started blowing out the candles that some movement appeared within the temple.

    A bald figure appeared. This was undoubtedly a monk; his head was shaven clean. He wore a set of ck clothes, which were many times better than the clothes of the other Western District citizens despite the signs of long-term wear.

    When looking at him, Xue Wei and Hei Gou could not determine his strength, but a heavy pressure was pushing down on them, telling them that this was an expert of a much higher rank.

    "What are you doing?!" the monk eximed, his voice filled with annoyance. "This is not a ce to act so impudently, this is a temple! And although it is quite shabby, it is still backed by a massive faction!"

    "We are not here to cause problems, senior." Jiang Fengmian was the first one to step out and bow to the monk, her hands cupped.

    "I am here because I wish to join the temple. I want to be a priestess who helps alleviate the pain of those in the lowestyers of society."

 Chapter 146: A Strong Monk

    "You want to be a priestess?" The monk was stunned when he heard Jiang Fengmian¡¯s words. But then his eyes glistened, and a smile appeared on his lips!

    "Great!" he eximed. "We were short on manpower already. No one from this damnable kingdom wants to join us, and the people from the headquarters are not keen on sending people to our branch due to this ce¡¯s backwater location at the outskirts of the continent."

    "I could easily use a beautiful angel like you to raise the status of our temple once more," he snickered. "I might not be the cleanest or easiest to deal with," he began, "but I can swear that as long as you work here, no one will dare toy their hands on you!"

    "This is a poor temple though, all we can offer is food and shelter. There is no sry; we are monks and priests, after all. We are not permitted to be tempted by worldly objects and material wealth."

    "We get a certain amount of donations every month from the Vermilion Forest Kingdom¡¯s royal family itself, but all of this money goes mostly into buying food and clothes for the poor and unfortunate."

    The monk, who had been annoyed when Xue Wei had put out the candlelights, was now so excited that spittled flew from his mouth as he spoke, and his eyes were shining as if he had seen a real angel.

    This monk was actually not very old. He was a martial artist, and thus his lifespan was much longer than a mortal. He seemed to be around thete twenties, but his real age could easily be much more.

    "May I ask a sensitive question?" Xue Wei finally decided to ask a few questions. "I do not wish to be rude, but how do you protect the temple from robberies and evildoers?"

    This was something he genuinely wanted to know the answer to. From traveling together with Jiang Fengmian thus far, he hade to consider her a true friend. After hearing her story, he pitied her greatly. He wanted her to have a bright future. He wanted her to no longer encounter any hardship.

    If she were going to be in danger, then he would do anything in his power to persuade her not to walk down this path.

    "Rob the temple?" The monk was stunned, but then he started guffawing as if he had heard the biggest joke in the world.

    "Kid, don¡¯t worry. These people might be poor, and they might be desperate, but they are not suicidal," he said with a shake of his head.

    "I am the man in charge of this temple, and I happen to be the strongest expert in the kingdom. If they were to go against me, I would teach them a lesson. I might be a monk, but even monks can fight ¨C and quite possibly take a life ¨C if the situation calls for it."

    Xue Wei looked at the monk with surprise. This monk was the strongest expert in the entire Vermilion Forest Kingdom? If he was, then he was definitely a Heavenly Warrior, or perhaps a Knight of some sort. Although the Vermilion Forest Kingdom was very simr to the Kingdom of Heping, Xue Wei did not doubt that this hidden expert had a strength that would shock the surrounding world.

    He nodded his head. "I am relieved then," he said. "Fengmian is a dear friend of mine. I wish for her to live a life of leisure, but she wants to save people. I hope that you will take her in as a younger sister and protect her. Her spirit is unbreakable, her will pure."

    Xue Wei praised Jiang Fengmian in front of the monk, and that in a very solemn and serious manner.

    "I have been alone in this temple for many years already," the monk replied with a sad voice. "I am happy that someone has decided to join me. I swear on the Nine Heavenly Tribtions that I will give my all to protect younger sister Jiang Fengmian, as long as she keeps to the righteous way and as long as she dedicates herself to help the poor."

    As the monk spoke, the loud rumbling of thunder could be heard above the temple. Xue Wei was greatly shocked.

    A Nine Heavenly Tribtion oath was not to be taken lightly; it was clear that this monk wished to remove every single doubt that Xue Wei might have. To this, both Xue Wei and Hei Gou nodded their heads.

    "Stay for a day or two," the monk requested. Neither Xue Wei nor Hei Gou had any reason to reject him, so they epted the offer. They were running low on money so saving the money on the inn was always wee.

    These two days were mainly spent cultivating in the shabby temple. They discovered that the spiritual energy of heaven and earth was denser here than it was in the rest of the capital. It was the most ideal ce to cultivate within the entire capital if you excluded the king¡¯s castle.

    Xue Wei and Hei Gou banked on this opportunity and spent most of the time isted in self-training. Although they were eager to raise their ranks, they also made sure that Jiang Fengmian was settling well into the temple by spending any spare time with her.

    Jiang Fengmian had been shocked at first when she started working in the temple. Every mealtime would be filled with poor people who came to eat. They were orphaned children that had lost their families to the Primordial Beast hordes. They were adults whocked talent for cultivation and had never learned a mundane skill to a level where they could live of off it.

    In this capital, there were thousands of people who lived in poverty. Every mealtime, the temple would feed them all, but this was nothing but a stop-gap measure.

    The demography of poverty-stricken people grew every day. The war against the Primordial Beasts was not letting up, and the poor children that were left behind had no time to work and help their family¡¯s livelihood as learning martial arts after the age of ten was a mandatory obligation across all walks of life.

    Those below this age were usually pickpockets. Those above were starving every day, trying their best to change their fate through cultivation, but without enough nutrients, how could their body possibly be strong enough to absorb the energy of the heavens and the earth?

    Xue Wei knew it would be many times harder for these children to cultivate than it would for the children with families ¨C but even so, they were forced into it by the government.

    From time to time, the government would raid these poor areas and ensure that every child went to the training ground. They would rather send one that was too young than miss one that was old enough.

    In the end, if one were caught twice without going to the training facilities, they would be sentenced to death. The rules were harsh, but the public opinion did not oppose it. These children were needed as cannon fodder on the battlefield.

    Jiang Fengmian¡¯s heart ached for these children, and even Xue Wei and the usually aloof Hei Gou felt pity. But where Jiang Fengmian was confident that she could make a difference, Xue Wei was certain that this society was not going to change because of him. At least not with the strength he currently possessed.

    Coincidentally, the inspection was being carried out at precisely the day Xue Wei and Hei Gou were going to leave, when the guards of the kingdom started raiding the western district, looking everywhere for young children who were skipping out on practice.

    "Who is this?!" someone eximed in the temple where Jiang Fengmian was sweeping the ground.

    A set of guards had entered the temple to look for children, but they were met with a sight they had never expected. There were three young people; a woman, and two men.

    These three young people were undoubtedly at an age where they should be in the army. Why were they here?

    Upon closer inspection, the guards even noticed the cultivation bases of the two men and were genuinely shocked. They could not make light of such strength! Two men as young as they were in the Sky Warrior ranks?! They would without question be geniuses amongst geniuses in their Vermilion Forest Kingdom.

    Yet why had they never heard about them before? Also, why were they with a young woman who was obviously the prime example of a mortal? And how had this woman managed to never cultivate in the first ce? Many questions erupted in their minds, but none of them said anything.

    "Why are you three youngsters here when you should be in the army?!" another guard shouted at them. His eyes were filled with hostility. One has to know that the army had been a hellish period in their lives once, so this was slightly personal.

    But these three had escaped from the clutches of hell. This made that guard furious.

    "Stop yelling in my temple," azy voice sounded out. The monk who was in chargezily walked out from inside the temple grounds.

    "Senior, we respect you and what you do for this Kingdom," the speaker was the one who first spoke out earlier. "But there are some deserters here. They are criminals and are bound to be punished as such!"

    Hearing this, the monk snorted. "The two men are not from the Vermilion Forest Kingdom, yet you still wish to forcefully draft them into your army? My temple protects the woman, our new priestess, mind you, and she has already sworn an lifetime oath to help the poor and unfortunate souls of the Vermilion Forest Kingdom. Who are you to decide what my disciple is to do?"

    The monk was overbearing, and his words struck the guards hard, making their heads spin. It made them realize they had made a mistake.

    "They are not from the Vermilion Forest Kingdom?" The guard was suspicious. The monk nodded his head. "They are out traveling and experiencing the world. Can you not sense their strength? They should not be forced into the army because of your inferiorityplex," the monk said calmly.

    The furious guard could not curb his anger, but he dared not talk back. He did not understand the status of this monk, but he had been warned multiple times not to insult or cause trouble for him.

    Xue Wei grinned at the sight of the paralyzed guards, but he was also alert. If these guards were serious about causing them problems, it would not be toote for them to do it when they exited the city.

    "We will leave for now," the guard spoke, but his eyes were sharp as he swept a nce at Xue Wei and Hei Gou. It was clear that he was warning them.

    Xue Wei and Hei Gou stayed in the temple for a few additional days, but nothing happened in that time. They were allowed to cultivate in peace, and Hei Gou¡¯s Qi-level rose to the fifthyer of the Sky Warrior rank, while Xue Wei managed to stabilize his foundations after advancing into the Sky Warrior rank, and reached the peak of the firstyer, needing only a little more to pass over into the secondyer.

    As they reached this point, both of them knew that there was not much more they could gain from staying in the Vermilion Forest Kingdom. It was time for them to move on.

    They had ensured that Jiang Fengmian was fine and that she would have a great future. However, they also knew that their time together was short-lived.

    It was time for them to say their goodbyes and leave the priestess behind so that they could continue their journey.

 Chapter 147: A Tearstained Farewell

    Saying goodbye was a tearful experience for Jiang Fengmian. She had never before had anyone she could consider a friend, yet on this travel she had grown close to both Xue Wei and Hei Gou.

    In her eyes, they were the people who had given her a new lease on life. Although she wished that they could stay together forever, she was also aware that these two men had dreams that surpassed the heavens, aspirations and goals that would never be reached if they stayed in this backwater kingdom.

    As they said goodbye, Jiang Fengmian was tearing up. She was so saddened by her friends leaving that she could hardly push out any words. She had no belongings, so it was also impossible for her to buy them any parting gifts. When she clutched her hands in front of her and Xue Wei and Hei Gou saw them shaking, both of their hearts softened.

    "Don¡¯t worry," Xue Wei said as he reached out and cupped Jiang Fengmian¡¯s hands within his own. "We will be fine. Our journey is long and dangerous, but when we need a ce to rest, somewhere to calm our minds, we will always return here to the temple in the Western District of the Vermilion Forest Kingdom¡¯s capital," he promised.

    "We have no family, we have no home, but we have a good friend like you. This is not a goodbye forever, this is just a temporary parting," he reassured Jiang Fengmian before letting go of her hands.

    Jiang Fengmian nodded her head, and the tears stopped flowing. She was once more the expressionless young woman from back when they first crossed paths, and eventually a gentle and soft smile blossomed on her face.

    "I do not have much," she said, "but I will always wee the two of you. For giving me a new lease on life, I owe you my everything. Instead of taking advantage of me, you gave me a hopeful future where I can do what I wish to do. I cannot thank you enough!"

    "Since my junior sister has said as much, I will always have the gates of this temple open to you," the monk said with a gentle expression on his face. He had taken Jiang Fengmian in as his disciple, but regarding seniority, he was her elder martial brother.

    Xue Wei and Hei Gou quickly expressed their gratitude to the monk with cupped fists. After ast nce at Jiang Fengmian, they smiled and walked out of the temple.

    The Western District was as dirty and disorderly as when they first came, but even this ce had a specific set of rules. Among them, the most important was that the ones from the temple were not to be touched.

    Partly because a supreme expert protected them, but also because they provided every citizen with a meal a day. Without the temple, their lives would be hell, and many would starve to death.

    Xue Wei and Hei Gou left the Western District without meeting any trouble, but the story was different when they reached the southern district; here, a group of guards seemed to be waiting for them.

    "You two!" someone called out. Xue Wei instantly recognized this guard as being the agitated and furious expert from the raid of the Western Temple a couple of days ago.

    "You thought you could escape serving your time in the army, huh?" he asked, while pushing his chest out in an attempt to appear intimidating and important. "I am here on behalf of his majesty. All sixteen-year-old citizens of the Vermilion Forest Kingdom are to sign up for the army or they will be seen as deserters."

    "Deserters are to be executed!" The man snickered as if everything was under his control, but both Xue Wei and Hei Gou looked at him as if they were looking at an idiot. Did this person forget that the monk from before had told him that they were not citizens of the Vermilion Forest Kingdom?

    "Uh, mister, I think you are mistaken. We are not from your Vermilion Forest Kingdom," Xue Wei said while rubbing his nose. "We came here from the Flowing Blood Prairie," he continued ¨C and even if someone tried to test his words, he was not lying. They had indeede from the Flowing Blood Prairie.

    The guard¡¯s face turned dark, and his body started trembling. "Going against the rules?! Going against authority?!" he suddenly spat out, almost screeching. It was clear that he was getting increasingly furious, but neither Xue Wei nor Hei Gou was worried.

    If they were incarcerated, then the monk would hear about it, which would resolve the situation the moment he caught wind of it.

    Even if this guard was outrageous, he would not go so far as to try and execute them in public, would he? That would be an even more significant breach ofw and order than what they were used of doing.

    Seeing that the two youngsters were utterly calm and collected, while their leader was furious to the point that his entire body was trembling, the other guards were somewhat confused.

    "Excuse me, young master," one of the other guards spoke up and looked at Xue Wei. "We were informed that we had to gather together and capture two deserters. Are you telling the truth when you say that you are not from the Vermilion Forest Kingdom?"

    Xue Wei understood that this man was trying to give them a way out. So he shrugged his shoulders. Although he was loath to swear Nine Tribtion Oaths, he could use it to his advantage this time.

    "I swear on the Nine Heavenly Tribtions that I am not from this kingdom, I originate from somewhere else," he said. The sky instantly turned into a ck maelstrom, and a rumbling could be heard from way up in the sky, yet nothing happened beyond than that.

    Xue Wei did not get hit by any lightning, which made the other guards no longer doubt his words. He had previously mentioned that he hade from the Flowing Blood Prairie, which made sense in the context of his oath.

    In the Flowing Blood Prairie, one did not join an army to fight the Primordial and Fierce Beasts; one just fought together with one¡¯s tribe. It was not too unnatural for someone from the younger generation to appear like this.

    The furious guard clenched his fists. He had long since decided that they were deserters. In truth, he was incredibly jealous of those from the Flowing Blood Prairie for not needing to join the army. He was still deeply traumatized from his time in the military, which made him wish for everyone to experience as harsh an environment as he had.

    Seeing that things were not going as he had nned, the guard started gritting his teeth. He had never encountered Xue Wei and Hei Gou before the raid, and thus it should be impossible for him to have any real hostility towards them, but because they had not been forced to serve time in the army, he hated them more than anything else.

    Seeing that hisrades were about to let them go, the guard was so upset that he, without realizing what he was doing, charged at Xue Wei and Hei Gou with his saber raised high into the air.

    A cold gleam appeared in Hei Gou¡¯s eyes. He was about to take action when arge palm suddenly appeared in the sky above them, casting a shadow over them. This palm pressed down on the advancing guard like a hydraulic press and squashed him into the street. One could hear the sickening sound of bones breaking and wailing screams before it all died out.

    The hand dissipated into thin air and the only thing that was left behind was a handprint on the pavement and a meaty paste that was evident in the hole.

    The amount of guards had caused many a citizen to curiously crowd around and spectate themotion, but the sight of the hand appearing out of the blue stunned them all, and when they saw the squished, meaty remains of the guard, a few even turned around and vomited.

    "These two are under my protection," an ancient voice said, reverberating through the entire capital. "They are guests from outside of the nation. Do not question them. Do not try to implicate them. Or I might just have to get angry again!"

    It was the voice of the monk from the temple. Xue Wei and Hei Gou knew that he was a talented cultivator, but seeing the result of his attack, they were shocked.

    They had never before seen someone fight like this. Cold sweat appeared on both Hei Gou and Xue Wei¡¯s backs. If they had known that Knightsmanded such strength, would they have had the guts to escape the tribe back in the Flowing Blood Prairie by themselves? They had indeed underestimated the Knight rank!

    Sucking in a breath of cold air, both of them calmed down. Their escape had been a sess, so there was no reason to regret their actions now, but they also knew that they had to be much more careful in the future.

    At the same time, both of them cupped their fists and bowed towards the Western District. "Thank you, brother monk," they both said before turning towards the remaining guards.

    All of the guards had ugly expressions on their faces, but they could say nothing. The reasonable one who had spoken up before politely gestured for them to pass through. Even if they wanted to stop them now, who would have the guts to step up? It was clearly suicide.

    In the end, Xue Wei and Hei Gou left the capital in the same way they had entered. They were now one less person than they had been before, but that didn¡¯t change their eagerness to leave the Vermilion Forest Kingdom and head towards the center of the continent.

    When they had first entered the capital, they had done so for the sake of realizing Jiang Fengmian¡¯s dream, and now that they were leaving, their hearts were at ease. Although they had no home and no family, they were now aware that they had found a ce to return to ¨C and a friend who would wait for them.

    It was as if they had gained something important. Their solitary hearts were starting to fill with warmth.

    Once they took their first step outside the gates of the capital, Xue Wei and Hei Gou looked at one another. They then broke out into smiles and grinned for a while without speaking. "Our future is ahead of us!" Xue Wei eventually said with excitement. Hei Gou nodded his head with vigor.

 Chapter 148: Skyward Empire

    Xue Wei and Hei Gou were both Sky Warriors. In backwater kingdoms like the Vermilion Forest Kingdom and the Kingdom of Heping, they could be considered astonishing talents, peerless even, but neither Xue Wei nor Hei Gou were conceited because of this.

    Both knew that their enemies were of equal or higher strength than themselves, which put pressure on them to constantly improve.

    It had been two weeks since they left the capital. In that time, they had made a lot of progress through the Vermilion Forest Kingdom, but it had been afortable journey.

    A few bandit groups had attacked them, but only for every single one of them to end up having their souls consumed by Tianyi.

    Tianyi was now confident that it would only take a few more souls before he would be capable of creating his new body. Hearing this, both Xue Wei and Hei Gou were rather curious: how does a sword get a body?

    Although they were curious, Xue Wei and Hei Gou did not bring it up. They would see the body eventually, so there was no reason for them to try and understand it now.

    Some of the bandits they encountered were viinous to the core, and their souls nourished both Xue Wei and Tianyi¡¯s souls explosively, but the majority only provided a fraction of that.

    Xue Wei could feel that his soul had been strengthened significantly ever since pairing up with Tianyi. His spiritual energy was now able to spread to a distance of a hundred kilometer radius around him, and he couldunch the Mind Infestation skill quite a few times without getting tired.

    It was a great feeling to not be constantly pursued by the authorities, as well. They were moving at a leisurely pace. Although they had no reason to stay in the Vermilion Forest Kingdom any longer, they had no reason to rush to the center of the continent either.

    They wanted to be as healthy and as ready as possible for when they reached the center of the continent. They were aware that this was the stage where they would reunite with their pursuers, or at least some of them. If they had not gained some strength by then, then they would definitely be the ones who took a bite of the sour apple ¨C they would be the ones who ended up dying.

    They left the Vermilion Forest Kingdom after traveling for three weeks, passing through the border into the Great Fire Nation. This nation was rather small and chaotic, but Xue Wei and Hei Gou managed to travel through it in two weeks. After that, they entered the Skyward Empire.

    This empire was rather big. In fact, it took up as much space as the Heping Kingdom, the Flowing Blood Prairie, and the Vermilion Forest Kingdom together, but it was still not considered as a part of the center of the continent.

    However, it was not seen as a backwater kingdom either. It was in between, a kingdom that had multiple Ordinary Knights and a handful of Earth Knights, and the strongest was a single Sky Knight.

    "I have sensed this for thest few hundred kilometers we¡¯ve been traveling," Xue Wei mumbled to Hei Gou, "but the density of the energy of the heavens and the earth is truly getting richer with every step we take."

    Hei Gou nodded his head. "I noticed it too. Even when my body passively refines Qi, it¡¯s at an unbelievable rate. It is even more beneficial than when I poured all my focus into meditation when I was in the Heping Kingdom."

    Xue Wei nodded his head. "It truly is like this. I fear that everything will be more expensive now. Even the meals ought to be expensive considering the fact that the livestock and even the very grains they are fed have consumed more of the essence of the heaven and the earth."

    "This ce ought to be many times more prosperous because of this density in heaven and earth essence. We might have to be robbers to sustain ourselves," he added, sighing.

    They were not even at the center of the continent yet, but their finances had already caused them a headache. In a prospering ce, things would naturally be more expensive than they were in a poor area. Although they had killed quite a few bandits on their way, these bandits had been poor.

    Neither of them had carried their wealth on them, as they did not have a storage treasure, and as a result they had only managed to scrounge up a few gold coins during their trip through the Vermilion Forest Kingdom.

    Both Xue Wei and Hei Gou were acutely aware of this. They could not help but sigh deeply.

    They knew that the world of cultivation required immense wealth. High purity pills were expensive, and medicinal nts and herbs did note cheap either, but the two of them even had to consider how much money they had to spend on food.

    It came to the point where they started looking forward to being interrupted by bandits so that they could kill and loot them. Although they were considering robbing people, they still held back. They could kill for their own survival, and neither of them really felt anything when killing a person, but they still felt that they should not kill innocent people unless absolutely needed.

    The border between the Great Fire Nation and the Skyward Empire was vague. There were no checkpoints or anyone keeping track of who went where, so Xue Wei and Hei Gou were not entirely sure when they had exited one ce and entered the other.

    They found that the road was deste at the start, yet the further they walked on it, the more people they met.

    They saw merchants and caravans traveling the same way that they were heading, but most of what they saw involved all kinds of experts rushing ahead of them.

    It was clear that they were in a hurry, whereas Xue Wei and Hei Gou were slowly inching onward, not caring about the hurried expressions of everyone else.

    The majority of the people they saw appeared to be between ages twenty-six and thirty-five. They were the ones who had left the army just recently, and now they seemed to all have amon goal.

    At the start, neither Xue Wei nor Hei Gou had paid them any mind, but seeing that more and more experts were appearing, their curiosity was stirred.

    "Excuse me," Xue Wei stopped to ask a caravan that wasing from behind them. "I can¡¯t help but notice that a lot of experts are rushing ahead... could you perhaps tell me what is happening?" he asked as politely as he could.

    The merchant was a small, round man. He had a triangr beard on his chin, and he looked a bit like a pig. However, when he heard Xue Wei¡¯s question, there was only surprise on his face and not a scoff as one would expect.

    "Youngster, you are not from this area I take it?" he asked with surprise. Xue Wei nodded his head. This was no secret; he was really not from the Skyward Empire, so he knew very little about the happenings within the empire.

    "There is a martial arts tournament in the ck Iron Fortress," the merchant exined. "The tournament invites everyone below the age of thirty-seven topete. They are offering some very amazing prizes, so young experts from the entire empire are converging in that ce to participate."

    "One¡¯s background does not matter, all that matters is that one is below the age of thirty-seven. There is apparently something that the ck Iron Fortress wants from thest man standing, but no one knows what it is yet."

    Xue Wei was pondering for some time. It was risky to stand out in this tournament when he was being chased, and someone might recognize his face, but at the same time, he truly needed some wealth that could support his and Hei Gou¡¯s cultivation progress.

    "You are worried because you are a deserter?" the merchant asked with a bit of pity on his face. "Why don¡¯t you buy a facemask from me? It costs seventy silver, and it willpletely alter the appearance of your face."

    "In fact, the real price is one gold, but I will give you a discount. I do not approve of young men such as yourself being forced into the army and fighting to your death!"

    Xue Wei was stunned. He had only met people who hated deserters so far; he had never met someone who felt sympathy for a deserter. Instead of correcting him, Xue Wei withdrew seventy silver from his purse. This was a significant amount of their wealth, but he saw it as an investment.

    While he did this, Hei Gou was quietly standing by the side. There was no reason to hide his face, as no one had been able to see it so far, but many had seen Xue Wei¡¯s from when he was in the capital of the Heping Kingdom.

    He had wanted to buy one of these masks before, but doing so could have aroused suspicion. Now, this merchant made things easy for him.

    "Don¡¯t wear it yet," the merchant warned him. "If you wear it now, I will know what you look like. That is no good. Wear itter on," he suggested. Xue Wei epted the thin jelly-like mask with both hands.

    When he was about to leave, Xue Wei cupped his fists and bowed to the merchant. He felt that this merchant was a real hero for assisting him despite the possibility of them being criminals. As to why, it was not hard to guess.

    This merchant was old enough to have a son, but his caravan had no youngsters. It was clear that his son was either in the army now, or he had died.

    Considering how he looked at Xue Wei with sad eyes, it was also rather easy to guess that it was likely thetter.

    As a father, he would rather see his son a criminal than dead. He would rather know that he was living on the run than that he had turned into food for the Fierce Beast hordes.

    So when he encountered two youths that had taken this path, his heart was bleeding for his departed son, and he wished to help at least them to live longer. That was why he assisted them as he did.

    "This gratitude, I will not forget," Xue Wei said seriously to the merchant. But he just smiled and waved his hand, "Live a long and prosperous life. Then your family will be happy. That is all you need to do."

    Hearing this made Xue Wei¡¯s eyes sting slightly. He had no family other than his uncle. As to whether or not this uncle would kill him in their next reunion, he did not know, but he still wanted to make him proud.

    Seeing Xue Wei being emotional, Hei Gou sighed. He knew that Xue Wei had aplicated rtionship with his family, but he could do nothing about it.

    The merchant misunderstood it as sorrow over being parted from one another and said no more. After a bit of silence, Xue Wei bowed once more to the merchant before he rushed onward, closely followed by Hei Gou.

    The two continued down the road towards the west. They did not know exactly where to go, but they assumed that as long as they stuck to the road, they would reach the ck Iron Fortress eventually.

    Now that they were running at top speed, more and more experts appeared around them. Many of them observed them curiously, but by now Xue Wei had already worn the mask, making him seem as dull as could be. The one who drew all the attention was Hei Gou and his dashing appearance.

 Chapter 149: Argent Moon Sect

    Hei Gou was attractive. His hair was long and flowed like silk; the color was ck like a raven¡¯s wing. His eyes were also ck and resembled the darkest night where no stars shone.

    His skin was fair and porcin white; even a woman would envy him for his skin. His build was perfect in every way. He was taller than the average man, and his entire features seemed as if chiseled from a stone.

    When one looked at him, one would have the feeling that he was a god that had descended to the mortal world. When one looked at him, they instantly thought that he was the male version of Guan Yin, the goddess ofpassion.

    Even Xue Wei was astonished by the attention that Hei Gou was getting. He knew that his friend was attractive, but was there any reason to make such a big deal out of it?

    They were all martial artists, so what mattered was your strength, not your appearance. Still, all of these experts looked at Hei Gou as if they had seen their most fearsome foe to date.

    Xue Wei was at a loss for what to do, but then he chuckled. It was human nature to be jealous, and his friend¡¯s appearance was indeed worthy of such jealousy.

    Even though Xue Wei¡¯s true looks were not ugly, he was not as attractive as Hei Gou. And now that he was wearing the mask, he was as dull as one could be.

    Xue Wei and Hei Gou conversed throughpressed voice transmission. Sometimes, they would joke about the other experts, other times they would exim in surprise when they saw a strong expert. And from time to time, they would discuss what exactly could be the prize that brought so many geniuses together.

    "Do you think you can win?" Hei Gou asked curiously, taking Xue Wei by surprise. "I don¡¯t think I can," thetter replied honestly. "Although I am now a firstyer Sky Warrior, I am still a far cry from being even your opponent due to your Heavenly Warrior-level physical strength."

    "I am not participating," Hei Gou said seriously. "You are not?" Xue Wei was surprised, but he quickly understood why. Hei Gou could easily fool people into thinking that he was human when he just walked around, light battles included, but if he had to engage in a real struggle, then it was likely that he would have to use his innate talents. At that point, he would be forced to reveal his real self.

    "Well, I will fight," Xue Wei said after thinking about Hei Gou¡¯s situation. "Our future might very well depend on this. We are stillying the foundation for our cultivation. We need to get some medicinal herbs and nts to help us, but we cannot afford them right now."

    "We need to get some proper clothes too, but we cannot afford even that. Everything we need, we cannot afford. For that reason, I will go all out in this tournament."

    "I will use Tianyi. I will use my overwhelming soul and Mind Infestation. I will not use my transformation yet though. I don¡¯t think they know about transformations here in the Skyward Empire, and I am not keen on finding out," Xue Wei said while grimacing.

    Hei Gou nodded his head seriously. "It is rather troublesome, but we cannot change it. It is for the best that you do not use the dragon ws in this tournament."

    Having decided on using every other means than the transformation, Xue Wei could not help but feel rather eager to see what his enemies were like. He wanted to battle them all as soon as possible.

    Since he had reached the Sky Warrior rank, he had been incapable of finding any opponents amongst the experts that had ambushed them on the way to the Skyward Empire. This made it so that he did not know his limitations. He only knew that a lot of energy was running through his body, a current of strength many times stronger than when he was an Earth Warrior. In fact, it would be no lie to say that he was at least fifty times stronger now.

    This increase in power had shocked Xue Wei drastically. When he was an Earth Warrior, he was still capable of defeating a Sky Warrior, but now, as a Sky Warrior himself, just how manyyers above him would he be able to ovee?

    He was keen to find out.

    They resumed their journey for a full day and night before arge structure appeared in the distance. All the youths around them traveling to the same destination seemed to be eager when they saw this massive cluster of buildings. They all started rushing towards it.

    It was indeed a fortress that met Xue Wei and Hei Gou. A fort made solely from ck Iron. It was glistening in the sun¡¯s rays, and many small pces and castles made up the entirety of the fortress, which was surrounded by a massive wall that was at least fifty meters tall.

    There was one entrance into the fort. Xue Wei and Hei Gou were quite eager to enter, but the sight of this massive fort caused them to hesitate.

    None of the other youngsters hesitated and rushed into the fort, but Xue Wei frowned when he saw it. His experiences so far had drilled a sense of caution deeply into his bones. This was the perfect death trap if the fortmasters had something nned.

    "Well, fortune goes hand in hand with danger," Xue Wei said through gritted teeth. If he did not take risks, how would he ever be able to achieve greatness?

    "Don¡¯t forget that this is a high-profile event," Hei Gou reminded him. "If every person participating in this vanishes, then there will be an uproar in the entire Skyward Empire that the ck Iron Fort won¡¯t be able to handle."

    Xue Wei nodded his head. It was indeed the case. Experts appeared from all over the entire empire, and these experts came from both poor and influential families.

    The ck Iron Fortress had spread the news far and wide; everyone knew that these experts were here for the tournament. If something were to happen, then they might not be able to deal with the aftermath.

    Thinking of this, Xue Wei nodded his head and headed into the fortress closely followed by Hei Gou.

    The two were on high alert, but the guards let them in without any problems. They even pointed them towards the location of the counter where they could sign up for the tournament, all of them acting incredibly polite and friendly.

    The area around and in front of the castle of the fort made up a veryrge city with around seven million inhabitants and a wide variety of stores, which was currently teeming with youths from all walks of life.

    The majority of these youths were either ninthyer Earth Warriors or firstyer Sky Warriors.

    There were a few people who had a cultivation base above this, and the ones who were stronger also seemed to have a whole group of followers behind them.

    These experts instantly noticed Hei Gou when he entered. Although Xue Wei was with him, he was immediately regarded as Hei Gou¡¯sckey, someone who followed Hei Gou for the sake of sucking up to him and gaining benefits.

    Seeing this, Xue Wei could not help but shake his head helplessly. It was wholly inurate. These two friends considered each other brothers, but neither saw any reason to put effort into changing their opinions. They could think what they want. Xue Wei and Hei Gou knew the truth, and that was all that mattered.

    Xue Wei and Hei Gou headed towards the location where they were told to sign up. When they reached it, they found a table surrounded by youths standing in queue, all of which were trying their hardest to push forward.

    Xue Wei and Hei Gou just stood and waited for it to be their turn. They weren¡¯t in a rush. They observed their surroundings and found that a lot of experts were also watching them.

    It was natural that Hei Gou would draw attention with his cultivation base that looked to be in the fifthyer of the Sky Warrior rank. Even Xue Wei caused some of them to look at him curiously, but he was only a oneyer Sky Warrior, so he was not their main focus.

    When it was their turn to sign up, many were curious as to their ages. There was an age testing orb to ensure that these experts were not older than thirty-seven. They were curious as to how old they were to have already reached the rank of Sky Warrior.

    To their disappointment, Hei Gou just smiled and stepped aside, allowing Xue Wei to sign up instead.

    "Is he saying that this tournament is below his attention?"

    "Do you think that he is the guard of that kid maybe?"

    "No way, is he trying to see the strength of his servant instead of signing up himself?"

    Many murmurs could be heard at that point, but most of them were puzzled. Many thought that Hei Gou saw himself above apetition like this since he already had such a high cultivation base.

    And seeing that the ck Iron Fortress did not force anyone to sign up, they could only sigh in disappointment.

    Although Xue Wei had reached the Sky Warrior rank, he was only at the peak of the firstyer. For him to win thepetition seemed utterly impossible.

    "Name?" the guard that was responsible for sign-ups finally looked at Xue Wei. "Ye Xiao," Xue Wei came up with a random name in a moment¡¯s time.

    "Where are you from?"

    "We came through the Flowing Blood Prairie," Xue Wei said. Once more it was no lie, but he did not borate on their origins either. No one caught on, and the man nodded his head.

    "That makes sense for why you look so young!" he said. "ce your hand on this age testing orb," he said and beckoned towards arge ss bead that seemed to have a lot of white mist within it on the table.

    Xue Wei ced his hand on it as requested. The man¡¯s jaw dropped to the floor when he saw the answer. "S-Seventeen years old?" he asked, stunned. A seventeen-year-old Sky Warrior was indeed a real genius, even in their Skyward Empire.

    Although it could notpare to the geniuses from the center of the continent, it was indeed the best within their kingdom. The guard could not help butment. If the contest was held a few yearster, to what heights would he have grown then?

    "Seventeen? Should he not be in the army?" a jealous man in the crowd around asked with a snort. Another cut in, "He said he¡¯s from the Flowing Blood Prairie. Don¡¯t you know that their younger generation members aren¡¯t part of any kingdom¡¯s army?"

    "Everyone can say they are from the Flowing Blood Prairie if they are a deserter, then!" the first man continued, but the others just snorted at him. Was it that simple to lie about your identity?

    "Oh look!" someone eximed. "The fairies from the Argent Moon Sect have arrived!"

    Hearing this, Xue Wei was curious. The ripples of the Argent Moon Sect¡¯s fame had even reached the distant Heping Kingdom. They had branches in every kingdom within the center of the continent, and apparently also had a branch in the Skyward Empire.

    When Xue Wei lifted his head to look at them, he was indeed stunned. Eighteen young women were walking together towards the sign-up counter.

    They were all wearing white dresses with silver and light blue embroideries. They had veils covering their faces, revealing only intelligent and gorgeous eyes.

    The leading woman was as cold as ice; even her aura caused many of the experts present to shiver as if they had been dropped into a bucket full of ice water.

    Xue Wei, on the other hand, waspletely unaffected. After ncing at the women, he returned his attention to the guard, patiently waiting for his application to be processed.

 Chapter 150: Three Great Sects

    The guard slowly adjusted himself and looked at Xue Wei. "You have the qualifications to participate in our contest. I am to inform you of a few rules first," he said, slightly embarrassed after catching himself staring at the young group of women.

    This guard was in no way old for a cultivator, but he was still most likely around the half-century mark. This meant that the girls that were moving towards him could all be his children. It was a slightly embarrassing episode for him.

    "This is your token. You are participant number five thousand and ny-six." He then handed over a wooden token with the number five thousand and ny-six engraved upon it.

    "The rules are simple; the battles will be held in the arena. There will be twenty battles going on at the same time."

    "While we prefer that no one kills their opponents, fists and kicks have no eyes, so we cannot guarantee safety. Be aware that you will have to ept that you might die in this tournament."

    "The top one hundred will get prizes. The higher you rank, the more marvelous the prize you receive will be."

    "I cannot announce the prize yet. It will be announced by the fort masters when the tournament begins, but I can tell you that it is wealth that far exceeds your wildest imagination."

    "Now take the token and get ready for the tournament. It will start in five days."

    "Oh right, all the inns in the ck Iron Fortress are free to use during the tournament, and all meals are on the ck Iron Fortress too," the guard said at the end. Xue Wei¡¯s eyes revealed that he was pleasantly surprised.

    Xue Wei said his farewell to the guard before returning to Hei Gou, who was surrounded by prettydies trying to chat him up. He was smiling rather casually and making small talk, and it was clear that he was enjoying himself.

    Still, when Hei Gou saw Xue Weiing towards him, he instantly excused himself from the girls and went over to receive Xue Wei.

    "Done?" he asked with a dashing smile that blinded everyone present. Xue Wei felt like hitting him for some unexinable reason. The incredibly handsome Hei Gou made even Xue Wei get a headache.

    But Hei Gou was his brother, so even if his personality and narcissism were slightly frustrating, it was a part of who he was. Xue Wei could not do anything about it, other than giving a wry smile and shaking his head.

    At that same moment, the crowd spread apart and made a line for the disciples of the Argent Moon Sect to walk up to the guard responsible for sign-ups.

    The other participants did not mind that they had stood in the queue for quite some time. All of them moved for the beautiful women. Xue Wei could not help but shake his head.

    Women fawned over the handsome Hei Gou, while men were obsessed with those beautiful women.

    Beauty was only skin-deep. No one knew about the personality behind the appearance, or about their actual strength. On that point, Xue Wei did not dare to look down on the women from the Argent Moon Sect, just based on the fact that they were from a continent-spanning sect.

    After the women from the Argent Moon Sect signed up, anothermotion emerged at the entrance of the fort.

    "It¡¯s the ones from the Cerulean Starlight Sect and the ones from the Crimson Sunshine Sect! Together with the Argent Moon Sect, those three sects are the main sects of the continent!" someone eximed out loud, causing the others to crane their necks to see the ones from the other two sects.

    Two groups walked in. Where the women from the Argent Moon Sect were wearing white robes with silver embroideries, the ones from the Cerulean Starlight Sect were dressed in light blue robes with golden adornments of stars.

    The ones from the Crimson Sunshine sect wore red robes with golden embroideries of suns.

    There were eighteen members from the Crimson Sunshine Sect and eighteen members from the Cerulean Starlight Sect, equal to the size of the party from the Argent Moon Sect.

    Had these three sects jointly decided on their numbers beforehand? Xue Wei did not believe that something like this could be coincidence, but he was not a member of the three great sects, so he could not speak for them and their methods.

    The members of the three sects were all familiar with one another, and their haughty and arrogant demeanor could not be hidden.

    Each group had a leader, and they stood out from the rest. When the three group leaders met one another, the rest of the experts present held their breath, eager to see a sh of egos.

    The only ones who seemed carefree were Xue Wei and Hei Gou, who were about ready to leave.

    Although Xue Wei figured that these fifty-four people would prove to be the biggest problem for him in the tournament, he did not feel that he would gain anything from seeing them butting heads before the fighting began.

    He knew from experience that when one was on the battlefield, one waspletely different from their usual demeanor. Although these experts from the sects were haughty, they were not dumb, or the sects would never have picked them.

    Since they were not dumb, they would not disy their strength now. They knew better than to demonstrate their power in front of theirpetitors from other, aspiring factions and ces.

    But they still had to keep the aura of their sects when they met. The three sects were working together to suppress all other sects, but at the same time, they alsopeted against one another for the top position among their three sects.

    So when they met each other, they met aspetitors despite considering each other allies.

    "My Crimson Sunshine Sect will win this contest," the leader of the Crimson Sunshine Sect¡¯s disciples said with a smirk on his face. "We are here, so of course we will take the first ce."

    "I do not understand why either of your sects bothered sending anyone," the woman from the Argent Moon Sect said. Her voice was colder than ice, and her eyes were frighteningly chilling.

    "I beat you before; I will beat you again. As long as I study the Frost Moon Scripture, you are not my opponents!"

    "Don¡¯t brag too much Miss Xiong Bing," a dissatisfied voice sounded from the Cerulean Starlight Sect¡¯s side.

    "Although you have beaten us before, I have gotten some lucky chances sincest. I am sure I can defeat you now. Let us battle it out in the arena and see who will be the winner."

    That was thest of that conversation that Xue Wei and Hei Gou heard before they made it out of the empty marketce that had been temporarily turned into a reception area for the uing tournament. They went away in search of the closest inn.

    The first inn was already filled. The second was also filled, but third time is the charm. This inn had seven free rooms left. Xue Wei and Hei Gou booked a twin room with separate bathrooms for more privacy.

    When they entered, Hei Gou turned to Xue Wei. "Those people were from some prominent sects? They behaved incredibly brazenly, as if they were above everyone else."

    Xue Wei wanted toment that Hei Gou had also caused quite a disturbance with his appearance, but he decided to stay silent. "They were from the three great sects," Xue Wei exined.

    "The Argent Moon Sect focuses on Yin energy. They only ept talented women, and some say that the women have to be stunningly beautiful too. The sect spans over the entire Chang¡¯an continent with branches in almost all of the kingdoms and empires, except the ones all the way out at the outskirts like our Heping Kingdom."

    "The Crimson Sunshine Sect is a sect that focuses on the pure Yang energy and only epts talented male experts. It also spans over the entire continent with branches everywhere."

    "The final sect is the Cerulean Starlight Sect. It is the only sect of the three major sects that allows both women and men. They focus on the bnce between Yin and Yang. It also spans the entire continent."

    "I don¡¯t know much more about their sects," Xue Wei said apologetically with a shake of his head. "I don¡¯t know which one is the strongest currently since they, ording to the books I read, have contests amongst themselves to determine their positions, but the books I¡¯ve read are outdated, so I cannot say who is currently the strongest."

    Hei Gou nodded his head. What Xue Wei told him was enough.

    "Although they are geniuses from some big-shot sect, they still have to enter the army when they are fifteen. But those geniuses are ced in a battalion of their own and treated vastly differently from the others."

    "These geniuses are to be the future pirs of humanity. They are to fight against the Primordial Beasts when they mature, and although they are in the army, it is more like a ten-year training camp for them. Even theirmanders are from the major sects themselves."

    Hei Gou snorted. "I hope they all kill each other," he said. It was clear that he had no warm feelings towards either humans or beasts any longer. He had lost all empathy towards other living creatures.

    Xue Wei was a little stunned by these words, but he quickly agreed. Humanity had severely disappointed him time and time again, and he had no love for the Primordial Beasts because of the Ice Harpy.

    Since he had no love for either side, he too felt above the fight between the two races.

    "Perhaps we should find a chance to leave this continent," Xue Wei sighed. "Although the humans and beasts are fighting one another here, they can¡¯t bepeting on every single continent. We can find one that is at peace and settle down. A ce where no one knows us, and we can focus on reaching the apex before returning here and taking our vengeance."

    Hei Gou¡¯s ears perked up when he heard the words ¡¯other continent.¡¯ He had always wanted to see the other worlds, and he was more than willing to leave behind this continent of Chang¡¯an which had only given him one good thing - a friend like Xue Wei.

    "But first, I have to enter the center of the continent," Xue Wei said with a sigh. "I have to meet up with Prophet Lan. There are a few things I need an answer to," he said thoughtfully. There were questions about his past that he needed to uncover.

    Over time, he was starting to realize that something was odd. When he regained his memories back in Lingyun Town, the memories of his father or Xiao Lei were not among them

    Xue Wei was quite confident that something was blocking these memories, but why was that so? What was there in his past that someone did not want him to discover?

    Also, how could he and he alone survive when a Primordial Beast had eradicated his entire hometown? It was clear that things did not add up.

    Although Xue Wei did not want to doubt his uncle, he could not help but feel a bit hesitant. Why had his uncle vanished? Why had he suddenly found a cultivation method for him just as he disappeared? There were so many questions he wanted to ask him, but he had not seen his uncle for a long time already.

    Xue Wei was in deep thought and sighed deeply. Seeing his friend like this, Hei Gou said nothing. He just waited for Xue Wei to feel better.

    "Let us go and grab something to eat," Xue Wei said with a sigh as he pushed all the troubling thoughts to the back of his mind again. He had to focus on breaking through to the secondyer as a Sky Warrior this night so that he that he could perform at his best in the contest.

 Chapter 151: Restaurant

    Hei Gou quickly agreed to go eat. He could feel that if Xue Wei were left alone, then he would sumb to depression for an indeterminable amount of time, and that would be detrimental to preparing him for the tournament.

    When they left their room, they found that the inn was packed with people. The inn was very standard: all the rooms for guests were on the first, second, and third floor, while the ground floor consisted of the entrance and a restaurant. The basement was where the kitchen was located.

    When they left their rooms on the third floor, they found that even the hallway was filled with people, and the staircase had experts rushing both up and down.

    When they came down to the restaurant, they saw that it was filled to the brim, every chair was upied.

    "The ck Iron Fortress pays the food, so buy whatever you want, eat the most delicious meals, and order any delicacies you desire! ck Iron Fortress promised to pay it all!" someone yelled to hisrades as they headed past Xue Wei and Hei Gou, throwing themselves into the restaurant and hoping to snatch a table somewhere.

    "I think we should look somewhere else," Xue Wei said, a bit aghast. He was shocked to see the frenzy these experts were in to get a table. Although he knew that both he and Hei Gou could snatch a table with their strength, he was not willing to cause such a ruckus.

    Hei Gou nodded his head. He had no real reason to object, and he was not overly hungry. He only wished to interrupt Xue Wei¡¯s train of disturbed thoughts.

    Together, the two men pushed their way out of the inn. The roads outside were also bustling with life. Young experts were everywhere to be seen. New faces still arrived, and there was still a long queue of people signing up to the contest at the empty marketce that Xue Wei and Hei Gou walked past on the way towards a restaurant.

    The many inns were all busy and bustling with life. Every inn had a built-in restaurant, and they were filled with moring young experts.

    But they were not the only restaurants that were in the fort. There were also independent restaurants. Many of these ces had now changed their usual rules - where everyone was usually wee, only Sky Warriors and above were invited in now. This was because the food in these restaurants was more extravagant and much more expensive. If everyone was invited, then the cost of hosting the many youths would be too much for the ck Iron Fortress.

    But neither Xue Wei nor Hei Gou had any issues entering these restaurants, and they picked a random one that looked rather magnificent from the outside. It was a four stories building, with the kitchen located in the basement, and the ground floor and second floor had tables ced in onerge room, while the third and fourth floor had private rooms and chambers.

    Xue Wei was only a firstyer Sky Warrior, so he was not allowed a private room, but because he was together with Hei Gou who seemingly had strength equivalent to a fifthyered Sky Warrior was allowed a private room, he too was given permission to enter the upper floors.

    Once again, Xue Wei was treated as Hei Gou¡¯sckey, but he did not mind. On the contrary, he was rather happy that they were allowed to enter a private room because of Hei Gou, so his mood was rather good.

    Xue Wei and Hei Gou were being led by a young woman towards the upper floors of the restaurant. When they walked through the first and second floor, many looked at them with envying gazes, and hesitation. These experts were the geniuses of many small families and sects, and although they had made it into the restaurants, they did not have the qualifications to sit in a private room. This was a true blow to their self-esteem and views on their strength.

    The young woman opened the door to a room and gestured for Hei Gou to enter. It was as if Xue Wei was invisible in her eyes.

    Shrugging his shoulders, Xue Wei did not care and entered the room together with Hei Gou. After this, the woman spoke for the first time since she had received them at the entrance of the restaurant.

    "Young Master, we will provide a set of dishes of our finest quality. The food in this restaurant is made from the finest Fierce Beast meat, medicinal herbs, and nts."

    "All of it is cooked in spiritual spring water from our very own spiritual spring well, and made to ensure that the consumer gets not only the most appetizing meal but also something that can nourish and strengthen the cultivator¡¯s base strength."

    The young woman bowed towards Hei Gou and backed out of the room. Seeing her behavior, Hei Gou was getting annoyed. Although Xue Wei did not mind that he was being ignored, Hei Gou did.

    They were good friends and shared their glory and downfall. If one was insulted, one had insulted both; if one was ignored, it was actually a p to both their faces.

    "Leave it," Xue Weiughed when he saw Hei Gou¡¯s ckened expression. "I am benefitting from this. The more I am being underestimated, the better it is. Even I am not confident in this contest," he smiled.

    "The three great sects have even sent eighteen youths each. These youths have gone through ten years of training in the army; they are likely to be fierce and quite strong as well. Defeating all of them will be troublesome."

    Hei Gou just smiled when he heard Xue Wei¡¯s words. "You will win," he said with certainty. "You have a lot of tricks up your sleeve, not to mention your soul skill can make you dominate even normal fifthyer Sky Warriors. As long as you do not reach someone who has strengthened their soul, you are fine."

    "The ones from the three great sects are quite likely to have strengthened their souls," Xue Wei said with a wry smile. "They are from the great sects, after all. They cannot bepared to normal cultivators."

    "Well, you won¡¯t know until you try." Hei Gou had endless faith in Xue Wei, who smirked when he heard Hei Gou¡¯s words.

    "I am going to give it my all. Let us see how powerful those real geniuses of the strongest sects are!"

    Xue Wei and Hei Gou smiled at one another, noticing the fighting spirit in each other¡¯s eyes.

    It was indeed a shame that Hei Gou could not participate in the battles. He did not have enough innate abilities yet, and his Swallowing the Moon required him to be in his original shape.

    Although he could depend on his physical strength and his ws, it would be difficult to exin why he had such a physical power, and even harder to exin why he was not using any martial arts at all.

    Since it would be hard to exin things, it was better to avoid it. Hei Gou did not worry about them not ranking high enough. After Xue Wei had broken into the Sky Warrior rank, he had be incredibly strong.

    They had been traveling for a long time since he broke into the Sky Warrior rank, and he had stabilized his strength, which meant he could break through to the secondyer at any time as he pleased. He just did not want to rush it, instead focusing on consolidating everyyer properly.

    While chatting with one another about what they thought they could expect in the tournament, a gentle knock sounded on the door. After calling out for whoever it was to enter, thedy from before entered with a trolley where there were at least fifteen dishes.

    It was clear that these restaurants held nothing back when catering to the young geniuses, and both Xue Wei and Hei Gou were almost salivating at the sight of this much food that looked and smelled delicious.

    It has to be said that they had not had any delicious food since they started their journey. They had been eating roots at the beginning, andter they were lucky enough to encounter mortal beasts they could roast, or enter in inns where they could eat congee or other simple meals.

    They did not have the finances to get a proper meal anywhere, so when they saw all this food that smelled heavenly, their eyes lit up in excitement.

    "Bumpkins," someone suddenly called out from outside the room. Both Hei Gou and Xue Wei¡¯s expressions turned ugly. Right at that moment, a group of three wearing red robes with golden sun embroideries walked past the door and insulted them.

    "What did you just say?" Hei Gou asked. The ones who were passing by stopped in their tracks.

    They had not looked at Hei Gou or Xue Wei before; they had just called them bumpkins because of their worn out clothes made from mortal beast silk.

    But when they looked at Hei Gou¡¯s incredibly handsome face, it was clear that they were bing jealous. Although appearances were only skin-deep, everyone would be jealous if they saw someone who could rival the god of beauty.

    "Who invited such country bumpkins to the ck Iron Fortress?" one of the men asked with a snort. "We don¡¯t need pretty boys that are like embroidered pillowcases."

    Hei Gou¡¯s face turned darker and darker. Calling him an embroidered pillowcase was the same as saying that he was all about appearance and did not have the strength to back it up.

    Unfortunately, this young man from the Crimson Sunshine Sect did not even bother to check Hei Gou¡¯s cultivation base. In his eyes, everyone who looked so travel-worn had to be weak. Furthermore, even if he did, he would most likely chalk their high cultivation base up to lucky chance and shallow foundations.

    "Oi, you there, aren¡¯t you a backwater kingdom person yourself? You im to be from a great sect, but the fact is that your talent is so poor that you can¡¯t even be sent to the main sect and are forced to stay in the branch sect for your entire life. Who are you to call us country bumpkins?" Xue Wei¡¯s voice cut straight into this expert¡¯s weakness.

    Although he could consider himself a genius, this was only within the Skyward Empire. Within the other kingdoms and empires in the center of the Chang¡¯an continent, he would be nothing.

    But instead of bing embarrassed and ufortable, the one who was being berated justughed it off. "Who are you to talk? If my talent is poor, then what about your talent? You are just a country bumpkin; you will never be able to match up to the talents of us experts from the Three Great Sects!"

    Xue Wei startedughing out loud when he heard what the sect disciple said. "Right, I will never be able to defeat your arrogance, that is for sure," he chuckled. "Well, our food is getting cold. Why don¡¯t you go on ahead? We will know the truth about who is truly superior when the tournament begins."

    Xue Wei had intended to keep a low profile, but seeing how they had thoroughly enraged Hei Gou, he spoke up. Hei Gou would have done the same for him, so he would do it for his friend too.

    "You think we are someone you can order to leave as it pleases you?" The expert from the Crimson Sunshine Sect sneered at Xue Wei.

    Xue Wei lifted his gazezily. The first floor and second floor of the restaurant was for first and secondyer Sky Warriors, whereas if you were a thirdyer or above you could get a private room.

    The expert in front of him was a thirdyer Sky Warrior, and hispanions were two secondyer Sky Warriors who had been allowed upstairs because of their rtionship with this leader of the small trio.

    Xue Wei did not fear a thirdyer Sky Warrior at all, not to mention that Hei Gou might not be able to fight the high ranked experts without arousing suspicion, but these low ranked experts were no issue. Dispatching the three was no problem for the two of them, should they wish to act.

 Chapter 152: Breakthrough

    Xue Wei sighed when he heard the expert¡¯s words. "Where is your leader?" he then asked casually. "I thought he was supposed to babysit you guys and ensure that you did not insult people that should not be insulted."

    Hearing this, the expertughed again. "Insult people who should not be insulted? Who do you think you are. You cannot even afford proper clothes, running around in mortal silk, and you think you are someone we cannot afford to offend? We are disciples of the Crimson Sunshine Sect!"

    Xue Wei ced a hand on his head and shook it as if he had heard the most stupid speech ever. This man was surely rather dumb. It was unknown as to whether or not he had noticed Hei Gou¡¯s cultivation base, or if he just looked down on it because of their clothes, but it was clear that he was looking for trouble.

    Xue Wei could not be bothered, and instead decided topletely ignore them. "Miss, why don¡¯t you bring in the food?" he said to the waitress politely. The young woman rushed into the room with the trolley filled with food and shakingly started cing the tes on the table.

    She knew the might of the Crimson Sunshine sect, but she also knew that Hei Gou was a fifthyer Sky Warrior. It was hard to determine which side she should support, as supporting one side would be turning against the other. As a simple waitress, she could not afford to make such a decision.

    "Why are you serving them food? I want them out of this restaurant!" The man from the Crimson Sunshine Sect exploded forth when he saw her ce the tes on the table.

    "They are poor and uncivilized; they do not deserve to eat at the same ce as us. Kick them out right now!"

    At this point, although many of the private chambers were private, the ones inside had heard the confl¨ªct that was ongoing outside and had opened their doors to listen in.

    While some were finding pleasure in the misfortune of others, there were quite a few independent cultivators who felt insulted by the words of these Crimson Sunshine Sect members.

    "You want to kick Wei and I out?" This time, it was Hei Gou who spoke, but where Xue Wei had a bantering tone of voice, Hei Gou¡¯s was filled with a ferocious killing intent that sent shivers down the spine of any who heard it.

    It was not before then that the person from the Crimson Sunshine Sect finally looked at Hei Gou. Some of the disdain in his eyes had changed to surprise, and a slight frown was on his brows.

    "You dare unleash killing intent towards a sect disciple of one of the three great sects?! Are you courting death?!" he eximed angrily. His anger was a means to hide his embarrassment after getting slightly scared and uneasy.

    "I am gonna throw them out," Hei Gou informed Xue Wei. Thetter just waved his hand, as if to say ¡®go ahead¡¯.

    Hei Gou did exactly as he had said. He stood up and went towards the three disciples. They could feel that all the warmth in their surroundings was gone the moment he approached, the temperature reaching the freezing point.

    They saw the menacing expression on Hei Gou¡¯s face, and they finally understood that although this man was not from one of the three great sects, his cultivation base was still at the fifthyer of the Sky Warrior rank.

    Hei Gou knew that he could not kill these experts, so instead he stood up and walked towards them. They were stumped at first but then they stared at him mockingly, trying to taunt him with their power.

    Seeing this, Hei Gou sighed, reached out and although these three were ufortable and one of them even flinched, they did not move. They had full faith in their strength and the power backing them, causing them to be certain that they were unbeatable.

    Hei Gou grabbed the three kids by their cors, and swept their legs out beneath them, causing them to lose bnce and fall, only to be held up by the strong hand that held their cors, almost causing them to choke.

    The three were iling about. They were stunned and embarrassed. They were angry and upset. They had never before been treated this way, and they could clearly imagine what woulde next. They had said that they would not eat in the same restaurant as them, so they were to be thrown out.

    This was exactly what happened. Hei Gou dragged the three experts, who were all doing their best to get back on their feet and to use Qi to fortify their fists that went swinging everywhere, but hitting only thin air, down the stairs and into the crowded areas of the ground and second floors.

    Everyone was stumped when they saw the three experts from the Crimson Sunshine Sect being dragged out like dogs. They were not treated with an ounce of respect, and when they reached the front door, Hei Gou tossed them at it, sending them flying through the door until theynded miserably outside.

    He proceeded to dust his hands off as if he had touched something dirty, adding, "You said that I was a country bumpkin who could neverpare to you guys. You said that you would kick me out of the restaurant so that you would not have to eat with me. And worst of all, you insulted my good brother!" Hei Gou¡¯s voice was not low, it spoke with justice and indignation, and all the curious experts around him finally understood the situation.

    The experts from the Crimson Sunshine Sect had used their backing to bully others!

    "Now, I am kicking you out; I am the one who is saying that I will not eat at a ce with such a disgusting person like you!" Hei Gou pronounced every syble clearly so that everyone could hear what he said.

    The fact that he was so dashingly handsomebined with the righteous air around him made everyone look at him favorably, while the Crimson Sunshine Sect suddenly became the viins.

    Having said what he had to say, Hei Gou spared a final nce at the three experts, snorted slightly, and then returned to the room where Xue Wei was waiting for him.

    "Come,e!" Xue Wei said with a grin on his face the moment Hei Gou stepped into the room. "The food is amazing! Come try it! If we eat stuff like this every day, our cultivation base will advance by leaps and bounds! A few more bites and I cannot suppress my cultivation base any longer, and it¡¯ll break through into the secondyer of the Sky Warrior rank!"

    Hei Gou was surprised. The food had smelled delicious, and it had looked mouthwateringly good, but that it had such an effect on their cultivation base came as a shock to him.

    He hurried and sat down next to Xue Wei before digging into the meal. At first, his eyes were filled with expectations, and after taking his first bite, he discovered that Xue Wei had in no way exaggerated it. The food was truly marvelous.

    Neither Xue Wei nor Hei Gou had ever received much assistance from outside factors. Xue Wei had used a few herbal baths, but it was not enough to truly matter. Almost all their Qi had been gained through absorbing it from the energy of the heavens and the earth, and thus their bodies easily absorbed all the energy in the food.

    The more of this food one ate, the less effective it became. It was the same with medicinal pills and nts and herbs. If one were to consume arge quantity of the same nt, herb, or pill, then they would end up getting almost none of the medicinal properties at the end.

    Both Xue Wei and Hei Gou were aware of this, but due to their low saturation of external energy, they were currently feeling a strong flow of energy entering their bodies, making them heat up. This energy quickly started transforming into Qi.

    Just as Xue Wei had expected, when the seventh bite entered his mouth, a shocking aura exploded out from within him. He had been suppressing his advance for some time now, but it was no longer possible, and the energy erupted out like water from a broken dam.

    Xue Wei could feel his strength rising rapidly. As soon as he broke through, the Qi within his body continued its expansion unabated, and he was rapidly absorbing the energy of the heavens and the earth. He was refining the Qi many times faster than ever before.

    He had thought that his breakthrough would end when he reached the middle of the secondyer, but it continued climbing, all the way to the peak of the secondyer, and even then did it not seem to stop.

    Having suppressed his cultivation base for so long, Xue Wei had so much energy within his body just waiting to be let out that he jumped straight to the thirdyer directly after breaking through into the secondyer.

    As soon as the breakthrough to the thirdyer was over, Xue Wei¡¯s pace at absorbing the energy of the heavens and the earth slowed down again to a normal level. And although he was still refining Qi, this Qi was not used to reach a higher rank, but to solidify the achievements he had already gained.

    The food was truly marvelous, and both Hei Gou and Xue Wei were deeply shocked by this. They stared at one another with disbelief in their eyes, but after a bit of time, they just smirked and broke out intoughter. It was clear that the sudden breakthrough had lifted their spirits.

    "I had some doubts about my strength before," Xue Wei admitted. "I didn¡¯t know if I would be capable of dealing with the experts of the three great sects, but now things are different. I am no longer a firstyer Sky Warrior, but a thirdyer Sky Warrior. With this strength, I should be able to deal with pretty much anyone."

    Hei Gou nodded his head. "Quite the surprise that you broke through that much after just eating a bit of food. Maybe we really are poor country bumpkins since we have not experienced the world of medicinal herbs, nts, fruits, food, and pills."

    Xue Weiughed. He knew that his friend was joking. "Although I have only had a little help from medicinal herbs before, you have had none and we are not worse than others," he reminded Hei Gou. "Look at us. We managed to reach this rank without almost any outside assistance. That is a proof of our talent!"

    Xue Wei and Hei Gou were chatting with one another,ughing and having fun when suddenly they heard a knock on the door.

    A timid young woman looked inside. It was the same woman that had brought them food earlier, but her demeanor was very pale and her eyes filled with uncertainty.

    When she looked at them, her eyes widened in surprise. She was sure that Xue Wei was only a firstyer Sky Warrior when he had entered the room, yet now he was undoubtedly a thirdyered Sky Warrior. How was it possible to break through two ranks in a couple minutes?

    Although she was shocked, the young woman shook her head and looked at Hei Gou and Xue Wei with pleading eyes.

    "Young Masters," she began, different from her previous demeanor where she had ignored Xue Wei, "I would suggest that you leave the restaurant at once. I heard that the Crimson Sunshine Sect disciple that you threw out has gone to fetch his senior martial brother and that they are heading here now."

    "I do not doubt that your strength is outstanding, but this Senior Martial Brother is a fifthyer Sky Warrior as well. I would be very sad to see you take an injury from this fight."

    As she spoke, a pink flush appeared on her cheeks, and she looked down. Hei Gou clearly understood why she had gone out of her way to warn them, and a soft smile appeared on his lips.

    "Thank you for thinking about us," he said with a soft voice that made Xue Wei roll his eyes. "But we will be fine. I am sure that if I am not enough, then my good friend here will scare them off with his biting words."

    Xue Wei was about to object, but he decided not to. It would actually be a good idea to test out his new strength, and what was more suitable than to test it out against a fifthyer Sky Warrior?

 Chapter 153: Senior Brother

    Xue Wei and Hei Gou were not worried about a fifthyer Sky Warrioring after them. They were not arrogant, but they were two against one, and Hei Gou had a physical strength that could rival a true blue Heavenly Warrior.

    Unable to understand what was going on within the minds of these two experts, the young woman was puzzled and unsure of what to do. Should she continue urging them to leave, or should she step back?

    She had already tried, so no one could me her for not doing more. Eventually, after seeing how the two young men were leisurely eating the food, she was rather curious as to what exactly gave these two shabby-looking experts so much faith in their own strength.

    Bowing and backing out of the room, the young woman did not go far but stayed close by to keep an eye out.

    Not long after, the great sect experts appeared as expected. The three who had been thrown out of the restaurant were now brazenly walking in front, had their chests pushed out, and disdainfully nced every which way at the people in the restaurant.

    Murmurs appeared in the restaurant. The patrons were eager to see the drama that was unfolding, but they were also slightly upset.

    Beat one, and someone stronger appears. Even though they were the ones at fault, they had no shame in using numbers and their sect to suppress others. This brought a bad taste to the observers¡¯ mouth.

    The murmur was mainly in low whispering voices, but a few were moring out loud,ining about how the Crimson Sunshine Sect could only bully others, but when others retaliated against them, they would use their background to bash them down.

    The number of people voicing these concerns grew with increasing momentum, and the face of the fifthyer Sky Warrior on the Crimson Sunshine Sect¡¯s side furrowed his brows. What were they talking about?

    This was rted to their sect¡¯s reputation, so the young expert stopped in his tracks and looked at the entire second floor, trying to find out who hadined about his sect.

    "I don¡¯t know what all of you are talking about; it was clearly my sect being bullied by others with far superior strength. It is only natural for us to take revenge." He stated this calmly, but his words caused many to choke on their drinks, some tough, and others to snort in disdain.

    "Is that what your friends told you?" someone asked. It was a secondyer Sky Warrior. He even stood up so that everyone could see who it was that was speaking.

    His righteous behavior caused the fifthyer Sky Warrior to recoil. He narrowed his eyes and nced at the three disciples who had asked for his assistance, and saw that they were all looking somewhat embarrassed and ufortable.

    Then he closed his eyes and sighed. He was rather intelligent, and it did not require much for him to realize what exactly had transpired. These junior brothers of his had lied to him about the actual proceedings.

    Sighing, he was unsure of what to do. But when riding a tiger, it was impossible to get off, and thus he had no other option than to go and get revenge for his junior brothers.

    "The independent cultivator left no face for the Crimson Sunshine Sect," the fifthyer Sky Warrior said after a bit of consideration. "He threw out three of our sect members without considering what it would do to our reputation. It is only natural that I reim our lost face ¨C that I make him pay for his behavior."

    The man who had stood up to interject understood that it was impossible for the Crimson Sunshine Sect to back down, and nodded his head with a wry smile on his face.

    He did not sit down again. Instead, he followed behind the group towards the upper floors where the private rooms were located.

    Others understood this man¡¯s intention and also rose from their chairs to see the sh between the two sides.

    Drama was always a wee spice in the in waiting time before the contest began.

    Xue Wei and Hei Gou had finished their meal. They were aware that someone wasing for them, so instead of leaving the room, they stayed a bit longer, chatting with one another, until a loud voice shook the room.

    "Country bumpkins,e out to ept justice!" someone yelled with his voice infused with Qi and shook the entire building.

    "Country bumpkins?" Xue Wei grimaced. "Can they really note up with a better name than that?"

    "Perhaps they feared we would not know who they were talking about," Hei Gou argued, but neither of them was worried. They slowly stood up from their seats and left the room, stepping out into the hallway outside.

    Not only them, but all the rooms had also been vacated. The guests were all eager to see the drama that would unfold.

    Xue Wei and Hei Gou were both walking leisurely down the hallway. Their faces held no nervousness, and Hei Gou had his trademark smirk on his face, making him look even more devilishly handsome than usual.

    The casual way they were behaving caught the crowd by surprise. No one had expected that this duo would so openly face a fifthyer Sky Warrior from the Crimson Sunshine Sect. It was a strong expert that could not bepared to ordinary fifthyer Sky Warriors.

    "It¡¯s them!" a familiar voice shrieked. Xue Wei and Hei Gou both looked in the direction of the voice. There were four experts, with three that were familiar and one they had not seen before.

    The one they had not seen before seemed to be around thirty-five years old. He looked at Xue Wei and furrowed his brows. Then he looked at Hei Gou, and the furrow turned deeper.

    "You said it was a simple oneyer Sky Warrior and a fifthyer Sky Warrior. Why am I looking at a thirdyer and a fifthyer Sky Warrior?" the expert asked with some annoyance. Furthermore, he was even more shocked by the two¡¯s appearances. They looked too young, yet they possessed such strength! Even in the Skyward Empire¡¯s branch of the Crimson Sunshine Sect, they would be considered absolutely outstanding geniuses.

    The fifthyer Sky Warrior from the Crimson Sunshine Sect felt ufortable. This had spiraled out of control. How could he not understand that the whole ordeal had been started by his junior brothers? Now that he had decided to stand up for them, he had to do just that, but he could not help but swear at them.

    "Honestly," Xue Wei smiled when he heard the first guy call them out, replying with a helpless tone. "You call us country bumpkins, but no one here would acknowledge such a title, right? Or were you just trying to test how many woulde out to see the drama?" he asked curiously, with a friendly tone of voice. But every person that looked at them had to agree with the Crimson Sunshine Sect. The two of them truly looked like country bumpkins.

    "Maybe they consider it praise around here?" Hei Gou instantly picked up where Xue Wei left off. "Maybe they are praising us by saying that we look as healthy as a pumpkin from the countryside. When ites to it, all the country pumpkins are definitely the tastiest of all pumpkins."

    The experts that had exited their private rooms to see the drama could not help but chuckle at Hei Gou¡¯s words, while the Crimson Sunshine Sect members¡¯ faces turned dark. It was clear they were being made fun off.

    "Well, let us be straightforward here," Xue Wei said as he rubbed his nose a little embarrassedly.

    "The whole incident was started by you. We were ruthlessly insulted and even told that we could not eat in the same restaurant as these weaklings, just because they were from the Crimson Sunshine Sect. Is it not natural that since they refuse to eat in the same restaurant as us, that we help them out?"

    "But then they had to go and pick up a friend like you." Xue Wei sighed. "And I am quite sure that we will continue on like this all the way until the final boss appears."

    "The final boss?" The Crimson Sunshine Sect¡¯s members did not understand what Xue Wei meant, but he just waved his hand and exined, "That leader of your group."

    The face of the fifthyer Sky Warrior turned even darker than it was before. These two seriously thought they could defeat him? Was he trash in their eyes?

    "It will be bad for both sides if he shows up," Xue Wei continued,pletely ignoring the fact that the face of the fifthyer Sky Warrior was turning uglier and uglier.

    "If he shows up, even if we can¡¯t beat him, we can without a doubt force him to reveal some of his hidden cards, and those he should want to save for the tournament. If he is forced to use them against us, it is clear that the Argent Moon Sect and the Cerulean Starlight Sect can make preparations and counter him in the tournament."

    A member of the Crimson Sunshine Sect¡¯s quartet snorted. "Don¡¯t overestimate yourself," he said with a sneer. "Our senior martial brother can easily handle the two of you without revealing any of his hidden cards!"

    Hearing this, Xue Wei just shrugged his shoulders. He had faith in his and Hei Gou¡¯s strength, but he also knew that this oldest senior brother of the Crimson Sunshine Sect was not as simple as these four people who hade knocking on their door.

    "Well then, what do you n to do now?" Xue Wei asked curiously. "We can¡¯t really fight in the middle of this establishment, as that would cause problems not only for the restaurant itself but also for the ck Iron Fortress, which might even result in me being banned from the contest. I cannot afford that to happen."

    "It is simple." The man from before smirked, "Just kowtow four times, telling us that you are a country bumpkin, and we will let you go."

    "Kowtow four times?" Xue Wei¡¯s face finally turned dark. There was gold on the knee of a man, and he refused to kowtow to such people. Were they not in the middle of the ck Iron Fortress, then he would already have sliced them into bits with Tianyi, but this was not the case, so he had to be sensible with his behavior.

    "Seems like we really have to take it all the way to the oldest senior brother then," Hei Gou muttered with a low voice. Xue Wei agreed. They would never kowtow to these experts that they considered idiots.

    Xue Wei pondered on what to do, and then a sinister smile appeared on his face.

    Mind Infestation!

    "Since you like kowtowing so much, let us see you kowtow to us!" he sneered. The first person who had started the whole incident suddenly kowtowed in front of Xue Wei.

    He was a thirdyer Sky Warrior, so Xue Wei did not fear failure in using Mind Infestation on him, but he was unsure as to whether or not it would work against the fifthyer Sky Warrior, which was why he had picked another target.

    Xue Wei could not make the target speak while being mind controlled just yet, so although he wanted this expert to call himself a country bumpkin, he could not do it.

    Instead, Xue Wei looked at them with cold eyes, when the rest of the group of Crimson Sunshine Sect disciples were puzzled, embarrassed, and angry at the one who was kowtowing.

    "Cut it out!" the fifthyer Sky Warrior pped the kowtowing expert, but he just flew across the floor before cking out. Xue Wei saw that he was unconscious and released his Mind Infestation without shattering his soul.

    "Seems like he has acknowledged responsibility for causing this farce," Xue Wei said, pronouncing every word loudly and clearly. "He felt guilty, but now that he has kowtowed, we can let bygones be bygones and end it here."

    "To hell with you!" the fifthyer Sky Warrior was incredibly embarrassed and angry. He rushed at Xue Wei with Qi shrouding his hand, using a martial arts technique straight from the get-go.

 Chapter 154: Befriending Talented People

    It was uncertain what martial art skill that the fifthyer Sky Warrior was using, but it was undoubtedly a strong one.

    The Qi that shrouded his arm was crimson. The temperature in the hallway rose drastically, and the Qi started to turn into mes as if it had been set on fire.

    The hallway was rather small, so he arrived in front of Xue Wei within less than two seconds. Xue Wei did not have much time to react, but that brief instant he was given was enough for him to throw out an attack of his own.

    Kick of the Forgotten Kings!

    He swung out his leg which was covered in azure Qi and met the arm head-on. The audience sucked in a breath of cold air. They had expected to see Xue Wei being thrown back like a ragdoll, and bing severely injured.

    He was without a doubt a thirdyer Sky Warrior, while the opponent was a fifthyer Sky Warrior from a great sect. It was obvious who held the upper hand, but when the two attacks met, all that happened was that a shockwave exploded out and energy crashed through the entire restaurant, causing the whole ce to tremble.

    "This is not the most ideal ce to fight," Xue Wei said with a furrow of his brows. He did not want to be stuck with the fee of repairing the ce.

    Hearing Xue Wei¡¯s calm voice as he slowly lowered his leg was a sight that stunned the spectators. The scenario they had expected where Xue Wei would shoot out like a kite without a string never happened. Furthermore, his breathing was not evenbored.

    The fifthyer Sky Warrior was shocked. His hand was numb. He knew that he was twoyers above this young man, but his senses told him that the one who held the upper hand was his opponent.

    Xue Wei¡¯s physical strength far surpassed his own. The senior disciple from the Crimson Sunshine Sect felt vexed by this. He had wanted topletely demolish Xue Wei with a single attack, sending him flying and showing everyone that the Crimson Sunshine Sect would fight for their face and their martial brothers.

    Unfortunately, things did not go as nned. A single kick from Xue Wei had caused him to be disadvantaged. This was something he could not ept, and he considered it an even more significant loss of face than when his junior brothers had been manhandled by Hei Gou.

    The cultivator from the Crimson Sunshine Sectpletely ignored what Xue Wei had said about this being an inappropriate ce to fight. He proceeded to coat his hands with Qi, this time on both palms.

    The palms seemed elusive and transparent. From the air surrounding them, thousands of palm prints appeared, making it impossible to find the real palm, and the beginning motions of this martial art skill alone made Xue Wei acknowledge the cultivator he was up against. It reminded him of his own Arcane Fist!

    Just as Xue Wei prepared to take on these palm strikes, he felt a strong oppressive air that descended onto the Crimson Sunshine Sect¡¯s member.

    "Insolent!" an ancient voice boomed out from above.

    "Even if you are from the Crimson Sunshine Sect, to act like this in my domain is uneptable!" the voice continued. "Did no one warn you about who controls the ck Iron Fortress beforeing here? Did your old hamsters from the sect not instruct you to behave nicely while being here?! Did no one tell you not to unt your background and bully others while you were here?!"

    The voice was filled with resentment and annoyance. It was clear that the owner of the voice wanted to warn this disciple, preferably without harming him.

    Seeing that the oppressive air waspletely aimed at the fifthyer Sky Warrior, Xue Wei understood that he was safe.

    "This junior pays his respects to you, senior," Xue Wei said as he cupped his hands and bowed. It was unclear whether the senior was trying to save Xue Wei or the restaurant, or if he just had some sort of bad blood with the Crimson Sunshine Sect, but it was clear that he had done Xue Wei a great favor.

    Xue Wei had wanted to test his strength against a fifthyer Sky Warrior, but thest collision had already given him most of the answers he needed. Fighting any further would require him to disy his strength, and then others would be wary of him too.

    When Xue Wei called out to the senior, he heard a bit of a chuckle, and then the ancient voice appeared boomingly again.

    "Country bumpkins is only an insult if you interpret it as that. I too was considered a country bumpkin, yet now only three or four experts within the entire Skyward Empire can call me that, and they would be very hesitant to do so!"

    "Your attitude is admirable! Your kick was not in any way weaker than his attack, but anything further would definitely wreck the restaurant, and the fee for repairing it will be high. I prefer not breaking anything at all."

    "I have been watching from the start. It was clearly the Crimson Sunshine Sect searching for trouble, and now I have admonished you. Come look for me, the one named Wan Qiang, if you have anyints!"

    As he finished his words, the pressure on the fifthyer Sky Warrior vanished. The freed disciple took a deep breath. His eyes were filled with anger and hostility. He felt humiliated, and he thought Xue Wei was to me for all of this.

    "You there! Just you wait till the tournament begins!" he sneered. "I heard it is a life and death arena; I will dly kill you on stage!"

    Xue Wei just shrugged his shoulders,pletely ignoring the other man. He shed a smile, casually dismissing the threat.

    Most of the experts who observed the fight were under the impression that the fifthyer Sky Warrior had underestimated Xue Wei, and that he would not lose against Xue Wei in a longer battle.

    The fifthyer Sky Warrior from the Crimson Sunshine Sect had felt annoyed at his junior brothers when he realized that they had omitted specific facts about their altercation with Xue Wei and Hei Gou, but never in his wildest dreams did he expect that he would be insulted, humiliated, and pressured the way he had been today.

    He could not me his junior brothers, since they were from the same sect as himself, but he could me Xue Wei. Therefore, all his anger and hatred was aimed at this thirdyer Sky Warrior who had managed to block one of his attacks.

    "I just hope you will live long enough to encounter me in the tournament," the fifthyer Sky Warrior sneered before turning around and gesturing for the other three to follow him.

    They left the restaurant with their faces contorted with anger, and their fists clenched tightly.

    Xue Wei had a vague smile ying on his lips, but he said nothing. It was always easiest to defeat opponents when one was underestimated.

    Hei Gou had acted casually from the very start. He had been smiling and observing the entire scenario that was ying out in front of him, and not once had he revealed doubt in Xue Wei¡¯s ability to deal with the situation.

    From this, Hei Gou¡¯s blind trust in Xue Wei could be seen. The two had been through so much together, and so far Xue Wei had managed to bring him so many surprises and miracles, that he had an unshakeable faith in his friend¡¯s ability.

    Xue Wei had arrived in his darkest hour and brought him a ray of sunshine. They had fled time and time again, and no matter how dark their situation had seemed, they had survived.

    Now, Xue Wei was letting him experience a life he could not even have had dreamt of before. Xue Wei was his savior and best friend. He was Hei Gou¡¯s support and pir of strength.

    Seeing the casual expressions on both Xue Wei and Hei Gou¡¯s faces, a few of the experts in the restaurant started pondering. Was it really pure arrogance to think that they could defeat this fifthyer Sky Warrior, or was it possible that perhaps the two of them had something hidden up their sleeves?

    Most of them were not worried. They were confident that these two experts were genuine country bumpkins from some small vige, unable to understand the difference between the earth and the sky.

    They were used to being hailed as geniuses, and it had reached their brains, making them incapable of understanding their own limits.

    "Well, we¡¯re done with our meals, so let us leave," Xue Wei said to Hei Gou and gestured for his friend to follow him. The two of them made it down the hallway and out of the restaurant.

    They had half-expected that the Crimson Sunshine Sect¡¯s members would wait for them outside, but surprisingly enough they were gone.

    "Were they really that easy to beat? One supreme expert and they hid away like tortoises?" Xue Wei muttered to himself with surprise. Perhaps this Wan Qiang was not as simple as he seemed.

    Perhaps this ck Iron Fortress held more to it than it let on. It was as if this Wan Qiang was a figure that even the Three Great Sects did not want to insult.

    Xue Wei was pondering about this figure, but there was one thing he understood right away. Wan Qiang was a supreme expert within the Skyward Empire.

    Only sheer strength would allow him to talk this way about the Three Great Sects.

    Xue Wei and Hei Gou walked through the fort town. Many shops were selling medicinal nts, herbs, spiritual fruits, and medicinal pills, but it was impossible for Xue Wei and Hei Gou to buy any of it. All they could do was drool over these items.

    They saw many cultivators buy these items as if it was something to take for granted. Xue Wei could not help but sigh. "We should have robbed those Crimson Sunshine Sect members," he said half-jokingly and half-seriously.

    They were bound to have a lot of resources on them, so taking that from them would surely fatten Xue Wei¡¯s and Hei Gou¡¯s wallets.

    "If you have the strength, then take it from their cold corpses when you meet them in the arena," a melodious and soft voice sounded from behind Xue Wei and Hei Gou, taking both of them by surprise.

    Turning around, they saw a group of five beautiful young women. Four of them nked the one in the middle.

    Xue Wei had seen this woman before. She was the leader of the Argent Moon Sect¡¯s disciples. Although Xue Wei had not interacted with her, only having seen her at the sign up point, his impression of her was that she was a cold and callous person.

    "You are saying that if I kill them, I can take their items?" Xue Wei asked with a frown on his face. Was this not the same as asking for the contestants to murder one another?

    "I heard it is a rule set by Wan Qiang, and no one goes against that old man¡¯s decisions here in the ck Iron Fortress," she said with a nod of her head. However, her openness caused Xue Wei to hesitate. Why would she approach him to begin with? They had nothing inmon.

    The woman, who Xue Wei faintly remembered was named Xiong Bing, seemed to notice his confusion. She looked at him, her face still hidden beneath the veil.

    "From all the independent cultivators, only the two of you give me a sense of danger," she exined. "I have a feeling that perhaps you will end up being a dark horse in this tournament."

    "Also, to have reached your rank at your age, not to mention the fact that you do not even have the backing of a great sect, you are very talented. It is only natural to want to befriend talented people."

 Chapter 155: He Is Handsome

    Xue Wei understood this idea. Talented people would not have ack of friends, but that did not mean he did not have his misgivings about it.

    He had experienced such shallow friendship before. He had seen how those who sought to befriend him would sacrifice him the moment it could benefit themselves.

    He had seen it when he was with Tie Haolong. Tie Haolong had eventually been cheated by his own group of friends, selling him out and causing him to ultimately lose his life.

    Xue Wei was not interested in finding friends for mutual benefits. He believed that such friends would end up causing problems rather than helping him out, since in those moments he might need their help the most, they were unlikely to be there for him.

    Seeing that Xue Wei did not fawn over Xiong Bing as the other women had expected him to do, their faces underneath the veils turned slightly surprised.

    Although their faces were hidden, no one doubted that these women from the Argent Moon Sect were incredible beauties and that every man wished to gain the favor of such a woman, especially one as esteemed as Xiong Bing.

    "Is he gay?" one of the girls muttered to her friend at the side. Although she spoke with a low voice, Xue Wei heard it.

    Both his and Hei Gou¡¯s faces twitched. The girl who had been asked this nced at Hei Gou and whispered back, "He might be, look how handsome his friend is."

    "Then it makes sense why he is wary of Senior Sister Xiong Bing. He might even feel hostility towards women since they always gather around good-looking men. He must feel inferior."

    The two were deeply engaged in their discussion, but their words made Xue Wei¡¯s face turn dark. If Hei Gou had made such a joke, Xue Wei would have hit him jokingly and teased him back, but that was because their friendship was genuine, a feeling of brotherhood connecting them.

    These girls were actually making fun of their rtionship, and this was something he could not ept.

    "So you think that any man should behave like a brainless chicken the moment he is spoken to by a beautiful girl?" Xue Wei snorted, clearly aiming his words at the two women who were speaking together. His voice was cold.

    "Well, is it not natural to want to make a positive first impression on a beautiful girl?" the woman retorted. This, however, made Xue Weiugh.

    "Why should I be grateful for some attention from a person who does not even deign me important enough to see her real face? Hiding behind a veil, making it so that no one will ever be able to recognize the person in question. Is this your kind of goodwill?"

    "I am supposed to be a gentleman? I know nothing of you women, but I know that women are not always righteous creatures. Some women are much more cunning than men; some will never hesitate to achieve their goals."

    As he was saying this, Xue Wei thought of the Ice Harpy, which made him seethe with anger. She was an unrivaled beauty, but she was also the vilest and most evil creature he had ever encountered.

    Meeting her had indeed given him a phobia towards people approaching him with a chummy attitude for no reason.

    Xue Wei¡¯s biting words rendered the girls a little stumped for words. They had never expected that someone saw women like that.

    Then Hei Gou startedughing. "I think your sweetheart will be very jealous if she heard that you have fallen in love with me," he grinned.

    "But what can I do, my appearance can entrance both men and women. Traveling with me for so long, how can you be unaffected?" Hei Gou continued to act as if what the women had said were the truth. Xue Wei shook his head.

    "Your narcissism really knows no bounds," Xue Wei grinned, before turning his head to look at Xiong Bing. "Well, prettydy, if you want to be friends with me, then you should get down from your high horse."

    "I don¡¯t mind you being arrogant because of your strength, but don¡¯t think that all men will flock to be beneath your skirt just because you are a beautiful woman."

    Xiong Bing was silent as she looked at Xue Wei, but seeing that she had no intention of answering, Xue Wei and Hei Gou turned around and left.

    "I still think that they are a couple," the first girl said. Xiong Bing red at her. Her reply was cold and clear, "Clearly they are not a couple, their rtionship is real brotherhood! That is the deep kind of rtionship that you ought to fear! They will not hesitate to die for one another. Such a brother or sister will make life worth living."

    "But he is even more resolute than I expected. I fear that he is the darkest horse at the tournament. He will be a serious thorn in our side, and we cannot just let him be. He shows no mercy to women, so winning against him solely relies on our individual strength. It is already very good if he lets us live when we encounter him in the arena."

    "I should not have told him that the winner can take the loser¡¯s items if they kill their opponent. I fear that he will cause a massacre now."

    While the disciples of the Argent Moon Sect were discussing Xue Wei, Xue Wei and Hei Gou were also discussing the incident that had just urred.

    "We have insulted two out of three great sects now," Hei Gou pointed out. But Xue Wei just shrugged his shoulders. "I assume that we can kill them in the tournament. That Wan Qiang guy is going to make some sort of contract stating that no one can take vengeance for the results of a match."

    "If he does not do that, then I fear that no one will be willing to kill the experts from the three great sects, while the independent experts will die one after another."

    "This will cause a severe uproar, so if he sticks to the idea of killing one another, then he has to take some precaution."

    "It sounded like the experts from the Argent Moon Sect were very aware that the battle will consist of life-and-death battles, but they are not worried about it."

    "This means that they have either transcended the fear of death ¨C or more likely that they haveplete and utter faith in their strength. They do not think that anyone will be able to kill them since the members of the three great sects will not kill each other."

    "The experts from the three great sects do not need the resources of independent cultivators," Xue Wei continued, analyzing their situation.

    "So they will use the opportunity to look benevolent instead, not killing their opponents, unless they behave rudely or in some way are displeasing to their eyes."

    "That is quite a messed up way of thinking," Hei Gou said, sighing. "Do they think that anyone unrted to them is a chicken on the chopping board waiting to be ughtered at their every whim?"

    "Unfortunately, that is exactly what they think," Xue Wei nodded his head to Hei Gou, "but I think that they are truly so stuck up that they look down on anyone who is not a member of the three great sects."

    Xue Wei was also biased against the so-called geniuses of the sects. The ones he had met so far had not given him a good impression. Instead, they had been overbearing and arrogant.

    Even Xiong Bing who hade with the purpose of befriending them had been overbearing and acted as if it was Xue Wei¡¯s good fortune that she had deemed him worthy.

    This kind of attitude was rubbing Xue Wei the wrong way, and he did not believe that a real friendship could be established this way.

    Xue Wei remembered how he had once been an average child that used to y together with the other kids from Lingyun Town, only to lose his memories and be a loner who shut himself away from the rest of the world.

    At the current point in time, he only had six people he considered friends. One of them was dead, another was a person who could not cultivate and was living as a priestess in a backwater kingdom while the other two besides Hei Gou were on unclear terms with him.

    Tie Haolong had died for his sake. This was something that he would never forget. Shen Mu and Luo Zhirou were his other two friends, but he had no chance of safely meeting them after having been used of being a Primordial Beast, and furthermore he had a feeling he could not trust them anymore.

    Then there were Wang Xiaoyun. He did not even know her current fate, but he cared about her deeply. He himself was not even aware of why he cared so much about her, he just knew that it had taken root in him when he first saw her, and even now she was important to him.

    Jiang Fengmian was a friend but he was worried of dragging her into his life as she was weak and never would be a cultivator.

    Her future was in the capital of the Vermilion Forest Kingdom, attending the temple and helping with their charity, while Xue Wei was going to travel to the center of the continent, and hopefully even explore the other, distant continents as well.

    And finally there was Hei Gou. The deepest bond was without a doubt between Xue Wei and Hei Gou.

    Having left the disciples of the Argent Moon Sect, Xue Wei and Hei Gou strolled through the town center. They found that many of the independent cultivators were selling martial art scrolls in an attempt to earn money to buy other resources.

    Xue Wei only had the Windwolf Sword sh, but he was not willing to trade it for a few silver or gold coins, as he knew that a few gold coins would not be enough to get his hands on something that could boost his cultivation level at the current point in time.

    He had been practicing the Windwolf Sword sh on their journey before they came to the Skyward Empire, and now he was rather proficient in using it. Especially when coupled with Tianyi¡¯s power.

    "This is torture," Hei Gou moaned. "To show us all these materials and all these things but tell us that we can¡¯t have it. Is it not unfair?"

    Hearing this, Xue Wei chuckled. "We will get our share when the tournament ends," he said with certainty. "And then we won¡¯t even have to pay for it!" he continued. Thest part caused Hei Gou to snicker.

    "But even if we get some wealth this time, it won¡¯tst us long," Hei Gou said seriously. Xue Wei nodded his head. "I know," he said, frowning.

    "The world of cultivators is one where you endlessly continue spending money on cultivation resources. This is why most youths join sects, but we can¡¯t do that."

    Hei Gou nodded his head. Although the naked eye could not see his real form, these sects had methods to test the heritage of an applicant. There had been too many situations in the past where Primordial Beasts had infiltrated the sects and caused tremendous damage to their foundations.

    "It seems that we ought to find a way to earn a steady ie," Xue Wei sighed. "We have the problem of all Fierce Beasts avoiding us, so killing them for items is quite rare. We can kill humans for their money, but then we might have to deal with others trying to take revenge."

    "The best would be if we somehow learned a skill that is sought after and earn money like that - look at Prophet Lan. He is a chatan, but he manages to earn an outstanding amount of money just saying a few words that can mean a world of different things."

    Hei Gou was quiet for some time and nodded his head. "We should learn some skills, but first we have to enter the center of the continent. We have to meet up with this Lan you keep talking about, and when we¡¯ve met him and gotten an answer as to whether or not Wang Xiaoyun is alive, we can change our ns ordingly."

 Chapter 156: Prizes

    After realizing that theycked the wealth to purchase anything in the marketce, the two headed back to the inn.

    The days before the tournament went by in a sh. Xue Wei and Hei Gou spent their time cultivating, only interrupted by meal times. Since they could eat spiritual food for free, they were not going to pass up on such a treasure trove of Qi.

    Xue Wei had reached the thirdyer of the Sky Warrior rank, and had to stabilize hisyer. Rushing straight to the fourthyer was not wise at the current point in time. However, Hei Gou managed to increase his Qi-level to the sixthyer of the Sky Warrior rank, while his physical strength-level was still at the firstyer Heavenly Warrior rank.

    The day of the tournament arrived, and Xue Wei, Hei Gou, and the other experts living in the fort town all headed towards the arena in the center of the fort town.

    This arena was magnificent. It was surrounded by forty meters tall walls all around it, and it was a perfect circle.

    Inside was seating all the way from the bottom to the top in threeyers. The more powerful one was, the higher up one was allowed to sit.

    The many experts all gathered inside the arena, on the main ground, and discovered that there were ten stages set up. There was almost no space for the many experts who had made their way to the ck Iron Fortress, and all of the experts were packed like sardines in a can.

    Hei Gou had already left Xue Wei and had spent some of their few silver coins on a ticket to the seating area. This ticketsted the entire tournament, but it was the cheapest of the cheap tickets, and it made him sit rather far away, and he did not have a good overview of the many stages that were located in the middle of the round arena.

    Xue Wei stood in the midst of the many experts, but Hei Gou was incapable of finding him. Even with his trained eyes, there were simply far too many experts in the arena grounds that finding just one person was like finding a needle in a haystack.

    The many experts in the arena were all eager to begin the tournament, but more and more were rushing in through the gates of the arena, and soon the ones who had entered were forced to stand closer and closer until they were almost hugging one another, and the stream of arriving participants was far from over.

    Soon, the stages had to be filled with participants too, and only when eight of the ten stages had been filled did the final expert enter the arena.

    The audience was observing the many experts that had entered the arena, while the attending warriors were sizing up their opponents.

    Xue Wei quickly found the experts from the Crimson Sunshine Sect; they were standing on one of the stages, trying their very best to look very important.

    The leader of the Crimson Sunshine Sect had no need for that, however, as he was very important in himself, and many gazes were aimed at him.

    Many of the women present were looking at him with adoration in their eyes, whereas many of the men, and especially the stronger independent experts, were looking at the Argent Moon Sect¡¯s disciples who were standing on another stage.

    The Cerulean Starlight Sect¡¯s disciples were ced on a third stage. Here, there were both female and male sect disciples, so they also caught a lot of attention, especially the female disciples as they had not hidden their appearances like the ones from the Argent Moon Sect.

    When Xue Wei¡¯s eyes swept across the ones from the Cerulean Starlight Sect, he found that the leader of that sect was looking at him, a puzzled look on his face.

    Xue Wei frowned. "What is it?" he asked withpressed voice transmission.

    The eyebrow of the expert from the Cerulean Starlight Sect rose in surprise when he heard the hidden message and a smile spread on his lips.

    "I am interested in you. From among everyone here, I feel the biggest threat from you. Even bigger than the one I feel from Xiong Bing. But why is that? You are fairly weak."

    Xue Wei was not insulted. Whenparing their cultivation levels, he was indeed weak, but when it came to actualbat, he was not as weak as these disciples thought.

    "Let me ask you, you and yourrades, how many of you have been in lethal danger before?" Xue Wei asked casually, and his words caused the expert to frown.

    "We are disciples of the Cerulean Starlight Sect, even when we were in the army, we were treated specially, so I guess we have only encountered life and death battle once or twice each," he answered honestly.

    "In these one or two times, have you truly faced death, or have you just experienced chaotic battle? I have experienced deadly fights and battles time and time again. This is the difference between you and me." Xue Wei knew that he was revealing some of his secrets, but he had a good impression of this man from the Cerulean Starlight Sect.

    Although the leader of the Cerulean Starlight Sect was an important disciple of their sect, he was not putting on any airs of superiority in front of Xue Wei.

    Also when he heard these words, his eyes lit up, and he cupped his fists and bowed towards Xue Wei.

    Many who were observing the Cerulean Starlight Sect were stunned upon seeing this, unable to understand who he was bowing towards.

    "My name is Lin Yuelong. It would be my honor to fight youter. If possible, please have have mercy upon my fellow disciples in their battles with you."

    Xue Wei nodded his head, but he did not give his name. He had long since learned not to be too honest with his name. Although he had traveled a long way from the Heping Kingdom, no one knew what might have been spread of information about him here.

    The conversation between Lin Yuelong and Xue Wei ended there, as a heavy pressure suddenly appeared from above and a figurended on one of the two empty stages.

    This figure looked middle-aged. He had long ck hair that was tied in a crown on top of his head, yet two long streaks of white hair could be seen on both sides of the head.

    He was wearing a ck robe with golden embroideries of clouds. "Wee all," he said. Hearing his voice, Xue Wei instantly recognized it as the one from the restaurant. This was Wan Qiang, the ultimate expert that even the three great sects within the Skyward Empire would hesitate to insult.

    "There are many more experts here than I had expected! Even the three great sects have sent me experts to participate in my tournament. Why, I am eternally grateful."

    "I am going to tell you all now that the fight you are about to participate in is a life-and-death battle. If you do not wish to participate, then you can leave the arena whenever you please. No one will stop you, but remember, you have only one chance."

    "If you admit defeat, then your opponent has to stop fighting, or they will be disqualified."

    "Now to the thing you are thinking about the most, the prizes!" Wan Qiang had mentioned the life-and-death battles so quickly that many were feeling gloomy at heart. They did not have faith in being able to deal with their opponents.

    "The top hundred will each be given five thousand gold coins and a Cloudy Caraway Root that is at least five hundred years old."

    "The top seventy-five will each be given ten thousand gold coins and one Cloudy Caraway Pill of high purity."

    "The Cloudy Caraway Pill is made from a Cloudy Caraway herb, including the root, leaves, and seeds, and the herb is at least a thousand years old, making it many times more powerful than the Cloudy Caraway Root that the top hundred gets."

    "The top fifty will get twenty thousand gold coins and ten Cloudy Caraway Pills."

    "Top twenty-five will get fifty thousand gold coins and one two-thousand-year-old Four-Layered Berry."

    "Top ten will get a hundred thousand gold coins and a Four-Layered Berry Pill."

    "Top Three will get a hundred and fifty thousand gold coins and ten Four-Layered Pills."

    "Top Two will get two hundred thousand gold coins and a Shimmering Cardamom Pod that is ten years old. Do not look down on them, the Shimmering Cardamom Pods are very rare, and they rarely get to be older than five years. To get a ten-year-old Shimmering Cardamom Pod is truly difficult!"

    "The winner will get three hundred thousand gold coins and a Shimmering Cardamom Pill."

    "In this way, if you are the winner, you will get all the prizes, so work hard and do everything in your power to achieve victory!"

    Xue Wei was eager to win. The number of gold coins could sustain the two of them for a long time, and all the materials they were promised on top of this were just outstanding.

    Xue Wei who had already decided to do anything in the pursuit of victory was even more determined now.

    He had to win! He had to make sure that these cultivation resources ended up in his hands.

    Even the experts from the major sects were roused, and greed could be seen in their eyes. They were used to dealing withrge amounts of wealth, but to have this amount of individual wealth was simply impossible as a sect member!

    The Cloudy Caraway Root was invaluable to Xue Wei right now, but getting the high purity Cloudy Caraway Pills would be even better.

    Above the Cloudy Caraway Root was the Four-Layered Berry which was also outstanding and almost a thing of legends to experts from the Heping Kingdom, and the Fouryered pill was nearly a myth.

    Finally, there were the Shimmering Cardamom Pods. They were near impossible to get because they could not live past ten years old. The Shimmering Cardamom Pills were also very difficult to get a hold of because of the rarity of the Shimmering Cardamom Pods themselves.

    On top of these pills and herbs was the amazing amount of gold. If he ranked first, he would be getting the five thousand gold coins from ranking in the hundreds, the ten thousand gold coins from ranking in the top seventy-five. The twenty thousand gold coins from ranking in the fiftieth. Then he would be getting fifty thousand gold coins from ranking in top twenty-five, one hundred thousand gold coins from top ten, one hundred and fifty thousand from ranking among the top three, two hundred thousand if he came second, and to top it all up, three hundred thousand gold coins on top of that if he could win.

    In total, this would be eight hundred and thirty-five thousand gold coins. This was a fantastic amount of wealth. They would be capable of buying a whole lot of resources this way.

    Xue Wei felt his heart beating fast. The urge to do battle rushed through his body, but at the same time, he was calm.

    He knew that if he were not careful, then he would be the one to lose first. From his own experience, he knew that you could not judge a person solely on their cultivation base. There might be others capable of leapfrogging levels like him, and if there were, then he would be the one who got the shorter end of the stick if he did not take precautions.

    His eyes were glistening when Wan Qiang suddenly waved his hand, and thousands of small tokens descended down from the sky like a rain fall, one floating down in front of each person.

    These tokens were made from stone and had a number carved into each one of them.

    The number that descended in front of Xue Wei was one thousand and twenty-seven.

 Chapter 157: Free for All

    When he grabbed the token in front of him, Xue Wei felt a tingling sensation, and it started shining.

    "The tokens will be your identity cards throughout thepetition," Wan Qiang exined. "I haveid an inscription on them so that they react to your aura. No one other than the current owner of the token will be able to use it, so switching amongst one another is not possible."

    "When you die inbat or forfeit battle, the token will be ownerless and return to me together with your permission to participate in the tournament."

    "I understand that many of you are unwilling to fight against others since you will put your life at risk, so apart from the prizes I have dered, all property on the bodies of your opponent will be yours if you kill them."

    This piece of news made the contestants exchange interested looks between them. There were still a few who looked ufortable, while the majority eyed the weaker experts with greed.

    Before, although the tournament operated around life-and-death battles, the likelihood of killing one another was low because there was no profit in doing so. However, now the incentive had been provided for them, so killing would be a rathermon urrence in this tournament.

    However, although people were eager to kill the weaker experts, they also eyed the experts from the three great sects with a mixture of dread and greed.

    Amongst the many experts in the tournament, these experts were without a doubt the richest. But killing them would undoubtedly make one enemies of their sect. When looking at the pros and cons, it was just not worth it.

    "I understand your thinking," Wan Qiang continued. "You might be able to kill people but unable to bear the retaliation from the faction behind the one you killed - well, fear not!" he grinned.

    "I have already signed a contract with all major factions within the entire Skyward Empire. They will not pursue any deaths that happen within the ck Iron Fortress this time."

    While the majority of the experts looked shocked, the expressions of all the cultivators from the three great sects did not change. It was clear that they had already been informed of this prior to departing from their sects.

    Still, they had faith in their own ability, and the three great sects had a collective consensus to not kill members from each other¡¯s sides. Thus they had little to fear. Although there existed some talented independent cultivators, the majority of them had joined the great sects for the excellent treatment they could get there.

    Xue Wei was aware of it beforehand because he had been informed by the expert from the Argent Moon Sect, so he was not surprised, but he noticed that many expressions were alternating between greed and fright.

    A group of the weaker experts even hesitated to pick up the tokens that were floating in front of them. It was clear that quite a few had already decided to leave the tournament early.

    It seemed that Wan Qiang was aware of this as well. "If you have not taken the token within ten seconds, then I will move you out of the arena," he said calmly, and then began his countdown.

    A few hesitantly grabbed out and took hold of their tokens, but the majority were standing still. They were still hesitating even when the countdown reached zero.

    Wang Qiang waved his hand, and a strong wind blew through the arena. Everyone who held a token in their hand felt the wind pass them, but those who had not touched the tokens in front of them were swept up by the wind and suddenly vanished over the walls of the arena.

    These experts were all Sky Warriors, so they had the most elementary ability of flight. They could not fly quickly, and they could not fly far either, but they were more than capable of softening theirnding after being dumped over the tall walls.

    Xue Wei was astonished. This Wan Qiang was powerful! With a wave of his hand, he had managed to precisely single out the couple hundred experts that were resigning and sent them flying with a single move!

    There had not even been any kind of energy fluctuation; it was as if he hadmanded the wind itself, his hand smoothly moving to sweep them away.

    Xue Wei was astonished, but he was not alone. Even the experts from the three great sects were shocked, their expressions disying great unease and slight admiration.

    These disciples had all been told that Wan Qiang was not an expert they could afford to insult. They had all been warned repeatedly that the sect itself would not take revenge for them should they die on their journey, but the disciples had all felt that this was just a shallow way to put pressure on them.

    The sect would say that they would not take revenge for them, and the sects had imed that this Wan Qiang was a supreme expert they could not insult, but who were they?

    They were members of the three great sects! They were never bullied or looked down upon, and when it came to taking vengeance, they would always take revenge for every little grievance.

    Were they not just saying these things for the sake of making them steel their minds? That was what they had thought so far. If they truly died, they believed the sects would get revenge for them. If they broke the rules of the tournament, then they believed they would be able to get away with it due to the backing of their sect, but now they understood that their elders had not been joking with them.

    This man, Wan Qiang, was truly so strong that the branches of the three great sects within the Skyward Empire had no way of dealing with him. If he set some rules, then these rules were to be followed.

    A few of the weaker experts from the sects began sweating in worry. They hoped that their sect¡¯s name was still capable of helping them survive thispetition. Their pride did not allow for them to give up unless they won or died trying.

    A few of the members from the Crimson Sunshine Sect felt hot and scorching gazes lock onto them, and they turned around to see from where it coulde.

    Their eyes made contact with Xue Wei¡¯s and they saw him smirking as if he was a hungry tiger that had found prey.

    His nce made them shiver ¨C even the middle-aged elder brother from before was ufortable.

    This sudden change in his members¡¯ reaction caused the leader of the Crimson Sunshine Sect to frown. He asked them throughpressed voice transmission about what had happened.

    His frown deepened the more he heard, and he cast a long nce towards Xue Wei before snorting. This kid thought too highly of himself for a mere thirdyer Sky Warrior.

    Wan Qiang had everything under his watchful eye. He snickered when he saw the development between Xue Wei and the members of the Crimson Sunshine Sect.

    "Everyone, step down from the stages," Wan Qiang ordered. "From now on, number one to ten will appear on stage one. Number eleven to twenty will appear on stage two and so on."

    "Each stage has one winner. The rest needs to either be unable to continue fighting or to forfeit. The winner of these group battles will be able to advance to the next part of the tournament."

    Everyone present ¨C both audience and participants ¨C were shocked. They had expected one on one battles, not a free-for-all of 10. The faces of quite a few experts paled, and they clutched their tokens before going towards the stages with shaky steps.

    A mild chaos of movement ensued in the arena. A group of experts went towards the stages, split into ten groups heading onto the ten stages.

    The participating experts were quiet. They realized now that the distribution of tokens had not been randomized, but had been given out based on one¡¯s cultivation base.

    The first hundred experts were all one star Sky Warriors. They were not up against any stronger experts, and the ones who had been very dejected at the start suddenly started feeling as if they might have a chance.

    Seeing that they were up against others of the same cultivation base, Xue Wei¡¯s eyes started shining. He had expected that he could be unlucky and face against a serious contender right from the get-go, but now it seemed that this was not the case.

    Although some of them might be able to jump ranks inbat power, it was not something just anyone could do, so Xue Wei felt relieved.

    Although he was a thirdyer Sky Warrior, he was above the average in strength in the tournament, and thus he was ranked in the thousands.

    In total, there were around one thousand and five hundred experts remaining, but approximately two hundred of these had not taken their tokens, resulting in one thousand and three hundred experts participating in the tournament.

    Stage one had seven participants, not ten. Stage two had nine. Stage three had a full ten, and so on. The holes from absentees made it apparent that some groups had more people than others.

    Wan Qiang wondered for some time and waved his hand again. The next people in line were lifted up and ced on the stages so that each stage had ten people.

    "Each stage is under the supervision of an Ordinary Knight," Wan Qiang exined. "He will be able to keep you all in control, and if someone forfeits, they will be removed from the stage at once."

    "I now announce the beginning of the tournament. Start fighting!" he announced,ughing, and instantly you could hear the sounds of unsheathed weapons and all-out battles filling the stadium.

    These were bloody battles. They were all equal in strength, and it was a free for all, so some experts would engage in duels, while others tried hiding andunching sneak attacks on others in an attempt to kill as many as possible in one go or putting a stronger contender at a disadvantage.

    Xue Wei¡¯s eyes roamed about every stage, watching for any sudden developments.

    Many experts chose to forfeit after receiving severe injuries. Although these were life-and-death battles, and although they were all eager to kill one another, the fact was that they had simr strength, sonding a killing blow was in no way easy. As a result, only a single person died in the first round of battles.

    The second group went up, and these were all also firstyer Sky Warriors. There was one stage where an expert managed to kill all other nine contestants. This was the first time it had happened, and the ability he showed was very outstanding. It was clear that he was able to fight above his rank.

    Although this seemingly dark horse could fight above his own rank, as Xue Wei looked at him, he felt no threat. He had his Mind Infestation, and it could make short work of him.

    "It was a little reckless of him to reveal his strength already," Xue Wei muttered to himself. "He has made a target of himself. His strength is not weak, and now he has taken the items from the experts he killed. It will be a miracle if he manages to survive this entire tournament."

    Xue Wei was not the only one to think like this. Many seemed to share his sentiment, but there were also very few who took this independent cultivator seriously. Although he could jump ranks, he was still a oneyer Sky Warrior. Just how many ranks could he jump over while battling?

    The stage was instantly filled with another ten experts. Xue Wei continued to observe the many stages in front of him. The scent of blood started to fill the air, and many were getting injured, but the body count was a lot less than what Xue Wei had expected.

 Chapter 158: My Turn

    Xue Wei watched the proceedings like a hawk, trying to see if he could find anyone else that was stronger than he had expected, but no one stood out.

    As to whether or not they were doing it intentionally, hiding their strength that is, or if there truly were no other outstanding experts, Xue Wei did not know.

    The sun¡¯s rays were shining straight down on the arena with a scorching heat.

    The death count had risen to seventeen by the time the firstyer Sky Warriors had finished their battles and the secondyer Sky Warriors were about to move up onto the stages.

    Xue Wei was patient. While it was true that the scent of blood spreading through the colosseum made him feel restless, he reined himself in and kept observing the shingbatants on the stages.

    A tingling sensation had started to course through his body, almost making him tipsy. He needed to use every ounce of focus to stay sober.

    The bloodlust inside him grew to a point where he could barely discern friend from foe. He wanted to see blood. He wanted it to spray everywhere. He wanted to dye the world red.

    Gritting his teeth, Xue Wei was about to lose control when he suddenly felt a cooling energy seep into his body through his back. It was the sword.

    "Rx," Tianyi¡¯s disembodied voice sounded in his mind. "Your bloodlust is making you restless, and you are about to go berserk. I spent some of my soul energy to forcefully calm it down, but I don¡¯t know if I can continue doing so. It is as if you have a monster hiding within you, ready to pounce at anyone and anything!"

    Tianyi¡¯s voice was filled with surprise and confusion. He had never before encountered such a thing, and he was at a loss for what to do. All he could do was use his soul energy to force that senseless, animalistic entity from within Xue Wei back down.

    But Tianyi could feel that Xue Wei¡¯s mind was split into two. The other half of his being was hungry for battle, desiring nothing but bloodshed and murder.

    Another part of him was cool and callous. That was the ¡®usual¡¯ Xue Wei, the one in control, whose calctive and cautious nature made hime up with a n for everything and anything.

    So the young man was both hot-blooded and deeply thoughtful. The two sides should not coexist in one person simultaneously, but they did.

    And it was clear that these two sides had a constant internal struggle to take over, with the rational part leading by a slight margin.

    The more Tinayi got to know Xue Wei, the more incredible and unexinable the boy became.

    Feeling the cool energy from Tianyi, Xue Wei heaved a heavy breath of relief, but he also knew that Tianyi had limited Soul Power.

    "Why are so few people being killed?" Tianyiined. Xue Wei smiled wryly. Tianyi was stealthily absorbing the soul energies of the fallen participants in the tournament.

    Tianyi did not need to kill a person personally. As long as someone died right next to him, he could absorb the soul power, and he did it dly, not feeling even the slightest bit of guilt or remorse from taking away the chance for these people to enter the circle of reincarnation again.

    Xue Wei said nothing about it either. In his eyes, it was a shame, but he was benefitting from it, so he was not nning onining.

    The sun started setting in the sky, and after the light vanished, illuminating light orbs appeared all over the arena, lighting up every single corner of the ce.

    It did not seem as if Wan Qiang had any intention of stopping the battles for the day. They were to continue fighting throughout the night until they were done with the qualifiers before they could continue to the next part of the tournament

    The moon was almost at the highest position in the sky when it was finally Xue Wei¡¯s turn to enter the stage.

    His group consisted solely of thirdyer Sky Warriors, and one of them was the disciple from the Crimson Sunshine Sect that had caused problems with him in the restaurant.

    Seeing that they were both in the same group, Xue Wei smiled widely, while the other¡¯s face was dark.

    He did not know Xue Wei¡¯s actual strength, but he knew that he was stronger than expected. He also knew he was stronger than himself.

    Had he been in Xue Wei¡¯s shoes when his senior brother attacked with full force, he would not have gotten out of it unscathed

    "Maybe he is just really good at defense," the sect disciple muttered to himself. "He could have focused on defensive techniques in his training, which means he iscking when ites to his damage dealing techniques!"

    He knew that this was a guess, but the more he thought of it, the more certain he became. Someone like Xue Wei who could jump more than twoyers while fighting could not exist! Within the Sky Warrior stage, eachyer was an incredibly vast gulf from the next

    Xue Wei did not think about what this expert was worrying about. Instead, he was contemting about what to do with the other nine experts as a whole.

    He had to win, but if he won magnificently like the other oneyer Sky Warrior, then it was likely that it would end uping back to bite him in the posteriorter.

    "Battle begin!"

    While Xue Wei was in deep thought, their tform¡¯s judge announced the start of battle.

    Xue Wei swept his gaze across the nine experts. There were two women and seven men. The women were prudent and stayed behind while three of the men charged into the middle of the stage, weapons held high in their hands and hacking and shing down with their swords.

    There was no ir, no techniques, just a disy of sheer power in their attacks. Xue Wei sighed when he saw it.

    "They are not worthy," he decided quickly. "The women are quite prudent, but I guess the strongest in this group, apart from me, would be the expert from the Crimson Sunshine Sect."

    Mind Infestation!

    Xue Wei looked at the sect disciple andunched Mind Infestation. When Xue Wei realized how smoothly he took control of him, a snicker appeared on his lips.

    Of the ten people, outwardly, only three had engaged in battles, but the truth was that half of them had already begun.

    Xue Wei had the expert from the Crimson Sunshine Sect move towards him. No one stopped him ¨C after all, although he was their opponent, he was also a member of one of the three great sects.

    No one wished to fight him if they could avoid it, and it seemed that the man in question had someone else in mind.

    He went towards Xue Wei and then stopped right next to him. But unexpectedly, he did not start attacking Xue Wei. Instead, he drew his weapon and stood by his side like a guard.

    "What are you doing, you dolt?!" a furious roar came from the senior brother who had lost face in front of Xue Wei before from outside the ring.

    Unfortunately, the disciple had no chance of hearing him. His entire mind was already under the perfect control of Mind Infestation, and he had no way of freeing himself.

    "Let us band together and get rid of the two most challenging ones first!" someone from among the remaining eight yelled out.

    "The member from the Crimson Sunshine Sect should be hard to deal with one on one, but we should be able to take him down with our numbers!"

    "If we do not take him down, I am sure that he will be the winner, or he will forfeit and let the other kid win!"

    Out of those eight experts, four were paying attention to the fifth who wanted to set up a temporary alliance. Three of them had shed head-on in a battle in the middle of the stage, and none of them appeared to be willing to give up their struggle, but the other five were nodding their heads in approval of the tactic.

    "Let us take him down!" the one who came up with the n said and rushed forward with all his might. The other four were a bit more hesitant, but they too rushed forward after a bit of consideration.

    They feared that one of their men would end up supporting the Crimson Sunshine Sect¡¯s disciple due to his name being somewhat influential, but never had they expected that he would staypletely silent.

    "Let us see how powerful you are," Xue Wei muttered to himself. The Crimson Sunshine Sect only epted male students and focused on the element of Yang.

    Hemanded the puppet of a sect disciple to stimte the yang energy within his body. His Qi consisted solely of yang properties, and it was clear that he was like a ticking time bomb once this order was set into motion.

    "Oh, this is interesting," Xue Wei muttered to himself while scouring the memories and methods of this young man he had within his control.

    The five experts moved swiftly, arriving in front of them shortly after. At that point, the mind-controlled expert lifted his hand and pointed his sword at them. Qi fluctuations could be felt as ring after ring of ming Qi shot out from his sword tip, making multiple one meter thick circles on the stage ground that were constantly shrinking and expanding, making it incredibly hard to avoid them.

    If they did not avoid it, then it was clear that they would be severely injured. This burning Qi was not to be taken lightly.

    "That is the Ring of Fire!" a disciple from the Crimson Sunshine Sect eximed when she saw it.

    "Do you think that junior brother has decided to let this brat win so that you can deal with him yourself?" another asked the senior brother who had been insulted, and suddenly they all felt the arrival of an epiphany.

    They could not understand his actions initially, but if this was the case, then he was indeed an excellent junior brother!

    Xue Wei was unaware of what was going on within the group of Crimson Sunshine Sect members. All he knew was that he needed to defeat all of his opponents while looking as invisible as possible.

    The less they knew about him, the better it was.

    The advance of the five had been slowed down drastically due to the Ring of Fire and the many rings that had appeared and were circling the stage. Unfortunately, creating as many circles of fire as he had, Xue Wei knew that his Qi could notst for a long time, and thus he changed the attacks that were used.

    Then the next attack wasunched. "It is the Yang Cross Cut!" someone eximed from the Crimson Sunshine Sect. All of them were somewhat shocked, because the ability their fellow disciple disyed this time exceeded anything they had ever seen him do before. This was because he now had Xue Wei¡¯s perception.

    The Yang Cross Cut was a sword-art that depended on the fiery yang, and then it was a straight sh, but the speed and the power behind it was nothing but magnificent.

    One of the experts moved too slowly, and he felt his body being ripped apart. Although he did not die, he could see how he did not have long to live if he did not receive extraordinary treatment.

    "I forfeit!" the man eximed and was instantly taken out from the stage. His token flew into the air and vanished from him.

    A group of physicians appeared almost instantly and started treating him with medicinal herbs and nts provided by the ck Iron Fortress to heal the drop outs of the tournament.

    That was the first guy down. Seven more to go, Xue Wei thought to himself, but he was in no hurry.

    Although he wanted to win, he wanted to seem weak, as if his victory had been no easy feat.

 Chapter 159: Borrowed Knife

    Xue Wei continued to hide behind the expert from the Crimson Sunshine Sect. Many experts both outside and inside of the ring were looking at him with disdain in their eyes and felt that the only reason he was capable of surviving up until now was because this esteemed expert from the great sects had decided to protect him for some reason.

    The attacks rained down on the sect disciple. Although he was exceptionally skilled whenpared to other thirdyered Sky Warriors, he was still not fully able to deal with every single attack from the group of four experts that were going all out against him.

    He was using all his skills one after another. And slowly, the four experts were being worn out as they received more and more serious injuries. Although the Crimson Sunshine Sect¡¯s disciple held the upper hand, he was also sustaining injuries, but unlike the others, it seemed as if these injuries mattered not to him and he kept fighting with the same ferocity as from the start, burning his Qi rapidly.

    The first to sumb was a woman. She had been hit by a Yang st ¨C a very potent martial art technique that the Crimson Sunshine Sect¡¯s disciples learned early on.

    It was an attack designed fully for attack power, and he had used it for the sake of knocking back two of the advancing four experts, but it had struck one of them, more specifically the woman,pletely off-guard and severely injured her. She called out her surrender just in time

    She was gnashing her teeth in anger when she did this, but she understood that her life was the most important thing. Only when one was alive could one advance. When one died, everything ended.

    The next one to surrendersted the time it takes for a stick of incense to burn down after the first forfeited. This person was not one of the three remaining experts that had attacked Xue Wei and the Crimson Sunshine Sect¡¯s member, but he was one of the three who had rushed to the middle and engaged in a frenzied battle.

    He seemed to be around thirty-five years old, but he had a depressed look on his face as he was transported away from the battlefield.

    He had received a grave injury which had cleaved into his arm right down and severed half of it so that one could see the entire bone.

    At the same time, he also had multiple cuts and bruises all over his body. It was clear that he had taken quite a beating, and he had gained nothing from it!

    This was indeed a great reason to be very unhappy and depressed.

    The next one to fallsted for as long as it takes to brew a pot of tea. This time it was once more one of the three remaining people who were ganging up on the expert from the Crimson Sunshine Sect.

    It was a man this time. He seemed to be older than the allowed age, but since they had tested the age of every participant, it was clear that this person was within the threshold. He just seemed much older than he was.

    This person was not incredibly strong, and his defense was nothing spectacr either, but he had a movement technique that let him avoid the majority of the attacks.

    Unfortunately for him, the Ring of Fire that the disciple from the Crimson Sunshine Sect had released was constantly churning and moving around like snakes on the ground.

    They moved in erratic patterns and came in many shapes, so he got caught by one of these snakes and was swiftly dispatched by a Yang Energy st.

    This Yang st contained all the energy that the Crimson Sunshine Sect¡¯s disciple could pour into one attack. When it came into contact with the expert¡¯s chest, it exploded outwards, causing massive ripples to appear and ripping open a gaping wound in his chest that almost exposed his ribcage.

    So far, two out of five had already been rendered incapable of continuing the fight from that same ability, the Yang Energy st, and the result was even more horrifying the second time than it had been the first.

    The remaining two experts looked at the disciple from the Crimson Sunshine Sect with wariness in their eyes.

    They understood that if they wanted to win, their biggest obstacle was this cultivator from the Crimson Sunshine Sect in front of them. None of them took Xue Wei seriously at all.

    Even the experts from the Crimson Sunshine Sect were losing all respect for Xue Wei. Allowing an enemy to protect you is simply so embarrassing that it cannot be described with words, but that was what Xue Wei was doing right now.

    What they believed was the reason could not be farther from the truth, however. The members of the Crimson Sunshine Sect were all certain that this disciple was doing it for the sake of allowing their senior brother to deal with Xue Wei personally.

    Xue Wei, on the other hand, knew the truth. This expert wanted nothing more than to rip Xue Wei apart, but he did not have the strength to do it. He could not even withstand Xue Wei¡¯s soul skill.

    Xue Wei was rather amused by the Crimson Sunshine Sect¡¯s reaction. He had alreadye up with multiple reasons for what they might expect was happening, anything from bribery to friendship had been considered by him, but he had constantly wondered about what he should do to hide his usage of a soul skill from the Crimson Sunshine Sect members.

    Now it seemed that they had found a reason on their own. And from the gloating expressions on their faces, alongside the disdain in their eyes, Xue Wei could roughly guess what this conclusion was.

    The leader of the Cerulean Starlight Sect was rather confused as to what was happening. He did not know the incident between Xue Wei, Hei Gou, and the Crimson Sunshine Sect.

    But he did feel a threatening air from Xue Wei. Had the Crimson Sunshine Sect noticed something and was now trying to reel him in? He did not know, but if this was the case, then he was truly disappointed in Xue Wei. To give in so easily to temptation like this was unsightly.

    The Argent Moon¡¯s Xiong Bing was also shocked and feeling uneasy. She recognized Xue Wei¡¯s presence right away, and she had too felt that he was a talented youth, yet now he was doing nothing and was just letting the Crimson Sunshine Sect¡¯s youth defeat the others for him.

    "This is no good," Xue Wei said to himself as he observed what was happening. He wanted as many as possible to die so that he could loot them.

    He also knew that if the member of the Crimson Sunshine Sect managed to survive, then he would not be able to use the Mind Infestation on them again.

    Although some of their disciples were rather stupid, their leader was not. He would know exactly what had happened and woulde up with a way to counter it.

    Xue Wei was a little disappointed in the other members of the group. The three that had engaged in battle with each another was of no use to him, and the five who had engaged in battle with the Crimson Sunshine Sect disciple were all incredibly weak.

    Xue Wei sighed. If only he had been more proficient with the Mind Infestation ability, then he would make the Crimson Sunshine Sect¡¯s disciple he was controlling trash talk and insult the others in their arena so much that they would all gather together to go against him, but this was not possible.

    So instead he could only turn down the ferociousness with which his puppet fought. Themand that Xue Wei gave was to fight back, but only enough to injure the opposing party, not enough to injure them badly enough to forfeit.

    The expert waspletely mind controlled. Even if it cost him his life, he would do what he had been told to do, and he stopped fighting back ferociously and instead it looked like a friendly spar.

    Xue Wei looked troubled, but many were of the impression that he was troubled because the Crimson Sunshine Sect¡¯s member no longer seemed to hold the overwhelming upper hand.

    "What is he doing?" The leader of the Crimson Sunshine Sect¡¯s group asked with a very chilling voice.

    "He is tarnishing our Crimson Sunshine Sect¡¯s face! This is simply uneptable. He is helping the enemy. Before, it could be epted because he was dominating the others, but right now it seems as if he is about to be swallowed up whole by the other three experts."

    "This is simply a disgrace!" The leader was anything but happy. During the battle, he had heard the more minute details about the episode they had encountered before, and he was livid.

    He knew who was at fault, and he also knew that their Crimson Sunshine Sect loathed those who used their strength to bully the weak, yet this was exactly what their members had done.

    Xue Wei looked around, and then he canceled Mind Infestation on the Crimson Sunshine Sect¡¯s member and targeted another expert, one of the two who were in the middle of a fight.

    He did not make any fancy orders when his mind-control target changed, but he instantly shattered the man¡¯s soul, and switched Mind Infestation back to take control of the Crimson Sunshine Sect¡¯s member again.

    Everything had happened so fast that no one knew what exactly had happened.

    It seemed as if the Crimson Sunshine Sect¡¯s member¡¯s face suddenly turned extremely ugly - the first sign of emotion his face had shown since entering the stage - and then it had turned tranquil again.

    At the same time, someone had copsed on the stage. This person was without a doubt dead, but no one was more surprised than the expert that was fighting him.

    This expert knew that although he had injured his enemy quite a few times, none of these wounds were lethal, yet he had dropped dead just like that. It was simply impossible to understand.

    However, he was still an expert of the thirdyer of the Sky Warrior rank with plenty ofbat experience, so he instantly turned to the other enemies that were present in the arena.

    His eyes widened in surprise when he saw Xue Wei standing casually behind the Crimson Sunshine Sect¡¯s disciple, his arms crossed over his chest, and his gaze pondering.

    The Crimson Sunshine Sect disciple¡¯s battle was much more intense. He was giving his all, and although he did not hold the upper hand, he was not losing either, the two sides slowly grinding each other down.

    Seeing this, a cold chill ran down the spine of the expert. The only one who could have done something against the opponent he was just fighting earlier was this casually standing Xue Wei.

    "The biggest issue here is not the member of the Crimson Sunshine Sect, but the one who can make such a person work for him!" was the conclusion the expert reached.

    After reaching this conclusion, an eagerness to do battle appeared in his eyes. He rushed at Xue Wei, who casually lifted his head and smirked when he saw the personing at him.

    Then a figure suddenly appeared and blocked his path, shing out with a sword followed by a fist.

    Two martial arts were being used simultaneously, and the expert was blocked in his path. In front of him was the expert from the Crimson Sunshine Sect.

    He was doing everything in his power to get past him, but one attack after another rained down on his body.

    It was clear that the expert from the Crimson Sunshine Sect was taking heavy damage from the other experts that did not hesitate to fight him when his attention was elsewhere, but he moved as if he felt no pain and as if he was a machine.

    Blood flowed from his back and sides, dying the golden embroideries and the fabric of his robes a deep shade of red.

    But no matter how many injuries he gained, he continued to fight back with relentless fierceness. This was what one would expect from a life-and-death battle, and this was exactly what Xue Wei had waited for.

    The four experts were now engaged in a battle of attrition that seemed to have no end.

    The battle became more and more bloody. The amount of injuries kept growing, and eventually two more gave up, leaving two experts battling with their all.

    "I will bet my all on this strike!" thest opponent yelled out and rushed at the disciple of the Crimson Sunshine Sect with his sword at the ready above his head. His eyes were zing red.

    He was using an arcane ability to raise his strength forcefully. Seeing this, Xue Wei¡¯s eyes lit up, and a small smile yed on his lips. This was the ideal way to get rid of the Crimson Sunshine Sect¡¯s member without killing him himself.

    Moments after, the two collided, but the Yang Energy st that the Crimson Sunshine Sect¡¯s member had used was all shy and no substance.

    His Qi was shattered and quickly swallowed up by the wave of energy that came crashing in from the opponent, wrecking the entire body of the Crimson Sunshine Sect¡¯s expert.

    Xue Wei snickered as he shattered the soul of the expert. He did not want to risk him barely surviving.

    Qi had shrouded everyone¡¯s vision, so no one saw the expression on Xue Wei¡¯s face. And it was only when the dust and leftover Qi started to dissipate that one could see the lifeless and bloodied body on the ground.

 Chapter 160: The First Round Ends

    The audience was shocked. They were silent for a long time, no one moving or saying anything. Even the experts on the stage had frozen in ce.

    The first one to react was Xue Wei. "You killed my good friend!" he eximed with a trembling, grieving tone of voice. "I know he was from a major sect, but he was not a bad person! To be killed for loot, have you no shame?!"

    Xue Wei did not stand still while yelling. He was not even using a tenth of his strength, but he made it seem as if he had deployed his entire cultivation base.

    It seemed as if he was truly disying his might, but the truth was that he had not even activated Forbidden Rush as he moved towards the surviving experts.

    The first expert he headed for was the one who had killed the member of the Crimson Sunshine Sect.

    Arcane Fist!

    Xue Wei used his shiest ability. He did not use it to the fullest, but used roughly ten percent of his strength.

    Still, the Qi from his punch danced in the air, leaving behind afterimages in a most shy, outstanding way.

    Even if Xue Wei only used a slight amount of energy, it was impossible to hide the fact that this was a profound martial arts technique.

    The moment the illusive fists made contact with the head of the expert, the head exploded, turning into a mist of blood.

    Xue Wei was shocked. He was certain that he would struggle when only using ten percent of his strength against a foe of equal rank, but the profound martial arts technique coupled with the fact that they were seriously shocked was enough to instantly kill one more person.

    This had been the bloodiest arena so far, in terms of intensity. Four experts had died in one round. This was something no one had seening. Even worse was the fact that the round was still ongoing.

    "The two of you seem very weak now!" Xue Wei yelled out, loudly enough to ensure that everyone heard him. "I can take your lives as a token of apology to my dear friend!"

    Very few realized that Xue Wei did not mention the name of his dear friend, nor did he look particrly sad about it, so all that the majority felt was that he was being a good friend who was taking revenge.

    Those with a keener eye felt awkward and ufortable in the face of this. They could not put their finger on what exactly was happening, especially the ones unaware of the rtionship between Xue Wei and the Crimson Sunshine Sect¡¯s disciples.

    However, the ones from the Crimson Sunshine Sect were the most ufortable of those present.

    They knew that this expert had not wanted to die to protect Xue Wei due to their rtionship with one another, but they could say nothing to refute Xue Wei¡¯s im.

    If they did inform them about the fact that this expert was not Xue Wei¡¯s friend, and that he was actually trying to plot behind his back, then they would be the joke of the tournament. Then everyone would feel that he deserved to die, while right now he had died a heroic death, befitting of a hero from their sect.

    Xue Wei did not dawdle after dispatching the first person. He rushed towards the second one, and used the same attack again.

    Arcane Fist!

    It was a repeat of the previous moment - ten percent power and a sky full of illusive fist imprints as Xue Wei rushed at one of the two remaining experts.

    This time, his fistnded consecutive punches all over the upper body of his victim and blood sprayed from his mouth as he shot back like a kite let loose from a string.

    He copsed at the end of the stage, never to move again. His eyes were opened and filled with despair, and thest thing he had seen in this life was the Arcane Fist¡¯s many afterimages converging upon his chest consecutively, swiftly taking his life.

    The audience fell silent. Now five had died in one round. The experts that had forfeited all felt incredibly fortunate that they had not been driven to such lengths, but now only two remained on the stage.

    Both were looking at one another. One had a slight smile on his face and seemed somewhat casual, while the other was wounded and had a hateful look on her face.

    "I forfeit," she said through gritted teeth. Albeit so reluctant to yield, she understood better than anyone else that she was in no condition to contend with someone whose attacks could easily decimate the ones before her.

    Although Xue Wei had disyed rather significant prowess, it was still believably within the margins of the thirdyer Sky Warrior rank because he had limited himself so severely, so the higher tier contestants were none the wiser and believed they had one less thing to worry about.

    Xue Wei looked on as the woman was removed from the stage before he proceeded to rummage through the pockets of all the dead experts on the stage.

    He started with the expert from the Crimson Sunshine Sect. He went through through all the pockets and ces where valuables could be hidden but found nothing.

    This made him frown, until his eyesnded on the disciple¡¯s hand. There was one simple ring on his finger, and Xue Wei suddenly remembered the treasure he had seen in the Golden Chambers back in Heping Kingdom ¨C the storage ring!

    Thinking like this, he swiped the ring from the disciple¡¯s finger, and nced at the other Crimson Sunshine Sect¡¯s members. Their faces turned ugly, so Xue Wei could not help but smirk. Even if it was not a storage treasure, it was still some treasure!

    Xue Wei quickly went to the other corpses and searched through their clothes, securing a few silvers and some medicinal herbs, but none of them had a lot of wealth or items on their person.

    Shrugging his shoulders, Xue Wei stepped down from the stage after being announced as the winner of their round.

    He had not expected to gain much from his dead enemies because they were likely to carry the absolute minimum for the tournament.

    Only those who hade alone were likely to carry all their valuables with them - and even then it was not certain, as they might have left the majority of their stuff behind in the inns.

    He could feel all the gazes from the entire arena concentrating on him right now. Even the ones from the other stages were looking at him.

    Some looked at him with greed because he had taken the wealth of a member from the Crimson Sunshine Sect. Others looked at him with bafflement, unable toprehend how the battle had turned out the way it had.

    Yet some were looking at him with hostility. These were mainly the experts from the Crimson Sunshine Sect, while the majority of thepetitors and the audience were looking at him with disdain.

    He had done nothing for the majority of the fight, and now he had been announced as the winner. Many of them had gone through bloody battles and had flirted with death to emerge as the victors, so they looked down on Xue Wei.

    Xue Wei waspletely at ease in the face of those many judgmental gazes pointed at him, his behavior casual and carefree. In the midst of all this attention, however, he also sensed a few questioning nces.

    Looking towards them, he locked eyes with Lin Yuelong, the leader of the group from the Cerulean Starlight Sect.

    It was clear that Xue Wei had sought to stay lowkey in the tournament, which he had pulled off smoothly, but he could not have done that without the disciple from the Crimson Sunshine Sect.

    When he looked at the other members of the Crimson Sunshine Sect, he could see them gnashing their teeth with anger and disgust on their faces. It was clear that they had not worked together with him. Then how had he managed to do it?

    Xue Wei snickered when he saw the confused frown on Lin Yuelong¡¯s face, but he said nothing.

    The grounds within the arena were quickly emptied out - only the winners were allowed to stay, while the defeated were sent away as soon as their injuries were healed enough to move.

    The deceased were moved away as well, to a freezing house where they would be kept until someone came to pick them up, although at most for a total of half a year.

    From this, it was clear to see that Wan Qiang had not expected many to die in this tournament. Although killing your opponent was epted, not many had the power to do so truly.

    Xue Wei was curious about the ring in his pocket, but he dared not start fiddling with it right now.

    If others realized that he had taken a storage ring or some sort of treasured ring, then they would stop at nothing to take this ring for themselves.

    Xue Wei was not so narrow-minded that he thought he could defeat anyone who came for him, especially not those who hade to observe the tournament but were too old to partake themselves.

    He might seem casual on the outside, he might seem as if he was carefree when one looked at him, but in fact, his spiritual energy was spread to every corner, keeping everything under surveince.

    The battles continued, and soon the sun had set in the distance, but the entire arena was lit up by illuminating orbs that were ced everywhere in the arena, ensuring that it was as brightly lit as it had been during the day.

    The battles continued until the sun started shining in the sky again. Only then was the final battle of the first round finished. Although there were not as many experts of the higher ranks, their battles were much more ferocious. They disyed abilities that were heavenly to look at, and it was as if they would rather die than give up.

    The results were as expected: the members of the Cerulean Starlight Sect, the Crimson Sunshine Sect, and the Argent Moon Sect all won their rounds.

    Some of them had encountered a rough patch as their opponents had banded together against them, but others had breezed through their opponents as if taking a stroll in the park.

    When the final battle finished, everyone was more or less exhausted, but no one dared leave the arena. Who knew when the second round would begin?

    "Well done, all of you winners!" the sound of Wan Qiang¡¯s voice sounded throughout the entire arena. Xue Wei looked into the sky only to see that the man in question was standing on air, looking down on them all.

    "You have all fought bravely in life-and-death battles. Return now to the inn and rest up. The second part of the tournament will begin at sunrise three days from now!"

    Hearing this, many of the experts on the field slumped in relief. They had feared that they would go straight to the next stage of the tournament while exhausted.

    On the other hand, Xue Wei was energetic and happy. He had gotten some spoils from thest battle, so he was expectant to find out whether or not it would be beneficial for him.

    Wan Qiang said nothing beyond that and instead floated up into the sky, vanishing in a beam of light.

    The audience and the participating experts waited for a few moments to see if he would return, but he did not, so the most wounded and injured started leaving.

    When the first started leaving, the rest were set in motion like a tide ebbing away. Everyone flooded out of the arena and went back to either their homes or their inns.

    Xue Wei did not rush back to his inn; he waited for Hei Gou for protection. At this point, both of them went back to the inn together, both observing their surroundings and keeping up their guard, a feeling they knew all too well.

 Chapter 161: Answers

    The trip back to the inn was short, and they had proceeded with much caution, but nothing happened.

    Still, they did not rx even once up until they were in their room, heaving a sigh of relief once inside.

    They checked the entire room over, the window and door included, for any unwanted presences a second time just to be sure. Afterwards, they sat down on the floor in the middle of the room and looked at one another. Grins could be seen on both faces.

    Xue Wei quickly handed over the stuff he had salvaged in his fight to Hei Gou for safekeeping. Usually, Xue Wei would carry their valuables, but since he was participating in the tournament, it was not convenient to bring it with him, so giving it to Hei Gou was the best option.

    Then he took out a few herbs that he had taken from the experts without storage treasures and ced them on the floor between them. He recognized three out of five herbs and was surprised.

    He had read multiple books and studied herbs and nts for arge part of his childhood, but he had no memory of two of these herbs.

    "It seems that my knowledge can only be considered outstanding in the outskirts of the continent," he sighed to himself.

    "Well, we will learn slowly," Hei Gou said to reassure him. "We can most likely buy a herbpendium at the stores here in the ck Iron Fortress."

    "Because you got a storage ring from that Crimson Sunshine Sect¡¯s disciple, we should be able to afford it."

    Xue Wei nodded his head and fished out the ring from his pocket. "It looks quite ordinary," Hei Gou added casually after looking at the ring in Xue Wei¡¯s hand.

    It was a silver ring, very simple and in with no attachments or any jewels attached to it.

    Xue Wei looked at it from every angle, but there was nothing special about it. It did not seem to have any engravings, nor anything else that could give them a hint on how to take custody of the ring.

    Xue Wei tried to probe it with his spiritual energy, but it bounced back.

    Usually Xue Wei would have asked Tianyi about help, but currently the sword spirit was busy consuming the souls that had died that day at the tournament and was unavable.

    Frowning, Xue Wei was unsure of what to do. He had read multiple books, but none of these exined what to do to establish ownership over a storage treasure.

    In fact, none of them had even mentioned storage treasures before. He had not known about them before he encountered the manager of the Golden Chambers in the capital of the Kingdom of Heping.

    "What do you think I am supposed to do to make it work?" Xue Wei asked, puzzled.

    "I don¡¯t know," Hei Gou replied, also looking puzzled. Both stared thoughtfully at the ring in the middle between them, unable to determine their next action.

    "This is troublesome," Xue Wei finally said, sighing. "I guess I have one thing I could do," he continued, but he hesitated at the same time.

    "I can ask them for help, but I will owe them a favor if I do," he continued.

    "You n on asking the Cerulean Starlight Sect for assistance?" Hei Gou could easily guess Xue Wei¡¯s train of thought.

    Currently, he was hostile towards both the Argent Moon Sect and the Crimson Sunshine Sect, meaning that the only one left was the Cerulean Starlight Sect.

    Xue Wei nodded his head. He had a pretty good impression of Lin Yuelong.

    Having reached a decision, neither Xue Wei nor Hei Gou hesitated. They rose from their seated position, and Xue Wei put the ring away into his robes.

    Together, the two left the inn, but without any real destination in mind. How would they find the few people from the Cerulean Starlight Sect? It was like looking for a specific tree in the middle of a forest.

    They started walking around aimlessly. Now and then they would ask the experts on the street if they had seen the Cerulean Starlight Sect¡¯s members, but the majority either snorted or outright ignored them.

    The few who did answer were either clueless, or said that it had been some time since they hadst seen them.

    Xue Wei and Hei Gou were starting to feel rather let down when the thought that they had been going in the wrong direction from the start suddenly hit them.

    The members of the Cerulean Starlight Sect were likely to either be in the middle of a meal outside or resting up at their inn.

    Since this was the case, the duo started walking from inn to inn asking for the whereabouts of the Cerulean Starlight Sect¡¯s members.

    The first couple of inns answered honestly, informing them that they were not housing said great sect¡¯s delegation, but after walking around for nearly an hour and reaching thergest inn in the fortress, things changed.

    "Excuse us," Xue Wei went to the counter as usual and started asking as he had done multiple times before, "I was wondering if the Cerulean Starlight Sect¡¯s members are currently residing in your inn?"

    The manager behind the counter narrowed his eyes and said indecisively, "What if they do? What if they don¡¯t?"

    His tone of voice was not hostile, but it was not friendly either. It was incredibly t and casual. It was clear what he wanted.

    Xue Wei sighed and took out fifty silver. This was two thirds of what he had looted from the other experts in the arena, but Xue Wei wanted the valuables within the ring, not these few silvers.

    Seeing the fifty silver, the eyes of the manager instantly lit up. "They do reside within our inn. In fact, they are currently present as well. Would you like me to bring them a message?"

    "Tell Lin Yuelong that a friend and a rival hase to ask for a favor," Xue Wei said.

    At this point, he regretted not having given his fake name to Lin Yuelong when they were discussing earlier throughpressed voice transmission, but he could only hope that his message piqued his interest and made him appear.

    Xue Wei waited patiently for the manager to go and give the message to Lin Yuelong. Moments after, the young man walked down the staircase together with the manager.

    A great smile was on his face, and he acted like he had been expecting Xue Wei¡¯s arrival.

    "The ring, right?" He chuckled. Xue Wei could only smile wryly.

    "Lowly people like myself have never had a storage treasure before," Xue Wei started exining with a sigh, "but I would like to own one now that I have gotten my hands on one. I guess you can take it as me asking for a favor."

    Lin Yuelong nodded his head and gestured for Xue Wei and Hei Gou to follow him.

    The inn that the Cerulean Starlight Sect resided in was many times bigger than the one Xue Wei and Hei Gou were staying at.

    The Cerulean Starlight Sect had rented out their most magnificent rooms, which had both bedrooms, living rooms, and bathrooms in all of them.

    Xue Wei and Hei Gou were being led into the sitting room of Lin Yuelong¡¯s room where he offered them some snacks and wine.

    "I have one question to which I want an answer, and then I will help you," Lin Yuelong went straight for the business transaction. Xue Wei smiled.

    "You know our question," he replied casually, "but yours might be worth a lot more than mine. What to do with this disparity in the value of information?"

    "You can ask multiple questions," Lin Yuelong said casually. "I have the impression that youe from farawaynds, and from a rather backwater ce even. There are many simple things that we cultivators closer to the center of the continent and the kingdoms that flourish know about, but these are things someone like you would not know of."

    Xue Wei looked at Lin Yuelong for a long time before he nodded his head. "Do ask," he finally said with a sigh. He needed answers, and to get those he had to pay a price.

    "How did you make Yang Benfang act like that... ¨C allow me to rephrase, how did you turn him into your mindless ve like that?" he asked, and his eyes shone sharply as he observed Xue Wei¡¯s every feature for any changes

    "This?" Xue Weiughed. He knew it would be stupid to reveal one of his most essential tactics, but this tactic was the most efficient tool for murder, and he had already in advance promised himself not to kill the members of the Cerulean Starlight Sect.

    "I have a spiritual energy attack," Xue Wei said with a shrug. "As long as my soul is stronger than the opponent, I can make them do anything."

    Xue Wei avoided mentioning that he could shatter their souls, as this was an incredibly ruthless method, but he had not lied either. He could take control over anyone with a weaker soul than him.

    "Can I see you disy your skill?" Lin Yuelong asked. It was not that he doubted Xue Wei¡¯s exnation, but it was because he wanted to know just how strong Xue Wei¡¯s soul was.

    "Come here," Lin Yuelong spoke into a bracelet on his arm. A few secondster, a few knocks could be heard on the door.

    "Enter," he called out. In came one of the Cerulean Starlight Sect¡¯s disciples.

    One of Xue Wei¡¯s eyebrows rose. This was not one of the Cerulean Starlight Sect¡¯s weaker members; it was a member of the fourthyer Sky Warrior rank.

    "This young master is going to try out a skill on you," Lin Yuelong said as he looked at the expert he had summoned. "Guard your mind! This is a spiritual energy attack!"

    The disciple¡¯s expression turned stern and severe. He clearly did not look down on Xue Wei despite his outwardly visibly lesser cultivation base, so he braced himself.

    Mind Infestation!

    Xue Weiunched Mind Infestation after Lin Yuelong had spoken, and felt a small resistance repel his mental probe. It felt as if there was a curtain in front of him. But this curtain was ripped apart very fast, and he soon felt the familiar feeling of taking over someone¡¯s mind.

    Xue Wei frowned. "You have a method to strengthen the soul, and to protect it against spiritual attacks?" Xue Wei asked. Lin Yuelong nodded his head with a smile on his face.

    "Well, whatever." Xue Wei shrugged his shoulders. "I have sessfully mind-controlled him. What do you want me to do with him?"

    Lin Yuelong hesitated for a moment, wondering what exactly he should do, but then he looked at the expert.

    "Talk to me."

    The expert stoodpletely still. He did not answer. His eyes were vacant and his body rigid.

    "I believe you. Release him." Lin Yuelong sighed. Xue Wei canceled the Mind Infestation ability per request.

    The now-freed expert¡¯s face was filled with fear and trepidation when he woke up his stupor. He almost fled out of the room when he had been permitted to leave.

    Lin Yuelong looked at Xue Wei with a renewed fear and respect. "I believe you were honest with me. I will tell you what you want to know the most," he said with a nod of his head.

    "Ranked treasures have to be bound to a master, and to be bound you drop your blood on the item."

    "I heard about legendary items that even needs to be bound by the soul, but as to how that is done and what kind of treasure that needs to be, I do not know. They do not exist outside of the center of the continent."

    Xue Wei¡¯s eyes brightened. So it was blood that he needed to use to subdue a treasure.

    "Thank you," he said with heartfelt sincerity. He would never have guessed that blood was used to im ownership of a magical item.

    "Do you have other questions?" Lin Yuelong did not shy away from his promise, but Xue Wei could note up with something off the top of his head.

    "Let¡¯s save them forter," Xue Wei said after thinking for some time. "When I know what to ask, we can do good on that promise. Speaking of which; I promise not to kill any of your members during the tournament. However, that doesn¡¯t mean I will go easy on you."

    Lin Yuelong nodded his head in relief. If his junior disciple from earlier could not withstand Xue Wei¡¯s spiritual attack, then who knew if any of them could. He was worried, but this meeting had brought him some peace of mind.

    At this point, Xue Wei and Hei Gou got up to leave, excusing themselves to go back to their inn.

    "Even if we cannot win, we can still stay alive!" Lin Yuelong muttered to himself as he watched Xue Wei and Hei Gou leave.

 Chapter 162: Spoils

    What Lin Yuelong was unaware of was that Xue Wei was also ufortable.

    "What is wrong?" Hei Gou asked with a low voice. Xue Wei looked at him before he sighed.

    "Mind Infestation is not going to be useful to me for much longer," he exined. "We haven¡¯t even made it to the center of the continent, yet even people out here have some sort of skill to block against spiritual attacks."

    "This skill is not currently able to withstand my Mind Infestation, but for how long can I reign supreme just relying on my strong soul?" Xue Wei was genuinely worried about this.

    "You might not be able to rely on it as much as you do now," Hei Gou agreed, "but you should still be able to take some experts by surprise."

    "There is something that puzzles me more," he continued. Xue Wei looked at his friend with a frown. What could puzzle him?

    "To us, it is nothing to kill other humans, but amongst the human race, isn¡¯t there aw that states that you are not allowed to kill other humans, that all humans have to band together against the Primordial Beasts?"

    "I did not think about it at the start because we have truly killed quite a few humans already, but amongst the many experts here, who has killed another human before?"

    "Why does that Wan Qiang individual want to make the humans here kill each other? What is his aim? I cannot help but wonder what exactly is behind the sudden change in the opinions of the upper echelons of humanity. Not to mention why it has to be the geniuses below a certain age."

    Xue Wei was thoughtful for some time. "You are right."

    Compared to his problem, this was something even more troublesome. They were currently locked inside the ck Iron Fortress, a fort that was covered by very tall walls on all sides, and the only way out was the front gate.

    The participants were fighting each other, and they had been permitted to kill another human being for the first time in their lives.

    Thinking about this, it made sense that not many had died during the first day of battles. Even if they had the strength to kill others, did they have the mentality to do it?

    These experts were all theirrades in the war against the Primordial Beasts, and letting the younger generation freely kill each other off would without a doubt injure the empire in the future. If just a quarter of these experts died, the Skyward Empire would have lost a quarter of their potentially future Primordial Beast Hunters.

    "The only ones who will benefit from this are the Primordial Beasts," Xue Wei said after some time. "But if the primordial beasts seek to reduce the Skyward Empire¡¯s military power, do they not have other methods to do so?"

    Hei Gou shrugged his shoulders. "I do not know," he said honestly, "but this is a lot more dangerous than what we had originally expected. I hope that we will be able to raise our strength in time, at least enough to flee this ce should things take a turn for the worse!"

    "Let us rush back to the inn and look at our spoils," Xue Wei finally said, sighing. "The items from the Crimson Sunshine Sect are likely to be our biggest gain this time.We should be able to boost our strength quite a bit with those."

    Xue Wei was tempted to im the ring as his own on the middle of the street, but he did not know what exactly would happen if he did. Was there some sort of shockwave that would be released when he connected with the ring? Would there be thunder or maybe even lightning from the skies above?

    Xue Wei had no clue, so they rushed back to the inn and sat down on the ground. "Guard the door," Xue Wei requested of Hei Gou, who instantly nodded his head and went to the door. His eyes glistened darkly as he watched the door.

    Xue Wei looked at the ring in his palm, took a deep breath, ced the tip of a finger at his lips and bit a small hole into it to draw blood that he dropped onto the ring.

    The moment the first drop of blood touched the ring, it was absorbed. The second dropnded on top of the ring and started sliding down before it fell to the floor.

    Xue Wei looked at the ring. Nothing had changed, except for the fact that the first drop had been absorbed. The ring looked the same; there had been no unusual phenomenon, nothing had happened, not even a shockwave of spiritual energy or Qi.

    It felt a bit anticlimactic to Xue Wei, but he could now feel a connection between himself and the ring that had not been there before.

    He looked at the ring in his hand and instantly knew what was inside of it. It was a small storage ring that could at most carry two cubic meters of stuff, but within these two cubic meters was arge trunk filled with silver, copper, and gold coins. Seeing all that wealth, Xue Wei snickered and finally felt as if his efforts had not been in vain.

    The second item he found was a small box. This box had the shape of a rectangle; it was ten centimeters wide and tall, and twenty centimeters long. It was made from wood jade, carved with intricate symbols of flowers and petals.

    Xue Wei pulled out the box from inside the ring and sat with it in his hands. He slowly opened the box and found that the heaven and earth essence around him was starting to twist and churn as if it was being roused by whatever was within the box.

    When it was fully opened, he found thirty-nine small crystals inside. These crystals were all white in color and seemed to have white mist within them.

    Xue Wei was a little confused when he saw these crystals, but their effect was unmistakable when he sensed how agitated his own energy was.

    "Could these be essence stones?" Xue Wei muttered to himself. Hei Gou looked over curiously.

    "They are definitely essence stones!" Hei Gou suppressed the urge to yell that out and spoke in a hushed way.

    "We had mines in the Northern Taiga where we could gather a few low-grade essence stones. They looked exactly like those!"

    "Oh?" Xue Wei was surprised. He had read about essence stones in his books back in the Kingdom of Heping, but they had mentioned that the essence stones needed an abundance of heaven and earth essence to naturally ur, and that the outskirt kingdoms simply had too little energy to make them.

    "We had formations," Hei Gou said with a sigh. "One of the reasons that humans have overtaken the Primordial Beasts is their ability to refine weapons, create formations and inscriptions, and also refine pills."

    "Primordial Beasts are not able to make these things on their own, so they used to make human ves do it for them."

    "Amongst the humans that have been caught over the years, some of them were formation masters, who had been forced to create an Essence Gathering Formation a few millenia back."

    "After a millennium passed, the first mine appeared, and slowly we created more and more mines. Unfortunately, the mines were almost exhausted by the time I was born, and because of that I have only seen one essence stone before."

    "So we have essence stones," Xue Wei was slightly perplexed. In the center of the continent this would be considered a small amount of money, but here in the Skyward Empire, it was a sizeable amount of wealth.

    "He was quite rich," Hei Gou agreed. "Should we use the stones for cultivating, or should we save them for when we reach the center of the continent? I am sure that everyone trades valuables in essence stones at the center kingdoms and empires."

    Xue Wei pondered for a brief moment before he shook his head. "Right now, we are caught in a somewhat dangerous situation. We cannot afford to hold on to them. We have to use them and enhance our strength."

    Hei Gou was hesitant, but after a moment he nodded his head. "Although it might be a waste to use these thirty-nine essence stones for cultivation, every little bit counts right now."

    "We have three days. Let us check the rest of the items in the ring," Xue Wei said casually and ced the wood jade box on the table before he once more reached into the storage ring.

    There were multiple jade boxes and vials which contained herbs and liquids.

    There were roots, petals, flower stems, bark, full flowers, and even leaves from trees.

    Spirit fruit could be found among the pile of herbs, and the liquids beside those were clearly treasured liquids, but looking at the many nts, herbs, and liquids, Xue Wei felt his head hurt. He could not identify even half of them!

    "Let us go to the Golden Chambers," Xue Wei sighed. The Golden Chambers was a widespread organization throughout the continent, after all, and they even had a branch in the ck Iron Fortress.

    The Golden Chambers cared for nothing else than profit, so when Xue Wei and Hei Gou appeared, ady was ready to show them towards a room where a salesperson would greet them.

    The room was spacious, and there were floor cushions for sitting down in the middle. Xue Wei went straight to there and sat down, gesturing for Hei Gou to follow him.

    While waiting, he examined the art pieces that were disyed in the room. There were paintings, jade carvings, and sculptures.

    It did not take long before a young woman made her way into the room. "Wee," she said with a smile, "I am the person who will assist you. I was told that you are here to buy something, can I ask what you are looking for?"

    Xue Wei nodded his head in greeting. "We are looking for apendium that exins the herbs from here to the center of the continent. I would also like apletependium of spirit fruits and pills."

    The woman considered the request for a moment. "Apletependium does not exist, as new herbs and spirit nts are constantly being discovered, and the life of an alchemist is one of learning so the list of pills is ever-growing."

    "However, we are not the Golden Chambers for nothing." The woman smiled at Hei Gou even though Xue Wei was the one speaking, and her attitude showed that she would prefer talking with Hei Gou, something that made both of the two friends somewhat perplexed. Was this not slightly awkward?

    "We have the closest to apletependium you can get, and they only cost ten gold a piece. They are considered simple items that every main family and sect are already in possession of."

    Xue Wei nodded his head. "We will take one of each," he said and withdrew thirty gold from the storage ring.

    "We are also looking to purchase some new clothes," Xue Wei continued. "Would you like Fierce Beast or Primordial Beast clothes?" the woman asked, but this time she was looking at Xue Wei since he had been the one to pull out the gold.

    "We would like Primordial Beast silk robes and Primordial Beast leather armor," Xue Wei decided after a bit of time.

    He had considered what Hei Gou might feel from wearing another primordial beast¡¯s hide and silk, but after considering it, he knew that the Primordial Beasts did not have the same kind of kinship amongst one another as humans had.

    And he was correct, Hei Gou showed no reaction at all when he heard what Xue Wei had decided upon.

    "Please wait here," the woman said with a smile as she excused herself. She went to pick up thependiums per request, and summoned a tailor to their room while she procured the products.

 Chapter 163: Shopping

    It did not take her long to get thependiums that Xue Wei had requested.

    Afterpleting her tasks, she returned to the room with a tailor in tow, smiling at her two customers.

    "This is our most renowned tailor. His name is An Jie, and he is able to create masterpieces of clothes that rarely wear down and that have abilities and resistances woven into the silk and leathers."

    "Hello," An Jie greeted Xue Wei and Hei Gou with a bow. He then spread his hand and fabrics appeared all over the room.

    These were all high-quality fabrics, made from either high-level Fierce Beasts or low-level Primordial Beasts - the silk and hide from the stronger kinds of Primordial Beasts were just too rare to be sold in this fashion, even here closer to the center of the continent.

    Xue Wei had epted three jade slips from the saleswoman, one for the herbs, one for the spirit fruits, and one for the pills.

    He then started going through the many fabrics at hand. Xue Wei was attracted to the red fabrics, while Hei Gou was more interested in the ck fabrics.

    Looking at these fabrics, Hei Gou lifted a roll of ck silk and looked at it intently.

    "Oh, you like the silk of the Midnight Silkworm?" An Jie asked with a look at Hei Gou. "The Midnight Silkworm¡¯s silk is the sturdiest of its kind. It is hard to find as the silkworm can only spin it with moonlight. Not only this, it has to be harvested when the moon is full, or else it will disintegrate."

    "Amongst the many silkworm families, the Midnight Silkworm is the rarest."

    "This Midnight Silkworm Silk is also equipped with multiple elemental resistances, and at the same time, it has an ability that can be unleashed if you channel your Qi into the fabric. It works like an inscription, without being an inscription."

    "The Midnight Silkworm¡¯s silk is resilient against fire; it is also good at blending into the darkness, letting one merge with the shadows and hiding their presence."

    "This silk is from a Midnight Silkworm that was an Ordinary Knight, and it had gained insight into the element of darkness."

    "The ability granted by the Midnight Silkworm Silk is called w of Darkness. It transforms one¡¯s Qi into dark energy and sends out a half-spiritual, half-physical attack. It is a two-pronged attack.¡±

    "This attack is exceptionally strong and will continue growing with the user until the Ordinary Knight-level of strength. If you gain insights into the darkness element as well, your attacks will be even stronger!"

    Xue Wei and Hei Gou were silent. Element? Insight? What was this? They were both puzzled, but they understood that now was not the time to ask such questions.

    "We will take the Midnight Silkworm Silk," Xue Wei decided for Hei Gou. He could see that his friend was eager to have it, but hesitant because of their financial situation.

    "Great choice!" The tailor praised Xue Wei and Hei Gou quite vigorously as if they had made a life-changing decision.

    Xue Wei looked at the red fabrics and found a silk that was soft to the touch but also seemed incredibly firm.

    "So you are thinking about the Magma-scaled Larvae¡¯s silk?" An Jie smiled. "This silk is from a Fierce Beast equivalent to an Earth Knight. It has gained elemental insight into not only fire but also earth."

    "It has a strong resistance to the fire and the earth elements. The ability granted by this fabric is the Scaled Earth Dragon¡¯s Fire Seal!"

    "This attack doesn¡¯t just sound outstanding, it is every bit as outstanding as it sounds. It is purely a physical attack, but to a devastating degree. It will continue to grow with you until you reach the rank of an Earth Knight."

    Xue Wei contemted for some time as to whether or not he should buy armor for them.

    "I would like a set of armor," Xue Wei said finally and stopped looking at the silk. He went towards the leathers that were on disy nearby.

    Once again, his eyes were dragged to the red leather, and he quickly found something that suited him.

    Where Xue Wei was interested in the red leathers, Hei Gou showed no interest whatsoever.

    Hei Gou was a Primordial Beast. Not just any Primordial Beast, but a Celestial Dog, and one that had undergone a metamorphosis to boot. His body was now as tough as the leathers one could buy from this tailor, tougher than even copper.

    Although Xue Wei had quite a lot of strength, he was unsure of whether or not his physical body would be able to block a sword as easily as the Fierce Beast and Primordial Beast leather could, and thus he wanted a set of armor.

    Xue Wei lifted a patch of dark-red leather, which had a color that reminded him of the blood that he spilled every time he ended someone¡¯s life. Something deep within made him feel drawn towards this color.

    He could feel the bloodlust within starting to stir just by thinking about how he would wear this armor on the stage against the many young geniuses of the Skyward Empire during the tournament.

    Although it was for experts beneath forty-five years old and they were not considered youngsters anymore, they were still young.

    One had to remember that the average Sky Warrior had a lifespan of five hundred years. To a person who could live for five hundred years, a forty-five-year-old was indeed a young person.

    Xue Wei was rooted in his own thoughts when the tailor suddenly appeared by his side. "You are interested in the Molten Fire Bull¡¯s hide?" he asked curiously. Xue Wei nodded his head.

    "Please tell me about it," he added. Although he felt drawn to this leather, he was not interested in it if it did not have some sort of ability. The whole point of having clothes made with the furs and hides and other parts of both Primordial and Fierce Beasts were their additional abilities and resistances.

    "The Molten Fire Bull¡¯s leather works well with the Magma-scaled Larvae¡¯s silk! Both of them have gained elemental insight into the fire element, and when used together they canplement each other."

    "The Molten Fire Bull the leather came from was an Ordinary Knight-ranked beast. Although it is somewhat expensive, the leather is of high quality."

    "The Molten Fire Bull¡¯s leather is resistant against fire; it is also strong enough to block a few attacks from an Ordinary Knight if he is using his bare fists. It is another thing if he is using a weapon or skill, though."

    "The ability this leather contains is called Fire Stomp and is very simple. It creates a ming shockwave that emanates from your armor and pushes everyone close to you back."

    "Of course, it only works against experts of a certain strength. If you yourself are not strong enough, then it will not work against your opponent."

    Xue Wei nodded his head. An ability that would knock back his opponents was something he could definitely use in some situations.

    "Well then, I would like to order this armor made too," he said with a nod of his head and paid the gold coins that he was requested to pay.

    The tailor was glowing with a smile on his face. Although many younger cultivators hade to the ck Iron Fortress, not many of them had shown interest in buying clothes. They had already been fitted with the best clothes and items they could get from their homes.

    The tailor epted the gold coins and handed over three tokens to Xue Wei. "Come back tomorrow night, and the clothes should be finished," he promised and waved his hand, drawing all the fabrics in the room towards himself with some kind of pulling force, and excused himself hastily, apparently eager to start working on these clothes that he had guaranteed to deliver shortly.

    "Can I help you with something else?" the saleswoman was still all smiles as she looked at Xue Wei. She would be getting a cut from both the clothes sales and thependiums she had sold to Xue Wei, so she was eager to see if she could get her hands on more money.

    The Golden Chamber had lots of personnel, and there waspetition between all of them. They all wished to be the top of the bunch, and if they did well, they were likely to be sent into the capital or other more flourishing branches where they could earn a much better living.

    "As a matter of fact, there is one more thing that I would like to buy," Xue Wei added after a second of thinking.

    "Do you have any information about the various ranks of cultivation? Such as introductions to the Knight and Saint ranks?"

    The saleswoman looked at Xue Wei and narrowed her eyes. "We do," she said with a nod of her head.

    After buying this jade slip with information about the ranks above the Warrior rank, Xue Wei and Hei Gou bid their farewell and made their way back to the inn once more.

    The saleswoman was standing in the doorway of the Golden Chambers when they did, her eyes still slightly narrowed.

    "What is wrong?" The manager came towards her at this moment, but the saleswoman just shook her head in response. "I think there is something wrong with those two experts," she said after a bit of consideration.

    "Wrong with them?" The manager frowned. "What do you mean by ¡®something wrong with them¡¯?"

    "The young man was clearly wearing a face-altering mask," she said hesitatingly. "They came from far away, clearly from a backwater kingdom, as they didn¡¯t even know that a Knight needs to have some sort of elemental insight to break through the boundaries of a Warrior, and they are far too young to have ended their time in the military."

    "I fear that they are deserters from some kingdom. All of us are bound to do our duty to humanity, so why are those two not doing theirs? Is it really okay for us to sell items to them and take their money when they are criminals?"

    "Question them, and you will die," an old voice suddenly drifted into the Golden Chambers. Both the saleswoman and the manager froze in their spots.

    "Wan Qiang, what an honor to serve you," the manager turned around and saw the leading expert within their empire standing behind him.

    Currently, a smile was hanging on the face of the middle-aged man, and he seemed as gentle as a grandfather looking at his child. His expression was in no way simr to the words he had uttered.

    "You heard me," he said smilingly as he nodded his head. "Those two are not someone you can question. They are special, so treat them nicely in the future, or perhaps I will have to cleanse the Golden Chambers from the ck Iron Fortress."

    His words were domineering, and his voice was low and dangerous. The man did not wait for either reaction of response before he vanished and returned to his mansion in the middle of the ck Iron Fortress.

    He leaned back and sighed heavily. "What do you think about his strength?" he asked out loud. A rustle could be heard before an astonishingly beautiful woman appeared by his side.

    "He is so weak! Why has he not be stronger than that?!" sheined, her eyes disying madness and hatred.

    "Don¡¯t run amok again," Wan Qiang warned her. "We need to rouse his potential, but we also need him alive. Your personal vendetta can wait for another time."

    "We need him topletely control Xiao Lei as well. Do you wish to be beaten ck and blue every time you visit him? Do you want him to lose all reason and execute us all?"

    Wan Qiang was scolding the woman who seemed to be obediently listening, but her eyes still shed with a ray of coldness.

    "Don¡¯t give me a chance," she said through gritted teeth. "If I have the chance to kill that little disgusting human runt, I will not hesitate!"

    "Chu Huiyin!" Wan Qiang yelled out loud, "you cannot kill him just yet! We have made ns for thousands of years already! You cannot destroy them!"

 Chapter 164: Qi Storing Pill

    Xue Wei and Hei Gou rushed back to the inn where they quickly closed the door behind them and sat down on the floor.

    They took out the four jade slips they had bought from the Golden Chambers. "We spent the majority of our money this time to buy thesependiums and clothes," Xue Wei said, sighing as he realized that the path ahead of them was an expensive one.

    To buy clothes suitable for their cultivation base would be even more expensive in the future. To purchase resources would also be an expense that they could not afford with their current wealth.

    "If you kill a few more experts in this tournament, and if you manage to be the champion, or just get into the top three, then we will be rich!" Hei Gouughed, but Xue Wei shook his head.

    "Even this wealth will only get us so far," he said dejectedly. "We will need spirit fruits, spirit pills, and various other items to assist our cultivation base if we wish to staypetitive. They are all expensive, and we will end up paying a high price for these items. Eventually, even this amount of wealth will prove insufficient to sustain us on our path of cultivation."

    Hei Gou seemed to understand that Xue Wei was speaking the truth. "So we need you to win first ce in this tournament if we want to be able to live a peaceful life ¨C for a short time at least." He sighed. Xue Wei nodded.

    "I will do anything that I can to win the first ce!" Xue Wei said with great conviction and clenched his fist.

    "But first let us see what we¡¯ve earned today. We can¡¯t afford to not use the things that I procure after a battle. We don¡¯t have much time to raise our strength, after all!" he said, and ced the jade slip with thependium of magical herbs on his forehead.

    He then infused a bit of his Qi into the jade slip to activate it. As he had expected, a stream of information went straight into his brain, branding itself inside so that he would now remember every single herb that was described in thependium.

    He then took a look at the herbs that were ced in the bag and started sorting them. The ones that were meant for the recovery of one¡¯s physical body went to one pile, those that strengthened one¡¯s physical strength to another. Those that restored Qi to a third pile and those that increased one¡¯s base Qi to a fourth. Finally, there was one herb that increased one¡¯s soul¡¯s strength, which went to a pile for itself.

    In total, there were twenty-three herbs. A single one of those that increased one¡¯s soul strength, six that restored Qi, three that increased one¡¯s physical strength, four that increased one¡¯s physical strength, and finally nine that increased one¡¯s base Qi.

    This was quite a big haul, not to mention that there were also the spiritual fruits that Xue Wei had not even taken a look at yet.

    Apart from the spiritual fruits and the herbs, there were also pills. Pills were ranked ording to the cultivator stage they were meant for, like the pills made for Ordinary Warriors, for Earth Warriors, Sky Warriors, and so on.

    Furthermore, the pills were also split into low, middle, and high grade purities.

    Xue Wei picked up the jade slip with the recording of all contemporary pills and pressed it to his forehead before even more information etched its way into his mind.

    Xue Wei had thought that the stronger a scent the pill exuded, the higher the purity the pill had, but he discovered that he had beenpletely mistaken about this. A high grade pill leaked no scent, as all the medicinal properties were locked within the pill, and there was no way for it to disperse until consumed.

    If it was incredibly fragrant, then it was a low grade pill; if it had a bit of a scent, it was a middle grade purity pill.

    The pills in front of Xue Wei and Hei Gou almost all had some smell, some more than others. There was only one pill without any scent at all, and this pill had been stored in a jade vial of its own.

    It was clear that the dead expert had not had the heart to part with it. There were quite a lot of low grade pills, but Xue Wei had no intention of consuming them, neither had Hei Gou.

    Both of them were aware that their Qi was incredibly pure. If they ate pills with low purity, it would damage their foundation and maybe even cause Qi deviationter on in their cultivation life.

    Still, Xue Wei did not dispose of the pills. Even if they were filled with impurities, they could be sold for at least a few coins.

    Were it back in the Heping Kingdom, then they could have sold them for quite a fortune because pills were rare, especially those for the Sky Warrior rank, but this was closer to the center of the continent so they were not worth as much.

    Still, he should be able to get a bit of coin from it. And at the same time, he had a feeling that maybe they coulde in handy one day.

    After putting the low grade pills back into the storage ring, he looked at the middle grade pills and sighed. "With our purity, if we take a middle ranked pill, it will end up with us lowering the quality of our Qi, unless we somehow find a way to purify itter on." Xue Wei shook his head, and even though he was regretting it, he quickly ced the middle ranked pills into the storage ring as well.

    Although it was tempting to use them, he was not willing to sacrifice the purity of his Qi, and he knew that Hei Gou would agree with him.

    He then looked at thest pill. It was a Qi Storing Pill, a pill created for the Sky Warrior rank that contained a certain amount of Qi, which would be released in one¡¯s body.

    It would be added to one¡¯s base Qi, increasing one¡¯s overall strength. But as to how much of the medicinal efficiency would be released depended on the potential of the person taking it.

    It would take up to twelve hours to fully digest the energy provided by the pill, but those twelve hours spent cultivating could be equal to more than a year of ordinary cultivation with the essence of the heavens and the earth.

    Xue Wei looked at the pill and sighed. Although he was tempted to take it, he did not wish to be the only one to benefit from it, so he ced it to the side and grabbed another jade slip.

    This time, it was the jade slip about Spiritual Fruits. He did not know much about spiritual fruits, other than there were multiple fruits in the world, and that they worked very much like pills.

    They had different uses depending on what type of fruit they were, but they were in general much more useful than herbs as they had much more energy stored within.

    These spirit fruits were all different. Some of them were small; others wererger. Some had strange patterns and various colors, while some were simply just one color.

    These spiritual fruits were an attractivemodity because, unlike pills, they were all without fault in their purity since nature crafted them. Although they were not categorized in sses of purity, they were not nearly as potent as pills. But they were also expensive.

    Xue Wei was quite shocked to discover the absurd amount of spiritual fruits inside the ring

    Spiritual fruits were expensive. Not as expensive as high purity pills, but they were more expensive than pills of medium purity.

    To see this many within the ring, Xue Wei could vaguely guess that the disciple he had in was likely to have been holding the fruits provided by their sect to their team for Wan Qiang¡¯s tournament.

    With this thought in mind, he could not help but snicker. So the one he had killed was actually a fat sheep that brought loot and goodies to his door. This was something he would neverin about.

    Looking at the fruits, he found a variety of sorts; some increased base Qi, some improved the physical body, others increased spiritual power, or strengthened the soul, and a few had the power to restore Qi, while there were a couple gems that couldpletely recover injuries of a certain degree

    However, the majority of the fruits were those that improved one¡¯s body and base Qi. Xue Wei pondered for some time before he split them between himself and Hei Gou.

    "Take them for yourself!" Hei Gou was not pleased with the fact that they were split equally. Xue Wei frowned.

    "There are quite a few spiritual fruits," he said seriously. "Even if I wanted to, I would not be able to consume them all in time for the second round of the tournament. In that case, why not have you increase your strength as well? If we both get stronger, we are more likely to get out of this messy situation we have dragged ourselves into in one piece."

    "Not to mention, if we are smart, we might even be able to be the fishermen fishing in troubled waters. Many will die. It is clear that this Wan Qiang wants us to kill each other, and since this is the case, why not do as he wants us to do? We will continue to increase our strength, and we will constantly be on our guard."

    Hei Gou nodded his head. What Xue Wei said made sense, but he was still a little worried. "Don¡¯t worry," Xue Wei smiled at him, "in the end, we cannot expect to get something without going through some challenges and risks. Danger and rewards go hand in hand."

    Hei Gou finally sighed and seemed to be convinced. He grabbed a spiritual fruit and nced at Xue Wei. "I can ept that we split the fruits, but you will take the pill," he finally said. This was his bottom line, and he was not going to change his opinion.

    Seeing his friend being so stubborn, Xue Wei did not disagree and instead picked up the pill. He scrutinized it and finally popped it into his mouth. This was the very first medicinal pill he had ever consumed, and he was not sure of whether or not he should chew it or swallow it whole. However, the moment it came into contact with his tongue, it turned into a liquid that streamed down his throat.

    This liquid started to slowly spread through his entire body, from the throat to the stomach and out through every limb.

    The usual calm flow of Qi within his meridians picked up in speed at an elerating pace, coursing through its pathways faster than it had ever done before. The Qi that entered his meridians from that source of exploding energy also caused the stream to move even faster, culminating into a figurative storm before it entered the azure pearl-like core that was within his dantian.

    The small pearl slowly grew in size. It grew at a speed that, albeit slow, was visible to the naked eye, and he mentally gasped as he observed the changes that were happening inside of his body.

    Xue Wei was stumped for words. He had never expected that there would be such a massive change in his cultivation base just because of one pill. And although he had just recently had a breakthrough into the thirdyer of the Sky Warrior rank, he could feel how the energy was constantly climbing, reaching the peak of the thirdyer and continuously knocking against the walls that led to the fourthyer.

 Chapter 165: Second Round

    The wild current of Qi continued to m against the bottleneck. Xue Wei was not impatient and allowed it to slowly press against the bottleneck on its own. He knew that if he tried to force it, it would cause a bacsh instead.

    Slowly time ticked by. After ten hours, the bottleneck crumbled beneath the constant pressure, propelling Xue Wei into the fourthyer of the Sky Warrior rank.

    He released a breath of foul air before opening his eyes, adjusting his vision for a second. When he looked around, he saw Hei Gou sitting beside him. Hei Gou was still cultivating, having absorbed more than one spiritual fruit up until now, and was sitting with a dense fog of heaven-and-earth essence swirling around him, which strangely attracted the natural energy around him like a ma.

    Xue Wei looked at the herbs and spiritual fruits in front of him and picked up a fruit that was known as the Sky Reaching Fruit. It was a fruit that was especially effective for experts at the Sky Warrior rank.

    While its effects could not be considered the worth of a year¡¯s duration of cultivation, it was still able to have the same potency as a few months of cultivation added together. When Xue Wei took a bite, he could feel a pulse of energy coursing through his body.

    A second bite and even more energy flooded his meridians. After finishing the fruit fully, not even leaving the pith as he knew that this was filled with energy as well, Xue Wei sat down and started processing the energy within his body.

    Although he had just broken through to the fourthyer of the Sky Warrior rank, he had great expectation of what the fruit could provide him with in terms of energy.

    He did not expect that this fruit would instantly let him step into the fifthyer, but he did know it could help him stabilize his current cultivation base.

    And right he was. After a few hours, Xue Wei could feel how his cultivation base had be stable and flowed naturally. It was as if he had a base Qi that was as stable as a mountain.

    Looking at the remaining spiritual fruits, Xue Wei opted not to consume them right now. If he ate too much in one go, he would end up with a body that could no longer absorb the energy within the herbs, spiritual fruits, and pills.

    Xue Wei was not in a rush. He was quite pleased with how fast his cultivation base had progressed. Already being at the fourthyer of the Sky Warrior rank was indeed not a bad feat.

    With his recent improvements, he felt much more confident in his own ability. And while he had faith in his chances of getting first ce, he was notcent about it. He knew that his challengers, the ones from the three great sects, were not to be trifled with.

    All of them could jump ranks to defeat stronger experts if they were against ordinary cultivators, it was not only Xue Wei who could do this.

    Having reached the rank of a fourthyer Sky Warrior, Xue Wei spent the rest of his time practicing the Windwolf Sword sh and his other martial arts techniques.

    When it was time for the next part of the tournament, Xue Wei and Hei Gou went to the arena.

    Hei Gou had a ticket and went to the arena¡¯s seated areas, while Xue Wei continued into the colosseum¡¯s many stages in the middle, where the rest of the contestants were slowly gathering.

    Xue Wei observed everyone present. The first round of the tournament consisted of fair fights for all of them, as they had been grouped depending on cultivation rank alone.

    As thest few participants made their way into the arena, Wan Qiang appeared in the air once more. "Wee to the second round of the tournament! This time, things will be slightly different. We are going to have people fight against one another based on random draws."

    "It is the same as before; you can kill your opponent and take their items if you have the strength to do so. No one will be med for the deaths happening in this tournament."

    Many of the experts were ufortable hearing this. These people were supposed to be brothers in arms against the beasts, yet now they were being pitted against one another, unable to hold back even if they wanted to, as holding back meant they might die.

    Xue Wei did not care too much about killing people. It was not his first time, and he knew it would not be hisst time either. However, he wondered what thoughts led Wan Qiang to host this kind of merciless tournament.

    Wan Qiang was a Primordial Beast Hunter. He was renowned for killing Primordial Beasts here in the Skyward Empire, and also hailed as the most influential expert in their nation.

    He should be eager to see them work together, grow up, and be outstanding Primordial Beast Hunters like himself, but instead he had set up a tournament that was going to kill quite a few talented geniuses.

    While Xue Wei was in deep thought, the drawing of numbers had already begun.

    There were ten stages in the arena, and these ten stages meant that twenty people could fight at once in singlebat.

    Xue Wei was not chosen as one of the first to climb the stage and fight for his life, so he deferred to instead observe his peers that were onstage.

    The leader of the Cerulean Starlight Sect ¨C Lin Yuelong ¨C was fighting against a much weaker expert. But although he could kill his foe in a heartbeat, he showed mercy and just wounded the other, winning his fight gracefully.

    Looking around, Xue Wei found simr scenes ying out on the other stages. No one seemed to go for the kill. They fought splendidly, but they weren¡¯t eager to kill.

    Xue Wei¡¯s eyes narrowed, and he could not help but feel that something was off. If Wan Qiang had created this tournament in order to reduce the number of human experts, what happened if no one died? He would not change the rules and force them to kill each other, would he?

    This thought made him snicker and shake his head. That was not possible; everyone had the option to forfeit, so the death toll should not be too high.

    After three rounds, it was finally Xue Wei¡¯s turn. Up until now, only three experts had died, while the rest had survived. Those who had died were all amongst the weakest contestants.

    One of them had died somewhatically. The opponent was a fourthyer Sky Warrior, while the dead expert was a oneyer Sky Warrior.

    In one attack the oneyer Sky Warrior had been beheaded, shocking the fourthyered warrior so much that he got sick on stage, causing the stage to be unable to be used again before it had been cleaned.

    The other two had died because their opponents were stronger and fought with lethal intent.

    In the end, Xue Wei shook his head and stepped onto the stage. He found a secondyer Sky Warrior by his side. This expert looked at Xue Wei before remembering him as the coward from the battle royale.

    A relieved smile appeared on his face. Xue Wei raised an eyebrow in surprise. Had he established an image so weak that someone twoyers below him thought he could beat him?

    Xue Wei almost startedughing, something very uncharacteristic for him, but it was truly amusing.

    In the end, he held back the majority of his strength and pretended that he had a hard time before ultimately killing his foe.

    He did not use the Mind Infestation skill because there was simply no need to do so. He was constantly on the losing end, so the opponent had no reason to give up. At thest moment, Xue Wei¡¯s opponent revealed some ws due to his haste in putting an end to their fight, in which Xue Wei countered with a Shattering Mountain Palm that sted his head into thousands of small bits.

    The gory scene caused many experts to feel nauseous. Some of the female experts couldn¡¯t stop their faces from goingpletely pale before they quickly turned their heads away from the sight.

    Xue Wei, on the other hand, waspletely indifferent towards the sight of the blood and gore that had been sted all over the stage. Rather, he moved towards his foe¡¯s headless corpse and rummaged through his pockets to pilfer his valuables.

    This person was a roaming cultivator so he had no storage ring. Thus he did not have many items either. There was a bit of gold that Xue Wei quickly swiped away before leaving the corpse on the floor and heading down from the stage.

    Xue Wei was being looked at with many different gazes. Many looked at him as if they had seen an idiot. They did not believe he had much strength and that it was a fortune for him to have won thest battle. They were convinced he had won due to his opponent bing reckless, but the leaders of the three great sects were different. They were struck with a bad feeling.

    Rather than disdain, like the others, they conveyed almost unspeakable worries on their faces

    Xue Wei ignored them all and found a ce outside the stages to stand. He quietly cursed in his mind that the opponent only had a bit of gold, but he understood that not everyone could have a storage ring. He understood that it was very rare for just anyone to have one. While close, they were still far from the center of the continent. A storage ring was a luxury item.

    "I hope I will be put up against the Crimson Sunshine Sect¡¯s members soon," Xue Wei muttered to himself. He knew that they were likely to have a ring each, so they were like walking bags of money in his eyes.

    He had already promised not to kill the members of the Cerulean Starlight Sect, so he obviously hoped not to encounter them. As for the Argent Moon Sect, he just did not want anything to do with them.

    They had no previous grievances, but he took offense to their patronizing behavior in their previous encounter. After careful consideration, Xue Wei reached the conclusion that he was likely to kill them for their items.

    Although they were women and beautiful cultivators, they were just humans. As soon as they stepped onto the road of cultivation, they had acknowledged that they would have to kill and were likely to be killed in the end.

    Although they expected their killers to end up being Primordial or Fierce Beasts, there were always changes to their situations.

    To show mercy just because they were women was not Xue Wei¡¯s style. He was not biased towards women, so him letting them survive based on their gender was an impossibility.

    Having concluded that everyone he met, apart from the ones from the Cerulean Starlight Sect would die at his hands, Xue Wei felt a strong current of bloodlust rush through his body once more.

    His eyes flickered with a red color as he tried to suppress it. His urge to massacre every single person around him was almost unbearable, but it was still not his turn to go on stage. All he could do was curl his hands into fists so hard that the nails dug into the skin of his palms, and forced himself to calm down.

 Chapter 166: Ling Mo

    The second round was quickly finished. Half the contestants dropped out of the tournament, but still the casualties this time around had been low. In total, less than a hundred experts had died.

    Wan Qiang was anything but happy about this, but he could do nothing about it. He could note out and force them to kill one another, nor could he act with underhanded means and kill the experts that had gathered in the fort.

    Realizing that too many of the experts were surviving, the expression on Wan Qiang¡¯s face was ugly. But when his eyesnded on Xue Wei and Hei Gou, a smile sprouted on his face instead.

    "Even if my n has to be changed, something good hase from it," he muttered to himself. "This kid is indeed his mother¡¯s son. He is exactly what we need, but we cannot harvest him yet. We need to let him grow and mature first."

    Chu Huiyin was next to him, and her eyes disyed madness and hatred when she looked at Xue Wei. "I want him to die!" she said with a shrill voice, her teeth itching with the desire to kill him herself. Wan Qiangpletely ignored her.

    "I heard that the one he runs around with is a Celestial Dog, but he clearly is a mutated specimen. I assume that he has undergone the evolution from the blood rites. It is indeed strong!"

    "He is being chased by the other Celestial Dogs since he ran away from his duties," Chu Huiyin snorted and shook her head. "I do not even have to move. Eventually, both will be killed by the Celestial Dogs. Their n¡¯s rank is too low to be in the know about Xue Wei¡¯s true identity, and thus they will have no qualms about killing him when they encounter him."

    "Go to the Celestial Dogs and tell them that Hei Gou is no longer to be chased," Wan Qiang ordered, much to Chu Huiyin¡¯s displeasure. "Tell them that the Elders have given him a new task and that it is to be treated with utmost care. That no one is allowed to talk about it."

    Chu Huiyin gritted her teeth and cursed herself for having mentioned what she said earlier, but she dared not go against Wan Qiang. If she did, it was likely that the next Primordial Beast that Wan Qiang brought back as a trophy would be her.

    Xue Wei was unaware of what was happening where Wan Qiang was; he just observed the stages and the battles. No one from the Cerulean Starlight Sect, the Crimson Sunshine Sect, or the Argent Moon Sect had died today, and none of them had killed their opponent either.

    Some of the independent cultivators had tried their best to kill their opponents but had not had the strength to do so, and others had not wished to kill their opponents.

    The day ended just like that. The following day, Xue Wei was up against an expert from the Crimson Sunshine Sect. This person died after Xue Wei toyed around with them for half an hour.

    During this half an hour, it looked as if Xue Wei was at the losing end, only to suddenly turn it around and kill his foe by fluke. Of all the cultivators present, many started to take him seriously. It was one thing if he only managed to get through the battle royale at the beginning, but here he was, alive and kicking.

    The ones before this had died, and then this one ended up dying as well. It was clear that Xue Wei was hiding his strength, but it was unclear as to how much of it he was hiding.

    This time, a few of the three great sect¡¯s members had been forced to forfeit because they had fought against one another. The Argent Moon Sect was the most unfortunate, as two of their experts had been forced to face off against each other.

    The days went by one after another. Eventually, it was the final day, and only fifty experts remained. It was finally time for Xue Wei to face off against the leader of the Crimson Sunshine Sect.

    Xue Wei was not expecting to be put up against one of the major forces this soon, but he knew that he could not keep hiding his strength.

    He wished to use Tianyi, but Tianyi was currently unavable. He had absorbed all the souls that had been killed during the tournament and was currently digesting them, making it impossible for him to split his focus onto something else.

    Since he could not use Tianyi, Xue Wei knew that he could only use his Inner Might to create a sword if he wished to fight with a weapon.

    Inner Might!

    Standing on the stage, Xue Wei extended a hand and gripped the empty air. Qi flowed out from the emptiness in his grip, shaping into a sharp sword.

    Windwolf Sword sh!

    Xue Wei did not hesitate for once and unleashed all his strength. He dared not take this expert lightly. In fact, he was certain that he was anything but simple.

    Xue Wei was only a fourthyer Sky Warrior, while his opponent was a sixthyer Sky Warrior. Furthermore, he was from a major sect, so he was not as simple as most sixthyered Sky Warriors.

    The Crimson Sunshine Sect¡¯s leader, Ling Mo, was surprised when he saw Xue Wei advance so aggressively.

    Although Xue Wei was only a fourthyer Sky Warrior, Ling Mo had taken him seriously from the beginning. He had felt a threatening airing from him, so he had raised his guard preemptively.

    Sensing the Windwolf Sword sh, Ling Mo turned around and quickly avoided it. Yet despite avoiding it, a lock of his hair was cut off neatly by the fast sh.

    Xue Wei watched solemnly as his attack was dodged. His eyes turned serious. Unbeknownst to him, a great smile spread on his lips. However, the smile was also bone-chillingly cold and sinister.

    Forbidden Rush!

    Xue Wei activated his movement technique at the same time as he threw out another Windwolf Sword sh. This time, the sword attack was merged with the wind just like his movements, and the speed with which it moved was even faster than before.

    "You are not the only one with a movement technique!" Ling Mo yelled out, and then stepped hard on the ground and activated his own movement technique.

    Where Xue Wei¡¯s was to merge with the wind, Ling Mo¡¯s was more focused on short-range teleportation, and he fully used its might to disy why he was from one of the three great sects.

    Xue Wei frowned and canceled Inner Might. He then observed Ling Mo¡¯s movements and started shing after him.

    Arcane Fist!

    He tried throwing out the Arcane Fist to see whether or not the illusions that were created were enough to confuse Ling Mo. Unfortunately, that was not the case.

    Closing his eyes, Xue Wei focused on feeling the wind instead. Every time Ling Mo teleported, the wind would fluctuate. A few heartbeatster, Xue Wei could urately pinpoint Ling Mo¡¯s position at the very moment he appeared after a teleportation.

    Kick of Forgotten Kings!

    Shattering Mountain Palm!

    Azure Lights Finger!

    Xue Wei used all three attacks in a series of attacks, and for once Ling Mo could not teleport away. The three strikes struck their target, but then a big red me appeared on Ling Mo¡¯s body that ate up the three attacks that rained down upon him.

    Although the fire provided him with a defensive barrier, Ling Mo still staggered backward five steps. When he regained his bnce, he wiped the corner of his mouth where a small trail of blood was evident.

    "You are stronger than I expected!" Ling Mo praised him, but when he lifted his eyes and looked at Xue Wei, his eyes widened in surprise and slight fear.

    In front of him was a young man both below him in age and cultivation base, but there he was, revealing a sinister, ferocious smile in front of great adversity. His eyes gleamed dangerously in the light, and his teeth were bared, disying his white teeth.

    Looking at this young man, Ling Mo felt fear for the first time. It was not enough topletely demoralize him but it was more than clear to him that his opponent wanted nothing more than to pulverize and kill him.

    Never before had he seen such a killing intent in a human being. It was even worse than the times he had stood in front of the Fierce Beasts. A shudder ran through his body. He feared that if he continued to fight, it would end up being a fight to the death, and he wasn¡¯t certain about who woulde out on top.

    "I forfeit," he said before realizing what words had escaped his lips. But even when he understood that he had forfeited, he did not regret it.

    When he walked down the stage, Xue Wei¡¯s face disyed an expression of absolute disappointment and annoyance. He even growled slightly before he sighed and finally managed to get a hold of himself and his emotions again.

    It was clear that the bloodlust was running rampant, but the fight had only just started. There was no reason for him to forfeit already.

    Xue Wei stepped off the stage in a bad mood. He lowered his head as if he was in deep thought. When Tianyi was done with his cultivation, Xue Wei needed to ask him about how to cate his rising killing intent.

    "If you meet this young man in the future, forfeit right away," Ling Mo said to his fellow sect members, looking at Xue Wei with horror in his eyes. "He is not someone we can fight against. And he seems to have killed quite a few humans before."

    Ling Mo had had his share of arguments with other cultivators. He had even been in fights with other human cultivators before, but he had never killed anyone.

    He had been raised with the idea of how the beasts were their enemies and that humans had to be united. All humans were his brothers in arms, even if they did not agree on some matters.

    He was not the only one who had experienced such things. The others from the three great sects were the same. Although they fought against each other, deaths were infrequent and almost nonexistent.

    "Give up when you meet him," were also the words Xiong Bing and Lin Yuelong told their followers. "He is much more dangerous than I expected," Lin Yuelong said, and had a lingering fear in his heart when he remembered the interaction he had had with this young man previously.

    Looking at him fight seriously, it was clear that he was not someone they could afford to insult.

    When Wan Qiang saw him fight, a smile appeared on his lips. He rubbed his chin with curiosity and deep thought

    "He is just like his mother," he praised and nodded his head. "One day, he will be a worthy sessor!"

    The remaining participants seemed to understand that Xue Wei¡¯s strength was above theirs, but what made them decide on such a thing was mostly their fear of him. To have such a killing intent at his age, and even disying it when facing a human, it was clear that he had killed humans before.

    But if he had killed humans before, did this not mean that he was as much of an enemy as the Fierce Beasts were?

    It did not take long before everyone present looked at Xue Wei with strange gazes, yet Xue Wei ignored them all. He did not fear them, but he did worry about the owner of this fortress, Wan Qiang.

    Since Wan Qiang wanted them all to die, then Xue Wei showing killing intent should be wee, but why he wanted that was still a major mystery. And what did he want the winner to do? That was an even bigger mystery.

 Chapter 167: Tournament Ends

    Xue Wei was in deep thought while the audience and the other participants were looking at him as if they had seen a monster.

    The next round of the tournament came to a close. As it did, a council of elders who had observed the tournament gathered in the main keep of the fort.

    They were led by Wan Qiang, but all of them had serious expressions. They were the ones overseeing the tournament battles as the judges. All of them were Ordinary Knights.

    "Master Wan, we understand that you encourage life-and-death battles as a way to temper and stimte the younger generation, but we fear that things have gotten out of hand. Now many have died, and a monster has even appeared on stage!" one of the eldersined out loud. His eyes glistened in the darkness.

    "We must eliminate him! He is a danger to the human race. We cannot let him leave the ck Iron Fortress alive. We are one of the pirs of the Skyward Empire, we will never let a threat pass through our gates!¡±

    "He is also likely to be a deserter! A deserter that kills humans! He is the vilest of all vile creatures. He deserves death before he kills more of our talented geniuses!"

    "Rx." Wan Qiang smiled when he saw their reactions, aware of what was happening. "We do not actually know about this young man¡¯s background," he exined. The others frowned.

    "We do not know if he is a deserter, or if he just looks young. Nor do we know if he has in humans before, or if his murderous intent has been forged through killing numerous beasts, which could also exin the strength of it. We should not act so hastily when he is simply doing what the tournament asks of him.."

    "We did allow them to kill, but that was to train them, not for them to actually kill their opponents!" someone objected. However, Wan Qiang just shook his head. "We already agreed," he said. "We cannot go back on our words, so let the man be. When he leaves the ck Iron Fortress in the future, I will not stop any of you, but he is currently under my protection."

    A heavy pressure emanated from Wan Qiang¡¯s position, and it made all the faces of the Elders turn grave. Some of them could not help but curse in their hearts.

    It was clear that every senior figure present wanted to kill Xue Wei. However, Wan Qiang had ordered them not to touch him. Although they had the numerical advantage, the one with the strongest fist set the rules, and that someone happened to be Wan Qiang when it came to their Skyward Empire.

    No one dared to go against Wan Qiang, but all of them felt ufortable when they thought about Xue Wei.

    Many of them had descendants participating in the tournament. Some of them even had descendants in the three great sects, and they could not help but fear for their wellbeing. It was clear that Xue Wei had no qualms about taking the life of any who stood in his way.

    Wan Qiang proceeded to make his exit. He had already said what he wanted to say and had warned them all. No one was dumb enough to kill Xue Wei when the strongest expert of the empire had taken him under his wing, but that did not mean that they would just give up.

    "Let¡¯s run a background check on him," one of the elders said. "It is imperative that we dig up dirt about him and analyze his behavior. Then we stand a better chance of killing him in one swoop."

    Having reached a decision, the elders split up and headed back to their respective homes, sending down the order to their servants to gather intel on this stranger with an abnormally heavy killing intent.

    While the Elders returned to their rooms, Xue Wei had already returned to his inn and was sitting inside his room, absorbing the heaven and earth essence, in the midst of increasing his cultivation base.

    He had taken a spiritual fruit, and his strength and Qi gained a boost once more. However this time he did not break through but hovered at the peak of the fourthyer.

    Xue Wei could feel that he was on the cusp of a breakthrough, but it was apparent the cultivation supplements were starting to lose their efficiency. He needed something different.

    The following day, Xue Wei encountered an expert in the arena who instantly forfeited the moment he saw Xue Wei. His face disyed both fear and indignation at having been pitted against such a monster who gave off a vibe that made it seem like he had imed dozens of human lives before, but still there was something much stronger on his face. It was disdain and disgust.

    A person who wantonly murdered other human beings was the scum of society in this expert¡¯s eyes. They were even worse than those who could not cultivate due to their poor talent, because they were directly harming the human side in the war.

    The rest of the tournament was like one big blur to Xue Wei. He had expected to encounter a great deal of opponents that would threaten him, but after dealing with Ling Mo, everyone he encountered forfeited right away.

    As such, he ended up bing the number one without even having to bother trying.

    Xue Wei could not help but feel that something was off. These experts were all the most outstanding experts in the Skyward Empire, and many of them were quite a few years older than Xue Wei, yet none of them dared fight him.

    After a few days, the tournament came to a close. The top hundred had been found, and Xue Wei was ushered into the arena once more for the sake of receiving his prizes.

    Although Xue Wei felt that something was odd, he did not question it, and it was impossible to hide the smile on his face when he received a storage ring from Wan Qiang, a ring which contained all the prizes that he had won.

    Xue Wei was excited. This meant that both he and Hei Gou could have their own storage rings.

    "You are the Champion of ck Iron Fortress," Wan Qiang said as he handed him the ring, not even once asking for his name. "Please call over your friend and then follow me back to the main keep. I need to discuss some things with you."

    Xue Wei was not surprised that Wan Qiang knew that he had a friend. They had, after all, met at the restaurant before, so Xue Wei went to pick up Hei Gou and then headed straight for the main keep.

    When they arrived, they were met with a guard outside the gates of the keep. This guard was two meters tall. His face was square, and he had the eyes of a pig.

    He was scowling, clearly unhappy with the task he had been given, and when he saw Xue Wei and Hei Gou, his face turned even more sour.

    "Are you the homicidal maniac from the tournament?" he asked when he looked at Xue Wei with disdain, anger, and hatred.

    Xue Wei, who had expected to be greeted politely, was stunned by such a reception, but he soon startedughing. "Yes that would be me," he confirmed merrily.

    He did not mind being called a homicidal maniac. It would be a lie to im he shied away from getting his hands bloody. A part of him even constantly urged him to kill and threatened to consume him in its sweet lull.

    "Follow me," the guard said and looked at Xue Wei as if he was looking at a disgusting toad.

    Xue Wei just shrugged his shoulders and ignored the attitude, but Hei Gou¡¯s face showed that he was anything but happy. Were it not because Xue Wei acted so carefreely, he would have straightaway killed the guard for insulting his friend.

    The two friends were led into arge hall where Wan Qiang was sitting on a chair at the end, and five experts were seated on either side of him.

    These ten experts were the Ordinary Knights who had been appointed as the judges of the tournament, and all of them looked at Xue Wei as if they had seen their mortal enemy, but none of them moved an inch.

    Wan Qiang sneered when he saw their expressions, but his eyes glistened with excitement when he observed Xue Wei.

    "My champion, I have a request of you," Wan Qiang said with a calm voice and a smile on his face. "We held this tournament because our ck Iron Fortress is in need of a specific herb. This herb is very rare toe by, but it has been found in a forbidden zone not far from here."

    "There are just a few problems. It turns out that this forbidden zone was previously upied by a supreme expert and he has ced some formations on the ground around the herb. Only one beneath the age of forty can enter the formation."

    "Don¡¯t worry though, although it is a forbidden zone, the location that attracts us is on the outskirts - and since there is a formation, it is impossible for beasts aged above forty to enter. The formation has the same parameters for every living creature regardless of their origins."

    "We request of you, the champion of our tournament, to go and fetch the herb for us. It should take you a few months, and when it is done, you will be handsomely rewarded."

    Xue Wei hesitated for a moment. He was not sure that he had the time to waste on finding a herb, but when he heard the words handsomely rewarded, he was swayed.

    Considering their financial situation, he could not just forsake a good opportunity so casually. Although he had won the first ce and the rewards were already outstanding, he was aware that it would onlyst them for so long. He truly needed all the support he could get for them to get stronger before they entered the center of the continent and met the real geniuses.

    "Okay," Xue Wei decided to ept the request. He had a feeling he would not lose anything from going, rather he believed there to be profit in doing so.

    If an apex cultivator would go as far as to put down such powerful formations in this ce, then it was likely that he had left something behind. If he could find this something, and it proved to be a fortuitous encounter, then it was highly possible that his strength would leap a step beyond what it already was.

    "Thank you," Wan Qiang said with a great smile on his face. He waved his hand, and a map appeared out of thin air. With a flick of Wan Qiang¡¯s hand, the map shot towards Xue Wei, who caught it.

    "This will guide you towards the forbidden zone. The herb we want is a Seven Star Nightflower. It is as ck as the deepest night, but has specks of silver light on it, reminding you of the starry night."

    Xue Wei nodded his head and made sure to remember the words said by Wan Qiang.

    "Well then, set out when you are ready," he said with a smile. Xue Wei took this as his note of departure and excused himself. He bowed slightly and turned to leave together with Hei Gou.

    When they left the room, the elders all broke into an uproar. "Are you sure you want to use this man to find the treasure for us?"

    "What if he runs away with it?"

    "He might murder more humans on the way ¨C we should eradicate him as soon as possible!"

    "Stop it!" Wan Qiang said loudly, his voice injected with anger. "He is our champion and by far the strongest of all the men we have gathered at the tournament. He has the biggest chance of sess. Relying on him is our best chance."

    The other elders were quiet again, none of them daring even to breathe loudly. They knew about Wan Qiang¡¯s short temper, but they could not help but feel that he was especially protective of this young man with a questionable background.

 Chapter 168: The Celestial Dog Clan

    "Well then, our ns seem to have changed slightly." Xue Wei sighed when they returned to the inn.

    The ck Iron Fortress would cover their expenses at the inn for two more nights, but after that all the geniuses from the tournament had to pay for it themselves.

    "I suggest that we spend the next two days boosting our strength as much as we possibly can," Xue Wei said. "We have two days of free stay, so let us use it to the fullest. After that, we will start moving towards the danger zone and find that Seven Star Nightflower."

    "A roundtrip is probably going to take us a few months, but we might be able to cut a bit of time off our total travel time since we can take encounters with beasts out of the equation."

    "Why did you ept?" Hei Gou asked curiously. He knew Xue Wei would not have epted for no apparent reason. He was not the type to willingly help others, so he needed to have some sort of n.

    "If an extreme expert has left a barrier like that, don¡¯t you think he has left behind something valuable?" Xue Wei snickered. "I cannot know for sure, and I do not know if the treasure has already been taken ¨C but should there be something, it is worth a try."

    "Not to mention, everyone knows that we are going to the center of the continent, which means many are going to be waiting there to hunt us down and kill us."

    "The longer it takes us to get there, the stronger we will be when we are there. Then we can hold our own much better than we can right now."

    "Besides, they promised us ample rewards. I am quite sure that Wan Qiang will keep his promise, but even if we feel that something is wrong, we can just not hand over the flower and run away."

    Hei Gou hesitated for a brief moment before letting off augh. "Yes, we should strengthen ourselves as much as possible before going to the center of the continent," he agreed.

    Xue Wei took out a spiritual fruit and popped it into his mouth. After chewing a few times, he felt how the flesh of the fruit turned into a viscous liquid charged with spiritual energy that wandered down his throat into his stomach.

    The moment he started digesting the fruit¡¯s contents, Xue Wei could feel the cirction of Qi within his meridians speeding up, in turn also speeding up his absorption of the nearby heaven-and-earth essence.

    Over time, the Qi-refinement process went faster and faster, to the point that his energy started pushing against the bottleneck into the fifthyer of the Sky Warrior rank, but Xue Wei tried to suppress that.

    He had promoted his strength dramatically recently, and he was worried that if he continued to grow stronger at such a rapid pace, then he would end up wounding himself more than he would help.

    Although he had said he would increase his strength, he would not do it at the cost of self-harm, and thus he decided to use the energy he was currently refining to stabilize the foundations of his cultivation base, in the same manner a master of statues chisels the contours of histest piece prior to its final form.

    The two days went by in a sh. By the time the second day was over, Hei Gou and Xue Wei checked out of the inn. Having memorized the entirety of the map they bought recently, they sat out from the ck Iron Fortress.

    Hei Gou¡¯s Qi-level had risen to the sixthyer of the Sky Warrior rank, while his physical strength had teaued at the firstyer of the Heavenly Warrior rank.

    Xue Wei had not raised his rank, but he had advanced his strength by suppressing his breakthrough and stabilizing his foundations.

    Many eyes were glued to Xue Wei and Hei Gou. The Elders in ck Iron Fortress all had men stationed outside the inn to spy on the duo. Some of these men had malicious thoughts, while others were merely curious as they were hoping for the Seven Star Nightflower to be delivered to them.

    Xue Wei and Hei Gou were both unaware of the fact that many of the elders had put spies around them, but when they exited the town, they were suddenly blocked by a masked man.

    When looking at this masked man, both Xue Wei and Hei Gou frowned. Neither was able to sense the man¡¯s cultivation base. Their eyes narrowed.

    This was an expert above the firstyer of the Heavenly Warrior rank. If they were to engage him in battle, their chances were slim, so they could not help but feel a bit worried.

    Qi coursed rapidly through their meridians as both raised their guards. The azure core within Xue Wei¡¯s body glowed with power, and Hei Gou was almost ready to take on the shape of a Celestial Dog to fight.

    Xue Wei reached out an arm and stopped Hei Gou. "Who are you?" he asked hesitatingly, unsure if this man had evil intentions.

    "Dead men do not need to know my name," the manughed, but his expression froze midway through, which was swiftly reced by a solemn look.

    From behind Xue Wei and Hei Gou, Wan Qiang appeared out of nowhere, as if he teleported right next to them. "So you think that you can kill them just because they have exited the city? Do you not take my words seriously?" He frowned and flicked his hand. A big me appeared and shot towards the masked man.

    The speed with which it moved was so fast that Xue Wei and Hei Gou only saw a blur before the masked man had been set aze, spontaneouslybusting on the spot. His ashes were all that were left of him secondster.

    Xue Wei turned to Wan Qiang and cupped his fists. "Thank you for your assistance, Elder Wan."

    "Don¡¯t sweat it." Wan Qiang smiled. "One day, you will do me a great favor, so I believe it is worth it to save your life."

    Xue Wei believed that Wan Qiang was referring to the Seven Star Nightflower, so he nodded his head while none the wiser. "I will, of course, pay back the favor," he promised. Wan Qiang¡¯s smile grew even wider.

    "I will guard you for the next two hours," Wan Qiang said. Promptly, the three moved towards the distance.

    No one else tried to stop them on the way. As soon as they saw Wan Qiang they gave up.

    At the same time, Chu Huiyin had flown far away from the ck Iron Fortress. She was flying as fast as she could towards the Northern Taiga, her speed so fast that thendscape beneath her had be shes of light as she rushed towards her destination.

    While she was flying, she was gritting her teeth so hard that they almost shattered. She was in such a fury that she even took a quick detour and massacred an entire vige, killing everyone within. Yet even after bathing the whole ce in blood, she still did not feel better.

    "I hate him. Why is such a disgusting human allowed to be someone important? Why do we have to temper him and raise him?! It is a waste of time and resources. He should just die. We have managed for millennia without the blood sacrifice already, so why do we so urgently need it now?!"

    "I am going to kill him the next time I see him! ...but I cannot go against Wan Qiang. He told me to tell those rabid dogs not to chase that disgusting mutant by his side, so I have no choice but to do so. I hope they object. I hope I can execute them all."

    Madness shed in the eyes of Chu Huiyin. She had incredibly beautiful features, but they were all set in a wretched appearance because she was so filled with fury and hatred. When one looked at her, she could be described as a poisonous, deformed rose.

    She resumed her trip to the Northern Taiga, arriving at the borders roughly two dayster.

    Chu Huiyin was very familiar with the Northern Taiga. She had lived there for years while waiting for Xiao Lei to finish his agreement and return with her, so she was familiar enough with the area to know the way towards the territory of the Celestial Dogs.

    As she made her way through the forest, many Primordial Beasts came out to greet her. All of them acted humbly as they asked to what they owed her gracing them with her presence, but Chu Huiyin did not give a response. She nced at them with her madness-filled eyes for a second before continuing into the depths of the taiga.

    When she finally arrived in the core of the territory of the Celestial Dogs, they had already heard about the Ice Harpy being in the Northern Taiga, but none of them had expected her destination to be their home.

    "Mydy, what can we do for you?"

    Chu Huiyin found that their entire family had gathered together and was standing in front of their houses.

    They were standing ording to hierarchical status, so the most influential and most renowned beasts were standing at the front, whereas the weaker ones were at the back.

    When Chu Huiyin saw the deference of the Celestial Dogs towards her, her mood turned a bit better. Her face reverted into its usual embodiment of picturesque, lethal beauty again, and her eyes shone as if they held a thousand stars within them.

    "Is this the home of the Celestial Dog Hei Gou?" she asked the moment shended on the ground, her harpy shape changing into that of a refined and elegant young woman.

    When they heard the name Hei Gou, their faces turned ugly. Although Hei Gou had been an unknown Celestial Dog in the beginning, he had now be known to the entire family as a traitor. He was a great shame to their family, and every one of them hated him.

    When they heard that Chu Huiyin was looking for this particr dog, they all feared for the worst. However, lying and saying that he had nothing to do with them was also impossible.

    It was publicly known that Hei Gou was a Celestial Dog, and they were the only family of Celestial Dogs on the entire continent.

    "He grew up in our family ¨C but the moment he decided to be a deserter, he had nothing to do with our family," the leader of the Celestial Dogs said with a voice so filled with hatred that Chu Huiyin suddenly felt that she had met a kindred spirit.

    "Elder Wan Qiang has given Hei Gou a new task," Chu Huiyin cut straight to the chase without speaking any pleasantries.

    "He is currently traveling together with an essential person to our race of beasts as a whole," she continued. "And they have be excellent friends. His new task is to ensure the safety of this new friend of his. You are not to know any more information than this. Just know that it is a mission so important that should it fail, then I will kill your entire family!"

    The expressions of all the higher ups in the Celestial Dog n turned solemn. None of them had expected that Hei Gou would have been given such an important task, and even worse, he held the entire family¡¯s future in his hands.

    "Oh right, Hei Gou is unaware of this task," Chu Huiyin dropped a bomb like this, but it was needed for her to make them aware of this point. "The two became friends through their own, pure interactions. No one is allowed to mention this task to Hei Gou; he is not allowed to know the importance of his job."

    "The only reason you have been informed is that I want you all to stop chasing him and maybe put him and his friend in danger. They are currently weak and easily killed, but I do not want them to die yet."

    Although Chu Huiyin said such with a straight face, her heart was bleeding. There was nothing she wanted more than to see Xue Wei die. Unfortunately, she could not go against the decision of The Council of Elders, and as a result, she had to warn them.

    The reason she had gone to the Northern Taiga directly was because she wanted to let the ones already chasing the duo continue their little goose chase. They were dogs, after all. While the human chasers were out of the picture for the hunt at the moment, the Celestial Dogs had such insane tracking abilities that they could track down Hei Gou¡¯s whereabouts with months old clues from scent to footprints.

 Chapter 169: Reunion

    When Wan Qiang left Xue Wei and Hei Gou, the duo found that no others appeared to cause problems for them.

    The forbidden zone they were heading to was called Goat Mountain, due to the mountain¡¯s goat-like shape, and a dense forest connected to the foot of the mountain from every direction.

    The mountain was an unmapped territory. It belonged solely to the Primordial Beasts that resided within the danger zone, and no human would enter too deep into the forest out of fear for retaliation from its upants.

    ording to the map that Wan Qiang had given Xue Wei, the formation that only let youngsters enter was at the foot of the mountain. Although it could not be considered the most forbidden area, it was still not easy to get that deep into the forest without encountering some old monsters.

    Fortunately, neither Xue Wei nor Hei Gou attracted any beasts. Fierce Beasts were all instinctively afraid of Hei Gou, and for some reason, they stayed away from Xue Wei as well.

    The trip to Goat Mountain would take a month each way if they did not get interrupted by anyone.

    Most bandits in the Skyward Empire were Sky Warriors in strength. If they were Heavenly Warriors, they would not be bandits as they could get better jobs in the cities.

    Since the majority of the bandits were Sky Warriors, none of them posed any threat to either Xue Wei or Hei Gou.

    They decimated a few intrepid bandits on the way, but their trip was much more leisurely than it had beenst time. Their recent meteoric rise in strength heavily deterred the bandits they encountered, so many of them simply let the two pass by without finding trouble for them.

    Xue Wei continued to cultivate as they were moving, his cultivation slowly climbing towards the bottleneck of the fifthyer of the Sky Warrior rank, while Hei Gou was trying to steady the sixthyer he had broken into recently.

    In this fashion, two weeks had gone by in a sh. The duo had been traveling at a rapid pace as they had little need for rest at their cultivation level, but this day they had decided to rest at an inn where they could buy food and restock on supplies.

    "Young masters, are you new in town?" a middle-aged man with a burly physique, asked after noting that Hei Gou and Xue Wei were both dressed in fine clothes made of Fierce Beast Silk. It was impossible to buy such high quality clothes in a small vige like theirs, so these two had to havee from far away.

    At the same time, many eyes were cast on the two trying to determine their level of strength. When one disyed their wealth like Hei Gou and Xue Wei were doing, then it was obvious they would attract unwanted attention, but both were indifferent. Wearing the clothes that could provide them benefits in a life and death battle was worth it, since they had been close to death¡¯s door quite a few times before. Fierce Beast Silk was many times sturdier than other fabrics, and it provided an increase in fighting strength when woven into clothes through resistances and possibly even a unique skill.

    "We are indeed passing through," Hei Gou said with a smile on his handsome face. He was so handsome that it stunned women when they looked at him, but men, on the other hand, had an urge to hit him hard. In the middle of his face.

    The individual Hei Gou was speaking to at the moment was a man, and Xue Wei felt like shaking his head when he saw how friendly Hei Gou was acting.

    Hei Gou was of the opinion that it would be a shame not to show off his handsome appearance. Also, he knew that Xue Wei hated talking to strangers, so he dly took the job of conversing with these people who wanted information.

    "I assume you are here for the sake of the Goat Mountain," the man continued. His face had changed to one of awkwardness when he saw the brilliant smile that Hei Gou shed at him.

    "We are," Hei Gou nodded his head. It was no secret that they were going to the Goat Mountain, and they needed to get as much information about the ce as they possibly could. They also needed to know the state of things in this region. If there were many other experts, then the Seven Star Nightflower might have been picked by someone else.

    After talking a bit with the man, they realized that this vige, although not very big, was rather frequently visited by experts going to the Goat Mountain.

    Because of this, it was also the best ce to get rumors and information about the Goat Mountains.

    "Are there many experts, experts beneath the age of forty-five, passing through this ce?" Xue Wei suddenly asked. He needed to know what the situation further ahead looked like in order to prepare for the worst.

    "Not many," was the man¡¯s answer. He also seemed a bit puzzled as to why Xue Wei would ask that. Was he trying to find a group of youngsters? Seeing the man¡¯s puzzled expression, Xue Wei felt relieved. It seemed that their destination was still reasonably well-hidden.

    "We had a young womane by a few days ago. Her name was Wang Xiaoyun," he said while looking dreamily into the distance. "She said she was hunting Primordial Beasts, but she was quite weak to pull off something like that, only a Heavenly Warrior. Most of our Primordial Beast Hunters are Ordinary Knights."

    "What did you say she was called?!" Xue Wei lost his cool in that instant. His eyes widened in surprise and he felt his heart beating rapidly.

    "Wang Xiaoyun. She was clearly a Wayfarer, but it seems that she was traveling on her own," the man answered, clearly not noticing the shock and bewilderment on Xue Wei¡¯s face.

    "When did she leave the vige?" he asked. "Two days ago," the man answered.

    "I remember it clearly. She was very popr, and all the young men in the vige went to say goodbye to her, though she imed that she already had a sweetheart and was very adamant about not wanting him to feel lonely."

    Xue Wei instantly changed his mind about staying in the vige. After tossing some silver coins at the man for his information, he rushed out of the vige with Hei Gou following closely behind.

    Hei Gou and Xue Wei knew everything about one another. It was impossible for Hei Gou not to know about Wang Xiaoyun, so he understood how important it was for Xue Wei to rush to her side.

    He had suppressed his worries for a long time now. He had heard about a Wayfarer caravan being eradicated by the Ice Harpy and had feared that it had been hers. Now she appeared here without any other wayfarers by her side. It was clear that something had happened.

    Although Wang Xiaoyun had left two days ahead of Xue Wei and Hei Gou, it was easy for them to catch up to her. She was going at a steady pace as she had nothing to rush for, but Xue Wei and Hei Gou were giving it their all to catch up to her.

    When they saw the thicket that indicated the beginning of the forest, they nodded at each other and entered without a second of hesitation. So far, no beasts had troubled them, and they were certain that it would be the same this time, but at the same time they also wished to use the beasts to locate Wang Xiaoyun.

    If they just rushed through the forest mindlessly, it was likely they would end up wasting time.

    Xue Wei had his spiritual energy spread as far as he could, and observed everything in the vicinity down to minute details. He found multiple experts fighting Fierce Beasts, but no matter how much he searched, he could not find Wang Xiaoyun.

    "She couldn¡¯t have headed straight for the foot of the mountain in search of Primordial Beasts, right?" Xue Wei muttered when they had traveled around the forest for a full day.

    "She is traveling alone, so it is clear that something has happened to her family," Hei Goumented. Xue Wei nodded his head. "It is likely her tribe we heard about before," he agreed.

    "But I don¡¯t know how she survived. And even if she did survive, she probably hates Primordial Beasts more than anything else."

    Xue Wei looked with worry at Hei Gou. Hei Gou was his good friend, but Wang Xiaoyun was his sweetheart. He wanted the two of them to get along, but he had a feeling that they would be like fire and ice.

    "Don¡¯t worry about me," Hei Gou grinned. "I understand her hatred, and I can handle her harsh words if she throws them at me," he said amiably.

    For Xue Wei¡¯s happiness, Hei Gou could handle being berated if it came to that, but Xue Wei paused and shook his head. They did not know how Wang Xiaoyun would react when she met them, and even less how she would behave towards Hei Gou, but Xue Wei was not willing to let his friend be the target of her hatred.

    Hei Gou had done all he could for Xue Wei. He deserved to be treated properly. But Xue Wei said nothing. He sincerely hoped that Wang Xiaoyun would not be too hostile towards Primordial Beasts as a whole.

    The two friends moved further and further into the depths of the forest. Xue Wei¡¯s spiritual energy sensed fewer and fewer battles and humans, but the amount of Fierce Beasts multiplied many times over, and most of them were of Heavenly Warrior-level strength.

    As always, these Fierce Beasts fled at the first sign of Xue Wei¡¯s presence as soon as they could. They seemed fearful as if they were mortals and a god was descending upon them.

    This made their travel through the forest simple and straightforward. They soon reached the innermost regions of the forest and all traces of humans had long since vanished.

    They continued a bit further inside until Xue Wei suddenly sensed movement with his spiritual energy.

    He recognized the person instantly. It was Wang Xiaoyun, who was busy engaging in a battle with a Cloud Leopard. Both seemed to be holding nothing back, but neither held the upper hand.

    "Found her!" Xue Wei eximed and leaped in the direction of where he could sense her, closely followed by Hei Gou.

    When they arrived, the Cloud Leopard sensed Xue Wei and tried to escape. It was fearful, but it was also alert. Unfortunately, a few moments of inattentiveness caused it to die at the hands of Wang Xiaoyun.

    Wang Xiaoyun could also sense that someone was approaching, so she did not rx her taut body. Instead, a dense killing intent spread out from her body.

    When Xue Wei looked at her, he was shocked. A long scar was engraved on her face, and it was clear that it had been done intentionally. Not only that, one of her eyes were blind.

    Only then did Xue Wei realize why she had survived. Chu Huiyin had heard about their rtionship, and she had used it to torment Wang Xiaoyun.

    Her beautiful appearance was now wretched; only one eye was now bright and clear, while the other was dim and lifeless. Xue Wei¡¯s heart was aching when he thought of what she had been forced to go through because of him, and he could not help but wonder how he could ever face her again, having changed and destroyed her life the way he had.

    But when she saw Xue Wei a face she had not seen for years, she froze in ce. The tension in her body vanished, and her single remaining eye started to widen the more she saw of him. The living, breathing image of the one she had kept in her heart ever since that tragedy. And then a smile, ear to ear. Her eye did not channel resentment - on the contrary, there was relief and joy in her one-eyed gaze.

    "Finally I found you again!" she eximed with a voice that sounded as soft as he remembered it. She timidly stepped towards Xue Wei. A gentle blush appeared on her cheeks, and the smile that had spread on her lips was constantly growingrger. In her eye were only Xue Wei and she felt so much relief seeing him again.

    "I have missed you." Xue Wei smiled when he saw her undisguised happiness. No matter how she looked, she would always be his sweetheart.

    "Do you not mind my wretched appearance?" she asked, in truth stunned at heart. Xue Wei just shook his head. "To me, you will always be Wang Xiaoyun. I might have fallen for you because of your appearance, but the days I spent with you taught me that you are so much more than that!"

    "Also, beauty is easy to restore. I am sure that we will be able to find a pill that assists you in getting rid of the scar, and something that will one day let you see again. I feel guilty..." he said with a sigh. Wang Xiaoyun shook her head. "You did not do it," she said, "but that you are okay with me looking like this is surprising. I truly did not pick the wrong man!"

    Having said this, she frowned as she turned around and looked at Hei Gou with alert eyes.

    "Who is he?" she asked, her frown deepening. She had never seen him before.

 Chapter 170: Blossoming Smile

    "His name is Hei Gou. He has been traveling with me for a long time. He has saved my life more than once, and I consider him my brother," Xue Wei exined, introducing Hei Gou to her.

    What he said came from the bottom of his heart, so he hoped that Wang Xiaoyun would not hate Hei Gou too much despite him being a Primordial Beast.

    "Oh," Wang Xiaoyun¡¯s face softened. She smiled at Hei Gou at first, but then her face turned serious the instant after, and a frown appeared on her scarred face.

    "Wei, step away from him." Wang Xiaoyun was suddenly hostile, and her voice was strained.

    "I can sense a Primordial Beast," she said seriously. "Since the Ice Harpy attacked me, I have been able to sense what is human and what is Primordial Beast. That one is a beast!"

    "I know," Xue Wei answered soberly. He had never intended to hide the fact that Hei Gou was a Primordial Beast. And now that the cat was out of the bag, he did not try to deny it.

    "You know?!" Wang Xiaoyun¡¯s face disyed her shock and difort. "Is he your contracted beast? Has he been tamed by a diviner and then been given to you?"

    "No," Xue Wei shook his head.

    "Then what is it? Primordial Beasts are treacherous and evil. If you get close to him, then you will end up eaten, or betrayed!"

    Hei Gou¡¯s eyes shed dangerously when he heard this, but he kept his word and said nothing. He allowed Wang Xiaoyun to degrade him straight to his face. For Xue Wei, he could handle the disgrace.

    "That¡¯s enough!" Xue Wei, on the other hand, was not pleased with her. "I saved his life, and he has saved mine. He is my brother, my best friend, and I wouldn¡¯t hesitate to put my life in his hands."

    "I understand that you have a hard time epting him due to your experiences, but just like not all humans are the same, not all Primordial Beasts are like the Ice Harpy."

    "Hei Gou is currently being chased by the Primordial Beasts because he turned against them. The humans are chasing me because they likewise see me as a Primordial Beast. We are alone against the entire world, and I trust him unconditionally."

    "I do not ask of you to be the best of friends with him, but please respect my wishes too," Xue Wei pleaded. Wang Xiaoyun¡¯s face turned contemtive.

    She cast a few nces at Hei Gou, but said nothing. It was clear that she was wondering what to do.

    Finally, she nodded her head. "He has saved you, so I will trust your judgment, but I cannot approve of him. I lost my entire family and n because of a Primordial Beast. Even if they are not all the same, many of them are."

    Looking at Wang Xiaoyun, Xue Wei¡¯s eyes turned soft, and a smile flitted across his lips. He reached out his hands and took hers into his before he pulled her into his embrace.

    "It must have been difficult for you," he said as he ced an arm protectively around her shoulder, and used the other hand to gently stroke her hair.

    "I am sorry that I was not by your side in your time of need, but now I won¡¯t let you face the world alone any longer," he promised. "I¡¯ll help you get revenge against the Ice Harpy. We will kill her for all the injustice she has done and all the pain and suffering she has put us through."

    Wang Xiaoyun rested her head against Xue Wei¡¯s chest. Feeling the gentle hand caressing her hair and the soft voice praising her for having hung on up until now, even with the massive mental walls she had put up around herself, her shoulders started quivering.

    A lone tear fell from the corner of her dim eye, and soon it was followed by a stream of tears pouring out from both eyes.

    Wang Xiaoyun had felt hopeless for so long. She had been disfigured and lost her entire family. Chu Huiyin had tried to make her hate Xue Wei with her whole heart, and it was because she was aware of this that she could not hate him.

    In fact, she found strength in every memory she shared with him. She would often dream about their time in Tiankong City, but at the same time, she also feared. She was so afraid that he would no longer look at her, that he would be disgusted with her appearance.

    Although she had undergone her ritual to awaken her ancient bloodline descended from the War God, she had only managed to reach the fourthyer of the Heavenly Warrior rank so far.

    It would take a few years for the bloodline to reach its full potential and bring all the benefits to her. To have moved alone from the Heping Kingdom to the Goat Mountain was in no way a simple task. She had braved many dangers and faced many perilous situations, but she had never given up. The thought that she was not alone despite her many losses was enough to make her keep moving.

    She had not known where Xue Wei could have gone, so she had wandered in no specific direction, walking wherever her feet took her.

    For her to actually cross paths with him here at Goat Mountain was indeed incredibly lucky. It was as if fate had brought them together.

    A long time went by while Xue Wei hugged Wang Xiaoyun, who was weeping in his arms.

    When she finally finished, she felt as if she had lost fifty kilos of weight from her shoulders, and the grey and dark world had regained some of its previously lost color and vibrance.

    Even Hei Gou, who she did not enjoy the sight of, was less annoying than he had been before.

    "I don¡¯t like him," she said with a voice that still trembled slightly from her crying, "but I will not say anything about it as long as he does not do something questionable that might betray us."

    She did not apologize for the words she spoke before, but Hei Gou did not follow up on it either.

    Xue Wei was incredibly grateful towards Hei Gou and his decision to endure the hatred.

    An awkward silence suddenly emerged, and Xue Wei was unsure of what to say to make Wang Xiaoyun and Hei Gou both feel better.

    "Why are you here?" Wang Xiaoyun could feel his difort and decided to change the subject to one that was morefortable.

    "We are here on behalf of Wan Qiang, a leader of a city called ck Iron Fortress in the Skyward Empire," Xue Wei told her the truth. He had seen what had been done to her by the Ice Harpy, but she still trusted in him and wanted to be with him. She did not even me him for what had happened.

    "Wan Qiang is looking for a specific herb, but he cannot enter the area himself. He promised us handsome rewards if we brought it back to him."

    "What rewards?" Wang Xiaoyun asked excitedly, but Xue Wei just shrugged his shoulders. He had never asked exactly what kind of rewards he would be given.

    "You silly goose!" Wang Xiaoyunughed, herughter still as gentle and beautiful as ever before.

    "You need to ask about what you will get! When he says plenty of rewards, it can be bountiful, but it can also be very shabby, ah!" she scolded him. "You can never know, and when you have already handed the flower over to him, then you will be used as freebor by him!"

    Xue Wei was slightly embarrassed when he heard this, and he could not help but rub his nose.

    "We already got a lot of rewards from the tournament, and Wan Qiang has assisted me before, so I felt like I owed it to him." Xue Wei wanted to exin, but Wang Xiaoyun would have none of it.

    "You won the prizes from the tournament in an honest way; those have nothing to do with this task! He helped you, but did you really need his help?" She continued to argue, and Xue Wei was at an utter loss for words.

    "Never work for free! Never be abused by others! Always take maximum benefits!" Wang Xiaoyun was very direct and ruthless as she spoke. Hei Gou, who was rather bemused by the spectacle on the side, started to smile. Although this woman hated Primordial Beasts, he could not hate her.

    "What does it matter to you?" Xue Wei muttered indignantly because he felt that he was being berated like a little child. But he was not angry; in fact, a warmth rose in his heart.

    "Of course it matters to me! What belongs to you belongs to me!" she eximed when she heard what Xue Wei muttered. "Are you telling me that you will hide your things from your wife?!"

    It was clear that she cared deeply for Xue Wei, and she already considered herself his wife with the way she was talking about his matters.

    However, when she said the words out loud, Wang Xiaoyun finally seemed to understand what she had said, and her face turned so red that blood could drip from it.

    "I... I did not mean it like that," she stammered, but Xue Wei justughed heartily. "Of course you did," he answered, grinning. "My dear wife, you are right. What belongs to me belongs to you as well. I will not waste my hard work, and ensure that I am paid handsomely when I return the Seven Star Nightflower."

    But then Xue Wei turned serious. "Just remember that what belongs to us also belongs to Hei Gou. He is my brother and thus a part of the family."

    Wang Xiaoyun¡¯s face froze for a moment, and she nced at Hei Gou with annoyance in her eyes, but she still nodded her head obediently. She could sense that this was something Xue Wei would notpromise on.

    "So where is this Seven Star Nightflower?" Wang Xiaoyun changed the subject again. She was not a quiet and innocent girl; she was very outgoing and outspoken. Xue Wei liked this part of her personality.

    "It is in a formation left behind by a supreme expert," Xue Wei exined the whole situation to Wang Xiaoyun who listened with curiosity, and her working eye started shining with excitement.

    Who would not love going treasure hunting, and especially in a ce left behind by a supreme expert?

    "Oh, that sword on your shoulder ¨C howe I¡¯ve never seen it before?" Wang Xiaoyun asked as they were heading towards the location of the formation. Xue Wei smiled wryly when he heard the question. Wang Xiaoyun did not relent in her chattering for even a second, asking about this and that, but Xue Wei knew that it was because she still had a hard timeing to terms with the fact that they had been reunited.

    "It is a supreme expert who somehow transformed himself into a sword spirit," Xue Wei once again chose to say the truth. "His name is Bai Tianyi. He is currently absorbing some souls so we cannot interrupt him. I will introduce you when he finishes."

    Wang Xiaoyun nodded her head. The trio continued moving deeper and deeper into the forest.

    Wang Xiaoyun kept asking questions about their travels underway, and Xue Wei answered them all honestly. Every time he mentioned Hei Gou, he made sure to stress how much of a help his friend had been.

    Although Wang Xiaoyun hated Primordial Beasts, her impression of Hei Gou was getting better and better, but at the same time she also feared that he had some sort of hidden agenda.

    "That reminds me," Wang Xiaoyun said once more when the topded on Hei Gou. "We are in a danger zone right now. We have entered deep into their territory, but we have not encountered even a single Fierce Beast. It seems that traveling with a Primordial Beast makes a trip so much easier!"

    Xue Wei and Hei Gou exchanged puzzled looks. "Actually, we don¡¯t know why it is like this," Hei Gou answered.

    "When I was traveling alone, I came across multiple Fierce Beasts. Now, however, from what we¡¯ve experienced so far, I¡¯m certain it is that they all fear Xue Wei for some reason."

    "That can¡¯t be." Wang Xiaoyun frowned as she looked at Xue Wei. "Why would they fear you?"

    "I do not know," Xue Wei said honestly and shrugged his shoulders. "But it is indeed true that the beasts seem to stay out of my way."

    Wang Xiaoyun looked at the ground, which inadvertently caused her face to be covered by the cascade of her hair. It was hard to tell what she was thinking about.

    "Well, let us hurry to the formation." Wang Xiaoyun lifted her head with a sparkling smile on her face. Although her face was disfigured by the scars, she was still beautiful in her own way. Xue Wei was entranced by her smile.

    Seeing the gaze with which he was looking at her, Wang Xiaoyun¡¯s mood rose drastically and her smile blossomed further with a hint of embarrassment.

 Chapter 171: Caught Up

    After Xue Wei had exhausted the stories he could tell of the time after their separation, Wang Xiaoyun finally turned quiet and the trio advanced in silence.

    From time to time, Wang Xiaoyun¡¯s eyes shed dangerously. When she looked at Hei Gou, her face would disy unconcealed displeasure, but she said nothing.

    Hei Gou pretended that he did not see it, whereas Xue Wei was wondering what exactly he should do to make her opinion of beasts change.

    Xue Wei did not hate beasts. He hated specific individuals such as Chu Huiyin, but the beasts as a whole were not a group he hated.

    It was the same with humans. Although almost the entire human race was hunting him, he did not hate them. But he hated some of them - especially those that had caused Tie Haolong¡¯s death.

    Xue Wei had taken off the face mask when he had headed into the forest beneath Goat Mountain because he wanted Wang Xioayun to recognize him, but now that they were together again, he ced the mask back on his face.

    It would be hard to deliver the Seven Star Nightflower to Wan Qiang if his appearance suddenly changed.

    Wang Xiaoyun had been informed of everything about them, so she knew he would look different for some time. She only looked on curiously as Xue Wei ced the mask on his face, and saw how his features changed from a somewhat handsome young man to a figure so average that he would not stand out in a crowd.

    Hei Gou smiled slightly when he saw her naive and innocent curiosity, but the moment she noticed his smile, her face distorted. It was clear that she could notprehend why Xue Wei put so much value on a Primordial Beast, even if he had saved his life before.

    They soon reached the location of the formation. Although they could not see anything, Xue Wei could feel a vibration running through the energy in the region.

    Wang Xiaoyun was the strongest in their group, a genuine fourthyer Heavenly Warrior, whereas Hei Gou was only a sixthyer Sky Warrior in Qi-level despite his Heavenly Warrior-level physical strength, so she covered their rear as they approached

    "It is really not needed," Xue Wei had said with augh. "We have never encountered a Primordial Beast in our travels so far, much less a Fierce Beast."

    "Don¡¯t becent. Just because you have not encountered them yet does not mean that you will not encounter them ever. I will ensure that no one can assault us from behind and at the same time keep an eye on your friend in case he is going to betray us."

    "I told you he is not like that!" Xue Wei got upset when he heard that. Wang Xiaoyun realized she had said too much. "I apologize," she said meekly. Hei Gou epted the apology rather quickly so that there would be no drama.

    Xue Wei gave Hei Gou a thumbs up. He was a true friend indeed. It was no understatement to say that Hei Gou was a proud figure. Although he had never been treated well in the Celestial Dog n, he had always had pride in his bones.

    After running away, all he saw forward to was imminent death, but Xue Wei had given him a new lease on life. So although Hei Gou could typically not handle others insulting him, he would ignore the hurtful words that Wang Xiaoyun said when considering what she had gone through and what she meant to Xue Wei.

    "But Wei, I don¡¯t understand," Wang Xiaoyun suddenly spoke out after walking for some time. "Beasts have done such terrible things to you. Just like me, the Ice Harpy changed your entire life and framed you in front of all the humans. Does it not make your blood boil? Do you not want revenge on all the beasts for what they did to you?"

    "You are mistaken," Xue Wei sighed for the umpteenth time, unsure of how to make her understand. "Although the Ice Harpy framed me and caused my entire life to be turned upside down, those were her actions alone. I cannot hate all beasts because of one beast¡¯s action."

    "In fact, I got some great assistance from another beast, a Lightning Sparrow. It risked its life to help my friend and I escape the encirclement in the middle of the city."

    "Also, the humans were the ones who decided to use dirty tricks to try and capture me. The humans are the ones who are currently chasing me. If I were to hate a race, I fear that the race I would hate would be my own kind."

    "But everything was started by the Ice Harpy! Had it not been for her, you would have never encountered these problems, and then no one would have found fault with you. Don¡¯t you think that the beasts are at fault for starting it all?"

    "If I were to me someone, it would be Chu Huiyin." Xue Wei nodded his head. "But not all beasts are the same. I fear that the Ice Harpy is insane in her head; the few interactions I have had with her have revealed her madness to me quite visibly."

    "Chu Huiyin?" Wang Xiaoyun spat out the name. "You are not a Primordial Beast, so howe you know her real name?"

    She looked tentative and a little guarded as she asked this question. Her eyes showed a slight trace of distrust, but it vanished as soon as it had appeared.

    "I have had a few interactions with her before," Xue Wei answered honestly. "She was in her human shape and was causing havoc in the kingdom of Heping."

    Then Xue Wei went on to exin the entire process in which he had met and gotten to know Chu Huiyin. He could understand that Wang Xiaoyun was worried ¨C Chu Huiyin was after all her most hated foe, so knowledge on the subject was more than wee.

    The moment Xue Wei finished talking, a relieved smile appeared on Wang Xiaoyun¡¯s face. She nodded her head.

    "But for now, let us enter the formation," Xue Wei said. They had been standing in front of it for some time, inspecting its appearance for any hidden mechanisms.

    Most formations were invisible until triggered, but this one was like a barrier of energy that had shrouded everything on the inside, causing Xue Wei to frown.

    If it was shrouding the inside, how did the Elders back at the ck Iron Fortress figure out that there was a Seven Star Nightflower inside?

    Xue Wei was puzzled, but he guessed that someone else had already once been inside the formation, but this person had failed to bring it out with them. Although the formation only allowed beasts and humans under a certain age to enter, there were bound to be many beasts within the formation.

    This was the beasts¡¯ territory. If there were treasures, they were likely to have imed them already. But legacies were impossible for beasts to make use of since they only used innate abilities and were incapable of learning martial arts.

    It was precisely those skills that Xue Wei was hoping had been left behind, due to theirck of worth to the beasts. With the loss of his heritage ring, he had also lost his repository of new skills to learn, so although he already acquired some very awesome abilities, he was in dire need of sword arts.

    "Let us enter!" Xue Wei said and took a step towards the barrier. He walked through what felt like a waterfall of energy before entering the formation.

    When he was inside, he took a deep breath and noticed that the energy within was filled with heaven-and-earth essence, so much so that the cirction of Qi within his body quickened like a surge of adrenaline, almost intoxicating.

    Behind him, Hei Gou and Wang Xiaoyun had followed, looking around curiously and also quickly sensing the difference in energy from outside to inside.

    "So we are to find a specific herb somewhere in this formation," Wang Xiaoyun said as she started observing their surroundings.

    "Right. It should be close by to our current position, somewhere on the outskirts of the barrier, so my suggestion is that we follow the rim of the barrier until we find it."

    They quickly set out on the task and kept their eyes pried and ears open. They did not encounter any living creature on their trip, but this was no surprise as no living being had been spotted by them ever since Wang Xiaoyun had joined up with them.

    From time to time, she would nce at Xue Wei with doubtful eyes, but after a bit of time she would shake her head, and the doubtful expression in her eyes would soften and turn warm.

    Neither Xue Wei nor Hei Gou noticed anything; both were busy watching their surroundings and looking for the Seven Star Nightflower.

    They had not walked for long before the dense forest suddenly opened up to a meadow that stretched as far as their eyes could see with a river running on the side of it. There were no signs of life on this grassy meadow. However, magical herbs were sprouting here and there in the shadows of the trees that were bordering the meadow, and in small clusters in the grass itself.

    "Let¡¯s take them!" Xue Wei grinned. Although they were here for the Seven Star Nightflower, it did not mean that they would pass up on other valuables that they came past.

    "Leave the roots so that they can continue to flourish here," Xue Wei ordered. Wang Xiaoyun and Hei Gou nodded their heads. Although they could use the herbs¡¯ roots, they felt that it would be such a shame to take them all, since it would mean that it would take a very long time before the herbs would once more be growing wildly in the meadow.

    After working for an hour excavating the herbs, the trio had harvested a significant stash of them.

    When Xue Wei had first acquired his storage treasure, he had found numerous jade bottles and boxes containing the herbs he and Hei Gou had partially consumed prior to this. So now he took out the empty ones and ced the new herbs within them.

    "Let us go to the river and get something to drink as we wash up," he said. They had soil on their hands from harvesting the herbs, and their throats were parched because they had been standing in the sun for a full hour with their entire focus on the herbs.

    Although they were cultivators with a lot of strength, harvesting herbs required the most outstanding amount of focus, as a single mistake in the process of gathering it meant the herb would lose some of its medicinal properties.

    It was not easy to maintainplete focus for an entire hour, so it was best to take a small break before they continued on their search for the Seven Star Nightflower.

    They walked to the riverside and saw that it was a very turbulent river of fresh water.

    After pausing for an hour and eating some of the rations they had brought with them, they felt rested and much better than they had done before. They also managed to rest their minds and let their mindset reach the peak again.

    They were about to leave when Xue Wei sensed a change in their surroundings. He frowned and looked behind them. There, three figures slowly walked out from the thicket of the forest and entered the meadow.

    These three had noticed Xue Wei and his friends at the same moment that Xue Wei saw them.

    Their faces were filled with incredulity, but then a sinister smile flickered across their faces.

    "Hei Gou!" one of them yelled out loud. "You ran so far! You even dragged others into your matter! Come now, and face your death!"

 Chapter 172: Brothers

    Xue Wei was puzzled at first, but he quickly concluded that these experts must be the ones sent by the Celestial Dog n to kill Hei Gou.

    They were Primordial Beasts. This was apparent when one looked first at Wang Xiaoyun, then at Hei Gou.

    Hei Gou had amusement written all over his face, while Wang Xiaoyun¡¯s face was as stormy as thunderclouds with her brows deeply furrowed. Her one healthy eye looked ready to shoot mes, if it were at all possible.

    "Hey, Gou, do you know them?" Xue Wei asked Hei Gou curiously. He was not too worried; their numbers were equal.

    Wang Xiaoyun was a fourthyer Heavenly Warrior and a Wayfarer to boot, so she was the strongest person in their group.

    Hei Gou was no longer the same as the old him when he was still with his family, now possessing Heavenly Warrior-level strength as well as the aftereffects of his mutation from a pair of wings to a higher level of purity.

    And then there was Xue Wei. Xue Wei was only a fifthyer Sky Warrior, but it was hard to judge his true strength.

    ¡°I know them.¡± Hei Gou sighed and shook his head. There was aplicated look in his eyes. "They are my brothers. My eldest brother, my third brother, and my fifteenth brother," he continued. Xue Wei felt a mix of emotions when he heard that. Hei Gou was not on good terms with his family, but it would be wrong to kill them.

    Xue Wei pondered over what to do. He felt inclined to eliminate them so they would not pose a future threat to Hei Gou, but he was also aware that doing so would hurt Hei Gou and might even give him a heart demon.

    Hei Gou shared these sentiments, but Wang Xiaoyun looked at the beasts with undisguised hatred. It was clear that she wanted to kill all three of them.

    "To think you actually have the guts to call yourself our brother!" the fifteenth brother yelled out. "You disrespected our entire family and made it the family of a deserter! Mother and Father would never be able to lift their heads in the future. If it wasn¡¯t for the fact that we have Second Brother and his status as a genius in our n you would have caused us all to be outcasts."

    "So I should just walk right into my own death?" Hei Gou snorted. ¡°What a good brother you are, willing to let me die for the sake of keeping the family honor intact!"

    "That is a sacrifice that everyone should be willing to make!" the third brother retorted with a sneer. Xue Wei and Hei Gou just snickered.

    "A name is nothing. A person¡¯s life is what truly matters!" Xue Wei countered. However, Hei Gou¡¯s three brothers just looked at him as if he werean idiot.

    "Who are you? A mere human dares to talk back to us?!" The eldest brother sneered, but before he could say anything else, a small gem around his wrist started shining.

    "Someone is trying to contact us?" All three were puzzled. The only ones who could contact them were the members of the Celestial Dog n, but the n was situated in the Northern Taiga ¨C it had to be urgent for them to make contact.

    "What is it?" The elder brother paled as he listened to what was being transmitted to him; fear and trepidation showed clearly on his face when he looked at Hei Gou. He retreated a few steps backwards.

    The other two looked curiously at him. They were unaware of what had been transmitted to him, so they were puzzled by their eldest brother¡¯s reaction. Why had he retreated from Hei Gou?

    Hei Gou had always been the weakest amongst their litter of brothers. He was the youngest and also the one with the least talent.

    He had been chosen as a sacrifice for that reason, but it now looked like he had encountered some life-changing luck.

    "Retreat!" The eldest brother showed no hesitation in his following actions. The message he had received had spelled it out clearly to him.

    "If Hei Gou is harmed or killed, the entire Celestial Dog n will be eradicated by the Ice Harpy. The Council of Elders has given him a special mission. He cannot be troubled or dyed. Return home at once," was the message, shocking the eldest brother so much that he couldn¡¯t help but feel his existence shrink a little in size.

    He was jealous and confused but also slightly relieved.

    Although he felt great hatred towards Hei Gou for putting their family through hard times, he was stillhis baby brother. Having said baby brother¡¯s blood on his hands would make him feel regret for life.

    This new development relieved him immensely. Hei Gou had been the weakest amongst them all back in the Celestial Dog n ¨C but why would the Council of Elders, the group the eldest brother revered more than anything, give the weak little Hei Gou a special mission?

    The Council of Elders was well-known amongst both humans and beasts. They were the strongest experts in the entire Chang¡¯an Continent on the beasts¡¯ side.

    They were the ones responsible for sending out their side¡¯s most talented Primordial Beasts on various missions throughout the continent, and they were the reason that the stalemate hadsted as long as it had. Many of them were survivors of the great human revolt.

    To meet them, one needed to be one of the most outstanding geniuses in the entire continent, or one had to contribute with some sort of great aplishment. However, Hei Gou had never been outstanding in any way ¨C all he had done was run away from home.

    "Why don¡¯t we kill him already?" asked one of the brothers. His viciousness made Xue Wei frown. Although they were beasts and did not have much feelings for their brothers and sisters, this was too much.

    "Beasts will always be beasts," said Wang Xiaoyun. She wasted no time in charging at them, brandishing a green fan with the snap of the wrist.

    Spikes of Qi instantly shot towards the three Celestial Dog n members the moment the fan was unfolded. Fear instantly struck their hearts as they urgently retreated.

    Wang Xiaoyun did not care about Hei Gou getting a heart demon if she killed his brothers. All that mattered to her was that there were four Primordial Beasts around her, and that only one of them was off-limits.

    Wang Xiaoyun had realized that Xue Wei was nning on letting them go, but her bone-deep hatred towards Primordial Beasts would not let him have his way so simply.

    Xue Wei instantly knew of Wang Xiaoyun¡¯s intentions when he saw her actions. He could not help the small curse that escaped his lips as he gave chase, ready to stop her.

    It was clear that the trio¡¯s leader was retreating; there was no need to fight. The other two brothers, unaware of the true situation, ceased retreating and prepared to meet Wang Xiaoyun¡¯s attack head-on when they saw her charging at them.

    Hei Gou and the oldest brother both observed the chaos that ensued in front of them with confused eyes.

    Wang Xiaoyun was fighting the two Primordial Beasts. She sent out attack after attack, each one seeking to take life should a moment of inattentiveness grip her opponents, but they were ferocious in their retaliation.

    They soon found that their attacks were not effective enough, and shifted back into their original shape. However, just when they thought they had the upper hand, tattoos shone on Wang Xiaoyun¡¯s face and arms, disying her bloodline as a Wayfarer. Her strength multiplied several times with the appearance of the tattoos.

    "Gou! Help out!¡± Xue Wei yelled out before rushing after Wang Xiaoyun. ¡°Xiaoyun, don¡¯t do this!¡± pleaded Xue Wei as she continued to sh at the three members of the Celestial Dog n with her fan. His words fell on deaf ears; she did not even pretend to listen.

    He wanted to stop their fight, but it would be risky to insert himself between Heavenly Warriors. Unfortunately, he had no choice.

    "Haven¡¯t done this in a while," muttered Xue Wei. The shape of his arms changed as they swelled up in size suddenly and azure scales started to grow all over them.

    Hei Gou knew the seriousness of the matter when he saw Xue Wei transform. He, too, took on his original shape. His healthy, lustrous fur was silky smooth, and the wings on his back were breathtakingly beautiful. He was bigger than the three other Celestial Dogs and several times more majestic.

    A heavy pressure bore down on the other Celestial Dogs when Hei Gou transformed, and all of them looked at Hei Gou with fear and disbelief in their eyes.

    How had he be so strong? How had he undergone such a mutation?

    The eldest brother narrowed his eyes when he felt the shocking aura of Xue Wei¡¯s transformation and finally spared a nce at the individual who he had previously underestimated. Xue Wei¡¯s transformation looked quite simr to when a Primordial Beast changed into its original shape; there were no Qi fluctuations to indicate that it was a technique. It looked no different from an innate ability to him.

    Xue Wei used his newfound strength to appear behind Wang Xiaoyun. He wrapped hisrge scaled arms around her and pressed her body against his, holding her in a tight grip.

    Wang Xiaoyun could instantly feel that the one holding her was Xue Wei, but her pupils shrank and her heart started hammering wildly in her chest when she saw the scaled arms around her.

    "You..." her voice cracked, and she tried struggle free again. "How can you transform into a beast?!" There was fear and indignation in her voice. "Have you been deceiving me all along? Are you actually a Primordial Beast as the others say?!" Her eye shone with madness. A stream of tears spilled from her eyes in a mixture of fear and sorrow.

    "Calm down." Xue Wei smiled and squeezed her gently, but his actions only worried her further. She was dying to know the truth.

    "You know as well as I that I could not cultivate for quite some years," Xue Wei began to exin gently, unaware that the eldest brother of the Celestial Dogs was eavesdropping.

    "My uncle found a scripture for me that allows me to cultivate, and it has the innate ability to allow me to transform parts of my body into that of Primordial Beasts."

    "You can transform into a beast because of your cultivation technique?" Wang Xiaoyun was suspicious of this, but Xue Wei nodded his head seriously.

    "I cannot transform my entire body," he exined. "So far, I have only tried to transform my arms. I have not seeded in transforming anything beyond that.

    ¡°It was also because of this partial transformation that the Kingdom of Heping decided that I am a Primordial Beast. They did not even give me time to exin that it is the specific technique that I am cultivating."

    Xue Wei sighed. He knew that Wang Xiaoyun was very sensitive when it came to Primordial Beasts, and understandably so.

    The transformed Hei Gou had taken the most direct approach and ced himself between both parties, stopping the attacks on both sides.

    "Stop this now!" The eldest brother yelled at his two younger brothers. "We have new orders! We are to return to the n at once. Something urgent has happened - we cannot afford to spend any more time on Hei Gou."

    The two brothers were shocked when they heard what their older brother said, but they were also worried for their home. Dissatisfaction was written all over their faces as they threw ast nce at Xue Wei holding Wang Xiaoyun, and at Hei Gou, who stood behind them like a majestic sovereign of dogs.

    Still, they left quickly. Wang Xiaoyun did not say anything, though she red daggers at them. She remained in Xue Wei¡¯s scaled embrace.

 Chapter 173: Seven Star Nightflower

    Xue Wei heaved a heavy sigh of relief. He knew that his cultivation method was the strange kind that granted him the ability to transform his arms into dragon ws, but he was sure that Wang Xiaoyun would be able to understand it.

    Wang Xiaoyun did understand, but her main relief came from the fact that what she saw was a human shape and not her significant other in a beastly form.

    Whenever she looked at a Primordial Beast, even one who took on a human shape, she would see the original shape hovering in the air behind them.

    It had not failed her since she had gained this ability, and thus she had the feeling that Xue Wei actually did not have a beastly original shape.

    Wang Xiaoyun was fuming with anger, but she did everything in her power to hold it down. She understood that Xue Wei was trying his best for Hei Gou¡¯s sake, but she felt indignant. Could he not understand her hatred towards beasts as well?

    Xue Wei understood her perfectly well, but he also knew that ming every beast in existence for her loss was not the correct way of thinking.

    However, Xue Wei was no saint. He would kill those that could cause problems for him, but he would never kill someone just because of their race.

    In his mind, no one could be med for being born the way they were. This philosophy had rooted itself deeply in Xue Wei¡¯s mind.

    One could kill for their own benefit, or to protect themselves and their dear ones.

    But thest shred of morality in Xue Wei, the part that continued to hold down the bloodlust, told him not to just kill someone randomly because of their race.

    If they did, what made them better than the thing Xue Wei feared that he would be one day?

    The killing intent festering inside him was growing stronger by the day. Every time he saw carnage or killed someone, it would grow and threaten to swallow him up whole.

    It was clear to him that giving in to this killing intent meant that he would be nothing but a murderous puppet that seeks to eliminate everything in sight without care for consequence or foe and enemy. He would be an entity worse than even the Primordial Beasts and humans that were relentlessly at odds since the beginning of history.

    Xue Wei was in many ways ruthless. He has no hesitation when ites to killing, but a part of him feared what he could be at the end of that road.

    He could feel that there was something inside of him, something urging to break free, something vtile and out of control.

    Xue Wei was in deep thought. What could he do to prevent Wang Xiaoyun from going down that same road?.

    "You can release me now," Wang Xiaoyun said after a bit of time. "I won¡¯t run amok. They have already left."

    Xue Wei instantly released her, and his scaled arms reverted into their human form, the azure scales slowly retracting into his arms as if they were hiding beneath the skin and ready to erupt at any given time.

    Wang Xiaoyun¡¯s brows were furrowed, but she said nothing. Still, although she believed him, she had a bit of difort in her eyes ¨C it seemed a lot like doubt.

    "Well then, let¡¯s continue to look for that Seven Star Nightflower," Xue Wei said while rubbing his nose with slight embarrassment. He had seen Wang Xiaoyun¡¯s uneasy gaze, but he could not do anything about it.

    Hei Gou nodded his head. He was a lot quieter these days, not engaging in random conversation with Xue Wei. Rather, he withdrew slightly and observed Xue Wei and Wang Xiaoyun. He was clearly happy to see the two together again, but he was also feeling slightly lonely.

    Seeing this, Xue Wei could quickly guess what Hei Gou was feeling, so he went to his side and started chatting him up. The group became lively again, and Hei Gou¡¯s narcissistic personality surfaced once more.

    "I, Great Lord Hei Gou, knew that my brothers would not be able to deal with us!" he said with a grin. Xue Wei just shook his head in amusement. It was clear that they had been given other orders than to follow Hei Gou at thest minute, orders that made them retreat.

    What had deterred the three brothers was not the strength of the three experts, but the message they had gotten before the fight actually broke out.

    Still, Hei Gou was as full of himself as always; he sported his trademark smile, and his hair fluttered in the wind, which made him seem as if he was a god descending to the mundane world. He was indeed very handsome, but Wang Xiaoyun could not help but feel upset every time she looked at him.

    He was a Primordial Beast. She med him for her family¡¯s death. It was because of him and his race that she had experienced such excruciating pain both emotionally and physically.

    She had been disfigured; she had be a monster; and she could feel an uncontroble madness creeping up on her from the shadows.

    It scared her, but ironically this madness also made her feel stronger, which happened to coincide with her desire to acquire greater power for revenge. Even if Hei Gou was off-limits, she refused to believe that he would end up befriending every Primordial Beast and their mother out there.

    Wang Xiaoyun was surprisingly silent. Her head hung down so that they could not see the expressions of viciousness, hatred, regret, and worry that alternated on her face.

    Xue Wei was chatting with Hei Gou. Although he noticed that she was quiet, he took it as her giving him and Hei Gou some space.

    They walked for a full day. In this time, Xue Wei had tried to diffuse any moments of awkward silence by engaging Wang Xiaoyun and Hei Gou in conversation at the same time, but it was much harder than he had expected, to his disappointment.

    When night fell over Goat Mountain, shrouding the forest below it in darkness, the trio started looking for a nice location to set up camp for the night.

    "Let us camp here for the day," Xue Wei smiled at his twopanions, feeling a dreadful headache. They did not respond, sullenly looking away in each their direction. How was he to make these two lumps of ice interact with one another? It seemed harder than scaling the highest mountain in the world.

    "Ahem, Xiaoyun, why don¡¯t you make the fire?" Xue Wei was quick to delegate tasks, if only to break the ice. "Gou, you go and catch some game for us. If I were to go with you, we¡¯re going to starve forever," he said with a slightly amused voice.

    Unfortunately, those words triggered Wang Xiaoyun¡¯s anxiety, making her eyes sh fiercely for a second before she managed to suppress it. "I will make the fire," she said obediently. Xue Wei nodded before setting out to inspect the entire area.

    He wanted to scout their surroundings a little, but he quickly decided against it after distancing himself from their camp for a few yards. Beasts never approached him willingly, so only humans could prove troublesome, but encounters with civilization were unlikely to happen out here in Goat Mountain, a ce dominated by the Primordial Beasts.

    So he went back and looked for the other two. He found Wang Xiaoyun in the middle of gathering wood, and approached her.

    "Let me help you." Xue Wei smiled and started picking up random twigs and branches from the forest ground.

    Neither spoke, but there was a small smile on Wang Xiaoyun¡¯s face, and her one eye was tranquil. It was clear that Xue Wei¡¯s presence brought her peace.

    "Oh look, what a pretty flower," Wang Xiaoyun said suddenly. Xue Wei lifted an eyebrow and walked over to see. His jaw dropped when he saw it, however...

    "How lucky can we be?" he muttered to himself. Wang Xiaoyun heard it.

    In front of them was a small flower that seemed to have thousands of tiny stars on the petals. The stem of the flower was milky white, almost translucent, and the single leaf was ck as the night sky with no stars shining upon them.

    "Don¡¯t tell me...this is what we¡¯re looking for?" Wang Xiaoyun asked with perplexion. Xue Wei nodded his head. "This is the Seven Star Nightflower," he said with certainty. He had heard the description Wan Qiang had given him, and it was spot on.

    "Does that mean that our objective here in this weird ce ispleted?" Wang Xiaoyun asked curiously. It seemed that it had been a little too easy.

    "Well, we have achieved what Wan Qiang wanted from us," he nodded his head, "but I am not ready to leave this formation just yet."

    "This formation was set up by a supreme expert that only allows younger experts to enter. I have a faint suspicion that something amazing is hidden here. If there was nothing left of the senior¡¯s inheritance or his treasures, then shouldn¡¯t the formation have vanished by now? There would be nothing to keep it active, but it is still active. So I think that there has to be something left behind."

    "You are after the supreme expert¡¯s inheritance?" Wang Xiaoyun was shocked, but after considering Xue Wei¡¯s reasons for his assumption, she had to agree that it made sense.

    "Still, after all these years, I wonder if it is possible for no one to have found the inheritance after all these years. I could imagine that this ce is swamped with Fierce and Primordial Beasts."

    "Keep in mind that beasts have innate abilities. They can use the treasure, true, but skills developed for humans are useless to them," he said, reminding her of the dichotomy between their races. Wang Xiaoyun¡¯s face lit up with a slight hint of excitement as she recalled this fact.

    "Well, let¡¯s set out tomorrow then," she said, almost impatiently. "What about this Seven Star Nightflower? Do we pick it now or after we find the inheritance?"

    The question was rather vital. It was a question of whether or not the flower would be able tost the extra travel time, but Xue Wei was not worried.

    He flipped his hand, and a small milky-white translucent jade box appeared in his hand. This was one of the most beautiful jades in the world, a snow jade, which had the remarkable ability to keep herbs and other things alive for many years.

    Xue Wei gently dug out the herb from the root and up. Although he knew that it was a herbalist¡¯s etiquette to leave behind the root so that the nt can regrow, he had been specifically instructed to bring the roots too. So he had no other option than to dig them out.

    After dusting the soil off the nt, he carefully ced it into the snow jade box, and closed it. He could vaguely see the nt through the milky white jade, and it stayed as crisp and fresh as it had been when he dug it out.

    Shortly after, Hei Gou returned with a few dead mortal beasts hanging over his shoulder while he held their legs. There was a deer and a few rabbits; apparently he had decided to hunt for quite arge quantity of food this time.

    While Xue Wei had been digging up the nt, Wang Xiaoyun had started the fire, and Hei Gou set out to clean the deer and roast it. They had a little seasoning in their bags, as they were now used to living in the wilderness, but seasoning alone was insufficient to constitute arge, extravagant feast as one would crave once in a while.

    Still, the food was many times more satisfying than the rations they had been eating up until now. Xue Wei, Hei Gou, and Wang Xiaoyun dug into the meat with a gluttonous appetite.

    After finishing, Xue Wei smoked the rabbits so that they could enjoy them the following morning before setting out.

    "So our new aim is to find the treasure left behind by the supreme expert who created this ce?" Hei Gou heard about them having found the Seven Star Flower. He was somewhat surprised, but he was relieved as well. As for the inheritance? He wanted to see just what exactly a supreme expert would leave behind, if anything had survived the long passage of time that is.

 Chapter 174: Treasure Hunting

    That night, the trio eagerly discussed what kind of expert could have left behind such a domineering formation, and more importantly what kind of treasure or inheritance he had left behind.

    ¡°Do you think that there are treasures?¡± Wang Xiaoyun asked with her one eye gleaming and Xue Wei pondered. ¡°I am sure that there were treasures at the beginning, but I don¡¯t know if there are any left. This formation is very old, and it has been trespassed by many experts. It is likely that the treasures have already been taken¡± Hei Gou said while Xue Wei pondered.

    ¡°That is true, but something has to be left in there,¡± Xue Wei said after thinking for a bit. ¡°Formations cannot sustain themselves, they need some sort of energy to sustain them. The age-restricting formation is still active, so something has to be left behind by the expert. We just have to search for it.¡±

    Although Hei Gou doubted there was anything left, Xue Wei¡¯s argument about the formation requiring a source of power to sustain itself eventually convinced him.

    After that, Hei Gou started feeling the same kind of excitement as the other two. Soon after, they seemed to even have forgotten their differences, causing Xue Wei to smile slightly as he saw the two animatedly discussing the possibility of bing rich from this trip.

    "It seems that they are more alike than I thought," Xue Wei muttered to himself when the discussion reached money and riches.

    "They are both very eager to get rich, but while Gou is bad at saving money, Xiaoyun is bad at using them."

    Reaching this conclusion, Xue Wei could not help but smile gently as he saw how the two that never spoke more than ten words to each other ended up discussing what to spend their money on after the mission.

    The following morning, the sun broke through the sky and cast its rays down through the dense forest, waking up the trio that had fallen asleep at some point in the middle of their discussion.

    They ate the rabbits that Xue Wei had smoked the previous night before setting out to explore the formation space again.

    The day before, an awkward atmosphere had covered them, but that was now fully dissolved afterst night¡¯s long discussion. Neither of them were making jabs at one another or ignoring the other.

    "We had to follow the barrier because of the Seven Star Nightflowerst time, but now that we are aiming for the stuff left behind by the supreme expert, I will assume that it is better for us to enter the middle of the formation," Xue Wei said, sharing his thoughts.

    "I don¡¯t know if it is like this, but I somewhat expect that the very middle of this formation is where we will find the stuff he left behind," Xue Wei continued.

    "Since the formation is this stable, maybe it is cast around this old monster¡¯s old abode or whatever it is that has been left behind."

    Wang Xiaoyun nodded her head while Hei Gou just shrugged his shoulders. Neither of them had any better guess at where the stash could be located, and they might as well start searching in ordance with Xue Wei¡¯s assumptions instead of just wandering around aimlessly.

    When they made it deeper into the forest inside the formation, Xue Wei started to frown. He had spread out his spiritual energy and could feel that despite the Fierce Beasts fleeing as was custom, some unknown variables had started appearing within his reach.

    "Let us avoid the others," he said after careful consideration. If they were here, then they could not be weak, and they were likely also looking for some sort of treasure. It would break out in a fight if they encountered each other, and although Xue Wei was not afraid of a fight, he did not wish to fight too many at once.

    Unfortunately, things did not go as nned. Although he was very careful and constantly picked a direction with no people, he was eventually caught in their.

    "We will most likely encounter at least one group if we wish to leave here." Xue Wei sighed. "I don¡¯t know if they are humans or Primordial Beasts," he continued while looking at Wang Xiaoyun with worry for a second, "but right now, we cannot engage in battle unless absolutely necessary. If we do, we will draw the others towards us as well. Should that happen, we will be in dire straits."

    "They are scattered around in groups of five, each group outnumbering us by two. However, their experts aren¡¯t that strong despite their numerical advantage. The strongest they have seems to be a ninthyer Sky Warrior in each group, so overwhelming them should be possible if ites to this."

    Wang Xiaoyun bit her lip slightly and looked at Xue Wei with widened eyes. Although one of them was dim and clearly blind, she still channeled a lot of emotion through it.

    "Okay, if they are here for the treasure, then we will kill them," Xue Wei decided after careful consideration. "It doesn¡¯t matter if they¡¯re human or beast. I am not willing to share the treasure with anyone else than the two of you."

    Wang Xiaoyun paled slightly. She could imagine it, but seeing that Xue Wei had no qualms killing humans for herself was something else. However, after considering what she had seen so far of his behavior ever since their reunion, she realized that it was actually not too shocking.

    "I cannot kill humans," Wang Xiaoyun said with a slightly trembling voice. Xue Wei gave her a long nce before sighing. "Then you stay back. I will deal with them together with Gou. Humans and beasts are the same to us anyway."

    Wang Xiaoyun nodded her head. She was not eager to see humans being killed in front of her, but she would not do anything to stop Xue Wei either. She understood that if they did not kill their enemies, then they coulde back to bite them in the rearter on.

    They continued onward, knowing full well that they would encounter a group of either Primordial Beasts in human shape, or humans, very soon.

    "Since we are going to kill them, we might as welly down an ambush," Hei Gou muttered when they were just about to meet them. Xue Wei nodded his head. It was indeed best to kill them once and for all in an ambush to avoid leaving behind loose ends.

    Xue Wei, Hei Gou, and Wang Xiaoyun hid behind arge fallen log and observed the trail they had been walking on previously.

    A few minutester, five experts walked out from the same trail, in the opposite direction of where the trio had been walking.

    Xue Wei strained his ears to hear what was being said by this group; all information could be good information.

    "The elders have sent us here on a life-and-death trial, but honestly is it not too easy? But are we really in danger in this godforsaken ce? Elder Wan said that there would be an unknown variable, someone who would cause big problems for us, but I don¡¯t see anyone?"

    Xue Wei¡¯s eyes narrowed when he heard these words. When he heard the name ¡®Elder Wan¡¯, his thoughts instantly went to Wan Qiang, but the thought was instantly dismissed again.

    Although Wan Qiang was indeed an Elder, he should not be involved with these experts.

    "Primordial Beasts," Wang Xiaoyun muttered just loud enough for Hei Gou and Xue Wei to hear before she reached into her sleeve and pulled out her fan.

    She fought with a green fan decorated with yellow and golden flowers. It seemed refined and beautiful, and it made her seem like a dancer when she fought, gracefully moving like an artist, but the graceful movements she performed should not be underestimated as they were as deadly as the ws of a pouncing tiger.

    The group came closer and closer towards them. Xue Wei wanted to use Bai Tianyi to fight, but the sword spirit was still in deep slumber. Using the sword might interrupt it, and he could vaguely sense some serious changes in his soul, so he dared not do this.

    Inner Might!

    A sword created from inner might appeared in Xue Wei¡¯s hand, gripped lightly. Although he preferred using Bai Tianyi to fight, he was not unfamiliar with the Inner Might sword, and it was not that much inferior to the current Bai Tianyi either.

    Inner Might was a true profound martial art. It was magnificent when used properly, and he had used it for so long that his performance was near perfect.

    Hei Gou also took out his ws from God knows where and equipped them on his hands.

    The trio remained behind cover while in position, their entire bodies tense and ready to spring to action.

    Finally, the Primordial Beasts reached the log, and Xue Wei gestured for the attack.

    Forbidden Rush!

    Windwolf Sword sh!

    Xue Wei rushed forward with the Forbidden Rush movement technique, making his speed reach heights that Wang Xiaoyun and Hei Gou could not follow.

    As a result, he was the first to reach the group of Primordial Beasts. He had not hesitated to execute a Windwolf Sword sh that he had only recently perfected.

    The Windwolf Sword shnded on an unknowing thirdyer Sky Warrior. He did not even have the time to react before his life ended, staring with confusion at the stranger in front of him as he slumped to the ground.

    Kick of Forgotten Kings!

    Making a flip, Xue Wei unleashed his second attack, a Kick of Forgotten Kings, which was another profound martial art that he had spent a very long time perfecting.

    The kicknded on the waist of a fifthyer Sky Warrior. It was so powerful that it instantly shattered the man¡¯s lower spine and sent him flying like a kite without a string.

    Blood sprayed from his mouth after he crashed into a tree behind him. While he did not die straight away, the broken waist made him look like a ragdoll post-impact as heid unconscious on the forest floor.

    At this point, Wang Xiaoyun and Hei Gou had reached Xue Wei. Both of them were as ferocious as Xue Wei. Wang Xiaoyun unleashed gales of Qi with her fan, ready to fight head-on with the Primordial Beasts.

    The beasts panicked at the sudden ambush, but they were quick to realize the severity of the situation. Two of their members had already died or been incapacitated; the remaining three quickly shifted back into their original shapes to fight back against the trio of ambushers.

    None of them asked any questions. Their eyes were blood red, and their killing intent was climbing, but the only result this rising killing intent had was provoke Xue Wei¡¯s own killing intent, which started to ooze out of his body.

    The collective killing intent of the three Primordial Beasts was like a leafpared to a tree whenpared to Xue Wei¡¯s.

    When they felt this killing intent, their bodies started to tremble, and their minds became clouded with fear. It was an instinctive fear that they could not control, a fear that they had seen before in the eyes of humans who witnessed them taking on their original shape. It was the fear of someone that stood way above them.

    "Who... Who are you?!" one of them finally eximed. His voice was filled with fear and unwillingness, but Xue Wei just looked at him with disdain.

    "Do I really need to tell a dead man my name?" he asked with a haughty smile on his face. He felt how the killing intent was taking over, how he was bing what he feared. But right now he did not care.

    Xue Wei seemed to vanish, turning into a sh. He utilized the wind to move like a shadow as per the mysteries of his movement technique, swiftly reappearing in front of the one who had spoken.

    Azure Light¡¯s Finger!

    Shattering Mountain Palm!

    Two attacks were shot out simultaneously, one with each hand. The expert who previously asked the question had taken the shape of arge three-headed serpent, but it did not change the oue. The Azure Light¡¯s Finger and the Shattering Mountain Palm, sted away the three-headed snake, and caused him to vomit blood. Bits of its intestines were vomited out together with the blood.

    "Flee!" The three-headed snake screamed, but it was given no time to regain its bearing. Xue Wei had rushed towards him once more with his Forbidden Rush movement technique, and this time his eyes glistened with a cold and ruthless light.

    Arcane Fist!

    Thousands of palm imprints appeared in the air, and all of them descended onto the three-headed snake.

    Its entire body was ripped to shreds, dicing what was once a whole reptilian form into bits of meat that flew every which way. It was a miserable, brutal way to die.

 Chapter 175: Soul Body

    The other two Primordial Beasts were also in simrly miserable positions. Although they had not died yet, they were very close to death.

    The Primordial Beast fighting Wang Xiaoyun was being tormented by her. She had ripped off two of its limbs. It was arge ck panther with two white stripes, and it was currently wailing in agony.

    Hei Gou¡¯s opponent was by no means in a better condition, but where Wang Xiaoyun was tormenting her target, Hei Gou was just toying with his. A smile hung on his lips, and he was casually fighting with his ws.

    He would swipe them time and time again, ending up causing his opponent, arge wolf, to be wounded time and time again. Its entire body was drenched in blood, and the previously white fur had turned red.

    "Finish up quickly!" Xue Wei growled in a deep voice. Blood was starting to appear in his eyes, making him seem ferocious and evil.

    Wang Xiaoyun and Hei Gou could feel the killing intent in his voice almost vibrating in the air towards them, and they hurriedly finished off their opponents.

    "Leave the corpses; we¡¯ve got to go. The smell of blood is going to lead the others to our tail very soon," Xue Wei said. But he was smiling contrary to his cautious statement. There was no troubled look to be found on his face, only a sinister curve of glee.

    "Let theme, but we want one group at a time so we don¡¯t get overwhelmed," he casually added.

    "We could also hunt them! We could execute every single Primordial Beast within the formation!" Wang Xiaoyun could sense that Xue Wei wanted to kill, his killing intent so thick that itid itself like a nket over the trio. That he was eager to cause blood to flow in rivers, and that he was nowhere near satisfied with what he had done so far.

    Xue Wei felt tempted. Eradicating twenty groups of Primordial Beasts sounded fun. Just thinking about it made his blood boil, but the downtime after the fight slowly brought back his rational thoughts.

    "We need to find the treasure," he finally decided with a sigh. "But if someonees looking for trouble, I can¡¯t be med for being ruthless!"

    Wang Xiaoyun was somewhat disappointed. She had hoped that they would kill lots of Primordial Beasts.

    She could only hope to cross paths more often than not with the other groups of Primordial Beasts, but it was likely they would avoid a majority given Xue Wei¡¯s ability to scan ahead with his spiritual energy and swerve such encounters.

    Just as they had left, another group of Primordial Beasts made their way through the thickets and arrived at the scene of the battle. They inspected the scene.

    "Elder Wan did say that there was someone else who would shake up our test," one of the Primordial Beasts said after a bit of time. "It seems we underestimated this formation and the allure of the treasure. It seems that a third party has arrived as well."

    "These guys took on their original shapes before dying," anothermented as he looked at the destroyed corpses. "But there is no sign of blood from someone other than these five. The ones who killed them must have been able to overpower thempletely."

    "They hid here," a third Primordial Beast said, crouching behind the log where Xue Wei andpany had hidden previously.

    "I guess it was an ambush, but they were only three ording to these markings... and yet they managed to dispose of five Primordial Beasts as fast as they did?"

    "We started moving the moment we felt the fluctuations in the heaven-and-earth essence, but it seems we were toote."

    They kept observing the surroundings before one of them started sniffing the air. "They went this way. Should we follow them or avoid them?" he asked the leader of their group.

    The leader¡¯s human form was that of a handsome young man. He had ck hair and brown eyes. His skin was white like porcin, and he had upwards nting phoenix eyes.

    He was slightly feminine, but also undeniably handsome. Not just that, but a dangerous, almost unwilling ripple spread out from his body when asked about their next move.

    "We will not follow them. We will first look for the Seven Star Nightflower," he said after a bit of hesitation.

    "Only the team that gets its hands on the Seven Star Nightflower can be considered the winner of this test," he said as he scoured the surrounding area for signs of the flower in question.

    "We will need to find the Seven Star Nightflower if we wish to get in the good graces of Elder Wan. He is one of the Supreme Elders, so to be looked favorably on by him would be a great benefit to us. Much more than killing some random troublemakers."

    The group quickly vanished into the distance, resuming its search for the herb.

    While the Primordial Beasts were searching for the Seven Star Nightflower in their many groups Xue Wei led his team towards the inner regions of the barrier while avoiding them.

    The further they went in, the more silent the area became. There were no birdsongs or other sounds of mortal animals; not even Fierce beasts or Primordial Beasts could be heard any longer.

    The animal trails they had followed up until now ceased to exist, and instead they had to pave a road themselves.

    Although no living creature was present, Xue Wei did not ck on observing their surroundings with his spiritual energy.

    "The center of the formation is actually at the very foot of the Goat Mountain," Xue Wei said with confusion.

    "Could it be that there is an entrance into a cave within the Goat Mountain? This road has not been traversed in a long time, so I don¡¯t think we have to worry about someone elseing this way and causing problems for us. But the question is ¨C why aren¡¯t theying here?" he said contemtively.

    "Did they stoping here because there is no more treasure, or because it is too dangerous? I cannot imagine it being a walk in the park."

    Wang Xiaoyun shrugged her shoulders. She smiled in a gentle and confident way "Even if it is difficult, I doubt it is impossible. We need to remember that this is a test made for the younger generation, so only those who are beneath that age can enter. We are already considered geniuses, so although we aren¡¯t the strongest in this age group, we might have enough strength to survive."

    Hei Gou nodded his head in agreement. He shed a smiled, showing his pearly whites. "We cannot back out now. We finally seem to have found something useful. Cave or not, let¡¯s give it our all and get the best out of this!"

    Seeing his tworades being so optimistic about it, Xue Wei snickered. This was what he needed. If they were to survive this endeavor, then they needed positive thinking.

    It did not take them long to reach the rugged surface of the mountain. The Goat Mountain was incredibly steep, and the mountain in front of them was like a wall, almost standing straight up into the sky.

    Xue Wei, Hei Gou, and Wang Xiaoyun started to inspect this mountain wall in front of them. They were expecting something to pop out from the wall, an entrance of some kind, but they found nothing even after scrutinizing the entire wall. No keyhole or anything to ce a token into, either. it looked exactly like a t, ordinary mountain wall.

    "I guess we were overly excited and are bound to be disappointed," Wang Xiaoyun sighed as she straightened her back and looked at the pondering Xue Wei.

    Hei Gou and Xue Wei seemed as if they had not heard her words, and continued to look at the mountain wall. Their eyes wandered over even the grass that grew up along the surface of the stones, and they took downrge trees and nts that were growing on, and close to, the wall to see if anything was hidden beneath.

    Wang Xiaoyun stepped back and watched them as they tried to repeatedly inspect the same spot just in case they overlooked something. Her brows furrowed slightly and she started nibbling at her lip.

    She thought it was a waste of time. It was obvious that there was nothing special about the wall to her. She did not care too much about getting her hands on the inheritance or the treasures within, all things considered.

    She was a Wayfarer, and she had a set of profound martial art techniques. She also had her mutated bloodline that had been activated with Primordial Beast blood, which had given her a few abilities innate to the Wayfarers.

    Although a supreme expert¡¯s inheritance was an amazing thing, it could never be more important and familiar to her than the profound martial arts she had trained since she was a kid or the innate abilities thatid dormant in every Wayfarer¡¯s bloodline.

    Xue Wei, on the other hand, was in quite a pickle. He also had some profound martial art techniques, but he had already trained them to perfection. The only thing he could do to improve their power was be fundamentally stronger.

    But he had no innate abilities, apart from the Azure Dragon Scripture¡¯s dragonized form, so he was limited in the difference of attacks he could use.

    "Oh, where is this?" A voice suddenly sounded in Xue Wei¡¯s mind. The owner of said mind instantly grew ecstatic.

    "Tianyi!" he eximed excitedly. "We are currently in an age-restricted formation," he began to exin.

    "We won the tournament, and Elder Wan Qiang asked us to fetch a Seven Star Nightflower for him. We found the herb, but now we are looking for the treasure left behind by the supreme expert that sat up the formation."

    "Wise choice," Bai Tianyiughed. "Thatss over there is quite astonishing," he said after a bit of time, "She seems to be a mutant of some kind. The world has truly changed a great deal since my imprisonment."

    "She¡¯s Wang Xiaoyun," Xue Wei introduced her, "my sweetheart from back in Tiankong City."

    "Ohh, she is your sweetheart? Well, fate is with you since it allowed you to be reunited. Okay. Wait a few moments, I will unseal this treasure trove in front of us, but I need to finish my soul body first."

    "What is a soul body exactly?" Xue Wei asked curiously.

    "Human bodies areposed of flesh and blood and Qi. The stronger you be, the more of your body will be fortified with Qi ande closer and closer to immortality. I am unable to cultivate Qi, but I can cultivate spiritual energy and soul energy." Bai Tianyi exined.

    "I am a true immortal. Unfortunately, I am a sword spirit, so I am no longer human."

    "I can create a body for myself with spiritual energy, and I have been collecting spiritual energy ever since we met. Especially that tournament ¨C it allowed me to harvest enough soul power to create the simplest body for myself."

    "Wait a moment. I am almost done. Put the sword down on the grass," he instructed. Xue Wei did as requested.

    Moments after, all the heaven-and-earth essence in the surrounding areas started gathering towards the sword. It churned chaotically. The sword that was lying down on the grass started to turn golden before the light that shone from it turned white. Xue Wei and the others were blinded by it, so they turned away while covering their eyes with their arms.

    This light was at first only on the ground and the sword, but soon a pir of light shot straight into the sky through the treetops above them, andughter soon started ringing out from within the light.

    "Finally!" the voice eximed. "I am finally a real person again!"

 Chapter 176: Fighting the Primordial Beasts

    The light started dwindling in intensity and let Xue Wei return his eyes to it, but the figure that walked out of the light pir made his face twitch with amusement

    Bai Tianyi was in the body of a ten-year-old boy. His hair was long and white, his eyes blue and bright, but these striking features did not change the fact that he seemed to be only ten years old.

    "Uh, Tianyi?" Xue Wei called out, mostly to confirm the boy¡¯s identity for his own sake. "You seem a little... short."

    "Well, why don¡¯t you try creating a body from scratch?" Bai Tianyi snorted. His voice sounded immature, without any rust of age. And his overall appearance, including the vibe he gave off, was very feminine. In fact, it was rather difficult to determine his gender.

    "I did not mean to insult you." Xue Wei apologized, but it was hard for him to hide his amusement. "You are able to create a body ¨C this is a great benefit to us. But will you age as you get stronger?"

    "I doubt it," Tianyi muttered with slight annoyance in his voice. "I spent all the soul energy I have absorbed up until now to create this body. If I want to create another body, it will require even more energy. But who cares. I may look like a kid for the rest of my life, but this life of mine is eternal, so I have nothing to regret!"

    Xue Wei and Hei Gou exchanged nces. They knew Bai Tianyi very well, and understood how much immortality meant to him. It was something he had sought after for many years, even at the cost of his very humanity itself.

    Now that he had achieved it, why should he care about the fact that he would look like a child in the future?

    A maddenedugh erupted from Bai Tianyi when he examined his body anew for the umpteenth time. He had arms, he had legs, he had a head, and he had everything that made him human.

    Except, he waspletely naked right now. The realization hit himte, and an embarrassed nce around at the others told him that his audience was witnessing him in his stark naked glory.

    "Ahem," he coughed slightly, and then waved his hand. Sword energy sept out from it and suddenly expanded and wrapped itself around the frail, childish body.

    When the sword energy settled, it had taken the shape of a white robe with golden embroideries. He also used the sword energy to create a golden crown that held his hair on top of his head in a ponytail, which draped down his back.

    Although he looked like a ten-year-old boy, his blue eyes were deep and seemed as if they had experienced the vicissitudes of life. His lips were curled into an arrogant smirk, and his handsome appearance did not in any way resemble a naive and innocent young boy.

    "Finally dressed?" Wang Xiaoyun asked as she stood with her back to the young boy. Although he had the body of a child, she was not about to mistakenly underestimate him. She knew that Bai Tianyi¡¯s true form was that of a sword, and she also knew who he was from the tales Xue Wei had shared with her.

    "Littless, you can turn around now," Bai Tianyi said arrogantly, but the picture of a ten-year-old boy arrogantly calling Wang Xiaoyun a ¡¯littless¡¯ almost made Xue Wei burst intoughter.

    While Xue Wei could hold hisughter, Hei Gou had a very difficult time doing so. He had turned his back to them, and his shoulders were shaking. He was bending forward, his one arm resting on his leg, the other covering his smirking mouth.

    "Is it funny?" Bai Tianyi suddenly asked dangerously. Both Xue Wei and Hei Gou shook their heads like rattle drums, but it was impossible for them topletely conceal the traces of amusement.

    "Well,ugh all you want," he finally muttered. "I am alive again, and it feels great even if I am stuck in the body of a child!"

    "Anyway, we have something much more important at hand than my childish appearance," Bai Tianyi suddenly said austerely. Xue Wei and Hei Gou quickly turned serious.

    "Can you figure out what has been left behind by the supreme expert?" Xue Wei asked with bated breath. Bai Tianyi smirked, clearly enjoying the power that question gave him.

    "My dear friends, I was an expert standing at the apex of this world. I was the one they all looked up to. Even if this is a ¡®supreme expert¡¯, it¡¯s impossible for him to have managed to surpass me from before my imprisonment."

    "Although my strength has greatly suffered after all these years in captivity and my soul is now a sword spirit that was once close to destruction, I still have all my knowledge from back when I was the expert standing above everyone else."

    "The expert who created this ce was without a doubt a master at formations. I assume this is his final resting ce and that he has been looking for his sessor, but since his obsession is with formations, he will only let a formation master open his grave. Since he made an age-restricting formation, it is near impossible for a formation master of sufficient skill from the younger generation to enter and open his grave."

    "Fortunately, I have some experience with formations, and since I am theoretically no longer a living being, the age restricting formation has no way of limiting me."

    "So what you are trying to say is that no one has been able to enter the deceased senior¡¯s grave after all these years?" Xue Wei inquired, his eyes filled with excitement.

    "That is exactly what I am saying," Bai Tianyi snickered. He was also excited.

    "Soul power usually dissipates when someone dies," he continued, "but there is a chance that this expert has locked his soul in a formation so that it stays with his remains. Let us all agree; if the soul is still there, then I get the soul energy."

    Xue Wei shrugged his shoulders. "You are our ticket inside. Of course you get to pick first. If you want soul energy, then yours it is," he said casually. Although the soul energy could help him with his spiritual energy, he was eager to see Bai Tianyi grow in strength and thus he did not hesitate to give it up.

    Bai Tianyi beamed with excitement when he heard this, and he looked at the in and simple mountain wall that Xue Wei andpany could not figure out.

    He then lifted his hand and ced it on the wall. A mixture of sword energy and spiritual energy scattered out through the wall from the contact point.

    This energy gave all three a great sense of danger when they felt it. It was sharp like a drawn sword and fierce like a Primordial Beast. The sensation of danger it gave off exceeded what the Ordinary Knights from the ck Iron Fortress gave off.

    "Someone ising," Xue Wei suddenly muttered. "It seems that the pir of light that appeared when you took on your human shape has attracted some hyenas."

    "Let theme!" Wang Xiaoyun was the first to react. She quickly pulled out her fan and gripped its handle with intent to fight.

    Hei Gou was also eager to do battle and put on his ws. He looked menacingly in the same direction as Xue Wei.

    "There are two groups of five," Xue Wei said, maintaining his spiritual energy sense, but he rxed after a bit of time. "I think there are only two groups that noticed the light from the transformation."

    "Deal with them," Bai Tianyi said ruthlessly. "And do it right here. I will need their Soul Energy to open this treasury."

    "Understood." Xue Wei gave a wicked smile.

    He held nothing back. The killing intent had been boiling him from the inside since thest fight. He was feeling eager to begin ughtering, and the atmosphere turned heavy.

    Both Wang Xiaoyun and Hei Gou could feel his killing intent, but it was not aimed at them so it did not hinder them in any way. It just left a pressuring atmosphere in the surroundings.

    Bai Tianyi looked with surprise at Xue Wei and snickered. "My master is indeed not simple," he muttered to himself before his face turned serious and he focused fully on the task at hand.

    While having retained his memories, Bai Tianyi¡¯s strength was nothing special. He could generate power equal to a ninthyer Sky Warrior, so it was a mediocre boost to their team¡¯s overall strength in actualbat.

    Still, he was able to use this strength much better than others, as his experience at the higher stages had given him near-perfect energy control.

    For now, he had to activate the formation covering the mountain wall.

    "They are here," Xue Wei growled. His voice was low and dangerous, and boundless killing intent roiled from it.

    Forbidden Rush!

    Xue Wei was the first to act as he turned into a shadow and rushed towards the thicket where a low rustling appeared.

    An azure gleam could be seen as Xue Wei transformed both arms and legs into the ws and legs of an azure dragon. This was the first time he ever tried transforming his legs, but it was as natural as breathing to him.

    "Watch out!" someone yelled out loud when he saw the azure gleam. However, soon after, the azure blur came to a stop and Xue Wei stood in the middle of their group while holding an expert in the grip of an azure w. There was a wicked grin on his face.

    "You should not havee here." Xue Wei snickered. "You will never leave again."

    There was so much killing intent in his voice that the pupils of the Primordial Beasts shrunk to the size of needles. Xue Wei¡¯s undisguised aura of brutality was something even they, as beasts, were unfamiliar with.

    Even worse, Xue Wei seemed to have partly transformed. Was he some kind of Primordial Beast too? Why would he turn against hisrades?

    "Who are you?" the leader of one of the groups asked while retreating slightly. He had never seen such a brutal disy before ¨C and he had grown up as a Primordial Beast, a race famed for its brutality.

    "Why should I tell you?" Xue Wei startedughing and clenched his hand, squishing the neck of the expert in his grip to mincemeat. The sound of breaking bones filled the area, and the smell of blood slowly wafted out.

    "Don¡¯t push your luck! If it¡¯s a fight you want, let¡¯s take this to the end! Don¡¯t slight us just because you had the first kill. We will dly make you share our fallen brother¡¯s fate!"

    "Well then, I wee you to try!" Xue Wei snickered, before ncing towards Wang Xiaoyun and Hei Gou, who both joined the fray seconds after.

    Kick of the Forgotten Kings!

    With this kick, the chest of one of the Primordial Beasts caved inwards. He spat out a mouthful of blood, but before he had the chance to retaliate or even steady himself, Hei Gou severed his head from its body with his sharp ws.

    Forbidden Rush!

    Azure Light Finger!

    Beams of azure light shone, and a weaker expert felt a sudden danger emerge in his heart. He retreated as fast as he could and evaded the first one, but a second light beam instantly followed up and pierced through his skull. He lost his life without even knowing what had happened.

 Chapter 177: Azure Dragon Spirit

    Xue Wei was not the only one to be brutal and domineering to his enemies. Wang Xiaoyun was like a graceful breeze that swept through the mob of Primordial Beasts, causing fountains of blood to bloom everywhere she passed and leaving many of them severely wounded.

    Hei Gou also threw himself into the fray. He felt no remorse battling Primordial Beasts. In fact, he felt great joy being able to fight other beasts, if only to test his strength.

    Their objective was not simply to stall for time ¨C it was best to end the trail cleanly to avoid attracting further variables.

    But they were outnumbered ten to three. Even though they had overwhelming strength and held the upper hand, it was impossible topletely curb the chances of someone escaping.

    So far, four experts had lost their lives, and six had received injuries of various degrees.

    "Retreat and regroupter!" one of the unscathed beasts suddenly yelled out. "Spread out and flee in whatever direction you wish. We will gather at the same ce as we entered the formation!"

    After saying that, he turned around and made a beeline for the forest depths.

    He was quick to realize that they had lost the high ground, and that victory came at a price he was not willing to pay.

    "Stop them!" Xue Wei growled and elerated. Afterimages appeared behind him as he rushed towards a target.

    Arcane Fist!

    A thousand palm imprints appeared in the sky, and each was a true blow. The wildly fleeing target suddenly felt an acute sense of danger. Before he could turn around, however, the thousand fist imprints sted him away

    The force of the impact ripped apart his insides, destroying every organ. It was a swift kill.

    Xue Wei did not even check to see if he was dead. He picked a new target and rushed at him, this time even faster thanst, like a wild beast.

    Inner Might ¨C Sword!

    Windwolf Sword sh!

    The Windwolf Sword sh tore its way towards the back of the person he was chasing.

    Just as the attack was about to hit, the Primordial Beast barely rolled to the side and narrowly evaded the beam of sword energy, which swept through a tree and bisected it. A loud crash rumbled through the area as the two halves of the tree fell to the ground

    "Not bad," Xue Wei snickered, his eyes glistening with battle lust. He was tunnel-visioning onto the individual in front of him, so Xue Wei inadvertently forgot about the rest for a second, lost in his animalistic mental state.

    The killing intent within Xue Wei had fully been ignited. His eyes were red and bloodshot. His lips curled into a sinister smile that disyed a row of white teeth, and his arms and legs slowly morphed into draconic limbspletely naturally.

    "Why are you doing this?!" Xue Wei¡¯s next prey screamed out as he ran, but Xue Wei did not answer. He stomped hard on the ground and propelled himself forth like a projectile.

    "You are one of us, you should not try to kill us!" the terrified beast in human form yelled out again as it ran away. But Xue Wei did not even register what he was saying.

    Something inside him was growing rapidly., Had he been in a calm, rational state of mind, he would have seen how the small core in his midsection had begun to rotate around itself at unbelievably fast speeds.

    His Qi had always been azure, but now the color was growing even denser. The Qi started to take the shape of small dragons that roared within his body.

    From deep within, Xue Wei felt as if a beast was being unleashed. The killing intent and the bloodlust was growing stronger and stronger, until suddenly it peaked, and it felt like something opened up within him.

    A loud roar pushed its way through his windpipe and escaped out from his lips. This was no ordinary roar, but a loud dragon roar that spread over the entire space covered by the formation.

    The dragon roar was so imposing that no one could avoid trembling when they heard it. It mired their hearts in worry and fear.

    This roar alone was enough to instill fear in every Primordial Beast in the area; it was also enough to cause Wang Xiaoyun to freeze in her tracks. Her brows furrowed and she looked in the direction from where the roar came from, but she shook her head and continued chasing down the Primordial Beast she was hunting after a bit of hesitation.

    Xue Wei felt an unexinable release after the roar. The bloodlust and killing intent no longer seemed to make him lose his mind, rather it felt like a living, breathing part of himself.

    His temperament was no longer as it had been before, but he did not understand it. An incredible calm came over him.

    When he examined himself, he found that his body had changed as well. Now, in his transformed state, he had wings and a tail to go with his arms and legs. His entire body seemed to have changed into a draconic shape while retaining human proportions.

    He was not a real dragon just yet, more like a human with dragon scales all over, but he had a feeling that if he wished to be a real dragon, it was but a step away.

    "Did I have a breakthrough in the Azure Dragon Scripture?" Xue Wei muttered to himself as he looked at his clenched hand in front of him.

    "This is strange," he muttered. Then he lifted his head and saw that the beast he had been hunting was lying unconscious a short distance away.

    The roar had been too close; a trail of blood from its ears, eyes, nose, and mouth could be seen. Looking at it, Xue Wei no longer felt the same urge to kill as he had previously. At the same time, he did not feel anything about the creature at all; it was as if killing it was something that could be done with no effort.

    There was a newfound pride in Xue Wei¡¯s eyes as he looked at the beast in front of him. "A mere Primordial Beast dares to flee from me?" he muttered, but his eyes widened shortly afterwards. What was this feeling?

    He sighed. Xue Wei could not get the pride and arrogance out of his mind. He felt a sense of superiority down to the bone when he looked at the Primordial Beast on the floor. It made him shake his head.

    He had just ovee the uncontroble killing intent and made it his own, but now it was superiority and pride? What was wrong with him? Why could he never be in full control of his body and mind?

    After pushing those thoughts to the back of his mind, Xue Wei stepped towards the unconscious Primordial Beast. He reached a hand out towards it and pinched its neck to lift it up, but something unexpected happened. The result shook him to the core. Its neck broke. His eyes went wide for the second time.

    The Primordial Beast would never again wake up. Xue Wei sighed and reverted to his human shape. He withdrew the scales covering his body, only to see that his clothes had beenpletely shredded.

    He was slightly annoyed when he saw this, as they had not been cheap, but at least he had bought a few pairs. He changed into a new set before he set out to meet up with Wang Xiaoyun and Hei Gou again.

    The entire way over, Xue Wei stared nkly as he tried to make heads or tails of his new change. When he examined his Qi, he discovered the thousands of small, azure snake-like entities coursing through his meridians. When he looked at his core, it was many times shinier than it had been before, but a small crack could be seen on the surface, which greatly confused Xue Wei.

    This was his dantian. What would happen if it cracked? If it cracked, would he not end up in a miserable state where he could not cultivate?

    He started panicking slightly, but the crack becamerger andrger, until finally the core broke into two.

    Xue Wei held his breath, and was fearful. Was his cultivation base going to be wasted just like that? He was worried. However, instead of feeling that his cultivation base dissipated, he felt how the thousand of dragons within his meridians turned their heads upwards and roared as if greeting their sovereign.

    From inside of the core, a dragon appeared. This was a beautiful infant Azure Dragon.

    As soon as it hatched from the core, it blinked its beautiful golden dragon eyes before it curled around the shattered core and began eating it.

    Its teeth were very strong, and it managed to gnaw through the edges easily and began eating the core.

    Xue Wei felt that energy ripples continued to be pushed out from the dragon, energy ripples containing Qi. Somehow, the heaven and earth essence was now being refined into Qi much faster than before.

    He opened his hand and thought about the Azure Dragon Spirit. Suddenly, it was there,ying on his hand. It was currently only a palm-sized spirit, but ity there and nibbled away at the core that it held with its front legs. Xue Wei¡¯s expression was a little nk, in a confused way.

    "What a strange little fellow," Xue Wei muttered as he looked at the spirit. He seemed to be able to understand its mood, but he had no way to directlymunicate with it.

    He gently lifted a hand and rubbed the dragon¡¯s head, which then started purring like a little cat. However, though he could feel how it rxed a lot, it still ate away at the core with the same intense appetite.

    "Let us put you back," Xue Wei grinned. It only took a thought to put the dragon back into his dantian.

    "So this is a mutation because of the Azure Dragon Scripture?" Xue Wei was confused. So many things had happened to him today that he could not entirelyprehend it, but he understood that he had no other choice than to ept the changes that were happening in his body. At the same time, he could not help but feel anticipation.

    The Azure Dragon Scripture was something left behind from an ancient n, so it was definitely not a simple thing. The changes it made to his body was making him eager to learn more.

    Xue Wei was still in deep thought when he caught sight of Hei Gou and Wang Xiaoyun. "What was that roar? Did you do it??" Wang Xiaoyun was the first to speak, looking at him with skeptical eyes that held a touch of dread inside.

    "I reached a new level in my Azure Dragon Scripture," Xue Wei nodded his head. "The breakthrough was so intense it made me roar"

    "That was frightening!" Hei Gou said with a snicker on his lips. He was clearly approving of Xue Wei¡¯s achievement. The strength he sensed from that roar alone had made him feel abject fear, so he could not help but feel grateful that they were on the same side.

    "Did you catch them all?" Xue Wei could sense that there was something wrong with Wang Xiaoyun, but he had a feeling that it was best to change the subject.

    "All dead," Hei Gou answered with a smile and a nod. Wang Xiaoyun said nothing but she nodded her head. Xue Wei was satisfied.

    "Let us return to Tianyi, then."

 Chapter 178: Moon Prince

    When they returned to the foot of the Goat Mountain, the impregnable mountain wall from before hadpletely changed in appearance.

    It had be a doorway leading into the mountain itself.

    "Oh, wow... you¡¯ve been busy," Xue Wei said with a smile. The sight of the open gate into the mountain made him feel great excitement.

    "I¡¯m not the only one. If I am not mistaken, you¡¯re the source of that roar earlier, right? That was a magnificent dragon roar. It has been a long time since I¡¯vest encountered a Sovereign Beast¡¯s roar." he said with praise.

    "It is not the roar of an actual Sovereign Beast, though," Xue Wei said, shaking his head. Bai Tianyi just looked at him and snickered. "Well, enough about that. Let us get inside."

    Xue Wei was puzzled as to why he would say that, but he nodded his head and inspected the entrance. He found nothing butplete darkness beyond it, but it did not frighten him. He had acquired some light orbs from the ring of the Crimson Sunshine Sect¡¯s member, which he took out before stepping into the gloomy tunnel through the gate.

    Hei Gou and Bai Tianyi followed him in without hesitation, but Wang Xiaoyun hesitated while ncing at thesepanions of hers with an ufortable look on her face.

    Xue Wei stopped in his tracks and turned around. "Xiaoyun, are youing?" he asked. She flinched, appearing to have woken up from a stupor, before frantically nodding her head and hurrying after them.

    Xue Wei watched Wang Xiaoyun for some time. It was clear that something was wrong, but as to what it was, he could not put his finger on it.

    Shaking his head, he turned around and continued deeper into the tunnel. The tunnel was made out of stone and was clearly carved into the mountain itself, and it seemed to continue into its depths indefinitely.

    The tunnel seemed to be a long incline towards the underground, and the environment which had been humid and hot was turning cold and moist. The walls were wet with droplets of water that ran down their surface as if they were tears.

    The further down they went, the steeper the pathway became. Soon, they had to hold onto the wall to ensure that they did not trip and roll all the way down the slope.

    They were walking rather quickly, but it still took them a full seven hours before they reached the end of the slope.

    When the slope evened out and became a straight path once more, Xue Wei sighed in relief. He had not thought about giving up, but the trip down had taken so long. To excavate such a long tunnel must have taken a really long time, and it must have required quite some effort.

    The expert that had created this ce was evidently far from simple, and the trio¡¯s expectations of what could be found inside the cave grew increasinglyrger the more they tried to imagine it.

    They continued into the depths of the passageway. There was only this one path, but they never let down their guard. There were no signs of traps, but there were no signs of treasures either.

    There were old light orbs embedded in the walls, but all of them had long since lost their energy. Now, this entire area was damp and buried in darkness. The only light illuminating their path came from the light orb in Xue Wei¡¯s hands.

    Although they had more than one light orb, Xue Wei would not squander them for mere convenience.

    Xue Wei was unaware of how much time they would spend in the belly of the mountain, but he could guess that it would be a long trip this time.

    So far, the things that had been sat up to keep people out were rather extensive. An age-restricting formation and then the formation at the mountain wall were not simple mechanisms.

    But they still did not know what exactly they had entered. Was this a grave? An inheritance site? A supreme expert¡¯s old abode? Or was it perhaps a treasury?

    No one could know for sure. Bai Tianyi surmised it to be some supreme expert¡¯s grave, but he had no proof, and half of his expectation came from his desire to gobble up the soul energy left behind by said supreme expert.

    The group continued unerringly into the path for a few more hours when the tunnel started to suddenly widen.

    The tunnel opened up into a big round room with four different doors. Xue Wei frowned when he saw this. Was this not too much of a coincidence? They were four people, counting Bai Tainyi, and there were precisely four doors.

    "Wee to the final resting ce of I, the Moon Prince." A voice slowly drifted out from the middle of the room where a small fluctuation of Qi seemed present.

    "It is a formation that keeps someone¡¯s voice recorded with Qi. When the Qi is activated, the words that have been recorded will be released from the formation itself," Bai Tianyi muttered in a low voice. Xue Wei heard it, and his curiosity was somewhat sated.

    "I, the Moon Prince, was an expert standing at the apex of this world. Only the White Sword has ever been closer to immortality than I have," it continued.

    "I searched for years on end to find leads that could take me to the White Sword¡¯s immortality. Unfortunately, I failed... and after living for a few thousand years, I was incapable of holding on any longer."

    "My second passion in life was the art of formations. I was a master at it, and everyone knew me as the best in the field."

    "When I was about to die, I decided to make the continent that belonged to the White Sword my resting ground. It was the Chang¡¯an Continent, the continent where I was born. It was a continent filled with chaos."

    "When I was born, humans and beasts lived side by side. Although they killed each other from time to time, they were evened out. However, when I returned to the continent with the desire to build my tomb, the beasts had taken over the continent, and the humans were nothing more than livestock and ves to them."

    "I spent the rest of my life helping the humans rise against the beasts, but I never got to see the end of the war. I was up against a Sovereign Beast, but I could not gain the upper hand despite standing at the apex."

    "In the end, our fight ended up in mutual destruction. Before my body crumbled, I managed somehow to get back to this tomb... And so I nted my will and soul here in the hopes of one day meeting my sessor before I enter the circle of reincarnation."

    "I have left trials all over this grave, and handsome rewards await you at the end of each one. I have medicinal nts, herbs, pills and spiritual fruits. I have ranked treasures, martial art techniques, and formations."

    "I have put up an illusion formation in this room. There are the same amount of doors as the number of experts entering this room. One has to choose a door; two cannot go through the same. Every door will have ten, individual trials. If you manage to get through all ten trials, then you will be guided towards my corpse where the rest of my treasury is located, alongside my inheritance."

    "I wish the best of luck to the younger generation!"

    The voice died out shortly after, and the fluctuations of energy also ceased. Xue Wei andpany were silent for some time before they looked at one another and nodded their heads.

    "This depends on our luck then," Xue Wei said after a bit of consideration. "The Moon Prince is not a simple individual, and he has left a lot of treasure behind. Take what you can, but never be greedy. Always remember that life is the most important! I would rather have you alive than getting a thousand treasures."

    The others nodded their heads with grave expressions before picking a door each.

    Xue Wei slowly pushed open the door in front of him. After a final nce and nod to his friends, he stepped inside.

    Xue Wei had stepped into a square room, whose walls he examined. There was nothing inside it, however. The entire room was made from stone. Clearly, it had been carved out from the mountain like the other ces they had passed by so far.

    "So what is the big deal about this room?" Xue Wei muttered as he looked around. There was nothing to be seen at first nce. However, a fluctuation appeared in the heaven and earth essence after a second. Xue Wei calmly kept his eyes on it, or rather in the general direction of it.

    "Wee challenger. This first trial is simple. Your heart will be tested. Go stand in the very center of the room; there, I have ced a Thousand Illusion Formation that will judge you!"

    Xue Wei was very curious about these formations. He came from a backwater kingdom that severelycked knowledge in that topic, but his curiosity had been stirred ever since he had entered the age-restricting formation and be exposed to the abstrusity of formations.

    Xue Wei waited for a few moments to hear whether or not the voice would say more, but it vanished alongside the fluctuations. He slowly stepped towards the middle of the room.

    Something had been engraved on the floor, he noticed. It was a circle, and there were strange runes inside the ring, intertwined with each other and looked like a revolving swirl of tiny dragons.

    Although it was merely an engravement on the ground, Xue Wei could swear it was moving.

    "So this is what a formation looks like before it is activated," Xue Wei muttered to himself while greedily trying to glean the secrets of the formation. He tried to memorize everything he saw, but he soon found that it was impossible because the runes constantly changed their positions.

    "Well, let us see what this trial of the heart is like!" Xue Wei muttered and stepped into the circle.

    The moment he stepped into it, he sensed how the heaven-and-earth essence in his surroundings turned chaotic. Qi sprang up from the ground and shrouded him in a small bubble before he could even react.

    Afterwards, when his vision regained focus, he could see only white fog in every direction.

    Xue Wei was bewildered. What was he supposed to do? He looked around, but he found nothing that gave him any ideas. Then he tried moving around.

    As he moved, the fog seemed to dwindle over time. At some point, he made it into a vige. It was a vige he had seen before. It was Lingyun Town, where he had grown up. It was thest ce he and Hei Gou had gone to before fleeing from the Heping Kingdom.

    Although he instantly recognized Lingyun Town, it looked very different from when he hadst been there. Now it was in its prime, and people were hurrying back and forth.

    Xue Wei saw a group of children running to the outskirts of the vige to be taught about cultivation by the overseers. At this point, Xue Wei recognized one of the children as himself. He was amused.

    Was this a memory or something created by the Thousand Illusion Formation? He did not know, but he was calm as examined his new environment.

 Chapter 179: Thousand Illusion Formation

    Xue Wei followed the younger version of himself.

    It was quite amusing to see his younger self look at the overseers with veneration every time. The three overseers were all Earth Warriors, so the veneration he once felt for them truly made him understand the term, being a frog at the bottom of a well.

    Still, this was from his childhood so the memories made him smile. Although he had not been able to remember this before, he had a feeling that it was real.

    The reason he came to such a conclusion was that it felt so right and correct to him the more he saw.

    Xue Wei continued to walk behind his child self, who left the training grounds and went into the vige itself.

    Suddenly, his face contorted. He stared into the distance, where two figures were walking.

    His heart started beating rapidly. His eyes narrowed and his mind entered a state of disarray.

    There, he saw one of his most important people, his uncle, walking down the road. However, by his side was the one he hated the most, Chu Huiyin.

    Both of them were walking casually side by side down the main road, gazing to and fro as if they were looking for something specific.

    Xue Wei had stopped in his tracks. ording to Xiao Lei, he hade to the vige after the Primordial Beast attack and taken an abandoned Xue Wei back with him.

    But now it seemed as if he had been there before the attack. And he was apanied by a Primordial Beast that was known to be incredibly ferocious and bloodthirsty to the point of madness.

    A foreboding sense of danger started rising in Xue Wei¡¯s mind. He saw how the young version of himself walked into his uncle.

    When he was a child, he had never registered Xiao Lei¡¯s stunned and shocked expression for what it was. But now that he was older and scrutinizing them in detail with the power of hindsight, he realized that both of them showed signs of utter difort and shock when they looked at him.

    Why would they feel like this just from looking at him? Xue Wei was puzzled, but then the child excused himself and started leaving.

    Although what he saw seemed very real, he could not hear anything whatsoever. The Thousand Illusion Formation was apparently capable of recreating images of the past, but there was an eerie quietness surrounding Xue Wei as the old, forgotten memories yed out before him.

    Xue Wei hesitated for a moment. Should he follow his younger self or should he follow the two older experts? Xue Wei paused in indecision, but he eventually decided to follow his uncle and Chu Huiyin.

    He could guess that his younger self had gone off to cultivate at home in the shop, but he already knew the result of this attempt, so there was not much to explore there.

    The two moved around for some time before they entered a small alleyway. Both of them seemed to be arguing animatedly; Chu Huiyin was livid with anger while Xiao Lei¡¯s eyes were glistening with happiness and a strange kind of vignce.

    After arguing for some time, Xue Wei saw Xiao Lei p Chu Huiyin hard, who was sent flying from the p. As to what she had said that warranted the aggression, Xue Wei did not know, but his eyes became much more intense when he saw the undisguised, burning anger in Xiao Lei¡¯s eyes.

    Xiao Lei hissed a few words before he left Chu Huiyin¡¯s side and walked in the same direction that the younger Xue Wei had left earlier.

    Xue Wei did not hesitate and followed behind Xiao Lei. He sent a final nce at Chu Huiyin and saw her eyes brimming with hatred and anger, but she held it back and remained slumped on the ground.

    Xiao Lei seemed in a hurry almost, and although he seemed excited, there was undoubtedly a bit of fear and worry in his eyes.

    Xue Wei followed his uncle to the house that belonged to him and his father. The sense of crisis in his heart grew increasingly strong at this point.

    Xue Wei rushed into the apothecary shop after Xiao Lei stepped inside.

    His father stood by the counter and turned towards the doorway with a smile on his face, intending to greet the neer. However, the moment he turned around and spotted Xiao Lei, guilt and grief appeared all over his face. Even Xue Wei could sense from this that something had happened between the two men, and that it was clear that his father had done something he felt guilty about.

    Xiao Lei spoke with Xue Wei¡¯s father for some time, but the conversation became more and more heated as it went on. Although Xue Wei could not hear what they were saying, he could see their bodynguage.

    Suddenly, Xiao Lei¡¯s arm grew scales and turned into a w, a transformation that Xue Wei was all too familiar with, the sight of which multiplied the amount of questions in his head.

    Why would he say that he did not have the Azure Dragon Scripture before Xue Wei had turned fifteen years old if he himself was cultivating the same scripture?

    But his thought process was quickly cut short when he saw how Xiao Lei suddenly extended his transformed arm and impaled his father¡¯s chest.

    His eyes widened with shock. There was a menacing and rage-filled expression on Xiao Lei¡¯s face; it was clear that he had lost his patience and decided to end whatever was between them.

    Xue Wei¡¯s eyes widened until they could go no further. His head started throbbing, and he could not understand what was going on.

    His father¡¯s face was frozen in a rictus of surprise and agony. At that exact moment, the young Xue Wei had walked out of his room and appeared in the shop, before witnessing the scene of his father being killed right in front of him.

    The world turned blurry, and Xue Wei opened his eyes to the sight of the stone room. He was shaken to the core. His heart beat rapidly, and he felt like screaming out loud.

    Why would Xiao Lei kill his father? He did not doubt that Xiao Lei doted on him the most and cared for him more than he did himself, but he had killed his father!

    Xue Wei could feel nothing but coldness wash over him. His father had been killed by the person he trusted the most, and this person whom he trusted the most seemed to be an acquaintance of Chu Huiyin, the one who had yed him like a fool back in the Heping Kingdom.

    How much of it had been Xiao Lei¡¯s n? What was Xiao Lei¡¯s n? Xue Wei was unsure and felt more terrified the more he thought about it. His heart started to throb wildly, and he felt as if he had lost something valuable. Yet the world seemed clearer than before.

    Many things suddenly made sense, for one why Primordial Beasts had destroyed his hometown.

    Xue Wei could not make heads or tails of his feelings. He did not exactly hate Xiao Lei, but he no longer trusted him either. Why would a notorious Primordial Beast Hunter travel together with a specimen of the very creatures he hunts? Furthermore, it seemed as though he was much stronger than Chu Huiyin considering the manner in which he pped her earlier

    If he were a true Primordial Beast hunter, then she should have been kill on sight for him, but that was not the case. Rather, it almost looked like a subordinate-superior rtionship.

    "I will get an answer when I speak with him face to face," Xue Wei muttered to calm himself down. His unsettled heart slowly rxed.

    Had this been before his core had hatched, Xue Wei was certain that he would have most likely gone insane from losing himself in his emotions due to his odd proclivity for violence.

    But his temperament had changed and gone through a thorough metamorphosis because of the hatching of the infant Azure Dragon inside him. Now he could stay calm no matter what he faced. Even this kind of typically soul-rattling news at most made him feel uneasy, but it did not take long at all for him to calm down.

    "I¡¯ve changed quite a lot..." Xue Wei muttered to himself, but he was grateful for this. As he calmed down and felt that his rigid body finally rxed, the formation that was locking him in ce also deactivated.

    "Congrattions," the voice of the Moon Prince reemerged in the room, with the oscition of Qi in the same spot. "This test of the heart was to make you relive the most impactful memory of your life. If you could calm yourself and take control of your ¡®heart¡¯ within the time it takes an incense stick to burn, then you would be considered passed. You passed and can now im the reward. It is in the room of the second trial."

    Xue Wei was excited and hurried towards the door that led to the next trial. This kind of challenge was harder for him because of the tragedy he had experienced in the past, but the thought of this made him recall Wang Xiaoyun and her family¡¯s downfall. What she had gone through was in no way easier. He feared that she might not be able to beat the first trial.

    Still, right now he had no time to think about how the others were doing. He needed to clear the ten trials and get his hands on the inheritance and the treasures from the treasury.

    As long as one of them managed to seed, all of them would benefit, but Xue Wei waspetitive. He would not give up before he had given it his all.

    As he entered the second chamber, he found that this one looked the exact same as the previous one. Inside the chamber, there was a small stone table with a jade bottle on top of it.

    Xue Wei stepped towards it and picked up the bottle. There were three pearl-like medicinal pills inside. All of them had a milky-white luster, and they looked exactly like pearls.

    There was no medicinal scent; it was clear that the pills were of highest purity and that no smell could escape because the properties were perfectly concentrated within.

    Xue Wei did not know what kind of pills they were, but he quickly ced them into his storage ring. He proceeded to curiously scan the room.

    There were two stone statues in the room, and they seemed to each have a formation of runes inscribed upon their chests. Xue Wei wondered if they would suddenly start moving for some reason

    Stone was a hard matter, but considering that they were cultivators, destroying rocks was not difficult.

    Xue Wei approached the statues and began studying the formations on their chests.

    The runes were somewhat familiar; some of them he had seen before, but they were intertwined differently than they had been before, and there were a couple new ones he had not seen before.

    "Intriguing." Xue Wei nodded his head. He was quite interested in these formations, but he did not even know the basics of how formations worked.

    "Wee to my second test. Insert your Qi into the chests of these two stone statues and fight them head-on. Their strength will be adjusted to suit yours."

    Xue Wei wanted to know how they work. He ced a hand on their chests and inserted a strand of Qi that had the appearance of an azure dragon into each one.

    A rumbling sounded out from within them. They started to move slightly, before they suddenly woke up from their inanimate state and took a step out from where they stood. They began walking towards Xue Wei on unsteady legs.

    The more they walked, the more they regained their motor skills. The heaven-and-earth essence around them churned and was sucked into the stone statues, charging up their previously empty energy reservoirs for the uing battle.

 Chapter 180: Stone Statues

    Xue Wei stared calmly as the two sculptures transformed from mute existences into actual threats. Although they were not individually as strong as him, they outnumbered him two to one, and they were tailored to match his strength.

    The Qi he had infused into them came from his Azure Dragon Spirit and the stream of several thousand tiny roaring dragons coursing through his meridians.

    Xue Wei¡¯s Qi was no longer ordinary after his core had hatched. It had caused a mutation in him.

    The mutation had elevated his strength to new heights. Although his cultivation base had not moved an inch beyond its previous teau, his Qi had undergone a full metamorphosis. He could vaguely sense that every ability required little to no Qi to use now, reducing his consumption of energy to abnormally low levels. The purity of his Qi could almost be called ¡®absolute¡¯, with no room for improvement.

    Xue Wei rolled his head and cracked his neck. He clenched his fists and gave a smile.

    "This will be interesting," he said, grinning. Xue Wei was itching for a fight. It had been far too long since he had truly let loose against a worthy foe. All of them had been weaker than him. Furthermore, he was feeling frustrated about what he had learned earlier about his father and his uncle.

    He would use these stone statues to give vent to said frustration now. The corners of his lips curved upwards.

    Forbidden Rush!

    Xue Wei rushed at them with his movement technique, reappearing behind them in the blink of an eye like a gust of wind.

    Arcane Fist!

    A thousand fist imprints appeared in the air. Each and every one of them had the power of Xue Wei¡¯s renewed Qi behind them, but there was something different about them this time. Each illusory fist had a small dragon coiled around it

    The imprints drew an arc through the air before impacting with the first statue, which was pushed back . The resulting collision made it sound like the statue had been struck by a truck. Small stone bits cracked off from the statue¡¯s exterior, but it was not enough damage to render it immobilized.

    In truth, the statue had only been pushed back five steps. Nor did it feel pain, so it had sustained virtually no actual damage. Without pause, the statue joined itspanion statue in a pincer attack on Xue Wei, both with their arms covered in swirling, dense Qi.

    Xue Wei retreated to the side by using his movement technique. Although he was not too fearful of these two statues, he did not dare look down on them either.

    Xue Wei kept narrowly dodging the attacks of the stone figures without letting up.

    "They are better than expected!" Xue Wei smirked, as they were actually forcing him to use his movement technique to its utmost just to dodge each attack. Furthermore, he could feel the intense vibrations from each attack on his skin after barely avoiding getting grazed..

    "They are no ordinary opponents." He curbed his arrogance and kept pushing his movement technique to its limits, cautiously circling the two statues to hopefully catch a weakness.

    The more he looked, however, the more he realized just how tough they were to deal with. They were not living beings, so they had no vital areas, and losing a limb did not spell the end of their retaliation.

    "Break the horse, and the general will fall," Xue Wei muttered while looking at the statues¡¯ legs. If he could break just one of them, their speed would drastically decrease.

    Xue Wei focused the entirety of his energy and elerated half a step beyond his usual limit, preparing an all-out attack to shift the tide of the battle.

    Kick of Forgotten Kings!

    A sea of tiny Qi-dragons covered his leg as he swept it out at the leg of the first statue. His kick broke the sound barrier, which manifested as a pulse of turbulent, exploding air behind him.

    The statues were not intelligent creatures. They felt no fear and did not inhabit any sense of self-preservation, so they just charged mindlessly at Xue Wei when he unleashed his attack.

    A loud cracking sound filled the area. Xue Wei retreated as fast as he could after the collision. His leg was numb, but it was much better offpared to the statue¡¯s leg. Its leg had been shattered in half, which made the statue clumsily copse onto its side.

    A smile appeared on Xue Wei¡¯s face. He nced at the other statue, intending to repeat his strategy, but then he saw out of the corner of his eye that the other statue was mending its leg by reabsorbing the fragments of its shattered leg.

    Xue Wei¡¯s eyes widened. "Hey! This is unfair," he muttered. While the statue¡¯s leg was not truly without impairment, the situation was not going ording to n.

    "Do I need to turn them into dust or something?" Xue Wei muttered, ncing at the formation runes inscribed on the chests of the statues.

    Xue Wei was not in a hurry. The first statue was still in the middle of restoring itself while the second one stood guard. Although they were not intelligent creatures, they seemed to possess pack mentality, which was most likely due to the nature of their twin formations.

    This gave Xue Wei some time to consider what exactly could be the way to deal with them.

    "The formation is what keeps them running," Xue Wei mused to himself. "I don¡¯t know much about formations yet, but it is to be expected that they are built in aplex way. So... all I have to do is destroy the formation, right?"

    Albeit simple, this idea was Xue Wei¡¯s best bet. He snickered. "I don¡¯t know if that is the test, but it should work."

    Xue Wei began moving again, targeting the one with the crushed leg, and unleashed a flurry of attacks.

    Azure Light Finger!

    Shattering Mountain Palm!

    Kick of Forgotten Kings!

    Xue Wei released one attack after the other upon the formation engraved on the statue¡¯s chest.

    The first attack, the Azure Light Finger, was not able to do much damage to the formation itself, but it left a small mark on the engraving that made the statue stagger.

    The Shattering Mountain Palm descended onto the mark that had been made, and half the formation was shattered.

    Following the Shattering Mountain Palm came the Kick of Forgotten Kings. This kick was able to shatter the remaining part of the formation and even managed to break the statue into two halves.

    Before Xue Wei had the time to rejoice, an acute sense of crisis came over him, and he retreated fast as the wind.

    The ce where he had been standing moments before was now a crater on the ground, the remaining stone statue tightly clenching its hands together and using them as a blunt weapon to smash anything that came into reach.

    The remaining statue seemed almost berserk because itspanion had been destroyed. It iled its arms about wildly and made it impossible to safely approach it.

    Azure Light Finger!

    Inner Might!

    Xue Wei knew better than to get close to the stone statue when it was in a frenzy so he released a beam of green azure light from his finger. It managed to perfectly wipe out one of the runes in the formation that was engraved on the chest.

    After that, he used Inner Might to create a zither. He was not the most skilled zither yer, but he was not terrible either.

    Waves of violent zither music spread out from the strings plucked by his hands. There was a clear killing intent and a domineering aura that came from being a sovereign above others within this music.

    Xue Wei did not know why, but he felt like he had undergone a fundamental, existential change ever since his core had hatched a dragon spirit. He truly felt above all others, in the objective sense. He felt that he had the right to look down upon them even if he was still weak, and this feeling was reflected in the music he yed.

    Although Xue Wei felt superior to others, he was adamant in opposing the absoluteness of the feeling lest he slip into a spell of arrogance.

    He was a mere warrior-realm expert. He had not even stepped into the Heavenly Warrior stage yet, so he needed more strength to actually back up this peculiar change to theposition of his demeanor.

    The waves from the violent zither music instantly diced up the statue into multipleyers of saucers from head to toe the very moment they reached it.

    The formation on the statue¡¯s chest naturally copsed as a result.

    Xue Wei looked at the two statues with a few mixed emotions in his eyes. Although the fight had not been tooplicated, this was after all only the second test out of ten, but it had already made him feel danger a few times.

    He shook his head. Xue Wei¡¯s blood was boiling. These were true trials, trials that might end in life-and-death situations. He had not felt this alive for a long time.

    Even more exciting were the rewards at the end of the trials. He was already looking forward to it.

    However, his confidence did not meancency. He was very much on alert. These trials were not simple.

    When he entered the third room, he spotted a snow jade bottle on the table in the middle. This was the reward for finishing the second room.

    Xue Wei walked to the table and slowly opened the snow jade bottle. Inside it sat a pill of unknown origin. No smell was emitted, so it was evidently a pill of highest purity.

    Pausing for a moment, Xue Wei considered what to do. There had been no exnation as to what kind of pill he had been given, but he had an urge to eat this one right away.

    Without hesitating, Xue Wei sat down on the floor in the third trial room and consumed it.

    The moment it entered his mouth, it turned into Qi that started to pour into his body. He flinched when this happened. An enormous, shocking amount of Qi had suddenly been released from that one small little pill.

    And it continued endlessly like a flood that crashed into and passed right through his body with hitherto unknown force. He felt like a small boat in the middle of a storming ocean. The Qi crashed about and caused havoc within his body, and he had no way of controlling it.

    However, the Azure Dragon Spirit within his core slowly awakened and opened its eyes. A roar emerged from deep within his body, and the thousands upon thousands of small dragons in his meridians suddenly sprang into action and started consuming the flood-like Qi that was pouring into his body.

    These dragons were multiplying at an unbelievable speed. They grewrger, reached a certain size, and split into two ¨C repeatedly. It was an exponential increase in amount.

    It got to a point where his meridians were on the verge of bursting from the sudden overload of tiny Qi-dragons flooding them.

    The pain wrecked his body. Xue Wei could sense how his meridians were being forced to expand, which he recognized as a disaster. If the meridians were severed, it would cripple him, but fortunately his meridians were incredibly tough.

    Rather than break, they widened to adapt to the overflow. The downside was that Xue Wei had to experience mind-shattering pain in the process. He started sweating bullets and groaned loudly with every deep breath he took.

 Chapter 181: Formations

    The excruciating painsted for a full two days. Xue Wei was aware that he waste if he wanted the inheritance of the grave, but he felt that this enhancement of his strength was much more critical.

    He did not know what waited for him in the next trials, so he opted to stay and enhance his strength as a precaution.

    What was the point in rushing through the trials if it meant that he could not make it to the end?

    When it was over, Xue Wei¡¯s body felt reborn. His meridians had been widened drastically, and the amount of tiny azure dragons had multiplied to a level where he could no longer count them.

    Thousands upon thousands of small Qi-dragons were concentrated with incredible density inside the flood of energy that coursed through his body

    Surprisingly, Xue Wei had not broken through to the nextyer. His Qi capacity had increased several folds, but it was still insufficient to catapult him into the sixthyer.

    This puzzled Xue Wei. He made a probing attack to test his strength, which ended up being even more devastating than his killing moves from before.

    "How can this be?" Xue Wei was puzzled. "I did not break through, but my strength has more than doubled. I was already close to a breakthrough, so I should have reached the sixthyer by now!"

    "Could this have something to do with the dragon spirit?" Xue Wei focused his gaze inwards.

    The Azure Dragon Spirit hovered over the middle of his dantian cave. Every time the Qi dragons passed by it, they would shiver in fear and lower their heads with respect.

    It was clear that the tiny dragons that his Qi manifested were fearful of the Azure Dragon Spirit, but Xue Wei had no idea what it was on a fundamental level. He just knew that strange things had happened to him since it had hatched.

    He had tried tomunicate with the spirit, but it was the same as speaking to a baby. The spirit would react and look at him cutely and said a lot of strange noises. It would even leave the dantian and exit his body, rub its head against his hand, and in every other way disy its love towards him, but he could not understand anything it said.

    "I really need to speak with that phony prophet," Xue Wei muttered with a sigh. "He seemed to know something about the Azure Dragon Scripture, so he should be able to help me."

    There was one other person who could provide him with answers to this problem, but Xue Wei was not in the mood to think about him.

    Although Xiao Lei had been his most important person for five years, Xue Wei¡¯s thoughts became muddled whenever he thought about him now.

    He could not forget the image of his uncle, who he looked up to more than anyone else, killing his father right in front of him.

    Deep inside, he hoped that there was some sort of reason behind it, but no matter what the reason was, Xue Wei only had positive memories of his father. And while all signs pointed at there being an actual reason for it, could he still really forgive his uncle?

    Sighing, Xue Wei stood up. His body was sore all over and even creaked slightly as he moved, but he felt much better after stretching a little

    He nced around the room, wondering what the third trial would be. Nothing had happened when he had entered and taken the pill, so Xue Wei stepped further into the room.

    After taking a few steps into the room, he felt the now somewhat familiar fluctuations of Qi again, and soon afterward a voice appeared in the chamber.

    "Wee and congrattions onpleting the second trial. The third room is a test on whether or not you have what it takes to be my inheritor."

    "As you might have noticed, I, the Moon Prince, am a specialist in formations. I wish to hand down my inheritance, but to do so I need to know if you are capable of bing a formation master."

    "Many of my skills depend on formations, and to be my sessor, you need to have a talent for formations."

    "I expect someone from your group to understand formations rather well. Otherwise, it will be challenging to enter my grave, but some of you might also beplete novices."

    "But even novices can prove to be talented. I am willing to test you out and see whether or not you have a soul that is strong enough to be a formation master."

    "Stand in the middle of the room, and a formation I have left behind will release a light beam that will enter between your eyebrows."

    "This formation will test your spiritual energy, or as it is also called, soul power."

    "Formations are inscribed with spiritual energy, and one needs a strong soul to be able to handle them."

    Xue Wei listened with great interest. He had to admit that these formations were intriguing. He was not at all versed in the art ¨C or any art for that matter, whether it was about pill-making or weapon-refinement ¨C but he was very curious about it.

    He stepped towards the middle of the room with a slightly quickened gait. And just as the voice had said, a light beam suddenly tore off from the ceiling and pierced his forehead faster than he could react.

    The light that had entered his forehead established a strange connection with his soul. The spiritual energy thatid dormant in his mind started to flow out, and merged with the light pir.

    Xue Wei frowned. He was notfortable with this sudden loss of control over his own powers, but he could feel that it was merely a test to check whether or not he had enough spiritual energy to pass the test.

    "Gou won¡¯t pass this one," Xue Wei muttered. "I don¡¯t know if Xiaoyun could pass the first trial... and if she could, will she have enough spiritual energy to be a formation master?"

    "I don¡¯t need to worry about Tianyi," he continued to muse. "He is as shrewd as a wily old fox, and besides, his body is made of soul energy. He should have passed the third room already."

    By the time he was done thinking about the others, his spiritual energy finished merging itself with the light pir.

    The pir had turned milky white and shone with the luster of a pearl. It was beautiful.

    Moments after, Xue Wei¡¯s spiritual energy returned to its ce, and the light pir vanished.

    The door to the fourth room swung open when the final light vanished from the beam, and Xue Wei could once again move. He entered the fourth room and looked around.

    A small table was next to him. There was a jade slip on it. He picked it up and ced it on his forehead. A little light shone, and information was transferred into his mind.

    What he received were multiple formation symbols and the methods on how to inscribe them. There were passive formations like the one the Moon Prince was using tomunicate with him, active formations that could be used in battles, and formations that could be used for protection.

    Although these formations needed to be engraved first, they provided significant advantages in a battle. Xue Wei was very eager at this prospect.

    However, he neither had time nor the practice required to test out his new toys. He still had a couple trials left to clear.

    The fourth room was different from the others. There was arge table in the middle. A jade slipy at rest atop a stack of small rocks.

    The Moon Prince¡¯s voice did not appear this time, only the jade slip and the stones were present.

    Without overthinking, Xue Wei lifted the jade slip up to his forehead. A brilliant light shone as the information within embedded itself into his mind.

    The jade slip¡¯s content exined in detail about how Xue Wei should inscribe the simplest of all formations. The formation was called a Spiritual Energy Bomb.

    It was a formation that gathered spiritual energy for an eventual self-destruction phase where even the inscription itself was burned as fuel for theing explosion.

    The task was simple. The door leading to the next room had a hole that perfectly fitted one of the small stones, and even Xue Wei could guess what was expected of him.

    He picked up a stone. Closing his eyes, he willed his spiritual energy to leave his body from between his eyebrows and directed it to hover over the stone. Here, it took the shape of a small carving knife.

    The symbols Xue Wei needed to engrave on the stone manifested as clear visualizations in his head, so he started the process right away.

    However, he soon found that it was harder than expected. He needed perfect control over his spiritual energy to do it. It was like calligraphy; some strokes for the runes had to be thick, others had to be thin. Although they were different, they had to flow together in harmony.

    It was in no way an easy feat, and the first stone exploded before he could even engrave the first rune out of three.

    Formations could be established in different ways, through different mediums. They could be engraved onto things, or drawn onto others. The medium on which it was done and the method of ¡®engravement¡¯, whether it was carving the runes onto wood or as ink on paper, always resulted in the same formations if the runes were identical, but most formation users preferred engraving the formations on more readily avable things like rock.

    First of all, in most cases, it was harder to destroy an engravement. Inparison, it was easy to destroy a piece of cloth or paper. A third option was to carry around talismans that allowed the user to set up a quick formation on the go, though these were rather fickle.

    Xue Wei had understood that when the jade slip taught him how to set up the formation. And he was alone in the room. He was not given any tools to draw, so carving seemed to be the simplest and only way to make a formation.

    Time slowly trickled by; hour after hour passed with intermittent interruptions of the dead silence that pervaded the room whenever the stones exploded in Xue Wei¡¯s hand. He was not exceptionally skilled in formation-making just yet, but he was making progress.

    At the start, he had been incapable of even finishing the first rune, but now he could even make two runes and work on the third one.

    The first rune caused him no more problems ¨C he was a master at engraving it by now ¨C and the second one was also under his control, but the third was challenging.

    However, Xue Wei had forgotten his surroundings and his physical condition shortly after starting the endeavor. He did not notice that his hair had be disheveled, and that his clothes were messy and that the dust from the many explosions were sprinkled all over him. His eyes glistened the more he engraved, his hands moving with greater proficiency each time.

    Finally, after a whole day, he seeded at engraving the very first formation of his life. He ran like a triumphant kid towards the door into the fifth room and jammed the stone into the socket.

    Then he stepped away and channeled a flow of Qi that looked like an Azure Dragon towards the stone to activate it.

    The moment the dragon touched the stone, all he saw was a white sh, followed by a loud explosion. Although the other unfinished rocks had also self-destructed mid-creation prior to sess, their explosions had seemed like mild tremorspared to this one.

    The force behind it was so overwhelming that Xue Wei was propelled backward from the shockwave, mming into the wall at the back. He was stunned. The Spiritual Energy Bomb¡¯s power had exceeded his expectations by far!

 Chapter 182: Months of Trials

    After the explosion, Xue Wei stood back up. He dusted off his clothes and looked at the door.

    Although the explosion had been rather violent, it was not enough to destroy the door. Instead, it did just enough to trigger its unlocking mechanism.

    Xue Wei thought about making a few more Spiritual Energy Bombs to st his way through the other doors, but he quickly discarded the idea when he saw how resilient the door was and continued into the next room.

    "Wee to the fifth room of the trials." The very moment Xue Wei entered the room, the Moon Prince¡¯s voice emerged before he could even look at his reward from clearing the fourth trial. He focused his attention towards this voice.

    "If you pass the trial in the fifth room, then you will have made it halfway towards my grave. This in itself is no easy aplishment, and thus the reward for passing the fifth trial will be my notes on formations."

    "The reason I am telling you this already now is that I want you to understand one thing.

    ¡°I have given out bits and pieces of my legacy up until now because I do not wish for the art of formations to disappear. Even in my time, the interest in formations has been slowly diminishing. Although they are useful, no one is willing to spend the time needed to learn the way of formations, and not many can see the usefulness in cultivating their spiritual energy."

    ¡°I need someone who is willing to ept my legacy, but a big part of my legacy revolves around the creation of formations, and I wish that my sessor shares my passion for them.¡±

    Xue Wei had already understood this much, but he still listened intently.

    "The trials from this point onwards, apart from the tenth, will all be about formations. Only those who manage to understand my formation techniques can hope to understand my legacy!"

    Xue Wei acknowledged that this Moon Prince was obsessed with formations. It was clear that formations were much more important to him than even his martial art techniques and that the legacy he truly wished to pass down was his umted knowledge of formations.

    The fifth trial required him to set up a Qi Gathering Formation, which was a step above the previous trial¡¯s difficulty.

    The concept of a Qi Gathering Formation was to attract a wide radius of heaven-and-earth essence from the surroundings to create a zone of high-density energy for elerated cultivation.

    This formation required a full seven runes. Unlike in the previous trial, they were not given stones to engrave their formation on. Instead, they were given papers, lots of them, alongside a pen and ink.

    From the amount of papers that were stacked up on the table, it was clear that the Moon Prince had taken a lot of precautions in case the candidates taking his test repeatedly fail topose the runes. The Moon Prince was aware of how difficult the beginning of formation creation was. A lot of materials had been ced in the test room as a result.

    Xue Wei began his first attempt at writing the inscription for the first rune, but he found, much to his dismay, that his control over the pen had rusted over the years. He had been taught calligraphy early on, but he had not dabbled in it for years. Although he was capable of writing it, the runes did note out as well as he wanted them to.

    Xue Wei sighed. He had to refresh old muscles, so he repeatedly drew the different runes that the Moon Prince had taught him through the jade slips until he got the hang of it. This took him a full day, but he could not tell, as day-night cycles did not exist inside the grave. All light came from small light-orbs, and it was impossible to see what time of the day it was or how much time had passed.

    Xue Wei had already lost track of time as he immersed himself in the art of inscribing formations.

    In another ce inside the grave, Wang Xiaoyun stared at a closed door with mixed emotions on her face. She had failed the very first trial. Not because shecked willpower, but because what she had gone through was simply far too cruel for her to ovee without provoking the heart demon inside her.

    Since she had failed the first trial, she had returned to the front room of the grave ¨C the ce where they had split up.

    A day had gone by in a sh, and Hei Gou was the next person to appear. He had failed the trial of spiritual energy.

    Although he had more spiritual energy than the average of his kin, he was still from a family of beasts that specialized in brute strength, so he was ill-equipped for the task.

    When he entered the front room, he spotted Wang Xiaoyun. She had been diligently meditating since failing the first trial.

    She had no time to waste. She was chasing after the Ice Harpy, but knew that she was currently too weak, so she squeezed every moment dry for cultivation.

    However, Hei Gou¡¯s movements woke her up from her meditative trance. Her eye shone dangerously, and she slowly stood up. She was swathed in an oppressive air, and her one eye gleamed with madness.

    "It is all because of beasts like you!" she growled. Then she opened her hand, producing the green fan as if performing a magic trick.

    "Hey, cut it out!" Hei Gou yelled with surprise and irritation. "If you kill me, then Wei won¡¯t look at you again!" he eximed angrily.

    These words seemed to reach Wang Xiaoyun.

    The murderous air around her decreased a bit, and her face turned sour. "I just have to make sure he doesn¡¯t find out who did it!" She sneered at him, but Hei Gou snickered. "Do you think Wei is dumb?" he asked mockingly.

    "Thest trial I faced was focused on spiritual energy; it¡¯s obvious these trials are not designed to test our survivability. The trials are meant for those who dabble in formations, so we won¡¯t die no matter how problematic they are! So what excuse would you use? That I just vanished into thin air? Do you really think he will believe you?"

    The more Hei Gou spoke, the more the killing intent deted. The madness in Wang Xiaoyun¡¯s eye also faded.

    Hei Gou had no favorable impression of Wang Xiaoyun. He regarded her as a walking time bomb that was ready to kill him at any moment, so his only option was to be on constant alert around her. No one knew when she would have another fit of madness and make an attempt on his life.

    While Wang Xiaoyun and Hei Gou managed toe to a truce and opted to find their respective corners in the front room to cultivate, Bai Tianyi was breezing through the trials.

    He was a creature made of souls, and he had previous experience with formations. Creating all of these beginners formations was as simple as breathing to him, and he quickly reached the tenth trial.

    The tenth trial was exactly as the Moon Prince had said; it was a trial that did not care about formations and spiritual energy. It tested only one¡¯s physical strength.

    "I ought to wait here for a month or two," Bai Tianyi said as he looked at the empty room. He had not triggered the tenth trial yet, and he was not interested in getting the legacy of the Moon Prince. He knew that Xue Wei needed it much more than him.

    "The other two are likely to have failed already," he said to himself with a slight smile on his face. "That ck dog is quite true to its nature, but that woman gives me a bad feeling for some reason... I can¡¯t tell Wei about it since he won¡¯t listen, but I better do some research when we meet up again. Can¡¯t lose my master after finally finding someone worthy. Such a person is hard to find, though he doesn¡¯t even seem to be aware of his own heritage yet."

    Bai Tianyi sat down right beside the door and began cultivating. Two months went by like this. While Bai Tianyi cultivated, Xue Wei went through one trial after another.

    He created formation after formation. Some were engraved on stones, others were written on papers.

    Xue Wei had made a few copies of each and kept them in his storage ring forter use.

    Among the formations he had made was the Spiritual Energy Bomb, a lightning-based formation, and even a formation to summon a stone golem. The golems only needed Qi to sustain themselves.

    He received many different rewards from clearing these trials, which ranged from pills that increased spiritual energy to formation runes and forms.

    By now, Xue Wei was capable of making up to seventy formations, all of which were novice formations, such as for example the paralyzing formation. This formation was usually inscribed on a weapon or an ornament, which when imbued with Qi would possess the ability to inflict a brief stun on an opponent.

    There were many different kinds of formations. Some of them could be used in battle, either directly against an enemy or to support one during battle by creating minions or other supporters.

    Formations could boost one¡¯s strength in many ways. It was possible for a formation to assist the user¡¯s Qi-absorption in cultivation, or it could heighten the purity of the Qi flow for you. It was also possible to boost the user¡¯s physical strength for a period of time.

    It had to be said that there were always downsides to using formations like these, such as overdrawing the body¡¯s reserves, but it was still a viablest-resort for tough situations.

    Formations could also grant objects the ability of flight, or they could be used to fortify one¡¯s home or base.

    Formation masters were a rarity nowadays. The study of said subject had slowly vanished, and only a few formation masters remained, who all safeguarded their trade and their forms with their lives.

    Xue Wei was still unaware of the rarity of formation masters, but he was incredibly drawn to the allure of formations and how to make them.

    He did not understand the runes themselves, but he figured that they were likely an ancientnguage.

    Finally, Xue Wei reached the tenth room. He eagerly awaited the appearance of the Moon Prince¡¯s disembodied voice.

    Throughout the trials, the Moon Prince had imparted varying information and many pointers to Xue Wei through the voice formation, which had let him improve by leaps and bounds.

    "Even if I don¡¯t get the final inheritance, I have learned and gained more than the worth of this visit!" Xue Wei smiled, giving himself a small peptalk for the final room¡¯s trial.

    From the beginning, he had been interested in the final room since this room did not focus on formations.

    Xue Wei looked around. There was arge stone pir erected in the middle of the room. This stone pir went from the ground to the ceiling, and some crystals were embedded into the part where it connected to the ceiling.

    There were seven crystals in total, all of them in the different colors of the rainbow. The colors were also in proper order ording to the rainbow¡¯s spectrum: red first, followed by orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and finally a violet crystal.

    "Let me guess, you thought the final trial involved fighting?" The sound of the Moon Prince¡¯s chuckle appeared out of the blue. "Before I passed away, I was aware that it would most likely take a long time before anyone capable enough to enter my grave would appear. Furthermore, I am incapable of leaving behind an offensive formation that willst that long; it will without a doubt run out of Qi or spiritual energy."

    "You were earlier tested with a formation that used your own Qi to fight, and since you passed that, the only thing I need to know now is if your base strength reaches my standard."

    Xue Wei listened and became curious about how the pir testing his strength functioned. As if Xue Wei¡¯s mind had been read, the Moon Prince¡¯s voice drifted out once more.

    "Hit the pir with all your might. If you light all seven crystals, you will have passed. The deeper the color of the crystals, the stronger you can be considered."

    "You have three tries!"

 Chapter 183: The Legacy

    Xue Wei was not aware of how terrible the cultivation talents of the Moon Prince¡¯s era had been, so he was not sure what was considered strong enough, but he was confident in one thing ¨C that no Sky Warrior from his own era couldpare to himself.

    "Well, wondering about what his expectations are will get me nowhere. I just need to try it out!" Xue Wei finally decided and snickered as he stood in front of the big stone pir.

    Taking in a deep breath, Xue Wei transformed into his humanoid dragon form; azure scales protruded out of his skin and covered his entire body, including his face, his hands and feet turned into ws, and a tail slowly folded out behind him .

    At this point, Xue Wei felt his entire body bursting with energy. He was many times stronger than the usual; he could feel every cell in his body trembling with energy, which he gathered in his palm.

    Xue Wei was eager to test his strength. In fact, he was certain that he could output damage far beyond the realms of a Sky Warrior. Furthermore, he had attained the ability to unleash everything at once, which he did.

    He looked expectantly at the pir¡¯s gems, eager to see how much they would shine.

    He did not expect himself to light up the deepest of colors, but he did expect it to at least reach the middle.

    Unfortunately, he was sorely disappointed. The crystals did shine. However, although all of them were lit, it was the lightest color, and it was so dim that it could almost not be seen.

    Seeing the result, Xue Wei was dumbstruck. Was that really all he could do after releasing all of his power in one move? The strength of someone unrivaled amongst Sky Warriors amounted to this little?

    "Let me try again!" Xue Wei said, unwilling to ept that he was at the lowest possible threshold. However before he had the chance to try, thest door opened, and the pir sunk into the floor.

    "Congrattions, you are the first person to enter the heart of my tomb," the Moon Prince¡¯s voice sounded out. Although he had barely qualified, he had still qualified. "Enter and see if the inheritance will suit you!"

    Xue Wei suddenly forgot all about grievances rted to his sloppy results, and a smile flittered on his lips.

    "Seems like I will be able to gain something anyway." He smiled and entered the final room.

    All the earlier rooms in the trials had been dark and only slightly illuminated by the light orb in Xue Wei¡¯s hands, but this room was ame with an eternal fire that was imbued into specific gems.

    Looking at them, Xue Wei could not help but make a note of robbing themter. They were many times more beneficial than the light orbs he had because they never ran out of energy.

    The eternal fire was a me encased in a crystal, but it was sustained by the heaven-and-earth essence in the air. As long as there was heaven-and-earth essence, then it would continue to shine, and there was plenty of heaven-and-earth essence in their world.

    After having drooled a little over the eternal fire, Xue Wei looked at the rest of the room. The room was around a hundred square meters, and there was only one door into it. Xue Wei closed it after himself, in the hopes that Bai Tianyi or someone else would make it into the tomb itselfter.

    There was a podium in the middle with a coffin made of transparent snow jade on top. Although Snow Jade was made to keep things alive, Xue Wei knew that this person was dead. However, the Snow Jade kept the corpse intact, even after millennia had passed.

    The wall of the room was filled with bookshelves where books and scrolls wereying on the shelves in random fashion.

    "Hum, I do want to take all these things with me," Xue Wei muttered, "but I am afraid that I would need an even bigger storage ring to do that."

    Looking around, he tried to see if he could find a storage ring, but there was nothing of the sorts.

    "I wonder," he muttered while ncing at the coffin. "Could it be he is wearing his ring? Also, where is the inheritance he mentioned? This ce is empty."

    Stepping up next to the coffin, Xue Wei opened the lid and looked down. The Moon Prince looked almost alive and well as heid in the coffin; his hair was silver like the moonlight, his eyes were closed, and his skin was pearl-like and fair.

    Xue Wei¡¯s eyesnded on his hand and saw a ring. It was a silver ring and resembled a dragon that coiled around his finger.

    "Sorry, senior," Xue Wei said as he bowed to thete Moon Prince, "but I need this ring. I hope you don¡¯t mind."

    He then reached out and took the ring off the finger. The body felt cool to touch, and it still felt like it was a living being. Frowning, Xue Wei took the ring and pushed the lid back over the coffin again.

    After sitting down on the floor, he examined the ring in his hand. Without much hesitation, he bit his finger and let a drop of bloodnd on the ring. The moment the bloodnded on the ring, it sept into it without leaving a trace behind. The instant afterward, Xue Wei felt a connection with the ring.

    Before he had the chance to check how spacious the ring was and what it contained, he heard a chuckle from behind. It seemed the Moon Prince was not done with him yet.

    "Well done, young one!" the Moon Prince¡¯s voice sounded throughout the entire room. "I have been dead for many years by the time youe here, so you taking my storage ring has no meaning to me any longer. Taking it means that you are bold enough, and the fact that you made it here means that you can be considered outstanding in the younger generation, I have no doubt about this."

    "These books are my legacy. Although I have scribbled down everything I know in these books, I have also ced a jade slip within each one that will allow you to learn entire formations rted to every chapter into your mind."

    "I have written down many martial arts and techniques, but the majority of my legacy is rted to formations. My dream was to create formations that could run forever on the heaven-and-earth essence, just like the eternal me does. That way, a formation would forever be able to run, without needing a source of power, which would make it much simpler to use formations in the future."

    "Unfortunately, I never seeded. The closest I got to that is the age-restricting formation, which is fueled by my soul power alongside the heaven-and-earth essence."

    Xue Wei was stunned, but then he felt ted. He had expected some sort of fancy process before he could understand the legacy, but all he actually had to do was ce some jade slips on his forehead and learn everything pretty much instantly.

    "Let¡¯s take every book, then," Xue Wei said and went towards the first bookshelf, where he picked a random book. As expected, there was a jade slip on the first page. He ced it on his forehead.

    This book was about formations; it was about a specific formation known as the Rainbow Flow Formation. It was not incredibly useful but allowed one to create a rainbow as they pleased. It was a beautiful formation and sold quite well back in the days. It could also be used to blind people, or disorientate them.

    The next book was about the Moon Prince¡¯s theoretics and experiments on self-running formations, but it was far tooplex for Xue Wei at his current level.

    Xue Wei went from one book to the other and absorbed all the knowledge he could get. After that, he threw the books into the storage ring. So far, he had still not checked how spacious it was, but he felt that it would be a waste if it was so small that it could not amodate all the books in the tomb.

    "Oh, you are here," a voice suddenly sounded out from behind Xue Wei. He turned to see Bai Tianyi standing behind him. His appearance was as unruffled as always, eternally carefree and casual.

    "Thatst test was annoying," Bai Tianyiined. "I thought I could pass it easily, but not only did I fail the first attempt, I even failed the second one. I had to use up some of my trump cards to pass."

    "Honestly, I am quite surprised that you made it," he said with praise. Xue Wei felt a little better after hearing that he was not alone in having difficulties with the final test.

    "Oh well, I guess it is time for me to eat some soul energy from this corpse! If he has no soul energy left, then I have truly lost a lot this time." Bai Tianyi grumbled as he went towards the coffin.

    Seeing the dissatisfied Bai Tianyi, Xue Wei could not help but smile and shake his head before he continued to absorb all the knowledge left in the books.

    Like this, a few days went by. Xue Wei busily spent his time digesting the knowledge he had received, and Bai Tianyi sat next to the tomb to convert the soul power of the Moon Prince¡¯s corpse into spiritual energy.

    Xue Wei was the first to finish. His head was hurting after processing so much information at once, and he knew that it would take him time to sort it all out and figure out what was useable for him.

    There were some martial art techniques of high rank that he was eager to try out, but he was not sure as to whether he had fully understood the packets of information in his head.

    While he had been doing that, Bai Tianyi was shrouded by arge nket of light. The light covered him and the coffin with the Moon Prince¡¯s corpse inside.

    Xue Wei did not feel bad about what Bai Tianyi was doing; in fact, the Moon Prince had said that he was using his own soul power to fuel the formation, so the soul energy would have gone to waste either way when the formation dissolves at some point.

    Since he had finished looking at all the books, Xue Wei decided to examine the ring and its contents.

    He had yet to fully examine it, so he was curious as to what might be inside.

    When he poured his consciousness into the ring, he found that the ring had an amazing capacity to hold various treasures. It was at least as big as the inheritance room.

    There were books scattered everywhere inside the ring, which was Xue Wei¡¯s handiwork, but he also found a lot of jade bottles and boxes that contained various things.

    He found purses filled to the brim with essence stones, which made his eyes light up with excitement.

    They were different from the essence stones he had taken from the Crimson Sunshine Sect¡¯s disciple. These were deeper in color and seemed much more profound. They were definitely of a higher quality.

 Chapter 184: Leaving the Tomb

    The days ticked by one after another as Bai Tianyi absorbed the soul energy of the dead Moon Prince.

    When he was done, the soul energy would recover some of Bai Tianyi¡¯s strength.

    Soul energy and spiritual energy were like the heaven-and-earth essence and Qi.

    Soul energy was the raw form, while spiritual energy was the refined version.

    This was a process that took time. Although Bai Tianyi could absorb quite a lot of soul energy at once, he still had to slowly refine it afterwards.

    While Bai Tianyi did this, Xue Wei waited patiently by his side like a guardian.

    Although Bai Tianyi was strong, he was currently fully focused on digesting the soul energy and was defenseless.

    Xue Wei was not worried about Wang Xiaoyun and Hei Gou. The grave had been left alone for a long time. For someone to suddenlye across it would be very unlikely as they had closed it after themselves. But that did not mean he did not miss them.

    Now that he had finally found Wang Xiaoyun again, just being by her side was enough to make him feel happy.

    He also missed Hei Gou. The two of them had traveled together for a long time. Although he was narcissistic and outspoken, he lifted the mood and made things feel much more easy and fun.

    He had already spent months inside the tomb to clear the trials. He had also been in the heart of the tomb for an extended period of time, and now he was waiting for Bai Tianyi to finish absorbing the soul energy before he could reunite with the others.

    Bai Tianyi was refining the energy as fast as he could. The more energy, the stronger he would be. And he, who had once been an expert who stood at the very apex, was eager to regain his former strength and status.

    "I wonder why Tianyi hasn¡¯t shared any of his techniques with us," Xue Wei suddenly muttered when he looked at the legacy left behind by the Moon Prince.

    The Moon Prince was not as strong as Bai Tianyi had been at his peak, so it was obvious that thetter should have much stronger abilities to share with them.

    Xue Wei was excited at the thought of this. He was almost tempted to forcibly wake up Bai Tianyi so he could ask him. As if he had sensed Xue Wei¡¯s excitement, Bai Tianyi opened his eyes.

    "Done?" Xue Wei asked curiously. He was curious to see how much Bai Tianyi¡¯s strength had risen, but to his disappointment, the sword spirit seemed more or less the same as before.

    "I have stored all of the Moon Prince¡¯s soul energy within myself," Bai Tianyi said, his face twitching. He could guess what Xue Wei was thinking, and he wanted to whack him on the head. Raising his strength took time!

    "It takes time for me to refine it all. Just like you constantly refine the heaven-and-earth essence, it is the same for me with soul energy. I am quite sure that the amount I¡¯ve acquired this time alone will be enough to make me a Heavenly Warrior ranked expert."

    "That¡¯s not bad from one single dead guy," Xue Wei said with astonishment. Bai Tianyi sighed. "He used to have so much more soul energy," he said with a little disappointment, "but he has been using it as a source of power for the age-restricted formation for so long that more than ny percent of his soul energy has already been used up."

    "If he had not done this, then I would have been able to go all the way to the Heavenly Knight rank."

    Xue Wei was shocked when he heard this. "So if we find a few graves like these, we can upgrade you extremely fast, right?" he asked breathlessly. Bai Tianyi shot him a disdainful nce.

    "Why are you so stupid?" he retorted with spite. "Graves like these are hard toe across; there are only a handful of supreme experts in the entire world, and they are spread across the many continents."

    "Do you think that it is easy to encounter the tombs of deceased supreme experts?"

    "The only reason we got this one was because of the formations. It was simply impossible for it to be found by someone with no knowledge of formations. The others have different tests, but most of them are about pure strength, and they have long since been unearthed."

    Xue Wei suddenly understood what Bai Tianyi meant. It was true that they hade across a legacy and a grave this time, but they would not necessarily be this lucky in the future.

    "I guess I was too short-sighted," Xue Wei shook his head and sighed.

    "What about you, then?" he asked after remembering his earlier train of thought.

    "What about me?" Bai Tianyi frowned as he wondered what Xue Wei was talking about now.

    "You were a supreme expert too. Do you not have a legacy you can pass on to me?"

    "I do have some skills," Bai Tianyi said after thinking for some time, but then he shook his head. "However, they are all made for a higher level. The earliest I can teach you would be when you are an Earth Knight. At that point, you might be able to handle a few of my skills, but it will be hard."

    Xue Wei was at first slightly disappointed, but after thinking it through, he understood that it was not that terrible. It was only a matter of time before he would be an Earth Knight, as long as he did not die early.

    "Well, be happy about what you have already," Bai Tianyi said. Xue Wei snickered. "It was a good result after all!"

    "Well then let us get out of here. It¡¯s so depressing not to see the sunlight and hear the birds sing after a few months!" Xue Wei sighed while ncing at the ceiling of the tomb.

    He had pocketed every single eternal fire crystal in the tomb, and he had taken everything of value.

    The storage ring on his finger was brimming with treasures, and Xue Wei truly felt he had benefited greatly.

    The duo walked towards the only door into the inheritance room and opened it. However, rather than bring them back to the trial rooms, it had brought them directly back to the front room where Wang Xiaoyun was waiting for them.

    Looking around, Xue Wei was a little surprised. There were no signs of Hei Gou; only Wang Xiaoyun was waiting for them.

    When she saw the door opening, she jumped to her feet. At the sight of Xue Wei, a sweet smile fluttered across her lips, and her eye shone brightly.

    "Wee back!" she said happily, "I have waited for months for you to return. I missed you so much!" Her voice was almost singsong and chirpy.

    Xue Wei smiled warmly, but at the same time, there was a bit of worry in his eyes. "I missed you too," he said before embracing her.

    "But where is Gou?" he asked. Wang Xiaoyun¡¯s face instantly turned hard and hostile within Xue Wei¡¯s embrace, but since her face was pressed against his chest, it was unnoticeable.

    "He is outside," she said after a bit of hesitation. "We did not know how long the trials would take you, so he has gone to check whether or not the groups of Primordial Beasts have decided to leave the formation."

    "I see," Xue Wei felt relieved. Although he did not want to doubt Wang Xiaoyun, he knew of her hatred for beasts. It was possible for her to have acted against him when no one was there to stop her, especially since he could guess that she had been forced to relive the death of her family.

    "Let us leave this ce and find Gou. After that, we have to rush back to the ck Iron Fortress and hand over the Seven Star Nightflower," Xue Wei said as he buried his head in Wang Xiaoyun¡¯s hair and felt at peace.

    "We could also keep the Seven Star Nightflower for ourselves and head towards the center of the continent," Wang Xiaoyun said. Xue Wei shook his head.

    "I promised I would do what I could to get the Seven Star Nightflower for him. If I had not been able to find the flower, then we could have proceeded, but now that I have found it, I have to hand it back. A man keeps his promises."

    "It could be dangerous," Wang Xiaoyun reminded him. But Xue Wei was adamant in his stance.

    "I have a few things I am suspicious about," he suddenly said with a bit of a frown on his face.

    "These Primordial Beasts were all sent here because of someone they called Elder Wan."

    "The Primordial Beasts were looking for the Seven Star Nightflower."

    "The Primordial Beasts had been warned about how there would be someone interfering with their mission."

    "Wan Qiang did everything he could to make the younger geniuses of the Skyward Empire kill each other."

    "There are so many things that do not add up. Is Wan Qiang the Elder Wan that the beasts were talking about? But if he was, why is it that he is known as the most outstanding expert in the Skyward Empire? If he truly wished to cause chaos, he could just kill everyone."

    Bai Tianyi and Wang Xiaoyun were quiet when they heard this. "You said that Primordial Beasts have been hiding from you in the past?" she asked. Xue Wei shrugged his shoulders.

    "I do not know if the Primordial Beasts have been avoiding me, to be honest, since I have not been close to any of the beasts, but I do know that Fierce Beasts hide from me."

    "Could it be that you have a bloodline simr to what I, a Wayfarer, have? And that the beasts can sense it?" Wang Xiaoyun asked curiously. Xue Wei shrugged his shoulders.

    "I don¡¯t know," he admitted, curious as to what Wang Xiaoyun had to say.

    "I am thinking, maybe Wan Qiang is a Primordial Beast, and he noticed you, and then he sent you to the Seven Star Nightflower to have the Primordial Beasts kill you?"

    "I don¡¯t think so," Xue Wei sighed. "When we left the city, Wan Qiang saved us more than once, and he has been very friendly and kind towards me."

    "If he truly wished to see me dead, then all he had to do was sit still and watch me die to the hounds chasing me."

    "Also, I do not think that Primordial Beasts can sense anything strange from me," he exined.

    "Hei Gou feels nothing from me, and you saw yourself how the other Primordial Beasts felt nothing either. They all see me as a very ordinary human."

    The two discussed as they made their way out of the tomb, but Bai Tianyi was silent the entire way. A knowing smile yed on his lips, and his eyes glistened with amusement.

 Chapter 185: Returning to the Fortress

    The sun shone brightly, and the birds in the trees sang their morning tunes when Xue Wei and his two friends stepped out of the entrance in the mountain wall.

    "Gou?" Xue Wei looked next to him and saw that his friend was leaning against the mountain wall.

    He looked a little bored, but his eyes brightened when he heard Xue Wei¡¯s voice. He turned to look at the people who had finallye out from the grave.

    "Took you long enough!" he eximed. It was impossible for him to hide the smile on his lips and the happiness surging in his eyes from being reunited with his friend.

    "What did you get in there?" He asked curiously. "I was thrown out after the spiritual energy test; my soul was simply not strong enough."

    Xue Wei nodded his head. He had already guessed it. "What did you find out about the Primordial Beasts while waiting?" Xue Wei asked curiously. Hei Gou paused for a moment and frowned.

    "It is strange," he began. "They were gone when I left the grave, but then after a month, another set of beasts arrived. They seemed to be searching for something, but none of them noticed me."

    "It continued like this. A new group arrived every month. The groups of Primordial Beasts stayed for a week or two and then they left."

    "It has already been three and a half months since you entered the grave and they have been repeating this like they were a clockwork."

    Xue Wei frowned when he heard this. "What are they searching for?"

    "I don¡¯t know," Hei Gou shook his head. "I was alone, so I didn¡¯t dare to move too close to any of the groups."

    "That makes sense, well done" Xue Wei said approvingly and fell silent. "So we have two more weeks until the next wave arrives?" Hei Gou nodded his head. "Approximately, yes."

    "Well, let us leave before then. I¡¯ve made some thoughts about these Primordial Beasts and the Elder Wan they mentioned, but ultimately I don¡¯t really have to get involved with the affairs of the Primordial Beasts."

    "But are you not worried?" Wang Xiaoyun suddenly asked. "If this Elder Wan rted to the Primordial Beasts happen to be Elder Wan Qiang, is it not very dangerous to return to the ck Iron Fortress?"

    "It should be fine," Xue Wei said after a bit of hesitation. "He has saved my life before, and he has shown me great favor a few times."

    "But if he has something to do with the beasts, don¡¯t you think that he is too dangerous? Since we have already wasted this much time, why don¡¯t we just not go back to the ck Iron Fortress and keep the Seven Star Nightflower for ourselves?" Wang Xiaoyun was notfortable.

    "That won¡¯t do," Xue Wei sighed. "I don¡¯t like the fact that Wan Qiang might have something to do with the Primordial Beasts, but considering how friendly he has been towards me, and the promise I made him, I would rather give him the benefit of the doubt."

    Hei Gou did not care. He was slightly worried, but he had personally witnessed how Wan Qiang had saved them before, so he also felt that it would be quite unlikely for the elder from the ck Iron Fortress to want to harm them. He had had so many chances.

    Wang Xiaoyun was quiet. She was not pleased, but she conceded to the fact that she had not personally experienced the things in the ck Iron Fortress.

    "I trust your judgment," she sighed after thinking it over. "But be aware that it is dangerous, and don¡¯t take any risks!"

    "I promise," Xue Wei said. He was moved. Wang Xiaoyun did not mind walking into what was possibly a trap, just for him.

    He then reached out and grasped Wang Xiaoyun¡¯s hand, squeezed it gently and held it as they walked forward.

    It was a picturesque scene. Xue Wei and Wang Xiaoyun were walking side by side, hand in hand. A slight blush was on the woman¡¯s face, and Xue Wei could not hide a smile on his face.

    Hei Gou and Bai Tianyi were walking calmly a few steps behind them. None of them spoke, but both of them were snickering due to the cute behavior of the couple in front of them.

    One has to know that those two were both cold-blooded murderers deep down, but they were inexperienced in the aspect of love.

    Just a simple gesture like holding hands was enough to make them feel embarrassed but happy.

    They walked through the forest casually. No Fierce Beasts came out to trouble them, and the Primordial Beasts had already returned, and no human hade close to the formation for a long time.

    The formation was no longer active. It had been fueled by the Moon Prince¡¯s soul energy, but now all of it had been absorbed by Bai Tianyi, so there was no energy left to fuel the formation.

    Together, the four friends left the forest without any incidents. Wang Xiaoyun could not help but feel puzzled by how different her exit from the forest was from her entrance into it.

    When she entered the forest, she had fought every step of the way. Fierce Beasts had arrived time and time again to block her way. But now that she was leaving, these Fierce Beasts had hidden far away from them.

    After leaving the forest, the group spent the month it took to return to the ck Iron Fortress on the road. There were no particr issues; only a few bandit groups attacked them.

    On the way towards Goat Mountain and the formation, these bandit groups had posed no threat. Furthermore, they had only been two back then, but now they were four people, all of which were stronger than before. The bandits stood no chance.

    As they traveled, they finally saw the domineering structure of the ck Iron Fortress in the distance. Xue Wei¡¯s body was taut; his mind was in turmoil.

    He wanted to be a man who kept his word. Although he was hated by humans and beasts alike, he had his own code of conduct and he wished to keep his words.

    He was relieved that Wang Xiaoyun did not go against him. That she respected his decisions and did not raise a fuss about it despite disagreeing.

    Xue Wei and the others slowed down. They started to walk at a slow pace towards the city. Many merchant caravans and cultivators were heading the same way. The dust was constantly kicked up by both the beasts that dragged the carriages and the cultivators dashing towards the fortress city.

    The four friends did not rush towards the city. They took it slow. Their bodies were taut, and their senses were heightened as they observed everything around them to ensure that there was no hidden plots or traps to cause trouble for them.

    However, nothing happened. Everything was as normal as could be, but none of the four cked on their vignce.

    "Halt!" a guard called out just as they reached the gates. There were many long queues into the city, but every person was checked ording to a painting in the hands of the guards.

    When they saw Xue Wei, a smile finally broke out on one of the stern guards¡¯ lips.

    "Elder Wan Qiang has looked for you for a long time," the guard said to Xue Wei. "We have been told to guide you to him as soon as you arrived. He hoped that you would be sessful in your quest."

    Xue Wei was stunned when he realized that these guards were checking the front gate just for him. When he saw that they even stood with drawings of him in their hands as they observed the iing horde of people, he understood that Wan Qiang was evidently looking very much forward to his return, for some reason.

    Xue Wei was not too worried, but a part of him remained on edge at the thought of how much attention Wan Qiang put on them. Perhaps this Seven Star Nightflower was much more important than he had expected.

    The guard led them towards the main keep of the fortress where they were led into the same room they had been in before they were sent out on their mission to find the Seven Star Nightflower.

    "Wait here," the guard ordered before he strode towards a few servants that were in the middle of cleaning the room.

    He whispered something to one of them. The servant straightened her back with fright. She nced at Xue Wei and his friends before rushing out of the room, most likely to announce the arrival of Xue Wei to Wan Qiang.

    Xue Wei andpany nervously waited inside the room lit up by rows of light orbs on the walls. Xue Wei was especially concerned.

    He had initially nned on having his friends wait in town while he went to speak with Wan Qiang. But because the guards were already singling them out prior to entry, he had not had time to split up with his friends.

    At some point, the sounds of movement emerged in the hall outside the room, and it sounded as though many pairs of feet came running. Soon, the entire room was filled with the many elders of the ck Iron Fortress.

    Many of these elders looked at Xue Wei with shock. Some of them gazed skeptically, while a second group gave him hostile looks.

    "Young friend!" Wan Qiang¡¯s voice sounded through the room as he stepped through the door. Those who had hostile expressions on their faces suddenly withdrew their hostility.

    Xue Wei noticed that Wan Qiang did not use his false name to refer to him. Instead, he called him ¡¯friend¡¯ ¨C he had behaved simrly before they left, as if he was aware that the name Xue Wei had given was fake.

    Last time, Xue Wei did not notice it, but now he was on guard. He was not sure about Wan Qiang¡¯s involvement with the Primordial Beasts, but he was bing more and more convinced that they had something to do with one another.

    Although he had said that he would stay out of it, he was still worried because he knew of the hatred between humans and beasts.

    It was likely that he and his friends would be caught in the middle if he proved to be with the beasts and some sort of battle broke out.

    Xue Wei nodded to Wan Qiang, but he said nothing. His body was taut; he was vignt, and his eyes continued to survey the surroundings and the expressions of the many Elders.

    Xue Wei saw that there was a myriad of expressions on the Elders¡¯ faces. Some were filled with trepidation and fear, while others appeared merely curious and as if it had nothing to do with them. A third group seemed to hold almost what seemed to be reverence and hope in their eyes.

    "It took you longer than expected to finish the mission you were given," Wan Qiang said with a slight smile on his face. "Maybe you encountered some troubles or perhaps some good fortune?" he continued, causing Xue Wei to frown. Why did Wan Qiang sound like he knows what had happened?

    Xue Wei was alert. The other three were ufortable. Wan Qiang startedughing.

    "Well, even if it took you a year, we would still have waited for you! Tell me, were you sessful?"

    At first, Xue Wei had nned to bargain with the flower for their protection, but then he realized that they could kill him at any moment and acquire the flower if they wanted. His expression turned grim.

 Chapter 186: Bargain

    "We were sessful," Xue Wei said tentatively. He waved his hand and the snow jade box appeared in his palm.

    "Let us discuss the reward," he continued confidently.

    "Initially, we were promised riches and honor when we agreed to go on this mission... but what we really want is to be able to leave this city alive," he said with brutal honesty. Wan Qiang¡¯s eyes shone brightly in response.

    "You are trading the Seven Star Nightflower for your lives?" he asked curiously. Xue Wei nodded his head.

    "If I knew that this would happen, then I would not have returned to fulfill my promise, but I cannot change the past and now I am here. I have responsibility for my friends as well and I cannot allow them to be implicated."

    "Outrageous!" one of the elders eximed in anger. "You killed human experts like they were weeds during the tournament! Someone like you is not worthy of living in this era where we humans stand united!"

    "If you didn¡¯t want anyone to die, then why did you encourage us to kill one another?" Xue Wei retorted. He did not sneer, nor did his killing intent re up, but a cold gleam shone in his eyes. He felt aloof from the world, but in the way an emperor feels upon being slighted by his inferior.

    Xue Wei could see that this elder was willing to kill him no matter what he said, but he had to try and convince the other elders that it was not his fault.

    "We did it to allow the younger generation to feel the pressure of life-and-death crises, but for you to actually go the extra mile and kill them ¨C it is uneptable!"

    "It is not my fault they were as weak as paper tigers, unable to persist against a single attack from me," Xue Wei said with a shrug of his shoulders. "If they cannot handle even me, how would they ever be able to handle a Primordial Beast? Instead of sending them to their ughter where their corpses will be mauled and destroyed, I did them a favor."

    What Xue Wei said was extreme. Calling it a favor to kill them was a little over the top, but the other side could say nothing. The elder knew how dangerous Primordial Beasts were, so what Xue Wei had said was notpletely ungrounded.

    "Elder Gao." Wan Qiang spoke with a smile on his face, but there was a chilling undertone in his voice. Xue Wei could feel a sudden increase in the air pressure descending in the room.

    "This young man has just gone on a long mission for our sake. For us, he entered a danger zone to get his hands on a herb we needed. Without his help, we would have been powerless and without the herb."

    "Now that he has produced such outstanding achievements, you do not want to praise him and reward him, but instead cannot wait to rip him to shreds? Could this be because of your rtionship with the Crimson Sunshine Sect, which lost members to him?"

    Elder Gao frowned. "No, it is not like that, Elder Wan," he assured him, but he could not help but curse in his mind. ording to what Wan Qiang had said, he really was doing something vile. If anyone else had said that they wanted to kill this young man, they would turn into ungrateful bastards. No one wished to be seen as such.

    Wan Qiang nodded his head. "Young man, you have done us a great service," he said, ignoring the ugly expressions on a handful of the elders. "I will guarantee that you and your friends will be able to leave this fortress alive, and I will personally apany you until you leave the Skyward Empire," he said.

    The fact that he was going to such lengths for Xue Wei caused mass-confusion among the elders. This was especially so for Xue Wei himself, who was already on alert when it came to Wan Qiang, but right now he could not refuse the offer.

    Otherwise, he and his friends would die faster than he could blink if the elders were allowed to act out their hostility.

    "This young one appreciates Elder Wan¡¯s efforts and magnanimity. We are very grateful for Elder Wan¡¯s care and consideration."

    Under usual circumstances, Xue Wei would have said something along the lines of carving the gratitude into his heart and remembering it, but considering it was a transaction, he felt that he had already done his part by giving them the Seven Star Nightflower.

    Not to mention, he did not wish to actually owe this Elder Wan anything. He was simply too mysterious.

    Elder Wan seemed to have guessed his thoughts, but instead of feeling insulted, the smile on his lips grewrger. He was definitely pleased with Xue Wei being stingy.

    "Well, in that case, you and your friends are wee to stay in my manor until we¡¯re ready to leave. At that time, I will follow you."

    "However, you have to wait a week until then," Wan Qiang said. "I have something I need to do with the Seven Star Nightflower, which will take a week¡¯s time."

    "We can wait a week," Xue Wei said with a nod. Wan Qiang gestured with his hand and a servant stepped out from the corner of the room.

    "Lead my guests to my manor. If anything is to happen to them, I will eradicate everyone in the entire ck Iron Fortress as a tribute to their souls, innocent or not!" Wan Qiang warned the servant, but his words were mainly directed at the elders.

    What they heard made their faces twitch, and they did not know exactly how to react, but the threat was very effective. None of them dared to move even an inch.

    Like that, the group settled into Wan Qiang¡¯s manor. Although they had a room each, all next to one another, they gathered in Xue Wei¡¯s room to discuss what had happened.

    "It is indeed odd," Wang Xiaoyun said with a frown on her face. "That man has absolutely no reason to treat you the way he does, but he still acts as if you were his own son or disciple. He is even willing to massacre a whole town to keep us safe, or rather, you, Wei."

    "I told you from the start that he seems to have some sort of goodwill towards me, but I am rather ufortable because of this," Xue Wei admitted. "I don¡¯t know what he wants from me, but an expert of his strength cannot simply ept me for who I am when he does not know me. Although we are to stay here for a week, we will leave as soon as the week is over."

    "It is not as bad as you might think," Bai Tianyi suddenly said from the sideline. "I would suggest you spend this time creating some formations. We can sell some of the formations on our way towards the center of the continent, and others we can use when we encounter trouble. Formations have always sold well. Even if their price is not outstanding, they could always bring in some money."

    "That sounds good!" Xue Wei instantly agreed. He knew that although they had some wealth now thanks to the tournament and the ring he had looted from the Moon Prince, he had to provide for four people and their cultivation. This was truly a bottomless pit that he had to fill.

    Xue Wei instantly sat down and scoured his memories for any worthwhile formations. He finally decided on offensive formations that could be used in battles.

    He scribbled them down on formation paper. He had found a lot of paper made especially for formations in the Moon Prince¡¯s storage ring. He began to inscribe his spiritual energy onto the papers.

    Formations did not require any sort of materials. They could be inscribed on everything, but usually, for offensive formations, the things that they were inscribed on would break after the formation had been used.

    Since this was the case, one had to be careful with what they inscribed the formation on. They also had to ensure that the surface wasrge enough to contain the entire formation.

    Every formation was an entangled mess of runes that entwined into one another and looked like snakes and mazes.

    Each and every rune was imbued with spiritual energy, and as long as someone had enough spiritual energy, they could create formations. However, the formations were in no way easy to make.

    Xue Wei soon found that he could quite easily make the Spiritual Energy Bombs, so he quit after counting fifty. Fifty was without a doubt a good amount, and he did not think he would need more than that.

    After that, he began inscribing the Paralyzing Formation, a formation that when activated with Qi would stun one¡¯s target for a moment. However, in a life-and-death battle, a moment could easily be the difference between winning and losing.

    When he began inscribing this formation, Xue Wei was leisurely and did not think it would be too much of an issue. Just as he thought it was going too well, things took a turn for the worse. As he inscribed the fifth rune, he found that his spiritual energy was being drained at a rapid speed.

    He managed to get halfway through the formation when he realized that all his Spiritual Energy had been drained. The formation was now useless as only half of it had been inscribed, and there was no ¡®finishing itter¡¯ when it came to formations.

    Xue Wei finally learned that although he could handle the Spiritual Energy Bomb easily, the other formations were not as easy. He sat down, closed his eyes, and began to rest his mind, replenishing his spiritual energy.

    After an hour, he had recovered his spiritual energy. He began inscribing the Paralyzation Formation on a piece of formation paper again.

    Formation paper was a bit thicker than normal paper and it was yellow. It resembled a paper talisman in many ways. However, instead of being rectangr, the formation papers were square or round depending on the kind of formation that was ced upon it.

    Seeing that Xue Wei had focused fully on the formations, Wang Xiaoyun, Hei Gou, and Bai Tianyi returned to their own rooms and tended to their own devices.

    They could not waste any time whatsoever. All of them understood that they were from the outskirts of the continent. Even if they were considered geniuses there, they knew that the geniuses from the outskirts were asmon as stars in the sky at the center of the continent. They were nothing special, so they would only suffer terriblyter on if they cked now.

    While Xue Wei had fully diverted his focus to the inscriptions he was making, his body continued to cultivate by itself, refining the heaven-and-earth essence into Qi. The cumtive effect caused his control over his spiritual energy to increase rapidly.

    Not only was his control increasing, the amount of spiritual energy he couldmand was also increasing. However, he had not had his breakthrough yet, but he had an idea that when he did, he would be able to gain strength like nothing he had wielded before.

 Chapter 187: Towards the Chengzi Kingdom

    The time passed by rather swiftly. Xue Wei tried various formations, only to realize that his soul was nothingpared to the soul of a true master despite his abnormally strong soul.

    He could currently only do the simplest and mostmon formations. When he tried the more challenging ones, he would always fail midway through due to total exhaustion of spiritual energy.

    Even the simplest puppet formation or the Paralyzation Formation was enough to strip him of all energy.

    It would take him the time it took an incense stick to burn to create either one.

    Xue Wei was aware that the puppet formations only worked on structures such as figures or statues to work, but he used in paper instead since he was just training.

    The formations he created this way could only move the paper around, so it had nobat ability or practical usage in any way or form.

    After seven days, Xue Wei¡¯s spiritual energy had be richer, but he still had yet to have a breakthrough.

    Xue Wei did not know enough about spiritual energy. He knew that spiritual energy was essentially soul energy post-refinement, but he was unaware of how to rank it.

    For the first time, he was experiencing a breakthrough he could not logically exin ¨C from what to what?

    "I better go have a talk with Bai Tianyi when Wan Qiang leaves us alone," he muttered to himself. Although he felt impatient for the answer, he was not willing to talk about it with the sword spirit in the middle of the mansion where Wan Qiang, in theory, could listen in on their conversation.

    Although Wan Qiang was incredibly friendly towards Xue Wei and his friends, Xue Wei¡¯s nagging sense of suspicion grew increasingly worse as a result of said friendliness.

    Xue Wei did not know how strong Wan Qiang was, but he knew that he was the strongest expert in the Skyward Empire.

    The Skyward Empire had quite a few Ordinary Knights and even a few Earth Knights. To be the strongest expert, did that not mean that he was at least a Sky Knight? Reaching that level in his lifetime most likely meant that he had experienced quite a few things in his life.

    For such a person to be kind to Xue Wei for no apparent reason meant that he had something he wanted from him, and this unknown factor was what made Xue Wei feel so distressed. What could it be?

    Still, he could not simply refuse Wan Qiang¡¯s kindness even if he wanted to. If the old monster felt insulted and wanted to kill Xue Wei, then they had no chance of fighting back.

    Furthermore, some of the other elders from the ck Iron Fortress had already shown killing intent towards Xue Wei. As to whether or not this was because of his actions in the tournament, Xue Wei did not know, and he honestly did not care either.

    Eventually, the week was over. They had stocked up on everything they might need in the ck Iron Fortress. They had bought new clothes for all of them, so much in fact that they would never run out of clothes.

    They had bought provisions, as chasing down Fierce Beasts for dinner was a pain because of Xue Wei and his quirk

    They bought drinks, wines, and juices. They bought tools and items. In fact, they purchased everything that they could need in their travels, as they would rather be safe than sorry.

    Xue Wei used the storage ring he had gotten from the Moon Prince. It was thergest storage ring that they had, and he had given the one from the Crimson Sunshine Sect¡¯s disciple to Hei Gou and the one that contained the prizes from the tournament to Wang Xiaoyun.

    Bai Tianyi had declined when he tried to give him one. He said that he had no need for storage treasures due to his nature as a sword spirit. He had his own sword spirit dimension that he could use should the need arrive.

    The group walked through the ck Iron Fortress on their way to meet up with Wan Qiang at the designated meeting point, when they saw a beautiful ornate green jade hairpin. It was shaped like a blooming sunflower and looked like it was made of crystal.

    Xue Wei stopped in his tracks and looked at the hairpin. "This is beautiful," he said before picking it up. Then he looked gently at Wang Xiaoyun and held it up to her hair.

    "How much is this?" he asked the merchant, who was patiently waiting for said question.

    "This is a very special hairpin," the merchant began with a smile. Xue Wei knew he was trying to bring up the price, but he still heard him out. "It was one that I purchased for myte wife. But you see, we do not have enough money so I can only sell it. I will let not let it go for less than one gold coin!"

    One gold coin was a tremendous amount of wealth. Both for ordinary people, but also for the nobles when it came to something as simple as a jade ornament.

    But Xue Wei did not hesitate and paid the one gold coin as he took the jade hairpin and gently went towards Wang Xiaoyun.

    "May I?" he asked gently. With a blush creeping up on her face, Wang Xiaoyun nodded her head.

    Xue Wei stepped closer. Wang Xiaoyun always had some of her hair tied up on top of her head with braids. He felt his heart beating faster. When he got close, he could smell the fresh and lovely scent of Wang Xiaoyun that reminded him of flowers.

    It was because of this fresh and flowery scent that Xue Wei had thought of her the moment he saw the beautiful flower hairpin.

    He gently ced the hairpin in her hair and smiled at her with a face filled with adoration. He was in his own world, and his hand cupped Wang Xiaoyun¡¯s cheek. He enjoyed the sight of her blushing face and downcast eyes. She was clearly embarrassed but equally happy.

    It was at this point that Xue Wei heard a voice somewhere in the crowd. "Such a pretty hairpin is wasted on that disfigured beast."

    Xue Wei¡¯s eyes turned ice cold, and his old killing intent that nowy dormant erupted with full force.

    Every person close to him started shivering. The killing intent was many times more terrifying now than when Xue Wei had not been able to control it. Now he could use it as a weapon; now it was a part of who he was; and now he could steer it to focus on specific people.

    "Who said that?" he asked in a voice with the strangest of falsified calms, and yet it carried the prative force of a shout. It was filled with malice and hatred.

    No one answered. The people around him looked at the ground, frightened to their wit¡¯s end. No one had expected Xue Wei to erupt like this just because of a simplement that most of them actually agreed on.

    However, no one dared to say a thing right now. From the killing intent, they could sense that they would die right then and there if they said anything.

    "Dare to say the words but not stand by them?" Xue Wei asked with a voice so iced-over that the spectators felt as if winter had arrived early.

    Although Xue Wei was not the strongest person in the fortress, and although quite a few people in the audience were not that far from him in terms of strength, none of them dared lift their heads in the face of his ferocity.

    A single word echoed in all of their minds, and that was ¡¯monster¡¯. This young man was even more monstrous than the Primordial Beasts they heard about. He was so domineering and overwhelming. In fact, they started fearing him.

    "Wei, leave it be," Wang Xiaoyun was the first to speak. When she spoke, the crowd felt as if they just heard the most pleasant sound in their lives. It reminded them of flowers blooming and of the fresh spring breeze. It reminded them of water slowly trickling down the stream. It was sofortable to the ear that they could not help but do a double take at the person who spoke.

    It was at this point that they realized that she could have been the kind of beauty that brings nations to ruin. Her facial features were ruined because of some old wounds and the blinded eye, but a closer look revealed that she was actually not that ugly even now. There was a charm to her that one easily overlooked.

    Xue Wei sighed and restrained his killing intent again. With a final icy nce towards the many experts surrounding them, Xue Wei took hold of Wang Xiaoyun¡¯s hand, gave it a tight squeeze, and smiled at her.

    "If you tell me to, I will naturally let it go. In my eyes, you are the most beautiful."

    Wang Xiaoyun could not help the smile on her face. The fact that Xue Wei had be so upset for her sake made her forget all about the negative emotions. She was happy enough at just having found Xue Wei again, so she gave him the warmest smile she could muster.

    "Let us get going," Xue Wei smiled at her. They left the shopping district and headed towards their destination.

    When they arrived, Wan Qiang was already there waiting for them. He smiled as he saw them. He gave Xue Wei a knowing nce, obviously indicating that he knew what had happened in the shopping district.

    But they departed without making mention of it. With Wan Qiang leading their group, the journey was a smooth ride. The bandit attacks were a joke at this point.

    The Skyward Empire was in the southern region of the continent, but it was still far away from the center of the continent.

    "I will suggest that you move through the northwestern border if you wish to enter the center of the continent as soon as possible. That direction will take you to the Chengzi Kingdom. It is famed for its spiritual fruits that are being farmed there." Wan Qiang started exining.

    "Chengzi Kingdom is close to the center of the continent. Although it is notpletely considered a part of the center, it is a very important gateway that doubles as a trade route into the center, and many young geniuses travel there to purchase spiritual fruits."

    "That ce will be your first real challenge. Although the true geniuses from the center of the continent will not appear there, many of the lesser geniuses will as they have no one to fetch the fruits for them ¨C or it just so happens that they cannot get their hands on the more powerful fruits from the center of the continent itself."

    "However, this is good. If you encountered the top geniuses right away, you are likely to be traumatized. You are still quite a bit behind them, but you are not doing bad at all considering your starting point."

    "My starting point?" Xue Wei frowned and repeated rhetorically, hoping to get more answers. Was Elder Wan aware of his past? To what degree?

    "Oh, never mind!" Wan Qiangughed it off and just shook his head. He was aware that he had said too much, but he did not seem to care that much about it.

    In this fashion, the five experts continued moving towards the northwestern border into the Chengzi Kingdom.

 Chapter 188: Golden Crow City

    "It was a pleasure to travel with you," Wan Qiang said with a great smile on his face.

    Wan Qiang was indeed the one who had enjoyed traveling with Xue Wei and the others. He had asked many questions, tried to get closer to both Xue Wei and all his friends, and he had tried to pry into their past with casual conversation.

    Xue Wei and the others had stayed on high alert from the very start and divulged very little to Wan Qiang. They chose their words very carefully, as they realized that Wan Qiang was the type to catch even the tiniest hint.

    He was trying to find out the backgrounds of Bai Tianyi and Wang Xiaoyun. his interest in Xue Wei and Hei Gou was almost non-existent, which made Xue Wei frown. He was convinced the man knew who he was.

    When Wang Xiaoyun identally called Xue Wei by his real name, Wan Qiang showed no surprise or confusion. He just smiled slightly. At the end, Xue Wei waspletely convinced that the elder knew of him. But why would he assist him, then?

    As they traveled northwest, they found that the temperature dropped slightly. Most people would not notice it, but they were all cultivators, and every change around them was easily sensed by them.

    Throughout the entire journey, they had traveled on main roads. The main road they were currently traveling on, led to arge neutral city that was ced right on the border of the Chengzi Kingdom and the Skyward Empire.

    The Golden Chambers owned this city. It was a very important trade hub for the nations on both sides of the border. This was the main trade connection to exchange specialties from the two countries.

    When they were a mile away from the gates, they saw the beginning of a queue that led to the entrance of the city. Merchants, caravans, independent cultivators, and even sect members were all waiting patiently in the queue.

    "This is where we will say our goodbyes," Wan Qiang said with a nod of his head. "I have guided you towards the location that is most suitable for you on the way towards the center of the continent."

    "I wish you all the best in your endeavor and try not to get killed." Wan Qiang smiled at them before he turned around without a second word, and flew off at a speed many times faster than what he had shown thus far.

    "Let¡¯s join the queue," Xue Wei said, looking at the mile-long queue curiously. "I wonder if it is natural for this many people to be entering the Golden Crow City," he questioned. The others shrugged their shoulders.

    "Young ones, I take it you are not from this area?" someone standing behind them asked. Xue Wei turned around, only to face a middle-aged man on top of a carriage. "I can tell you what is going on, but for a price," the man said with a grin on his face.

    Curious as Xue Wei was, he tossed a gold coin to the man who hurriedly caught it and his eyes shone with excitement. Xue Wei was always worried about not having enough money, but when he had earned some he found that he was rather generous with it.

    "The Golden Crow City is governed by the Golden Chambers. The Golden Chambers has many neutral cities ced in the border areas of various kingdoms and empires. The Golden Crow City is known to be one of the smaller of their cities."

    "It just so happens that every city under the control of the Golden Chambers has a yearly auction, and this city¡¯s auction will happen two weeks from now." The man grinned. He had been given a gold coin so he had no intentions to skimp on information.

    "The Golden Crow City is located right between the Chengzi Kingdom and Skyward Empire, so it has the best from both sides. Usually, all the high-quality spirit fruits from the Chengzi Kingdom are sent to the center of the continent, but this time some of them will be up for sale."

    "I even heard a rumor saying that a Rebirth Pill is going to be put up for auction."

    Xue Wei jolted, and then his eyes glistened. Wang Xiaoyun was simrly shocked. "A Rebirth Pill?" she asked hurriedly with bated breath,. The man nodded his head.

    "I am mentioning it because I saw yourpanion¡¯s appearance," he said seriously. "But the three great sects have sent people here to get it for them, so it will be difficult for you to keep it for yourself."

    Xue Wei concentrated for some time before he looked at the man. "Are there any formations up for sale?" he then asked. The man startedughing out loud. "Formations? This is only the border between the Chengzi Kingdom and the Skyward Empire. Even if they are to deliver some treasures here, a formation is far too rare to appear in this location!"

    "Although there are formation masters in the continent, they are incredibly rare and all of them guard their formation recipes with their lives. If a formation master is to appear, that will be within the center of the continent, not out here in the outskirts."

    Xue Wei smiled. Hearing the man¡¯s stern denial at the prospect of a formation master appearing here, he had a feeling that he could possibly get his hands on the Rebirth Pill if he put a few formations up for auction.

    Xue Wei thanked the man for the information he was given, and looked around. There were indeed people from every single faction and a lot of independent cultivators rushing to the city.

    The queue was in constant procession, and they soon reached the gate. Paying thirty silver a person was almost a highway robbery, but Xue Wei did not cause any drama and paid it right away.

    As they entered into the city, they did not look for an inn but headed straight to the center of the city where a massive pagoda was located. Hundreds of small buildings were ced at the foot of the pagoda, each one being a store of its own specializing in specific things.

    The auctionter would be held inside the pagoda. It was also where they carried out examinations for those seeking to list an item of their own.

    Xue Wei, followed by Hei Gou, Wang Xiaoyun, and Bai Tianyi, headed straight for the pagoda¡¯s front entrance. Their clothes were all of the highest quality, but they were travel-worn and dusty after being on the road for so many days.

    "Excuse me, sirs and madam, what can we do for you?" A servant appeared the moment they entered the building.

    "We have an item we would like to have evaluated. We intend to sell it at this years auction," Xue Wei answered casually. He did not go into detail about what exactly he wanted to sell, which made the servant frown slightly.

    "Come with me," the servant said politely and gestured for them to follow him. He led them into a small chamber adorned with beautiful figures, statues, and paintings.

    "Please take a seat," the servant continued and pointed at some cushions on the floor with a table in the middle. "I will return with our head appraiser," he said after a bit of hesitation.

    He had not wanted to pick this appraiser, but something about this group told him that it was worth it.

    Xue Wei raised an eyebrow in surprise when he heard him. He had not mentioned what he wanted to auction off, but he had still been treated as one of the most important guests in the Golden Chambers. This showed that the servant had a good gut sense and was able to get a good first impression of them.

    Bowing deeply, the man left the chamber, leaving Xue Wei and his friends alone for some time.

    Not long after, a few knocks could be heard on the door and soon a senior man stepped inside.

    "Good day, sirs, madam," he said as he nodded to all of them. "I am the head appraiser of the Golden Chambers branch within the Golden Crow City. Please show me your items."

    Xue Wei did not hesitate and pointed his finger at the table. Thirty Spiritual Energy Bombs appeared on it, alongside ten Paralyzing Formations and three very simple stone figures that had puppet formations on their chests.

    The appraiser stood in shock when he saw these papers and the stone figures. At first nce, they were worth nothing, but when he saw the runes on them, his eyes widened, and his mouth went agape.

    "These are... formations?" he asked. Xue Wei nodded his head.

    "I am a formation master. I want to sell thirty Spiritual Energy Bombs, ten Paralyzing Formations, and these three simple formation puppets," he stated while gesturing towards the items on the table.

    "I know that it is hard to believe me, so please, take one of each and examine it. Even trying them out will be okay; we can waste one of each to ensure that you can trust me," he said amiably.

    Xue Wei had been worried that they would suspect trickery, but the appraiser shook his head with frenzied denial.

    "How could we waste formations like that?" he asked, shocked and petrified. "Sirs, madam, please wait a moment, I will go fetch our formation examination kit," he said and dashed out.

    Momentster, the man came back into the room with arge box in his hands. It contained some orbs, which he pulled out and promptly proceeded to use to examine the formations. Every time the orb shone with a blinding light, the senior appraiser smiled contentedly.

    It took him an hour to go through every single one of the formations. When he finished, his face was stered with a smile.

    "These are all genuine formations!" He eximed with shock. "We could never even hope to have one formation, but now we have forty-three! Sir, are you sure that you wish to sell them all at our auction?"

    "I wish to sell them all at the auction. I need the gold coins to purchase the Rebirth Pill," Xue Wei said seriously. The head appraiser was silent for some time.

    "Sir, I might be able to help you out," he said before he excused himself and left the room again.

    Shortly after, the appraised returned. This time, he was not alone but came with a stoic-looking old man. He had a goatee and his eyes were stern.

    He looked at Xue Wei with his stern eyes, but there was no hostility in his gaze. He held a snow jade box in his hand.

    "Good day, I am the director of the Golden Chambers within Golden Crow City," the stoic man said. "I¡¯ve been informed that you have brought out some valuable formations for us to auction off. Those formations will bring our branch incredible praise from the headquarters"

    "The Rebirth Pill was sent to us from the headquarters to be the main attraction of this year¡¯s auction, but we would be very happy to trade the Rebirth Pill for some formations," he said seriously, making Xue Wei open his eyes in surprise.

    "We will need to charge a sky-high price," the man continued, "because we¡¯ve already leaked word of the Rebirth Pill. Retracting it will do damage to us, so to make it worth it for us, I want fifteen of your Spiritual Energy Bombs, five of your Paralyzing Formations, and one of your formation puppets."

    "We are not able to bargain on this price. It is already the lowest price I can offer you," the man said seriously. "As a token of appreciation, I will, however, waiver the fees for selling the other formations at our auction house, and I will lend you the only first-ss room during the auction."

 Chapter 189: Rebirth Pill

    Xue Wei did not need to think about the offer he had been given. "I ept," he said right away.

    The stoic-looking man¡¯s face suddenly cracked into a hideous smile, and soon after he nodded his head.

    He reached out and siphoned half the constructs on the table into his personal storage treasure. Afterwards, he handed over the snow jade box.

    "This is the Rebirth Pill. It is of high purity, but it is only suitable for the Heavenly Warrior rank, so it is the weakest version of the Rebirth Pill. Still, it will be enough to recreate the body of the young madam here."

    Xue Wei nodded his head. It was easy to see why they would want the Rebirth Pill. It was a pill that couldpletely remold the body of the consumer. It would turn the skin into that of a newborn¡¯s, and the meridians and every fiber in their body would reach their best possible condition.

    "Young sir, I would suggest that you stay in our private hotel," the appraiser said with a deep bow. "We have the Three Legged Golden Crow Hotel located here in the Golden Chamber district. It is the ce where most people from influential factions reside, and you have now be the most important person for the auction."

    Xue Wei nodded his head. "We will dly stay at the Three Legged Golden Crow Hotel," he answered.

    After that, they finished the paperwork, and the four friends were led by another servant to the Three Legged Golden Crow¡¯s hotel.

    Hotels were much more luxurious than inns. They were often owned by influential factions, and usually Xue Wei and hispanions would avoid them, but this time it was probably a good idea to ept the hospitality.

    "Manager Hu," the servant bowed to the man behind the counter of the hotel. "This is a group of VIPs to the Golden Chambers," the servant introduced. "They have to be served with the highest care and consideration that this hotel can manage, and everything is on the house."

    Manager Hu¡¯s eyes turned round. He had been the manager for the Three Legged Golden Crow Hotel for a long time, but he had never heard of anyone being treated so highly in their establishment.

    "It is an order from the director," the servant said, worried that Manager Hu did not believe him, but Manager Hu was not a slow man. He knew that no servant would ever dare to be so presumptuous as to lie about such a matter.

    "Well, my honored guests!" Manager Hu sped his hands together and looked at Xue Wei and the rest. "The top floor is free; it has seven bedrooms, two living areas, three bathrooms, and a training room."

    "This floor is usually reserved for royalty, but we would be honored to let your entourage stay there," Manager Hu said while looking at them with reverence.

    "Ye Xiao!" Suddenly a voice sounded out from the audience, calling for someone called Ye Xiao. Vaguely recognizing the voice, Xue Wei looked over and saw that it was Xiong Bing, the, at that time, leader of the Argent Moon forces in the ck Iron Fortress.

    She was looking straight at him. Xue Wei was somewhat perplexed before he remembered that he had used an alias during the tournament. In fact, he had used quite a few random names back in the ck Iron Fortress, not caring for the fact that people would know that they were fake.

    "Ye Xiao is not your real name either?" she asked, annoyed when she saw Xue Wei¡¯spletely puzzled expression. "I went to the ones who signed you up, and they said that you went by the name Ye Xiao."

    "Well, Lady Xiong, it is not beneficial for me to give my real name," Xue Wei said with a sigh. He had not even given his name to the members of the Golden Chambers, but he had been given a talisman that would disy his position and status.

    Xue Wei was still wearing the mask he had worn in the ck Iron Fortress, and thus he was recognized as Ye Xiao.

    When Xiong Bing eximed his name, the rest of her group also looked at him with curiosity, and many of them looked at Wang Xiaoyun with pity.

    Wang Xiaoyun looked at Xue Wei and smiled grimly. "My dear, are you acquainted with thedies from the Argent Moon Sect?" she asked with a sweetened voice that made Xue Wei shiver with fear.

    "No, no, not at all!" he eximed and raised his arms in self-defense, gesturing for Wang Xiaoyun to understand him.

    Seeing his behavior, Xiong Bing was stunned. She had seen Xue Wei as a devil. Someone without a shred of humanity orpassion within them.

    "So he is Ye Xiao?" a melodious voice sounded, and a woman stepped forward. "I hear that you defeated every single person in the tournament, even the members of the three great sects."

    "Although you were able to defeat them, I would like you to know that the experts you met were not the limits of what our three great sects can produce." The woman was extraordinarily arrogant, but Xue Weipletely ignored it.

    Wang Xiaoyun, on the other hand, was incapable ofpletely ignoring her.

    "Who are you to decide how strong he is?" Wang Xiaoyun sneered. "He has worked very hard, harder than anyone else to be where he is today, and you juste here iming his aplishments are nothing? Well, let me ask you, how old are you? Were you as strong as him at his age? Are you truly that wonderful?"

    Xue Wei felt warm at heart when he saw Wang Xiaoyun stand up for him, but he did not want her to get into trouble because of him.

    The woman fell silent. "How old is he?" she asked. She did not get insulted, but she was curious. Wang Xiaoyun gave her a sideways nce. "I won¡¯t answer that," she said.

    Wang Xiaoyun was aware that if she answered honestly that Xue Wei was seventeen years old, they would start questioning him about why he was not in the army. Although he looked very young, no one could say anything without knowing his real age.

    The woman¡¯s eyes turned icy when she heard that answer, displeased with what she heard. Xue Wei smiled wryly.

    "Ladies from the Argent Moon Sect, these sirs and madam are significant guests of our Golden Chambers," Manager Hu suddenly stepped forward. "I understand if you wish to reunite with long-lost friends. However, it is our Three Legged Golden Crow Hotel¡¯s turn to entertain these sirs and madam."

    Seeing that Manager Hu stepped forward to smooth over the situation for Xue Wei¡¯s sake, the woman from the Argent Moon Sect frowned.

    Although she was from the Argent Moon Sect, she did not dare to go against the Golden Chambers. The Golden Chambers was a colossus in the entire continent; some say its influence has spread to other continents too.

    Going against the Golden Chambers was something that even the three great sects did not dare to do. The Golden Chambers could rouse almost any extreme expert with promises of wealth and treasures that the world had never seen before. Even the great sects with their many experts would not be able to sustain themselves.

    Since the Argent Moon Sect¡¯s disciples had been advised to act amiably towards anyone rted to the Golden Chambers, the woman was puzzled as to why Manager Hu would step out and try to straighten the mood.

    Manager Hu was on the list of people that the Argent Moon Sect considered important in Golden Crow City. To insult him was absolutely not allowed.

    "Oh, Ye Xiao," another person suddenly called out. When Xue Wei turned around, he found that Lin Yuelong from the Cerulean Starlight Sect was standing together with another group.

    This group of experts consisted of Heavenly Warriors with a few Ordinary Knights amongst them. Their strength seemed to be even with the ones from the Argent Moon Sect.

    "Are you little brother Ye Xiao?" The leader of the Cerulean Starlight Sect was much friendlier than thedy from the Argent Moon Sect.

    "I did use that name back in the ck Iron Fortress," Xue Wei acknowledged. The man was stumped but thenughed. "Let us keep using this name then, " he grinned. "I doubt that I will ever be told your real name."

    "One day, you will naturally know it," Xue Wei said casually. "One day, the entire world will know my name."

    This sounded arrogant, but there was a pride within Xue Wei that told him that this would be possible if he had enough time to grow.

    The crowd was stunned, but many interpreted his words differently.

    Thedy from the Argent Moon Sect snorted and looked at him with disdain, while Xiong Bing had aplicated look in her eyes, which were the only visible parts of her beneath the veil.

    The man from the Cerulean Starlight Sect frowned, but then he nodded his head. "I feel a conviction in your voice," he said seriously, "so I will look forward to the day that your name resounds through the entire world!"

    Xue Wei smiled. He had a favorable impression of the men from the Cerulean Starlight Sect. They had always been friendly and open-minded. They had also done their best to assist him when he needed it, and even now a more outstanding genius from the sect was treating him as an equal.

    While Xue Wei was in deep thought, a voice suddenly boomed in the lobby, "Experts of the great sects, this is news you would want to know!"

    A small midget rushed into the lobby of the hotel. He was frantic, and his eyes were shining strangely.

    "My lords anddies, this news is the greatest news I could get, and I am sure you would thank me when I am done telling it!" he said breathlessly. The experts from the two great sects frowned.

    "The Rebirth Pill has been pulled out from the auction!" he started. Anger shed in the eyes of both leaders of the two factions.

    "Wait, wait, wait!" the man continued, waving his arms in front of himself protectively. "It is not a big deal; they reced it with something even more outstanding. Formations will be put up for sale instead!"

    "What?!" both of the leaders eximed at the same time. All eyes in the entire hotel lobby were on the midget.

    "This story is proven to be correct! We don¡¯t know how many there are, but the man from the Golden Chambers said that there would be more than one formation and more than one kind!"

    "The formations that are nearly extinct outside the center of the continent have appeared! They will be worth much more than a mere Rebirth Pill, so contact your sects right away and find a way to get more essence stones, because these formations will not go cheap!"

    While everyone was shocked, Xue Wei and his friends stood there casually and listened in on the conversation. Manager Hu was not slow and looked over. When he saw their unimpressed expressions and remembered the message that the servant from earlier had given him, he quickly connected the dots.

    Although he had already sworn to provide his best service, he understood the significance of formations to the Golden Chambers, and thus he decided to do anything to help these experts have as enjoyable a stay as they possibly could.

 Chapter 190: Three Legged Golden Crow

    "Young sirs and madam, please follow me," Manager Hu said with a nce at Xue Wei and the others. "I understand that this is interesting news to you, but you need to determine whether or not the King¡¯s Floor is to your liking."

    As he spoke, he started walking towards the grand stairs in the middle of the lobby, which lead up to the upper floors.

    Xue Wei, Hei Gou, Wang Xiaoyun, and Bai Tianyi followed him up the stairs with no hesitation. They did not care about the rumor.

    Bai Tianyi gave Manager Hu a long nce because he had guessed that the manager had realized where the formations came from. But seeing that the manager had no intention of sharing this info, he was calm and did not care too much.

    The leader of the Cerulean Starlight Sect nced their way once they were out of sight. He was the only one who was not too shocked by the news and had overheard what Manager Hu had said.

    Those four were to reside on the King¡¯s Floor. That was not a ce you could stay at because of money ¨C you had to have great achievements in the Golden Chambers or be part of a royal family.

    Since he was certain that this elusive young man was not of royal blood, he knew that he had done the Golden Chambers a great favor.

    Suddenly, he frowned and looked at the midget. "You said that the Rebirth Pill will no longer be sold?" he asked, pressuring the midget slightly. The dwarf nodded his head like a chicken pecking rice.

    "The honored formation master took the Rebirth Pill, so it is obvious it will not be put up for sale at theing auction. Instead, he provided arge quantity of formations. I only know of this because I have a friend in the Golden Chambers who overheard the head appraiser discuss it with the high-ranking staff."

    The man from the Cerulean Starlight Sect remembered Wang Xiaoyun¡¯s appearance. Her disfigured face was only recoverable by the use of something like a Rebirth Pill, but their group had not shown any kind of reaction when they heard that the Rebirth Pill was no longer for sale.

    This could only mean that they had already acquired it! He was certain of this. Meanwhile, the women from the Argent Moon Sect had not thought too deeply on the matter.

    Their leader already had an unfavorable impression of Wang Xiaoyun and herpanions, so they would neverpare them to a formidable formation master.

    Xue Wei continued upstairs with the manager and was brought to the top floor. The stairs ended at a small balcony leading towards a stylishly constructed entrance of twin doors.

    The door was made of precious metals, and gems were iid in the frame. Arge sign had the characters for King¡¯s Floor written on it above the double doors.

    The manager opened the doors with a white jade slip. "Please feel at home," he said politely. "Everything here is for you to use. You can stay here for as long as you want; everything will be avable for you."

    The manager was eager to befriend a formation master, so he held nothing back. Initially, although he had been told to take care of them and ensure they had afortable stay, he had expected it to be only until the auction.

    However, when he realized what their leader¡¯s status was, he took matters into his own hands and promised to let them stay indefinitely if that was what they wanted.

    Xue Wei also realized now that this manager was likely to have guessed his identity as the formation master, but he did not care. If anything, he knew that he would garner respect and people would fawn over him instead of trying to kill him all the time.

    "Thank you for taking us here. We will stay until the auction has ended and we have tidied up a few loose ends. Then we will be on our way." Xue Wei knew that this manager was trying to curry favor, and he was willing to give it.

    This manager had been friendly and amodating. He had been respectful and even went to the trouble of trying to protect him and his friends against the Argent Moon Sect.

    Since he had shown such goodwill, Xue Wei also wanted to return it. He did not know how to repay him, and he felt that gold coins were too simple, so he took out a Spiritual Energy Bomb formation and handed it to him.

    "We cannot staypletely for free, take this as payment for our stay here at the Three Legged Golden Crow Hotel," he said.

    It was one thing for the manager to know that Xue Wei was a formation master, but to suddenly receive a formation waspletely out of his expectations. The manager stuttered and trembled before he epted the formation.

    In fact, he had already decided to not ept any gifts from them, but he had never thought that he would be handed a formation.

    Although he had wanted to decline, a formation was of great importance to the Golden Chambers, so he hurriedly epted it with a deep bow.

    "This lowly one will take his leave. If sirs or madam need anything, please don¡¯t hesitate to ask. We will do everything in our power to amodate you."

    "When sirs and madam have gotten used to this room and freshened up from your travels, pleasee to the restaurant. We will dly present our finest delicacies for you to sample."

    Xue Wei epted the offer with a smile. He nodded his head and spoke a few pleasantries, but both he and the manager were eager to end the conversation.

    Xue Wei wanted to take a bath. He wanted to rx after traveling with Wan Qiang for a long time while being on high alert. He wanted peace and quiet so that Wang Xiaoyun could consume the Rebirth Pill, and he wanted to consult Bai Tianyi about the various ranks of spiritual energy.

    Manager Hu was eager to rush over to the director of the Golden Chambers so that he could deliver the formation he had been given.

    As the manager left, Xue Wei looked into the hallway he was standing in. There were various rooms on both sides of the hallway; some were bedrooms, others were bathrooms. There was one training room and a few living areas.

    "Where is everyone?" he muttered, noticing that the other three had scattered while he was speaking with Manager Hu. He spread out his spiritual energy and found Wang Xiaoyun in the training room, who was looking at the pill in her hand with aplicated expression on her face.

    He then found that Hei Gou and Bai Tianyi had imed a bathroom each. He chuckled before restraining his spiritual energy, and headed for the final bathroom.

    Washing up after having been on the road for a long time was a great feeling, and all three men soaked in the water for a long time.

    Wang Xiaoyun was seated in the training room. After staring at the Rebirth Pill for some time, she finally ced it in her mouth and felt how it melted and turned into pure energy.

    This energy went into every cell of her body, restoring and purifying her body.

    The other three had finished washing up at this point. They were standing outside the training room, but the longer they stood there the more nervous they became. In the end they had no other option than to wait with bated breath outside of the door. They were afraid of interrupting her while her body was being reborn, but they were also eager to see whether or not the Rebirth Pill would have the desired effect.

    Xue Wei knew that it would take a long time for Wang Xiaoyun to consume the pill¡¯s medicinal properties. It was, after all, not some simple pill that enhanced strength or increased training efficiency. No, this was a rebirth of every cell in the body.

    "Why are we going to the center of the continent now?" Hei Gou asked curiously. "We¡¯ve found out about your past and we have found Wang Xiaoyun. Is there any reason to risk our lives by heading deeper into the continent?"

    "I need to find Prophet Lan." Xue Wei sighed. "It is true that I have recovered my old memories, but what they brought with them were more questions than answers."

    Xue Wei had informed the others about the memories on the way back to the ck Iron Fortress, and they had all been shocked ¨C all apart from Bai Tianyi.

    "I need to know why Xiao Lei killed my father. I also have to know what his rtionship with Chu Huiyin is. I need to know why Xiao Lei left me when I turned fifteen. He left me the Azure Dragon Scripture and the Heritage Ring. He left me every treasure and item within the mansion... it was clear that he had no intention of returning."

    "Why did he bring me with him to Tiankong City only to leave me five yearster? It is clear that he had some sort of n, but I cannot understand what exactly that n is. Hopefully, Prophet Lan can shed some light on these questions."

    "Not to mention, what was the point of removing my memories? They were locked behind a curtain that was clearly man-made. It is clear that he cared about me greatly, but there are just too many mysteries and things that I am unaware of."

    "Not to mention, if we want to be stronger, we have to go towards the center of the continent. That is where all the materials and all the top-grade resources are located. Although most of it is imed by the three great sects, there is still enough for us to get a share," Bai Tianyi suddenly chipped in.

    "And we cannot forget that the pressure from other experts can push us past our limits."

    Hei Gou had wanted to stay away from the center of the continent because of the dangers, but the more he thought about it, the more he nodded his head. "You¡¯re right," he finally said. "If we want to be strong enough, we have to brave the dangers! Not to mention, we¡¯re growing stronger at a rapid pace.¡±

    "The men sent to catch us from the Heping Kingdom were all rather weak. Although we cannot kill them, we should be able to flee from them whenever we encounter them ¨C until the day our strength is superior to theirs and we can defeat them all."

    "The biggest problem is that elder from the Blood Vulture Tribe," Hei Gou continued. Xue Wei justughed. "He has long since returned to the Blood Vulture Tribe," he said with a smile on his face.

    "He has?" Hei Gou was skeptical. "Of course," Xue Wei said with a smile. "If he is gone for long, the other Ordinary Knights from the Flowing Blood Prairie will make a move on his tribe. Even if he is insulted and hates us, unless he brings the entire tribe out from the Flowing Blood Prairie, he will not dare to chase us so far. And should he bring the entire tribe, then their travel time will be so slow that they can never catch up to us."

    Hei Gou suddenly had an epiphany as he listened to Xue Wei. "So we are only chased by those weaklings from the Kingdom of Heping?"

    "That¡¯s correct," Xue Wei nodded his head. "But we need to remember that they too have left the Kingdom of Heping. Their group consists of our old home¡¯s best geniuses, so we can¡¯t discount their ability to grow stronger."

    "How strong can they possibly have be?" Hei Gouughed, but Xue Wei could not help but frown. No one knew what lucky chances they could have encountered on their trip.

 Chapter 191: Beautiful

    Hei Gou could not help but feel slightly arrogant. They had improved by leaps and bounds, and they had outstanding talentpared to others from the Heping Kingdom.

    Xue Wei shook his head. He knew that Hei Gou was arrogant and it would not be easy to convince him.

    Since Hei Gou had already made up his mind, Xue Wei knew that it¡¯d be impossible to change it. In fact, only time could tell who was correct.

    ¡°Tianyi,¡± Xue Wei called out. The sword spirit lifted his head.

    ¡°Spiritual energy, I need some help with understanding it,¡± he said.

    ¡°When Prophet Lan exined it to me, he skipped all the important information and said that it was an energy connected to the soul.¡± Xue Wei sighed. He had never been given a full exnation of spiritual energy, but now he felt a need to fully understand it.

    ¡°He was notpletely wrong,¡± Bai Tianyi said pensively. ¡°Spiritual Energy is the energy of your soul. The more energy you have, the stronger your soul is.¡±

    ¡°Spiritual energy is basically your soul¡¯s energy in the same way Qi is your body¡¯s energy.¡±

    ¡°To train your spiritual energy, you have various choices. One is to use your spiritual energy. Using your spiritual energy is also considered training. That could be when you are creating formations, as they require spiritual energy to be made. It could also be when you use your Mind Infestation to attack others.¡±

    ¡°Another option is to consume soul energy. Spiritual energy is special from person to person, but you can consume another person¡¯s soul power if they¡¯re dead. That is the most direct way of consuming and increasing your spiritual energy.¡±

    ¡°Thest option, and probably the most difficult one, is to suck out the soul of a living martial artist. This is frowned upon, but many cultivators still do it because this method is the quickest way to improve¡±

    ¡°As for how we rank it, it¡¯s quite simple. Your spiritual energy is ranked in a simr way to your Qi. However, these ranks do not haveyers.¡±

    ¡°Instead ofyers, spiritual energy is ssed as low, middle, and high-rank. Right now, your spiritual energy ss is High Sky Warrior. You are very close to reaching the Low Heavenly Warrior rank.¡±

    Xue Wei was enlightened. ¡°I see,¡± he said, nodding his head. He had felt that a breakthrough was close, but he had not known what this breakthrough resembled or what it meant. Now he understood it better.

    ¡°To use your spiritual energy, you need to use spiritual martial arts like your Mind Infestation.¡±

    ¡°You can also use it to cloak yourself and make ayer of protection. You can st it out and attack with it, but that is rather crude and not guaranteed to seed. I would suggest you get your hands on some spiritual martial arts here at the auction. There ought to be some up for sale and even if they are not profound rank or even the superior rank, you can still benefit from them. And honestly, a spiritual martial art puts more focus on the user¡¯s spiritual energy than the rank of the skill itself.¡±

    Xue Wei nodded his head as he listened to the knowledge that was being imparted to him.

    He felt enlightened. His improved understanding of spiritual energy was akin to a door in his mind being opened.

    While Xue Wei was sorting out his thoughts after Bai Tianyi¡¯s little lesson, the door to the training room opened. Wang Xiaoyun came out.

    Each step she took was so soft that it seemed as though she was walking on clouds, a smile yed on her lips, and she was so beautiful that Xue Wei froze and stared at her, mouth ajar and eyes opened wide.

    Xue Wei was not the only one. Bai Tianyi raised an eyebrow, and Hei Gou smiled with surprise. when they saw Wang Xiaoyun in her original appearance that was no longer marred by the scar or dim eye.

    ¡°So beautiful!¡± were the words that escaped Xue Wei¡¯s lips. He stood up as if entranced and moved towards her. He stretched out a hand and cupped her cheek gently.

    A blush crept up on Wang Xiaoyun¡¯s face, but she did not retreat. Instead, she ced her own hand on top of Xue Wei¡¯s and leaned her head against it.

    The two were in a world of their own. Happiness shone from her eyes as she beamed a smile at Xue Wei.

    ¡°I¡¯m back,¡± she said gently and Xue Wei nodded his head. ¡°I have never seen as beautiful a person as you,¡± he said breathlessly.

    The blush on Wang Xiaoyun¡¯s face grew deeper and she looked down, not daring to look at Xue Wei¡¯s face.

    The hand that was cupping Wang Xiaoyun¡¯s cheeks moved to her chin and faced it upward so that they could look eye to eye.

    A mischievous smile was on Xue Wei¡¯s lips. He was relieved that Wang Xiaoyun no longer had to be reminded of her family¡¯s demise every time she looked at herself in the mirror.

    He also had to admit that seeing this beautiful face in front of him made him feel incredibly lucky.

    He loved Wang Xiaoyun even when she was disfigured, but suddenly seeing her looking like a goddess that had descended to the mundane world rendered him incapable of holding himself back. He leaned in.

    Wang Xiaoyun¡¯s face was red like a beetroot; her eyes shone with a yearning and she held her breath as Xue Wei leaned down and ced his lips on hers.

    The kiss was gentle and soft. It made Wang Xiaoyun think of everything that Xue Wei was to her; arge tree of protection, and someone who made her feel warm andplete. She was in bliss until she heard Bai Tianyi cough in the background.

    The blush turned so deep that it looked as if blood would drip from her face. She gently pushed Xue Wei away, turned on her feet, and rushed to the closest room, where she locked herself inside, trying to calm her beating heart while grinning like a fool.

    Outside the room, Xue Wei chuckled and shook his head. He turned to Bai Tianyi and Hei Gou, who both smiled. They were happy for them.

    ¡°Xiaoyun, we are going shopping,¡± Xue Wei called out to the closed door. ¡°Do you want to join us?¡±

    There was no answer, initially, but the door creaked open a few momentster. Her face was still adorably red. Xue Wei chuckled again and went to take her hand.

    ¡°Princess, let me escort you to go shopping,¡± he said charmingly. She nodded her head, but she seemed to be in deep thought for a second. ¡°I want a veil,¡± she suddenly added.

    ¡°My face was disfigured in the past, but now it is not. People will be able to connect the dots and know I took the Rebirth Pill. If they know I took it, then it is clear that they can guess our connection with the formation master.¡±

    ¡°Let them guess,¡± Xue Wei said as he shrugged his shoulders. ¡°I like looking at you. You are beautiful!¡±

    Wang Xiaoyun smiled and blushed. Xue Wei¡¯spliments made her feel good.

    Together, the four friends left the King¡¯s Floor. When they stepped onto the ground floor of the hotel, the manager recognized them right away.

    He had already knew that they had the Rebirth Pill and that the woman would take it, but he was dumbstruck when he saw her new appearance.

    He was not the only one, many of the experts in the lobby were shocked. Many men started looking at her with lust and greed in their eyes. This annoyed Xue Wei.

    ¡°Maybe a veil is not a bad idea,¡± he said with a nod of his head, suddenly changing his opinion.

    Hei Gou and Bai Tianyi chuckled at his sudden disy of jealousy, and Wang Xiaoyun just giggled at the disy he made.

    ¡°Ah, manager Hu,¡± Xue Wei saw the manager rushing towards them.

    ¡°What is it that the young lords and thedy need?¡± he asked in a friendly way, eager to do his very best to please them.

    ¡°We are heading out into the city to do some shopping,¡± Xue Wei said smilingly. ¡°We will be backter, so if we can get some food when we return that¡¯d be great.¡±

    ¡°Rest assured, young lord!¡± Manager Hu said with near-frenzy. ¡°We will reserve a private room at the restaurant for you. When you arrive, just use your name, Ye Xiao, and they will instantly lead you to the room where all kinds of delicacies will be prepared alongside our best wines.¡±

    Xue Wei knew that he would be stuck with the name Ye Xiao for some time, but he did not really care. It was better than his real name being recognized.

    ¡°In that case, I will thank manager Hu,¡± Xue Wei cupped his fists towards the manager before he and his friends left the hotel.

    The ones who could stay in the hotel were all extremely important people with a lot of gold coins, and thus many lessw-abiding individuals would keep an eye on them and make a move whenever they were to leave the hotel.

    Xue Wei and his friends were not very strong when one looked at them from the outside. So they were quickly marked by the ones who were scouting for prey by the entrance.

    Not only could they gain gold coins, when they looked at Wang Xiaoyun they instantly knew that she could be sold for a high price on the ck market.

    Although humans were allied together and very was illegal, there were ck markets where everything could be bought, including ves.

    The ck market was used by both humans and primordial beasts alike. They could buy anything they wanted there and no one would ask questions about what it was for and who the purchasers were.

    Xue Wei had his spiritual energy spread out to feel what was happening around him. He could sense that three groups of varying numbers were following them.

    The first group had seven members, the second group had eleven people, and the final one only had five.

    These twenty-three people did not act against them in the middle of the street and kept stalking them.

    Also, every group had at most three Heavenly Warriors, so they were waiting for others to make the first move so they could be the fishermen that reaped the rewards.

    ¡°Should we be worried?¡± Xue Wei asked Bai Tianyi. The little boy, who was in truth the sword spirit, shook his head and smiled. ¡°We want to get their items, so let¡¯s lure them into a small alleyway,¡± he said with a grin.

    Xue Wei nodded his head. He too wanted to test out a few new formations, and nothing was better for that than arge-scale battle.

    ¡°Let us go, then,¡± he smiled at the others who curiously nodded their heads. They could sense Xue Wei¡¯s fighting spirit. Wang Xiaoyun slowly took out her green fan while Hei Gou put on his ws.

    As they reached an alleyway that was neither too big nor too small, but rather deserted, Xue Wei turned around and smiled at the air behind them.

    ¡°Come out now,¡± he grinned, taking out a piece of paper from his storage ring. ¡°You followed us for this long. Are you not interested in taking our belongings?¡±

    The three groups stopped in their tracks. They looked among each other with great distrust. Who knew what might happen if all of them started fighting at the same time.

    ¡°If you won¡¯t begin, then allow me to start!¡± Wang Xiaoyun was not willing to kill humans if they had done nothing wrong to other humans, but these were the scum of society. These humans worked with primordial beasts if given enough incentive, and thus she saw no problems in clearing the world of their presence.

 Chapter 192: The Soaring Dragon

    Wang Xiaoyun rushed at them with her fan brandished. She looked like a green blur as she sped towards their pursuers.

    Seeing her take such an action, Xue Wei smirked wryly and rushed forward as well.

    Inner Might ¨C Sword!

    Windwolf Sword sh!

    Xue Wei released a crescent de of sword energy that was sent toward the closest opponent, cing the many pursuers between a rock and a hard ce.

    They had never expected that their targets would fight back like this and many of them started to feel ufortable.

    A few tried to escape, but then they realized that the hunters had be the hunted, they had been lured out and it frightened them quite a bit.

    Unfortunately, they could no longer back out. They had initiated the pursuit and now they had to battle for survival.

    ¡°Try this!¡± Xue Wei suddenly called out. A paper he had been holding for some time lit up.

    He tossed it at the group with seven people, and grinned.

    The paper grew brighter and brighter before a resounding boom sounded out through the entire alleyway and the houses on both sides shook.

    A massive crater had been opened in the ground, and three of the seven experts wereying within it, dead and without aplete corpse.

    ¡°Oh, better than I thought,¡± Xue Wei muttered when he saw the damage that his Spiritual Energy Bomb did to the surroundings and his enemies.

    ¡°Retreat!¡± The pursuers were not the least bit unsure of their next move. They had to escape as soon as possible, because the boom would have alerted the authorities and the guards were likely to arrive at any moment.

    ¡°Think we¡¯ll let you go like that?¡± Xue Wei sent them his most brilliant smile as he picked up another piece of paper.

    He poured a bit of qi into this paper and then threw it into the air. Suddenly everything stilled and all the experts beneath the Heavenly Warrior rank felt their bodies freeze for a moment.

    The formation he had used was a crowd controlling formation that would freeze anyone in range beneath his spiritual energy rank for a second.

    Although a second did not sound like much, that one second was lethal when taking the onught of Xue Wei¡¯s team of four into consideration.

    All of them had their own movement techniques and they used them to sh from one person to another, executing them on the spot.

    The Heavenly Warriors had long since realized that this was a formation, which made their eyes alternate between fear and greed.

    They retreated slightly, still their greed was getting the better of them, wanting them to return to the battle. What if he had even stronger formations?

    Not to mention that the guards would arrive soon. The guards were not to be trifled with; they walked in groups of ten and all ten were Heavenly Warriors. Some of the squads even had Ordinary Knights amongst them.

    ¡°I have some friends that could help me if I am sent to jail,¡± one of them muttered to himself, and it seemed the others had the same idea to use their connections to try and get their hands on Xue Wei¡¯s wealth.

    Right as they retreated, a group of guards arrived at the location. There were seventeen corpses on the ground. Some of them were Heavenly Warriors, while the rest were Sky Warriors. All of them had died.

    Four experts were still alive. Three of them were Sky Warriors and thest one seemed to be a Heavenly Warrior.

    ¡°What happened here?!¡± the captain of the guards roared. He had already decided that Xue Wei and hispanions were the culprits. They had clearly killed someone, so they were to be arrested.

    ¡°Tie them up!¡± he yelled to his men. Xue Wei¡¯s eyes shed dangerously the moment he did.

    ¡°You don¡¯t even know what happened and you are tying us up? This is self-defense, and in fact, I ought to have a conversation with your director of the Golden Chambers here in Golden Crow City. I was scared to death. Was it not for our beneficial deal just before, I would not want to continue the business deal I have with them,¡± Xue Wei said.

    ¡°Who do you think you are?!¡± The guard captain was furious. ¡°What makes you think you can talk with the director as you please? It is against thew to nder the Golden Chambers!¡±

    ¡°Throw them in jail!¡±

    The other three looked at Xue Wei curiously. How would he react? But his final decision was to simply shrug his shoulders. ¡°Let¡¯s follow for now. I¡¯d like to see this captain¡¯s face when he realizes what he has done.¡±

    After getting their hands cuffed, they were led to the prison. Underway, the captain felt oddly ufortable when he noticed how cooperative they were.

    It was as if everything was within their grasp. The captain turned more and more hostile. He led them through the most packed and busy ce in the city to publicly shame them, but Xue Wei held his head high.

    ¡°Ye Xiao?¡± Suddenly, the voice of the Cerulean Starlight Sect¡¯s leader emerged from the sidelines. The captain was about to re up until he saw the outfits that represented the Cerulean Starlight Sect.

    ¡°Oh, right! It is fortunate that I ran into you. Could I trouble you to inform Manager Hu of this?¡± Xue Wei grinned. ¡°The old captain refuses to listen to me, so I have to get ahold of that old director one way or another. I¡¯ll give you something greatter if you help me.¡±

    The man frowned. This was obviously an independent cultivator, so how could he possibly have something that would make the head disciple of a major sect¡¯s branch in the Skyward Empire run an errand for him?

    ¡°We¡¯ll do it,¡± Lin Yuelong was the one to speak. The head disciple frowned, but he said nothing against it. He was suddenly reminded, that Xue Wei had been admitted to the King¡¯s Floor, even though he was an independant cultivator. It was clear that he held a myriad of secrets.

    The captain could not understand how bringing this Ye Xiao to the main street would benefit him. It was enough to make him re up even more than before.

    ¡°Don¡¯t talk with the prisoners!¡± he sneered, and pulled on the rope.

    Xue Wei grinned when he saw the anger on the captain¡¯s face, but said nothing.

    They were brought out of the main street, the prison their destination. Lin Yuelong rushed to the Three Legged Golden Crow Hotel under the orders of his head disciple.

    Truthfully, Xue Wei and hisrades could have caused a lot of problems if they wanted. They could easily break the ropes but the guards were all high ranked Heavenly Warriors, so running away was impossible. At the same time, Xue Wei was quite entertained with their current situation.

    After they arrived in the prison building, the four were ced in separate cells. Their storage rings were not confiscated, and they were not treated badly by the other staff, but the captain was furious.

    ¡°Split them up! They are dangerous criminals! Take their items and let them starve!¡±

    ¡°Captain, they are not convicted of anything yet. We cannot do so.¡±

    ¡°I am saying that they are guilty. We have to punish them; I saw themmit murder with my own two eyes!¡±

    ¡°We still do not know the motive or whether or not they acted in self-defense.¡±

    The prison warden was very fair and Xue Wei was shocked when he heard their discussion.

    The captain felt insulted by Xue Wei¡¯s undisturbed calm and pride to a degree where he now hated him. He was a thorn in his side and he wished him dead as soon as possible.

    The prison warden was much fairer inparison. He was not going to stand down because of the captain¡¯s anger. In fact, he felt that something had gone terribly wrong when he saw the casual expression on Xue Wei¡¯s face.

    As he expected ¨C not even ten minutes after he had finally managed to pacify the captain ¨C an unexpected guest appeared.

    ¡°I heard you have just taken a young man into custody?¡± The voice was filled with authority and slight anger.

    ¡°We did. He is used of murdering innocent citizens.¡± The prison warden described what the captain had told him, but he was given a snort in response.

    ¡°In an alleyway? You think that innocent citizens appear in such alleyways?¡± He sneered angrily. The warden was perplexed. ¡°An alleyway?¡± he asked with confusion. He had not received sufficient information on the murders, so he was now tongue-tied.

    ¡°Release them at once!¡± The director was furious. If something went wrong and Xue Wei decided to withdraw the formations from the auction, they would be forced to put their own formations up for sale to not destroy their reputation. That was something he did not wish to see.

    ¡°But sir, they killed a group of citizens,¡± the warden said hesitatingly. ¡°File it as self-defense,¡± the director replied casually.

    The warden was shocked. He had never before seen the director acting like this before. Now that he was, he could only guess that the young man had something to rely on.

    ¡°Who is he?¡± the warden asked with a trembling voice. The director gave him a long nce before answering.

    ¡°He is a soaring dragon that will grow to be a shining star on our continent.¡± The director had no doubt about this. To be a formation master at such a young age was already outstanding, but it seemed he also had the strength to rival martial artists of the same cultivation rank.

    The prison warden was shocked and felt ufortable. If he was that outstanding, would he not hold a grudge against them? Would it not be the same as asking for a beating to go against him? But he did not dare to say anything because the director rushed to the cell to open the gates himself.

    ¡°Young master Ye Xiao, we are very sorry for the way you were treated! Please excuse the guards, they knew no better.¡±

    ¡°I do not me the warden,¡± Xue Wei said while smiling casually, ¡°but the captain is definitely not suited for a position with power. He was willing to break the rules for personal revenge. I feel he should be let go.¡±

    The director knew that someone had to take the me for what had happened, and putting all the me on the guard captain who caused this was just perfect.

    So he quickly approved and nodded his head. ¡°He will be stripped of his captain title and be a mere guard again. Now please leave this dreadful ce with me.¡±

    The director had been given an additional formation from Manager Hu so he knew that this young man had more formations. If he did it right, then he might be able to get a few more.

    Xue Wei had not had the time to go shopping, but hours had already gone by.

    ¡°Let us return to the hotel,¡± he said, sighing. ¡°We will do some shopping tomorrow. I have to hand over my token of appreciation to the Cerulean Starlight Sect.¡±

    ¡°This all seemed very pointless,¡± Hei Gou said, also sighing. ¡°We wasted a lot of time and you are giving away a formation because of it.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not wasted,¡± Bai Tianyi said with a smirk on his face. ¡°Now the guards will not dare to touch us no matter how we behave.

    ¡°And gifting a formation to the Cerulean Starlight Sect has always been his n. He just needed a reason to do so.¡±

    ¡°Why would he want to gift a formation?¡± Wang Xiaoyun asked curiously. This time, Xue Wei answered.

    ¡°Of the three great sects, they are the only ones I don¡¯t have bad blood with. A rtionship with them will prove beneficial as long as I pretend I am Ye Xiao.¡±

 Chapter 193: Uninvited Guests

    When they made it to the hotel, Manager Hu was impatiently waiting for them.

    After hearing the news from the Cerulean Starlight Sect, he had been so frightened that he could hardly focus on his usual tasks.

    So he ced one of his usual servants behind the counter and waited outside for news.

    He was not alone. Lin Yuelong had been given the task of waiting for Ye Xiao to appear as well as retrieving the item that they had been promised.

    When they saw Xue Wei and his friendse back while chatting and having fun, the two that were waiting could almost not believe their own eyes.

    They had been sent to prison, but they acted like they had just been on a pic.

    Was it really true that the Golden Chambers had their back? Could they really do anything they wanted in the Golden Crow City?

    When Lin Yuelong saw Wang Xiaoyun¡¯s face, his head went nk for a moment. He waspletely stunned at what he saw. However, he connected the dots after some thinking and his eyes widened in shock.

    He had seen her face before and knew that only a Rebirth Pill could heal her.

    They had actedpletely indifferently when they heard that the Rebirth Pill was no longer up for sale, which could only mean that they had already gotten their hands on it.

    The only way to get their hands on it was if they gave something of overwhelming value, and from what he could gather of the current discussions, only the formations could move the Golden Chambers.

    Suddenly, Lin Yuelong felt his breath grow hurried. Were they going to be gifted something amazing?

    ¡°Manager Hu, Lin Yuelong, it is a pleasure seeing you both here,¡± Xue Wei said with a smile.

    ¡°Were you worried about us? Thanks to your efforts, nothing bad happened.¡± Heughed.

    ¡°We are starving, so please excuse us as we go have a meal. Lin Yuelong, perhaps you can bring your head disciple to our dining room? I would like to give him what I promised him,¡± Xue Wei kept smiling as he spoke.

    Originally, Lin Yuelong should have epted the item, but now he was unsure of what to do. If he had guessed correctly, then it was a formation.

    After contacting their sect and informing them about the formation situation in the auction, they had been tasked with bringing at least one formation back with them.

    This was no longer a simple repayment so Lin Yuelong decided to go and discuss with his head disciple.

    He bowed to Manager Hu and Xue Wei before he rushed up the stairs to their rooms.

    Manager Hu personally led Xue Wei and his friends into the restaurant.

    It was an upscale restaurant with an open ground floor and an upper floor with private rooms.

    These private rooms were expensive, so they received many envious looks as they walked up the stairs to the upper floor.

    Because Manager Hu was personally leading them, many stared at them with curiosity. They could not help but wonder about the background of this group.

    There were various factions in the Golden Crow City, but the Golden Chambers was still the strongest.

    They were the hegemon of the entire region, and Manager Hu was amongst the top experts within this faction.

    Even the members of the three great sects could not enjoy such treatment.

    But neither Xue Wei, Hei Gou, Wang Xiaoyun, or Bai Tianyi seemed to care about it. They chatted with Manager Hu in a friendly manner that made them seem close.

    As they reached the second floor, they were met with a hallway with many doors on either side that led to smaller andrger rooms.

    Thergest room had been reserved for Xue Wei.

    After entering through the door, a bit of time passed by, before a row of scantily d waitresses came walking in. They started rearranging floor cushions, ced wines on the table, and brought with them the most delicious-smelling delicacies.

    Although they had not ordered anything, Manager Hu had previously gestured to the servants to bring word to the kitchen of their arrival so that they could preemptively prepare the delicacies

    Their tables were decked out with small cups and many bottles of fine wines on the table.

    Xue Wei looked appreciatively at the women who carried the trays of food, but then he felt a sharp pain at his waist and a tenderly smiling woman by his side.

    ¡°Like what you see?¡± she asked gently. Xue Wei was about to say yes when he realized how dangerous that would be. It would be quite unbing to be beaten by Wang Xiaoyun because of her jealousy.

    ¡°Not at all,¡± he hurriedly said and could not help but smile when he saw Wang Xiaoyun beam like a little sun. ¡°Then let us not look,¡± she said and focused on the tes on the table.

    She took Xue Wei¡¯s te and began scooping up a little bit of everything for him.

    ¡°Try this,¡± she said as she handed the te to Xue Wei. Not only Xue Wei, also Hei Gou and Bai Tianyi felt warm at heart seeing the casual but also tender, and slightly awkward, actions of Wang Xiaoyun.

    Her love for Xue Wei was real. Simrly, Xue Wei dearly loved every little action she made; even her ws were adorable to him, her jealousy made him want to chuckle, and her behavior was simply so refreshing.

    The waitresses left the room when the group started eating their meal, and manager Hu followed them out. For a bit of time, silence enveloped the room while they enjoyed the food.

    After a bit of time a few words were spoken here and there. They mostly praised the food and did not discuss anything too important.

    After roughly ten minutes, a knock on the door could be heard.

    ¡°It¡¯s the Cerulean Starlight Sect,¡± a voice said from the outside.

    ¡°Come in,¡± Xue Wei called out. He ced his chopsticks on his te and rose to his feet.

    He gestured for the others to stay seated. Then he looked at the door as the Cerulean Starlight Sect¡¯s head disciple opened it and stepped in.

    The man was a bit surprised at how much influence Xue Wei had in the Golden Chambers.

    But if things were as Lin Yuelong had said, then it all made sense. The head disciple nced at Wang Xiaoyun curiously and saw that her face had indeed changed.

    ¡°I heard you wished to see me?¡± The head disciple was still skeptical. He wanted Lin Yuelong to be right, but he could not help but doubt it.

    ¡°You helped me out earlier today,¡± Xue Wei said while nodding, ¡±so as a token of my gratitude, I¡¯ll give you a paralyzing formation.¡±

    Xue Wei had considered what formation to give out and decided in the end to give them a rather powerful formation to nurture a good rtionship.

    He flipped his hand and a piece of paper appeared within. He then handed it over to the head disciple.

    ¡°My name is Lin Huang. I am Lin Yuelong¡¯s older cousin. I would like to thank you for the formation on behalf of my sect.¡± The head disciple finally introduced himself.

    ¡°I was wondering if you could answer a few questions for me?¡± he asked. He was more humble now and looked at Xue Wei as an equal.

    ¡°Sure, please do ask,¡± Xue Wei had expected this so he smiled and waited to see what Lin Huang wanted to know.

    ¡°Do the formations that the Golden Chambers is auctioning offe from you? How many formations are up for sale? Which kind of formations are they? Have you made them yourself? Which kind of formations can you make? Have you ever considered joining a sect?¡±

    Hearing the many questions that were asked in one go, Xue Wei startedughing before he began answering one at a time.

    ¡°The formations did indeede from me,¡± he admitted with a nod of his head. ¡°Since they came from me, obviously, I was also the one who was capable of making them. I can make a wide array of formations, but I need to keep in mind my current strength of Spiritual Energy. I am not thinking of joining a sect right now, I cannot let go of the freedom I have right now.¡±

    The more they spoke, the more Lin Huang¡¯s eyes started to glisten. He felt that he could gain a great strength for the Cerulean Starlight Sect.

    Lin Huang was not dumb. He had heard about Xue Wei¡¯s issue with the two other sects and knew that he was using his ability as a formation master to get close to the Cerulean Starlight Sect, but he did not care. A formation master was of great importance to any sect. Even in the center of the continent.

    They talked for a bit of time before Lin Huang headed back to the rest of the Cerulean Starlight Sect. He had to contact the sect elders to inform them about this ¡®Ye Xiao¡¯.

    As he left, new tes of food were ced on their tables by the waitress outside. Xue Wei sat down and began eating again.

    The other three could feel that he was in a good mood. He had aplished something he wanted.

    ¡°Are you going to tell the Crimson Sunshine Sect and the Argent Moon Sect about your formation master status?¡± Hei Gou asked curiously.

    ¡°They¡¯ll know eventually,¡± Xue Wei said, shrugging his shoulders. He did not care about them much.

    Right as he was speaking, the door suddenly opened and the head disciple of the Argent Moon Sect stood in their room with a perplexed expression on her face.

    ¡°Ye Xiao?¡± she asked with confusion. ¡°Why would you have a conversation with Lin Huang? The two of you are frompletely different worlds!¡±

    ¡°Miss, please don¡¯t be rude,¡± the one who spoke up was Bai Tianyi. The way he spoke was casual and in a slightly drawling manner. His eyes were half closed and he had his head propped up by his hands with his elbows on the table. He looked like a spoiled child that got everything he wanted.

    ¡°Right, who gave you permission to enter our dining room?¡± Wang Xiaoyun agreed.

    The head disciple from the Argent Moon Sect¡¯s face grew unsightly before she stared at Wang Xiaoyun¡¯s face with her mouth agape.

    ¡°You were disfigured when I saw you before,¡± the head disciple stated. Wang Xiaoyun casually shrugged her shoulders.

    ¡°I demand answers!¡± she eximed angrily, looking at Xue Wei as if her eyes were shooting fire.

    ¡°Listen, you and I had no bad blood, but you had to be so condescending towards both me and my friends,¡± Xue Wei finally spoke.

    ¡°You barge into my room and you demand answers. Have you considered your actions? Do you know how bad a light you put the Argent Moon Sect in?¡± he continued ruthlessly.

    ¡°We are esteemed guests of the Golden Chambers. It is not your ce to act so out of control. Be a good girl and act like one.¡±

    The head disciple fumed when she heard that, but she did not follow her impulse to start a fight.

    She remembered that he had been granted the King¡¯s Floor, and now they were in thergest dining room enjoying all the delicacies and wines. Even Manager Hu treated them well. So he was notpletely wrong with what he said.

    Unfortunately, she had barged into the room in a domineering fashion. She was backed by ten other experts of the Argent Moon Sect, and she knew that she would lose face if she stepped down.

    As a result, she stood indecisively for some time, but then she snorted and looked at Xue Wei with venomous eyes. She truly hated him without really knowing him.

    She was slightly jealous of Xue Wei. He had been treated with great favor by the Golden Chambers. He had been treated with friendliness by Lin Huang, who was of equal standing as herself, and he had friends that spoke up for him. In a way, he made her feel threatened.

    He was a simple independent cultivator. Why would he be treated so specially? She did not like it.

    But even after giving it a lot of thought, she could not figure it out. It would never cross her mind that he was a formation master. Her pride would not allow it.

    In the end, she shook her head and left the room. She had achieved her goal.

    She had seen Lin Huang step out from the room with a hard to hide the smile on his face. She had tried striking up a conversation with him, but he hadpletely ignored it and left right away.

    His act made the head disciple of the Argent Moon Sect curious. She had to know what had happened. Never had she expected that it was the infamous ¡®Ye Xiao¡¯ and his group inside.

 Chapter 194: Golden Dragon

    The experts from the Argent Moon Sect left the restaurant and returned to their chambers.

    Xue Wei and his friends finished their meal in peace and quickly forgot about the ones who had barged into their dining room.

    When they finished their meal, the four of them returned to the King¡¯s Floor where they split up into different rooms and started cultivating on their own.

    ¡°Ah, the lively city,¡± Bai Tianyi said happily, taking a deep breath. ¡°Today we killed quite a few experts, and I managed to snatch their soul power before it dissipated. It will take me some time to fully refine all of it into spiritual energy, but I should be able to get it done before the auction.¡±

    ¡°Not to mention the air around here.¡± Bai Tianyi was excited. ¡°There are dead people all around. People get killed every single day and leave their soul power in the air, making it so that every breath I take is filled with soul power. It¡¯s great!¡±

    Xue Wei smiled wryly when he heard what Bai Tianyi said, but he understood him.

    He too could feel that his spiritual energy was getting many times stronger from just breathing in. He was so close to a breakthrough that he believed a single night in this atmosphere would be enough.

    Xue Wei excused himself and headed to one of the bedrooms. He quickly found that Hei Gou, Bai Tianyi, and Wang Xiaoyun had already entered their rooms.

    The King¡¯s Floor had a lot of rooms. It was marvelous, and the bedrooms were massive, each with arge canopy bed at one end and a table plus chairs at the other end.

    There were windows that could be opened and disyed a magnificent sight of the city. The Three Legged Golden Crow Hotel was one of the tallest buildings in the city, which gave him a view of the entire skyline.

    Xue Wei opened a window and sat down on the windowsill. He could feel the cold evening air float in, and he felt the soul power that apanied it.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know how to cultivate the soul,¡± Xue Wei muttered to himself in dismay.

    ¡°I know how to enhance my soul by exhausting my spiritual energy and then restoring it. I know of how to increase it with the use of herbs and pills. I even know it¡¯s possible to absorb the souls of others, but I don¡¯t know how to cultivate my soul. My Azure Dragon Scripture focuses on Qi cultivation and cultivation of the body.¡±

    Xue Wei pondered on the issue for some time. He was close to a breakthrough, he could feel it, but he also knew that this breakthrough could be a challenge to him since he had no frame of reference to the way it was supposed to be done.

    ¡°That¡¯s it!¡± he said, deciding on what to do. ¡°I guess I don¡¯t have any other option than to make formation and use the spiritual energy that I have. Having more formations is never a bad thing.¡±

    Xue Wei was a High Sky Warrior ranked expert in terms of spiritual energy, just an iota away from breaking through into the Low Heavenly Warrior rank.

    If his spiritual energy reached the Heavenly Warrior stage, he would be capable of creating even more intricate runes for his formations, and he would be able to fight in an even more dominating fashion than before.

    Havinge to a conclusion, Xue Wei dragged the table and one of the chairs next to the window and sat down.

    He took out a paper from the storage ring alongside a calligraphy pen and ink.

    The runes were written down on the formation paper. They were incredibly difficult to write, but he did not give up.

    The formation he tried to make was a zing Light Formation, something that would release a zing inferno upon the target and engulf them in a me that was far from simple to deal with.

    If the opponent was beneath the Heavenly Warrior stage, they would burn to death without a doubt.

    Xue Wei spent the following hours trying to inscribe the formation. He had never made this formation before so he had problems with the runes. But after failing the first six times, Xue Wei had reached his goal of using up his spiritual energy.

    Thest of his attempts resulted in a fierce me erupting from the partly made formation on the paper. It was strong enough to cause the kind of damage where Xue Wei¡¯s clothes were filled with ck soot afterwards. Were it not for him quickly encapsting the explosion with his Qi, it would have been disastrous for the entire room.

    As he had used up all of his spiritual energy, and nearly sucked his soul dry, he decided to cultivate his qi while his spiritual energy gradually recovered.

    Xue Wei felt how at first the spiritual energy had begun slowly recovering in his mind, but it was like a wave gathering strength. Soon, the speed with which it was restoring itself became faster than the speed he was absorbing heaven-and-earth essence.

    He stopped trying to multitask and focused fully on the changes happening to his body. He could feel how the wavelike energy crashed into his soul, filling his soul with spiritual energy. And then suddenly he had reached his max capacity of spiritual energy.

    However, the wavelike energies did not diminish.

    The waves kept crashing into his mind. His soul swelled up and expanded, and small cracks started appearing on it.

    The waves kepting, and iparable pain soon followed.

    With every wave, he felt excruciating pain. His body trembled. He was incapable of doing anything but resist the pain.

    So far, every breakthrough he had experienced was more or less painless, so he went in wholly unprepared for the harsh lesson he was about to receive.

    The reason was easy to guess. He had umted a lot of spiritual energy and his soul was bursting.

    This was risky. Only now did Xue Wei realize the dangers that apanied his breakthrough.

    He had never expected that it was so painful to make a breakthrough without a cultivation method. But he knew that he could not give up now.

    His soul was slowly breaking apart at the seams, and he knew it was because of his crude method, but it was simrly true that he would grow much stronger if he made it through.

    Gritting his teeth, Xue Wei tried to hold on. Right as the world started to cken and his consciousness was slipping, a dragon roar pulsed through and out of his body.

    The dragon spirit in his dantian had roared loudly, preventing Xue Wei from entering a pain-induceda.

    Xue Wei¡¯s mind was suddenly very clear. He felt as if he had transcended the pain.

    The waves of spiritual energy had continued to wreak havoc in his mind, but Xue Wei could observe it without being implicated.

    Suddenly, his soul started to shake. The extreme amount of spiritual energy that was flooding his soul had caused cracks to appear all over it.

    The final wave of energy caused the soul to shatter. It copsed into a thousand pieces, after which the dragon spirit roared a second time.

    This time, a roar was not enough, so the spirit vanished from the dantian and appeared in the mind where the shattered soul was located.

    It consumed every single shattered piece of soul. It was as if the soul was nourishment for the spirit, but Xue Wei was horrified. This was his soul!

    After eating all the shards of the shattered soul, the dragon spirit started shining like a golden bell.

    Suddenly the body of the azure dragon spirit grew blurry before it split into two. However, where the original dragon spirit was azure in color, the second one was golden.

    They lookedpletely simr with the exception of their colors.

    When it was done, the azure dragon spirit nodded its head in approval before it shed and returned to the dantian.

    Xue Wei was stupefied. His soul had mutated. It now looked like a dragon. What changes would this mean for him?

    He tried using his spiritual energy and discovered that the range of his spiritual energy sense had increased by more than three times.

    He also found that his spiritual energy was much more vigorous than before. It was as if it had attained a trace of majesty and endlessness that had not been there before.

    Xue Wei was surprised. His soul was far stronger than before. It was as if he was awakening from a long sleep and the world was suddenly much clearer than it had been before.

    He felt much moreplete now than he was before. It was as if his mutated soul was morepatible with him.

    Sighing, he shook his head. He had never before heard about a mutated soul before. Since he did not understand it, he believed it would be a good idea to consult Bai Tianyi about it.

    ¡°Anyways, I need to get my hands on a spiritual energy cultivation method.¡± Xue Wei sighed and pondered for a bit.

    ¡°I should be able to get a standard cultivation technique from the Golden Chambers,¡± he muttered to himself, ¡°and then I can always change it when I get a better skill. Even a bad skill is better than no skill.¡±

    With that matter settled and knowing that more thought on the mutated soul would yield him nothing, Xue Wei opted to try his hand at the zing Light Formation again

    The brush flowed smoothly and he had no problems creating the formation.

    After confirming that he had no problem inscribing the formation, he sat down cross-legged and began to meditate.

    Xue Wei spent the rest of the night cultivating his qi. The night was calm but never silent. The city that spanned out in every direction out from the hotel was never quiet, and life bustled even in the darkest hour.

    Wang Xiaoyun was in deep thought. Her beautiful eyes were shing from time to time with unspoken andplicated emotions.

    Bai Tianyi sat by the open window, gazing down at the stream of people beneath him while greedily absorbing the soul power in the air.

    Hei Gou was also busy. He cultivated his body and Qi the entire night.

    The following days, the group of friends went to the shopping districts daily to buy necessities for their future travels. Before they knew it, the day of the auction had drawn close.

    Xue Wei and his friends all made their preparations. Soon, it was time to depart the Three Legged Crow Hotel.

    The entire city was in turmoil. Many experts were rushing to the auction house to stand in line and get a spot in the auction hall.

    As Xue Wei arrived, he was instantly recognized by some people from the Golden Chambers and thus a group of guards came to escort them.

    ¡°This way, please,¡± the leader of the guards said smilingly. ¡°We have reserved Sky Room Number One for your use. please let us escort you to the destination, my lords.¡±

    Many surrounding people heard this and their eyes almost popped out of their sockets. Sky Room Number One was without a doubt the most prestigious room in the entire auction house.

    Seeing the ones who were allowed to use this room was already a great honor.

 Chapter 195: Sky Room Number One

    Every person they passed looked curiously at their group as the guards guided them to their room.

    A lot of people were given a seat number and followed the stream into the hall to find their seats.

    A few special people would head up the stairs into the many boxes and balconies where they had a better overview of the auction hall and stage.

    The ground floor had seats next to one another in front of the stage itself.

    The second floor had open balconies which could be rented by anyone. Everyone on the ground floor could see who upied these balconies.

    The next floor had boxes. These were also balconies, but they were covered with ss that made it possible to see out but impossible to look inside.

    These boxes were not for rent. One could only get in if they had been specially invited by the Golden Chambers.

    Lastly, there was the final floor. This floor only had one room, Sky Room Number One. This room was for royalty or the most esteemed guests that were present in the auction.

    The royal members of the Skyward Empire were all invited, but they could only be given one of the box rooms this time. Sky Room Number One had been upied by a formation master.

    But no one knew who it was. Usually, it would be either the royals from Chengzi Kingdom or Skyward Empire, and sometimes both sides would share the room, but it was different now.

    When the royals from the two kingdoms appeared and saw that they were given a box room rather than the usual Sky Room Number One, they were stunned.

    ¡°Who has been given the room, then? Who is more important than royalty?¡± one of the princes asked, perplexed.

    He did not mean to sound arrogant, but he was truly astonished. While the prince from the Skyward Empire was shocked and perplexed, the expression on the face of the Chengzi Kingdom¡¯s prince was ugly.

    ¡°This is a disgrace,¡± he stated calmly. His face was ck, and his eyes disyed anything but happiness.

    The ones who had been tasked with receiving the princes and their entourages were sweating when they heard this. They could sense a threatening air roll off the prince¡¯s person.

    ¡°We apologize, your highness, but we are unable to do anything about it. This is a decision made by the highest authority of our Golden Crow City¡¯s Golden Chambers.¡± The servant was trembling as he spoke.

    ¡°Can you at least tell us who has been given the room? Who is considered more important than us?¡± The prince of Skyward Empire crossed his arms over his chest.

    ¡°I am sorry, the identity of this person is known to be a well-guarded secret. We cannot leak his name to others, not even your highnesses.¡± The more the servant spoke the more terrified he became.

    He knew that the one to take the me would be him, and the one to bear the brunt of the princes¡¯ rage was also him. But if he revealed anything, then the Golden Chambers would banish him.

    He was stuck between a rock and a hard ce.

    Right as they were having this conversation, Xue Wei and his friends were being guided up the stairs by a set of guards. Their group drew the attention of the princes and their entourages.

    ¡°You there, halt!¡± the prince from the Chengzi Kingdom called out. Xue Wei stopped in his tracks whilezily turning to look at the two groups.

    ¡°Do I know you?¡± he asked curiously. He was certain that he had never seen them before. He was using a mask, so his facial features were different from how they were before, and this was the only appearance that the people from the ck Iron Fortress knew.

    ¡°We would like to know where you are going,¡± The other prince said. Although he did not as such look down on Xue Wei and his friends, there was a distinct arrogance and disdain in his eyes.

    ¡°What is it to you?¡± Xue Wei noticed the disdain and felt slightly annoyed. He was minding his own business when they suddenly started questioning him.

    ¡°Outrageous!¡± one of theckeys yelled out. ¡°This is not how you treat royalty! When his highness is asking you questions, you answer!¡±

    Xue Wei raised a brow when he heard the word ¡®royalty¡¯, but he still did not care too much.

    The pride that was now bone deep made him feel indifferent towards royalty.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go,¡± Bai Tianyi was the one who spoke this time. He loathed those that used their background to intimidate others. Personal strength was all that mattered to him.

    Xue Wei nodded his head, grasped Wang Xiaoyun¡¯s hand, and started walking towards the stairs.

    Hei Gou snickered and shook his head before he casually followed behind. He too felt no reverence for a human prince.

    Theckey who had spoken out was livid. Were this not within the Golden Chambers, he would have long since started a fight.

    ¡°Let us follow!¡± The princes had never before seen anyone treat them like this. But they were both shrewd individuals able to cope with the stress of being royalty, so they rushed to the stairs instead of getting insulted to see if this young independent cultivator was the one who was in Sky Room Number One.

    Unfortunately, Xue Wei and his group had vanished by the time they reached the stairs. Xue Wei had guessed that they would be followed so he rushed up the stairs.

    There was arge stream of people heading upstairs, most of which were heading for the open balconies.

    Xue Wei and his friends reached the top floor. There were exquisite paintings and statues, as well as gold iid figures in the walls and carved out symbols on the door frame leading into the room.

    As they entered the room they looked around appraisingly.

    The room was equipped with chairs and tables. There was every kind of drink one could think of, and every kind of delicacy one could think of had been prepared for them.

    Xue Wei swept a grape off the table before he found a ce to sit down. He noticed that although the boxes were closed for those on the other floors, he was capable of seeing what was inside them.

    He saw that the princes had each entered their own with their entourages, and both were looking at the Sky Room with contemting expressions on their faces.

    The Argent Moon Sect was in another box nearby. The Cerulean Starlight Sect and the Crimson Sunshine Sect were also present in their own boxes.

    There were in total eight boxes, and all of them were upied, but Xue Wei did not know to whom thest three boxes belonged.

    While sweeping his eyes over the audience, Xue Wei patiently waited for the auction to start. He had a lot of gold coins and quite the stash of essence stones, but he had to be careful. If he disyed his wealth, he was likely to be the target of others, especially because of his high-quality essence stones.

    Soon, the light dimmed in the auction hall and the bustling atmosphere died out. The buzz died down and all eyes went towards the stage.

    A beautiful woman had appeared onstage. Her eyes were glistening, and she smiled gently to the entire room. It was clear that she enjoyed being in the limelight.

    Xue Wei nced at the woman but felt a tight squeeze on his waist. Looking to the side, he saw Wang Xiaoyun staring at him with big eyes and a sweet but chilling smile on her face.

    ¡°Is she pretty?¡± she asked in a sugar-coated voice.

    ¡°Compared to my Xiaoyun, not at all,¡± he said smugly. The woman who had been ready to throw a tantrum instantly quieted down with a flush on her face.

    ¡°Look at the auction, don¡¯t stare at me!¡± she eximed. Xue Wei chuckled and ced his hand on top of Wang Xiaoyun¡¯s and shifted his focus back to the stage.

    The woman had finished her introduction of the auction. Xue Wei had missed it, but he did not care about it too much; flirting with Wang Xiaoyun was many times more enjoyable for him.

    A group of servants rushed onto the stage with multiple items, which caused Xue Wei¡¯s eyes to light up. He curiously observed the items.

    There were herbs, pills, and spiritual fruits on the stage. The herbs and spiritual fruits were sold one at a time. The pills of lesser purity were sold in batches, whereas the high-purity ones were sold individually.

    ¡°We will start the sale with a heavenly herb, a Seven Star Nightflower that our Golden Chambers acquired through a trade of information. It is a mature Seven Star Nightflower.¡±

    Xue Wei andpany could not help but look at the flower with peculiar expressions. Was this not the flower they had found at Goat Mountain?

    ¡°I guess they needed some help from the Golden Chambers,¡± Bai Tianyi said after some time. ¡°They most likely exchanged the flower for some information,¡± Xue Wei agreed.

    ¡°But I never expected the Seven Star Nightflower to be the first item of the auction.¡± Xue Wei frowned. ¡°Is every thing they set up as amazing as that?¡±

    ¡°They might have started with an important item to keep the people entertained,¡± Wang Xiaoyun mused, and the others agreed. If every item was as outstanding as the Seven Star Nightflower, this auction would suit the center of the continent.

    ¡°So do you want the Seven Star Nightflower?¡± Wang Xiaoyun asked curiously. Xue Wei shook his head.

    ¡°I already gifted it away,¡± he said casually, ¡°I don¡¯t want to spend money on taking it back.¡±

    ¡°Is it even useful for you?¡± Hei Gou asked. Xue Wei nodded his head. ¡°The Seven Star Nightflower is very useful. It lets you raise your strength by a fullyer, but you can only consume it once in your lifetime. If you try to consume more than one you will get poisoned.¡±

    ¡°Is it not a waste to consume it while being in the Warrior rank, then?¡± Hei Gou asked with perplexion. Xue Wei nodded his head, ¡°It¡¯s better to consume it when you are a Knight or perhaps even a Saint.¡±

    ¡°Even if we were to buy it now, we should not consume it as we are,¡± Xue Wei said with a sigh. ¡°It is a very rare herb around here, but it is not as rare in the center of the continent so we ought toe across anotherter when we get there.¡±

    All this information came from the jade slip he had bought in the ck Iron Fortress.

    While they were talking, a fervent bidding war was ongoing below. The main characters were the experts from the three great sects, but although they bid fiercely, all of them were still holding back as they knew what the main attraction was.

    In the end, the Seven Star Nightflower was purchased by a person in the open balconies for ten thousand and three hundred gold coins.

    It was an actually reasonable price. Commoners would never earn this much money, but the path of cultivators was filled with trials, and spending your money was mandatory.

    Xue Wei was at present quite wealthy. Not only that, he also had the formations he listed for the auction to draw from, so if he fancied something he was nning on bidding on it. The only thing he did not want to bid on was the Seven Star Nightflower since it had once been his.

    The next item was a high purity Shimmering Cardamom Pill. Xue Wei already possessed one of these from when he won the tournament.

    But he still wanted more. Especially now that his team had grown to four.

 Chapter 196: Auction

    The Shimmering Cardamom Pill was cheaper than the Seven Star Nightflower. Although it was useful and of high purity, it did not guarantee a rise of oneyer when taken by a Sky Warrior.

    As a result, Xue Wei purchased the pill at a price of five thousand and seven hundred gold coins.

    Not many had dared bid when they heard that the bidder came from the Sky Room.

    The only opponent he had had was the prince from Chengzi Kingdom. But when the price exceeded five thousand, he yielded and allowed Xue Wei to take it.

    The next pill was a one-colored Rainbow Pill. Rainbow Pills were very special. They only existed in high purity and they had marvelous effects for the consumer, depending on who consumed it.

    Rainbow Pills were not refined from herbs but instead from energies and elemental essences.

    Rainbow Pills came in up to seven colors; the more colors, the more outstanding they were. But even a one-colored Rainbow Pill was enough to make Xue Wei widen his eyes and smile with glee.

    One could never consume too many Rainbow Pills. Since they were refined from elemental essences and various natural energies, they contained no impurities. At the same time, the pills did not diminish in effect from repeated consumption.

    A Rainbow Pill was a great treasure to Xue Wei and he did not hesitate when the bidding started.

    ¡°The opening bid is five low ranked essence stones. Remember that our Golden Chambers is willing to exchange one low grade essence stone for ten thousand gold coins.¡± The woman said. You could only buy normal items with gold. When it came to the more peculiar or the more outstanding ones, essence stones were the way to go.

    Xue Wei decided he wouldter exchange his gold coins into essence stones after the auction.

    ¡°Ten essence stones,¡± Xue Wei called out. That was the equivalent of a hundred thousand gold coins, and it was the very first bid.

    Instantly doubling the opening bid was enough to cause many to look at the Sky Room with curiosity. Who could be hiding within this room? Were they not the least bit interested in the formationster on, spending their gold on things so early?

    ¡°Eleven essence stones,¡± someone from the ground floor called out with a hesitating voice. Xue Wei did not hold back. ¡°Fifteen essence stones.¡±

    The man from the ground floor shook his head in dismay and refrained from further bidding.

    Xue Wei had expected a massive bidding war since this was a Rainbow Pill, but contrary to his expectations it cost him only fifteen essence stones.

    ¡°That is some good stuff!¡± Bai Tianyi said with a great smile on his face.

    ¡°Although it cannotpare to the Rainbow Pills of more colors, this is not a bad thing at all. You guys, let¡¯s draw lots to see who gets it!¡±

    Seeing Bai Tianyi¡¯s enthusiasm and impatience, Xue Weiughed out loud and shook his head. ¡°Later,¡± he replied dismissively.

    The next item up for sale was a Fierce Beast that had been subdued by a Diviner. The Diviner was even present to hand over the reigns to the next owner.

    Xue Wei had no interest in this item, but he noticed that the entire ground floor had gone insane, all bidding on top of one another.

    Finally, it was sold for a hundred thousand gold coins, much more than the beast back in Tiankong City had sold for. It was no wonder that the Diviners preferred to sell beasts closer to the center of the continent.

    After the beast, some more spiritual fruits were present, and Xue Wei won the bids on all of them. Afterwards, a lot of pills appeared and he did the same with those of high purity. He refused to buy middle or low purity pills.

    The entire auction house soon realized that the ones in the Sky Room were very eager to get their hands on herbs, pills, spiritual fruits and other resources that benefitted cultivation.

    Other than that, the items up for sale had no interest for them - or so they thought until the skills appeared.

    Xue Wei bought every martial art and spiritual art technique that was high rank and above.

    Among those were fist arts and sword arts. There was one movement technique that caused arge bidding war. Movement techniques were incredibly rare.

    Xue Wei did not care and paid a full two low ranked essence stones for it.

    By now, the entire auction house was swearing at the guests in the Sky Room.

    He was taking everything. The people from the three great sects and the two princes were starting to get worried. What if they were as adamant on getting the formations?

    The auction continued even though these prominent groups felt insulted and annoyed at the one-sided shopping spree by the Sky Room guests.

    It was so bad that a manager from the auction house rushed to talk with the director. They needed to know what to do.

    But to their greatest surprise, the director¡¯s tone of voice was quite harsh when he ordered them to not bother the guests in the Sky Room.

    In the end, they were an auction house and the highest bidder was the winner. The personnel of the auction house feared if Xue Wei andpany had enough money to pay up, but the director snorted when they voiced theirints.

    ¡°They are rich,¡± he said to the manager that voiced theint and ended the topic like that.

    Xue Wei was unaware of the ruckus he had caused. He did not know that the audience was tired of him, or that the personnel feared that he was a fraud, and he would haveughed it off if he did know.

    The items kepting, and soon a stone of some sort was presented on the stage.

    ¡°This is called the Moon Stone,¡± the auctioneer started. ¡°It looks like it could have been the fossil of an egg, but there is no life left in the egg itself.¡±

    ¡°It is mainly used as an ornament or a souvenir. But because it is as old as it is, we set the lowest price at one essence stone.¡±

    Xue Wei had originally not had any interest in the egg, but suddenly the Azure Dragon Spirit in his dantian started to feel restless.

    Xue Wei could not understand the spirit, but he could sense that something had agitated it greatly.

    It even left his body and started to coil around his arm and looked fixedly at the egg.

    ¡°Do you want it?¡± Xue Wei asked. The Azure Dragon Spirit nodded its head.

    ¡°Five essence stones,¡± Xue Wei called out, raising the price so much that many started grumbling again.

    But no one tried bidding over him. It was a useless stone. There was no reason to try and enrage some esteemed expert for the sake of a dead egg.

    Xue Wei was content and so was the Azure Dragon Spirit. It quickly returned to his dantian.

    Many interesting things had been up for sale on the auction, but a spiritual cultivation technique had not been one of them, and it seemed that it would not appear at the auction. It was time for the formations to be announced.

    ¡°Dear guests. I am sure you have all heard the rumors that have been circting thest two weeks,¡± the auctioneer began her introduction.

    ¡°We had originally nned to auction off a Rebirth Pill, but things changed. Instead, we were given the chance to sell formations! And not just one formation ¨C we have multiple formations up for sale today!¡±

    ¡°We will start with the one called the Spiritual Bomb.¡±

    ¡°The Spiritual Bomb is a beginner¡¯s formation, but do not look down on the power it has! The formation requires someone to pour energy into it to trigger the explosion. The explosion is terrifyingly strong and can injure Heavenly Warriors and will most likely kill anyone below that.¡±

    ¡°The Spiritual Bomb is a formation that can open the path to bing a formation master! If you manage to understand the runes and reinscribe them, you might be a formation master yourself!¡±

    ¡°We will start with the first of the fifteen Spiritual Bombs we have up for sale with a beginning bid at ten low grade essence stones.¡±

    Xue Wei was ecstatic. Spiritual Bombs were not extremely useful for him anymore, so to gain ten low grade essence stones for each would already give him a massive fortune, but this was only the beginning bid.

    ¡°Twelve low grade essence stones!¡±

    ¡°Thirteen!¡±

    ¡°Twenty low grade essence stones! This daddy is going to get the formation and be a formation master!¡±

    ¡°Twenty-one!¡±

    The bidding was ferocious. Every person in the hall wanted to win. The three great sects did not show any respect for each other. The two princes were also participating in the frenzied bidding. and only when the first formation had been sold at thirty-seven low grade essence stones did people realize the silence from the Sky Room.

    ¡°They ran out of money?¡± someone said in a gloating manner, but then an unknown person asked a question that made the entire auction house quieten down: ¡°You don¡¯t think it¡¯s the formation master that¡¯s in the Sky Room?¡±

    The Cerulean Starlight Sect had long since reached this conclusion, but the others were stunned silly.

    The two princes felt that only a formation master was capable of taking the Sky Room from them. However, if it was a formation master, and it was that independent cultivator from before, then had they not already insulted him and made a bad impression?

    ¡°Elder Qin, I have an idea.¡± A fierce light shed in the eyes of the prince from the Chengzi Kingdom.

    The elder looked at the prince and saw the crafty gleam in his eyes. ¡°It will be beneficial for our kingdom to have a formation master so I agree that we should invite him.¡±

    ¡°If he says no, we will just have to use a bit of force,¡± Elder Qin nodded his head.

    ¡°Seems like our cover is blown,¡± Hei Gou said casually after seeing how the people in the audience looked at them with reverence.

    ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter,¡± Bai Tianyi answered casually. ¡°They won¡¯t know what we look like and they won¡¯t be able to do anything to us. I know the Cerulean Starlight Sect will keep quiet, because that¡¯s most beneficial for them.¡±

    ¡°Maybe the princes will notice it,¡± Xue Wei said while shrugging his shoulders. ¡°But they should not want to make an enemy of a formation master.¡±

    The bidding became more and more intense. The three great sects had each bought one of the formations, and the princes had also acquired their own.

    After they secured one each, the price dropped fromte thirty essence stones to the beginning of thirty.

    Every participant in the auction wanted to get one for their sect and faction. There were quite a few spiritual bombs, but when they were no longer in supply, attention turned to another type of formations. The golems were up this time, and there were only two of them.

    The people from the three great sects and the two princes could not help but curse when they realized that it would be impossible for all of them to get one. It was time for the real bidding war to begin.

 Chapter 197: Revealed

    The rest of the auction hall was as silent as a grave when they saw the two small golems on the ground.

    The auctioneer summoned an expert from the Golden Chambers. ¡°This is a puppet type formation,¡± she exined. ¡°Formations like these make dead thingse to life as long as there is Qi to fuel them!¡±

    ¡°We will now demonstrate what it looks like when it is active!¡± she announced. The expert that had been summoned reached out and touched the formation engraved on the chest of the golem before he released a stream of Qi into it.

    The moment the Qi entered the formation, it lit up with silver light, and then the golem began moving around the stage.

    It was a very simple formation, so the golem had nobat ability. It was mainly used as a toy for children and for beginner formation masters to practice their skills.

    It really was not worth a lot, but for the three great sects which sought to study the art of formations, it was a great tool.

    However, there were only two up for auction. It was not enough for all the sects.

    Xue Wei pondered for some time before he took a note from the table and scribbled down some characters. He then rose from his seat and exited the Sky Room, stepping into the hallway where a few servants were waiting right outside.

    ¡°Bring this note to the Cerulean Starlight Sect please,¡± Xue Wei smiled. ¡°Tell them that Ye Xiao sent it.¡±

    The servant guessed that Xue Wei was an extremely important guest so he did not hesitate to do as he was told.

    From his words, it seemed as if the Cerulean Starlight Sect knew who he was, so it would not insult them to deliver the message.

    The servant rushed down to the floor below and knocked on the door. Rustling sounds were heard before one of the sect disciples opened the door just enough to see the servant.

    ¡°This is a message from Young Master Ye Xiao,¡± the servant said, presenting the message.

    ¡°Bring it here,¡± Lin Huang¡¯s voice resounded from inside the box. Soon after, he had the note in his hand.

    When he looked at the note, he felt puzzled. What did Ye Xiao have to say to him?

    When he scanned the message, a smile bloomed on his face. It was clearly great news for him.

    ¡°Time to mess with the other two factions, then,¡± he muttered to himself, just loudly enough for those near to hear him.

    ¡°What did it say?¡± Lin Yuelong asked curiously. Of everyone present, only Lin Yuelong had a close enough rtionship to be able to ask this question, but all the sect disciples had their ears peaked and were listening intently.

    ¡°We don¡¯t need to win the golem,¡± Lin Huang said with a smile on his face. ¡°As long as we let our elders know about the favor Ye Xiao is giving us, he¡¯ll give us an even higher ranked golem.¡±

    ¡°What does he gain from that?¡± Lin Yuelong asked with surprise. This came off as odd to him. Could they offer anything in return other than low grade essence stones?

    ¡°It is because he is an independent cultivator.¡± Lin Huang was more experienced than Lin Yuelong so he immediately knew what Xue Wei was thinking.

    ¡°He has enraged the Crimson Sunshine Sect. If they find out he is a formation master, they will definitely act against him,¡± he exined.

    ¡°They haven¡¯t taken action yet because he is currently not strong enough to cause them any headaches, but if he bes a famous formation master and decides to use his influence against them, then while total destruction is unlikely, their foundation is definitely going to be shaken.¡±

    ¡°Secondly, the Argent Moon Sect. There are no positive emotions between those two either, and he is a man, so they might team up with the Crimson Sunshine Sect against him.¡±

    ¡°In the end, he has enemies on both sides, and he is all alone. However, if he can get the backing of our Cerulean Starlight Sect, then he should be safe. The three sects usually give each other face, and he should also give the two other sects face if he is an honorary member of the Cerulean Starlight Sect.¡±

    ¡°So he is trying to find shelter?¡± Lin Yuelong asked excitedly. He had a good impression of Xue Wei and was more than eager to see him enter their sect, even if it was only as an honorary disciple.

    ¡°I am not sure,¡± Lin Huang sighed. ¡°But if I were him, that¡¯s how I¡¯d do it.¡±

    Lin Huang was not wrong. Xue Wei knew that he could not join the Cerulean Starlight Sect because he was traveling together with Hei Gou. He was not willing to jeopardize his friend¡¯s safety by entering a sect.

    But even if he could not join the Cerulean Starlight Sect, he could still forge a good rtionship with them.

    Having friends was never a bad thing, but Xue Wei was rather socially awkward, so he tended to make enemies instead of friends.

    Even if he was not a member of the Cerulean Starlight Sect, he could use their strength to intimidate the other two great sects.

    While Lin Huang andpany were busy with the message, the auction house was boiling with excitement. The golem was cute, and although it was not very useful, it was still a formation that gave one a lot of prestige simply from owning it.

    The Crimson Sunshine Sect and the Argent Moon Sect were the most aggressive ones in the bidding war for the golem. From time to time, Lin Huang threw out a bid to make it seem as if he was interested and to, of course, also annoy the other factions.

    The bids grew rapidly, but they slowed downter on as each party came closer and closer to their upper limits.

    Soon the golem¡¯s price had risen to forty-nine low grade essence stones. The sects had now reached the limits of what they were willing to pay. Actually, they were slightly past that, but even still, neither the Crimson Sunshine Sect nor the Argent Moon Sect was willing to give up the golem. The price was now being raised one essence stone a time.

    ¡°Fifty-three low grade essence stones!¡± the head disciple of the Argent Moon Sect said with a strain in her voice.

    The head disciple of the Crimson Sunshine Sect grit his teeth, but he stayed his hand. There was another golem left, so he would give his all to obtain that one, but he feared that his sect might not be able to win it.

    The two princes were also hesitating. They knew better than to challenge the three great sects; because, although they were princes, their influence was much worse than the head disciple of a major sect, even if it was only a branch.

    The three great sects spanned the entire continent, whereas their kingdoms and empires did not.

    The second golem auctionmenced, and the Crimson Sunshine Sect¡¯s party was eager to show their willingness to buy it. As soon as the opening bid was announced, their head disciple called out, ¡°fifty low grade essence stones.¡±

    His starting bid was very high to intimidate the Cerulean Starlight Sect and show them that they were serious about winning this one. To their great surprise, no bid came after theirs The Cerulean Starlight Sect remained silent, as did the two princes. The item that normally would have been fiercely fought over was easily obtained by the Crimson Sunshine Sect.

    ¡°The final five formations are Paralyzing Formations,¡± the auctioneer exined with a smile on her face, but she was in truth grumbling in her mind.

    She feared that the formations were not fetching a high enough price to make the seller happy, but little did she know that Xue Wei was ecstatic at how many essence stones he would be getting already.

    The Paralyzing Formations ended up, as everyone expected, in the hands of the three great sects and the two princes.

    Each one of them fetched around forty low grade essence stones.

    In total, Xue Wei had gained around eight hundred and twenty low grade essence stones from selling the formations. He was pleased with the results. It meant that he and his friends could freely spend essence stones on their cultivation now.

    ¡°Everyone, please make your way out of the auction hall,¡± the woman instructed everyone from the stage. ¡°If you have made any purchases, please make your way backstage where you can pay and obtain your items.¡±

    Having said this, she bowed to the audience before she made her way out of the auction hall herself.

    ¡°Well then, let¡¯s head backstage,¡± Xue Wei grinned. He had purchased a variety of items this time, but what made him most excited was the Rainbow Pill he had won.

    As he and the other three exited the Sky Room, a servant who was standing outside bowed deeply towards them.

    ¡°Young lord, many are waiting to see the appearance of the guest in this room. Therefore, if you want to avoid them, you can take the servant staircase, or you can head down the main staircase and engage them in idle conversation. Please decide, and then this lowly one will lead you backstage.¡±

    Xue Wei contemted for a few moments. Both ideas had merits and demerits. ¡°Let¡¯s just face them,¡± Bai Tianyi finally said with a sigh. Xue Wei looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

    ¡°Well, I cannot wait to see the expression on the faces of the Argent Moon Sect¡¯s people. Their condescendence really rubs me the wrong way.¡± Bai Tianyi snickered as he imagined the head disciple¡¯s expression.

    Xue Wei could not help but smile and shook his head. ¡°Sure, if that¡¯s what you want,¡± he said while looking at the servant. ¡°Thank you for your kind suggestion, but it seems that we will face the wrath of the many experts downstairs.¡±

    The servant was puzzled, but he was also happy to be treated with such friendliness by a formation master.

    So the group started moving down the stairs. When they reached the floor below, they saw that all the members of the three great sects, the princes, and various other cultivators were waiting to see who he was.

    Everyone had different reactions when they saw Xue Wei and his friends. Lin Huang and his friends had no change in their facial expressions whatsoever, and it was clear that they were familiar already, but everyone else was inplete disbelief.

    Especially the princes. They looked like someone who had eaten a fly. They had already acted arrogantly in front of this young man, but now he proved to be an important figure.

    The expression on the faces of the people from the Crimson Sunshine Sect and the Argent Moon Sect was pure and utter disbelief.

    Was this young man really the formation master?

    While the rest were stunned, Lin Huang choose this time to smile and step forward. ¡°Brother Ye Xiao! It is such an honor to see you here. Why don¡¯t we go backstage together? It seems you have purchased quite a few items today.¡±

    Xue Wei smiled when he heard Lin Huang. He nodded his head, ¡°If brother Lin Huang is inviting me, then I will dly follow,¡± he replied. Before the others had time to react, the two groups were already leaving.

    The head disciple of the Argent Moon Sect was still in utter shock. She could not wrap her head around the fact that the man she had looked down upon was actually a formation master! Had she not justpletely embarrassed herself in front of them?

    The Crimson Sunshine Sect remained silent, but a sh of malice shone in the head disciple¡¯s eyes.

 Chapter 198: Purple Star Technique

    The two princes exchanged a crafty and scheming look. It was clear that they could read each other¡¯s expressions.

    Xue Wei andpany did not hesitate as they left the auction hall with Lin Huang.

    ¡°Oh right.¡± Xue Wei smiled and waved his hand. A golem appeared in front of him. He handed it over to Lin Huang, who was staring at it with shining eyes.

    The golem was the same size as the ones they had put up for auction, but one could see that there were even more intricate runes inscribed into it upon closer inspection.

    ¡°This golem is like the puppet golem that was sold at the auction, but it can cast a small fireball. It is not very useful in a fight, but it can be used for house chores like lighting a candle or starting a fire for cooking.¡±

    Although it did not sound like an extremely useful item, it was a lot more difficult to make such a golem.

    Lin Huang was all smiles when he saw the golem, and he gracefully epted it. ¡°I promise to deliver this news to the elders of the Cerulean Starlight Sect,¡± he said with a nod.

    Xue Wei nodded back. This was what he had wanted. He wanted to get into contact with the Cerulean Starlight Sect and get on friendly terms with them at the same time.

    ¡°I will purchase amunication bracelet and give you the frequency,¡± Xue Wei smiled. ¡°You can hand it over to your elders. They can contact me through it.¡±

    Lin Huang nodded his head like a chicken pecking grains. He was happy to have made friends with Xue Wei, and all of this was thanks to his cousin.

    The others did not notice what had transpired between Lin Huang and Xue Wei, but the servant that led them clearly heard it. Witnessing such a scene shook his heart violently.

    To give out a formation like this was truly extravagant! He had just seen the golems sell for fifty low grade essence stones, but this one would have gone for at least a hundred with the extra feature that allowed the golem to create a small fire.

    They soon reached the back of the stage. Here, Xue Wei and the others entered arge hallway leading deeper into the building.

    There were doors on both sides of the hallway into individual rooms, and the customers were greeted by a servant that then led them into their own room.

    Lin Huang and the members of the Cerulean Starlight Sect went to their own room, while Xue Wei and his friends entered another.

    The room they were shown was rather small and barren. There were few things adorning the walls, but those ornaments were without question of high quality.

    They waited for around ten minutes before the auctioneer from earlier stepped into the room. She carried a storage ring that she ced on the table soon after her entrance.

    ¡°We have deducted the cost of the items you have won in the auction from your earnings after selling the formations. The items and the rest of the earnings are in this ring. Is there anything else I can help you with?¡± she asked gently. Normally, she would have flirted with such an esteemed guest, but she decided to keep her distance after seeing the re from Wang Xiaoyun.

    ¡°There is something you can help me with,¡± Xue Wei smiled brilliantly while picking up the storage stone. He dripped a drop of his blood on it and then inspected it to ensure everything was there.

    ¡°What could that be?¡± she queried in a soft-spoken way. Xue Wei hesitated a moment before answering.

    ¡°I need a spiritual energy cultivation technique. I don¡¯t mind what kind of technique it is, but, honestly, anything is better than what I have right now.¡±

    The woman was surprised. He was a formation master! This was a job that required spiritual energy, and thus one would expect that he had a technique that was ranked rather highly.

    But from what he said, this was not the case.

    ¡°We might have some,¡± the woman said hesitatingly. She would do anything to please him. He had brought immense value to their auction house.

    Excusing herself, the woman walked to the director¡¯s office. She knew that only he could authorize the sale of what Xue Wei needed.

    Xue Wei waited patiently. After an hour and a half, the woman returned to the room with a smile on her face and a small booklet in her hands.

    ¡°We have one,¡± she smiled while nodding her head. ¡°We have a very powerful technique. The most powerful technique of the nearby kingdoms and empires, even. It is only bested by techniques from the center of the continent.¡±

    ¡°Its name is the Purple Star Technique. It is best trained at sunrise and sunset. Purple cloudse from the east and brings with them auspicious times.¡± The woman read out loud the text on the front of the booklet in her hands.

    ¡°This book is not cheap. It costs a full five hundred low grade essence stones,¡± she said. Xue Wei nodded his head. ¡°Do you take gold instead of essence stones?¡± he asked. He had more than eight hundred thousand gold coins, so spending gold was better than spending essence stones.

    ¡°We do,¡± the woman nodded her head. ¡°That is five hundred thousand gold coins, though,¡± she said with a sweet smile. But Xue Wei just handed over a storage ring containing five hundred thousand gold coins.

    The woman raised an eyebrow in surprise, but she quickly epted the gold coins and handed the Purple Star Technique to Xue Wei.

    He epted it without wasting any time. Then they engaged in some idle talk, and afterwards Xue Wei and hispanions left the auction house.

    Because it had taken so long, all the other guests had left the auction house. The female auctioneer arranged a servant to guide them out of the auction house and back to their hotel.

    Xue Wei sensed that many people were stealthy waiting for them to exit the auction house, obviously intent on tracking his whereabouts.

    There were many experts, but they were not so strong that he could not assess their strength. It seemed that the majority were Heavenly Warriors.

    Xue Wei grumbled slightly. ¡°It seems that we need to be careful when we leave town,¡± he said, sighing. He was used to being a wanted man, but he had never expected it to be for such a reason.

    Usually, he was being hunted because of bad blood; now they wanted to capture him and exploit his powers as a formation master.

    This was a new but slightly thrilling experience. Xue Wei was not frightened. This was cemented by the fact that he had a newfound pride and certainty in himself after the hatching of his dragon spirit.

    He currently had two dragon spirits in his body, one azure and one golden. The Azure Dragon was bigger than the Golden Dragon, and it seemed to have more knowledge and self-awareness.

    The golden dragon waspletely mindless. It did not move about much and it never reacted unless Xue Wei was using his spiritual energy.

    The azure dragon was always moving about and trying to contact Xue Wei one way or another. It was always eyeing his treasures with greed and seemed to know that acquiring wealth was a difficult matter for its host.

    Xue Wei had already found that the azure dragon was extremely strong and was able to unleash power above his rank, but he had never tested it thoroughly.

    Now a situation seemed to have presented itself and Xue Wei snickered. It was time to show off his power.

    But the ones who were chasing him never left the shadows. They did not make even the slightest movement.

    Xue Wei was puzzled, but he just shook his head in disappointment. Still, they returned to the hotel where they once more met up with Lin Huang.

    Lin Huang handed him a long-distancemunication bracelet. This was a very rare treasure and it would usually be painful for someone to hand it out, but Lin Huang did not even blink.

    He had benefited greatly from his friendship with Xue Wei, and now it was time for him to repay some of it.

    Xue Wei epted the bracelet and found the frequency, which he passed on to Lin Huang. The head disciple was excited and instantly ryed the message to the elders in his sect.

    ¡°Young hero Ye,¡± a voice was transmitted from the bracelet. Xue Wei calmly listened to it. ¡°I am the grand elder of the Skyward Empire¡¯s branch of the Cerulean Starlight Sect.¡±

    ¡°It is a pleasure to talk to you,¡± Xue Wei answered with a smile.

    ¡°I heard about your talents. Perhaps you would be able to help us at the Cerulean Starlight Sect. I will ry a message to little Lin Huang about delivering a token of authenticity to you. This token disys that you are a member of our sect.¡±

    ¡°I will tell the entire sect about you, so no matter what kingdom or empire you are in, you can always seek out refuge in our bases.¡±

    ¡°This young one thanks you for your support and friendliness!¡± Xue Wei truly meant what he said. He was very content with how things were going.

    ¡°If you want to thank me, hand over some more formations,¡± the old man chuckled. Xue Wei shrugged his shoulders. ¡°I have quite a few Spiritual Energy Bombs. I can hand you a few of those,¡± he replied casually.

    The Spiritual Bombs were useless to him and he had quite a few of them. They could be used as an interruption or a way to confuse the enemy, but that was about it.

    Handing a handful over to the Cerulean Starlight Sect was not an issue.

    Both Lin Huang and the great elder were stunned, but then a smile appeared on both of their faces. Even if the formations were simple, the more they could get the better it was.

    Xue Wei just shrugged and handed over five Spiritual Energy Bombs. Seeing five formations being handed over, Lin Huang¡¯s hands trembled. He felt petrified.

    Were formations something you¡¯d give out just like that? However, to Xue Wei, it was a newly acquired skill and he had already made a stack of things that were useless, so to use it to curry favor was beneficial.

    Lin Huang hurried to give him a token of authenticity. This token was special and only elders and the head disciple would carry them around.

    Only the grand elder could hand out such a token.

    The grand elder of the Skyward Empire branch had the privileged to enter the main sect in the center of the continent, but he had decided to stay behind. He would rather be the head of a chicken than the tail of a dragon.

    Still, his strength and authority were respected. The other branches had to ept the token of authenticity.

    Having exchanged the items, the members of the Cerulean Starlight Sect rushed to leave the Golden Crow City. They wanted to hurry back to their sect as they carried many treasures.

    ¡°Are we also going to leave now?¡± Wang Xiaoyun asked curiously. Xue Wei shook his head, ¡°I am going to learn the Purple Star Technique first. Then we will head out.¡± The others returned to their own rooms.

    Having said this, Xue Wei sat down in his room and began examining the Purple Star Technique.

    The technique was quite simple. It worked simrly to the Azure Dragon Scripture, but rather than refine heaven-and- essence, it absorbed soul power.

    The time the energy was the purest was during the morning when the sky was purple.

    He absorbed the soul energy as described in the technique. He felt a vigorous energy rushing into his mind, and the golden dragon suddenly started moving.

    It coiled around the energy and continued to embrace it until it slowly merged into the dragon itself.

    Xue Wei let out a breath of foul air and his eyes were sparkling when he opened them. This was much better for his cultivation of spiritual energy.

 Chapter 199: Invitation

    After spending the night and morning cultivating his spiritual energy, Xue Wei gathered his friends and looked at them with a big smile.

    He was in an amazing mood. Never before had he experienced such a rise in mental vigor.

    He felt more powerful than normal; his body was brimming with energy and his mind was clearer than ever before.

    ¡°So, looks like there is nothing left to do here in Golden Crow city,¡± he started. ¡°We will probably be followed by those jealous of my abilities and those wanting to use us for their own nefarious purposes. But none of them should be stronger than Heavenly Warriors so we should be able to shake them off.¡±

    ¡°Can I kill them?¡± Hei Gou asked. Xue Wei shook his head. ¡°We should not kill humans while pretending to be independent cultivators.¡±

    ¡°But we can injure them?¡± he pressed on. Xue Wei smiled while nodding his head. ¡°Sure,¡± he said casually. ¡°We are allowed to act in self-defence.¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s get a properst meal before we hit the road again,¡± Bai Tianyi said with a grin. The others readily agreed when they recalled the kind of food they would be eating while on the road.

    Manager Hu was as friendly and as eager to please them as ever.

    He quickly made it so that they were being led to one of the private dining rooms.

    A group of Heavenly Warriors were constantly keeping tabs on them, and they did not even try to hide it.

    Xue Weipletely ignored them. After finishing their breakfast, the group said their farewells to Manager Hu before casually leaving the hotel for a walk through the city.

    They werepletely carefree as they made their way through the market district, looking for useful items, but sadly nothing caught their eye.

    Finally, as the sun was setting, the group made it to the city gates.

    They could have easily stayed for another day, but they were eager to continue their journey.

    The people hot on their trail also heaved a heavy sigh of relief when they saw that they were heading out of the city. They had been bored to death from having followed them around the entire day.

    After exiting the city, the Heavenly Warriors followed closely behind. They made their move only after around a hundred kilometers away from the city.

    Xue Wei had sensed around ten experts initially, but it seemed that more had joined since then. Now, a full twenty-five experts surrounded them.

    It was obvious who held the upper hand, but Xue Wei still smiled despite that.

    ¡°Halt!¡± one of the experts called out, stepping out from their encirclement around the four to get slightly closer to Xue Wei.

    ¡°We were sent by the royal families of the Chengzi Kingdom and the Skyward Empire.¡±

    ¡°Our aim today is not to hurt any of you but to invite you toe back with us to visit our master. He would very much like to see your magnificent skill in the art of formations on disy.¡±

    Although his words sounded polite, the man who spoke was anything but. His demeanor made it clear that he looked down on Xue Wei and the others as if they had no choice in the matter.

    Such behavior made Xue Wei¡¯s lips curl upwards in amusement. Did he really think that he could look down on them just because they had the advantage in numbers?

    Before they left the hotel, Xue Wei had provided his team with formations. He had given each of them some Spiritual Bombs to confuse, a Paralyzing Formation to stall for time, and some zing Light Formations.

    Although the zing Light Formation could not kill those at the Heavenly Warrior stage, it could stall them for a good amount of time and could shave off at least ayer of skin.

    He had ensured that each of his teammates had ten zing Light Formations.

    ¡°I am honored that the princes have taken a liking to my skills, but I am busy. I¡¯m heading to the center of the continent to reunite with a few important people,¡± Xue Wei said with a smile on his face.

    Right now, his aim was to meet Lan and learn more about his uncle. He had a feeling that Lan would be able to give him some answers. It was clear that his uncle would be reluctant to answer any questions, and he had no idea where to look for him to boot.

    The faces of the surrounding people turned menacing and their eyes glistened with malice when Xue Wei said this.

    ¡°Since you decline our polite invitation, don¡¯t me us for being ruthless! Your friends are not allowed to leave either! All of you will follow us! That prettydy over there will be a concubine for the princes and your other two friends will be used as hostages to keep you ving away for the princes; therefore, isn¡¯t it better toe willingly?¡±

    Xue Wei snickered, but a storm was brewing in his eyes. ¡°You think you can take my wife and make her the concubine of a prince?¡± he said mockingly, causing them to be shocked. But grins spread on their faces right after.

    ¡°Follow our orders and your wife won¡¯t be hurt, but if you do not, don¡¯t expect her to look beautiful after we are done with her!¡±

    Xue Wei frowned and his mood got worse and worse.

    ¡°Guys, I just changed my mind,¡± Xue Wei said in a bone-chillingly cold voice. ¡°Leave no one alive!¡±

    The experts sent by the two princes began roaring withughter. It was as if they had heard the best joke ever.

    ¡°Grab them all!¡± the one who had spoken up until now called out as well. Now, it was impossible to avoid a battle.

    The wind billowed across the in. Their clothes and hair whipped in the wind while they waited for someone to make the first move. It was the silence before the storm.

    Qi dragons roared throughout Xue Wei¡¯s body, ready to be unleashed. The others also got ready to attack. Xue Wei, Hei Gou, Wang Xiaoyun, and Bai Tianyi all stood back to back.

    They were faced with enemies from all sides. Even Xue Wei felt some pressure. He flipped his hand and a zing Light Formation appeared.

    The first enemy reached him, which was right in time for the activation of the formation in his hand, which he threw out.

    A whirlpool of me descended from the paper like a sh of lightning. The temperature in the surrounding area rose drastically, and the me from the formation coiled around like a dragon looking for itsir.

    The advancing expert snorted. Xue Wei was merely a Sky Warrior. There was no way this weakling could wound a mighty Heavenly Warrior! Even if he was a formation master, all his formations were at the beginner level and they would hardly be enough to make up the gap

    Taking these things into consideration, the Heavenly Warriors did not hesitate for a second and charged straight into the whirlpools of fire.

    Xue Wei was not the only one who used the zing Light Formation. All four of them had used one at the same time, which turned the entire area into a sea of mes.

    Bai Tianyi was the most extreme one. He used a full three formations simultaneously, summoning three fiery infernos in one go.

    Ten of the twenty-five experts charged right into the ming tornadoes, but as soon as they rushed into them, screams of agony erupted from inside.

    The zing Light Formation alone did not have the power to kill experts of their calibre, but it was enough to make them writhe in agony.

    The remaining fifteen experts shuddered when they heard the screams. It seemed that they could not ignore these formations.

    But even if ten of them had been enveloped in the formations, there were still fifteen who were now alert and dared not rush head-first into them.

    Xue Wei used the cover of the mes to dash forward.

    Forbidden Rush!

    Shattering Mountain Palm!

    A palm descended down on one of the closest experts. But this guy was a Heavenly Warrior and Xue Wei was only a Sky Warrior.

    Although he was swift while using Forbidden Rush, Xue Wei was not fast enough tond an attack.

    Clicking his tongue, he retreated back from where he came, but the enemies advanced towards him on the other hand. He was their target, so they would not let him move around as he pleased.

    Qi of all colors shed like lightning in the air as countless attacks rained down on Xue Wei. Palm strikes, spear thrusts, sword shes, everything was raining down on him. It was clear that they did not mind beating him half to death.

    The other three had it easier. The majority of the experts were focused on Xue Wei, who was pushing Forbidden Rush to the limits to avoid the barrage of attacks. The other three fought against five other opponents while he was dealing with the rest.

    Xue Wei shed all over the ce. For the first time, a truly thrilling battle hade. While unaware of it, a sinister smile had appeared on his lips.

    Arcane Fist!

    Kick of the Forgotten Kings!

    With each evasion, Xue Wei threw out one attack after the other. Some were parried or blocked, while othersnded on their targets, throwing them back a few steps.

    Wounds started to appear on Xue Wei¡¯s body. His armor could not fully mitigate the damage done to him, and his clothes underneath were turning into rags from the amazing abilities these experts were disying.

    They were definitely vassals of the royal family; their abilities were all top-notch. ¡°This isn¡¯t really working,¡± Xue Wei muttered to himself.

    He had thought that he could handle one person at a time while avoiding the others, but it was not doable in the end. The ten experts chasing him knew each other well and could coordinate their attacks well enough to block anything Xue Wei tried.

    Xue Wei decided to change his ns. He could not push Forbidden Rush any further, but then a thought sprang to mind.

    Suddenly, his legs, which were covered by the robe, started to transform into those of a dragon.

    No one could see the change in his appearance, but his speed reached apletely new height. Now, he was moving so fast that the Heavenly Warriors were deeply shocked.

    Movement techniques were extremely rare, so these Heavenly Warriors did not possess one. As a result, Xue Wei held the upper hand when it came to speed because of his transformation.

    Suddenly, the Azure Dragon Spirit flew out of his body, startling both his pursuers and even Xue Wei himself.

    ¡°Watch out, he has a Fierce Beast!¡± someone yelled out. But the Azure Dragon Spirit had vanished as soon as it had appeared, making Xue Wei¡¯s lips twitch in amusement. What exactly was the point of the spirit¡¯s action?

    Although it seemed a little pointless, Xue Wei saw apprehension in the eyes of the experts, which made him snicker. Now was his time!

    He rushed forward, his hand suddenly transforming into a dragon w.

    Shattering Mountain Palm!

    The force behind the attack was many times stronger than thest attack..

    Xue Wei aimed right at the heart of a secondyer Heavenly Warrior-ranked expert.

    He elerated by stomping hard on the ground, thrusting the palm attack forth with both the momentum and his raw strength.

    A ¡®katcha¡¯ sound echoed out as the palmnded on the chest of the expert. Blood sprayed from the mouth of the expert and his eyes were filled with disbelief as he lost his life.

    Just as he died, the golden dragon awakened. It flew out of Xue Wei¡¯s forehead and hovered above the dead expert for a few moments before retreating back into his mind. It was clear that it had consumed the expert¡¯s soul and turned it into soul power that it could digest and refine into spiritual energy.

 Chapter 200: Sovereign Beast

    The other people who were chasing Xue Wei stopped dead in their tracks and looked at the corpse on the ground.

    They had never expected that Xue Wei would erupt with such power and execute one of their members so cleanly.

    But there were still nine experts on his trail, and it would not take too long before the ten others caught inside the zing Light Formations broke out.

    ¡°Stop holding back!¡± Xue Wei yelled out. His entire body started transforming into that of a dragon.

    He was no longer a dragonkin but a real dragon that soared through the heavens. He had grown to a size so massive that the humans in front of him looked like ants.

    The dragon-form Xue Wei lifted his long, beastly head and let out a deafening roar that shook the very sky.

    Hei Gou felt his blood run cold, and the roar seemed to call out to him, beckoning him. It was a rallying power that beckoned every Fierce Beast in the area. All of them, even the weakest, charged with frenzy toward Xue Wei. Their screams were like a battle cry, and their eyes glistened with veneration and madness.

    The experts from the royal pce were frightened out of their minds. And yet while they were fearful, they could not hide the greed that appeared in the depths of their eyes.

    ¡°He is a Primordial Beast!¡± one of them eximed. ¡°Kill him and we shall have done a great favor to humanity! Kill him and we can sell his corpse for a fortune! He is a dragon type of beast ¨C they are the rarest!¡±

    Hei Gou did not hold back either. The blood in his body was boiling with excitement. He could not even understand the beckoning he had received, but it had actually intoxicated him.

    Hei Gou¡¯s figure morphed and expanded, turning into a massive winged dog. Although he was massive, he was dwarfed by Xue Wei in his dragon shape.

    Seeing what they thought were two Primordial Beasts appearing in front of them, these experts were both excited and worried. Could they defeat them?

    The fight exploded. Xue Wei used his massive body and overwhelming and seemingly endless stores of Qi to chain down ten Heavenly Warriors by himself.

    Despite giving off an indomitable air and injuring multiple Heavenly Warriors, Xue Wei¡¯s draconic body was being riddled with wounds. Blood flowed from the numerous broken scales on hisrge body.

    The consequences of the blood loss kicked in at some point, causing him to feel light headed, but he kept wing, biting, and tearing anyone near him to pieces.

    The fighting scene was iparably chaotic. Random fierce beasts had appeared from the nearby area, but they were not the only ones ¨C human cultivators were also attracted to the sound of the fighting.

    When the humans saw that the battle was between beasts and humans, they all threw their caution to the wind and joined the fray.

    Xue Wei was exhausted, but he noticed that maintaining his form as an azure dragon did not cost him any energy. Rather, it was as if he was as familiar with the dragon shape as he was with his human shape.

    But he was, after all, fundamentally a Sky Warrior cultivator. Although he fought back relentlessly and used his overwhelming physical strength to his advantage, he was wounded in each exchange.

    Hei Gou¡¯s physical strength was at the Heavenly Warrior level so he was not at a big disadvantage, but he too had suffered some grievous wounds over the course of the fight.

    Blood flowed down his ck fur, but it was difficult to see due to the color of his fur.

    The one who was doing the best was Wang Xiaoyun. She had refused to kill any of their enemies, as she did not want to have human blood on her hands.

    Bai Tianyi was fighting elegantly. It looked like he was dancing from enemy to enemy, fluttering about like a blur of white and gold.

    Despite outwardly bearing the appearance of a child, he was able to send out unceasing waves of sword energy unbing his age.

    He headed straight for their weaknesses, killing people as though he were chopping weeds. In fact, he was the one who had the easiest time taking down their enemies.

    After consuming the soul power of the Moon Prince, his strength had risen to the Heavenly Warrior realm, and it showed when he fought. He also had the advantage of being small and agile, so none of the enemies couldnd a hit on him.

    The Fierce Beasts fought withplete, mindless disregard for their own lives. Many of them had already sumbed to death, but some of the stronger ones continued to fight recklessly.

    Of the original twenty-five members of the royal families, only seven remained.

    Of the many experts that had appeared, three were still standing.

    Of the fierce beasts, a hundred had appeared and eleven were still alive.

    Xue Wei was nearing his limits. The world started to turn dark around him. He knew that he was grasping at straws. When he looked around him, he saw that Hei Gou was in a perilous situation, and even Bai Tianyi was sweating while his clothes had begun being marred with cuts and holes.

    Heart of Fire!

    Xue Wei did not hesitate and used the Heart of Fire. This was an ability that he had learned from the Heritage Ring, ast-resort skill that he had never used before.

    The Heart of Fire was a profound martial art technique. It allowed the user to burn one drop of heart-blood essence.

    In return for burning the blood of the heart, it raised the user¡¯s strength by three times for thirty breaths of time. Not too much but not too little either.

    However, this was a drop of heart-blood essence. It was not like the ordinary blood essence, and the loss of a single drop of it would result in Xue Wei being extremely fatigued and injured once it ends.

    Restoring the heart-blood essence was not easy. It required outside factors like herbs, pills or spirit fruits.

    But Xue Wei could not consider the consequences right now.

    He burned his heart-blood essence without hesitation. His eyes turned bloodshot, and his strength climbed rapidly. A bloody mist surrounded his body before he lunged at the closest enemy.

    The roar that escaped his mouth was so terrifying that some of the experts tried to flee, but Bai Tianyi and Hei Gou picked off the escaping experts that had turned their backs to them. With each swipe of a paw and each wave of sword energy, the experts copsed to the ground.

    Xue Wei held down the rest of them. Although they fought back, the blood mist blocked the majority of their attacks. He was overwhelmingly powerful now that he had burned a drop of heart-blood essence. No one stood a chance against him, but the price he had to pay was naturally equally frightening.

    He shed about like an azure lightning bolt. Everywhere he passed, he brought death and carnage.

    None of their enemies survived. In twenty-eight breaths, they had killed every single person from the delegation sent by the two princes. Xue Wei stopped in ce, gasping for air as he returned to his human shape.

    His clothes werepletely destroyed. They hung as rags on his body, and his own bloodbined with the blood of his enemies had sept into every single piece of cloth.

    Wounds covered every part of his body, and he seemedpletely exhausted. The blood mist around him was almost translucent from how much it had diminished.

    ¡°Guys, quickly grab the spoils of war so we can get out of here,¡± Xue Wei said weakly with a hoarse voice. He quickly did as he told the others to do, holding up both hands. The storage rings on the fingers of the dead experts were forcefully pulled off and drawn toward Xue Wei by a suction force, eventuallynding in his palm. As soon as they came close enough, they vanished, all entering Xue Wei¡¯s own storage ring. Now was not the time to check what they had acquired.

    Xue Wei staggered backward. He was so exhausted he could barely move his fingers. When Wang Xiaoyun saw this, she rushed to his side and ced an arm around him. She tried to support him, but something made her blood freeze over the moment she made contact with him. She could not help her shock. The blood that was flowing from Xue Wei¡¯s open wounds called out to her, like a bloodline summoning.

    She resisted the allure, however, and forced herself to support him as they moved forward. Bai Tianyi supported Hei Gou, more or less dragging him, who was also severely injured.

    At the start, Wang Xiaoyun felt uneasy from the smell of Xue Wei¡¯s blood. It made her feel dizzy and ufortable, as if she had drunk too much wine.

    The blood seeped through her clothes and touched her skin. At first, the pain she felt from this contact was bearable, but before she could even register it, the pain had be incredibly sharp.

    It was a pain she was familiar with, a pain that she had undergone during her sixteenth birthday, but it was much more intense this time.

    She had to grit her teeth hard to continue leading Xue Wei into a cave they found after entering a small forest. They had walked for half a day at that point. Xue Wei was as weak as before. In fact, his condition was worsening because he had not had the time to rx and focus on his wounds.

    Because he was in constant motion, the blood continued to flow from his body, and both he and Wang Xiaoyun were bathed in it.

    The tattoos on her body were shining with a golden light that made her feel incredibly weak. When they made it to the cave, she copsed together with Xue Wei.

    ¡°Useless! Is it the ritual?¡± Bai Tianyi swore now that he alone had to look after his three unconsciouspanions.

    He took care of Xue Wei first. He had the most severe injuries, so Bai Tianyi put him t on the ground on his back before taking out some healing medicines from his storage dimension.

    He did not have that many items because he gave most of their loot to Xue Wei, but he had a couple useful ones from his personal stash.

    He found the pills and ced one in Xue Wei¡¯s mouth. Another was ground to dust and sprinkled over his wounds.

    Then he did the same with Hei Gou before he finally turned to Wang Xiaoyun. ¡°This is troublesome,¡± he said with vexation. ¡°She is already strong and now she¡¯ll get stronger. The blood ritual will take her around ten hours, maybe more since she received a Sovereign Beast¡¯s blessing this time.¡± Bai Tianyi sighed and shook his head.

    After having tended to them and ced them beside each other, Bai Tianyi sat by the entrance of the cave to keep watch. It was clear that the signs of battle outside would be noticed sooner orter. When they were found, they would all be seen as suspects.

    Getting half a day¡¯s distance away was not enough to bring them out of danger.

    The golden symbols on Wang Xiaoyun body turned darker and darker as time went on. Eventually, they turned dark-red like blood.

    The ten hours passed quickly, apanied by constant groaning sounds from the three wounded ones.

    Hei Gou was the first to awaken. He seemed much better than before, and his eyes were filled with life and excitement despite his injuries.

    ¡°That was a fight worth fighting!¡± was the first thing he said. But he quickly started frowning when he saw the unconscious Wang Xiaoyun and Xue Wei beside him.

    ¡°What happened to her?¡± he asked, puzzled. He had known that she had not been injured in the fight, so something ought to have happened when he was unconscious.

    ¡°Have you ever wondered about Wei¡¯s real identity?¡± Bai Tianyi asked curiously. Hei Gou shrugged his shoulders. ¡°He is a sovereign beast, right?¡± was his answer.

    ¡°Oh, you know?¡± Bai Tianyi was surprised.

    ¡°Yeah. He made my bloodline mutate. Only a sovereign beast can do that. Not to mention that he is an azure dragon.¡±

    ¡°But he seems to think he is a human, so I can¡¯t make myself burst his bubble. If he wants to be human, then I will let him be human.¡±

    Bai Tianyi gave Hei Gou a long nce. ¡°I never thought you were so shrewd and knew all along,¡± he said praisingly.

    ¡°His blood has triggered a mutation in thatss¡¯s body. She will undergo a mutation simr to the one you did. I don¡¯t know how they managed to create these Wayfarers, but they react to blood simrly to how Fierce Beasts and Primordial Beasts do. It is quite intriguing.

    ¡°Unfortunately, I think that Xiaoyun knows he is a beast now. We might have to fight her, and her strength is rising drastically. I don¡¯t know what to do.¡±

 Chapter 201: Farewell

    The next to awaken was Wang Xiaoyun. Her groans of pain had stilled for half an hour before her eyes opened.

    She looked around in confusion, but when her eyesnded on Xue Wei, a bloodlust suddenly swept out from her body.

    While she struggled to her feet, Bai Tianyi and Hei Gou moved swiftly to stand between Wang Xiaoyun and the unconscious Xue Wei.

    ¡°What are you going to do?¡± Bai Tianyi asked tentatively. She did not respond at first, though the answer was clear considering the flow of tears running down her cheeks.

    ¡°He deceived me!¡± she eximed with grief in her voice. ¡°Was it fun? Deceiving me and making me think him human!?¡±

    She yelled this out at the top of her lungs, her eyes filled with sadness.

    Bai Tianyi could only sigh.

    ¡°You know him,¡± he tried to reason with her. ¡°He himself does not know he is a beast.¡±

    ¡°How can he not know that he is a beast?!¡± Wang Xiaoyun did not buy it. The Qi she exuded grew increasingly turbulent.

    ¡°Seriously? An Earth Knight?¡± Bai Tianyi felt a headacheing his way.

    He knew that the blood of a Sovereign Beast could thoroughly mutate the body of other beasts, but it was clearly also very useful for Wayfarers. To have gone all the way from a Heavenly Warrior to an Earth Knight was mind-blowing.

    As expected, although Hei Gou and Bai Tianyi were in the way, a simple wave of Wang Xiaoyun¡¯s hand sent them tumbling into the back of the cave with their heads spinning. Hei Gou¡¯s wounds opened again as a result.

    Wang Xiaoyun walked towards the unconscious Xue Wei, tears streaming down her face. In the very moment when she stood next to him, she saw a single tear fall from one of his eyes. Why that was so she could not figure out, as he was as unconscious as one could be.

    ¡°A tear of the soaring dragon,¡± Wang Xiaoyun muttered to herself. The shock she was experiencing made her whole body tremble.

    The tears in her eyes flooded down her cheeks. Her hands never stopped trembling when she reached out andtched them around Xue Wei¡¯s throat.

    With a single squeeze, he would die. Hei Gou roared and Bai Tianyi turned into arge sword, both attacking Wang Xiaoyun with all their might, but neither could even dent the protective barrier she had erected around herself and Xue Wei.

    ¡°Why did it have to be you?!¡± she cried out loud, her agony and hopelessness reverberating in her voice.

    Without going through with it, she withdrew her trembling hands and rushed out of the cave, leaving behind Xue Wei, Hei Gou, and Bai Tianyi.

    They were alive but battered up badly.

    Xue Wei was unaware of what had happened. He was unconscious, but a single tear had indeed fallen when Wang Xiaoyun was about to kill him. It was as if his body had sensed her overwhelming sadness, reacting instinctively.

    Time passed by, but Xue Wei did not awaken. His wounds had healed, but he still showed no signs of waking up.

    They fed him all the herbs and pills they had in an attempt to wake him up, but it had no apparent effect apart from causing his cultivation base to grow.

    Half a year went by in the cave. During these six months, Bai Tianyi and Hei Gou became more and more desperate.

    They did not know what they should do to awaken Xue Wei. They even forgot everything about Wang Xiaoyun or the fact that they were wanted men.

    After seven months, Xue Wei¡¯s body had a breakthrough into the Heavenly Warrior stage because of all the pills they had fed him.

    It was also at this point that his eyelids twitched before he slowly opened his eyes.

    His body felt heavy. He could not move, almost as if he had forgotten how to use his own body.

    ¡°Hey,¡± he called out in a voice that cracked and sounded vanishingly weak.

    ¡°You¡¯re awake!¡± Bai Tianyi shouted. The child-form sword spirit copsed to the floor, releasing a heavy sigh of relief after seeing Xue Wei¡¯s strong eyes again.

    ¡°What happened?¡± Xue Wei asked hoarsely, confused by his environment. Bai Tianyi shook his shoulders. ¡°I think a mixture of losing too much blood and using that strength increasing technique did a number on you,¡± Bai Tianyi guessed. No one really knew.

    ¡°Where is Xiaoyun?¡± Xue Wei asked anxiously. Hei Gou and Bai Tianyi went silent and exchanged nces.

    ¡°You tell him,¡± Hei Gou said, but Bai Tianyi shook his head. ¡°I¡¯m just a contracted sword spirit. This is better said by someone who is like his brother.¡±

    What they said scared Xue Wei. Had something happened to her?

    ¡°Let us start from the beginning, then.¡± Hei Gou sighed.

    ¡°Wei. Look at yourself. Do you think you are human?¡± He went straight for the question that had bothered Xue Wei ever since he transformed into a true azure dragon.

    Xue Wei frowned. ¡°If I am not human, then what am I?¡±

    ¡°A Sovereign Beast,¡± Bai Tianyi said with a low voice.

    ¡°A beast, huh?¡± Xue Wei had already more or less guessed it.

    ¡°I guess she figured it out.¡± He sighed.

    ¡°She did.¡± Hei Gou approved with a nod of his head. ¡°She couldn¡¯t bring herself to kill you, though, and left heartbroken.¡±

    ¡°Of course...¡± Xue Wei did not find this strange at all. The bond between Wang Xiaoyun and him was not light. Even if she came to hate him one day, it would take some time before she would be able to kill him in cold blood.

    ¡°For how long was I unconscious?¡± Xue Wei queried, but the answer stunned him.

    He had been out for over half a year, seven months to be precise?

    ¡°The world must have changed a lot since then,¡± he muttered. ¡°We did not leave to check it out,¡± Bai Tianyi added in a low voice.

    ¡°We will meet Xiaoyun again, sooner orter, but I hope that I can prove to her that I am not like the Ice Harpy by that time,¡± Xue Wei said weakly.

    ¡°You will not let her go?¡± Hei Gou asked with surprise. Considering her hate towards beasts, it seemed like a very masochistic thing to continue chasing her.

    ¡°I won¡¯t. In this life, I will be faithful to my emotions, and I love Xiaoyun. One day she will understand.¡±

    Xue Wei sighed, knowing that it was more difficult than scaling the highest mountain or diving into the deepest ocean, but he could not give up. He truly loved Wang Xiaoyun.

    ¡°It will be sorted if I can end the war between humans and beasts,¡± he concluded with a smile. Although he had always said outrageously ambitious things in the past, they were nothingpared to what he spoke of now.

    If Xue Wei thought he was strong enough to end the war that had gone on for millennia already, one would consider him delusional.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry.¡± Xue Wei grinned. He felt much better after realizing his real heritage. ¡°I am not saying I can do much now,¡± he said to assure his two skepticalpanions, ¡°but one day I will be so strong that no one can say anything against what I do. At that time, I will punish those that deserve to be punished and build a utopia for all to live in peace. The continent is called Chang¡¯an. It means perpetual peace. I am sure that this continent is meant to be a ce of peace and prosperity. I will bring it back to those days.¡±

    While Xue Wei was uncharacteristically optimistic, Bai Tianyi and Hei Gou were confused and could not figure out where he got his confidence from.

    ¡°Well then, guys, let¡¯s move on!¡± Xue Wei jumped up to his feet. He pulled out clean clothes from his storage ring and quickly changed from a set of Hei Gou¡¯s clothes into his own.

    ¡°I want to know more about my background,¡± he dered seriously. ¡°And I think the only one who can give me answers is Lan.¡±

    ¡°So we continue to the center of the continent?¡± Hei Gou asked. Xue Wei nodded his head.

    ¡°Yes. Let¡¯s go, we have no time to waste.¡±

 Chapter 202: Cloudsoar City

    The sun¡¯s fiery red rays were cast down upon the clouded sky, turning the evening crimson. Half the sun had sunk down below the horizon line, and as the shadow of night crept over Cloudsoar City, the buildings reflected their shapes in beautiful red light.

    Queues of people stood outside the entrance of Cloudsoar City. The guards inspected every person, so it took some time to enter the city.

    Cloudsoar City was thergest city in the Chengzi Kingdom. It was known as a haven for those seeking spiritual fruits. Merchants from the center of the continent often came here to stock up on goods.

    Young cultivators also often made their way to Cloudsoar City to buy fruits at a cheaper price. This was a ce full of crouching tigers and hidden dragons.

    There was a group consisting of two men and a boy in the queue outside the gates. One was a handsome young man who seemed to be around eighteen years old, the second seemed to be at the same age albeit with possibly the most in appearance you could have, and the third, a child, appeared to be no older than ten years old.

    Strangely, when they spoke to each other, it was with the tone of equals. The two older ones seemed to treat the ten-year-old boy as their equal. Though it made sense when one looked closer into the eyes of the child, should they get the chance to make eye contact ¨C the boy¡¯s eyes were anything but naive and soft like most children his age, gleaming with wisdom and age.

    These three were none other than Xue Wei, Hei Gou, and Bai Tianyi. They had left the border between the two countries and entered the Chengzi Kingdom on the way to the center of the continent.

    ¡°I never expected you to still be this cheerful after Xiaoyun left you,¡± Bai Tianyi said. The name Wang Xiaoyun had been a taboo and no one had mentioned it after Xue Wei awoke, but now Bai Tianyi could not stop himself.

    Hei Gou nced at Bai Tianyi with a warning re, but the sword spirit pretended that he had not seen the re and continued on.

    ¡°You also epted your identity so easily. Tell me, are you in shock? Is it because you don¡¯t believe me?¡±

    Bai Tianyi was curious by nature. If there was something he did not know or understand, he would seek to unearth it.

    While Bai Tianyi was extremely casual about it, Hei Gou was careful and worried about hurting his good friend. Even if he seemed okay, he had to be keeping up a strong appearance.

    Xue Weiughed out loud when he saw their tentative expressions.

    ¡°I¡¯m really okay,¡± he said reassuringly with augh and shook his head. ¡°I know what my emotions are like and I will be true to them. One day, I¡¯ll make her understand my emotions. Then she¡¯ll know that we were meant to be.¡±

    ¡°Also, it does not matter what I am. Humans hate me no matter what I do, so I might as well be a beast, right?¡±

    Xue Wei clearly did not care about this whole thing. Had this been before the Azure Dragon Spirit had hatched, he would have most likely panicked and despaired. But now he was all carefree and straightforward.

    He hadplete faith in himself and his ability to reach his goals. There was a bone-deep pride in his body that told him he could have anything he wanted. However, it did not mean he had forgotten that he was merely a oneyer Heavenly Warrior. He had a long way to go before he could truly make a difference with his fist alone, but he definitely had the potential.

    ¡°There are still a few confusing things though.¡± He sighed. ¡°Elder Wan seemed to know of my true identity,¡± Xue Wei continued, ¡°but what is it he and the beasts want from me? My uncle and Chu Huiyin also know what I really am.¡±

    ¡°I have a feeling that they are the ones I need to watch out for. The humans are troublesome, but they just want to kill me. The other side is different.¡±

    Bai Tianyi nodded his head. He was a human cultivator back in his prime, so he was not too privy to the connection between Sovereign Beasts and Primordial Beasts or what sort of rituals existed between them.

    ¡°The Sovereign Beasts are the monarchs,¡± Bai Tianyi said pensively. ¡°They should be the most beloved entities to the beasts, but I imagine that they aren¡¯t all satisfied with this kind of hierarchy.¡±

    ¡°I think it¡¯s best if we avoid both interaction with both humans and beasts until we are stronger,¡± Hei Gou said after careful consideration.

    Xue Wei nodded his head, and Bai Tianyi agreed. They did not want to be caught up in the fights between humans and beasts before they had the strength to dictate what happened.

    By the time they were done discussing this throughpressed voicemunication, they reached the gates of Cloudsoar City.

    ¡°The price of entry is fifty silver per person,¡± a guard said while looking over their group. Xue Wei quickly forked out the money, but the guard did not take the pouch right away.

    Instead, he stared intently at Xue Wei¡¯s face. ¡°State your name,¡± he demanded. Xue Wei, who felt that something was amiss, narrowed his eyes.

    ¡°I am Ye Xiao,¡± he said carefully. The guard suddenly nodded his head as if he had recognized him.

    ¡°I was told by the Cerulean Starlight Sect to contact you.¡± The guard¡¯s face was stoic.

    ¡°There is a branch of the Cerulean Starlight Sect here in Cloudsoar City. The sect elder told us to keep an eye out for you half a year ago. Though I¡¯m not sure if the order still stands.¡±

    Xue Wei was incredibly relieved after hearing this. He nodded his head and flicked a gold coin to the guard. ¡°Thank you for telling me.¡±.

    The guard cleared them and they entered the city, moving inside in a steady stream of people.

    The streets were bursting with life, people walked back and forth, and noisy voices could be heard from every direction.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go get some information,¡± Xue Wei decided. ¡°We¡¯ve been out of the loop for half a year. It¡¯s probably best we catch up to the recent changes, yeah?¡±

    The other two agreed. They went to the closest tavern to get some food, and some information as they ate.

    Although more sensitive subjects were likely to be discussed through sound transmission, most people would not go through the effort to conceal more well-known topics.

    They had found a rather typical tavern. It had food and drinks and a few rooms up for rent, but Xue Wei¡¯s team was not there to stay the night. Instead, they found a table in the middle and sat down.

    This ce was perfect for their aim. When they sat down they ordered a few dishes and drinks.

    A servant rushed to prepare their order. Soon after, they sat in silence and paid attention to the conversations going on in the tavern.

    ¡°Did you hear about the beast horde that appeared in the southern area of the Chengzi Empire? It was so massive that eleven Primordial Beasts appeared.¡±

    ¡°Did you hear that a new clue has been found in the mysterious murder that happened outside Golden Crow City half a year ago?¡±

    ¡°The new faction of that Wayfarer girl is growing bigger by the day. During thest beast horde, she ughtered four primordial Beasts, and now even members of the three great sects are following her.¡±

    ¡°Have you heard that the guards said that formation master Ye Xiao entered the city? He must have a lot of valuables on his person, if you know what I mean.¡±

    ¡°The medicinal pill workshop has announced that they will sell their shop to the Golden Chambers. It seems that the Golden Chambers are rather aggressive in their quest to take over all the major shops of the continent.¡±

    ¡°Soon, the Cloudsoar Trade Fair willmence. I earned a lot of money to spend on a medicinal pill for my son.¡±

    Xue Wei listened intently. His face waspletely straight, but he was inwardly surprised.

    Wang Xiaoyun was likely to be the Wayfarer girl that they were talking about. To think that she had went and made a faction. It was clear that she was moving forward with her revenge.

    He wanted to know more about her faction, but he also knew that he would hear itter.

    On the other hand, he was also surprised that they had found clues about the ¡®mystery murders¡¯ outside Golden Crow City. Was it not obviously a fight between beasts and humans? Why not just me some random Primordial Beast?

    Finally, the trade fair ted to be held soon excited Xue Wei quite a bit

    Their dishes arrived at this point, so they continued eavesdropping while eating their food, silent as ever. The three of them seemed almost brooding.

    They all savored the dishes and enjoyed the food. The food was simple and tasted good. For some reason, when they finished their meal, the waiter walked over to their table.

    ¡°That¡¯ll be thirty thousand gold coins,¡± he almost yelled, his voice booming through the entire restaurant and making all the others quiet down.

    ¡°Thirty thousand gold coins?¡± Xue Wei frowned. No food was worth this much money. Not even spiritual fruits cost this much.

    ¡°Yes.¡± The servant snickered. The others in the tavern leaned back on their chairs and acted like they were enjoying a show.

    ¡°Are you sure you want to do this?¡± Bai Tianyi asked, his tone of voice dangerous. The audience was looking on in amusement.

    ¡°Kid, this is not the ce for you to speak,¡± the servant said.

    His words made Xue Weiugh.

    ¡°So expensive. Don¡¯t you expect to lose customers once this gets out?¡± Hei Gou sneered.

    ¡°Who says it will ever get out? Also, someone like you should pay up.¡±

    ¡°Someone like me... I don¡¯t seem to remember insulting you or in any way causing problems for this tavern. Why treat the patrons so badly?¡± Xue Wei asked.

    ¡°We do not like people like you here,¡± the servant continued, ¡°so pay up and leave.¡±

    Xue Wei sighed and flipped his hand, revealing the token from the Cerulean Starlight Sect.

    ¡°You are treating members of The Cerulean Starlight Sect like this?¡± he asked casually.

    Every person in the tavern opened their eyes wide. Some jaws dropped, and all of them were surprised beyond belief.

    This tiny tavern was antagonizing someone from the Cerulean Starlight Sect! That was the same as dropping a stone on their own foot.

    But contrary to the expectation of the patrons in the tavern, the servant did not be gentler or apologetic; instead he sneered at Xue Wei andpany, ¡°I know who you are. Now are you paying up or not?¡±

    Xue Wei could not be bothered any longer. He simply stood up and pushed past the servant. Bai Tianyi and Hei Gou followed suit. Their actions showed that they would not pay what he demanded.

    ¡°The boss will not let you go,¡± the servant warned them.

    ¡°Let hime then,¡± Xue Wei smiled, but his smile was tinged with malice.

    As the three stepped outside the tavern, their auras were ring, and they were more than ready for a fight.

    Xue Wei was calm. He had the feeling that someone was purposefully making things difficult for him, but the only ones who would have the guts to do that was the Crimson Sunshine Sect and the two princes that run afoul of Xue Wei.

    Only they had the power to make people do their bidding against the Cerulean Starlight Sect. It was likely the Crimson Sunshine Sect.

    But why would they want gold coins? Xue Wei could not figure this out.

 Chapter 203: Finding Trouble

    The servant fumed with anger, but he knew better than to engage in a bout of battle with them. Although they were merely Heavenly Warriors, the servant himself was only an Earth Warrior! It was simply a joke for him to consider facing off against the group.

    The audience was intrigued by how things were ying out. These three experts were incredibly daring to leave without paying for their meal, but every person in the crowd knew it was because they were being scammed by the tavern.

    If they were in the same situation, they would have reacted in the same way. Conceding to the restaurant servant¡¯s absurd demand would mean admitting that they were easy to bully, after all.

    ¡°Halt,¡± someone called out from the staircase. However, Xue Wei and the two others continued to walk towards the door as if they had not heard him.

    A loud crash emanated from inside the tavern and a bottle flew at Xue Wei like a bullet, who agilely avoided it and turned to look at the perpetrator.

    ¡°I told you to stop. Did you not hear me?¡± the man asked with a grim expression on his face. Xue Weiughed out loud in response.

    ¡°Am I your servant?¡± he asked mockingly. ¡°I think not. Why should I do what you tell me to? You think you can decide what others do just because you say so? Seriously, go see a doctor, make sure your disease doesn¡¯t spread to others,¡± he sneered.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry,¡± Bai Tianyi chimed in. ¡°Stupidity can be inherited, but it usually isn¡¯t contagious. We should be fine.¡±

    Hearing the dialogue between the two, most people in the tavern could hold theirughter, but one lost it and startedughing out loud. This created a domino effect, and soon all those that had tried to keep a straight face wereughing alongside each other, inadvertently mocking the man on the stairs.

    The expression on the man¡¯s face turned ck. He did not know much about Xue Wei and his twopanions, but one day, half a year ago, someone from the Crimson Sunshine Sect had appeared before him.

    This man had brought a picture with him, a picture of Xue Wei. Or rather Ye Xiao, as it portrayed his altered face after using the mask.

    He was told that if he came across this young man, he was to create trouble for him. The more the better. If he then reported it to the Crimson Sunshine Sect afterwards, he would be heavily rewarded.

    This was not the only store owner who had been given this task; every independent shop within Cloudsoar City had been contacted. But out of fear of leaking any details, they all went about it quietly, not even discussing it amongst themselves.

    The painting of Xue Wei had been posted in the back of every single store in Cloudsoar City, so he had be a celebrity without even knowing it.

    They had not been told to what extent they should inconvenience Xue Wei, but the rather vague request let theme up with their own ideas.

    The boss of this tavern was not aware that Xue Wei had connections with the Cerulean Starlight Sect. Neither the servant nor the Crimson Sunshine Sect had informed him.

    So when he saw the token in Xue Wei¡¯s hand, he suddenly paused. Was he caught in the middle of a sect war?

    He had been told that Xue Wei was an independent cultivator. The man had done some uneptable deeds so he needed to be punished, but killing him would be too extreme as humans stood united and rarely gave the death sentence to their own.

    It was only now that the boss realized that something was off. Why had theye to his small tavern to make problems for one person? Their sect could deal with everything themselves... unless they did not dare to do it themselves.

    The only reason they would not dare to do so would be if they were up against another sect of equal standing or if it was something like going against a supreme expert.

    This boy was clearly not a supreme expert, but he carried the token of authority from the Cerulean Starlight Sect.

    This gave the boss a headache. He turned to the waiter and gave a malicious re. It was clear that the tavern and this young man had already fallen outpletely, so there was no chance to salvage the situation without losing face.

    Xue Wei noticed that the boss was hesitating. He shook his head and turned to leave again. But who would have thought that it was not the boss that stopped them this time but the servant.

    ¡°Pay up for your meal and we will let you go! Can you not see that the big boss is an ordinary knight? He can deal with you as easily as ughtering chickens! Even your reputation as members of the Cerulean Starlight Sect is nothingpared to my boss¡¯ background!¡±

    The boss felt like falling on his face when he heard this. Bloody hell, was this servant trying to kill him?

    Even if this situation had been instigated by the Crimson Sunshine Sect, they would not have his back through thick and thin.

    They had, at most, a superficial rtionship, whereas this kid held a token of authenticity belonging to a rival major sect! That was the real deal! If anything happened to this boy in his store, would he not suffer greatly at the hands of the Cerulean Starlight Sect in the future?

    Why was his servant so adamant about stirring up trouble? He could only guess that it had something to do with jealousy. The servant was now thirty years old, but he was stuck as an Earth Warrior while these three seemed to be much younger and had already be Heavenly Warriors.

    The boss was usually very haughty because of his strength, but right now he was worried. As a result, Xue Wei snorted and just left the tavern without looking back.

    The audience felt that this ending was truly too anticlimactic. But no one in their right mind would say anything as they still feared this boss.

    And when the boss turned around to unleash his rage on the servant, he realized that the target of his ire was nowhere to be found.

    Frowning, he told himself that he would fire him as soon as he returned. But this servant never returned to the tavern.

    ¡°They won¡¯t let us stay in this inn either,¡± Xue Wei said with a sigh as they exited the fourth inn they had visited after leaving the tavern.

    ¡°It seems like someone knew that we wereing this way. It is hard to find fault with us as we have done nothing wrong, at least ording to thew, but they will try and chase us out of every major city in the future.¡±

    ¡°We can try the hotels,¡± Hei Gou suggested. Hotels were usually chains or owned by major factions, so they would not involve themselves in the conflicts of the major sects. Although they were slightly more expensive, the quality was also above ordinary inns.

    ¡°We need somewhere to rx for a bit,¡± Xue Wei agreed. ¡°We need to share all the items in my bags. I have herbs, spiritual fruits, pills, and techniques from that mini-war we caused that we need to look at,¡± he said. ¡°We should use them to get as strong as possible before we reach the center of the continent. It would be a waste not to.¡±

    ¡°I want the Rainbow Pill, you can fight for the rest then,¡± Bai Tianyi said smilingly. He really wanted the Rainbow Pill.

    ¡°We¡¯ll split itter.¡± Xue Wei smiled evasively, but he really didn¡¯t mind giving it to Bai Tianyi. He knew that his spirit form had a hard time taking in energy from pills unless they were special. If the Rainbow Pill could benefit him, it was worth it.

    ¡°Let¡¯s find a hotel then,¡± Xue Wei said. He had considered meeting up with the Cerulean Starlight Sect, but he was not willing to stay in their territory. Although they were on friendly terms, Xue Wei had a hard time fully trusting them. Their rtionship was built on mutual benefits after all.

    ¡°We can look for a hotel owned by the Golden Chambers,¡± Bai Tianyi added with a smile.

    ¡°They will definitely not decline us after our business with the formations. Not to mention that they have no reason to fear the factions.¡±

    Having decided what they would do, they soon headed toward the location of the Golden Chambers¡¯ shops. There should also be a hotel located among them.

    As they walked through the city, it never urred to Xue Wei that they should leave. The more they wanted to chase him out, the more stubborn he became, and he had now decided to stay in Cloudsoar City for some time while getting information on Wang Xiaoyun¡¯s new faction and about the center of the continent. Besides, he wanted to see what sort of pills, herbs, and spiritual fruits they had in stock here.

    Cloudsoar City was thergest city within the Chengzi Kingdom. It was a city that overflowed with life. Ergo, it would be the perfect ce to gather some intel ¨C if people were not biased against them, that is.

    As they reached the district governed by the Golden Chambers, they were greeted very differently by the independent stores. There were many different departments in the Cloudsoar City¡¯s Golden Chambers, and one of them was precisely what they needed, a hotel.

    When they were informed of Ye Xiao¡¯s request for amodations, they were at first slightly perplexed but then thrilled. They knew of the fortune he had gained back in Golden Crow City, so if he were to spend some of it in their stores, it would enrichen their pockets quite a bit.

    Xue Wei could guess their train of thought. Originally, he would not have picked the hotel belonging to the Golden Chambers, as those who rested there were mainly patrons of their shops. With their rtionship, he had to spend quite a bit of wealth to satisfy them, but he had been pushed towards this option as the other inns had cklisted them.

    ¡°I was of the impression that a miss was traveling with you?¡± the manager of the hotel asked tentatively when he saw that the group only consisted of three young men. Xue Wei smiled, maintaining hisposure. ¡°We have parted ways for a short time,¡± he exined casually, as if he truly believed so.

    The manager instantly stopped asking and instead prepared three of their best suites for Xue Wei, Hei Gou, and Bai Tianyi. Although many might think that he was a small child, this manager had seen the knowledge and shrewdness in Bai Tianyi¡¯s eyes and knew that he was no ordinary child. He would not need an adult to look after him.

    Even though, they were given a suite each, all three gathered in Xue Wei¡¯s room and sat in a circle on the floor with grins on their faces.

    Xue Wei took out pills, herbs, fruits, and techniques from his storage ring, piling them into a mountain in the middle of their circle.

    The moment the snow jade bottle containing the Rainbow Pill appeared, Bai Tianyi¡¯s hand shot out with the speed of light and grasped it. He looked at it with eyes filled with expectation.

    Seeing his behavior, neither Xue Wei nor Hei Gou minded, but both startedughing.

    ¡°Okay let us start sharing the items,¡± Xue Wei smiled slightly as he picked up the items one by one.

    ¡°The techniques are only useful for me as you have innate techniques and abilities. I haven¡¯t unlocked any inherited knowledge yet, so I guess I will just continue to train in normal techniques.¡±

    ¡°I originally nned on sharing these with Xiaoyun, but I guess that¡¯s a long time in the future now. So I¡¯ll take them all.¡±

    Then they reached the pills. They had many pills, and they were of different types. Xue Wei only remembered them because of the jade slip he had bought back in the ck Iron Fortress.

    There were pills of all kinds that either: strengthened the fleshly body, increased the capacity of one¡¯s meridians, increased the user¡¯s spiritual energy pool, or improved anything rted to Qi as a whole.

    There were pills that allowed for a smoother breakthrough from Sky Warrior to Heavenly Warrior or from Heavenly Warrior to Ordinary Knight.

    There were also pills that steadied one¡¯s foundation. All in all, they had any kind of pill that could prove useful to them.

 Chapter 204: Infamous

    Xue Wei gave the pills that helped with a breakthrough from Sky Warrior to Heavenly Warrior to Hei Gou.

    Although his physical strength had reached the Heavenly Warrior level, his Qi was still a bit off.

    Having these pills would let him smoothly advance, especially since he was given quite a few of them.

    The pills to stabilize one¡¯s foundation were split between Xue Wei and Hei Gou. The former had just reached the firstyer of the Heavenly Warrior realm and thetter would do so shortly. Both needed them.

    The herbs and spiritual fruits were distributed ording to the same idea of ¡®who needed them the most¡¯. Xue Wei gave a few herbs and spiritual fruits that benefited spiritual energy cultivation to Bai Tianyi.

    Bai Tianyi had previously said that all he needed was the Rainbow Pill, but he did not decline the herbs and fruits offered to him.

    After portioning out the items, Xue Wei also gave them some of his essence stones, giving Bai Tianyi and Hei Gou a hundred each. It was not that he being stingy, but that it would be a waste to give them more. It would take them a long time to use all of those essence stones ¨C in fact, they were pretty useless to Bai Tianyi, so giving him a hundred of them was merely a courtesy on Xue Wei¡¯s part.

    ¡°Although they are useless to me, I am keeping them as currency,¡± Bai Tianyi snickered. Xue Wei just nodded his head. He was not going to take something back he had already given.

    ¡°Here is some gold.¡± Xue Wei also handed some gold he had to his two friends. ¡°Okay, now we have split the things, we might as well spend the next couple of months to cultivate and have as many breakthroughs as possible.¡±

    ¡°Since we are going to be doing closed door cultivation, we might not see each other for quite some time, so make do with the gold and essence stones in the meanwhile.¡±

    Bai Tianyi dly epted the gold coins with a big smile on his face, but Hei Gou hesitated. ¡°Is it really needed?¡± he asked, confused. Xue Wei nodded his head, ¡°Yes.¡±

    Because Xue Wei sounded so decisive, Hei Gou barely epted the gold. ¡°Now you two can start your cultivation. I¡¯ll go to the desk and pay for three months worth of rent here, and then I¡¯ll pay a visit to the Cerulean Starlight Sect. They have been searching for me for half a year, after all.¡±

    Bai Tianyi and Hei Gou both nodded their heads this time. They did not insist on apanying Xue Wei. They were both eager to raise their strength as soon as possible.

    Seeing their eagerness, Xue Wei smiled and took his leave afterwards, after which they both quickly went into seclusion in their rooms.

    ¡°You want to rent those three suites for three months?¡± The manager was dumbstruck when he heard what Xue Wei said, but Xue Wei just smiled at him and nodded his head.

    ¡°Three months is expensive!¡± The manager tried to make him understand, but Xue Wei had already epted this fact. Still, he had no other option because the inns had denied him and his team entrance, either on the orders of the Crimson Sunshine Sect or because they did not want to be drawn into a conflict.

    ¡°Each day is one gold coin, so three months is around ny gold coins a suite. Two hundred and seventy gold coins in total!¡±

    Xue Wei did not hesitate and took out two hundred and seventy gold coins, which he ced on top of the counter.

    The manager finally understood that he was serious. He quickly noted down that the suites had been paid for three months. Xue Wei confirmed it before leaving the hotel.

    When he walked down the street, however, he noticed that he had be a walking spectacle. Every person on the street looked at him with undisguised curiosity while whispering to theirpanions.

    After spreading out his spiritual energy, Xue Wei could hear what was being said as clear as day.

    ¡°He is the one who the Crimson Sunshine Sect has warned us about.¡±

    ¡°I hear he left a tavern after threatening to kill everyone inside and didn¡¯t pay for his meal.¡±

    ¡°I heard that he is the reason for the mysterious murder back in Golden Crow City. He might even be an aplice of the beasts.¡±

    ¡°Watch out or your children will be killed by him. He is a murdering maniac who has killed humans before.¡±

    ¡°I hear that the only reason he is still alive is because that genius from the Skyward Empire, Wan Qiang, stood out for him.¡±

    It was clear that the Crimson Sunshine Sect had done a great job at giving him the image of a cold-blooded human murderer who stopped at nothing for personal gains.

    The truth was that the ones who spoke were not incorrect so he could not even get mad at them.

    He wondered how everyone knew his face, but the answer came to him moments after when he stepped on a painting on the ground. It was a picture of Ye Xiao¡¯s in face. There was a long list of the atrocities he hadmitted written on the back.

    So they were trying to turn him into the public enemy by distributing flyers throughout the city. Xue Wei understood this now.

    The citizens saw him pick up the paper, and all of them expected him to be be violently angry, so they held their breath while fearfully watching Xue Wei.

    Never did they expect that he would just smile and shake his head as if he did not take it seriously at all.

    There were a few Heavenly Warriors affiliated with the Crimson Sunshine Sect in the crowd. They were waiting for him to make a fuss so they could step in righteously, but hisck of reaction caught them all by surprise.

    Xue Wei held on to the flyer and continued his stroll to the Cerulean Starlight Sect¡¯s residence within the city.

    The Grand Elder of the city¡¯s Cerulean Starlight Sect¡¯s branch had asked to meet him half a year prior, but he was unaware if they sought to maintain the rtionship after his long absence. Theck of a response for so long could possibly have turned them off.

    As he reached theplex that belonged to the Cloudsoar City¡¯s branch of the Cerulean Starlight Sect, he found that the sect disciples standing guard outside the gate were at the Heavenly Warrior realm. Even the auras of Ordinary Knights were close by.

    Xue Wei approached one of the Heavenly Warrior guards. ¡°Hello, I am Ye Xiao,¡± he said, introducing himself. ¡°I was informed that your branch¡¯s Grand Elder was looking for me.¡±

    The main sect had a patriarch, however he was sitting in the center of the continent. Under him were various Grand Elders. These Grand Elders were in charge of the branches they belonged to, and worked as the daily leader instead of the Patriarch. Although their rank sounded high, when it came to the actual sect, they did not have much say.

    The guard looked him over and gave a nod. He gave a whistle, after which a Heavenly Warrior walked out from inside. It appeared they were changing spots while the other went inside thepound. The one Xue Wei had spoken to gestured with his hands that they were to wait here before heading inside.

    Silence prevailed outside of the Cerulean Starlight Sect¡¯s grounds, but the inside was different. Every person who walked by the entrance and saw Xue Wei looked him over curiously and whispered to their fellow disciples with smiles ¨C and some with jeers.

    The people from the Cerulean Starlight Sect were also aware of what had happened. Some of them looked at Xue Wei with disdain for his alleged actions while others believed the rumors spread by the Crimson Sunshine Sect had been blown out of proportion.

    ¡°I am sorry. The Grand Elder is currently upied.¡± The man who had gone in to announce Xue Wei¡¯s arrival returned after a bit of time.

    His speech was apologetic, but there was a gleam in his eyes that seemed wicked and contained disdain.

    Xue Wei instantly caught on. He had been told that they were waiting for him, but now they did not want to meet him? He felt annoyed and disappointed in the Cerulean Starlight Sect.

    He had a good rtionship with the few of their disciples he had met so far, and he had been expecting that the rest of the sect possessed the same mentality as them, but now he understood that this sect also had different opinions internally.

    Where the Skyward Empire¡¯s branch of the Cerulean Starlight Sect was eager to befriend him, the ones in the Chengzi Kingdom were not.

    Although he was a formation master, he had bad blood with the Crimson Sunshine Sect and the Argent Moon Sect.

    If this Grand Elder had a good rtionship with just one of the other two great sects, then he might go against a formation master.

    Xue Wei sighed. He had hoped that the Cerulean Starlight Sect could be a possible ally, but reality finally clocked in for him. He could not rely on anyone but himself and his team. He came to that understanding the hard way.

    Shaking his head, he gave onest nce at the guard that was giving him a disdainful look. He scoffed, almost sneering. This was their loss.

    Xue Wei rubbed his chin for a while, wondering what he should say now that he had been rejected. In the end, he simply flicked his hand and threw something towards the guard. He turned to leave without speaking a word. When the guard caught it and looked at the item in his hand, it was the token of authenticity granted by the grand elder from their branch in the Skyward Empire.

    The elder in charge of the Chengzi Kingdom branch had not dared to openly and directly refuse to work with Xue Wei because he could not handle the repercussion of turning away a formation master, but now it was toote.

    They had not foreseen that declining to meet Xue Wei for no reason other than to mock him would end in him immediately cutting his ties with their sect.

    The disdain in the guard¡¯s eyes vanished in lieu of surprise, but he was quick to regain hisposure.

    He had never seen the wonder of a formation with his own eyes, so to him it was a foreign item that others had grossly glorified. He did not believe that they were as wonderful as the rumors said.

    So to him, it was no big deal. ¡°We won¡¯t see you out,¡± the guardsman said coldly and snorted. Xue Wei¡¯s only response was a smile over his shoulder before he smoothly turned his head away and left.

    He was currently famous all over Cloudsoar City. Everyone had seen his face and they used him as the stuff of nightmares to scare the children.

    Whenever they saw him, every adult became alert, even the Golden Chambers reconsidered if they could let him stay.

    ¡°Don¡¯t cause problems for me,¡± the director said to the manager as they conversed through a long distancemunication bracelet.

    ¡°He is a formation master, so his worth is more than the branches of the three great sects.

    If they want to put pressure on you, don¡¯t hold back.¡±

    The manager was surprised. Usually, he would never be allowed to use his power to pressure the other sects or factions, but the director allowed him to do it this time.

    Just how amazing was this budding formation master?

    Xue Wei was unsure what stance the Golden Chambers would take, but he knew that his reputation as Ye Xiao was ruined in the Chengzi Kingdom.

    However, Xue Wei did not care. Ye Xiao was just a character he had created. What happened to it waspletely unrted to Xue Wei.

    Not to mention, his own reputation was already down the drain. He was known as a Primordial Beast and a mass-murderer.. His two identities were not far from each other in terms of infamy.

    When he entered the hotel again, to his surprise, Xue Wei was met with a smiling manager who greeted him with renewed ardor.

    ¡°I can understand that you are in a rough position right now, rumormongers spreading false information about you. I just want you to know, that we, The Golden Chambers, value the friendship we have built with you. We will not cancel your rental, even if the three great sects try to threaten us!¡±

    Having been assured of this, Xue Wei smiled and cupped his hands to him. ¡°Thank you, manager.¡±

    ¡°No need to be so polite!¡± The manager beamed back at him while waving his hands.

    It was clear that he was immensely satisfied with the young man¡¯s behavior.

    Xue Wei felt reassured that they would not run the risk of being evicted from their rooms. He went up the stairs to his suite andid out all his pills, fruits, herbs, and essence stones.

    Considering that he had only recently broken through to the firstyer of the heavenly warrior rank, Xue Wei picked a pill called the methorn Pill.

    It was a pill that was refined by using the methorn Herb as the base and ten other supplementary herbs as stabilizers. The methorn Pill assisted in strengthening one¡¯s foundations and solidifying the user¡¯s cultivation base post-breakthrough, so it was a perfect choice for him.

 Chapter 205: Medicinal Pills Workshop

    Xue Wei was quick to consume the methorn Pill, and with it came a burst of energy that assaulted every sense in his body. This energy was exceptionally pure and bright as it spread from Xue Wei¡¯s mouth to every cell in his body.

    It did not raise his strength. Instead, the wave of medicinal energy sought out impurities in his constitution and started seeping into the thousands of qi dragons that were within his body.

    A normal person had strands of qi circting around in their bodies, but the ones in Xue Wei¡¯s body had taken the shape of dragons. All of them glistened with an azure light.

    Although the number of dragons did not increase after he took the methorn Pill, they started exuding a more brilliant light. The color of the azure light had also deepened, and the dragons moved in a much more frisky way than before.

    This was what the methorn Pill did; it strengthened the current cultivation base and purified the Qi.

    Although it had not increased his strength directly, it had fortified his foundations ensuring that he was unlikely to suffer from qi deviation.

    After sensing that all the energy from the pill was gone, Xue Wei took a deep breath. He ced an essence stone in his hand, calmed himself down, and started cultivating without assistive items.

    He needed to get used to his body after thest pill before he could consume another pill or simr medicinal item.

    After dry cultivating for a full night, Xue Wei turned his attention towards the items in front of him again.

    This time, he picked a spiritual fruit. This was a very rare fruit, but Xue Wei had managed to get ahold of three of them at the auction in Golden Crow City.

    One could only consume one of them. Afterward, they were useless. He had bought one for himself, Hei Gou, and Wang Xiaoyun, but since she had left him, he was left with an extra.

    Unfortunately, it was useless to Bai Tianyi, so the only option was to sell it.

    Keeping it seemed useless. The name of the fruit was Silverbell Fruit, because it looked exactly like a small silver bell.

    This Silverbell Fruit raised the rank of a Heavenly Warrior by a fullyer. However, there were certain risks with consuming it. If one¡¯s foundation was not strong enough, it would backfire, incurring qi deviation.

    It was also possible for the increase in power to be below a fullyer, thereby destabilizing the user¡¯s foundations, but a perfectly solid foundation would permit a smooth increase of an entireyer for Heavenly Warriors.

    This was also why Xue Wei had taken the methorn Pill. Although his cultivation base was steady, he would not risk it.

    The days slowly went by like this. Xue Wei was in closed door cultivation, and so were Hei Gou and Bai Tianyi.

    They would try toe out every now and then to get some sustenance in the form of food and liquids from the restaurant attached to the hotel, but they did this only once every week, and it was never at the same time.

    In the city, the news about Xue Wei, or rather Ye Xiao, started to die out little by little. Although the citizens had been agitated in the beginning, their resentment quickly died out as they went about their everyday lives.

    The three great sects noticed that the effects of their attempt to sway themon opinion was faltering. So they took matters into their own hands and started putting pressure on the Golden Chambers directly.

    Never had they expected that the Golden Chambers would respond with a few words, and these words were an undisguised threat. Cause problems and the Golden Chambers would never again invite them to their shops or help them get what they need.

    This threat was enough to make both the Cerulean Starlight Sect and the Argent Moon Sect step back instantly, leaving only the Crimson Sunshine Sect alone in refusing to give up on messing with Xue Wei.

    Still, they were waiting for the right time to act as they did not dare to antagonize the Golden Chambers.

    One month turned into two, and two turned into three. After three months, Xue Wei went downstairs and paid for another two months of rent for the three suites.

    Xue Wei had at this point broken into the thirdyer of the Heavenly Warrior realm, but he was not satisfied.

    Though he was eager to improve with his eyes set on bing an Ordinary Knight as fast as possible, he knew that cultivation could not be forced so he always followed every breakthrough up with a period of time spent solidifying his foundations until he was ready to gorge on his cultivation resources again.

    It had been four months since the time he had rented the rooms by the time Xue Wei finally emerged.

    Having reached the thirdyer of the Heavenly Warrior realm in four months was already an excellent feat. His rate of improvement could rival the geniuses from the center of the continent.

    But he had been consuming pills like candy. Many different kinds of pills to ensure that he could continue to benefit from them.

    He had also used a stack of essences stones to speed the process up.

    Nine days after Xue Wei came out of his closed door cultivation, Bai Tianyi stepped out of his room with a smile stered on his face.

    Of the three, Bai Tianyi had taken the least resources with him, but he was the second to emerge. He had consumed the Rainbow Pill, which had propelled his strength all to the way to the firstyer of the Ordinary Knight realm. From this, it was clear that the Rainbow Pill was anything but ordinary.

    Two days after Bai Tianyi¡¯s emergence, Hei Gou came out of his room. He had reached the secondyer of the Heavenly Warrior realm in Qi-level, and his physical strength was at the eightyer of the Heavenly Warrior realm.

    Hei Gou¡¯s body was bursting with energy, and his foundation was so stable that nothing could shake it.

    He was smiling, and he had a hard time containing the excitement in his eyes. His aplishments during the closed door cultivation were not shabby. His Qi-level had reached the Heavenly Warrior stage, and his physical strength was almost reaching the peak of that very same stage.

    They each noticed the silly smiles on their faces, and chuckled. Their group had undergone a qualitative transformation, all three seeming to be overflowing with power.

    ¡°We are still quite far away from having the strength to threaten the three great sects on our own,¡± Xue Wei noted after assessing their overall strength. Though they had improved, it was not enough.

    ¡°That is correct.¡± Bai Tianyi nodded his head, but apetitive gleam was evident within his eyes.

    ¡°There was a trade fair not long ago here in Cloudsoar City,¡± Bai Tianyi continued with a low voice. ¡°There were seven One color Rainbow Pills up for sale at that fair. The Golden Chambers bought some of them as leverage for another transaction. They did not do it for gold or essence stones, but for a deal with someone who has something of equal value.

    ¡°I suggest we see if we can trade something for the One Color Rainbow Pills, because they will be of great help to us. They are truly magnificent and wondrous. No one knows exactly what the pills will do, but they will always strengthen one¡¯s body or soul.

    ¡°The other Rainbow Pills were purchased by the three great sects. We don¡¯t currently have the strength to take those from their hands.

    ¡°Rainbow Pills will be able to help our cultivation quite a bit, but that doesn¡¯t mean they¡¯ll make us invincible. Our only option is to try a few things I have in mind,¡± Bai Tianyi said mysteriously with a wicked smile.

    Xue Wei could not help but feel a chill go down his spine when he saw the mysterious and excited expression on Bai Tianyi¡¯s face.

    Hei Gou also seemed to feel that something was amiss and he nced at Bai Tianyi with undisguised worry in his eyes.

    ¡°What do you have in mind?¡± Xue Wei asked tentatively. Bai Tianyi smiled at them and kept quiet.

    ¡°We¡¯ll focus on the Rainbow Pills first.¡± Bai Tianyi had made a decision, and the others agreed.

    ¡°Since they want to trade the Rainbow Pills for something of equal value, our only option is formations,¡± Xue Wei said. Formations were rare, but since Xue Wei had learned how to make them rather quickly, the novelty had quickly worn off for him.

    ¡°The Golden Chambers has been fighting the other three sects for our sake," Xue Wei muttered while considering what to do. "I think it¡¯s justified to give them a stronger formation.¡±

    "Since my breakthrough to the thirdyer, my spiritual energy has also risen to the Middle Heavenly Warrior level. I should be able to inscribe the meward Formation."

    The meward Formation summoned a wall of me that could harm even Heavenly Warriors while killing almost any below that level.

    This meward Formation was rather umon, even amongst the circle of formation masters, because it was not very useful. While true that it creates a wall, it was at most a nuisance and was quite easily bypassable. One should have multiple formations to trap their enemies within, but that was quite wasteful.

    Still, this formation was highly sought after, primarily because of its rarity. The formation masters would want to buy the formation at an astronomical price because they wanted to pick it apart and figure out how its insides ticked for themselves.

    "Well then, time to make some meward Formations," Xue Wei decided, and to his big surprise, Bai Tianyi offered to help. "My spiritual energy is at the Ordinary Knight level," Bai Tianyi said, "I have dabbled in formations before, and I should be able to inscribe a few meward Formations as well."

    Having decided their course of action, the two of them went into one of the rooms together and started inscribing the meward Formations on a few stones.

    The formations had to be inscribed on stones because ordinary paper could not withstand the heat upon activation. Engraving on a rock was harder than writing on paper. It required more finesse to handle the strokes of each rune when engraving on a rock, while the formation paper just needed a steady hand with pen and ink.

    The carving part of the stone-based engraving also required more spiritual energy. Xue Wei and Bai Tianyi both focused on engraving the runes. Bai Tianyi had a higher sess rate than Xue Wei, which was not surprising given the fact that his spiritual energy was of a higher level than Xue Wei¡¯s.

    It took a few hours for Xue Wei to finish engraving the meward Formation fully, and soon he was sitting with thirty-three stones. Although it was quite a lot, they could always use them themselves, so making too many formations was not a bad thing.

    Having created the formations, Xue Wei, Bai Tianyi, and Hei Gou all went towards the Medicinal Pill Workshop, a shop belonging to the Golden Chambers.

    This was the workshop that contained the Rainbow Pills. For some reason, a long stream of people seeking to exchange their most prized possessions for the Rainbow Pills kept entering and leaving the workshop. Leaving in vain, that is, because the Golden Chambers was incredibly picky with what they wanted to trade them for.

    Xue Wei and the other two went into the workshop and looked around. Multiple ss cases disyed pills and herbs of various kinds. There were also all kinds of jade bottles on disy, and the medicinal aroma of the pills suffused the entire ce.

    "Sirs, are you here to buy something?" a female servant appeared and queried. She did not recognize any of them.

    "We would like to trade for the Rainbow Pills," Xue Wei said with a smile.

    She was stumped, but then she nodded her head and led them towards the upper floors. This ce was guarded by Ordinary Knights, and even an Earth Knight was present to guard the Rainbow Pills.

 Chapter 206: Ouyang Yan

    It was clear that the Golden Chambers took the matter regarding the Rainbow Pills very seriously. They had even deployed one of their few Earth Knights, a person of great stature within Chengzi Kingdom.

    Xue Wei was surprised, but he had never had any malicious thoughts involving stealing the Rainbow Pills so it did not matter that there were such strong experts present.

    "You have to be careful," Bai Tianyi transmitted through voicepression with an alert gleam in his eyes. "Although the Golden Chambers has been friendly and positive towards us, who knows what greed might do to them. If things go wrong and with an Earth Knight present, we will be incapable of escaping."

    "Reward and danger go hand in hand," Xue Wei answered seriously. "We could retreat now, but then we will not get our hands on the Rainbow Pills we so much need. As we are, we are just not strong enough to continue on our journey."

    "I have to admit that there is reason in what you say," Bai Tianyi sighed, but he remained tense, keeping an eye on everything around them. If he felt too much danger, they would be leaving at any moment.

    Hei Gou, on the other hand, was calm and rxed. "The Golden Chambers is aware of us having a Formation Master in our midst. If they truly coveted only our formations, they would¡¯ve made a move on us a long time ago. The fact that we are still safe and sound means that they can hold back their greed," he reasoned seriously.

    Both Hei Gou and Bai Tianyi made sense, but their opinions were diametrical opposites. In the end, Xue Wei decided to continue the endeavor while exercising greater caution.

    As they reached the second floor, the atmosphere in the hall changed drastically. It was much heavier and silence covered the entire floor.

    The girl guided them towards the opposite end of the stairs, where a middle-aged man was standing. There were stern-looking cultivators throughout the entire floor. The moment that Xue Wei, Bai Tianyi, and Hei Gou went up the stairs, all these eyes turned towards them.

    The oppressive air was overwhelming and made the hairs on Xue Wei¡¯s arms stand on end.

    Bai Tianyi had seen many things in his life. He did not believe that one ce would bepletely impartial. In fact, he was absolutely sure that everyone worked on the principle of self-gain, so he never trusted anyonepletely, especially not an establishment like the Golden Chambers that made a profit from exploiting others.

    Hei Gou was much more inexperienced, and his inexperience is what let him remain naively calm. Although he understood the underlying dangers, he also knew that they had been treated well until now ¨C so why would things suddenly change?

    This was also Hei Gou¡¯s personality. He was a positive and rather carefree person.

    As they reached the middle-aged man, he lifted his head and looked straight at them with narrowed eyes.

    "If it is not the infamous Ye Xiao," he said with a smile yet not a smile on his face.

    "I assume you are here to trade for the Rainbow Pills," he continued. Xue Wei nodded his head.

    The man¡¯s eyes narrowed further, but in a way that made his face contort with undisguised joy. "I know you previously traded quite a few formations for a Rebirth Pill back in Golden Crow City," the middle-aged man continued.

    Xue Wei understood that the negotiations for their business deal had started the moment they came into contact with this man.

    He was slightly stunned because they were discussing something like this in public. Still, he did not say anything. He nodded his head again to acknowledge what the man had said.

    "I am Zhou Yuan," the man introduced himself. "I am the leader of the Medicinal Pill Workshop here in Cloudsoar City. Although our branch¡¯s Golden Chambers is not as prominent as the branch back in Golden Crow City, I am of the impression that the Rainbow Pills are of much more value than the Rebirth Pill."

    The man was smiling. He knew the situation with the Rebirth Pill and how they had been adamant on buying it back then, but now he was using it to raise the price of the Rainbow Pills.

    Xue Wei was somewhat depressed. He was not willing to cheat the Golden Chambers as they had shown him ample respect, but he was not willing to be cheated either. This man was clearly out to scam him.

    "We have some formations," Bai Tianyi took the word. His immature, light voice caught every person on the floor by surprise.

    They had never expected that the first to speak would be a child they had overlooked. "We have formations, but it¡¯s not like we¡¯re dying to get our hands on some Rainbow Pills. Were you thinking we¡¯d pay an exorbitant price for them?"

    "We have these meward Formations. They are increasingly rare. We offer one meward Formation, alongside one Paralyzing Formation and one Spiritual Energy Bomb for each of the Rainbow Pills. It is not up for discussion. If you are not interested in our offer, then feel free to decline it and we will be on our way."

    His words, coupled with the tone, took them all by surprise. They had never expected that this young child was allowed to make the calls, but the way Xue Wei just stood behind the little boy with a slight smile on his face told them that the he had the authority to do so.

    The man¡¯s narrowed eyes widened in surprise. He had thought that they would begin a discussion on the worth of the items, but the price offered by the child was already rather tempting to ept right away.

    If they really changed their mind because he hesitated, was it not a great loss for the Golden Chambers?

    Struggling with internal debate, the middle-aged man finally reached a conclusion. "I can sell you four Rainbow Pills."

    Xue Wei smiled and nodded his head. He withdrew the twelve formations from his storage ring and also four pouches, wherein he put the four sets of formations separately. Then he waited for the four Rainbow Pills to be brought out.

    This was the crucial point and also the most dangerous one. Xue Wei had taken out his items, unting his wealth, while the other side had yet to even present their goods.

    The dilemma also manifested clearly in the eyes of the leader of the Medicinal Pill Workshop; his eyes glistened dangerously for a second before he remembered his orders. Then he unhurriedly withdrew four snow jade bottles containing a Rainbow Pill each.

    The exchange was fast and smooth. As soon as Xue Wei was given the four Rainbow Pills, he transferred them into his storage ring. Zhou Yuan did the same with the formations.

    Having finished the exchange, Xue Wei nodded to Zhou Yuan. "Thank you for a pleasant transaction," he said with a slight smile. "We will take our leave now, but maybe we can work togetherter on."

    Just as Xue Wei, Hei Gou, and Bai Tianyi left the upper floor, another youth was led up the stairs by a young attendant. "I need at least three Rainbow Pills," he said arrogantly. His words caused Xue Wei to nce over, only for him to realize that the other person was also looking at them.

    "Looks like anyone and their grandmothers can try to trade for the Rainbow Pills," the youth said mockingly. Xue Wei¡¯s unveering stare made him snort. "But in the end, you need treasures of equal value to make this exchange. Hah, even country bumpkins are trying to get their hands on Rainbow Pills. Seems they are trying to reach much higher than their ss allows them to."

    As for who this young man spoke was not said, but Xue Wei raised an eyebrow in amusement. Hei Gou, who also listened in on the conversation, could not help but chuckle.

    "You, peasant, are youughing at me?!" the young man eximed. The way his face twisted made him look rather ugly.

    Just as Hei Gou was about to answer him, Xue Wei lifted his hand and shook his head, stopping the words that almost came out of Hei Gou¡¯s mouth.

    Xue Wei knew his good friend. Hei Gou was definitely going to bust the young man¡¯s bubble and tell him that they had just bought four Rainbow Pills, but Xue Wei did not wish to draw too much attention to himself ¨C at least not more than what he already had.

    This young man did not know who Xue Wei was, so he was clearly not from Cloudsoar City. He also had enough valuables to exchange for three Rainbow Pills, showing he had a prominent position somewhere.

    Bai Tianyi seemed to agree with Xue Wei, as he walked very subtly faster so that they could leave the workshop without letting the conflict escte. The young man from the stairs also decided not to pursue the matter. He felt that he had won the argument since the other side stayed quiet and he was also in a hurry to get his hands on three Rainbow Pills.

    As he entered the upper floor, he held his chin up high and did not deign to look at the cultivators that were guarding the room. In fact, although he was only an Ordinary Knight himself, he was no foreigner to Earth Knights or even experts above that realm.

    "Manager Zhou," the man called out and looked at the middle-aged man at the end of the floor. "I am Ouyang Yan, a member of the Ouyang family. I havee here to exchange some of my treasures for three Rainbow Pills."

    Had Bai Tianyi heard the words, his eyes would have constricted and his heart would have started beating faster. The Ouyang family was one of the ancient families that had chased him when he was still human and seeking immortality. Their ancestor was one of the experts that had spent their life essence to seal Bai Tianyi in the small vige in the Azure Forest Kingdom.

    Fortunately, neither Ouyang Yan nor Bai Tianyi were aware of each other¡¯s identities and thus they just smoothly passed by each other like strangers on the street.

    "Young master Ouyang, I am sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but we are out of Rainbow Pills right now." Zhou Yuan shook his head apologetically, but inside he was not really sorry.

    Although the treasures that this Ouyang Yan could bring out would be outstanding since he was a descendant of the Ouyang family, they could not possiblypare to twelve formations. Even the Ouyang family only had a single formation master.

    "You already traded them away?" Ouyang Yan¡¯s eyes widened in surprise, his mood plummeting down from high up in the heavens to the lowest of hells. "Did you, by any chance, just trade them right before I arrived?" he inquired.

    Zhou Yuan¡¯s face did not change. He shook his head. "I am afraid I cannot answer this question. We promise our customers full confidentiality. We do not answer such questions."

    Ouyang Yan could not help but gnash his teeth in annoyance, but he was certain that those three earlier were the ones who had taken the Rainbow Pills. Their behavior, which he had at first taken as a disy of submission to his power, was, in fact, them making a mockery of him.

    The words he had said then now felt like a joke. Ouyang Yan knew that the Golden Chambers had gotten their hands on four Rainbow Pills, while the head disciples from the three great sects also had secured one each.

    He had gotten news this morning that all four Rainbow Pills were still avable at the Golden Chambers, so he had not rushed over. Now he regretted his decision greatly.

    "Manager Zhou, please excuse me," he said, running out of the Medicinal Pill Workshop.

    It was clear that he was not willing to give up just like that. Seeing his determination, Zhou Yuan considered intervening. Should he send the Earth Knight to protect Xue Wei? In the end, he decided not to. The opposing person was a member of the Ouyang family. Even the Golden Chambers did not want to get involved in a feud with them.

 Chapter 207: Rainbow Pill

    Ouyang Yan was not a reckless figure. He knew that those three youngsters had to have some kind of backer to be able to afford the Rainbow Pills..

    He was only one person, and he was only a fourthyer Ordinary Knight. Although the others had seemed weaker, they held the advantage of numbers; not to mention that Ouyang Yan was nothing but a normal member of the Ouyang family. If he had been important, he would not need to go to a border country like the Chengzi Kingdom for mere One Color Rainbow Pills, nor would he be traveling alone.

    Since he had a lot to take into consideration, he hesitated. And yet for some reason he could not stop his own body from moving, trying to catch up with the young men he had seen before.

    Unfortunately, when he exited the Medicinal Pill Workshop, he found that there was no sign of the three of them. They had vanishedpletely into the crowd.

    Considering what to do, Ouyang Yan pondered for some time, but he ultimately came up with nothing. He had no connections in this kingdom and he knew that his family would be against him using his background to intimidate and force others into assisting him.

    Sighing, he shook his head. "If it¡¯s fate, then we will meet again," he stated. With ast nce at the crowd, he decided it was time to leave the city. It held no more interest to him.

    Although Ouyang Yan had not seen them, Xue Wei had actually not gone far. The group was not in a hurry and were slowly strolling back to the hotel. Although the city had hated Xue Wei at the start, no one paid attention to him anymore. The three great sects continuously kept all his movements under strict watch.

    The Cerulean Starlight Sect was aware that they had messed up earlier. The Grand Elder of the sect who had been hostile towards Xue Wei had been punished for his behavior. Today, a new Grad Elder had arrived to take over the branch.

    They were, however, aware that it was toote to mend the rtionship with Xue Wei as he had not even once tried to find their sect in the time he had been in Cloudsoar City.

    Since he had cut all contact with the Cerulean Starlight Sect, Xue Wei was suddenly all alone against the three great sects. Although he was excessively prideful after the hatching of his dragon spirit, he also understood that right now the safest ce was close to the Golden Chambers.

    Even if the three great sects would not want to be enemies of the Golden Chambers and considering that they had already used their influence to pressure them, it was clear that they would go the extra mile for Xue Wei.

    "If he wants to lock himself up within the city, then let him. We cannot act against him, but he is also incapable of acting against us." This was the general opinion of the three great sects.

    It was true that a formation master was important and revered. A formation master would be respected and tried to be won over, but since they already had bad blood between each other, the sects believed it would be best to get rid of him before he became a problem.

    The three great sects were all famous and continent-spanning because they were a ce where everyone could join, granted that they had a talent for cultivation. They were ces where one could be provided with resources that their background could not afford, and in the end they could end up aplishing great things.

    There were many of their disciples who hade from remote areas. As a result, the sects had grown in strength and influence over the years. However, there were still factions even they could not afford to insult.

    The Golden Chambers was one of them. The Ouyang family was another. Right now, the Golden Chambers was protecting Xue Wei so they could only back down.

    It has to be said that despite backing down for now, they had no intention of letting Xue Wei and hispanions go. While he might not be able tomand the wind and the weather right now, if he continued to grow as he did, one day he might have enough influence to be able to be a thorn in their side. Although they believed that he would not seek to directly obliterate their branches and bases and murder their disciples, he could still heavily injure their sects foundations, be it financially or reputationally, if he set his mind to it.

    Xue Wei himself was perfectly well aware of this fact.

    "We¡¯re going to leave this city soon, right?" Hei Gou asked curiously. Xue Wei shook his head. "Cloudsoar City will be our base for some time," he said apologetically. "While I would love it if we could leave right away, I am afraid that it¡¯s not possible. If we leave, the three great sects are going to hunt us down, and then we will be in for a world of pain. If we manage to survive, we¡¯ll have been incredibly lucky."

    Bai Tianyi nodded his head, his eyes gleaming dangerously. "Three great sects, more like three-legged cats," he snorted. "They tried chasing us out of the city by turning the public opinion against us, but they totally failed. Now they are just biding their time."

    "So when can we leave?" Hei Gou asked. Xue Wei pondered the question. Finally, he sighed. "The stronger we are, the better. But we need to be at least at the Ordinary Knight level, maybe even at the Earth Knight level."

    A grimace flitted across Hei Gou¡¯s face. He had only recently broken through to the Heavenly Warrior realm. Bing an Ordinary Knight was not something he could just pull out of a hat. In fact, it would take him quite some time, maybe even years!

    Xue Wei was also not happy about it. In fact, he was annoyed that he had been caged like a beast inside Cloudsoar City. Although humans officially did not permit murder among each other, the truth was that the stronger experts would do anything that benefited themselves. If getting rid of Xue Wei was in their best interests, then he would be removed at the first possible moment.

    The only pleasure that Xue Wei had was that his stay in Cloudsoar City had caused the three sects to gnash their teeth in anger and impatience as they waited for him to leave. Just as they had imprisoned him, he had answered by annoying them in his own way.

    "We have enough resources to do what we need to do," Xue Wei said after a bit of silence as they walked back to the hotel. "We should be able to spend a few years here. But once we reach the Knight stage, we will make a run for it."

    By the time Xue Wei finished speaking, they arrived at the hotel. This time he paid for a full year in advance. His straightforwardness made the Golden Chambers and the three great sects aware that he had no intention of leaving anytime soon.

    "I have to warn you," Bai Tianyi said after they entered Xue Wei¡¯s suite and closed the door.

    "Rainbow Pills are seen as being wonderful magical pills; the most outstanding of all the pills because they are created by energy alone, not medicinal herbs."

    "Unfortunately, this also means that it¡¯s kinda hard to know what to expect."

    "You could get a pill that increases your spiritual energy or you could get one that increases your Qi. You can even get one that increases your physical strength. It is hard to say."

    Xue Wei frowned. "Then are they not quite a gamble to consume?" he asked. Bai Tianyi shed a wide smile at the other male. "It is, but when you get it right, you really get an astronomical increase in strength."

    "So if it is a gamble, howe you were lucky enough to have it increase your spiritual energy?" Hei Gou asked, puzzled. "Were you just very fortunate or do you have some kind of trick?"

    Bai Tianyi gave Hei Gou a look that clearly disyed that he had never thought that this dog could be smart.

    "Good question," he said teasingly. Hei Gou, who had sensed the gaze, snorted but did not say anything as he wanted answers. "I am created from spiritual energy," he began the exnation. "I am a sword spirit. Because of this, I have no physical strength, and I have no Qi."

    "It is impossible for the Rainbow Pill to enhance something that does not exist. As a result, all I can get is spiritual energy." Bai Tianyi smiled excessively as he exined his situation.

    "So you can eat as many Rainbow Pills as you please and all of them will increase your spiritual energy?" Xue Wei was the one to ask with a raised eyebrow. Was this not a little unfair?

    "I can." Bai Tianyi nodded his head affirmatively, his smile widening even further so much so that the corners of his lips almost touched his eyes.

    "Well, take two of the Rainbow Pills then," Xue Wei sighed. "Since they are guaranteed to increase your strength, it is better for you to consume them than for us to risk them being wasted. Hei Gou and I will take one each."

    Bai Tianyi did not decline and epted the two snow jade vials. With a nod to the other two, he swaggered out of the room, looking extremely pleased with himself.

    Hei Gou and Xue Wei both chuckled slightly and shook their heads. Bai Tianyi was an old demon, a man who had stood at the apex, but now he was nothing more than an entric, slightly petty, child.

    "Well then, excuse me, I will go and see what my luck brings me!" Hei Gou said seriously as he tightly grasped the vial in his hand. Excitement shone in his eyes.

    Xue Wei nodded his head and said his farewells before he too sat down on the floor in his room on a cushion and looked at the red colored pill in his hand.

    This was a One Color Rainbow Pill. A Seven Color Rainbow Pill on the other hand was the pinnacle of pill-making; they were heaven-defying and as rare as phoenix feathers and qilin horns.

    However, even if they existed, it was impossible to buy such pills with mere money.

    Rolling the pill around in the palm of his hand, Xue Wei pondered what to do. Finally after a few seconds, he raised it and ced it in his mouth, curious as to how it would reactpared to normal pills.

    The moment it came into contact with his tongue, the pill started to melt into liquid energy that slowly spread down from his throat into the rest of his body.

    For a second, Xue Wei thought he was floating as the energy gained in momentum like the waves of a storm, crashing against the azure dragon in his dantian.

    The dragon swayed in this current of energy as a small boat would in the ocean¡¯s fury. But only until it opened its mouth. As if a ck hole had manifested in his dantian region, the dragon started swallowing the energy almost ravenously.

    There was no telling when this would end; the dragon kept sucking in the waves of energy like a bottomless pit.

    The extra energy that the suction force could not take in did not go to waste. As soon as the excess energy touched the dragon¡¯s body, its scales and body absorbed it, but not as cleanly as when it was swallowed. Still, the color of the Azure Dragon¡¯s scales and body deepened and solidified. It was as if the more nourishment it received, the deeper the color of its body would be and the more it seemed like a real thing, no longer ethereal.

    Xue Wei was unaware of how much time had gone by. When the crashing waves of energy died down and he tried to stand up, his entire body was stiff and sore. He had clearly been sitting in the same position for an exceedinglyrge amount of time.

 Chapter 208: Arrival of the Diviners

    Clenching his hand into a fist, Xue Wei felt limitless strength surge through his arm. The azure dragons of qi that circted through his meridians had not increased in size, but they had all turned much deeper in color.

    The amount of azure Qi dragons in his meridians would never increase in number because they already fully saturated the passageways in his body, but their density of energy could increase, which manifested as a deepening of the azure color they gave off. They were like a school of fish, flooding his body.

    The usual cultivators have strands of Qi coursing through their bodies. These strands of Qie in the shape of thin threads, all of which circte through the body¡¯s meridians. Xue Wei also had these strands of Qi. However, every single strand had the shape of a dragon, and as his Qi was azure in color, so were the dragons.

    These Qi dragons were all created by the Azure Dragon Spirit in his dantian. This was the biggest puzzle for Xue Wei. He understood that he was a Sovereign Beast, so he also understood that every theory he knew so far about cultivation could not be applied to himself. On top of that, he had never heard about a spirit inhabiting one¡¯s dantian.

    This dragon spirit seemed to absorb the heaven-and-earth essence and refine it into Qi on its own, separate from Xue Wei¡¯s input, like any other cultivator. But the Qi it refined held a different attribute than normal. Not only did it look different, it also held a trace of vastness and eternity. It was as if his Qi was unyielding and a neverending reserve of energy. The pride that was evident in Xue Wei¡¯s entire being after the hatching of his spirit could also be found in his Qi.

    Despite the sensation of endless strength, Xue Wei could assess that his strength, albeit having improved by leaps and bounds, had not grown as much as Bai Tianyi¡¯s had after taking a Rainbow Pill.

    Bai Tianyi had gone from the Low Heavenly Warrior spiritual energy level straight to the Low Ordinary Knight level. Xue Wei could feel that his cultivation had risen from the thirdyer of the Heavenly Warrior realm to the fifthyer.

    Although this increase was rather impressive and would be impossible with other pills, Xue Wei understood that this was the wonder of the Rainbow Pills. He could not help but dream about a Two Color or even a Three Color Rainbow Pill.

    Before his dream could get the better of him, he exited his suite and went down to the hotel counter.

    "Excuse me," he called out to the manager, who instantly walked up to him with a smile on his face and cupped hands. "I was wondering, have you seen my friends exiting their rooms recently?" he asked.

    Xue Wei knew that the Golden Chamber kept an eye on both him and his friends. While they really were protecting them, it was also in their interest to know what they were doing.

    "I am sorry," the manager said apologetically while shaking his head. "I have not seen them in the month that has passed since the trade fair."

    Xue Wei¡¯s eyebrow shot up in surprise. Had it been a full month already? Although his body had felt incredibly stiff and sore after the cultivation session, he would never have guessed that so much time had passed. It had felt like like a few moments had passed to him.

    "Thank you," Xue Wei cupped his hands at the manager before he decided to start strolling about town. He had a few things he wished to purchase, and a few things he wanted to see if he could find.

    Just as he exited the Golden Chambers, he sensed that the number of people tailing had multiplied. His spiritual energy was still at the Medium Heavenly Warrior level, so it had not advanced. The only reasonable conclusion he had was that more people had been appointed to follow him.

    Xue Wei wandered around in the city for some time. He purchased a few snacks that he ate while walking down the streets, on the lookout to see whether or not this city had an underground society.

    Cloudsoar City was huge. Although this Chengzi Kingdom was not a part of the center of the continent, it was just at the border, and thus, many things that did not appear in the backwater kingdoms and the other empires could be found here.

    Xue Wei was looking for something specific. He knew that the underground societies did not care about whether or not the customer was a Primordial Beast or a human. All that mattered was money, and for the right amount of money, you could get anything.

    Xue Wei wanted to buy information. He wanted to get information on Sovereign Beasts. He knew that he could not go to the Golden Chambers to ask about information like this. He had to go to a ce where he could be anonymous.

    After finishing the snacks he had purchased, Xue Wei went to the closest store selling face masks. He had been wearing a face mask for a very long time and it had be normal to him.

    The face masks were like ayer of extra skin. They were easy to breathe through and felt as natural as if they were not wearing anything.

    Xue Wei already had one face mask that altered his appearance to suit the character of Ye Xiao, but he would need another appearance should he find the underground society.

    His appearance was well known throughout the entire city, and money was what talked in the underground society. If he showed up there, someone just had to sh a few gold coins and they would be able to obtain information about what he had requested. As a result, the best option would be to alter his face again.

    Face masks were easily purchasable in this region. They were cheap to make as the materials were in abundance the closer you came to the center of the continent, and every expert always had one secret or another that they wished to keep.

    Due to the high demand, many shops sold face masks, and they sold them for as low as fifty silver. If one were to try and acquire a face mask in the backwater kingdoms, they would have to pay more than double if not triple for the same thing.

    Xue Wei entered a shop. He was aware that his tail of experts would enter to find out what he had bought the moment he leaves, but he did not mind that they knew he was buying a face mask.

    He purchased three face masks and smiled at the counterdy before he left the shop, humming a song. As he had expected, it did not take long for the experts that had tailed him to enter the shop and obtain information about his purchase of face masks. Three sets even.

    Was he finally getting ready to leave Cloudsoar City? They hoped so.

    Xue Wei continued his stroll through the city for some time. Eventually he reached the center square. He had noticed that the rest of the city had seemed less bustling than normal, but now that he was at the center square he saw all the ones who had been missing from the city.

    As he got close, he could hear the roars of beasts and thousands of voices chattering and cheering. His curiosity was piqued and he sped up slightly. When he turned a corner, the center square was stretched out right in front of him. He could not help but widen his eyes in surprise.

    The entire center square was bursting with people. So many that he could hardly count them all. There was a massive podium in the middle of the square where many cages were stacked on top of one another. Beasts of all kinds and shapes were inside these cages, roaring and pacing back and forth.

    Xue Wei was stunned when he saw the sight in front of him. Although he hade to terms with the fact that he was a Sovereign Beast, he did not feel any connection with these beasts and their suffering had nothing to do with him. Still, he looked on curiously as to what was going on.

    Seven cloaked people were standing on top of the podium, next to the cages. They looked awe-inspiring as they were high above everyone else, and the way they moved was filled with vigor.

    They were clearly Diviners.

    Diviners were capable of taming beasts. They had a divine power and their ability to tame beasts was so outstanding that they were highly regarded by many if not all. Some even wished to have their own children bing Diviners, but the recruitment was tough. First of all, any child over the age of five would be instantly declined.

    Xue Wei did not feel pressured because of the Diviners. He had previously been close to a Diviner back in the Heping Kingdom, and he had even let them examine him. Even if his spirit had hatched, Xue Wei did not believe that they would be capable of seeing through him. Hei Gou was a whole other story though.

    "Seems like I need to make Gou stay in the room until the Diviners decide to leave town again," Xue Wei muttered. He was not willing to risk his good friend being exposed and captured, after which he would have to serve some wealthy aristocrat for eternity.

    Xue Wei released a stale breath of air and gave ast nce at the Fierce Beasts that had been put up for disy. Fierce Beasts were all that would be put up for sale outside the center of the continent, while all Primordial Beasts would go to the center region because they were worth much more.

    These Fierce Beasts were all equivalent to the Ordinary and Earth Knight realms, either with their physical strength or with their Qi-level.

    The moment Xue Wei looked at the beasts, it was as if the beasts could feel it. All of them quieted down and stopped their pacing forth and back. Instead, they were still like statues. The audience of experts went wild thinking that this was something that the Diviners had ordered them to do.

    The Diviners were shocked when they saw this behavior. The Diviners were capable of taming beasts, able to make them heed their every order, but when so many beasts were gathered together, they would struggle against their bonds.

    They would roar and pace around, some might even try to attack the cages in an attempt to escape.

    Never before had they seen all their beasts turn into stone. Never before had they experienced what they were experiencing right now.

    Xue Wei chuckled and shook his head when he saw the shock on the faces of the seven Diviners. He then turned around and returned to the hotel. Although he was curious about the beasts and the Diviners, he knew that it was more important to warn Hei Gou.

    Hei Gou still had not left his suite. Xue Wei stayed outside for a few days before Hei Gou came out. "Sorry," Xue Wei said while pushing his friend back into the suite and followed behind him.

    Hei Gou¡¯s eyes widened by the gesture. "Please no!" he called out, "I know I am prettier than Xiaoyun, but I don¡¯t swing that way. Please save my chrysanthemum!"

    "Oh stop it," Xue Wei felt ck lines on his forehead when he listened to the joking Hei Gou. "There are Diviners in town," he said, going straight to the reason he had pushed him back into the room. "You have to stay here until they¡¯re gone."

    "How many are there?" Hei Gou instantly became serious when he heard the word Diviners. He had nevere across one before, but he had heard much about them. They were the ultimate threat for all Primordial Beasts.

    "There are seven, and I fear that they will have some kind of interaction with the Golden Chambers before they leave. I really doubt that the Golden Chambers will allow such a golden goose to slip past them."

    "I see." Hei Gou nodded his head. "In that case, I will stay here and cultivate. The Rainbow Pill raised my physical strength to the ninthyer. My Qi-level is still in the secondyer. Heavenly Warrior, of course."

 Chapter 209: The Intelligencer

    After securing that Hei Gou would not leave his suite, Xue Wei returned to his own chambers where he started cultivating.

    He had purchased three masks, which left their pursuers guessing at when and if Xue Wei and his friends were exiting Cloudsoar City. They could not help but curse at him.

    If they each wore a mask and blended into the crowd, it would be impossible for the pursuers to locate their targets. Only Bai Tianyi was easily noticeable because of his tiny size, so the three great sects had their men pursue every single child that exited the hotel.

    To their annoyance, none of these children were Bai Tianyi. They were instead message boys that worked for the hotel to deliver messages on behalf of the patrons.

    This really made them all wonder whether or not Xue Wei had bought the masks to mislead them, or if he had something nned. In the end, the pursuers were incapable of seeing even the slightest shadow of Xue Wei and hispanions.

    What they were unaware of was that Xue Wei had long since left the hotel. He waspletely unaware of the fact that many of these pursuers were left grinding their teeth and filled with anger due to his stunt.

    He wandered the streets of the city in an aimless manner for some time, before he finally headed, in a casual way, towards the poor residential area.

    This residential area was a ce filled with hidden dragons and crouching tigers. Here, anyone could be an extreme expert, but they could also be an unfortunate beggar.

    There were many people here who had lost limbs and who had turned into cripples from their years in the army. They had lost their ability to earn money for their families, which as a result forced them to beg and live in this area where every day was a struggle.

    There were also a lot of criminals who lived in this area. Because of the abundance of cripples, beggars, and criminals living in this area, the city guards had decided not to funnel resources into cleaning the area up, or even patrol it.

    In the end, a parallel society had appeared in Cloudsoar City¡¯s poor area, a society that thrived on its ownwlessness; a society that did not care about the war between humans and beasts. All that mattered in this ce was the profit that was to be made from selling information and items to the highest bidder.

    Xue Wei had previously walked around Cloudsoar City. He had seen the signs and heard the rumors about this ck market, but he had not been deep into the poor area before.

    Even as a Heavenly Warrior, he was still far from being strong enough to look after himself in this area. Ordinary and Earth Knights weremon, and even the leader of the ck market was a Sky Knight, one of the few Sky Knights in the entire kingdom!

    Xue Wei was careful. He did not speak to anyone, but he was tense and his mind was alert. He observed everything around him. He had charged up Forbidden Rush to escape at a moment¡¯s notice.

    Frankly, he was almost too vignt. The ck market was indeed interested in people¡¯s wealth and they would kill for said wealth, but if they killed every single person that steps into their territory, no one would dare to set a foot into the shadows, and that would end in them losing money.

    The territory of this underground society was located right beneath the western side of the city walls, in the shadows of the city walls where all the ugly and disfigured people were hiding. In this darkness, many things that could never see the light of day were urring.

    Xue Wei reached a dpidated building. It had three floors and was so worn down that it looked like it woulde crashing down at any moment. The windows had been shattered, with shards of ss sprinkled over the windowsills.

    Not only were the windows shattered, there were also long cracks on the walls. It almost seemed like it woulde down any moment now. The walls had sunk in and the top floor was tilting over. Were it not for a neighboring house, it would likely have toppled over already.

    Xue Wei looked doubtfully at this house. He could not decide whether or not he should actually enter. Was it not somewhat suicidal? The house could copse at any moment, and who was to say that it would not conveniently copse when he was inside?

    Xue Wei chuckled the more he thought about it. Even if it copsed, he should still be okay given his physique as a Sovereign Beast.

    If he had the means to survive, what was there to hold him back?

    This worn-out house was famous within the entire city. Even those from the respectable parts of town had heard about it before, and Xue Wei had managed to get his hands on information about it rather easily.

    The man who owned this ce was called ¡®The Intelligencer¡¯. No one knew his real name. He had a wide web of informants not only within Cloudsoar City or merely the Chengzi Kingdom, but he knew things from even the center of the continent and the backwater countries.

    Xue Wei knew that before reaching Lan, the phony prophet, this was his best option of getting some information.

    Havinge to this conclusion, Xue Wei stepped inside. Unknown to him, many eyes were observing him, and some of them disyed surprise. It took guts to enter such a run-down house.

    As Xue Wei entered the house, he looked around curiously. The house¡¯s interior was every bit as worn down as the exterior. The wallpaper was half ripped off, and the padding of the chairs was falling out of holes in the fabric. Some of them evencked legs and were leaning against the wall, clearly incapable of holding anyone up.

    There were no people. The entire house seemed deserted. Xue Wei could not even sense anyone inside when he spread out his spiritual energy. It was clear that whoever was within the worn-out house was much stronger than him.

    Xue Wei was notpletely sure about the procedures to follow when one wished to get information from this ce. He just knew it was the go-to location.

    Was he supposed to wait at the ground floor? But there were no people. After waiting for half an hour with nothing happening, Xue Wei decided against standing still and went towards the crooked stairs leading to the upper floors.

    He had to watch his step. Every single one of the steps on the stairs was so old that they creaked violently, and some of them even sank when he put his weight on them. It was clear that he would fall through at any moment if he was not careful. He would rather not have that happen.

    When Xue Wei finally reached the second floor, his eyesnded on a person. This person, he could not sense in any way. Had he not been looking straight at her with his own eyes, he would never have guessed she was there.

    It was a woman. Her hair ran long and hung down casually. She had a pretty face, but she was not the kind of beauty that could cause the downfall of a city. Even so, there was a gracefulness to her, a confident air about her that he had never sensed from another woman ¨C not even Wang Xiaoyun.

    The woman was dressed in a red dress. It did not seem luxurious, but neither did it seem in. It had golden lining and seemed to be of eptable quality.

    When Xue Wei stepped onto the floor, her head snapped up from a mountain of scrolls that were ced on a table in front of her. Her eyes were incredibly sharp and prating. She raised an eyebrow in surprise when she saw him there.

    "What can I do for you?" she asked. Her voice was gentle, like flowing water, her tone soft and inviting.

    "I heard about the Intelligencer in town," Xue Wei began saying. "I have precisely a need for information, and I believe that this would be my best option."

    The woman¡¯s eyes narrowed and she cocked her head ever so slightly as she observed Xue Wei, clearly trying to calcte whether it was worth working with him.

    "So, what kind of information are you looking for?" the woman asked after a slight pause. She had apparently evaluated him as a customer.

    "Sovereign Beasts," Xue Wei said. "I want any information avable on Sovereign Beasts. It doesn¡¯t matter ¨C their variations, their behavior, their history or even just their legends, I want everything."

    The woman was stumped when she heard this. She had expected somethingpletely different and could not help but frown.

    "Sovereign Beasts... It¡¯s not that we don¡¯t have information on them," she stated slowly. "It¡¯s just that they are the stuff legends are made of. It will be hard to say what is false and what is true. Although we are an information hub, those legends and records are kept by the strongest factions in the continent. Getting them will require some skill."

    The woman knew that although it sounded very easy to get the legends about the Sovereign Beasts, this customer wanted to have records and real information as well, something that would need time to gather.

    "Can you help me?" Xue Wei asked anxiously. The woman, who had been pondering deeply with a frown on her face, looked at him and nodded her head.

    "It is not that we cannot help you," she said seriously. "It is just that this is going to be a very costly affair and it will take me a few months to gather all the information you might want. Also since it is so time-consuming and that it is likely to expose some of our moles in the main families, we cannot ept low-grade essence stones or gold coins as an exchange."

    Xue Wei had thought he could pay with low-grade essence stones so he was quite surprised, but it made perfect sense to him after thinking it through.

    He, however, would prefer not using his formations as currency, as it would instantlypromise his identity. Instead, he searched his storage ring and found the essence stones that he had gotten from the Moon Prince. He withdrew one and handed it to the woman.

    "How many of these essence stones will this cost?" he asked in a seemingly calm way, but deep within his heart an almost unbearable ache had started spreading. Although he was rather liberal with money and wealth, these essence stones were truly valuable. From what he could see, they were top-grade essence stones.

    Essence stones were ranked from low, middle, high, to top grade. Top-grade essence stones were almost nonexistent in the modern day, as the resources on the had been excavated excessively to a point where even high-grade essence stones were hard toe by.

    Having to take out some of his limited supply of top-grade essence stones was enough to make his heart bleed, but he truly needed information about the Sovereign Beasts so he did not have much of a choice. He could not offer formations lest he blow his cover or reveal what the ¡®real¡¯ him was actually looking for.

    "Ten top-grade essence stones," the woman said with a stern voice that conveyed that it was not up for discussion and brought Xue Wei back from his pain and suffering to reality.

    "We cannot do it for less than ten," she repeated, thinking that Xue Wei was unhappy with the price.

    In fact, Xue Wei was slightly unhappy with the price. It was a lot of essence stones, especially top-grade ones, but he knew better than to argue with this woman. She was frightening, and if he declined, who knows whether or not she would just straight up kill him and take his storage ring. unting one¡¯s wealth was already a crime.

    "I can ept it," Xue Wei said hesitatingly, though with pain clearly evident on his face, "but I will need the news within three months. I intend to leave the city after three months."

 Chapter 210: Cave with Cages

    The woman did not fail to notice from the look on his face that he was seemingly debating whether or not this information was worth the price in his mind.

    If he had a lot of these top-grade essence stones, he would not have bat an eyelid, but his behavior made it seem like he was stuck on a difficult problem, making it reportedly evident that he both needed the information and found the price punishing to his coffers.

    The truth was that he had quite a few top-grade essence stones. The storage ring he had taken from the Moon Prince¡¯s dead body contained a pile of them, but he had learned that showcasing too much wealth invited danger.

    Although his pride told him to never back down, there was no need for him to go out of his way to invite trouble.

    Taking out five top-grade essence stones, Xue Wei reluctantly handed them over to the woman. "I will only pay half to begin with," he said seriously. This was his best offer.

    The woman epted the five top-grade essence stones with slightly trembling hands. Although she was used to seeing riches, five top-grade essence stones were definitely the most valuable type of currency and item she had seen.

    She had been prepared to see the man withdraw from the deal. In fact, although the top-grade essence stones were as rare as phoenix feathers and qilin horns, the price that the Intelligencer had to pay for this information was equally costly. Many spies would have to infiltrate the most secure parts of the libraries of many different high-profile sects and ns. If, or rather when, this was noticed, they would be punished severely and expelled.

    The kind of spies who could gain ess to those parts of the libraries had been infiltrating their ces for many years already. To have them give up their position really required a ton of treasure to make it a reasonable tradeoff.

    In fact, this deal that they were making made the hearts of all involved hurt. The woman was aching for her loss of personnel, Xue Wei for the sake of the top-grade essence stones he was spending.

    Xue Wei was unaware of whether or not this woman was the Intelligencer. From what he had heard in town, the Intelligencer was a man, but this was without a doubt a woman. This was also only the middle floor, so there was one floor left above them. Who knew what kind of expert stood behind this woman whose strength he could not determine?

    "Well, thank you for doing business with us," the woman was the first one to get over her heartache. Her words roused Xue Wei¡¯s attention.

    "Come back three months from today and I will get you the information you have been asking for," she continued. Xue Wei nodded his head.

    "Oh, right!" the woman said suddenly, stopping him for a moment. "Don¡¯t forget to wear the face mask you¡¯re wearing right now. I will only give the information to someone who has your face."

    Xue Wei did not question how she was so certain about him using a face mask. It was probably amon urrence to wear a facemask when one visited the Intelligencer¡¯s house.

    "In that case, thank you for your assistance," Xue Wei said, bidding his farewell, and left the floor. When he was on the ground floor again, he gave the hallway a second look, but it was as deserted as it had been before.

    Although it was deserted, Xue Wei did not think that he had any privacy. The woman above would without a doubt keep observing him until he left the house. She would be a poor member of the ck market if she did not.

    Xue Wei left the house with no lingering affections. He had forked out an astronomical amount of money, and he would rather not wait around to see the old, decaying house copse onto him. Leaving it would make him feel good.

    When he left, he felt as if he could finally breathe normally again. Although he had not been scared, he had still felt suppressed inside the battered house, mostly because it was their of at least one extreme expert.

    When Xue Wei was out in the dim light of the street, he noticed how groups of experts were moving further and further into the darkness of the underground territory. It was as if something was happening that was summoning all the experts. Xue Wei¡¯s curiosity had been piqued.

    Among those migrating towards the spot, there were Sky Warriors and Heavenly Warriors, and some of them were even stronger than Xue Wei by quite the margin.

    Some of them walked together in groups, others walked alone. Some brazenly walked straight towards the inner region of the district, while others constantly looked over their shoulders to make sure they were not being followed.

    Xue Wei was wondering what could have such allure that everyone would head towards a specific area, but his curiosity got the better of him even after he thought it through with ample hesitation. If even Sky Warriors had the gall to go there, it should not be too dangerous.

    He slowly followed the crowd deeper into the poverty-stricken area. The houses started looking more and more broken and worn-down; even the Intelligencer¡¯s base looked rather neatpared to these. Some of the buildings had long since already copsed, even.

    The throng of experts continued all the way to the outer city walls of the unregted district. There was a small house beneath the looming shadow of the city wall at the end of the district, which was what every person entered one after the other. The house did not seem as if it could house all those people, but even so, many more continued through the door as if it was much bigger on the inside.

    When Xue Wei reached the door, he found something out of his expectations. The house was not bigger on the inside. As a matter of fact, there was nothing on the inside apart from a set of stairs leading down into the ground.

    The staircase had light orbs lighting it up, but it was still damp and slippery so Xue Wei had to be very careful not to trip when he started walking down.

    The staircase was at first straight, but it started to wind after a bit of time. It turned left, it turned right, it went one way and then another. It took half an hour before Xue Wei had managed to get out of the stairs.

    The air was humid and the first thing he encountered was arge room that was obviously carved out underneath the city. Calling it a room was actually misleading; it was at least the same size as ten football fields next to one another.

    There were five cages inside this vast space, all of which took up as much space as a quarter of a football field. And then there were a lot of people around those cages who looked to be spectating whatever was going on inside those cages. Some of them seemed to be discussing something.

    A bustling sound could be heard within the cave. At the far end, Xue Wei saw hundreds of cages containing Fierce Beasts, but unlike the Fierce Beasts of the Diviners, these were quiet and well-behaved.

    Xue Wei frowned. Not only could he hear a loud sounds of voices, he suddenly heard the sounds of loud cheering, and then moments after it was followed by the sound of fighting. The incessant sound of weapons shing against one another.

    Xue Wei slowly walked towards the sound of the cheering and the fighting. Soon he found that every cage surrounded by the thick throng of people was currently being used for illegal fights, the sound of cheers and battle sounds drowning out his thoughts.

    A few Fierce Beast screams and roars sounded out, and some human voices could be heard inside the cages as well. Xue Wei looked at the different cages. In some of them, humans were fighting against humans. In others, they were fighting against Fierce Beasts.

    Xue Wei slowly walked through the entire cave before he understood what was going on. Once a week, this underground cage battle arena would open. Anyone with a sweet tooth for gambling and risking their neck could participate.

    One could either try their luck betting on one of thebatants, but there was a much easier way to earn some coin, and that was to sign up for the arena fights oneself.

    It was not up to the participant to decide if they were to face another human or a beast. That was up to fate and whoever was avable at the time.

    But what Xue Wei found shocking was that apparently Primordial Beasts showed up from time to time as well. These Primordial Beasts usually killed their opponent easily while being in human shape, but from time to time it so happened that they were forced to take on their original shape.

    Although Primordial Beasts were public enemy number one outside of this ce, here they were hailed as heroes because betting on them was an almost guaranteed win.

    When someone killed their opponent, not only were they given the prizes from winning, they could also take everything that had belonged to the opponent. This was why people still challenged the Primordial Beasts.

    Not only could they take their in foe¡¯s valuables and the prize money, but they would also end up owning the entire corpse of a Primordial Beast, which was something that was worth quite a lot.

    Currently, Xue Wei was unaware of who were Primordial Beasts and who were humans, but he could see that most of the humans in the cages were battling other humans. Their weapons were constantly shing and sending sparks and energy ripples outwards.

    As Xue Wei walked past the different cages, he noticed that scantily d young women were walking around with trays filled with snacks and drinks. These were apparentlyplementary, and many of the girls were subject to harassment as the men took a ss or a snack.

    Even when they were being groped all over, the women said nothing and silently endured it, causing Xue Wei to frown. He was not a knight in shining armor, nor was he willing to be the enemy of the people, but he was rather displeased with the disgrace the women faced.

    As if hearing his thoughts, a strong voice reverberated through the cave. "Where do you think you are touching?!" it said. Moments after, everyone, apart from the ones in the cages, looked towards the voice.

    Xue Wei raised an eyebrow when he recognized the woman. Her red dress and the alluring figure would be recognized anywhere, especially since Xue Wei had seen her only moments before.

    From what the conversations abounding around him told him, Xue Wei understood that her name was Li Chen and that she was known as Cloudsoar City¡¯s subus.

    When her eyes swept through the cave, they paused on Xue Wei for a moment. Though hesitating at first, she approached him.

    "I did not expect to see you here," she said smilingly as if she knew him well. She smiled sweetly, and then she clung her arms around his, pressing her chest against him, which caused him to shiver involuntarily. This woman was scary!

    "Since Miss Chen can be here, why can¡¯t I?" Xue Wei answered, unfazed on the outside, but on high alert on the inside. What was this vixen¡¯s aim to try and act so familiar with him? The others were ring at him as if he was an eyesore.

    "Little brother, I fear you have not been here before," Li Chen continued, "so let big sister exin it to you."

    "This ce is where you risk your life for riches. You can be rich overnight if you challenge a Primordial Beast and win! In theory, the fights here alwaysst until someone dies, but there is a special rule to counteract that: if someone admits defeat before the fight begins and hands over all their valuables, they can avoid battle."

    "Thank you, Big Sister Chen, for exining it to me," Xue Wei saidzily while looking around. Li Chen was surprised. This man... was he made of stone?

    Then she remembered what her master, the Intelligencer, had told her earlier that day. She suddenly did not think it too strange. The Intelligencer was indeed a magnificent being that she worshipped wholeheartedly.

 Chapter 211: Lu Yuping and Jia Lu

    Li Chen stopped clinging to Xue Wei. Previously she had looked down on him, but not anymore. She had a feeling that messing with this young man had consequences that even she could not handle.

    Xue Wei kept spectating the various battles in the cages. Everyone cheered for the one they had bet their low-grade essence stones on, but suddenly a roar came from one of the cages that made even Xue Wei flinch. This was the roar of a Primordial Beast.

    "Oh, it seems like it is quite lively tonight," Li Chen smiled and led Xue Wei towards the cage. No one was willing to make space for them, but by using her high cultivation base, she made an imprable barrier appear around Xue Wei and herself. When she moved forward, no matter if people wanted to or not, they were forced aside.

    Some were grouchy about this, but when they saw that the culprit was Li Chen, they could only begrudgingly shut their mouths and try to squeeze in somewhere else.

    There were two human figures inside this cage. One was slender and tall. He seemed extremely graceful as he stood in the middle of the cage with a mocking smile on his face and disdain in his eyes. He held a thin sword in his hands, which seemed as thin as a cicada¡¯s wing.

    Opposite him was a massive mountain-like man. He had bulging muscles all over his body and held a club in his hand. Just by looking at their weapons of choice it seemed that either the thin sword would cut through the club or it would be shattered by the sheer power of the club when swung by such a monstrous man.

    When looking at them, Xue Wei had no doubt about which one was the Primordial Beast. The inborn disdain for humans made it clear, alongside the graceful nature. This was a Primordial Beast of decent standing.

    "Want to know what race he is?" Li Chen by his side suddenly asked. Xue Wei was stumped by the question and narrowed his eyes. She worked as an information broker so it was highly likely that she knew, but it was also likely to cost him.

    "What is the price for this knowledge?" he could not help but ask. It was a lie to say that he was not interested, but itpletely depended on the price.

    "I want you to challenge another fifthyer Heavenly Warrior in the cages," she said with a smile. "I want to see how you fight." Xue Wei had never expected this condition. He had been allured by the cage fighting. There were not many, if any, ces where he could go to fight against someone as a test of his strength where no one would care about the aftermath, including murder.

    Laughing, he nodded his head. "That is a deal," he agreed readily. Li Chen smiled. She knew who he was, and more importantly, what he was. As a result, it never crossed her mind that he might be losing against another fifthyered Heavenly Warrior.

    What she was unaware of was that he had spent thest year only cultivating. He had been in aa for seven months and after that he had been in closed door cultivation for roughly four months until now. He had not actually fought since reaching his current rank.

    "This man is a Golden-Furred Cloud Leopard," Li Chen said casually. "He is considered one of the best fighters in the entire city. He is an Earth Knight. It is not often that you witness him fighting, so since you are seeing it, you should treasure this opportunity."

    "His name is Lu Yuping. He has fought many people, but so far only a handful have made him take on his true shape. Let us see how far this challenger will be able to push him."

    Xue Wei nodded and crossed his arms over his chest. He observed the Lu Yuping figure with narrowed eyes. Most of the Primordial Beasts Xue Wei had met so far had been incapable of sensing his strength as a Sovereign Beast unless he transformed or released the strength of the Azure Dragon Spirit in his dantian. At all other times, he would look exactly like a human.

    Still, this Lu Yuping looked at Xue Wei before the battle began, his face disying some shock and disbelief, which were quickly hidden again as he faced his opponent.

    Lu Yuping swung the sword in a full moon casually before he looked at his challenger. "Do you think you stand a chance against me? I am a true Primordial Beast ¨C and even one that has been at the seventhyer of the Earth Knight realm for quite some time. Do you honestly think you can beat me with your newly acquired seventhyer?"

    There was pride, confidence, and even arrogance in Lu Yuping¡¯s voice as he spoke to the human challenger, but his foe did not give in to the taunts.

    He said nothing. He lifted the club in his hand, getting ready to charge as soon as the battlemenced.

    There was no judge in these cage fights because there was nothing that was considered unfair or wrong. You could use anything at your disposal to defeat your opponent; even outside strength, such as the use of formations and pills, was allowed during the fights.

    However, the fight did not start as soon as the fighters entered the cage. That was the only rule. They both had some time to prepare, and they could engage in psychological warfare as they did. This was not only for the sake of the contestants, but also to ensure that everyone had the time to put their bids on their preferred fighter. Not to mention the entertainment value behind it.

    The broker who dealt with taking the bets finally appeared by the side of the cage. He was in charge of starting the battle when no more people went to ce their bets. His appearance brought the atmosphere to a boil. The audience cheered withrge smiles, all eyes glued to the two figures inside the cage.

    "Begin!" was all the broker said loudly. Not even half a second had passed before Lu Yuping shot forward like a beam of light. He was heading straight for his opponent, his sword gleaming in the light that was cast from the light orbs illuminating the cave.

    The human was much bigger than Lu Yuping and his frame resembled a mountain. He was at least two meters tall, his body bursting with thick muscles.

    He narrowed his eyes as he watched the advancing Lu Yuping. Contrary to everyone¡¯s expectation, he threw the club on the ground and took a horse stance.

    His fist let loose a fist attack that Xue Wei did not recognize, but it was magnificent to look at.

    Not only did it cause nine echoes to resound, but it was also covered in Qi that took the shape of a flood dragon and headed straight for Lu Yuping¡¯s heart.

    This fist attack required Qi, but the main reason for the nine echoes was the physical strength he poured into it. It seemed that although his Qi level had just advanced to the seventhyer of the Earth Knight realm, his physical strength had exceeded that long ago.

    Xue Wei frowned slightly. How would this Lu Yuping deal with a fist attack that excelled at both brute strength and speed? With the form of a flood dragon, it quickly arrived in front to Lu Yuping and wrapped itself tightly around him, halting his advance.

    Lu Yuping did not seem too troubled, however. He quickly wielded his sword, lifted it up for a moment, and shed it down, beheading the flood dragon of Qi with an elegant stroke and dissipating the remainder of the energy into the air.

    Lu Yuping stomped on the ground, causing cracks to appear on the floor, before he shot out at lightning speed toward his human challenger again. But the mountain-like man¡¯s eyes were calm and collected despite witnessing how easily his flood dragon of Qi had been ughtered.

    Picking up the club by his side, the human challenger did not waste any more time and swung it to greet Lu Yuping. The sheer power behind this swing of the club was so overwhelming that the shockwaves caused even Xue Wei¡¯s heart to palpitate. He might have be a Heavenly Warrior, but he felt weak as a chicken when facing something like this.

    A sharp ng reverberated through the air as Lu Yuping chose to meet the club head on with his thin sword. It was hard to determine whether he expected to be able to cut through it, but he still swung his sword with all the power he could muster.

    In the end, Lu Yuping was forced back several steps, while the mountain-like challenger advanced forward, not letting up, bashing down his club on the Primordial Beast, who only barely managed to keep himself out of danger.

    His arrogant demeanor from before changed drastically to one of disbelief. This man was definitely not your average run-of-the-mill cultivator. His achievements in physical body cultivation were overwhelming; even Lu Yuping, a Primordial Beast, was having trouble fighting him.

    Lu Yuping tried everything at his disposal, but he was forced back repeatedly. The truth is that Primordial Beasts in human shape were rather crippled when fighting.

    Primordial Beasts could not train in the martial arts techniques of humans, but they had innate abilities. These innate abilities usually required the beast to be in its true shape to be used, so when fighting in their human shape, they had to depend on their superior physique.

    Lu Yuping was the same. He had thought that his strength, speed, and senses were highly above every human he could encounter, yet now the truth showed that his opponent had a level of physical strength that could suppress even his superiority in speed. As a result, he was being pushed further and further back.

    "Be proud of yourself!" Lu Yuping sneered as he started to transform. The eyes of the human challenger finally turned solemn. He pressed for an attack, but his club was suddenly stopped by a paw with very sharp set of ws. These ws made indents on the surface of the club as they gripped it, and then the club was tossed aside, causing the challenger to stumble. However, he did not let go of his weapon.

    Lu Yuping had stopped looking down on his opponent. His heart was filled with resentment for this human who had pushed him so far, but he was not going to y with the opponent. Even after having transformed, he felt an immense pressure from this mountain-like challenger. Perhaps he truly had some sort of ability that could threaten even Primordial Beasts.

    "Who is the challenger?" Xue Wei asked Li Chen by his side. Her face cracked a smile as she looked at the young man by her side. "Finally interested in him?" she asked teasingly, causing Xue Wei to roll his eyes. Although he had not known this woman for long, he felt that she held no malice towards him and she was also rather friendly.

    As to why she had changed so suddenly, he did not know, but his guess was that it had to do with the Intelligencer.

    Still, he looked expectantly at the woman, who covered her mouth with a hand as she giggled. "He is quite famous," she said mysteriously, noticing that not only was Xue Wei listening attentively to her, but everyone within hearing distance had perked their ears and were listening in on the conversation.

    "He is a Primordial Beast Hunter named Jia Lu. He can just about count as someone who came from the center of the continent." Xue Wei raised a brow in surprise. A Primordial Beast Hunter here? Was that not very unusual?

 Chapter 212: Your Majesty

    "I am sure that you are confused," Li Chen chuckled when she saw Xue Wei¡¯s expression. "This is actually not all that umon," she continued, and the younger man waited patiently for the rest of the exnation.

    "Here in Cloudsoar City and within the Chengzi Kingdom as a whole, Earth Knights are considered heavyweights. In fact, they are quite something here, able to establish a power that can dominate a whole region or city. However, back in the center of the continent where he came from, he was nothing more than the lowest ranked Primordial Beast Hunter."

    "When he could notpete against the Primordial Beast Hunters in the center of the continent, his only other option was to seek further out where the Primordial Beasts were also weaker."

    "In the end, he, like many other Primordial Beast Hunters, has been tempted by the ck markets located in the various cities to participate in these cage battles against Primordial Beasts."

    "No one here minds that the fighters are Primordial Beasts. In fact, they root for them during the battles, but this is also a Primordial Beast Hunter¡¯s dream as the beasts are on their own, unable to gather support from Fierce Beasts or other Primordial Beasts."

    "Not only this, the rules state that the winner of the match can take anything off their opponent, including their corpses. So if they manage to bring down a Primordial Beast inside one of our arenas, their earnings will not be limited to merely what was avable to them in the wild; they will also receive their winnings from the cage battle."

    "In the center of the continent, many Primordial Beast Hunters engage in cage battles against Primordial Beasts. In fact, some of the best hunters are very active in the ck market society."

    Xue Wei took a moment to digest the information. He was actually a little astonished. "Do the Primordial Beast Hunters always face Primordial Beasts or are they sometimes up against humans too?" he could not help but ask curiously.

    Li Chen looked at him praisingly.

    "Not too dumb are you?" she chuckled. "Yes, they are also put up against normal humans. In those situations, they often choose to fight and give it their all as well. Although they are the hope of humanity, many Primordial Beast Hunters have a bloody past; more than half have already experienced killing another human."

    "I see." Xue Wei was not shocked by this fact. In fact, he himself was rather numb to the feeling of killing by now, and since he had epted the fact that he was a Sovereign Beast, he felt no special connection to either humans or beasts. They could carry on their little war with one another as they pleased. All he wanted was to get his revenge against the Ice Harpy and return Wang Xiaoyun to his side.

    Xue Wei had been listening to Li Chen¡¯s exnation of the two fighters, Lu Yuping and Jia Lu, but now he returned his focus to the fight that was ongoing in the cage.

    At the start, Jia Lu had held the upper hand because of his outstanding physical strength, but after Lu Yuping had transformed into his true form as a Golden-Furred Cloud Leopard, he had regained some of his momentum.

    Lu Yuping was from the leopard family, which naturally meant that he was extremely agile and fast. Where Jia Lu previously had been able to hold Lu Yuping down, he could no longer even touch his tail and was constantly a step toote to intercept him.

    However, moving at such rapid speeds was also taxing for Lu Yuping. Constantly pushing his senses to the limit to figure out where the club might hit next in the rather narrow space of the cage tired him out, so Lu Yuping slowly began to slow down.

    Lu Yuping was tired and started making mistakes, showing openings to Jia Lu. One of them was so big that Jia Lu startedughing as he rushed in with his club.

    Right at that moment, Lu Yuping¡¯s eyes turned blood-red. Lu Yuping was a Primordial Beast with the strength that equaled a seventhyered Earth Knight. It was impossible for Lu Yuping to be without innate abilities, but up until now he had used none of them, only fled.

    Unfortunately, this realization came toote for Jia Lu. An instant after he had charged at Lu Yuping, whose eyes had turned red, a red crescent moon de appeared above thetter¡¯s head that descended straight on the former.

    This crescent moon de moved so fast that Xue Wei only saw a blur before both Lu Yuping and Jia Lu came to a standstill.

    Lu Yuping seemed extremely worn out. His golden fur was soaked with sweat and he was out of breath. Jia Lu, on the other hand, stoodpletely still, his eyes showing disbelief.

    For a few moments, the only sound you could hear was Lu Yuping¡¯s hurried breathing. Then, suddenly, Jia Lu copsed, his head severed neatly from his body.

    Silence enveloped the ce for only a brief moment, but then a loud cheer erupted, followed by an uproar. Although the odds for Lu Yuping winning were rather high and the payout from the betting quite small, every little bit mattered to these people, so they were ecstatic now.

    Lu Yuping left the cage in his beast shape. He wasrger than any mortal leopard by more than three times and his figure was awe-inspiring as it moved through the underground world¡¯s cave.

    He vanished into a room that was carved at the end of the cave. After around half an hour, he reemerged as a human, neatly dressed in new robes with a haughty expression on his face.

    He swept a nce through the cave and suddenly his eyesnded on Xue Wei. A bit of hesitation was evident on his face, but he seemed to eventually gather courage and walked towards the younger male.

    Xue Wei frowned. He had never before met a Primordial Beast who could sense his bloodline as a Sovereign Beast before, but then he was reminded of Wan Qiang¡¯s ability to see through him despite him wearing a face mask all those months ago.

    Was his cultivation rank too low to keep himself disguised? He was unsure, but when he saw the veneration in Lu Yuping¡¯s eyes, he knew that he was not in danger right now at least.

    Lu Yuping walked towards Li Chen and Xue Wei with graceful steps that were almost as light as air. His bearing was that of a sovereigning to visit his subjects, but his entire demeanor changed the moment he stood in front of Xue Wei.

    He bowed slightly, something that the rest of the experts within the cave had never seen him do before, and then he straightened his back.

    "Your majesty," he said respectfully withpressed voicemunication to Xue Wei, "I recognized you right away. Your demeanor is that of a god descending to the mundane world, your aura so overwhelmingly powerful that even I, a Primordial Beast with a strength equivalent to an Earth Knight of the seventhyer, feel great pressure."

    "Your majesty, please listen to the prayer of a humble servant ¨C please bestow upon me some of your blood. I have been stuck at thisyer for many years now. If I wish to advance, then I need to rely on external resources."

    "It is because of these external resources that I went to these cage battles. Here I get pills, medicinal herbs, spirit fruits, and even essence stones, but after relying on them for some time, I have realized that it is impossible for me to advance normally. I need something much more powerful. Something sacred for every Primordial Beast. I need the blood of a Sovereign Beast."

    Xue Wei was taken back by the request that Lu Yuping made. He narrowed his eyes. "I do not seem to know you though," Xue Wei replied and did not deny the fact that he was a Sovereign Beast. Instead, he acknowledged it wholeheartedly and spoke with Lu Yuping as one would with a business partner. If Lu Yuping could take out something that was of use to him, then a bit of blood was no big deal.

    Xue Wei did not know exactly what marvelous changes his blood caused to Primordial Beasts, but he was notpletely clueless either. He had seen how Hei Gou had transformed from an average beast into a top-notch one.

    Not only had it changed his bloodline, but it had also mutated his body. His strength had risen and he had gained a higher Qi-level than before. He could imagine that the same changes happened to every one of the Primordial Beasts if they were to get their hands on his blood.

    "I am a loyal subject to your majesty!" Lu Yuping said eagerly. "I have been so ever since I heard about the resurgence of a Sovereign Beast."

    Xue Wei frowned. "Resurgence of the Sovereign Beast? Where did you hear this?" He was unhappy about the fact that these Primordial Beasts seemed to know about him, or more precisely, they seemed to know that the Sovereign Beasts had returned. But where had they returned from? Xue Wei was puzzled.

    Seeing his frown, Lu Yuping quickly went on to exin, "We have not had a Sovereign Beast to rally and control us for thest thousands of years." He sighed. "Back when they united the continent and made the beasts the leading race, they ruled it for a few hundred years, but after that they all seemed to vanish."

    "No one knows if the Sovereign Beasts decided to seclude themselves deep within the danger zones where even the Primordial Beasts cannot enter, or if they died out, or even whether they left the continent or not."

    "Then a few thousand years went by and we ended up having the humans rebelling against us. The Sovereign Beasts never emerged in all that time. They only watched as we were overwhelmed." There was the slight trace of a grudge in Lu Yuping¡¯s voice.

    "Since then, Sovereign Beasts have only appeared every now and then to save us from extinction. They have not been an active part of our lives, or so I was told."

    "But the funny thing is that a few days ago, I heard a rumor from my friend, a Blue-Blooded Heavenly Lion, about how a young Sovereign Beast had appeared on the continent."

    "I did not believe it, but I was hoping for it," Lu Yuping admitted readily. "Now that I have seen you, I feel that the royal airing from you can onlye from a noble being such as a Sovereign Beast."

    Xue Wei had received quite a bit of information from this conversation, but he did not trust itpletely. Lu Yuping was not weak, but he was far from being one of the high-ranking experts in the Primordial Beast world. His knowledge was likely to be wed. It was better to wait for the information he could get from Li Chen and the Intelligencer.

    Returning to the subject at hand, Lu Yuping wanted his blood, but Xue Wei was not going to just hand it over. Although he had a body filled with it, he understood that it was rather precious.

    At the same time, he was aware that t out declining the request could possibly push Lu Yuping to forcibly steal his blood with force out of desperate need. It was a difficult position.

    Sensing Xue Wei¡¯s hesitation, Lu Yuping understood what was going on in his mind and quickly smiled. "I will not ask for it for free," he said sleazily, "I will, of course,pensate you for everything. I can give you pills and essence stones."

    Xue Wei narrowed his eyes ponderously. Then he agreed after a few moments. Although he was not short on pills, the ones he had were mainly either suitable for Heavenly Warriors or meant to provide a smoother breakthrough into the Ordinary Knight rank. The pills that Lu Yuping possessed clearly contained energy fit to benefit the cultivation of an Ordinary or even an Earth Knight.

 Chapter 213: Entering the Cage

    Xue Wei agreed with Lu Yuping, but he knew better than to just share his blood right then and there. That was simply too risky with so many people around them.

    In the end, the two decided to return to Xue Wei¡¯s hotel where no one would be watching themter.

    ¡°There are still a few hours until the cage battlese to a close,¡± Lu Yuping said smilingly. ¡°Why don¡¯t you enjoy yourself to your heart¡¯s content for now, and when it¡¯s time to close we will go together?¡±

    Xue Wei had expected Lu Yuping to leave him after this, but he walked around with them, conversing casually with Li Chen.

    Xue Wei had by now observed quite a few battles and knew what they were about more or less. He felt that it was time to try it out for himself.

    Xue Wei hadplete faith in his own ability. He was not arrogant, but he had a steady foundation that had been strengthened with multiple spirit herbs, fruits, and pills, alongside cultivation.

    His foundation was rock solid and the skills he possessed were top notch in a backwater Kingdom. What he had achieved may not be the cream of the crop here, but it was not bad at all.

    Xue Wei did not know too much about the martial arts that were avable in the center of the continent, but the majority he had seen in the Cloudsoar city were all profound ranked martial arts, equal to many of his own skills.

    One has to remember that a Heavenly Warrior could not properly use skills like these; only at most half their potential could be brought out in the hands of a ninthyered Heavenly Warrior.

    If one wanted to bring out the full might of the skill, they had to reach the Earth Knight level first. Since this was the case, only superior martial arts showed their true value in the hands of a Heavenly Warrior.

    Xue Wei only had superior and profound martial arts. He was able to fight without being dragged down by his martial arts not being powerful enough.

    ¡°Well then, let¡¯s sign up for a battle,¡± Xue Wei said casually, but his words made Lu Yuping pale with fright. "No you can¡¯t!" he eximed with shock, forgetting to usepressed voicemunication. His blundering shout made the people around them give them puzzled looks.

    Xue Wei closed his eyes and shook his head with a slight smile on his face. It was quite embarrassing. "I will be fine," Xue Wei said with a smile to Lu Yuping. "Don¡¯t tell me that you think I won¡¯t be able to win? As long as it is not a Primordial Beast or a Primordial Beast Hunter, then I¡¯m good."

    Lu Yuping looked at Xue Wei with uncertainty. His rationality let him understand that Xue Wei had the ability to win most fights at his level, but deep within he was worried and scared that something might happen to him.

    His higher-ups in the hierarchy of Primordial Beasts would never let it go if something happened to Xue Wei while he was present, and he would never be able to live down the guilt. A Sovereign Beast was the hope for every beast out there. If Xue Wei was hurt or killed while Lu Yuping was right next to him, then it was likely that he would end up as the enemy of all beasts.

    Xue Wei understood his misgivings. It was easy to guess what he was feeling and what he was thinking about. Still, Xue Wei had already made a promise to participate in a cage battle, so he was not going to change his decision no matter how Lu Yuping tried to persuade him.

    Smirking, Xue Wei looked at Li Chen. "Big sister Chen, I promised you that I would participate in a battle," he said cheekily, pushing all the me onto her. "I am a man and a man cannot go back on his words. I will go sign up now!"

    As soon as he said this, before Lu Yuping had time to say anything, Xue Wei turned and started walking toward the sign-up table. In the end, Lu Yuping ended up ring at Li Chen, but he knew about her background and dared not show his displeasure.

    Xue Wei reached the table then. It was a rather inconspicuous, simple-looking table, the kind you would not notice unless you were looking for it. Ahead of him, three young men were currently signing up.

    "Oh, are you here to sign up?" the clerk sitting behind the table asked without looking up. Xue Wei, who had been raised to mind his manners, cupped his hands. "Yes, I am here to participate in the fun," Xue Wei said with a smile and bowed slightly.

    His behavior would have been considered polite in the rest of the world, but here it was considered strange. This was a ce for ouws. No one bothered to be polite to a mere clerk.

    The other three young men who were standing and waiting for their turn to fight nced at Xue Wei to determine if he was a threat. From looking at his polite behavior and the fact they had not seen him before, these people quickly understood that he was here for the first time.

    There was a term to use for those who wanted to fight the first day they were in the cave: fat sheep. They were just waiting for the ughter.

    Even if they had seen a few battles, they did not know the strength of most of the contestants and believed blindly in their own ability. This blind belief caused them to die early, losing all their items and bing one of the many corpses that were used to feed the Fierce Beasts that fought in the cage battles.

    Xue Wei was aware of this, but he did not mind. In fact, he weed the idea that they perceived him as a fat sheep. The more they underestimated him, the less danger he was in. Although he was rather certain of his own abilities, he still wanted every advantage that he could get.

    None of those three experts in front of him was his opponent. All three of them were also Heavenly Warriors, but one of them was a thirdyer while the other two were secondyer.

    Xue Wei had to wait for some time. There were no experts of the sameyer as him avable currently, but the clerk rather than pit him against a Fierce Beast had the women who served food and snacks share the news that a fat sheep had appeared.

    The clerk was certain that the news would instantly make others jump at the first opportunity to sign up to fight him.

    And right he was. Only a few moments after, three people approached the table. All three were at the same cultivation level as Xue Wei.

    One of them was a small but fat man. He seemed as if he could roll rather than walk. His face had more than five double chins and his eyes resembled those of a pig.

    Another one was skinny, very skinny. He was almost twice as tall as the fat man, but his body was so much thinner. He resembled a bamboo pole.

    Thest person was neither fat nor thin. He seemed to be healthy, lean but with muscle, and he dressed neatly. He had a small goatee and seemed rather calcting.

    These three men saw each other at the same time and all of them seemed to be considering what exactly they should do. Running was below their dignity, but they did not want this fat sheep to be given to someone else.

    As a result, all three sped up. Even the fat man managed to move rather fast contrary to one¡¯s expectations.

    Xue Wei narrowed his eyes. Of these three, he felt the most danger from the fat man. Although he seemed the most useless of the three, there was a dangerous air around him.

    Fortunately, he was not the first person at the table. The man with the goatee had reached the table first and mmed his hand down onto the table.

    "I, your daddy, want to fight against that fat sheep!" he dered out loud, not caring that his highly provocative words could be heard by everyone.

    One did not have to give their name when they signed up. No one used their real name in this ce anyway, unless they had a strong backing like Li Chen or was a fighter like Lu Yuping with a long winning streak.

    Where others disguised their faces and hid their names in the cave, this was the only ce where Lu Yuping could be himself. As soon as he exited the cave, it was the other way around ¨C he would be the one who had to use a fake name and a face mask.

    What one had to do was to announce their current cultivation level. Then if there was another person within the same tier already signed up, then they would fight, if not that person would have to stand by the table until someone showed up, or until they released a Fierce Beast.

    Xue Wei looked at the man who referred to himself as ¡®daddy¡¯ and smiled while shaking his head. This man seemed to be the least dangerous of the bunch. He seemed to be the most normal one of the three, and the air around him was also the least dangerous.

    Still, Xue Wei did not rx. He understood that this man could be hiding his strength. He could, in fact, be a wolf in sheep¡¯s clothes trying to lure Xue Wei into lowering his guard.

    "Enter cage number four," the clerk said disinterestedly. This was a Fat Sheep. The amount of times they managed to defeat the opponent was limited, and the younger man seemed like he was nothing special.

    At least, that was what he thought at first. When the clerk nced at Xue Wei onest time, he saw that Li Chen and Lu Yuping both had walked up to him and were standing by his side.

    This scene was seen by many, including the man with the goatee, who seemed as if he had just eaten a fly.

    Everyone in the underground world knew Li Chen. The Intelligencer¡¯s right-hand woman and the one who held the most power in the entire ck market, only overruled by the Intelligencer, whom few had the privilege to see.

    The other person was Lu Yuping. He was known as one of the fiercest fighters in the entire cave. Everyone knew he was a Primordial Beast.

    For him to have caught the attention of both Li Chen and Lu Yuping, was he really a fat sheep on the chopping block waiting to be ughtered and robbed?

    The goatee man was not willing to give up. This was a life and death battle. Xue Wei having an impressive background would not change the unforgiving nature of the cage.

    News about their battle spread like a wildfire through the cave and suddenly people swarmed toward it in the hopes of getting a good spot from which they could watch the fight.

    Everyone loved seeing fat sheep being ughtered, but they loved something else even more. Witnessing a hidden dragon emerge was perhaps the best moments for the audience. No matter whether or not Xue Wei was a hidden dragon or a fat sheep, these experts would enjoy watching it.

    Lu Yuping was worried. He kept worrying about how Xue Wei might be injured. Even Li Chen was worried now. She had never expected that Xue Wei had taken it seriously when she said that he should fight.

    This was a life-and-death arena! Not some yground where one could withdraw.

    But there was no turning back now. Xue Wei had to fight.

 Chaptre 214: Tiger Triplets

    Xue Wei was incredibly calm. He could feel the vibrations in his body when his inner Qi dragons roared, ready to be unleashed at any moment.

    Looking at the opponent, Xue Wei behaved casually and even gave a little smile to him. But that smile was short-lived. Xue Wei¡¯s blood started boiling when the sensation of a life-and-death battle set in on him, which caused his smile to turn slightly malicious.

    "Well, let this daddy show you all the might of the youngest of the Tiger Triplets!" the challenger called out. The corner of Xue Wei¡¯s lips twitched slightly. Tiger Triplets? What kind of name was this?

    This daddy guy was very self-assured, but Xue Wei had the impression that he was pretending to be a sheep when he was in fact a wolf.

    Xue Wei waited patiently. He had already decided to not use his transformation unless he was brought to the brink of destruction. He would only use it as ast resort. Even if his opponent beat him ck and blue, he would not allow the transformation toe out.

    This was his personal decision. His decisiveness was so extreme that, despite allowing himself to use it as ast resort, he was likely to hold himself back even if it killed him.

    Standing opposite of him was the man who called himself daddy all the time. He was extravagantly dressed and his face had a small smile hung on the corner of his lips. The man waved his hand, withdrawing a machete from his storage ring.

    Xue Wei had not brought Bai Tianyi with him. Even if he had, he would not be able to use the sword spirit as his sword anymore because Bai Tianyi had gained a soul body that hadpletely transformed him. He no longer looked like a sword but a person, so having him enter the cage with Xue Wei would probably be deemed cheating.

    Since he could not use Bai Tianyi, his only option was to rely on Inner Might and transform his Qi into a sword or some other kind of weapon.

    Xue Wei was actually at a disadvantage. He had decided to not use his transformation, and Bai Tianyi was not there to support him either.

    It had been a long time since he had fought on his own, all by himself, with so many restrictions, but he felt that he had to challenge himself if he wanted to improve his strength.

    Right now, he had a physical body stronger than the fifthyer of the Heavenly Warrior realm, and his Qi was also much purer than most experts at his level.

    He had superior and profound grade martial arts techniques. These were the cream of the crop back in the backwater kingdoms, and even here they were quite extraordinary. The experts that came to the cave cage battles were usually those without any special background hoping to earn money or resources.

    These experts might have had some lucky chances or used some of their wealth to purchase profound martial arts, but it was not likely that they had as much diversity in skills as Xue Wei had.

    Xue Wei was aware of this. His skills, his physical strength, and the purity of his Qi were all above average. When taking all of this into ount, he should be capable of easily defeating anyone at his own rank, but he still felt a faint sense of dangering from the Tiger Triplet Daddy guy in front of him.

    "Begin!" While Xue Wei was thinking, the voice of the clerk sounded out and then his focus was back on the Tiger Triplet Daddy in front of him. Contrary to thest match between Lu Yuping and Jia Lu, where they began fighting at the moment the fight began, neither Xue Wei nor the Tiger Triplet Daddy moved. Both of them were extremely tense as they observed one another.

    Eyes narrowed, the first to move was Xue Wei, who stretched out his hand and created a sword of Qi.

    Tiger Triplet Daddy¡¯s machete gleamed in the dim light that illuminated the cage. No rust could be seen on the weapon; it was clear that it had been properly maintained.

    Tiger Triplet Daddy had finally stopped talking. He looked at Xue Wei solemnly. He was clearly aware that Xue Wei had not fallen for his trick of trying to lure him into quickly attacking him so that he could quickly end it with a harsh counter.

    Xue Wei had never been in a battle like this before. So far he had been in battles where he was up against arge number of people each time, often where they were much weaker than him. The one time Xue Wei had fought stronger experts, he had not been alone but been supported by Bai Tianyi and Hei Gou.

    These experts in the cage battles might not be the ones with the purest Qi. They might not even be the ones with the strongest bodies, but their survival instinct was much more profound than someone like Xue Wei.

    Xue Wei had fought many battles, but never had he actually experienced a fight of equals. This was also why Xue Wei had signed up for this. He wanted to test his own abilities.

    So far he had always been looked down upon by his opponents, or he had been against desperate people. Here, he was the underdog. This time, he was the one who had to prove himself.

    Taking a deep breath, Xue Wei activated Forbidden Rush. With a series of afterimages, Xue Wei advanced like a line of light towards Tiger Triplet Daddy.

    He lifted the Qi sword in his hands and got ready to sh down. However, Tiger Triplet Daddy withdrew slightly, causing the attack to narrowly pass by him.

    The moment Xue Wei moved past him, the machete came slicing down towards his head. Qi poured out of Xue Wei, solidifying into a transparent shield of Qi he had created with Inner Might above his head.

    A massive boom resounded and both Xue Wei and Daddy were thrown backward. However, because of Xue Wei¡¯s awkward position, he was thrown further back than Tiger Triplet Daddy.

    Xue Wei¡¯s first step caused the floor underneath him within the cage to shatter, sending stones and debris flying in every direction, but the force pushing him back dwindled drastically after his third step.

    From this collision one could see that they were not using any probing attacks. Every move was made to kill.

    Once again, both Xue Wei and Tiger Triplet Daddy looked at one another with narrowed eyes, hesitating to move. From thest encounter, both of them had learned something about their opponent.

    Tiger Triplet Daddy had an outstanding ability to sense danger and reacted prudently to this sudden sense of danger. He was a quick thinker and could get the best results with the least effort.

    The way he carried himself in battle inspired Xue Wei. Although Xue Wei felt that he himself was very skillful at avoiding attacks and moved fast, he had never considered efficiency of movement to save energy. He always used Forbidden Rush at its full power every time.

    Although he had done all in his power not to look down on Tiger Triplet Daddy, he could not help but feel more solemn now than he had just moments ago.

    It was clear that Tiger Triplet Daddy had quite a lot of experience in fighting. He could be a perfect grinding stone for Xue Wei to be a better fighter and a person who had strong survivabilities.

    However, at this point, he understood that, if he was not careful, he might very well end up as the fat sheep they had all perceived him as to begin with.

    Gripping the Qi sword in his hand, Xue Wei started pacing towards Tiger Triplet Daddy again. This time, it was a steady pace. It was clear that Tiger Triplet Daddy¡¯s senses were almost otherworldly, allowing him to sense even the slightest danger, so using Forbidden Rush was not necessarily a good thing. If he was not careful, he would have the tables turned on him, leaving his back wide open.

    So if he could not rely on speed, he could use strength. He hadplete and utter faith in his strength. If he could just get one attack in, he could turn the tides.

    Tiger Triplet Daddy stayed still. He held the machete in his hand, gripping the handle tightly, and waited for Xue Wei to get within range before engaging.

    Xue Wei had not used all his strength in their previous exchange; he had used quite a bit, but not all of it. However, things were different this time around. Xue Wei went directly for his opponent head on, intending to bulldozer him down. The closer he came, the more momentum he picked up.

    Every step caused tremors to run through the ground, his steps containing so much power that Tiger Triplet Daddy¡¯s eyes widened with shock.

    He understood that this fat sheep was not quite like other fat sheep. In fact, he started to fear that Xue Wei was a wolf in sheep¡¯s clothes.

    Still, he did not panic and quickly calmed down. He raised the machete overhead and took a stance, ready to meet the attack that would being.

    Xue Wei snickered. He had been underestimated. The pace picked up and soon he was right next to Tiger Triplet Daddy. The Qi sword came shing down, filled with hundreds of Qi dragons that roared like a pack of proud lions.

    As the machete met the Qi sword, Tiger Triplet Daddy was forced back so far that he mmed into the cage wall. blood was coughed out from his mouth, but he did not die from the concussive impact, causing Xue Wei to raise an eyebrow in surprise.

    This attack had contained his full strength, but it was still not enough to deal with the Tiger Triplet Daddy in one go. It seemed that this battle would be much more interesting and also much more challenging than he expected.

    The more Xue Wei felt his bloodlust raise, the more he felt his blood boil, and the more the smile on his face grew. There was a ruthless air about him, ruthless to himself and to others.

    Xue Wei knew that his body had tremendous healing ability, so he went for the most brutal and straightforward way to fight. Seeing that he had already pushed Tiger Triplet Daddy back to the cage wall, he followed closely and sent out another sh.

    This second sh did not have the same momentum as the first, but Tiger Triplet Daddy did not have the same amount of time to prepare for the attack, so he could only dodge to the side, causing him to get a deep cut in his shoulder. However, he kept his arm and managed to stay alive.

    Xue Wei smiled ruthlessly. He was enjoying this, felt his blood boil, and he felt the thrill of the hunt. But that did not mean he was not using everyst shred of focus in this fight. One mistake and he would end up being the one severely injured or even dead.

    This kind of stimulus was new to Xue Wei. He had never before experienced this thrilling feeling of hunting someone down. Although he had killed numerous humans and a few beasts already, he had never felt this excited in a battle. He was walking on the edge of the sword; one wrong move and his life would be forfeit.

    Arcane Fist!

    Xue Wei¡¯s Qi sword vanished. In lieu of a weapon, he sent out a fist attack. Thousands of illusive fist imprints were emitted when he used Arcane Fist. When theynded on Tiger Triplet Daddy¡¯s body, the damage done to it made him gnash his teeth angrily. He had done everything to avoid them, but he had not been able to fully avoid all the fist imprints of Qi.

    He suddenly sensed how the foreign Qi entered into his body. Like thousands of small dragons, they prated his meridians and shed with his own Qi strands, devouring them and draining him for energy.

 Chapter 215: Crimson Sky

    It was as if thousands of small beasts were wrecking his body, causing havoc in his meridians. His body trembled incessantly and his face was pale. Blood kept flowing from the corner of his mouth.

    Xue Wei breathed heavily. He had used much of his Qi in this attack ¨C at least half of the Qi dragons within his body had been poured into Tiger Triplet Daddy. Meanwhile, the Azure Dragon Spirit within his dantian kept restoring the amount of Qi dragons he had used. Unfortunately, it would take quite some time before all of them were restored.

    Tiger Triplet Daddy had not used a lot of Qi, but he still felt drained because of the onught of the Qi dragons that were swarming his meridians. His face was pale in fright; his eyes wide open.

    He opened his mouth but closed it again without saying anything. All that came out was blood.

    Xue Wei had also stopped his chain of attacks. He had poured so much Qi into the Arcane Fist attack he sent out that he was slightly out of breath, but his eyes glistened with excitement, and his vicious smile did not lose its intensity.

    Xue Wei started walking towards Tiger Triplet Daddy, his steps calm and collected. He seemed as if he was taking a walk in a park, but he kept building momentum with each step he took.

    Tiger Triplet Daddy had managed to avoid most of the attacks so far, but he had never before encountered Qi with properties like Xue Wei¡¯s. That Qi had entered his body and roared like actual living beasts, draining him from the inside.

    An arm shot out. The hand sped over Tiger Triplet Daddy¡¯s throat like a giant w. Xue Wei squeezed his fingers together slightly, causing cracking sounds to echo out.

    Tiger Triplet Daddy gave ast struggle; he poured his remaining Qi into his machete and swung it around like a snake, aiming straight for Xue Wei¡¯s heart.

    Tiger Triplet Daddy had been waiting for this moment. He had gambled with his own life, knowing that he had only enough energy for one attack. Now he poured it all into the machete, trying to execute Xue Wei in one go.

    The audience was so quiet that one could hear a pin drop. No one spoke. They observed with big eyes.

    Lu Yuping was biting his nails. His eyes disyed boundless worry. He kept tapping his feet on the ground and paced back and forth next to Li Chen, who also looked slightly pale. Her hands clutched a handkerchief. Complex emotions were constantly swirling in her eyes, but her face itself was as stoic and expressionless as always.

    Xue Wei felt the danger encroaching upon him. He did not look down. He knew where the danger came from, but he retreated before he had time to do anything else.

    Forbidden Rush!

    He was faster than the seriously wounded Tiger Triplet Daddy, but he had been too close. Sparks flew from where the machete came into contact with the Fierce Beast hide covering his torso, and although the attack was slightly mitigated, it still managed to prate the leather. Even more sparks flew out as the machete came into contact with the robe underneath, but this was easier to slice through, and then the rest of the remaining slicing force came into contact with Xue Wei¡¯s chest. A long gash appeared in his armor and robe, while ten centimeters of flesh was cut open on his chest.

    Blood started to flow from the wound, dripping down to the arena floor and soiling the rest of his clothes after Xue Weiposed himself several steps away. Being wounded did not diminish Xue Wei¡¯s smile. In fact, he seemed to be even more amused now than before. He seemed more excited.

    Seeing the Tiger Triplet Daddy struggle and fight back as he did, the thrill of the hunt started exciting him even more. Xue Wei could not wait for the conclusion of the fight.

    He knew that he could end it easily, either by transforming or by using Mind Infestation, but he also felt that that would ruin the thrill of the fight. He was enjoying himself. He wanted to see his opponent struggle. He felt like a cat ying with a mouse.

    Tiger Triplet Daddy¡¯s face turned dark when he saw that Xue Wei had sessfully managed to evade his attack. The Qi dragons within his meridians had managed to be demolished by his own Qi threads, but the fight had given him internal injuries. It had also caused him to waste a whole lot of Qi.

    He was already on the verge of copsing, but he refused to give up. Bruises had appeared on his throat after Xue Wei had tried to break his neck. Blood stains were at the corner of his lips, staining the robe he was wearing after trickling down his neck.

    His clothes and hair were disheveled. He staggered from even trying to stand up, and his eyes were unfocused. Right now, the only thing that held him upright was his willpower; his refusal to give up.

    Xue Wei had to admit that he respected this man. He had a power above average Heavenly Warriors at the sameyer. He had amazing survival instincts, he fought fiercely even against opponents thatpletely overwhelmed him, and his willpower was outstanding.

    From having met a worthy opponent like this, Xue Wei could truly feel his blood boil. Such a person was worth killing!

    Xue Wei activated Forbidden Rush. He vanished from where he stood and appeared next to Tiger Triplet Daddy.

    Shattering Mountain Palm!

    A palm strike descended straight on Tiger Triplet Daddy¡¯s chest, right where his heart was located. The recipient of this attack felt a bit of danger, but his body no longer followed his orders anymore.

    He tried to move, but all that happened was that a tremble went through his body before the Shattering Mountain Palm collided with his chest. Blood sprayed from his mouth and he was shot backward like a kite that was let loose from its string.

    A raspy breath escaped from Tiger Triplet Daddy, a final breath before his eyes turned dull. The entire cepsed into silence. Only the sounds of fights from the other cages could be heard, but these cages did not have much of an audience; most had been drawn to Xue Wei¡¯s battle.

    The silence did notst long before a cheer erupted from Lu Yuping¡¯s mouth. He jumped up in the air with his arms above his head and cheered loudly as though he were the one who had won the battle.

    Xue Wei, who was in the cage, smirked slightly. This had been the most thrilling fight he had ever experienced. This was without a doubt a new experience, though he was aware that he could easily be addicted to the feeling of killing if he was not careful. The hunting instinct was immensely strong in him.

    Having heard Lu Yuping¡¯s cheer, everyone else woke up from their stupor. They all erupted in cheers. Even the ones who had lost money in the betting pool were excited. This was a fat sheep that had killed someone from the Tiger Triplets. That was quite astounding, a feat worth quite a bit of respect.

    "His performance was brilliant! Though I have a feeling that we will most likely not see him again," someone in the audience said with a sigh of regret. "The remaining two Tigers will not let him go. As long as he sets foot outside of this cave, they will be waiting for him and will kill him."

    Xue Wei listened to the voice while leaving the cage. He raised an eyebrow in surprise. He had no say in who his opponent was, the Tiger Triplet Daddy was the one who had jumped at the chance to fight him, so to be the target of others because of this was rather annoying.

    Since he could not choose, he could only fight. There was no giving up. He was not going to allow his challenger to kill him just because he feared retaliation from the remaining two of the Tiger Triplets.

    "Mister Lu, these Tiger Triplets, what exactly are they like? What is their strength like, and what exactly can I expect from them?" When Xue Wei exited the cave, he went back to Lu Yuping and Li Chen and asked the former his question.

    "The Tiger Triplets? Those three-legged cats cannot do you anything," heughed. "Although Cai Ming, the guy you just fought, is the weakest of the Tiger Triplets, he is not that much weaker than the other two. I would like to see them try their hands at attacking you."

    Xue Wei had expected the two other triplet members to be much stronger than himself because of what he had overheard, but it seemed he had been mistaken.

    Feeling a bit calmer, Xue Wei nodded his head. Hours had gone by during the cage battles. Xue Wei had observed multiple fights and partook in one himself, but now the cages started being cleared. One after another was left empty and the crowd was thinning.

    Li Chen and Lu Yuping were still there, both conversing with Xue Wei, telling him about the important characters in the underworld of Cloudsoar City.

    "The biggest yer within the underworld is without a doubt the Intelligencer." Both Lu Yuping and Li Chen agreed on this. "He is much stronger than any other high profile member of the underworld. In fact, there is no one stronger than him in the entirety of the Chengzi Kingdom."

    ¡°His connections go so deep that it doesn¡¯t matter where you go, kingdom, empire, and even the center of the continent ¨C he¡¯ll have a man there.¡±

    "After the Intelligencer is Li Chen. Li Chen has gained much fame for her appearance, but also because she has the strength to back up her beauty. She is a dangerous person, so watch out," Lu Yuping warned him teasingly after seeing that Xue Wei and Li Chen somehow had already established a sort of friendship.

    "After myselfes the Earth Knight Primordial Beasts," Li Chen took over. "Lu Yuping is one of them, but he is not alone. There are a total of three Primordial Beasts within this underground world, all of which are strong enough to rattle the city¡¯s foundation if they truly wished to do so."

    After the Earth Knight Primordial Beasts came the humans of the same realm. After these came the Ordinary Knights and so on and so on.

    Xue Wei had a clearer understanding of the entire hierarchy of the underground world. He understood that there were various people excelling at various things. In fact, there was nothing that he could not get on the ck market as long as he had the resources or money to pay for it.

    "Well that was it for this week," Li Chen said while they walked through the tunnel leading out of the cave. "Why don¡¯t youe next week as well?"

    Xue Wei gave it a thought. "If I have time, then I will," he said and nodded his head.

    Before leaving, Xue Wei picked up the prize for winning his fight. It turned out to be seven pills suitable for Heavenly Warriors, alongside two spiritual fruits and three herbs. There were no low-grade essence stones in his reward as it had been considered an easy, low-ss match.

    The stronger the contenders were considered, the more the prize would be. However, since Xue Wei had been a hitherto namelessbatant, the stakes in his battles would be rather mediocre until he made a name for himself.

    As Xue Wei came out of the cave, he was met by the crimson morning sky. The entire evening and night had passed by while he had been underground.

 Chapter 216: Contemplation

    Xue Wei let go of a deep breath. The cool morning air was refreshing and gave Xue Wei a slight chill after he had been in a humid underground cave all night.

    Xue Wei looked around and saw that Li Chen and Lu Yuping both had vanished into thin air, not even saying goodbye to him. He did not mind though, as he had expected this to happen.

    Xue Wei had established bad blood with the two remaining members of the Tiger Triplet trio by emerging victorious against their brother, but they had not been present down in the cave so it was likely that it would take some time before they were informed about the loss of their youngest brother.

    Taking this brief amount of time as an opportunity, Xue Wei started moving towards the richer areas of the city, out of the ck market¡¯s territory.

    Although it was mainly dangerous outside during the night, this night was special. Xue Wei had proven he was not a fat sheep waiting for the ughter, but he still did not have the strength to protect himself against the factions within the ck market. If not because everyone worth their salt in the underworld already knew that Xue Wei was close to both Li Chen and Lu Yuping, then he would have long since been robbed after leaving the cave.

    Xue Wei was not so naive to not know this. He knew that he would be an easy target since he was merely in the Heavenly Warrior realm. However, he was not going to just give up and hand over his valuables. He had prepared a meward Formation to stall for time, held it in his hand, and was ready to throw it out should the need arrive, but nothing happened.

    It was easy to guess as to why. The weaker experts who were independent had realized that he was no fat sheep, and the stronger ones did not wish to offend Li Chen and Lu Yuping.

    The stronger ones had already started to assume that Xue Wei was a Primordial Beast. If he was not, why would Lu Yuping go out of his way to be friendly towards him?

    But nothing was absolute. When they went to the Intelligencer to get their hands on some information, the price for information on Xue Wei was so incredibly high that they all had to give up. It was clear that the Intelligencer was not willing to divulge any information about him.

    Xue Wei left the ck market territory easily. But right as he was about to turn the corner into another district, he came across three cloaked experts. These three experts all rode on Fierce Beasts. Their disy of having Fierce Beast contracted was rather grand and their eyes cold like the twelfth lunation¡¯s new moon.

    The three nced at Xue Wei with disinterest. None of them disyed any interest in him and they quickly returned their gazes in the direction of the ck market territory.

    Xue Wei was not unfamiliar with these three. He had encountered them before. They were precisely some of the Diviners that hade to town earlier, whom he had seen out of curiosity.

    Could they be here for the same reason as the Primordial Beast Hunters? Were they also here to apprehend Lu Yuping and the other Primordial Beasts that resided in the darkness of the underworld?

    Xue Wei could vaguely make out that these three were all Earth Knights from what his senses told him. Their strength was at the peak of the Chengzi Kingdom. They quite ringly did not look local.

    "We will not capture him here either," one of them said,pletely ignoring Xue Wei who had walked by silently, but his senses were heightened so he heard their conversation.

    "We have to catch the traitor," the one in the middle said, his voice chillingly cold and without any emotions.

    "We have tracked him for quite some time, to think he even left the center of the continent. Not only this, he also has so many resources as he was considered a genius by the temple, so he should be able to sustain himself and his training for a long time still. We need to find him and bring him to justice. We might have to give him a second divine boon," Thest, left one said with a sigh as if he wasmenting the fate of the subject they were talking about.

    Xue Wei continued walking, but he raised an eyebrow in surprise. A traitor among the Diviners? What could he possibly have done to be considered a traitor? And it seemed he had been regarded rather highly prior to that.

    Still, Xue Wei did not take the matter to heart. Although it was a curious conversation, he knew better than to get involved with the matters of the Diviners. Despite being a Sovereign Beast, he could not guarantee his own safety if they tried to take over his mind.

    Returning to the hotel, Xue Wei saw that there were still experts watching the gate, waiting for Xue Wei and his friends to leave. Unfortunately, they could not identify anyone as someone from their trio due tocking means. They still followed every child, but it had brought nothing.

    Xue Wei easily slipped unnoticed back into the hotel and returned to his suite. He sat down on the bed and looked at his hand. He clenched it slowly in front of him, and then his face cracked into a smile.

    The battle today had made him feel a new form of thrill. He was no longer in doubt about him being a beast: to enjoy the hunt as much as he had, to feel so invigorated after a battle, it was clear that he had some instincts different from the usual human.

    But he did not mind. In a way, one could say he was high on the feeling. Although it was now hours since the battle had ended, he still felt a tingling sensation in his body every time he thought about it, and he wanted to experience it again.

    "Next week I am going to bring the others," he muttered to himself. He could imagine that Hei Gou shared the same feelings as him, as thetter had not been able to run wild for a long time. Taking him to the ck market where Primordial Beasts were acknowledged and admired, was this not the best present he could give him right now?

    Bai Tianyi, on the other hand, was very refined on the outside. He seemed as if he did not care about anything or anyone, but truth was that he was a bloodthirsty mass murderer who did not care who he faced. Anyone who died would lose their soul power and he could absorb it and refine it into spiritual energy instead of wasting it. Even if he was not willing to fight in the battles, he would most definitely join for the sake of increasing his spiritual energy.

    Deep in thought, Xue Wei unclenched his hand and dropped backward,ying down on the bed. He looked at the ceiling above him. Many thoughts shed by in his mind.

    Although he had epted that he was a beast, he had instead been filled with more questions than answers.

    "I don¡¯t know who my true family is," Xue Wei sighed as he closed his eyes and covered his face with his hands. A deep sigh escaped his lips. "Who is my mother? Is my father really my father? If he was, was he also a beast? It makes no sense if he was a beast as well. Why would Xiao Lei kill him?

    Was Xiao Lei a beast? He had to be since he had traveled together with Chu Huiyin back from his memories of when his vige was massacred.

    A slight tremble ran through his body as he was reminded of the memory where he saw Xiao Lei¡¯s cold eyes and bloodied, wed arm that had impaled his father¡¯s chest.

    Based on the appearance of his wed arm, Xiao Lei was without a doubt a beast. And from the azure color of the scales, it seemed as if he was an azure dragon as well. Considering that he had the Azure Dragon Scripture and the Heritage Ring, it would make a lot of sense for Xiao Lei to also be an azure dragon.

    But if Xiao Lei was an azure dragon, and Xue Wei¡¯s real family, then what about his human father? Was he not his real parent?

    There were so many questions running around in his mind, recurring and revolving, the same thoughtsing back in new ways.

    "I need to meet Lan. He knew about me. He should know the truth," Xue Wei finally mumbled. He was tired and exhausted. The tingling sensation of thrill had subsided and instead afortable exhaustion had started to spread through his body.

    Deciding not to think about it anymore, Xue Wei kicked off his boots and took off his outer robes before he climbed into the bed and fell into a deep dreamless sleep.

    Waking up to a knock on the door, Xue Wei draped a red robe over his body and went to open it. Outside were two foreign faces. Both were young men; one looked slightly shorter than the other, but neither was a child.

    Still, Xue Wei could instantly recognize both of them, it was clearly Hei Gou and Bai Tianyi.

    "Growth spurt?" Xue Wei could not help but ask as his eyesnded on Bai Tianyi.

    "Nah," the sword spirit was not insulted by being treated as a child. He instead exined, "I am able to change my physical body as I please, but maintaining this shape expends much more energy than usual so I cannot do it indefinitely."

    "I see." Xue Wei smirked when he heard this. It seemed that Bai Tianyi was still stuck in a child¡¯s body.

    "What brings you here?" Xue Wei asked with a gentle expression on his face. He was happy to see his two friends, and he conveniently had something to bring up with them.

    "We¡¯re going out and wondered if you wanted toe with us," Bai Tianyi took the word.

    "Is that a good idea right now?" Xue Wei could not help but send a nce to Hei Gou. The Diviners he had met that morning were not friendly people. If there was even the slightest sign of someone being a Primordial Beast, they would lynch them within seconds, and these Diviners were all Earth Knights.

    "I understand you worry about me," Hei Gou said with a small smile, shaking his head, "but I need to get out or I will go mad."

    "I have been holed up in the suite for a long time already. I am not in the mood to be locked up like this. I am going to go mad if this continues," Hei Gouined with another shake of his head.

    Xue Wei pondered for a moment. "I had something to share with you anyway," he said after a moment. "I went to meet with the Intelligencer," he began. "I needed information about the Sovereign Beasts. All the information I can get. On the way back, I encountered a ce underground for illegal cage battles that opens once a week. Primordial Beasts are more than wee ¨C in fact, they are acknowledged and respected."

    "I was thinking of going again next week. Why don¡¯t the two of youe with me? It is filled with soul power."

    Xue Wei added thest part when he saw that Bai Tianyi was about to decline, but Bai Tianyi¡¯s eyes turned slightly greedy and a smile yed on his lips the moment Xue Wei spoke up about it.

    "A ce to go wild?" Hei Gou was surprised, but then he grinned. "Okay then," he had decided. "I can wait until next week, but don¡¯t you dare forget me!"

    "I wouldn¡¯t dare to do that," Xue Weiughed. "But for now, don¡¯t go out and get caught by the Diviners."

 Chapter 217: Four Divine Beast Clans

    Chapter 217 - Four Divine Beast ns

    Hei Gou did as he was told, and the week went by rapidly after that. Xue Wei, Hei Gou, and Bai Tianyi focused solely on cultivating while waiting.

    None of them underwent any qualitative breakthroughs this time, but they each still managed to strengthen their foundations and increase their Qi and spiritual energy pools.

    As the morning broke on the day of the underground cage battles, Hei Gou and Bai Tianyi went to Xue Wei¡¯s suite.

    "The ck market territory is the kind of ce where we¡¯ll never know what to expect, or who to expect for that matter," Xue Wei began, cautioning them. "We need to be careful and even more on alert than normal since the Diviners are in town."

    "The Diviners entered the territory right as I was leaving it after the previous week¡¯s cage battles and it seemed like they had a purpose. I think they are here for the Primordial Beasts in the ck market territory, so we cannot afford to go too wild."

    "You don¡¯t have to worry so much," Bai Tianyi said, smiling casually. His usually unruffled expression disyed a insouciance and carefreeness that came naturally to him. "Although the Diviners are there to capture Primordial Beasts, it is likely that they cannot enter the cave. I am sure that, even if the Diviners are very strong, there is someone protecting the ck market underground."

    "That¡¯s true." Xue Wei had to acknowledge that there was some reason in what Bai Tianyi said. "It is said that the strongest expert within Cloudsoar City is a Sky Knight from the ck market territory. As to whether or not it is the Intelligencer, I do not know, but it is highly likely."

    The three wore their masks. Bai Tianyi grew taller all of a sudden as well. He no longer had the body of a child, his physique now making him look like a grown man.

    Grinning, Bai Tianyi stretched slightly, before he turned and got ready to leave. "Let us go."

    Hei Gou and Xue Wei followed behind Bai Tianyi. When leaving, they noticed that none of the people waiting for them began tailing them. They had never expected that this trio of adults were the targets they had been waiting for.

    Xue Wei snickered. It would appear that they could leave the city whenever they wished.

    But right now was not the time. They had to stay until they had gotten all the information they needed from the intelligencer, so they were in the mood to let go of all their frustrations in the underground cage battles.

    Letting go of your inhibitions was an enjoyable feeling. Ever since he had been in thest battle, Xue Wei¡¯s mood had improved. His heart had beenpletely calm and a smile had hung on his face all the time.

    It was only a week, but it also felt as if the process of cultivation was going much smoother. The absorption was rapid and the Azure Dragon Spirit¡¯s refinement of the heaven-and-earth essence went buttery smooth.

    Xue Wei also felt as though the bad emotions from having lost Wang Xiaoyun had subsided. Although he still missed her terribly, he hade to terms with her departure and was certain that they would reunite someday. Until that day, he had to stay alive, and to stay alive he had to hone his skills.

    They made jokes and discussed random things with each other as Xue Wei led them to thewless area, where the beggars could be either cripples or wolves in sheep clothes.

    "Don¡¯t talk with anyone. Don¡¯t disturb anyone either." Since they could never know who they could end up meeting, Xue Wei continuously cautioned both Hei Gou and Bai Tianyi.

    Where Bai Tianyipletely ignored him, Hei Gou seriously nodded his head and looked solemn. Bai Tianyi was immortal. Even if someone seriously injured him, he would not die. Even if his spirit was destroyed, he would just need time to restore it. The consequences of being careless were not as significant to him considering his unliving state.

    Knowing this, Xue Wei was very curious. What was it like to be a sword spirit? He had clearly not severed his emotions. Nor had he lost the ability to eat and drink. His body, although a soul body, functioned in the same way a living being¡¯s would.

    He could not cultivate Qi, nor could he absorb the heaven-and-earth essence, but he could absorb the soul power in the air and cultivate this way. He could even consume pills and other resources to strengthen his cultivation base.

    In fact, Xue Wei never really remembered that he was not a living being. He acted like any other individual and they had gotten so close that Xue Wei would consider him his brother.

    "Hey, Tianyi," Xue Wei finally called out. Bai Tianyi turned to look at him curiously, guessing at what the other wanted. "I was wondering, since I went to the Intelligencer for information on the Sovereign Beasts," he started.

    "I know that you lived when they were in their golden age, so perhaps you can tell me a bit about the past of the Sovereign Beasts? I know that anything that is current would be impossible for you to know about, but what about the time when you were unrivaled?"

    Bai Tainyi was silent for a bit and slowed his pace. The trio spoke withpressed voicemunication, which only they could hear, so they did not fear eavesdroppers.

    "Sovereign Beasts, huh?" Bai Tianyi was not surprised by this question. Xue Wei had already found out that he was not a human some time ago, so it was only natural for him to be curious about his origin.

    Touching his chin, Bai Tianyi considered for some time what he should say. "They are quite noble," he finally sighed. "I met quite a few Sovereign Beasts when I was traveling across the entire world. They did not care for worldly possessions, nor did they care about ruling the world. The ones I knew cared about improving their strength and about protecting their families."

    "They were innately gifted with an outstanding talent for cultivation, an innate ability to grow stronger and stronger at an inordinate rate."

    Bai Tianyi looked at Xue Wei with a bit of a pondering expression. "They were also beautiful," he suddenly said. "As beautiful as otherworldly fairies. But looking at you, you are perhaps the most in-looking Sovereign Beast I¡¯ve ever seen."

    "In this world, there are four races of Sovereign Beasts," Bai Tianyi continued. "There is the Azure Dragon n, the White Tiger n, the ck Turtle n, and the Vermilion Bird n. Throughout the world, there are only those four ns."

    "It pains me to say this," Bai Tianyi continued, his face turning dark, "but the only creatures who have managed to break through the border of immortality are said to have been the experts of the four Sovereign Beast ns."

    "Legend has it that once upon a time, way before my time, there were four good friends. They were one White Tiger, one Azure Dragon, one ck Turtle, and one Vermilion Bird. They dreamt about something else than what they could get in this world and they wished to create their own world. They would call it the Divine Beast World. As to whether or not they seeded, no one knows," Bai Tianyi sighed. "It is, however, certain that they managed to leave this world."

    "I thought you said immortality was impossible and that is why you became a sword spirit?" Xue Wei asked, perplexed.

    "As to whether or not they gained true immortality, I do not know," Bai Tianyi said honestly, "but they managed to break through the borders of this world and exit the barrier around it. This requires a strength unlike any I have ever seen before."

    "When I was at my peak, I tried to break through the world, but there was no one who had seeded in thousands of years and no one who could guide me in how to do it. Everything I did relied on my trials and errors. I never knew exactly what to do before I tried; no one could tell me, as no one had reached the same strength as me."

    Xue Wei pondered on the information he had just gotten. "Were the Sovereign Beasts very prominent before?" he asked further. Bai Tianyi shrugged his shoulders.

    "They did not hide, but they never arrogantly unted their power either," he answered after careful consideration. "I cannot imagine what might have happened to make the Sovereign Beastspletely hide away from the world."

    "Hopefully we will get more answers from the Intelligencer," Xue Wei said with a sigh after a bit of time. He hoped that he could get all the answers he wanted. God knows the exorbitant price he had to pay for that information, so it would only make sense that he had high expectations for the results.

    While talking, the trio had reached the run-down house that led into the passageway leading to the underground arenas. Xue Wei frowned when he looked around the area. The Diviners that he had seen afterst week¡¯s underground cage battles were there, and it seemed that they wereing towards them.

    "Watch out," Xue Wei warned Hei Gou, who lifted his head and looked in the same direction as Xue Wei. His face turned slightly serious when he saw them.

    Xue Wei and the other two rushed into the passageway and made their way to the cage area, seeking to avoid drawing attention to themselves.

    As they reached the cave, Hei Gou looked around with big eyes that were filled with wonder, like a child at a festival. He smiled uncontrobly, his eyes glistened, and his cheeks were slightly flushed red.

    Bai Tianyi, who had spent some time in the shape of an adult, went to a dark corner. Moments after, he returned as a small child with an adult¡¯s face. It looked strange in every way one could imagine.

    Seeing Bai Tianyi¡¯s bizarre appearance, Xue Wei grimaced. Xue Wei knew that everyone present could tell that Bai Tianyi was wearing a face mask, and it was obvious the person in question did not care, but the sight was truly confusing.

    Not long after, the three Diviners walked into the cave, causing the otherwise rather bustling atmosphere to die down. A few experts, including Hei Gou, retreated slightly without making it too obvious.

    "Do not worry," one of the Diviners said as he removed the hood that had previously covered his face. The one speaking seemed to be around thirty years old. He had a friendly face, but there was also a dangerous gleam in his eyes that put Xue Wei on high alert.

    "We are not here to cause trouble," the Diviner continued. "We are not here to hunt the Primordial Beasts in this cave, nor do we care about who is a beast and who is a human in this ce. All we are looking for is a little brother of our order. It is our mission to make him return with us."

    Xue Wei suddenly remembered the conversation he had heard earlier when they passed him. Back then, they had been looking for someone as well, someone who they considered a genius, but this genius had allegedly deserted or even betrayed them. He had not listened too intently at the time as he never thought it had anything to do with him, but now he was relieved.

    Although he was slightly relieved, he did not dare to let down his guard. He nced at Hei Gou, who was also looking at him, and shook his head in an attempt to convey his thoughts.

    Although they imed that they were not here to capture Primordial Beasts, it was likely that they would jump them as soon as they exited the cave so it was best not to invite trouble. It would be best if Hei Gou did not participate in the battles this evening and night.

 Chapter 218: Hei Gous Debut

    Hei Gou, understanding the decision that Xue Wei made, grumbled all night. He was displeased with the fact that he could not battle, but he was not the only one feeling annoyed. Xue Wei had also decided to not participate in the cage battles this time either, so their feelings were mutual. Why had these Diviners appeared now of all times?

    Although none of the Primordial Beasts, including Xue Wei, participated in the battles that day, it was not like no bloody battles had yed out.

    Bai Tianyi decided to participate in a battle, where he ended up quickly executing his opponent as though he was chopping down weeds.

    Although Xue Wei had expected it, he was still stunned when he saw the bloodthirsty smile on Bai Tianyi¡¯s face as he sliced his opponent in half with a gust of spiritual energy shaped like an incredible sword.

    The people in the audience who had witnessed that battle were astounded and admired the strength that Bai Tianyi had disyed.

    Xue Wei looked around, but no matter how much he looked, he did not see Lu Yuping anywhere. It was clear that he had already been informed of the news about the Diviners making an appearance; and even though he was a strong fighter, he was not dumb enough to fight against Diviners as a Primordial Beast himself.

    Xue Wei would not have gone had he known in advance that the Diviners were present. He was not going to risk Hei Gou¡¯s safety for some mere illegal fights.

    The Diviners kept inspecting every nook and cranny of the cave¡¯s inside, observing everything and everyone that entered the underground world. Even Xue Wei was given a long nce, but in the end, the Diviners did not find what they were looking for. So when the night ended, all of them left the cave with dark faces and sour moods.

    "They are gone," Hei Gou said as he leaned against the cave wall, looking incredibly casual, but he was in truth keeping constant vigil of his surroundings.

    "Wait an hour," Xue Wei cautioned, because he could read Hei Gou¡¯s mind. "If they have not returned within an hour, then you can fight as you please."

    Hei Gou¡¯s handsome face lit up with a great smile when he heard this. His eyes brightened and he nodded his head excitedly. Despite wearing a face mask, he seemed much more handsome than the average person. It was impossible to hide his beauty even with a facemask.

    The hour went by fast, and the Diviners did not return. They had clearly left for good, as their target was not within the cave. Although they usually wouldn¡¯t pass on the opportunity to catch a Primordial Beast, their attitude showed that the person they were looking for dwarfed even the allure of Primordial Beasts in importance. Including even the opportunity to catch multiple of them at once.

    Xue Wei appeared to be pensive; he furrowed his eyebrows when this fact reached his mind, and he could not help but wonder: what exactly was the identity of a person who warranted being chased so diligently by such a group of Diviners?

    Sighing, he quickly gave up his thoughts and went to one of the cages. It was time for Hei Gou¡¯s battle.

    "A fat sheep has appeared! He has never fought here before ¨C he is aplete rookie!" someone yelled out. Due to these few words, the majority of the cave¡¯s guests made their way towards the cage where Hei Gou was supposed to have his battle.

    Xue Wei looked at the opponent. He was not too skinny or too burly. He actually looked very ordinary. When Hei Gou stepped into the cage, everyone¡¯s attention turned to him. Some of the women in the cave even gasped and stared wide-eyed at him. The man he was up against also looked rather ufortable.

    Hei Gou was smiling gracefully. He was not as handsome as he was normally, but he was still out of the ordinary. Sighing, Xue Wei shook his head with a chuckle.

    "I¡¯m going," Hei Gou said seriously with a look over his shoulder at Xue Wei, who nodded in return. "Show them what you got," he answered with a snicker.

    Because of their conversation, Xue Wei suddenly became the center of attention, and soon that included Bai Tianyi, who conveniently stood beside him.

    "Hey, that¡¯s the guy from earlier who we also considered a fat sheep but whopletely trampled over his opponent. And the other guy foughtst week, where he was so bloodthirsty that he killed one of the Tiger Triplets!" someone suddenly called out.

    The gazes directed at Xue Wei were suddenly filled with shock and disbelief. It was clear that the three had a close rtionship, and two out of the three had already managed to make a small name for themselves.

    "So it was you, huh?" The voice of a man suddenly emerged next to Xue Wei. When thetter turned around, he saw two figures standing right next to him. Both were stronger than him, both Ordinary Knights; one a twoyer and the other a fouryer.

    "What was me?" Xue Wei spoke casually as he faced the two experts. Although he was not stronger than them and would be at a disadvantage against them in any other environment, the truth was that he was safe as long as he was inside the cave.

    Furthermore, even if they truly wished to cause problems, he doubted they would be able to keep him back. He had Bai Tianyi by his side, who was also an Ordinary Knight, and he had Hei Gou, whose true shape was a mutated Celestial Dog, alongside his own original shape as an Azure Dragon.

    "You killed our younger brother?" One of the two guys seemed very aggressive. His face was already red from anger and he was surrounded by a murderous air. He was the weakest of the two.

    Though he was the most aggressive of the duo, Xue Wei was not too scared of him. On the other hand, the stronger one of the two seemed much more dangerous. He was standing idly behind the other Tiger, his hand rubbing his chin. And although he seemed casual and carefree, a smile was evident on his face and his eyes were incredibly cold.

    "I killed some guyst week, yes." Xue Wei did not step back. "I never asked him to think of me as a fat sheep, did I?" he continued. This only exacerbated the hatred spewing from the first one¡¯s eyes, whereas the calm and collectedness of the other made Xue Wei feel incredibly ufortable.

    "You should have killed yourself!" the angry man said. "You should have killed yourself instead of our brother!"

    "So your brother can kill me, but I cannot kill him?" Xue Wei mocked back with a smile on his face, causing the angry brother to get so furious that he started trembling.

    "Why are you causing trouble with my friend?" Everyone turned to look at the speaker, everyone apart from Xue Wei that is.

    Xue Wei had recognized the voice as belonging to Li Chen and thus he did not shift his attention away from the faces of the two vengeful brothers.

    While the angry and aggressive one turned pale with fright and retreated slightly, the eyes of the calm and collected one turned serious and solemn.

    "We did not know that this youngster was your friend," the calm one finally spoke up. "To think that the miss is worried about someone this much. In that case, we would, of course, have to step back," he continued with a shallow smile on his face, a smile that was impossible to see through.

    The two brothers quickly took their leave and vanished deeper into the cave, evidently seeking to spectate the battles in another cage.

    Xue Wei¡¯s eyes did not leave them before they had vanishedpletely from his sight into the sea of people. He suddenly had a very bad premonition.

    "You can sense it too, right?" Bai Tianyi suddenly asked. Xue Wei looked at him before nodding his head. "The angry one is easy to deal with, but the other one will prove to be a thorny issue."

    "He is cunning," Bai Tianyi agreed. "Hopefully he does not value his lost brother too much."

    "We can always hope he doesn¡¯t," Xue Wei said, frowning. "He was told off by Li Chen, and she has quite the background. He might not feel that we are worth it." Bai Tianyi could not help but sigh.

    "It seems that no matter where we go, we end up being chased as public enemies number one, two, and three." Bai Tianyi grinned when he said this, to which Xue Wei replied with a snort before he looked into the cage in front of them.

    Although his attention had been drawn to the two remaining brothers of the Tiger Triplets, who had now left, he had not forgotten about Hei Gou¡¯s battle.

    Hei Gou had not let him down. The cultivation level of his physical strength exceeded the level of his Qi strength. Although he outwardly seemed weak, he was indeed a wolf in sheep¡¯s clothing.

    Without even using any of his innate abilities and only relying on his physical strength and his ws, he managed to reduce his opponent into a sorry mess that was bleeding from various wounds all over his body.

    From the look in Hei Gou¡¯s eyes, Xue Wei could see that he too was enjoying the thrill of the hunt. This feeling was better than being drunk; it was so intoxicating that it was impossible to resist, and now the smile on Hei Gou¡¯s lips and his red eyes showed that he was enjoying the ughter.

    "He is a beast," Bai Tianyimented when he saw the situation in the cage. Xue Wei just shrugged his shoulders. Being a beast was not such a bad thing.

    The battle did notst long after this. Hei Gou¡¯s foe had his stomach gutted by the former¡¯s ws, leading to a very painful and disastrous death.

    The audience was silent for a moment before they erupted into cheer. "That is amazing!" someone eximed. "He dominated the entire fight! Is he really a beginner?"

    "Those three came together, but none of them are easy targets. I bet they are from some secret organization and are just here passing time."

    Lots of assumptions were thrown around after that. Hei Gou left the cage and went back to Xue Wei and Bai Tianyi.

    "That was so thrilling!" Hei Gou was filled with excitement. "I have never felt a hunt like this before. I felt so alive, so invigorated! Killing is one thing, but battling like this is another!"

    While Bai Tianyi did not seem to fully understand what Hei Gou was saying, Xue Wei chuckled and nodded his head. "I understand," he said seriously. "We cane here once a week and let go of our inhibitions; we can immerse ourselves in the hunt and whatnot, but we should never let the feeling consume us. Don¡¯t go out and kill people randomly just because you feel like it, understood?"

    "Well, I would never cause problems for you," Hei Gou said while acting rather embarrassed. "Especially not while the Diviners are atrge. I¡¯m satisfied with a match a week!"

    "Sounds good," Xue Wei was satisfied with this reply. "So now that the dog and I have both fought," Bai Tianyi suddenly said, "why don¡¯t you go and fight now?"

    "I guess I should," Xue Wei snickered. He had not fought yet, and he truly felt a need to let go of his pent-up frustrations, alongside once more tasting that feeling of killing someone, of hunting them, of having their lives in the palm of his hand and then ending it all.

    "I would like to sign up," Xue Wei went straight for the counter and went through the motions. He waited for a few moments for the opponent to appear. When he saw him, Xue Wei raised an eyebrow in surprise.

    This opponent was not unknown to him. It was the man who had tried to fight him the first day he had signed up; the man who was so fat that he would be better off rolling along the ground rather than walking on it. But although he seemed like someone that was easy to handle, Xue Wei felt a distinct sense of dangering from this man.

 Chapter 219: Unsatisfying Battle

    Before the battle began, Xue Wei considered his options. First of all, he could choose to use Mind Infestation and take over the fatty¡¯s mind, finishing the battle with a clean suicide or at least confusing him enough to easily execute him. However, this method was incredibly boring.

    Secondly, he could use his beast transformation, but doing so was the same as him admitting to being a beast.

    Lastly, he could fight with his other abilities, which would be the many martial art techniques he had gotten from the heritage ring and along the way. This would be the most interesting way to fight. A way to be equal to his opponent and a way to test himself while truly enjoying the battle in the best way possible.

    The truth was that Xue Wei had a clear advantage. If he wanted to, he could kill his opponent instantly with either Mind Infestation or pure power from his transformation, but there was no fun in doing that to him.

    The real reason he hade here was to feel his blood boil again, to feel alive. Nothing could beat the intoxicating feeling he got whenever he was battling in these underground cage battles.

    Even before the battle had begun, Xue Wei was smiling. The smile on his face was sinister and cold, and his eyes gleamed dangerously with a dark light that promised great suffering for the opponent.

    He knew nothing about the opponent in front of him, but he did understand that he was a slight threat to him ¨C his senses told him as much, but this only served to make his blood burn more intensely.

    The fat man facing Xue Wei nced at him with eyes that resembled a pig¡¯s. He did notugh out loud or in any way seem to be aggressive; in fact, he was incredibly quiet and humble. It was clear that he was serious about theing battle.

    Xue Wei cracked his neck and observed the man. He was clearly not an expert in speed. It would be incredible if he could move fast with that body of his, so that could not be his forte, but what was it then?

    Could it be that he specialized in defense? It seemed likely, but just the thought alone made Xue Wei feel excitement. The uncertainty, the fact that he had to learn this person¡¯s battle style on the go excited him. The thought of killing him thrilled him even more.

    "Battle start," the bookie announced, signalling to begin the battle.

    Xue Wei closed his eyes for a brief moment and calmed his wildly beating heart.

    When his eyes opened again, a shine that had not been there before could be seen. His eyes were sharp and focused. His muscles pulsed with varying degrees of tension as though he was priming them, and he slowly cracked his wrist a few times before he balled his hands up into fists.

    Xue Wei exhaled a deep breath. It was as if he could sense the calm before the storm. Although his heart was beating like mad and the killing intent was driving him insane, telling him to start the battle right away, he felt extremely calm and collected at the moment.

    The contradicting feelings of violence and calmness had a strange way of engraving themselves into Xue Wei¡¯s inner being. Although he was bloodthirsty and eager to start the battle, he had not lost his head in the moment.

    Neither the opponent nor Xue Wei moved. Both observed one another; one was casual and had a malicious smile on his face, the other was alert and careful with furrowed brows.

    The first to make a move ended up being Xue Wei. After observing his foe for some time, he had noticed that the opponent had no intention whatsoever of moving. The fat man was like a mountain, rooted on the ground, waiting for Xue Wei to deliver himself in front of him. Xue Wei did not disappoint.

    Forbidden Rush!

    Xue Wei vanished from the spot where he stood, moving so fast that only those of a higher rank could track his movements.

    His opponent¡¯s eyes widened; a slight fear rose in his heart, but he quickly quelled it. He was not willing to give up, as giving up meant losing his life.

    Taking in a deep breath, the man steeled himself for the impact he knew coulde at any moment. Qi started cloaking his entire body,ying itself like ayer of extra skin.

    Thisyer of Qi seemed almost useless, but Xue Wei¡¯s eyes narrowed when he saw it. It was clear that this thinyer of Qi was unlike any shield he had ever seen before.

    Still, he was not going to stand back and cease fire. If he stopped the attack now, the chances were likely that he would fall into an unfortunate position.

    Shattering Mountain Palm!

    Xue Wei shot forward like a shooting star, his momentum carrying with it a strong sense of power as the palm descended.

    Just as the palmnded on the chest of the opponent, Xue Wei felt a tremor run through his arm. The oue of his attack this time was different from anything he had experienced before. Some of the power from it had actually been rebounded straight back to Xue Wei. Although he had an overwhelming amount of physical strength, he still very much felt the shock, which left his hand numb with pain.

    Retreating faster than he advanced, Xue Wei was at first stunned, but then a maddened smile spread on his lips.

    "Fun!" he eximed while starting tough. "This is fun!" The audience outside the cage had be as silent as an empty graveyard. Many of them knew of Xue Wei¡¯s opponent and his ability to return damage to the one who had sent it out, so they were not shocked about that, but where they would usually see someone with a terrified expression after going through that, Xui Wei¡¯s maddened excitement was so different and so scary that it sent a chill down their spines.

    Not only the audience, but the opponent was also terrified. Although he had managed to return some of the damage and mitigate a lot of the remainder with his stocky body, the palm attack had set a deep, lingering fear into his heart.

    He had never seen someone so excited to face him. It was clear that Xue Wei was enjoying the battle. He could clearly see that Xue Wei was the type to sink into the depths of carnal thrill from hunting and killing, especially so considering thetter¡¯s killing intent had now begun leaking from his body.

    His killing intent was so dense that everyone felt the temperature around the cage drop a few degrees. It was clear that it was getting colder, but the cold was not the only thing that came with the killing intent.

    The killing intent also made their bodies tremble uncontrobly. The legs of the weaker experts among the audience started buckling, and their vision turned hazy and ckened. The ones at Xue Wei¡¯s level of strength felt their bodies tingle and be sluggish. Those stronger felt a slight electrical current enter their bodies.

    The people who watched this battle were filled with shock. Such a dense killing intent... how had he gained it? It was clear that one had to have walked out from a mountain of corpses to achieve something like that, but this man seemed so young.

    Xue Wei was like a wild beast. Usually, the Fierce Beasts would make a lot of noise in their pens, roaring and screeching, and the other experts currently fighting in their cages would yell and shout, but right now the entire underground realm had gone silent and the other fighters had halted their matches.

    Every person, man or beast, converged around the cage Xue Wei was battling in. No one spoke, and everyone watched with bated breath.

    "I thought that the fatty would be the winner, but with such killing intent, I think it is quite obvious who will win," someone finally muttered. Those that heard the statement could not help but nod their heads.

    Everyone had reached this conclusion, including Xue Wei¡¯s opponent himself. His face was pale and sweat was beading on his brows. They had only exchanged one attack so far, but that one attack had truly awakened a sleeping dragon.

    "Let us try this again!" Xue Weiughed out loud. His eyes turned slightly red as he stomped on the ground and charged at his opponent with Forbidden Rush.

    Kick of the Forgotten Kings!

    Xue Wei had already used one attack, so now it was time for another. His leg had been covered with scales inside his boot and his nails became ws, but the transformation was subtle enough to not tear through the boot itself.

    The kick was strong. me-like Qi was emitted from his leg as it drew an arc through the air toward his opponent, shooting out like a flying flood dragon.

    A crunching sound could be heard when the leg came into contact with theyer of Qi that covered the fat man.

    When they came into contact, it was as if time had stopped; neither moved, and cracks appeared on the ground beneath the opponent. Soon afterwards, however, both men shot backward, one a bit more graceful than the other.

    Xue Wei retreated five steps, the smile never once disappearing from his face. When he finally came to a stop, he stomped his foot on the ground a few times to make the tingling and numb sensation go away.

    Even after he protected his leg with scales, the reflected damage still made it feel numb.

    The opponent was much worse off though. He had been blown backward like a football, and his entire body was trembling. Blood was trickling out of the corner of his lips.

    "Don¡¯t give up already!" Xue Wei said with roaringughter before he rushed at his opponent again. "I am not satisfied yet!"

    The fat man was terrified, and he was unaware of what he should do.

    He did not know how to escape from Xue Wei. He knew that he would not be able to get away even if he tried, and his defense which had always been like an unbreakable iron wall was now useless.

    Xue Wei was very much a madman. He waspletely drunk on the fight, but he had, all things considered, actually not lost his rationality.

    This was indeed the most dangerous kind of person and situation to face for anyone. Facing a person who was both maddened and at the same time rational was too scary.

    The opponent eventually lost his will to fight back. He simply gave up. He stopped protecting himself with Qi and gave up on running away.

    His eyes were listless, and his body quickly became riddled with wounds. But Xue Wei was unhappy. The listless and defeated expression on the fat man¡¯s face was enough to awaken Xue Wei from his engrossed state of mind, which upset him so much that he ended up just cutting off his opponent¡¯s head, ending the fight in an overwhelming fashion. Unfortunately, his mood did not improve afterwards.

 Chapter 220: Darkness

    Sighing, Xue Wei executed his opponent before he shook his head. A sneer adorned his lips and his mood was foul.

    He reached a hand out and took his dead foe¡¯s storage ring, but he did not bother to rummage through the man¡¯s pockets or the spots in his clothes where one could hide valuables.

    Without even waiting for anyone to dere him the winner, Xue Wei left the cage, not looking back at the corpse on the ground in the cell ever again.

    As he exited, the audience unconsciously made a path for him and he quickly grouped up with hispanions.

    "Let¡¯s go," Xue Wei said. Neither Hei Gou nor Bai Tianyi cared about staying as they had already had their share of fun, so they nodded their heads and left the cave together with him.

    "We got to be careful," Bai Tianyi said after a while. "Those Tiger Triplet brothers might have given up on the outside, but I fear that they will not have given up in their hearts."

    "I know," Xue Wei said, annoyed, "they are right behind us." Bai Tianyi snickered. "So even you could sense them?" he joked, but Xue Wei ignored him.

    Usually, it would be hard for Xue Wei to pinpoint someone of a stronger cultivation base than himself with his spiritual energy, but he had recognized it right away since he had already memorized their auras in their previous encounter.

    "The brute is not much of a problem," Xue Wei said casually while looking at the dark sky above him. They had left the underground battle area early so it was still night time.

    "We can overpower him and kill him should ite to that, but the other one is difficult to deal with. I have no idea what he is thinking, nor do I have any idea what his exact ns are," Bai Tianyi added agreeingly while rubbing his chin.

    "We need to keep in mind that Xue Wei and I can¡¯t really take on our original shapes," Hei Gou cut in. "Although we are in thewless part of the city, the Diviners were here earlier. We do not want to attract those guys, now do we?"

    "Not only the Diviners, but everyone else will also go after us if they see our original shape."

    Xue Wei pondered what Hei Gou had said for a moment. "That¡¯s not wrong," he conceded dejectedly. "We are three and they are two, but the fact remains that those two Tiger Triplets are stronger than us even if we have the advantage in numbers. Both of them are Ordinary Knights and only Tianyi is an Ordinary Knight on our side."

    "It is fine," Bai Tianyi said,ughing out loud. He grinned. "I might be a fewyers beneath them in strength, but the truth is that I am not some average cultivator."

    "I am an immortal spirit. I have lived at the apex of the world. No one could threaten me, no one could challenge me. Two simple Ordinary Knights might be able to cause me a bit of trouble, but since I am undying I can just keep going until they die!"

    Xue Wei shook his head when he heard this andughed slightly. Bai Tianyi sounded arrogant and self-confident, but Xue Wei was aware that this attitude was not the whole truth.

    Although he was undying, he could still be injured. The more injured he became, the more his strength would be lowered. If he was injured too much, his soul would enter a hibernation period until he manages to absorb enough soul power from the surrounding air to recover.

    "So what do we do now?" Xue Wei ignored Bai Tianyi¡¯s bragging and looked at them.

    "Should we enter a small alleyway where no one can see us and fight them hoping to win, or should we just return to the hotel and ignore them for now?"

    "I kinda hate the feeling of having someone behind me," Hei Gou said while starting to swing his arm to warm up his body and prepare for battle.

    "I said I can deal with them. You two just look at my brilliant disy of strength," Bai Tianyi said with a snicker. While hesitant at first, eventually Xue Wei could only chuckle and shake his head.

    Was there even a choice? These two battle maniacs by his side were smiling wildly while stretching their arms as they moved into one of the nearby alleyways that were a part of thewless area.

    The people living in the houses on the two sides of the alleyway could be the eyes of the underworld, like a den of flies on the wall.

    "I can¡¯t sense the Diviners anywhere near us," Xue Wei said, ncing around. "Nah, they left this area a while ago," Bai Tianyi answered casually. "I followed their energy signatures when they left."

    "Well, then we have nothing holding us back!" Hei Gouughed madly. Xue Wei grinned too.

    "How long do the three of you n onughing like this?" a voice said from behind them. Xue Wei¡¯s trio turned around to look at the two remaining brothers of the Tiger Triplets.

    "Oh, you are here already?" Bai Tianyi sent back casually, though he was far from rxed in reality.

    There was a serious gleam in his eyes. He was clearly tense, and he was actively circting his spiritual energy through his body while watching them carefully.

    Xue Wei and Hei Gou were equally alert. They too were circting their energy. In Xue Wei, thousands of dragons were vigorously flowing through the channels in his body. All of them were roaring out loud, but Xue Wei was the only one who could hear it.

    The roaring dragons made Xue Wei¡¯s killing intent spike. It started leaking out of him in the same way air leaks out of a broken balloon.

    The temperature started to drop drastically. Xue Wei¡¯s eyes turned slightly red, and the smile on his face grew bigger and bigger.

    This fight was nothing like a cage battle. Although the cage fights were interesting and thrilling, they were impossible for Xue Wei to lose since he held so many advantages against another expert of the same rank.

    This was, however, different. This was a battle against two experts of strength much higher than his own, at a realm he had yet to reach.

    This was truly thrilling!

    Xue Wei instinctively knew that this was the most dangerous battle he had ever encountered. Although the opponents were fewer in numbers than when he fought in the siege outside Golden Crow City, the quality of these two experts was much higher.

    Hei Gou, Xue Wei, and Bai Tianyi were all aware that they would be in for a bitter struggle, but it was still impossible for them to hide the smiles on their faces.

    "Leave the cheeky one to me," Bai Tianyi said as his body once more turned child-like. "You two, team up and fight the berserker. He should be the easiest of the two, and considering I¡¯m the only Ordinary Knight, I am quite sure that¡¯s the best option for us."

    Xue Wei and Hei Gou did not object. They were both aware that, right now, Bai Tianyi was indeed the strongest among them. Leaving the strongest enemy to him would be wise.

    The berserker also heard what was said so his focus changed to Xue Wei and Hei Gou. He felt a slight pressureing from the two, but he could not help but snort. They were both Heavenly Warriors, not even Ordinary Knights, so how could they possibly put up a fight against him?

    "Are you sure that the Diviners have left?" Hei Gou asked again, just to bepletely sure. Bai Tianyi shrugged his shoulders. "I can¡¯t say for sure," he said honestly, while his eyes never once left the cheeky and silent one of the two brothers.

    "Well, who cares?" Xue Wei finally said,ughing. "If the Diviners really are watching us, then it¡¯s just our bad luck!"

    "I guess you are right!" Hei Gou chuckled too. Then suddenly his body expanded; ck fur grew from his skin and his entire being was changed from a human¡¯s shape to a massive ck dog with a pair of crow wings on his back.

    His entire body was pitch ck and his eyes were silver like the moon. The strength of his body was so overwhelming that the ground underneath his paws had already cracked and was starting to copse.

    The eyes of the two remaining Tiger Triplets widened in surprise, but they soon calmed down again when they saw that neither Xue Wei nor Bai Tianyi turned into beasts.

    "You have a contracted Primordial Beast?" the berserker asked while licking his lips with greed. "I will not kill it, but I will take it from you. It will be the new member of the Tiger Triplets and make us a fortune with its strength as a Primordial Beast!"

    "You want to enve my brother?" Xue Wei startedughing out loud, but there was a cold gleam in his eyes. A second after, he vanished from where he was standing.

    Forbidden Rush!

    Inner Might: Sword Style!

    Xue Wei shed out as soon as the sword had appeared in his hand. A thin sword light could be seen as the berserker withdrew in shock. The speed Xue Wei disyed was many times faster than the speed he had revealed in the cage battles.

    His speed could rival an expert at the Ordinary Warrior rank! The ability that he was using was without a doubt not inferior to a superior martial arts technique!

    On realizing that this youngster owned a superior martial art technique, the greed in the eyes of the berserker grew significantly.

    Unfortunately, he dared not go too close to Xue Wei. The sword that the youngster was swinging was very sharp, so sharp that he had never encountered anything like it before.

    The berserker was unaware of the fact that Xue Wei was using Inner Might to create a sword. He had not been able to really catch sight of the sword yet so all he thought was that it was a sharp, real weapon.

    "You are an annoying little fly!" the berserker yelled out as he lifted his arm and made an axe appear in the palm of his hand.

    "My turn!" Hei Gou, who had taken the shape of a Celestial Dog, had waited for this moment. It was still night. The only thing that illuminated the area was the moon, but suddenly Hei Gou¡¯s wings pped and lifted him up into the air.

    He did not fly far, just a few meters, but then he opened his mouth. "Let us devour the moon!"

    He did not actually devour the moon, but he did devour the moonlight that shone down upon them. A diameter of a hundred meters had suddenly turned into Hei Gou¡¯s domain where everything had been steeped in a pitch ck darkness that robbed you of your ability to see.

    But it was not impossible for Xue Wei and Bai Tianyi to continue fighting. Bai Tianyi had such high level spiritual energy that everything around him was as clear as day. So he continued his bout against his opponent, who was now forced on the defensive.

    Xue Wei could also use his spiritual energy to see, but more than that, he had the eyes of an Azure Dragon. The eyes of a dragon could see through evenplete darkness.

    "Let us fight side by side!" Hei Gou¡¯s voice sounded next to Xue Wei, after which the oversized dog lunged at the berserker with its sharp ws and razor-like teeth. Because of his moon-devouring domain¡¯s overwhelming effectiveness in immobilizing their foes, Hei Gou managed to inflict some serious damage to the berserker after a couple swipes and bites that could rip apart and shatter even concrete.

 Chapter 221: The Roar

    Although Hei Gou managed to cut, sh and wound the berserker, the truth was that every injury was rather shallow.

    Even though the berserker could see nothing, he still had his keen senses for fighting and his instincts and these two things managed to keep Xue Wei and Hei Gou at a distance.

    He used his weapon to continuously push back both Hei Gou and Xue Wei, his attacks gaining momentum and picking up speed the more he fought.

    Xue Wei was rather worried. He did not know how long it would take before Hei Gou¡¯s ability would run out ¨C and when it did, they would be at an even bigger disadvantage.

    Xue Wei transformed his arms and hands into dragon arms and ws. He dismissed the Inner Might sword and instead started fighting with his dragon-form hands.

    His draconic, bare hands were far more lethal than the sword of Inner Might. The ws were as sharp, but there was an immense physical strength behind them, alongside the fact that hands were easier to control than a sword.

    Groans of pain started to sound in the darkness as the ws scraped patches of flesh and skin off from the berserker¡¯s body.

    Blood flowed constantly from the berserker¡¯s body, and his eyes were red as well, almost glowing in the darkness. He began gritting his teeth hard as he tried to make the Qi in his body flow faster to push back Hei Gou and Xue Wei. Unfortunately, it did not work out the way he nned it.

    Xue Wei had gone all-in. He could feel the pressure emanating from the berserker. This berserker was a true Ordinary Knight. The strength that was hiding within his body was in no way as simple as what was seen on the outside, but because he had fallen into a disadvantage, it was impossible for him to break out from it, and releasing his true strength seemed impossible.

    The berserker was constantly being pushed back. He did not have the time tounch any of his martial art techniques, all he could do was using the most basic Qi to infuse his weapon and create a barrier around his body.

    Because both Xue Wei and Hei Gou were charging him relentlessly and pressuring him with everything they had, the berserker could not find the opportunity to reveal his true strength.

    While the berserker was being pushed back, Bai Tianyi was fighting against the cheeky guy. Neither of them held the upper hand, but either had yet to reveal all their cards.

    "So you can only use spiritual energy?" The cheeky man suddenly smiled after they had sounded each other out with a few attacks.

    "No matter what I have thrown at you, you have replied to it with Spiritual Energy. You don¡¯t have even the slightest trace of Qi within you!" The cheeky manughed out loud, so loud that Bai Tianyi ced a finger in his ear and twisted it as if to show that he was bored.

    "Doneughing?" Bai Tianyi asked with a smile on his face that was impossible to decipher.

    "You are taking me too lightly just because I only use Spiritual Energy," Bai Tianyi continued, his smile widening slightly.

    "I can only use Spiritual Energy. That is correct. But my Spiritual Energy is enough to deal with the likes of you!"

    "Keep dreaming!" The cheeky guy was getting rather upset from listening to Bai Tianyi. It was as if this Bai Tianyi was telling him that no matter how he struggled, it would be useless in the end.

    "Let us see who is dreaming, then!" Bai Tianyiughed uproariously and took a step forward. His long white hair fluttered behind him as the band that had held it together became undone. His eyes glistened with light, and excitement was evident within every fiber of his body.

    "Let us see you handling this!" Bai Tianyi smiled and slowly lifted his arm, pointing out one finger.

    A strong fluctuation of energy appeared. It was clearly not Qi, but it still materialized in front of the cheeky guy and took the shape of a massive sword.

    This sword consisted not only of spiritual energy, but there was also another energy present ¨C the energy of the sword itself.

    Bai Tianyi was a sword spirit. His energy, although primarily being spiritual energy, also contained sword energy.

    Sword energy was an incredibly pure energy, it was one that was created when one started to embark upon the dao of the sword. There were many different kinds of daos in this world, but to understand a dao was as rare as finding a qilin¡¯s horn or a phoenix¡¯ feather.

    The sword energy was so sharp that just breathing next to the massive materialized sword made you feel like you were breathing in daggers. This caused the cheeky man to feel like his throat was being sliced up from within.

    "Just breathing makes this much damage?" He was stunned by the fact that he was at such a disadvantage from this fact alone. Once the materialized sword in front of himmences its attack, would he not be in an even more difficult situation?

    While Bai Tianyi snickered, the cheeky opponent started feeling more and more ufortable. He retreated a few steps before he turned around and ran.

    "You are trying to escape now?" Bai Tianyi raised an eyebrow in surprise. This cheeky man seemed to be only interested in fighting a winning battle; the moment he felt danger he turned around and tried to flee.

    "As if I will let you," Bai Tianyi whispered, flicking his fingers. The sword that had been pointing at the cheeky opponent shot forward at a speed much faster than the cheeky man could run away, and before he noticed it, his leg had been cut off.

    A scream cut through the darkness, a scream so shrill that it would make a shiver run down the back of any who heard it.

    It was a clean cut. The leg had been cut right at the knee. The cheeky man could no longer run away, toppled over, and fell to the ground.

    "Don¡¯t kill me, I beg you, don¡¯t kill me!" the cheeky man cried out loud. He covered his head with his arms and started sobbing uncontrobly.

    He trembled with fear that had also spread to his voice, and he could not control himself as he felt death gripping his throat.

    "Well, you came at me ready to kill," Bai Tianyi said casually as he looked at the cheeky man with a look of loathing. "When you are ready to kill, that means you have to ept being killed as well. Even monsters like mypanions have epted that every day might be theirst," he continued withughter.

    "Anyway, you are a cripple now and your leg is gone. Even if you had some value, you have lost it all now. I have no reason to keep you alive so I might as well kill you off."

    Having said his part, Bai Tianyi flicked his fingers again, causing the massive materialized sword to descend upon its victim. Blood sttered and a head rolled. The cut was clean, concluding the fight with ease, but Bai Tianyi suddenly felt a spell of dizziness hit him when he retracted the sword energy into his body. He felt all blood drain from his face, and he was very close to losing consciousness.

    "Seems like it is still too big a strain to use Sword Energy," he muttered to himself and found a ce in the darkness to sit down. Although he wanted to help Xue Wei and Hei Gou, right now he was not in a position to assist them at all. He would just drag them down if he got too close.

    While Bai Tianyi had finished off the strongest of the Tiger Triplets, the fight between the berserker, Xue Wei, and Hei Gou was getting so much more intense.

    Where Bai Tianyi had defeated the cheeky guy quite easily, the fight between the remaining three was incredibly bloody and bitter.

    Xue Wei felt his scales crack open as he blocked one of the berserker¡¯s attacks. Blood flowed out from the cracked scales, and pain made his arms throb.

    Xue Wei had transformed his legs as well. "Catch him!" Xue Wei called out. Hei Gou, disregarding everything that the berserker threw at him, used his four strong legs to propel himself at the berserker, biting his strong jaws down on the berserker¡¯s shoulder, his paws wrapping themselves around his body. Right then, Xue Wei had a glint in his eyes.

    Xue Wei spun around himself to gather momentum. He did not hold back at all and swept his leg out like the tail of a flood dragon, which came crashing down on the enemy.

    Kick of the Forgotten Kings!

    Abination of Xue Wei¡¯s three thousand Qi Dragons and his dragon shape¡¯s strength amplification empowered the kick.

    This was the strongest attack that Xue Wei had ever delivered. The berserker suddenly felt an acute sense of danger. He tried his very best to dodge, but the massive Hei Gou held him with all his power, pinning him down to a slow crawl.

    The whip-like leg filled with roaring Qi dragons and physical strength came crashing down,nding on the berserker¡¯s waist.

    Xue Wei was gasping for air. His leg felt a sting, and as soon as he delivered the kick, he retreated as fast as he could.

    "Let him go!" Xue Wei called out, in which Hei Gou let go of his shoulder and retreated as fast as he could.

    The berserker was breathing hard. He could impossibly bepletely fine after that attack, and he had received many wounds already. Furthermore, his shoulder ached from the wounds where Hei Gou¡¯s razor-like teeth had sunk into his flesh. Before Hei Gou had retreated, he had done everything to cause as much injury as possible, which was why the berserker¡¯s entire shoulder was fully mutted.

    Not only this, his waist was broken. Where the kick hadnded, all bones had broken. Although he was an Ordinary Knight, he could not simply withstand the full might of Xue Wei¡¯s transformation and three thousand Qi dragons.

    The darkness from Hei Gou¡¯s domain ability still shrouded the entire area. Xue Wei was breathing heavily; he had used a massive amount of Qi and physical strength to deliver that attack, and his leg had note out unscathed after the kick.

    But the battle was not done yet. "Corner him!" Xue Wei growled, "We will use ourst attack to end him. We really have to finish this. There will be someone soon who will try to reap the rewards of our battle if we don¡¯t hurry up!"

    Hei Gou understood what Xue Wei was hinting at. Their battle had dragged on too long. The sun had also started rising, ever so slightly bringing with it dawn.

    "Okay, I have this attack I¡¯ve never tried before," Hei Gou said seriously. "Stay away, I don¡¯t want to kill you by ident!"

    "Hah, you think that you can kill me? Wait with your skill, let me try something first!" Xue Weiughed and brought out every scale in his body. This was a fully draconic shape, but not a full dragon transformation as he still resembled a human. However, all of his skin had been covered with scales.

    A tail had appeared behind him, and horns protruded from his head. His eyes were red and their irises had be slitted.

    "I have no innate abilities yet," Xue Wei muttered to himself, "but I do have something that might stop him for a moment."

    Xue Wei briefly paused, and then he looked sharply at the berserker. A deep roar came out from deep within his chest that sounded like thunder had struck the entire city.

    A deafening roar traveled through the entirety of Cloudsoar City. Every Primordial and Fierce Beast within the city started cowering, which greatly shocked their handlers and owners.

    The Diviners, who were at the other end of town, could not help but widen their eyes in shock while their hearts palpitated with fear.

    "What was that?" one of them asked with a trembling voice. "What was that roar?!"

    The two strongest of the Diviners looked at one another, their eyes disying deep shock and fear, but there was also excitement. Without paying attention to anything else, both of them rushed out of their lodgings.

    "It came from thewless area," one of the Diviners said. The other nodded his head.

    "I can sense the energy," the other said seriously, and both of them rushed through town at the speed of a lightning strike, forgoing attention towards anything else.

 Chapter 222: The Two Diviners

    "This is the ce, is it not?" The tall one of the two Diviners asked with confusion as he looked around the small alleyway.

    "It is indeed here," the shorter one nodded his head. "The corpses are both warm still, and one is a bit colder than the other, but they were both killed less than an hour ago."

    "There are a lot of scars on the ground," the shorter Diviner continued. "Over there the first mark is clearly made from a cut that cut off this dead man¡¯s leg, and another mark from the cut that cut off his head."

    "It is clear that the sword that was used to cut this man¡¯s head and leg off was massive and sharp. It was so sharp that it made these ten centimeters wide and three meters long gashes in the ground."

    "Over on this side, the ground has cracked like a spider web. There are footprints and w marks all over the ground." The tall Diviner was the one who took over analyzing the scene when he looked at the surroundings of the berserker¡¯s demise.

    "This man died quite a bit after the other man. It seems that there were at least two people fighting, one beast and one human. Do you think the human has made a contract with the beast?" The tall Diviner was confused.

    "No," the shorter Diviner shook his head. "That was not a contracted beast. Although the beast roar was majestic, the beast cannot be that strong. This dead person was only an Ordinary Knight, but it still seemed as if it was some sort of rather bitterbat. The other one, the one with the sword, was a much cleaner execution."

    "The execution of this one was indeed quite bloody; he has not even been left with an intact corpse." The tall Diviner looked at the berserker and kicked his mutted corpse with some disinterest.

    "So do you think that it was a Primordial Beast from the council?" the tall Diviner asked, his disinterested expression turning excited.

    Every Diviner knew about the Council of Elders that had the highest authority in the entire Primordial Beast world. To be a member of the Council of Elders, one had to be a true monster.

    "Use your brain, will you?" The shorter Diviner snorted while cleaning his hands with a cloth, removing the blood stains from examining the corpses.

    "If it was indeed someone from the Council, they would not have had such a hard time killing these two experts. A single stomp of their foot would kill these two fools before they even knew what had happened."

    "When I look at this battle, it is clear that whoever it was had a tight battle. The victor¡¯s cultivation base was lower than the opponent¡¯s. Still, they managed to jump ranks and defeat them in such a brutal way."

    "We also have to consider the reaction of all the beasts we had captured when the roar appeared," the shorter Diviner continued. "When the roar resounded, all the beastsid down t on the ground as if they were scared or worshipping something."

    "It is clear that it was not a normal beast. Not even the usual Primordial Beast," the shorter one mused out loud while rubbing his chin. "In fact, I can only think of one creature that is capable of inducing such submissive behavior from the other beasts, and at the same time have such a powerful roar at a low level of strength."

    "What is it?" the tall Diviner asked with bated breath. He was truly curious about what kind of beast had this strength. "It could be a Sovereign Beast," the shorter Diviner said after hesitating for a bit.

    "Sovereign Beast?!" The tall diviner choked violently when he heard this. "But they are extinct!" he eximed, shocked but also scared. "We know they did not exist for the past couple of thousand years ¨C they vanished after the great human rebellion, and no one has seen one since."

    "Just because no one has seen them does not mean that they are extinct," the shorter Diviner said slowly. He was ufortable about the fact that this battle seemed to mark the return of a Sovereign Beast, but even if he said that there was a chance that it was a Sovereign Beast, he was in truth only two percent certain of his statement.

    "Well, the beasts that attacked these unfortunate experts have long since fled. We will get nothing from staying here," the shorter Diviner sighed after thinking about their options for a bit.

    "We can ask around though. Even though it is a rather deserted area, there are definitely eyewitnesses."

    Normally, the shorter Diviner would have ignored a few murders and focused on his task, but this time he felt that the possibility of capturing a Sovereign Beast was so alluring that he could not help but feel excited and greedy.

    If he really managed to catch a Sovereign Beast, he would be considered a hero of humanity. He would be showered with praise and would without a doubt be promoted.

    "Well then, let us ask around." the taller Diviner was aware of what this shorter Diviner was thinking, but he still decided to help. Even if all the fame went to the shorter Diviner because of them being teammates, some light would also shine onto him.

    And with that thought, the taller Diviner began searching for eyewitnesses with renewed vigor.

    As a matter of fact, it was not hard to find someone who had seen something. Beggars and those pretending to be beggars were everywhere, including this small deste alleyway.

    "I want ten essence stones for the information," the beggar was adamant with his request. Although ten essence stones was a whole lot of wealth, they were eager to know more given the chance to catch a Sovereign Beast should their conclusions be true.

    Having received the ten essence stones, the smile on the beggar¡¯s face grew by the minute. He had actually managed to get such wealth. It was clear that he would be able to live a good life in the future if he managed to leave thewless area before getting robbed.

    "Okay, the information you want, I have it," he said seriously. Now he had gained money so it was only fair he gave something worth it in return.

    ¡°You are lucky that it is me you are asking,¡± the beggar snickered, ¡°The entire area was filled with darkness, one of them used a technique to make the world descend into darkness, but I am a spiritual energy cultivator, so I could observe the fight anyway.¡±

    The two Diviners were shocked when they heard this. This beggar that they assumed was useless turned out to be a spiritual energy cultivator? That was unexpected! Still they were excited, they wanted to know what had happened after all.

    "There were three experts: two beasts and one, I assume, human. The human could not use Qi and only used spiritual energy. He created some rather impressive swords out of spiritual energy and easily executed his opponent."

    "The other was a strange ck dog," the beggar said musingly. "It looked like a Celestial Dog, but it had two crow wings on its back. Its silver eyes were outstandingly beautiful. Also, it swallowed all light, making the entire alleyway descend into darkness."

    "Thest one is the one who used his roar. He was a Heavenly Warrior, but he managed to mutte his opponent¡¯s corpse so badly. It is truly no easy feat to go against an Ordinary Knight as a Heavenly Warrior."

    "He looked human through most of the fight, but right before the roar, he started transforming; his entire body was covered in azure scales, his eyes were red and he had horns and a tail."

    "From what I saw, this was not his real shape but more of a partly transformed stage."

    "The three of them left after killing their opponents. Now, let me exin what they look like," the beggar then began to describe their appearances.

    "From the looks of it, I assume that they have participated in the underground battles," the shorter Diviner said. "Let us go and get some information."

    After this, the Diviners went to the underground battle grounds. They quickly found out that the two experts that had been in were the remaining two of the Tiger Triplets, and that their younger brother had previously been killed by a neer in the cage battles.

    They also found out that this person had appeared with two others earlier today, and that he was close to the Intelligencer and one of the well known Primordial Beasts of the city.

    "It seems that we shoulde next week, but without letting anyone know that we are Diviners," the short Diviner said after a bit of contemtion.

    "So you think that we will get our hands on a Sovereign Beast?" The tall Diviner shook with excitement, grinning, but the shorter Diviner gave him a nce of disdain.

    "I am still very far away from certain about this beast being a Sovereign Beast ¨C in fact, the likelihood of it being an elite Primordial Beast is also very likely. I am just hoping that it is a Sovereign Beast because I very much want to get my hands on one."

    The two Diviners put an end to their discussion and slowly made their way back to their lodgings. Although the short Diviner had made sure that the taller one understood that he did not know whether or not this beast was a Primordial Beast or a Sovereign Beast, he still felt a certainty within his mind that this roar hade from something fundamentally superior to a Primordial Beast ¨C the Sovereign Beast.

    While the Diviners returned to their lodgings, Xue Wei was lying unconsciously in a bed within the hotel. Hei Gou and Bai Tianyi stood next to him. Both had worry shown on their faces, and a frown adorned their brows.

    "This is troublesome," Bai Tianyi said after observing Xue Wei for a bit of time. "Although we managed to convince the staff that he was just dead drunk, I am quite unsure about what exactly happened."

    It was rare for Bai Tianyi to be unsure about something. His eyes were showing heartfelt worry, his heart thumping rapidly with fear.

    Although he was immortal, he had a contract with Xue Wei. If something happened to Xue Wei, he would return to slumber for a very long time. And even without this, Bai Tianyi had taken a liking to this master of his. They considered each other friends, maybe even brothers. It was natural to be incredibly worried about a friend like that when they were injured.

    "Well, let us think back," Hei Gou said hesitatingly. "He was in his draconic shape, looking like a human but with scales all over. He was doing fine, but when the roar escaped his lips, the Tiger Triplet guy was ripped to shreds and Wei copsed."

    "I have a theory," Bai Tianyi said with clear doubt evident in his voice. He himself thought his idea to be rather far-fetched, so he did not have any actual faith in it being correct.

    "Anything is worth a shot now, tell me what you think," Hei Gou said impatiently. Bai Tianyi nodded his head.

    "I think perhaps that roar was an innate ability. If it was a normal roar, it would never have done the damage it did ¨C so it has to have been an innate ability."

    "So far, Wei has not managed to unlock any innate abilities from his mind, but I can¡¯t see any other reason than him having grasped hold of an innate ability with sheer instinct. If it is an innate ability, then there are two possibilities for what is happening now." Bai Tianyi continued.

    "The first possibility is that the innate ability took too much energy and has put him in aatose state to recover from it. This would be simple and should not take too long."

    "The second possibility is him having somehow unlocked all of his innate abilities and heritage from his mind. In that case, he might be unconscious for quite some time to digest the gic information he has unlocked."

    Hei Gou considered what Bai Tianyi had said and nodded his head. It made sense, but he was not sure which of the options he preferred.

    "Both are beneficial to us," he said after a bit of thought, feeling a bit torn.

 Chapter 223: Tainted Blood

    The roar had not caused as much panic in the city as one might think. The roar hade during the night, so most were asleep.

    The beasts had all felt it, and a few humans had been woken up, but it was quickly forgotten by the normal people. Only the Diviners and the beasts knew about it.

    Lu Yuping, who had sensed the roar, had been trembling with excitement. He had arrived at the deserted square at the same time as the Diviners, but he had hidden from them and stealthily examined the scene from afar.

    While he had seen the corpses on the ground and instantly recognized them as the two remaining Tiger Triplet brothers, he did not stay for long. The Diviners were not a joke. If they noticed him and saw through his disguise, he might not have lived to tell the tale, whether alive or as a free man.

    He knew that the Diviners had guessed that there was an elite beast in Cloudsoar City, but he was busy feeling proud of Xue Wei. Knowing that the Sovereign Beast he had found could jump ranks in a fight, his reverence of Xue Wei ¨C and the excitement of what the boy would one day aplish ¨C grew substantially.

    A few days went by. Hei Gou did not leave Xue Wei¡¯s side. Uncharacteristically, he remained seated on a chair by the bed withplete focus, watching over him.

    Bai Tianyi was not any less worried, but he was aware that the actions of that night had caused the Diviners to show interest in them. He was curious as to whether or not other experts had also noticed that there was an elite beast in Cloudsoar City.

    Unfortunately, no matter how much he searched for information, he could find nothing. There was no one who was willing to talk about what had happened that night.

    Eventually, Bai Tianyi grit his teeth and returned to their suite, unaware that his investigation had caused the two Diviners to be alert.

    A few more days passed by, but Xue Wei showed no sign of waking up. Bai Tianyi and Hei Gou were both worried sick as to why he was unconscious for so long, neither of them leaving his side. Then one day a knocking sound came from the door.

    Both frowned and looked at one another. Who could it possibly be? Still, Bai Tianyi stood up and opened the door. The moment he opened it, his eyes widened in shock and his jaw dropped.

    "What are you doing here?" he asked in shock and disbelief. Hei Gou could hear that it was someone that Bai Tianyi knew, but when he looked, it was someone he had never seen before.

    "I heard that my cute disciple ran into some issues." The melodious voice from outside came in with a hint of mischief.

    Hei Gou looked at the person. It was a tall man who seemed around twenty-five years old. He had long blue hair and blue eyes, and his clothes had embroideries of a snake with four wings - a mingshe.

    "Come in, you phony prophet," Bai Tianyi grumbled and moved aside to let Lan enter the room.

    "Who would have thought that you were Wei¡¯s teacher," he muttered to himself. Lan just snickered in response.

    "Oh, it seems that his bloodline is what is causing the problems," he said as soon as heid eyes on Xue Wei. "Well, what can you expect, he has tainted blood after all."

    "Tainted blood?" Bai Tianyi had heard what Lan had said, but he did not understand what exactly the prophet meant.

    "Anyhow ¨C how did you know that Xue Wei was here and that he was unconscious?" Bai Tianyi shook his head. He knew that Lan was not one who would tell Bai Tianyi about the tainted blood issue, so instead he asked questions that Lan would definitely answer.

    "My subordinate told me that she heard a frightening roar that made her blood run cold and every beast submit. Later, they found Wei¡¯s enemies dead without intact corpses. It is only obvious that the roar and the murders were linked together."

    "But that roar is an innate ability called the Dragon Roar. It is not something he should have ess to already, and thus I was worried about him."

    "You hurried all the way from the center of the continent to Cloudsoar City just because you were worried about him?" Bai Tianyi snorted. "He must be very valuable."

    "Oh he is," Lan snickered and nodded his head. "He is the only one of his kind in the entire world."

    Hearing this, Bai Tianyi¡¯s eyes widened. This was not a question about being the only one in the continent, but the entire world. One has to know that there were many continents in this world, so to be alone meant he was very special.

    Even if he was a Sovereign Beast, he should not be the only one in the entire world, so what exactly was he? Did it have something to do with what Lan mentioned earlier? The tainted blood?

    Bai Tianyi sunk into contemtion, but this was something that Lan had expected. He knew that his words were giving away a lot of clues, but he did not mind. He just wanted Xue Wei to grow stronger and to join his collection.

    Lan went next to Xue Wei. Hei Gou observed him with scepticism, but because of the conversation between Bai Tianyi and Lan, he could sense that this man had no malice towards Xue Wei, so he took a step back.

    Reaching into his robes, Lan pulled out a small jade vial, a kind of jade that Hei Gou had never seen before. He could even sense the energy emanating from this vial, and the heaven-and-earth essence in the room became so dense that every breath felt as if he was breathing in pure Qi.

    "You are going this far? Just how valuable is he?!" Bai Tianyi was shocked when he saw the vial that Lan withdrew. He recognized it right away; it contained the heart essence blood of an Azure Dragon. It was one of the most absolute treasures on the entire continent.

    Lan just smiled and looked at Xue Wei. "This is an investment," he said seriously. "Make sure to tell him that I have invested a lot in him. And if he wants to know more, he has toe find me at the center of the continent. I reside in the capital of the Tiansong Empire. If he makes it there, finding my mansion will be a breeze, so just hurry up."

    After stating this, Lan ced the vial next to Xue Wei¡¯s lips and let drop after drop of the heart essence blood of an Azure Dragon drop into his mouth.

    "He will be unconscious for two weeks," Lan said before he vanished from sight. That¡¯s right, he simply vanished. He had not opened the door or the window, he had not taken a step or twisted the space ¨C he had just faded away.

    "Who was that?" Hei Gou asked with a quivering voice. It was like experiencing a hurricane that had just swept in and vanished right away.

    "That was Lan. He is the strongest man in the world," Bai Tianyi did not conceal anything. "He is aplete mystery. No one knows where hees from or what his aim is. He arrived many millennia ago, way before I was at my peak, but he never participated in a power struggle. The only time he actually did something was when there was a group of people who tried to destroy his house."

    "He is known as the prophet because he, somehow, knows everything ¨C literally. And I don¡¯t mean just our continent, I mean everything in the entire world."

    "He is likely the mastermind behind the Intelligencer in every city. Li Chen is probably his direct subordinate."

    "Even when I was at my peak, I don¡¯t think that I would have been able to beat him, but he never wanted to fight. He ran from every challenge with a grin on his face."

    "The only thing that can move him is treasure. He is aplete treasure hoarder. Anything of value takes his interest, no matter how little, and he is also the richest man in the entire world."

    "Other than that? I don¡¯t know. But for him to have be Wei¡¯s teacher, clearly something must have happened behind the scenes. Also, why is Wei a one of a kind in the entire world?"

    Hei Gou and Bai Tianyi bothpsed into silence. Both were in deep thought.

    The tainted blood reference kept rotating within Bai Tianyi¡¯s mind. What did tainted blood mean?

    Everyone knew that it was impossible to be of mixed breed. If a beast became pregnant with a human or the other way around, the child would die. There had never been any instance where the child had survived, and thus he could not be of mixed breed, but what else could tainted blood refer to?

    "Do you think he is mixed?" Bai Tianyi finally voiced out his concerns. No matter how he thought about it, that seemed to be the only fitting exnation for the term ¡®tainted blood¡¯.

    "He could also have some sort of disease," Hei Gou said doubtfully. "I don¡¯t really know what he meant by tainted blood, but when I got some of his blood, it made me mutate. If he was not a Sovereign Beast, I do not think that would be possible."

    "Did you ever experience any side effects from the mutation?" Bai Tianyi asked curiously. Perhaps they could get some information this way around since Hei Gou had this tainted blood running through his veins, but Hei Gou shook his head.

    "I have never felt better than I did after getting his blood, and I constantly grow in levels much faster than ever before."

    Eventually, the two spent the following two weeks discussing about the tainted blood problem. They looked at it from every single angle and discussed all the facts they had, yet nothing made any sense. None of the options sounded usible, and eventually they had to put an end to their discussion.

    "We will know when we reach Tiansong Empire," he said with a sigh. "That prophet Lan said that he would tell us what it meant then, so we better get ready to go there."

    Bai Tianyi, who could not think of anything better, nodded his head. "I guess that is our only option," he agreed. His head hurt from trying to interpret what Lan had said that day.

    In fact, this was Lan¡¯s aim. Lan¡¯s most interesting pastime was to tease and trouble others. Bai Tianyi and he went back a long way, and Bai Tianyi had chased him time and time again demanding a battle. Now he could finally bring Bai Tianyi trouble by making him think about the tainted blood all day long. Although it had been an unfathomable amount of time since then, Lan was the type to hold a grudge.

    During these two weeks, Bai Tianyi and Hei Gou were not the only ones who felt like pulling out all their hair. The two Diviners were in a simr situation. They had gone to the underground cage battles as nned, but their targets never showed up.

    Both times they waited the entire night to no avail. Eventually, both of them received a reminder from their headquarters about their original mission and they were forced to leave Cloudsoar City in pursuit of the genius who had escaped their temple.

    It had been exactly two weeks after Lan¡¯s visit when Xue Wei opened his eyes. His eyes, which had previously been ck, were now azure. They were like the vast expanse of the cloudless sky, so beautiful that it was hard to pull your eyes away from his.

 Chapter 224: Alchemist

    "My head hurts," was the first thing Xue Wei groaned out when he opened his eyes. The light was so blinding that he quickly closed them again and covered them with his hand. The light was so bright, even through his closed eyelids, that he felt like tearing up.

    "That¡¯s odd," he muttered. "Since when were my eyes this sensitive?" He had no idea that his eyes had mutated, nor did he know of any other changes that might have happened to his body, but he was able to sense things much better than before. The heaven-and-earth essence itself consisted of small particles in the air, particles that he could sense and even see when he opened his eyes.

    "Wei, are you okay?" Hei Gou asked worriedly. Xue Wei sat up and nodded his head. "Never been better," he answered with a cheeky grin on his face.

    "I seem to have reached the seventhyer of the Ordinary Knight rank," he muttered to himself, but it was not all that surprising considering that he had been given the heart blood essence of an Azure Dragon.

    "That is quite a jump in strength," Bai Tianyi said praisingly from the side. Xue Wei nodded his head. "You better keep up, doggy, or you¡¯ll fall behind," Bai Tianyi continued, taking a jab at Hei Gou.

    "It will be fine. I can mutate his blood again if need be," Xue Wei said with certainty. There was a certainty in his voice that had not been there before, and both Hei Gou and Bai Tianyi looked at him, eager to hear what he had to say.

    "My blood is many times richer than before. Who gave me some blood?" Xue Wei suddenly asked. Hei Gou and Bai Tianyi both widened their eyes. How did Xue Wei know that he had been specifically fed blood? He had been unconscious up till now!

    "It was Lan the Prophet," Bai Tianyi answered honestly. He was very curious, but he knew that Xue Wei would tell them if he deemed it necessary.

    "I see, so it was that troublesome man." Xue Wei nodded his head and sighed deeply.

    "Well, first let me tell you about my situation," he said after considering his words for a moment, and then leaned against the wall, sitting in afortable position.

    "I am an Azure Dragon, but still not," he said with a serious expression on his face. "In this world, it is supposed to be impossible to be a mixture of a human and a beast. In fact, all mixed breeds are impossible, but that is exactly what I am."

    "When I was unconscious, I inherited the memories of the Azure Dragons, their innate abilities and their heritage."

    "But at the same time, I also knew that I wascking something. I did not have a high enough purity of Azure Dragon blood in my body to fully unlock this heritage, which is why I couldn¡¯t wake up. That extra heart blood essence was just enough to unlock it, but I am still not a full Azure Dragon."

    "I am something different. Thing is, Sovereign Beasts are not as fortunate as we might think; they are bound by several rules and regtions that are cast on their souls, but I am not bound by these as I am only half an Azure Dragon."

    "Also another thing is that my body can use both normal abilities that I can train and the innate abilities of Azure Dragons. I have the best from both sides, and it has mutated into me. As for the downsides, I do not know about them yet."

    "I have two original shapes, both the Azure Dragon body and this, my human body, are my original shapes ¨C and it is impossible for a Diviner to capture me."

    "Although I am not a pureblood Azure Dragon, I still have the blood in my veins, and it has activated, so being fed my blood now is no different from being fed the blood of a true Azure Dragon."

    "There is a lot of boring history in my memory now, alongside rules, regtions and other boring things, but most of all, I have all my innate abilities now."

    "I understand a few things about myself better now," Xue Wei continued, "and we have to be very careful with the Primordial Beast race¡¯s Council of Elders. They are likely to want to destroy me and use me as a blood sacrifice so that they can mutate arge number of elite beasts and take over the continent once more."

    "This is also why they have helped me so far. The stronger I am, the greater the results of the ritual will be."

    "So what do you n on doing now?" Bai Tianyi asked worriedly. It sounded as if they were in a tight spot.

    "Well, for now, we will continue to the center of the continent. We will meet up with Lan. I have some things I need to rify, and I also need to pay him back for what he did for me."

    "After that, I suggest we leave the continent for some time. We can travel to the other continents and gain strength. No need to return here before we are strong enough to take on the Council of Elders."

    "You n on taking on the Council of Elders?" Hei Gou was shocked, but Xue Wei nodded his head. "We will be fine. We won¡¯t return before we are strong enough."

    "Before leaving this continent, after talking with Lan, I have to take a bit of a revenge on the Heping Kingdom," Xue Wei said with a smirk. "They killed my brother, so I am going to wash their streets with blood. Last time, I had to flee for my life, but it will not be the same when I go now."

    "Oh, let us not forget about the Flowing Blood Prairie," Hei Gou added. "We still have a bit of a grudge with that old tribe in there. They tried to force you into marriage!"

    Xue Wei chuckled. "That¡¯s fine," he said casually. "We managed to escape after all so it does not matter too much."

    "Well, at least we have a n for the future now," Bai Tianyi said with a smirk. "Let us move towards a new world! But first, let us go to the center of the continent and get our hands on that phony prophet, Lan. He should have quite some answers for you."

    Xue Wei nodded his head and smiled. His body felt much lighter than before. He rose from the bed and started checking it. His Qi level was at the seventhyer of the Ordinary Knight rank while his physical strength had already reached the firstyer of the Earth Knight rank.

    When Xue Wei clenched his fist, a popping sound could be heard as the air in his palm exploded from how fast he had closed it. He could feel his body bursting with energy. There was also a new energy that had not been there before; the Azure Dragon Spirit in his dantian had grown in size, and the many strands of Dragon Qi in his meridians had also grown in size and quantity, and the color of their scales had deepened. In fact, they had changed drastically from how they used to be.

    "My biggest issue right now is my Spiritual Energy," Xue Wei muttered to himself as he felt the Golden Dragon Spirit within his mind. This Golden Dragon Spirit was only at the fifthyer of the Ordinary Knight rank, so he would be at a great disadvantage if he encountered someone at his own level with proper spiritual energy training.

    Bai Tianyi seemed to understand his problem. "I have a way to solve this problem," he said hesitatingly, "but the price I have to pay is quite substantial."

    "What is it?" Xue Wei also hesitated, and he had a frown on his face.

    "I can transfer my energy to others," he exined. "We have a soul contract, so for me to hand Spiritual Energy over to you is no big deal, but for eachyer of Spiritual Energy I give you, I will go one and a halfyer down in strength."

    "I am currently a ninthyer Ordinary Knight, so for me to get you to the seventhyer of the Ordinary Knight rank with your spiritual energy will end with me falling to the sixthyer."

    "Let us not do that then," Xue Wei was not willing to sacrifice his friend¡¯s cultivation base for himself.

    "We have a few other options," Bai Tianyi continued hesitatingly. "Well, first of all you can just stay here and slowly cultivate. You can also make inscriptions and raise your cultivation base that way, or we can go look for a two colored rainbow pill and hope your luck is good."

    "A third option is that you learn alchemy."

    "Me learning alchemy? I never nned on doing that," Xue Wei said, dumbfounded. "Why should I learn alchemy?"

    "Alchemy is not exactly like inscription-writing," Bai Tianyi exined. "Inscriptions are fully dependent on the runes and the Spiritual Energy to be created, whereas alchemy requires materials."

    "Still, to refine and concoct pills and pastes you need an immense control over your spiritual energy."

    "You also require control over your spiritual energy when you make inscriptions, but that is nothingpared to pill-making. I will suggest that you go this route!"

    Xue Wei looked at him with narrowed eyes and sighed. "Tell me the real reason you want me to be an alchemist," he said after a bit of thought. Although the reasons that Bai Tianyi had listed made sense, it was clear that he had held some information back.

    "We are leaving the continent, which means we might not be able to get our hands on more rainbow pills," Bai Tianyi finally came clean with a pitiful expression on his young face.

    "Without Rainbow Pills, I am very useless. My cultivation base will slowly drop. I will be withered, rust, and slowly fall apart; I will be a sword no one will ever use again," Bai Tianyi spoke with such grief and dejection, but Xue Wei had long since seen through his act.

    Although the growth of his cultivation base would lessen over time, it would never go the other way and make his cultivation regress.

    "Okay then," Xue Wei said after spending a moment to mull it over. Although he had never nned on bing an alchemist, he had to admit that an unlimited supply of Rainbow Pills was tempting, which was why he decided that it was not that bad an idea.

    "But how does one start to be an alchemist?" Xue Wei had no idea where to start or where to stop. He was as clueless as a little child.

    "Don¡¯t worry!" Bai Tianyi beamed when he spoke. He waved his hand, and suddenly thousands of herbs appeared in the room. All of them had various quality; some were Earth Warrior-ranked, others were meant for the Sky Warrior stage, and yet some were Heavenly Warrior-ranked.

    All these herbs were of the best quality in their respective categories, but they were still nheless low-ranking herbs.

    "You bought these?" Xue Wei asked, to which Bai Tianyi nodded. "I have waited to make you into an alchemist for some time now," he admitted.

    Looking around, Xue Wei spotted arge cauldron underneath the big mountain of herbs, and next to the cauldron were jade slips, all of which contained forms for various pills.

    "Don¡¯t worry too much, just have fun and start concocting!" Bai Tianyi said as he took Hei Gou¡¯s arm and dragged him out of the room. When they finally exited, Xue Wei could not help but sigh again. He felt that he had sighed a whole lot after waking up, but he had no other option. Seeing how adamant Bai Tianyi had been, he understood that he had no other option than to simply do it. Since it mattered so much to Bai Tianyi, he would do his very best. Still, he was not so stupid as to believe Bai Tianyi¡¯s reasons.

 Chapter 225: Pill Tester

    Sighing, Xue Wei understood that Bai Tianyi had some reason behind making him learn alchemy, yet he did not exin why. As to the reason why, Xue Wei did not ask.

    Shaking his head, he sat down on the floor and took the cauldron into his hands. At first nce, he found that it was not veryrge; it was only around twenty centimeters in diameter, and it was round and ck with a flood dragon engraved on it.

    It was a very beautiful cauldron, but knowing Bai Tianyi, it was likely a very ordinary cauldron. Bai Tianyi did not have a lot of assets, even with the gold and essence stones he had been given by Xue Wei, he was not considered rich. One also had to consider Xue Wei¡¯s current achievements in alchemy. Giving him a unique, special cauldron would be too much of a waste.

    Without wasting time, he started sorting the herbs into what kinds they were and ced them in piles around himself. There were so many herbs that he had no clue how Bai Tianyi had managed to produce so many.

    Next up were the forms. He picked them up one by one, ced them on his forehead, and felt how the knowledge poured into his mind.

    The forms were all for Warriors. There were pills for Earth Warriors, Sky Warriors, and Heavenly Warriors. There was nothing for Knights, but Xue Wei was not too surprised. He was aplete novice so trying to bite more than he could chew would be a bad idea.

    He quickly picked the simplest of the forms, a Rising Qi Pill, and studied it thoroughly. It was a pill for an Earth Warrior and it could increase one¡¯s Qi a fullyer if the pill was of high grade.

    Pills were ranked simrly to cultivation levels, and then further into low, middle and high-ranking pills.

    Low-ranked pills had many impurities and would prove problematic to consume. One would only consume these pills if one had no other option, such as in a life and death situation where it could save their life, because it could leave damage on one¡¯s cultivation base that was not easy to manage.

    Middle-ranked pills were not as bad, but they still had quite a bit of impurities. If one consumed too many of these pills, it could cause problems down the road, but these impurities could be removed by relying on other pills.

    Finally, you had the high-ranked pills. These pills had little to no impurity within them and you could eat them like candy. There would never be any threat to one¡¯s cultivation base.

    Xue Wei had never before made a pill, so he would be content if he managed to concoct a low-ranked pill. Having decided on the Rising Qi Pill, he picked the herbs he needed and closed his eyes.

    Taking a deep breath, he calmed himself down. When he opened his eyes, he tossed the herbs into the cauldron.

    He then summoned the Golden Dragon. It blew a ball of spiritual energy into the cauldron, which lit up with a me that started to refine the herbs, transforming them into liquid.

    Just as he was about to extract the impurities from the herbs, he felt that something was wrong. His control of the spiritual energy was not precise enough, and soon a loud boom resounded in the room. The entire hotel started shaking.

    "Okay, not like this then," Xue Wei said to himself as he touched the burn marks that the liquid had left on his face from the explosion. Clearly the process of concocting pills was not as simple as he had thought. Fortunately, the cauldron itself was safe.

    "Let us try one herb at a time," Xue Wei decided,pletely ignoring the fright his explosion might have caused to others outside.

    Putting one herb into the cauldron at a time made it easier to control. This time, he managed to refine it three times, removing impurities three times.

    Then after finishing one herb, he wondered what he was supposed to do. It was now liquid that floated within his cauldron. He could not take it out, but adding another herb to the cauldron meant that the difficulty would increase.

    The Rising Qi Pill required seven herbs. But Xue Wei was not one to give up. "Worst that can happen is that it explodes again," he consoled himself before he began refining the second herb and distilling it a few times to remove the impurities.

    It went surprisingly easy, but he was at a loss for what to do again when he was finished. Should he try merge the two liquids or should he keep them away from one another? Did it matter? The form had not described it, all it had said was that the user should refine the herbs and add them together.

    "Well, I am not going to be the one eating the pills, so why not try a few different ways and see if the results are different," Xue Wei thought casually. He could always get someone to try out the different pills to see whether or not it mattered in which way he made the pill.

    With this in mind, he merged the two liquids slowly. It was not as difficult as he had expected, and he could begin on the third herb.

    Everything went smoothly up until the merge of the fifth portion of liquid. Then it once more exploded, making yet another tremor run through the entire hotel.

    Fortunately, no one could track the source of the explosion back to him. Many thought it was an earthquake, or someone fighting. Xue Wei waspletely safe from being med; the only ones aware of it were himself and Bai Tianyi.

    Xue Wei was not good at giving up. Although his first two attempts had ended in failure, he was not willing to give up just like this. In the end, he would not give up before he had mastered the trade, and thus he continued to merge the herbs.

    The third attempt exploded at the sixth merge of liquids. Fourth attempt was the same. Fifth attempt at the seventh merge of the liquid.

    Atst, on the sixth attempt he had managed to merge all the liquid together. Now he needed to turn this liquid into a pill, and to do so he needed to catalyze it with spiritual energy.

    Too much spiritual energy and it would explode, too little and it would turn to paste and lose much of its power.

    The first batch exploded. The second was a goopy liquid that could not even be considered a paste. Another three explosionster and Xue Wei finallyughed like a madman with a small middle-ranked Earth Warrior¡¯s Raising Qi Pill in his hand.

    "Not bad, not bad," heughed. "It¡¯s a middle-ranked pill! Must be because I distilled it quite a few times. Could also have something to do with my merging technique. Oh well, who cares. Got to find someone who can test it."

    Having said this, Xue Wei left the hotel room that looked like the aftermath of a hurricane that had ravaged the ce after the many explosions.

    Walking around town, Xue Wei soon found a youngster who was training to be an Earth Warrior. He was clearly poor, but his talent was rather amazing to have reached the Earth Warrior level as early as he had.

    "Hey, you there," Xue Wei pointed at him and smiled. The boy was stunned, but he stopped in his tracks and looked at Xue Wei curiously. "Are you interested in a Raising Qi Pill? I just refined it ¨C it is a middle-ranked pill, but it is also one of my first pills. If you take it in front of me and let me see the results, I will give you a low ranked essence stone!"

    The Earth Warrior was stunned by the proposed deal. Not only was he going to get a middle-ranked Raising Qi Pill, he would also get a low ranked essence stone for eating it? That could be used to support his family for a very long time.

    "I would dly be your pill trial!" he said honestly. Xue Wei grinned as he took out the pill.

    It was not a pretty-looking pill. It just barely passed as a middle-ranked pill, but even so it had quite a few impurities. It was after all his first pill.

    "Don¡¯t worry," Xue Wei said when he saw the young man quickly changing his opinion. "I will guard you while you take it. I am an Ordinary Knight, so I should be able to protect you," he promised. The young man no longer stood on ceremony after that.

    Quite a few people had noticed that something was going on and were watching curiously, but no one really understood what was happening.

    Seeing that the young man sat down at the side of the road and popped a pill into his mouth, many knew that he had epted a pill test. Many were curious as to what would happen when he consumed the pill. Sometimes miserable things would happen to the pill tester.

    Xue Wei was incredibly excited. This was the first pill he had ever created, so he was eager to know what it was like. He saw that the heaven-and-earth essence became denser around the boy before it suddenly shunted into his body at a speed so fast that it could not possibly have been caused by a pill designed for Earth Warriors.

    "Did I make a mistake?" Xue Wei muttered to himself contemtively. The young man was grimacing. The heaven-and-earth essence that was pouring into his body was being refined into Qi as fast as his body could manage, but this was much more energy than anything he had ever had to manage before.

    Xue Wei did not really care about the young man¡¯s fate. He had willingly decided to be a pill tester so his fate was up to luck. No one could me Xue Wei if he died.

    Three hours passed before the flow of heaven-and-earth essence stopped pouring into the body of the young warrior. His face was red, and blood had trickled out of the corner of his lips for some time, but he was not dead. When Xue Wei observed him, he saw that his strength had risen from the secondyer to the fourth. This was an improvement caused by Xue Wei¡¯s Raising Qi Pill, clearly. It was not bad at all.

    "I guess merging them like this works," he said to himself after consideration. Seeing that he had gotten such an outstanding result meant that there was no problem in merging the herbs one at a time instead of trying to keep them separate and then merging them all at once.

    As to why the result was much more potent than what he was expecting, he had no idea.

    "Hey kid, here¡¯s your payment," Xue Wei said casually and gave him a low ranked essence stone before he turned around and left, not caring about the rest. He had already gotten the result he wanted from the test.

    After returning to his room, he once more threw himself at concocting medicinal pills. He found that it was incredibly fun and rather challenging. In fact, although inscriptions were difficult, alchemy was much more fun.

    Unfortunately, there were quite a few explosions as a result of his attempt at concocting pills. At times it would be every second hour, at other times it would take up to five to six hours before there was an explosion.

    The staff of the hotel rushed around everywhere trying to figure out who was the cause of the ruckus, but no one dared believe that it would be Xue Wei, and thus the cause was never found.

    After managing to create Earth Warrior pills with no issues ¨C even high-ranked Earth Warrior pills ¨C Xue Wei smiled. He was rather satisfied with his achievements before he threw himself at the next challenge. He would not be satisfied until he could make Rainbow Pills.

 Chapter 226: Betrayal

    The days went by one after another. Xue Wei was busy concocting pills. Over this period of time, the explosions became less frequent. This did not mean that he did not fail from time to time, but the result was not as extreme any longer.

    By the time he had to go pick up the information on the Sovereign Beasts, Xue Wei had managed to create Heavenly Warrior Pills, a feat he was incredibly proud of.

    Bai Tianyi was also proud of his results. "You are doing very well," he praised him, slightly surprised by his fast advance.

    Xue Wei¡¯s spiritual energy was also rising constantly. Now it was at the sixthyer of the Ordinary Knight rank.

    Xue Wei was rather pleased with his rate of improvement, as it had happened very fast with little obstruction. After all, he had managed to enhance his spiritual energy by oneyer in only a short time.

    Before he knew it, it was time for him to go to the Intelligencer¡¯s dpidated mansion. He set out early that morning with both Bai Tianyi and Hei Gou by his side.

    When they made it to thewless area, they found that everything was silent as the grave; the streets were deste, and even the beggars and shady people who usually upied the corners and shadows were nowhere to be seen.

    "Odd," Xue Wei muttered, now a little more hesitant than he had been before. His senses were on high alert, and his eyes darted from side to side with vignce. He had his spiritual energy spread around him like a nket in a radius of fifty meters. He could feel even the movements of small creatures or bugs. If a person of lower rank than him stepped into the nketed area, he would sense it immediately.

    Bai Tianyi, who had previously acted as carefree as the bird gliding through the wind, was also suddenly tense, his spiritual energy also spreading out. Even Hei Gou could sense that something was wrong.

    Nothing had happened, but there was something eerie about the suddenck of people and the disturbing silence that enveloped them. At the same time it felt as if they were being watched by many eyes.

    "We should get out of here," Bai Tianyi finally said, his voicepressed so only Xue Wei and Hei Gou could hear it.

    "Something is definitely wrong," Xue Wei agreed. They acted natural and took a small stroll around the area before they turned around and started heading back to the outside of thewless area.

    The moment they tried to leave, a whole slew of people started walking out from the alleyways and the houses. These people were all dressed like the beggars and residents of thewless area, but a single nce at them made it obvious that they did not belong to this part of town.

    They had straight backs, their bodies were taut, and one could see defined muscles on their bodies that were filled with explosive strength. All of them were clean, despite being dressed in rags, and their hair and beards were well groomed.

    "We are not staying in Cloudsoar City any longer," Xue Wei made a very sudden decision, but he really had no option. It was clear that this was a trap that had beenid out for him.

    "Well, we might be forced to stay here forever," Bai Tianyi said with a grim look on his face. "We are outnumbered, and they are not weak. At least ten Ordinary Knights are here, and there are three I can¡¯t discern the strength of; they are clearly Earth Knights."

    "Let us get moving!" Xue Wei grimaced and ran straight at a human wall that was waiting right in front of him. There were no Earth Knights among them, but there were three Ordinary Knights.

    "st them away," Xue Wei said with a chill in his voice. He felt ticked off, which was a feeling he channeled into his attacks.

    Forbidden Rush!

    Shattering Mountain Palm!

    Kick of the Forgotten Kings!

    Xue Wei did not hold back. First he leaped forward with the Forbidden Rush movement technique, then he thrust out his arm and attacked one Ordinary Knight with a Shattering Mountain Palm and another with a Kick of the Forgotten Kings.

    Although it was not possible to kill these Ordinary Knights with these attacks, it was enough to knock them a fair distance away ¨C and as soon as they were pushed back, an unnatural opening appeared in the human wall.

    Now only Heavenly Warriors stood in their way,, and they were quickly executed by Hei Gou with a few swipes of his w weapons.

    "Capture the young man!" someone yelled out. "He goes by the name of Ye Xiao, and he is a Sovereign Beast! Do not let him escape! Kill hispanions on sight, but do not kill him!"

    The one who called out was clearly the leader of their operation. He was calm and collected. Xue Wei realized at this point that the ones behind this mission had nned way ahead.

    "How can they know we would be here?" Hei Gou asked with shock. Xue Wei sent him a nce. "Li Chen must have told them," he said honestly. "She is the only one who could have guessed my situation, but I never thought she¡¯d actually do that."

    "Less talk, more running!" Bai Tianyi said through gritted teeth. He waved his hand and a beam of spiritual energy descended from the heavens and killed a whole group of experts that had gathered by their side.

    Xue Wei had made a sword out of Qi with Inner Might, and he was using Mind Infestation to cause confusion within the ranks of their enemies.

    He also had inscriptions in one hand, ready tounch them whenever there was a need.

    The trio was slowly breaking out through a circle of humans that kept converging on them. Clearly, they were at a disadvantage.

    "Stop fighting back and let us capture you! We will not kill you, we will just tame you ¨C there is no reason for you to fight to the death!" The voice of the leader sounded once again, but all it managed to do was annoy Xue Wei.

    "They know I am a Sovereign Beast, right?" he suddenly asked, his eyes shining with madness. Bai Tianyi, who had guessed his thoughts,ughed and said, "Yes, they know. Why don¡¯t we take to the skies?"

    "You want me to transform?" Hei Gou asked, but Xue Wei shook his head. "You are not the only one who can fly," he said withughter.

    Immediately after, Xue Wei¡¯s entire body started changing. In an instant, he had turned into a massive azure dragon whose draconic wsnded on the ground with a deafening boom; his head had a row of razor short fangs, which he used to chomp down on a cultivator that was standing petrified in front of him.

    Spitting out the bisected corpse, Xue Wei thrashed his snake-like body about, pushing back all who were around him and even killing quite a number of experts.

    "Time to mount up!" Xue Wei growled. Neither Bai Tianyi nor Hei Gou needed to hear it twice. They instantly jumped on top of Xue Wei¡¯s back, before he soared to the sky.

    "Get the flight corps to follow them!" the enemy leader called out without panicking, and a group of birds with riders rose into the air.

    These birds were of various kinds; there was a Lightning Sparrow, there was a Golden-Eyed Eagle, a Violet-Feathered Hawk, a me-Eating Eagle. Amongst these, the Lightning Sparrow was by far the fastest, and it was the first to try and follow Xue Wei.

    It has to be said that after the awakening of Xue Wei¡¯s bloodline, his transformation was many times more shocking than it had been before. His body alone was now a hundred meters long from head to tail, and his scales were even more resplendent than before. They had a shine to them that had not been there before either.

    Xue Wei had ascended into the airspace above Cloudsoar City and got an easy sight of the entire operation from above. He saw where the people were hiding, and he also saw the birds that were ascending into the skies to chase him. This made him feel rather annoyed.

    Who would have thought that Li Chen would cause such a ruckus? Xue Wei flew out from the city, heading for the border en route to the center of the continent. He knew that he could no longer use his identity as Ye Xiao, nor could he use his inscriptions to earn money. Inscription masters were simply too rare; if someone appeared, it would be the same as admitting to be Ye Xiao.

    "This is gettingplicated," Xue Weiined. "Let us just meet Prophet Lan and then leave the continent. I am tired of being chased."

    "We don¡¯t know what the other continents are like," Bai Tianyi reminded him. "If they hate beasts, we are likely to be hated as well."

    "Well, then we find another continent. Aren¡¯t there quite a few?" Xue Wei was not pessimistic ¨C rather, he was incredibly optimistic. Anything would be better than how he had been treated here.

    "It is a shame we could not stall Lan when he came to visit you," Bai Tianyiined. "If you could have spoken with him then and there, then you would not have to go all the way to the center of the continent for answers."

    "It is fine," Xue Wei was not too bothered, "but let us find an opportunity to get rid of that Lightning Sparrow that is following us. When we have gotten rid of it, we should be able to proceed more smoothly. Also, we might as well use our real faces now. The masks we have used so far have all been exposed."

    There was reason in Xue Wei¡¯s words so both Bai Tianyi and Hei Gou removed their masks and returned to their original appearances. The previously mature Bai Tianyi now looked like a small child again.

    "There should be a forest up ahead. Let us enter there and stay for a bit. Even if they can guess that we have taken up shelter in there, they can¡¯t really do anything about it." Bai Tianyi had used his energy to scout ahead and had found a forest that was by no means small.

    As soon as they reached it, Xue Wei descended at the outskirts and cancelled his transformation, quickly put on some of his spare clothes, and rushed into the thicket of the forest together with the other two.

    By the time the Lightning Sparrow arrived, they had already vanished into the dense forest. As to how far into the forest they had gotten, no one knew.

    The rider on the Lightning Sparrow clicked his tongue in displeasure and was rather annoyed. He picked up amunication bracelet and contacted the leader of the operation for further instruction.

    It did not take long before the other experts and their flying mounts arrived next to the rider and the Lightning Sparrow. All of them were very displeased with how things had escted.

    "We are not enough to surround the forest, and we do not know which way they will exit. They might even return the way they entered, so we cannot really do anything about them right now."

    "I guess they might be going for Heavenward City. That¡¯s not so far away from here," the rider on top one of the eagles continued. "So why don¡¯t we go there and wait? Every group of three that arrives will be subject to our thorough inspection, especially if they have a child in their midst."

 Chapter 227: Destroyed His Pride

    In the forest, Xue Wei, Bai Tianyi, and Hei Gou were hiding under the thicket just inside the forest. They were observing the experts in the sky, their eyes showing hesitation.

    "We could skip meeting up with Prophet Lan and just leave the continent right away," Xue Wei said a bit hesitatingly. Although he wanted to know what Lan had to tell him, he did not want to walk into a trap with his friends and risk getting them injured and possibly killed.

    Bai Tianyi and Hei Gou were both aware that Xue Wei said that for their sake, and they felt warmth in their hearts, but their faces were stern.

    "We need to get information before we know what we can do," Bai Tianyi said seriously. "And that information can only be gotten from that phony prophet, Lan, so no matter what we have to make our way to the center of the continent."

    The three were conversing with one another, each deep in thought, when suddenly Xue Wei jumped back on high alert. His entire body crawled with difort, and his eyes were bulging wide open.

    "Who are you?!" he eximed. However, he did not raise his voice and made sure to check the air above them. Their pursuers had left long ago, but the current problem was a young man that was squatting next to them.

    The young man seemed to be around twenty. His hair was short and his eyes had a yful expression in them. He had wooden sandals on and, instead of the robes that most wore, he wore ck pants and a shirt.

    His body was sturdy and strong, and his muscles were clearly visible under the clothes. The fact that he had managed to sneak up on them without anyone noticing his presence, not even Bai Tianyi, meant that his power was noughing matter.

    "Woah, woah, woah, calm down!" The burly manughed when he saw them. "I just saw three handsome men-" he said before pausing and ncing at Tianyi, "-sitting together in the middle of a forest and was curious as to what was happening. I have no ulterior motives."

    "It is quite hard to believe you just like that," Bai Tianyi snorted. But instead of getting mad, the burly man justughed and reached out his hand before he wreaked havoc in Bai Tianyi¡¯s hair.

    "What a cute kid, speaking like an adult! You should enjoy your childhood more!"

    Hearing this, the corners of Xue Wei¡¯s lips twitched. This fellow was rather amusing, but he did not lower his guard.

    "Well, I am in a bit of a pickle you see." The man awkwardly scratched his head and a slight blush appeared on his face. "Someone is following me and traveling alone will without a doubt give me out, so I was wondering if you were interested in a travel partner? It seems that your group also needs someone to blend in to make you less suspicious."

    "Why would we travel with you?" Hei Gou narrowed his eyes. "We are already being chased by god and every man. Why would we add even more trouble to our entourage?"

    "You said it yourself: god and every man is chasing you. So it does not matter to have a few Diviners added to the fray."

    "Wait." Xue Wei supported his head in his hands. "Are you that genius that ran away from the Diviners?" he asked seriously. He hade across Diviners in Cloudsoar City who had clearly been chasing someone. To think that this someone would voluntarily seek them out.

    "Oh, you know about me?" The Diviner was stunned and looked at Xue Wei curiously. "Then it makes it easier," he said, grinning.

    "Where are you going?"

    "The center of the continent, Tiansong Empire."

    "Oh, the Tiansong Empire is it. I know the way, and I can even get us there without anyone noticing. Why don¡¯t you just ept me and let us get going."

    "Well, I can¡¯t really trust just any Diviner Ie across, now can I?" Xue Wei felt appalled. This Diviner was so hyper and filled with energy, smiling constantly and joking around.

    He did not seem to take the situation seriously at all. "Tell us first, why are they chasing you?" Xue Wei began. The Diviner genius pondered for a moment before he epted that his request was a bit over the top for a stranger.

    "I was doing military service before I went back home to the temple. Honestly, I am tired of the whole war thing." He sighed. "I understand that humans and beasts might not have the bestpatibility with one another, but to kill at sight is just too much."

    "Not to mention, why do we need to enve one another? When I said that, they grounded me. I decided to live for myself so I robbed the treasury and left that night. Since then, they have not found me. I am doing pretty well if I may say so myself." The Diviner was gloating slightly. Xue Wei was shocked. Were they looking for him because he had stolen their treasures?

    "Oh, don¡¯t worry, I was the candidate to be the next head of the Temple, so they are quite friendly towards me." He grinned. "They almost caught me a few times, but I escaped by threatening to kill myself. In the end, they have no option other than to do what I tell them to."

    "We don¡¯t really like Diviners," Hei Gou muttered, but even he had been moved by what the ostentatiously happy Diviner had said. Still, none of them let their guards down.

    Xue Wei looked at Bai Tianyi, who in turn was looking at him. He was pondering for some time before he nodded his head.

    "What level of strength do you have?" Xue Wei finally asked a question all three of them were curious about.

    "I am an Earth Knight, sixthyer," the Diviner answered proudly. "Not bad," Xue Wei said and nodded his head. Bai Tianyi had given his consent to travel with them, but Xue Wei was still on the fence considering that Hei Gou was a Primordial Beast. If this Diviner changed his mind, he could cause some serious damage to their group.

    The Diviner seemed to understand that there was something wrong, so he pondered for some time.

    "Let me take a heavenly oath!" he said with a grin, "Everyone knows that it is impossible to escape the Void unless the soul has transcended thews of this world."

    Xue Wei was surprised. "The Void?" he asked curiously. "Is a heavenly oath not something that is made to the heavens, where the heavens will strike you down should you break it?"

    The Diviner and Bai Tianyi both looked at him as if he was an idiot, but then thetter remembered that he was very young and not from the center of the continent.

    "No," Bai Tianyi decided to exin. "A Heavenly Oath is made to the heavens, but above the heavens, between the worlds, is the void. The Void is a ce where everything will be ripped to shreds. No one, apart from those who have managed to break out of thews of this world, can escape if they end up in the Void."

    "When one makes a heavenly oath, it goes one step above the heavens and the Void will know of it. If you break a Heavenly oath, the Void will enter your body and shred you to pieces."

    "The Void," Xue Wei was shocked by what he heard, but he also knew it was not a joke. "So that is the reason why no one has left the world?" he asked curiously. Bai Tianyi nodded his head. "Only the Four Divine Beasts managed to break free from thews of the world and leave. The rest of us has never had that ability."

    Bai Tianyi suddenly thought about something and then looked at Xue Wei with an odd look in his eyes. "You might be able to escape the Void," he said hesitatingly but then shut his mouth when he saw how the Diviner looked at him with curious eyes.

    Xue Wei did not need Bai Tianyi to tell him what he meant. Since his existence itself defied the rules of this world, as a mixed breed, he might have already broken free from thew of the world, but he was not willing to bet on it.

    "Okay, if you make a heavenly oath, we¡¯ll travel with you," Xue Wei said with a sigh. He did not really trust this man, but it was indeed true that they would have an easier time fooling their pursuers as a four-man group.

    The Diviner swore that he would never betray them ¨C that as long they were faithful to him, he would be their friend and do them justice.

    Once the oath was made, he looked at them and introduced himself. "I am Lin Xiao. I am sorry for thete introduction," he said with a grin and looked at the other three, waiting with far too much enthusiasm.

    "I am Hei Gou."

    "Bai Tianyi."

    "Xue Wei."

    "Oh! We are now traveling partners! Let¡¯s be good friends and rely on one another in the future! Well then, since we are heading for Tiansong Empire, the fastest way is to go through Heavenward City."

    "Heavenward City? There are a lot of cities like those," Xue Wei muttered. "We passed through Skyward City earlier, and even Cloudsoar City. What is up with these boastful names?"

    Lin Xiao just snickered and shook his head. "Theypete with one another; the more they can boast, the prouder they are. They can¡¯t very well fight one another, so the only option they have is to take a moral high ground."

    Xue Wei was not too interested in the reason behind them having such boastful names, so he just nodded to acknowledge what Lin Xiao had said. Lin Xiao pulled something out of his storage ring.

    "Well, let us get moving, you three. I have these facemasks, each of you takes one. They are the best quality masks on the market."

    "Actually, one of them is for a female, and I suggest that Xue Wei uses it. We can¡¯t really do anything about the size of that kid, even if he can pretend to be an adult from time to time. Changing his body will require quite some energy in the long run, so for us to pretend to be a family instead will be a good idea."

    "Why do I have to be the woman?" Xue Weiined, but both Hei Gou and Lin Xiao looked at him as if he was silly. "Obviously because you are the shortest of us," they said at the same time.

    "Don¡¯t worry, I have some dresses that are not too revealing. You can easily pretend to be a woman," Lin Xiao continued, making Bai Tianyi and Hei Gou look at him with an odd expression on their faces. Why did he happen to have dresses? What exactly was his hobby?

    Sensing the odd atmosphere, Lin Xiao did not exin himself and gave a chuckle before tossing the masks to them. Xue Wei was not happy. He was a man through and through, but now he had to pretend to be a woman just to hide their identities?

    "We can always just leave the continent without going to visit Lan," Bai Tianyi said casually on purpose. He knew that Xue Wei truly needed to meet Lan to get answers, but in the end this was quite the situation. Sighing, he stripped off his red clothes and put on a green dress provided by Lin Xiao. His shoulders were rather broad for a woman; his figure was not feminine at all; and his chest was as t as a board.

    After taking a look at his new appearance, Hei Gou and Bai Tianyi startedughing so hard they could not stop trembling. Even Lin Xiao gave a giggle from the side. Xue Wei felt that all his pride had been destroyed.

 Chapter 228: Life as a Woman

    Xue Wei was annoyed, but he also found it rather funny. Was this Lin Xiao an idiot? Although he did not think it would be too difficult to pretend to be a woman, he quickly understood that it would be absolutely impossible for him to look like a woman when he finally wore the dress.

    "This is perfect," Lin Xiao said while doing his very best to keep a straight face, but he would tremble from time to time and turn his face away to not let Xue Wei see the smile he could not suppress.

    "Are you all doneughing now?" Xue Wei asked before moving to take the dress off.

    "Stop!" Lin Xiao stopped him before he could. "Try the mask! If you still think it is impossible after putting on the mask, then I will say nothing, but at least give it a try!"

    Xue Wei nced at Lin Xiao. Did this man have some strange hobbies? Was he interested in seeing a male body with a female face? This was enough to make him shiver in fright. Was Lin Xiao not the strongest of them all? He was the strongest, and he had strange hobbies. This was terrible!

    Seeing Xue Wei¡¯s perplexed expression, Lin Xiao could guess his thoughts. His lips twitched.

    "Don¡¯t think too much and just wear it!" he eximed, understanding that he had now beenbeled as a rather perverse person.

    Xue Wei wondered. He had already dressed up in the gown and supposed it could not get worse than this, so he shrugged his shoulders and took the mask, ced it on his face, and looked down at himself. His eyes widened in shock.

    "I told you already!" Lin Xiao gloated. "This is the highest ss face mask! It alters not only your face but also your entire body."

    "How can it do that?" Xue Wei was shocked when he saw that his figure had turned lithe and delicate. His height was the same, but his physique seemedpletely different.

    Hei Gou and Bai Tianyipletely forgot tough as they looked at the woman who had appeared in front of them with wide eyes. There was no doubt that Xue Wei looked exactly like a woman now. Although a tall woman, he looked like a woman.

    "There¡¯s an illusion inside the mask," Lin Xiao exined. "It is an inscription. As long as there is Qi within the mask, it will keep you looking like a woman, and you can store your own Qi within as well. It is perfect!"

    Xue Wei was shocked. So it was an inscription. He had to examine itter when he had the chance!

    But for now, he felt a great loss. He was really supposed to pretend to be a woman now, which was something he had never seening, but in the end he understood that this would make their journey much easier. The only thing was that he was not too keen on the whole cross-dressing idea.

    "Put your pride behind you!" Bai Tianyi was the first to speak up. "You know that you need to visit Lan. This will make it smooth and easy, so stopining. Is it not just pretending to be a woman?"

    Xue Wei¡¯s lips twitched at the words from Bai Tianyi, and then he walked towards the child. "My dear son, is that how you speak to your mother?" he asked with a voice so sugarcoated that every word dripped with sweetness.

    Bai Tianyi felt a shiver run down his spine. It was obvious that the other three had their own roles to y as family if Xue Wei had to pretend to be a woman. Since there was one woman and one child. it was reasonable that the child had to be hers.

    "Uh." Bai Tianyi was stunned. "Well, I guess it is just pretending to be a child, right? I can do that," he said with self-assurance, but both Xue Wei and Hei Gou looked at him skeptically. Although he had looked like a child since the day he made his soul body, he had never behaved like one. In fact, they had never seen him act like one.

    Knowing that he was not the only one who had to pretend to be something he was not, Xue Wei felt slightly better. He ced his hands on his now very narrow waist and turned around.

    "So who are the two of you supposed to be?" Havinge to terms with the fact that he had to be a woman, Xue Wei wanted to at least have this nned out.

    "I will be your husband, he will be your brother," Lin Xiao said as he pointed at Hei Gou. However, Hei Gou objected it, "Why do you have to take the role as the husband?"

    "Why don¡¯t we just say that we are four siblings?" Xue Wei sighed after seeing that Lin Xiao was snickering and Hei Gou was fuming.

    "No can do! We should look like a family!" Hei Gou and Lin Xiao yelled out at the same time. Xue Wei was taken aback, realizing that these two dunces were actually having a lot of fun. At his expense.

    "Well then, why don¡¯t you duke it out, the winner gets to decide?" Xue Wei could not be bothered to deal with it, so he just said whatever, but Hei Gou immediately looked at him with the pitiful eyes of a lost puppy.

    "Listen here, my little ancestor, me fighting against him, is it not the same as saying that I have no chance? No matter what way we look at it, he will win over me, and he is even a Diviner!"

    Xue Wei understood Hei Gou¡¯s thoughts. Not only was he a Primordial Beast against a Diviner, but he was also just on the verge of breaking into the Ordinary Knight rank, while the opponent was already an Earth Knight! This was an unfair fight if he had ever seen one.

    Xue Wei smiled wryly. What else could they do? He really did not care about who pretended to be what, as he had already taken the least desired of the roles.

    "I can¡¯t let Lin Xiao be your husband!" Hei Gou said seriously. "He runs around with dresses in his storage ring, who knows what other hobbies he might have! I have to protect my brother¡¯s reputation."

    "Do you really think that I have a lot of reputation to protect at this point in time?" Xue Wei said with ironicughter. "The humans want to kill me, the Primordial Beasts wants to kill me. I am dressed as a woman, so you can forget about my reputation as a man amongst my friends."

    "Also, considering he had this mask, it is not too odd that he is running around with those dresses. I mean, the mask is quite useless if one chooses to wear male clothes with it."

    Hei Gou listened but did not know what to say. "Wei, are you telling me you want Lin Xiao to be your husband?" he asked with a sad expression on his face. Seeing this expression and hearing his words, Xue Wei could not help but want to facepalm himself.

    "First of all, this is just pretend okay. I am not a woman, I will never be a woman, and I am not happy with pretending to be a woman. Second, it really does not matter to me. As I see it, the both of you drew the long straw pretending to be men. Even if one of you are pretending to be my sibling, at least you will not have to dress up in this getup," he said rather bitterly, listing a litany of reasons for him to cease hisints. Looking down at his very female body, he could only shudder in desperation. Why had he ever said yes to this he wondered?

    Hei Gou and Lin Xiao looked at Xue Wei before they startedughing again. He looked exactly like a woman, no matter what angle you looked at him from. His hands were resting on his hips and his face was dark and filled with stormy clouds so it was clear what he was thinking.

    "Sorry, sorry," Lin Xiao finally was the one to withdraw. "I will dly have a cute little sister like you," he said sweetly, but his words just made the storm that was brewing in Xue Wei¡¯s eyes increase in intensity.

    "Who is your little sister?" Xue Wei swore beneath his breath. "Now, now, don¡¯t get upset," Bai Tianyi chipped in, also snickering. He had it easy too. Then he went next to Xue Wei and took his slim and elegant hand in his childish one. "Come now, mother dear, let us begin leaving this godforsaken ce and move towards Heavenward City."

    Having said this, he and the two others all wore their facemasks, but Bai Tianyi soon found that he had to use his own face. The face mask was made for an adult, and a child with an adults face was simply too odd and made it impossible for anyone to believe that they were not using facemasks.

    Together, the four once again began moving. They quickly made it out of the forest and did not encounter any beasts or humans on the way out. Lin Xiao was deeply impressed by the fact that they cut through the very center of the forest without a beasting to admonish them for entering their territory.

    "It is strange, normally they would only behave like that if there was an elite beast around them," he said while looking over his shoulder all the time, but Xue Wei, Hei Gou and Bai Tianyi were not surprised. They just raised an eyebrow and said words like, "You don¡¯t say," "That was strange," and, "Who knows what happened."

    Lin Xiao was no idiot. He quickly understood that the cause for the beasts strange behavior was these three, but he did not know which of the three was the reason.

    He also understood that they were not the elites ¨C that the beasts were hunting them in the same way as the Diviners were hunting him.

    In the end, Lin Xiao was incredibly curious, but he was not going to ask about their secrets. He was not ready to tell them his, so why would they tell him theirs?

    As the group made it out of the forest, they entered many small viges on the way towards the Heavenward City.

    Some of these viges were so small that they did not even have an inn.

    There was one main road leading through these viges and multiple smaller roads converged into the main road from all over, bringing with it many cultivators, merchants, and other people who were heading towards Heavenward City.

    The road was scarce when they first arrived, but by evening and when they reached an inn, the area outside was bustling with life and many experts were sitting on the ground floor in the restaurant, chatting together.

    The sound of loud chatter could be heard from the tavern before they even stepped inside. As they entered, a lot of the individuals inside nced at the door, but most lost their interest when they saw that it was a family of four.

    Going to the counter, Lin Xiao ordered one big room for all of them to share. No one thought too much about it, considering that they looked like a family and that they were likely trying to save some money.

    Xue Wei was, for the first time, experiencing life as a woman, and he was in a foul mood. Everywhere he went, people would look at him ¨C some with lustful eyes, other with appreciating eyes, but all in all, it was something he had never experienced before. And he was not happy with it either.

    "Women have to walk through life with these fragile bodies," he muttered to himself. "They have to endure all those looks and be treated like objects. This can¡¯t be right... just because they are women. They deserve to be treated like any other person. I reflect on my behavior towards women so far...¡±

 Chapter 229: Entering Heavenward City

    No one caused problems for them as they spent the night at the inn. Although they appeared to be a somewhat wealthy family, a closer look at their clothes deterred the mercenaries in the area from messing with them.

    During the night, Hei Gou¡¯s Qi level broke into the firstyer of the Ordinary Knight rank, with his physical strength remaining unchanged at the fourthyer.

    Bai Tianyi had cultivated, absorbing soul power from the surrounding air and refining it into spiritual energy.

    Lin Xiao had also spent the night cultivating, but he was not as focused as the other two. He often opened his eyes and stared at Xue Wei curiously.

    Xue Wei used that night to refine medicine. He was at the edge of being able to create pills for the Ordinary Knight rank. Although that meant he would be making the semi-useless low-ranked pills, it would still be great practice for Xue Wei¡¯s spiritual energy and his pill-making abilities.

    And after the low-ranked pills, he could only go up.

    He was, however, still unable to make Rainbow Pills. Even One-Color Rainbow Pills required a spiritual energy at the Earth Knight rank, and the Two-Color ones required the fifthyer. Three colors required you to be at the firstyer of the Sky Knight rank; four at the fifthyer of the Sky Knight rank, and so forth.

    There was still a long way to go for him. But as long as he could make high-ranked pills for Ordinary Knights, it would tremendously improve their financial situation.

    "Give me pills! Give me pills!" Xue Wei muttered to himself as he was focusing his spiritual energy to merge the liquids within the cauldron. Hisplete focus was on these pills, and he even forgot that he was currently pretending to be a woman. His voice was feminine and his clothes were neat. If the concoction ended up exploding, he would need to find another dress.

    Xue Wei¡¯splete focus was on these pills. He was always positive that the concoction would seed, but when it did not, it wentpletely against his expectations. He would never sense anything prior to the explosion, so it always caught him off guard.

    This time, there was no explosion. Instead, a heavy medicinal scent wafted out from the cauldron, followed by thirteen small glistening pills.

    Xue Wei snickered when he saw this. He had sessfully refined thirteen high-purity Blood Coagting Pills!

    A Blood Coagting Pill was, as the name suggested, a pill that stopped bleeding and also healed user¡¯s wounds. These pills were not of great use to Xue Wei or his friends any longer, but they sold rather well, which was incentive enough for him to make them. Their sole purpose was to be sold.

    Lin Xiao noticed that these three people he had found out of nowhere were actually rather good people. Although he had banded up with them due to their simr situations, he had never expected that they would hit it off so easily, and he was astonished by how much hard work these three put into their respective crafts.

    There was not any moment where they were not training. It was clear that they had such work ethic due to necessity given their statuses as kill-on-sight convicts. He quickly understood that their situation was a bit different from his own.

    Although he was also being chased, his pursuers did not seek to kill him. At most, he would be dragged back to the temple and be forced to ept some sort of punishment before they would force him to take over the position they had prepared for him. These three, on the other hand, were fleeing for their lives.

    Lin Xiao was a Diviner ¨C and he was not just any Diviner. He was the most talented Diviner in the entire Temple, a talent that only appeared once every millennium. He was a diamond in the rough and they ced great value on him.

    He had the ability to recognize a beast just with a simple nce. His ability exceeded what themon Diviner could do, allowing him to see any disguised Primordial Beast in arge crowd.

    Because of this, he had instantly recognized Hei Gou as a beast, but then that same beast was traveling together with two humans. It was clear that they had a story to them, and this story had made Lin Xiao incredibly curious. Why would a beast, an untamed one to boot, travel with two humans?

    His ability had not been able to see through neither Xue Wei, who was half human, nor Bai Tianyi, who was also not a beast.

    Lin Xiao was a curious person by nature. To see two humans together with a beast that had not been tamed was something that stirred his curiosity, and he quickly understood that this group had secrets he had never understood before. He also had understood that they were on the bad side of both humans and beasts alike. It was clear that their situation was terrible, but it brought some sense of excitement to Lin Xiao, who had never before felt the same thrill of being hunted as he did now.

    If Xue Wei knew what he was thinking, he would snort at him. The thrill of being hunted? He found it extremely annoying and ufortable to be constantly chased by everyone and their grandmother. All he wanted was a moment of peace.

    The night went by in this fashion with Xue Wei creating batch after batch of medicinal pills while the other three cultivated.

    The following morning when they left the room, they saw a whole group of people outside the door looking at them curiously.

    Xue Wei was stunned, but Bai Tianyi quickly guessed their purpose. The entire night, Xue Wei had been concocting medicinal pills. His actions had caused the release of one wave of herbal medicinal scent after another, and each wave had been rather strong.

    It was natural for others to have noticed it. When they sensed it and figured out its source, they had gathered in front of the room from which spewed the endless plumes of medicinal scents, curious as to who might be the one concocting pills.

    When it came to it, alchemists were also rare in this world. Although they were far from as rare as inscription masters, they were still very rare and no one would be averse to meeting one.

    When the four exited the room, the crowd started wondering who could be the alchemist. Instantly, Xue Wei and Bai Tianyi were disregarded.

    Bai Tianyi because he was a child, Xue Wei because he looked like a woman. Then they looked at Lin Xiao and Hei Gou. Lin Xiao was a burly man with a lot of muscles, so to them he did not seem to be the kind of person who cultivated spiritual energy..

    That left Hei Gou to be the one who had concocted medicine all night. They looked at him appraisingly. Although his real appearance was masked, his false appearance was still handsome and many started nodding their heads.

    "This is a true genius," someone said with sagely pretense. "Not only is he young, but his talent for martial arts and the dao of medicine is high! He is truly a dragon amongst men!"

    The praising words were said smoothly, as if praising him was the most natural thing to do. The man even looked expectantly at Hei Gou as if he expected a reward for his ttery.

    Unfortunately, Hei Gou did not praise him. Instead, his face turned rather dark and he was about to say something when a nce from Xue Wei shut him up.

    "Please excuse us, we need to go," Xue Wei said. His voice was feminine, melodious, and very pleasant to the ear.

    Everyone looked with shock at this woman. Who was she? How did she have the right to speak when the men were talking?

    Seeing their faces that told their inner thoughts directly, Xue Wei¡¯s face turned dark. "I said move it," ¡®she¡¯ said and her aura suddenly burst forth with the pressure of the seventhyer Ordinary Knight rank.

    The many experts in the inn instantly felt weak in their knees and quickly got out of the way, letting the four pass through casually.

    "No wonder that alchemist didn¡¯t talk when that chick looked at him," someone muttered, and the others nodded their heads. "He is definitely suffering from having such a fierce wife. I will never marry a woman with such a high cultivation base. I got to maintain my status at home!"

    Although they had already made some distance from the crowd, Xue Wei and the others heard the words clearly, so clearly that Xue Wei almost stumbled, his face turning red from shame.

    The other three did everything in their power to hold back theirughter. It was not as simple as they thought, so their shoulders were shaking, causing Xue Wei¡¯s face to turn from red to green. It was truly too humiliating, but at the same time, he started to understand women and how they lived through firsthand experience.

    After a while, the group made it to Heavenward City. Heavenward City was a border city. Once one walked through it, they would be at the center of the continent.

    Although it was called the center of the continent, it did not contain only one kingdom. Even in the center, there were multiple kingdoms and empires. In fact, there were a full seven kingdoms and empires, with one situated in the middle of everything.

    The kingdom in the middle of everything was called the Songtian Empire. This was the holynd for cultivators within this continent. It was also the ce where most strived towards, whether it was livelihood or glory. It also happened to be the home of Prophet Lan.

    The kingdom that Xue Wei and his friends were about to enter was called Jingling Kingdom. This kingdom was rumored to be the birthce for the most beautiful women of all, and this was also the ce where the most talented disciples of the Argent Moon Sect were discovered.

    Heavenward City was thergest city Xue Wei had ever seen so far. Comparing the capital of Heping Kingdom to this was likeparing ake to the sea.

    A stream of merchants both entered and exited the city, endlessly. This was the busiest transport hub that led into the center of the continent, and thus it was very busy.

    The price to enter was a full twenty gold a person. This price was so outrageous that many could not help but grit their teeth in anger, but it was the entrance to the center of the continent. If they let everyone through, the center would be too crowded, so they could only make the poorest people stay away.

    Xue Wei noticed that the guards enforcing the gate fee were not the only ones present; there were also a group of experts he recognized right away.

    They were the flying experts that had chased them out of Cloudsoar City. They examined every single person trying to cross into the center. Their faces were grim and unpleasant, but they did not seem to find what they were looking for.

    Xue Wei queued up together with his friends. He was as calm as one could be. If they could see through this disguise, then it was simply fate, but he still had faith in Lin Xiao¡¯s masks.

    When they reached the gate, Xue Wei paid eighty gold coins to the guard. The flying experts looked at them, but they did not move to impede them at all.

    In their eyes, those four were obviously a family on the road. This did not coincide with their target, which was a trio of male convicts.

    After they made it through, Hei Gou heaved a heavy sigh of relief. He had been the worst off out of all of them in terms of nerves because he was prone to excessive worrying.

 Chapter 230: Tianxing City

    The family of four made it into the city with no problems at all. No one had expected that Xue Wei would disguise himself as a woman so they were treated like any other cultivating family that was migrating towards the center of the continent.

    The Diviners that were chasing Lin Xiao were heading further and further away from the center of the continent. Lin Xiao came from Tiansong Empire as well, and thus, the Diviners would never have imagined that he would be heading back the way from where he came.

    On the streets of Heavenward City were many experts. There were quite a few Ordinary Knights, and even Earth Knights could be seen from time to time. There was even one Sky Knight who passed by them.

    Many disciples from the various sects were also walking down the streets in groups. Some were from smaller sects and ns, while others were from the three great sects. There were also experts from the major families that could rival the sects.

    Xue Wei was in a terrible mood from pretending to be a woman, and it was made worse when they were suddenly stopped by a group of women.

    These women were clearly disciples from the Argent Moon Sect. Their clothes gave away their faction, and their behavior was lofty and arrogant. All of them were Ordinary Knights, and their leader was an Earth Knight.

    "What can we do for you?" Xue Wei asked with a frown on his face. He was not in a good mood, and being stopped like this made it worse. Had these women perhaps noticed something wrong with his group?

    "We saw that you are a fellow woman," one of the women said, her words causing everyone in Xue Wei¡¯s group to have peculiar expressions on their faces. "We are currently recruiting experts to join our sect, and your strength is rather outstanding. We would like to invite you to join our sect."

    Xue Wei was stumped and his mood sunk. He was a man! He was really a man! He just nced at them and shook his head. "Thank you for the offer, but I wish to travel with my family," he said casually and tried to walk past them, but one of the women stopped him in his tracks.

    "Do not be so fast to decline," the woman who stopped them said with a smile on her face. "With your strength, you can be a very outstanding person in our sectter on. One of the elders might even want to take you as a direct disciple."

    "I am really not interested," Xue Wei said through gritted teeth, his azure eyes turning slightly red from suppressed anger.

    "Mother, don¡¯t leave me," Bai Tianyi said with a sad expression on his face, and even Hei Gou and Lin Xiao stepped forward, each cing a hand on Xue Wei¡¯s shoulder. "Our Meilin is not interested in going with you," Lin Xiao said,ing up with a name for Xue Wei on the spot, a name that made Xue Wei feel like kicking him right away. Who was Meilin?

    "You will regret this. This is the chance that every woman dreams about, to get stronger and to kill Primordial Beasts. Just because of your family, you are going to let go of this great opportunity?" the leader of the women asked. Xue Wei looked at them with great hostility.

    "It might be simple for you, but as a member of this family, I am incapable of leaving them." Although Xue Wei was pretending to be a woman, the feelings he had for Bai Tianyi and Hei Gou were indeed the kind one would have for their family so he said something serious for once.

    "I will never leave them and go somewhere on my own unless it is for their sake," Xue Wei continued and shook his head. "Now, please, leave us be," he said. He then took Bai Tianyi¡¯s hand in his own and pushed his way past the women and walked down the street, followed by Hei Gou and Lin Xiao.

    When they were out of reach, Xue Wei let go of Bai Tianyi¡¯s hand. He was in the foulest mood imaginable, while the other three wereughing so much that their shoulders were trembling.

    "Meilin, dear, you should not be mad. Your acting skill is seriously amongst the best I have ever seen!" Lin Xiao said, but when he saw the other¡¯s azure eyes stare unblinkingly at him he quickly shut up.

    "Let us just get to Tiansong Empire as soon as possible!" Xue Wei said through gritted teeth. "The sooner I can get rid of this terrible mask, the happier I will be."

    At the same time, they noticed that the group from the Argent Moon Sect was following them, causing them all to be rather annoyed.

    "We are cultivators," Xue Wei finally said. "We do not need to sleep, so let us just continue forward. Sleep and food is no longer something we need as we have broken through the shackles of mortal life and are now Knights. Let us just go forward and continue moving until we reach the Tiansong Empire!"

    Although this was a rather drastic decision, the other three had nothing to say against it. Although they had quite some fun when it came to teasing Xue Wei, they also understood that he was not pleased with the current situation.

    As a result, the group immediately left the Heavenward City and entered into the next kingdom, the Jingling Kingdom, which was said to be the ce from where all beautiful women came.

    Jingling Kingdom was a ratherrge kingdom, but it was not at the same size as the empires, and thus they managed to travel through it after only spending one and a half months.

    These one and a half months had consisted of nonstop travel. Nothing had happened to them, nothing had caused them problems, and they did not care for enjoying the sight as they went.

    Although they were so focused on traveling, they did not forget their training. Their cultivation bases were constantly increasing, and Xue Wei was now at the peak of the seventhyer of the Ordinary Knight rank, his body showing signs of a breakthrough, while Hei Gou was on the cusp of breaking through to the secondyer of the Ordinary Knight rank for his Qi levels.

    Lin Xiao was not seemingly getting closer to a breakthrough, and the same could be said for Bai Tianyi, but that was because both of them had rather peculiar cultivation bases. Lin Xiao was highly ranked and thus needed much more heaven-and-earth essence to break through, and Bai Tianyi operated fully on spiritual energy.

    They traveled through one kingdom after another, an empire after another, before they finally reached the edge of the Tiansong Empire.

    Here, the heaven-and-earth essence was many times denser than it had been outside of the center of the continent. In fact, it was more than three times denser than it was in the Jingling Kingdom. It was clear to see that the closer to the center one came, the denser it would be.

    Although they arrived at the Tiansong Empire, they still had a long road ahead of them before they reached the capital, the ce where Lan was living.

    Here in the Tiansong Empire, although they met many experts at the Heavenly Warrior rank, the majority were Knights. There were even quite a few Heavenly Knights that appeared here and there, but so far they had not seen any Saints. Even if they were to encounter a Saint, it was likely that they would be unable to actually sense them.

    They were very low profile as they traveled. They did not disy their wealth, nor did they act overly humble. In fact, they just seemed like the most average family. The human race was outwardly united and thus the amount of bandits that lived in the center of the continent was also very low, which made the roads here rtively safe to travel.

    All these factors coupled together made it so that Xue Wei andpany managed to get through the Tiansong Empire and all the way towards the capital after another month.

    "Is this a city, or is it a small kingdom?" Xue Wei muttered when he saw the city that rose into the air in the distance from the summit of the mountain they stood on. This was the Tianxian City, the most affluent ce in the entire continent. It was named after the immortals that the human race tried to be so that they could triumph over the beasts.

    This ce could actually be described as two cities in one. There was the outer city and the inner city. Although it was the outer city, it was much more luxurious than the rest of the continent, and the inner city was so immacte that not even dust could be found on the roads that were made from the finest marble.

    Entering into the inner city cost each person a staggering five low-grade essence stones. Only one who had a certain rank was allowed to buy a home within the inner city ¨C even in the outer city, one needed great wealth to be able to purchase a home.

    It was precisely within this inner city that Lan had his mansion. The city was bordering a massiveke, ake so great that one could not see the end of it. It spread vastly into the distance, and the city was enveloping the entire eastern, southern and northern end of theke.

    Thiske was called Baixing Lake. It had been there since the beginning of time. No one knew how theke had appeared, but from the time when only one small hut existed next to theke to when the continent¡¯srgest city had been built around it, it had never changed.

    After paying two hundred gold coins per person for the entrance fee into the outer city, the four expert could see that Xue Wei¡¯s heart was aching slightly. The entrance fees to enter the various ces was constantly growing and growing and growing. He had to fork out some of his wealth every time, but the exuberant price was reasonable in the end.

    If it was easy to enter the capital, every single person from all over the continent would migrate to the city and settle down. This way, they managed to deal with overpoption quite easily.

    When they got into the outer city, they did not instantly barge towards the inner city to find Lan. They understood that, if they wanted to meet him, they had to have ample preparation beforehand.

    The inner city allowed people to leave at any time throughout the day, but entry was limited to two-hour windows after sunset and after sunrise. If one failed to get in, the gate would shut in their faces even if they had queued up prior to the closing time.

    Faced with this imposing behavior Xue Wei could do nothing. He shook his head. "We better get ready then," he said as he prepared to head towards the gates to start queuing up already.

    Xue Wei wanted to get this over with as soon as possible so that he could leave the continent. He had enough of being chased everywhere he went. He had enough of constantly being vignt and alert no matter where he was, and he detested not being able to show his own face or his abilities to others.

    Having reached this point, he just wanted to get the answers he needed from Lan. However, at the same time, he was also worried. What would Lan ask from him in return for his help? It could not be anything simple.

 Chapter 231: A Man Once More

    Arriving at the gate leading to the inner city, Xue Wei found that they were not the only ones who had decided to show up early. At least thirty experts were already waiting in a queue, but Xue Wei said nothing and just moved to the end of the queue, his eyes distant as he regrly scanned the area.

    Time ticked by slowly, but no one there really minded waiting. They were all cultivators and thus they could spend the time refining the heaven-and-earth essence into Qi. The time was in no way wasted.

    The sunset came, and finally, it was night. Although the sun had set, the entire city was still alive with a buzz of activity and it was as light as day with light orbs on every house and wall. Soft light flooded out from every shop and house, inviting the wayward customers inside with alluring scents and promises of cheap deals.

    A loud bang resounded in the area around the gate before a creaking sound could be heard and the massive inner city gate was pushed open by ten Ordinary Knights.

    "Five low-grade essence stones a person is the price to enter the inner city. While you are there, you must follow the rules of the inner city. If you do not, you will be punished ording to thew!" one of the guards called out with a clear voice. He spoke neither hurriedly nor slowly. It was clear that the guards here knew those words by heart already from having to repeat it every time.

    Xue Wei was not surprised. From what information they had gathered earlier, it was clear that the inner city was incredibly important to Tianxian City, and that only the best of the best were allowed to settle inside.

    They soon found that it was not only a matter of paying an entrance fee. Not only did they have to pay low-grade essence stones, they also needed a purpose. Every person was interrogated when they reached the gates, and the procession into the city was rather slow.

    After half an hour, it was finally Xue Wei¡¯s turn. He looked at the guard in front of him and handed him the low-grade essence stones.

    "What is your purpose within the inner city?" the guard asked the routine question. The other three looked at Xue Wei. "We have been invited by Prophet Lan," Xue Wei said honestly.

    There was no reason for him to lie about this fact, because anyone could figure out their purpose if they followed them as they headed straight to Lan¡¯s residence.

    "Prophet Lan invited you to his residence?" The guard frowned and looked at them. Although their clothes were made from Fierce Beast Silk, it did not seem as if there was anything special about them. Why would Prophet Lan pay attention to such a normal family?

    "Yes, I had the pleasure of encountering Prophet Lan on one of my travels, and he invited me toe to visit him. It so happens that we were in Tianxian City and wished to visit him." Xue Wei did not back down. He was neither humble nor arrogant, and spoke straightforwardly and elegantly. His demeanor not one bit inferior to a superior cultivator.

    The guard was secretly shocked. This young woman was quite dignified, and he could not help but do a double take at her, unaware that it was actually a man who had dressed as a woman.

    Still, he did not dare say anything knowing that it would be a disaster for their Dragon Hunter Guards if they erroneously blocked the guests of Prophet Lan entry.

    "Enter, but remember to follow the rules. Additionally, I will send someone to lead you towards Lan¡¯s residence," the guard finally sighed and said, waving and nodding at someone beside him.

    Xue Wei cupped his hands in gratitude and entered through the gate, where an Ordinary Knight was waiting for them. Their escort stared at the female Xue Wei curiously.

    "This way," he said politely, gesturing for them to follow him, and started walking through the beautiful inner city.

    The inner city was many times more beautiful than the outer city. Where the outer city was filled to the brim with houses that had been pressed together, the houses in the inner city were not aspact. In fact, all of them were mansions that had their individual gardens. None of the mansions were attached to one another.

    Although there were few stores, these stores also upied mansions and the luxurious items for sale in these mansions could not bepared to any that were sold in the outer city.

    They walked for a long time in silence. They had entered from the eastern side of the inner city, and Prophet Lan¡¯s mansion was at the western side - right next to the Baixing Lake. In fact, the wall that surrounded Prophet Lan¡¯s property went into the water on both sides of theke.

    After walking for what felt like an eternity in a very awkward silence, they finally made it to the mansion. Xue Wei was considering how to get rid of the guard that was leading them, as he could not introduce himself as ¡¯Xue Wei¡¯ with him present, but he realized that he did not need to bother right as they reached the mansion. Lan was waiting outside, and his eyesnded on Xue Wei the moment they were within reach.

    At first, silence permeated the air. The guard was wondering what was going on, but then Lan copsed into a chair that was standing by his side. His shoulders were trembling uncontrobly, he pped his thigh, and tears fell from his eyes as he erupted with the kind ofughter that one would think he would die from.

    Xue Wei¡¯s face turned ck. He was acutely aware of what had caused him tough like this, but the guard waspletely shocked by this uncharacteristic disy of emotions from the prophet.

    "Seriously, don¡¯tugh like that, you might die," Xue Wei said with a dry voice that did not disguise his annoyance the least. Hearing the tone he took with Prophet Lan, the guard was immediately on alert and his eyes showed even signs of hostility. It has to be said that Prophet Lan was one of the most important persons in the entire continent. To be disrespectful towards him was considered a crime.

    "Sorry, sorry." Lan waved his hand, wiped a tear from his cheek, and looked at Xue Wei before erupting in yet another fit ofughter.

    "You wanted to see me that much, huh?" he asked after getting his shaking shoulders under control, and Xue Wei gave him a fierce re. "Yes I did, what about it?" he asked with the same dry voice.

    "Have you still not considered bing a part of my collection?" Lan suddenly asked, his voice containing amusement but also hope.

    Hearing this, the eyes of the guard widened in shock. Hepletely misunderstood the words said by Lan. Currently, Xue Wei was in a female disguise. ¡®She¡¯ was speaking rudely to Lan, but he did not even bat an eyelid. And to boot, he even said he wanted this woman to join his collection. Was this a proposal?

    "You there, bring my thanks to the Dragon Hunter Guards for leading this group here," Lan finally turned towards the guard, addressing him, "I have some important matters to deal with now, so I will have to invite my guests into my mansion and entertain them."

    The guard was astonished when he heard the esteemed Lan thank him, so he quickly saluted before excusing himself.

    The group of people entered the mansion. "Here, go in there and change your clothes and take the disguise off." Lan pointed at one of the first rooms they encountered. "I can imagine that you are rather unhappy with the current situation, and don¡¯t worry, no one will dare to make a move on you when you are in my mansion."

    Xue Wei heaved a heavy sigh of relief and entered the room, where he quickly changed from a green dress into a red robe. He did not wear his armor as he was still within Lan¡¯s mansion. As Lan had said, this ce was safe.

    When he came out, a smile was on his face. Xue Wei was clearly very pleased with being a man once more.

    Looking at the rxed smile on Xue Wei¡¯s face, Lin Xiao, Hei Gou and Bai Tianyi could not help but feel slightly guilty, but the truth was that they had no option back then.

    "Come with me," Lan said before dragging them into a study with a big round table in the middle where nine people could sit.

    "Sit," he said, gesturing for the quartet to take a seat. They sat opposite of him, in a single file.

    "So, my dear Wei, have you thought about what you can give me in return for the answers you want?" Lan asked with a great smile on his face. Xue Wei knew that it was time.

    "I assume you are not interested in inscriptions?" Xue Wei tried asking, but the disinterested expression on Lan¡¯s face told him enough.

    "What do you want?" he finally asked. Lan could not help but grin. "You are going to leave this continent, right?" He asked and Xue Wei, albeit surprised, was not overly worried about how he knew. Instead, he just nodded his head.

    "Well, that is perfect. I can¡¯t really leave the continent for the time being, but if you enter the Demon Phoenix Continent, you can get me something very rare that I have wanted for a long time."

    "Demon Phoenix Continent?" Xue Wei was confused. He had never heard of such a continent before, but the truth was that he had never heard of any specific continent other than theirs, which was named Chang¡¯an.

    "Well, where were you nning on going?" Lan asked curiously. Xue Wei scratched his head embarrassedly. "I don¡¯t know," he admitted honestly. "As long as it is not here. As long as it is somewhere we can be free, then it is good."

    Xue Wei was tired of their constant fleeing. He wanted to have a different kind of life.

    Lan contemted for some time before he nodded his head. "Then you should go to the Demon Phoenix Continent," he said seriously. "That is a ce much more chaotic than the Chang¡¯an continent, but it is also much more suitable for you. The stronger you are, the more revered you will be. There are a few factions, and although these factions have some disagreements, it is quite far from the full-out ethnic war between the humans and the beasts here."

    "The races on the Demon Phoenix Continent are also rather interesting," he continued, trying his very best to sell this ce to Xue Wei. Seeing his mannerism, Xue Wei could not help but chuckle.

    "So what is it you want me to find for you?" Xue Wei asked curiously. It could not be a simple thing.

    "It is a Thunder me Crown," Lan said casually, as if it was the mostmon thing in the world, but Xue Wei had a feeling that this so-called crown was likely the most precious thing on that entire continent. Still, beggars can¡¯t be choosers.

    "I will do what I can to get it, but I cannot do more than what my ability will allow me to do," Xue Wei promised. Hearing this promise, Lan considered Xue Wei¡¯s conditions for a moment or two before nodding his head.

    "Okay," he agreed readily. "Now ask your questions. I will answer as many of them as I can."

 Chapter 232: Answers

    Xue Wei had never guessed that Lan would simply lean back in his chair and just let him ask all the questions he had. It was clear that this Thunder me Crown would not be easy to get from how Lan was acting.

    "Okay, first off. Is Xiao Lei my biological uncle?" Xue Wei asked. This was one of the most important questions he had to ask. He needed to know.

    "He is. He is your mother¡¯s brother. He is also an Azure Dragon. The Azure Dragon n is in decline, though. Right now, only three of your kind exists in the n, and you are one of them. I guess you only count as half an Azure Dragon, though, so you could say that two and a half experts exist in the Azure Dragon n."

    "Was my father my real father?" This was Xue Wei¡¯s second question.

    "Yes, he was. Though he was a simple apothecary, he was indeed your real father. He had no actual strength or anything going for him, but it is not always strength that matters." Lan sighed as if he was reminded of something. His usually cheerful expression faded to sorrow, his eyes turning slightly misty.

    Itsted for the briefest moment, but they all noticed it. And they all tactfully decided not to point it out.

    "If he is my real father, and Uncle Lei is my real uncle, then why would he kill my father?" Xue Wei asked the question that had been in his heart ever since he had understood the true ins and outs of the attack on Lingyun Town.

    Lan hesitated. "I cannot answer this question for you," he answered after deliberating a bit. "If you want an answer, you should go to your uncle. This is something personal and the reason behind it isplex. I know the answer, but I feel that the right person to give you exactly this answer has to be your uncle."

    Xue Wei muttered for some time before he nodded his head. This made sense. It was a very important question and Lan was after all not involved. Although he was not involved, it seemed as if he still knew what had happened.

    "I am half human, half Sovereign Beast. How did I manage to be born? Is it not against thews of this world that a mixed breed can appear?" This was another question that had troubled Xue Wei for a long time, and he hoped that Lan could shed some light on his confusion.

    "It is not that it ispletely impossible," Lan said seriously. "There is one way in which the child is able to survive. However, this method is very drastic and no beast is willing to do it, even if they knew about it."

    "To give birth to a mixed child, the mother needs to fuse her own life essence into the child. She has to feed the child her own life for it to survive. At the same time, the mother is unable to eat anything, as anything she consumes will be poison to the child. Many who have attempted would have died long before the child was born, but your mother was different."

    "Your mother was a Sovereign Beast. Not only this, she was the one who was considered the Holy Maiden of the continent, so she had a very strong life essence, and at the same time, she had a tenacious will that let her stay alive until the day you were born. She traded her life for yours."

    Lan sighed when he said this. What Xue Wei¡¯s mother had done was clearly an emotional thing to do, so he could not help but reveal a look of admiration. It was clear that he understood the feelings that Xue Wei¡¯s mother had ¨C the urge to give one¡¯s life for someone else.

    Xue Wei was quiet. He had long since given up on feeling the warmth of a mother as she had died when he was born, but now he understood that she had always loved him unconditionally and gave her all for him. Was there really any greater love than this in the world?

    With this in mind, Xue Wei¡¯s heart became heavy despite the warmth he felt. To think that the reason he was alive now was because of his mother making the ultimate sacrifice for him. This was something he could not even have imagined before.

    "What does being the Holy Maiden of the continent imply?" Xue Wei then asked with a frown. Lan had mentioned it before, but he was unaware of what exactly it was.

    "It is the Sovereign Beast with the purest bloodline," Lan answered readily. "It is the beast that they wish to sacrifice for the sake of mutating every Primordial Beast elite and council member so that they can take over the continent once more."

    "They wanted to sacrifice my mother?" Xue Wei was stunned. Lan sighed. "This is a world where the strong survive. This is how it is. The purity of her bloodline was outstanding, so her lot in the world was to be prey for those selfish members of the council."

    Xue Wei took a moment to ponder what he had been told. "So my mother¡¯s bloodline was extremely pure, but mine is rather muddled?"

    "Although I have managed to unlock the bloodline of the Azure Dragon and managed to get my hands on the inheritage, my bloodline is nothing to brag about. Why would they want me when my uncle is still alive? He is alive, right?" Worry suddenly appeared in Xue Wei¡¯s heart. If his uncle died, would he not be all alone in this world?

    "Xiao Lei is still alive, don¡¯t worry." Lan nodded his head seriously. "Although Xiao Lei has a strong bloodline, actually better than the average Azure Dragon, you have something he does not have," Lan said mysteriously while looking at Xue Wei.

    "Well, I cannot tell you what it is yet," he said with a sigh and shook his head. "Also there is a chance of you bing a real monster in the future! Who knows what might happen when you travel to the different continents. I look forward to seeing your performance."

    "Also, let me give you some bonus information: you are not the first mixed breed to be born in this world, but you are the only one alive right now!"

    Xue Wei widened his eyes in shock. If he was not the first, who was? He suddenly felt a longing to know the fate of others in the same position as him, but he dared not ask.

    Instead, he came to the most important question he had wanted to ask for a long time. "Where is Uncle Lei currently?"

    "Xiao Lei made a deal with the Primordial Beast¡¯s Council of Elders," Lan began exining. "To be allowed five years together with you, he had to give up his freedom and be a captive of the Elders for the next hundred years. If he tries to escape, they will let Chu Huiyin do what she pleases with both you and your uncle, and she will definitely sacrifice his blood to the Elders."

    "Where is he held captive?" Xue Wei¡¯s eyes shed dangerously. He knew that he was too weak to charge into the Council of Elder¡¯s territory to free his uncle as he was right now, but he was not going to let him suffer for a hundred years just because they had spent five years together. Furthermore, he really needed to know why Xiao Lei had killed his father.

    "I should have answered enough questions for now," Lan said, smiled, and then turned to look straight into Xue Wei¡¯s azure eyes. "Do not forget the Thunder me Crown. I want it as a token of your appreciation. Now go rest for today. Tomorrow, I will see you off to Heping Kingdom, and from there I will help you make a trans-dimensional tunnel towards the Demon Phoenix Continent. I can not have you getting lost on the way."

    "As for how you will return to the continent of Chang¡¯an, well, how you do that is something you¡¯ll just have to figure out by yourself."

    Having said what he wanted to say, Lan sped his hands behind his back and casually exited the room, leaving Xue Wei, Lin Xiao, Hei Gou and Bai Tianyi alone in the room.

    It was not before now that Xue Wei saw Lin Xiao¡¯s expression of utter disbelief as he stared at him.

    It was clear as day what he was thinking. It almost seemed as if someone had taken a brush and written ¡¯you are a mix between a human and a Sovereign Beast?¡¯ on his forehead.

    It took some time for Lin Xiao to realize that the other three were staring at him. He coughed slightly before he flushed slightly red. "Well, I guess I made the right decision in following you," he said, coughing again. "It is definitely not going to be boring with the three of you around me." He grinned. Never once did it cross his mind to try and tame Xue Wei; he had already approved of these three as his friends and as individuals whom he respected, especially Xue Wei who had gone so far as to dress up as a woman just to get the answers he needed.

    "We have until tomorrow to rx and prepare," Xue Wei finally said. "Set your minds at ease. We are going to return to the Kingdom of Heping to pay our respect to myte brother Tie Haolong. After we have done that, our objective is to paint the entire kingdom red in blood! It is time to get revenge for the time they forced us to flee!¡±

    None of the other three had ever met Tie Haolong, but both Bai Tianyi and Hei Gou had heard about him before. Lin Xiao, however, waspletely clueless, so the next long time was spent with Xue Wei narrating his experiences in the Kingdom of Heping when he was still very young.

    Although the Kingdom of Heping had ultimately been correct and that he was indeed somewhat of a beast, he was not going to let them off easily. They had killed his brother and he was going to let the blood flow freely!

    Xue Wei was not some righteous person. He did not care about right or wrong, all he cared about was to protect the ones he was close to. Those who he deemed friends were people he would die protecting, while everyone else could go do whatever they wished for all he cared.

    "What do you think the Demon Phoenix Continent is like?" Hei Gou asked with longing in his voice. He caused Xue Wei and the others to pause.

    "I don¡¯t know," Xue Wei shook his head. "I hope it is different from here. But from what I could understand from Lan¡¯s words, it should be."

    "Still, strength is all that matters," Bai Tianyi cut in, "and our strength can be considered mediocre as we are. Although we are not Saints or even Sky Knights, we do have an Earth Knight in our midst."

    The others nodded their heads in agreement, all eyes turning to Lin Xiao. Xue Wei stood up and patted his shoulder. "In the future, we will rely on you the most," he said seriously. Lin Xiao grimaced. He was fully aware that these experts, despite being weaker than him on paper, had a lot of aces up their sleeves that he could not easily handle.

    The rest of the day quickly passed with the four friends discussing what the Demon Phoenix Continent would be like. They were all extremely eager to go there. They had never before set foot outside of Chang¡¯an, so it was without a doubt the most exciting journey they were about to embark upon. Although they were forced to leave their continent of birth, they did not feel too much regret. They all knew that they would return one day, stronger than ever before.

 Chapter 233: Returning to Lingyun Town

    Lan appeared in front of the four friends the following morning as he had said he would. He quickly looked over them and noticed that they were all in peak condition. Nodding his head, he knew that they had spent the night cultivating and rxing.

    "Follow me," he said casually and led them through his mansion. They walked through corridors and halls before reaching theke side. Shockingly, Xue Wei found that the center of the mansion belonging to Prophet Lan was actually a small hut that seemed to be thousands of years old.

    It was a hut that was worn down and seemed as if it could copse at any moment. This hut was onlyrge enough to house a single person.

    "This is?" Xue Wei asked, puzzled. Why had Lan brought them here? Lan noticed Xue Wei¡¯s expression and smiled sadly. "This is the greatest treasure in the entire universe," he said seriously.

    Xue Wei could see multiple emotions swirl in Lan¡¯s eyes, and his smile seemed to carry a profound sadness within it. It was clear that this was a treasure to Lan because of the memories it held.

    The four said nothing, but none of them had disdainful expressions either. They all understood the sentimental value this hut held to Lan even if they were not aware of the story behind it.

    Still, the emotions that Lan had for it could be sensed through the air and all of them felt veneration towards this house that, after the passing of thousands of years, still stood there as a part of his memories. No one knew exactly how long it had stood there. In fact, this hut was more than fifteen thousand years old. It had seen the rise and fall of empires, the rise and fall of continents, and everything that had happened to this world.

    Lan did not stop there. He led them down to the water and stepped into theke that was bordering the hut. "Follow me," he said. The others stepped into theke without any hesitation.

    As the water soaked their boots, they felt the coolness wash over them, before they suddenly felt space warp around them: everything turned ck, and when they returned to reality, they stood in anotherke.

    Thiske was much smaller than Baixing Lake. The water was much colder too, and there was no doubt that this was apletely different area. They had teleported!

    Xue Wei knew that the strongest of experts were capable of manipting space itself to teleport from one point to another, but he had never expected that it was possible to bring others along with you.

    Only now did he realize that Lan was much stronger than he had ever expected. Of all those he had either met ore to know about, he had never encountered anyone as strong as Lan.

    "Okay, you guys, go do your thing. We are very close to Lingyun town now," Lan said with a dismissive wave of his hand.

    "You have one month. After a month, I will have finished the trans-dimensional tunnel to the Demon Phoenix Continent."

    Xue Wei nodded his head. "In that case we will get going now. We will return as soon as we have washed this ce with blood!" he said with cold eyes.

    "Where do we go first?" Bai Tianyi asked. Hei Gou snickered. "We go to Lingyun Town," he said with certainty.

    "Back in the day, that was where they ambushed. I am sure that some of their Primordial Beast Hunters will be waiting for us there."

    Xue Wei nodded his head and smiled, but the smile was not a gentle one. It was a smile that was filled with dense killing intent.

    "Back then they really forced us into a terrible situation. We were fighting for our lives every day, we were chased through half of the continent, and we were never at peace. Now it is time to return the pain! Now it is time to gain vengeance for Tie Haolong!" Xue Wei said. With an overwhelming momentum, he started moving towards Lingyun town, moving so fast that only afterimages remained where he had stood moments before.

    Lin Xiao, Bai Tianyi and Hei Gou could sense his anger and rage that was sparked every time he thought about the past. They hurried after him.

    Snow was nketing the ground. The temperature was low and the wind was strong, but these four experts advanced withplete disregard for the weather.

    It only took them an hour to reach Lingyun Town. The town was as eerily quiet as it had been thest time Xue Wei had visited it. The entire vige was in ruins.

    Some had already copsed, the snow falling through the broken roofs and walls into what used to be the homes of people.

    Some of the walls that had no snow on them had old traces of blood from when Chu Huiyin had caused every person in the city to implode with her pressure alone.

    The city seemed deserted, but Xue Wei did not believe it waspletely without people as they knew he would return at some point, He spread out his spiritual energy, scanning the surroundings.

    Exactly as he had predicted, he found traces of life within the house that used to belong to the vige head. This was one of the few buildings in the entire vige that had not copsed.

    Xue Weinded on the soft snow and started walking towards it. He had sensed that there were four experts within, with all four being Heavenly Warriors.

    Bai Tianyi, Hei Gou and Lin Xiao all descended behind him and followed him closely. They did not know what exactly he had in mind ¨C was he going to straight out execute those four Heavenly Warriors, or did he have something else nned?

    Xue Wei knew that this ce would not be pleasurable. Frankly, killing these people would only result in negative karma, but he also understood that showing mercy here would likely form a knot in his heart that had the potential to grow into a heart demon that would implicate him severelyter down the road.

    Xue Wei went to the house and knocked on the door. His entire body was taut, his eyes vignt.

    "Who is it?" A sour voice came from inside. Xue Wei did not answer, he just knocked again.

    "Dammit, why is it this daddy¡¯s turn to look after this godforsaken town?" a voice grumbled inside the house, but the voice wasing closer and closer towards the door.

    Shortly after, the door opened and the face of a man around the age of thirty looked out. His eyes were filled with hostility and arrogance.

    "Why are you here?" he asked sourly. He did not even think of checking out their cultivation bases. In fact, he did not care. He was an illustrious Heavenly Warrior, the highest rank amongst every cultivator within the Heping Kingdom.

    "I havee to settle a score," Xue Wei said casually and stepped past the expert into the house. The expert looked perplexedly at him, as if trying to understand what he meant, but although he had never seen this young man before, he was aware that settling a score never was a good thing, so his eyes darkened and his facial expression hardened.

    "Young man, don¡¯t throw your life away," he warned him sternly. "There are only Primordial Beast Hunters here. All of us are Heavenly Warriors. It is simply impossible for you to settle a score in this ce."

    Xue Wei just snorted and continued deeper into the house. Although it was the town head¡¯s house, it was rather small, but it made sense given the scale.

    Still, there were multiple rooms, and Xue Wei walked straight towards one of these rooms. He had recognized the face that was resting within. It was one of the Primordial Beast Hunters that had participated in the hunt of him and Tie Haolong. He had to die as soon as possible.

    The killing intent slowly started seeping out from Xue Wei¡¯s body. As a veteran killer, the Primordial Beast Hunter that was in the way instantly sensed it. His face turned rigid, and he summoned his weapon from his storage ring with anxious haste.

    "Listen youngsters, I do not know where you came from, but you can¡¯t run wild in the Heping Kingdom. Why don¡¯t we sit down and talk things over?" The expert that had opened the door asked slowly. He was starting to sense that this group was extraordinary.

    Since they entered the house until now, the only thing they had said was that they were there to settle some scores, nothing in detail. They did not even respond to the Primordial Beast Hunter who was trying to talk to them.

    "Who are you?" he finally muttered, but no one paid attention to him. Even if he went all out, he would only be able to produce superficial wounds on the bodies of Ordinary and Earth Knights.

    Not everyone was a monster that could jump realms and injure higher ranked cultivators. In fact, those who could do this were the very few experts from the continent¡¯s center, not some random Primordial Beast Hunters from Heping Kingdom.

    Xue Wei entered into the room where the person was resting. The moment he opened the door, the Primordial Beast Hunter in the room lifted his head, an annoyed expression on his face, yet the annoyance quickly turned into puzzlement when he saw Xue Wei, and this puzzlement shifted from excitement to fear in mere moments.

    At first, he had been annoyed about someone bursting into his room. Then he had been puzzled because he had recognized the person, followed by excitement because he realized that it was Xue Wei, the reason they were here. Unfortunately, he was not dumb. He understood that the fact that Xue Wei hade here meant that he had the strength to take vengeance.

    Xue Wei did not waste any time. His arm transformed into a draconic hand which shot forward and grasped the head of the Primordial Beast Hunter that he had recognized.

    This hand clenched slightly and then the head emitted cracking sounds. In seconds, the skull copsed. Brain and blood sttered to the ground. The dense scent of blood permeated through the air, dense enough to make one feel nauseous.

    Xue Wei did not stop there, however. He turned towards the other Primordial Beast Hunter and reached out with his hand at lightning speed. This time, it impaled the other Primordial Beast Hunter¡¯s chest. When he withdrew it, he held the still beating heart within his palm.

    The man who had lost his heart managed to see it being ripped out of his chest before he drew hisst breath. Blood sprayed everywhere and the body copsed.

    In only a short while, two Primordial Beast Hunters had died. There were another two within the house, and when they smelled the blood they exited their rooms, only to be met with a gruesome sight.

    Their faces paled. "Kill them," Xue Wei said casually and Hei Gou rushed towards the one who was the furthest away. He had already put on his metal ws. With a casual swipe, he beheaded the expert.

    The final Primordial Beast Hunter was trembling. He could no longer stand on his legs as they copsed under him and he tried to frantically retreat.

    Unfortunately, Xue Wei had no intention of letting him go. He held out his hand and a long beam of Qi shot forward. There was no special technique behind this attack, just pure Qi, but it still managed to kill the Heavenly Warrior on the ground.

    In a moment, all the intruders in Lingyun Town had been killed.

 Chapter 234: Returning to the Capital

    Having finished his business in Lingyun Town, Xue Wei did not stop to take in the scenery and instead stepped into the air and started flying towards the capital.

    A Sky Warrior could fly for a short amount of time and at a slow speed, but the higher your rank, the better you were at flying. Still, even though Xue Wei was an Ordinary Knight and capable of flying through air rather well, the speed with which he flew was far from as fast as when he was transformed.

    But Xue Wei did not transform. Lan had given them a full month to sort their issues with the Kingdom of Heping. With that much time, they could afford to take it easy.

    Most Primordial Beast Hunters in Heping Kingdom had residence in the capital of the city. They would only leave when it was time for them to go hunting, and most went hunting once a year or once every second year.

    A Primordial Beast¡¯s corpse was worth a fortune, even in a ce like the Heping Kingdom. If they sessfully hunted a Primordial Beast, they would earn enough money to live up to five years in the capital if they were just slightly frugal with their money.

    Of course many of the Primordial Beast Hunters were bad at saving money and were talented at spending all the money they had when they had it, which was why many had to go every second year to go hunting.

    Xue Wei knew this, so he did not expect to encounter a lot of beasts hunters in the wild. Those who were out hunting were perhaps fortunate to be able to survive after Xue Wei is done trouncing the country.

    His ns did not stop at just killing Primordial Beast Hunters. Although he aimed to kill all the Primordial Beast Hunters that had a blood feud with him, he also wanted to kill those who were behind the grudge that had been created back then. Anyone who had taken part in the mission ought to die, including those who had a hand in the whole thing escting like this ¨C the ones who imed that Xue Wei was a Primordial Beast.

    If they had not believed Chu Huiyin back then, they would never have caused things to grow this much and Tie Haolong would still have been alive. In fact, Xue Wei med these people just as much as he med the Primordial Beast Hunters that served as the weapons that were used to oppress him.

    While they were not exactly slow, it still took them quite some time to reach the capital of Heping Kingdom.

    On their way, no one caused problems for them. Since they could fly as fast as they could, most thought that they were Primordial Beast Hunters, so no one caused problems for them but withdrew and looked at them with adoration and veneration.

    Xue Wei had no intention of taking out his rage on themoners within the kingdom, but he was aware that his revenge would cause the already troubled Heping Kingdom to be even more troubled in the future.

    By getting rid of the majority of their Primordial Beast Hunters, they were bound to have a lot of trouble withstanding the beast hordes in the future, but this was something that the kingdom had brought upon itself in Xue Wei¡¯s eyes.

    Even if the entire kingdom was left deste, it was the king¡¯s fault when he decided to cause such a scene with him and Tie Haolong.

    As they arrived at the capital, Xue Wei did not fly into it. Instead, he hovered right in the air above the city, looking down at it with cold eyes.

    This city had both an outer and an inner city; the inner city was where most cultivators and even a few Diviners were present.

    "I, Xue Wei, have returned to Heping Kingdom to settle scores!" Xue Wei infused his voice with Qi and yelled out. His voice prated through the entire city, including the royal pce housing the king and his family.

    Since the prince and everyone in the inner city heard him, obviously the ones in the outer city heard it too, but the ordinary citizens were confused.

    Who was Xue Wei? They had all forgotten as time went by since he had left. Although he had made a dramatic exit back then, it had not mattered much to themon folk.

    "Xue Wei. Is that not the human name of the Crimson Devil?" A few people in the crowd remembered the name. Some of them looked incredibly fearful, while others wereughing and looking down on Xue Wei appearing in the air like this.

    Next to Xue Wei were Bai Tianyi, Hei Gou, and Lin Xiao. All four of them looked imposing as they hovered in the air above the capital, but no one dared move towards them. Even the proudest Primordial Beast Hunters had holed up in their mansions.

    These experts were no fools. If Xue Wei had appeared here and dered his arrival like this, it meant that he was confident in his own strength. A nce at their cultivation bases was enough to make them all shrink their necks and want to appear as invisible as possible.

    It was simply impossible to determine the cultivation bases of any of these experts that were hovering in the air, meaning that all of them were above the Heavenly Warrior rank.

    Fear started creeping into the hearts of every person below. Why had the experts from the pce note out yet? Themoners started to fear for their lives.

    But the only thing that met Xue Wei was silence. No one was willing to step up to attack him. All of them knew that they would be killed right away if they tried.

    Xue Wei was here to kill everyone who had participated in the battle against him and Tie Haolong, and he was not going to let any of them go.

    Seeing that no one came out to meet him, Xue Wei considered for a moment before he looked at Bai Tianyi. "All of you stay here," he said seriously.

    "If someonees out to meet you, then make them wait till I arrive or kill them if they act uncouthly. If someone tries to flee, kill them right away!"

    "Where are you going?" Hei Gou asked curiously. Xue Wei sighed. "I am going to the Genius Camp." he said seriously.

    "It is a ce where every young man and woman from the continent are sent to improve their strength and be experts. The leader of that ce is the one at fault for the mistake back then. He should never dream of having an easy time."

    Having said this, Xue Wei nodded to Bai Tianyi and the others before turning around and flying away.

    Many were breathing out in relief when they saw he vanished, but moments after this relief turned to worry as the rest of the experts remained where they were in the air

    Some got ready to escape, knowing that they had no option than to let their heads fall on the chopping block once Xue Wei returns and descends upon them.

    They should definitely try to flee as fast as they could. While this was happening, Xue Wei flew towards the Genius Camp.

    The trip to the Genius Camp was rather short. It was located almost right outside the capital, and looking at it brought memories back to Xue Wei of the year he had spent there. Many things had happened in the time he had lived there, but it was also the beginning of the disaster thatter struck him.

    He hovered in the air above the camp, looking down on a lot of youngsters who were passing by. Some noticed him and stopped curiously. Soon, amotion broke out in the camp as all of them curiously looked up at him in the air.

    Was he a Primordial Beast Hunter who hade to their Genius Camp for some reason? To be able to hang in the air like that meant he was at least a Sky Warrior.

    "Have themander of the Genius Campe out to see me," Xue Wei said, his Qi-enhanced voice reaching every part of the camp.

    The youngsters were shocked. They had never thought of using their Qi in this way.

    Themander had heard the call as well. He exited his tent in a rage and flew into the air. Thismander was a Heavenly Warrior, and as a result he did not fear anyone in the Heping Kingdom.

    He never bothered to check Xue Wei¡¯s cultivation base. When he saw his face, themander turned pale because he recognized the other right away, but he did not flee. He was stillpletely certain of his own strength.

    "You!" he called out with furious voice. "You beast, how dare you show up here?!"

    The man did not infuse Qi into his voice, but he was yelling out loud, so those close by could still hear him.

    "I havee to settle our scores from back then," Xue Wei said casually while looking at the angry man who was pointing at him.

    "Crimson Devil, don¡¯t think that showing up here means you can win, that I don¡¯t have a way to deal with you!" Themander was filled with hatred and anger. He hated beasts to the core, and from the very beginning, he had been certain that Xue Wei was, in fact, a beast.

    Xue Wei just smiled slightly as he kept hovering in the air. He said nothing, but murderous killing intent started to seep out from his body and his eyes had turned as cold as ice.

    Themander was a war veteran. He had been in so many life and death struggles against the beasts that he had lost count, and he could sense the sudden danger that exploded from Xue Wei.

    He did not retreat. Instead, he elerated towards Xue Wei, still feeling that he was much stronger than this young man. He had lived for much longer, and he was recognized as a genius. He refused to believe that this young man had overtaken him, and frankly the possibility of that happening had never crossed his mind.

    Seeing the man rush at him, Xue Wei did not feel any pleasure. He did not feel excited at the idea of killing him, but the man had to die!

    Stretching out his arm, he prepared to wee the chargingmander. As they reached each other, a boom sounded out. A shockwave erupted from the ce where their hands connected, but the expression on everyone¡¯s faces, except Xue Wei¡¯s, twisted.

    Up in the air, Xue Wei had stopped him with a single hand that had grasped his fist. A cracking sound came out as the fingers of the hand which had grabbed the fist started to mp inward.

    Xue Wei shook his head. He felt empty right now, even as he was about to begin his revenge. Mncholy struck him and a part of him started to reflect on everything. Nothing would have happened if he had not used the draconic arms back then.

    Lan had warned him about it, but he still got caught up in his own excitement and used the transformation like an idiot. Still, that did not free those who were directly involved in Tie Haolong¡¯s death of their guilt.

    After crushing themander¡¯s hand, Xue Wei had lost all desire to mess with him as he had initially nned.

    Inner Might: Qi Sword Style!

    A sword quickly cut through the neck of themander, separating his head from the rest of the body.

    It onlysted for a moment, but the execution was so fast that no one could have seen iting. The youngsters of the Genius Camp below grew fearful. Their eyes were filled with dread. Were they going to be ughtered now?

 Chapter 235: A Slaughter

    Xue Wei nced down at every member of the Genius Camp. He scanned them with disinterest. Executing everyone here would be as simple as killing chickens, but he was not interested in doing so.

    Although he was here to avenge Tie Haolong, he had no intention of venting his rage on civilians or people who had no part in the events of that day.

    After seeing theirmander die such a swift death, the experts that had nned to rush into the air to assist him sobered up and understood that they were not his match.

    Xue Wei used his spiritual energy to scan the area. A few people seemed familiar; some of them had been the loudest voices when he was condemned.

    Inner Might: Qi Arrow Style!

    Arrows made from Qi appeared on his hands and with a simple gesture. They shot at the experts that were hiding. They were the ones who did not expect Xue Wei to snuff them out so cleanly, and thus they never managed to even let out a scream before the arrows struck them.

    The moment the arrows reached their mark, they turned into giant dragons of qi that roared loudly, releasing their energy and killing the experts on the spot. Their bodies exploded into a bloody mist. They could not handle the overwhelming power imbued into the Qi dragons.

    After finishing off the people who had taken part in causing Xue Wei¡¯s downfall, Xue Wei nced at the rest a second time before he snorted and left, leaving them heaving heavy sighs of relief. It seemed as if they had escaped a great cmity.

    Xue Wei returned to the capital after a short flight. When he arrived, he saw his friends who were in the air at the exact same spot as they had been when he left. However, he could smell the pungent smell of blood this time.

    Looking down, he saw that there were quite a few people who had died in their attempts to escape.

    "Thank you," Xue Wei knew that these people would never bully the weak like this if not for him, and he felt grateful. Amongst the dead, he had recognized quite a few faces.

    "I have no intention of executing you all," Xue Wei announced to the city with a voice enhanced by Qi, making the still and silent ce suddenly perk up with hope.

    "When I wasst here, everyone was willing to attack me. Everyone was willing to kill an innocent soul just to get me, and thus I want all involved in the hunt of me and my friend to die."

    "Everyone, make a heavenly oath! Make a heavenly oath that states that you took no part in the chase of me and my brother Tie Haolong. Those who survive this oath will be allowed to live."

    "Now take the oath, or I will bathe the city in blood. I will not let even the animals escape this fate!"

    One after another, they began swearing the oath. It was mainly the citizens who swore. The higher-ups were not willing to do it. They knew they could not contend with a heavenly oath, and thus they would most likely die.

    "I will take you on!" someone screamed out loud as he flew into the air. "I do not believe that you can take care of all of us!" another yelled, and suddenly everyone with a guilty conscience flew into the air ready to face Xue Wei and his friends.

    Around a hundred to two hundred experts flew up into the air. They red at Xue Wei and hispanions.

    "You cannot kill us all!" someone sneered. Xue Wei chuckled. He lifted his hand and a stream of Qi spiraled around his arm like a big azure dragon.

    Xue Wei looked at the masses, contemting how to deal with them all. He would have a hard time killing them off if they scattered about in every direction, but they, fortunately for him, did not seem to be nning to do so.

    They were a lot of experts against only four. Even if their cultivation bases were lower than Xue Wei and his friends, the sheer amount of experts on their side gave them courage.

    Xue Wei was relieved. He did not believe that they could actually pose any threat to him, but he did know that he would be helpless if they decided to flee. Since they had no intention of fleeing, then he had a chance to execute them all.

    "Gou, take care of anyone who flees," Xue Wei ordered, and Hei Gou nodded his head, taking the task very solemnly.

    "Xiao, I doubt you are willing to participate in the ughter ofmon folk. Although they have bad blood with me, they have done nothing wrong to you. Having you kill them might just give you a heart demon."

    "Tianyi, you support Gou in hunting the ones that flee. I doubt you can even get a heart demon, so don¡¯t hold back!"

    Bai Tianyi smiled wryly. It was true that he could not get a heart demon, but he had never thought that Xue Wei could have guessed this.

    The truth was that the only ones who had experienced the torment of that dreadful chase was Xue Wei and Hei Gou. If they did not vent the frustrations in their hearts when given the chance, it was possible that they would end up with a heart demon.

    But these were all Heavenly Warriors. Killing them should be simple. Someone like Bai Tianyi who had been at the apex of the world regarded Heavenly Warriors as ants.

    To actually entertain the idea of letting them flee was something he had never once considered. This was the arrogance that came with having been at the very peak of the world.

    Xue Wei had be unbelievably strongpared to his past self. He had climbed to where he was by walking on a mountain of corpses, through a river of blood. He had fought in an untold number of life and death situations.

    He was prideful, but he was not arrogant. He knew his own ability and that he could not properly put an end to this feud should they start fleeing.

    He could kill them one at a time, or he could transform into an Azure Dragon and straight out chomp down on them one after the other¨C maybe even take a few at a time now that his awakened bloodline had increased his other form¡¯s size.

    Xue Wei¡¯s eyes suddenly brightened. Since he had awakened his bloodline, this also meant that he had awakened his innate abilities.

    One of those abilities was to create a Qi Azure Dragon ¨C a copy of himself ¨C that would have the exact same strength as himself for a period of time. Naturally, it came with a heavy price.

    The price to summon a Qi Azure Dragon was that he would use basically half of his total Qi, and it would permanently cost him ayer of cultivation afterwards.

    Thisyer would not be returned to him ¨C he would have to cultivate it back up the same way he had done previously.

    There were two kinds of Qi Azure Dragons. One was the regr Qi Azure Dragon, and the other was a Devouring Qi Azure Dragon.

    The regr Qi Azure Dragon was able tost for the time it took to eat a meal, while the Devouring Azure Dragon onlysted for as long as it took to brew a cup of tea.

    The Devouring Qi Azure Dragon was capable of absorbing the cultivation base of the ones it consumed and directly deliver that to its controller.

    Although the Devouring Qi Azure Dragon could run rampant for the time it took to brew a cup of tea, it was susceptible to group fire. So while it could absorb a lot, but the risks were also simrly heavy.

    Xue Wei decided to summon the Devouring Qi Azure Dragon. Qi flowed out of his body liked a whirlpool in front of him, swiftly manifesting into the shape of a hundred meter long dragon.

    It was abnormally detailed; the scales on the body glistened in the sunshine, and the teeth were so razor sharp that the crowd below felt a chill down their spine. The eyes of this azure dragon were not devoid of life. They were actually filled with battle intent. It seemed as if it had an intelligence of its own.

    Only Xue Wei knew that the Azure Dragon Spirit from his dantian had entered this Devouring Qi Azure Dragon and was controlling it.

    "Go, my Devouring Dragon," Xue Wei muttered with a strange smile on his face. The many experts were observing the scene with great fear in their hearts. They knew he was doing something, but they could not figure out who the attack was aimed at.

    The dragon¡¯s long body was coiled around Xue Wei. Itsrge head suddenly faced the skies and released a thundering roar that made every single person in the city feel tremors running through their bodies. The humans in the capital had a hard time withstanding this strength.

    Some of them spat blood. Some were thrown backward from the shockwave. All the faces of the Heavenly Warriors in the sky were ugly.

    "Everyone, gather together ¨C send your strongest attack at that dragon!" The King was the first to speak. Although he had not wanted to take part in this, he knew he had no choice since it had ultimately been his choice to use Tie Haolong as bait to lure Xue Wei out.

    If he had taken the oath, he would have died on the spot, so fighting for his life was his only option. Since he had reached the point where he was fighting for his life, he stood in the middle of the entire group. Many had the thought of protecting him, as he was after all the kingdom¡¯s king.

    There were even some deathsworn that had sought to avoid this confrontation who had flown into the air to protect their king.

    As soon as the roar had been released, the Azure Dragon and Xue Wei made their moves. They attacked from one side each. The dragon chomped down on one expert after another; the moment its victims entered its mouth, strings of Azure Qi Dragons entered their body and consumed their cultivation bases before they simply imploded into a bloody mist from the inside out, leaving not even an intact corpse behind.

    On the other side, Xue Wei had used Inner Might: Qi Sword Style. He used the Qi sword with a flourish. Xue Wei was much faster than the Heavenly Warriors in aerialbat.

    Every flourish of his sword took off their heads from their necks with the same effort it took him to breathe; and with his speed, no one could escape from him.

    Within a mere five minutes, more than half of the experts had been either fed to the dragon or executed by Xue Wei. Even though his cultivation base had dropped ayer to the sixth level of the Ordinary Knight rank, it did not change that fact that he was dominant in every imaginable way against them.

    Xue Wei looked at his Devouring Qi Azure Dragon. It had lost quite a bit of its strength, but it was still fighting on. In its stomach was the Azure Dragon Spirit that had consumed the cultivation bases of around ny Heavenly Warriors. When it returns to Xue Wei¡¯s body at some point, those would serve as nourishment for Xue Wei¡¯s cultivation base. Still, it was limited what the cultivation bases of Heavenly Warriors could do for him, even if there were this many.

    Looking at the remaining thirty experts, Xue Wei could see the undisguised fear in their eyes. It had merely taken five minutes, but more than a hundred experts had been wiped out in that time. This was not a fight ¨C this was a direct ughter!

 Chapter 236: Rest in Peace

    The king was still alive together with around ten of his deathsworn. All their faces were ugly as Xue Wei reached out his hand and beckoned the Devouring Qi Azure Dragon to return to him.

    As soon as it came back to him, he dispersed it and took the Azure Dragon Spirit back into his dantian once more.

    He felt invigorated, filled to the brim with energy. Although he knew that this energy did not belong to him yet, he could feel it pulsating within his body, waiting for him to refine it.

    The remaining experts posed no threat to him. Even if they were to flee, he could catch them all with the aid of Bai Tianyi and Hei Gou.

    So far no one had tried to flee, but it was not because they were not scared. It was because the massacre in front of them had happened so fast that they had been incapable of processing it, and thus they ended up bing severely shocked and scared when Xue Wei¡¯s rampage came to a halt.

    Panic grew in their hearts and quickly many of them turned tail and ran, but Hei Gou and Bai Tianyi caught up to their meager dregs one after another and executed them easily before they could get anywhere.

    The deathsworn did not flee. They were surrounding the king and had their weapons drawn. Xue Wei looked at them and pondered.

    These deathsworn had nothing to do with Tie Haolong¡¯s death, so allowing them to live should not be a problem. If he killed every single Heavenly Warrior in the Heping Kingdom, it would be quite problematic for them in the future. Although he did not care about the Heping Kingdom, he cared about a few people who lived there. Amongst these were Luo Zhirou, Mu Shen and Manager Su.

    Xue Wei wanted his revenge, but it did not sit well with him to do something that dirty.

    "Why don¡¯t you order your deathsworn to stand down?" Xue Wei finally decided to speak to the king, stunning him and making him tremble with fear.

    "The deathsworn had nothing to do with Tie Haolong¡¯s death, and since your son will be the next king, don¡¯t you think that it would be better to let them work for him, rather than killing them now for nothing?"

    Xue Wei tried to reason with the king. He truly felt that this was for the better. However, when he saw the ugly expression on the king¡¯s face, he knew that his words fell to deaf ears.

    "Deathsworn, attack him and cover for me as I flee!" he yelled out. The deathsworn had sworn to follow their king¡¯s order regardless of content, and thus they rushed at Xue Wei despite knowing full well that death was waiting at the end of that road.

    The king had forgotten everything about Bai Tianyi and Hei Gou. These two were like wolves waiting to pounce at any person who tried to weasel their way out, which meant that even if the deathsworn threw themselves at Xue Wei, they had no way of actually creating an opening for him.

    Without thinking about this, the king turned and ran. He ran as fast as he could, but how could his speed possibly rival that of Hei Gou?

    In less than a second, his head had been separated from his body and he copsed, plummeting from the skies.

    Xue Wei looked at the two surviving deathsworn who were staring at their dead ruler with dim eyes. Xue Wei did not press the attack.

    "Stop the battle now," he said. "There will be a new king soon, and he will be in need of new deathsworn. If you wish to be free men and no longer deathsworn, then why don¡¯t you be Primordial Beast Hunters? This is a profession that the Kingdom of Heping truly needs now."

    Hearing that Xue Wei was being considerate, the two deathsworn did not know whether tough or to cry. The reason the Heping Kingdom needed Primordial Beast Hunters ¨C was it not because of Xue Wei and his massacre?

    Still, the two deathsworn had lost their master and nodded their heads. They had followed their master¡¯s every order until the end, and now that he was dead, they had regained their freedom. As to what they choose to do in the future, it had nothing to do with Xue Wei.

    "We will not thank you," one of the deathsworn said silently as he looked at Xue Wei. "We have lost all our brothers to your attacks. Even our master died at your friend¡¯s hands."

    "This is something that we cannot easily overlook, but considering that you are letting us keep our lives,it is only fair that we make sure that their legacy is upheld. That the widows and fatherless children will be looked after now that their men and fathers will never return."

    Xue Wei nodded his head. "I know. Tell them all that if they ever wish to seek vengeance, then I will always be waiting for them. Just as I was entitled to my revenge for my brother, they too have the right to seek revenge for their parents and lovers."

    The deathsworn were shocked when they heard this, but they quickly nodded their heads. "We will tell them that they died because they killed Tie Haolong, the brother of the Crimson Devil, a ferocious Primordial Beast that rose to prominence in the Kingdom of Heping. I am sure that one day they will find you if they truly wish to do so."

    "They will have to work hard, or else they will just be throwing away their lives," Xue Wei added. The two deathsworn agreed. They too had forgotten every idea of revenge for their brothers and their master. They simply did not have the strength to take revenge. And it seemed Xue Wei¡¯s meteoric rise was only now beginning.

    The children would have even less of a chance, considering that they were all much younger and that they hailed from the Heping Kingdom. To ovee the Heavenly Warrior rank, one needed much more luck and resources. A backwater kingdom might be able to once in a millennium produce an Ordinary Knight, but that was usually the limit.

    Xue Wei had been able to break through it because of many factors. One of them was because of nock of resources. He had been poor at the beginning, but slowly he had built up a wealth and stockpile of resources that could be used whenever he needed it.

    He also had the ability to make inscriptions and he could create pills. Although he was still not at a level where he could make Rainbow Pills, the ones he could make could assist him slightly.

    But all of this was aided by luck. Had he not stopped by the ck Iron Fortress, he would not have been given the mission to get the Seven Star Nightflower and then stumbled upon the legacy of the Moon Prince.

    If he had not gone further and further towards the center of the continent, he would not have had the opportunity to cultivate in an environment with a much denser heaven-and-earth essence, which had made it easier for him to break through.

    He even had the luck of getting lost in a forest and finding Bai Tianyi. However, you win some you lose some. He had luck, but he was equally unlucky. He was currently the continent¡¯s most wanted person. Both men and beasts had a thing against him. He had no peace of mind anywhere.

    But although luck had given him many chances, the reason that he had seeded was due to his hard work and determination.

    He was a very determined man. In fact, it was borderline stubbornness. He was not willing to give up on anything. He would continue until he mastered itpletely.

    But few would have the same experiences as Xue Wei, so chasing after him might be a suicidal idea. Especially since he had a high natural talent because of the Azure Dragon Blood that flowed in his veins.

    Shaking his head, he did not think more about it. He gestured for the surviving two deathsworn to leave and then regrouped with Hei Gou, Lin Xiao and Bai Tianyi.

    "Lan gave us a month," he said seriously, while contemting what to do. He had already finished what he wished to do.

    "Do you want to visit those two friends of yours?" Hei Gou asked. "What was their names again... Luo Zhirou and Shen Mu I think?"

    "I do want to meet them." Xue Wei nodded, but then aplicated light shone in his eyes, "but I cannot."

    "Why not?"

    "It is really quite simple," Bai Tianyi exined. "He just killed a majority of the Primordial Beast Hunters in the entire kingdom, alongside the king. If he were to visit them, would it not be the same as telling the world that they are traitors?"

    "Not to mention that they might not want to see me anymore," Xue Wei added. "I was a normal human when I knew them, but now the truth ironically shows that I am indeed a beast - if only partly, but that part of me is what they hate."

    Hei Gou sighed. It was truly a shame that all it took to divide them was the fact that he was partly Azure Dragon.

    "Let us just return to Lan," Xue Wei finally decided. "We can also learn by watching how he makes a transdimensional tunnel."

    The others had nothing to say. They had no ties to the Heping Kingdom, so for them it did not matter where they went. Hei Gou could not return to his family either. He was unaware of the fact that Chu Huiyin had visited his family and informed them that he was on a special mission.

    With onest nce at the capital of the Kingdom of Heping, Xue Wei turned around. He was momentarily blinded by the sharp sunshine of the setting sun.

    The clouds were painted red from the setting sun, and the pungent smell of blood was still heavy in the air. The ground beneath them was littered with corpses. No one had bothered scavenging for storage treasures or other treasures. They were not here to rob them. This was an act of vengeance. Any wealth they would earn from it would feel dirty.

    Eventually, the citizens would rush out to rummage through their clothes to get a bit of their wealth. It might even erupt into fighting, but Xue Wei simply did not care.

    With this bloody scene imprinted in his mind, a deep sigh escaped Xue Wei¡¯s lips. He suddenly felt as if a heavy burden had been lifted from his shoulders.

    "My dear brother Haolong, do you see now? I got rid of the ones who caused your death!" he muttered to the air.

    He was aware that this bloody scene was something that Tie Haolong had not wished for ¨C he might even have been against such a devastating way of getting revenge ¨C but Xue Wei had to act ording to his beliefs. He could not bring himself to let anyone who had had something to do with Tie Haolong¡¯s death go unpunished.

    "This is over," Xue Wei said to himself, as he started flying towards the direction where Lan was waiting for them. "All ties between myself and the Heping Kingdom have been cut. In the future, I will no longer find fault with them unless they once more cause problems for me. I hope that they will be able to survive in their own way."

    Lin Xiao and the two others could see that Xue Wei was in deep thought. It was clear that he was thinking about what had happened in the past, alongside the sudden lightheadedness he now felt and the feeling of being free of all burdens. This was an experience he had never experienced before, so he was trying hard to grasp it.

    Eventually, Xue Wei smiled. "I will let my name resound throughout the entire world. And one day I will end the war between humans and beasts here on this continent. I will make it so that no more people will suffer a fate like yours, brother. This will be your evesting legacy!" Xue Wei said to nothing in particr, but in his mind he saw the once familiar figure of Tie Haolong smiling at him.

 Chapter 237: Blue Phoenix Carriage

    "Oh, you finished already?" Lan sat on a reclining chair in the middle of the snow-coveredndscape. He seemed as if he was enjoying himself greatly.

    His face had been looking up at the clouded sky all this time. His lips were curled into a slight smile which grew in size when he spotted them in the distance.

    "Revenge does not always take a long time," Xue Wei said honestly. "I am from the Kingdom of Heping, but it is for the best that I do not meet my old acquaintances after killing so many of their kingdom¡¯s most important people."

    "So you have a bit of reason left within you," Lan praised while nodding his head. "Well, in that case, I will create a transdimensional tunnel for you," he said and stood up in an elegant fashion.

    Lan was as always wearing white clothes with blue embroideries of a snake with four wings ¨C a mingshe. Mingshes were known as treasure hoarders, and the mingshe on Lan¡¯s clothes was embroidered with blue thread.

    As to whether or not this meant that Lan had something inmon with the beast, since he too seemed to enjoy hoarding treasure, or if there was another reason, Xue Wei did not know, but he realized that all the clothes the prophet had worn so far had had this four-winged snake as a pattern.

    Lan seemed to notice his nce, but he said nothing and just smiled. "So how is a transdimensional tunnel made?" Xue Wei asked curiously. As far as he was aware, he and the others were not going to leave the dimension they were in, so how could it be called a transdimensional tunnel?

    "This tunnel is simr to the one used when leaving this world," Lan said seriously; for once the smile on his lips had vanished. "If I were to make a normal space tunnel towards the Demon Phoenix Continent, it would take you at least a year or two to arrive, but the transdimensional tunnel can expedite that down to only a few months."

    "The reason it is so much faster is that you will actually be leaving our dimension and traveling through the void. This is extremely fast, but it is also quite dangerous," Lan continued.

    "Dangerous?" Xue Wei frowned. Why had he not mentioned this before?

    "Well, I did mention the spatial storms, right?" Lan asked. Xue Wei had a pondering look on his face. It did sound somewhat familiar.

    "Anyway, if you have not heard about it before, then let me exin it now. Spatial storms are dreadful because they consist of heavenly tribtion lightning. It is impossible to survive if you get blindsided by one, but it is quite rare to encounter a spatial storm. So hope for the best!"

    "Maybe we should take a spatial tunnel instead?" Xue Wei asked with a little vexation. He did not like the idea of hinging his chances of surviving the trip on luck. Certain death was something he was not a big fan of.

    "They can appear in spatial tunnels, too," Lan grinned, "but don¡¯t worry. The storms move very slowly. So even if you see one, you should be fine as long as you don¡¯t get caught. You should be able to outrun it."

    Xue Wei thought through the pros and cons and finally nodded his head with gritted teeth. "I cannot make a decision for the others as this is a question of life and death," he began, "but I understand that with rewardse certain risks. If I want to get to the Demon Phoenix Continent faster, then I ought to take said risk and hope to not encounter any spatial storms."

    "I am with you," Hei Gou said casually. He would follow Xue Wei anywhere, as he was his most trusted friend.

    "I am also going," Bai Tianyi said with a slight smile on his face. Even if he encountered heavenly tribtion, he would not die.

    Lin Xiao was the one who was quiet for the longest time, but then he spread out his arms in defeat. "Life has been boring for me," he said smilingly, "so I might as well risk my life and go to another continent. If I don¡¯t make it, then I can only me my bad luck, but if I make it, then I will be able to experience a whole new world. That will be so exciting! So I am going with you too."

    "So four people are going through the tunnel," Lan summarized and smiled with a nod of his head. "That will require a ratherrge tunnel. I guess I should lend you one of my treasures," he said, and suddenly a small miniature carriage appeared in his hand. It looked like a toy carriage and was only around ten centimeters high and long.

    The carriage did not have anything pulling it. It was made from gold and looked incredibly exquisite. Four blue phoenixes decorated its four walls.

    "I stole this before I left home," Lan said with a snicker. "Actually, I stole many treasures from my father before I left home, but he never bothereding to pick them up again. Now I will lend you this carriage. It is called the Blue Phoenix Carriage."

    Xue Wei looked at the carriage very curiously. What could a toy carriage like that even do?

    But the moment it left Lan¡¯s hand, it expanded until it was a full five meters long and two and a half meter tall. The carriage was massive!

    "You can ride this," Lan said smilingly. "Before you leave the transdimensional tunnel, just send it back and it will return to me naturally."

    Xue Wei felt great gratitude towards Lan for taking out such a marvelous treasure to make their travels much smoother.

    "Don¡¯t mind it," he said when he saw Xue Wei was about to thank him, "just get me the Thunder me Crown. I don¡¯t want anything else."

    Lan grinned. Xue Wei suddenly had the feeling that this crown would be much harder to get than his initial estimations. If it was easy to get, Lan would not constantly remind him about it. He also would not be as helpful as he was.

    Xue Wei grit his teeth, feeling that he had been cheated by Lan. Was it even possible to get the Thunder me Crown?

    Still, he was not going to mention it out loud. He had already agreed, and even if Lan had tricked him, he had his pride. He was going to do everything in his power to retrieve the Thunder me Crown for Lan.

    "When you are inside the Blue Phoenix Carriage, you will be safe from basically everything apart from a spatial storm. As soon as the carriage senses a spatial storm close by, it will change course and find a different path through the tunnel."

    Xue Wei nodded his head. This was truly a great boon. "In that case, I will see you when we return to the Chang¡¯an Continent," was Xue Wei¡¯s note of departure, but Lan just smiled mysteriously. "We might see each other before then," he said andughed. "I mighte visit you at some point to see how it is going with the Thunder me Crown."

    Xue Wei could feel a headacheing his way. Lan was truly outrageous. There was no way that he could not get the Thunder me Crown if he wanted to do it himself, but he clearly did not want to and instead sent Xue Wei to do it for him.

    "Oh right," Lan suddenly looked at Xue Wei. "I almost forgot! If you can, get close to the Vermilion Bird n. They are at the Demon Phoenix Continent, and they have something that can prove to be very beneficial to you."

    "The Vermilion Bird n?" Xue Wei was surprised. "I am an Azure Dragon. What exactly does the Vermilion Bird n have that could be of use to me?"

    Lan smiled mysteriously but said nothing. It was clear that he did not want to tell the young man just yet.

    "Get ready to go now!" Lan grinned. "Also, remember, your mother was the holy maiden of all beasts. There was a reason for this. You definitely have to visit the Vermilion Bird n."

    ¡°Also take this,¡± Lan tossed a ring to Xue Wei, who caught it out of the air. When he saw it, he recognized it right away. He was stunned. This was the heritage ring that his uncle had given him. Why did Lan have this?

    Unfortunately, he had no time to ask before Lan repeated, ¡°Vermilion Bird n!¡± and then turned around, clearly not willing to talk any longer.

    Xue Wei was extremely puzzled, but seeing how Lan had offhandedly given him the heritage ring and that he had kept reminding him quite a few times about the Vermilion Bird n, he could only nod his head. He had no idea what he was supposed to in the Vermillion Bird n, but hopefully he would find an answer when he got there.

    "Thank you.¡± Xue Wei said to Lan, who just raised his hand and waved dismissively.

    ¡°Well then, one thing at a time," Xue Wei said with a sigh. "Let us first get through this transdimensional tunnel and survive. Then we¡¯ll find the Thunder me Crown, and while we¡¯re at it, we¡¯ll find the Vermillion Bird n."

    "Seems like we have a lot of exciting adventures in front of us." Lin Xiao grinned when he heard Xue Wei sum up their ns, and even Hei Gou and Bai Tianyi gave excited looks.

    "Ever since I split the world into continents, I have not been away from the continent of Chang¡¯an," Bai Tianyiined slightly. "I am excited to see how the other continents have developed throughout the many years."

    Having said this, the group of four stepped up the smalldders into the carriage. All of them were shocked when they saw the luxurious interior. The four sides of the carriage had four benches, big enough for one toy on them and sleepfortably. Fierce and Primordial Beast furs wereying all over the benches and cushions made from the finest silks were also ced everywhere.

    The only thing that wascking for this to be the most extravagant ride was refreshments, but considering that it was a carriage that grew in size, it made sense that there were no such things.

    They each took one of the benches and sat down. Lin Xiao began cultivating. Bai Tianyi also began cultivating, but he quickly stopped as the carriage entered into the transdimensional tunnel. There was no such thing as soul power within this tunnel. There was only heaven-and-earth essence here, and it was even denser than the essence in the center of the Chang¡¯an Continent. This could perhaps very literally be called heaven for Qi cultivators.

    Xue Wei pondered for a moment before he looked at Hei Gou. "So far, we have mutated your bloodline once," he said. "We are going to mutate it one more time, but we needed somewhere safe to do it all this time. I don¡¯t think that we will find any ce safer than here."

    "Although there is a chance we might run into a spatial storm, the truth is that the carriage will try to avoid it on its own. We should be fine so long as we are inside."

    Hei Gou¡¯s eyes shone in excitement. He had been the weakest of their group for a long time, but it was likely that he would jump in cultivation base and once more be a reliable support for his friends with that second mutation.

    Xue Wei and Hei Gou each cut a long wound on their arms. The blood from Xue Wei¡¯s arm dropped into the wound on Hei Gou¡¯s arm and mixed with the blood within. A sizzling sound could be heard as the blood mixed. Hei Gou suddenly started grimacing in pain.

    Sweat poured out from his forehead and he was clenching his teeth so hard that Xue Wei feared that they would shatter. His eyes bulged, his body trembled, and he copsed on the ground, his entire body spasming.

    "Seems like the second mutation is much more perilous," Xue Wei said with worry. It was definitely different fromst time, but he was not too worried. He was certain that Hei Gou could make it through, and what waited at the end was a much greater and more fearsome version of him!

    All the heaven-and-earth essence in the surrounding tunnel was drawn to Hei Gou. It poured into him like a maelstrom, and his body was greedily absorbing it all. He kept panting in pain and sometimes released a groan.

    Xue Wei, Lin Xiao and Bai Tianyi were all observing the changes in Hei Gou with rapt attention. They were clearly worried that something might go wrong.

 Chapter 238: Mutation

    Hei Gou was fighting with the pain that was wreaking havoc in his body. He was not losing his consciousness, but the pain was so severe that it made him wish that he could slip into unconsciousness or even die. Still, he understood that his strength would skyrocket if he managed to persevere through this. He could feel it rising as things were right now.

    Xue Wei and Lin Xiao could not cultivate as all the heaven-and-earth essence in the carriage was being greedily absorbed by Hei Gou.

    At first, they were watching over him, fearful that something would go wrong, but after a day they understood that they could do nothing about it.

    Xue Wei sat back on his bench and found all the many different martial art techniques that he had gotten in the auction back in Golden Crow City.

    There were a full twenty-nine techniques in front of him; most of them were superior ranked and there were also a few profound martial art techniques.

    A few of them were sword techniques, some relied on the physical body and some used spiritual energy.

    Xue Wei sorted them all out while sometimes ncing at the pain-riddled Hei Gou to ensure that he was still alive.

    First, he sorted the abilities after their type. One stack consisted of the ones that require spiritual energy, the other of the ones that require Qi.

    After having split them into these two groups, he further split the Qi techniques into another two depending on whether they required a weapon or not.

    After this, he was surrounded by three stacks of martial art techniques.

    He quickly ced the Qi techniques into his storage ring and focused on the spiritual energy techniques.

    The first book he picked up was about a superior skill called Mind Vision. It was a nonbat ability, but it had great uses. It allowed the user to see through the eyes of their targets, without the target being able to sense it.

    He quickly started practicing this ability with Bai Tianyi as his target. The reason he chose Tianyi was very simple ¨C he was the best at using spiritual energy among them, so once he manages to use it without Tianyi noticing, then it would have been perfected.

    Lin Xiao kept watching Hei Gou closely while talking with Bai Tianyi. They could not cultivate and they had no skills to practice so they engaged in casual banter.

    "So you were a genius only seen once in a millennium? What is so special about you?" Bai Tianyi asked in a slightly rude way, but Lin Xiao did not seem upset about it.

    "I can determine whether or not a person is a human or beast with a single nce," Lin Xiao said with some pride. Bai Tianyi looked at him with praise in his eyes. "That must be very convenient," he could not help but state in praise. Lin Xiao grinned at him.

    "At the same time, I also have cultivation talent that is almost second to none," Lin Xiao continued smugly. "I was supposed to be in the army by now, but because of my outstanding performance and value, the temple would not let me go and got a permission to keep me away."

    "I had looked forward to leaving that stale old temple and seeing the world for once, but I got nothing but old men telling me to train hard. I couldn¡¯t bear living like that for the rest of my life! I had no choice but to escape."

    Bai Tianyi could see some desperation in Lin Xiao¡¯s eyes, as if his old lifestyle had been dreadfully oppressive to him.

    "Well, I am sure you will experience quite a thrilling life following us around," Bai Tianyi was not sure of what else to say.

    Lin Xiao nodded his head. "I have no doubt about that," he said decisively.

    Like this, time passed by. Hei Gou¡¯s groans of pain were growing less frequent, he stopped trembling as much, and at some point he managed to prop himself up and sit with his legs crossed. Although the pain was still wreaking havoc in his body, he had now managed to control it.

    Last time he underwent a mutation, his body had changed and evolved, but now every cell in his body was mutating. He would no longer be a Celestial Dog once his mutation ends. He would be apletely new race.

    Xue Wei nced at him from time to time, but most of his focus was on learning Mind Vision, which he slowly mastered.

    At the start, Bai Tianyi could clearly sense every time Xue Wei cast the ability, but as time went on he had to actively search his mind to see whether or not his friend had started tapping his vision, and eventually he could not even sense this.

    On the third day, Xue Wei smiled happily as he had finally mastered the Mind Vision to the very limit. At the same time, Hei Gou spat out a mouthful of foul air and slowly opened his eyes, which were glowing golden.

    His hair was still ck, but there was a dark purple shine to it. His body seemed much stronger than it had been before, the muscles bulging under his clothes.

    "Are you okay now?" Xue Wei asked curiously and with some concern. "It seemed to be a rather tough mutationpared tost."

    "It was painful!" Hei Gou instantly wheezed. His voice was slightly hoarse as if his throat had dried up.

    "I have never experienced a pain like this before, but everything about my body has been changed. I cannot wait to see what my original shape has changed to, but I can¡¯t very well try it out in here considering the sheer size.

    "I can feel my entire body bursting with energy. In the future I will no longer hold you back!" He grinned as he looked himself over. "I am now at the ninthyer of the Earth Knight rank with my physical strength, and my Qi level has risen all the way to the fourthyer of the Earth Knight realm!"

    Xue Wei raised an eyebrow in surprise. Hei Gou¡¯s advance was even better than when he had his bloodline awakened the first time around. It was clear how frightening the blood awakening had been this time.

    Hei Gou was ecstatic. He had been the weakest in their group for quite some time, but now he was once more a reliable fighter. His innate talent had also improved drastically now that he had mutated again. It was likely that he would never fall far behind in the future in terms of cultivation alone.

    Xue Wei looked at Hei Gou and nodded his head. It made sense that he had benefited greatly after undergoing such a painful procedure.

    He did not envy Hei Gou. Rather, he was very happy for his friend, and felt that he deserved it after struggling for so long.

    Xue Wei looked at his hand and nced at the Heritage Ring adorning his finger. He had not activated it since he had gotten it back. He was not sure if he should.

    This was a present from Xiao Lei, and it was clearly not a simple treasure. It was definitely very valuable, but he was still unsure of whether or not he should use it to raise his strength. His emotions towards his uncle were still incrediblyplex.

    "That is the Heritage Ring?" Bai Tianyi noticed hisplex nce and saw what he was looking at. He quickly guessed Xue Wei¡¯s emotions.

    "It will be a shame not using the ring," he voiced his thoughts. "The techniques within the Heritage Ring are definitely the cream of the crop. They will make you much stronger, and make our survivability much better."

    Xue Wei understood what Bai Tianyi meant. Even if he feltplex emotions towards his uncle, he still understood that said uncle cared deeply for him.

    He sighed. He could notpletely control his emotions, but he understood what Bai Tianyi meant. If he could raise his strength even if just a little, then he should do so.

    They were about to encounter a new continent, a ce they had no idea about, and thus their only option was to prepare brute strength, bing as strong as possible that is, as their final card.

    Nodding his head, he decided it was time to put his emotions aside. Xue Wei poured his Qi into the ring.

    He was not sure what exactly to expect when he poured the Qi into his ring. It had been a long time since hest used the Heritage Ring, so a lot of skills could appear at once.

    Unfortunately, the skills suited for the earlier ranks were locked because he had exceeded them already, and as a result he could only unlock the skills avable to the Ordinary Knight rank.

    Still, they were not weak. Four abilities appeared in front of him in the form of four differentplex words that hovered in the air before they shot into his mind.

    Of these abilities, the first two were spiritual energy skills and the other two were Qi martial art techniques.

    The first ability was called the Sky¡¯s Judgement and created lightning bolts from Qi. Imitating the heavenly tribtion lightning, it struck nine times, each time stronger than the other.

    Sky¡¯s Judgement was a profound martial art technique that required the user to constantly channel Qi into the art before being able to fully unleash the might of the nine lightning strikes.

    The second ability was Qi mestrike. This technique made one¡¯s Qi imitate mes and shoot from the ground while hurting anyone you wished to hurt in your surroundings. The drain of Qi while using this skill was immense, but the results were equally destructive.

    It was rare to find an ability that could hit more than one person at a time, so these techniques were safely guarded by those who owned them. It was something Xue Wei would not have found if not for the Heritage Ring.

    The third ability used spiritual energy and was called Psychic Wrath. It was a direct attack, allowing one to materialize spiritual energy as a seal in one¡¯s hand. Simr to normal Qi attacks, physical contact was required tond it.

    Psychic Wrath was also rather spectacr because of its ability to manifest spiritual energy outside of the body and create a seal from it. Usually, spiritual energy was used to infiltrate another¡¯s mind, so to be able to do this, it was without a doubt a great feat.

    The final ability was called Deadly Whispers. What this ability did was cause the target to suddenly sumb to their worries, which echoed in their mind as though someone was incessantly whispering it into their ears, seeking to corrode their mind.

    All of the abilities were profound martial art techniques. Xue Wei was especially very keen on Deadly Whispers, as he would be able to use this ability on multiple targets to lower their abilities during a battle. Even if they were able to endure for some time, it would be impossible to not be affected by it.

    These four skills made his head hurt as they embedded themselves in his mind. The others did not speak to him meanwhile. They all understood that he had to digest and understand the techniques before they could converse with him again, lest they disturb his learning.

    Xue Wei sat with his legs crossed and tried to slowlyprehend his new abilities.

    Lin Xiao and Hei Gou were patiently waiting for him to finish, but Bai Tianyi was on the other hand especially impatient. He had seen the quick overview of the abilities and noticed that two of them were spiritual energy attacks. He wanted to learn about them, and if possible, he wanted to inherit them as well!

 Chapter 239: Where is This?

    It took Xue Wei a few hours to fullyprehend the newest techniques that he had acquired from the Heritage Ring. The technique had been embedded into his mind, giving him an initial understanding of them. That would make it easier to begin his training.

    It was, unfortunately, not possible to train his newfound abilities within the carriage. They were quite destructive and he could not help but shiver when he thought about Lan¡¯s face if he ended up injuring the treasure that thetter had stolen from his dad.

    It seemed that his only possibility would be to train Mind Vision. Whether it was Psychic Wrath or Deadly Whispers, it was a bad idea to train them here, as his friends were the only ones around that he could use them on. While Deadly Whispers would not truly harm them, it was not pleasant either.

    The moment Xue Wei opened his eyes, he found that the other three were looking intently at him. He was perplexed. "Is there anything on my face?" he asked with confusion, trying to interpret their expressions.

    "No, no, we are just curious about your new techniques," Bai Tianyi said, grinning. Lin Xiao was curious about his Qi techniques as they were beneficial to him, and Bai Tianyi was very curious about the spiritual energy techniques as they could raise his strength.

    Neither of them wanted to be the first to bring it up. Both of them just looked at him with puppy eyes, hoping that he understood it himself, and luckily for them, he did.

    Xue Wei startedughing when he understood their expression and what it meant. "So it is like that." He grinned, and then nodded his head. "You are myrades," he continued seriously and stood up. He moved towards the three that had huddled up together on one bench to watch him and wait for him to finish hisprehension until now.

    He stood before the three, reached out his hand and flicked their foreheads. Although the flick was quite strong, he was perfectly well aware that the pain it brought to them would be minute and almost negligible.

    "As myrades and friends, all my techniques are yours as well. Just say the word and I will make a jade slip for you with the techniques imprinted in it."

    Having said this, he retrieved two empty jade slips from his storage ring and sat down next to them. He cleared his mind, closed his eyes, and ced the jade slip on his forehead.

    He found all the information he had about the Sky¡¯s Judgement and Qi mestrike and added them to the jade slip. He went through his mind a couple of times to make sure that the techniques werepletely engraved into the jade slip before he slowly took the jade slip from his forehead and opened his eyes.

    "Here, this contains two profound Qi martial arts techniques," Xue Wei said as he handed it to Lin Xiao.

    Before even giving Lin Xiao the time to say thank you, he closed his eyes again and did the same with Psychic Wrath and Deadly Whispers. This time he handed the finished jade slip over to Bai Tianyi.

    The two who got the jade slips were ecstatic. Bai Tianyi already had some spiritual energy techniques, but not enough. He had been cultivating both spiritual energy and Qi when he was an apex expert, but he specialized in Qi, which is why his arsenal of spiritual energy attacks was so sparse.

    So far he had been able to merge spiritual energy together with sword energy for all his offensive needs, but if he had more spiritual energy techniques, he could exhaust himself less and still cause problems for their enemies.

    Right now, Bai Tianyi had gone from being the strongest of the three to now being the weakest. This was something that troubled him greatly, even more so now that he was incapable of progressing in his own cultivation while they were in the trans-dimensional tunnel.

    Xue Wei went back to his own corner and then sat down again. He finally had a peace and time to himself, so he decided to start refining the cultivation bases of all those people his Devouring Azure Dragon had eaten from the fight back in the kingdom of Heping.

    He had been at the seventhyer of the Ordinary Knight realm in terms of Qi level when the battle began, but because he had used his Devouring Azure Dragon, he had fallen to the sixthyer of the Ordinary Knight realm ¨C the same rank as his spiritual energy.

    Xue Wei was slowly refining the cultivation bases. He felt how the energy kept pouring out of the small Azure Dragon Spirit in his dantian, and that more and more Qi dragons appeared in his veins, all of them more realistic than the previous and at the same time appearing deeper and deeper azure.

    The energy in the carriage was now greedily being absorbed by Xue Wei. He was so energized and felt how the heaven-and-earth essence was being swallowed by every single Qi Dragon, turning into a stream that merged with the cultivation bases before they entered his dantian to be refined at the same time.

    The trip slowly advanced. Bai Tianyi was extremely bored because he could not train, so instead he was pondering on life issues and kept the other threepany when they were not training.

    The carriage turned around a few times as it sensed the spatial storms that were in their surroundings, avoiding them all in the nick of time.

    This trans-dimensional tunnel went through the void. It was dangerous and risky, but this was their fastest means of travel at present, and when they were in the Blue Phoenix Carriage, they never noticed the dangers of the trip because the carriage itself took care of everything.

    The so-called dangerous trip quickly turned into a casual boring cultivation trip where three of them spent all their time cultivating and the fourth was bored to death.

    Xue Wei managed to advance his Qi levels to the eightyer of the Ordinary Knight rank, but he made no progress in spiritual energy because the tunnel was bereft of soul power. Bai Tianyi had no obvious increase strength but he still spent the time practicing his control of the sword energy. Although his rank seemed unchanged, the time spent pondering and meditating on the sword energy and its uses had great effect to his actual strength. Hei Gou consolidated his strength and Lin Xiao also strengthened his foundations.

    Finally, the carriage that had been moving constantly day in and day out stopped. The four inside the carriage opened their eyes and looked at each other, excitement evident in their eyes. They slowly stood up and opened the carriage door.

    There were no windows in the carriage, and since it had been moving non-stop for so long, none of them had been outside of the carriage for all the time they had been in the trans-dimensional tunnel. As a matter of fact, they had no idea what it looked like inside the tunnel.

    Now that they exited the carriage, they could see that what surrounded them was not a trans-dimensional tunnel, unlike what they had expected. Instead, it was a long grassy ne. Above them was the blue sky, spotted with beautiful cotton-like clouds and a sun that shone strongly down upon them.

    When they turned around they just managed to get a nce at a spatial tear in the fabrics of reality, leading to a blue expanse with many stars all around, both above, beneath and to the sides.

    The carriage returned to this spatial tear shortly after they stepped out, and then the spatial tear closed itself, leaving the four alone in the grassy expanse, unaware of what exactly to make of themselves.

    "This is the Demon Phoenix Continent?" Xue Wei asked tentatively, but he was answered with questioning nces from the other experts in the group.

    "You ask me, but who can I ask?" Bai Tianyi asked, perplexed. He truly had no clue. In fact, none of them did.

    "This could just as well be a part of Chang¡¯an for all that I know," Hei Gou said hesitatingly. "I am sure that such a vast grassy expanse could be anywhere."

    "Well, we will get no answers by staying here," Lin Xiao finally said, looking as lost as the others. "We ought to start moving. The question is just, which way?"

    The four experts looked at one another, hesitating. Where should they go?

    "In the end, it does not matter," Xue Wei finally came to a decision. He might not be the strongest in their group, but when it came to making the final decisions, he was no doubt the best suited.

    "Let us just walk forward," Xue Wei said and began walking through the grassy expanse. "No matter what way we walk, we cannot know the result, so this is heavily relying on luck."

    The other three could say nothing to this conclusion. He waspletely correct.

    They moved forward, but not at a leisurely pace. They flew as fast as they could to get out of the vast expanse as soon as possible.

    Unfortunately, this grassy field was much bigger than they had expected. After flying for a full two hours, they still could not see the edge of the field. Where there had previously been no beasts, beasts started appearing, but all of them were of lower intellect, being Fierce Beasts.

    Xue Wei was puzzled. On Chang¡¯an, the Fierce Beasts had all avoided him as much as they could, but here they seemed curious about him.

    At first, when a Cloud Leopard appeared, Xue Wei and the others stopped in their tracks, ready to fight, but the leopard just nced at them curiously. It appeared to be especially curiously when it looked at Xue Wei before it nodded its head and left again.

    This was a scene that happened again and again. More and more beasts came to see Xue Wei, and he started to feel like a monkey in the zoo. All the Fierce Beasts in the vast field seemed to rush towards him just to get a nce at him.

    Not knowing whether tough or to cry, Xue Wei looked at them too. There were races of Fierce Beasts he had never seen before, but it was clear that none of them were Primordial Beasts.

    "Oh look, now it is a bird-type beast!" Lin Xiao said to the others and pointed at the sky. He did rightfully so, as a majestic eagle with a wingspan of three meters was flying in the air above them, looking down on Xue Wei with curiosity in its eyes before it screeched and flew away again.

    "This is quite fun." Bai Tianyi grinned as he looked around them. "Over there is a rather ferocious-looking rabbit!" he said as he pointed into the distance where a white rabbit with fangs and blood red eyes was seated, looking at them with a vibrating nose.

    Xue Wei felt quite unsettled. What had caused all these beasts to show such curiosity towards him?

    But they did not stop moving forward, continuing at top speed. Soon, they suddenly saw a human cultivator not far away from them.

    "Halt!" the cultivator called out loudly. Xue Wei and the others stopped in their tracks. They were not willing to insult someone right after arriving. They had already lived a life being chased as convicts. They did not want to experience that again as soon as they came to this new ce.

    "Oh, it is just a group of two-eyed idiots," the person muttered. Xue Wei heard that thanks to his sharp hearing and was startled.

    When he took in the appearance of the person in front of him, he quickly blinked a few times to ensure that what he saw was indeed correct, and then he looked at the others, who also looked with utter perplexity at the person in front of them.

    Where they had two eyes, this person had a third in the middle. All three were red like blood, looking extremely eerie.

    "What¡¯s wrong?!" the person asked, feeling insulted when he saw their gawking expressions. "Have you never seen a three-eyed saint before?"

    "No..." Xue Wei answered honestly. "Could you perhaps tell us what the name of this continent is?"

 Chapter 240: Eyes

    The three-eyed person narrowed his three eyes and looked at Xue Wei with undisguised suspicion.

    He then moved closer to Xue Wei and started to circle around him, looking at him from every single angle.

    "Your clothes are rather foreign. I cannot recognize the material," he said with a nod of his head. "The style is different, and the armor is also quite different."

    "Your strength is passable, definitely not a strength that you should have been able to achieve with only two eyes at your tender age."

    "Where are you from?"

    The man had examined him and came to the conclusion that Xue Wei was not lying; he was indeed a stranger to their continent and the three-eyed man could not help but feel curious about the outside world.

    "Wee from the continent of Chang¡¯an," Xue Wei answered honestly. He doubted that his name would resound all the way from the continent of Chang¡¯an to this continent, but he was still not sure about where they were.

    "Chang¡¯an?" The man looked puzzled and seemed to contemte for some time. "I have never heard about that continent before. Can¡¯t be a very big or important one," he concluded, leaving Xue Wei and the others coughing. One thing was to think it, but to say it directly, was this not a bit too rude?

    "Come with me," the man said and waved for them to follow him. With a look at each other, the four of them quickly nodded their heads. No words were spoken, all of them felt that they could follow this man, for now. They felt no hostility from him so following him seemed like a safe choice.

    The three-eyed young man led them across the in. He moved as fast as them, but a look at him told them that his Qi level was rather low, at most around the Heavenly Warrior rank. This was puzzling.

    Still, in half an hour, the group arrived at a rather sizeable camp. It seemed to be housing around a thousand people. As to whether or not they were all experts, Xue Wei did not know. He had no knowledge about this continent so he dared not even make any mindless guesses.

    There were other three-eyed cultivators standing guard at the camp, and Xue Wei even saw a four-eyed cultivator walk inside. The guards were extremely polite, to the point of being submissive, towards this individual.

    "Wait here," the guard said as he entered the camp. Their group was quickly noticed by others and many looked at them. For some reason, they all showed looks of disdain towards their group of four. It was clear that they were being looked down upon.

    "There are so many eyes," Hei Gou said with a low voice, and the other three nodded their heads. It was indeed confusing to see people with this many eyes. Was this really the Demon Phoenix Continent?

    They were all puzzled and realized that they had been told nothing about the continent they were to enter, only that the Vermilion Bird n existed here.

    Did they also have more eyes than normal?

    While the four of them were in deep thought about the many-eyed people, confused about where they might have ended up, the guard that had led them there returned, this time with an elderly man who had four eyes.

    The man was being treated extremely respectfully by everyone on his way over, so Xue Wei understood that he had a high standing.

    He stopped in front of Xue Wei and his friends. His eyes swept over them and although there was a slight sense of superiority in his eyes, he did not show direct disdain for them.

    "I hear you are from the Chang¡¯an Continent?" he asked. Xue Wei nodded his head and answered, "Yes, we hail from the Continent of Chang¡¯an. Could you, sir, perhaps tell us where this is?"

    "This is Yan Dalu." the man said, causing Xue Wei to bepletely confused. "Yan Dalu?" he asked. "Not the Demon Phoenix Continent?"

    The four-eyed elder snickered when he heard this. He shook his head. "I am afraid that if you were going for the Demon Phoenix Continent, then you will be disappointed. This continent is called Yan Dalu."

    "Yan Dalu is not far from the Demon Phoenix Continent, but it takes around a year to travel across the sea. Not to mention that you would have to cross the entire continent first. Also, your strength is not bad, butpared to the strength needed at the Demon Phoenix Continent, it is definitely insufficient."

    "I think you should praise the lucky star that you arrived here and not on the Demon Phoenix Continent. Had you arrived there, you would have been in for a lot of trouble."

    "It was not a lucky star that brought us here, but Lan," Xue Wei muttered, but his voice was so low that no one heard him. The four-eyed elder continued talking unabated. It was clear that he was feeling excitement because of these people who came from outside the continent.

    "Yan Dalu is quite different from most of the other continents," he began. "First, let me tell you a bit about the history of the world from way before it became a continent. Around ten thousand years ago, it was possible to have mixed races. Many different halfbreeds and mutations were produced, no one really cared about what race you were: as long as there was love, there would be a way."

    "The ancestors of Yan Dalu were such figures. They were a mixture between Golden-Crowned Five-Eyed Lions and humans. The Golden-Crowned Five-Eyed Lion is now an extinct race, but they were a Primordial Beast. The king of all Primordial Beasts, even."

    "Many of these descendants had a mutation. They seemed human, but they had more eyes than normal humans. The more eyes one had, the purer one¡¯s bloodline was."

    "One¡¯s bloodline does not only determine one¡¯s ability and achievements in the future, but it also gave us outstanding powers and innate abilities."

    "All of these descendants ended up bing overlords of a region of the world. Then some thousand years ago, the world was split into continents, and that was when our region was turned into a continent of its own."

    "On this continent, one¡¯s rank in society is determined by how many eyes one is born with."

    "One eye means that there is something wrong up there, and they are usually considered retards."

    "Two eyes is normal. ny percent of the poption has two eyes. Some of them are normal humans, some of them just do not have a lot of the bloodline. Either way, they are all third-rate citizens."

    "Three eyes means that you have some talent. It is guaranteed that you will one day unlock the first of our three innate abilities."

    "Four eyes mean you are outstanding. It is rare to be born with four eyes, and when you have four eyes, you have to ept a rank of nobility alongside responsibility for certain tasks."

    "Finally, we have the five-eyed experts. They are children sent from the heavens. All the upper echelons of our society belong to the five-eyed experts. They are second to none when ites to natural talent, and they have managed to unlock all the innate abilities."

    "Now, I have exined to you the basic understanding of Yan Dalu. Why don¡¯t youe with me to the camp? We would be very happy if you would apany us back to the Garden of Shadowster, but first, we must finish our training here. You can participate if you wish."

    "Oh right, I forgot to tell you, but I can sense from you that three of you specialize in Qi and not spiritual energy. In our world, spiritual energy is the king. Qi is also trained, but never to the degree of how much we train spiritual energy. Everyone with three or more eyes has a great affinity with spiritual energy due to the psychic nature of the eyes."

    Xue Wei did not consider much. This man had been incredibly amodating and they had understood a lot of things thanks to him. If he had any ulterior motives, he would not have been so weing, so joining him would be much better than leaving on their own and getting lost.

    Seeing that Xue Wei had decided, the other three quickly consented as they had the same opinion as him.

    As they agreed, the smile of the four-eyed man turned brilliant and he introduced himself, "I am Elder Sun. I am the Vice-Principal of the Garden of Shadows."

    "We, the higher-ups of the Yan Dalu, are fond of visitors from overseas, so we look forward to hearing about what kind of continent Chang¡¯an is."

    Xue Wei nodded his head. He had no reason not to tell them about Chang¡¯an. As long as he elegantly glossed over the fact that he was a wanted man, everything would be fine.

    It also seemed as if the Chang¡¯an Continent was rather istedpared to the other continents. Here on Yan Dalu, they knew the location of the Demon Phoenix Continent, and they might even know more about the other continents as well, whereas on Chang¡¯an, most people thought that the other continents were just old folklore.

    "Well, while you are here, although you are outsiders, we cannot look past the fact that everyone will look down upon you due to how our society works," Elder Sun said with a slight grin on his face. "Although our Yan Dalu is unlike the rest of the world with our many eyes, the truth is that everyone with only two eyes, whether they are from our continent or not, will be treated the same way. It means that you are either an ordinary person or one with subpar bloodline purity."

    "So, what is the rtionship between humans and beasts on this continent?" Xue Wei slowly inquired. There were two beasts on their team, him included. If this continent looked down on beasts as well, then he was likely to get into trouble.

    "Beasts?" Elder Sun paused. "Well, Fierce Beasts are not worth a lot," he said after contemting, "but Primordial Beasts, depending on their heritage, are treated as three- or four-eyed experts. Outsider Primordial Beasts might not have the bloodline of the Golden-Crowned Five-Eyed Lion, but they have their own abilities and strengths."

    "Are any of you beasts?" Elder Sun asked curiously, but Xue Wei¡¯s only response was a shrug. He was not going to reveal their secrets just yet. Although he had a good impression of this man, he could not say for sure what the public opinion about Sovereign Beasts was. If he got trapped here, he could only me himself for not being cautious enough.

    Elder Sun could see that he was not willing to answer, and nodded his head. He did not get insulted by theirck of reply. He had expected it. Although he had been very amodating and weing, no one should let go of their guards just like that.

    "Come with me into the camp, I will introduce you to all the main experts of our camp,and then, if it interests you, you can join us on our field trip from tomorrow onwards. I can highly rmending with us - we will even provide you the best amodations for it. This way, you will have both a ce to stay and something to do, right?"

    "There are quite a few experts who are very interested in the outside world, but leaving the continent is harder than it seems. We do not have anyone strong enough to create a normal space tunnel, and not even close to being able to creating a trans-dimensional tunnel, and if they sail out on boats it will take them ages to arrive at the right ce ¨C and most of those who sail out never return."

    "A few outsiders havee to our continent throughout the history of time, but those experts either traveled further or gave up and stayed as guests of Yan Dalu."

    "The only continent we have contact with is, luckily for you, the Demon Phoenix Continent."

    "I understand that your n is to travel to the Demon Phoenix Continent, and if you make some contributions to our people, we can help you get onboard the envoy that goes to the Demon Phoenix Continent once every tenth year. You are in luck because the next envoy is only two years away from now."

 Chapter 241: Join Us

    Xue Wei felt his head hurt from all the information that was being dumped on him in one go. He decided it was time to get heads and tails of everything that had been said and looked at Elder Sun while straightening his thoughts.

    "So Yan Dalu has contact with the Demon Phoenix Continent, but only once every tenth year?" he started out asking. Elder Sun nodded his head.

    The Elder had realized that he had been a bit too hasty with his exnation, but he had been very eager to make them stay for those two years. There were some secrets on Yan Dalu that themon people did not know about, but as a member of the higher echelons of society and as the vice-principal of Garden of Shadows, he was aware of most of these secrets.

    "There are now two years until the next delegation will be sent to the Demon Phoenix Continent, and if we contribute enough, we will be allowed to tag along on the boat?" Xue Wei continued. Elder Sun once more nodded his head, while also adding: "Not only will you be allowed on the boat, you will also be treated as a great guest. A guest like that will have a much easier time in the Demon Phoenix Continent than if you had to fight for your standing from the get go."

    Now it was Xue Wei¡¯s turn to nod his head. Being regarded as esteemed guests from outside in the Demon Phoenix Continent would definitely be a great benefit for when they were aiming for the Thunder me Crown.

    "So, until then we are to stay in Yan Dalu the next two years and rake in merits. However, how can we do so? Is there a war ongoing on the continent or are there some other kind of issues that need help to be dealt with?"

    This was the point that worried Xue Wei the most. How exactly could they earn merit points? This continent seemed very calmpared to Chang¡¯an. There was no war for supremacy, and the hierarchy was already properly established.

    "Merits can be earned in many ways," Elder Sun smiled. "One of these ways is to participate in the event we have ongoing now, but only students can participate so I need you to swear a heavenly oath to never betray the Garden of Shadows before you can: the oath is quite flexible though, it states that as long as the Garden of Shadows does not treat you unfairly, you cannot betray it. However should we treat you unfairly, then we are the ones who have betrayed you."

    Xue Wei frowned. Was this not too good a situation for him and his friends? What was it exactly that this Elder Sun wanted from them? His personality seemed very friendly, to the point that it was suspicious.

    Looking at Bai Tianyi, Lin Xiao, and Hei Gou, he noticed that all of them were looking at him with the same suspicion in their eyes. They wanted Xue Wei to take the final decision, and this was something that weighed heavily on his mind.

    "I understand your worry," Elder Sun said understandingly. He looked at Xue Wei but did not pressure him. He was willing to wait for Xue Wei to reach a decision on his own.

    Truthfully, it was his personal wish that he joined the Garden of Shadows. It was not necessary for Xue Wei and hisrades to do that.

    "It is easier to gain merit points while being in our academy," Elder Sun said after a bit of time. "We give out missions that you can take and earn merit points, which you can then use to exchange for various things."

    "Do it," Bai Tianyi was the first to speak. "Just make sure to include that the academy cannot betray you. Then it doesn¡¯t matter if you cannot betray them either."

    "Yeah, we were not nning on staying here for two years, but considering the fact that they only send out a delegation every tenth year, this is already considered fortunate," Hei Gou added.

    Xue Wei then looked at Lin Xiao, who shrugged his shoulders. "I have always wanted to go to school," he grinned, looking rather excited.

    Seeing the support he was getting from his three friends, Xue Wei could not help but chuckle and nod his head. "Okay," he said after a bit of time. "We will do it like that, then."

    Elder Sun was excited to hear that Xue Wei agreed. This was without a doubt what he had been wishing for.

    "Follow me," he said with a big grin on his four-eyed face and turned to enter the camp. The other people in the camp gave them disdainful as they passed by.

    Even if they were outsiders, they only had two eyes. It was clear to these people that having only two eyes meant they were lesser.

    "This is almost as bad as the beast war on Chang¡¯an," Hei Gou muttered when he saw the clear contempt that these experts felt for them.

    There were many experts with three eyes among the inhabitants here. In fact, ny-five percent of the people who they saw had three eyes, while the final five had four. They did not encounter anyone with five eyes, but when Xue Wei brought up this question, Elder Sun looked at him as if he heard the biggest joke.

    "Five eyes are the monarchs in this world," he said seriously. "Anyone who is born with five eyes will instantly be adopted by the Emperor, bing royalty. Their talent is so outstanding and their abilities are otherworldly. They cannot be sent out on a mission like this."

    Xue Wei finally understood that the five-eyed experts were incredibly rare. "How many five-eyed experts exist?" He asked curiously, half expecting that Elder Sun would not answer as it could be considered a secret of their continent.

    Unexpected, Elder Sun did not hesitate and answered right away, "We have a full two hundred and seven five-eyed experts right now. Although the number sounds like a lot, we have to remember that this continent has billions of people. To only have two hundred and seven already shows how rare they are."

    At first, Xue Wei had indeed thought that two hundred and seven was a high number, but when it was put into the perspective of the continent¡¯s total poption, it was indeed very few.

    Continuing forward, they reached the middle of the camp. Many were looking curiously at them at the beginning, especially since Vice-Principal Sun had brought them himself, but when they saw that the four only had two eyes each, all of them lost their interest.

    Even if there was a chance that they could be Primordial Beasts, their rank would still be beneath the three, four and five-eyed experts due to their bloodline being different.

    Xue Wei and the others ignored the contempt that was sent their way. Their aloof behavior caused the many-eyed experts to feel perplexed and rather shocked. No one with only two eyes had previously been so casual in front of them!

    Some snorted with arrogance and swore that they would get back at them with time, others were amazed and felt that perhaps these experts were different and yet some did not care.

    Elder Sun was astounded by the fact that Xue Wei and hisrades were capable ofpletely ignoring the many people who looked down upon them. Apparently their mental fortitude was much stronger than he had expected.

    It required some mental fortitude topletely ignore such arge quantity of disdain.

    "Come inside this tent and take your oath," Elder Sun said smilingly. "We will exin the details of the mission to you when you have taken the oath."

    "Okay." Having already decided upon what to do, Xue Wei did not cause a fuss or question the oath. He had already epted it, and he was not one to change his mind.

    Seeing his straightforward way of acting, Elder Sun was very pleased and felt incredibly satisfied.

    This tent was ten times bigger than the other tents. When they entered inside, they saw that multiple walls of fabric had been erected, splitting the tent into different ¡¯rooms¡¯ and that there were people in some of these rooms.

    Xue Wei, who had trained with formations, could instantly sense that there were formations all over the tent; every room was covered in multiple formations he had never seen before.

    Noticing Xue Wei¡¯s nce at the many runes that had been inscribed on the fabric around the tents, a chuckle escaped Elder Sun¡¯s lips.

    "Have you dabbled in formations before?" He asked as he saw the curiosity in Xue Wei¡¯s eyes. Xue Wei, not hiding this fact, nodded his head.

    "I have indeed had something to do with formations before, but I cannot recognize these formations," he admitted.

    "Here in Yan Dalu we specialize in spiritual energy. The more eyes you have, the more talented you are in spiritual energy. Those who cultivate Qi as their main base for cultivation are often looked down upon. However, even if a two-eyed cultivates spiritual energy, they will never have a high standingpared to their many-eyed counterparts. Also, those who cultivates Qi are mainly those with two eyes."

    "Of course, there are some exceptions where a Qi cultivator has be outstanding. Unfortunately, they are exceedingly rare."

    "From what I can sense of the four of you, three of you have high Qi levels, while the fourth has no Qi level at all. Peculiar."

    "Although the other three of you have cultivated your Qi, I have to admit that you, Xue Wei, have achieved quite a good result in the field of Spiritual Energy. If you did not try to cultivate both parts, your results would have been even more outstanding."

    "I like cultivating Qi, though," Xue Wei said after a bit of contemtion. To him both spiritual energy and Qi was equally important.

    "Well, we do have a Qi department in the academy," Elder Sun said after a bit of time. "We mainly invite Primordial Beasts to participate in that ss, but considering the current achievements of the three of you, you are all eligible to join the Qi Cultivation ss."

    Xue Wei nodded his head. For Lin Xiao and Hei Gou, it was obvious what ss they would enter, just as it was obvious which ss Bai Tianyi would enter. The only one left was Xue Wei. He had higher Qi cultivation rank than his spiritual energy.

    His Qi had risen all the way to the eightyer of the Ordinary Knight rank after he finished refining the cultivation bases of all those people his Devouring Dragon ate back in Heping Kingdom. His spiritual energy level was still at the sixthyer of the Ordinary Knight rank. Although it was lower than the Qiyer, his performance in this aspect was indeed not bad.

    "Think it through," Elder Sun understood that it was not an easy decision. "Well, first off, I will recite the oath that you are to take for you. If the oath is not too terrible in your opinion, then you should take it and then consider where to go from there."

    "The oath is as following," Elder Sun started, "I swear to the heavens above that I will never betray the Garden of Shadows as long as the Garden of Shadows does not betray me or treat me unfairly."

    "That was simple," Hei Gou muttered. Elder Sun snickered. "It is better to be straightforward and simple," he said, grinning. "So what do you think?"

    Xue Wei considered it for a moment and then nodded his head. "Those words, we can say them," he said and then repeated the oath verbatim.

    Not long after, Bai Tianyi did the same, and then Hei Gou and Lin Xiao followed suit.

    Seeing the four of them swear the oath, Elder Sun¡¯s face was so filled with smiles that his eyes were narrowed into slits. He looked rather odd with his four eyes narrowed like that and a smile that wide.

 Chapter 242: Three-eyed Troublemaker

    "Now that all of you have taken the oath, allow me to exin what we are doing right now." Elder Sun grinned as he looked at the four experts next to him.

    "A lot of nomads live in these grasnds, but in thest two years, a group of bandits appeared here in the grasnds. They started attacking the tribes at first, but as time went on they also started to exit the grasnds and strike the roads outside cities."

    "The group of bandits is quite strong, and it consists of at least thousand if not ten thousand people."

    "We had previously sent cultivators to eradicate them. However, everyone we sent ended up dead, or joining the bandits instead."

    Xue Wei frowned when he heard this. "They could betray the academy even after taking an oath? Does this not mean that they should have died on the spot?"

    "You are smart." Elder Sun nodded his head with seriousness and sighed. "Those who joined the bandits were all people who had been forced to go on the mission by the academy. Since they were forced to participate, the academy had already let them down and thus they would not get punished for their betrayal."

    "Of course this is only for the oath itself. When we encounter them, we will kill them like any other bandit that we encounter," Elder Sun continued in a straightforward way.

    Xue Wei nodded his head. Everyone made their own decisions in life, and they had to bear the consequences of these decisions.

    Betraying their academy was definitely an act punishable with death if they were caught. No one could me those experts for joining the bandits if they had been forced into going, but equally, no one could me the academy for doing the same and killing them when they had the chance.

    It was very simr to Hei Gou¡¯s situation. He had betrayed his family because they had forced him to throw his life away. He had chosen to abandon his family and his name and instead strive to survive, but he understood that this decision meant that his family would want to kill him should they see him again.

    Although they had not done so, he had epted it as a fact. These experts who had joined the bandits had also acknowledged this fact.

    "The mission we give now is to hunt down every bandit scouring our grasnds. You will get this wristband which is infused with spiritual energy. When a person dies around you, the bracelet will calcte the strength of the person and the merits will be recorded by the bracelet."

    "These wristbands should be worn at all times, as they will calcte all your merits andter they will be transferred to your student tag."

    "Remember, merits are everything for you." He grinned as he handed over four ck wristbands. They seemed as if they had been made from leather, but a small round bead was attached to it. In the middle of this small bead was swirling grey mist, clearly spiritual energy.

    Xue Wei looked at it curiously and poured his energy into it, but he sensed nothing. It was as if he was walking in a fog, unable to sense anything.

    After experiencing this loss of all senses, Xue Wei ced it on his wrist. The other three copied his actions. None of them saw anything wrong with this item, so they did not hesitate to wear it.

    As they wore the wristbands, they felt no different. All they could feel was something cool on their wrists, so they were quite curious as to how this small item would be capable of recording their kills.

    This continent was much different from the continent of Chang¡¯an. Yan Dalu had almost no Qi martial art techniques, as they focused on spiritual energy. The few Qi martial art techniques that had managed to survive through time and the splitting of the continent were all low or middle-ranked. Only a few high-ranked skills had survived, but superior and profound skills did not exist on this continent.

    This was because only a few people cultivated their Qi. The majority of Qi cultivators on the continent were Primordial Beasts, and these beasts had innate abilities, which made them incapable of learning martial art techniques.

    The local two-eyes could cultivate their Qi, but they could never reach further than the Heavenly Warrior rank, and their fighting ability would be greatly looked down upon because their martial art techniques were as poor as they were.

    It was simply a continent where spiritual energy thrived and Qi cultivation was greatly inferior.

    Xue Wei looked at Elder Sun and started pondering. He had purchased quite a few Qi martial art techniques back in Golden Crow City, all of which were superior and profound.

    If he could exchange these skills for merit points, would that not be ideal? He had already gotten his Heritage Ring back, so those abilities were not that useful to him as they had been before. Merits were much more important.

    Although there were few who cultivated Qi as their specialization, no one would say no to having a few more, and stronger, abilities. Every cultivator with multiple eyes would also be able to enhance their strength by adding a few Qi attacks to their list of abilities.

    But Xue Wei was not dumb, he understood that his Qi techniques were likely to be looked down upon even if he were to bring them out. The amount of merits he could get would therefore also be limited. Still, it was worth a try as he could easily make a copy of the skills. There was no loss for him to give some of his less used abilities away.

    Elder Sun looked at the contemting Xue Wei. There was no one interrupting him. Elder Sun could see that he was in deep thought about how to conjure up a huge amount of merits.

    "Well, for now, let us just kill all the bandits thate at us," Xue Wei said after a bit of thinking. Exchanging his abilities for merit points could always wait.

    "So how do I know what is a bandit and what is a normal person?" Xue Wei asked the most crucial question he had. If they could just wantonly kill, then there was no problem, but if they identally killed someone who was from the academy, then it would be rather troublesome.

    "The bracelets," Elder Sun snickered. "The bracelets are wonderful. They only work on the experts that have taken the heavenly oath. As such no one can hide their affiliation."

    "Well, what about civilians?" Bai Tianyi asked. Although they could easily kill people who did not have the bracelets, they could not very well go around ughtering all the civilians again.

    "Oh, they have been evacuated. Anyone who stays are fair game. No one will me you for killing civilians if they¡¯ve refused to leave. Also many of the bandits will disguise themselves as civilians so let no one without a bracelet go!"

    "This ce surely is different," Hei Gou muttered, but a huge smirk was adorning his lips.

    It was time to hunt!

    "Let us get going," Xue Wei agreed. They had been given a lot of information from Elder Sun. He had been incredibly friendly and helped them in every way he possibly could.

    Xue Wei knew that no one was that friendly without having some ulterior motives, but he had had the impression, on an instinctive level, that those ulterior motives were not harmful to them.

    The four of them exited the tent and walked through the camp. Many experts with three and a few with four eyes looked at them with the same disdain as before, but there was also curiosity in their eyes.

    The curious gazes increased when they saw the ck wristbands. They were only given to academy students, but to be a student of the academy one needed a superior talent. Generally speaking, one needed a minimum of three eyes or to be a Primordial Beast, but these four all had two eyes. Were all four of them Primordial Beasts?

    But although Primordial Beasts were acknowledged as powerhouses, they were also quite rare. It was simply impossible for four to appear at the same time, so some of them had to be humans. But why would two-eyed humans be epted in the academy?

    Xue Wei and the others ignored the many nces and headed out of the camp, only to suddenly be stopped by a young man.

    He seemed to be around Xue Wei¡¯s age, seventeen years old, and his face had a wide smile on it. This smile, however, did not seem to be genuine.

    "New students?" he asked. Xue Wei, who had stopped in his tracks, looked at the young man. "Yes," he answered with a neutral tone.

    "Why don¡¯t you show us why you were allowed to join this academy? Your Qi level seems rather high. I cannot even fathom it, so it must be above the Heavenly Warrior rank, but your spiritual energy is only at the sixthyer of the Ordinary Knight rank, and your friends have an even worse achievement than you."

    "To be honest, I am quite amazed by your ability to cultivate Qi to this level. Tell me honestly, are you a Primordial Beast?"

    "I am not," Xue Wei said casually. It was no lie; he was half Sovereign Beast and half human. No part of his bloodline belonged to a Primordial Beast - at least from what he was aware of.

    "Ohh, you are not? Tell me, who is the strongest in your group?" the young man continued. Xue Wei looked at Lin Xiao and Hei Gou. When one considered their ranks, they were indeed the strongest in the group.

    "Well, the strongest in our groups are a bit older than you," Xue Wei said casually. "Why don¡¯t I spar with you?"

    Xue Wei was not dumb. He knew that this person wanted to cause problems as soon as possible. epting a spar was a way to calm them down.

    Elder Sun had been lurking in the shadows, ready to step in to defuse the situation at any moment, but he quickly found that Xue Wei showed no fear of this person in front of him.

    "I am an eightyer Ordinary Warrior ranked three-eyed cultivator!" he said proudly. "I am able to wipe the floor with a mere Qi cultivator." He grinned, but Xue Wei just curled his lips into a slight smile.

    Did this man really think that he could walk all over Xue Wei? Did he think that all Qi cultivators were weak? It was time to teach him a lesson.

    Seeing the fearless eyes of Xue Wei, the three-eyed challenger frowned. Why would he be so confident in his own strength?

    Still, when riding the back of a tiger, it was impossible to get off. He understood that he had started this conflict, so now he had to see it through to the end.

    "This way," he said as he led them towards a temporary sparring field that had been set up by the academy.

    Many had heard what was going on and were curious about what had given this young man such courage when his spiritual energy cultivation was weaker than the other¡¯s.

    Could Qi cultivation really count for something? Especially when they considered that he said he was not a Primordial Beast. If he was no Primordial Beast, how could he have strong Qi attacks?

    Reaching the sparring field, which was actually just a fenced square, Xue Wei entered the field casually. The three-eyed troublemaker was feeling slightly nervous, but after considering the situation, he calmed down.

    "You are just mystifying things for the sake of helping yourself," the troublemaker said to himself and then shook his head and took a deep breath.

    "There should never be a day where I am fearing a Qi cultivator!"

 Chapter 243: Qi vs Spiritual Energy

    Xue Wei was casual about it. He started stretching his waist as if he was preparing for a little jog. His attitude was rather prideful.

    The three-eyed troublemaker slowly regained the disdain within his eyes. "My name is Tang Liu! Remember the name of the first genius you have encountered, and be honored that I am here to take some time out of my day to spar with you!"

    Xue Wei looked at Tang Liu as if he saw aplete idiot. He had some real faith in his ability to beat someone at the sameyer as himself. Although there were not many on Chang¡¯an who focused solely on spiritual energy, this did not mean that there were none.

    In his group, there was Bai Tianyi who could only cultivate spiritual energy, from whom he learned many ways to engage a spiritual energy user.

    The most important thing was to protect and guard the soul. His own spiritual energy was weaker than his opponent, and thus he might be a target of spiritual energy attacks.

    However, Xue Wei¡¯s soul was not an ordinary soul. It was the soul of an Azure Dragon. His spiritual energy had even taken the shape of a golden dragon, and it was much stronger than what one might expect. Fighting realms above his own was not a problem!

    Xue Wei stopped stretching and turned to look at Tang Liu. There were a hundred meters between them ¨C an advantage for Tang Liu since he used ranged spiritual energy attacks, and a disadvantage for a Qi user like Xue Wei.

    Still, Xue Wei did not seem to mind. Everyone looked curiously at this Qi-using Ordinary Knight, wondering what exactly he could be up to, and what exactly could be the reason behind his confidence.

    "Begin!" someone called out. Xue Wei snickered.

    Forbidden Rush!

    Xue Wei left behind numerous afterimages as he suddenly rushed towards Tang Liu with a speed so fast it shocked the hearts of all present.

    Tang Liu¡¯s eyes widened in shock and he tried retreating as fast as he could. Unfortunately, he was not fast enough.

    Shattering Mountain Palm!

    A palm that was shrouded in azure Qi descended onto Tang Liu. This palm brought with it a dangerous feeling that made the hearts of everyone present beat rapidly. Their eyes widened in surprise. They had never before seen Qi attacks as dangerous as this one.

    Tang Liu was shocked to the core, but he was an experienced veteran when it came to battle. He gritted his teeth and spiritual energy poured out of his body, creating a shield in front of him.

    As the fist and the shield collided, a loud boom sounded out. Shockwaves from the sh caused the grass on the ground to billow in the wind, and the sand was swept up and made the two of them impossible to be seen for a short while.

    When the sand settled once more, they found that neither Xue Wei nor Tang Liu was moving. The spiritual energy shield that Tang Liu had created waspletely shattered from that one palm-strike.

    "Are you some sort of monster?!" Tang Liu asked, shocked as he retreated as fast as he could.

    Xue Wei just snickered as he once more vanished from the spot he had stood on before.

    Kick of the Forgotten Kings!

    A leg whipped out like a flood dragon. It came crashing down upon Tang Liu so fast that he was unable to retreat in time. Another shield appeared around him, created from spiritual energy, but the kick was so fast that the shield did not manage to fully form before it was shattered and the leg connected with Tang Liu¡¯s chest.

    The sound of bones breaking could be heard as Tang Liu shot backward like a kite that was let loose from its string. Blood welled up in his mouth and was spat out. His face was extremely pale and his entire body was in pain.

    He had gained internal injuries. His ribs had been broken and his blood was in turmoil. The bodily strength of these experts was only at the Heavenly Warrior rank. If not for Xue Wei holding back, then the other would have already said farewell to his little life.

    Tang Liu had no doubts about this. The many people who were observing the fight also had no doubt in their minds that Xue Wei had gone easy, but this was a rather frightening thought.

    Xue Wei was already this powerful and he imed to not be the strongest of them. Did this not mean that there was someone even stronger than him in their group of Qi cultivators?

    Were Qi Cultivators really this frightening? Were they really able to rival spiritual energy cultivators? This was something that only made sense if they were Primordial Beasts with innate abilities, but what he had used did not seem to be innate abilities.

    Looking at the injured Tang Liu, Xue Wei went towards him and handed him a small red pill. This was a Spring Powder Pill that he had concocted. It was the strongest healing medicine that he was capable of creating right now. Not only did it heal physical injuries, it also increased the speed with which one absorbed the essence of the heavens and the earth.

    Although Tang Liu had suffered severe injuries, he should recover rtively soon as this was a pill meant for an Ordinary Knight. It was a high purity pill, and with his Heavenly Warrior rank, it should be possible to heal the wounds rather fast.

    The people on Yan Dalu did not have a lot of medicinal pills that healed the physical body, nor did they have many pills that helped with Qi cultivation. They had never considered it an issue, so no one experimented on this type of pill.

    "Thank you." Tang Liu was not a sore loser. When he was given the pill, he did not disy any kind of nervousness and popped it into his mouth right away and sat down.

    He suddenly felt how the heaven-and-earth essence from the surrounding air was pouring into his body, nurturing his injuries and healing them ¨C all while converting some of it into Qi

    Having never before taken a pill that could enhance one¡¯s Qi cultivation base, and suddenly getting one that was of high purity and made for Ordinary Knights, Tang Liu felt an acute pain in his dantian.

    His dantian suddenly felt bloated. More and more heaven-and-earth essence gathered in it, making it show signs of cracking, yet when the pressure was the highest, Tang Liu suddenly felt as if a dam had been broken and all the energy poured out.

    Tang Liu was a human with a mutated bloodline, but his body was still human with slight changes. His dantian worked exactly like a humans, but he had previously been a Heavenly Warrior. Now he suddenly broke through to be an Ordinary Knight.

    Seeing him suddenly having a breakthrough in Qi levels from one pill, the eyes of everyone, including Xue Wei and hisrades, widened in surprise and they looked at one another.

    It was not easy to break through from the Warrior to the Knight ranks. If it was, then there would not be so many stuck at the Heavenly Warrior rank in Yan Dalu, but now with a mere casual pill given by Xue Wei, Tang Liu broken through.

    "Do you think their talent is not limited to spiritual energy?" Xue Wei mentioned the question that all of his friends were considering. Bai Tianyi shook his head in shock, and said, "If they have the same talent for Qi cultivation that they do for spiritual energy, then their race could very possibly take over the entire world."

    "The world sure is vast," Xue Wei agreed. "I once thought I was a genius, but the truth is that I just need to work harder if I want to achieve anything. There are heaven-sent geniuses everywhere with more talent than me. This is quite depressing."

    "You did a good deed though," Hei Gou said with a nod of his head. "Perhaps after our visit here in Yan Dalu, Qi Cultivators won¡¯t be looked down upon as much as they are now."

    "You can always dream," Lin Xiao sighed. "Their culture is many millennias old. They can¡¯t just change it because four random Qi cultivators passed by. Keep in mind that they have also seen outsiders from the Demon Phoenix Continent. I fail to believe that there has never been Qi cultivators from there."

    "That is true," Hei Gou nodded his head seriously. "I did not think about them. Since they are aware of the fact that some people are able to do well when ites to Qi cultivation, why would they still look down upon it?"

    "It is hard to say," Xue Wei answered. "Some of it could be because of their culture, and some of it could be because of customs, but it could also be because they simply don¡¯t have the ability to raise Qi cultivators here."

    "Even if there have been visitors, they have not managed to gain anything from them. Their skills are mediocre and not enough to ever bring trouble to a spiritual energy cultivator. They don¡¯t even have cultivation techniques to bring them to a higher level than Heavenly Warrior."

    "Although I can trade some skills for merit points, I do not have any cultivation techniques that can allow them to reach higher ranks," Xue Wei sighed with dejection. "I can let the Heavenly Warriors fight much more seriously, but they cannot break through unless I feed them some stronger pills."

    "That might not necessarily be true," Bai Tianyi snickered. "I have quite a few cultivation techniques. I have no use for them, as I cannot cultivate Qi, but they are still imprinted within my memory. I can give you a few of them and you can sell them for merit points. I have two that allows one to cultivate to Heavenly Knight, and three that allow one to cultivate to Heavenly Saint."

    "You never told me you had skills before?" Xue Wei asked curiously and slightly begrudgingly. Bai Tianyi shrugged his shoulders. "You have the innate technique for an Azure Dragon. You can¡¯t even use any other technique, so what was the point of telling you about them."

    "Fair point," Xue Wei quickly understood that what Bai Tianyi said was correct.

    While the four of them were talking with one another, the rest of the audience had gathered around Tang Liu to ask him multiple questions. From time to time they would nce at Xue Wei, wondering how he had be so strong.

    "Well, we need points, so let us go hunt some bandits," Xue Wei said with a snicker. He could let loose and feel the excitement from fighting again. Killing again.

    Before they left the sparring field, Tang Liu looked at them, and then he realized that he had severely overestimated himself. His face turned pale and his lips trembled.

    "What is wrong?" one of the others asked. Tang Liu cleared his throat, before saying, "The child has stronger spiritual energy than the one who beat me. His spiritual energy is at the ninthyer of the Ordinary Knight rank."

    "And the other two, both of them are Earth Knights in Qi levels, and they are both at the middle of that rank! It seems that the one I fought was the weakest amongst them all, and still I could only manage two hits."

    Hearing the words that Tang Liu said, everyone felt fearful in their hearts. Was this truly possible?

    Of course no one knew which one of them was actually the strongest, but it was a fact that Xue Wei had the lowest rank among them.

    Bai Tianyi was not ranked much higher than him, but because of his child-like appearance alongside his smile and grown-up demeanor, he was without a doubt the most mysterious.

    Lin Xiao seemed the most straight forward, but at the same time he also seemed like a big metal wall, one that was impossible to shift.

    Hei Gou was attractive. Even though he had only two eyes, he was incredibly handsome, and also very secretive.

    Then there was Xue Wei. He seemed like a very honest and average youth. But you could not always judge someone based on their appearance.

 Chapter 244: Finding the Bandits

    The grasnd was t as long as the eyes could see. Xue Wei understood that encountering the bandits under these conditions would be very hard.

    If the bandits, who would have no ce to hide in such an environment, found pleasure in hunting the students of the academy, then finding them would not take much effort.

    Fortunately, the only one in their group who had a high rank of spiritual energy was Bai Tianyi, and even he was not an Earth Knight when it came to that, so there was a big chance that the four of them might be seen as easy targets.

    Xue Wei was counting on this part to be their way of luring in targets. Unfortunately, after walking for a full day, the results of his n were rather bad.

    They had encountered three groups during this day, but they were all bearers of the ck wristbands.

    They had charged at the four of them at first sight, but upon seeing the ck wristbands on their arms, they had stopped in their tracks with disappointment.

    They had never seen Xue Wei and hisrades before, so some of them had thought that they were bandits that had found a way to wear a wristband. But after closer consideration, they realized it was unlikely. A heavenly oath was not something that they could go against.

    Xue Wei was also slightly disappointed. He wanted to get his hands on some bandits for merit points, but it seemed that they were hiding deeper into the grasnds.

    "You are new? Okay, let me give you some information about the grasnds." The fourth group that they encountered had a quite friendly leader, who quickly saw that these four had no clue about the current state of affairs in the grasnds.

    "The further into the grasnd you travel, the more bandit groups you will meet, and logically the stronger they will be. The strongest of the bandits have gathered in a group at the mountain walls you can see far out in the distance."

    "The bandits mainly consist of two and three-eyed experts, but there are also seven four-eyed nobles in their group." The leader of the other group frowned when he mentioned thetter part. He himself was merely a three-eyed cultivator, and he could not imagine the fame and status they could have had if they had just stayed on the righteous path.

    Unfortunately, they had picked a criminal lifestyle, so they would be killed without a doubt. The question was then just how many they would kill before that.

    "Well, in this region of the grasnds, there aren¡¯t really any bandits left. You¡¯ll find more if you head further in, but their strength approaches the end of the Ordinary Knight rank, so not many dare venture too far ahead."

    "Also, the bandits are always moving around in groups. Their groups are a minimum of three, and some of us have encountered even up to ten bandits together!" the man continued to exin with a friendly voice.

    "I would suggest that you do not try to take on too much," the man continued as he looked at them with friendly eyes.

    "I can sense that two of you must be Primordial Beasts," he looked at Hei Gou and Lin Xiao, "as your spiritual energy is simply so low, but even so, with only the support of a ninthyered Ordinary Knight and a seventhyered Ordinary Knight, it is truly too dangerous."

    Xue Wei smiled when he saw his concern. From his point of view, they were indeed weak. Xue Wei was only at the seventhyer of the Ordinary Knight rank if one looked at his spiritual energy, but his strength inbat could not be easily determined. Especially not since he specialized in Qi attacks.

    "Thank you," he said with a smile on his face. No matter whether or not they were strong, this group leader had been kind enough to exin the situation to them, and had not been hostile even though they were a two-eyes group.

    In fact, his entire group looked at them with malice and disdain. It was clear that they felt that they were wasting their time, but none of them wished to say anything to their leader because they genuinely respected him.

    "Well, in that case, good luck!" The leader saw that they were enlightened by his words. It was clear to him that they had the intent to head deeper into the grassy fields when they met, but it was not his ce to tell them what to do. So instead, he wished them good luck. He hoped that at least one or two of them would be able to survive this, in his opinion, foolish decision.

    Nodding his head, Xue Wei bid his farewell before he and hispanions started moving further into the grassy ins. The further in they came, the more silent the area became.

    There were no Fierce Beasts here, no humans, and no nothing moving in the grass. Not even bugs could be heard in the vast ocean of grass. In this fashion, a couple of hours went by before they finally caught sight a group of people sitting rather far away from them.

    This group of people consisted of seven experts. They had ragged clothes on their bodies and three of them were injured, but their injuries were not so severe that they could not move or fight.

    The moment Xue Wei noticed them, they also noticed him, and the two groups stopped in their tracks, observing one another.

    "They don¡¯t seem to be wearing the ck bracelets?" Xue Wei questioned when he looked at them, straining his eyes to their limits, but no matter what arm he looked at, there was nothing.

    "It seems as if we are fairly lucky this time," Lin Xiao grinned. "Look, there are five people with three eyes, and two with two eyes like us! Do you think they will feel gratitude knowing that their downfall was to someone with two eyes, or do you think they will feel resentment?"

    "Who cares?" Hei Gou also grinned widely. He had already extracted his ws from his storage ring and had ced them on his hands, ready to begin the fight at any moment.

    "Uh, I am sorry to burst your bubble, but this will be a rather difficult match," Bai Tianyi was finally the one to call them all to their senses. "Although some of them are injured, they are actually seven people while we only have four. Out of those seven, I see that four are Earth Knights. While only at the firstyer, they are nevertheless Earth Knights, and the others are ninthyered Ordinary Knights."

    "So what?" Xue Wei listened and snickered. "Don¡¯t forget, we have many things that they do not, including two Earth Knights at a ridiculously high level. They can take two each, and we can take the other three. It should be easy to manage."

    Bai Tianyi was stunned and then he shook his head in a defeated manner. He had to admit that what Xue Wei said made sense. "Yes, it should," he agreed after considering for some time.

    Usually, Bai Tianyi was the one who was most confident in his own strength, but after entering Yan Dalu, he had suddenly felt a feeling of being inadequate.

    In this ce, the other three knew spiritual energy and their current achievements in cultivation seemed more impressive than his. He, however, forgot that he had only had his human shape for about a year. Having his achievements at his age was actually incredibly frightening.

    Xue Wei gave him a long nce, because he understood the thoughts that floated in Bai Tianyi¡¯s mind. But after seeing his eyes suddenly turn bright again, he understood that thetter had finallye to terms with his own strength.

    "Oh, we are being left behind," Bai Tianyi suddenly said, lifting his head. Xue Wei looked up as well, only to see that Hei Gou and Lin Xiao had rushed ahead; one with a set of ws on his hands, the other with a long staff in his grip.

    "Come on," Xue Wei could not help but snort, grinning. "He is a monk, so he must use a staff?"

    "I can hear you!" Lin Xiao yelled back, but his face could not hide the grin that was stered on his lips, clearly showing that he was looking forward to this. Lin Xiao was like a free bird, soaring in the skies and always seeking new adventures. Now he had finally found somerades to go on adventures with!

    "Let us catch up!" Bai Tianyi alsoughed out heartily and then started moving. A sword of spiritual energy appeared underneath his feet, sending him hurtling forward at a speed so fast that he quickly caught up to Lin Xiao and Hei Gou.

    "Don¡¯t leave me behind!" Xue Wei eximed and unhesitantly activated the Forbidden Rush movement technique to follow the other three.

    The group of bandits could not hear exactly what was being said amongst these youngsters, but their eyes were showing disdain when they looked at them.

    They were only four, and one of them was even a child. All four of them had two eyes only, and the strongest seemed to be the child at the ninthyer of Ordinary Knight rank.

    But for some weird reason, these four people were charging towards them without any fear or consideration. They had brandished their weapons. Wait, weapons? Who would use such crude arms in their world where spiritual energy was the king? Only a few Primordial Beasts would do so.

    "Watch out, two of them seem to be Qi beasts," one of the bandits cautioned, but honestly, they were not overly worried even then.

    "This is going to be fun!" Just as the bandit had told them to watch out, a loud booming voice sounded out as Lin Xiao was the first to make contact with the bandits. His staff swept out and sent three experts at the ninthyer of the Ordinary Knight rank reeling, blood spurting out from their mouths.

    "Oh, right, they are weak like twigs when you get close enough!" Lin Xiao grinned and ran towards one of the people who had the cultivation base of an Earth Knight.

    "Well, they are weak to physical attacks," Bai Tianyi said as he came closer, hovering on his spiritual energy sword. His white clothes were fluttering in the air, and his arms were crossed over his chest.

    "Honestly, I don¡¯t think I even need to do anything," he said with a sigh as he saw how one sweep of Lin Xiao¡¯s staff had knocked three away vomiting blood.

    "Come on, join in the fun!" Xue Wei grinned as he went for the three ninthyer Ordinary Knights.

    Inner Might: Qi Sword Style!

    A sword appeared in his hands, which immediately severed a head with a flourish of his hand.

    "They really are like paper tigers!" Xue Wei eximed in shock. "Their physical strength is even weaker than what I thought... their Qi levels are only at the Heavenly Warrior level!"

    "So that is why." Hei Gou could not help but alsoment at the sad truth about these experts. Like a hurricane, their group had appeared and severed head after head.

    Even while speaking, Hei Gou was inching closer and closer to one of the Earth Knights. When he reached him, his ws came shing down, instantly ripping open the man¡¯s throat before he could even react. Blood oozed out of the bandit¡¯s mangled neck while looking at Hei Gou with unwilling eyes before he died

    "This is kinda too easy is it not?" Xue Wei could not help but ask after a bit of time. They had already killed the entire group and it was a one-sided ughter. There had been no possibility to retreat or retaliate for them.

 Chapter 245: Soul Guard

    "They all have a serious w in their cultivation system," Bai Tianyi said, frowning. "Their bodies are weak like paper, they cannot handle the attacks that we throw out, and they will almost instantly die."

    "We were lucky this time," Xue Wei suddenly said. "They did not take us seriously and allowed us to get close. If theyunched attacks the moment they saw us, then we would have to battle through wave after wave of spiritual energy, and it would take us much longer to get close enough to deal the killing blows."

    "If we ever get close," Bai Tianyi said with a nod of his head. "Especially Hei Gou and Lin Xiao have to be wary when they fight against spiritual energy attacks, considering that their soul is rather weak. They will easily fall prey to their opponents."

    "Spiritual energy attacks are split into various kinds simr to Qi attacks. Some of them aim for the soul of their opponent, while others materialize the spiritual energy and use it to strike the physical body."

    "We are lucky that we are in Yan Dalu where the physical body is their weakness," Bai Tianyi exined to everyone while Hei Gou rummaged through their remains, looking for valuables. "The experts here focus on materialized attacks to attack their opponent¡¯s bodies, as that is their weak point. Specializing in soul attacks is not that useful since most warriors of Yan Dalu has a strong soul, so we have to use this to our advantage."

    Hei Gou nodded his head. Although he was looking for treasure, his full focus was on Bai Tianyi¡¯s words.

    "For now, we have to abuse the fact that we have superior physical strength," Lin Xiao said. "Our fame might eventually resound throughout the entire Yan Dalu, but no matter what we better expect that people will start preparing against us. Since this is the case, we need to kill as many as we can before they be wiser."

    "I know a skill that you and Gou should practice," Bai Tianyi said after hesitating for a bit. "It is specially made for people with weak souls. It is a defensive method that will shroud your soul with Qi. This way, as long as they do not have a spiritual energy base higher than your Qi bases, then you should be safe."

    "Unfortunately, it is not easy to train it and it will take time! But if we consider the fact that you might die if we do not do it, I think that it is without a doubt our best decision."

    "Why did you not teach us this skill before?" Hei Gou asked, slightly nonplussed, but Bai Tianyi just sent him a nce. "I use spiritual energy," he exined, "but here I am, basically making the two of you untouchable by a spiritual energy user. If you were to betray me, would that not be the same as picking up a stone only to drop it on my own foot?"

    "Did you expect us to betray you?" Hei Gou asked with wide open eyes full of surprise and slight indignation.

    "Well, you never know," Bai Tianyi just shrugged his shoulders. It was clear that he felt no remorse having said the words he spoke. In fact, he was as casual as usual.

    "Okay, Tianyi told us about it now, so that¡¯s enough," Xue Wei finally said. He knew that if he did not stop them, then it would end up with Hei Gou and Bai Tianyi being at each other¡¯s throats, barking at one another and wasting time.

    Bai Tianyi took a step back. He was after all Xue Wei¡¯s contracted sword. Although he seemed human, he had given up his humanity for eternal life.

    It was times like these that people could sense the fact that he had lost his humanity. He would say hurtful things without noticing it, and he would do anything in his power to benefit himself and Xue Wei. And the only reason he would benefit Xue Wei was because of their soul contract.

    Hei Gou stopped arguing as well. However, his eyes disyed some displeasure with what Bai Tianyi had said. Lin Xiao, on the other hand, waspletely stunned.

    Bai Tianyi had treated them like friends on the way, constantly bantered and having fun with them, yet now he said he never knew when they might betray him. This showed that he had doubts about them!

    Xue Wei understood that Bai Tianyi¡¯s words were not as serious as they sounded. Although it made him sound as if he were constantly waiting for them to betray him, it was just as much a question about self-preservation. He was not willing to use his abilities unless necessary.

    Having stopped the argument, Bai Tianyi could feel that the atmosphere had cooled. He was not dumb, so he waspletely aware that it was because of the words he had said, but he did not regret saying them.

    In this world, everyone would do their best only if they had some sort of benefit from it. Xue Wei and Bai Tianyi were without a doubt linked together because of their soul contract, so everything that benefitted one would benefit the other.

    Hei Gou was, on the other hand, someone with whom they only shared friendship. There was no oath that he was aware of to keep them together or keep him from betraying Xue Wei.

    Not to mention, Bai Tianyi had been strong at the beginning. He had been the one to look after them, but now he was the weakest in the group, tied with Xue Wei. Although hisbat ability was outstanding, it was not enough to make him the anchor of the group again.

    But what Bai Tianyi had that the otherscked sorely was knowledge and experience. Although his personality had changed slightly and he had be more inhuman, he had retained all his knowledge and understanding and was able to bepletely objective, never being swayed by emotions at all.

    Xue Wei saw how Bai Tianyi found two empty jade slips and imprinted the information about the defensive ability that he was talking about and handed it to Hei Gou and Lin Xiao.

    Both of them took them with mixed emotions. Neither were happy about what Bai Tianyi had said, but after considering his situation for a bit, Hei Gou was able to see past it ¨C Lin Xiao, on the other hand, did not know the situation too well. No one had told him about Bai Tianyi being an immortal sword spirit, so he was slightly taken aback, but he found it reasonable and thus was not too insulted.

    He quickly ced the jade slip on his forehead. A slight light broke out and the information within the slips entered their minds. Xue Wei looked on curiously. Although he would be willing to take the skill himself, he knew that he was not suitable for it.

    He practiced his spiritual energy, and since Bai Tianyi said that it focused on those with weaker souls, it would not exactly be useful to him. As for why, he was sure there was a reason and that it would be exined soon enough.

    Bai Tianyi saw Xue Wei¡¯s curiosity and smiled. There was indeed a reason that he had not practiced said skill, and why he did not let Xue Wei practice it either.

    "When you practice this skill, your soul is protected by Qi, but at the same time it is impossible to release spiritual energy from the soul. It is fine for someone like Gou and Xiao, because neither of them have ever trained their spiritual energy, but for someone like you, it would be like cutting off your own feet. Simply a waste."

    Xue Wei quickly gave up any thought he had about the ability. He was not willing to give up on his spiritual energy, and although it was somewhatcking at the current point in time, it was not to the point where it could be disregarded.

    Furthermore, it was quite a feat that Xue Wei had achieved his current progress in both Qi and spiritual energy ande as far as he had

    "Train while moving," Bai Tianyi said to the other two, his words sounding harsh, but he had the best understanding of the ability and he knew that it was possible to train and walk at the same time. It was obviously harder than when one was sitting cross-legged and simply focused on cultivating, but the truth was that they were in a hurry to fish for bandits that could be in for merits.

    Lin Xiao and Hei Gou were not focusing on the surroundings at all as they moved. Their heads were lowered, their hands on their chins and their mouths muttering words constantly.

    These two were deep in the training of the Soul Guard skill that Bai Tianyi had given them. Although they were both feeling rather excited. They knew of their own weakness. Their soul really was a weak point for them.

    Xue Wei and Bai Tianyi surveyed everything around them. Usually, they would use their spiritual energy to scan the surrounding area to ensure that no one was hiding, but this t grasnd made it so that they could see even further than what they could reach with their spiritual energy.

    It was strange, but it seemed that being in Yan Dalu, his spiritual energy could not reach as far a distance as it had back in Chang¡¯an. In fact, his previous hundred kilometer radius had shrunk to only one kilometer!

    "There!" Xue Wei suddenly called out, startling Hei Gou and Lin Xiao awake from their cultivation. Bai Tianyi also focused his eyes in the direction that the former was pointing.

    There, long out in the distance, was a group of three people walking together. They seemed very arrogant. They did not even keep an eye on their surroundings and simply walked their path.

    Xue Wei could not see whether or not they had a ck wristband on their arms, but he could not let it go. He needed to get closer to observe.

    "Well then, let us get moving," Lin Xiao said with a grin on his face. He was already excited about another fight. In fact, he was sure that he had no weaknesses now that his soul was under the protection of Soul Guard.

    He just forgot that he had gotten Soul Guard less than a day ago. His performance with the ability could not be considered anything more than just above average, and as a result although ayer of Qi was shrouding his soul, it would not be enough to protect him for a long period of time.

    Hei Gou was less brazen. He was more withdrawn and understood the fact that they had just learned the skill and that he still had a great weakness in the shape of his soul.

    Still, he understood the importance of getting their hands on merits, so he did not say anything about them not going. Instead, he brought up the rear of their group. Now that they had started moving and stopped cultivating, his eyes were narrowed as he continued to observe the surroundings, scouring for traces of other people waiting in ambush or appearing in their line of sight.

    Xue Wei said nothing. He just started moving towards the people far away. All of them were using their movement techniques. Xue Wei had activated Forbidden Rush, and Lin Xiao was using a movement technique that Xue Wei had never seen before, which made it seem as if it touched upon the dao of space, where one step seemed to cover ten meters.

    Bai Tianyi had summoned his spiritual energy sword and was flying on it, and Hei Gou had summoned a pair of wings on his back, effortlessly following the other three.

    After the second mutation, he could transform parts of his body as he pleased and the wings came in handy when moving fast. His ability to fly and his wings were so fast that they could easily keep up with the movement technique executed by Xue Wei and Lin Xiao, and Bai Tianyi¡¯s spiritual energy sword.

    Slowly, they inched closer and closer to the group of three. The closer they came, the more acutely they could feel a sense of danger. These three were definitely not simple.

 Chapter 246: Fight!

    The heavy pressure that these three experts emitted was getting heavier the closer Xue Wei¡¯s group came.

    This only made them more excited. These three people seemed to be the strongest experts they had encountered since they entered Yan Dalu, not counting Elder Sun.

    Xue Wei slowed down their advance as he watched the three experts that they constantly inched closer and closer towards.

    There were two men and one woman. All of them were lean and bordering to skinny. The woman walked in between the two men, and their clothes were of decent quality, but they had clearly not been created from Fierce Beast or Primordial Beast hide, leather, or fur.

    The three were engaged in conversation. From time to time, their faces frowned, and they would look around with a casual gaze.

    They had long since noticed Xue Wei and his friends. However, instead of fleeing or trying to figure out who they were, the three had stopped in their tracks, formed a small triangle, and now they were discussing something serious, their expressions turning more and more annoyed.

    "Something feels off," Xue Wei could not help but mutter as he once more nced around them. Were these three really so strong that they could be carefree when engaging in a fight without a single worry, or were they bait for an ambush?

    "So you can feel it too, huh?" Bai Tianyi mumbled by his side. His eyes also nced everywhere in an attempt to find any traces of the suspected ambush.

    "They are strong," Lin Xiao finally said. "They don¡¯t need an ambush because their strength is enough as it is."

    "One of them is a Primordial Beast and he is at the fourthyer of the Earth Knight in Qi level."

    "The other two are humans with the Yan Dalu bloodline in their veins. The man has three eyes and the woman has four."

    "And, I do not know if I am excited about this or not, but they are not wearing the ck bracelets."

    Xue Wei nodded his head. He too had noticed the things that Lin Xiao exined.

    "It seems like this will be a tough battle," he said seriously. "The woman and the other man clearly have a spiritual energy cultivation at the Earth Knight rank. I cannot sense their strength, so it is above mine. If you leave the woman to me and Tianyi, we will take care of her."

    "Then Gou takes the Primordial Beast, and Xiao you take care of thest three-eyed spiritual energy cultivator."

    Hearing Xue Wei¡¯s arrangements, all of them started focusing on their target. There was no recklessness in their behavior this time. All of them were solemn and serious.

    Especially Lin Xiao was careful. He had been eager earlier because of the Soul Guard, but now that there was a massive gap between the quality of his soul and the soul of his opponent, he understood that he was not in a favorable position. All he could do was hope that his opponent specialized in materialized attacks that aimed for the physical body and not invisible soul attacks.

    Xue Wei and Bai Tianyi were the two weakest in the group if one looked solely at their cultivation bases, yet these two were supposed to go up against the strongest opponent.

    Fortunately, Xue Wei and Bai Tianyi had a hidden arsenal of aces they could bring forth if they were in the need of doing so. Even then, they both understood that this was a serious battle.

    "Tianyi, you cover me from a distance and I will close in on her, using my physical strength to finish off the battle," Xue Wei said.

    As soon as he spoke, he transformed his legs. While it was impossible to see as he was wearing boots, his legs and feet were now covered by azure scales, the muscles in his legs swelled and his speed soared. When transformed, he could achieve the greatest speed avable to him.

    They were almost at the group and the first to break away was Hei Gou. He pped his wings a few times and elerated, after which he shot like an arrow at the Primordial Beast.

    This Primordial Beast looked like any other human in Yan Dalu. His figure was lean, but one could see powerful muscles underneath the clothes. He only had two eyes, but both of them were currently narrowed and focused on the iing Hei Gou.

    "Idiot," he snickered as he took out a broadsword sorge that it could cover himself behind it. Looking at this sword, Xue Wei¡¯s one eyebrow rose in surprise. Could such a lean man really wield this weapon?

    It turned out that he could. The sword came crashing down, cutting off Hei Gou¡¯s advance and causing him to stall in the air in front of the three of them.

    "Crap," Xue Wei called out. Because Hei Gou had advanced faster than the others, he had arrived first, and now he was alone to face thebined attack of three experts that were at the very least Earth Knights.

    Forbidden Rush!

    Azure Light Finger!

    Seed of Mirage!

    Xue Wei activated three abilities at the same time. First, he activated Forbidden Rush as he rushed towards Hei Gou to help him out of the attack. Secondly, he sent an Azure Light Finger beam towards the woman to stall for time, andstly, he did not forget to nt a seed of mirage.

    Although the seed of mirage needed quite a bit of Qi, it was able to increase his fighting power and add some confusion in the battle. It would be able to randomly throw attacks at the three opponents, causing them to maybe be caught off guard, or trouble them one way or another.

    Lin Xiao and Bai Tianyi did not waste time either. Lin Xiao wielded a staff and charged at his target, the three-eyed soul cultivator. He hoped to close in on him fast so that he could execute the man, but unfortunately he ran into an invisible wall of spiritual energy that blocked his advance.

    It was a rather disgraceful sight. Lin Xiao had had the staff at his side and was heading forward in fast strides, but then he mmed straight into the barrier.

    He had run straight into the barrier and ended up dizzy from the impact. If he had hit the barrier with his staff, it would have been easy to demolish the spiritual energy wall, but he had not done so, leaving him vulnerable to the enemy.

    The dizzinesssted only a mere moment before he crushed the barrier with his staff. After then he continued to sh in front of him to ensure that if another wall or barrier was ced, then he could destroy it before he walked into it.

    Bai Tianyi had also arrived. He had flown on his spiritual energy sword and now dove straight into the battle. Spiritual energy alongside sword energy poured out of his body with no reservation.

    Merging together, the two energies became a strange greyish color. The fight between the two sides slowly escted. Hei Gou was using his ws to try and defend himself against the heavy broadsword of the Primordial Beast, but he was at a disadvantage.

    Every time he swiped out, he was blocked by the side of the sword, and when the sword came crashing down upon him, his hands would tremble as the sheer size and weight were too overwhelming and not easy to block with his sharp but delicate ws.

    Xue Wei had managed to get close to the four-eyed woman, but he found that getting close did not necessarily mean victory.

    The woman had learned a defensive ability where spiritual energy swirled around her body in a spiraling cone. Every time he managed to hack up the cone, new spiritual energy would pour out and fill in the nks in the protectiveyer.

    Xue Wei had transformed his arms to that of an azure dragon. Azure scales could be seen all over his hands, and his nails had turned into ws. These ws were ripping at the spiritual energy, but to no avail. It was simply impossible to make a dent in her protection.

    "Keep going!" Bai Tianyi called from behind. "She ought to run out of spiritual energy at some point. A skill like this must be quite a strain on her reserves, so just keep making her use her energy!"

    Xue Wei nodded his head and did so, but the words of Bai Tianyi also reminded the woman that she could not defend indefinitely and instead she started diverting some of her attention to Bai Tianyi.

    Spiritual energy materialized right in front of Xue Wei, but before he had the time to stop it, it appeared like thousands of small needles, all of which shot at Bai Tianyi.

    These needles should not be underestimated. They contained the power of a strong soul. If they entered Bai Tianyi¡¯s soul and injured him, he might lose his physical shape once more.

    With this in mind, Xue Wei¡¯s body moved before he had time to think it through. With a stomp on the ground, he retreated at a speed much faster than he had ever moved before, and then he turned around, spreading his arms and blocking all the needles that otherwise would have hit Bai Tianyi.

    The acute pain started spreading all over his body. Half of these needles dug into his meridians, where they started causing havoc, but fortunately they were quickly swallowed by the azure qi dragons that roamed his meridians.

    The other half headed straight for his soul. Xue Wei¡¯s soul had the shape of a golden dragon. The moment the needles reached his soul pce ¨C the ce where the soul rested ¨C he felt his eyes ckening for a moment. A battle raged on in his mind, the golden dragon roaring as it faced off against the needles. Two of them struck its body, and the pain Xue Wei felt from these two needles was enough to make him tremble and feel fear.

    A small trail of blood had started trickling down the corner of his mouth, but Xue Wei just lifted his hand and wiped it away.

    He had been rendered immobile for only a short moment, but being motionless and losing control of one¡¯s body for even a short moment in a fight was crucial.

    The four-eyed woman was not going to wait for Xue Wei to regain hisposure. As soon as she had sent out the many needles, she already started her next ability, which was arge de that came crashing down upon Xue Wei in an attempt to eliminate him right away.

    But Xue Wei was not fighting alone. Bai Tianyi¡¯s face had turned pale when he saw Xue Wei block the attack from him, but he knew that when one attack wasunched, another would follow.

    So he too summoned his spiritual energy alongside his sword energy, merged them together, and suddenly a massive sword made of pure energy hovered in the air above him.

    When therge de from the four-eyed woman came crashing down, Bai Tainyi waved his hand and his own sword swept out to block it.

    Although Bai Tianyi was weaker in terms of raw strength, one has to remember that he was a sword spirit. His understanding of the sword was much better than the woman¡¯s, and his sword also contained sword energy, an energy that originated from the illusive daos that were ever present but so hard toprehend.

    The moment the two swords collided, a deafening boom resounded out. A shockwave caused the dazed Xue Wei to be pushed back as he was the closest to the impact.

    Bai Tianyi¡¯s eyes disyed a bit of madness after he blocked the attack from the four-eyed woman, but blocking was not enough for him!

 Chapter 247: Nightmare Stallion

    Bai Tianyi unleashed the full might of his dao with the next attack. The grey energy sword that he had created frombining spiritual energy with the sword energy was a vtile cocktail filled with strength, and when it erupted everyone found their eyes drawn to the seemingly humble grey energy.

    His massive sword blocked the spiritual energy de controlled by the four-eyed person before it turned into a thousand smaller swords.

    Every one of them started heading straight for the woman with four eyes, their speed so fast that they turned into a blur.

    They ripped through the air, and their sharp edges cut through the defensiveyers on the woman¡¯s body like a hot knife through butter, but it was not enough as newyers sprang to life around her immediately after.

    Xue Wei had regained full control over his body. His soul was aching slightly and remnant trace of blood could be seen on the corner of his lips.

    The Seed of Mirage that he had grown, had sprouted; a second Xue Wei appeared out of the seed after it had absorbed enough ambient heaven-and-earth essence.

    The second Xue Wei was instantly sent to aid Hei Gou, who was being pushed back constantly by his opponent. And although Lin Xiao was not in a great state either, he was doing better than Hei Gou.

    Xue Wei took a moment to survey the battleground. Bai Tianyi had forced the four-eyed woman on the defense.

    Seeing that Bai Tianyi was able to suppress the woman, Xue Wei felt relief in his heart, but that relief was quickly reced when he saw that Bai Tianyi was no longer as energetic as he was before.

    Using so much sword energy was a strain on his body and mind. The more he used, the weaker his body would be.

    Seeing this, Xue Wei rushed at the woman with his transformed arms, ready to deal an attack.

    Arcane Fist!

    Shattering Mountain Palm!

    One fist and one palm attack descended down on the woman¡¯s energy shield, one at a time. As soon as the Arcane Fistnded on the shield, it ripped it apart, creating an opening that allowed Xue Wei to send in a Shattering Mountain Fist.

    Just as his hand entered into the energy shield, the scales on his arm felt as if they were being ripped off. Blood flowed down in steady streams, and wounds appeared on his arm under the scales because of the energy shield¡¯s pressure.

    The Shattering Mountain Palm collided with the chest of the woman inside the shield, and she was sent reeling backward from the impact. After retreating several steps she came to a standstill and steadied her body.

    The blood in her body roiled, spilling out from her mouth and her nose. Her physical body was weak like the others; it was merely at the Heavenly Warrior rank. So while Xue Wei¡¯s palm had barely connected with her, the power behind his attack had caused her serious injuries.

    Seeing the woman injured like this, the two men on her side started relentlessly fighting back. Their attacks were much more ferocious than they had been before, they stopped caring about defending and focused fully on attacking, trading wound for wound.

    Hei Gou had managed to breathe more easily after the Seed of Mirage had joined him, but now the situation suddenly turned against them again.

    Lin Xiao was also being pushed back. His opponent had grasped his weak point, and although he did not have any spiritual energy attacks that focused solely on the soul, he had abilities that attacked body and soul at the same time, so Lin Xiao was being pushed back.

    Xue Wei focused on the woman. He could not help hisrades if he could not get rid of the woman first.

    She was one of the few four-eyed experts in the bandit group and her status amongst the bandits could not be low. From this thought, Xue Wei understood that she was worth a lot of merit points. His motivation soared!

    Kick of the Forgotten Kings!

    Before the woman could conjure her shield again, Xue Wei had sent out a kick that sent her tumbling even further back.

    Although it seemed as if Xue Wei and Bai Tianyi had the clear advantage in the fight, the truth was that they were both severely injured.

    Bai Tianyi could notmand any more sword energy, as it would have some serious after effects. On Xue Wei¡¯s side, one of his hands was unusable.

    The arm that had used Shattering Mountain Palm earlier had taken so much damage that he could barely lift it now. Although it was not broken, all the muscle, the flesh, and the meridians that had prated into the shield had been severely damaged.

    He had also received damage to his soul that would take a bit of time to heal. Although they were now seemingly in control of the situation, the price for this had been high.

    "Finish it!" Bai Tianyi yelled, exhaustion evident in his voice. Xue Wei nodded his head. As soon as his Kick of the Forgotten Kings had caused her to tumble backwards, Xue Wei followed with Forbidden Rush beforeunching his final attack.

    Inner Might: Qi Sword Style!

    Windwolf Sword sh!

    Following that, the Qi sword swung out with the full might of an Ordinary Knight.

    Horror crept into the four eyes of the woman, mixed with disbelief. She had never thought that Xue Wei and his friends were capable of threatening them. It seemed that what they had learned was not the entire truth; spiritual energy was not everything that mattered in a fight of life and death.

    Before she could even scream, her head was severed from the neck and fell down, drowned in the grass of the vast grasnd.

    Her body slumped to the ground. All traces of life had vanished.

    When the two survivors saw the gruesome end to theirpanion, their eyes turned blood red.

    They pushed even faster against the two opponents in front of them. "Tianyi, you stay out of the rest of the battle," Xue Wei ordered as he rushed towards Lin Xiao. He was not too worried for Hei Gou.

    Hei Gou had been pressured badly, his body riddled with wounds, and his ws had dents everywhere, but he had still not transformed into his original shape, so he could still hold on.

    If Hei Gou had transformed and still was being pushed back, then Xue Wei would have rushed to his side, but seeing him fighting like this made Xue Wei understand that he was testing his limits of his new mutation.

    Lin Xiao was in a tough spot due to his limited protection against soul-based attacks. The Soul Guard he had spent some time training had already been broken through by the attacks of his opponent, and every attack he took caused him to sweat and be in severe pain.

    Xue Wei was still wielding the Qi sword made from Inner Might. While Lin Xiao was his target, Xue Wei rushed close with Forbidden Rush and used an attack he had not used in a long time.

    Sacrificial Stab!

    Sacrificial Stab was one of the first abilities he had gotten from the Heritage ring. It was a superior skill that was described as a cheap killing attack. It sacrificed the soul of the target to an ancient god ¨C as long as one drop of blood was drawn, the person would die. This energy was then given to the user as a boost in strength, but there was a recoil of equal measure once that strength runs out.

    The sword came into contact with the body of the spiritual energy cultivator and drew a deep sh on his back. The moment he had gotten the sh, his eyes widened, and then he died.

    Having executed the Sacrificial Stab and killed a target, Xue Wei felt how the energy in his body roiled. The Qi dragons were roaring in delight as they felt the boost in strength. Unfortunately, he had no one to let his energy out on, and soon the roaring Qi dragons went sluggish. The energy vanished and he was instead exhausted.

    Xue Wei did not know if he believed in the whole thing about the ancient god, but he knew that the attack was overpowered and able to solve their current problems.

    The Sacrificial Stab was a very effective ability, but it put a heavy strain on the user. Xue Wei only used it to kill his target as soon as possible, but his body felt feeble afterward.

    "What did you do?!" Bai Tianyiined in the background, causing the fatigued Xue Wei to walk over and sit down next to him.

    "What do you mean?" he asked with fatigue on his face. "I killed him," he exined.

    "Yeah, but he has no soul power. It is as if his soul just vanished the moment he died. That is such a waste. If I had absorbed his energy, I would have been fully restored."

    "What do you mean?" Xue Wei asked curiously. "No soul power?"

    "Yea, it was as if the soul was spirited away." Bai Tianyi said, unable to hide the slight annoyance in his voice.

    "Uh, the only reason I can think of is that I used Sacrificial Stab," Xue Wei answered. "Sacrificial Stab kills a person and sacrifices the soul of the target to an ancient god ording to the description of the ability."

    "You sacrificed my soul?!" Bai Tianyi asked indignantly, almost yelling at him. So far, whenever they had killed someone, Bai Tianyi had absorbed the soul power that was released. He relied on this to get stronger, to a point where he saw all opponents¡¯ souls as his nutrient.

    "Well, it was the fastest way to kill that I could think of," Xue Wei argued back, feeling a little wronged. How should he have known that the soul actually managed to vanish like that?

    Xue Wei shook his head. He felt very weak at the moment. His entire body was drained of Qi, and the Qi dragons in his meridians had be sparse, but at least the Azure Dragon Spirit in his dantian was nonstop replenishing the lost amount.

    Unfortunately, it was a long way away from him being fully energized and able to continue fighting.

    While he was resting, Xue Wei watched the fight between Hei Gou and the other Primordial Beast.

    Lin Xiao had gone over to help but had been stopped by Hei Gou. He had wanted to finish the battle on his own, and although he had several wounds on his body, he was far from being done.

    The Primordial Beast saw that he was alone. He no longer held any faith in defeating all four of his opponents. He wanted to flee as soon as possible.

    Instead of waiting, his body suddenly erged. He no longer was a human, having transformed into arge horse with hooves, a lion tail and a horn.

    Its skin was red, like blood, and mes erupted from his hooves and mane.

    This was a Nightmare Stallion! Even in Chang¡¯an, this race was flourishing, and the natural talent of the Nightmare Stallion was outstanding.

    In Chang¡¯an, one of the elders in the Council of Elders was a Nightmare Stallion, so everyone¡¯s faces turned serious when they saw the appearance of this horse-like beast.

    Hei Gou¡¯s eyes also turned solemn, and decided to change his body¡¯s shape as well. He suddenly sprouted wings on his back, his legs turned into the legs of a massive dog, and his hands turned into paws, but his body and face did not change.

    "He is quite daring," Bai Tianyi praised. "To face a Nightmare Stallion like this, I don¡¯t know if I should call him reckless or brave. Let¡¯s see if this is enough to stop that pony!"

 Chapter 248: Bragging About Losing

    Xue Wei snickered when he heard Bai Tianyi refer to a Nightmare Stallion as a pony. He was not worried. He hadplete faith in Hei Gou¡¯s abilities, and the fact that he had not fully transformed meant that he did not feel a need to do so yet.

    The wings gave him a speed that even Xue Wei could not rival, and he was able to quickly catch up with the fleeing Nightmare Stallion. The moment he did, hended on the back of the horse, with the ws of both his front and hind legs digging into the flesh of the stallion.

    One front paw dragged down the ws, all the way from the neck and down the back, leaving deep gashes in the back of the stallion. Blood flowed unhindered and patches of flesh were attached to Hei Gou¡¯s ws.

    Hei Gou¡¯s eyes were serious, but he was also slightly disappointed when he saw that the stallion did not stop to fight. Instead, it just bucked wildly and tried to throw him off his back while continuing to flee as fast as it could.

    They had already gotten rather far, and Hei Gou understood that his test of his strength was now over. He sliced the throat of the Nightmare Stallion and instantly killed it. Blood spurted out from its throat and coated the ck fur on his paws.

    As the massive stallion-beast copsed, Hei Gou jumped off and had already begun changing back to his human shape. The blood which previously had been hidden by the ck fur could now be seen.

    HIs clothes, which had been intact when the battle began, were now in tatters and wounds of varying degrees were riddled all over his body.

    Of the four of them, Hei Gou seemed as if he had had the hardest battle. He was the one with the most apparent injuries, at least.

    Lin Xiao was also rather injured, but what he had injured was not the body but the soul. His face was pale and his eyes slightly dim.

    Bai Tianyi was not much better. He had used too much sword energy so he was feeling incredibly feeble. While medicinal pills could heal Lin Xiao and Hei Gou, Bai Tianyi would not be able to participate in a fight until he had restored enough sword energy.

    Xue Wei was the one in the best shape. Although his hand had been seriously wounded, it was already healing at a rapid speed, and his exhaustion from using the Sacrificial Stab was also being dealt with by the Azure Dragon Spirit.

    Xue Wei looked at his bracelet now that the three bandits were dead, and his eyes widened in surprise.

    "When we killed the other seven, we got seventeen merit points, but by killing this group our score has climbed all the way to eighty-nine."

    The others looked at their bracelets, but their results were not as exaggerated as Xue Wei¡¯s.

    "Yours skyrocketed because you dealt with the four-eyed woman and gave her the killing blow," Bai Tianyi was the first to realize why his merits had jumped as much as they had.

    "Oh, so the rest of you have not gotten as many points as I have?" Xue Wei asked dejectedly. The others shook their heads.

    "I am at eighteen merits," Bai Tianyi said casually. He did not care too much about merits. He was a sword spirit. He could always give up his physical body and return to the body of a sword, although if he did so he would have to recreate his body from spiritual energy, which would take him quite a long time.

    But this ability made sure that he could follow Xue Wei anywhere. Hei Gou and Lin Xiao did not have the same possibility, but Xue Wei was certain that they could gain enough merits for all four of them to be allowed to go aboard with the ambassador that was going to the Demon Phoenix Continent.

    "For now, let us retreat to one of the more outer areas of the grasnds," Xue Wei decided. "We need to heal our bodies and soulspletely before we engage in morebat. The ones in this area are rather strong. One mistake and we will end up dead instead of the opponent. Risking our lives is one thing, but suicidal behavior is another."

    Bai Tianyi, Hei Gou, and Lin Xiao looked at one another. Although they had just ended a battle, they were not too tired. If they were really pushed, then they would be capable of fighting back, but they prefered fighting when they were at peak condition to take as few risks as possible.

    Since this was the case, they nodded their heads and moved back the way they hade. Xue Wei administered some pills he had in his storage treasure, pills he had created previously.

    All the pill recipes that Xue Wei had were the mostmon pills that were all over the market. He did not have any pill recipes that were rare, as they had all been prepared by Bai Tianyi, and he did not have the finances to invest in some rare recipes.

    Therefore, all the pills that Xue Wei took out were the most ordinary kind, but even so, they were of high purity and their effect was better than nothing.

    He gave four Blood Coagting pills to Hei Gou and took four himself. Although pills could not be taken as candy, the high puritybined with the low medicinal strength of these pills enabled them to do this.

    Hei Gou saw that Xue Wei put all four pills into his mouth and chewed lightly. If he could handle it, then Hei Gou obviously could too, as his physical body was many times stronger than Xue Wei¡¯s.

    Xue Wei also handed another set of pills to Lin Xiao. These pills healed the soul. Although they took a longer time to work, they were able to draw Soul Power into the soul and help it mend and nurture the soul back to its original state.

    The only one he could not help with pills was Bai Tianyi, and he looked apologetically at his friend, but Bai Tianyi just waved his hand with a carefree expression on his face.

    Xue Wei was unaware of how long it would take before Bai Tianyi¡¯s sword energy would recover, but a look at his face told him that the paleness had already been reced by a rosyplexion. It was clear that he was not as strained as before.

    On the return trip, they encountered neither friends nor foes. A few Fierce Beasts appeared and looked at Xue Wei with curiosity, but they did not dare move too close out of fear for the other three.

    "Let us rest for a bit here," Xue Wei said after they had traveled for a few hours. There was no one in sight and their current position gave them a clear view on all sides.

    Lin Xiao and Hei Gou were quiet as they instantly sat down and started cultivating. They started mending their body and soul while at the same time training the Soul Guard.

    Seeing them train, Xue Wei took the task of observing their surroundings. The pills he had taken were enough to heal him after a bit of time. HeE could watch their surroundings while cultivating to some degree, though it would not have the same effect as stationary meditation, but this was the best course of action now that they were in enemy territory.

    Bai Tianyi sat down with his legs crossed, closed his eyes, and started emitting a pulsating, strange grey energy around him.

    It went out of his body, rotated around him and returned to his body again in tact with his breathing. This was the sword energy that he controlled. It was clear that with each breath, the energy that moved grew in size.

    Xue Wei had been worried that the sword energy would take months to restore, but looking at Bai Tianyi¡¯s current state, it might not take all that long.

    Time went by slowly. Xue Wei was eager to get merits, but he was not silly enough to rush his team when they were healing and cultivating.

    Suddenly in the distance, Xue Wei noticed a group of experts that seemingly had noticed them as well. The group was heading towards them, but Xue Wei hesitated to wake up hisrades.

    If the arriving experts were from the academy, then they could continue their training, but if they were bandits, then they had to fight.

    Fortunately, it turned out that they were from the academy. Xue Wei went out to meet them so that they did not interrupt Bai Tianyi and the others.

    When they noticed the ck wristband on his hand, the academy students turned disappointed, and then they looked curiously at Xue Wei and the other three.

    "Are you the neers from another continent?" the leader of the other group asked curiously. He had seen that all four had two eyes each and that they seemed to not have the distinct humbling behavior of a two-eyed expert from Yan Dalu.

    "That would be us," Xue Wei nodded his head.

    He did not see any condescension in the eyes of these experts, nor did he see much disdain. He was surprised to see that they were all friendly and open towards him.

    "You defeated Tang Liu andter helped him break through to the Ordinary Knight rank with his Qi levels. This piece of news, he is even bragging about it back in the camp," the leader said,ughing out loud. "Normally, a defeat is nothing to rejoice about, but because he managed to be an Ordinary Knight with his Qi levels, he was quite hard to get back down to earth. Everyone who has been in the camp already knows about it."

    "We are also aware that you have some abilities which are highly rankedpared to the Qi skills here in Yan Dalu."

    Hearing this, Xue Wei was slightly alert. Were they interested in his techniques? He was not willing to give them away just like that.

    Seeing him tense up, the entire group smiled and shook their heads. "Don¡¯t worry, we are not so starved for Qi techniques that we will make enemies with you over it," the leader assured him. Xue Wei felt a bit calmer hearing this.

    "Well, we will continue our expedition," the group got ready to head out once more. Xue Wei said his farewell. He had already managed to get a bit of information from the leader of the group and he was quite happy that they were not bandits.

    When he returned to his friends¡¯ side, he quickly found that Hei Gou had awakened from his cultivation.

    His eyes were looking around him with a sharpness that had not been there before. There wasere a certainty and self-confidence emanating from Hei Gou that he did not have earlier.

    The experience from that battle had given him the confidence he needed. He had started to understand that, after two mutations, his body was now no longer that average Celestial Dog he had been when he met Xue Wei.

    He was now an overlord amongst the Primordial Beasts. He was now a beast that had been granted a heaven-defying talent. He was someone who could be considered a supreme genius. Everything about him had been changed, and it had been changed for the better.

    But what race was he now? He himself had not even seen his full shape, but he understood that he could no longer be considered a Celestial Dog. He was now apletely new race of Primordial Beasts, a race that had never appeared before.

 Chapter 249: Gathering Point

    They sat up camp for the rest of the night. Lin Xiao was, surprisingly, the one who needed the most time to heal.

    Xue Wei and Bai Tianyi were on high alert all night. They spread out their spiritual sense to keep watch for enemies in the darkness.

    Hei Gou spent the night to improve his Soul Guard skill, and Lin Xiao was healing his soul while also cultivating the Soul Guard skill.

    The time went by slowly. The night was ck as ink before, slowly, the sun started rising in the east.

    With the rising sun, there was a beautiful disy of crimson colors on the sky, looking so beautiful that even Xue Wei could not drag his eyes away from the wonders of nature.

    Lin Xiao was the first to stand up. He released a breath of foul air and looked at the others with gratitude. He knew that his wounds had caused them to spend more time recuperating than what they had wanted, but they were a team. No one was left behind.

    "Let us advance again," Xue Wei said. Together, the quartet moved deeper into the grasnds once more.

    On the way, they saw signs of furious battle; corpses were left on the ground, someplete with only their souls missing, others with iplete bodies, having been ripped to shreds by the attacks.

    Of the ones they saw, the bandits were not the only ones that had lost their lives. They also came across corpses with the ck wristband on their arms, and when they saw this, their mood turned somber.

    This could have been them, had they not been extra careful. Even now, if they were not careful, it was obvious that they would end up dead.

    Xue Wei and the others advanced carefully. The energy in Yan Dalu was different from the energy back in Chang¡¯an. Where his spiritual energy had been capable of extending more than a hundred kilometers for surveince back in Chang¡¯an, he could only reach one kilometer in range here, making it much easier to just look with the eyes.

    Feeling that he could no longer scan arge expanse ofnd around him, Xue Wei felt slightly weakened, but he understood that the other members of Yan Dalu were in the same position as himself.

    Although they cultivated spiritual energy, Xue Wei understood that they had the same suppression on their spiritual energy as he had. They could not see much further than him unless their rank was much higher than his.

    "Oh look," Hei Gou was the first to talk while they were walking, and he pointed into the distance. "A group ising towards us."

    Although he spoke casually, Xue Wei and the others tensed up right away. If someone wasing towards them, there was a fifty percent chance that they were enemies.

    Knowing this, they all prepared for battle. However, a few momentster they noticed the ck wristbands on the arms of the advancing group.

    Although the advancing group should have seen that Xue Wei and his friends were wearing ck wristbands, they were not stopping and continued towards them, causing Xue Wei to frown.

    "Hello, fellow students," someone from the group said with a cheerful voice. It was a three-eyed expert with spiritual energy at the Earth Knight rank.

    "Hello," Xue Wei greeted them with a nod. He was slightly apprehensive and unsure of what exactly they wanted, but he did not feel any hostility so he was also rather polite.

    "We are gathering all the students into arge group now," the leader said. "We are going to start the final push on the bandits, but to do so we need everyone who can participate in the battle."

    Xue Wei was surprised, but he quickly nodded his head. It made sense.

    "So where do we meet?" He was not against teaming up with the others. There were a few things he had yet to fully understand, but a free for all melee would be ideal to him and his friends.

    In a free for all melee, everything would descend into chaos, allowing Xue Wei and his friends to inch close to people and execute them with their superior physical strength.

    As long as they did not encounter too many Primordial Beasts specializing in Qi, they should be fine.

    "How do we split the points?" Xue Wei asked. The one who had taken the initiative to greet them shed him a great smile as he answered, "Don¡¯t worry, anyone who gets the killing blow will get the points. That is how the ck wristbands are made to work."

    Xue Wei nodded his head, but then he frowned. "Won¡¯t that mean that many will try to steal the final blows?"

    "No, although there might be one or two trying to do so, the majority won¡¯t. We of the Garden of Shadows are righteous people," the man dered with a grin, not insulted in the least.

    "I see, well in that case it is great for us," Xue Wei agreed readily. "We are on our way to the gathering point now," the man who had spoken before said with his friendly voice. "Why not follow us? We will help you find the others and then we can set out all together."

    Xue Wei was not very used to people being this friendly towards him. He had been told that they would be looked at with disdain, and although some did look down upon them, the majority of the people he had interacted with so far had been very friendly and open.

    It was inplete contrast to how people had been behaving towards him back in Chang¡¯an. The feeling of being epted was truly great.

    Together, the two groups made their way towards the gathering point. On the way, they engaged in idle chatter with one another.

    "I know you are from outside of the continent," the one who had been speaking before once more spoke with Xue Wei, his curiosity clearly showing on his face.

    "We are," Xue Wei acknowledged. "Well, what is the outside world like?" The one who spoke was named You Shan. He had been a student at the Garden of Shadow for three years now. He had been on various missions within Yan Dalu so far, but he had never before left the continent. In fact, almost no one was allowed to leave as it was almost impossible to survive the journey through the sea if one was not guided by the envoys.

    "I don¡¯t know about other continents, but we came from Chang¡¯an. It is rather far away from here," Xue Wei said honestly. "On Chang¡¯an, spiritual energy is also cultivated, but the majority specialize in Qi. There is a constant war raging between the Primordial Beasts and the humans."

    Xue Wei did not withhold much information. Even if this person wished to visit Chang¡¯an, it would be impossible. They had only managed to get there by relying on the trans-dimensional tunnel that Lan had made.

    In fact, they were unsure of where in the world they actually were. It was clearly Yan Dalu, but where in the world was Yan Dalu located? None of them knew. Even the people of Yan Dalu were unsure as they never really left.

    "A continent where Primordial Beasts and humans are constantly fighting?" You Shan was shocked. "Why would they fight? Humans and Primordial Beasts have a lot inmon. They are able to fight side by side, their intellect is quite simr, and their goals in life are not too different either. Of course, it is impossible to fall in love across races, but that does not mean you have to fight one another."

    "Well, it seems as if the continent of Chang¡¯an has had a war for the past many millennia. There was a time when the humans lived as ves and livestock to the Primordial Beasts, but one day they rose in a rebellion and fought for their freedom."

    "They overthrew the power of the beasts, but they could not wipe them out. As a result, all of them are now fighting for supremacy in the continent."

    "In Chang¡¯an, we have legends about other continents, but we were sure that the other continents were only myth. The inhabitants of Chang¡¯an are too busy fighting amongst themselves. They cannot focus on the outside world."

    "I see." You Shan went silent. "In that case, I actually don¡¯t think Yan Dalu is so bad."

    "Although we have bandits and schemes run deeply in the royal court, we are not in constant war." Afterparing their two worlds, You Shan suddenly felt very satisfied with living in Yan Dalu.

    As they spoke, they spotted arge group of experts in the distance. Many of these people were three-eyed. A few were two-eyed and four-eyed.

    The two-eyed were all Primordial Beasts, and they had all turned around to look at the groups led by You Shan and Xue Wei as they headed towards the gathering point.

    When they saw them, some looked with disdain at Xue Wei, but the majority knew that this group of two-eyed experts were from outside of Yan Dalu, and thus, although they had some ingrown disdain towards two-eyed experts, they could not look down on Xue Wei and his friends as they normally would.

    Many also had curiosity in their gazes, and as Xue Wei looked around, he also saw Tang Jiu.

    Noticing Tang Jiu, he saw that the man was moving towards him, with a great smile on his face.

    "My brother!" he called out, stunning Xue Wei. Were they really close enough to consider each other brothers? This was kinda weird.

    When they had met the first time, Xue Wei had felt that Tang Jiu was very arrogant, but seeing him now, this arrogance waspletely gone. Instead, there was gratitude in his eyes when he looked at Xue Wei.

    "I have to thank you for helping me break through to the Ordinary Knight rank!" he eximed, not lowering his voice at all, and many close by heard it. They perked their ears and listened in on the conversation.

    "The pill you gave me must have been a very rare item, no?" he asked, slightly embarrassed, but Xue Wei just shook his head.

    "It is a pill I learned to refine on the way to Yan Dalu. It is not very rare, but I do not know whether or not the herbs exist here in Yan Dalu, so as to how rare they are here, I do not know."

    How could Xue Wei not know that Tang Liu wanted to get his hands on even more of these pills, most likely to share them with his friends?

    Although Xue Wei had the materials on him to create around a thousand of these pills, he would never admit it. They were made to increase the absorption of the essence of the heavens and the earth. It could be used to increase one¡¯s cultivation. Since they could help him, why would he give them away for free?

    On the other hand, if they brought their own materials, creating the pills was no problem. He would gain experience in pill concocting at the same time as he would increase his spiritual energy. Only an idiot would decline.

    "What materials do you need?" Tang Liu asked curiously. His eyes were shining. Xue Wei took out the requisite herbs from his storage ring.

    "I need Copper Leafed Magnolia as the mainponent of the pill, and on the side of the Magnolia I also need a Spiritual Orange Blossom and a Thousand Neb Flower."

    The three herbs he mentioned were indeed the three herbs needed for the Spring Powder Pill. The reason he took out the herbs was because he was unsure of what they might call the nts on this continent.

    It was hard to say if they had the same herbs but called them different names. It was another continent after all.

 Chapter 250: Bandits Lair

    "We have them," Tang Liu said hesitatingly as he looked at the three herbs in Xue Wei¡¯s hand.

    "But they are rarely used since they are mainly aimed at Qi cultivators. It is not something that I am carrying with me right now, nor are the other cultivators that specialize in spiritual energy."

    "I have a couple of hundred of each," one of the Primordial Beasts suddenly said, stunning everyone present. Although they were listening in on the conversation, they had never expected that someone would jump into the conversation, but all of them were ted by his words.

    "Let me buy a set!" someone eximed instantly, and when one began, another took over and soon everyone was gathering around the Primordial Beast to buy his herbs.

    "How many pills can you make from these herbs?" the Primordial Beast ignored the many spiritual energy three-eyed and even four-eyed experts in front of him and asked Xue Wei.

    Looking at the mountain of herbs that appeared in front of them, Xue Wei did a slight calction.

    "The quality of these herbs is rather high. If I distill them a few times, I should be able to make high purity pills, and I should have the ability to make around a hundred and seventy pills from your herbs."

    "How long does it take you to make that many pills?" the Primordial Beast asked again. This time, Xue Wei was slightly hesitant.

    He walked to the herbs and looked them over again. Although he had made a rough, averaged estimate of the quality, he had to respond differently to each herb to know how many times he had to distill them before he knew exactly how long it would take him.

    "I think it will take me around a day and a night to create all those pills," Xue Wei said honestly. The Primordial Beast was now the one to descend into silence.

    He looked around and did a headcount.

    "We have a hundred and fifty-seven experts here who focus on spiritual energy. I would like to request you to make a pill for each of them," he said seriously.

    "I will be shouldering the expense of the nts. I will not ask for money for these herbs, I just want us to increase our fighting strength before we go to the banditir."

    The Primordial Beast was quite a straightforward man. He was very honest and selfless. He wanted to help everyone, but mostly because he looked at the greater picture.

    He understood that if they wanted a chance to survive the raid on the bandit¡¯sir, then they needed to be as prepared as possible.

    Xue Wei understood this as well and did not ask forpensation for hisbor.

    Instead, he found a ce in the grass and sat down. He took out his cauldron from the storage ring and lit it with his spiritual energy.

    He then began working. Everyone looked at him with curiosity. Alchemists were in no way rare in Yan Dalu. In fact, alchemists and formation masters were rathermon because it was only natural that spiritual energy professions in a continent where spiritual energy was the main method of cultivation was everywhere.

    However, the alchemists only had pills that specialized for spiritual energy. They had nothing that helped the physical body or Qi enhancement.

    Since this was the case, everyone was curious about how he created the pills.

    Xue Wei grabbed a handful of all three herbs and tossed them into the cauldron. Seeing his actions, many¡¯s eyes widened in surprise and shock. This was not the way of creating pills they had learned.

    They had been taught by someone who had learned the trade earlier and it was passed down through countless years, but Xue Wei was self-taught. He had learned that adding all herbs and distilling them at once was the easiest.

    He continued to distill the herbs before he slowly merged them with one another. The process was painfully slow and it took him a full hour to finish the first batch of medicine, but as soon as the hour was over, a scent wafted out of the cauldron and Xue Wei reached out his hand and grabbed the nine pills of Spring Powder Pills he had just created.

    "Here," he said and handed them to the Primordial Beast who was the owner of the herbs. He would not handle the distribution of the pills as he was already busy concocting them, so he left that job to the Primordial Beast, who quickly gave out the nine pills.

    The nine people who were given the Spring Powder Pills were filled with excitement. Smiles were on their faces as they sat down and calmed themselves.

    Amongst the nine who got the pills were five four-eyed experts. These were the only four-eyed experts in the entire group. No one questioned their right to be the first to get the pills. This was the hierarchy of Yan Dalu; the number of eyes one had truly mattered.

    Xue Wei did not waste any time. As soon as he had finished the first batch of pills, he reached out and took another stack of herbs before he began refining once again.

    This process repeated itself three times before he had used up all his spiritual energy. He then popped a pill into his mouth - it was a pill that increased spiritual energy. And then he sat down to meditate.

    At the current point in time, the first 7 had already broken through to the Ordinary Knight rank, while another twenty were still cultivating, trying their best to absorb the energy and break through.

    Like this, the day and the night passed. More and more sat down on the ground and cultivated, while the Primordial Beasts all kept watch of the surroundings and protecting them as they cultivated.

    As the hours passed, more and more woke up from cultivation. Smiles were evident on all faces, and the nces that were sent to Xue Wei were filled with reverence and respect. Although he only had two eyes, he had done something that caused them all to respect him and acknowledge him.

    As the sun rose in the sky the next day, Xue Wei finally stood up and stretched his body. He was sore in every inch of his body as he handed the final pills over to the Primordial Beast. Afterwards, he found a few spiritual fruits that had been stored in snow jade boxes.

    Although they were months old, they were all fresh and juicy. He picked a few and started eating them before sitting down and cultivating.

    These spiritual fruits had the ability to restore spiritual energy and physical strength. That was the reason he had picked especially these fruits.

    As the time neared lunchtime, everyone had awakened from their cultivation. All of them were now Ordinary Knights in terms of Qi cultivation level, which was something that made Xue Wei gape in astonishment. These multi-eyed experts were truly god¡¯s favorite children.

    All the experts present were in high spirits. Their bodies were bursting with a strength they had never felt before, and on the way towards the banditir, they all tried to get used to their newfound strength.

    Although they now had much more physical strength than in the past, they also understood that they could only use this physical strength defensively.

    They had no martial arts that could make them use their physical strength in battle, but now that their bodies were stronger, they would be able to sustain more damage before drawing blood.

    "On behalf of our group, I would like to thank you for your assistance," one of the four-eyed experts went next to Xue Wei and nodded his head.

    "We were originally expecting at least half of us to leave our lives behind in this assault on the banditir, but with your assistance and our newfound strength, we might be able to leave less than one third behind."

    "Are the bandits truly that much of a challenge?" Xue Wei could not help but ask. He knew nothing about the actual strength of the bandit leader and his top people.

    "There are seven four-eyed cultivators beneath the bandit leader. The bandit leader is a Primordial Beast. He is a ninthyered Earth Warrior, and his original shape is an Ivory Blight Boar and it¡¯s not to be slighted. His bloodline is incredibly pure and he has some outstanding physical strength."

    "Although he does not focus on spiritual energy, he is considered a very dangerous foe. He has a movement technique that allows him to teleport, and as soon as he gets close to your body, you are likely to die."

    "He has innate abilities, something that is able to make him even stronger. I know you have quite some strong experts on your side, but do you think you can hold him down?"

    Xue Wei pondered for some time and then nodded his head. "If all four of us go together, we can take him down," he agreed. "But if we do that, we will lose out on merits, and merits are very much what we need right now."

    "The merits from taking down the leader of the bandit group surpasses the sum of taking down the rest of the bandits," the four-eyed expert assured Xue Wei, who then nodded his head. "Since that is the case, just leave the boar to us. You guys can focus on taking care of the small fries then. Try to not let anyone die."

    While they spoke, they had been marching at a fast pace deeper into the grasnd. However, even though they had encountered corpses on the way, they had not seen anyone alive.

    The tension in the atmosphere intensified as they came closer and closer to the banditir. It was clear that every bandit had been called back to theirir.

    "What is their like?" Xue Wei could not help but ask. The four-eyed expert by his side answered honestly.

    "It is an old castle. At the very end of the grassy expanse is a mountain, and the castle is carved out from the mountainside. It is indeed a fortress and breaking in will be difficult. That is also why I expect we will lose quite a few men in the process."

    Xue Wei nodded his head. It made sense that they would have some strong foothold.

    They marched a full two days and two nights before they finally reached the end of the grasnds. Being this deep in, everyone was tense and worried, but the long travel had also allowed them to be much more familiar with their newfound strengths.

    The sun was rising on the horizon, casting its rays upon the grasnd and the mountain wall in the distance.

    Arge fortress had been carved into the mountain wall itself. It looked dominating and overwhelming, its sheer size so magnificent that it could take the breath away from anyone who saw it.

    This was the bandit¡¯sir. This was where Xue Wei¡¯s and his friends¡¯ first real battle in Yan Dalu would be held.

    Looking at the magnificent sight, Xue Wei felt his blood boil. Thinking about having to fight against an expert a whole realm and oneyer above himself made his blood run cold, but at the same time it also made him excited.

    He could not wait to see what the Qi levels of this world were like. Was that Primordial Beast really as dangerous as they said? He wanted to find out, but he also knew that he was likely to be seriously injured, if not dead, if he underestimated his enemy.

    When the many experts looked at Xue Wei, they saw a bloodcurdling smile on his face, a smile that made them shiver.

    This bloodthirst that suddenly seeped out from Xue Wei was quickly spreading amongst the many experts that were traveling with him. At first, they were slightly frightened, but soon it affected them into releasing their own killing intent.

    The battle was beginning!

 Chapter 251: Bandit Leaders Charge

    The bandit¡¯sir had an oppressive air to it. The gates of the fortress was closed, and formations were covering the entire ce, prohibiting entrance from the sky.

    Many of the multi-eyed experts were puzzled as to what they should do. If the bandits decided to hole up within their fortress, it was likely that there was nothing they could do.

    The gate had been fortified with formations that blocked spiritual energy, so that it was impossible to just barge in ¨C or so they thought.

    There was one thing which the bandits had not taken into ount, and that was the fact that all of the students had increased their Qi level to the Ordinary Knight rank, an increase that could not be disregarded.

    Even without martial arts, their strength was now more than double what it had been before. If they each used a basic punch infused with Qi, the gate would crumble under thebined attack.

    The first to realize this was Xue Wei and a smile appeared on his lips. On top of the gates there were bandits jeering at them. They all thought that they were safe and that the ones at their gate were incapable of attacking them.

    "All of you, show them what physical strength can do!" Xue Wei called out happily and advanced towards the gate, followed by the many experts from the Garden of Shadows.

    They all threw out a punch, one at a time, and before all of them could finish their attacks, the gates emitted a cracking sound as they shattered into thousands of pieces of wood that spread through the air.

    The bandits on top of the gates were staring with gaping mouths, their eyes almost popping out of their sockets.

    How could these experts suddenly have such strength?! They specialized in spiritual energy, so why on earth were they suddenly so strong?

    The bandits were not the only ones in shock. Although those below had gotten used to their newfound strength, they had not seen their actual strength in an attack. So when they saw it, they were floored with amazement.

    Their performance had boosted their morale. The faces of the students were filled with smiles and excitement.

    As soon as the gate was shattered, all of them rushed inside the fortress. What met them was a horde of bandits. It was clear that when the students had gathered for the final battle, the bandits had done the same and returned to theirir.

    Most of these experts had three eyes. There were a few with two eyes, but there were none with four eyes in the entire courtyard of the fortress.

    The bandits had the advantage of sheer numbers, but they were inferior in quality

    The experts from the academy were all filled with excitement and intent to do battle and they threw themselves into the fighting the moment their eyes locked on an enemy.

    The morale was high in the group. Their bodies were capable of withstanding much more damage than before, and they were all eager to disy this change in their bodies.

    Xue Wei, Lin Xiao, Hei Gou, and Bai Tianyi were all great at mingling with the rest of the academy students and inched closer to their targets, managing to end their lives with simple attacks.

    They were all eager to kill as many as possible to increase their own score.

    Xue Wei had promised to focus on the leader of the bandit group alongside his friends. The reason was simple: their leader was a Primordial Beast who specialized in Qi.

    Although the students had managed to step into the Ordinary Knight with their Qi levels, many of them would have to sacrifice their lives before they would be able to really cause problems for him.

    They would need to hold him in ce and have someone specialized in soul attacks attack him. As a Primordial Beast, his weakest point would be his soul, but they needed both luck and skills to get that opportunity.

    This was why Xue Wei, Hei Gou, Lin Xiao, and Bai Tianyi were chosen as the ones to face him.

    The bandit leader was a high ranked Earth Knight. He was higher ranked than the four of them, but they had the highest chance of sess in the entire group of bracelet-wearers - even the other Primordial Beasts could notpare to Hei Gou¡¯s strength. His physical strength at the ninthyer of the Earth Knight rank was enough to fully challenge the bandit leader.

    Unfortunately, one could not immediately judge another¡¯s physical strength levels. When they looked at Hei Gou, they could only sense his Qi level, which was at the fourthyer of the Earth Warrior rank, but this was already enough to cause these students to be in awe.

    Hei Gou looked so young, but he was already this strong! Even the Primordial Beasts in the academy were stunned by it.

    The Primordial Beasts were also stunned by Xue Wei. They could feel a pressure and danger from his body that made them all have an urge to bow down in front of him, but he imed that he was no Primordial Beast. Then what could he be? What was nobler than a Primordial Beast when it came to the density of bloodlines?

    The Primordial Beats were all slightly ufortable around Xue Wei, but they also looked up to him. Still, it was easier to just hide away from him than to actually meet and talk with him.

    The multi-eyed cultivators could not sense the same pressure that the beasts could, and thus the beasts knew that there was a pressure solely made for the beasts. Was it someone who had power over beasts?

    They somewhat hoped this, as they wished for someone to be able to deal with the bandit leader.

    "Hey guys," Lin Xiao suddenly called out, and not only Xue Wei, Hei Gou and Bai Tianyi listened in, everyone within hearing range had their ears perked up and was ready to listen to what was being said.

    "Why don¡¯t I try to tame him? Then they can run a trial for him if they want," he said casually. "I kind of want to see if my taming abilities work here in the other continent."

    "You think they might not?" Xue Wei asked curiously. Lin Xiao shook his head. "I really don¡¯t know," he answered seriously.

    "There are some secrets for the Diviners." Lin Xiao sighed. "I can¡¯t really go into detail since I swore a heavenly oath, but it might be possible that it only works on Chang¡¯an."

    "In that case, give it a try," Xue Wei said with a nod of his head. "We will not lose anything from you testing your abilities here."

    The many people eavesdropping were confused. What abilities? Was it really possible to tame Primordial Beasts? They were as intellectual as humans, and they were seen as equals here in Yan Dalu. The ability to tame them would be a power that none of them could imagine.

    But the fight continued. The students were easily disposing of their enemies and the ground was littered with corpses. All of them were bandits; not a single student had lost their life just yet.

    The group poured deeper into the fortress, no longer fighting in the open courtyard but entering the actual fortress building.

    The further in they got, the more people they encountered, and these people became increasingly stronger. Xue Wei was astonished. This was the biggest bandit group he had ever encountered. It made perfect sense that the government was in need of taking action against them.

    Xue Wei was not in a rush when they moved into the building. He and his friends were around the middle of the pack, observing everything in their path.

    The many bandits were being killed one after another, whichsted until the fortress started trembling.

    A three meter tall boar appeared in the main hall of the fortress; its tusks were massive and sharp, filled with power. One hit of those and even these experts with Ordinary Knight strength of the firstyer would be severely injured.

    This was their target. This was the leader of the bandits. Seeing him, Xue Wei nced at Lin Xiao who was frowning and shook his head. He could not tell at the current point if he could tame him or not.

    "We need to beat him down," he said seriously. "Beat him down until he forgets from which direction the sun rises. Then I should have a chance."

    "In that case, let us move," Xue Wei said. He, Hei Gou, Bai Tianyi, and Lin Xiao were all eager to fight this boar.

    "Gou, you take care of blocking his attacks. Your body is much stronger than ours, so you will have to keep him busy for us!" Xue Wei called out directions.

    "Xiao and Tianyi, the two of you are going to add support from behind. Whenever the boar is locked down by Gou, youunch your own attacks and bring him down."

    "I will ensure that no one is allowed to interrupt us, and I¡¯llunch attacks on my own whenever I see a chance to do so!"

    Forbidden Rush!

    Having given out the directions, Xue Wei activated his movement technique alongside the other two, and Bai Tianyi made a flying sword which he stood on.

    While everyone else was shying away from therge boar, Xue Wei and his friends moved straight towards him. On the way, Hei Gou¡¯s body started changing.

    His body grew in size. It was no longer the size of a Celestial Dog; instead it was the size of a great dragon, five meters long and three meters tall.

    The fur was still ck, but it had streaks of silver and gold within, and big wings were pping behind his back, the feathers also having a few silver and gold feathers amongst the many ck ones.

    In a way, it seemed very much the same as before, but much bigger and with a few golden and silver colors mixed in between.

    Hei Gou¡¯s shape was awe-inspiring. Even the students of the academy were stunned when they saw Hei Gou transform.

    All the experts from the academy that were Primordial Beasts felt their hearts tremble. This was a Primordial Beast with a very pure bloodline. This was a king amongst beasts!

    It was not only the beasts of the academy who could feel the oppressive air, the small eyes of the bandit leader in his boar form narrowed as he felt the pressure bearing down upon him.

    The two massive figures facing off against each other, were not backing down at all. One was a predator by nature, a dog that had mutated and be so very powerful, while the other was a boar, a beast that would never back down if it felt threatened, bearing tusks that could cause serious damage.

    The first to lose his patience was the bandit leader. He and Hei Gou had been observing each other for some time but found no apparent weaknesses in the other, so he charged out with all his might.

    Hei Gou was fast and dodged the charge of the bandit leader. He sidestepped him, causing the bandit leader to run straight into the wall, which resulted in the entire building shaking, dust falling from the ceiling.

    The moment he ran into the wall, he became slightly dizzy, and neither Lin Xiao nor Bai Tianyi wanted to waste any opportunities. Swords made from the grey energy descended down onto the back of the boar, slicing through the thick hide and flesh.

    Bai Tianyi fought from the distance, and Lin Xiao rushed up to him, bringing down his sword for numerous quick shes.

 Chapter 252: Diviner

    They were doing hit and run tactics. As soon as their attack hadnded, they rushed away again.

    Usually, Lin Xiao would be using his staff, but today he was using a sword. He had both sword and staff at his disposal, but he preferred using the staff. Unfortunately, the hide of the boar was too thick and impossible to cause serious injuries with the staff, making him switch to a sword this time.

    Lin Xiao was not as skillful with the sword as he was with the staff, but honestly, the current tactics did not require any borate skills.

    He threw a single attack at the boar before he retreated faster than the eye could see.

    By the time the boar turned around, ready to chase the two troublesome individuals that had appeared, he was stopped by a massive dog that had jumped on his back; sharp teeth sunk into its neck and sharp ws dug into its sides.

    Blood flowed unceasingly from the boar¡¯s body. It was impossible for him to stop the blood from flowing, and he started thrashing about, running into walls and throwing himself on the floor in an attempt to make Hei Gou release him.

    After a bit of time, he managed to seed. Hei Gou released him and retreated slightly, but the boar dared not show his back to Hei Gou again, causing yet another round of attacks from Lin Xiao and Bai Tianyi tond on his body.

    This time, he did not turn around but kept facing Hei Gou. He nced around looking for a ce to fight where he would not be nked from all sides and found that not far away was a corner of the hall. Most would not prefer being stuck to a corner like this in a battle against many opponents, as a corner meant he would have no avenues of retreat, but the bandit leader felt that it was more secure than the current situation where everyone was ganging up against him.

    Xue Wei was observing the actions of the boar. He was not so eager to join the battle right away. His n was to assist when they needed it, but looking at how the battle was panning out, no one needed his assistance right now.

    Still, he could not just stand there doing nothing, so he moved forward.

    Forbidden Rush!

    Inner Might: Qi Zither Style!

    Xue Wei used the Forbidden Rush to move to a ce where there were almost no people. It was far away from the scene of battle, but he was still in range of them should they need his help.

    Sitting at his position he sent out one melody infused with Qi after another, either assisting some students that were in a bind or further injuring the boar that was fighting for its life against his threerades.

    The sound waves were invisible but contained so much Qi that they could cause some severe damage ¨C especially to the spiritual energy cultivators whose body cultivation was still at the Heavenly Warrior rank.

    Although Xue Wei was not interested in stealing points from others, he was sometimes able to kill a few weaker cultivators, but no one really minded him stealing the points, as each and every one of his attacks saved lives and made things much easier for the rest of the students.

    Xue Wei was curious, as his eyes gazed over the entire inside of the fortress. Everywhere he looked, painful and desperate battles were being fought.

    The bandits still held the advantage of sheer numbers, but even so, they did not seem to have what it took to face off against the experts from the Garden of Shadows academy who had managed to raise their Qi levels to the Ordinary Knight rank.

    Although this was the case, many of them were still fighting one against two, and although their bodies were harder to injure, they still felt that their advance had been slowed.

    That was when Xue Wei noticed something odd. At the start, all of them had been allowed into the fortress easily and to advance as far as they wanted, but now it was as if the battlefield had been separated into two battlefields, one where Hei Gou, Lin Xiao, and Bai Tianyi were fighting against the boar and one where the rest were fighting against the students.

    At the start, Xue Wei had been perfectly in reach of both battlefields, but now it felt as if he could barely reach both sides to support them as needed.

    Had the bandits nned something for Hei Gou and the others? Xue Wei suddenly got worried.

    He was not too caring about the academy students; it was not his job to look after them or help them increase their fighting prowess. He had already done more than what could be expected from him by helping them upgrade their Qi realms.

    Since this was the case, he immediately dismissed the Qi zither from Inner Might. He rushed towards the boar and saw that the entire back of the beast was filled with wounds and cuts. Blood flowed from the wounds in the hide, dying the skin and even the ground beneath the boar bloody red.

    "Finish it!" Xue Wei called out, sensing an ill premonition. "We need to finish this battle fast!"

    Lin Xiao and the others were unaware of what might be the cause of Xue Wei¡¯s sudden rush, but they understood that he would not say something to trick them. Lin Xiao¡¯s face became serious.

    The sword was reced with another staff ¨C a staff that Xue Wei had not seen before.

    This staff did not seem like the one he used to fight with. It seemed as if it was made from a strange red kind of wood, and on the end was a moon carved from jade attached.

    This was the tool that Lin Xiao needed to tame a Primordial Beast. Although he was a Diviner, there were certain things he needed when taming a beast and the beast staff was one of these items.

    The staff he held was something that had been passed down through generations of Diviners. There was only one true Beast Staff in the world, but there were countless replicas of it.

    The only real Beast Staff was in the hands of Lin Xiao, and it was much stronger than the other staves. In fact, it was in a league of its own.

    Lin Xiao¡¯s eyes were serious as he looked at the boar in front of him. This boar was stronger than any other beast he had ever attempted to subdue, but he was not willing to give up. Rather, he was more than eager to give it a try. He wanted to see the strength of the Beast Staff he had casually swiped before setting out.

    Lin Xiao closed his eyes and started mumbling strange words. The moon on the top of the staff started shining with a gentle moonlight-like glow and this glow started coagting into a long line.

    The line went from the moon straight into the eyes of the boar. Until now, the boar had been fighting seriously against the other three, but the moment the light shed in front of its eyes, it stopped struggling. Its pupils widened and its body went limp.

    Everywhere within the fortress, the sound of fighting slowly came to a standstill as they saw the strange phenomenon in front of them. What was happening to this bandit leader?

    No one had the answer, but the moment they looked at Lin Xiao, fear and reverence was evident in their eyes. Some had greed in their narrowed eyes. The staff in Lin Xiao¡¯s hand was truly too magnificent.

    Xue Wei was also curiously observing every change in Lin Xiao and the boar. This was the first time he saw a Diviner using his taming skill, and he was quite curious about it.

    When he saw the gentle moonlight-like glow on the staff, his interest was even further piqued. It had an attractiveness to it that almost made Xue Wei want to reach out his hand and touch it.

    The glow was alluring and tempting. It was almost dragging him towards it, but he managed to control himself.

    Hei Gou seemed to feel the same as Xue Wei, but where Xue Wei had no problem controlling himself, Hei Gou had trouble from staying away, trembling meanwhile. His eyes were red and his mouth curled into a sneer, blood flowing from the corner of the lips.

    It was clear that Hei Gou had a much harder time fighting against the allure of the light. Xue Wei frowned. This was not what he wanted. He did not want to see his good friend in pain.

    Lin Xiao seemed to have noticed the predicament that Hei Gou was in and his face turned serious. He instantly stopped pouring his energy into the staff and with a flick of his hand, he stored it in his storage treasure again, after which he quickly took out a few scrolls.

    Hei Gou felt much better the moment the staff had vanished, but the boar was not as fortunate. It had been under the direct influence of the light and its mind was nk and its body exhausted.

    Lin Xiao rushed to the side of the boar and ced the yellow scrolls on the boar¡¯s forehead.

    These scrolls were clearly talismans. After cing them on the boar, he sat down in front of it, crossing his legs and cing his hands in hisp. He closed his eyes and poured out a form of energy that Xue Wei had never experienced before.

    He frowned. Although he had not seen this energy before, there was something about it that seemed slightly familiar, but he could not put his finger on what exactly it was.

    It was not before he looked at Bai Tianyi that he realized that the familiarity came from his Sword Energy. The energy that Lin Xiao was using shared certain characteristics to the kind of energy that the Sword Energy was made from.

    Could it be that what was behind the might of the Diviners was the power of a Dao? That would exin a lot of things, but at the same time alsoplicate others.

    Xue Wei looked at Bai Tianyi with a questioning look. Bai Tianyi nodded his head and walked next to him.

    "It is indeed the Dao," he said with astonishment. "It is not a pure Dao, but ites from the Dao of Dependence. It manages to create a dependence inside the mind of the beast, enving it and making it impossible for the beast to ever harm their master. They will follow any order given by their master."

    "I would never have imagined that I would encounter another Dao like this, especially not in the body of one so young," Bai Tianyi said with praise, but then his eyes turned sharp and he frowned.

    "Actually, it is not a real Dao, as he can not control it without his tools. I imagine that he is somehow able to use a bit of the power through a weing ritual at the Diviner¡¯s main temple back in Chang¡¯an."

    "The reason he has so much potential is that he is verypatible with the Dao, making him even more important to the Diviners than what we previously imagined."

    Xue Wei frowned. So it was a Dao, but not really a Dao. They used the rules of the Dao and the power of the Dao, but they could not wield it without tools. If the Diviners could do this, did it mean that he too was able to copy the Daos and make them into something that could strengthen his offense?

 Chapter 253: End of the Battle

    Xue Wei decided to put aside his thoughts about the Dao at the moment and looked at what Lin Xiao was doing.

    The talismans that had been ced on the head of the boar were shining brightly. The characters that were written on them were shining with a moonlight glow like the one previously seen from the staff. Although Lin Xiao was now using quite a few talismans instead of the staff, the light that these talismans gave off was not even a fraction of the previous light.

    The light came from the writing on the talismans, and soon they started to turn into ash, the characters branding themselves onto the boar instead, and when they did, the half-closed eyes of the boar were no longer red and filled with hatred and fighting spirit. They were more akin to those of a sleeping beast.

    Everyone within the hall held their breath, staring at Lin Xiao as he performed his strange actions with great curiosity.

    Time trickled by slowly. Soon, half an hour had gone by and the talismans and the characters hadpletely entered into the body of the boar. No one could see any signs of them anymore, but it was also obvious that the boar was sleeping, not showing any signs of awakening.

    Lin Xiao was still sitting in cultivation. All the members of the Garden of Shadows and the bandit group were wondering what exactly could be happening.

    He was asleep so why had they not killed him yet? Was there something else that they wanted to do, or were they just wasting time?

    Just as people were about to lose interest, something happened. The boar slowly opened its eyes and stood up. It quickly changed back to its human shape and draped a robe over its body before it bowed down in front of Lin Xiao, with no signs of fighting spirit left in him.

    "Da Jia greets master," he said with a steady voice as he bowed deeply. Lin Xiao finally opened his eyes.

    Looking at him, Xue Wei noticed that there were beads of sweat on his forehead and that his face was paler than usual, but a great smile quickly spread on his face. The battle had been fierce, but he had managed to subdue a beast that was stronger than himself. This was quite an outstanding aplishment.

    Everyone was astonished when they saw the submissive behavior of the bandit leader. His eyes were clear and bright, equal to how they had been before, but at the same time, a fervent reverence was zing within his eyes whenever he looked at Lin Xiao, as if he was looking at the most important person in the world.

    "Eradicate the bandits," Lin Xiao ordered. The boar, without regards to previous connections, turned into a blur as he rushed at the bandits, using his superior physical shape to y them one after another.

    Seeing that Lin Xiao¡¯s taming had been sessful, Xue Wei gestured for Hei Gou to return to his original shape. Hei Gou instantly did as suggested, turning back to his human shape, and wore a set of ck robes with golden embroideries on them.

    There was no reason for anyone to fight anymore. The bandit leader executed the bandits easily as all of them were stunned. When had finished his massacre, the bandit leader quickly returned to Lin Xiao¡¯s side, standing behind him with a stoic expression on his face while giving his new master a look full of reverence.

    "Seems like you can tame beasts outside of the Chang¡¯an Continent, too." Xue Wei nodded his head in praise when he saw the behavior of the boar.

    The students of the Garden of Shadows had all been quiet since they saw what happened to Da Jia. Although they had lost a numerous amount of merit points because Da Jia killed the remaining bandits, no one minded it. All of them were astonished by the sudden change in the behavior of the boar.

    "This, what do you call this ability?" The Primordial Beast that had provided the herbs to the pills previously shivered as he asked. He too had had a hard time contending with the moonlight-like light that had shone earlier.

    Fortunately, he had been much further away so even if he had wanted to go nearer, his rationality had told him to stay away.

    Still, he was terrified now. If this man was capable of taming beasts, did that not mean that he too could be a puppet like this?

    "Do not fear," Xue Wei smiled at the Primordial Beast that had stepped out to ask. "Although Xiao is capable of taming Primordial Beasts, he does not do so just because he can. This bandit leader ought to be brought back and brought to justice in front of the academy leaders, which is why we decided to tame him. He will never lower himself to harm innocent or upright beasts."

    Xue Wei sounded righteous. He did not say that the main reason they had tamed this boar, Da Jia, was because they wanted to see whether or not his abilities worked outside of the Chang¡¯an Continent. He made it sound as if they were doing it for the sake of justice. The faces of those gathered rxed drastically, especially the face of the Primordial Beast that had questioned them.

    "Now that we have managed to get rid of all the bandits, what is the ns to do with the spoils?" Lin Xiao suddenly asked. "I can ask this boar to take us to their treasury and we can take all the things they have looted throughout the years."

    "If you can do so, then we will be very grateful," one of the four-eyed experts from the academy said with a slight bow. No one dared look down on Lin Xiao and the other three just because of their two eyes anymore.

    "We would like to bring the loot back to the academy so that it can be distributed amongst the unfortunate souls that have been robbed and their descendants."

    Xue Wei was quite surprised when he heard that they did not want the loot for themselves, and although he had a few ideas about the valuables himself, he quickly lost interest when he saw that there were mainly weapons, gold, and silver alongside some essence stones.

    He already had all of those items so gifting them to the academy in exchange for some merit points was a much better idea.

    Like this, the students all stored everything within their storage treasures and returned to the academy¡¯s camp.

    When they arrived, Elder Sun was ready to greet them, but the moment he noticed the figure of the bandit leader, his face turned dark and spiritual energy exploded from his body, knocking the bandit leader flying back.

    "Halt! Elder halt your steps!" one of the four-eyed experts called out, petrified, and he quickly stepped between them, surprising Elder Sun.

    "Why should I? He is a criminal deserving damnation! Why have you brought him back alive?!" Elder Sun was aggravated. It was clear that this man was their target, and yet here he was, alive and well.

    "Elder Sun, he has been tamed by Sir Lin Xiao and his friends," one of the people said with a quiet voice. "Sir Lin Xiao is a Diviner. He is capable of taming beasts. He brought him back to be judged by the magistrate! We also brought back all the loot the bandits have umted throughout the years, all of it because Lin Xiao tamed the boar!"

    "That¡¯s right, Sir Lin Xiao made everything much easier!" another agreed with a nod of his head, and soon the rest of the people nodded their heads and stood out to praise Lin Xiao.

    It was at this point that Elder Sun¡¯s eyes roamed past all of them and his eyes widened. "How did all of you break through your Qiyers?!" he then eximed with shock.

    "It is known that it is impossible for us spiritual energy cultivators to have our Qi levels advance past the Heavenly Warrior rank, but now all of you are a rank above even me!"

    Elder Sun felt his heart beating fast in his chest. He could not understand how this could happen. Everything that he had known was being changed right in front of him. Not only had a Primordial Beast been tamed, but now a whole bunch of students had turned into Ordinary Knights?!

    "This is thanks to Sir Xue Wei," another one said with pride in his voice. They were but teens and youths, but all of them were now Ordinary Knights!

    "He offered us all a pill which boosted our Qi levels to the Ordinary Knight rank. This has been a great help for us throughout the battle with the bandits and caused us to have no casualties, only serious wounds."

    Once again, Elder Sun was fully stunned by the fact that Xue Wei and his group had done such magnificent things. All the usual rules that the world followed seemed to bepletely shattered one after another.

    "Well, in that case, Elder Sun thanks Sir Xue Wei and hispanions for helping the Garden of Shadow¡¯s campaign in bing such a sess!"

    "Everyone pack up the camp!"

    Following this announcement, the camp became a big mess of people rushing around, packing up the tents and getting ready to return to the Garden of Shadows.

 Chapter 254: Arriving at the Capital

    Xue Wei looked around at the bustling city. They had left the camp a few weeks prior and traveled through the Yan continent before they arrived at the capital.

    The Yan Continent was different from Chang¡¯an in the way that there were no different kingdoms or empires; the entire continent wasbined into onerge nation called the Yan Continent, and the city they had entered was the capital of this ce. The capital was so big that it was actually at the size of a small kingdom by itself.

    From the moment they had entered the city, Xue Wei had been watching everything around him. The outskirts of the city were rtively poor, but it was not a ce where criminals seemed to reside. Instead he saw many children running on the streets, ying with various tools and toys.

    The majority of the people at the outskirts of the city had two eyes, and only a handful of three-eyed children could be seen, but there were absolutely no three-eyed adults or youngsters.

    It was clear that these people were at the lowest tier in the hierarchy, but even so, they did not seem to have any problem with their lot in life. Each person that Xue Wei encountered seemed pleased and satisfied as they carried out their jobs.

    It was not that there were absolutely no poverty and criminality in the city, but either were so scarce an urrence that they could be neglected.

    Even as they walked, Xue Wei noticed that there were barely any homeless people. This came as quite a surprise to him.

    "Elder Sun," he called out to the man walking by his side, to voice his newfound observation. He needed to know if the poor had been hidden away or if this continent had some sort of way to deal with poverty?

    "What can I help you with?" Elder Sun was incredibly polite after Lin Xiao tamed Da Jia and Xue Wei helped so many of his students break through to the Ordinary Knight rank.

    "I wondered about all these people," Xue Wei said as he spread out his hand. "Although the condition of their homes is not great, it seems as if you have very few homeless within the capital. Can this truly be the case? Such a major city yet so few homeless people or poverty-stricken people. How do you do it?"

    "It is quite simple," Elder Sun nodded his head. This was something that the emissaries from the Demon Phoenix Continent also found inconceivable when they first arrived, so he had expected Xue Wei to ask.

    "We in Yan Dalu are not ungrateful people. The two-eyed people might not be able to be outstanding cultivators, but they can still do manualbour. Although we are not expecting much of them, our society needs people like them to do all the odd jobs that others does not do."

    "Houses in the city¡¯s outskirts are free," Elder Sun continued. "There are so many of them and all of them are free to take and live in, if they are empty. Even now, where there are so many families living in the outskirts, there are still many empty houses."

    "Since everyone can get a roof over their heads, they are easier able to settle, and since the city is as big as it is, there is always a need for working hands, either as maids and servants or as bakers or waiters. Even as cleaners or other jobs. There are many tasks for these people, and as a matter of fact, the city is alwayscking hands to do these tasks."

    Xue Wei was astounded when he heard that the houses were free to live in, but when he saw how everyone, although far from living a life of luxury, all had clean clothes of decent quality on their bodies and smiles on their faces, he felt that this truly was a great way to help their society.

    Still, Xue Wei could not help but frown. "If a house is free to live in, will there not be problems with people trying to use their strength to snatch the better houses?" he asked with confusion.

    Elder Sunughed when he heard this. "No, each family has to go to the property manager before they can upy a house. If someone tries to forcibly snatch a home from another, they will be exiled from the capital, barred from ever entering again."

    Xue Wei curled his lips into a smile. It seemed that they truly had a good idea of what they were doing, and it seemed that this was quite a good way of keeping everyone in reins.

    "What about the poor and the old?" Xue Wei continued to ask with great interest. He was quite curious about how this city had managed to be so clean and neat even with so many inhabitants. there were close to ten million people in this city. This was not a small amount in any way.

    "Should one fall sick, then one¡¯s family must provide for them. If they are without rtives, we will step in and transfer them to a hospital or a hospice depending on how sick they are. The government will then pay their fees. The old are the same."

    Xue Wei was once again astounded. To think that the government went as far as to cater to the sick and elderly that were without family. This could only be done because it was a very rich and abundant continent.

    While they spoke, they walked past many buildings. Some were houses, others were made as big buildings with small lofts where one or two people could be sharing the same space. The further into the city they walked, the more resplendent the buildings became, and here more and more three-eyed experts appeared. There was even a four-eyed expert who walked by.

    Still, the majority of the people they saw were two-eyed people, who did not cultivate at all but lived a life of a mortal.

    Xue Wei was astounded, but he still smiled as he saw this. Wherever they went, people would look at them with reverence, but also curiosity.

    The many students of the Garden of Shadow were wearing their uniforms. The uniforms were dark green robes, bordering at ck with a small seed that had sprouted embroidered on the chest.

    Elder Sun, who was an elder from the Garden of Shadows, had four seeds and not just one on his. Everyone who saw them were filled with reverence as they knew who these people were, but together with them were a group of two-eyed experts, and these experts were not wearing the uniform, but they could still walk ahead of the others.

    What kind of concept was this? This was simply unimaginable. All the members of the Garden of Shadow were arrogant and the cream of the crop. To ept that a two-eyed expert walked in front of them, were they Primordial Beasts?

    A path was being opened on the road. Everyone who noticed the entourage from the Garden of Shadows would instinctively move to the side and look at them with a fervor while waiting for them to pass by.

    Many girls would blush if the young men looked at them. Even if they only had two eyes. If they were lucky and their appearance drew attention from a three-eyed expert, then they might end up bing his concubine. Although they could never be the main wife, a concubine to a cultivator was much better than the life of a mortal.

    Xue Wei looked around but saw that the only interest he and his friends gained was curiosity. They had assumed that Xue Wei and his friends were Primordial Beasts, and as it was impossible to breed between races, the girls quickly threw them out of their hearts. No matter how handsome they were, it was impossible.

    A snicker appeared on Xue Wei¡¯s face, but he did not mind. Truth was that he was indeed somewhat of a beast, and so was Hei Gou. Lin Xiao was without a doubt human, but Bai Tianyi could not be considered human, he was some sort of aberration.

    Also, the only one who was in Xue Wei¡¯s heart was Wang Xiaoyun. Although she had left him for the time being, he did not mind it and knew that his heart would beat for her only.

    As they walked through town, they saw more and more magnificent sights in front of them. The architecture became more and morevish, the wood carved in exquisite shapes.

    The buildings stretched into the sky above. Some were even up to seven stories tall, but none of them looked shabby. They seemed as if they were painted regrly and all in all well maintained.

    Xue Wei understood that they had entered the area that belonged to the three-eyed cultivators and the richer two-eyed cultivators. Although they were looked down upon, some of them were capable merchants or had businesses that did well and thus they were able to live a much more luxurious life.

    "We will need to settle in an inn for the night. It will take us a full three days to walk through the capital and reach the Garden of Shadows, which is on the other side of the city," Elder Sun exined patiently.

    Xue Wei nodded his head. He had somewhat expected that it would take them a long time to get through the city. It was far from small, at the size of a small country, so it was natural that even getting somewhere inside it would take some time.

    During their travel through the city, they did not only find residential areas, they also came across streets filled with shops, many stalls, and even entire marketces that were littered with stalls that were sat up in the morning.

    Some of the marketces were filled with temporary stalls of people who came to sell from either outside of the city or someone who came from inside the city to peddle their own items but did not need a longstanding stall, while other marketces had more store-like stalls that seemed as if they could no longer be moved away from their position.

    But no one from the academy stopped to look at any of the various things up for sale. All of them had stoic and dignified expressions on their faces as they held their heads high.

    Although thesemoners were unaware of what exactly this group of students had done, they themselves knew and their hearts were swelling with pride at having protected innocent lives.

    At the same time, all of them felt an indescribable excitement because they had risen to the Ordinary Knight rank.

    They were stronger than the majority. They would never have to hold their heads down in the future. Many of the three-eyed experts could not help but feel that they had narrowed the gap between them and the four-eyed experts that were left at the academy.

    This rise in Qi level was enough to protect them in their time of needs. All of them were ecstatic, and all their eyes shone with an unbreaking will. Sometimes, they would gaze at Xue Wei with great gratitude, or towards Da Jia and Lin Xiao with curiosity.

    Together they walked through one road after another. They walked downnes, up slopes and eventually they reached an inn called The ck Lion. This inn seemed very bigpared to most of the inns around and Elder Sun did not waste his time as he entered.

    Xue Wei and the others followed inside. When they reached the counter, a polite servant greeted them before he epted ten gold pieces from each and every student, including Xue Wei who paid for himself and his friends, and then led them all up the stairs to their many rooms.

    "We have the upper three floors prepared for your academy¡¯s students," the servant said, as if he had been aware that they would being.

    Elder Sun nodded his head. "Thank you," he said politely, neither humble nor arrogant in his response.

 Chapter 255: Imperial Capital

    Seeing that their inn was already prepared upon arrival, Xue Wei understood that they had somehow been informed in advance, and he was curious as to how they had done so.

    He had been walking next to Elder Sun the entire way, but he had not seen anything out of the ordinary, at least nothing to indicate that a message had been sent through amunication device or anything of the sort.

    Sensing Xue Wei¡¯s curious nce, Elder Sun smiled. "I sent them a mind transmission earlier," he exined. "Mind transmissions can be sent across ten thousand miles, but you need to have the mental brand of the person you try to contact."

    "That sounds quite practical," Xue Wei said with shining eyes. If he had that, would it not be much easier to contact his friends if they had to work separately in the future?

    "I will let you learn it when we return to the Garden of Shadows," Elder Sun promised. "It is not a difficult spell at all, more or less everyone knows it, and it is readily avable at the first floor of the martial art halls."

    Xue Wei smiled and nodded his head. Hei Gou and the others also raised their eyebrows in surprise and wondered whether or not they¡¯d be able to learn it as well.

    It would be no difficulty for Bai Tianyi to learn it, as his aptitude for spiritual energy was second to none, but since Lin Xiao and Hei Gou did not really cultivate spiritual energy, would they still be able to learn it?

    Sighing, they looked at their arms, where they had amunication bracelet. Even if they could not use the mental transmissions, they still had these toys to assist them.

    It seemed that every continent was different. Their customs were different, the situation of thend was different, and also their methods were very different.

    But considering that they had been split up for ten thousand years, it was not all too unexpected.

    In the inn, five people were supposed to share a room, but since Xue Wei and his friends had tamed Da Jia, they were allowed a room to themselves. Although they were now students of the academy, they were still foreigners. It was better to let them have some space for themselves to gather their thoughts after having arrived in Yan Dalu for some time.

    Xue Wei was aware that the reason that they were receiving such treatment was mostly because of their performance and the skills they had shown so far.

    The reason for their treatment wasrgely due to the show of Lin Xiao taming Da Jia and Xue Wei¡¯s concoction of pills which allowed for them to break through to the Ordinary Knight rank. Without these two episodes, it would be impossible for them to be treated as well as they were now.

    The four friends sat still in the room, one on each bed, and looked at one another. Their faces disyed rxed smiles.

    They knew they could speak of whatever they pleased. Da Jia was already tamed by Lin Xiao and was incapable of rebelling against him. His mind was not nk, but deep within was an ingrained ve contract that made it impossible for him to go against his tamer. Even if heter were to be handed over to another master, Lin Xiao would still hold the strongest authority over him.

    "So we are in the Imperial Capital now." Bai Tianyi sighed as he took his boots off and sat cross-legged on the bed.

    "Yeah, we should arrive at the Garden of Shadows soon." Xue Wei nodded his head.

    "I feel that things are not as simple as they are making them seem," Lin Xiao suddenly mentioned with a frown.

    "Although we are foreigners and we have helped them, there is no real reason for them to be this courteous to us. It is as if they are expecting something from us."

    Xue Wei mused over the words for some time and shrugged his shoulders.

    "They were quite pushy when they wanted us to join the academy, but they were also very fair, and joining the academy is without a doubt a benefit for us."

    "For now," Hei Gou said with a low voice. Xue Wei just smiled. "The oath means that we can withdraw at any time we feel that we are being unjustly treated. It is not a bad idea."

    "I don¡¯t understand them though," Bai Tianyi added. "The students are okay. They were arrogant and opposed to us at the start, but we subdued them by showing them our power. But Elder Sun, who is supposed to be a noble figure, was so ted to see us. There is likely to be some hidden agenda."

    "Hmm." Xue Wei considered what his friends said. "I don¡¯t know," he admitted. "There could be many reasons behind his behavior, but we lose nothing from keeping our guard up."

    Bai Tianyi, Lin Xiao and Hei Gou heaved a heavy sigh of relief when they heard Xue Wei agree.

    Although Xue Wei usually was quite vignt, he seemed to trust these multi-eyed experts from Yan Dalu a little too easily, and it had caused the other three to be worried.

    Now that he had said what they wanted to hear, they felt much better. There was truly no damage in being cautious and they were not willing to risk anything just when they had escaped Chang¡¯an.

    "When we reach the school, we have to decide whether or not we wish to be low-key or if we wish to cause a ruckus," Xue Wei suddenly said with a smile on his face, stunning the other three.

    "Well, we have never been good at being low-key," Hei Gou said while scratching his head embarrassedly. He remembered all the people who had chased them from one end of Chang¡¯an to the other in an attempt to catch them, and how they ended up killing them all along the way.

    Now they had finally found some peace and quiet, but it was too good to be true. It was likely that these people wanted something from them.

    "You are right. It is not in our nature to be silent," Xue Wei snickered. "So I suggest we cause a great change to the continent."

    "A great change to the continent?" Lin Xiao¡¯s eyes widened in surprise when he heard this. He was unable toprehend what Xue Wei wanted to aplish with this.

    Bai Tianyi was also slightly startled. "Why would we bother with this continent? It is just a stop on our way towards the Demon Phoenix Continent."

    "Do not forget that if we want to make it to the Demon Phoenix Continent, we need a lot of merit points. They are not easy to gather, but I do have an idea."

    Hearing Xue Wei¡¯s words, the other three looked with a glint in their eyes as they leaned forward, ready to hear the next words spoken from Xue Wei¡¯s mouth.

    Like this, the night passed. They ordered a few dishes after discussing their strategy and spent the rest of the night chatting and having a small party with just the four of them.

    The following morning everyone from the academy woke up early and gathered on the road outside the inn. They continued their advance deeper into the city, their speed neither too fast nor too slow.

    The city was getting more and morevish the further in they came. It was like a country within a country, a kingdom dotted with proudly towering buildings everywhere.

    The further into the city they came, the cleaner it was. Guards were patrolling the streets; gardens, parks, and squares were everywhere, but the bustling atmosphere of the outskirts was not seen.

    There were still many people on the street, but you did not see kids running around ying. Instead, it was rich people hurrying from one ce to another or servants on errands for their masters.

    But everyone was dressed in fine clothes. Even the servants had, albeit of verymon make, clothes that were of good quality.

    There was a dignified air the further into the city they came.

    Soon, they saw a pce that was stretching towards the heavens. Xue Wei had to take a step back and almost bend his back and his neck as far back as they could go to see the top of the pce.

    It was made from some kind of white stone, and it was adorned with a lot of gold that shone in the sunlight. It was incredibly stunning, built in a style quite different from the pces that could be found on Chang¡¯an.

    It did not take long before Xue Wei realized that they were walking towards this pce and he could not help but frown.

    Were they not heading to the Garden of Shadows? Why were they going towards the pce?

    Even without thinking too much, it was obvious that this pce was the ce where the royals lived.

    Was the Garden of Shadows attached to the royal pce, or was there some other reason?

    Xue Wei did not hide the frown that formed between his brows and Elder Sun instantly noticed it, smiling dejectedly and shook his head.

    He could easily guess what was on Xue Wei¡¯s mind and he was quick to assure him.

    "Young Wei, do not mind. We need to announce your arrival to the King before we can return to the academy," he exined quickly, his heart beating rapidly. He was worried about Xue Wei¡¯s reaction.

    Xue Wei¡¯s face turned dark when he heard it. "Why so?" he asked rather curtly.

    "It is rare we get visitors from outside the continent. The King is very interested in these things, and thus I am afraid he will be very displeased if we do not go straight away."

    Xue Wei¡¯s frown deepened.

    He was not sure what he felt about this. Was he willing to meet the King? He felt that it was likely that he wouldnd himself and his friends in even more danger if he was exposed to the King, but after considering the n they had made earlier, it might not be such a bad idea to meet the King first.

    As such he gestured for the tensed Hei Gou, Bai Tianyi, and Lin Xiao to rx, and he then nodded his head to Elder Sun.

    "I only hope that the King will see kindly to us," Xue Wei said to Elder Sun, who nodded his head vigorously.

    "The King is a five-eyed genius. He is only a mere twenty years old, but he has already be a Heavenly Knight!"

    Xue Wei raised an eyebrow in surprise. When he heard that they would be meeting a King, he had expected it to be an old man, but it seemed that the King was merely a young man, one not much older than he himself.

    Thinking like this, he also calmed down a bit more. He did not belittle the King, but he imagined that, being a young man, what he found was curiosity towards the outside world rather than some old wily fox that was willing to get rid of all things that might pose as a threat to his continent.

    Lin Xiao¡¯s face also turned slightly odd when he heard the age of the King, but he said nothing.

    Finally, the group arrived at the gates of the pce. A big row of guards adorned in golden armor was standing outside, all of them carrying long spears in their hands and swords by their waists.

    "Greetings Elder Sun!" they all called out in unison, once again showing that they were expecting Elder Sun to appear.

    Elder Sun cupped his hands and bowed to them before he turned around and looked at his students.

    "Tu Long, take the students back to the academy," he ordered, "I will personally lead the four experts to see the King."

    Having been given an order, the man called Tu Long cupped his hands and bowed deeply before he assumed the leading position and ordered the others to follow him in a stern voice.

 Chapter 256: The King

    Xue Wei was rather curious about this one person who was known as the King. If he was as young as they said, he was quite aplished, even more so when he saw how entire continent that was neatly under control of the sovereign. He could not help but feel astounded.

    Seeing the previously hesitant expression on Xue Wei¡¯s face turn into a slightly excited smile, Elder Sun heaved a heavy sigh of relief.

    He was sure that the King would not cause problems for them. However, if they were too alert and hostile towards the King, it was hard to tell if he would feel insulted and as a result return the favor by locking them up in prison.

    From behind the group of guards came a gaudily d woman. Her voluptuous figure bounced with every step she took, causing many of the guards to swallow hard.

    Although her body was incredibly alluring, Xue Wei only nced down at it briefly before his eyes went to the face.

    Although he had a hard time finding these experts with multiple eyes aesthetically pleasing to the eye, he had to admit that this woman was a rarely seen beauty.

    She had four eyes, and all of them were phoenix eyes, nting upwards, the pupils and irides dark as a midnight night. Her red lips were plump and when she saw the young men she could not help but lick her lips slightly, leaving them moist and shining.

    Her skin was pale like jade, her demeanor fiery. When looking at her, one could easily guess that this woman inhabited immense strength and authority.

    Xue Wei cupped his hands and bowed to the woman. His three friends behind him copied the gesture. Seeing this, all of the people present were surprised.

    A pearl-likeughter erupted from the lips of the woman as she hid her mouth behind her hand.

    "Please, rise," the woman said with augh, her eyes disying mirth and her lips hooked up in a smile.

    "How can I ept the bow of such esteemed guests such as yourselves?" she continued on as she stepped forward. Xue Wei and the others rose as requested, and they looked at the woman in front of them.

    "I am but His Highness¡¯ mere loyal subject who has been tasked with guiding you through the pce."

    Although the woman was downying her own ability, Xue Wei just smiled at her. Despite her alleged friendliness, he felt that she held great secrets and power. Upsetting her would be quite troublesome.

    "Well then, follow me," she said as she gestured for them to follow behind her. Without further ado, the rest of them followed behind her with a smile on their faces.

    When they were following behind the beauty, all of them spent the short trip marveling at the overwhelming luxury of the pce. It was much morevish than what they had previously expected.

    Not only was everything decorated with gemstones, gold, jade, and other rare materials, but the floor was also made from the same kind of marble as the walls, shining beautifully in the light that shone through the massive windows.

    As they entered the pce, they walked through halls, hallways, corridors, gardens, and even roads. And eventually, they reached the inner part of the pce where arge building was climbing high into the sky, the towers trying to stretch towards the heaven above.

    Xue Wei was astounded when he saw the building. This ce had apletely different style of architecture from Chang¡¯an, and it was extremely beautiful.

    It seemed that these multi-eyed experts truly valued beauty and luxury.

    "Please wait here while I go inform his Highness of your arrival," the beauty said before she started swaggering into the pce herself. Elder Sun stood outside with a slightly embarassed look on his face as he looked at her hips that swayed from one side to another.

    He knew Mu Bing¡¯Er from long ago, and although she was rather old, her appearance was still quite young and her behavior only became more and more brazen as the years went by.

    He remembered the time she was an innocent young woman who dreamt about doing great things for Yan Dalu, but in the blink of an eye she had grown up and grown ustomed to the scheming and nning that gued the turbulent royal court.

    Sighing while thinking about the past, Elder Sun said nothing. He felt guilty towards Mu Bing¡¯Er for bringing her to this kind of life, but as a four-eyed expert, there were really only two options open for them; one was to enter the royal court and the other was to be a teacher at the Garden of Shadows.

    Although the Garden of Shadows was quite a renowned ce, if someone truly wished to make a difference in the continent, it was obviously not as a teacher, and thus he had helped her enter the royal court. Unfortunately, he had also sent her to the wolves himself, and seen the once innocent and hopeful girl be ck-bellied and frivolous.

    Xue Wei, Hei Gou, Bai Tianyi, and Lin Xiao were unaware of the internal sadness that Elder Sun was experiencing at that particr moment. All they knew was that they would soon meet the most revered expert in Yan Dalu. Although they were not ones to be easily nervous, they still felt a bit of apprehension alongside some excitement.

    Not long after her entrance, Mu Bing¡¯Er came back outside with an alluring smile on her red lips.

    "His Highness would love to see you," she said with a giggle before gesturing for them to follow her.

    Seeing her enthusiasm, they also felt greatly relieved, and all of them followed her past the guards into a great entrance hall where a magnificent set of stairs on each side of a doorway were leading to the upper levels.

    The doorway was open, and leading into a great hall. In the hall, Xue Wei could vaguely see a massive throne, upon which sat a figure.

    The closer they got to this person, the more Xue Wei had a hard time hiding the smile on his face.

    This person had to be their King, no? But if he was their king, why was it that no matter how he looked at this figure, it was a woman dressed in male clothing? There were even two lumps protruding on the chest. Clearly, this was a woman!

    Xue Wei was not the only to notice this; Hei Gou, Lin Xiao, and Bai Tianyi all had odd expressions on their faces.

    Was the rest of Yan Dalu aware that their most revered King was actually a woman, or was this some sort of highly confidential national secret?

    Xue Wei cleared his throat as they arrived in front of the woman. Smiling wryly, he cupped his fists and bowed to her.

    "Xue Wei greets His Highness," he said withughter in his voice, clearly finding it hrious to call this woman ¡®His Highness¡¯. However, he was also sure that if he did not do so, there might be problems in the long run.

    Seeing Xue Wei¡¯s attitude, the three friends by his side quickly greeted the king, but they did so with dignity. They cupped their fists and bowed to her. "Greetings to His Highness!" they called out.

    "Atrocious!" someone yelled from the side of the room. Xue Wei straightened his back and nced to the side.

    When he entered, he had already noticed that there were a thousand seats on each side of the walkway up to the King¡¯s seat. At the moment, around hundred experts were currently sitting in some of them, most of them rather close to the throne.

    These experts were all four-eyed, and the one who called out was a fat man with four eyes, long ck but greasy hair, and a very colorful robe on his body.

    Xue Wei raised an eyebrow when he heard the man¡¯s yell, but he held up a hand to cate his friends from doing anything for the moment. He was curious as to what this man would say to him.

    "You atrocious barbaric beast! You are in the presence of His Royal Highness and you only bow slightly? This is His Royal Highness. You have to get on your knees in worship!" he eximed. His words caused Xue Wei to frown.

    Xue Wei had never been on his knees for anyone in his whole life, and there were only a few people alive who he felt deserved such respect. This King, who he did not know, definitely did not.

    "You call me atrocious, but who are you to decide whether or not my greeting is correct? His Highness has yet to speak up, but you have started yelling in the presence of His Highness. Is this not already a great show of disrespect?" Xue Wei asked with a mild expression on his face as if the words said by the man did not bother him, but the truth was that he was rather annoyed with him.

    When the words came out of his mouth, everyone within the hall had a shift of expressions on their faces. Although they had not expected much from Xue Wei, they still thought he would save some face for this official who had yelled at him, but as the official gave him no face, Xue Wei retaliated just as viciously.

    "I am protecting the honor of His Majesty!" the man continued to shout, while Xue Wei stoodpletely unperturbed and looked at him as if he was watching a dancing clown.

    "The honor of His Majesty? This is a great saying. I already showed my sincerity to His Majesty, but you not only interrupted but also shouted in the face of His Highness. I wonder who it is that is currently disrespecting His Highness?"

    The more Xue Wei spoke, the darker the faces of many of the officials became.

    This young man came from across the sea, from a continent they had never even heard about before, and he was so ruthless towards theirpatriot, not giving him a chance to save even a shred of his face.

    "Enough," the melodious, clearly female, voice drifted out from the mouth of the King. Xue Wei, who had been sneering in his mind, quickly turned back to face the King, his face tranquil and showing no turmoil or traces of the verbal fight that just appeared.

    Seeing this calm exterior, the King was highly surprised. Had he not cared about this debate at all?

    While Xue Wei seemedpletely dismissive of the previous matter, the official looked as though he had swallowed a fly.

    Thest words had been spoken by Xue Wei, and now that His Highness had ordered them to stop, he had no way of refuting them. If these words were to spread throughout Yan Dalu, would he really have any face left?

    The King was contemting for a short while before she looked at the man who had raised his voice in court and been swearing at Xue Wei.

    "Elder Gao, these people are the guests of our Yan Dalu. Please refrain from losing your temper in the future while they are visiting us," she said smoothly while leaning back against the back of her throne.

    Although she could see that the many officials in the courtroom looked ugly from the words she said, she did not care.

    She was the King. What she said was thew. If they had a problem, they could always just rece her with another King and then hope that that King could serve as a puppet. She refused to be one.

    Seeing her attitude and stance, Xue Wei was slightly surprised, but after a moment a genuine smile started spreading on his lips as he took an extra nce at the woman in front of him.

    It seemed that this woman was not ordinary. He had a feeling that in the future, he and her would manage to be friends just fine.

 Chapter 257: A Strange Existance

    An awkward silence descended over the hall. No one knew what to say, and only five people seemedpletely unaffected. These people were Xue Wei, Hei Gou, Bai Tianyi, Lin Xiao, and the King.

    The King leaned forward and rested her elbows on the table in front of her. She propped her chin up on the palms of her hands and narrowed her five eyes into a curious expression.

    Xue Wei was also curious about this woman whose title was a misnomer.

    He nced at her before cupping his hands and once more bowing to the woman. "Thank you for straightening out the disagreement," he said with a friendly voice and a smile.

    The King just waved her hand dismissively and smiled at Xue Wei. "I am quite curious about you foreigners," she said as she leaned slightly forward, her half-lidded eyes sparkling with curiosity.

    "I would be honored if you could tell us all about the continent you originated from," she continued, and Xue Wei, who saw no reason not toply, started describing Chang¡¯an.

    "Wee from a continent known as Chang¡¯an," he began. "Chang¡¯an has humans and primordial beasts, but unlike here these two races are constantly at war against one another."

    "Humans loathe the beasts, and the beasts loathe the humans."

    "Then howe there are both beasts and humans in your group?" The King asked curiously. Xue Wei smiled wryly. "We happen to be the outcasts of both humans and beasts," he said honestly.

    "Oh? How could this happen?" she asked curiously. At this point, within the court, many looked at Xue Wei with vignce and disdain, but the King was still filled with curiosity and there was absolutely no hostility in her five eyes.

    Xue Wei pondered for some time to articte an answer. "My background is rather sensitive," he admitted eventually after much consideration. "I am afraid that I was doomed to be hunted by both humans and beasts at birth."

    "These three friends of mine arerades I have encountered throughout the years."

    The King nodded her head and looked at them once more before she stood up. "All officials vacate the hall. I have something to inform this man in private."

    Hearing their King say that she had something she needed to speak with him in private about caused many of the men present to feel very ufortable and also unhappy, but none of them dared to go against their King¡¯s order. All of them slowly exited the hall while looking back with begrudging expressions on their faces.

    As the final person exited the hall, the King stood up and walked down the stairs towards the lower levels of the hall where the four of them stood.

    "Let me hold your hand," the King said seriously as she looked at Xue Wei, who gave a rascally smile in response and shook his head. "Sorry, Your Highness, I already have a sweetheart."

    Hearing his unexpected words, the King was slightly stunned. Then she startedughing out loud, herughter clear like pearls and filled with mirth.

    "Do not worry, you are not my type," she assured him, causing Xue Wei to raise an eyebrow in surprise. "Too few eyes?" he could not help but ask, but the woman just shook her head without answering.

    Seeing that she was not going to let herself be teased, Xue Wei quickly offered his hand., and soon he felt the woman grasp it. Her fifth eye started to cloud over and her other four closed.

    It was a peculiar sight, nothing like what Xue Wei had ever seen before, but he knew that this woman was doing something right now so he did not retract his hand and just calmly waited for her to finish.

    It took around the time it takes to brew a cup of tea before the King once again opened all five eyes. Her face knit with furrowed brows and she seemed to be seriously confused.

    "Let me try something else," she said and grasped his hand again, not asking for permission.

    This time, the bottom pair of eyes were closed, the upper three open, and once more the mist covered her open eyes. This time it took as long as it takes to eat a meal before she regained her consciousness, and when she did she looked at Xue Wei with newfound reverence.

    "To think that this world has something known as Sovereign Beasts!" she eximed excitedly while looking at Xue Wei with amazing eyes.

    "I have to apologize," she said quickly. "As you know, having more eyes determines our talent, but that is not all. We also have innate abilities that awaken throughout our lives."

    "If you have four eyes, you will be able to see a bit of someone¡¯s past; if you have five eyes, you can see a bit of their future."

    "This is also why my kind have been regarded so highly. The ability to understand the future is something that everyone wants to have, but it is not as wonderful an ability as one might think."

    "You used these innate abilities on me?" Xue Wei asked with a raise of his brow, unsure of what to think of this woman¡¯s brazen behavior.

    Seemingly understanding that he might not be approving of it, the King could only sigh.

    "I know you might be upset with me," she admitted, "But I had a very good reason to do as I did."

    "There is an existence within the Garden of Shadows that has caused problems recently. My predecessor once checked the future of this existence and came to the conclusion that these problems would be solved by someone from out of the continent."

    "We have waited year in and year out for someone from outside of the continent toe to visit us, but it has never happened¡ªnot before now at least."

    Xue Wei¡¯s raised eyebrow sunk down to a frown with the other. "What is this existence you speak of?" he asked, but the King just shrugged her shoulders.

    "I do not know," she said honestly.

    "The Garden of Shadows is the most mysterious ce in the entire continent. They are guarding this information with their lives; even the previous King only managed to scratch the surface of this mystery."

    Xue Wei felt confused by something. Why would the Garden of Shadows harbor an existence that was a disaster to their nation, and why would they go to such lengths to prevent it from being seen by others?

    And even more, they expected outsiders to solve their problems for them? They were dealing with such a huge problem with such ax attitude.

    "I understand your concern," the King said with a sigh as she saw Xue Wei¡¯s knitted eyebrows, "but we really have not been able to save the situation ourselves despite many attempts."

    "Can you give us some more details about what we can expect to encounter?" Xue Wei asked tentatively. He was not exactly sure what waited at the end of this road, and so he was suddenly quite worried.

    This also made him understand why Elder Sun had been so eager to recruit them into the Garden of Shadows when they first met.

    Xue Wei pondered for some time while waiting for the King to exin the situation, but she just shook her head dejectedly.

    "I can¡¯t exin it," she said again. "You will have to experience it for yourself. If you manage to solve our problem, I will without a doubt grant you a spot in the delegation that is leaving for the Demon Phoenix Continent next time."

    Xue Wei had been wondering whether or not it would be worth it for him to actually do anything about this strange and unexinable phenomenon of theirs, but his hesitation came to a swift end when he heard the King¡¯s promise.

    Merit points were a bother. Gathering them took too much time, and it was not easy to get enough to be admitted to the delegation. Not to mention that he was not alone. Every single one of them needed to reach the requisite threshold to qualify.

    "If you can promise that the four of us will get a spot on the ship towards the Demon Phoenix Continent, then we will do anything in our power to solve this riddle and rid you of your worries," Xue Wei promised.

    The King looked at the solemn expression on Xue Wei¡¯s face and nodded her head. "I promise," she said.

    Although it was quite a lot to send all four of them to the Demon Phoenix Continent, if they could solve the longstanding prophecy rted to the Garden of Shadows, then it was definitely worth it.

    The King went back to her throne and casually sat down before she waved her hand. The doors to the hall opened again, and the many officials who had been asked to leave earlier swarmed back into the hall.

    All of them looked at Xue Wei and his friends with hostility, but there was also a curiosity in their eyes. It was clear that all of them wanted to know what their conversation had been about.

    "I am very honored to have guests from outside of the continent visiting," the King announced as the first thing, "and thus I am hereby rewarding the four of you with a free pass to always enter the Imperial Pce to look for me.

    "I hope that you wille often to tell me about your current achievements and thoughts of Yan Dalu ¡ª and at the same time, should you need something, do not be shy to ask for it."

    Hearing the voice of the King, many showed dissatisfaction, but no one dared to speak up about it.

    Truth was, these experts were all scheming against one another, from the beginning to the end of the day. They did not like that these four foreigners had suddenly appeared out of nowhere and actually gained the favor of the King.

    Not only this, the King was actually going quite far to amodate them and even gave them a free pass to enter the Imperial Pce!

    They understood that these four people were from outside of the continent, but there was no denying that Xue Wei and the others were ¡®normal¡¯ peoplepared to themselves. They did not have their innate abilities, nor did they have their superior cultivation talent. What right did they have to actually gain their King¡¯s favor?

    Xue Wei was used to running for his life, so he had never been involved in the political game before, but he was not unintelligent so he quickly figured out what the reason behind the many res he was getting was.

    It was truly difficult to be popr!

    Together with the officials, Elder Sun also returned to the hall. His eyes were not filled with the same curiosity as the officials. It was clear that he knew what they had been talking about.

    Although his eyes did not gleam with the same curiosity as the officials, they still contained a hidden fear as he nced at Xue Wei, unable to understand what the end of their conversation was.

    In the end, would Xue Wei help them? He did not know, but he kept praying in his heart that he would.

    "Elder Sun, our guests must be tired. It is not suitable for them to stay any longer. They have been granted a free pass already, and should they ever want to see me, they cane whenever they want. For now, lead them back to the academy and look after them well."

    Hearing this, Elder Sun bowed deeply to the King in acknowledgment of the order before he gestured for Xue Wei and the others to follow him, his heart hammering rapidly. Was it maybe possible for this group of youngsters to solve their century-long problems?

    He did not know, but something about these kids gave him a good feeling. He just hoped that they could live up to his expectations.

 Chapter 258 - Headmaster

    Ane of trees was nted on the side of the road. These were all cherry trees, and they were in full bloom; beautiful pale pink petals were dropping from the trees like snow, glistening in the sunshine that was cascading down from high above.

    The road had a few people going back and forth, but this was by no means a bustling atmosphere. There were only a few low conversations that were being drowned out by the sound of singing birds.

    Xue Wei was looking at this picturesque scene in front of him, and he could not help but smile.

    They had left the Imperial Pce and walked for half an hour before they reached this road of cherry blossoms trees, and this was the road leading to the Garden of Shadows. As a matter of fact, only the students and the teachers of the academy would traverse this path, which was why it was not overly crowded.

    The vast majority of these people on the road had three eyes. There was one with four and another with two.

    All of the students bowed in greeting when they saw Elder Sun while looking inquisitively towards Xue Wei and his friends.

    Elder Sun gently nodded to the people, but not evening across the other teachers made him stop to answer any questions they might have.

    The cherry trail was rather long, and it took them a full hour before they stood in front of a massive gate. There were ten guards, five on each side, in front of the gate, and there were also many guards on top of the walls that stretched far to each side.

    These guards all looked with reverence at Elder Sun when he appeared in front of them, and they quickly opened the doors with a deep bow.

    They could not help but look at Xue Wei and his friends with curiosity. After walking through the gate, Xue Wei noticed that they kept observing him and his group while sometimes ncing at one another.

    It was clear that they weremunicating through a mental link, most likely discussing the identity of Xue Wei and the others.

    Although the amount of people on the road outside the academy had been scant, it was an entirely different sight when they stepped inside of the Garden of Shadows itself. There were scores of students running back and forth in every direction, from building to building.

    Some were walking alone, others in groups, but all of them looked curiously at the entourage that arrived together with Elder Sun.

    Elder Sun smiled wryly due to the strange nces that were sent their way, but he said nothing and walked deeper and deeper into the academy itself.

    There were many buildings in the academy. The entire east and north of the academy epassed the residential area, while the center had the most important buildings at the academy, and the west and southprised other buildings and facilities important to the academy such as ssrooms, libraries, training fields and so on.

    "In the center of the academy, you will find the Soul Tower," Elder Sun exined. "The Soul tower has a number of functions. Where we are going is the house right next to the center, the mansion you can see right there." He pointed at a magnificent mansion that was built with spires and arches, looking like an old medieval mansion that was built from some sort of ck stone.

    In fact, the entire Garden of Shadow was built from some sort of ck stone that seemed much tougher than most metals. It also seemed to draw the ambient soul energy towards it, which one could refine into spiritual energy, which then can be absorbed by the surrounding experts.

    "In our world, many die every day, and as a result there is much soul energy in our surroundings." Elder Sun could see Xue Wei¡¯s curiosity pertaining to the density of the soul energy in this ce and decided to exin it. It was no secret after all.

    "When someone dies, the soul energy starts to dissipate rather fast, and if you do not absorb it just as fast, you will miss out."

    "Fortunately, these ck Neb Stones that we have used to build the Garden of Shadow is actually able to make the speed at which the soul energy dissipates much slower. In fact, they absorb the soul energy and anchor it to itself instead of allowing it to dissipate."

    "ck Neb Stones are incredibly rare. They can be considered a treasure and someone who cultivates spiritual energy getting their hands on a fist-sized stone of it can be considered tremendously lucky," Bai Tianyi said with a frown as he looked around them. "How was it possible for you to gather this much ck Neb Stone?"

    Elder Sun looked at Bai Tianyi with some surprise. This young boy had not spoken much in their previous conversations. In fact, he had always had an amiable smile on his face and seemed rather aloof and carefree until now, but now his brows were furrowed and his question was incredibly sensible.

    "I had not expected this young master to know about the ck Neb Stone," Elder Sun admitted readily, but then he grinned. "The Garden of Shadow is a ce where the sun never shines. It is a garden filled with shadows and it has been like this for many thousands of years."

    "ck Neb Stone is created in ces such as this, and this ce happened to have a giant vein of ck Neb Stone which we used to create the academy from."

    "I see." Bai Tianyi was quiet for a short while before he looked at the Soul Tower in front of him. "If I am not incorrect, you have fused the heart of the vein with the Soul Tower, making it a wondrous ce to cultivate spiritual energy?"

    Although this was a question, it sounded more like a statement. Hearing it, Elder Sun raised an eyebrow in surprise and nodded his head.

    "It is indeed like this," he answered, agreeing readily. Although it was not something that most students knew about, it was not some great secret either. They usually just did not talk about how the Soul Tower worked, but now it seemed as if Bai Tianyi understood it well on his own.

    Xue Wei pondered on the words Bai Tianyi had said. The heart of the vein had to be filled with soul energy and be much stronger than the stones themselves, making this Soul Tower a wonderful ce to cultivate.

    ¡°But even so, it should not be capable of producing too much of a difference in the soul power from the outside. Is there other secrets hidden within the Soul Tower?¡±

    Hearing the question Elder Sun¡¯s face turned awkward and slightly horrified, ¡°I do not know,¡± he finally sighed after a bit of time.

    After hearing these words, Xue Wei was slightly stunned but he also felt that this Soul Tower was quite important for him to explore if he wanted to solve the mystery of the academy.

    If he had the chance, he definitely had to step inside this towerter on and see for himself just how wondrous its effects could be.

    With a nce at the towering Soul Tower that rose so high that one could not see the top, Xue Wei followed Elder Sun into the mansion on the side.

    The guards once again bowed deeply when Elder Sun entered, and the same curious eyes as before were ncing at Xue Wei and his friends.

    Elder Sun nodded in greeting and then led Xue Wei and his friends towards the stairs leading up to the upper levels of the mansion.

    After reaching the upper levels, they walked straight down arge corridor towards a door at the end.

    When they knocked on the door, a hoarse voice came from within, "Come in," and Elder Sun pushed the door open, gesturing for Xue Wei and the others to follow behind him.

    "Headmaster, these are the young experts I told you about," Elder Sun said, and for the first time, Xue Wei saw the elder bow his body.

    Seeing the greeting, Xue Wei also did a slight bow towards the man, before straightening himself and looking at the expert in front of him.

    This man had five eyes! So far, the only five-eyed expert he had encountered was the King. Now he encountered one more, and this man seemed much older.

    His hair was white from old age; his eyebrowsrge and unruly; and a long beard could be seen on his chin.

    "Wee to the Garden of Shadows," the slightly hoarse voice fell as the wizened man looked curiously at Xue Wei and the others.

    "I imagine that you are not average experts since you managed to get here through a trans-dimensional tunnel," he continued. "I look forward to your performance!"

    Xue Wei nodded his head, notpletely sure how to answer. He had not been given any real information about what it was they wanted from him. All of them were just putting their hopes on him, and truthfully, although he did wish to help them in exchange for a spot for him and his friends on the boat to the Demon Phoenix Empire, he was still somewhat annoyed by theck of information concerning the things he had to do.

    "Headmaster, sir, could you please perhaps tell me what exactly it is you require from us?" he asked with a furrowed brow and a slight frown on his face.

    "We cannot exin it to you." The headmaster shook his head in apology. "You will have to notice it on your own while staying in the academy."

    "In this academy the residential area is split up into districts for the outer students, inner students and core students."

    "Since you havee to save us, we will grant you the token to be core students. We have lectures every morning for spiritual energy ss, and every afternoon for Qi refinement ss."

    "You can attend them as you please."

    Having said this, the man waved his hand and four badges appeared on the table. "These are yoursting student identity cards. Keep them with you at all time, and do not lose them."

    Nodding their heads, Xue Wei and his friends took one each and waited for more to be said, but Elder Sun started leading them out of the room right away. They left the mansion and headed towards the core area of the northern district of the Garden of Shadows.

    The northern district was rather impressive. In the eastern district, the houses were all cramped together, but the further north they went, the bigger the residences became to even bing pavilions.

    Everyst thing was made from ck Neb Stone and Xue Wei could feel the soul power rushing into his body, which the golden dragon ceaselessly refined into its own energy, bing his spiritual energy.

    "Although there are sses twice a day, there are no rules about attendance," Elder Sun exined. "You can study exactly as you please."

    "The Garden of Shadows is the only academy for spiritual energy students in the entire continent," he continued. "Which is also why it is as massive as it is. Here you will meet many three, four and even a few five eyed experts. You will also encounter Primordial Beasts."

    "Oh right," he looked at Da Jia, who had followed them all along but said absolutely nothing. He had not taken a token either. "What is your n for this guy?" he asked curiously. Xue Wei looked at Da Jia while contemting.

    "You take him," he said after considering for some time. "Send him to jail and give him a trial."

    "I can do that," Elder Sun said with a nod, and then Lin Xiao traded the ownership of the boar to Elder Sun.

    "This will be your home in the future," Elder Sun said as he pointed at a courtyard in front of him. It was big enough to house at least ten people, but it seemed that the only ones who were going to live within it was the four of them.

    "I have already prepared servants to attend to your needs and everything should be ready for you to move into."

    "I hope that you will be pleased with our preparations," he continued. "Originally, I would have stayed longer, but I need to deal with this big bandit leader now, so please make yourselves at home. Should you have any problems, feel free toe find me at any time."

    Hearing this, Xue Wei did not forget to thank him and nodded his head before he turned around and looked at the courtyard in front of him.

    "This will be our home for the next year at least," he muttered before stepping over the threshold leading into the courtyard itself.

 Chapter 259 - Death

    As they stepped into the courtyard, they quickly found that there were two servant children and a chef in the house.

    The two children and the chef were all two-eyed experts. They did not have much cultivation talent¡ªor perhaps they never tried to cultivate¡ªso their strength was barely passable.

    ¡°Greetings to the masters,¡± the two children said in unison as they saw the four friends enter. Their faces showed curiosity and reverence.

    ¡°Who are you?¡± Xue Wei asked with a friendly smile on his face. The two children were both boys. They seemed to be ten years of age at most.

    They were both wearing simple white clothes and their hair was tied up with a wooden hairpin.

    ¡°We are the servants in this courtyard,¡± one of the boys introduced them while stepping forward. ¡°I am Mo Yi, this is Mo Er.¡±

    ¡°Mo Yi, Mo Er, are you brothers?¡± Xue Wei asked with a smile on his face.

    ¡°We are,¡± Mo Yi answered. Xue Wei nodded his head and then looked at the courtyard in front of him.

    The courtyard was ratherrge. There was a garden within the premises, and the building that towered behind the garden was rather magnificent. It was a full four floors high.

    Xue Wei began advancing down the road towards the house, and the others followed behind. Mo Yi and Mo Er stayed behind, looking at one another with a strange nce before they once more caught up with the group, walking behind them in a respectful manner.

    Xue Wei kept an eye on these two children. There were still many things he was unaware of aftering to the Garden of Shadows, but he had already understood that there was a lot of scheming in the royal family, so it would most likely be no different here.

    These two children might seem harmless, but who knows whether or not they¡¯d one day turn out to be two monsters that had hidden all along.

    Not to mention, they would be the perfect spies. Even if the Headmaster had only sent them without ulterior motives, it was still troublesome, and thus Xue Wei was keeping an eye on them to see what exactly their ns were.

    However, although Xue Wei was keeping a keen eye on them, they behaved exactly as one would expect of a servant, and the two boys quickly led them to the kitchen to greet the chef, before they showed them to their rooms.

    ¡°The fourth floor is the cultivation room,¡± Mo Yi exined. ¡°It is the best ce within the entire ce to cultivate.¡±

    ¡°The third and second floors consist of living rooms, one for each of you, and the first floor contains the kitchens and rooms for us servants.¡±

    Xue Wei nodded his head and then went upstairs, followed by his four friends. All of them looked at Xue Wei curiously as it was clear that he was thinking about something, but he did not speak it out loud so they did not ask.

    Xue was not alone in skeptically ncing at the two Mo brothers; Bai Tianyi also gave them a passing nce, and both brothers also looked curiously at the white-haired young boy who seemed to be as old as them but was already a student despite being a two-eyed individual.

    In the end, Bai Tianyi and Lin Xiao ended up residing on the second floor and Xue Wei and Hei Gou took up residence on the third floor.

    Just as they were prepared to go out, Mo Yi and Mo Er arrived next to them. ¡°Do you wish for us to draw a bath for you? Or perhaps you wish to use the hot spring bathhouse that is on the first floor?¡±

    ¡°The hot spring bathhouse?¡± Xue Wei was confused.

    ¡°On the first floor, leading out to the garden, there is a hot spring bath. It is ratherrge, definitely able to allow for all of you to swim in it at the same time,¡± Mo Yi exined.

    ¡°It is a ce to rx and gain strength. I can prepare it for you now if you wish.¡±

    ¡°No thank you,¡± Xue Wei answered with a smile. ¡°We will take a bath when we return.¡±

    Afterwards, Xue Wei, Hei Gou, Bai Tianyi and Lin Xiao all left the courtyard and started strolling around the residential area of the core students.

    No matter where they went, all the courtyards looked the same. Four to six people lived in each courtyard, and they all had the same privileges.

    The people they passed by looked at them curiously, and Xue Wei and the other three returned the same nces to equal measure.

    Although the majority had three eyes, there were also quite a few with four, but they did note across anyone with five.

    ¡°Guys, we have to be careful,¡± Xue Wei suddenly said to his friends. ¡°Especially at home. I feel that Mo Yi and Mo Er are not as simple as they seem.¡±

    ¡°They are just two small kids,¡± Lin Xiao said with a frown. ¡°How can they not be simple?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± Xue Wei shook his head. ¡°There is something about them that makes me feel ufortable.¡±

    None of the other threeughed at Xue Wei for saying that, and even Lin Xiao, who had defended the two boys, frowned.

    ¡°If that is what you think, then we must be careful,¡± Hei Gou said solemnly. ¡°But what is their aim by getting close to us? For what purpose would spies be sent to be servants of insignificant two-eyed cultivators?¡±

    ¡°I do not know yet,¡± Xue Wei sighed. ¡°I neither know what their purpose is nor do I know whether it¡¯s beneficial or harmful to us, but I do know that we will know soon enough.¡±

    ¡°I have a hunch that they are doing all in their power to build rtionships with us so they can keep surveince on us and give our information to a third party.¡±

    Hei Gou¡¯s face was unsightly, Lin Xiao¡¯s showed some disbelief, and Bai Tianyi¡¯s had not changed at all.

    Xue Wei was pondering. It seemed that their mission was fairly easy on the surface. They had to solve a mystery within the Garden of Shadows, but that was where the simplicity ended.

    ¡°We have no idea what exactly is expected of us. We do not know if someone is sick, or if someone has gone mad. We don¡¯t even know if it is a person or a spirit. Heck, it could even be a tree considering the fact that we are in a ce called Garden of Shadows.¡±

    ¡°We do not know the symptoms we need to solve. We do not know anything at all!¡± Xue Wei was frustrated.

    ¡°To understand this issue, we have to slowly enter the rest of the academy and slowly gain an understanding of this ce. That¡¯s why I decided for us to start exploring it already.¡±

    With that being said, they resumed their stroll through the area, their eyes observing everything around them with great interest.

    All the core students of the academy focused on spiritual energy, and all of them were at least three-eyed with the majority being four-eyed. There were no Primordial Beasts or two eyed cultivators, but the sudden appearance of Xue Wei and his team caused a great shock to spread among them.

    It was impossible to enter the core section of the residential area unless you possessed a core emblem, and since these people had appeared here, it was clear that they possessed one each. But this was the first time in history that two-eyed experts were allowed into the academy¡¯s core section. It was simply unbelievable and while many held curiosity towards these people, there was also a group filled with contempt.

    Fortunately, no one stepped out to bother them or cause them any problems. All of the students just observed them. Even if they felt contempt towards them, they did not find any trouble for them, something that stunned Xue Wei.

    Back in Chang¡¯an, it would have been impossible to not be met with violence from others in such a situation.

    ¡°We have finished walking all the streets in the residential area for the core students, and I haven¡¯t found anything amiss,¡± Bai Tianyi said with a frown.

    ¡°Although the core students are looking at us as if we were monkeys in a cage, they have not caused us any problems, and nothing suspicious has happened either.¡±

    ¡°Let us go to the Soul Tower,¡± Xue Wei decided, his words stunning the others. ¡°Xiao and Gou go back to the courtyard and cultivate. You will have no benefit from the Soul Tower at all, so Bai Tianyi and I will go check it out.¡±

    Lin Xiao and Hei Gou hesitated for a moment before they nodded their heads and left, heading back to their courtyard. Before they left, Xue Wei warned them to be careful of the two Mo brothers and to withhold discussing delicate matters around them.

    Looking at the two guys who vanished into the distance, Xue Wei and Bai Tianyi sighed. Those two were good friends, but they were quite dense and also rather naive.

    ¡°I feel an oppressive aura around here,¡± Bai Tianyi said as they reached the Soul Tower. His brows furrowed into a deep frown.

    ¡°The aura is different from the soul power and spiritual energy that we need. It is much more simr to my sword energy; so to say, what I can sense is in the family of the daos.¡±

    Xue Wei also frowned when hearing this. The dao was something he was notpletely unfamiliar with, but at the same time he had not personallye into contact with it. All he knew was from what Bai Tianyi and Lin Xiao had told him.

    ¡°There is a dao around here? Can you sense which dao it is?¡± he asked Bai Tianyi. Although Bai Tianyi only had the dao of sword now, it used to be different when he was a human.

    ¡°If I am not mistaken, it is the dao of death,¡± Bai Tianyi¡¯s face was grim, his eyes solemn. It was clear that something serious was happening within this Garden of Shadows since the dao of death had appeared.

    ¡°Is iting from the Soul Tower, or is iting from outside of the tower?¡± Xue Wei continued to ask, and Bai Tianyi took a moment before he answered, ¡°I think ites from the top floor of the Soul Tower.¡±

    At that moment, it felt as if a mountain had been dropped on Xue Wei and Bai Tianyi¡¯s shoulders. An invisible pressure wrapped around them like a nket, pressuring them more than they had ever been pressured before.

    Unable to handle the pressure, Xue Wei and Bai Tianyi both quickly retreated a few steps, and the pressure quickly dissipated again. If it was not for the shock they saw in one another¡¯s eyes, then they would never have believed it to be true.

    ¡°Do we enter?¡± Bai Tianyi hesitated as he looked at the gate to the Soul Tower. Many students were walking in and out in session, none of them having sensed the heavy pressure that Xue Wei and Bai Tianyi had been subject to just moments before, and all of them were happily cultivating.

    ¡°We enter,¡± Xue Wei clenched his fists and made a decision. ¡°If the owner of this power wanted us dead, then we would already be dead,¡± he said reasonably.

    Bai Tianyi hesitated for a moment, but feeling that Xue Wei was probably right, he nodded his head. ¡°Let us see what makes this Soul Tower so famous then!¡± he eximed excitedly. Without further ado, he followed Xue Wei over to the entrance.

    There were no guards, there was just an open door, and anyone could enter and leave as they pleased. While everyone else seemed casual and carefree, Xue Wei and Bai Tianyi both moved forward with caution. Soon, they had entered into the actual Soul Tower.

 Chapter 260 - Soul Tower

    The moment he stepped into the Soul Tower, Xue Wei felt a heavy pressure bearing down upon him, but it was much different from the one he had sensed earlier.

    This pressure came from the sheer concentration of soul power inside the tower. It was dense energy that poured into his body like a flood through a broken dam.

    The steps Xue Wei took were heavy. His entire body felt as if it was being pressured downwards, as if the gravity within the tower had been amplified manifoldpared to outside.

    The first floor did not have that many students on it. Those that were on this floor were mainly studentsing down from the second floor, those who had just finished cultivating, and those who were on their way to cultivate.

    Xue Wei was astounded that the students were this used to the heavy pressure, but although it was heavy and making it hard for Xue Wei to move, it was not enough to crush him. With a nce at Bai Tianyi, who looked like a cat that had just caught a mouse, he shook his head and moved towards the stairs up to the second floor.

    Xue Wei did not rush there like all the other students within the tower. He took his time to get used to the change in pressure.

    Bai Tianyi was walking easily as if the pressure was nonexistent. He shed a great smile and he was happily ncing in every direction of the first floor in the hopes of understanding how they had managed to amass this much soul power.

    One has to remember that soul power was the power of one¡¯s soul. When one dies, the energy that is left in the soul will be released. If one died young from an ident or disease, the subsequent release of soul power is greater than what would be left behind from the death of an old man whose lifespan runs out.

    But one thing was certain: soul power came from the dead. To have generated this much soul power in one ce, how many people had to have died to make it possible? Not to mention that the atmosphere outside of the tower was permeated with dense soul power because of the ck Neb Stones.

    How many people had to have died to make this happen? Xue Wei frowned. He felt that this Soul Tower, which was great for cultivation, was not as simple as it seemed.

    In fact, although the speed of cultivation was much faster here than outside, he could not help but feel that there was something wicked about it.

    He was not the only one who had this thought, as the thought also surfaced in Bai Tianyi¡¯s mind, but thetter did not care. He had lost his humanity and alongside it his empathy. He did not care if the entire continent died as long as he and his friends were fine.

    Since this was the case and thinking about all the soul power that was rushing into his body, Bai Tianyi was not polite and refined it at the fastest possible speed for him to refine spiritual energy.

    Xue Wei pondered for some time. He looked around the area and found that there were many unrecognizable runes inscribed on the wall of the tower.

    They were clearly some sort of formation, but they were different from all the formations he had practiced in the past. Frowning, Xue Wei was unaware of what exactly he should think, but after considering it for a moment, he decided that it was time for him to head to the second floor.

    He would not be able to tell whether or not there was something wrong with this ce unless he had experienced training here.

    It was a risky move. In case some sort of conspiracy was afoot, then he would likely injure himself or his future aplishments, but he would gain a great benefit if the opposite was true¡ªat the cost of many dead experts.

    Slowly walking towards the second floor, Xue Wei could feel that the pressure was getting heavier and heavier. Their walking speed became slower and slower, but they did not stop at any point.

    Finally, they reached the stairs and started ascending the steps, towards the second floor.

    Fortunately, it was not as if the pressure on the second floor hit them like a hammer. Instead it slowly increased with every passing step, and their movements became increasingly slow.

    Although they had not made it too far into the tower, they dared not rush to the second, third and fourth floor like the others did.

    Although the pressure was getting heavier and heavier, Xue Wei and Bai Tianyi did not stop their steps. They continued moving upwards and upwards, further and further into the tower itself, and finally they reached the second floor.

    Where the first floor was mainly a ce where people went forth and back, the second floor had quite a number of experts sitting to the sides in the midst of cultivation.

    Although there were around twenty experts cultivating on the second floor, everyone was sitting at the sides, ensuring that they did not block the flow of the floor for those who were busy going towards the third floor or on their way back.

    Xue Wei looked at Bai Tianyi. Although Xue Wei felt the pressure, and his body was feeling exhausted, he did not stop but continued forward. Bai Tianyi, on the other hand, lookedpletely fine. He seemed as if there was no pressure on him at all, as if he was taking a stroll in his own garden.

    This was the difference between a body made from flesh and blood, and one made from soul power. The soul body was simply like a ck hole, drawing in as much soul power as it could at once and refining it at the fastest speed.

    With Bai Tianyi¡¯s current achievements, it would not take him long before he became an Earth Knight in terms of his spiritual energy levels.

    Xue Wei also felt that the golden dragon within his mind was growing at a rapid speed. It was gobbling up the soul power and refining strand after strand of spiritual energy, making him feel that a breakthrough was imminent.

    ¡°I think that I at most can go to the third floor,¡± Xue Wei said after contemting for some time. It has to be said; going to the third floor on one¡¯s first visit to the Soul Tower waspletely unheard of before, butparing him to Bai Tianyi, who seemingly was capable of going through all nine floors, this achievement seemed like nothing.

    ¡°Well, let us head up to the third floor. Find a suitable ce for you to sit down and then I will give the upper floors a look. When I finish I wille back and inform you of what I¡¯ve found,¡± Bai Tianyi said while nodding his head. He could see that the pressure was quite intense for normal experts with a flesh and blood body.

    ¡°Keep an eye out on how many experts there are on each level,¡± Xue Wei added, giving Bai Tianyi one more task. ¡°I want to know how many are cultivating on the upper levels of the tower, if any. I imagine that the pressure will be so intense up there that a single mishap will cause one¡¯s body to explode.¡±

    ¡°I will keep an eye out,¡± Bai Tianyi promised. While they were talking, they moved further and further into the second floor.

    Many experts looked at them curiously. They were experts with merely two eyes, but they were clearly within the Soul Tower, and this proved that they cultivated spiritual energy and not Qi. In fact, the likelihood of them being Primordial Beasts was quite low.

    Then how could they appear here? And for one of them it even seemed as if the pressure was nothing. On top of that, they seemed as if they were new faces in the academy.

    Many were curious about them, but no one came forward to question them or talk with them. Although they were curious, there was still a bit of disdain within their eyes. These experts only had two eyes each. They could not be as amazing as the other experts, so why spend their valuable time figuring out who they were?

    Xue Wei was also happy that no one went forward to talk to him. Although he could easily answer the questions, he preferred to be underestimated rather than being looked at with expectations.

    Not to mention, if he truly were to figure out what was happening in the academy, it was much more beneficial to him to be overlooked.

    Although he was currently being underestimated and looked down upon, that was much better than drawing a crowd anywhere he went.

    Together, the two of them went to the next set of stairs and started ascending the steps one by one. The pressure was getting so intense that sweat started beading on Xue Wei¡¯s forehead. He gritted his teeth as he slowly took one step after another in front of him, almost dragging his feet now.

    While he was struggling, Bai Tianyi was looking at him with a bemused look.

    Xue Wei was always working hard. It was true that his cultivation was partly because of his talent as a Sovereign Beast, but one could not overlook the sheer amount of work he put into each and every part of his training.

    He was training every waking moment. He never idled. Even when he was learning formations and alchemy, his perseverance was unending.

    He had failed multiple times in the past, but even so, he never gave up and continued to work hard until he seeded, and now he was considered a very talented individual in both formations, alchemy, and his cultivation base when it came to both spiritual energy and Qi.

    One has to remember that he was a Sovereign Beast, so it was not possible for him to begin cultivating at the same time as all the other humans around the age of ten, but he had already overtaken many of them.

    Bai Tianyi snickered when he looked at Xue Wei and he was increasingly pleased with the master he had taken on. Although Xue Wei had not been strong when their contract had been established, Bai Tianyi believed that Xue Wei would one day make his name resound throughout the entire world. That everyone would know his name, and that he would be a figure of great importance.

    One has to remember that although Xue Wei was still a teenager, he had a meticulous mind and was very vignt and thought things through before ever acting.

    Xue Wei was working hard to withstand the pressure of the third floor while Bai Tianyi had taken the time to evaluate him. Finally, they found a corner on the third floor where Xue Wei sat down with crossed legs and closed his eyes.

    There were even more people on the third floor than there had been on the second, and fewer were moving up and down the stairs.

    Just as the floor beneath, there were many curious experts who looked at Xue Wei and Bai Tianyi, but once again, no one spoke. When Xue Wei sunk into his own cultivation, he did not care at all about what was happening around him. All that mattered to him was the soul power that was pouring into his mind pce, almost overwhelming the golden dragon.

    Seeing Xue Wei so focused on cultivating, Bai Tianyi smiled slightly before he moved towards the stairs leading up to the fourth floor.

    Seeing his light steps and casual expression, the faces of many of the experts on the third floor turned grim and disbelieving. How could this young child possibly withstand the pressure as easily as he did? How could he move as if there was no pressure at all? It was simply inconceivable.

 Chapter 261 - Ninth Floor

    Bai Tianyi smiled wryly when he saw Xue Wei sitting like this, cultivating hard, but he said nothing more and turned around, ready to ascend to the fourth floor.

    As Bai Tianyi reached the stairs, he looked behind him and saw that many were still observing him with wide eyes as if they could not believe what they were seeing.

    Noticing their nces, Bai Tianyi felt incredibly satisfied with himself and started swaggering up the stairs towards the next floor.

    Seeing him swaggering, everyone on the third floor had ugly expressions on their faces. They felt as if he had pped them hard. His behavior not at all like a normal cultivator but so self-assured that they felt inferior to a small kid.

    Although Xue Wei had his eyes closed, a small smile appeared on his lips as this happened. He found it rather amusing to see Bai Tianyi act the way he did.

    After Bai Tianyi left to do what Xue Wei had asked him to do, Xue Wei directed his attention on improving his cultivation. Although many people had to have died to create this highly nourishing soul power environment, it would be a waste not to use it and Xue Wei would do just that.

    He was looking within himself and focusing on the dragon that was growing at a rate visible to the naked eye.

    The scales on it were growing bigger and bigger, shinier and shinier, and even the surrounding air within the mind pce was starting to shine with the same luster that came from the dragon.

    Xue Wei felt himself break through to the next level and he was excited. He had waited for a breakthrough for a long time.

    But the dragon did not stop here. It continued to absorb the energy in the Soul Tower, and soon it had consolidated the foundation of the new realm and was rushing towards another bottleneck.

    Time slowly ticked by within the Soul Tower. Xue Wei had gotten used to the energy pressure on the third level and slowly stood up to move up to the fourth level. There was no signs of Bai Tianyi¡¯s return yet, but Xue Wei was not worried.

    Bai Tianyi had not been able to cultivate for a long time on their way towards Yan Dalu in the transdimensional tunnel. Now that he had a chance, he was eager to consume all the energy in the tower, wanting to swallow it all like Taotie, the gluttonous monster of legends.

    Reaching the fourth floor, Xue Wei saw a lot of experts again sitting at the sides of the room. There were more experts on the fourth floor than on the third, but there was almost no one moving to the fifth, and even fewering down from the fifth floor.

    Xue Wei found a ce to the side and sat down. Sweat once again started pouring on his forehead as he once more experienced the heavy pressure of the soul power that was pushing down upon him, but a smile appeared on Xue Wei¡¯s face and he looked at his surroundings with narrowed eyes.

    Few paid attention to him up here, but he could feel plenty of spiritual energy probes being sent towards him, and he shielded his body with his own spiritual energy.

    As soon as the probes arrived, they were bounced backward from the barrier Xue Wei had erected, and no one continued to probe, but many had surprised looks on their faces. To think that this two-eyed expert was capable of overthrowing so many probes in such a short while.

    Xue Wei saw that no one else seemed to have any intention of interrupting him and he once more started cultivating while quietly looking at the changes that happened to the golden dragon in his mind pce.

    While Xue Wei had moved to the fourth floor, Bai Tianyi was already at the eight. He had encountered three people on the seventh floor, but no one on the eight. The three on the seventh floor had looked at him as if they had seen a monster when they noticed his upright, unrestrained posture and casual steps.

    Even more shocked were they when they saw him step towards the stairs to the eighth floor, and when they saw him vanishing up the stairs, their hearts were stirred with horror.

    Bai Tianyipletely ignored these people, and when he vanished they all looked at one another with shock in their eyes.

    One of them could not handle the pressure and the shock at once and even vomited out a mouthful of blood before he hurriedly stood up and descended down the stairs.

    The eighth floor was empty, but the pressure was so heavy that if Xue Wei were to enter without preparation he would without a doubt perish on the spot. The amount of energy that was present was enough to make Bai Tianyi happy. He could feel his breakthroughs appear in session.

    Not only was the energy pouring into him naturally, but he was also bing like a ck hole, absorbing all the energy and swallowing it as if he was a bottomless abyss.

    His body was made from soul power and spiritual energy. Every time he absorbed the ambient energy, his body was getting stronger and his inner energy was also strengthened.

    Unlike Xue Wei, Bai Tianyi did not have a mind pce. His entire body was made from spiritual energy and soul power. It was obvious that the entire body contained his energy, and all of it was a container for him.

    He felt how his body was getting stronger and stronger. ¡°It is a shame i made a child¡¯s body,¡± he grumbled to himself as he looked down at his small size. ¡°I did not have a lot of spiritual energy so I decided to make a body that was not too big back then, but I could store more energy right now had I made it bigger.¡±

    ¡°Still, it will cost quite a bit of energy to remake my body and I am not willing to do so right now. I guess I will just have to absorb energy until my body has reached its limits, then refine it, and then repeat like this until my body slowly grows on its own.¡±

    Contemting for some time, Bai Tianyi decided to do it this way. It was not that his body could not grow and be an adult¡¯s, it was just that the energy needed to do so was quite exorbitant, almost as much as creating a body from scratch.

    If he were to create a new body, he would lose all the energy he had stored within the one he had right now, and that would be quite the significant loss to him, so in the end he made the difficult choice.

    ¡°Wei is busy cultivating and he should take around a week to break into the Earth Warrior rank,¡± Bai Tianyi continued to mutter to himself while moving past the floor towards the stairs to the ninth floor. ¡°I guess that means that I can stay on the ninth floor for a week and swallow up all this lovely soul power.¡±

    Bai Tianyi¡¯s face was filled with a great smile and he had high expectations for the floor above. The energy he was getting on the eighth floor was already so dense, so how would it be on the ninth floor? It had to be the most outstanding environment he could imagine; perhaps the air was so filled with energy that there was no space for anything else?

    With this in mind, his steps picked up their pace and he almost rushed to the stairs. However, he quickly noticed that something was amiss.

    Usually, the pressure would get worse the closer to the stairs one came, but here it was very steady throughout the entire floor.

    As he reached the stairs, he found that there was still no change, and when he ced a foot onto the first step his face turned grim. The energy was actually dissipating!

    And it was not slowly either¡ªit was dissipating at a very rapid pace for each step that he took on the stairs towards the upper floors.

    ¡°Did those crooks trick me?¡± Bai Tianyi could not help but wonder about this. ¡°They have noticed my ability to devour and be cheap?¡±

    He stepped back down to the eighth floor, and here the energy was still as dense as before, but when he went up a few stairs again, the energy quickly vanished.

    ¡°No? Then is there something special on the ninth floor?¡± Bai Tianyi could notprehend what was happening and he kept muttering to himself as he decided that even if there was no energy, it would be worth it to go to thest floor to have a look.

    As he made it up into the ninth floor, Bai Tianyi found that there was absolutely no energy remaining. There was even less soul energy than there was outside, and he could not help but frown. What was the point of this floor if there was no energy?

    Bai Tianyi started exploring. He looked through every nook and cranny, but no matter how much he looked, it was obvious that there was absolutely nothing there.

    After looking around for the umptieth time, he finally realized that there was really nothing at all on this floor. Perhaps they just never expected that students would reach the ninth floor and thus they deactivated it?

    Having spent a full day on the ninth floor without absorbing any energy, Bai Tianyi¡¯s mood was rather foul and he quickly descended to the eighth floor again where he sat down in the very middle of the room and started to absorb the energy at a speed so fast that everything around him became a blur.

    The soul power poured into him at such a speed that it seemed as if a mist had appeared around him. He was not capable of seeing it himself, but anyone who saw this sight would be stunned silly.

    While Bai Tianyi was busy absorbing the energy, he was unaware that his actions had caused a stir in the rest of the academy.

    Outside, there were certain lights on the tower that lit up when someone entered one of the floors floor and stayed alight while they were there.

    Many people had seen that the light of the ninth floor had been turned on and even worse, they had seen it being on for a full day before it finally descended to the eighth floor where it stayed.

    Everyone was filled with curiosity about what exactly the monster that had caused such amotion looked like.

    But as the days ticked by, more and more were getting annoyed waiting, and only a few teachers and stubborn experts stayed behind to see this marvelous expert.

    While Bai Tianyi was causing a shock throughout the academy, Hei Gou and Lin Xiao were staying at home in the courtyard, both busy cultivating their Qi.

    Neither of them were shocked that it would take Xue Wei and Bai Tianyi a long time before they would return. Both of them had expected this, and thus they just focused on cultivating themselves, not stepping out of their rooms for even a moment.

    Xue Wei was the same. He was not worried about Bai Tianyi not returning. He knew that the sword spirit was likely to have been intoxicated with the energy that wasing from the Soul Tower and had forgotten all about the time that had passed and thus he also just focused on his own cultivation.

    After a week, Xue Wei once more saw the familiar figure of a small child appearing on the fifth floor where he was sitting now.

    Seeing that Xue Wei had moved to the fifth floor, Bai Tianyi could not help but raise an eyebrow in surprise. He had not expected that he could move up that fast. He did not have a spiritual body after all.

 Chapter 262: News Spreading Far and Wide

    The moment that Bai Tianyi reached the fifth floor, Xue Wei opened his eyes and the two of them exchanged nces before Xue Wei stood up. With this tacit understanding, the two of them descended the stairs and left the Soul Tower.

    While being in the tower, neither Bai Tianyi nor Xue Wei discussed what they had discovered. Instead they walked shoulder to shoulder out of the tower, greeting a crowd that was looking at them with stunned expressions.

    It was impossible to say exactly which one of them had been the one to step into the ninth floor. They only knew what they had seen from the lights on the tower, which did not divulge names, and thus they looked at them with the eyes of a hungry wolf, their questions in their throats ready to emerge, but neither Xue Wei nor Bai Tianyi paid them any attention.

    After ncing at the crowd, both Xue Wei and Bai Tianyi were aware of their purpose, but neither of them had any intention of telling them anything. They quickly departed from the area under the stunned expressions of the crowd.

    One has to remember¡ªthey were both two-eyed experts. Although one of them was clearly a monster, they did not have a high position in society, and it was only natural if they had tried to integrate themselves with the higher ranking teachers and students.

    When they finally regained their senses, they found that Xue Wei and Bai Tianyi had already vanished into the distance, neither having turned around even once.

    When they were out of the crowd¡¯s hearing range, Bai Tianyi started to tell what he had encountered. ¡°There was nothing on the ninth floor,¡± heined. ¡°I was there, and there was not even any pressure or even a shred of soul power. I have a feeling that there might be some sort of secret there, but after spending a full day inside I found absolutely no clues.¡±

    ¡±On the eighth floor, the pressure was so heavy that even I felt that it was heaven. I stayed there for the majority of the time, and I managed to break into the thirdyer of the Earth Knight rank.¡±

    ¡±There was no one else on the floor, so it seems that it is very difficult to reach the eighth floor,¡± Bai Tianyi continued to exin. ¡°But on the seventh floor, there were three young ones.¡±

    ¡±One of them was clearly pushing himself beyond his limits to be there, and I think I in fact injured him seriously when I went to the eighth floor because of shock, while the other two were much more tranquil.¡±

    ¡±On the sixth floor were eleven experts, and you saw the fifth floor yourself.¡±

    ¡±What was your gains like in the Soul Tower?¡± Bai Tianyi asked curiously. He had gained a lot of energy and actually managed to break into the thirdyer of the Earth Knight rank, but Xue Wei had also gained quite a bit, managing to just break into the firstyer of the Earth Knight rank.

    It was clear that Bai Tianyi had gotten much more benefits from visiting the Soul Tower than Xue Wei had; he had advanced more and his breakthroughs were much more difficult than Xue Wei, but he had also been on the eighth floor and swallowed so much soul power that it could bepared to a massacre of a thousand experts.

    Xue Wei had also absorbed a lot of energy, but while absorbing he had observed the Soul Tower. Even when they were quite a few amount of experts in the Soul Tower, the Soul Power never diminished, nor did it run out. The supply was at a steady, constant level all the time, and even when Bai Tianyi had been swallowing it up on the eighth floor like a whale swallows water, the energy had been replenished instantly.

    ¡±I assume that the mystery we are supposed to sort out might have something to do with the Soul Tower,¡± Xue Wei muttered to himself in wonder. At least that was the most wondrous thing he had encountered since entering the Garden of Shadows.

    Bai Tianyi had heard the words Xue Wei said, but he did notment. In his opinion, he quite hoped that the problem came from the Soul Tower, since that meant that they would spend even more time within the tower and his breakthroughs would be even faster than before.

    Having once stood at the apex of the world, Bai Tianyi had a hard time epting that he was no longer able to wield even a fraction of this strength.

    Although he was no longer weak, he was not considered strong yet, and this caused him to be endlessly frustrated. This was something he would never admit, but Xue Wei could feel it through their connection.

    However, although Bai Tianyi wanted to break through into stronger and stronger boundaries, he was aware that cultivation was not something that was achieved overnight. It was something one obtained after traversing a long, arduous journey step by step.

    Xue Wei had lived for years as a waste who could not cultivate, and although that had changed a few years ago, he still felt fortunate that his reality was different from what he had imagined it to be back then.

    For him, it was a joy to walk down the path of cultivation, to feel his body strengthening bit by bit and his inner energies swell with time. He did not fully understand the longing that Bai Tianyi felt, but he was not dismissive towards it.

    Together in silence, Xue Wei and Bai Tianyi returned to their courtyard. The behavior of the core students was as peculiar as it was before, all of them looking at them with curiosity but none of them stepping forward to actually initiate conversation.

    Although the multi-eyed experts were proud of their abilities and their amount of eyes, they were all gifted with quite some intelligence. They could easily guess that these people who had appeared with two eyes and managed to be core students could not be simple.

    Returning to the courtyard, they quickly awakened Lin Xiao and Hei Gou from their cultivation and gathered in Bai Tianyi¡¯s bedroom. They had not seen the shadows of Mo Yi or Mo Er since they returned, but none of them cared about it and quickly started to discuss what had happened in thest week they had been apart.

    ¡±Everything here was the same as one could expect,¡± Lin Xiao said with a shrug of his shoulders. ¡°Many experts appeared to speak with us, but we had told Mo Yi not to let anyone disturb us, and thus no one was able to go further than to the entrance of the courtyard.¡±

    ¡±We have been cultivating while waiting for you to return from the Soul Tower. Although there is a surplus of soul power within this area, there is also a decent amount of heaven and earth essence for us to absorb, so our cultivation speed has not been slow.¡±

    ¡±Although we have not broken through, that would also be too much to expect within a few days, but our foundations have been consolidated and we are almost at the bottleneck of our realms.¡±

    ¡±How were your gains in the Soul Tower?¡± Lin Xiao looked at Xue Wei curiously, and to his surprise, Xue Wei frowned in response.

    ¡±The Soul Tower is a great ce to cultivate one¡¯s spiritual energy,¡± he began hesitatingly. ¡°The soul power within is so dense that it can increase your cultivation speed by a lot, depending on how far up you go. On the second floor, you can get double the efficiency, on the third floor it¡¯s three times the efficiency, and so on, all the way up to the eighth floor.¡±

    ¡±What about the ninth floor, then?¡± Hei Gou did not know much about the Soul Tower, but he did know that it had nine floors, and he could not help but frown when Xue Wei only said to the eighth floor.

    ¡±The ninth floor is a scam,¡± Bai Tianyi said with a grumbling voice. ¡°There was absolutely no energy. All there was, was an empty room. I wonder what exactly the point is.¡±

    Xue Wei¡¯s brows furrowed. ¡°I want to get to the ninth floor and have a look for myself,¡± he said. It was not that he did not trust Bai Tianyi, but it was simply too strange that the top floor waspletely empty.

    Bai Tianyi did not feel insulted by Xue Wei¡¯s words and nodded his head. ¡°You should,¡± he agreed. ¡°I couldn¡¯t find anything, but you might be able to. Who knows.¡±

    Lin Xiao and Hei Gou exchanged nces with one another, understanding that there might be something in the Soul Tower that they were looking for, but for now it was not possible to fully explore it.

    ¡±Since we cannot go to the Soul Tower, you guys have to deal with that. What do you want us to do while you investigate the Soul Tower?¡±

    ¡±That is quite easy,¡± Xue Wei smiled. ¡°This ce fortunately does not discriminate against Primordial Beasts, so Hei Gou, you and Lin Xiao are to socialize with the other experts within the academy and establish an intelwork for us so we can tap the grapevine for thetest news and rumors.¡±

    ¡±At the same time, I need you to really focus on information about people that have been ¡®spirited away¡¯, or mass disappearances of a lot of people, massacres or somehow. The Soul Tower has a lot of soul power, and soul poweres from the dead. To have that much soul power in one ce, they have to have killed a whole lot of people or have some other way to gain ess to soul power that we do not know of.¡±

    ¡±I found it quite strange,¡± Bai Tianyi suddenly said. ¡°The soul power was so dense that even if you were to kill people for it, you would have to constantly execute people to make the equivalent of the eight floor possible; it is not a possibility at all through ordinary means, so they need to have some other way of gaining soul power.¡±

    ¡±But how else can you gain soul power?¡± Xue Wei asked with a frown. Bai Tianyi just shrugged his shoulders, indicating that he had no idea.

    Silence descended over the small room, and the four friends could not help but sigh in unison, all of them quite unhappy with the elusive task they had been given.

    There was simply too little information about their issues. They did not know exactly what was happening, and they werepletely foreign to this location so figuring out what was out of ce would take time.

    Fortunately, they had two years to solve the problem, but when one considered that the other inhabitants of Yan Dalu had actually tried to spend their entire lives trying to solve this problem, they could not help but feel slightly frustrated.

    ¡±Well, Xiao and I will start gathering information in that case,¡± Hei Gou finally said after their mutual moment of self-pitying and then picked up the task at hand. They would get nowhere by feeling sorry for themselves. They had to act.

    ¡±Many have tried toe in contact with us over thesest few days, so I am sure that we will be able to mingle with the rest of the core students quite well,¡± Lin Xiao added.

    Xue Wei nodded his head. He felt at ease knowing that those two would deal with that, but he was at the same time worried about his own task.

    Although he had managed to reach the fifth floor on his first venture up the Soul Tower, there was a massive difference between the fifth floor and the eighth floor. The pressure on the eighth floor was so much heavier byparison that Xue Wei would be squashed like a fly if he were to enter it at his current level of strength.

    But Xue Wei wanted to enter the ninth floor. He had to figure out a way to get up there, and preferably a way that did not take too long. He only had two years!

    As he thought of these things, a thought suddenly appeared within his mind.

 Chapter 263: Restaurant

    Xue Wei was aware that his biggest trump card was his identity as a Sovereign Beast. His bloodline of the Azure Dragon was able to create miracles.

    In his mind pce was the golden dragon, and within his dantian was the azure dragon spirit. These dragon spirits were exclusive to the Azure Dragon race, and they made his cultivation speed in their respective fields much swifter than normal experts, eclipsing even a proud son of the heavens.

    Sovereign Beasts had not gotten their reputation because of their mild tempers but because of their overwhelming strength and natural talent.

    They truly had something that other races did not have. They had been the true overlords of the entire world many years in the past.

    The Azure Dragon blood that flowed in his veins made him quite different from experts of other races. He had two spirits within his body: one within his mind and one within his dantian, both assisting him in his breakthroughs.

    These dragons were exclusive to the Azure Dragon race, and their power was in no way inferior to any of the other sovereign beasts¡¯ spirits.

    Although Xue Wei was originally only half an Azure Dragon, Lan providing him the essence blood back then had fully awakened his bloodline, and thus he now had as pure a bloodline as those who were full-blooded Azure Dragons.

    Xue Wei could not help but feel that it was necessary to take a risk. Although he did not know exactly what the dragon spirits within him were capable of, he knew that their capacity to absorb energy was enormous.

    If he relied on the spirit¡¯s endurance, would he not be able to step up to a higher level in the soul tower under its protection?

    Seeing that Xue Wei was pondering something, no one interrupted him and all of them just sat quietly in their positions and looked at him as he frowned.

    It was not before Xue Wei stopped frowning and looked at them again that Bai Tianyi quietly said, ¡°Don¡¯t rush too much. You managed to get to the fifth floor in one day. We have two years. It¡¯s impossible for you to not reach the ninth floor before that.¡±

    ¡°I know,¡± Xue Wei answered and released a sigh, ¡°but that does not change the fact that I would like to solve the issues sooner rather thanter. Not to mention that we have other things to do in these two years so I cannot stay at the Soul Tower for all the time.¡±

    ¡°Do you have any ns?¡± Hei Gou asked tentatively. It was not like Xue Wei to be rushed like this, but the time limit truly made them feel helpless.

    Although two years sounded like a lot of time, the opposite was true. To cultivators a single blink could mean the passage of two years if the moons aligned correctly, not to mention that they had to solve an issue that not even the citizens of this continent had been capable of solving for over a century if not more.

    There was a sense of urgency in the hearts of Xue Wei and the others. They absolutely had to travel with the next delegation to the Demon Phoenix Continent. They could not wait for the delegation that cameter, because they would simply be wasting far too much time like that.

    Xue Wei sighed and shook his head. ¡°I have a theory that might make it possible for me to enter the upper floors, but it involves me revealing my golden dragon spirit. I think that if I let it materialize out of my body, it will be like Bai Tianyi, just absorbing the soul power much like air.¡±

    ¡°Then, under the cover of the spirit dragon, I would enter the ninth floor. However, the tower is filled with people every day. If I really did this, then they would all see the dragon spirit from my mind pce. I do not think this is a great idea.¡±

    ¡°Although it is an inherited thing, there are no Sovereign Beasts on this continent, and they are likely to believe it is some kind of treasure, making me the target for everyone¡¯s greed.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not an option we should use right now,¡± Bai Tianyi agreed, thinking it far too risky. ¡°Although we only have two years, I assume that you will be able to reach the sixth floor within a week; a monthter you should reach the seventh floor and after half a year you should be capable of reaching the eighth floor.¡±

    ¡°When you make it to the eighth floor, you will be fine. As soon as you can get onto the floor, you will be okay. The pressure does not increase at all from the first step towards the stairs leading to the ninth floor in the same way as it does on the other floors, instead it is steady all over until you reach the stairs where it will slowly diminish.¡±

    Xue Wei contemted. Although he was not willing to spend two years to get to the ninth floor, half a year did not seem to be too much of a loss and, currently, the Soul Tower was their best lead towards the mystery they were expected to solve.

    Hearing the words from Bai Tianyi and his estimated times for when he could reach the ninth floor, Xue Wei once more sank into deep thoughts. It was very risky for him to let the golden dragon spirit exit his mind pce and protect him as he climbed the tower, so if there was even the slightest possibility of getting to the ninth floor without relying on it, that would naturally be the best.

    However, was he really willing to wait half a year? Half a year was not long, but rtive to their current time schedule, it was not a short amount of time either.

    ¡°You know, it does not mean that it will absolutely take half a year,¡± Bai Tianyi could see the unwillingness in Xue Wei¡¯s eyes, and he continued, ¡°The seventh floor only had three expertsst time I was there. They cannot be there all the time. As soon as we are the only ones on the floor, you can summon your spirit and then head straight up to the eighth floor.

    Xue Wei¡¯s eyes suddenly lit up and he seemed to understand that although it might not be easy to get to the ninth level, the half year estimate was the most conservative number. It was possible to get there even faster.

    ¡°Let us do it like that then,¡± Xue Wei said and nodded his head. ¡°Bai Tianyi and I will focus on the Soul Tower and the clues that might have been left within while Lin Xiao and Hei Gou will focus on gathering information from the rest of the students.¡±

    ¡°Remember, mainly focus on massacres, or people vanishing, either amongst themon folk or here in the academy itself.¡±

    Lin Xiao and Hei Gou nodded their heads. They were not sure if they could get the results they needed, but they would without a doubt do their very best.

    ¡°Well, we will start tomorrow.¡± Xue Wei stretchedzily. ¡°For today, let us find some ce to eat.¡±

    Although they no longer needed to eat food to sustain their bodies, they still enjoyed a meal from time to time, and it had been eons since they had had theirst meal.

    The academy had a restaurant that specializes in spiritual food. The price for the food was calcted with merit points and a meal could easily cost a hundred merit points per person. Fortunately, Xue Wei and the others each had a bit more than ten thousand merit points from their hunts of the bandits. They stepped inside the restaurant after finding it.

    ¡°Would you like a table or a room?¡± The waiter that was standing at the door saw the appearance of four experts with only two eyes and surprise shed in his eyes. There was a trace of disdain as well, but he quickly hid it, and he was able to act respectfully even though he looked down upon them.

    ¡°What do you guys prefer?¡± Xue Wei asked the others, and they just shrugged their shoulders. Looking back at the servant, Xue Wei smiled apologetically and made the decision himself. ¡°We will want a room then.¡±

    Although there had not been anyone hating on them because of their two eyes, many sent them strange nces and they were often treated as monkeys in a zoo, like a show that others watched with excitement and curiosity.

    ¡°I have to tell you that a room costs seventy-five merit points to rent,¡± the servant said as he looked at Xue Wei as if he was a beggar, ¡°The meals in the rooms are also much more delicious and so their price is higher. You will need to pay at least a thousand merit points each to be in the room.¡±

    Although this was a somewhat incorrect statement, it was not far off from the truth. Most people that rent a room end up spending around five hundred merit points on average, and merit points were difficult to gather, especially for someone with only two eyes. What were they even capable of doing?

    Xue Wei understood what the waiter meant. The man clearly implied they did not have the points to dine in a room, and in fact, he doubted whether or not they even had the points to dine on the ground floor of the restaurant.

    Xue Wei¡¯s face turned ugly. He had been polite to everyone since arriving at the academy and he had not been treated unfairly in return, but he was not the type to take it lying down when someone slighted him.

    ¡°Are you questioning whether or not I have enough merit points?¡± Xue Wei¡¯s voice erupted coldly. The waiter had not expected Xue Wei to speak like this, and his eyes turned slightly haughty.

    ¡°I am d that you understand what I am trying to say. Now scram!¡± The waiter had not wanted to disy his disdain towards Xue Wei and the others, but being called out like this made him go on the offensive, and his voice was raised causing many of the experts within the restaurant to look towards the entrance and the five people who seemed to be making amotion.

    ¡°You do not know how many merit points we have. How can you say that we do not have enough?¡± Xue Wei did not back down and retorted with a voice filled with ridicule.

    ¡°You are obviously at the bottom of the academy! How can you possibly have enough merit points to eat in an establishment such as this restaurant?¡± The waiter did not back down and instead responded with an insult.

    ¡°Bottom of the academy?¡± Xue Wei sneered before he shed his core student identity medal. ¡°You think that I am useless?¡±

    When Xue Wei shed his core student identity medal, the other three behind him also took out their own medals of equal stature, and they looked at the waiter as if they had seen an idiot.

    ¡°Core... core student?¡± the waiter was rather shocked when he saw these medals. His face, which had been extremely haughty, suddenly paled and his eyes widened like two bronze bells.

    ¡°All four of you are core students?¡± The waiter did not believe it. ¡°Impossible! How can you have core student medals? All of you are obviously waste experts! None of you have more than two eyes!¡±

    ¡°So what?¡± Xue Wei asked arrogantly, and his words caused everyone present to be shocked. Indeed, so what? Although they only had two eyes, most of the experts with keen senses could feel a bit of a threat and danger from these four people in front of them; only people who were as clueless as the waiter assumed that they were wastes.

    ¡°So what? Well, are you all primordial beasts?¡± The waiter could not ept what was happening in front of him and the only reason he could find to exin why these four were core students was that they were all primordial beasts with exceptional talent.

    ¡°No,¡± Xue Wei replied and shook his head, and then a chilled glint shed in his eyes, ¡°but what we are, what does it have to do with you?¡±

    ¡°Take a look at our merit points, and lead us to a room!¡±

 Chapter 264: Training Field

    The waiter understood that he could do nothing more than approve Xue Wei¡¯s request. Although he still looked down upon the other, he could not go against a core student.

    If this core student were to tell his superiors about his behavior, it was clear that he would lose his job faster than he was able to exin the situation.

    Understanding this, he epted the card in Xue Wei¡¯s hand and swiped it over the scorecard. Seeing that he had ten thousand and six hundred seventy-nine merit points, he felt like biting his own tongue.

    This amount of merit points was not little at all. It was definitely enough to allow the entire group of four to eat in a room if they pleased, and as a result, his face turned from a shade of red to purple and then to green.

    "Follow me," the waiter said and was not excessively polite, but considering that he was willing to help them to the room, Xue Wei did not cause problems anymore.

    Although he was annoyed with the waiter, this man was simply not worth paying attention to. The waiter was someone who was doomed to be beneath him, both in strength and in status. To deal with such a person would only cause him to feel disgusted.

    Together they walked upstairs to the upper floor where there were rooms, each beautifully decorated and containing a table and some cushions to sit on.

    They arrived in front of one of the rooms, not one of the best rooms on the floor but a decent room nheless.

    Here they were led inside, and there was a waitress waiting for them inside. Seeing that the group contained four people with two eyes each, surprise shed in her eyes, but she said nothing and smiled sweetly instead.

    The waiter who had led them over quickly left without as much as a word, and returned to the front of the restaurant, his face filled with unwillingness.

    Although he was unwilling to ept that these two-eyed experts were core students, he was not silly enough to think that Xue Wei had falsified the core student medal, and thus he was forced to treat them at least somewhat respectfully.

    Xue Wei ignored the waiter and sat down on one of the cushions. The others followed suit and soon they were looking at the menu, wondering which dishes they should eat.

    There was a chef in their house, but that chef did not make food that increased their strength, and although it was edible, it was not as delicious as the food here.

    Xue Wei ordered a few random dishes from the menu and some fruit wine. These menus were then handed to the waitress in the room, and she quickly bowed before leaving the room to quickly pick up the things they had ordered.

    "That waiter was quite rude," Lin Xiao said and sighed as he shook his head. "What was his problem?"

    "It is clear that he, as a three eyed expert, looks down upon us because we only have two eyes, and when he then realizes that we are way above him, he will be even more unwilling to admit it." Xue Wei shrugged his shoulders. It really did not matter how the waiter behaved. In Xue Wei¡¯s eyes, he was just a clown jumping around.

    Sensing the carelessness from Xue Wei, the others were rather surprised, but none of them said anything. They understood that it was not because Xue Wei was benevolent, but because he simply could not be bothered to take a shot at someone so far beneath his focus.

    Although it was clear that Xue Wei would not take a shot at the man, it did not mean that Hei Gou and the others were willing to swallow their anger. They were all contemting how to make life difficult for this waiter.

    Although Xue Wei knew about it, he did not care. Everyone had their own principles and should follow them. Xue Wei was in no position to tell his friends how they should act.

    Although Hei Gou, Lin Xiao and Bai Tianyi were ying with the thoughts of how to punish the waiter, they quickly forgot about him when the dishes arrived.

    These dishes were specialized half in essence of the heavens and the earth and half in soul power, so when consumed they would instantly make the body refine the energies and make it into Qi and spiritual energy.

    The density of energy from the food was as potent as that provided by the consumption of pills, but the absorption was much more gentle and it was clear that it did not require one to sit down and meditate to refine the energies; it slowly transformed itself while being digested.

    All four of them were greatly surprised when they noticed this. They hade here to experience something a bit different and also experience the benefits one could get from spiritual food, but when eating it they found that it was truly magnificent.

    The food filled with the essence of the heavens and the earth was many times cheaper than the dishes that contained soul power, and Xue Wei had purchased a surplus of those dishes because three of them could benefit from them while only two could benefit from the soul power dishes.

    While eating, the group made small talk about their current experiences in Yan Dalu. They had experienced many things since arriving here, and it seems they had been trapped in a web of mysteries, making it very hard for them to escape unless they solved the problem.

    "These people are all very friendly, but I do not know if they are friendly because of them needing us," Bai Tianyi said and sighed after a bit of time. "We are being treated extremely well, and it seems that everyone within the entire continent are happy people, but it is almost a utopia and I cannot believe that it is as wonderful as it seems."

    "I agree," Lin Xiao nodded his head. "I might be a monk and I might have learned that friendliness and benevolence is the way to go, but human nature, even if you have multiple eyes, is not kind."

    "I do not think they would be this friendly were it not because they would benefit from it."

    Hei Gou contemted for some time, before he nodded his head, showing his agreement. "I think that we are quite fortunate to be needed by them," he said after hesitating a bit of time. "Although it is troublesome having to solve this problem for them, we are not in any danger."

    "It feels great not having to flee for our lives all the time, and although many look at us with curiosity and interest, with some looking at us with disdain and disgust, no one has caused problems for us. Even that waiter was easily subdued."

    When hearing Hei Gou¡¯s words, Lin Xiao and Bai Tianyi both nodded their heads. It was indeed good to be free from the worry of constant chases, but Xue Wei just sighed.

    "It is true that we are lucky to be without pursuers," he agreed, "but our cultivation was progressing by leaps and bounds while being under pressure."

    "Fortunately, we have been forced to try and solve a mystery here in Yan Dalu, not allowing us to rest on oururels. If we did, I fear our cultivation base would progress at a much slower rate."

    "Although all of us are motivated to cultivate, we have to remember that pressure brings forth another aspect in cultivation. This is indeed something we need."

    After talking, they continued to eat their meals and drink their wine. From time to time they would joke with one another or talk about their previous experiences, even experiences from before they met each other was subjects of their conversation.

    Although they did not speak much about the mystery they were tasked with solving, it was still something that was present within their minds. They could notpletely put down the subject.

    Their future depended on them solving this mystery and now they finally had a n on what to do and a lead towards their masked objective.

    They finished the meal in a carefree manner, paid the bill, and returned to the courtyard only to find that Mo Yi and Mo Er were waiting for them with great grins on their faces, looking like two mischievous children who had thought up some ns that would produce chaos.

    "We heard that the young masters had returned from the Soul Tower and have taken the time to prepare warm water for all of you. Take a rxing bath with a herbal concoction local to Yan Dalu and calm your muscles before working hard with cultivation again," Mo Yi said with a friendly smile on his face and Xue Wei gave him a nce before he nodded his head. "Thank you," he said before he and the others entered their rooms and saw a big tub in front of them with steaming hot water within.

    They all enjoyed their baths; the slightly bitter scent of herbs could be smelled in the entire courtyard and Xue Wei felt how it rxed his soul and calmed his muscles. The herbal concoction was indeed special, and he could not help but wonder why they were given the privilege of this herbal bath.

    Mo Yi and Mo Er should not be capable of providing the herbs needed for the bath, and Xue Wei had not given them any currency to buy them with.

    After finishing the bath, Xue Wei cultivated his Qi for one night, and the morning afterward he and Bai Tianyi once again set out to the Soul Tower. This time they would stay there for quite a long time, so they had spent a whole day and night beforehand to fully unwind and prepare their mind.

    Spiritual power was closely rted to the mind. If one was to overdo the cultivation, it could inflict severe damage to one¡¯s mind and even turn one into a fool, but at the same time, if one had talent for spiritual energy, then they needed to cultivate it or they equally could turn into fools. It was about finding the golden middle way.

    While Xue Wei and Bai Tianyi went to the Soul Tower, Lin Xiao and Hei Gou exited the courtyard and headed towards the Academy¡¯s training field.

    The training field was where most of the students that were not in the Soul Tower gathered. Here people could practice their skills, either alone or together, and there were also instructors walking around, helping out those students who had questions or difficulties with their training.

    Since Hei Gou and Lin Xiao were supposed to get information, they obviously went to the most crowded ce of the entire academy¡ªwith the exception of the Soul Tower as they could not enter there.

    As they reached the training field, they saw that there was arge amount of students. They saw students with three eyes almost everywhere, and from time to time they also encountered students with four eyes and even a few with two.

    The ones with two eyes appeared to mainly cultivate Qi, and both Lin Xiao and Hei Gou could see that they were almost all Primordial Beasts.

    Lin Xiao and Hei Gou looked at one another before they were unsure of what exactly they should do. How to speak with these people? How to get into contact with them?

    "First, let us try and challenge a few people in thebat arena," Lin Xiao looked around as he said. "Maybe we can be friends after exchanging blows."

    Hei Gou was not able to think of any other way, and thus he just nodded his head. "Okay," he replied, and together the two of them walked deeper into the crowded training field towards some stages that were ced at the far end where people were constantly challenging one another to test their skills.

 Chapter 265: Gossip

    When Hei Gou and Lin Xiao made it to the challenger¡¯s tforms, they found that almost everyone was looking at them with curiosity.

    The two of them were new people whom they had never seen before, and there was much curiosity towards them. Although the two-eyed experts were the most numerous in Yan Dalu, they were also the least talented and thus they would rarely make it into the Garden of Shadows.

    Seeing two new people with two eyes only meant one of two things; they were either Primordial Beasts, or talented Qi cultivators.

    When the students in the crowd observed them using their spiritual energy, they were incapable of sensing the level their Qi had reached, but they could sense their spiritual energy was rather pitiful, and thus their curiosity was piqued.

    ¡°Hello, I am Shen Longyue, a core student of the academy,¡± a young man stepped forward to greet them. ¡°I think I have previously seen you and two other experts in the core area of the academy, and all of you seem to have only two eyes. Are all of you Primordial Beasts?¡±

    Everyone nearby listened in as Shen Longyue asked this. Some were pretending to do other stuff, while otherspletely ignoredmon etiquette and openly eavesdropped.

    Normally, it would be unpopr to eavesdrop, but Lin Xiao really needed to get attention from everyone; he needed them to be paying attention to them and to be friendly to gain information and therefore he just smiled amiably and answered the question.

    ¡°Amongst our group of four, only one is a Primordial Beast. That is my friend here, Hei Gou.¡±

    Lin Xiao spoke casually, but everyone within range heard it and their hearts leapt with excitement. Only one Primordial Beast out of four new experts with only two eyes. Then if there was only one Primordial Beast, what were the other three?

    ¡°Are you human?¡± Shen Longyue could not help but ask, his eyes narrowed as if he did not truly believe what Lin Xiao was insinuating. Lin Xiao just chuckled. ¡°I am indeed a human,¡± he acknowledged readily.

    ¡°How can this be? I thought humans were incapable of cultivating Qi above the Heavenly Warrior rank!¡± someone muttered in the crowd. But then a loud voice cut through the silence, ¡°That¡¯s not true, have you not heard about the seniors who came back from the bandit hunt? All of them were Ordinary Knights at their return, and they imed to have been assisted in their breakthrough by a group of experts who just joined the academy!¡±

    ¡°I thought that was just a rumor?¡± someone else asked. The person who had argued before vehemently returned, ¡°It is true! I have seen it myself¡ªtheir strength really did break through!¡±

    ¡°Then do you think that their breakthroughs have something to do with this Lin Xiao?¡±

    At this point, all of them looked at Lin Xiao with a bit of suppressed greed in their eyes.

    They knew that they prioritized in spiritual energy, but even though they did not cultivate their Qi as the main focus, they still wished for breakthroughs as they could assist them and even turn into a life-saving power at ater time.

    Xue Wei had since discovering their cultivation system suspected that there would be others who were eager to break into the Ordinary Knight rank, and he had concocted many pills to use in exchange for information or merit points.

    In theirst full-party meeting, Xue Wei had handed these pills to Hei Gou and Lin Xiao to be used as bargaining chips when the two of them were out snooping for information.

    And now it was already possible to gain something without even having to pull the ssic power move with a show of strength to impress and befriend them. They had already be the subject of everyone¡¯s attention.

    ¡°I can help you,¡± Lin Xiao spoke slowly, pronouncing each word clearly. He looked at the many people that were staring at him and noticed how they all lit up with glee.

    ¡°Myrade Xue Wei is a dual cultivator of both Qi and spiritual energy. He is also a formation master and an alchemist. Wee from outside of your continent, from a continent where the majority cultivates Qi, and thus we have many pills which can help you break through to the Ordinary Knight rank.

    ¡°Xue Wei already gave me a few of these pills, but I need you to do something for me in return.¡±

    The truth was that he actually had enough pills to supply the entire student body, but Lin Xiao had no intention of telling them this. By telling them all that he only had a few, they would definitely do their utmost to satisfy his demands. On the other hand, if he were to act generously, it was likely they would only do a halfhearted job.

    Just as he had expected, the moment the others heard his words, all of them were eagerly crowding around him.

    ¡°What do you need from us?¡± one of them asked curiously, lightly licking his lips while imagining himself bing an Ordinary Knight.

    ¡°Information!¡± Lin Xiao grinned. ¡°We are very new to this academy, and even the continent. We know nothing about this ce, so we would like to know all the information that you might have.¡±

    ¡°That is it?¡± Shen Longyue looked at him skeptically. ¡°You will give us a pill that makes us break through into the Ordinary Knight rank as long as we can provide you with information that you deem useful?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s true,¡± Lin Xiao replied and nodded his head seriously. ¡°I will not lie. If you tell us something that is useful to us, then we will gift you a pill.¡±

    The many experts looked at one another as if it was too good a deal to be true. No one wanted to be the first to speak because they were afraid of being tricked, but after some time went by, Shen Longyue stepped up to Lin Xiao and smiled. ¡°What kind of information do you want?¡± he inquired.

    ¡°I am interested in anything, but I mainly want to know how there can be so much soul power around here.¡±

    Lin Xiao had wanted to add a question about missing people and massacres, but he stopped himself in time. If he had asked this question right after asking about the oversaturation of soul power in the air, then the implication behind the initial question would be obvious, and as students of the academy, they would without a doubt feel insulted.

    Lin Xiao and Hei Gou were here to make friends, not to insult anyone, and as such he could only take it slowly and get some information one step at a time.

    ¡°We are interested in any kind of information you might have,¡± Hei Gou piped up for once. It was the first thing he had said since their appearance and the others looked at him with narrowed eyes, trying to decipher if he had any authority toe with such ament.

    Lin Xiao continued to smile and he nodded his head. ¡°We are indeed interested in everything,¡± he said, making all of the others smile and rx.

    ¡°Well, in that case, let me go first,¡± Shen Longyue started without hesitation. ¡°The ck Neb Stone is the reason there is so much soul power in our surroundings. There is a spiritual vein under us and the heart of the vein is in the Soul Tower, which gathers the soul power inside the floors for us to absorb as we want.¡±

    ¡°The rest of the academy is fueled by the ck Neb Stones. They attract soul power from the surrounding air and concentrate it in one spot¡±

    ¡°These stones and the vein are the reason for the dense soul power that is present within the Academy,¡± Shen Longyue smiled as if this was all there was to it, but Lin Xiao had already heard Bai Tianyi say that it was impossible for the vein and the ck Neb Stones to produce as much soul power as was evident here.

    Unfortunately, it seemed that these students knew nothing more about it. All of them seemed to be of the impression that these stones and the vein were all that maintained the high levels of soul power.

    Noting that the students were unaware of anything behind the soul power, or even questioning it, Lin Xiao still smiled amiably and waved his hand, taking out a pill from his storage treasure and passed it to Shen Longyue.

    ¡°Thank you for your information,¡± he said with a grin. ¡°This is a pill specialized for Qi cultivators. It allows you to absorb the heaven and earth essence much faster and refine it at a higher rate than normal. Although it does not sound like much, it is exactly what you need to break through into the Ordinary Knight rank when you consider the fact that you have never taken Qi medication before.¡±

    Shen Longyue epted the pill with shaking hands. His face had a massive grin spread across it and he was all giddy as he rushed back from the training field back to his residence with excitement in his eyes.

    Seeing that Shen Longyue received one of those pills, the others¡¯ eyes shone brightly. While they were apprehensive to share before, all of them rushed forward now.

    ¡°I can tell you about the teachers of the academy,¡± one of them said, but before he had the time to begin, another cut in, iming their story about a hidden expert in the academy was better.

    ¡°No one wants to listen to the story about the hidden expert. It is just a legend, why not listen to my rumors about who is dating who?¡±

    ¡°No, I think it is better to tell them concrete information like the Cloud Monument and the rankings of the students!¡±

    Like this everyone suddenly started yelling over each other and both Lin Xiao and Hei Gou were overwhelmed.

    ¡°Okay, one at a time,¡± Lin Xiaoughed. ¡°Queue up and tell us the stories one after another.¡±

    Although the experts were not eager to do so, they knew that Lin Xiao was the one who set the rules. He was the owner of the pills they desired, so all of them ended up doing exactly as he said.

    The first person who appeared told them about the teachers and elders of the academy. Although it was good to know about the elders and the teachers, Lin Xiao found no useful information in his story, but he still gifted him a medicinal pill.

    The next expert talked about the different factions in the academy, the main families who had created groups within the academy and about who were neutral of the stronger experts. Although this did not help with the mystery, it was useful information nheless and Lin Xiao dly gifted him a pill.

    After him came a young expert who told them about the different ces within the academy. There was the training field they were on already, but there were also the school buildings, the skill buildings for spiritual energy, and a deste ce for Qi techniques. There was the Cloud Monument, a ce where one could see the ranking of all the students in the academy, and there were other ces mentioned in the exnation, including the forbidden area that was ced in the east side of the academy.

    Lin Xiao was suddenly interested. He quickly gave him a pill and asked a few questions about the forbidden area, but the student knew nothing about it other than it being forbidden and that no one went there.

    Then came another expert, and his eyes were shining brightly. ¡°I know about the forbidden area,¡± he grinned.

    Lin Xiao was immediately hooked. ¡°What do you know?¡± he asked curiously. The young man looked around before he began telling them about the story of a legendary hidden expert.

 Chapter 266: Legend

    ¡°Long ago, when the continents were one great and unbrokennd, there was an expert at the apex of strength in the world.

    ¡°No one knew where this expert came from, nor what her agenda was. She just appeared one day as if she had sprouted from the soil itself, and then she entered the Yan Tribe.

    ¡°Back before the continents were separated, the Yan tribe was a tribe which contained all the multi-eyed experts, and their need for soul power was immense.

    ¡°Her emergence was a mystery and remained unnoticed as she then managed to excavate the ck Neb Stone mine and informed everyone about the use of the ck Neb Stones and the heart of the mine that could produce soul power, while the stones themselves could attract and store soul power too.

    ¡°This expert single-handedly built the Garden of Shadows and named the ce. She also somehow made it possible for everyone to cultivate at a speed far surpassing the rate which they were ustomed to before.

    ¡°From then on, the Garden of Shadows was almost as important as the King¡¯s pce; it was a holy ce where all the most renowned experts of the Yan Tribe would go to cultivate like never before.

    ¡°Only those who went to the Garden of Shadows would have rapid improvements in their cultivation, and thus only the students of the Garden of Shadows would be prominent figures in society.

    ¡°Suddenly, when the continents started to shift and the world began to shake, Massive sword strikes and the dao of sword appeared everywhere, viciously tearing apart the entire world into multiple continents. The wind was furious and the oceans¡¯ waves were so enormous and strong¡ªthey sucked or swept away each broken piece ofnd far apart, leaving them to be their own continents.

    ¡°As to what exactly was the reason behind the appearance of this sudden sword storm and the destruction of the continents, we never found out. Still, the sword storm was the most destructive thing we¡¯d ever seen, and some of the shesnded devastatingly close to our tribe. Were it not for this expert, then we would never have survived.

    ¡°This is also why you can see the sea right next to our capital. The capital is the location of the original Yan tribe, but right next to it was the cut that separated this continent from the rest.

    ¡°When we were separated, the esteemed expert managed to unite the entire continent under the rule of the Yan Tribe, and named it the ¡®Yan Dalu.¡¯

    ¡°We owe this expert so much for what she did for us, but at one point she simply vanished. It is said that she began using her powers excessively, that she was growing tired and dissatisfied. As a result, she locked herself in isted cultivation in what we now call the forbidden area.

    ¡°Because she locked herself indoor and requested nobody disturb her cultivation, the area became a forbidden area. No one wished to interrupt her; no one wanted to cause her problems, so everyone stayed away.

    ¡°This was thousands of years ago, none of us knows whether or not she survived all this time, if she secretly left as she had arrived or if she died. Only the Headmaster and a few of the highest ranked elders enter the forbidden area from time to time, but they never say anything and we do not know if they go to pay their respects in front of the esteemed expert¡¯s door, or if they just go to clean the area.¡±

    ¡°I see.¡± Lin Xiao was in deep thought when he smiled at the man and handed him a pill. ¡°That legend was quite informative,¡± he grinned.

    ¡°It is just a legend,¡± one of the other experts said with indignance. If he had been just a bit faster, he would have been able to tell this legend¡ªeveryone within Yan Dalu knew this legend¡ªbut he lost the chance to get a pill because he did not think that someone would find this information useful.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry.¡± Hei Gou understood his thoughts, and he spoke up again, something he had not done a lot, ¡°we are still interested in plenty more things, so anyone who has something interesting to tell us should stay and exchange their information for pills.¡±

    Although they had gotten some interesting information about this forbidden area, and both of them felt that this legend had some curious implications, they could not let go of their source of information, nor could they let go of a chance to suddenly get more knowledge of this ce.

    ¡°I can tell you about missing people!¡± someone suddenly called out. Mentioning just the kind of information they seeked most, both Lin Xiao and Hei Gou swung their heads around to look at the speaker, their eyes glistened but their expressions remained the same as before.

    ¡°Oh? People go missing?¡± Lin Xiao asked with feigned surprise and intrigue in his voice, ¡°That can¡¯t be good.¡±

    ¡°It is not a big secret,¡± the person responded. He was slightly embarrassed because this was also known to all, but he was using it to exchange for a pill, so he grit his teeth and muscled through.

    ¡°Every day around ten people will vanish on the continent. There is no limit to who vanishes, it can bemoners with two eyes each, or it can even be experts with three or four eyes. The only ones who have never vanished are the five-eyed experts.

    ¡°We don¡¯t know where these ten experts vanish to, we have tried many different ways to examine this sudden disappearance but there are never any signs of fights, nor is there any messages left behind. They all seem to vanish into thin air, and they vanish from anywhere on the continent, so it is hard to say who is behind it.¡±

    Lin Xiao¡¯s brows furrowed. If it was that the ten people vanished from the same ce every day, or followed some sort of pattern by vanishing in certain locations on certain days, then it would not be so difficult to track, but if they vanished from anywhere and every day, then it could not be just one person behind it.

    If it was a big group of people who were behind the supposed kidnapping then it could be exined, but then it was also extremely dangerous considering how many people had gone missing. The government definitely would have an idea as to what was happening, but it seemed as if they did not, or at least they did not share this information.

    Hei Gou was also deep in thought when he heard this. What made him most confused was theck of fighting. One thing was that they vanished all over the continent, but the fact that they vanished without a trace was truly difficult to aplish.

    Lin Xiao and Hei Gou both found this information quite useful so they gave a pill to the person who had shared it.

    Lin Xiao and Hei Gou nced at one another. They felt that their heads were almost exploding with information and were unsure of what exactly they should do now.

    They wanted to find Xue Wei right away and tell him about what they had heard, but the truth was that Xue Wei had entered the Soul Tower not long ago, and it was likely that he would stay there for a long time.

    ¡°Let us record what we gained today on a few jade slips,¡± Hei Gou said, ¡°in case we get a lot more information and forget somethingter, or mix it up. We really do not know how long it will take before theye back from the Soul Tower.¡±

    Lin Xiao nodded his head slightly. Although they were cultivators meaning they could expand their memories beyond normal and would rarely forget anything they wished to remember, they were not willing to even risk it. This was far too important.

    They had already heard an outstanding amount of gossip that day, but they did not rush back to the courtyard to record the useful information before they had finished listening to everyone.

    The rest of the people had mostly rumors and hearsay to share, their information was not very informative, nor as useful. Still, they generously gave out the pills and rushed back to the courtyard as soon as they were done.

    Like this, the days went by. Rumors about the two strangers exchanging pills for other rumors and stories quickly spread throughout the entire academy, and Hei Gou and Lin Xiao both kept exchanging pills as their knowledge grew. They soon stretched the information requested from being only about the Garden of Shadows to everything within the capital.

    They got rumors about the pce, about the different factions within the royal court, the strong families within the city and everything that was happening to them.

    When they no longer had any students left who were interested in the pills that could help them break into the Ordinary Knight rank, Lin Xiao suddenly pulled out something else that made another big stir. He had pulled out some meward Formations.

    meward Formations were in and simple for Xue Wei to create, and he had spent a long time practicing them and made plenty of them in the hope of exchanging them for resources back in Chang¡¯an when he was using the alias of Ye Xiao.

    Unfortunately, circumstances had given him no more chances to exchange the formations and instead he¡¯d had to flee. Now, however, was most likely the perfect time to bring them forth.

    Although formations within Yan Dalu were much more widespread than within Chang¡¯an, they were still considered rare. It was not that they did not have the spiritual energy needed to create formations but because the teachers guarded their methods with their lives. Formation masters had always been noble people, and back before Bai Tianyi had split the continents, the majority of the formation masters and their secrets were gathered within the City of Formations. After the world was split, many formations and their knowledge was lost throughout the continents, leaving only a select few even in Yan Dalu.

    Seeing that Lin Xiao had shown a formation, everyone was once more filled with excitement and disbelief. How could these two people gather so many treasures and even gift them to others in exchange for information?

    Still, Lin Xiao was more selective about the news he gained from formations. He had many pills, but not as many formations, and thus everyone did everything in their power to find information that was worthy of being exchanged for a formation.

    These Formations were not for their own use, many wanted them to sell them to the more prominent families or the royal family within the capital, or to send it back to their own families¡ªdepending on the family¡¯s individual power.

    Like this, Lin Xiao and Hei Gou managed to acquire their desired information quite easily. They also managed to build a good reputation so that no one wished to insult them. Everyone wanted to be friendly with them and find out where they had obtained all these treasures.

    Although many people sent invitations to Lin Xiao and Hei Gou, the two friends did not ept any of them, they just declined them under the excuse that their partners were both inside the Soul Tower and that they could not make any decisions on their own.

    Hearing this response, the smarter people started to understand what was happening. To be this kind of alchemist and to make such formations, one needed powerful spiritual energy, so for these two Qi cultivators who had such weak spiritual ranks, to have these meant there was definitely someone else behind them.

    Hearing that they would not ept invitations before their partners from within the Soul Tower emerged, they could understand that the man or woman behind them was also a student at the academy.

    Although many wished to be friendly with Lin Xiao and Hei Gou, their aim was to know who was behind them as they wanted to learn the art of inscription and the many pill forms that they had in their hands, rather than their distributors.

    Human greed was the same all over, although Xue Wei was now in Yan Dalu, the many wonderful treasures he had disyed had caused greed to appear in the eyes of many, but they dared not act on it.

    Xue Wei was protected by the Garden of Shadows. No one within Yan Dalu dared to make an enemy out of this academy as it was the base of the entire continent.

    Not to mention that the King was not likely to allow these famous families to act on their own. If they were making too many problems throughout the capital, then she would definitely step in.

 Chapter 267 - Recount of Rumors

    Days turned to weeks and weeks turned to a month, time went by like flowing water and everyone was eagerly expecting what Lin Xiao and Hei Gou would bring forth next.

    Eventually, Xue Wei had emerged from the Soul tower together with Bai Tianyi. As they both were returning to the courtyard, they found that a horde of people had gathered outside¡ªall of them waiting for Lin Xiao and Hei Gou to exit.

    ¡°It seems they were sessful in creating a name for themselves at the academy,¡± Bai Tianyi said dryly as he saw the huge group of people standing in front of them.

    ¡°Excuse us, can we get through?¡± Xue Wei asked the crowd, ignoring Bai Tianyi. Unexpectedly, the people who were standing in frontpletely ignored him, causing his brows to furrow slightly.

    ¡°Excuse me!¡± he called a bit higher, causing the people to get annoyed turn towards, eying him with disdain.

    ¡°We were here first,¡± one of them said curtly, his face showing impatience.

    ¡°I live in this courtyard,¡± Xue Wei argued back, but the man just snorted. ¡°What nonsense,¡± he retorted, clearly not believing a word Xue Wei was saying.

    ¡°This is annoying,¡± Bai Tianyi mumbled.Xue Wei just sighed and then infused Qi into his voice before calling out, ¡°Xiao, Gou, get your butts out here and clear the way, I can¡¯t get inside like this!¡±

    The voice wasmanding and filled with irritation. The crowd of people in front of Xue Wei frowned when they heard it and turned around, unsure if Xue Wei was really a friend of these two geniuses, or if they wereplete lunatics.

    But when Lin Xiao and Hei Gou heard the voice, both of them rushed down the stairs and out the courtyard, big smiles stered on their faces and excitement in their eyes.

    ¡°Wei, Tianyi, you are back!¡± they eximed, forcing the people who previously refused to make space to do so.

    ¡°We¡¯re back,¡± Bai Tianyi snickered at them. From their expressions of pure joy, it was clear that they were bursting to share lot of information they¡¯d gathered, and since they had also had a full month to gather it, there was no doubt that they had gathered quite a lot of information.

    During this month, Bai Tianyi had raised his rank to the fifthyer of the Earth Knight rank by being on the eighth floor for a month, and at the same time, Xue Wei had reached the secondyer of the Earth Knight rank in spiritual energy.

    Their advance was incredibly fast, but this was mainly because of the Soul Tower, it was truly a holy ce for spiritual energy cultivators.

    Xue Wei and Bai Tianyi walked into the courtyard under the curious gaze of the other students. Many had no idea about their identity, but when they sensed the spiritual energy within their bodies, they quickly realized that the one behind the pills and the formations were one of these two people. rmingly however, they were both only two-eyed experts, how could they possibly be so aplished?

    As to where these four two-eyed experts came from, no one knew. Many had already tried to understand the background of Lin Xiao and Hei Gou when they were providing many great items up for rumors, but they had gleaned absolutely no information as the pair had decided not to share their origins, nor had the elders who were aware gossiped uncouthly .

    Xue Wei did not care about the many gazes that were sent their way, neither did he care about the thoughts of these people, all he wanted was to solve the mystery he has been tasked with and he hoped that his two friends had managed to find out something helpful.

    Under the watchful eyes of all the present experts outside the courtyard, Xue Wei, Lin Xiao, Hei Gou, and Bai Tianyi all retreated into the house.

    As they entered the house, Xue Wei looked around only to find that there was no sign of either Mo Yi nor Mo Er.

    Although it was good that the brothers were not around when they discussed important things, it was still weird that they were not present, and Xue Wei could not help but mind it. Why would they leave when their task was to look after the house and courtyard?

    ¡°Not important for now,¡± Xue Wei muttered to himself and returned his focus to Lin Xiao and Hei Gou. These two had been working hard finding information while Xue Wei had been cultivating.

    After arriving in the first spacious room, they all sat down together and prepared to discuss their progress.

    Xue Wei was the first to open his mouth, ¡°We managed to reach the sixth floor, almost the seventh,¡± he said honestly. ¡°It was going much faster than expected.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s good,¡± Lin Xiao nodded his head, ¡°we managed to catch a lot of rumors and information about the different factions, powers, and legends that go around in the capital and in the Garden of Shadows.¡±

    ¡°Do share,¡± Bai Tianyi grinned, slightly curious about this Yan Dalu where they¡¯d been stranded on.

    ¡°First of all, let us tell you about the different powers within the academy before we move on to the powers within the capital.¡± Hei Gou started. ¡°In the academy, there are different associations,¡± he began, ¡°the associations are split into three categories: the heavenly, the earthly, and the mortal associations. There are currently four heavenly associations, twenty-three earthly and countless mortal ones.

    ¡°The strongest amongst the heavenly associations is known as the ¡®Scarlet Blood Association,¡¯ which requires of you to be born in, or to have pledged yourself to one of the major families within the capital.

    ¡°Second-ranked is the ¡®Rising Sun Association¡¯. This association is smaller than the Scarlet Blood Association, but the prestige is actually higher as it is the one that is controlled by the Royal family. This one has the least members amongst all the associations, not counting a few mortal ones.

    ¡°Thenes the Savage Beast Association, this one is notrge either, but it still holds a lot of power and it is the only association that only epts Primordial Beasts.

    ¡°Finally is the Snow Lotus Association. This association is rather weird. It does not try to participate in any of the different power struggles so it is also neutral towards all the people joining. The only thing they advocate isplete loyalty towards the academy.

    ¡°The earthly and mortal associations do not matter, all of them are beneath our notice. Only the heavenly associations are of interest to us, and all core students are expected to join one of the heavenly associations.

    ¡°Now onto the capital; there are three major families: the Gu family, the Baili family, and the Yuan family.

    ¡°These three major families are known as the protectors of the continent. The Prime Ministeres from the Gu family while the Baili and the Yuan families each contain one of the Heavenly Generals of the continent.

    ¡°Whenever troubles arise, these generals will deal with all the physical problems with their immense power, while the prime minister will orchestrate the logistics and organisation of it from behind. They are known as protectors because they do a great deal to protect the continent.

    ¡°Their descendants are all officials in court, and although they seem to be the best of friends on the outside they are not as friendly as they might seem. Only when a foreign enemy appears will they actually work together.

    ¡°In the pce, there are seven factions but there are three that are more important and stronger, as they are each supported by a major family.

    ¡°These seven factions each are controlled by one five-eyed expert. The King is not supported by any of the three major families, but she is the most talented of all the five-eyed experts and thus she became the King. However, the three families are putting pressure on her to abdicate.¡±

    ¡°It seems that the continent is not as calm as they make it seem,¡± Xue Wei said contemting. ¡°But all of this has nothing to do with us. We will not join any of the powers, all we will do is solve this mystery and then leave for the Demon Phoenix Continent.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t think that they might go back on their words if the King gets reced?¡± Hei Gou was worried about this, but Xue Wei just shook his head.

    ¡°I have realized one thing from what you¡¯ve said. There are many factions and powers within the capital and the royal court, but there is one power which none of them can afford to offend.¡±

    ¡°Who?¡± Lin Xiao was confused, but when he saw the snicker on Xue Wei¡¯s face he understood. ¡°Right,¡± he nodded his head, ¡°none of them can afford to offend the Garden of Shadows.¡±

    ¡°As long as we assist the Garden of Shadows, then we will have our ticket to the Demon Phoenix Continent.

    ¡°What if they renege on their promise?¡± Hei Gou could not help but ask causing Xue Wei to sigh. ¡°Currently we have no option other than to hope for them to keep their promise.¡± Xue Wei continued, ¡°if they really do not keep it, then we will just have to sneak on board the ship, and if even that is impossible, then we¡¯ll have no choice but to leave on our own and hope to reach some other continent eventually.¡±

    ¡°I really hope that they keep their word,¡± Hei Gou sighed. It was not that he wished to be a pessimist, but he had a hard time trusting people after experiencing the constant threat they had lived under back in Chang¡¯an.

    Xue Wei sighed and nodded his head, ¡°I hope so too; I have a feeling that it will work out. Still, to be allowed on board the ship that goes to the Demon Phoenix Continent, we need to make sure that we have solved this stupid mystery.

    ¡°What else have you found other than the factions?¡± Xue Wei asked with another sigh. Lin Xiao and Hei Gou told him everything they had heard, including the ten missing people a day, and the legend of the expert.

    Xue Wei listened to all of it with interest, he even listened to the gossip about who was dating who with interest, about the information of the teachers, and the locations of the different buildings.

    When they finished sharing everything they had learned over the past month, Xue Wei was quiet for a long time as he muddled over all the information.

    He closed his eyes and tried to coalesce the turbulent thoughts that were now swirling within his mind. When he opened the eyes again, it felt like a ray of light shone within and a smile spread across his face.

    ¡°We should actually consider visiting this forbidden area,¡± Xue Wei said with a snicker on his lips, ¡°There has to be some sort of clue in the forbidden area, and even if there is no clue, then I still want to visit it just because it is forbidden.¡±

    ¡°How are we going to go around doing so?¡± Lin Xiao asked with a frown which just caused Xue Wei to smile. ¡°First we will ask the headmaster to allow us to go,¡± he responded. ¡°But the likelihood of him allowing us to go is very small, so we will sneak in one night when the rest of the academy is asleep.¡±

    ¡°I have walked past the forbidden area and there are no guards,¡± Lin Xiao said casually, ¡°I knew you were likely to be curious about it so I went past it a few times to take a look, but I never saw anything special about it.¡±

    ¡°I see,¡± Xue Wei pondered for some time for continuing, ¡°by the way, why are so many people gathered outside? What have you done to them to make them so interested in you?¡±

    ¡°We baited them with treasure,¡± Lin Xiao said softly, as if he was sharing a secret. ¡°First we offered pills, then we offered formations and now we¡¯re offering some other pills. They were eager to get their hands on it so now everyone is ready to jump at us whenever we walk outside.¡±

    ¡°Serves you right,¡± Bai Tianyiughed, clearly taking joy in their self-made misfortune.

 Chapter 268: The Gu Lady and Yuan Young Master

    The group of four had been inside the house for around an hour talking about their experiences, the information they had gathered and just joked with one another before they finally emerged to greet the crowd once again.

    Outside the courtyard were still arge number of experts waiting patiently for them, showing distinct curiosity towards the two apparent neers. Could they perhaps be the ones behind the pills and the formations?

    As they exited, many glittering sets of eyes shone with excitement as theynded on Bai Tianyi.

    Although Bai Tianyi had the appearance of a child, his spiritual energy was the strongest amongst the group. Many simply surmised that he had some sort of constitution that made aging difficult, but that he was actually older than the others, thus exining why his strength was stronger.

    Sensing all these gazes being thrown at him, Bai Tianyi smiled wryly. Although he could make formations, it was not him that had made the formations being exchanged by Lin Xiao and Hei Gou, and he knew nothing about pill making at all¡ªif he knew about it, then he would not have coerced Xue Wei into bing an alchemist.

    The one who was being overlooked the most was Xue Wei. His Qi levels were not the highest, his spiritual energy surpassed as well. He only had two eyes and he didn¡¯t even seem to be the tallest amongst them.

    In every way that one looked at it, he just appeared average, and in fact, they felt he should be proud of even being a part of this group.

    It was not before they noticed that he was walking in front of the three others that they frowned and became slightly confused.

    What follower would walk in front of their masters? That made no sense whatsoever.

    Some of the more intelligent ones present started to look at Xue Wei with another kind of gaze, one with a shining light.

    Xue Wei noticed a few of the people starting to cast their gazes towards him and he decided that these people, the ones who could figure out so much from such little information, were the ones he would be willing to work with.

    Xue Wei preferred working with intelligent people. They knew how to behave while the less intelligent ones could cause problems or be blinded by their greed or misguided way others tell them to behave, which end up with them sacrificing longsting benefits for the sake of a quick rise in power or favour with the wrong person.

    From the crowd of slightly more astute people, , Xue Wei took interest in a woman dressed in purple as well as a young man dressed in blue beside her. Both of them had four eyes each, their bearing was rather outstanding, their temperaments and aura pleasant and cool. Their appearances were also amongst the cream of the crop, they were definitely no ordinary people.

    ¡°Young Master, Young Miss, please, if you are interested, then we would like to wee you inside,¡± Xue Wei said, looking directly at the two figures, and gesturing for them to enter inside.

    Hearing Xue Wei¡¯s words, both of them were at first rather stunned, but they rposed themselves and with a smile on their faces, epted the invitation heartily.

    ¡°All of you stay outside,¡± both of them ordered the people who hade with them,while they themselves went inside.

    Both of them were core students so they were incredibly familiar with the residence that belonged to the core students. When they stepped inside, they quickly walked with Xue Wei towards the guest room, located on the first floor where one would wee their guests.

    Xue Wei began to brew some tea using his spiritual energy to form a me that heated up the water, and some spiritual tea leaves he had gotten long ago while buying herbs.

    This kind of spiritual tea was a luxury back in Chang¡¯an but Xue Wei had never had much of a use of it, he had just purchased it at random, but now he admired his past decisions as he had a perfect reason to use it.

    A pleasant fragrance wafted throughout the room, the tea so fragrant that nobody could help but feel eager to try it out. Even Xue Wei, who was not usually into drinking tea very much, could feel how the spiritual energy within his body was starting to rotate at a faster speed than before.

    After finding some teacups, Xue Wei poured a cup of tea for each of them and sat down. While he had been brewing tea, everyone had remained silent, all of them had instead been observing him, curious as to what his purpose for inviting them in was.

    As he sat down he took a sip of the fragrant tea, he felt his spiritual energy being replenished, he even had a sense that it was being saturated and even to some extent, expanded. If he had known how good and useful the tea was earlier, then he would have purchased much more spiritual tea back when he had the chance.

    Xue Wei saw how the others reacted as they also tasted the tea. Neither Lin Xiao nor Hei Gou cultivated their spiritual energy, but a big, rxing smile spread across their face after drinking it¡ªtheir souls were being nourished by the tea.

    The quartet of eyes on both the woman and the man turned focused while they tasted their tea, disying a small amount of shock as they felt the surprisingly strong changes it did to their bodies.

    ¡°I am Xue Wei,¡± Xue Wei introduced himself. ¡°These are my brothers, Bai Tianyi, Hei Gou and Lin Xiao,¡± he continued, gesturing to each of them as he announced their names.

    ¡°We havee to Yan Dalu from outside of this continent. Wee from a continent called Chang¡¯an, Chang¡¯an is a continent where Qi cultivators are superior in numbers to spiritual cultivators, and they are also the strongest experts.

    ¡°Because of this, we have many pills and other things which are capable of aiding a cultivator who wishes to cultivate their Qi,¡± Xue Wei was speaking calmly, neither slow nor hurried. The pace at which he spoke was measured and cid, with each word he said being carefully thought out.

    ¡°Here in Yan Dalu, everyone cultivates spiritual energy, however this is not the only way to cultivate. I know that if you were to cultivate both Qi and spiritual energy at the same time, then the speed with which you cultivate your spiritual energy would surely decrease, however, my experience tells me that this is a worthy trade off.

    ¡°Spiritual energy users have many benefits in a fight, and as long as one is at a range they can even be seen as invincible, however, if someone were to get close, they are as strong as a paper tiger.

    ¡°By cultivating both Qi and spiritual energy, one is capable of eliminating the disadvantages yet gaining the advantages of both. You have spiritual energy to take care of ranged attacks and Qi to deal with anything that gets close.

    ¡°However, this continent has no good martial arts for Qi cultivation, nor does it have techniques to refine heaven-and-earth essence into Qi beyond the Heavenly Warrior rank.

    ¡°Therefore, this is where we could be quite useful.¡± Xue Wei smiled. He had not even asked the name of these two people, neither whether they were interested in a business deal with them; he had just begun speaking, but as he spoke he could see the eagerness in all eight eyes of the young man and woman.

    ¡°We have pills, we have formations, we have techniques: we have anything that might be useful to create Qi cultivators again,¡± he smiled.

    ¡°Now tell me, are you interested?¡± This was his pitch. He had said what he wanted to say and now the ball was in their court.

    ¡°My name is Gu Bing¡¯Er,¡± the woman introduced herself. ¡°I am the youngest miss of the Gu family. I am very interested in these things you can offer,¡± she did not hide her interest at all, her eyes shining brightly. ¡°Apart from the Gu family, I am also a part of the Rising Sun Association. Let me know, is it the Rising Sun Association or the Gu family you wish to strike a deal with?¡±

    The young man was silent while the woman introduced herself but when he saw her finishing, he quickly found an opportunity to introduce himself as well, ¡°I am Yuan Bailong. I am simrly a member of the Rising Sun Association but also a member of the powerfulYuan family.¡±

    ¡°Both of you are from the Rising Sun Association?¡± Xue Wei raised an eyebrow in surprise. When they had been standing outside, while they were near to each other, they did not seem as if they were part of the same group.

    ¡°Well, the Rising Sun Association is mainly controlled by three forces; the Gu family, the Baili family and the Yuan family. Although it is one association, it has three branches and we do not work together unless there is some outside factors that forces us to band together.

    ¡°Although our families seem equal, the fact is that the Baili family is the strongest amongst the three families and it is using its powers to suppress the other two branches, both within the academy but also within the Capital itself.¡±

    It was Yuan Bailong who told Xue Wei about this. This was something that not many were privy to, as you had to have intimate knowledge about the actual situation and only members of the families did so, everything else was just rumors.

    ¡°I see. Well I would be happy to do business with both of your families, and also your branches of the association. However, should we make a deal with your association, I am only doing business with your respective branches, I must speak to the leader of the Baili family before I know whether or not I wish to work with them. I do not work with stupid people.¡±

    Although this sounded extremely arrogant, both Yuan Bailong and Gu Bing¡¯Er felt that he had the capital to be arrogant.

    ¡°So what would our business transaction actually involve from you and require from us?¡± Yuan Bailong was mostly concerned about this.

    ¡°Well, the first thing we need to do is purify the Qi within your followers and family members,¡± Xue Wei said with a sigh. ¡°It is not difficult to raise their rank to Ordinary Knights, but if you want to be able to advance in rank any further, then you need to have purified your Qi to a reasonable level. With your current techniques, it will never be pure enough to advance in rank.

    ¡°All the Qi you guys have refined hase from passively absorbing the heaven-and-earth essence. It is not the actual result of cultivation, and if we wish for you to be able to cultivateter, then we need to do something about the purity.

    ¡°Fortunately enough, I have a recipe for a Qi Purity Pill, a very simple pill that can be taken in batches and helps purify the Qi. It is also used when one consumes too many low ranked pills and get pill impurities building up in their bodies, then these Qi Purity Pills can get rid of the waste.

    ¡°Right now I have around two hundred of these pills, but I will need to refine a couple of thousands if not tens of thousands to be of any real use to you guys, since there is so many of you.¡± Xue Wei sighed. ¡°Fortunately, each batch produces around fifteen pills, so it should not take too too long.¡±

    ¡°After that I will hand you some Qi cultivation techniques that allow you to absorb and refine the heaven-and-earth essence properly. Finally, I will teach you martial art techniques and then provide you with the pills that will help increase your strength.¡±

    Listening to Xue Wei, the eyes of Gu Bing¡¯Er and Yuan Bailong were filled with astonishment. They had never expected that Xue Wei had nned so far ahead and had all the things they werecking. They just thought he would throw them some pills or formations and that was it, but it seemed as if he had truly thought it through and was willing to assist them significantly.

    ¡°What do you want from us in return?¡± Gu Bing¡¯Er asked tentatively, she was worried that Xue Wei was going to ask for something impossible, but Xue Wei just snickered. ¡°We will need some herbs, some gold coins, and your support. We also need some help deciphering some information and locating where some rumors might have originated from,¡± he said slowly so that they could hear every single word he said.

 Chapter 269 - Strike a Deal

    ¡°We would be happy to provide any herbs we have,¡± Gu Bing¡¯Er and Yuan Bailong both promised. ¡°Gold is also no problem, we can provide you with a handsome amount of wealth. We¡¯d be happy to give you our support too, we are grateful for this deal after all.

    ¡°But these are something that our families can provide, not something from our Rising Sun Association, so what should our association provide you with in return?¡±

    ¡°Merits,¡± Xue Wei grinned. ¡°Here, merit points are everything, so we have a great need for many merits; naturally, we will need to get our hands on as many as we can.¡±

    ¡°Merits are not impossible,¡± Yuan Bailong affirmed with a nod. ¡°I am sure that the entire Yuan branch are willing to trade all their merit points to be much stronger. Those who do not wish to use their merits don¡¯t need to, but they should not expect to get a piece of the pie then.¡±

    Hearing his decisive answer, Xue Wei was initially surprised, but he soon smiled and felt much better. He had been worried about how he should get his hands on the merit points to provide for himself and the others, but now it seemed that it was more than possible.

    ¡°Well then, go home and discuss with your families,¡± Xue Wei smiled at them. He was aware that the families would not go against the wishes of these two young people, but he also understood that they could not make the final decision as they did not have the authority to speak for the entire family.

    They nodded their heads in response and finished thest of their tea. ¡°We will return to our families right away and hand over your proposal. We will return tomorrow morning with an answer.¡±

    Although they were not in the same families, the rtionship between the Yuan and the Gu family appeared to be good, and their families worked simrly, so they were naturally in agreement with the other¡¯s response.

    Xue Wei nodded his head and led the two guests out the door. There were still many waiting outside and when they saw them exit the house, they exploded into a huge uproar.

    Many could piece together that they had managed toe to some sort of agreement, and they were all curious to know exactly what kind of agreement it was. However, neither Gu Bing¡¯Er nor Yuan Bailong said anything, both of them instead gathered the men and women they had left outside the courtyard and exited right away, aiming to return to their families as soon as possible.

    It did not take long before the rumors about Xue Wei meeting those two spread, and everyone started to wonder what the deal they could have made might be.

    But while the rumors started circting, Xue Wei was busy in the pill refinement room, refining batch after batch of Qi Purity Pills.

    They were not difficult to create and the herbs needed to make them were plentiful in his storage treasure. Unfortunately, because they were not difficult, he did not gain much benefit from refining them either, his spiritual energy level not rising by anything noteworthy.

    Still, it did not make him any less focused while refining pills. His eyes never left the cauldron, his movements were fluid and smooth; clearly, he was now much more experienced with the refinement process and was capable of creating quite a few pills rather quickly.

    He concocted pills for the entire day and night, not stopping until the sun had started to rise.

    Although the difficulty of refining the Qi Purity Pill was rather low, it still required spiritual energy to control and use the mes so by the end, he had consumed all the spiritual energy within his mind pce, it was nowpletely empty.

    Returning to the room, he found some pills that replenished spiritual energy and sat down to cultivate while circting the medicinal energy in his body, slowly feeling how his drained out mind was slowly bing alive again.

    His Golden Dragon had lost much of its luster when he had used all his spiritual energy but it was quickly returning to its dazzling shade of gold that it usually had, making him feel refreshed and renewed within a few hours.

    The morning came and together with it was Gu Bing¡¯Er and Yuan Bailong. Both of them were there early, yet not too early, as they feared that they would trouble Xue Wei and the others.

    When they arrived, it was around the time for breakfast to have finished and they quickly entered the house with excited expressions on their faces.

    As soon as they entered the guest room, both of them began recounting what happened after they had left the previous day.

    ¡°When we left, we went straight for our families¡¯ homes in the courtyard,¡± Yuan Bailong said with a smile on his face. ¡°I requested a meeting with the grand elder and the patriarch and after telling both of them about the situation, they were eager to know more about you.

    ¡°When they heard that we could potentially be a more prominent family due to the advantages you described about bing more powerful Qi cultivators, they were especially eager to try it out. Not long after, they called all the elders to a meeting to decide whether or not we should ept this offer or let it go.

    ¡°There were a few elders who do not believe that humans should bother with Qi cultivation, and a few who were worried that splitting our attention would cause us to be weaker.¡± Yan Bailong had started to appear concerned as he was recounting, but he could not help his lips curling into a smile as he finished, ¡°but even so, the majority were eager to try it out and in the end, we received permission to continue this business deal with you.¡±

    ¡°The same happened in my family,¡± Gu Bing¡¯Er said as a smile also appeared on her lips. ¡°We have not had the time to talk with the people from our Association yet, but I n on speaking with themter on today. I will do as Yuan Bailong said yesterday too, and let people decide on their own whether or not they wish to join this endeavor. If they do not wish to join, then they will not be forced.¡±

    Hearing this, Xue Wei nodded his head in approval of their way of handling things. Forcing someone would never be a good idea, but who wouldn¡¯t be willing to increase their strength?

    Xue Wei smiled when he heard their words, and then he waved his hand, causing dozens of jade bottles to appear on the table in the middle of the room.

    Within each of these jade bottles was twenty pills, so quite a lot of pills had appeared. Xue Wei looked towards Gu Bing¡¯Er and Yuan Bailong and began, ¡°these pills are the first batch of Qi Purity Pills. A person should take around three to four of these pills and then their Qi should be cleansed.

    ¡°I did not have time to refine more than this today, so at the start, you have to be selective with who you are giving the pills to.¡±

    Both Gu Bing¡¯Er and Yuan Bailong nodded their heads, and were filled with reverence towards Xue Wei as they took half of the bottles each.

    ¡°Here,¡± each of them handing over a different emblem to Xue Wei, ¡°these emblems allow you to enter our families¡¯ establishments as you please. Also, you must make a list of the herbs you will need and send it to us as soon as possible so that we can help you with finding them.¡±

    ¡°Thank you,¡± Xue Wei smiled at them and saw them off before returning to the guest room where his other three friends still were waiting for him.

    ¡°What do you need these rare herbs for?¡± Hei Gou asked curiously. Usually if Xue Wei wanted herbs he could just buy them, why did he need these families to help?

    ¡°I am going to try concocting one-colored Rainbow Pills,¡± Xue Wei grinned. ¡°They are the most challenging pills I will have ever created so far, and I have most of the things needed¡ªincluding the rare minerals and gems¡ªbut I need some rare herbs.¡±

    When Xue Wei said that he was going to make a Rainbow Pill, everyone had been staring at him with excitement. These pills were legendary back in Chang¡¯an, they could do so much for the consumer, and they were one of the things that everyone seeked.

    ¡°Thing is, if I go out and look for these herbs myself, someone might realize that I am actually nning on crafting a Rainbow Pill, and then we might be in danger. Rainbow Pills are very rare and wonderful, if someone wants them then we might not be able to fight back.¡±

    The others nodded their heads. The reason he had chosen these intelligent people was because he trusted that even if they figured out that he was able to concoct Rainbow Pills, then they would not harm him in an attempt to steal the pills, but would instead curry favor with him in an attempt to get some pills in a proper way.

    ¡°I need to rest a bit more, then I will concoct some more pills,¡± Xue Wei said while yawning. ¡°I will make as many pills as I can so we can return to the Soul Tower without making them impatient. Then when we return from the Soul Tower next, we will head to the forbidden area, so get as much information about the ce as you can while I¡¯m busy.¡±

    Lin Xiao and Hei Gou nodded their heads with serious expressions on their faces. They understood that this was quite important and that it was likely they would have to sneak in, should the headmaster not let them go in normally.

    Although there was a chance that they would be allowed to enter, the likelihood was probably quite small and thus they had to prepare for if they were declined.

    Like this, a few days went by where Xue Wei was in the pill refinement room all the time, refining thousands of Qi Purity Pills. He left all the pills with Lin Xiao and Hei Gou, together with some techniques and skills.

    Although Xue Wei and Bai Tianyi were not around, they still needed to adhere to their part of the deal with the Gu and Yuan families and therefore they left distribution to Lin Xiao and Hei Gou once again.

    Having spoken with Gu Bing¡¯Er and Yuan Bailong a final time and informing them that Lin Xiao and Hei Gou would deal with the things they needed, Xue Wei and Bai Tianyi quickly returned to the tower.

    This time, Xue Wei managed to get to the sixth floor in no time. The pressure was still heavy, but he felt as if it was not so heavy that he could not move so then he tried to test himself as he went towards the staircase leading to the seventh floor.

    Bai Tianyi had not rushed to the eighth floor as usual, he had instead stayed with Xue Wei to see whether or not he could sessfully advance to the next floor, and together they took one step at a time up the staircase.

    It took Xue Wei a full hour to advance from the stairs to the seventh floor, and as soon as he reached the seventh floor, he sat down, not daring to head towards the eighth floor.

    ¡°I¡¯ll be backter,¡± Bai Tianyi said as he drifted effortlessly like a breeze to the eighth floor, where he then sat down and let the clustered energy enter his body at a rapid pace, absorbing it and refining it.

    Xue Wei closed his eyes and saw how the golden dragon spirit within his mind was growing stronger at a speed visible to the naked eye.

    The Soul Tower was truly magical. The speed of cultivation was so fast inside that it was iparable to his speed ever before, but this was still further helped by his Azure Dragon blood. Even the extremely talented experts from Yan Dalu were not as fast at advancing as Xue Wei was, within the Soul Tower.

 Chapter 270: Sky Knight Pill

    Time went by like water flows down a river. While Xue Wei was busy cultivating within the Soul Tower, the Gu and Yuan families were strengthening their Qi. None of them were making a fuss about it and made sure to keep everything about their deal under wraps, so that news never spread.

    Many still tried to socialize with Lin Xiao and Hei Gou for the sake of getting information or maybe some pills or formations¡ªthey would do everything within their power to start a rtionship with them.

    Gu Bing¡¯er and Yuan Bailong often came to visit them, bringing with them news about their families¡¯ strength and the differences they had experienced since they began their Qi cultivation.

    Both Gu Bing¡¯er and Yuan Bailong were filled with excitement as they saw the family elders grow in strength, their fathers and mothers as well.

    It has to be said that, although they were advancing in strength, the majority of them were only first or secondyer of the Ordinary Knight rank¡ªa rank simr to the people from the academy who had gotten a pill from Lin Xiao and Hei Gou earlier. But if one were to look at theirbat strength, the academy students would bepletely eclipsed by the ones from the Gu and Yuan families because of their purified Q.

    There was a major difference between Qi that one had purified and refined attentively and Qi that had been purified naturally while one was busy doing other things.

    Although the people of Yan Dalu looked down upon Qi cultivation, they were now starting to find it interesting and novel. They had long since known about the strength of the Primordial Beasts who cultivated Qi seriously, and that they were not in any way inferior to those that cultivated spiritual energy.

    And therefore they also understood that if they could wield both this overwhelmingly strong Qi and at the same time the spiritual energy of the mind, then they would be able to increase their strength tremendously.

    And even better was that if this advancement was reserved solely for a few families, then although the Gu and Yuan families would not be able to shake the other royal families, they would be second only to the Royals themselves.

    Currently, they were ranked the second and third strongest of the three major families within the capital and the continent¡ªnot counting the royal family¡ª but it was impossible for them to defeat the Baili family without more strength.

    The Baili family has been the strongest family within the capital for thousands of years; no one has had the chance to challenge them. It was not that the Gu and the Yuan families had not wanted to do so, they simply did not have the power, even if they ganged up together.

    Now things were changing. The Baili family were still as proud and arrogant as before, but there was now a light at the end of the tunnel for the Gu and the Yuan families. They saw a way to reverse their situation.

    Xue Wei knew nothing about this power struggle, neither did he care about the fact that the two figures he had picked out of all the people present might cause a storm to appear within the capital. All that mattered to him was that he was getting everything he requested and that the people he worked with were smart.

    This time, Xue Wei stayed within the Soul Tower for a full month and a half, during which he had managed to reach the stairs leading to the eighth floor.

    Unfortunately, he had never been alone on the seventh floor, so he had been incapable of summoning out the golden dragon spirit to advance under its protection.

    In the time Xue Wei had spent cultivating his spiritual energy on the seventh floor, he had sessfully broken through to the thirdyer of the Earth Knight rank, maintaining his rather rapid rate of advancement.

    Xue Wei was feeling quite satisfied with his performance when he saw Bai Tianyie down from the eighth floor staircase and revealed a wry smile on his face as he shook his head. Bai Tianyi had already advanced to the seventhyer of the Earth Knight rank, a speed so rapid that no one couldpare.

    It was not only Xue Wei who was reacting upon seeing Bai Tianyi; the other two experts within the seventh floor looked at him too, unable to withdraw the astonishment in their faces.

    The experts had started to pay quite a bit of attention towards Bai Tianyi ever since they witnessed his feat of entering the ninth floor, and they had also started taking notice of his cultivation base too.

    Seeing the lights that showed Bai Tianyi had mainly spent his time on the eighth floor, everyone had expected that it was because the pressure on the ninth floor was simply too dreadful for him to manage consistently, but his speed of advancing in rank was just as horrifying as the fact that he had entered the ninth floor.

    They had already been stunned silly by Xue Wei¡¯s speed of advance, yetparing the two of them was likeparing the heavens to the earth.

    The experts within the seventh floor felt floored, in fact, they even felt incredibly embarrassed. They were seen as the peerless geniuses of the Garden of Shadows, but the truth was that they could not evenpare to a ten-year-old child who had joined the academy for less than half a year.

    Even Xue Wei was considered a genius amongst geniuses with his advancement speed, butpared to Bai Tianyi, he was still barely worth mentioning.

    Xue Wei did not mind though. He understood that Bai Tianyi was using a shortcut. His entire body was made from soul power and spiritual energy. He had no such thing as ¡®bottlenecks¡¯ in his cultivation, nor did he have any problems storing energy within his body.

    Bai Tianyi was also quite eager to absorb as much energy as possible. He wanted to age, he was simply tired of being a ten-year-old child, no one would take him seriously with this body¡ªor they just thought he was some kind of freaky ancient expert.

    They were, of course, notpletely wrong¡ª he was a freaky ancient expert¡ªbut he had taken the shape of a child out of necessity to escape his sword form as soon as possible. Now he wanted to be a suave young man with a handsome appearance and elegant bearing. He wanted to be who he truly was, not some child.

    Xue Wei smiled as he saw Bai Tianyi¡¯s annoyance expressed on his face but said nothing about it, instead he stood up, and the two exited the tower together.

    Returning to the courtyard, they found Mo Yi and Mo Er chatting with one another in a corner of the front courtyard, next to theke.

    Their heads were close together, with their brows furrowed as they seemed to be discussing something very serious, but when they saw Xue Wei and Bai Tianyi arrive, their eyes widened in surprise before they quickly grew a smile on their faces and walked towards the returning pair.

    Once again, Xue Wei felt as if there was something wrong with the Mo brothers so he could not help but ask, ¡°what made you look so worried just before?¡±

    ¡°Oh we just wondered if we should put some carps into the pond,¡± Mo Yi said with a smile, but while Mo Yi seemedpletely calm, Xue Wei noticed that Mo Er¡¯s eyes flickered from side to side.

    Seeing this suspicious movement, one of Xue Wei¡¯s eyebrows rose in surprise, but he said nothing. He just gave Mo Yi and Mo Er a long nce once more, before he returned to the house.

    ¡°Why are you so distrusting of those two?¡± Bai Tianyi could not help but ask. It was not Xue Wei¡¯s natural personality to be distrusting towards others, so there had to be some reason behind it.

    ¡°A feeling,¡± Xue Wei frowned. ¡°I am not sure as to what exactly is the problem,¡± he admitted. ¡°I just feel as if there is an issue with the two of them, something is telling me that they have a hidden agenda here.¡±

    ¡°I see.¡± Bai Tianyi had not paid much attention to them because they were both rather weak so even if they had nned something, it was limited in what they could actually do to them. But when listening to Xue Wei¡¯s words, he also nced at the two children that were in the distance, once again bowing their heads together and muttering words that no one could hear.

    This in itself was quite strange as a spiritual energy cultivator should be capable of hearing what they were saying from this distance, but Bai Tianyi could not hear a word. Within his heart, he started to understand what Xue Wei meant when he said that something was not as simple as it seemed.

    When Xue Wei and Bai Tianyi reached the house, they found that both Gu Bing¡¯er and Yuan Bailong were also there. All four waiting were pleasantly surprised the moment they saw Xue Wei and Bai Tianyi walk in through the door.

    ¡°We just came to announce the current progress of our families,¡± Yuan Bailong said with a smile towards Xue Wei, ¡°Who would have thought we would run into you at the same time.¡±

    ¡°To be honest, we really have to thank you for your help,¡± Gu Bing¡¯er said with a flush on her face, ¡°not only have you helped us and our families find a way to get stronger:You have also worked as a matchmaker between the two of us.¡±

    It seemed that Gu Bing¡¯er and Yuan Bailong had gotten rather close to one another in the time they had been working together, whenever one of them came to talk with them, the other would always follow.

    Even on the academy grounds, the two were often seen together, and it seemed as if the two families had even started talking with one another about a marriage proposal.

    Many were following this curiously. They never expected that the Yuan and the Gu family would truly stand side-by-side as they were now, they hadn¡¯t even expected that they would dare to do so.

    ¡°We have to request that you start the next batch of pills,¡± Yuan Bailong said slightly awkwardly. ¡°We have already purified the Qi of all members of our families who we arepletely sure of their loyalty, but we are still not strong enough to take on the Baili family.

    ¡°Although I expect you do not wish to join the battle between the Baili family and our families, I am afraid the Baili family will already have assumed that you have sided with us. They are rather arrogant, and they refuse to let any threat live.

    ¡°Before we were safe because our two families did not interact much, but after Bing¡¯er and I have gotten together, they have started moving against us. They will not let us unite.¡±

    Xue Wei pondered for some time, but then he nodded his head. ¡°It is no problem for me to begin the next couple of pills,¡± he admitted.

    ¡°I can also make some new pills you might want. They are called the ¡®Sky Knight Pill.¡¯ It will instantly raise a user¡¯s Qi levels to the ninthyer of the Sky Knight rank. It is not an unstable foundation either, however, after consuming it, you will never again be able to advance your Qi levels.

    ¡°In case you have some members of your family who have a poor aptitude for Qi cultivation, they might want these pills. Just make sure that everyone is aware of what it entails to consume a Sky Knight Pill. No one is to be forced.¡±

    Both Gu Bing¡¯er and Yuan Bailong¡¯s numerous eyes shone with excitement. It was indeed true that, amongst the people they had, some of them were incapable of ever reaching the Sky Knight rank in Qi levels without this pill because they simply did not have the talent. Thus, being offered some Sky Knight Pills filled them both with excitement.

    ¡°How many people do you have with a subpar talent for Qi cultivation?¡± Xue Wei asked to measure how many pills he needed to create. Before they had time to think about an answer, he shook his head, ¡°go back and count. In the meanwhile, I will make some Qi Gathering Pills to distribute to those who do not wish to use the Sky Knight Pill.¡±

 Chapter 271: Return to the Soul Tower

    It wasn¡¯t long before Xue Wei began to concoct pills. He had received arge number of herbs from the deal, particrly all the ones he needed to make many Sky Knight Pills.The Sky Knight Pill was something he would never consume of course, but others were not as talented; thus they would benefit greatly from this pill. Since this was the case, Xue Wei expected that each family would have quite a few experts who would be willing to consume the Sky Knight Pill¡ªsome of them might not even have bad talent but would be blinded by the tremendous rise in strength.All of these experts were from Yan Dalu, they had previously been incapable of breaking through to the Knight rank in Qi cultivation, and to suddenly be given the choice of an instant rise to the Sky Knight Rank, it was obvious that they would be willing to take the sudden, but limiting rise in strength as it was just a secondary energy to them.

    Xue Wei felt that it was a shame to give up future prospects for a momentary gain but he was not in a position to argue about the decision made by the two families, especially as their current decision suited his interests. They had a pleasant agreement right now, so Xue Wei didn¡¯t find it necessary to hold their hands and make decisions for them.

    This was also why he was only interested in working with intelligent people¡ªthe ones he would not have to guide.

    The Sky Knight Pill was not easy to concoct, but it was not overlyplicated either. Each batch produced five to eight pills, and these pills were all of the best quality, ready to be given to the Gu and Yuan families.

    Xue Wei concocted for a full night; by the time he finished, he had filled many jade bottles with batch after batch of pills.

    When dawn broke through, Xue Wei finally stopped his pill-concocting spree and rubbed his eyes. Although he was no longer a normal mortal in need of sleep, he still felt exhausted after producing that many pills.

    ¡°Take a rest for now,¡± Lin Xiao said as he saw the dark circles around Xue Wei¡¯s eyes, ¡°we will find Gu Bing¡¯er and Yuan Bailong when you have rested enough. Even if they are eager to get the pills, they should ept waiting a bit.¡±

    In fact, neither Gu bing¡¯er nor Yuan Bailong has expected that the pills would be ready already. Both of them had expected that it would take Xue Wei at least a few weeks to create enough pills for their entire families¡ªthey had forgotten or were just unaware that each concoction of pills produced more than one pill each, making it much quicker to create the pills needed.

    When Xue Wei heard Lin Xiao¡¯s words, he nodded his head and went to his room. Kicking off his shoes, he did not even remove his outer robes but allowed himself to copse on the bed. Practically the moment his headnded on the pillow, his eyes were closed, and he had quickly drifted off into a restless, troubled slumber.

    Xue Wei started having a strange dream as he slept through the daylight. In the dream, he was standing on a massive battlefield but was all alone as there was no one else alive.

    The ground was littered with corpses as far as he could see, both the corpses of humans and beasts alike. Blood was flowing like muddy rivers through the trampled ground, and rain was dripping from the grey skies.

    Xue Wei was the only living creature within the dream, and he stood above all others. His body was restless; bloodlust was invading his body, and the roar of a dragon was reverberating through his mind, though not only the roar of a dragon resounded there, there was also the sound of an intimidating and unfamiliar bird screech.

    His body was beyond his control; it was constantly changing from his human shape to the azure dragon shape and back to his human form. Sometimes it was as if it was changing to another shape as well¡ªa gigantic bird, but he was unable to make heads nor tails out of this strange shape and even though his body tried to take on this form, it never fully seeded, as if it was sealed by something.

    Xue Wei felt pain within his body. It was as if something was being torn, but he was unable to determine what exactly was going on.

    When he finally could no longer bear the pain, his body jolted, and he awoke with a shock. Sweat had beaded on his forehead, and his hand was trembling.

    He stroked his chin, unsure of what could have happened to him. Usually, when he slept, he did not dream, but this time he had a strange dream that he could not control and that even shook him to the core.

    He exited the room and found Mo Yi going past at the right time, ¡°please draw a bath for me,¡± he requested, and Mo Yi quickly nodded his head in eptance.

    It was quite a coincidence that Mo Yi was outside at the exact time that he needed him, but he did not think too much of it.

    His clothes were drenched in cold sweat, and his mind was in disarray. He could not help but feel that something was off about the dream he had earlier.

    He could understand his transformation to the azure dragon but what was happening with the bird shadow that he had seen?

    Frowning, Xue Wei considered all his clues, but there were really too few; he could not determine what was right and what was wrong anymore.

    In the end, he sighed and shook his head. He would not forget the dream, but now was not the time to begin pondering the meaning of a dream, he had a lot of things he needed to do so that he could get to the Demon Phoenix continent.

    The sleep had not caused him to feel rested as he wished but the warm bath rxed his taut nerves, and he finally managed to unwind and recover some energy.

    After the bath, he quickly changed into another set of red robes before he exited the house and headed towards the courtyards of Gu Bing¡¯er and Yuan Bailong.

    Gu Bing¡¯er¡¯s house was the closest, and when he arrived, he found that she was living together with other members of the Gu family. All of these members were descendants of the elders or were, in some way, of great talent within the family, so when they saw Xue Wei, they quickly went to fetch Gu Bing¡¯er. None of them dared to treat Xue Wei with the tiniest bit of arrogance.

    In fact, all of them knew of the Sky Knight Pill he¡¯d promised and even though they, personally, had all decided not to consume it, they all still felt greatly tempted to try it out.

    They also knew that these pills would make their entire family change in a great way, so Xue Wei was considered their benefactor, and thus he was treated with great reverence, simrly as if he was their grandfather.

    Gu Bing¡¯er was not present when Xue Wei arrived, but he was not in a rush, so he waited for her to return. The other Gu family members who were present in the house had already sent someone out to fetch her so she could make his acquaintance as soon as possible.

    At this point the other people in the house had brewed some tea for Xue Wei, and they were doing their best to be amodating but unfortunately, no one knew what to speak about, and thus the room descended into an ufortable silence with the only sounding from the teacup as Xue Wei lifted and sipped from it from time to time.

    Xue Wei felt helpless. He knew these people were all looking at him with reverence, none of them daring to speak out of fear of angering him in some way, but Xue Wei really wasn¡¯t such a scary person.

    Fortunately, he was saved when Gu Bing¡¯er arrived. Her face was slightly red making her seem adorable and flustered.Clearly, she had rushed back to the house as fast as she could.

    ¡°What brings you to our humble abode?¡± she asked politely, her eyes shining with excitement as she saw Xue Wei waving his hand and a few jade bottles appearing, with the scent of medicines spreading through the room.

    The hearts of all present started beating rapidly. This could only be the Sky Knight Pills they had been hearing about, however, was it not too soon to have produced these pills? They had only been told about them the day before.

    Noticing the surprise in their eyes, Xue Wei exined, ¡°I had the herbs needed, so I made a few hundred pills for each family. Take these and bring them back to your elders, but be sure not to get robbed on the way.¡±

    Having said this, Xue Wei got to his feet, bowed in thanks to his hosts for his tea, and swiftly made his way out of the courtyard, heading straight towards the one belonging to Yuan Bailong.

    Here, the same scene yed out. Yuan Bailong was not immediately present, and the ones who were quickly tried to please him while they impatiently prayed in their hearts that Yuan Bailong would arrive soon so that they did not have to be so scared for what Xue Wei might request of them.

    It was not that these people had no idea to strengthen their rtionship with him, they just feared that they might insult him instead, and considering he was already working with their families, they would be seen as traitors if they inadvertently messed up this transaction.

    After delivering the pills to Yuan Bailong, Xue Wei also warned him about not allowing the pills to be stolen, and then he exited their courtyard and returned home.

    ¡°Tianyi, we are returning to the Soul Tower,¡± he said as he entered the room and found all three of his friends waiting inside.

    ¡°We are going to enter the ninth floor as soon as possible. I am currently able to enter the seventh floor, and we will use the golden dragon spirit to enter the eighth floor.¡±

    ¡°Sure,¡± Bai Tianyi nodded his head casually and stretched his body. Looking towards Lin Xiao and Hei Gou, he told them, ¡°if Gu Bing¡¯er or Yuan Bailonges looking for him, then tell them we will be back in a month at thetest. They should not encounter too many issues within a month anyway.¡±

    Having said this, Xue Wei and Bai Tianyi walked through the academy heading for the Soul Tower. When they arrived at the academy, many were originally looking at them because it was rare to see that many two-eyed experts there, especially one so young, but now it was moreso because everyone knew of Bai Tianyi¡¯s achievement. He had reached the ninth floor!

    Every major faction had wanted to reel him into their own group, but ever since he had exited the Soul Tower, he had been in their courtyard and thus they had no opportunity to speak with him. Now things were different though, and as soon as he was seen, many rushed back to tell their superiors.

    Some even rushed to the Soul Tower to rouse the people who were in charge of their factions and associations as they were cultivating¡ªno one willing tog behind.

    ¡°You seem to have be a celebrity,¡± Xue Wei said with a smile on his face, causing Bai Tianyi to change his own expression into a grimace of disdain.

    ¡°I am no celebrity, I am just stronger than them, and they want to abuse me for their own personal benefits.¡±

    Xue Wei shrugged his shoulders. The group had no interest in joining any of the factions, in fact, they were not interested in having anything to do with this continent¡¯s politics; they just wanted to move on, and to do so they had to solve the mystery. They did not want to have any ties to the continent when they left, as they would likely never return again.

    ¡°They are like a starving wolf seeing a juicy steak,¡± Xue Wei could not help butugh as he saw how many people were rushing towards them from all corners of the roads, all of them having their many eyes locked on the face of Bai Tianyi. Their expressions were trying to appear aloof, but greed shed across many of their eyes.

 Chapter 272: Bloody Marks

    Bai Tianyi and Xue Wei smiled amiably and seemed very friendly towards the many people who were rushing towards them. However, neither of them said anything, nor did they answer questions when they were bombarded by the group ofte arrivals.

    ¡°Will you be willing to dine with me? Such an outstanding genius should be treated to the best of the best!¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t listen to him,e with me to my home and my wife will cook you food that cannot bepared to anything at all!¡±

    ¡°He is a genius, food is not what he needs! Listen, young man,e with me and I will offer you some resources that can make your cultivation base increase rapidly,e to have a talk with me and my uncle will give you a lot of these cultivation resources, okay?¡±

    ¡°You idiot, those cultivation methods will ruin his foundations! There is no such thing as a free lunch in the world, fast advances bring with them dangers!¡±

    Like this, they were all arguing over the top of each other, roaring their offers to Bai Tianyi like a herd of wild beasts, all of them pretending to speak to a child, and making Xue Wei snicker slightly as he saw how Bai Tianyi¡¯s face was turning ck with anger.

    ¡°I am busy.¡± Bai Tianyi¡¯s cold voice suddenly cut through the many offers that were being sent forward towards him. He then looked at Xue Wei and gestured for him to continue forward towards the Soul Tower.

    Xue Wei just shrugged his shoulders. He knew that Bai Tianyi would never join any of the factions here, so he casually followed behind the annoyed young-looking boy.

    No one dared to be too pushy towards them as they did not want to have the opposite effect that pushes them towards their opponents, but a few of the more powerful groups had malice shing within their eyes when they saw how Bai Tianyi had snubbed them this day.

    They would use some more ruthless methods next time, and seeing how Bai Tianyi was treating Xue Wei, they could perhaps use him as a way to get what they wanted.

    But before they dared to act, they had to get some more information. Xue Wei and Bai Tianyi were not average people. Both of them had only two eyes each, but the talent they had disyed was so outstanding that they did not lose out to four or perhaps even five-eyed experts.

    Since this was the case, they had to have some sort of outstanding background or identity, so they needed to tread carefully.

    Xue Wei and Bai Tianyi were unaware of what these groups were thinking, but even if they knew, they would just sneer in annoyance and not really care.

    If they were so easily dealt with, they would not have been able to escape unscathed as many times as they had back on Chang¡¯an. They had quite some faith in their own survivability.

    As they reached the Soul Tower, many were looking at them curiously. Although the people here today had not seen them before, all of them knew about Bai Tianyi and his features. He was the only one who had reached the ninth floor so he was a legend amongst the academy already.

    Xue Wei was also somewhat famous as he had disyed some outstanding talent whilst only having two eyes. Many had the impression of him being some special primordial beast who was talented in spiritual energy, only a few knew that the group that came from another continent included these two small monsters.

    The visitors from the other continent were shrouded in mystery. The only ones that could be identified were Lin Xiao and Hei Gou. The other two were so mysterious that no one seemed to have any idea what they looked like¡ªand seeing as these two had such weak spiritual cultivation bases¡ªthere was no one who would connect the two monsters from the Soul Tower to the two visitors.

    As they entered the Soul Tower, Xue Wei felt the great pressure bearing down on his soul as usual, but it was not as overwhelming as he remembered it. Together with Bai Tianyi, they started ascending the tower once again.

    He was slightly nervous. He knew that if he wished to reach the ninth floor, he would have to rely on the protection of the golden dragon spirit to shroud him on the eighth floor, but to be able to summon the golden dragon spirit, he needed to ensure that no one saw it. He prayed that there were no people on the seventh floor, and that it would be possible for him to quickly reach the ninth floor.

    When they reached the sixth floor, Xue Wei finally felt the pressure of the soul power grow rather dense, and as he reached the seventh floor, his steps were slow and his feet dragged behind him. Sweat was starting to bead on his forehead, and his breathing became shallow.

    As he stepped onto the seventh floor, he found that there was only one expert present. Xue Wei had seen this expert before on this level, and it was hard to doubt that he was one of the most talented experts in the entire academy.

    When he sensed Xue Wei and Bai Tianyi enter the room, the expert opened one eye slightly, leaving the other three closed, and after ncing at the two of them, he closed the eye again to continue focusing wholly on cultivating.

    ¡°Stay here and wait for him to leave,¡± Bai Tianyi muttered before he continued upwards to the eighth floor.

    Xue Wei nodded his head and sat down. Although he was slightly impatient, he quickly emptied his mind of all thoughts and began to focus fully on cultivating.

    Every now and then, Xue Wei would open his eyes to observe whether or not he was alone on the floor. But instead of seeing the person leave, unfortunately, another one arrived.

    His expression remained calm, but he could not help but feel slightly annoyed. He was on a tight schedule, he needed to figure out the problem behind the mystery within a specific time frame, but now he was forced to waste even more time.

    The only benefit with this waiting was that he could cultivate at the same time; if he was not gaining extra strength while doing this, then he would have lost his patience long ago.

    After a few days had passed waiting for an opening, Xue Wei sighed as he stood up and stretched his stiff body, but still, the level was not emptied out, and in fact, now they were four people on the floor.

    His frustration beginning to outweigh his patience, Xue Wei contemted what to do, and then he had an idea. He began to wander the floor, further and further towards the stairs leading towards the eighth floor. Every step was like a war against himself.

    He felt the heavy pressure weighing down upon him; he felt the soul power crashing into his mind and even with the golden dragon refining it as fast as it possibly could, it still felt like trying to run while wading through a deepke.

    His legs began to tremble and the sweat dripped like rain from his forehead, but he was not giving up. From time to time, he would look behind him to see whether or not anyone was observing him, but after numerous nces, he realized that they were not paying any attention to him at all, and a smile broke out on his lips.

    He continued forward until he could go no further, where he halted, checking behind him onest time before just taking the risk and summoning the golden dragon.

    The moment the golden dragon spirit appeared, it wrapped itself around Xue Wei¡¯s body and he felt the pressure on him lifting like magic.

    Not wasting even a second and without another nce behind, he rushed upstairs the moment he felt the pressure lifting. The longer he waited, the more likely he was to be discovered, after all.

    As he reached the eighth floor, he found that Bai Tianyi sitting in the middle of the lonely room, looking exceptionally bored.

    He did not need to do anything special to cultivate, he did not need to do anything else than just sit still and his body would naturally change it to spiritual energy.

    He did not seem at all like a ten year old child, he seemed like a carefree and casual person who had the world in his hands.

    ¡°Oh they left?¡± He asked when he saw Xue Wei appearing with a golden dragon spirit wrapped around his body.Xue Wei shook his head and sighed, ¡°I was not patient at all,¡± he admitted.

    ¡°Did they see?¡± Bai Tianyi frowned slightly. It was a risk to summon the golden dragon spirit when others were nearby, but he trusted Xue Wei and would never go against his wishes.

    Xue Wei shrugged his shoulders. ¡°I don¡¯t think so,¡± he said, ¡°but I cannot say for sure. The moment I summoned the spirit, I rushed upstairs, so they might have seen a bit of it, but they probably haven¡¯t¡ªat least not all of it .¡±

    Bai Tianyi shook his head. For once Xue Wei had been impulsive, but he understood the impatience Xue Wei felt. They were on a tight schedule; the sooner they got clues the better.

    ¡°Well we will gain nothing from brooding over the issue anymore,¡± Xue Wei sighed, knowing he had been slightly out of character and impatient, ¡°let¡¯s go to the ninth floor.¡±

    Bai Tianyi was also aware that there was no way they would be able to change anything that had already happened, so instead of harping on about it, he stood up, and the two of them moved towards the stairs.

    After Xue Wei summoned the golden dragon spirit, he was incapable of feeling the pressure. He could simply no longer sense it, the dragon just absorbed the energy as fast as it could, gulping down the soul power like a bottomless hole, seemingly unable to be full.

    The golden dragon spirit was simr to Bai Tianyi¡¯s body, both of them were made out of pure energy and could absorb spiritual energy with inherent proficiency.

    As long as the golden dragon spirit was out, his cultivation would rise at a speedpletely unlike before. At the same time, he could now enter the ninth floor.

    Although he was tempted to stay on the eighth floor for some time and cultivate with the golden dragon spirit, Xue Wei decided to wait with this until he had solved the mystery of the ninth floor.

    The walk towards the ninth floor was casual and carefree; the pressure was not at all capable of controlling him anymore. As they reached the ninth floor, they found that the pressure was still no where present as Bai Tianyi had observed previously, so Xue Wei retrieved the golden dragon spirit and began walking around the floor, looking at everything around him.

    As he looked around, he found nothing special on the floor, it was just as bare as Bai Tianyi had told him, but something kept telling him that there was more to this floor than meets the eye.

    After a bit of time pacing around the room, he found that there were some red marks on the walls all around. At first, he thought it was a decoration, though the longer he looked, the more he frowned.

    The red marks came in different shades, some even seemed to be freshly painted, while others seemed to be old and almost ck with age. Upon closer inspection, apanied by the colored marks were small indentations resembling scratch marks all over the walls too. When one looked at it all casually, it looked like a decoration, but when examining it, Xue Wei found that all the walls were filled with scratch marks and both new and old traces of¡ªthere was no denying it¡ªblood.

    Although there was blood painted on the walls, there was no scent of blood in the air, and both the floor and the ceiling waspletely white, with no signs of blood or scratches at all.

    Looking at this, Xue Wei frowned. What was the reason behind these bloodied marks? Was the ninth floor perhaps not meant to be traversed but a ce where people were being sacrificed to feed the soul tower with soul power? Xue Wei was unsure, but he understood they had to leave as soon as possible.

 Chapter 273: Pirate

    The blood was clearly something that had appeared over a long period of time. Some of it was fresh, some was very old, but all of it seemed grim under the light that illuminated the Soul Tower.

    Bai Tianyi was frowning just as Xue Wei was, neither of them feltfortable about what they were seeing. It seemed that something unspeakable was happening at the top of the Soul Tower, but if something like that was happening here, why was the floor not forbidden to ess?

    And even more puzzling, how did the people who had left the bloodied marks even manage to get there? It seemed that this made no sense, and both of them could not make any head nor tail of what they saw.

    Apart from the bloody scratches on the walls, there were no other signs of terror on the entire floor, in fact, there was nothing else at all on the entire floor, it waspletely bare.

    ¡°Let us leave,¡± Xue Wei said with a low voice, resummoning the Golden dragon spirit and then descending down the stairs. Neither of them spoke, both were ufortable with what they had seen on the ninth floor, and neither of them could get the thought of the ten missing people a day out of their mind.

    As the two reached the seventh floor, Xue Wei made the golden dragon vanish back inside again. He instantly felt the pressure bearing down upon him, and he felt as if all blood in his body started flowing in reverse. A metallic taste appeared in his throat.

    Suppressing the blood at the back of his throat, Xue Wei struggled towards the stairs leading down to the sixth floor, then slowly walked to the fifth and finally was able to exit the tower at a brisk pace.

    Once again, their ascending to the ninth floor had caused panic and astonishment in the entire academy, but this time, the pair had not stayed for a long time, so all that had noticed were still rushing to inform others, and not all the people they had called for had appeared yet. Xue Wei and Bai Tianyi made use of the chaos to vanish from the Soul Tower and rush back to their courtyard.

    While walking, none of them said a word. When they arrived in the house, they sat down in the middle of Xue Wei¡¯s room and looked at one another.

    ¡°Every day, ten people go missing in Yan Dalu,¡± Xue Wei muttered.

    ¡°The Soul Tower needs arge supply of soul power to be able to continue providing that power to all the people who are inside,¡± Bai Tianyi added.

    ¡°We cannot assume that there is some sort of connection between these two things,¡± Xue Wei said, ¡°but at the same time, we cannot say that there is no connection.¡±

    ¡°Right now, the best thing would be if we could figure out what exactly is the source of the soul power within the Soul Tower,¡± Bai Tianyi said, furrowing his brows.

    ¡°If they really kill ten people each day, then there would be a massive amount of corpses,¡± Xue Wei said. ¡°Also, there should be some other sort of traces other than those scratch marks. The floor was white, with not even the slightest trace of blood upon it; all the blood was only on the walls.¡±

    ¡°It is quite strange that the room is publicly essible when there is that much blood on the walls,¡± Bai Tianyi could not help but say, ¡°it is as if they never expected anyone to enter the ninth floor. I think we are going to be in danger from now on.¡±

    Xue Wei¡¯s face was dark as he nodded his head. ¡°Right,¡± he agreed, ¡°because we have witnessed the ninth floor¡¯s secret, those that are behind the bloody scratch marks will definitely not let us wander freely. They will try to shut us up, but this could also prove to be a fortunate encounter for us.¡±

    ¡°You mean we will lure the tiger out of its den?¡± Bai Tianyi said, raising an eyebrow.Xue Wei snickered and generously admitted, ¡°yes.¡±

    ¡°So when they are out to track us, we will track them instead and find their base of operations, solve the mystery that we still don¡¯t know anything about, and live happily ever after until it is time for us to go to the Demon Phoenix Continent.¡±

    ¡°You understand me well,¡± Xue Wei grinned. Although he was slightly unsettled by the bloody scratches he had seen on the ninth floor, he had seen and done many gruesome things before. It could make him ufortable, but considering how many he himself had personally killed, he was not so squeamish anymore.

    The thing that really annoyed him with the bloody scratches was his inability to figure out what exactly had happened. He was curious about what was behind the scratches, and he had to admit that he was starting to feel slightly curious about this mystery that was shrouding the entire Garden of Shadows too.

    Even the usual carefree Bai Tianyi was curious about the source of the scratches, but he could not keep a dark gleam out of his eyes. Although Xue Wei made it sound like they had a n, he was aware that the risk they were taking was immense.

    Not only was the risk immense, the likelihood of things going as they wanted was also very low; the other party was likely very cunning and prepared.

    Not to mention, Xue Wei and Bai Tianyi were out in the open while their enemy was shrouded in the dark, hiding in the shadow, possibly ready to strike at any time, and they could do nothing in return.

    Xue Wei and Bai Tianyi were deep in thought while they were wondering how to move forward with their investigation.

    After a few hours, Lin Xiao and Hei Gou returned to the courtyard followed by an entourage of people who were more than eager to win their attention in the hopes of getting something good in return.

    When the pair saw that Xue Wei and Bia Tianyi were both there, big smiles appeared on their lips and their moods immediately lifted. Hopefully, they were now closer to the solution of the mystery they were trying to solve, but when they saw the contemting expressions on their twopanions¡¯ faces, they understood that things were not as simple as they¡¯d hoped.

    ¡°What happened?¡± Lin Xiao was the first to ask about what had happened when he saw their puzzling and concentrated expressions. Xue Wei quickly briefed them on their discovery of the marks on the ninth floor¡¯s walls.

    ¡°Do you think it has something to do with the ten missing people a day?¡± Hei Gou asked. It made sense that they had something to do with one another, but it was not something they could prove unless they managed to get their hands on some evidence.

    Silence descended upon the room. All of them were deep in thought, pondering what to do with their next step.

    ¡°I think we have to enter the forbidden area,¡± Bai Tianyi finally said, breaking the silence. ¡°Who knows, the forbidden area might be one big mass grave for the people who are sacrificed in the Soul Tower.¡±

    This was Bai Tianyi¡¯s wish. If they could find out that the daily ten missing people were sacrificed for or at the Soul Tower, and that the dead bodies were dumped at the academy, they could quickly announce their findings and finish the detective work that had been dropped onto theirps like a hot potato. If it proved to not be a mass grave filled with corpses sacrificed for the Soul Tower, then Bai Tianyi would truly start to get scared.

    Lin Xiao and Hei Gou had not personally witnessed the scratch marks on the ninth floor, so they did not know how bad it truly was, but both Bai Tianyi and Xue Wei were aware that whoever had been up there had been extremely desperate, their actionspletely disregarding their wellbeing. The scratches were deep, and the blood wasn¡¯t a light pattering but ratherrge trails.

    After contemting for a bit, Xue Wei considered Bai Tianyi¡¯s suggestion and nodded his head. ¡°We should. If the people who go missing every day truly have something to do with the Soul Tower, then the corpses have to be dumped somewhere.¡±

    ¡°Since they have to be dumped somewhere, the easiest exnation would be in the forbidden area as everywhere else would be far too risky.¡±

    Lin Xiao and Hei Gou were both fine with the suggestion. They looked at one another and shrugged their shoulders. They had spent every day together and had turned into very good friends during this period of time.

    They found that their thought process was actually quite simr, so they could get along quite well. As one of the traits of their personality, they both wished to be in the center of the hurricane, they wanted to experience the storm together with their friends, and they wanted to find out what exactly could be hidden in the forbidden area too.

    They had previously tried to find out more about it, but everything they had tried had been for naught so far, the only thing they knew were the rumors of the legendary figure that had built the Garden of Shadows. But even if the forbidden area had been for her, it should be impossible for her to still be alive, and thus the forbidden area was likely to have been turned into something else entirely.

    ¡°When do we set out?¡± Hei Gou questioned, as he straightened his back and looked at the rest of them with eagerness in his eyes. He had, indeed, been bored recently, and needed something exciting to keep his reflexes sharp.

    ¡°We will go tonight,¡± Xue Wei decided as he looked out the window. The sun was starting to set, but although it was turning night, that did not mean that the academy would quieten down.

    These people were all cultivators, and thus almost never really needed to sleep¡ªonly if they feltpletely mentally exhausted. This meant that no one wanted to waste time and thus they continued to rush back and forth through their residences and the training facilities at the academy throughout the night.

    Although the night was almost as busy as day-time, it was still easier to move around without being noticed as the darkness was a great cover from prying eyes.

    With the n in mind, Xue Wei and the others rested up for a few hours until it was soon approaching midnight, where they then settled together inside Xue Wei¡¯s room once more.

    ¡°We will be leaving shortly,¡± Xue Wei reminded them. ¡°We cannot be noticed sneaking into the forbidden area. Although we were told to solve this mystery, they will not approve of us solving the case this way so easily.¡±

    A different voice suddenly came from the door, ¡°The mystery is not the worst problem in Yan Dalu. In fact, the biggest problem is the intrigues, schemes and so on. You are likely to be in deep trouble now that you are here.¡±, The voice was much less masculine than that of any of the four young men who were seated in the room, it was clearly the voice of a woman, and Xue Wei frowned as he looked at the door.

    Shockingly enough, it was the King who stood outside the door. Her eyes were focused on Xue Wei, her lips drawn into the beautiful arc of a smile as she leaned against the doorframe.

    ¡°Oh, the King is so free that she is capable of escaping to the Garden of Shadows?¡± Xue Wei asked with a slight smile on his lips as he got up to clear a chair for her.

    ¡°I was so busy that my head was about to explode,¡± the King said beforeughing slightly, ¡°I never liked working much, but it is, unfortunately, necessary if one wishes to be a King. Truth be told, I never really wanted to be the King though, I always had ambitions about bing a pirate.¡±

    Xue Wei¡¯s eyebrow rose, and he could not help but chuckle when he heard the King¡¯s words. Being a King was not good enough; she wanted to be a pirate instead?

 Chapter 274: Forbidden Area

    ¡°Well, putting aside my dream of bing a pirate, it seems that the lot of you have a very interesting n to enter the forbidden area of the Garden of Shadows?¡± The King smirked as she spoke, her eyes glistening with excitement as she leaned against the doorframe with her arms crossed over her chest.

    Xue Wei frowned when he heard her question. He had not expected that she was eavesdropping on their previous conversation; however with her current attitude, it did not seem like she had any intention of stopping them.

    ¡°That is right,¡± Xue Wei admitted with a nod of his head. ¡°We went to the ninth floor of the Soul Tower today and saw some rather unsettling things.¡± He continued, ¡°these things gave us an idea of what might be hidden within the forbidden area, and we would like to enter it to make sure whether or not we are correct.¡±

    ¡°Ah, you saw the creepy blood marks and scratches.¡± The King nodded her head as she heard Xue Wei¡¯s words. ¡°As a matter of fact, I have been to the ninth floor once too and saw the walls being filled with bloody scratches while I was there, it was definitely a gruesome sight.¡±

    ¡°I too had an idea that perhaps the daily ten missing people had something to do with the Soul Tower, but every time I tried to investigate it, I was stopped. I had also wanted to enter the forbidden area, but they were quite alert around me, and I never got the chance to enter before the old King died and I was forced to drop out of the academy and take over his job.¡±

    Xue Wei pondered on her words for a moment, and then he made a decision. ¡°Do you want toe with us?¡± he asked as he looked at the King with a hesitant expression on his face.

    Truth was that he was not trusting a lot of people here at Yan Dalu. As the King had said, it was hard to determine who was actually interested in fixing this mystery that was shrouding the continent, and who was involved in it.

    But when he looked at the King, he had a sense of kinship. It felt as if the King was just like him¡ªcurious about what was going on. She seemed to be the same kind of person as him too; a kind of person who dreamt of one thing but was forced to be something she did not wish for because of outer influences.

    Xue Wei did not feel any kind of romantic attachment towards her, but he innately felt as if they were friends who had known each other for many years already.

    The King was surprised when she heard the offer Xue Wei came out with, and her eyes shone with happiness and excitement.

    She looked behind her at the darkness outside the house, contemting the pros and cons of the offer.

    ¡°I have a few hours before they notice that I left the pce,¡± the King muttered to herself. ¡°A few hours should be enough to deal with the forbidden area! Let us go!¡±

    Having agreed, the group of five were already prepared so they started moving out from the courtyard, and towards the forbidden area immediately.

    Although the academy was rather bustling at all hours of the day, the space around the forbidden area was usually empty as there was nothing here nor was it on the path towards much else.

    A few people woulde here out of curiosity every now and then, or couples would walk past while being intimate, but when they arrived, no one appeared to be there.

    Looking around, Xue Wei noticed that the forbidden area was behind arge wall. There was also a massive closed gate blocking their entrance.

    There were no guards around the walls nor the gate¡ªwhich appeared to be quite securely locked too. Surveying the obstruction, Xue Wei considered that since everyone within the academy were cultivators of primarily Spiritual Energy, their physical strength would be quite limited, so they simply would not have the power to jump above the wall usually, thus making an effective deterrent.

    Things were different for the group of friends, however. All of them, excluding Bai Tianyi and the King, were cultivating Qi, making it a simple feat for them to jump to the top of the walls and drop down on the other side.

    Hei Gou had the highest rank and strength among them, so he quickly grasped the King around her waist. ¡°Pardon me,¡± he said casually before his legs crouched and moments after, a great force was propelling them both upwards, soaring through the air beforending surprisingly gracefully on the top of the wall.

    Seeing Hei Gou taking action, the others did not waste time either. Lin Xiao grasped Bai Tianyi¡¯s cor and jumped to the top of the wall, closely followed by Xue Wei.

    As theynded on the top of the wall, they quickly nced around themselves, only to notice the silence and tranquility was the same as it usually was. No one seemed to have noticed anything, so they quickly jumped down on the opposite side of the wall before anyone had a chance to see them so exposed.

    There were no formations to protect the Forbidden Area; neither were there guards or traps. Everything seemed far too easy.

    As they quietlynded on the ground, Xue Wei once more looked around, surveying the courtyard. He sniffed the air to see whether or not he could smell any blood or the scent of death, but the only scent that wafted into his nose was the scent of peach blossoms.

    The entire side of the road they hadnded on had a breathtaking row of peach trees, all of them blossoming, their beautiful petals elegantly fluttering to the floor, looking very much like snow descending from the skies above.

    The scenery was beautiful, with the silver moonlight lighting up the road in front of them, and the slightly cold rays of light shining against the petals carpeting the ground.

    Many petals had been left on the ground, all of them seemingly untouched by humanity. There were no signs of any kind of human activity within the forbidden area, even the houses that were hidden behind the peach trees seemed as if they had been left to their own devices for many many years already, most of them even appeared to be crumbling to ruins.

    Looking around, Xue Wei frowned. He had his spiritual energy spread wide to try and keep an eye on every movement around him, but it was as if an invisible power was blocking his own.

    It was impossible to sense anything around him. Even his sight was capable of reaching further than his spiritual energy, causing him to feel slightly ufortable and apprehensive.

    Although it was hard to see or sense anything immediately wrong with the Forbidden Area, there was definitely something going on within this area to be able to block his spiritual energy like this.

    Looking at the others, he saw that the King and Bai Tianyi both were frowning.

    ¡°Seems like it is not only me who has their spiritual energy blocked,¡± Xue Wei muttered, and both of them nodded their heads in confirmation.

    Bai Tianyi was the one who had it the worst. His entire body wasposed from soul and spiritual power. Every step he took felt as if he had been wrapped withrge chains, and his entire body was so weak that he could not help but tremble, even just standing up proved to be challenging.

    Xue Wei watched him silently, just waiting for Bai Tianyi¡¯s own decision.

    After a few minutes of conflicting emotions, Bai Tianyi finally gave up and sighed. ¡°I can¡¯t do it,¡± he said firmly. ¡°My body is being suppressed here; the energy is trying to rip my body apart. In fact, it feels as if chains are holding me down, but at the same time it also feels as if something is draining the energy that this body is created from.¡±

    He frowned, ¡°If I stay here, I am likely to lose my body.¡±

    ¡°Lin Xiao, help him back over the wall,¡± Xue Wei said with a nod of his head. He had not asked Bai Tianyi anything before, and he had not wanted to make a decision for the other man. Although Bai Tianyi seemed to be a kid in the eyes of others, hispanions knew that he was an ancient old monster. He understood his own situation much better than any of them.

    Hearing Xue Wei¡¯s order, Lin Xiao once more hoisted Bai Tianyi up in the cor of his robes and leaped on top of the wall.

    He did not jump down with him. Instead he pushed him, casually tossing him down the wall seemingly without any care for whether or not he was capable of surviving such a long fall.

    It might have seemed ruthless, but Lin Xiao was aware that Bai Tianyi¡¯s body was not human. It was made from energy, so even if it crashed heavily onto the ground, it would be impossible for him to die from it. He might feel pain but death was impossible, and it might be quite amusing to see the usually carefree butposed kid in an undignified il as he fell.

    Lin Xiao was grinning when he saw the annoyed expression on Bai Tianyi¡¯s face at the bottom, but neither of them said anything else before they went their own ways, Bai Tianyi going back to their own courtyard and Lin Xiao back to Xue Wei and the others.

    As Lin Xiao returned to Xue Wei¡¯s side, he noticed that Xue Wei had not paid attention to him throwing Bai Tianyi down from the tall wall, instead his eyes were focused on a building that was ced a bit away from the others.

    His eyes were dark, a dangerous air was around him, and the temperature felt as if it was dropping drastically. Xue Wei¡¯s lips slowly curled into a grin, but this grin was not a friendly one but one that was filled with malice.

    Lin Xiao was confused. What could have happened during the short time he had jumped to the top of the wall and down again?

    The others were also looking at Xue Wei with rapt curiosity, but Xue Wei slowly started walking purposefully towards the house. He was not trying to be sneaky, nor was he being loud. He just walked normally, his back straight, his head held high, and the chilling smile stered on his face, with his dark and dangerous eyes focused fully on the door leading into the house.

    The others were perplexed at first, but when Xue Wei started moving, they did not hesitate to follow him. It was impossible to sense anything with spiritual energy, so the only thing that might have caused this sudden change in Xue Wei¡¯s expression is if he had seen something, yet the house seemed simr to the other ruins, with no trace of inhabitants or movement to be seen from the outside.

    Still, they were advancing slowly towards the house and were getting closer by the second. As they got nearer, they suddenly started hearing some weird sounds from within the house. They sounded like slow, scratching or scraping sounds as if someone was dragging a chair over the floor.

    The sounds were eerie in the middle of the otherwise silent night. Although they were faint, no one was able to ignore them, it was obvious that there was someone within the house, but who could it be and what were they doing?

    The forbidden area had supposedly been closed off to the outside world for seven thousand years. No one seemed to know what was within the forbidden area, not even the principal and his elders were entitled to enter the forbidden area.

    Although there was no real protection, no one would dare enter the forbidden area. This was a taboo that was simply impossible to see someone break. Yet here they were, a group of four had entered, only to find that there was at least one living being within a ruined house.

    They had arrived in front of the house. Hei Gou, Lin Xiao, and the King were all looking at Xue Wei, wondering what he would do next. Would he try to force entry? Yell for the person inside toe out? Cause a scene?

    Contrary to their expectations, Xue Wei calmly lifted his hand, clenched his fist and knocked on the door.

    ¡°Excuse me, we are wondering if you wouldn¡¯t mind some guests?¡± His voice drifted through the air. Although his expression had been one of malice moments before, he suddenly looked like a gentleman as he stood outside the door. His face held an amiable smile on his lips, his eyes serene.

    All hispanions were shocked silly upon seeing him behave like this.

 Chapter 275: Family

    The speed with which Xue Wei¡¯s expression switched from malice to one of amiability was simply too fast for hispanions to follow.

    Even the King had an expression of great confusion when she saw it, all five of her eyes widened and then sheughed, herughter resounding in the surroundings.

    The door into the small house opened slowly, creaking slightly as it did.A small, five-year-old-looking girl stood in the doorway, looking towards the four experts standing outside, with two wide eyes.

    Her body seemed frail and thin, with the clothes that were draped over her tiny frame looking like rags that seemed as if they had never been changed or washed in a very long period of time.

    ¡°Who are you?¡± the little girl asked with an immature and cute voice that contained a childishness which made everyone¡¯s parental instincts ir up and want to protect her, but at the same time, there was exhaustion in her voice which did not seem to fit the age of the little child.

    ¡°We are just passing guests,¡± Xue Wei said while shing a smile, slightly perplexed. Was this really an innocent little girl, or was she an old monster? He had no way of telling either way yet, so it left him in a confused state as to how exactly he should converse with her.

    ¡°This ce never has guests,¡± the girl said suspiciously while leering at them with doubtful eyes, causing all of them to scratch their heads in embarrassment.

    ¡°How long have you been here?¡± Xue Wei asked, inquisitively. The little girl paused while pouting her lips slightly as if in deep thought. ¡°It has been many years,¡± she said with her immature and cute voice, ¡°at least a couple of thousand.¡±

    Hearing this, Xue Wei was instantly aware that this young child was, in fact, an old monster, and was likely to be very important to him and his future resolution of the mystery. But at the same time, he also realized that although this kid seemed to be an old monster, her mind seemed to be the same age as a child¡¯s.

    Xue Wei squatted down so that his head was level to hers, and then he shed his most genuine and friendly smile.

    ¡°What are you doing here all alone in this area?¡± he asked slowly, hoping to coax some information out of the mysterious girl. At first, he did not have much of a hope to get any information out of her, but the moment he looked at the child¡¯s face, he found that her face was flushed red with excitement and her eyes shone.

    ¡°Those old fogeys left me here,¡± she said with a bit of a whine, filled with a sense of having been wronged.

    ¡°Which old fogeys?¡± Xue Wei asked with a patient voice, as he was coaxing the child into telling him the things he wanted.

    ¡°Those old Elders from when the Academy was being built.¡± The girl adorably pouted her lips, ¡°they used me, and abused my powers and then they left me here. It has been so boring over the years.¡±

    ¡°Has no one been here to visit you throughout all this time?¡± Xue Wei asked incredulously, he could not imagine that this little girl had been within the forbidden area for so long, neither could he imagine that the forbidden area had never been broken into before, considering how easy it was to gain ess.

    ¡°No one enters the forbidden area,¡± the girl said with a sigh of disappointment. Her eyes were brimming with the onset of tears; it was clear that she had suffered over the years where she had been all alone.

    ¡°So does no one ever visit you?¡± Xue Wei asked again, to make absolutely sure that this child had been alone all along. The girl nodded her head.

    ¡°No one visits me anymore. At the beginning, the old Fogeys woulde regrly, but then they died. Their descendants came a few times a year, but as time went by, they came less often, and eventually, they just left me to rot all alone.¡± Her voice, although immature, was somewhat fierce, and the words were much too severe for someone of her appearance.

    Xue Wei could see that this girl had suffered a great deal, and he sighed deeply. ¡°Do you want to leave the forbidden area with us?¡± he suddenly asked, not caring about the shocked expressions of hispanions, nor their widened eyes and clear disy of disapproval.

    They knew nothing about this young girl apart from the fact that her mind and body was that of a child, and that her real age was however much older than all of them added together multiple times.

    ¡°Leave... leave here?¡± The kid¡¯s eyes suddenly turned wide open like bronze bells, her voice quivering with difort but also slight excitement and disbelief.

    ¡°Is that even possible?¡± she muttered, more to herself than to anyone else.

    ¡°I tried before,¡± she continued. ¡°But the walls are so tall. I cannot climb them, I do not know how to get over them, and as a result, I am captured.¡±

    ¡°We can take you with us,¡± Xue Wei offered generously when he saw the excitement in the kid¡¯s face, his eyes warming up and his behavior bing much more gentle. No one deserved to be held captive like this, not to mention she was likely a huge lead to solve his annoying mystery.

    The girl hesitated,and her eyes darted back and forth from one of them to the other, apparently unsure of what to do and what to say.

    Xue Wei did not rush her as he knew that this was a massive decision. Even if she was basically trapped and locked in the forbidden area, it had now been so many years that it had most likely turned into her safe haven and a home. Leaving would open up a whole new world, but it would also bring with it frightening experiences and things she was unfamiliar with.

    If she chose to stay in the forbidden area, Xue Wei would not pressure her to leave either; instead, he woulde to visit her often to see what kind of information he could get from her, but it would make everything much easier should she decide to leave with them.

    The girl was hesitant, but after looking at the genuinely friendly looking Xue Wei, her worries faded slightly. Although she was a monster who had lived for thousands of years, the truth was that she currently had the mentality of a child. Being treated with such friendliness after thousands of years of imprisonment, it was clear that she felt an instant connection to him.

    The King, Lin Xiao, and Hei Gou were all looking at Xue Wei as if they saw the greatest con man alive. Before knocking on the door, his appearance had been utterly ferocious and bloodthirsty, yet now he seemed so gentle and kind. It was clear that he could change his mood at the drop of a hat, and that he was capable of ying tricks on a small child.

    ¡°Come inside first,¡± the girl said after contemting for a bit. Xue Wei quickly epted the invitation, and entered into the ruined house that belonged to the small girl.

    The house was just one room. There was no kitchen, neither were there any signs of food or drinks, all there was was a table and chair alongside a bed.

    She had no books, no papers, nothing at all was present within the tiny house, making Xue Wei frown.

    ¡°Little Girl, how have you spent your time all these years?¡± Xue Wei asked in confusion, ¡°you do not seem to eat or drink, neither do you seem to read or write, there are no signs of you trying to master formations, alchemy or other professions either. Have you not been bored?¡±

    The girl looked at Xue Wei with slightly depressed eyes as she sat down on the chair. ¡°I sit here,¡± she said. ¡°Then I look at the ceiling or look out at the skies. When it gets dark, I go to sleep and rest.

    ¡°Every day is the same. It is just a different weather, a different sleep. Nothing much happens.¡±

    Xue Wei frowned when he heard this. To be able to live this long without food, obviously, this girl was much more powerful than he had expected, but she seemed so small, and at the same time he could feel no powering from her body.

    ¡°Since your life is so nd, is it not better to go with big brother and see the world outside. We will take you to eat delicious food, you can y with us and our friends and experience a bustling environment?¡±

    The girl was hesitant again. ¡°I really want to,¡± she said, her voice disying the longing she felt for the outside world. ¡°But I am afraid,¡± she admitted.

    ¡°The outside world is not as simple as this prison. I am not used to having people around me, and I am not used to anything that has to do with other people. Will I embarrass myself, will I hurt myself? I do not know. Here, I am safe; here, I have a home. Leaving here will be dangerous.¡±

    Xue Wei pondered on her words for a moment, then he nodded his head. ¡°I understand,¡± he said amiably, ¡°but you have to keep in mind, if I were to take you away from here, then I would be your older brother.¡± Xue Wei continued, ¡°as your older brother, I would protect you. If you go somewhere, I would go with you and protect you. My friends will also help me protect you so that no harm will ever befall you.

    ¡°Although you are strong, you might not be able to manage amongst other people yet, but as your older brother, I would never leave you alone with other people.¡±

    The girl looked at Xue Wei with big watery eyes, she seemed like a small porcin doll that could easily be broken, but at the same time, Xue Wei felt that she was much stronger than any of them. He felt that if she wished, then none of them would ever leave this ce alive.

    Still, he understood her insecurity. She was not willing to use her power to force people to submit to her, she wanted to be treated like a living being, but she just feared that she could not live a normal life after all those years of istion.

    Xue Wei could sense that she was being swayed by his persuasive words, and he reached out his hand, taking the kid¡¯s hand into his and started walking towards the wall.

    ¡°Look at this wall,¡± he said as he looked up at the wall in front of him, ¡°it is holding you back, it is capturing you and not letting you go. Are you sure you wish for this to be the rest of your life? Locked in here all alone and never seeing another living being again?¡±

    Hearing this, the girl¡¯s pupils constricted, her teeth began gnawing on her lower lip and her hands fidgeting as she tried to make a decision. She did not want to be alone again. After seeing these people that offered her something after so much nothing, was she really willing to go back to her life of staring at the sky? But could she really do it, could she really step out from the cage that had trapped her for thousands of years but had kept her safe?

    ¡°It all depends on you,¡± Xue Wei affirmed gently. ¡°In the end, it is your life.¡± He was coaxing her with a friendly voice and words that the child could understand. ¡°We will help you if you want to leave, we will protect you and look after you. We will be your family and your friends if you wish, but if you do not wish to leave this house, this prison of loneliness, then we will never force you to do so.¡±

    Hearing this, the girl no longer had any hesitation in her mind. Knowing that they would be her family, all her doubts evaporated into the wind, and her eyes once more turned watery and misty. She had always wished for a family.

 Chapter 276: Brat

    Seeing the girl¡¯s happy expression, Xue Wei smiled as well, reaching out a hand and offering it the girl who hesitatingly ced her small palm in his.

    ¡°Big brother, where are we going?¡± She asked with a timid voice, her words causing Xue Wei to smile slightly, and feel that this girl who was calling him ¡®big brother,¡¯ was rather cute.

    Even if she was an old monster, her mind was still a child¡¯s, and thus she had cast all her hope, reliance and dependence on Xue Wei in the belief that he would look after her.

    ¡°We are leaving this ce,¡± Xue Wei smiled as he turned around and started walking out the house and towards the tall wall once more.

    Xue Wei had single-handedly made all the decisions about what they were to do. He had decided to bring the girl with them out; he had also decided that they would be her family¡ª everything that had happened this night was decided by him.

    Although the others felt rather confused and slightly unsure of why Xue Wei had made this decision, no one was against it. Even the King, who was supposed to be in control of the continent, had no opinion about this strange man abducting this small child out of the forbidden area.

    In fact, her eyes were shining with excitement. She could not help but feel that something exciting was finally happening, and she also felt as if Xue Wei was much more humane than she had first thought.

    As they reached the wall, Xue Wei took the girl into his arms and sprung high into the air, jumping to the top of the wall and quickly down again.

    Quickly, the others followed after him,all jumping to the wall and down again before anyone was able to notice them.

    It was still the middle of the night. The moon was hidden behind the clouds in the sky, and the stars could not be seen. Although the roads were illuminated by streetmps, there was mist all around in the still night¡¯s air, and thus the visibility was rather low.

    Although a few students were walking around the academy grounds, no one was close to the Forbidden area to arouse any suspicion. As theynded on the ground, Xue Wei put down the child-sized person, but he continued to hold her hand as they walked hand-in-hand like a pair of siblings. A smile soon sprouted on her face that she could no longer hide.

    She felt warmth in her heart, a warmth that she had no ce to hide; she was feeling so happy and rxed after leaving the forbidden area, and even a bit giddy. She could not believe she had actually left, it was like a dreame true, but at the same time, she was also still slightly scared.

    Scared of the unknown that was all around her, scared of being left alone in this world so foreign to her, and scared of suddenly being abandoned by the one person who was treating her as their family.

    As a result, her palm was starting to turn sweaty, and she gripped Xue Wei¡¯s hand tightly, fearing that he would let her go.

    Sensing her unease, Xue Wei once more scooped her up and let her rest on his arm. She was a small child and so he treated her exactly like he would a child. It felt exactly like having a smaller sibling, and from the moment that she had called him big brother, it was cemented that he would treat her like his little sister, a girl that he would protect with all his heart.

    Being lifted up and feeling the warmth from Xue Wei, the girl felt much more at ease, and she started to curiously examine her surroundings. She saw many studentsing and going, but their clothes were all different from what she was used to, and their faces appeared filled with questions when they looked at Xue Wei and his group.

    The houses were another style of architecture than she was familiar with too. The houses had been rebuilt since thest time she had left the forbidden area, and now everything was much more advanced now than it was before.

    As they walked, Xue Wei checked behind him, only to see that the King had vanished at some point along the way. She was nowhere to be seen, but he was not too surprised or worried by this. If she was noticed by themon students, things would be quite troublesome, not only for her and the academy but also for Xue Wei.

    They went straight back to their courtyard, where Bai Tianyi was awaiting them. He had not returned into the house itself but was standing in the front yard, leaning against a tree and looking at the entrance as he was waiting for them to return.

    His eyes widened when he saw the small girl in Xue Wei¡¯s arms and his pupils contracted when he felt a very familiar scent envelop him.

    ¡°Where¡¯d you kidnap this kid?¡± He asked curiously as he looked at Xue Wei, whose face turned rather ck when he heard those words.

    ¡°I did not kidnap her,¡± he defended himself, ¡°I saved her from the forbidden area.¡±

    ¡°She was in the forbidden area?¡± Bai Tianyi was rather shocked when he heard that a small girl was all alone in the middle of the area that no one had entered, and when he saw Xue Wei nodding his head, he disyed an expression of surprise.

    ¡°Then you did a good deed,¡± he continued. ¡°Also, she smells like the most delicious meal. Do you think I can eat her soul?¡±

    ¡°No.¡± Xue Wei answered immediately, and it was clear from the sternness in his words that there was no ce for negotiation.

    Sensing this, Bai Tianyi just shrugged his shoulders. It was just a question after all, he had not harbored much hope of sess.

    ¡°Big brother, who is that brat?¡± the girl asked as she looked at Bai Tianyi with a condescending gaze.

    ¡°Brat?!¡± Bai Tianyi was insulted and instantly lost allposure. ¡°You call me brat once more and I¡¯ll beat you so badly that not even your mother will recognize you!¡±

    ¡°Brat, you can¡¯t beat me,¡± the girl giggled as she continued to taunt Bai Tianyi. Her timid image of a shy, apprehensive young girl waspletely forgotten, instead, she was mischievous and cocky, and it was definitely enough to infuriate anyone who listened to her venomous tongue.

    ¡°Kids should behave,¡± Lin Xiao finally said to the two of them as he strode into the front yard of the courtyard, knowing full well that neither of them were truly kids.

    ¡°Both of you are going to be family from now on, you will both be friendly and should not argue,¡± he continued with a smile as he tried to cate the two old monsters who appeared to be children.

    Xue Wei felt a headacheing his way. The two oldest in the entire group were Bai Tianyi and this small girl. Both of them were monsters who had lived for thousands of years, but at the same time, they were also the most childish amongst them¡ªand not just in appearance, it seemed. Seeing them behaving even more immaturely than the rtive babies they were, at a tiny fraction of their age, caused Xue Wei to feel rather amused.

    ¡°Enough,¡± he said with the hint of a smile on his face, ¡°it is time for us to get some rest. We have to find some more information tomorrow,¡± he said and headed into the courtyard.

    He made Mo Er prepare a room for the girl, and after settling her inside, Xue Wei returned to his own room to contemte the new development that had ured this night.

    He had a nagging feeling that things were about to get serious, and that something big had happened, now that they had taken the girl out of the forbidden area, but as to what exactly would happen, he would have to wait and see.

    The girl was clearly a very old entity, so she could not be a normal cultivator. She had somehow reverted to a child, it was likely that she had sustained serious injuries, which had caused her body to revert into a child¡¯s shape and her mind into the consciousness of a child.

    This reminded him of Bai Tianyi. ¡°He has a body created from spiritual energy and soul power.¡± Xue Wei mused to himself, ¡°when he gains too much injury, he will slowly be younger and younger. The younger the body, the less energy is needed to sustain it. As a result he now looks as a kid.

    ¡°Could it be that this girl is the same? A body made from spiritual energy and soul power? A body that was slowly bing much more childlike as it gets wounded?

    ¡°If she was really a five-year-old child, then she would not have been able to live for thousands of years. Neither would she have been able to sustain herself within the forbidden area without food and water for so long.

    ¡°So what I need to figure out is why and how she got injured I guess.¡± Xue Wei was contemting what to do, and what leads he had.

    The sky was slowly brightening while he was busy contemting, but suddenly he heard a lot of noise from the outside. It was clear that something major had happened at the academy, loud bells were ringing, telling all students to gather at the central square of the academy.

    Xue Wei was not dumb. Last night he had taken the small girl with him from the forbidden area, and now bells were calling all to gather. It was obvious that something had happened because of it.

    Had they noticed that she had gone away, or had their interference caused something to happen at another part of the academy when they removed her from the forbidden area?

    There was no way to know without going to the square, but Xue Wei was unsure if he should bring the girl with him.

    After taking a moment to think it through, he decided to bring her. No one had visited her for so many years in the forbidden area, so knowing what she looked like should be impossible.

    It was not only Xue Wei who had heard the ringing of the bells; everyone within the courtyard had washed their faces and freshened up before they exited their rooms and gathered in the front yard.

    Some of them looked rather nervous, but Xue Wei was as carefree and casual as always, his entire being radiating a calm and collected aura that made the others calm down instantly as well.

    ¡°Let us go join the fun,¡± Xue Wei said with a snicker, his words catching them all by surprise.

    ¡°All of us?¡± Hei Gou could not help but ask as he looked at the young girl they had picked upst night. The moment she had stepped out the house and saw Xue Wei, she had run to his side and held his hand intimately like a scared child would with their family.

    ¡°Of course,¡± Xue Wei smiled as he reached down and picked her up. This child was so adorable, he really felt as if he was doting on a smaller sibling.

    ¡°No one has seen her for so many years, do you really think she will be recognized?¡± Xue Wei asked curiously, and after hearing the question the others felt much more at ease.

    It was correct, no one knew exactly what she looked like and had probably even forgotten anyone was living there at all, so they should be safe. As such, they headed towards the academy¡¯s central square to find out what themotion was.

    Xue Wei was walking at the front with the small girl on his arm. ¡°I am so happy that I have a family now,¡± the girl said with a great smile on her face, she looked adorable with two small dimples as sheughed, and Xue Wei could not help but ruffle her hair in a doting manner. It was a good feeling to look after this cute little child.

    ¡°Give me a name,¡± she suddenly requested as she looked at Xue Wei with her big eyes glistening with anticipation. ¡°I forgot my name so long ago, I want a new one now,¡± she demanded.

 Chapter 277: Xue Luoluo

    ¡°A name, huh?¡± Xue Wei contemted for some time while rubbing the child¡¯s head. He felt tender affection towards this kid as if he was looking at his own younger self, someone who was being looked down upon and isted from the crowd. Had it not been for Shen Mu and Xiao Lei, then he too would have been all alone.

    The small girl looked at Xue Wei with a great expectation in her eyes. It was clear that she really wanted a name, and Xue Wei could not help but smile in agreement.

    ¡°Then we will give you a name.¡± Xue Wei could not help but feel his heart soften, and he did not want to disappoint her. Unfortunately, he was rather bad ating up with names.

    ¡°How about ¡®Xiaoxiao?¡¯ She is so tiny after all,¡± Lin Xiao said, his eyes looking at the child with curiosity, but when she heard the name, she wrinkled her nose and shook her head.

    ¡°I think we should name her ¡®The Other Brat¡¯,¡± Hei Gou said while looking at Bai Tianyi, indicating that the first brat was indeed him.

    Fortunately, Bai Tianyi had not noticed the nce, and instead, he stared at the child, deep in thought.

    ¡°I want big brother to give me a name!¡± The girl eximed after a bit of time, not patient enough to listen to more suggestions.

    ¡°Then what about Luoluo?¡± Xue Wei asked gently. ¡°You can have myst name I am your big brother after all,¡± he continued and smiled at the child who nodded her head adorably. She was pleased with the name that her big brother had specially chosen for her.

    Xue Wei looked at the kid and put her down on the ground before he took her hand into his and led her back into their house, having ultimately decided against going to the central square where the rest of the academy was meeting.

    ¡°Are you hungry?¡± he asked her gently. The girl nodded her head at first before she then changed her mind and shook it. ¡°I am not hungry as such,¡± she exined, ¡°but I have not eaten anything in many many many years. I want to eat something delicious!¡±

    Xue Wei could not help but chuckle when seeing this ancient-turned-child show off her childish side, and he quickly ordered Mo Er to go fetch some food at the restaurant for them.

    It was already early morning, and the sun was starting to rise in the sky. Usually, those who went to the restaurant at this time would be ordering breakfast, but Mo Er was told to order a wide range of dishes that he then brought back with him.

    Points had previously been an issue for them, however after working with the Gu and Yuan families, points were no longer a rarity for them, and thus they could easily exchange their points for some amazing food to feed their newrade.

    Mo Er rushed back to the courtyard, where he found that the small girl had taken a bath and changed her clothes. She now looked like a small doll; her features were adorable, with a set of dimples on her cheeks and her eyes sparkling with excitement.

    Her hair had been messy and dirty before, but now it was ck and smooth like silk, her eyes reminded him of a doe, so adorable but also filled with life.

    She was clothed in a small red dress that made her seem as if she was a noble-born daughter and someone who was favoured by the gods. The dress had been provided by Lin Xiao. The guy had everything hidden in his storage treasure, including children¡¯s clothes, women¡¯s clothes, masks that allowed one to be female and so on. Anything for escaping and masking oneself seemed to be hidden within his storage ring.

    The soul was ancient, but her mind and body were still only that of a five-year-old child. She was so proud when she walked out of the bathroom, having bathed herself and dressed, and when she saw the satisfied expression on Xue Wei¡¯s face, she became even more proud.

    This was the feeling of having a family. There were no impure or ufortable thoughts; this was the purest kind of family love she could remember, a kind of love that Luoluo hadcked for a crushinglyrge number of years. Now that she finally had it, she delighted in greedily absorbing all the care that Xue Wei was pouring on her and making the most of it.

    ¡°Let us go and eat,¡± Xue Wei said, but Luoluo was not willing to walk, she stood in front of Xue Wei and spread her arms to him, gesturing for him to pick her up.

    Powerless against her adorable but needy behavior, Xue Wei chuckled and bent over, picked her up, and carried her to the dining room where the others were waiting for them.

    When Mo Er arrived with the dishes, everyone was eagerly waiting for him. He had purchased so much food that there was no way that they could ever finish it, but no one told him off for it; instead, they praised him.

    After not eating for so many years, they all wanted to spoil Luoluo by allowing her to eat exactly what she fancied. Having bought such a huge variety of different dishes, it truly allowed her to savor whatever she pleased.

    Her big eyes widened even further when she saw the food. She red her nostrils when she caught the intoxicating scent, so she could smell more of the delicious food, and her mouth gaped slightly, drool starting to form at the corner of her lips, threatening to fall.

    Her eyes were focused on the wide array of dishes, from spring rolls filled with fresh and colorful local herbs to a huge bowl of magnificently bronzed sweet-and-sour Scorch Boar, and even some valuable Spirit Fruits as they had the points to indulge now; it was a truly overwhelming sight that caused her eyes to cloud with a mixture of emotions. In one way, she wished to devour it all until her stomach threatened to explode, but at the same time, she was worried and scared. What if this kindness and warmth she was feeling now suddenly vanished? What was she going to do then?

    Xue Wei seemed to sense what was going on in her mind, so he gently looked at her, ¡°we are family,¡± he said gently to the worried kid. ¡°We will not abandon you even if we have to do something dangerous. But you have to listen to big brother when big brother says things,¡± Xue Wei said to her, cing a fragrant te of fat Wontons between them. She quickly nodded her head like a chicken pecking rice and swiped the first Wonton before greedily sinking her teeth into it and having the subtle yet calming vour of the Ice Lotus Shrimp filling flood her hungry mouth with serenity and happiness.

    Having her fears calmed, Luoluo did not waste any more time as she dug into the next of many dishes; the Mapo Tofu, unluckily, being the closest within devouring range but making her yelp in surprise at the sudden spiciness that invaded her mouth. The others also merrily began to dig into the feast too, enjoying the local vours and their spiritual-energy-enhancing capabilities, as well as giggling whenever Luoluo madements about how delicious or strange something she tried was.Before long, Xue Luoluo has sampled everything and devoured plenty, taking particr delight in the most delicious dishes such as the Riluo roasted duck and the chow mein, while the others enjoyed the more power-imbuing foods such as the Spiritual Fruits more. It wasn¡¯t long before every scrap of the food on every te had been devoured, despite them initially thinking it was too much. All of it was now digesting in their bloated stomachs, and even small Luoluo was rubbing her stomach contentedly, delighted about trying so much delicious food after so long.

    As they finished eating, Xue Wei was nning on returning to his room to cultivate and rest to help process all the new energy, when Yuan Bailong appeared at the door.

    His face was slightly pale, and his eyes shone with panicked disbelief. Seeing him like this, Xue Wei frowned and instantly invited him inside.

    ¡°What has happened that has caused you to be so shocked?¡± Xue Wei asked tentatively, starting to worry whether or not he should have gone to the square after all.

    ¡°There has been a disasterst night.¡± Yuan Bailong went straight to the problem, ¡°just before sunrise, the entire academy¡¯s abundant soul power suddenly vanished. Not to mention that the Soul Tower has been without any soul power since. It does not matter how far you head up into the tower. There is no energy at all.¡±

    ¡°No soul power?¡± Xue Wei frowned. Last night, he had been busy with saving Luoluo, but it seemed that something else had also happened to the academy, something big. Was this a coincidence or did it have something to do with each other?

    Xue Wei looked at Luoluo who was happily sitting on her chair and caressing her bloated stomach with happiness, a feeling of contentedness that they had never seen before all over her face.

    Xue Wei looked at Yuan Bailong, contemting his next move. ¡°Luoluo I am going out, do you want toe with me?¡± he called behind him, and the small girl rushed towards him with a happy face and spread her arms, gesturing for him to pick her up.

    Xue Wei chuckled and bent down to carry her. When she settled on his arm, she looked around with shining eyes, her sudden appearance stunning Yuan Bailong. He had not seen this child around them before, where had ite from?

    ¡°This is my little sister, Xue Luoluo,¡± Xue Wei introduced, not worrying about any confusion it might bring. ¡°She has been with us for some time but has been hidden; now there is no reason for her to hide anymore.¡±

    Yuan Bailong was surprised, but he still nodded his head in confusion and then started moving towards the Soul Tower. Although this sudden appearance of a small girl had taken him by surprise, the truth was that there were much more important issues at hand.

    Walking together, Bai Tianyi, Lin Xiao, and Hei Gou also rushed with Xue Wei out of the door. They were also surprised to find out that the Soul Tower had suddenly lost all power; it was clear that there was something behind this¡ªsomething major, but no one knew what exactly it could be. Surely all this couldn¡¯t be because of a small child?

    ¡°Has anything like this happened before?¡± Xue Wei tried asking Yuan Bailong as they walked, but the other man just shook his head. ¡°If the Soul Tower was unable to work, then it would be an issue all would know about,¡± he said dejectedly. ¡°The Soul Tower is very important to the entire Yan Dalu. The entire continent is specialized in spiritual energy, and our rapid advancement is definitely because of the support from the Garden of Shadows and the Soul Tower.

    ¡°If the Soul Tower has suddenly stopped working, then it is clear that the entire continent will be slowed down when ites to the speed of cultivation. This will be a tremendous danger for the entire continent, and we might even be invaded by other continents if we are not careful enough.¡±

    Yuan Bailong was truly worried, but Xue Wei just looked around curiously. He had trained hard from beginning to end; although he understood the benefits of the Soul Tower, he also looked at it as a hindrance to the multi-eyed experts if Yuan Bailong¡¯s words were true.

    They were so dependant on the tower to enhance their strength that they were not aware of how much they could achieve with their own hard work. They were so used to gaining so much every time they cultivated that they had neglected to work on their cultivation skills.

    In fact, Xue Wei could not help but feel that it was indeed important for them to learn how to rely on themselves. ¡°You should be happy,¡± Xue Wei suddenly said with a shrug, causing Yuan Bailong to halt in surprise.¡°Happy?!¡± he asked, his face full of confusion.

    Without stopping to confront him, Xue Wei responded, ¡°if the Soul Tower does not work, that means that every person has to rely on themselves in the future. Since they have to rely on themselves, it also means that Qi cultivation is as viable as spiritual energy, but this is a path only open to you and the Gu family.¡±

    Even thinking about it, Yuan Bailong was still dumbfounded. He had never thought about it like this, but he couldn¡¯t help but be moved when he considered it. If their speed of spiritual energy cultivation had truly slowed down, wouldn¡¯t that mean they were at a great advantage,pared to the rest of the cultivators now?

    With this newfound idea, the horrible feeling of dread about not knowing what was happening slowly subsided, and Yuan Bailong continued onwards. However, he no longer ran to the Soul Tower; instead, he walked casually, a faint smile growing on his lips. He was not the one with the most to lose.

 Chapter 278: Young Master Baili

    Xue Wei took a long nce at Yuan Bailong as he caught up, and a smile spread across his lips, Xue Wei understood the other man¡¯s thoughts, and he understood that the other man just suddenly had an epiphany.

    There was no doubt about it, this was a disaster for the entire academy; in fact, it was a disaster for the entire continent, but it was also an opportunity for those who had improved their Qi levels to rise above the masses, as the Yuan and Gu families had.

    With this new opportunity at the forefront of his mind, Yuan Bailong was able to remain calm despite this worrying situation. He was curious about what had happened to the Soul Tower, but it was no longer a necessity to do all in his power to fix it.

    It was not only him who thought like this. While Yuan Bailong had needed Xue Wei to make him realize it, the majority of the Yuan and the Gu family had already understood this part, and they were all looking exceptionallyid back amongst those in front of the Soul Tower.

    ¡°Are you okay?¡± Xue Wei worriedly asked the small girl in his arms. The closer he got to the Soul Tower, the more ufortable she became, visibly starting to squirm in his arms and beginning to look spooked as they got closer.

    ¡°There is something in there that I do not like,¡± the girl whined in his arms. ¡°It is calling for me, but it is also scaring me,¡± she continued, as Xue Wei nodded his head. It seemed that the Soul Tower¡¯s issues actually had something to do with Luoluo.

    But what about the bloodied marks then? Xue Wei was still confused. ¡°During these years you have never left the forbidden area?¡± he asked Luoluo gently.

    ¡°Never,¡± she answered straightforwardly and with determination.

    Xue Wei nodded his head, but considered it was possible for her to have encountered the Soul Tower before she was locked up within the forbidden area.

    Currently, the Soul Tower was closed. No one could enter it, apart from elders of the academy, who were all busy trying to figure out what was happening with the tower and itsck of soul power.

    Xue Wei, Xue Luoluo and Yuan Bailong stood next to each other at the edge of the square, right in front of the Soul Tower. The entire square was filled with anguished people who were brimming with worry and despair.

    The Soul Tower was the reason behind the high cultivation base within the Yan Dalu continent. Without the aid of the Soul Tower, although they still had the great support of their bloodline, their cultivation base would not be able to advance as rapidly.

    If they no longer had the support of the Soul Tower, the spiritual energy cultivators would no longer be able to dominate the continent. In fact, many Primordial Beasts would be as powerful as them with their Qi cultivation, even some normal humans who had a talent for Qi cultivation were equal to the Spiritual Energy Cultivators.

    Xue Wei nced at the petrified students and could not help but chuckle slightly. He always believed that, although there were methods and external aids to help increase one¡¯s cultivation, it was not a good thing to be too obsessed with them. Being too dependant on such outside factors meant that one would easily fall into despair when they were no longer avable.

    Nothing wouldst forever, the only thing that one could fully trust was one¡¯s strength that was gained through one¡¯s own hard work. Although the Soul Tower was able to assist them, it had be their crutch in the end, the one that held the pir of their entire society. Only those experts that went to the Garden of Shadow, and therefore had ess to the Soul Tower, were capable of bing something in the society of Yan Dalu.

    It seemed that Yuan Bailong also understood this at the current point in time, and he patted his chest feeling much more at ease with himself and the current situation.

    Xue Wei stayed for some time at the square and observed everything around him. He saw how the other experts either turned lifeless or got so worked up that they could barely stand still.

    ¡°What is everyone waiting for?¡± Xue Wei asked a person by his side, and the one who was standing there gave a small nce at Xue Wei before answering curtly, ¡°The principal is inside the Soul Tower right now. We are waiting for him to give us an answer regarding what is happening.¡±

    Xue Wei nodded his head as he contemted. He looked at Luoluo in his arms, who was still feeling rather ufortable, restlessly moving around in his arms, and clearly not at allfortable with how things were right now.

    Looking at her ufortable little face, Xue Wei did not need to spend much longer to consider what to do. Since he had called her his little sister, she would be his family in the future, and when she was ufortable he did not need to waste more time thinking, he just had to get out of here so that she could calm down. He could always returnter when he was alone.

    With his mind made up, Xue Wei returned to the courtyard, an ever present smile adorned his lips as he carried the small child away in his embrace.

    He could not help but feel that she was adorable, like a small figure who depended on him to protect her. Although he was unsure of what her real strength was, her mind was that of a child, and in her mental stage she needed someone to protect her, to cherish and to keep herpany.

    In a way, it did not feel as if he had just picked up a small child, or a little sister figure, it was more like he had gotten himself a daughter or a small pet.

    When he was a child, Xue Wei had always felt loved. He had been deeply cherished by his father before his death. After losing his memories, he had been cared for by Xiao Lei, and although many looked down upon him and hated him due to his inability to cultivate, he had never felt unloved by those close to him.

    Now that he saw a small child, even smaller than he had been when he was persecuted as trash, being all alone in the world and with no one to care about her, he felt his heart clench. Although he was not a soft person, he still felt that such a poor child deserved to be given the warmth of a family and the caring of friends.

    Since he was more than capable to care for this child, then why not do it?

    He could not help but keep shaking his head, feeling so incredibly sentimental and out of character, but there was something special about this little girl that made one want to dote on her.

    In fact, she was more than capable of looking after herself, her strength was in no way inferior to Bai Tianyi, in fact, it might be even greater, but her current mental state was far from his.

    Returning to the courtyard, Xue Wei fussed about Luoluo for some time to ensure that she was no longer ufortable after being close to the Soul Tower, and then he went to find Lin Xiao.

    ¡°Look after Luoluo,¡± Xue Wei told Lin Xiao. ¡°I need to go out and check something,¡± he continued. Lin Xiao, who had absolutely no idea as to how one would look after a kid, could only stare with wide open eyes as Xue Wei left the courtyard as quickly as he had returned, leaving all the possible troubles that might arise to him.

    The moment Xue Wei put a foot outside of the courtyard, he instantly felt that someone was trailing him. Frowning, he wondered who these people were and what their purpose might be.

    If he could sense them, then it was obvious that their strength was not as profound as his, however, there were quite a few people, so it could be troublesome to deal with them, in case they had some evil intentions for following him.

    ¡°I can always transform if things go wrong,¡± Xue Wei muttered to himself as he started searching for an abandoned alleyway to confront the pursuers.

    Unfortunately, the entire academy was filled with people, especially now that panic was spreading around because of the Soul Tower, every person was rushing to gain information.

    Thinking like this, Xue Wei could only really consider one ce suitable to confronting his pursuers, and that ce was right in front of the forbidden area. Although it was notpletely deserted, it was rare for people to go there unless they had some explicit purpose to be there, and right now everyone would prefer going to the Soul Tower.

    As he reached the forbidden area he stopped in his tracks and turned around. ¡°Since you have followed me this far, why not show yourselves?¡± He asked with a smirk on his face. As expected, there was no one here, Xue Wei thought as he looked around. The wide open, square shaped space in front of the forbidden area was the ideal ce to deal with these people.

    ¡°To think that young master Xue is so alert,¡± a voice dawdled just before a young man and his entourage appeared next to Xue Wei. This young man was not at all foreign to Xue Wei, he was precisely the young master of the Baili family.

    ¡°Are you here to get some information, or perhaps you already have the information you need?¡± Xue Wei did not need to think long before knowing that the young master was here because he wanted the knowledge he had on the Qi path.

    ¡°The Baili family is quite fast,¡± he continued before the Baili young master could say anything, ¡°toe looking for me just as the Soul Tower has broken down, it makes me feel that I am quite valuable in their eyes.¡±

    ¡°You are,¡± the young master did not deny it. ¡°Before we didn¡¯t care too much about the Yuan and Gu families when they started branching out into the Qi realm. But now that there is a chance that Qi will be as influential as Spiritual Energy here in Yan Dalu, they undoubtedly have an advantage, something we are rather unhappy about,¡± he continued exining.

    ¡°What does that have to do with me?¡± Xue Wei asked with a smile on his face, yet the smile did not reach his eyes.

    ¡°We are notpletely unaware that their rapid development of quite a few Qi cultivators is due to your assistance,¡± Young master Baili was straight forward when he spoke, ¡°I require the same assistance you gave them for the Baili family, I also request that you terminate your current dealings with the Yuan and the Gu families.¡±

    ¡°I am quite sure that you have much more at your disposal than what you have taken out so far,¡± he said, self-righteously as if the decision had already been made and that Xue Wei had no say in the matter at all. ¡°Take out the best of the best and our Baili family will not treat you badly.¡±

    Xue Wei started chuckling when he heard this, and then he shook his head.

    ¡°I am afraid that is impossible,¡± he said with a fake apologetical expression on his face, ¡°I already decided for whom to work with, I am not going to change it halfway through.¡±

    Young Master Baili¡¯s face turned ugly upon hearing this, his eyes were sharp, and his brows furrowed.

    ¡°Are you sure that you want to go against the Baili family for the sake of the Gu and Yuan families? Be aware that, although there are three major families in Yan Dalu, and even if they are two while we are only one, both of thembined cannot amount to as much as our Baili family does.¡±

    Xue Weiughed out loud after hearing this, ¡°that might have been so in the past,¡± he readily agreed, ¡°but now the Yuan and Gu families have me supporting them, so they are not likely to be easily overthrown anymore.¡±

    There was a strange confidence in Xue Wei¡¯s voice as he uttered those words. Although he was not considered a strong expert in Yan Dalu, he did indeed have many tricks up his sleeves, and no one would take him lightly anymore.

 Chapter 279: Weakness

    Xue Wei was aware that a fight was going to break out after declining the young master of the Baili family, but he was not too worried about it.

    The worst case scenario was that he would have to transform, but he was no longer in Chang¡¯an. Beasts were not frowned upon here. Although they were considered inferior to the multi-eyed experts, they were not hated.

    At the same time, he had not heard anything about Sovereign Beasts while being here, so it was likely that they were unaware of their existence. Since they did not know about them, Xue Wei felt no fear about being captured; instead, he would just be categorized as a stronger Primordial Beast.

    Sensing the Xue Wei¡¯s calmness, young master Baili felt ufortable, but after considering the amount of people he had on his side, he quickly regained his confidence again.

    Sneering, young master Baili gestured for his men to surround Xue Wei, his face was menacing, and he was looking anything but pleased.

    ¡°Don¡¯t refuse the toast only to be forced to drink a forfeit!¡± he said, his voice remaining calm and collected despite its raised volume, while his eyes were filled with malice.

    ¡°Do you have what it takes to threaten me?¡± Xue Wei asked with a slight smile on his face as he looked at the young man, mockingly. He could not help but feel that the experts in Yan Dalu were rather confusing.

    All of the people surrounding him were Earth or Sky Knights, but they were all spiritual energy cultivators, and thus their physical strength was severelycking.

    Still, they had spread out and prepared to attack him, the spiritual energy beginning to materialize in the air around them, but Xue Wei stayed as calm as before.

    Within his body, both the golden and the azure dragon spirits were on alert. They were pouring spiritual energy and Qi through his meridians, getting ready to burst out at any moment.

    Although his spiritual energy was only at the thirdyer of the Earth Knight rank, thus quite a bit beneath the Sky Knight rank, he was still not to be belittled. He had the golden dragon and the blood of the Azure Dragon flowing through his veins. He was more than capable of jumping across realms to fight those stronger than him.

    Still, if he wanted to fight this group of experts, then he had to fight in his original form. It was simply the only way for him to confidently overpower the number of experts that were surrounding him.

    Having reached this conclusion, Xue Wei quickly allowed for the azure dragon spirit within his core to spread the energy throughout his body. His figure started to expand, azure scales erupted from his skin and ws appeared on his hands and feet.

    Xue Wei was not hesitant at all and decided to fully take on the form of an azure dragon.

    His body was so massive that it could hardly fit in the square anymore. His transformation happened in mere moments, and it shocked the spiritual energy users that had thought that beating Xue Wei would be as easy as taking a walk in the park.

    Spiritual energy had some advantages in a fight where there was a distance between the two parties, but now that he was this massive, it was impossible for them to back away. And, since none of them had strengthened their bodies or focused on Qi, they would be squashed as easily as flies.

    Xue Wei was not actually interested in the intrigues of the capital within Yan Dalu or the struggle between the three major families, but he hated being threatened.

    ¡°So tell me, were you nning on killing me or just beating me up?¡± Xue Wei asked with a mocking tone. His body coiled around itself, and he observed the ones who had previously surrounded him now turning pale from fear.

    ¡°W-we... we... we wanted to convince you to work... w-work with us... We did not... d-did not want to beat you...¡± one of them managed to splutter out, trembling with fear. The one who had finally spoken was one of the followers, but he was not dumb and understood that if he said that they wanted to beat him up or to kill him, they would be done for. They would get a beating if they were lucky, but if their luck ran out, their lives would be forfeited.

    A gleam appeared in Xue Wei¡¯s eyes. ¡°Usually I would kill anyone who saw me in this shape,¡± he said with a drawl in his voice, dragging out the words and scaring the life out of the people present.

    ¡°But I am no longer in Chang¡¯an, so I guess that things could change.¡± He seemed as if he was mulling over their fates, and the ones surrounding him quickly agreed to his words out of fear.

    ¡°Great dragon, please do not be insulted by our behavior.¡±

    ¡°Great dragon, this lowly one could not see how important your esteemed self was, please be magnanimous and let us off.¡±

    ¡°Great dragon, please be the bigger man... o-or dragon... and let us free, we have eyes, but failed to see Mount Tai.¡±

    Just like this, all of them kept calling out, but the killing intent within Xue Wei was still growing. He did not believe for one second that they would leave him alone, but he had to take other things into consideration.

    If he killed them, then the Baili family woulde after him. However, the more he thought about it, the more he realized that beating them would also make the Baili familye after him, as thrashing them would invoke their ire and be a p in their faces.

    Since killing or beating them would make him at odds with the Baili family, then he had two options. One was to kill them and just get it over with, and the other was to just let them go.

    Actually there was only one option. Having been threatened, there was no way that he was just going to let them go, and thus he had already chosen to act.

    Being in dragon form, he could still use his martial art skills that he had been given by Xiao Lei, a benefit for being a half-breed, and he did not hesitate at all.

    Forbidden Rush!

    Xue Wei activated the movement technique and coiled around the first person that he could.

    With a sh of his magnificent ws, the head was severed clean from the body. He then released him, letting the body copse to the floor, and painting a pool of red underneath him.

    Azure Light Finger!

    A beam of energy erupted from his wed hands and shot into the forehead of the young Baili master.

    The speed of his attacks were so fast that no one had any time to react to this sudden eruption of violence. The one who had his head severed never even noticed what had happened to him, and the young Baili master died with his eyes wide open, still filled with shock.

    He had just barely witnessed his follower getting beheaded by the time his own head was suddenly hit by a beam of energy, his mind previously filled with utter disbelief, but now enjoyed a peaceful existence sttered over the ground.

    The rest of the people who had been surrounding Xue Wei were now petrified with fear. They no longer had any intention to attack him, instead they wanted to flee for their lives. But how could they¡ªwho had not cultivated their bodies at all¡ªreally be faster than this Xue Wei, who was in the shape of an azure dragon, and who was further enhanced by his usage of some blindingly fast movement technique?

    shing around like a fish through water, Xue Wei executed one person after another. Anguished wails could be heard throughout the square, but no one was silly enough toe closer.

    Although others heard these cries for help, they did not want to be involved, and thus stayed away. It was not until the entire ce had turned silent that they dared venture towards the square in front of the forbidden area.

    What they saw shocked them. There, in the midsts of a square that was dyed red with blood, stood Xue Wei. His eyes glistened with an azure light, and his face belied nothing but indifference, as he lifted his hand to examine the blood that was streaked all over his body.

    He was once more in the shape of a human being, and he was now wearing his red clothes. Anyone who saw him felt their scalps turn numb.

    Lifting his head, Xue Wei looked at the many people who were on their way towards him, and he shed a smile that was not really a smile. The group of people who had appeared were filled with fear, fearing that they would be the next people blooming like roses on the ground, blood running from their bodies and turning into rivers.

    Xue Wei remained casual and indifferent. He did not mind being noticed killing these students as he knew that the Baili family would know it was him either way, so he just shed a smile before he stepped through the blood and left the square, every step he took leaving a bloody footprint on the ground.

    ¡°The people of thisnd are quite easy to deal with,¡± he muttered to himself as he remembered how easily he had handled a Sky Knight spiritual energy user.

    He held quite a strong advantage since he had Qi and physical strength on his side, alongside speed that was unrivaled in the entire continent.

    He could catch up to the spiritual energy users while they were still gathering their energy, and make quick work of them before they could even notice it.

    This was also the reason why spiritual energy was seen just as being beneficial on the other continents, but not the focused energy. Qi was, after all, the universally acknowledged energy that experts cultivated.

    The reason that it was not so acknowledged in Yan Dalu, was due to the fact that all Qi martial art techniques, scriptures and other things had long since been lost. Now that Xue Wei was here however, as he started sharing his collection, things were starting to change.

    While Xue Wei was busy thinking about the changes the Qi would make to Yan Dalu, he returned to his courtyard and quickly entered his own room, not wanting to let the others see him covered in blood.

    He waspletely indifferent to the ruminations of what had happened earlier; the killing was nothing much to him, and while he was cleaning up, he paid no more attention to it. Unfortunately, Yan Dalu had been too calm for many years, murder was highly frowned upon, and it was something that happened extremely rarely.

    In this case, it was especially so, since the dead person was a young master of the Baili family. Although he was not the heir, he was still quite an important figure of the younger generation, and a direct descendant of the family¡¯s head.

    When rumors about the murder started spreading, everyone went cold fearing what might happen. What would the Baili family do to retaliate, and who woulde out on top in such a fight?

    The elders of the academy caught wind of the rumors quite fast, and although they were quite shocked, they quickly put it behind them. They had such a massive problem with the dysfunctionality of the Soul Tower, that they simply did not have the time to deal with a murder at the current point in time.

    Not to mention the conflict of interests, since they also wanted Xue Wei to solve an issue for them. However, the issue seemed to be growing more and more troublesome, and thus they soon gave up all hope of him being able to help them.

    Xue Wei finished his bath and returned downstairs just as casually as he usually did, only to find that Bai Tianyi, Lin Xiao, Hei Gou, and Xue Luoluo were all sitting in the lounge looking at him with queer expressions on their faces.

    ¡°He definitely did it on purpose,¡± Bai Tianyi said with a sigh as he saw the carefree face of Xue Wei.

    ¡°I think he got bored of not being chased,¡± Hei Gou continued with a nod of his head.

    ¡°He is not thinking about consequences at all,¡± Lin Xiao agreed.

    ¡°You bullies, my older brother is always right!¡± Luoluo said with her cheeks puffed up in an adorable way as if she was scolding the three other men.

    ¡°How¡¯d you know?¡± Xue Wei asked, still not disying any signs of regret or annoyance. He was just surprised that they knew about it already.

    ¡°The entire academy knows,¡± a voice came from the entrance. Yuan Bailong came in through the door and looked at him with a helplessugh.

 Chapter 280: Support

    Xue Wei did not know whether to cry or tough when he saw that even Yuan Bailong had appeared on his doorstep, a smile beaming on his face as if he had gained something substantial from Xue Wei¡¯s killing of the young master of the Baili family.

    But, he felt that he had picked the right person to work with, as the moment the man heard these troubling rumors, he had rushed to meet Xue Wei instead of specting about him.

    Right after Yuan Bailing had appeared, another wave of people arrived in their courtyard; this time, it was the people from the Gu family.

    ¡°Now is not the time to smile,¡± Gu Bing¡¯er said as she arrived with a stern expression on her face, and after seeing how casual andid back the people within the courtyard were.

    ¡°Will the academy not protect Xue Wei?¡± Yuan Bailong asked curiously upon seeing Gu Bing¡¯er¡¯s panicked expression, and notpletely understanding why she was so scared about what was going on.

    ¡°Usually, they would investigate when a murder happens on their grounds and then give a fair response to the people who are involved, but right now they do not have the time to actually do anything like that.

    ¡°Did you forget that the Soul Tower has stopped functioning? The elders really do not care about anything other than fixing the tower right now. Since they have no time to deal with this problem, they are going to let the Baili family get their own vengeance this time.

    ¡°But even if they were not busy, it is quite likely that they would have sided with the Baili family anyway, even if they had to sacrifice you.

    ¡°This continent might be different to yours, although everyone is living life easily, the hierarchy is not to be questioned. One¡¯s number of eyes determines how bright your future is, and even then, it is important to pledge your allegiance to a family.

    ¡°The families pretend to be gentle and friendly on the surface, but the truth is that the capital is filled with corruption and schemes. Every official is hired or bribed by the families; even here at the academy, it is the same. The elders and teachers are all bribed or hired to assist the uing youngsters within the families.

    ¡°I came herete because I was having a conversation with the elders of our Gu family,¡± Gu Bing¡¯er continued, her face solemn and serious. ¡°We have decided to support you. We were supposed to go against the Baili family eventually, and considering that you have made it possible, we will just have to make it happen faster than expected.¡±

    Yuan Bailong paused and then nodded his head. ¡°I will go contact the Yuan family elders immediately,¡± he said and sat down in a corner of the lounge area, closing his eyes as he got ready to contact them through his mental connection.

    Not long after, Yuan Bailong appeared next to Xue Wei and the others again, his face conflicted with mixed emotions.

    ¡°Some of the elders felt that you being in trouble did not have anything to do with our family,¡± he said hesitantly, his facial expression ugly. ¡°But after convincing the old badgers, they understood that you are our only chance of going against the Baili family.

    ¡°Since they understood this now, they agreed to assist you, in case we start an all-out war against the Baili family¡ªbut we want to avoid that if at all possible.¡±

    Xue Wei knew that currently, he did not have the strength to go against the entire Baili family on his own, but he had still acted against the young master regardless.

    There were some decisions that had to be made, no matter what. Xue Wei understood that he had to stay true to himself, as if he stepped back even just once, it was likely to be a habit. If he became ustomed to stepping back, he would lose sight of who he was, and it would be difficult to advance his cultivation.

    No one asked him whether or not it was an option to take a step back; everyone just understood Xue Wei¡¯s personality and knew that doing so would be detrimental to his cultivation.

    Still, Gu Bing¡¯er was awash with emotion and sighed. She had never expected that things would evolve to the stage it was at currently.

    ¡°Well one good thing hase from this,¡± Xue Wei smiled gently, as he looked at the many people surrounding him. ¡°If the academy truly washes their hands of us, then the oath we took when we joined the academy is invalid. If they betray us, we will no longer be restricted by the oath to be loyal to the academy either.¡±

    ¡°Do you n on doing something to the academy?¡± Yuan Bailong asked with a frown on his face. Although he understood that it was good not to be restrained by an oath, he still valued the academy highly as it was the birthce of every influential person within his country.

    ¡°The academy promised us many things when we agreed to join,¡± Xue Wei said slowly. ¡°They promised us we could either join the spiritual energy ss or the Qi ss, but the truth is that no one has helped us join either side. In fact, we have been left all alone, and they haven¡¯t told us anything about this problem we¡¯re supposed to solve. Everything we have gained, apart from the assistance we got from the Soul Tower, we have gained from our very own efforts.

    ¡°We have no actual ns on harming the academy,¡± Xue Wei finally relented when he saw the worry in Yuan Bailong¡¯s expression. ¡°If we do, we will be the sworn enemy of the entire continent.

    ¡°However, not being limited by the oath will make things much easier for us. We will be able to move unnoticed and do things that might border on being uneptable.¡±

    ¡°I see,¡± Yuan Bailong nodded his head, but he remained worried. Had Xue Wei just relented because he did not want him to worry, or was it the truth?

    Gu Bing¡¯er was rather quiet. She said nothing after dering that the Gu family would support them, but she had been listening intently to the conversation.

    No emotions could be discerned from her face. Her hands were crossed above her chest, but her fists were not tightened nor were her muscles tense¡ªthere was nothing to hint that she was ufortable or in disarray about what Xue Wei would do with the academy.

    It was at this point that Xue Wei realized, that amongst Yuan Bailong and Gu Bing¡¯er, Gu Bing¡¯er was the superior one. She was calm no matter what situation she encountered, her face would never betray her emotions, and her ability to keep her thoughts hidden was impressive.

    ¡°Fortunately, she is our ally,¡± Xue Wei muttered to himself, as he took a respectful nce at Gu Bing¡¯er.

    ¡°Big Brother, Big Brother!¡± a childish voice suddenly sounded in the room. as a small child came running towards Xue Wei on unsteady legs, her arms spread wide and gesturing to be carried.

    Xue Wei smiled gently and bent down to carry her without a second thought, his face suddenly softening to a warm and doting expression.

    Seeing the change in expression, Yuan Bailong¡¯s eyebrows rose dramatically in shock. He scrutinized the small girl that was now adorned in a beautiful purple dress, her hair was tied on top of her head in a bun, but a few stray hairs had fallen down to frame her face.

    She seemed to be about five-years-old¡ªnot very mature, but she was adorable, and it was impossible to not take a liking to her almost instantly. She seemed so gentle that Yuan Bailong could not help but smile at her, but Luoluo did not return the favor; instead, she stuck out her tongue and grimaced at him.

    ¡°Luoluo, be nice,¡± Xue Wei lovingly scolded. Although he was scolding her, his voice was tender and gentle. ¡°Yuan Bailong is ourrade, our ally. We cannot be rude to him,¡± he finished, and Luoluo tentatively nodded her head while ncing at the other man.

    Gu Bing¡¯er¡¯s brows were furrowed when she saw that Xue Wei suddenly had a child in his custody, a child she had not seen before. She had noticed the child earlier when she entered the room, but she had not realized that she had such close ties to Xue Wei.

    Another thing that made Gu Bing¡¯er rather wary was the fact that, although she could see Luoluo right in front of her, she could not sense her. If she did not look at her directly, then she would be incapable of sensing her presence. Was this really normal for a five-year-old child?

    After looking deeply at Luoluo, Gu Bing¡¯er turned her gaze towards Bai Tianyi. He was another one that caused her some confusion. She had heard about his feat of reaching the ninth floor on the Soul Tower, so his strength was simply outrageous for a ten-year-old child. Was he also in possession of some secrets?

    Gu Bing¡¯er felt that the more she was with Xue Wei, the less she understood him and his friends. They were like a bottomless abyss of mystery that constantly spewed out new and exciting things for them to observe.

    Although she was very curious about all the mysteries that were present around Xue Wei, she did not try to pry into his business. She understood that, as long as they were partners, then it was better to not know so that no one could judge their limits.

    In fact, the Gu family had been much like the Yuan family, originally. They had not wanted to enter into the fight between Xue Wei and the Baili family; it was only under Gu Bing¡¯er¡¯s continued persistence that they finally saw the benefits of working with Xue Wei.

    Unfortunately, Yuan Bailong was not as diligent as Gu Bing¡¯er, and he had not been capable of fully convincing his family of the benefits. Although they had agreed to stand by Xue Wei, they had done so hesitantly and were only willing to step forward if it became the entire Baili family that went against Xue Wei.

    ¡°I need to figure out a way to make them motivated to step up before it gets too bad,¡± Gu Bing¡¯er muttered to herself as she looked around in the room. Xue Wei was busy fussing over the child. Bai Tianyi was observing the child being fussed over with a rather hostile expression. Hei Gou and Lin Xiao were joking with one another, and Yuan Bailong was harboring a rather entertaining expression on his face as he observed the previously hell-bent Xue Wei be an overprotective parent.

    Yuan Bailong¡ªthat was where the solutiony! Gu Bing¡¯er smirked as she realized that he could be a rather useful chess piece in the current war against the Baili family¡ªeven,ter on, he could prove to be very useful to her.

    ¡°Bailong,¡± she called out, stumping Yuan Bailong with the way she called him. He turned around and looked at her, his eyes filled with puzzlement.

    ¡°I have an idea,¡± Gu Bing¡¯er said with a quiet voice as Yuan Bailong appeared next to her, her eyes glistening with a cheekiness that caused Yuan Bailong to fill with worry.

    ¡°An idea for what?¡± he asked hesitantly, wondering if he really wanted to know what she was talking about.

    ¡°Well, our families are not united right now. We are allies, but nothing more than that. Why don¡¯t we connect our familiespletely?¡± She gently sped her hands together.

    ¡°Connect them?¡± Yuan Bailong responded, not understanding what she meant. Connecting families was not something that was done easily, as the two families found it difficult to trust one another.

    Usually, the mostmon way of merging families would be through marriage, but the Yuan family had many sons, and who would be the heir was still undecided. They did not have many females either; for some reason, most of their children were sons.

    The Gu family was in a simr situation. They only had one young miss¡ªGu Bing¡¯er, and she was not in the running to be the heir of the family. Only sons could be the new head of the family.

 Chapter 281: Rainbow Pill

    Still notpletely understanding what Gu Bing¡¯er was getting at, Yuan Bailong listened to her with curiosity, but also a bit of apprehension.

    ¡°I am asking to marry you,¡± she said straightforwardly. ¡°If we marry, our families will be connected through marriage, and will be much closer to one another.¡±

    ¡°Wait, what?¡± Yuan Bailong was even more stumped when he heard the words. Was he just proposed to? Realizing this, his face suddenly turned crimson, his ears so red that they seemed as if they could drip blood.

    ¡°It is very simple.¡± Gu Bing¡¯er thought nothing of it, ¡°I will at some point be used in a political marriage anyway,¡± she exined. ¡°But right now, the best partner would, without doubt, be the Yuan family. You and I know each other well, as we have had quite a few dealings with one another, and marrying me will bring you closer to the position as an heir due to your connection with the Gu family.¡±

    ¡°I am not sure I want to marry you for that purpose,¡± Yuan Bailong frowned. ¡°I know political marriages are what we nobles can look forward to, but I do not want to just use you to raise my own position.¡±

    ¡°By raising your position, you will be very useful to me too,¡± Gu Bing¡¯er said with a calm and collected voice as if she waspletely fine with the fact that she was trying to marry herself off for political gain.

    While the two were speaking, everyone else in the room had quietened down and were looking expectantly, at the two speaking friends, curious as to whether or not this would turn into a marriage.

    ¡°Well, let¡¯s say that I agree to marry you, how will you convince your family to allow their only miss to marry me? Although I am in the running to be the next heir to the Yuan family, I am not the smartest of the candidates, so my chance of sess is not very high.¡±

    ¡°That is why you need me,¡± Gu Bing¡¯er smiled sweetly. ¡°You are indeed a bit simple-minded, but then you will have me to take care of all our scheming for you.¡±

    Yuan Bailong had not really considered this possibility, but the more he considered it, the more usible it sounded. He would benefit greatly if he married Gu Bing¡¯er, but was she really okay with him?

    He was not so gullible as to think that she had fallen in love with him¡ªshe was far too apathetic when facing him, but why should this mean they could not marry?

    Love was a luxury thatmoners could pursue; they were nobles, and for them, it was about marrying for family connections and benefits. Still, it was not like they hadn¡¯t grown somewhat fond of each other after spending so much time together; it certainly made it more bearable for both of them, instead of the chance that they would be matched with someone they didn¡¯t get along with at all.

    Finally reaching a conclusion, Yuan Bailong looked at Gu Bing¡¯er with shining eyes, ¡°How are we to make them approve of us though?¡± he asked curiously.

    Although the wedding would increase his standing in the Yuan family even further than his current performance with Xue Wei¡¯s deal, he was not sure that the Gu family would approve of him as their son-inw.

    ¡°That¡¯s simple,¡± Gu Bing¡¯er smiled, now that she realized that Yuan Bailong was epting her proposal. ¡°I will tell my brothers that I have fallen deeply in love with you and that you are equally enamored with me. My brothers spoil me silly since I am the only sister they have, so they will definitely help me convince my family elders, and I believe we will seed.¡±

    Yuan Bailong nodded his head; it sounded like a n. Then he turned around and noticed that the whole room was silent. All of the people within the room were either leisurely seated in chairs or leaning against something, looking at Gu Bing¡¯er and Yuan Bailong with rapt attention and a knowing smile on their lips.

    ¡°Big Brother, what is marriage?¡± Luoluo suddenly asked, ¡°can it be eaten?¡±

    Xue Wei smirked when he heard the small child¡¯s question, but he answered honestly, ¡°It is when two people promise to be together all their lives.¡±

    ¡°Then can I marry Big Brother?¡± Luoluo asked with sparkling eyes, making Xue Weiugh out loud. He shook his head, ¡°No,¡± he said. ¡°We are family, and family cannot marry one another. And I already have a wife waiting for me to return to the Chang¡¯an continent.¡±

    ¡°So family is more important than marriage?¡± Luoluo would not let go, and Xue Wei gently rubbed her head. ¡°It is different but just as important,¡± he promised her. ¡°I will never leave you alone, but one day, when you¡¯re grown up, you will also find someone who makes your heart warm, and you¡¯ll want to spend your entire future with them.¡±

    Luoluo thought about it before she nodded her head solemnly, ¡°I cannot marry Big Brother, because you are my big brother.¡±

    Xue Wei smiled when he saw that the child had understood. He then turned to Gu Bing¡¯er and Yuan Bailong and smirked at them too, ¡°I wish to congratte you on your engagement,¡± he said teasingly, and while Gu Bing¡¯er waspletely unaffected, Yuan Bailong was turning crimson as he realized that everyone in the room had been listening to their conversation.

    ¡°Thank you,¡± Gu Bing¡¯er did not see anything wrong with epting Xue Wei¡¯s congrattions, neither did she feel ufortable about it. She was, in fact, very pleased that she had managed to convince Yuan Bailong to marry her.

    She had interacted with him quite a few times recently. They had met each other often at the academy, not to mention they had gotten to know each other quite well from their deals with Xue Wei about the Qi cultivation¡ªit was not like they got along poorly.

    When push came to shove, she was quite pleased with her decision. She quite liked the naive but friendly Yuan Bailong, and she was sure that he would treat her well in the future. He was an honorable man who¡ªalthough slightly naive and simple-minded¡ªwould do anything in his power to do the right thing. Such a person was hard to find, and Gu Bing¡¯er was sure that if they were given enough time, then they would learn to treasure one another as well.

    ¡°Well then, we will have to appear in love to the rest of the world, so I am relying on your acting ability,¡± Gu Bing¡¯er said as she looked at Yuan Bailong with a contemtive look. Was he going to be able to act it out?

    Seeing his embarrassed expression when, instead of maintaining eye contact with her, he desperately looked anywhere else, all while a deep red hue spread out over his face, Gu Bing¡¯er could not help but let go of her worries. He clearly looked like someone suffering from puppy love!

    Satisfied with this, Gu Bing¡¯er nodded to Xue Wei, ¡°I have conveyed the information I needed to convey. Stay safe, as our future business depends on it¡ªand don¡¯t hesitate to request our help. I will go to sort out my marriage. Bailong, do nothing, for now. We wille to the Yuan family to formally request the marriage soon.¡±

    Unless the woman was gifted as a concubine, it was usually men were the ones who went to request marriages, but it seemed that Gu Bing¡¯er did not care about thesemon customs of Yan Dalu. Not only had she proposed to Yuan Bailong, but she had also said that they would be the ones to propose the marriage.

    When Gu Bing¡¯er left, Yuan Bailong also left, his expression rather amused, as if he still had not determined what to think about the whole situation. However, he had already epted the proposal, and as a man, he was not going to go back on his word.

    When he left, Xue Wei made Lin Xiao and Hei Gou look after Luoluo, while he locked himself in the pill room to concoct pills.

    He had many pill forms with him, and amongst these pill forms were the rainbow pills.

    Rainbow pill forms were not that rare, but the pills themselves were incredibly rare as they had a very low sess rate when being refined, and the materials needed to be used were also quite rare.

    Xue Wei had not concocted pills since he made the Sky Knight Pills some time ago, so he started by created some Spring Powder Pills again¡ªthe verymon healing and minor cultivation boosting pill that works for Ordinary Knight-ranked experts. Fortunately, he quickly found the right state of mind, and all of them came out at a high purity.

    Although he had just seeded in creating a good batch of Spring Healing Pills, he was not satisfied. He tried the more challenging Sand Dust Pill, a pill that was meant to be activated rather than consumed, creating arge sandstorm in its wake.

    Any pills that were not designed for consumption were always the most difficult ones to concoct, due to their vtility¡ªwith the exception of the rainbow pills.

    The first pill was refined properly, but it had a low purity, which was something that Xue Wei did not create that often. It quickly showed him how difficult it was to sessfully concoct these pills.

    But Xue Wei did not give up. He kept at it, and eventually, he ended up concocting ten more Sand Dust Pills, out of which were eight high, one middle and another low purity pill.

    Feeling confident after his sessful concoctions, he was ready to try his hand at a Rainbow Pill. First, he found the materials needed to make this specific One-colored Rainbow Pill. There were many different forms to make rainbow pills, but they all had one thing inmon¡ªthe materials needed were more than just herbs, and the difficulty of the refinement was through the roof.

    Xue Wei took a deep breath as he organized the metals, precious stones and herbs that he had bought with merit points and prepared for these pills.

    The various hunks of metal were first sent into the cauldron, then the precious stones, and finally the herbs.

    All of it was being melted down by the spiritual energy me that he was using. As the ingredients began to merge, a red light started to appear in the cauldron¡ªthe light that was a trademark characteristic for a One-colored Rainbow Pill.

    At the start, the red light was faint, but as the materials merged together, it grew brighter and denser in color. As the pill was being formed, the intensity of the light became so overwhelming that Xue Wei had to squint his eyes to be able to see what was going on within his cauldron.

    Finally, after two hours that felt more like an eternity, the me within the cauldron died down, and a single red pill was lying within the steaming-hot cauldron.

    Xue Wei reached out and picked up the pill, and gave it a thorough examination. It was definitely a red pill, and it seemed to be intact, with no signs of cracking. Rainbow pills were only capable of being profound purity pills, and anything beneath a profound purity pill would have cracked and been made incapable of releasing any of its medicinal properties. If one were to consume a cracked one, it would be like consuming an overpriced, tasteless candy.

    Fortunately, it seemed that the first pill that he attempted had been a sess. He had not encountered any big problems when refining it, so now that he was done with it, he felt that something had to be amiss.

    Xue Wei did not have the materials to make more than three of the One-colored Rainbow Pills right now, so he considered how he might divide them amongst his group. He got up and quickly went to the front room, but upon seeing Lin Xiao and Luoluo ying together, he decided not to disturb them and quickly withdrew again. Returning to the room, he sat down on the bed, crossed his legs and steadied his breathing.

    He looked at the pill once more, before he closed his eyes and popped it into his mouth. As always, when one consumed a Rainbow Pill, one would not know which energy would be enhanced. When the pill started to turn into energy as it slid down his throat, it became evident to Xue Wei that it was his Qi cultivation that was being enhanced.

    It had been a long time since Xue Weist focused on cultivating his Qi, but now he felt how the Azure Dragon spirit in his dantian was floating with happiness and excitement. It was like a man stranded in a desert who finally managed to find an oasis and had a great thirst for everyst drop.

 Chapter 282: Sparring with Hei Gou

    Xue Wei felt all the air surrounding him turn into an energy-filled storm. The heaven-and-earth-essence rushed into his body at a speed unlike any he had ever experienced before.

    Despite the rush of energy, his body feltfortable; the energy cascaded through his meridians, and into every pore of his body. He felt the bottleneck he had been fighting since before he even arrived on Yan Dalu finally loosening up, and the Qi within his dantian rushed to improve his cultivation base.

    After breaking through the bottleneck, there was nothing stopping his explosive advancement. It was like an endless stream that flowed into his body, and soon he felt another breakthrough rapidly approaching.

    While cultivating, Xue Weipletely forgot about everything else; the outside world was but a fleeting dream to him, and all he could focus on was his body and the energy that was constantly being refined in it.

    Another five hours went by as he cultivated, churning and refining more Qi than he had ever had to before, before Xue Wei finally finished his cultivation. At this point, he¡¯d had multiple breakthroughs, bursting through into the Earth Knight rank and then even another twoyers after that. His Qi level had now settled on the thirdyer of the Earth Knight rank¡ªa tremendous increase, especially considering how he hadpletely neglected his Qi cultivation after arriving in Yan Dalu.

    Now his cultivation base was more-or-less equal in both spiritual energy and Qi, and he was capable of fighting with much more proficiency than before.

    Xue Wei stretched his body as he felt that the wanton absorption and refinement of the heaven-and-earth essence had finally slowed down to a more regr rate, and he left the room, only to find that the rest of the house was silent.

    Looking out the window, he saw that the sun had already set and the moon had risen in the sky, nketing the entire courtyard in a silvery light. Stars were also shining brightly, illuminating the otherwise dark night.

    Taking a moment to explore the house and spread out his spiritual energy, he could sense that everyone had returned to their own rooms, with Luoluo having already fallen into a deep sleep while the others were immersed in their cultivation.

    Xue Wei felt rejuvenated after his explosive cultivation with the aid of the Rainbow Pill. His body felt lighter than ever before, he could feel strength pulsating in every muscle of his body, and he pondered on what to do next.

    Should he head to the training grounds and hope that there was someone to spar against, or should he return to cultivating on his own in the room?

    Having reached a conclusion, Xue Wei wrote a message that he slipped under the door into Lin Xiao¡¯s room before he made his way to Hei Gou¡¯s room.

    Arriving, he knocked on the door, ¡°Hey, Gou,¡± he called out. After a short while, a rather disgruntled looking Hei Gou opened the door. Being interrupted when one was cultivating was not veryfortable, but he understood that Xue Wei would not interrupt him without purpose.

    ¡°What is it?¡± he asked while leaning against the door frame. His posture made his entire being ooze arrogance, making the corner of Xue Wei¡¯s lips twitch as he tried hard not tough at the handsome young dog¡¯s pretentiousness¡ªespecially since he needed his assistance now.

    ¡°I just had a few breakthroughs,¡± Xue Wei exined. ¡°I need someone to spar with, so I can get used to my new strength, but here, it is quite difficult to find someone who is capable of withstanding my attacks. So, I thought of you. Are you interested in a sparring match with me?¡±

    Although Hei Gou had been cultivating, a better way to get results with one¡¯s cultivation was to spar with a worthy opponent. Not only would it improve the speed with which one would absorb the heaven-and-earth essence, but it also helped one improve theirbat ability¡ªnot to mention a betterprehension of their abilities.

    Hei Gou had been eager for someone to spar with, as after his blood awakening on the way to Yan Dalu, he had not had any other choice other than to spar with Lin Xiao. And by now, the two of them knew each other so well that they no longer benefitted from sparring with one another.

    It was different to spar with Xue Wei. Xue Wei was half a Sovereign Beast. He could use martial art techniques that were made for humans, but he could also use powerful innate abilities that belonged to the Azure Dragons.

    He has be quite good at switching between his Qi and spiritual energy attacks with one another so that the opponent never knew what wasing for him¡ªit could be anything, making it all the more difficult to counter.

    This excitement made Xue Wei an interesting opponent, and even after having known him for as long as Hei Gou had, he still had not grasped a full scope of Xue Wei¡¯s battle form. Throughout their travels Xue Wei¡¯s mental state had changed, his personality was also heavily affected by his transformation from a trash human into a revered Sovereign Beast.

    Xue Wei could easily guess what Hei Gou was thinking when he saw the excitement shining within the handsome dog¡¯s eyes.

    Shaking his head in amusement, Xue Wei just turned around and began walking out of the house. ¡°Let¡¯s go then,¡± heughed.

    The note that Xue Wei had left to Lin Xiao stated that he had gone to the training grounds with Hei Gou to spar and that if they were not back before the time that Luoluo woke up, then he should bring her to them so that they could get breakfast together.

    Xue Wei practically came to see Lin Xiao as a nanny. He was the most responsible, and capable of almost anything, so looking after a child should not prove to be too problematic for him. Bai Tianyi, on the other hand, would bepletely incapable of looking after a child, so Xue Wei did not even consider him. It was fortunate that he hadn¡¯t already attempted to kill her to consume her soul power yet.

    As they walked through the academy, Xue Wei noticed that the previously bustling roads were now deserted. Even the facilities that had often been upied by students now stood empty.

    Many of the students of the more prominent families had already gone back home. It was as if the academy lost most of its worth, now that the Soul Tower was broken.

    As they reached the training grounds, they found that only a handful of experts were present, and all of these were Qi cultivators¡ªPrimordial Beasts.

    Although the majority of important people within Yan Dalu cultivated spiritual energy, there were still quite a few Primordial Beasts that cultivated Qi, and they were not to be belittled.

    Xue Wei and Hei Gou looked around, quickly finding a sparring arena that was unupied. They casually went towards it, chatting with one another as if the perilous situation they were actually in had no effect on their mental state.

    The Baili family must be nning their revenge on Xue Wei and could strike at any given time. At the same time, the Soul Tower bing nonfunctional meant that not only was the entire continent worried, but the elders within the Garden of Shadows were far too preupied to give them any assistance. Nheless, they werepletely carefree as they joked around.

    Noticing their carefree behavior, the other students were stumped for words. Were these two delusional, or were they being overconfident?

    The Baili family were not to be denigrated, and everyone knew that Xue Wei had killed a young master Baili already. Everyone had heard about the academy¡¯s response, and the Baili family¡¯s manhunt was scheduled to begin shortly.

    Was this really the time for them to being to the training grounds and spar with one another in such a carefree manner?

    Xue Wei took a stance in front of Hei Gou. He quickly activated the Qi within his body, causing it to pour out of his hand, and taking on the shape of a longsword.

    Swinging the sword to test its ephemeral weightlessness in his hand, Xue Wei released a wicked grin on his face. It had been too long since he¡¯dst experienced a proper fight. Although it was against his brother, Hei Gou, he knew that he could go all out. Even if they ended up getting injured, they would never me one another, they would justugh it off, as they knew they would never hurt each other on purpose.

    Xue Wei wielded the shining sword with a flourish, reminding Hei Gou not to underestimate the power behind its razor sharp edge.

    Without hesitation, he swiftly ced his ws on his hands, took a defensive stance and got ready to defend himself.

    Forbidden Rush!

    Windwolf Sword sh!

    Xue Wei did not go easy on Hei Gou; he rushed towards him so fast that all that the spectating Primordial Beasts could see was a blur of motion.

    Suddenly, Hei Gou¡¯s pupils constricted, and he retreated three steps while lifting the ws above his head¡ªjust in time to block the Qi sword that Xue Wei was pressing down on him.

    Although Xue Wei was now at the thirdyer of the Earth Knight rank in Qi levels, Hei Gou was at the fourthyer; however, it turned out that their strength was equally matched.

    The grins on the sparring duo¡¯s faces deepened more profoundly than they had been before; their blood was boiling in excitement.

    It was a long time since they had been able to fight without caring for their surroundings, and using their inner energies to sh.

    Xue Wei had retreated slightly after a sh with Hei Gou, but when a big enough distance had opened between them, Xue Wei unleashed a fierce Azure Light Finger, before he immediately rushed beside the hurtling azure energy, and simultaneouslynded a Shattering Mountain Palm as it hit.

    Hei Gou was hard-pressed to defend himself against the synchronized attacks.

    He lifted his w to deflect the Azure Light Finger, as he was acutely aware that this attack¡ªbeing inspired by an innate skill of the Azure Dragons¡ªwas the most lethal one of the two attacks, and in turn, couldn¡¯t prevent the palm attacknding solidly on his chest.

    The moment the attacknded on his chest, he felt as if his blood was starting to flow in reverse; the Qi in his body turned sluggish, and his body shot backward like a kite being cut from its string.

    Digging his ws into the ground, he managed to slow down the speed with which he was sent scurrying back. Blood leaked from the corner of his lip, but there were no signs of displeasure on his face.

    Xue Wei did not rush to follow up this time. It was, after all a sparring match, and he did not want his friend¡¯s life.

    Hei Gou snickered and wiped the blood from his lips with a smile, before he withdrew a vial from his storage treasure, and poured out some Returning Spring Healing Pills into his hand. He then popped them straight into his mouth, chewed loudly with audible crunching sounds and swallowed loudly.

    The wounds he had sustained were quickly healed under the consumption of the pills, and he snickered. ¡°My turn this time!¡± he eximed, jumping high into the air while a set of beautiful ck wings sprouted from his back.

    With these ck wings, his speed increased tremendously. He was much more dangerous than before, and even while relying on his Forbidden Rush, Xue Wei still felt hard-pressed to keep up with the cuts from Hei Gou¡¯s lightning-fast ws, as they came from all directions.

    ¡°Transformation is not allowed!¡± Xue Wei yelled out withughter, stepping back. ¡°But damn, you can transform partially?! This is so awesome!¡± he eximed, and Hei Gou justughed out loud.

    ¡°This is not a transformation but an innate ability!¡± he argued back, punctuating it with a few ps of his wings that sent him speeding once more.

    ¡°So unfair!¡± Xue Wei muttered while his eyes focused. Hei Gou was almost too fast for him to keep up with, he had to really strain all his senses to protect himself against the iing onught of attacks.

 Chapter 283: Trouble Comes Knocking

    Their blood was boiling in their veins, as the sparring match they were engaged in took away their breath.

    Their entire focus was locked on one another, constantly advancing, retreating,shing out or defending with their weapons.

    They were so engrossed in their fight that they did not even notice that the few people at the sparring field had stopped their own training to stand and observe the epic battle between Xue Wei and Hei Gou.

    The Primordial Beasts were all eager to see a thrilling battle; they wanted to expand their own horizons by seeing how others battled, and they were all stunned by what they saw.

    The battle was one of speed. Hei Gou was using some innate ability that relied on his ck wings, and Xue Wei was utilizing his Forbidden Rush movement technique to its max.

    Wounds and cuts had appeared all over Xue Wei and Hei Gou, turning their clothes into rags.

    Xue Wei was wearing his red Primordial Beast silks, masking the blood that had seeped into it, while Hei Gou was in his ck robes, masking a simr amount.

    The ring cuts were not even visible under their blood-soaked skin, the blood just making their bodies seem dark red or even ck under the moonlit skies.

    Xue Wei and Hei Gou were wounding one another, but as soon as one had received any serious injury, they would pause the battle to allow for the injured person to take a Returning Spring Healing Pill, addressing the more serious injury, but at the same time, also closing the various cuts on their bodies.

    Even the more serious wounds were not something that they would consider an issue. If it was a real battle, they would easily be able to continue fighting, but since it was a simple spar, they stopped from time to time to make sure they didn¡¯t lose anything vital.

    The surrounding Primordial Beasts almost had their eyes popping out of their skulls. They saw these two people shing here and there and fighting at such a rapid speed that it was almost impossible to watch with the naked eye, yet momentarily stopping sometimes to eat some pills as if they were candies.

    The moon started to retire as the sun rose in the sky, and yet still a winner had not been dered in Hei Gou and Xue Wei¡¯s battle. Hours had gone by, but they had not even been drained of Qi; their battle had just gotten more and more intense instead.

    More and more people had gathered to watch them spar, and now it was not only Primordial Beasts but also spiritual energy cultivators who had casually walked past, and been caught up in what a real battle between Qi cultivators could look like.

    They did not stop before a childish voice sounded in the audience, ¡°Big Brother is awesome; he is beating the bad doggie!¡±

    Hearing this, Hei Gou lost his focus, and Xue Wei took the opportunity to quickly maneuver and position his sword at his friend¡¯s throat, a triumphant smile on his face.

    ¡°You cheated. You used Luoluo to distract me!¡± Hei Gou begrudgingly said, but, although he wasining, a smile was on his face as he looked at the child who had called out.

    Xue Wei snickered, ¡°You would have lost either way; this way, it just happened faster.¡±

    ¡°It was obviously me who would have won,¡± Hei Gou retorted. ¡°I am so handsome; it is impossible for me to lose to someone who is half a head shorter than me!¡±

    Xue Wei was left speechless after hearing Hei Gou¡¯s excuse, and then he startedughing out loud.

    ¡°I am afraid you don¡¯t win based on your appearance,¡± he grinned. ¡°If you want to win, then you have to back up your words with strength, but you clearly did not have as much strength as me, so you were starting tog behind.¡±

    ¡°Want to go at it again?!¡± Hei Gou asked as he puffed up his chest like an angry pigeon. Both Hei Gou¡¯s and Xue Wei¡¯s robes had long since been shredded, and when they looked at themselves, they could not help but smile and shake their heads at their ragged appearances.

    ¡°Not now,¡± Xue Wei waved his hand in exhaustion. ¡°We already went at it for hours, and although we had healing pills to assist us, we ought to stop for now.¡±

    Having finished the bout, Xue Wei took out a fresh set of clothes from his storage treasure. He whipped the destroyed robe off, leaving him standing only in his undergarments, wiped as much blood as he could off with the tattered fabric, and swiftly draped the undamaged robes around himself.

    When he was fully dressed once more, Luoluo ran towards him and stretched out her arms, ¡°Big Brother, Big Brother, you promised me lots of food!¡± she eximed as she waited for him to pick her up.

    Suddenly bearing a doting smile, Xue Wei bent down and carried Luoluo in his arms. He gently bumped her nose with a finger, and a giddy expression appeared on his face.

    ¡°Change your clothes, Gou,¡± Xue Wei said as he threw a nce at his friend who was still raring to continue their battle. ¡°We have to go and eat breakfast; I promised little Luoluo.¡±

    Luoluo grinned happily when she heard that, and Hei Gou smiled too, giving up on the battle he had wished to continue. He took out a recement ck robe and wrapped it around himself, before tying the belt, and then joining Xue Wei and the others.

    Bai Tianyi was standing behind Lin Xiao, his eyes slightly narrowed as he gave Luoluo a contemtive stare.

    Xue Wei noticed this gaze, and wondered if Bai Tianyi had understood something that he had not¡ªBai Tianyi was, after all, a much more experienced being than he, so maybe he had sensed something that he did not?

    Noticing that Xue Wei had seen his gaze, Bai Tianyi slowly shook his head to indicate that they could not talk about it right now, but a gleam of light shone in his eyes as if he had encountered a treasure.

    ¡°Let us get going,¡± Xue Wei said and started walking towards the area of the academy where the restaurants were located.

    Leaving the training grounds, Xue Wei and his friends began chatting with one another. ¡°So you just left little Luoluo to me? What kind of adult are you to just drop that responsibility on me?¡± Lin Xiao grumbled, making Luoluo look back at Lin Xiao with a cheeky smile on her face.

    ¡°Luoluo can¡¯t marry big brother, so Luoluo will marry Uncle Lin Xiao instead,¡± she said with a grin and a giggle, her words stunning Lin Xiao and making his eyes wide.

    ¡°I say, little girl, can you not say such a terrifying thing?!¡± he eximed in shock, but Luoluo just pursed her lips and snorted. ¡°I am marrying Uncle Lin Xiao since I cannot marry Big Brother. The ck doggie is annoying, and the kid is scary.¡±

    All four people were surprised hearing Luoluo¡¯s promation, but after a moment, Xue Wei beganughing.

    Luoluo¡¯s reasoning was wless; it could not be argued against. She had picked Lin Xiao only because she could not marry Xue Wei, and the two others were quickly dismissed because of her first-hand impressions of them.

    Suddenly, as they were walking on the streets, Xue Wei saw a group of experts moving towards them¡ªone containing experts from the Baili family.

    ¡°Are you Xue Wei?¡± the person who was walking in front of the group asked with obvious malice in his voice.

    He was not even trying to hide his displeasure and the fact that he was here to cause problems.

    Xue Wei nced at him and his followers. They were eleven people, and amongst these eleven people, all of them were spiritual energy cultivators at the Earth Knight level.

    It was obvious that they had investigated Xue Wei and his friends¡¯ current strength, and knowing that all of them were Earth Knights, they felt no need to dispatch a Sky Knight to deal with them.

    They had the benefit of being superior in numbers, and they also held the arrogance of the Baili family. Being a family of noble blood, they were all able to confront experts of higher rank than themselves anyway, so dealing with Xue Wei and his friends should be a simple task.

    Unfortunately, these experts knew too little about Xue Wei and his friends. They were like butterflies raised in a greenhouse, never before had they seen challenges or experienced true hardship. These people had never even killed someone before, as Yan Dalu was an incredibly peaceful area.

    When fighting with your life on the line, these experts had no experience whatsoever, and in the end, it would show when the fight was unfolding.

    Xue Wei and his friends, on the other hand, had fought many battles; they had been chased across an entire continent, been the subject of hatred and envy, and had killed multiple people.

    They would show no remorse killing even more, should they be threatened, and considering their current rtionship with the Baili family, they felt no need to show mercy if this encounter ended in a battle. It was hard to say who would be in the toughest position considering how Xue Wei and the others were bloodthirsty mass murderers, and they were naive and spoiled young masters.

    ¡°Hey! I am talking to you!¡± the man who had asked if he was Xue Wei called out, unhappy with how Xue Wei was ignoring him, and looking at him as if he was an idiot.

    ¡°Well, you talk to me and then I have to answer?¡± Xue Wei asked mockingly. ¡°What kind of world is this, are you my master? Am I your servant? Why must I follow your orders?¡±

    Hearing what Xue Wei said, the man¡¯s face turned pale and livid in anger. He had never experienced anyone this disrespectful before, and he was unsure of what exactly he should say now.

    His imposing demeanor waspletely deted after Xue Wei¡¯s taunts. He had expected much more from their arrival. They would use their numbers to intimidate Xue Wei; they would make it possible for their group to break their spirits before bringing them back to the Baili family.

    In fact, it never urred to this group of experts that they would actually have to fight and risk the chance their targets might kill them instead of being captured.

    Xue Wei just snickered when he saw the expression on their faces, and he shook his head.

    Suddenly he felt excited. He had just been in a battle with Hei Gou, and although he enjoyed the thrill of battle, it had not been possible to let go of his bloodlust¡ªto release his urge to killpletely.

    Seeing that these smallmbs had served themselves up for ughter, Xue Wei felt the blood in his body boil. After he had be one with the Azure Dragon blood, he had felt more and more ruthless. He had also started to enjoy the feeling of killing someone, and if he was not careful, he would surely sumb to such feelings of pleasure and be addicted to killing.

    But Xue Wei retained a semnce of humanity and knew that some things could not be allowed. If he truly became a cold-blooded killer who killed for pleasure, then he would no longer be himself.

    Still, if anyone threw themselves at him, he was not going to be mindlessly polite.

    The group of friends was generally rather ruthless. Bai Tianyi had given up his humanity for the sake of immortality and became a sword spirit; this meant that humans and beasts were nothing more than walking bags of soul power to him.

    If not for Xue Wei¡¯s serious warnings to him, he would have run around killing people to harvest their soul power with no qualms.

    Hei Gou was also rather disinterested in human and beastly lives. All that mattered to him was his friends, and anyone else waspletely ignored. Killing them would even be a waste of time unless they troubled him.

    Amongst all of them, the one who had the most pity and empathy towards other creatures was Lin Xiao, and even he was somewhat the same; he too, had hands soaked in blood.

 Chapter 284: Those That Cross My Path

    Sensing that the group of experts was not being intimidated by their sheer numbers, the Baili experts steeled themselves for battle.

    Xue Wei had been waiting for this. His lips curled into a grin, and his eyes shone with light. Bai Tianyi, Hei Gou, and Lin Xiao were also rather eager to battle as none of them had had a real fight since the time they had encountered the bandits before they arrived at the academy. Now they finally had an excuse to start stretching their legs.

    The only one who was unsure of what was happening was Luoluo. She was, after all, a child in mentality, and Xue Wei wanted her to grow up as a free spirit. He wanted to protect her naivety, but at the same time, he also knew that it was highly unlikely that she had no blood on her hands, considering her real age was simr to the old monster, Bai Tianyi.

    Inner Might: Qi Sword!

    Wasting no time, Xue Wei instantly used his skill to create a sword out of Qi, which he then started flourishing in his hand, the grin on his face widening in anticipation.

    Hei Gou readied a simr stance, the ws having already been withdrawn from his storage treasure and ced on his hands. Bai Tianyi had started circting the spiritual energy within his body while Lin Xiao had found his staff, ready to attack the group that wasing towards them.

    ¡°What... what are you guys doing?!¡± the leader of the Baili team asked when he saw that these people had not an ounce of fright, but instead seemed to be preparing¡ªor even seemed eager¡ªto fight!

    ¡°What are we doing?¡± Xue Wei pretended to ponder for a moment, and then he shed a brilliant, toothy smile and answered, ¡°We are obviously doing you!¡±

    The leader turned pale, but he did not withdraw. He had faith in his team, and worst case scenario¡ªthey would be badly bruised. Although he was aware of Xue Wei having alreadypletely annihted the previous group he came across, he hadpletely forgotten about this point.

    Forbidden Rush!

    Arcane Fist!

    Windwolf Sword sh!

    Xue Wei did not hesitate at all. After speaking, he rushed forward with the Forbidden Rush movement technique, and at the same time, heunched two attacks simultaneously.

    One was the fist attack, Arcane Fist, which created an illusion of thousands of fist imprints in the air, all of which were created with Qi, and all of them raining down on the body of the expert he had targeted.

    At the same time, he unleashed a Windwolf Sword sh with the Qi sword. The sh was fast, precise and sharp. Both the fist attack and the sword attack came raining down on the same person; a person who was rather weak amongst the opponents as he was merely a thirdyer Earth Warrior¡ªa rank equal to Xue Wei, so there was no way he would be able to protect himself.

    First, the fist attacknded, sending him reeling backward, blood flowing from his mouth. Afterward, the sword shnded on his chest, slicing open his garments and gouging a deep wound in his chest, which immediately started spewing blood.

    ¡°Aren¡¯t you being too violent?!¡± the person in charge of the Baili group yelled, as his eyes widened in surprise and horror upon seeing Xue Wei¡¯s unbridled attack. It was as if they did not care about the consequences at all!

    ¡°Use your brain,¡± Xue Wei snickered as he ran forward and released another Windwolf Sword sh, beheading the person who he had injured before. ¡°We are already like oil and water with the Baili family. Why allow them even more people to chase us?¡±

    Hearing Xue Wei speak so casually while killing a person sent shivers down the back of everyone present.

    Yan Dalu was a calm continent. It was a ce where, although ten people vanished a day, there were very rarely any murder, bandits, or blood spilled. Even when there were schemes against the different families, they rarely resorted to killing one another, even when they devolved into fights.

    Yet now they had seen someone being killed right in front of them, and so casually as well. It was as if life waspletely meaningless in Xue Wei¡¯s eyes. Even as he killed, he did not blink; blood sprayed from the executed man¡¯s severed neck, yet Xue Wei still held a grin on his face.

    Not only the Baili family, but everyone present suddenly felt a cold shiver run down their spine, and theiry eyes widened in horror.

    The disy of callousness was something they had never seen before, and the majority of the students had not even seen someone being killed; only those who had been out on missions like the bandit attack knew about what it would be like to kill someone, or see someone being killed in front of them.

    These Baili family minions had no idea of what it meant to kill. They had never truly thought about it, but now when they stood in a fight that was either kill or be killed, they suddenly felt their knees grow weak and horror filling their hearts.

    ¡°You cannot kill us!¡± the leader eximed, his voice rising a few octaves and breaking as his horror and disbelief got the better of him. He failed to sound very authoritative when his voice remained high as he continued to plead, ¡°We are from the Baili family! Killing us is a crime against humanity; we are the protectors of Yan Dalu!¡±

    ¡°We are foreigners,¡± Xue Wei reminded him. ¡°No one has taught us what it means to be a protector of Yan Dalu, and is there really aw that states that you cannot kill someone when ites to legal self-defensce? Look how many you are; look how few we are. It is logical that we are frightened silly, and that we have no other option than to retaliate.¡±

    The man was tongue-tied. He had never expected that Xue Wei would give a reasonable response while being shrouded in such a dense murderous aura.

    There was, in fact, aw that stated that you could not kill in Yan Dalu. However, thew did not count if the act was in self-defense.

    Right now it could be argued, if one was very thick-skinned, that the Baili family had brought a mob to cause problems, making it so the attack was in self-defense, yet everyone who was watching the scene felt that this was not self-defense at all, instead, it was clearly murder.

    Xue Wei was not the only one being brutal; the others had also acted simrly. Bai Tianyi had not been holding back at all. He had formed thousands of swords around him from his spiritual energy, and thrust them relentlessly towards his foes. Many of them were easily blocked, but the sheer number was enough to overwhelm multiple experts at once.

    Lin Xiao was also facing against two at the same time. ¡°I am sorry, I am a monk, and I should not be beating people,¡± he said with a sigh as if to excuse himself. ¡°But then again, I am no longer much of a monk, and you guys are seriously an eyesore, so saving everyone else from having to look at you could also be considered a good deed,¡± he mused to himself. His words caused his opponents to feel so livid with anger that they almost coughed up more blood than they already had after being beaten ck and blue by his staff.

    On the other hand, Hei Gou was not speaking a word to his foes. He felt that these people were not worthy of his words, and instead, he had transformed his ck wings and used them to swoop like a breeze through the experts, the ws never resting as they cut through one after the other.

    In less than a minute, the entire group had fallen into a perilous situation, and they were all feeling dread towards Xue Wei and his friends, causing them to start panicking.

    More and more of them were being killed; they dropped to the ground as soon as the pressure got to them, and they no longer had the chance to protect themselves.

    In fact, although this was a life and death battle, Xue Wei and the others were not taking it too seriously. None of them had fully transformed, nor they had not used their strongest abilities either; they were more like a bunch of cats toying with a handful of mice.

    They purposefully avoided the leader, leaving him unscathed. He was rushing forth and back in an attempt to attack in a pair with some of the others, and then tried tounch sneak attacks in an attempt to disrupt the group of people who were now bathed in blood, but he met with no sess.

    The only thing he noticed was that his heart was growing more and more ufortable. He was fearing for his own life, but he was unwilling to leave hisrades. He understood that the Baili family had looked after him, and if he betrayed them, he would be worse than a dog.

    Since this was the case, his only option was to fight it out. InAt the beginning, he had arrived with great hopes of capturing Xue Wei and his friends. Afterward, he had been hoping that they could kill Xue Wei and his friends. Then he had hoped that they could just kill one of Xue Wei¡¯s entourage, but by now, he was just hoping to draw a drop of blood so that their death would not be totally in vain.

    ¡°You are quite loyal,¡± Xue Wei said with admiration as he set his sights on the leader, who by now, was the only man standing. He lifted his head and looked at Xue Wei with hatred burning in his eyes.

    ¡°The Baili family will get what they want,¡± he said with determination. ¡°Even if you have the backing of the Gu and Yuan families, even if you have the abilities of fearsome Qi cultivators, none of it matters,¡± he beganughing hysterically.

    ¡°The Baili family has always been superior, not just because of their family¡¯s overwhelming power, but also because they have recruited many geniuses.

    ¡°The Baili family is not as simple as you might think!¡± The leader was proud to be a member of the Baili family, despite feeling that Xue Wei was looking down upon them. If he could trade his life for respect, then it would be worth it.

    ¡°So you¡¯re telling me that the Baili family not only consists of the Baili family but that they also have hired hidden experts? That is great information, thank you,¡± Xue Wei grinned.

    He knew a bit about the Baili family, but all his information came from the Gu and Yuan families, so hearing about them straight from the horse¡¯s mouth was much more informative.

    ¡°Well, you are actually the kind of person I respect,¡± Xue Wei said as he looked at the person in front of him before continuing, ¡°but you came to capture me, perhaps even kill me, so I cannot let you go. Why don¡¯t I allow you tomit suicide to correct your wrongs?¡±

    The man was stumped when he heard Xue Wei¡¯s words. At first, he had a growing hope that he might survive, but when he heard his only alternative, he could not help butugh helplessly.

    ¡°I do not have the courage,¡± the man said honestly. ¡°Death is a scary thing to me, and I have never encountered someone as ruthless as you or who can kill as easily as you do.

    ¡°In fact, I doubt that creatures like you even exist here on Yan Dalu. Bloodthirsty fiends, who kill without blinking. It would be best if you never appeared on our peaceful continent.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t be too sure,¡± Xue Wei answered, not taking his words too seriously. ¡°Where do you think the ten missing people go?¡± he asked, ¡°they don¡¯t just leave the continent, so someone is as murderous as I am¡ªin fact much more, as I might kill, but I don¡¯t go after innocent citizens. I only aim for those that cross my path.¡±

 Chapter 285: The Baili Familys Meeting

    The leader of the Baili group sighed. He understood what Xue Wei meant, but he had a hard time epting it as the truth.

    ¡°Well, that¡¯s that,¡± the man resided, smiling sadly. When he had awoken thisat morning, he would never have expected that today would be his final day of life, and even less would he have expected this task to end like this.

    Now, however, it seemed that it was his final moments, and although he felt some sour feelings in his heart, he was able to ept this ending.

    He was proud of his life as a member of the Baili family. He had not let anyone down and even in death;, he believed that he would be a ghost of the Baili family.

    Such a person was impossible to hate, and he was someone who deserved respect. However, Xue Wei also understood that a person like this would be too dangerous to be left alive.

    He simply could not afford to let the man go, and thus he lifted the Qi sword and gave it a firm swing, beheading the leader and giving him a quick, painless death.

    There was no bloodlust or murderous aura atin this moment; all that was left was a group of experts saying their final goodbye to a man that had garnered some respect.

    Even Bai Tianyi took a pause before absorbing the soul power that was released after his death.

    After killing thest of them, Xue Wei did not even nce at the corpses that were littered in the streets of the academy; instead, they just continued towards the restaurant.

    ¡°Were you scared?¡± Xue Wei asked Luoluo as he, once more, took her into his arms and carried her.

    ¡°Not scared,¡± Luoluo shook her head with a sweet smile on her face. ¡°Big Brother and Uncle Lin Xiao will protect Luoluo, Luoluo is not at all scared when Big Brother and Uncle Lin Xiao are around.¡±

    Xue Weiughed when he noticed how shepletely ignored ¡®doggie¡¯ Hei Gou and ¡®brat¡¯ Bai Tianyi.

    On the other hand, the two ignored experts did not have any wish to draw attention to themselves.

    Bai Tianyi was in a rtively great mood. He had just consumed the soul power of the entire group, and he could already feel how it was increasing his cultivation base slowly but surely.

    Hei Gou was also quite happy after having sparred against Xue Wei in the morning, and now having fought a battle against a group of experts, even if it was more one-sided.

    He had felt thrilled and excited, so he did not mind forgiving Luoluo for once. After all, Xue Wei really doted on the child, so even if he found her annoying, he had to cope with it.

    The spectators werepletely silent before a person suddenly started vomiting.

    It was clear that these students had never before seen such a macabre scene as the one in front of them. Seeing these people with decapitated heads, amputated limbs, disemboweled intestines¡ªeverything they saw was just so gruesome that the sight of the bloodbathed corpses and fresh scent of death saturating the air was simply too much for some of them to stomach.

    Rumors were spread through the academy within moments. They used their telepathy to converse with their friends, and tell them everything they had just witnessed, before their friends spread the news on further. Soon, a few turned to many, many quickly turned to hundreds, and hundreds spread to thousands within the city.

    The Baili family were also amongst the first to be informed about the loss of their minions, and the domineering actions of Xue Wei¡¯s group.

    Inside the Baili family mansion, the elders gathered together.

    ¡°Do you think that this Xue Wei is so much stronger than others at the same rank, or is it true that spiritual energy cultivators are weakpared to the Qi cultivators?¡± one of the elders asked with a pondering expression on his face.

    ¡°I do not believe that Qi cultivators are more powerful in battle,¡± another said with disdain in his voice. ¡°If they were, would the Primordial Beasts not be much more prominent and dangerous in a fight?¡±

    ¡°So this Xue Wei and his friends are special?¡± the first person asked with unconcealed uncertainty in his voice.

    ¡°They managed to wipe out eleven experts while only being four. It shows that their battle prowess is outstanding, and their ruthlessness cannot be matched by anyone in Yan Dalu.¡±

    ¡°They are too cocky,¡± an aged voice suddenly sounded. ¡°They killed our men in front of so many witnesses¡ªit is showing contempt for Yan Dalu¡¯sw, and we can charge them with the crime of murdering citizens of our continent.¡±

    ¡°That will not work.¡± The speaker who responded was also an old man but who was seated in the most prominent position within the hall, and when he spoke, the rest listened with reverence.

    ¡°The witnesses saw that the Baili men were the ones who were aggressive and looking for trouble. If we truly drag them to court, we will not win as they will be seen as fighting in the name of self-defense.¡±

    ¡°We can bribe the jury and the judges.¡± The man who had spoken before was not willing to give up, and he tried to convince them that it was a possibility.

    ¡°No, we cannot allow for him to be taken away,¡± a fourth elder suddenly spoke up. ¡°Hees from another continent, and he is filled with treasures. Just look how strong he has made the Yuan and the Gu families in such a short amount of time. We need to capture him and force out his secrets, make him submit to our family, and work for us.¡±

    ¡°Can we control him though?¡± The elder who wanted to put him behind bars was still not convinced, ¡°He has already killed so many of our men and even a direct descendant of our Baili family! This is uneptable!¡±

    ¡°Well, we will obviously have to punish him for what he did, but he will be a great benefit to our family if we capture him. Our family needs to remain the strongest amongst them all.¡±

    ¡°How are we going to capture him, now that it is proven that we cannot use students of the Earth rank? We need to at least use Sky Knight-ranked experts to deal with them,¡± the elder whom they all respected spoke up.

    One of the elders who had been silent so far finally had something to add, ¡°My son, Baili Guan is a brilliant young man. He has reached the secondyer of the Sky Knight rank and should be capable of leading a group to bring the criminal back to our family, so that we can slowly convince him that working with us is much better than working with the Gu and Yuan families.¡±

    While the Baili family were busy discussing how best to apprehend and capture Xue Wei, the man in question was at the restaurant eating happily with his friends.

    ¡°Eat slower, it isn¡¯t going anywhere,¡± Xue Weiughed when he saw how Luoluo was gobbling up the food on her te so fast, as if she fearedwas fearing that it would spontaneously vanish at any moment.

    ¡°It tastes so good!¡± Luoluo grinned and stuffed another piece of braised Mirror Boar meat into her mouth, and immediately following it up by reaching and grabbing her favorite¡ªthe Ice Lotus Shrimp wontons.

    Xue Wei smiled as he saw how messy she was when eating, reminding him of his own childhood from before his father died. He too, had been a very active and positive child until the day he realized that he could not cultivate.

    He found a napkin and gently wiped her mouth, but it only took a short while before the mouth was caked in grease again, and he could only shake his head in defeat.

    As they finished eating¡ªalthough, in Luoluo¡¯s case, it was better described as a ruthless oral assault with no survivors¡ªthey returned to their house. On the way, they found that the area where they had fought earlier was closed off, and a lot of academy staff were going around cleaning the ground and disposing of the bodies.

    ¡°They will not give up just like that,¡± Xue Wei suddenly said as they regrouped at home, and once more waited for Gu Bing¡¯er and Yuan Bailong to arrive.

    As they arrived, the look on their faces were grim, they clearly knew about Xue Wei having killed the Baili family¡¯s men, and the fact that they killed with no hesitation made both of the two citizens of Yan Dalu ufortable.

    Fortunately, Xue Wei was arade of theirs, but they could not help but wonder what would have happened if they had been on the opposing side of Xue Wei and his friends. Would they have been mercilessly ughtered too?

    Gu Bing¡¯er was the first to realize that they would have been fine as long as they had not caused problems for him. Xue Wei had not been antagonistic towards the Baili family before they started to try and force him to fight against the Gu and Yuan families, and side with the Baili family.

    So since this was the case, then she could ept it. As long as he did not kill for pleasure and forget his humanity, she was able to understand and admonish actions.

    Gu Bing¡¯er was also much calmer than Yuan Bailong. She was also much more mature and ruthless when it came to scheming, so she understood things like this, which Yuan Bailong had a hard time epting.

    Yet after listening to his fiance exining her thoughts telepathically, Yuan Bailong was also feeling better, and his face softened, regaining a bit of its color.

    Xue Wei could guess their thoughts from reading their expressions. Killing was something he too, had frowned upon back when he began his journey, but now that he had grown ustomed to it as time went by, he had learned that either he killed his enemies or his enemies killed him.

    ¡°So the Baili family are not likely to let us go. Before, they would probably not have left us be, and now they¡¯re definitelying for us,¡± Xue Wei began talking with unusual solemnity.

    ¡°Since they won¡¯t let us be, why not let them capture me?¡± Xue Wei asked suddenly. ¡°I will not be killed instantly as I don¡¯t have much they¡¯d want if I¡¯m dead, and if they have me without another fight, they will let the rest of you go.

    ¡°I will make some formations and some pills, and after epting these, you will go to to the Gu and Yuan families and prepare to overthrow the Baili family when you have advanced sufficiently.

    ¡°I can make a few Rainbow Pills if I get the materials needed,¡± Xue Wei continued, and while the expressions of his friends changed when they heard him say that he could make Rainbow Pills, the other two were just confused.

    ¡°Rainbow Pills?¡± they asked with uncertainty. The Rainbow Pills were the most outstanding pill on Chang¡¯an, but it was not that well known on Yan Dalu.

    ¡°They are outstanding magical pills which either increase your Qi, your spiritual energy or enhance your physical strength,¡± Bai Tianyi said. ¡°They will increase one of those three at random, but it will be a massive increase; at least one breakthrough should happen, if not two or three.¡±

    ¡°Such a wondrous thing exists?¡± Gu Bing¡¯er was shocked when she heard it, but she quickly regained enoughposure to ept a note from Xue Wei which contained the ingredients needed.

    Looking at the ingredients, she frowned. She had always thought that pills only required herbs to be crafted, but these pills also required precious gems and ores.

    Still, if one was able to achieve at least one breakthrough with each pill, then the excessive materials were worth it.

    ¡°We will have enough materials to make ten at least, and twenty at most,¡± she said. Xue Wei nodded his head; it was not likely for him to make much more than that, as it not only took a long time to make these pills, but unlike other pills where he could make a batch at a time, he could only concoct one Rainbow Pill at a time.

 Chapter 286: Different Species

    ¡°Ten-to-twenty Rainbow Pills will also be quite a big treasure,¡± Xue Wei said proudly ¡°They can provide a rather outstanding benefit to the people consuming them, and I believe that the Gu and Yuan families will be capable of outmatching the Baili family when thest of the Sky Knight Pills and Rainbow Pills have been consumed.

    ¡°I think I will be able to stay in their dungeons for a week, maybe two, but more than that and even I will start to have trouble hanging on to my sanity,¡± Xue Wei said cautiously. ¡°So within two weeks, you will have to bolster your strength and get ready to fight back.¡±

    ¡°Big Brother, are you going to leave Luoluo?¡± Luoluo looked at Xue Wei with big eyes filled with worry, but Xue Wei just squatted in front of her and rustled her hair.

    ¡°Big Brother needs to go on a trip for some time. In the meanwhile, Uncle Xiao will look after you. If anything, you can alwaysin to Big Brother about him when Ie back, and then I will scold him, okay?¡±

    The girl had unshed tears in her eyes that she had tried hard to keep in check, but it eventually won, and a single tear fell down her cheek.

    She did not understand what torture meant, nor did she understand what exactly was going on; all she knew was that Xue Wei needed to leave for a short while and that she would be without him¡ªsomething that made her deeply upset.

    ¡°Big Brother promises toe back?¡± Luoluo asked with a pitifully small voice.

    Xue Wei smiled as he gently wiped away her tear and rubbed her head, ¡°I promise.¡±

    ¡°This is important?¡± she continued bravely, and Xue Wei smiled as he nodded his head. ¡°Uncle Xiao will look after me and make sure that nothing bad happens?¡± she added, looking more confident.

    Xue Wei once more said yes as he gave a nce towards Lin Xiao, who looked appalled by the thought of having to look after the kid for so long, but when taking a moment to consider alternatives, he understood this was the best solution.

    ¡°Is it safe though?¡± Bai Tianyi finally asked cautiously. ¡°You already killed quite a few of their people. What if you are mistaken and they won¡¯t try to gain your knowledge, but directly try to kill you in vengeance, then what?¡±

    ¡°They are the most influential noble family within Yan Dalu. Do you really think they will kill off someone who is of such value to them?¡±

    ¡°If you had killed my son, then I would tear you apart, no matter how valuable you are,¡± Lin Xiao agreed, with Hei Gou nodding as well and both of them looking quite worried.

    Hearing their argument, Gu Bing¡¯er could not help but snort. ¡°You guyse from another continent, you do not understand anything about how the fights are here, in the noble families.

    ¡°Although he has killed a direct descendant of the Baili bloodline, there are many direct descendants, and there¡¯s also a power struggle between them for the higher positions within the family.

    ¡°They will consider the fact that Xue Wei can elevate their family to greater heights, and they will feel that the weak Baili son died for the sake of the benefit of the family.¡±

    Hearing Gu Bing¡¯er¡¯s understanding of the situation cated the others somewhat, and Xue Wei felt that was essentially the same kind of reasoning he hade to.

    Yuan Bailong was notfortable with the way things were going, but he could do nothing else than to fight by his fianc¨¦ and Xue Wei¡¯s side.

    Hearing him say that he would allow himself to be caught by the Baili family was something that he had never expected. He had not thought that Xue Wei would ept this way of handling them.

    It was obvious that he would be mistreated in the Baili family, did he not fear torture? One has to remember that this was Yan Dalu, a ce filled with spiritual energy and the torture methods usually focused on the soul and invading the mind.

    Wounds to the soul were many times more serious than an injury to one¡¯s body. A soul injury required some rare herbs and pills, or to consume a rather substantial amount of soul power to be healed.

    Would anyone volunteer to enter a tiger¡¯s den? Yuan Bailong had never seen anyone who would willingly do so before, but looking at Xue Wei, it seemed as if he was rather serious about this suggestion.

    Sensing that he was serious, Yuan Bailong said nothing more. So after all the voices of disagreement were killed, they started forming a proper n on what they had to do to free him once they were ready.

    ¡°This is a very risky n,¡± Xue Wei summarized after they had finished discussing it. ¡°And I am not sure how long I can handle, so the most conservative estimate is two weeks. I doubt they will kill me, but they might wear my mind down and turn me into a mindless doll.¡±

    Xue Wei was speaking as if it was not himself that was going to be in this perilous position.

    ¡°It will be fine,¡± Bai Tianyi finally reaffirmed, ¡°your kind have some defenses protecting their mind and soul. Don¡¯t forget that your species is not something a weak human canpare to.¡±

    Hearing this, the two from Yan Dalu were left bbergasted. Was Xue Wei not a human? But he could not be a Primordial Beast either, as they were not that superior to humans, so what was he?

    There were multiple races in this world¡ªso many that it was impossible to say how many there actually were.

    There were many different species of beasts. Then there were humans, and there were spirits, ghosts, demons, merfolk, centaurs, and chimeras.

    While some of these species like spirits and ghost appeared naturally, the others are rted to beasts and humans. It was the same in Yan Dalu as Chang¡¯an.

    ¡°I cannot help but wonder where all these different racese from,¡± Yuan Bailong could not help but mutter, causing Bai Tianyi to turn to him, as he could tell what the puzzled man was confused about.

    ¡°Ghosts are those who have unfinished business in the world,¡± Bai Tianyi began. ¡°When they die, their soul power does not vanish and instead lingers. It then starts absorbing heaven-and-earth essence until it can make a spirit body, and that is how they are formed.

    ¡°Spirits are different. They can be rivers, mountains, trees, herbs¡ªeven pills could be spirits. Anything that suddenly gained enlightenment, or was located somewhere with dense heaven-and-earth essence for thousands of years, and then gained sentience.

    ¡°Then the rest are actually made from the union of beasts and humans. When I began cultivating, these races were known as ¡®halfbreeds.¡¯ Back then, when all continents were still connected, humans and beasts could mate with one another. They lived in harmony with each other, and love between them flourished.

    ¡°Then one day, like a switch had been flipped, all children born between the two races would die. It became impossible to sessfully mate with someone not from your own race all of a sudden, and as to why no one knows.

    ¡°As time went by, the halfbreeds became new races; some became demons, others merpeople. Some became centaurs, and others became multi-eyed citizens like yourself.

    ¡°It is hard to say what happened back then, but I saw how the races emerged. I imagine that something changed in the very lifeblood of the world. Even someone as strong as I was incapable of doing such a thing, so it must have been something that came from beyond our world.

    ¡°The four species of beasts, humans, spirits, and ghosts were the only original races in our continents.

    ¡°It is also why demons, for example, look like a mixture of a beast and a human. They have human bodies with beastly features such as horns, paws or hooves. They are different from Primordial Beasts as they cannot change between the shape of a human or a beast; they are stuck being a mix of them both.

    ¡°The same happened to centaurs. They are not able to change their figures; they are neither beast nor humans, and thus they are considered their own race.

    ¡°However, these races exist on different continents. Back before thend was split into many smaller continents, they decided to live in their own areas. They grouped up with their own kind, and thus they have been sequestered away from the rest of the races when the big split happened.

    ¡°That is why only humans and beasts live in Chang¡¯an. Here in Yan Dalu, all the multi-eyed experts reside. On other continents, other races live. But it seems that you know a lot about the other races?¡± Bai Tianyi looked at Yuan Bailong who had been listening with rapt attention.

    ¡°No,¡± he admitted. ¡°I have met a demon before. There was one with thetest delegation from the Demon Phoenix Continent. I did not think there were this many species of creatures in this world, but it makes sense when you say that they were halfbreeds before.¡±

    Xue Wei was also listening with curiosity. He did not know much about many other races than beasts and humans, so he had never expected that once upon a time, mixed breeds were thismon, while now they were nearly impossible.

    After having talked for a few hours overall, Xue Wei finally returned to his pill room where he began concocting the pills for the Yuan and Gu families.

    Although Xue Wei knew that he had to be fast in concocting the pills, he was also aware that it was a process that could not be rushed. If he tried rushing, then they would definitely be wed or low purity.

    He needed to give the concocting his full attention, especially when making the Rainbow Pills. They had to be profound grade, or they would fail, and the materials needed to make just one Rainbow Pill were so much that it would hurt his heart if just one failed.

    Not long after, Xue Wei had made a few batches of Sky Knight Pills, Spring Powder Pills, Jade Flow Pills, and Star Sand Pills.

    The Jade Flow Pills were made with a Jade Flow Flower as the main ingredient, and it has the medicinal properties of boosting one¡¯s soul power absorption. It attracts all soul power in the air and allows for one to easier cultivate spiritual energy.

    Star Sand Pills were a strange type of pill with a risky trade-off. To make them, they required Star Sand, a small, crystalline type of sand that sparkled like the stars. This type of pill would boost one¡¯s battle strength threefold for the duration of an hour; however, once the hour was over, their strength would be incredibly weak for a full day afterward.

    Originally he had not nned on making any Star Sand Pills, but after considering that they would go into battle, the pills could easily save their lives, so he decided to produce a few batches just in case.

    Xue Wei spent the whole night working on these four kinds of pills, constantly improving his alchemical proficiency as hepleted the batches.

    When the next day arrived, Gu Bing¡¯er and Yuan Bailong arrived once more, this time bringing with them the materials for the Rainbow Pills. Xue Wei exchanged the other pills he had concocted with them, after ensuring that he had also kept a few for his own friends.

    After that with ingredients in hand, he once more locked himself up within the pill room, where he put his full attention towards creating Rainbow Pills. The Gu family had brought materials for seventeen pills while the Yuan family only had the materials for fourteen, a slightly higher amount than they¡¯d originally anticipated, as the families had scrambled to get as much as they could after hearing how powerful the pills were.

    He failed three times in total, so after handing fifteen pills to Gu Bing¡¯er and thirteen to Yuan Bailong, Xue Wei got ready to begin the next step of his n.

    However, before he had the time to go, he was reminded that he was no longer caring for just himself and thus he spent a day apanying Luoluo, ying games with her and telling her stories, before putting her to sleep for the night.

    Only after spending the day with his new little sister did he leave the house, a knowing smile stered on his face.

 Chapter 287: Capture

    As soon as Xue Wei left the house, he felt his senses tingling. He spread out his perception and sensed that a rather substantial number of experts were trailing him.

    Looking around, Xue Wei found that there were a lot of people walking on the streets again, yet none of them dared to get close to him. All of them looked at him with fear evident in their many eyes.

    It was clear that everyone knew that Xue Wei had killed the Baili members without even showing the slightest hint of mercy. This was frightening and something that they could not ept with their views on murder.

    Those who previously had looked down upon him, or bad-mouthed him and his friends for being show-offs from another continent did not even dare to look him in the eye.

    ¡°This is troublesome,¡± Xue Wei sighed. ¡°They will note out and drag me away in front of all these people.¡± As he mused to himself, Xue Wei was starting to walk towards the forbidden area again.

    The forbidden area was the best ce to fight without being noticed. Not many went there, and it was quiet; it was the ideal ce for a confrontation.

    From what Xue Wei had sensed when spreading out his perception, he could tell the experts were all stronger than him, though most likely it was only a batch of Sky Knights that had been sent out.

    Even if Xue Wei were capable of killing one Sky Knight that specialized in spiritual energy, it would be difficult when there were multiple present. Even though he believed in his ability to escape them all on his own, he also understood that if the Baili family failed in capturing him, then they would change their tactics. There was even a possibility of them moving on Luoluo and his friends, and this thought alone was enough to make him feel bloodlust rise from within.

    No one should touch his friends or family. They were his reverse scale, the one thing that could make him lose all his rationality.

    As he reached the area in front of the Forbidden Area, Xue Wei stopped in his tracks and turned around, ¡°Come out and y, wherever you are,¡± he called out in a whimsical tone. Not long after, the people who had followed behind him suddenly appeared out of the shadows, one after another.

    So far, the people that had tried to deal with Xue Wei were all students at the academy, and their ages were not too dissimr from Xue Wei¡¯s, being youngsters beneath the age of twenty.

    But now things were different, the people who appeared were clearly at least a decade older.

    The leader of this group was different from the previous leader too. Although he walked with the same arrogant confidence as the previous leader had when they first arrived, there was a cold gleam in his eyes. This made Xue Wei understand that this man was not as naive as the other, nor did he doubt that this man would kill if need be; in fact, he had the aura of someone who had killed before.

    Sensing the actual killing intent that the man exuded, Xue Wei was rather intrigued. On a continent like Yan Dalu, where murder was as frowned upon as it was, how was it that this Baili person had managed to kill before?

    ¡°Mister Xue, we have tried inviting you plenty of times, but it seems that our sincere and gracious offers have been belittled by you and even caused us to suffer some significant losses,¡± the leader began talking, his voice cold like ice and his eyes not showing any sincerity at all¡ªinstead a fierce expression shed within.

    ¡°I see, I am sorry, but I did not sense such gracious sincerity earlier, perhaps you sent the wrong person to negotiate with me,¡± Xue Wei said mockingly. Although he nned to go with them, he was not intending to work with them, so there was no reason to try and save face.

    ¡°I do apologize for their rude behavior, but Mister Xue, you could also have been more forgiving. To directly kill the people we sent was not a very polite gesture.¡± The man did not lose his cool when he heard Xue Wei¡¯s antagonistic answer; instead, he continued to speak and even turned it around so that Xue Wei was the one at fault.

    Sensing that this man was in apletely different league than his previous opponents, Xue Wei felt the urge to battle boiling in his blood, but he pushed it down and forced himself to remain calm. Now was not the time to confront him.

    ¡°We are both smart people,¡± Xue Wei answered. ¡°If they had not pressured me, I would not have done something so final to them either, but it seems that currently the Baili family and I are doomed to wander on opposite paths.¡±

    ¡°That is not certain,¡± the leader cut in, a smile on his face, yet a smile that did not reach his eyes which remained as icy cold as before. ¡°Why don¡¯t you follow me back to the Baili family to discuss the possibilities of working together? If you say no, then we have no other option than to invite your friends. I heard a little bird sing about you having a cute younger sister that would surely have a pleasant time with us.¡±

    Hearing this man actually threatening him with Luoluo, Xue Wei¡¯s eyes turned ck with anger, and he snickered, quietly swearing that when he had reached his goal, then he would personally send this man to meet King Yama.

    The man felt how the surrounding atmosphere turned colder, the temperature was dropping drastically and he was shocked.

    He had killed a fair number of people before, and because of this, he had been picked for the job of fetching Xue Wei, as he would not be petrified with fear when it came to a situation where one had to kill or be killed.

    But this man had clearly killed a lot fewer people than Xue Wei. Xue Wei¡¯s killing intent, when released, was so terrifying that even the surrounding air turned colder, and many of the other Sky Knights felt as if a hand had grasped their hearts and started squeezing.

    Xue Wei had to admit that he was close to giving up on his n just to show these people that they should not threaten his family or friends, but if he did, no one knew how the Baili family would react. And if they could not handle it well, then things would be much more difficult. Xue Wei did not have the power to face the noble family on his own just yet, and he needed them to put down their guard, while also buying enough time for the Gu and Yuan families to strengthen themselves and prepare.

    Taking in a deep breath, Xue Wei nced at the leader, and even the leader felt a lingering fear after that nce, yet moments after he calmed down. He was unaware of Xue Wei¡¯s original shape and his overwhelming benefit from being a Sovereign Beast as well as underestimating the value of him being a dual cultivator of Qi and spiritual energy, causing him to rx a lot.

    In the multitudinous eyes of the Baili family¡¯s team, there was simply no way for Xue Wei to put up any resistance against them, so although they felt the most primal feeling of fear as if it was an instinct, they did not act on this fear, and they quickly calmed down too.

    Xue Wei also kept his temper in check. He could not afford to change the n as it was now, so he had stopped the killing intent from spreading out. However, it kept roaming in his body, increasing in intensity and making him want nothing more than to chop the leader up into bits.

    ¡°So, I just have to follow you back to the Baili family, and in return, you will not touch any of my friends or family?¡± Xue Wei asked as if he was just now enlightened to the idea.

    ¡°Yes, follow us, and we will leave your friends and family alone. We will not even find faults with the Yuan or Gu families.¡± The leader was promising whatever Xue Wei wanted to hear so that they could avoid fighting.

    Although the leader was capable of putting up a proper fight, the others were not as lucky. It was a very limited few who had killed others before, so for the sake of his men, the leader felt that it was better topromise and promise that his friends and family would be safe.

    ¡°I see, in that case, let me take a trip to the Baili family with you,¡± Xue Wei half-growled through gritted teeth. Although things were going ording to n, he was in a foul mood and still wished for nothing more than to transform and obliterate them with everything he had.

    The leader released a breath of foul air. He had been on tenterhooks all the while, but listening to Xue Wei confessing that he would follow them made him feel much better.

    The others also let go of their bated breaths, and then they suddenly noticed that their hands were cold but mmy after the sudden drop in temperature.

    The group surrounded Xue Wei, making a human barrier around him, in an attempt to stop him from escaping.

    These experts were unaware of Xue Wei¡¯s Qi cultivation rank. That he was an Earth Knight, someone who could walk effortlessly on air and fly through the sky.

    Qi cultivators could fly through air when they became Sky Warriors. Although their speed was rather limited and the distance they could fly was small, it was a skill that became more and more refined the higher one¡¯s rank became.

    These spiritual energy experts were capable of hovering in air for a very short amount of time as their body had reached the Heavenly Warrior rank, but they could never catch up with an Earth Knight.

    To fly effortlessly through the air as Spiritual Energy experts, they had to be saints first, and thus the method of flying was not used much in Yan Dalu. This had caused them to forget that Xue Wei was different from them.

    Xue Wei could only shake his head. They were being rather inconsistent with their actions. They had threatened him so that he would be forced to follow them, so why would he run away? And if he did want to run away, would they really be capable of stopping him?

    Shaking his head, Xue Wei just followed amongst them, a small smile yed on his lips but this was not a gentle smile¡ªit was a rather ruthless one.

    Although Yuan Bailong was against entering the tiger¡¯s den, he had not considered that this might be different. Inviting a snake home for dinner was in no way a clever idea either.

    As they walked through the academy, many observed Xue Wei being surrounded by the experts from the Baili family, and soon the rumors about his surrender had spread through the entire academy.

    Only Yuan Bailong, Gu Bing¡¯er, and Xue Wei¡¯s friends knew about the truth behind it all. Even the rest of the Gu and Yuan families were currently unaware of the n that had caused this reaction of panic amongst the other students.

    Sensing that the rumors would spread to the rest of the city soon, Gu Bing¡¯er and Yuan Bailong rushed to their respective homes to begin pacifying them by informing them of the next steps they were to make, alongside delivering all the pills that Xue Wei had created thest few days.

    Xue Wei was actually taking quite a bit of a gamble. By providing the Yuan and Gu families with such arge number of outstanding pills up front, there was a chance that they would wash their hands of him, having already benefited so much and refuse to repay the kindness received.

    Although he trusted in Yuan Bailong and Gu Bing¡¯er, it was hard to say how their families would react¡ªand the elders were the ones that wielded the most power within their families. If they could not be swayed, it would be problematic.

    Thinking like this, Xue Wei¡¯s brows furrowed slightly, but he was not too worried. If he was not saved after the time limit was up, then he would transform and force his way out of the prison anyway. When it came down to it, they were unaware of his Azure Dragon shape, and it should be able to crush any prison to pieces.

 Chapter 288: Baili Familys Elders

    The big entourage made their way through the entire academy and subsequently through the city, the experts from the Baili family remaining on high alert as they feared that Xue Wei would attempt an escape.

    But everything went quite perfectly. Xue Wei restrained his killing intent and quelled his urge to do battle, and soon, they had arrived in front of the Baili family¡¯s mansion.

    Guards were standing outside, and when they saw the leader return, they all craned their necks to try to see if Xue Wei was amongst them. Seeing the youngster, one of the guards seemed ted while another seemed disappointed, and moments after a few pills were handed from the disappointed guard to the other. Clearly, they¡¯d had bet on whether or not it would be a sessful capture.

    This sight was not only disyed at the front gate of the Baili family; everywhere they stepped, people would also be stretching their necks to see if Xue Wei was there before they started sulking at one another, and handed over the bets they had lost.

    When they entered the gate, Xue Wei found that the familypound was not just one building but consisted of quite a few buildings deceptively hidden, as the main one was the only one that could be seen from the outside.

    It was precisely this building they were moving towards, the main mansion of the Baili family. The ce where all the important things would be discussed, and where the family leader lived with his wife and children.

    There were another set of guards at the entrance to this building, but upon seeing who wasing by, instead of stopping them, they immediately opened the doors so that the leader of the group could lead Xue Wei inside.

    Xue Wei looked curiously at the surroundings. It would be beneficial for him to know theyout of the ce, as he would have to escape at some point when his friends came for him.

    As they entered the building, Xue Wei felt the breath of twenty-seven strong experts. These experts were clearly much stronger than Xue Wei; their breath enough to put a lot of unseen pressure on him, as they tried their best to bring him to his knees with their aura alone.

    As soon as some of the unseen pressure was released on Xue Wei, the two dragon spirits within his body took the chance to send wave after wave of energy through his body. The Azure Dragon spirit sent azure dragon strands of Qi around his meridians to make it possible for his body to better withstand the pressure that would otherwise make his body tremble.

    The Golden Dragon spirit within his mind also started sending out rays of light that lessened the pressure on his soul.

    Although it still wasn¡¯t wholly negated, it was no longer almost impossible to breathe, and his legs did not tremble as he took a step forward.

    All this pressure was focused on Xue Wei, but the others¡ªthe Baili team that had been tasked with fetching him¡ªwere all so close to Xue Wei that they too felt the pressure bearing down upon them.

    Their legs were trembling, their bodies oozed with sweat, and all of them were looking at Xue Wei with dumbstruck expressions. One has to remember that these experts were all Sky Knights, and while they were trembling and suffering, Xue Wei was merely an Earth Knight, yet he was looking much more casual, with barely a hint that this pressure even affected him.

    The reason was quite simple; it was because of his two dragon spirits working in tandem to protect Xue Wei from the pressure, the spirits were unique to the Azure Dragons.

    The defense of an Azure Dragon was not something a mere human couldpare to, neither was it something that these halfbreeds¡ªas he now knew they were called¡ªof Yan Dalu could intimidate.

    Although they were much stronger than Xue Wei, the truth was that pressure alone was something invisible and theirs was incapable of producing much trouble for Xue Wei.

    Sensing that the weakest amongst them had the least problems with the pressure, the rest of the group¡¯s eyes started gleaming in thought and greed. Did he have some particr technique or treasure that allowed for him to dismiss the pressure of a stronger cultivator?

    If he did, this was something they needed to gain for themselves. It was something that would be able to put them even further apart from the masses.

    The Baili family had wild ambitions. Right now, they understood that they had no chance of controlling the continent because of the King¡ªa five-eyed expert, and the entire court of officials who wished to keep the structure of the continent as it had always been.

    However, they were not giving up. Throughout thest few decades, they had bribed, threatened and murdered their way into a favorable position within the court. Although the noble families were meant to be the protectors of the citizens, the Baili family had a lot of shady business going on.

    While the Gu and Yuan families were eying their possibilities to attack the Baili family, the Baili family was trying even harder to overthrow the throne and take over the throne in Yan Dalu.

    This was also why they put so much importance on capturing Xue Wei. They understood that if they could get ahold of all the secrets he held, then they would be able to increase their strength tremendously, and if they could do so, they would be poised to im the power they desired.

    But only a limited few knew about these facts; it was something that not many were allowed to be told. The leader of the Baili team that had been sent to apprehend Xue Wei was one of the few people who knew about it.

    He had been trained from a young age to be one of their assassins. He would never question his orders, and he would work hard to make sure that these orders were performed well.

    When they arrived in the main hall, they saw the many experts seated in balconies high above the ground, looking down upon them with cold and calcting eyes.

    ¡°You are Xue Wei?¡± one of the elders asked impolitely, his voice so cold that Xue Wei could instantly guess that he had some close ties to one of the ones he had killed.

    Xue Wei did not answer this rude greeting. Instead, he held a mocking smile on his lips as he ced his hands at his waist and looked at the experts high above, waiting to see their reaction.

    ¡°Did you not hear the seventeenth elder asking you a question?¡± one of the men from the team that had brought him back sneered. He had felt slightly fearful towards Xue Wei before, but now that all the elders were here, he was fearless.

    Xue Wei looked at him as if he was looking at a dancing monkey, and he snickered but said nothing.

    The answer was already in front of them, and they still asked. How pointless. The man who had spoken up was filled with embarrassment, his eyes turning slightly red and his cheeks paling.

    The aforementioned seventeenth elder was also very ufortable. He was already livid with anger, his breathing heavy.

    ¡°Atrocious little brat, you killed our men, and now that you have been brought back, you show no manners within our mansion, you are so preposterous!¡± the seventeenth eldershed out, filled with anger, his words harsh and impossible to ignore.

    This was what Xue Wei had hoped for. Someone who could not hold back their temper and erupted in front of all of them would cause the cooperation between them to be impossible from the get-go.

    The other elders felt annoyed when they heard the seventeenth elder¡¯s outburst. He was not amongst the strongest in the family, and he had already caused the diplomatic talks to be strained almost instantly.

    ¡°Young man, although the seventeenth elder has taken it a bit too far, he does have a point,¡± another elder spoke up. This elder was higher ranked, and his words represented the many elders present.

    Hearing him speak, all the others quietened down, and Xue Wei noticed that the people who had brought him here all straightened their backs as he spoke, their behavior indicating that he was a significant figure within the Baili family.

    Xue Wei had not wanted to answer the seventeenth elder, but this man had to be answered, so Xue Wei opened his mouth and began in a provocative voice, ¡°The Baili family sure is big, trying to force me to cooperate so many times, and when I defend myself, they send out stronger and stronger experts to capture me. What happened to free will within Yan Dalu?

    ¡°It is clear to me that everything you want is to benefit yourself. Even when I killed your men, you did not consider killing me in retaliation. Instead, you continued to scheme about how to gain the knowledge I have in my mind instead of seeking justice for your in young masters.

    ¡°Is this the unbreaking bond between family? Well sorry, but the Baili family has tried to force me to work with them, and if there is one thing I cannot ept, it is someone trying to force me to do something.

    ¡°Not to mention threatening my dear ones. I agreed toe here, but that does not mean that I will ept your offer willingly. I am here not to work with you, but to see you bring your worst. Let me know how you will keep your name as the first noble family of Yan Dalu at the same time as you force me to reveal my secrets.¡±

    Xue Wei was grinning as he spoke, his words were direct and honest, but also rude and undoubtedly killed off all chances that were there for peaceful cooperation between them.

    The elder who had been speaking before felt slightly annoyed. They had all thought that there would be some leverage to cooperate now that Xue Wei had followed their men here, but it now seemed that the only reason he was here was that he had been threatened.

    They could not change the way they had interacted with Xue Wei in the past, and this elder had be aware of Xue Wei¡¯s personality after seeing him just once, so now that Xue Wei had decided against working with them, he could tell that Xue Wei would not change his mind.

    Since the peaceful approach was out of the question, there was only one other way to get knowledge out of his mind, and that was through force.

    ¡°Lock him in the dungeons,¡± the elder sighed. He had hoped to get an easyrade, but it seemed as if Xue Wei was a tougher nut to crack than he had expected.

    The group who had brought him there all tightened their surveince of him and started leading him towards the dungeons.

    Xue Wei was walking with a carefree attitude in his steps; he acted casual and did not seem like someone who had just been sent to the dungeons at all. He did not attempt to flee; instead, a simple smile hung on his lips, and his eyes were radiating with the splendor of the Baili familypound as he observed everything on the way.

    The dungeons were located underground, and on the surface, the only way in or out was a guard house. This was the ce where the family¡¯s guards rxed when their shift was over but also had plenty of guards on duty too.

    When Xue Wei arrived here, he saw guards everywhere. Many of these guards in the family were either from the branch families or were hired experts that the Baili family had taken in and were provided with resources in return for an unbreakable oath of loyalty.

    These experts all showed great respect towards the leader of the team, their eyes disying their honest reverence as he walked by, while many of them looked at Xue Wei with hatred-tinged curiosity.

    The bulk of the first group that Xue Wei had killed¡ªthe ones following behind the Baili young master, were all guards. They might not have been too prominent in the family just yet, but they still had friends and family. Seeing the culprit behind their death, many of these guards had no other wish than to kill this foreigner to avenge them.

 Chapter 289: It Begins

    It didn¡¯t feel like that long but time had flowed by like a spring stream, and suddenly three days had passed in the darkness that was the Baili family¡¯s dungeons.

    During this time, no one had visited him. There were people surrounding him he knew¡ªas he could sense them with his perception, but none of them had engaged in conversation or tried to give him any food or drink.

    Spiritual energy cultivators needed to eat and drink to sustain their bodies if their Qi levels had not reached a high enough realm, but Xue Wei was an Earth Knight, and he could be supported entirely on the heaven-and-earth essence.

    So apart from being slightly bored, Xue Wei felt no difort. He even spent the time cultivating his Qi and spiritual energy, alternating between the two. He did not want to neglect one or the other, now that they were about equal.

    It was on the fourth day that the Baili family finally started to act. In the silence of the dimly lit dungeon, Xue Wei was cultivating heartily and feeling rather pleased that the Baili family was taking this long to do anything.

    Unfortunately, this quiet period would notst forever. The elders in the Baili family had bickered about which route to take with Xue Wei, and in the end, the brutal and violent method had won.

    The biggest argument was about Xue Wei¡¯s personality. He was not someone who would sumb to the Baili family¡¯s coaxing, so coercion was the only way to go.

    The low thudding of steps echoed through the dungeon and Xue Wei, who had been cultivating, slowly opened his eyes as he heard them getting close. An azure gleam shed past his pupils as he observed the hallway outside his cell.

    Not long after, an elderly man appeared in front of the cell door. It was the same elder who had spoken up the time that Xue Wei had stood in front of all the other elders of the Baili family¡ªthe one that all the others respectfully listened to.

    ¡°I am the Grand Elder of the Baili family,¡± the man introduced himself. ¡°I am here to give you onest chance,¡± he continued as he looked at Xue Wei with greedy eyes, like a poor man eyeing a mountain of treasures.

    ¡°Work together with us, teach us and train us in your Qi techniques and any other valuable methods you have from your native continent, and you will be treated as an honorable guest. If you stay stubborn like this, there will be no other chances after this, and we will have to begin with harsher methods to extract the secrets out of you.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s to say that I won¡¯t just tell you fake pill forms or give you wed methods?¡± Xue Wei asked with a smile on his face, his words making the expression of the Elder harden and his eyes glisten with coldness.

    ¡°You would have to treat us with sincerity,¡± the Elder said. ¡°And of course, we would have you take an oath of loyalty to trust you.¡±

    ¡°You talk about sincerity and an oath of loyalty in the same sentence¡ªthat¡¯s quite an eyeopener about the Baili family,¡± Xue Wei mocked. ¡°But forget it. I would rather you try your best to force me into revealing the information than take an oath of loyalty. There is no way I would ever swear another oath of loyalty.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t forget this is the choice you made!¡± the grand elder said with a sneer on his face and his body trembling with anger. He was used to being one of the most respected creatures on the entire continent, but now he was being looked down upon by a youngster. This was a first for him, and he was livid.

    Originally, Xue Wei had not needed to be captured by the Baili family. He could have run away and been on the run together with his friends for a while like he was used to, but doing so would have been bringing with it quite some downsides.

    Usually, Xue Wei would have just run away and gone somewhere else, but now, he had to get to the Demon Phoenix Continent as he had made a promise to Lan. Xue Wei was the kind of person that, when he made a promise to someone that deserved it, he would give his life to keep it, and thus why he did not make a lot of promises.

    As a result, if they ran away, how would he be capable of solving the mystery of the academy? Without resolving this unexined mystery, Xue Wei would not be getting a lift to the next continent, and thus he had to stay at the academy.

    Alongside this, he had initially gotten close to the Yuan and Gu families just to obtain materials for the Rainbow Pills and other resources that would make life easier on Yan Dalu, but after interacting with Gu Bing¡¯er and Yuan Bailong, he had be friends with them.

    If he ran away, it was likely that the Baili family would turn to them in an attempt to extract the secrets from them, and they were not yet ready for a fight like this. They still needed to prepare to strike if they wanted a chance of sess.

    So in the end, to buy time for the Yuan and Gu families¡ªand to ensure that he couldter solve the mystery that he still really knew nothing about, he had decided to allow himself to be captured. Even if it meant that he would be subject to torture and other methods to gain knowledge of the techniques and methods he held, he would endure.

    Xue Wei had made his decision, and he was going to be sticking to it no matter what the Baili family decided to do to him. He was even slightly curious as to the healing rate of the Azure Dragon race. Could he regrow severed limbs like a smander?

    Of course, he would prefer to have his limbs remain firmly attached, but if it should happen, then he could not do much about it.

    Unfortunately, Xue Wei had also forgotten something important. It was true that experts who cultivated Qi would see the physical body as the most important treasure to torture. However, this was Yan Dalu. Even if you were physically crippled, you could still be an expert in spiritual energy, and thus when they worked, they would instead torture the mind and soul.

    This was something Xue Wei noticed when the elder left. As he went, he made a gesture to the people who had been stealthily surrounding the cell, and they stepped forward, all of them bearing sinister expressions on their faces.

    ¡°So it begins,¡± Xue Wei muttered to himself, and a wry smile was on his lips as he stood up, looking at the peopleing towards him with vignce.

    But what happened next surprised him. They did not even unlock the cell and enter as he had expected. Instead, three men sat down in front of the cell, looking at him as if they could not wait to tear him apart.

    At first, Xue Wei had been very alert because he thought the three of them would enter and beat him up, but then he remembered¡ªthese people could not beat him up. They were at most Heavenly Warriors; their physical strength would be unable to harm him in the slightest.

    So how were they going to convince him to let go of his information? Xue Wei was puzzled but also curious. His biggest worry was that they would have made him into a cripple, but after realizing that even their strongest expert would be incapable of injuring him physically, he rxed.

    The reason he dared to rx was not that he was overconfident, but because he also had the golden dragon spirit within his mind. This spirit was capable of protecting him from mental attacks to a certain extent, and now it was time to see just how much protection it could offer.

    The three men on the ground had their eyes closed and their hands in theirps. Spiritual energy started erupting from their minds, and energy waves came crashing towards Xue Wei.

    Xue Wei was almost swept off his feet, the spiritual energy was powerful and dense, and it came at him like a tidal wave, crashing against his body and invading his mind.

    The energy that surged through him prated his body like sparkling rays of light going deep into his skin and started wreaking havoc through his meridians, with all of them converging towards his mind pce.

    Xue Wei felt himself stiffen as the foreign energy entered through every pore in his body, leaving him incapable of moving.

    He expected to experience excruciating pain, but this pain never arrived. As the golden rays of light entered his mind pce, the golden dragonzily opened its previously closed eyes and simply gulped it down.

    The moment it entered the mouth of the golden dragon spirit, the body of the spirit started to shine very faintly, but the more it consumed, the brighter the light became. Soon, much purer and refined rays of golden light were burped out from the well-fed dragon spirit, and mingled with the sea of golden energy in his mind pce, increasing his own cultivation instead.

    Xue Wei was astounded. What kind of ability was this? The golden dragon spirit was simply heaven-defying. To be able to easily consume the spiritual energy of what appeared to be Sky Knights and transform it into his own energy was a heaven-sent opportunity, and Xue Wei forced his rather stiff body to sit down.

    The three experts were unaware that the energy they had sent out had been consumed, so seeing Xue Wei¡¯s awkward movements alongside the fact that he was forced down, they assumed that their attack had worked.

    His body was showing all the signs of having been hit by the crushing power of their spiritual energy attack, and then him sitting down, what other reasoning could be behind it other than his soul feeling the pain that lingered after being injured?

    Truth was that Xue Wei¡¯s eyes were glistening with excitement. Who would have thought that being tortured would be the reason that his cultivation base was rising?

    The three men saw that Xue Wei was still holding on, however, so they continued to send increasingly powerful waves of energy, one after another towards the youngster, the waves going from being somewhat dense and heavy to what felt like rolling tidal waves at him.

    They were spooked and shocked by Xue Wei¡¯s ability to withstand their onught. They were, after all, Sky Knights, and when they saw Xue Wei sitting still like this, with closed eyes and a rosyplexion, they started to suspect that something was wrong.

    Unrelenting from their attacks, an hour had passed like this, and Xue Wei¡¯s cultivation had encountered a bottleneck. Just a little bit more and he would break into the fourthyer of the Earth Knight rank with his spiritual energy, but for some reason, it was as if his dragon was now incapable of producing more spiritual energy from the beams of light that it devoured.

    Although more and more energy was still being poured into his body, and the dragon kept up its consumption of it, less and less was being delivered to Xue Wei, yet the dragon spirit was growing in speed.

    Now, the dragon spirit was suddenly starting to shine with a radiant golden luster, the scales were much more prominent and visible than before, and the dragon seemed overflowing with vigor.

    Xue Wei could sense how he was growing stronger by the minute, but he was not satisfied without managing to break into the fourthyer of the Earth Knight rank, and thus he opened an eye. He could not help but stare at the three sweating experts on the other side of the cell door.

    ¡°Is this really all that three such experts can handle?¡± he mocked them with a snicker on his lips, and the three men, who were on the verge of copsing became filled with anger.

    ¡°Brat, you¡¯ll regret this!¡± one of them yelled, and suddenly the group of three all summoned their remaining spiritual energy to st it towards Xue Wei, hoping to cripple him for good.

 Chapter 290

    It didn¡¯t feel like that long but time had flowed by like a spring stream, and suddenly three days had passed in the darkness that was the Baili family¡¯s dungeons .

    During this time, no one had visited him . There were people surrounding him he knew¡ªas he could sense them with his perception, but none of them had engaged in conversation or tried to give him any food or drink .

    Spiritual energy cultivators needed to eat and drink to sustain their bodies if their Qi levels had not reached a high enough realm, but Xue Wei was an Earth Knight, and he could be supported entirely on the heaven-and-earth essence .

    So apart from being slightly bored, Xue Wei felt no difort . He even spent the time cultivating his Qi and spiritual energy, alternating between the two . He did not want to neglect one or the other, now that they were about equal .

    It was on the fourth day that the Baili family finally started to act . In the silence of the dimly lit dungeon, Xue Wei was cultivating heartily and feeling rather pleased that the Baili family was taking this long to do anything .

    Unfortunately, this quiet period would notst forever . The elders in the Baili family had bickered about which route to take with Xue Wei, and in the end, the brutal and violent method had won .

    The biggest argument was about Xue Wei¡¯s personality . He was not someone who would sumb to the Baili family¡¯s coaxing, so coercion was the only way to go .

    The low thudding of steps echoed through the dungeon and Xue Wei, who had been cultivating, slowly opened his eyes as he heard them getting close . An azure gleam shed past his pupils as he observed the hallway outside his cell .

    Not long after, an elderly man appeared in front of the cell door . It was the same elder who had spoken up the time that Xue Wei had stood in front of all the other elders of the Baili family¡ªthe one that all the others respectfully listened to .

    ¡°I am the Grand Elder of the Baili family,¡± the man introduced himself . ¡°I am here to give you onest chance,¡± he continued as he looked at Xue Wei with greedy eyes, like a poor man eyeing a mountain of treasures .

    ¡°Work together with us, teach us and train us in your Qi techniques and any other valuable methods you have from your native continent, and you will be treated as an honorable guest . If you stay stubborn like this, there will be no other chances after this, and we will have to begin with harsher methods to extract the secrets out of you . ¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s to say that I won¡¯t just tell you fake pill forms or give you wed methods?¡± Xue Wei asked with a smile on his face, his words making the expression of the Elder harden and his eyes glisten with coldness .

    ¡°You would have to treat us with sincerity,¡± the Elder said . ¡°And of course, we would have you take an oath of loyalty to trust you . ¡±

    ¡°You talk about sincerity and an oath of loyalty in the same sentence¡ªthat¡¯s quite an eyeopener about the Baili family,¡± Xue Wei mocked . ¡°But forget it . I would rather you try your best to force me into revealing the information than take an oath of loyalty . There is no way I would ever swear another oath of loyalty . ¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t forget this is the choice you made!¡± the grand elder said with a sneer on his face and his body trembling with anger . He was used to being one of the most respected creatures on the entire continent, but now he was being looked down upon by a youngster . This was a first for him, and he was livid .

    Originally, Xue Wei had not needed to be captured by the Baili family . He could have run away and been on the run together with his friends for a while like he was used to, but doing so would have been bringing with it quite some downsides .

    Usually, Xue Wei would have just run away and gone somewhere else, but now, he had to get to the Demon Phoenix Continent as he had made a promise to Lan . Xue Wei was the kind of person that, when he made a promise to someone that deserved it, he would give his life to keep it, and thus why he did not make a lot of promises .

    As a result, if they ran away, how would he be capable of solving the mystery of the academy? Without resolving this unexined mystery, Xue Wei would not be getting a lift to the next continent, and thus he had to stay at the academy .

    Alongside this, he had initially gotten close to the Yuan and Gu families just to obtain materials for the Rainbow Pills and other resources that would make life easier on Yan Dalu, but after interacting with Gu Bing¡¯er and Yuan Bailong, he had be friends with them .

    If he ran away, it was likely that the Baili family would turn to them in an attempt to extract the secrets from them, and they were not yet ready for a fight like this . They still needed to prepare to strike if they wanted a chance of sess .

    So in the end, to buy time for the Yuan and Gu families¡ªand to ensure that he couldter solve the mystery that he still really knew nothing about, he had decided to allow himself to be captured . Even if it meant that he would be subject to torture and other methods to gain knowledge of the techniques and methods he held, he would endure .

    Xue Wei had made his decision, and he was going to be sticking to it no matter what the Baili family decided to do to him . He was even slightly curious as to the healing rate of the Azure Dragon race . Could he regrow severed limbs like a smander?

    Of course, he would prefer to have his limbs remain firmly attached, but if it should happen, then he could not do much about it .

    Unfortunately, Xue Wei had also forgotten something important . It was true that experts who cultivated Qi would see the physical body as the most important treasure to torture . However, this was Yan Dalu . Even if you were physically crippled, you could still be an expert in spiritual energy, and thus when they worked, they would instead torture the mind and soul .

    This was something Xue Wei noticed when the elder left . As he went, he made a gesture to the people who had been stealthily surrounding the cell, and they stepped forward, all of them bearing sinister expressions on their faces .

    ¡°So it begins,¡± Xue Wei muttered to himself, and a wry smile was on his lips as he stood up, looking at the peopleing towards him with vignce .

    But what happened next surprised him . They did not even unlock the cell and enter as he had expected . Instead, three men sat down in front of the cell, looking at him as if they could not wait to tear him apart .

    At first, Xue Wei had been very alert because he thought the three of them would enter and beat him up, but then he remembered¡ªthese people could not beat him up . They were at most Heavenly Warriors; their physical strength would be unable to harm him in the slightest .

    So how were they going to convince him to let go of his information? Xue Wei was puzzled but also curious . His biggest worry was that they would have made him into a cripple, but after realizing that even their strongest expert would be incapable of injuring him physically, he rxed .

    The reason he dared to rx was not that he was overconfident, but because he also had the golden dragon spirit within his mind . This spirit was capable of protecting him from mental attacks to a certain extent, and now it was time to see just how much protection it could offer .

    The three men on the ground had their eyes closed and their hands in theirps . Spiritual energy started erupting from their minds, and energy waves came crashing towards Xue Wei .

    Xue Wei was almost swept off his feet, the spiritual energy was powerful and dense, and it came at him like a tidal wave, crashing against his body and invading his mind .

    The energy that surged through him prated his body like sparkling rays of light going deep into his skin and started wreaking havoc through his meridians, with all of them converging towards his mind pce .

    Xue Wei felt himself stiffen as the foreign energy entered through every pore in his body, leaving him incapable of moving .

    He expected to experience excruciating pain, but this pain never arrived . As the golden rays of light entered his mind pce, the golden dragonzily opened its previously closed eyes and simply gulped it down .

    The moment it entered the mouth of the golden dragon spirit, the body of the spirit started to shine very faintly, but the more it consumed, the brighter the light became . Soon, much purer and refined rays of golden light were burped out from the well-fed dragon spirit, and mingled with the sea of golden energy in his mind pce, increasing his own cultivation instead .

    Xue Wei was astounded . What kind of ability was this? The golden dragon spirit was simply heaven-defying . To be able to easily consume the spiritual energy of what appeared to be Sky Knights and transform it into his own energy was a heaven-sent opportunity, and Xue Wei forced his rather stiff body to sit down .

    The three experts were unaware that the energy they had sent out had been consumed, so seeing Xue Wei¡¯s awkward movements alongside the fact that he was forced down, they assumed that their attack had worked .

    His body was showing all the signs of having been hit by the crushing power of their spiritual energy attack, and then him sitting down, what other reasoning could be behind it other than his soul feeling the pain that lingered after being injured?

    Truth was that Xue Wei¡¯s eyes were glistening with excitement . Who would have thought that being tortured would be the reason that his cultivation base was rising?

    The three men saw that Xue Wei was still holding on, however, so they continued to send increasingly powerful waves of energy, one after another towards the youngster, the waves going from being somewhat dense and heavy to what felt like rolling tidal waves at him .

    They were spooked and shocked by Xue Wei¡¯s ability to withstand their onught . They were, after all, Sky Knights, and when they saw Xue Wei sitting still like this, with closed eyes and a rosyplexion, they started to suspect that something was wrong .

    Unrelenting from their attacks, an hour had passed like this, and Xue Wei¡¯s cultivation had encountered a bottleneck . Just a little bit more and he would break into the fourthyer of the Earth Knight rank with his spiritual energy, but for some reason, it was as if his dragon was now incapable of producing more spiritual energy from the beams of light that it devoured .

    Although more and more energy was still being poured into his body, and the dragon kept up its consumption of it, less and less was being delivered to Xue Wei, yet the dragon spirit was growing in speed .

    Now, the dragon spirit was suddenly starting to shine with a radiant golden luster, the scales were much more prominent and visible than before, and the dragon seemed overflowing with vigor .

    Xue Wei could sense how he was growing stronger by the minute, but he was not satisfied without managing to break into the fourthyer of the Earth Knight rank, and thus he opened an eye . He could not help but stare at the three sweating experts on the other side of the cell door .

    ¡°Is this really all that three such experts can handle?¡± he mocked them with a snicker on his lips, and the three men, who were on the verge of copsing became filled with anger .

    ¡°Brat, you¡¯ll regret this!¡± one of them yelled, and suddenly the group of three all summoned their remaining spiritual energy to st it towards Xue Wei, hoping to cripple him for good .

 Chapter 291

    Chapter 291: 291

    Xue Wei snickered when he felt a distortion in the air ripples appearing around him and the three experts, and crackling sounds reverberating around the room .

    Although he was eager to see whether or not the golden dragon was capable of consuming this much energy, he was also slightly apprehensive when he saw just how overwhelming it was .

    Well, he had aggravated the guards, so there was no turning back now . Instead of being nervous, he felt it was much better to be filled with self-confidence and trust in his golden dragon spirit .

    Xue Wei felt the big wave crashing down upon him, and its energy pouring into his entire body . It made him feel as if his meridians were being ripped apart .

    Although the golden dragon spirit was capable of absorbing an enormous amount of energy, there was a limit to how much energy it could absorb at once, and now the rest of the attack was wreaking havoc in his body .

    Xue Wei grit his teeth as he felt the energy surging through every pore and cell, bringing with it a destructive force . Fortunately, this energy was aimed at his soul, and thus his body¡ªwhich had reached the rank of an Earth Knight in Qi levels¡ªwas more or less unharmed but still left behind a scorching pain .

    When the energy entered his body, Xue Wei had considered the option of forcing it out with his Qi dragons, but he felt that it would be a waste of energy¡ªthe energy that had been so kindly gifted to him .

    The golden dragon spirit was eager to consume all the energy that was pulsating through his body, and although its speed of absorption was rather slowpared to the previous times, he could feel that the refinement had picked up .

    The bottleneck towards the fourthyer of the Earth Knight rank was bing looser and looser, so much so that he could feel it trembling . Then suddenly, Xue Wei felt as though something within his body had broken free, and as if a stone on his shoulder had been removed, he could breathe freely .

    He had finally broken through to the fourthyer of the Earth Knight rank for his spiritual energy . The boundless energy was now pulsating through his body with a much more pleasant effect, and it made him curious about just how much difference there was between his current and past abilities .

    Unfortunately, there was no ce for him to test his breakthrough . Although he had three experts in front of him, all of them were Sky Knights, and a mere fourthyered Earth Knight would not even begin to match up to them .

    Xue Wei¡¯s advantage over these experts existed in his Azure Dragon spirit, his golden dragon spirit, and his high Qi levels .

    Noticing that his scrunched up expression had eased a lot, the three experts became very ufortable . They had exhausted all the spiritual energy within their soul pce; they were at the current point rather useless as they would not be able even to kill a chicken .

    Even worse was when they sensed that Xue Wei had a breakthrough in the midst of the chaotic energy that they had summoned forth . This sudden discovery left them with a mental scar for life; their minds were reeling in shock .

    Who would be able to change the situation like this? Instead of being crippled, he had advanced, what kind of absurdity was this?

    Xue Wei could see the sudden despair in the guards¡¯ many eyes, and he could not help but chuckle slightly .

    ¡°Thank you for your assistance,¡± he said cheekily . ¡°I could not have had such a rapid breakthrough if it was not for your assistance, make sure to send some more people my wayter . ¡±

    The more he spoke, the more infuriated and confused the guards became . Their eyes were filled with bewilderment, and their bodies trembled; one of them even coughed up blood in agitation .

    They were already incredibly weak due to having used up their entire body¡¯s reservoir of spiritual energy and being angered like this, it was natural that their bodies were incapable of handling it .

    Although Xue Wei was rather rude and did what he could to agitate the guards, he also remained alert . Thest attack had made him realize that, although he had the protection of the golden dragon spirit, there was still a limit to how much it could protect him against .

    When the three experts made an all-out attack, they had indeed caused him pain, so he reckoned that if there was a Heavenly Knight, then he would be incapable of withstanding thebined attack .

    Fortunately, Heavenly Knights were rtively rare; only a few could be found amongst the guards, while every single elder of the Baili family were Heavenly Knights, and the Grand Elder was an Earth Saint .

    Saint-ranked experts were incredibly rare on Yan Dalu . Spiritual energy became more and more difficult to cultivate, the stronger one became, and one needed lucky chances to have breakthroughs .

    Because of this, the continent was somewhat weakpared to other continents, but even so, a few crouching tigers and hidden dragons existed in the continent¡ªwith the Grand Elder being one of them .

    Xue Wei had gained much information about Yan Dalu and its citizens from the exchange that Lin Xiao and Hei Gou had initiated some time ago . He knew that the strongest expert in the entire continent was the Royal Tutor, a higheryered Earth Saint who was at a rather old age already .

    The Royal Tutor and the Baili grand elder were the only Earth Saint on the entire continent . All the others were Ordinary Saints and below¡ªeven the principal of the Garden of Shadows was not an Earth Saint .

    Knowing that there was an Earth Saint in the Baili family, Xue Wei was incapable of fully rxing . He had already acknowledged that he would be incapable of withstanding a Heavenly Knight, so an Earth Saint was a heaven-defying threat .

    Figuring that the guards were incapable of handling him, Xue Wei was betting on the fact that the Grand Elder would not lower himself to deal with him, but it was obvious that a Heavenly Knight would be sent his way soon, so he had to find a way to increase his cultivation base rapidly .

    At least the trick today had made him rise ayer, not to mention that he had bought some time and drained three Sky Knights¡ªwhich was no small feat for an Earth Knight .

    Realizing that they been left with a scar in their minds from Xue Wei, he could not help but snicker . They deserved it .

    Another two days went by as the three guards went to report the information to the higher-ups and waited for them to find another person to take charge of the ¡®convincing¡¯ of Xue Wei .

    Xue Wei was correct . The next person that appeared was a Heavenly Knight . Unlike the previous three guards, this man was not arrogant, neither was he looking down on Xue Wei .

    The guard did not belittle him . He looked at him with a grave expression on his face, as if he was threatened by the existence of this creature known as Xue Wei .

    Knowing that this person could be a serious danger, Xue Wei furrowed his brows . He was slightly worried that things would not go as easily as he had hoped, his eyes never once leaving the man .

    Like the three previous guards, this man also sat down in front of the cell, but he did not instantly close his eyes; instead, he continued to observe Xue Wei .

    After contemting, Xue Wei also sat down, cing his hands in hisp and looked back at the man on the other side of the door .

    The two looked into the eyes of one another, and mutual respect began to grow between them . It was clear that the person each of them faced was not to be underestimated .

    While the Heavenly Knight was certain that Xue Wei was a monster after what he¡¯d been told before entering, he was shocked to see that it was, in fact, a mere youngster . His eyes were clear, bright, and filled with intelligence, and a smile hung on his lips, making him seem carefree, even when facing a Heavenly Knight .

    Xue Wei was pleasantly surprised with this man as well . He was calm, collected, and his bearing was neither hurried nor slow when moving . He¡¯d sat down with an elegance you rarely found amongst servants, but he was clearly someone bound to the Baili family by an oath of loyalty .

    The two were quiet for a long time, before the Heavenly Knight finally opened his mouth, ¡°I am sorry for what I am about to do,¡± he uttered with a deep voice, devoid of all emotions .

    ¡°I am bound to the Baili family . Any order they give me, I am to seed to the best of my ability, or I will lose my life,¡± he continued to exin .

    ¡°I do not wish to harm you, so I suggest that you pledge your allegiance to the Baili family . Although they are rather pushy and do things in questionable ways, they are not too bad . ¡±

    ¡°They threatened my dear ones,¡± Xue Wei answered, coldly . ¡°They have been trying to use coercion to force me into working with them . The more they do this, the more I will fight back . ¡±

    ¡°It seems that we will be incapable of reaching an agreement,¡± the Heavenly Knight resigned with a sigh, small needle-like shapes appearing in the air at the same moment .

    These needles were made purely out of spiritual energy, and they were fluctuating with a power that Xue Wei had not experienced before . His eyes turned solemn, and his smile slowly vanished .

    When he had met the guards earlier, they had been assaulting him with all their might, but the only way they could send out their energy was in waves that came crashing down upon him and were spread over his entire body .

    This Heavenly Knight was clearly in a higher position of wealth or power than the Sky Knights . He had some techniques and methods that others did not, and they were clearly able to cause some severe injury to Xue Wei, should these needle-like threads of energy hit him .

    Xue Wei was ufortable, but he was the one who had decided to follow the Baili family and fight them head-on rather than run and hide as he usually did .

    Since he had made this decision, then he was to stick to it till the end . Xue Wei was the kind of person who would never regret a decision he made, and he would forever be loyal to his choices .

    Since he had made this decision, he would not change course, and he would meet every hardship straight on .

    There was respect in the eyes of the Heavenly Knight, alongside a bit of pity . He too had experienced the pain of being impaled by a soul needle, and he knew that it could leave asting impact on one¡¯s soul .

    Still, he had been given his orders, so there was nothing to do other than follow those orders, and thus he unleashed a torrent of soul needles that rained down upon Xue Wei .

    Xue Wei closed his eyes the moment he felt the needles approaching him, and he urged the golden dragon to leave his soul pce to face them head-on .

    A golden light shrouded Xue Wei as the dragon materialized outside of his body as it had done back in the Soul Tower . It grew in size and shrouded him from the needles, but the moment they came into contact with the golden scales on the body, the needles melted into puddles of energy that the dragon quickly absorbed .

    A loud screech reverberated through the entire dungeon . It spread through the building on top of the dungeons, and even the elders in the main building heard the screech that made the very soul of each member of the Baili family tremble in fright .

    The golden dragon spirit was not active for long; in fact, it was only a second from materializing until it vanished again, but during this second, the Heavenly Knight felt a pressure unlike anything he had ever experienced before, and he swore that he had seen a golden dragon shrouding the youngster protectively within .

 Chapter 292

    Chapter 292: 292

    The moment the shining light vanished, the Heavenly Knight narrowed his eyes . Xue Wei was standing as intact as before, but the cell was a different story . Fissures had appeared all over it, and even the metal of the cell door was warped from the sheer amount of pressure that had been released earlier .

    The cells were not made to keep Qi cultivators at bay . In fact, Xue Wei was easily able to destroy the door and leave if he wished to do so, however, there was only one way to leave the dungeons, and that was through the building on top of the dungeons¡ªthe building where all the Baili family¡¯s guards resided .

    Although Xue Wei was rather arrogant and had great faith in his own abilities, he did not think he could take on a few Heavenly Knights alongside dozens of Sky Knights . He did have the golden dragon spirit protecting him, but there was a limit to this protection .

    Even now, when he had relied on the golden dragon spirit, he had sensed that he could no longer call it out . It was so filled with energy from those soul needles that it was about to burst .

    It was currently lying in his mind pce with closed eyes and a pained expression on its face, trying to consume the overwhelming energy that it had absorbed just moments before .

    Fortunately, the Heavenly Knight knew nothing about this . He was unaware of what Xue Wei had done, about which tricks he had up his sleeve and about his real species .

    He had thought he was a mere human, but now he was starting to seriously doubt himself . Was that dragon a Primordial Beast that followed him around? But if it was a Primordial Beast, how could it have appeared out of nowhere and thenpletely vanished without a trace .

    Spiritual energy cultivators had the best perception of all cultivators . It was near-impossible to sneak up on a spiritual energy cultivator, and even harder to hide under their noses, yet this beast had appeared and vanished just like that .

    Since it could vanish, was this just a technique? A Qi technique that he had never heard about before? But it had obviously drawn in the energy that the soul needles consisted of . How could Qi consume spiritual energy?

    The Heavenly Knight was getting more and more perplexed and confused, but he did not have a lot of time to consider it, as the screeching roar of the dragon had alerted every guard in the entire family¡ªnot to mention the elders .

    It did not even take the time it takes to brew a cup of tea before the entire dungeon was filled with high ranking guards and elders from the Baili family . All of them were looking at Xue Wei with hesitation and doubt evident in their eyes .

    No one spoke though, all of them were just filled with uncertainty and slight apprehension . The roar had shaken the entire familypound, the sheer force from it was so powerful that it was impossible to ignore .

    Finally, the grand elder made an appearance . He gazed at Xue Wei with solemn eyes and then gestured for everyone else within the hall to leave .

    Although the roar had sounded powerful, there was no way that the roaring beast would be capable of dealing with the grand elder, so all of them proceeded to withdraw, taking a nce at Xue Wei without hiding the curiosity in their assortment of eyes .

    Once only Xue Wei and the grand elder remained in the dungeon, the grand elder finally spoke, ¡°It seems that we have underestimated you . ¡±

    ¡°I am not sure if you underestimated me, or if you knew nothing about me from the start,¡± Xue Wei said with a shrug of his shoulders . ¡°What did you actually realize about me? I am new to this continent, so many of my secrets are very well guarded, and it is not like I am going to spill them just because you have locked me up in a dungeon . ¡±

    Hearing Xue Wei¡¯s words, the grand elder¡¯s face turned rather ugly . He too had to admit that all their attempts at coercion had been a failure so far, but he was not worried .

    Unlike Xue Wei¡ªwho was doing all in his power to make time pass by as fast as possible so that he could give the Gu and Yuan families as much time as possible to prepare¡ªthe Baili family were taking everything very slowly .

    They were unaware of what exactly Xue Wei had gifted the other families, so they did not know that they were currently nning to usurp the position of number one family in Yan Dalu, nor would they suspect the two families would be a legitimate threat anyway .

    To the Baili family, time was nothing more than a number . Xue Wei was in their clutches, and it was clear that one way or another, he would submit to them . It was inevitable¡ªthey just had to find the right method first .

    ¡°So you are a beast?¡± the grand elder could not help but ask as he looked at Xue Wei . ¡°The roar was rather magnificent; it felt as if there was an earthquake . In fact, I bet that even someone outside of the familypound will have heard it . ¡±

    The light in the grand elder¡¯s eyes shone with greed; he was looking at Xue Wei as if the young man was a priceless treasure . ¡°We do not have a tendency of taming beasts here on our continent,¡± he continued .

    ¡°I heard about your friend¡¯s amazing power of enving Primordial Beasts . This is a rather useful ability . Of course, our Baili family has no enmity towards beasts, and see no reason to tame the Primordial ones . However, Fierce beasts are not so intelligent . To make an army of Fierce Beasts could prove to be rather useful . ¡±

    The more the grand elder spoke, the more annoyed Xue Wei became . When he hade here, they had threatened him with his friends, and he had been close to forgetting the bigger picture and had just wanted to kill them all .

    Now once again, they were threatening to harm his friends and family, and he once more had an urge to kill them off, but he stopped himself when he remembered that he was not any match for this man .

    Since he could not hope to match his power, then why not try to use his wits?

    ¡°The Baili family sure is noble,¡± Xue Wei mocked . ¡°When I was forced to pay a visit, the young master leading the others used the same method as you are now .

    ¡°He was not content about talking with me concerning my abilities, methods, and forms, he wanted more, so he started threatening my dear ones .

    ¡°I promised toe here on the condition that my friends and family were left safe and sound, that no one would threaten them or force them to do anything .

    ¡°Yet here we are, you have realized the benefits of my friend¡¯s abilities, and now you want to abuse this power¡ªeven force me into agreeing if I want him to be safe, is this really how the Baili family conducts themselves?

    ¡°You first guarantee that they will be safe and unharmed, not forced into anything, but after realizing you can get more benefits, you go back on your promise?

    ¡°Do you really think that I am a defenseless animal? That I am just going to sit here and let the Baili family walk all over me? We had an agreement; if you do not abide by it, then don¡¯t me me for causing havoc!¡±

    As Xue Wei spoke, an invisible force could be felt building in the air . Although the grand elder would never be threatened by Xue Wei, he could feel that this young man was getting increasingly difficult to control .

    Although this man would be a great addition to the Baili family, the grand elder was starting to wonder, for the first time, if it was even possible to control him .

    If he had been willing to join them, then he would have been a great strength for their family, but when he refused, there was a chance that he would end up being a negative influence on their family, if not even a threat .

    Xue Wei clearly had a lot of potential, his strength was growing rapidly, and he was still young . Even amongst the youngsters in the Baili family at his age, there was only one who could rival him in his cultivation base of spiritual energy¡ªeven when all the experts from the Baili family had had the support of the Soul Tower since they were young .

    Xue Wei only came to the continent recently; he was not a person who had grown up entering the Soul Tower, and thus his advance in spiritual energy should be slower than others, yet he was still at an unparalleled level for his age .

    Not to mention, he did not only focus on spiritual energy, but he was also a strong Qi cultivator . He was a true monster .

    A hostile gleam appeared in the grand elder¡¯s eyes . It was clear that the elder was currently in a battle between his greed and his logic .

    Greed told him that Xue Wei had so many wonderful secrets that could assist their family . That, if Xue Wei was fully tamed and made loyal to their family, then they would be unstoppable¡ªeven for the king .

    Logic and reasoning were telling him that although he had a lot of undiscovered potential and information, this young man was simply too dangerous . He was a threat from the moment he had opposed the Baili family, and he also knew that they would lose some things for executing him, but would they really lose a lot?

    In the end, he had to decide; was it worth it to risk their family for something they had no guarantees would seed? He was leaning more and more towards killing Xue Wei, ending the problem and ensuring that he would not end up bringing disaster upon them .

    Just as the grand elder had finally reached a decision, he reached out his arm, dense spiritual energy gathering in his palm, ready to erupt at any moment¡ªwhen the sound of a horn rang through the entirepound, interrupting his train of thought and making the grand elder furrow his brows .

    The spiritual energy on his palm stayed for a moment before the horn rang again, and the grand elder withdrew his hand, ncing at Xue Wei with a worry clouding his eyes, and quickly rushed out of the dungeon .

    ¡°Seems like they heard my roar,¡± Xue Wei muttered to himself when he heard the horn . He did not need to ask to know that this was the call to arms for the Baili family .

    And only one thing could make the Baili family group up like this, and that was if an attack on their family wasing . Right now, the only ones likely to attack the Baili family were the Yuan and Gu families .

    ¡°Let the show begin,¡± Xue Wei grinned as he stood up and reached out his arm . The door that had been keeping him imprisoned for thest few days was wrenched off its hinges, the useless metal bars nging on the ground . Although it was strong enough to keep a spiritual energy cultivator with a Qi level of Heavenly Warrior rank inside, Xue Wei was an Earth Knight .

    A Knight and a Warrior were inpletely different categories . What could hold back a warrior was nothing against a knight .

    Being released from the cell, Xue Wei casually strolled through the dungeons, peering at the other cells, but finding that they were all empty .

    When he reached the staircase, he found that there was not a guard to be found, just like when he reached the top of the stairs¡ªthe building where all the guards should be present waspletely empty . All the guards must have rushed towards the sound of the horn .

    Smiling slightly, Xue Wei walked through the Baili familypound, a luxurious ce that was usually bustling with life all over, but right now, there was no one as all of them had gathered at the front gate where a cacophonous uproar could be heard .

 Chapter 293

    Chapter 293: 293

    The noise that Xue Wei could hear was the sound of screaming voices, and the air was starting to ripple from the spiritual energy that was being released at the gate .

    The umtion of energy was getting more and more violent the closer to the gates he came, and the screams were also getting more and more urgent .

    Apanying these screams and ripples of energy was a smell of blood and shing of weapons .

    The sound of shing weapons was new here in Yan Dalu, as everyone previously would focus on their spiritual energy cultivation and thus used mental attacks to end battles, but now a group of experts were rushing into thepound with brandished swords and staves .

    Even Primordial Beasts would rarely use weapons, as they would be using their physical shapes when fighting against their opponents . Not many would fight in their human shapes as they would be incapable of withstanding the danger posed by the spiritual energy cultivators .

    Experts who cultivated spiritual energy were cultivating faster than the Qi cultivating Primordial Beasts because of the Soul Tower, and thus the Qi cultivators had always been inferior .

    Now the opposite was happening right in front of everyone . The Qi cultivators were pressuring the rest of the experts, they were using brute strength to overpower their opponents, and none of them were showing any mercy .

    The Baili family¡¯s guards and members were all in disarray; they had been caught off-guard, but now they had no other option than to fight back with relentless ferocity .

    Blood was flowing on the ground as more and more wounds were opened up on the two sides that were engaged in battle . As one of the Baili guards was injured, another would step forward and take over their position in the formation . The people who wereing towards the defenders were like a tidal wave, never retreating, only advancing, flooding the family¡¯spound with people that brutalized them with raw strength .

    Xue Wei stood not far from the family gates . He was casually leaning against a tree, and a smile flitted across his lips as he saw the blood running in rivers, and the people fighting for their lives .

    These Gu and Yuan family members were here to save him, but he was calm and collected as if it had nothing to do with him .

    In fact, this battle would have happened sooner orter, no matter whether or not Xue Wei had appeared on the continent . The Baili family were never satisfied with their lot in life . Although they were the most powerful and influential family in the entire continent, there were still some people above them .

    The King was an unshakeable person, and the officials also had the power to go against the Baili family¡ªsomething that had forced them to submit for a long time .

    Things had changed when the previous king abdicated and gave his position to the current king; this king was not as strong as the others before her, and she was only capable of sitting on the throne because of the backup she had in court, alongside the innate potential from her five eyes .

    Having understood the Baili family¡¯s aim, Xue Wei was looking at the battle with renewed focus . Although he felt that the Gu and Yuan families should deal with the Baili family on their own, he was ready to jump in at any moment in time .

    As he looked around, he noticed that the grand elder was like him, standing at the sidelines observing the battle, but where a small smile hung on Xue Wei¡¯s lips, a grave expression marked the grand elder¡¯s face .

    The spiritual energy cultivators were beingpletely overpowered . Spiritual energy was not to be belittled, but one has to remember that these experts all had cultivated spiritual energy since they were young and thus had a natural defense against it .

    On the other hand, the members of the Baili family were all just Heavenly Warriors or beneath in their Qi levels, so while they were generally slightly stronger in spiritual energy levels, the Baili family were much further behind in Qi levels .

    As a result, the Yuan and Gu families were steamrolling over the Baili family¡¯s guards and masters . The more they fought, the more their bloodlust was unleashed; the Yuan and Gu families had been oppressed for many many years, and now they had a chance to vent those frustrations .

    While killing was not something that happened much throughout Yan Dalu, some people had still used their background to throw their weight around, bullying others, even going as far as to cripple them .

    Some were crippled physically while others had their soul or mind irreparably broken so that they would not be able to think straight ever again . The more talented members of the oppressed families had particrly been the victims of such hardships .

    The family members of these people were filled with a thirst for revenge, and a thirst for justice .

    Xue Wei nced at the two sides that were battling once again . At the start, the Yuan and Gu families held the advantage because of their surprise attack and their strong momentum, but as the Baili family soon realized that their weakness was that most Qi attacks were fairly short range, it turned into a big chase . The Baili family continued to retreat while the Gu and Yuan families advanced .

    It was not until the two families had flooded into thepound that the grand elder started to move .

    This was what Xue Wei had been the most worried about . The Gu and Yuan families were easily capable of blocking the rest of the guards and members, but as soon as it came to the grand elder, they would be at a disadvantage .

    The grand elder was, after all, an Ordinary Saint . His strength was not something that anyone could look down upon, and although his body was his biggest weakness, he just needed to surround himself in ayer of spiritual energy, and then no one would be able to break through .

    At the same time, if he started sniping them with his attacks, no one would be able to fight back against it, their minds would be broken, and their souls might even be ripped apart from the very powerful energy that would tear through them .

    Xue Wei sensed that the soul power in the surrounding air was bing more and more dense as more people started to die; their souls were being ripped apart by the grand elder .

    He frowned . He knew that he was no match for the grand elder, but perhaps he could still fight him . If the grand elder was interested in his secrets, he would not kill him, but if he had lost all hope in Xue Wei, stepping up would be the same as asking to be killed .

    Still, Xue Wei was willing to gamble . He was the kind of person who would not step back from any challenge, not to mention that these people hade to save him . Even though he had been uninvolved in the fight so far, watching them die one after another was in no way something he enjoyed .

    The Gu and Yuan families were also enraged by how their members were being picked off, and they too fought with increased ferocity against the normal members, ying them without holding back .

    Xue Wei sighed and started cracking his neck . He was going to intervene .

    He felt the energy within his body being released, his body rapidly undergoing some changes as the body itself started transforming into that of a dragon, and azure scales protruded from his skin . Another set of his clothes were ripped apart, and horns grew from his forehead .

    The body was massive, a full fifty meters long, and he coiled up in the square . A few warriors of the Baili family were squashed beneath his enormous body, causing anguished wails to resound throughout the area .

    Those who had been fighting were stumped when they saw the sheer size of this beast that suddenly appeared, their eyes widened in shock, and everyone retreated in fear . No one knew where this beast came from nor who it was fighting for, so they were all hesitant and alert .

    Seeing the huge beast, Xue Wei¡¯s friends grinned . Hei Gou suddenly growled, and his body also erged as he appeared in his mutated Celestial Dog shape .

    Lin Xiao was averse to killing humans, but he had hardened his heart and was shing his staff here and there, bashing anyone who came close to him . Even now, while the other people were stunned, he ran through their most clustered area and simply mmed the staff on their heads, knocking them unconscious with a single hit .

    Bai Tianyi was grinning when he saw the massive beast, summoning spiritual energy around himself and coalescing it into the shape of swords which shot outwards and pierced the souls of all the people close to him .

    Xue Wei knew they had expected this sight, so he was not too shocked, but when he saw a bundle stuck on Lin Xiao¡¯s back, a gleam of anger appeared in his eyes . Who allowed this dumb monk to bring his cute little sister to such a dangerous ce?!

    Since Luoluo was here, Xue Wei was even more eager to end the battle as soon as possible . He had to stop or at least dy the grand elder for long enough that they could wipe out the other guards and members, and then they could overwhelm him with sheer numbers .

    From the attacks he had seen earlier, Xue Wei could determine that the grand elder specialized in precise but deadly attacks, that pierced through only one person at a time . If he had attacks that could deal with multiple people at once, he would have used it long ago .

    Xue Wei¡¯s body moved like waves, roiling towards the grand elder, who was also shocked by the sudden appearance of a beast he had never seen before .

    Primordial Beasts were not that rare in Yan Dalu, but for one to have such an overwhelming aura, that was rare¡ªeven rarer was it to see one with such strength and momentum .

    The grand elder looked at Xue Wei with a shrewd expression in his eyes, before his gaze moved towards Lin Xiao, who was running around knocking out person after person with a smile on his face and constantly blurting out words of apology, and that the victims would praise himter .

    The grand elder¡¯s greed was getting the better of him, and he raised his voice, ¡°Capture the staff-wielding monk fast!¡± he yelled out, and all the Baili members returned to their senses . They did not understand the reason for the order given by their grand elder, but an order from him was unquestionable, so they rushed towards Lin Xiao as he was engaged within a horde of experts .

    ¡°Oh no!¡± Lin Xiao, who had been deep behind enemy lines, felt that something was wrong, and he quickly turned tail and ran . While he had previously moved unfettered and effortlessly through the enemies, he was now being chased by a group of maddened men .

    ¡°I am doing it for your own good!¡± Lin Xiao called out while running . ¡°I will only knock you out; the others want to kill you! Show some love towards a poor monk!¡±

    Bai Tianyi couldn¡¯t help but burst intoughter seeing Lin Xiao and his desperate pleas, he was evenughing so much that he forgot that he should fight, but Hei Gou quickly jumped next to Lin Xiao to assist him in his escape .

    ¡°Thank you! I knew you were a good brother!¡± Lin Xiao said as he looked at Hei Gou with gratitude .

    ¡°Wei will kill you if something happens to Luoluo,¡± the big dog snorted, as if the only reason he had jumped in was for the sake of the child .

    Xue Wei had instantly guessed the thoughts of the grand elder when he heard that they were to capture Lin Xiao and his draconic eyebrows knitted together . He was especially concerned when he saw the sleeping girl on his back, bouncing up and down with every hastened step he took .

    ¡°I better help them,¡± he muttered to himself and raised his head high into the sky .

    Azure Dragon Roar!

    A roar tore through the skies, the ground trembled, space almost copsed, and everyone fell to the ground in shock as their minds went buzzing, their eyes ckened . Anyone who heard the roar was filled with reverence, and any beasts present could not help but kneel by instinct .

 Chapter 294

    Chapter 294: 294

    The roar had the intended effect, as the ones who had been chasing Lin Xiao all faltered . Some copsed, others kneeled and yet some¡ªthe stronger ones¡ªwere just stunned momentarily, but this moment was enough for the monk to retreat safely .

    Seeing that Hei Gou, Lin Xiao, and Luoluo had reconnected with the army from the Gu and Yuan families, Xue Wei was feeling much more cated, so he got ready to face the grand elder .

    Truth was that before this, he had not had much faith in his ability to survive . He knew that the grand elder had made the decision within the dungeons to kill him, but now it seemed that his luck had turned .

    After seeing Xue Wei taking on the beastly shape and connecting it with the rumors about Lin Xiao¡¯s ability to tame beasts, it was as if he had rekindled his notion of getting the information out of Xue Wei .

    After all, if they could tame him, he would be at their beck and call, doing their bidding without any rebellion . He had just forgotten that Lin Xiao was on Xue Wei¡¯s side . Would he really work together with someone else to enve his friend?

    Not to mention, Xue Wei was not a Primordial Beast . He was half a Sovereign Beast, a beast that could not be tamed anyway . So even if Lin Xiao did attempt it, he would fail . Unfortunately, the grand elder had never before heard about a Sovereign Beast .

    Xue Wei was moving rapidly towards the grand elder . His body was shing everywhere, leaving a trail of afterimages in the air . Although the body was massive, it was not difficult to move, neither was he slow or clumsy .

    The grand elder dared not directly attack his soul as he feared that the soul would be destroyed . He was after all an Ordinary Saint, and if he identally killed Xue Wei, would he not lose this unique opportunity?

    Instead, he materialized the spiritual energy in the air and made it take on the shape of swords . Fighting someone was different from sparring . Usually, when in a real fight, one would go for dispatching their opponent as fast as possible, which usually meant to aim for the soul . If they were sparring, they would aim for their opponent¡¯s bodies instead .

    Right now, the grand elder was treating the confrontation with Xue Wei as a sparring match . He was not being serious about fighting him; neither was the elder eager to kill him . All he wanted was to injure him enough to make him incapable of fighting back so that the taming would happen smoothly .

    Xue Wei was relieved with this result . He felt a wave of thousands of dee crashing down like a tidal wave towards him, threatening to drown him, but with a flick of his body, Xue Wei vanished from his location and appeared again twenty meters to the side, managing to avoid the majority of the spiritual energy des .

    Still, it was not enough to avoid them all . Blood started flowing from the scales that had been punctured, and the flesh beneath was showing ghastly gashes from the swords . The moment they came into contact with the flesh, they had detonated like small bombs, causing some serious injury to Xue Wei¡¯s body .

    He was surprised; he had not expected that a Saint was this powerful . It was clear his opponent was not using the full extent of his abilities, but even so, his attacks were devastatingly lethal . Although he had no intention of killing Xue Wei, if those swords had allnded on his body, then his body would have beenpletely torn apart .

    Xue Wei felt a cold chill run down his draconic spine . He might have overestimated himself, but when he nced behind, he saw that the two grand elders of the Gu and Yuan families had finally made an appearance .

    From the look of them, it seemed they had also broken through to the Earth Saint rank; although it was clearly at a loweryer than the Baili grand elder as he had been at the rank for much longer and had better control over his strength .

    The Baili grand elder had not noticed that the two other grand elders had appeared . All his mind could think about was pacifying Xue Wei, to get him tamed, and to im all his strengthening methods for himself .

    A manic smile appeared on the lips of the Baili grand elder, and he beganughing hysterically as if he had just imagined something glorious .

    Xue Wei felt a shiver run down his spine as he saw this maddened expression, but he hardened his heart and advanced forward . He had various innate abilities that he had never tried before, and now was not the time to hold back .

    So far, when in his dragon shape, he had mainly relied on the Azure Dragon Roar, an attack that reached arge number of people at once and caused them to be pressured by the Sovereign Beast¡¯s aura .

    Now he realized that this attack had its limits . Those with a strong soul were not as harshly affected as he wished . Back in Chang¡¯an, he had seen people explode from the pressure, yet here in Yan Dalu, they had at most copsed¡ªand those who did copse were all weaker than him . The rest had be disorientated but nothing more than that .

    Azure Dragon ws!

    Xue Weiunched an attack that utilized his long and razor sharp ws to cut and slice at the Baili grand elder, but the attack was blocked by a protectiveyer of spiritual energy that the elder had formed in front of himself . It became clear that he would not even be able to puncture the elder¡¯s protections . Xue Wei¡¯s face darkened .

    The Baili grand elder was not just a realm above him¡ªXue Wei was an Earth Knight while the Baili grand elder was an Earth Saint¡ªit was akin to the difference between the Heavens and the Earth; it was simply not possible for him to retaliate .

    Realizing this, Xue Wei changed his tactics . Since there was no use attacking back, he would just catch the Baili grand elder¡¯s attention and try to distract him to buy time for his more capable allies to wound him . Unfortunately, if he could not touch the Baili grand elder even with his beast form, then his old n of having them overwhelm him with sheer numbers was suicidal¡ªhis only hope now relied on the Gu and Yuan grand elders . Those two elderly men would be the only ones capable of matching up to the Baili grand elder .

    Sensing his ns, the two elderly men also started moving towards the Baili grand elder . Their faces were solemn, and all their focus was aimed towards the man they hated from the bottom of their hearts .

    Although killing was frowned upon in Yan Dalu, this man had been responsible for the crippling of many of their genius descendants . It had gotten to the point where the Gu family¡¯s most talented genius in the younger generation was a woman, and the Yuan family¡¯s most talented youngster was a naive young boy¡ªtwo figures that the Baili family never expected to cause them problemster on as their personality or gender was in the way .

    Ripples of energy were starting to pick up in the area where the grand elders were converging, so Xue Wei started retreating to the side . Although he was rather confident in himself, he was also realistic . Now, he understood the difference between himself and an Earth Saint; he would be squashed into a meat paste if he stayed in the middle of their fight .

    Since he was no assistance in the fight between giants, Xue Wei¡¯s body shed like a snake in water as he rushed towards the constantly dwindling numbers of lesser Baili family members .

    Everywhere he passed, blood flowed in rivers, bodies copsed, and anguished cries sounded out . With the help of him and his friends, every one of the weaker Baili family members were soon dead or knocked unconscious .

    The members of the Gu and Yuan families gathered in the middle of the blood tainted square with Xue Wei and, looking at the battle in front of them where the Earth Saints were fighting .

    ¡°We gave all the Rainbow Pills to our grand elders,¡± Gu Bing¡¯er said when she saw how Xue Wei¡¯s eyes were focused on the battle, but it was near impossible to follow what was happening .

    ¡°Both our grand elders have been on the verge of breaking through to the Earth Saint levels for a long time, but they never had the final breakthrough¡ªthe bottleneck was simply too overwhelming .

    ¡°When they used the Rainbow Pills, some of the pills increased their Qi levels, and a single one increased their bodily condition, cleansed the marrow and clearing his meridians, but the rest increased their spiritual energy . These Rainbow Pills truly are wondrous .

    ¡°With the help of the Rainbow Pills, they managed to break into the Earth Saint rank . At the same time, they managed to solidify their cultivation base, so even though they are only at the secondyer while the Baili grand elder is at the fourthyer, our Elders are working together, and causing a problem for the Baili grand elder . ¡±

    Having exined how the Gu and Yuan grand elders had gained such a rapid increase in strength, Gu Bing¡¯er turned around and looked at the men and women she had brought with her .

    ¡°Gather the Baili men in one corner of the courtyard and our men and women in another . We deserve to give them a proper burial!

    ¡°Those Baili men and guards who have been knocked unconscious, kill them all!¡±

    Gu Bing¡¯er understood the idea of uprooting the weed before it could sprout new problems . If they allowed someone to survive, was it not the same as asking for troubleter on? If they did notter seek revenge, then that was fortunate¡ªbut it was smarter to assume the worst .

    Sensing the hesitation of her men and women, Gu Bing¡¯er¡¯s eyes turned cold . ¡°They wanted to kill us all . If you let them live, who is to say they will not try againter? Re-releasing a captured tiger into the mountain will only hurt yourself in the future!¡±

    After considering her words, the men and women started acting as they had been told . They cut off the heads of every single person before tossing them in a corner of the courtyard, bodies in one stack, with heads in another .

    The battle was more or less over, but no one could rx . If the Baili grand elder won thest battle, then the Yuan and Gu members would without a doubt be ughtered; as a result, they were all tense as they went about their grisly work .

    Fortunately, it seemed as if the winner was going to be the Gu and Yuan elders . They held the upper hand as they pressed the Baili grand elder more and more .

    Seeing this, Xue Wei quickly returned to his human shape and took out his final set of intact clothes . With a sigh, he quickly dressed in his trademark red robes that matched the bloodstained tiles beneath his feet .

    As he stood there with his red clothes, he looked like a demon who had just ascended from the hells beneath . Rivers of blood smeared his boots, but since they too were red, no one could see it . Instead, his clothes gave the illusion of him being a devil, with a handsome smile hanging on his lips as he inhaled the heavy metallic-scented air with vigor .

    Xue Wei did not have the time to consider the thoughts of everyone else; his eyes remained focused on the battle in front of him . Watching as the Baili grand elder was bing more and more desperate, he could not help but be alert . A cornered animal was often the most dangerous one .

    As expected, the moment he could no longer hold on, a malicious gleam appeared in the eyes of the Baili grand elder . He suddenly switched directions and rushed directly towards Xue Wei, his speed so fast that one would not believe that he was not a Qi cultivator .

    ¡°If I can¡¯t have the secrets, no one can!¡± he eximed as he hurtled towards Xue Wei with blinding speed .

 Chapter 295

    Chapter 295: 295

    The Baili grand elder started moving so fast that even the two Gu and Yuan grand elders were incapable of catching up . He had been just too fast, and their eyes widened in shock and despair . They had not been able to predict this move, and if something happened to Xue Wei now, they would be ungrateful people who could not even protect their benefactor¡ªsomething that¡¯d leave a scar in their hearts .

    However, before the Baili grand elder had the time to act, a shadow suddenly appeared in front of Xue Wei .

    The shadow was very small, and the speed with which it moved was so swift that neither Xue Wei nor anyone else in the group could react to it¡ªit moved even faster than they could see!

    The figure was rather small, so small that it only reached Xue Wei¡¯s waist, but suddenly a power erupted from this small figure, a power so frightening that everyone who cultivated spiritual energy felt their soul pces tremble .

    Even the golden dragon spirit within his mind opened its eyes, with a panicked expression on its face .

    Spiritual energy began to leave the body of every spiritual energy cultivator nearby; it gathered and shrouded the small figure in front of Xue Wei, making it impossible to see anything other than distorted space .

    Then, a small child-like hand reached out from within the cocoon of spiritual energy before all of it shot out like an arrow towards the advancing Baili grand elder .

    This all took ce in less than the time it takes for one breath, and the Baili grand elder had too much momentum behind him to be able to withdraw again, so he had no other choice than to meet the spiritual energy arrow head on .

    As he collided with the spiritual energy arrow, his advancement was suddenly halted . At first, an angry howl resounded from his mouth, but soon this howl turned to a pitiful whimper as he felt his soul being ripped apart from the spiritual energy attack that had pierced him .

    He felt as if his soul had no ability to fight back . Even when he had been fighting the other two grand elders from the Yuan and Gu families, he had not felt this hopeless, but right now, he felt like an ant in front of an elephant . What was the strength of this small figure? It was so dreadful!

    Time passed, but Xue Wei was no longer looking at the dying Baili grand elder . Instead, his attention was directed at the figure in front of him . Then, as recognition of who the figure was dawned upon him, his pupils contracted, shock filling his face .

    There, right in front of him, was Luoluo . Her adorable little face was stern, and her eyes shed with killing intent¡ªsomething very unnatural to see in a child like her .

    It took almost no time before the whimpers of the Baili grand elder died out, and his body slumped on the ground .

    ¡°Hurry!¡± The Gu grand elder was not wasting time . He rushed to the body, took a sword from one of the Gu family members, and severed the head in a clean stroke . It was clear that he feared that this man would return to life and cause more problems .

    When the head was severed, everyone could finally breathe a heavy sigh of relief . This was the end of their battle, and they had won . Suddenly they realized that their backs were soaked in a cold sweat, and their bodies trembled from exhaustion . The adrenaline was leaving their bodies, and they finally began to feel fear .

    ¡°Luoluo, don¡¯t you have something to say to me?¡± Xue Wei asked as he scooped the child into his arms, but when he looked at her, he frowned . Her little face was pale, and it seemed as if she had grown even younger than before .

    Her doe-like eyes were drooping with tiredness as she snuggled up against Xue Wei¡¯s body . ¡°Bad guy bullying big brother,¡± Luoluo said with a yawn, ¡°bad guy deserves to die!¡±

    ¡°How strong are you?¡± Xue Wei asked curiously, but he was unsure if the kid was capable of answering this question¡ªrightfully so, she looked at him with a puzzled expression on her face .

    ¡°Strong? Luoluo isn¡¯t strong,¡± she muttered before yawning again and resting her head peacefully on Xue Wei¡¯s chest, instantly falling asleep .

    ¡°She is not using the same strength levels as us,¡± Bai Tianyi said with a low voice that only Xue Wei could hear, his eyes were glistening, but there was a solemnity to him that was rarely there .

    ¡°This is not the ce to talk about it,¡± he continued, and Xue Wei gave a short nod of his head to show he had heard it .

    ¡°Miss Gu, I will leave the clean up to you guys,¡± Xue Wei said with a smile . ¡°All thends, businesses and whatever the Baili family owned will be given to you to manage, but if you find materials for Rainbow Pills, then I would like fifty percent of them . ¡±

    ¡°Great . ¡± Gu Bing¡¯er nodded her head . She was very satisfied with this deal .

    ¡°I will trade the One-Colored Rainbow Pill recipe I have for more materials,¡± he smirked with a wink of his eye .

    Gu Bing¡¯er grinned . ¡°Profiteer,¡± she said, but she did not mean it .

    Xue Wei had done much more for her and her family than anyone could hope for . He had changed the entire structure of Yan Dalu by introducing his Qi cultivation methods for humans as well .

    He had given a stack of techniques, forms, and scriptures to them so that they could use the Qi they had cultivated . This was truly a new stage for all people in Yan Dalu, and something that could make things very different from how they had been before .

    While Xue Wei was chatting with Gu Bing¡¯er, a few guards came running with frantic expressions on their faces .

    ¡°Miss! Miss!¡± they called out,pletely ignoring that she was conversing with someone else, their faces pale and showingplete and utter disbelief .

    ¡°What is it?¡± Gu Bing¡¯er did not get upset by being interrupted and asked calmly . She could see that it was something rather upsetting that had urred .

    ¡°We were looking for survivors when we came across an underground dungeon,¡± one of the guards said, his body suddenly trembling . ¡°We were of the impression that this underground dungeon was the same as the one where Master Xue was held captive, but when we entered, we found that it was different . ¡±

    ¡°How so?¡± Xue Wei was the one asking now, his eyes sparkling with interest .

    ¡°There was onerge cell, another room with a strange inscription on the ground, and blood everywhere . It is a gruesome sight! And there are ten living beings within the cell, but all of them are sleeping!¡±

    ¡°Ten people?¡± Xue Wei was reminded of the problem with ten people disappearing each day . Could this have something to do with the Baili family? But if it was the Baili family, then what about the Soul Tower? What about the bloody scratches on the walls?

    Xue Wei was unsure of what was going on, but knowing that it could help him understand what exactly was going on in Yan Dalu, he immediately ordered the guards to lead him to the room .

    Luoluo was sleeping in his embrace, but the rest of his friends were alert as they followed behind him . All of them were quite curious as to what was going on, and what they might find out .

    When they entered, they found that things were exactly as they had been described . As soon as they went down the stairs, they found arge cell where ten people of varying ages and varying backgrounds wereying in a line .

    Some seemed rich, and others seemed poor . Some were young, while others were older . There was no children and no very old people¡ªthey all seemed to be between fifteen and fifty years old .

    Xue Wei went over and examined them . They were all breathing but as to why they were sleeping, he at first did not know, but after a short while, his nose picked up a scent he was familiar with .

    This was the scent of Night Vine, a herb that induced aa-like state .

    ¡°They have been fed Night Vine,¡± he said as he observed them a little closer . ¡°They should wake up on their own in a day or two at thetest if they were fed today . If it was before, then they should wake up even sooner . ¡±

    Having determined that they were not in any danger, Xue Wei left the cell and walked towards the room that had been described as having an inscription on the floor and blood sttered everywhere .

    As he entered, he saw the description wasn¡¯t wrong . The floor had a massive round inscription which he had never seen before, and half of it was impossible to see as dried blood had covered the lines . The walls were also painted with crusty, dried up old blood, and the smell was beyond foul .

    It was a gruesome scene . It was clear that people had died in here, but as to what the inscription did, Xue Wei had no idea .

    ¡±This is a Soul Coagting Inscription,¡± Bai Tianyi¡¯s apathetic voice sounded next to Xue Wei . ¡°It is an inscription which not only takes one¡¯s soul power away, it also steals your spiritual energy cultivation base and moves it into another person .

    ¡°I think we have an answer as to what happens with the daily ten missing people, and also an answer as to why the Baili family managed to do as well as they did . Their direct descendants were likely boosted by this Soul Coagting Inscription . ¡±

    Xue Wei pondered on what Bai Tianyi had said and nodded his head, ¡°Well that was one question solved,¡± he said with a sigh as he looked around and then went out . He did not want the rotten bloody smell to wake up Luoluo .

    ¡±But why does it feel like every time we solve one problem, a new one crops up?¡± he could not help butin as he thought about how there were now even more mysterious things at the academy waiting for them .

    ¡°I think we need to return to the forbidden area and get some understanding of what exactly is happening at the academy . Since we got no answers at the Soul Tower, that would be where the best guess for finding answers is . ¡±

    As Xue Wei and the others returned to their courtyard at the academy, rumors about the battle rapidly spread through the entire capital and soon to the whole continent .

    At first many were condemning the Gu and Yuan families for taking up arms against the Baili family and murdering them, but Gu Bing¡¯er would not stand idly by .

    She quickly released the news about the fates of all the missing people, and all the misdeeds that the Baili family had done throughout the years, rightfully painting herself, her family and the Yuan family as the heroes who fought for justice .

    The people were easily swayed when they saw the evidence, and soon every member of the Baili family who had not been home at that point were hunted like wild dogs .

    Xue Wei did not care about the rumors that were running wild outside; all he cared about was his trip back to the forbidden area . He had to find some answers soon¡ªnot just more questions and uncertainties .

    When they returned, Xue Wei looked at Luoluo worriedly as he ced her in her bed . From the moment she had fallen asleep, she had not opened her eyes at all, and he was worried that she had overexerted herself .

    Bai Tianyi hade into the room silently, and when he saw the worried expression on Xue Wei¡¯s face, he spoke up, ¡°Don¡¯t worry .

    ¡°She is not like us,¡± he continued, ¡°Although she looks human, she is actually not . She is a spirit . ¡±

    ¡°A spirit?¡± Xue Wei was confused . What were spirits? He felt that he vaguely had heard about them before in myths when he was a child, but he could not remember it at all .

    Bai Tianyi answered, ¡°Yes, she is a spirit, a being that is not so different from me, to be honest, but while I am an artificial spirit, she is a natural one . ¡±

 Chapter 296

    Chapter 296: 296

    Xue Wei was slightly stunned as he nced at Luoluo . She was not human? In fact, this should note as a shock to him¡ªhe himself was not human either, and she had already lived for a very long time while having the body and mind of a child . This was not like humans at all .

    But spirits were the rarest amongst all species, so rare that not even every continent had them . ¡°Tell me about spirits,¡± Xue Wei asked Bai Tianyi . The only thing he knew about spirits were from the sword spirit himself, but just before, he had said that while he was an artificial spirit, Luoluo was the genuine article .

    Bai Tianyi nodded his head and gestured for them to leave the room . They would have to talk a lot, and neither of them wanted to interrupt Luoluo¡¯s rest . Although she was a spirit, she had just executed an Earth Saint . It could not have been an easy task, even if she made it seem effortless .

    As they left the room, they both slowly went towards the lounge area where they sat down and faced one another . Bai Tianyi did not speak at once, and he hesitated slightly before he sighed and shook his head .

    It was obvious that he was also rather affected by the realization that Luoluo was a spirit .

    ¡°Spirits are different from other species . Other species came from a union between humans and beasts long ago, which has given them the special traits that they are known for .

    ¡°Spirits are not born by other spirits; in fact, they are incapable of reproducing at all . Spirits are created by nature itself .

    ¡°They can be anything; they can be people or man-made objects, or even a tree, a mountain, a river or something else .

    ¡°It can happen when something has been located in a ce where the heaven-and-earth essence or soul power is incredibly dense and stayed that way for a long time .

    ¡°When the spirit¡¯s original shape has been shrouded in this energy for so long that the energy has prated to the very core of the original shape, it awakens its own consciousness .

    ¡°While it does be conscious, it is not capable of moving, but as long as the energy is present in the same location, then it will be able to cultivate . After cultivating to a specific level, it will be able to create a spiritual body like I did, and then leave the original host, and be a being that is formed purely from energy .

    ¡°She is one of these spirits that has cultivated to a high rank . She has be a wonderful spirit, however, something clearly has gone wrong in her life .

    ¡°Unlike humans, beasts, and all the other races, spirits do not have dantians . Their entire body is the container for their energy, and this is also the reason for her to appear and act like a child .

    ¡°She has used too much of her energy; she has been drained so much that not only her body but also her consciousness has been impaired . ¡±

    ¡°Is there a way to solve this problem?¡± Xue Wei cut in, his brows furrowed and his heart clenched at the thought of Luoluo never maturing . Although he would forever be her older brother and look after her, he was worried .

    Even more so when he saw that Luoluo had shrunk even further after the fight against the Baili grand elder . In fact, it looked like she had lost almost a whole year of age, both physically and mentally .

    ¡°Of course there is a way for her to mature again,¡± Bai Tianyi consoled him . ¡°It is just that she needs to cultivate again . Although we artificial spirits are different from the genuine ones, both of us have to cultivate .

    ¡°There are some differences in being an artificial spirit than a genuine spirit . Genuine spirit¡¯s bodies will grow naturally as they get stronger, or shrink as they get weaker .

    ¡°Their mind and body go hand in hand . The smaller they are, the younger their mental state, and therger their bodies, the older their mental state .

    ¡°We artificial spirits are both fortunate and unfortunate to not be the same . Our bodies can not grow on their own . No matter how strong we be, we are stuck with the body we created unless we create another spiritual body and change our host . Our only other way is to temporarily change our body structure with a constant use of Spiritual Energy .

    ¡°On the other hand, our mental state will never regress or advance from the time we became a spirit . I will never be like a child . ¡±

    Xue Wei pondered on Bai Tianyi¡¯s exnation, and he felt much calmer now than before . Hearing that Luoluo would be fine and mature normally if she just cultivated made him feel much more rxed .

    At the same time, he also swore to himself that he would never let Luoluo use her power unless absolutely necessary . When he fought, he was only emptying his dantian, and he would be capable of restoring it after a short rest .

    If Luoluo were to fight, she would end up losing some of her age and mental stability .

    Now that he understood what a spirit was, Xue Wei was not too shocked . Instead, he felt it exined a lot of things, and at the same time, he also felt even more sympathetic towards his newfound little sister .

    She had no parents or kin close to her; she had never had anyone close to her . From the moment she had gained consciousness, she had been alone, cultivating on her own until she could create her own body to enter the world .

    Although Xue Wei did not know what had happened to her when she was wandering the continent, he understood that Luoluo had somehow encountered danger which had caused her to be a young child for many years .

    This helped Xue Wei understand Luoluo¡¯s unique situation, but there was still something bothering him, causing him to frown . ¡°You said that she would have healed and matured after cultivating for some time, but looking at Luoluo, it seems more like she just keeps shrinking . ¡±

    ¡°This is something I do not understand either,¡± Bai Tianyi said as he furrowed his brows . ¡°If anything, then I think the forbidden area would have something to do with it . She was locked in the forbidden area for millennia, and even I was incapable of entering when I triedst time . There is likely something hidden there . ¡±

    Xue Wei was reminded about how Bai Tianyi had felt weak and was forced to stay outside when they entered the forbidden area the first time and nodded his head . His eyes red with coldness as he thought about how the Garden of Shadows might have harmed someone he now considered dear to him .

    ¡°I will stay and wait for Luoluo to awaken,¡± he decided after a bit of contemtion . ¡°After having fought such a battle and even shrunken in age and size, I can imagine that she will feel very depressed and maybe perhaps even scared if she wakes up all alone . ¡±

    Bai Tainyi looked at Xue Wei with a bit of an impatient expression on his face . Although Luoluo was a young child, she was not unreasonable . If just anyone stayed back, then that would be fine . There was no reason for Xue Wei to stay back, but considering that the Sovereign Beast had be a mother hen, Bai Tainyi said nothing and just snorted in reply .

    Like this, the days went by . Xue Wei was worried as Luoluo did not show any signs of awakening at all . He stayed holed up in the pill room concocting pills, or the bedroom cultivating, but Luoluo showed no signs of awakening .

    The King had tried to visit them a few times, but Xue Wei was never in the mood to entertain, so she left rather quickly .

    The rest of Yan Dalu should have been in chaos after the death of the Baili family, but because Gu Bing¡¯er had released information which shed light on their misdeeds, everyone was happy to see them extinguished .

    As the ruckus died down, the smarter people started looking towards the Yuan and the Gu families . Although they had worked together to eradicate the Baili family, now they were against one another to take the open position as the most influential family on the continent .

    Everyone with a bit of brain expected that another battle would break out, but contrary to everyone¡¯s expectations, this did not happen . Instead, news about an engagement that would unite the families started circting in the capital .

    The Gu and Yuan families were about to be inws . One of the candidates to be the new heir to the Yuan family, Yuan Bailong, was getting engaged to Gu Bing¡¯er, a direct descendant of the Gu family .

    This showed that the two families had no intention of fighting one another, that they would stay on friendly terms, and that they were willing to support one another so that they would remain standing side by side as equals instead of rivals .

    Another thing that they started specting about was how long it would take for Yuan Bailong to be named as the new heir to the Yuan family .

    Although he had never had much of a chance before, he was now the link that united the Yuan and Gu families together . Soon, the news about their link to Xue Wei was also sneakily announced, making itmon knowledge that it was Yuan Bailong who was responsible for the Yuan family¡¯s newfound rise to their current strength and status .

    It was naturally Gu Bing¡¯er who wisely shared the information to further solidify their position . She was a great schemer who could use the public¡¯s opinion in her favor, and while it was a help to the couple, the rest of the Yuan family¡¯s heirs were all pulling out their hair in despair .

    They had still thought they had a chance even though Yuan Bailong had been the one to establish the connection between the Yuan family and Xue Wei, but now they feltpletely helpless due to Gu Bing¡¯er¡¯s engagement and her clever scheming to put him ahead .

    The engagement news soon cooled down after the date of the engagement party was set, and although everyone started looking forward to it, the main subject on everyone¡¯s lips had suddenly changed .

    The Gu and Yuan families had begun acting charitable and started donating specific Qi cultivation scriptures to the royal treasury . From their deals with Xue Wei, they also donated some of the weaker martial art techniques, and forms for some Qi increasing pills .

    Once more, this brought out a massive stir in the continent . The King was simrly rather magnanimous about it, but for different reasons¡ªand made the officials make all methods and forms public so that everyone would be able to cultivate .

    The King was aware that things had changed . Although the Baili family was gone, this was actually no benefit for the royal family and the court of officials .

    Now that the Yuan and Gu families held onto the best resources for Qi cultivators, anyone who was incapable of cultivating their spiritual energy, or simply preferred to cultivate Qi now that it was aparable option would flock to these families to pledge their allegiance in return for better resources .

    The Gu and Yuan families would be the true rulers of the continent, and they would be impossible to overthrow as Xue Wei had given them all the best he had .

    While this was a big issue for the court¡ªwho had been eagerly discussing it day in and day out, the King often sat casually on the throne, leaning slightly to one side with a bored expression on her face as she observed her pale and frightened officials .

    It was truly an example of ¡®the emperor is not worried, but his eunuchs are worried to death . ¡¯ They did not know what they should do, but the King remained calm and unphased by the issue .

    Finally, after three weeks of waiting, Luoluo awoke from her slumber . Her clear eyes were slightly dazed as she looked at the ceiling above her, her mind was slightly fuzzy, and she felt a splitting headache .

    Tears welled up in her eyes, as she heard a gentle and maic voice sounding right by her side with a hint of urgency, ¡°Luoluo, you¡¯re awake!¡±

 Chapter 297

    Chapter 297: 297

    ¡°Big Brother!¡± Luoluo¡¯s childish voice sounded hoarse and dry after having just woken up .

    Xue Wei smiled gently as he leaned forward and gently patted the girl¡¯s head; her tears finally spilling from her eyes as she started crying out loud .

    ¡°It was so scary,¡± she cried, her voice trembling . ¡°The darkness was everywhere, and I couldn¡¯t wake up . I was so scared!¡±

    Hearing her pitiful cries, saddened Xue Wei, and he quickly scooped her up from the bed and ced her in his embrace . ¡°Don¡¯t think about it anymore,¡± he said soothingly as he held her tight like he would a great treasure . ¡°You are awake now, and all your dear ones are right here next to you . You are not alone, and the darkness is not going to swallow you . Big Brother will never let you be alone . ¡±

    Hearing this did not stop Luoluo from crying, but she let all her frustrations and fears free by burying her face in his shoulder and crying her heart out .

    Xue Wei smiled slightly when he saw how clingy the child was to him, it was obvious that she had been alone for so long, but how had she managed all this time alone?

    As a small child, she must have felt bored, depressed, and sad every single day sitting in her worn out home and staring at nothing more than the fleeting clouds .

    Xue Wei¡¯s heart ached when he pictured the hollow shell of a life she¡¯d lived for so many years, never being allowed to mature . As a child, one should have a childhood filled with happiness, learning, and love, but she experienced nothing but istion and monotony instead .

    Although he had been betrayed, hunted, and hated by many, at least his childhood had been good . When he lived with his father, he had been loved unconditionally, and even Xiao Lei had cared deeply for him .

    He understood how important such feelings were to every person, and thus, he wanted to do whatever he could to make Luoluo feel loved . Although he had no children or real siblings, he truly felt as if this young girl had be family¡ªsomeone whom he must protect and care for until the day she was mature enough to spread her own wings and make her own decisions .

    Luoluo cried on Xue Wei¡¯s shoulder for a long time, and only when she had no more tears left to shed did she finally stop . Her head was bobbing up and down, and her eyes were closing involuntarily as she had exhausted herself after crying as much as she had .

    Xue Wei was rather eager to enter the forbidden area and get this mystery over with once and for all, but he also knew what was more important right now .

    Luoluo was currently weakened and panicked . Leaving her now would harm her, so instead, he waited by her side until she woke up a second time .

    Her mentality had regressed further than before; it seemed that the attack she had unleashed against the Baili grand elder had made her deteriorate to the state of a four-year-old .

    When she woke up again, Xue Wei doted on her and had some food prepared for her . Although she was younger, food still cheered her up immensely . Her confused expression was reced with happiness the moment she saw the dishes that were being ced in front of her .

    She pped her small hands with glee, and Xue Wei smiled with indulgence as he took his chopsticks and started by cing an assortment of fresh, aromatic and mouth-watering appetizers from their shared tes into Luoluo¡¯s bowl .

    After some time, the meal was over, and Luoluo sighed with contentedness . It was time for Xue Wei to leave the satisfied young spirit .

    Meeting with hispanions in the main room, he announced, ¡°I will be going to the forbidden area, but I will not take Xiao, Tianyi, nor Luoluo with me . ¡±

    ¡°Why not?¡± Lin Xiao could not help but ask with slight frustration, and Xue Wei looked at him with a helpless expression on his face .

    ¡°Tianyi felt ufortable when he wentst time, so having him go would be impossible .

    ¡°You know Luoluo can¡¯t go, that ce is terrible for her . Not to mention, the Soul Tower stopped working the moment she left, so if she is to enter again, we will definitely alert them to our presence .

    ¡°I don¡¯t dare leave Luoluo to Tianyi, he does not like kids, and I wouldn¡¯t be surprised if he had consumed her like a delicious meal by the time we return, so Xiao will have to stay back and make sure that the two spirits behave . ¡±

    Lin Xiao, who had just been demoted to the babysitter once again, could only shake his head in defeat . He had to agree with Xue Wei that leaving Bai Tianyi and Luoluo together would be the same as leaving a cat with a ravenous dog .

    Although Bai Tianyi would, of course, refrain from consuming the spiritual energy of Luoluo because Xue Wei cared for her, looking after her was maybe a little too much to ask for, considering the careless behavior of Bai Tianyi .

    ¡°Will hubby stay with me?¡± Luoluo asked with sparkling eyes as she looked at Lin Xiao, her words making Xue Wei feel as if he just fell from high above, and his mouth twitched as he tried to stifle augh .

    ¡°Hu... Hubby?¡± Lin Xiao repeated with disbelief on his face . Had he just been called hubby by a four-year-old child? Was this not too disturbing?

    ¡°Little Luoluo...¡± Xue Wei began . He also felt that something was wrong with this scene, but he did not want to break his little sister¡¯s heart . He pondered on how best to break it to her gently and make her understand that she and Lin Xiao were not a couple .

    ¡°Yes, Big Brother?¡± Luoluo looked at Xue Wei with big doe-like eyes and a trusting, happy smile on her face that melted his heart, and he did not have it in him to scold her, so instead, he changed tactic .

    ¡°Do you know what hubby means?¡± he asked curiously . She had the mentality of a child, how could she even know what a hubby was?!

    ¡°It is my husband! Someone who will be with me all my life! I wanted to marry Big Brother, but since we are family, and a family cannot marry, so I am okay with Lin Xiao instead . ¡±

    His lips twitched even more when hearing this . So she knew the word ¡®hubby,¡¯ but she did not really understand its full meaning¡ªshe just thought it meant staying with someone forever . Since that was her idea of a hubby, then it wasn¡¯t so disturbing .

    Still, Xue Wei shot a nce at Lin Xiao, and the monk could not help but return a look of despair as if he could cry, but no tears woulde .

    ¡°My dear friend, I did nothing,¡± Lin Xiao said as he looked at Xue Wei and Luoluo . ¡°Don¡¯t look at me as if I have been seducing your family!¡±

    Xue Wei knew he was overly sensitive and protective, but he also felt that Luoluo should be staying at home for a while longer, and not be so busy looking for a husband, so he looked at her and smiled as he reached out and scooped her up in his arms .

    ¡°Little Luoluo, don¡¯t think too much about getting married,¡± he suggested to her, ¡°we are family, don¡¯t you want to stay by Big Brother¡¯s side for a bit longer?¡±

    ¡°Big Brother, be good,¡± Luoluo scolded as she raised her childlike hand and patted Xue Wei¡¯s head . ¡°Luoluo will always be your cute little sister, but Luoluo wants to marry Uncle Xiao . ¡±

    Xue Wei was speechless, but instead of continuing the subject, he shook his head .

    ¡°Xiao, I am leaving Tianyi and Luoluo to you . Keep them safe,¡± he said as he smiled and ced Luoluo on the floor before he stood up and straightened his clothes .

    Having handed Luoluo over to Lin Xiao and thrown a quick nce at Bai Tianyi, Xue Wei and Hei Gou left the house and headed towards the forbidden area .

    ¡°Let mee with you,¡± a feminine voice suddenly sounded from the darkness of the night as Xue Wei exited the house, and he almost jumped in surprise . He was not used to being sneaked up on, so it caught him by surprise .

    Seeing that it was the King, he immediately felt much more relieved and smiled at her, gesturing for her to follow .

    ¡°It would be our honor to have you with us,¡± Xue Wei said with a grin . ¡°There are some things I might need a spiritual energy expert to help me with . ¡±

    ¡°It would be my pleasure to help,¡± the King said with a smile on her face . Together, the three of them moved swiftly through the darkness towards the forbidden area .

    Unfortunately, everything was not as they had expected . When they reached the square that was in front of the forbidden area, the three of them were stopped in their tracks .

    It was a dark night; the moon was hidden beneath the clouds, a dense fog covered everything, and even the stars were hidden from sight . Despite the thick shroud, the three of them heard distinct voices in front of them, all of which sounded rather frustrated .

    ¡°Seriously, the Soul Tower has been malfunctioning for a long time now, why are we still forced to guard this ce?¡± a voice sounded, with boredom and slight aggravation clearly evident .

    ¡°Even worse, there have been no movements here since the tower stopped working, so why would anyone appear now?¡± another voice responded, filled with indignation and annoyance .

    ¡°Be quiet, we never know what could have happened . But I have an idea, don¡¯t you find it strange? The moment this young man Xue Wei appears with his Qi methods, the Soul Tower¡ªwhich makes these Qi methods deste suddenly stops working . Don¡¯t you think he had a hand in it?¡±

    ¡°Oh right, this is something I never thought about before,¡± a newly enlightened voice responded as they listened to the exnation . ¡°But why are the leaders of the academy so sure that something will happen here around the forbidden area?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t you think that something could have been inside the forbidden area and he stole it?¡± someone mused, and the others became quiet when they listened to his words .

    ¡°But what about those bloody scratches in the Soul Tower? There is no exnation for those; unless, do you think that this Xue Wei and that child friend of his have done something to the tower up there? After all, those two are the only ones who managed to reach the ninth floor before it stopped working . ¡±

    Xue Wei, Hei Gou, and the King were all standing still in the fog, looking at one another unsure of what exactly they should do .

    They needed to enter the forbidden area, but it seemed that at least five guards were guarding the entrance, and it was likely that even more were stationed further down the road .

    Xue Wei looked in his storage treasure and picked a few pills from within . These pills he produced made people fall asleep after breathing in the medicinal herbs that had been mixed within .

    Not wasting any time, Xue Wei snuck closer . He knew that these people had a weak body; at most they were Ordinary Knights, but the majority would be Heavenly Warriors, so when breathing in the herbs, they would be knocked out instantly .

    Xue Wei held his breath as he crushed the pills in his hands, and then he blew the medicinal herb dust towards the guards .

    ¡°What is this aroma?¡± someone asked, but the only answer was the sound of ttering armor as they all copsed to the ground .

    Xue Wei dusted his hands off and returned to the King and Hei Gou . He looked around, and then he smiled, ¡°We should wait for a few minutes for the scent to dissipate, and then we will move towards the gate . ¡±

    ¡°You really have a bit of everything with you, huh?¡± The King was very surprised . She knew that Xue Wei had many things and that many were things she had never heard about before . She became quite curious about it .

    After waiting for a moment, the group started moving towards the gate . Hei Gou grabbed the King by the cor and jumped up to the top of the gate followed by Xue Wei, and together the three of them dropped down into the forbidden area .

 Chapter 298

    Chapter 298: 298

    The forbidden area was much like it had been the previous time they had entered .

    It was dark and filled with old houses that were so worn out that many of them had copsed long ago .

    The ce was ages old and had been left to the mercy of the passage of time without anyone to maintain or repair it¡ªit was like entering a decrepit time capsule .

    At first nce, there was nothing special about these worn-out houses, but upon closer inspection, Xue Wei noticed that they were all ced in weirdly precise geometric pattern rtive to one another .

    They were formed in a star shape, with a building at each of the five points of the star, and the house that Luoluo had resided in situated at the center of them all .

    ¡°The soul power is incredibly dense here,¡± the King mumbled as she looked around . The closer they got to the house that had belonged to Luoluo, the denser the energy became . It became so dense that every breath they took poured soul power into their bodies at a speed so rapid that their refinement could not even keep up .

    ¡°This is like being on the eighth floor of the Soul Tower, but without having any pressure,¡± Xue Wei observed . ¡°The eighth floor had a heavy pressure as the soul power was being poured into my body, but even then, that amount of energy did not feel as overwhelming as this does . ¡±

    ¡°Something is gathering all the soul power from the surrounding area, and it is not Neb Stones,¡± the King remarked, quite surprised from the events happening here . It was quite different from how it had been when theyst visited .

    ¡°It seems that the center of this heavy soul power is in the house that belonged to Luoluo,¡± Xue Wei said with narrowed eyes . His mind was clearer than it had ever been before as it was being bombarded with dense amounts of soul power, but he felt a sudden sense of danger as he walked forward .

    ¡°Don¡¯t go any further,¡± Xue Wei suddenly called out, rmingly . ¡°It feels as if something is wrong . Although the dense soul power is pouring into my mind, it is as if something is wrong with our surroundings . Could this be a trap?¡±

    Hei Gou and the King both stopped in their tracks as they heard Xue Wei¡¯s warning, and their expressions turning solemn and grave .

    ¡°Let us look at the surrounding houses first . ¡± The King was not sure if Xue Wei was correct when he assumed that it was a trap, but the fact that he wished for them to be careful was reasonable enough .

    The forbidden area had always been out of bounds for everyone¡ªeven the academy leaders did not enter the ce, so no one had any real understanding of what could have happened within .

    ¡°Could it be that all the energy that was usually sent to the Soul Tower has gathered here instead?¡± Hei Gou voiced his concerns and theory, but Xue Wei just frowned . Something told him that it was not that simple .

    ¡°Let us see what we can find in the other houses,¡± Xue Wei said, neither agreeing nor disagreeing with Hei Gou¡¯s hypothesis . It could be that he was just overthinking the situation they hadnded themselves in .

    They continued forward towards a house that had long since copsed . The roof had once upon a time been made from straw, but nothing was left apart from rotten beams that would have held the straw in position .

    Most of the beams had cracked and fallen into the house itself . Simrly, the brick wall had crumbled in many ces due to the passage of time .

    Entering the house was rather difficult as it had mostly copsed, and it contained some danger to enter as no one knew when any remnants would copse as well, but none of them considered this danger at the moment as they climbed over the rubble and entered what, once upon a time, had been a living area with a small kitchen to the side .

    Looking at the house, Xue Wei frowned . His frown was not only because of the fact that it had be a ruin but also because there was no furniture .

    Although the house looked as if it had been built for the purpose of having someone inhabit it like most houses, there were no marks, no signs of wear or use underneath the thickyer of dust and rubble in the living area .

    The kitchen also looked old and broken down, but it did not look as if it had ever been used either . What was the point of building a house but never letting anyone live within it?

    Xue Wei continued to the second house of the outer houses that made up the star pattern, finding the same thing . This continued in each building .

    Not only were they old and in shambles, but there were no signs that anyone had ever lived within them .

    ¡°This is somewhat wrong . Even though Luoluo¡¯s home was old and worn out, at least it was worn out from being used . These houses seem as if they were never needed in the first ce,¡± Xue Wei mused . He could not help but feel perplexed and confused; he had spent quite a long time examining the houses, and all he had realized was that they were useless .

    ¡°Maybe they were ced there to hide something,¡± Hei Gou muttered with a quiet voice, but since there was no other sound in the forbidden area, both Xue Wei and the King could still hear it, and they looked at one another .

    ¡°Underneath them!¡± the both of them eximed at the same time, and then rushed towards the closest building .

    ¡°What do you mean, underneath them?¡± Hei Gou asked curiously, but neither Xue Wei nor the King responded . Both of them just began to move the bricks and rubble away and stack it in a pile on the side .

    Hei Gou shook his head resignedly before he too began helping . They broke up the floor and the walls, and everything was moved out of the way as quietly as they could . Fortunately, it was done rather fast with their strength, as it was much higher than what moving some stones and wooden boards required .

    Soon the house was nothing more than a massive pile of rubble and trash, baring the ground underneath the house that it had been built on . When they were finally able to see the exposed ground, the expression in their eyes became severe .

    The ground underneath the house was one massive rock, but the rock was clearly unnatural . All over the rock were carvings of what looked to be runes that belonged to a formation .

    The runes kept on for as far as the rock was visible above the cleared floor, and seemed to continue even underneath the grass and soil that was between the houses .

    ¡°Let us try and empty every house to see if it is the same underneath them all . Let us unmask the entire formation; I would like to see how big it is, and hopefully we will recognize some of the runes,¡± Hei Gou said, but when he saw that Xue Wei was staring intently at the formation with furrowed brows and an expression of recognition on his face, he quieted down .

    ¡°These runes . ¡± Xue Wei pointed at a few of the carvings, ¡°I saw them in the Soul Tower before . ¡±

    The King was a specialist in formations as well, and she had attended the Garden of Shadows before she was crowned, so she looked at the runes that Xue Wei pointed at, all five of her eyes widening in surprise .

    ¡°It is indeed the same runes,¡± she agreed . ¡°Let us do as Hei Gou suggested and strip the entire ce so we can see the rest of the formation, maybe we will understand more about what it does . ¡±

    As Hei Gou suggested, the group began uprooting the entire forbidden area . They pulled out the earth, the roads, and the houses and tossed everything in a massive pile of waste materials and soil .

    The more they excavated, the bigger they found the formation . It stretched as far as all the houses that were located around Luoluo¡¯s house, and the closer one came to the center, the more rune carvings were crammed together in the rock .

    It was obvious that it had intentionally been hidden beneath the vegetation, the roads, and the house .

    Now that it was revealed for all to see, they could easily tell that all the runes were heading towards Luoluo¡¯s small house, the ce with the densest soul energy throughout the entire forbidden area .

    ¡°I feel like I have seen this formation before,¡± the King said tentatively, her brows twisted together as if she was seeing something she could almost remember but not quite .

    ¡°It resembles the Soul Power Gathering Formation, but there has been made some slight adjustments to the outer formation . In the middle, the one that is underneath Luoluo¡¯s house seems very different too,¡± Xue Wei said as he looked at the formations in front of him .

    ¡°This is a forbidden formation,¡± the King said with a grave and slightly chilling voice . ¡°The formation drags all soul power out of a living being little by little . It is known as the Soul Reaping Formation, and it was forbidden many many years ago .

    ¡°The Soul Reaping Formation would exin why Luoluo is so young, both physically and mentally,¡± the King continued . ¡°I saw a Soul Power Transfer Formation as well . It seems that this massive formation is abination of many formations together, and all of them have various purposes . ¡±

    ¡°First is the Soul Reaping Formation which slowly but surely removes all the soul power from little Luoluo, then the Soul Power Transfer Formation moves the absorbed soul power she was formed of towards the Soul Tower, and finally the Soul Power Gathering Formation gathers energy towards her house, to try and nurse her a little back to life .

    ¡°The reason that we did not feel the dense soul power before was that Luoluo was absorbing it all, but now that she has been missing for some time, all the energy has just gathered and hasn¡¯t been consumed by anyone .

    ¡°As I said, it exins it all . Luoluo has slowly been drained every single day of her soul power to fuel the Soul Tower . She is a Spirit, so she is a dense cluster of soul power, but even so, she has a limited supply of energy within her .

    ¡°She had already regressed to a five-year-old child when we found her, so it was obvious that she could not continue to have her energy dragged out of her indefinitely, and that she would die sooner orter . ¡±

    The King looked disgusted as she thought about how the Garden of Shadows had used a living being as a prisoner and forced her to hand over her own life force for the sake of increased cultivation bases for others .

    The Garden of Shadows prided itself with being a fair and just ce, but everything they had was built on a lie .

    The King looked at Xue Wei and saw his expression had darkened drastically . After listening to the King, he also now understood what it was that had caused Luoluo to have the mentality and body of a child .

    He then looked at the King with eyes that were trying to look through her .

    ¡°I want all of Yan Dalu to know about this,¡± he said sternly . ¡°I know it will change how the continent looks on the Garden of Shadows, but to ensure this never happens again, I want everyone to know what has fueled the Soul Tower . ¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t you fear that some greedy people wille after Luoluo?¡± The King was not against his decision; she just had to make sure that he would not regret it .

    ¡°I already assisted the strongest people in the continent with getting Qi cultivation techniques . I am quite sure that the Yuan and Gu families will let her be, and those others who dare to touch her, I will deal with them . ¡±

    The King nodded her head solemnly and gave ast nce at the Soul Reaping Formation on the ground .

    ¡°Let us destroy the formation before we return,¡± she said, prompting Xue Wei to take action . He summoned all his Qi into a massive Qi sword which he then used to repeatedly pierce and smash up the rock that had been the medium for the formation .

 Chapter 299

    Chapter 299: 299

    Having destroyed the formation, Xue Wei felt a lot better, but it was impossible for him to be forgiving towards the academy which had used his little sister as a soul power conduit to fuel their Soul Tower .

    ¡°Let us leave,¡± he said after having sessfully obliterated the formations, and the others nodded their heads affirmatively . Their expressions were solemn as even they could feel the rage burning in Xue Wei¡¯s chest .

    When theynded on the top of the wall surrounding the forbidden area, they were surprised to see that not only were the guards present at the gate, but the academy¡¯s principals and many officials from the court were there as well, all of them observing the wall, and hence the three of them .

    They had been caught red-handed, trying to leave the forbidden area, but none of them panicked, all of them remained extremely calm .

    ¡°Come down from up there and let us talk about you illegally breaking and entering into the forbidden area,¡± the principal uttered in a friendly manner, daring not to speak too impolitely when he saw that the King was amongst the three of them, but within his eyes was a burning anger .

    Looking at him calmly, Xue Wei said nothing, but his eyes showed his dislike towards the people of the academy .

    Standing on top of the wall, he looked down upon the masses like an immortal descended from the heavens above, his entire being emitted a strong sense of disdain towards the world . He was like a prince that could not be sullied, or an emperor ncing at his subjects .

    Everyone felt ufortable as they met his eyes . No one could help but shiver slightly and look away, and even the stronger experts were somewhat intimidated .

    It was not because he was too strong on his own, but he had the strongest backing in the entire continent, not to mention he was cunning and able to turn a bad situation into one that favored him .

    The principal saw that Xue Wei had no intention of answering him, ring his temper up, but after looking at the King by the foreigner¡¯s side, also looking quite aloof, he could only restrain the smoldering anger in his chest .

    Seeing that they had already been discovered, they jumped from the wall and down on the ground .

    The moment theynded, all the officials gathered around the King, fussing and looking her over as if they feared that she had suffered some grievances, or was seriously injured .

    Only when they noticed that her clothes were somewhat dirty but all intact¡ªand that her face had a healthy, rosy tint to it¡ªdid they breathe a heavy sigh of relief .

    They scowled usingly at Xue Wei and Hei Gou, clearly ming these two outsiders for bringing their King on a mission that waspletely inappropriate, but no one dared say anything out loud, out of fear of insulting the King .

    The principal was unhappy . If it was just Hei Gou and Xue Wei, then he could have unleashed his fury, but after seeing the King present, he knew that it was impossible to say something in anger . He had to pretend that he was not upset .

    ¡°You should know that the forbidden area is forbidden . It is a ce where you are not allowed to go, so why are you returning from there?¡± he asked while keeping his expression as neutral as he could manage despite his boiling emotions .

    Xue Wei nced at him, and then looked at the rest of the people present, all of them looking right back at him, curious about his excuse .

    ¡°If no one enters the forbidden area, then no one will know about the dark secrets of the academy,¡± Xue Wei stated casually, but his words were like dropping a stone into ake, ripples erupting right away .

    The principal was stunned at first before then his expression became unsightly .

    ¡°What are you talking about? Don¡¯t just nder our academy because you feel mad at us for not standing up for you when you were being chased!¡± he said, trying to make it seem as if Xue Wei was ndering them . However, what Xue Wei said next was enough to cause a cold chill to run down the spines of everyone present .

    ¡°You say that I am ndering you, then why did I just have to destroy a Soul Reaping Formation in there? The person who was locked inside the forbidden area for thousands of years almost gave up her entire life for the sake of others¡¯ improved cultivation .

    ¡°Is this how the Garden of Shadows is going to be treating its benefactors? The spirit that founded the academy had been locked up and used as a battery to fuel your Soul Tower .

    ¡°She worked to create an academy, and in return, the academy imprisoned and tried to kill her . She did her best to help, but the thank you she got was being locked within the forbidden area, never to leave, forever left to dwindle into nothingness . ¡±

    The principal was as shocked as everyone else when they heard the words of Xue Wei . They had never imagined that what fueled the Soul Tower was a living being¡ªthe person who had created the academy in the first ce . What kind of ungrateful monsters were they?

    The principal¡¯s face alternated between red and white . Exasperatedly, he asked Xue Wei, ¡°What did you say?¡± because he truly did not understand how his predecessors could do so . He knew nothing of this; he was only aware that the source for the Soul Tower¡¯s power was within the forbidden area, but never had he imagined that the source was a spirit and was even the spirit that had created Garden of Shadows .

    Everyone present was muttering to one another . They all felt shocked when they heard Xue Wei¡¯s words, but no one doubted that he spoke with sincerity .

    The King was standing next to Xue Wei and had not said anything to contradict him, silently approving of everything the youngster said, and thus shocking everyone present into believing him unquestioningly .

    Xue Wei did not wait for the academy¡¯s principal to say anything more . He and Hei Gou strode out from within the crowd and went to the courtyard where he found Luoluo, Bai Tianyi, and Lin Xiao awaiting their return .

    ¡°We are leaving,¡± he said coldly . ¡°We are not going to stay within the academy for even a moment more . ¡±

    The others did not ask about what was going on; instead, all of them entered their rooms and started packing up their items as they were instructed .

    Not long after, the group met up in front of the house, their things all packed in their storage treasures, and together they set out from the academy .

    While they had been packing, the secret Xue Wei uncovered spread like wildfire in the academy and the capital .

    Yan Dalu prided itself in being a fair and reasonable ce . A ce where everyone was treated well, even if they had different capabilities or a different number of eyes . No one would be left to rot, and everyone could live a fulfilling life .

    This Yan Dalu also prided themselves in the Garden of Shadows, the frontrunner in their youth¡¯s education on how to behave and how to cultivate¡ªthe cornerstone of their entire society .

    Now the new rumors said that this academy had kept its founder captive for many many years, using her as a battery to fuel the Soul Tower .

    Many were filled with disgust and indignation . The ones they had thought were so noble were, in fact, the worst scum of society .

    Those who had previously looked forward to the reopening of the Soul Tower were now against it, iming that it was immoral and a grievous affront to its founder .

    Most of the students left the Garden of Shadows, one by one, never to return .

    Seeing this trend, the Gu and Yuan families came together to discuss their options .

    ¡°The Garden of Shadows has lost its fame,¡± the grand elder of the Gu family said with a slight smile on his face, ¡°If we are smart, then we will be able to reap the benefits .

    ¡°Right now, everyone is curious about the Qi methods that we have at hand . Knowing that spiritual energy is powerful is good, but being aware that coupled with Qi cultivation, one can be almost invincible makes the youngsters dream about studying our techniques .

    ¡°Why don¡¯t we open our own academy? Let us buy out the Garden of Shadow¡¯s facilities . Right now it is a sinking ship, and they can¡¯t wait to leave it .

    ¡°We can keep the teachers who teach spiritual energy and everything that is made for spiritual energy, but at the same time add some teachers from our families to teach Qi methods and techniques .

    ¡°There is a facility for Qi methods already at the Garden of Shadows, but it is neglected . If we improve it, we can earn a lot of merits, but also gain riches from all the school fees, not to mention the point system .

    ¡°Think it through, if we take over the Garden of Shadows, we can begin a new era . ¡±

    The Yuan family elders were stunned when they listened to the grand elder of the Gu family speak .

    In the beginning, they had listened out of politeness, but after a bit of time, listening to his persuasive words, they went from tentative to interested, and soon from interested to convinced .

    Like this, the Gu and Yuan families started talking business with the principal of the Garden of Shadows .

    The principal was incredibly embarrassed and felt awful about the horrible truth of the academy¡¯s sess . He felt he had lost all face, and had lost any urge to continue trying to go against the current to save the academy¡¯s destroyed reputation . He knew that what had been done this time was simply unforgivable .

    And thus he agreed to the offer brought to him by the Gu and Yuan families . The academy, which previously had been known as the Garden of Shadows, was now renamed to the Snowfall Academy .

    While all this was happening, Xue Wei was spending his time in the capital, leisurely living life to the fullest .

    He had already solved the mystery of the academy, but there was one mystery that kept gnawing at him from the back of his mind, and that was the bloody scratches on the ninth floor of the Soul Tower .

    There was still a year and a half until the next delegation from the Demon Phoenix Continent arrived, and this meant that for the next year and a half, he had nothing to do other than wait .

    This was the first time in his life that he could leisurely enjoy life without having to focus on something other than cultivating . No one bullied him . No one hunted him . No one pressured him to solve their problems . It was the first time he had been truly free to do as he pleased since he was a young child .

    The calm life was different than what he had expected . He would go out with Luoluo frequently, browsing the stalls in the marketces, buying her snacks and other things .

    He would stock up on clothes and other necessities that he might need when he entered the Demon Phoenix Continent .

    He had been given many gold pieces, valuable treasures, and gems, and he had been showered with rare herbs and ores . Every time the Gu and Yuan families came across something they thought was useful to Xue Wei, they would hand it over to him with gratitude .

    One day he would be cultivating, another he would be shopping . Some days he would create pills and another he would write formations . He even had time to master the new techniques from his Heritage Ring that he had not had an opportunity to practice since arriving at the continent .

    Time went by slowly, and during this year and a half, things were changing over all of Yan Dalu .

    More and more Qi cultivators appeared around the continent . Even the old monsters who focused on spiritual energy would consume a Sky Knight Pill¡ªpurchased at a tremendous price¡ªand reach the rank of Sky Knight within a short span of time .

    The Snowfall Academy became a great sess, with more and more students applying to study there . Now eyes were no longer the only measurement for cultivation, Qi talent was also considered, and the academy epted many students based on these talents .

    The prophecy that had stated that the continent¡¯s problems would be solved when the foreigners arrived had held true . Yan Dalu had changed for the better, and the winds of change would be blowing for many years toe, making it flourish and prosper .

 Chapter 300

    Chapter 300: 300

    It was a warm summer day, and the sun shone brightly in the sky, cascading rays of light down upon the capital of Yan Dalu .

    Time had flowed like water since the time that the Garden of Shadows had be the Snowfall Academy, and Xue Wei, alongside his friends, had personally witnessed the many changes that had urred in the continent .

    The Yuan and Gu families were much more prominent now than the Baili family had ever been before¡ªin fact, even the King had decided to step down from her throne, letting these two families conquer the top spot of their world .

    During these months of change, many things had happened, but Xue Wei had not participated in much of it apart from the wedding between his two good friends, Gu Bing¡¯er and Yuan Bailong .

    The two of them hade to truly love one another; they each made up for the other¡¯s weaknesses, and no matter where they went, they were inseparable .

    After stepping down from her position as king, the King had given up her riches and prestige, and sought out Xue Wei . She had dered that when the delegation from the Demon Phoenix Continent arrived, she would leave with them, as her dream had always been to be a pirate, not a king .

    The people had been in an uproar when they found out that their newly elected king was abdicating, but with the unprecedented amount of prosperity that the continent was enjoying, there was no need for any revolution . Everyone started to ept the changes¡ªeven the old officials who had purposefully tried to suppress it at the beginning .

    Xue Wei had brought changes with him to Yan Dalu, and he started to wonder why they had ended up here instead of the Demon Phoenix Continent to begin with . Was this Lan¡¯s n all along?

    After thinking it through, he shook his head and smiled dismissively at himself . Lan was not the kind of person who would behave like that; he was far too casual to have the greater good of a spirit in mind .

    While the months passed, Xue Wei and his friends were not chased nor threatened anymore . They were treated like the most important guests on the continent, and their cultivation benefited enormously as a result .

    Every resource they could dream about was delivered to them as soon as they said the word, and every meal they ate was stuffed with the most luxurious and power-filled of spiritual foods .

    With the assistance of all these things and the peaceful environment to cultivate, Xue Wei managed to raise his rank all the way to a seventhyer Sky Knight in Qi levels, and a sixthyer Sky Knight in his spiritual energy cultivation .

    Hei Gou had reached the ninthyer of the Sky Knight rank in Qi levels, while Lin Xiao had just overtaken him, impressively breaking through to the firstyer of the Heavenly Knight rank .

    Bai Tianyi had elevated himself to the eighthyer of the Sky Knight rank in spiritual energy, and while Luoluo was incapable of ranking her strength, she had grown back into a five-year-old child .

    Finally was thetest addition to their team, having shamelessly decided to tag along with them: the King . She was by now a thirdyer Heavenly Knight in spiritual energy, and her Qi¡ªwhich had been her main focus these past months¡ªhad just reached the ninthyer of the Earth Knight rank .

    Their day of departure was nearing . Xue Wei had given up on cultivating for now, as he was now instead gathering resources, concocting pills, and preparing anything else they might need for their long voyage .

    He was unsure of exactly how long the trip wouldst, but he had been told that it would take a couple of years to cross the sea, as they were not moving through a spatial tunnel this time .

    The sea was vast, and the continents were far from one another . Although this was the closest continent to their own, it was far from being actually close to them¡ªBai Tianyi had used far too much power back when splitting thend into multiple continents; each one had been scattered so far .

    When the delegation arrived, they would spend two months in Yan Dalu before it was time for them to set out to sea again .

    These two months were filled with festivities, celebrations, and excitement for the entire continent; citizens were flocking to the capital for a chance to meet the inhabitants of the illustrious Demon Phoenix Continent .

    Throughout the many months he had been in Yan Dalu, Xue Wei had done all in his power to get information about the Demon Phoenix Continent, but every time he tried, he was met with confusion and expectations rather than facts .

    Even the King was not aware of much truth about the Demon Phoenix Continent .

    ¡°They are very secretive when they arrive,¡± she said, musing about herck of actual knowledge . ¡°I know that the continent is not as peaceful as Yan Dalu . Murder is much moremon, and so is robbery and other crimes .

    ¡°The experts thate here from the Demon Phoenix Continent are all two-eyed, but there are always Primordial Beasts amongst them . These Primordial Beasts are the leading ambassadors, but as to whether or not they are the same race, or what their rank in the continent is, we actually do not know . ¡±

    Xue Wei nodded his head absentmindedly, wondering what he was getting himself into . He had to go, even if he was not willing to; he had to get his hands on the Thunder me Crown as he had promised Lan¡ªand then somehow get back to Chang¡¯an .

    When they had fled Chang¡¯an, it was because they had not been strong enough to survive amidst the chaotic battles between humans and beasts, but now things had changed .

    Over two years had passed since they left Chang¡¯an, and Xue Wei was filled with longing for his homnd . He especially longed for Wang Xiaoyun, unable to tell whether or not she had forgiven him in all this time . Had she thought of him? Did she still hate him?

    Thinking back on how they had parted ways, his heart ached, but he had to believe in her . She would survive until the day they reunited, and then he would exin everything, and hopefully, she would be able to forgive him .

    Even Xue Wei himself did not know why he had fallen in love with Wang Xiaoyun the way he did . The moment he saw her, he felt that his forlorn heart had found a home .

    He had felt that he finally found somewhere and someone to belong to . As time had gone by, this emotion had only be more and more prominent¡ªto the point where he felt that his life would not beplete, were he not able to see her again .

    It was also because of this that he hoped she would forgive him for being half beast .

    He could not wait to see her again, but at the same time, he had some things he needed to deal with before he saw her, because if she rejected him, then he was not sure how he would continue living .

    He had been betrayed far too many times . He still was unsure about why his uncle, Xiao Lei, had killed his father . He was unsure about how he had been created as a half-beast when mixed breeds did not exist anymore .

    There were answers he needed before he was ready to reunite with Wang Xiaoyun, and although he had been betrayed before, he was fortunate enough to find himself amongst a group of friends whom he trusted . He doubted that they would ever betray him since they had already gone to the end of the world for him, leaving behind everything they knew in Chang¡¯an .

    As the days went by, excitement started bubbling in the hearts of the small group as they were waiting for the delegation to appear .

    By now, Xue Wei had filled multiple storage treasures with pills, herbs, ores, formations, and a multitude of other resources that they might need on their travels¡ªso many that even if they ate pills like candy every day, they would still be able to sustain themselves for half a decade with ease .

    Having finished stocking up supplies, Xue Wei started touring the capital with Luoluo and spoiling her rotten .

    Luoluo was growing slightly, but she was still only a small child, and her behavior was that of a child . She loved sitting on Xue Wei¡¯s shoulders and overseeing everything around them as she pointed in the direction she wanted him to go .

    Her favorite was going to the markets, where merchants from all over Yan Dalu came every day to sell their wares .

    Ever since assisting the Yuan and Gu families, Xue Wei had been showered in gold, and thus he often bought whatever Luoluo took a fancy to .

    She too had filled more than one storage artifact with treasures¡ªor at least, things that she considered treasures .

    While Xue Wei was taking it easy, Lin Xiao and Hei Gou were in a constant battle about who would have the next breakthrough first .

    They were constantly doing their best to cultivate and improve themselves, but at this point in time, Hei Gou had fallen slightly behind, which annoyed him greatly but also motivated him to work even harder .

    Xue Wei understood that, while it was good to be so focused on cultivation, one still needed to solidify their base, and although their cultivation had skyrocketed, they were not able to use it to the fullest in battle, as their lives had be far toofortable .

    Finally, the day arrived where a ship was spotted on the horizon . The first to know about it was the Gu family, who quickly went to inform Xue Wei, and after that, the rest of the capital was aware faster than anyone could expect .

    It took a few hours for it to transform from a dot on the horizon to a ship that was docked in the harbor . When it arrived, the Gu and Yuan families¡¯ grand elders went to wee the guests and wee back the returning members of Yan Dalu, who had spent nearly an entire decade away from home .

    Everyone on the ship was stunned by what they saw . Usually, they would be greeted by the King, together with a bunch of officials . Yet this time, it was a group of four- and three-eyed experts . Even a two-eyed person, Xue Wei, was present .

    Surprised by what they saw, the guests all narrowed their eyes, but their shock became even more profound when they sensed that the majority of these experts were all at the ninthyer of the Sky Knight rank in Qi cultivation . Was it not said that they did not know how to cultivate Qi?

    At this point in time, everyone had realized that something had happened to Yan Dalu since thest delegation had been there, and the visitors made it their purpose to understand in detail what had transpired so that they could report it when they came home .

    Xue Wei was also curious about the visitors and what information they had about the Demon Phoenix Continent . When he saw them arriving, he narrowed his eyes .

    The captain, as well as all the higher-ranked officials and guests, were all Primordial Beasts . There were a few humans, but they were low in number, and their strength was nowhere near as overwhelming as the beasts¡¯ .

    The Primordial Beasts on board the ship all looked around the entourage that hade to greet them, and all of their eyesnded on Xue Wei .

    He was acutely aware that it was likely that they could sense the aura of the Azure Dragon on him, but he was calm and collected . He was, after all, a Sovereign Beast of blood far nobler than that of Primordial Beasts . They should be excited to meet him, not hostile .

    Feeling like this, Xue Wei returned their gaze, unwavering, showing no weakness . They were here as guests, so surely they would behave .

 Chapter 301

    Chapter 301: 301

    Just as he had expected, the Primordial Beasts of the delegation looked at Xue Wei warily .

    Here in Yan Dalu, there were no Sovereign Beasts, so the Primordial Beasts of Yan Dalu had felt threatened and had an urge to submit when they saw him, but they had assumed it was due to a pure bloodline . These Primordial Beasts, on the other hand, seemed aware of Xue Wei¡¯s real identity .

    Perceiving their wary gazes, Xue Wei instantly understood that there were Sovereign Beasts on the Demon Phoenix Continent .

    As to whether or not they were Azure Dragons like him, or another race, he did not know; but he was able to guess that these Sovereign Beasts were of a rather significant position within the Demon Phoenix Continent .

    Realizing that there were Sovereign Beasts in the Demon Phoenix Continent, Xue Wei suddenly felt a spark of interest he had not had before .

    Could this continent perhaps have some answers to his heritage? Could he understand more about himself, Xiao Lei, his father, and everything else about his past?

    He hade to terms with the fact that he was half-beast and half-human . Since he was a child, he had always been told that his mother died from a difficult childbirth, but now he knew she had likely died due to thews of the world that did not permit a mixed breed to be born .

    He wanted to know more about his mother . She was a Sovereign Beast, a creature revered by all beasts, a beast that was seen as a legend within the continent of Chang¡¯an .

    Had she perhapse from another continent, or was she local to Chang¡¯an?

    He wanted to talk with the beasts in the delegation to get answers, but he knew that if he pushed too much, the beasts would feel ufortable and not answer . No one liked to be interrogated .

    Xue Wei was looking at the beasts with a curiosity that was hard to hide, and his inquisitive gaze was like daggers in the hearts of the beasts, who did all in their power to avoid him .

    It was not before the ambassador, the leader of the entourage, stepped forward that the others heaved a sigh of relief .

    Seeing the ambassador, Xue Wei frowned .

    This man had an aura that was very simr to his own . He was not as powerful, but his aura was unmistakably that of a Sovereign Beast .

    Xue Wei¡¯s eyes glistened with excitement . This was someone like him! He wanted to know more about him!

    To his surprise, the person looked directly at him . His eyes were filled with wonder and shock, but there was no hostility .

    "What are you?" He asked, shocked, while looking at Xue Wei . His words stunned every member that had appeared from the Yuan and Gu families .

    Was Xue Wei not a beast like the others?

    But to their surprise, he answered, "The same as you . "

    This answer was undoubtedly not one that others could understand, but all beasts present could feel the overwhelming urge to prostrate themselves in front of the two persons as if they were deities .

    The humans werepletely oblivious to this sudden phenomenon . They were, however, worried about the sudden change in the ambassador when he saw Xue Wei .

    Could Xue Wei be a race that was not wee in the Demon Phoenix Continent?

    But what happened next caused them to be relieved . Xue Wei and the ambassador both started smiling as if they had met a long-lost friend .

    The ambassador looked to be around twenty-five years old, but his real age was much older .

    He knew what it meant to be a Sovereign Beast; he was one himself, so seeing another here was far out of his expectations .

    The ambassador was curious about Xue Wei, just as Xue Wei was curious about him .

    He had been to Yan Dalu before, but in all the times he was here, he had never encountered or even heard about a Sovereign Beast¨Cso where had this onee from?

    "Where is the King?" the ambassador finally asked . He wanted to get the formalities over with as soon as possible so that he could focus on this newfoundrade, but to his surprise, no one answered, and the two grand elders of the families stepped forward .

    "The King has abdicated," The Gu family grand elder said, with a bit of a sheepish expression on his face . "Yan Dalu has changed greatly due to this young man . He came from a spatial tunnel, and he brought with him the winds of change . Thanks to him, we now have Qi cultivation methods and systems, and the structure of society has changed as well . "

    The ambassador was surprised when he heard this and nced at Xue Wei . Spatial tunnel? Only the strongest amongst his n were capable of creating one of those, and they were incredibly risky to enter .

    If they encountered a spatial storm, or the tunnel broke down, then death was all that awaited them, not to mention you never knew where you would end up when you entered one .

    Had the elders of his n made a spatial tunnel for him and sent him out to temper him? What a cruel way of doing so if that was the case!

    The more the ambassador thought about it, the more curious he became, and the more he wanted to know about this unknown beast .

    After finishing all the formalities, the entourage went towards the pce . Although the King had abdicated, the pce still functioned as before; however, instead of asking for the King¡¯s intentions, messengers now went to get the opinions of the Gu and Yuan families .

    A wing of the pce had been prepared for the Demon Phoenix Continent¡¯s delegation, and everyone could feel the impatience of the ambassador, so they all rushed to take their leave, leaving only Xue Wei, his friends and the delegation in the chambers .

    "Okay, first of all, tell me, are you a Vermilion Bird?" The man asked eagerly, but Xue Wei just frowned .

    "Vermilion Bird?" He asked confusedly . "I am not a Vermilion Bird, I am an Azure Dragon," he admitted readily .

    "Oh . " The man was not disappointed . "That might even be better," he eximed .

    "There were four races of Sovereign Beasts before the cmity that split the continents into many . The Vermilion Birds, the Azure Dragons, the ck Turtles, and the White Tigers . "

    "The Demon Phoenix Continent has forever been a ce where the Vermilion Birds have resided . We took over the continent and work as the sovereigns . Even the kings and emperors have to listen to the Vermilion Bird n, but we rarely interact with them .

    "We have been looking for the other ns, perhaps you can help us find the Azure Dragons!

    "Tell me, what continent do youe from?"

    "We are from Chang¡¯an," Xue Wei admitted readily, "but as to how many Azure Dragons are left, I really don¡¯t know," he said honestly, "I only know of myself and my uncle . "

    "What about your mother and father?" The ambassador was eager to learn about Xue Wei and the other races, so he was not cognizant of the sensitive nature of his questions .

    Xue Wei pondered how to answer for some time . He knew that it was impossible to breed across races, so telling the truth, that his father had been a human, would cause problems .

    "They are both dead," he said eventually . This was the truth, but only his mother had been an Azure Dragon .

    Hearing this, the ambassador started to understand something, and his expression turned apologetic . "The continent you came from was not peaceful?" He asked worriedly, and Xue Wei shook his head .

    "The continent only has humans and Primordial Beasts, the Sovereign Beasts have been in hiding for a very long time, and even the Primordial Beasts think they are just a myth .

    "Long ago, the humans lived as livestock for the Primordial Beasts . They were nothing more than ves and food . But as the years went by, they began cultivating, and eventually, they rose up in revolt, overthrew the beasts, and pushed them into the different forests and taigas, making them danger zones .

    "Since then, the humans and beasts have fought for thend, constantly struggling to eradicate the other . " Xue Wei shook his head in annoyance .

    "I do not understand why they cannot live side by side instead . Humans and beasts are really not so different, so to always be fighting one another, there is really no reason to do so . "

    Hearing his words, the ambassador was also quite surprised . "Then what about the Azure Dragons?" He asked worriedly, but Xue Wei just shrugged his shoulders .

    "We are almost extinct I guess," he said, not sure of what else to say .

    "What is your n from now on?" The ambassador felt pity towards Xue Wei, and he started to understand why he had decided to leave his continent . Although everyone had a connection to the continent they had grown up on, there were still some limits to what they could ept .

    Especially if he was a beast, and humans saw beasts as their nemesis, someone they could not live with, then it was hard to live a peaceful life .

    "I am going to follow the delegation towards the Demon Phoenix Continent," Xue Wei said seriously . He was honest from the beginning and left a positive impression on the ambassador .

    "That would be for the best," the ambassador said, nodding his head . "We would love to invite you to join us in the Demon Phoenix Continent for some time; then you will be able to see what a world controlled by Sovereign Beasts looks like . "

    Lin Xiao, who was standing at the side, was looking at them curiously . He had a sudden urge to find a Sovereign beast and see whether or not his beast taming skills could tame a Sovereign Beast, but because of Xue Wei, he held back .

    He also started wondering if he could tame all the other races¨Cthe races that originated from unions between man and beasts . Was this a possibility?

    In that case, could he not create a full army of beasts to do his bidding? While he was busy dreaming about all of this, Hei Gou was also looking at the ambassador, but his thoughts werepletely different .

    He had previously mutated because of the blood given to him by Xue Wei; could he perhaps mutate again if he got the blood of another race?

    While Hei Gou and Lin Xiao were both deep in thought about testing out new things, Luoluo was dreaming about the next meal she would be getting, and Bai Tianyi was doing all he could to minimize his presence, as he was the reason for what the Vermilion Bird had called a continent-splitting cmity .

    Xue Wei, on the other hand, was busy hearing about the different Sovereign Beasts . He wanted to know as much as possible about them, and although he was slightly disappointed that they were not Azure Dragons, he was still relieved to know that other Sovereign Beasts existed .

    The delegation stayed for two months in Yan Dalu . During this time, their ship was repaired after its long journey, they stocked up on supplies, and they shared their news and information with the continent . At the same time, they got their hands on arge quantity of formations and spiritual energy resources and techniques .

    After seeing what they were getting, Xue Wei finally seemed to understand that the Demon Phoenix Continent¡¯s delegation was here to trade information for items that could be used back on their own continent .

    It seemed that the things that were made in Yan Dalu were the finest of their kind, considering that they specialized in spiritual energy, and thus even if the delegation had to travel for years to get it, it was worth the trip .

    During these two months, Xue Wei also purchased arge number of things . He had already created his own resources, but he wanted to buy some as well, after learning that they would sell for a hefty price back on the Demon Phoenix Continent .

 Chapter 302

    Chapter 302: 302

    The two months passed rapidly . Xue Wei got familiar with all the crew onboard the ship, and even the ambassador, Tang Tao, became a friend of his .

    Everything was ready a few days in advance . The delegation from Yan Dalu that had been aboard the ship had returned home, and a new group of men had been found .

    Ten citizens of Yan Dalu had been picked . Amongst these was one of Yuan Bailong¡¯s brothers, and he was chosen to be the leader of the Yan Dalu team .

    This time, unlike any before, there was a third group of people joining the delegation between the two continents . This group consisted of Xue Wei, Hei Gou, Bai Tianyi, Lin Xiao, Luoluo and the King .

    This third group was led by Xue Wei, but they were mainly there as guests aboard the ship .

    Yuan Bailong¡¯s brother was named Yuan Qingshan, and he had been informed time and time again that he needed to be polite to all on board, while not losing face for the Yan Dalu continent .

    Yuan Qingshan was aware of the difference Xue Wei¡¯s arrival had made in the continent, and that everyone was treating him as a deity, and thus he knew what was expected from him .

    The experts from the Demon Phoenix Continent were also aware of Xue Wei¡¯s importance¨Ceven if they were not from the Yan Dalu continent, they came from somewhere where the Sovereign Beasts roamed unhindered, a ce where they could decide anything they wanted .

    So while the Yan Dalu delegation respected Xue Wei and his friends because of their performance and achievements, Tang Tao respected them because of Xue Wei¡¯s heritage and background .

    As they boarded the ship, some of the crew members led them to the cabins that were prepared for them . Each cabin could house four people, but since Luoluo and the King were women, they were given a cabin for themselves while Xue Wei, Hei Gou, Bai Tianyi, and Lin Xiao had to share one .

    The cabins were rather small and not so luxurious . Considering they had to be onboard the ship for a long time, one could have expected them to look much better, but Xue Wei did notin, something that caused the crew who had led them there to breathe a sigh of relief .

    Everything they needed was within their storage artifacts, and these storage artifacts either resembled nes, rings, pouches, or other items that one would carry with them wherever they moved .

    They looked around in the cabin before they headed towards the deck of the ship again . The ship was a magnificently carved ship; there were many beautiful adornments on it, like merpeople carved into the woodwork, and other races .

    On the figurehead was a massive Vermilion Bird carved out from wood, and it looked stunning in the setting sun .

    All crew members, ambassadors and members of the delegation met on top of the deck, and while the experts from Yan Dalu were filled with the excitement of going to sea, the members of the crew and the ones from the Demon Phoenix Continent were all much more casual about it¨Cthey had already spent years onboard the ship, so all the novelty had long since been lost .

    Xue Wei was calm and collected, but deep within his heart, he too felt expectation and excitement about leaving Yan Dalu .

    Now he had experienced life in Chang¡¯an where he was chased constantly, and he had tried the calm and peaceful life in Yan Dalu . But now, it was time to experience another kind of life .

    From what he had understood, the Demon Phoenix Continent was not as calm and peaceful as Yan Dalu .

    Xue Wei thrived in ces that were not peaceful, his blood boiled when he fought, and he could still remember how he felt alive whenever he was in a battle .

    The quiet life was good from time to time, but to truly progress, Xue Wei had to fight for every breakthrough he made .

    Xue Wei had a n . When they arrived at the Demon Phoenix Continent, he would leave the delegation for some time to gather information about the Thunder me Crown before heading to the Vermilion Bird n .

    He had no doubt that the crown was with the Vermilion Birds, and it would not be easy to get ahold of it . Fortunately, they had abundant experience in fleeing for their lives, so there should be a good chance for them to survive the theft .

    Xue Wei was thinking about the future, but he knew that before he could even get close to the Thunder me Crown, he had to get past the Sea of the Enchanted .

    This trip was not going to be simple . He had heard many tales from Tang Tao about pirates, beasts, rare races, storms, and other disastrous things they had to ovee before they would safely arrive at the Demon Phoenix Continent .

    Contrary to what Xue Wei had expected, the trip would not be made in one long line . Throughout the journey, they would dock at various inds that were too small to be considered continents .

    Many such small inds existed along their route . Some of them were uninhabited, while others had small poptions living on them .

    Of these small poptions, there were various races, and some were more evolved than others .

    Xue Wei had not seen many races before . He had seen themon human and the different Primordial and Fierce beasts . Now he had encountered another Sovereign Beast, and he had seen the Yan Dalu¡¯s multiple-eyed citizens, but that was it .

    Now he was excited about seeing the merpeople, meeting the demons, experiencing the difference between all the races . He had found a new interest in them after knowing that they too had descended from a union between humans and beasts¨Cthey were practically the same as him!

    Luoluo was as excited as Xue Wei . She had never been aboard a ship before, and her eyes were glistening like the stars in the sky, her lips curved into such arge, happy grin that even her eyes had turned into small crescent moons, so narrow that you could barely see the eyes themselves .

    Lin Xiao was also curiously gazing at everything around them . None of the people from Chang¡¯an had been aboard a boat before, and all of them were very curious .

    While Bai Tianyi was quite casual about it, as he had been onboard ships quite often, Hei Gou was anything butfortable with their new means of transportation .

    He was looking rather skeptically across the deck and into the sea, and every time the ship bobbed slightly, his eyes showed distress .

    Everyone soon realized that he was very ufortable with the idea of sailing .

    Xue Wei walked next to Hei Gou and ced his hand on his shoulder . "Sorry Gou," he said with a slight smile on his lips, "we have no other way of getting to the Demon Phoenix Continent . "

    Hei Gou said nothing but shook his head resignedly, "I know," he muttered through gritted teeth, unhappily .

    "Is this ship sturdy?" he suddenly asked . "I heard Tang Tao say that we would encounter storms and battles on the sea when we are traveling, will the ship be able to handle this?"

    "Of course . " Xue Wei calmed him down . "Can¡¯t you see, the ship arrived here just fine . Since it could arrive here, it can also do the return trip . After all, we are on board now, giving us even more people than before . We should be able to assist them if pirates reallye, and in the case of storms, the ship is sorge that, although it¡¯ll rock, it won¡¯t sink . "

    Xue Wei tried his best to calm down Hei Gou . He had never before seen him so worried about anything as he was now, and while it was somewhat entertaining, they were good friends, martial brothers even, so making fun of him was not eptable .

    However, there was one person in the group who had absolutely no qualms poking fun at people, and while Xue Wei was calming down Hei Gou, a small childish voice suddenly sounded, "Uncle Doggy, don¡¯t worry, even if the ship sinks we won¡¯t die!"

    Luoluo walked towards Hei Gou with a small white rabbit teddy bear in her arms . "Big Brother will capture a big sea creature, and we will use it as our mount!"

    Big sparkling eyes looked at Xue Wei as if he was a god that could do anything in her eyes .

    "But I didn¡¯t think dogs were afraid of water?" Luoluo continued, this time with a musing expression on her face . "Are you really a dog? Even iming to be a celestial one, you are just like a cat, afraid of water . "

    Hei Gou red daggers at Luoluo . He was a Celestial Dog, not some doggy! And he was definitely not a cat! How dare shepare him to a cat! So rude!

    Seeing that Hei Gou was currently too busy being aggravated to actually realize that the ship had started moving, Xue Wei chuckled . He did not know if Luoluo had done it on purpose, but her timing was perfect .

    Xue Wei went to the bow of the ship and waved at the people waiting at the dock to say their farewells .

    Yuan Bailong and Gu Bing¡¯er had arrived, and both of them stood there, hand in hand, and looked at Xue Wei with gratitude .

    Gu Bing¡¯er was an iron woman, but she could not help it; at that moment, tears started dropping from her eyes, as she held her son in her arms .

    She had no idea how her life would have turned out if it were not for Xue Wei and his friends¡¯ arrival in Yan Dalu .

    Not only had they saved their families from the clutches of the Baili family, but they had also been elevated to the most influential families in the continent, and not even the King was above them anymore .

    Not only this, Gu Bing¡¯er was a woman from a prominent family . She was likely to have been married off to someone as a wedding alliance, but now she had ended up together with a man she truly loved, and who truly loved her .

    She felt as if she had been given a future, that she had been given a life . Everything she had now was thanks to Xue Wei, so she felt emotional when she saw him leaving .

    Yuan Bailong, by her side, seemed to understand her train of thought . He did not get jealous; rather, he understood her emotions as he was sharing them . To them, Xue Wei, Hei Gou, Bai Tianyi, Lin Xiao, and Luoluo had proven to be saviors .

    Even Yuan Bailong felt his eyes sting and he reached out, taking his wife and child into his arms and hugged them tightly .

    Seeing the scene in the harbor, Xue Wei smiled . Although he had arrived at Yan Dalu by mistake, he did not feel that the years here had been wasted . Looking at what he had done for them, he felt aplished, and a feeling of pride sprouted in his heart .

    At the same time, he also felt slightly sour . When would he be able to hold Wang Xiaoyun the same way as Yuan Bailong held Gu Bing¡¯er?

    Thinking like this, he could not help but smile wryly . He did not even know how long it would take before he could arrive back at Chang¡¯an, and although he did not miss the continent too much, he missed Wang Xiaoyun with all of his heart .

 Chapter 303

    Chapter 303: 303

    The weather was beautiful as the sun shone down from the clear sky . The temperature was rather high, and no one felt like doing anything special, all of themzing around in the middle of the deck of the ship .

    Xue Wei spent some time with his Heritage Ring . He had not used it while in Yan Dalu, but now that he was on board the ship, nothing was happening, and thus he had the time to find the abilities he could learn after reaching the Sky Knight rank .

    He had been at the Sky Knight rank for a long time, but he never took the time to actually learn the skills .

    Xue Wei began sitting on the deck, his expressionplicated as his gaze scrutinized the Heritage Ring .

    Whenever he looked at it, he was reminded about Xiao Lei and theirplicated rtionship . Xiao Lei was someone whom he deeply cared for, someone he respected and revered, but he was also the murderer of his father and the subject of his hatred .

    The ring could help him enhance his strength, so he had been using it, but he could not help but feel conflicted whenever he was .

    After a deep sigh, he poured his Qi into the ring, and when he did, he suddenly felt abilities appear in his mind .

    Devouring Fist!

    Kick of the Raging Tempest!

    Twenty-sevenyer Azure Sword!

    The Devouring Fist was a technique that allowed for the user¡¯s punch to devour the energy of the opponent . Whether or not they used their energy to protect or attack, Devouring Fist was capable of devouring this energy and converting it into the energy of the user .

    The Kick of the Raging Tempest was quite a different attack from what Xue Wei was used to . It was an attack that worked from a distance . The user would use their legs to kick up a raging tempest that would rampage uncontrolled, impossible to cut apart and impossible to overwhelm before the energy used in the kick was entirely spent . This was the benefit of water; it was simply impossible to chop apart and even more difficult to defend against .

    The final attack was called Twenty-sevenyer Azure Sword . From the name, Xue Wei could assume that this was an attack that, much like the Azure Light Finger, was made for Azure Dragons to use in their human shape .

    The attack was split into three ranks of difficulty with nineyers in each rank . The first nineyers were the first rank, from the tenth to the eighteenth was the second rank, and from the neenth to the twenty-seventh was the third rank .

    The attack would grow stronger and stronger the moreyers one could control . If one controlled oneyer, then there would be only enough energy for one sword sh . If one controlled twoyers, then there was enough energy to make a second sh, and it would continue to ramp up all the way until the twenty-seventhyer .

    It would be like being hit byyer afteryer of waves . These waves woulde crashing down upon the enemy, and once one reached the twenty-seventhyer, the attacks were simply overwhelming .

    These three attacks were new to Xue Wei, but he could feel that their strength and potential were much higher than the skills he had gained from the ring before .

    These skills were not ranked like the previous ones . Instead, they depended on the user¡¯sprehension to be able to enhance their strength and produce better results . These attacks were evolving ones .

    After that, Xue Wei was usually seen on the deck of the ship training one ability after another, spending all his Qi before meditating to restore it and then repeating his actions .

    Two weeks went by like this, and no one interrupted him . Even the spoiled Luoluo who enjoyed spending time with her big brother left him alone . Fortunately, she had be the darling of everyone on the ship, and she was spoiled silly not only by the Yan Dalu experts, but also the crew and the delegation from the Demon Phoenix Continent .

    Lin Xiao was spending most of his time in the cabin cultivating, while Hei Gou was hiding in some dark corner, trying to get past his seasickness . Bai Tianyi was the most casual of them all and spent most of his timezing around, fishing or doing a few fun chores .

    There was not much soul power on board the ship, so there was not any real possibility for him to cultivate .

    The King was not wasting time either . She was not able to cultivate her spiritual energy due to the same reason as Bai Tianyi, but she had begun to cultivate her Qi, and she had found that she had an outstanding talent for this .

    It seemed that the multi-eyed experts were truly geniuses that were favored by the heavens . They had a great talent for everything .

    While sailing, the weather was good and they encountered no issues . Everyone was busy doing their own thing, and the novelty of sailing quickly became normal .

    The third week was ending when the first inkling of trouble appeared . Xue Wei had cultivated the Devouring Fist to a decent proficiency, and he had also gained a decent understanding of Kick of the Raging Tempest, but most of his time had been spent on the Twenty-sevenyer Azure Sword .

    He managed to reach the eighthyer, still in the first rank, but eightyers was not to be belittled .

    The weather started to turn overcast . Rain was slowly drizzling down from the sky, and everyone sought shelter . The cultivation was temporarily paused, and people gathered together to chat and y cards .

    There was really nothing to do aboard a boat, especially when it was raining, and the rain continued to pour throughout the days and nights . The ones who had it hardest were the energetic Luoluo and the seasick Hei Gou .

    Hei Gou was pale and listless as he sat in a corner, feeling sick every time the ship bobbed, and Luoluo was bored to death, unable to run across the entire ship ying with wayward cats and the crew .

    Having originally nned to cultivate, Xue Wei changed his mind and spent his time together with Luoluo, hearing stories about her life onboard the ship and telling her about his life back in Chang¡¯an .

    Many of the crewmembers and the delegations from both the Demon Phoenix Continent and Yan Dalu listened intently to what he had to say .

    They were familiar with one another, but not so much with this newfound continent of Chang¡¯an . In fact, they were quite curious as to where it was located, but the more they heard, the more they felt that it was not suitable for them to enter .

    The continent was split between beasts and humans, and if a third race appeared, such as the people from Yan Dalu with multiple eyes, they would likely be made into ves for one or the other race¨Cif they managed to survive, that was .

    If a new race appeared out of nowhere, they were likely to be themon enemy of the two native races .

    The beasts from the Demon Phoenix Continent were also apprehensive . They were not pleased with the fact that beasts had to remain hidden in danger zones and conceal their identities when roaming thend, pretending to be human .

    They could not imagine that they, who were seen as superior creatures on the Demon Phoenix Continent, would be treated with such hostility .

    Although humans were not the most prominent race in the Demon Phoenix Continent, there were still some outstanding human cultivators who were given the same attention as beasts .

    At the same time, humans were on the rise, and the beasts did nothing to stop it . They all believed inpetition to better themselves .

    But amongst themon people, humans were much weaker than the beasts, and as a result, they were often bullied .

    The Demon Phoenix Continent was no peaceful ce . It was a continent with many kingdoms and empires, and these countries would vie for morend by engaging in frenzied battles against one another .

    While all those aboard the ship spent time talking about their home continents and exchanging stories, the weather outside was getting worse and worse, the bobbing of the ship more and more evident .

    Hei Gou¡¯s already pale face had begun to look like wax, his eyes bulging; he was clearly feeling ufortable .

    Luoluo was giggling as she felt her body start to sway in the same manner as the ship . She was not afraid of the sudden bad weather and what problems it might cause for the ship and its passengers . Rather, she only found it fun to feel how the ship was constantly tilting from one side to the other, and her sweet giggling voice could be heard in the crowded room .

    Unfortunately, the adults were not as carefree¨Call of them had grave expressions on their faces . Although they were cultivators and could fly, it was simply impossible for them to fly from one continent to another, and they had to rely on a ship to travel the whole way .

    If this ship were to sink, then they would all definitely experience some troubles . They would be able to use their Qi or spiritual energy to walk on the water, but at some point, they would run out of energy, and then they would sink .

    The sea was vast . It was impossible to be fully traversed unless one was a supreme Heavenly Saint, and these experts were so rare that only a handful of them existed in the entire world .

    The rain outside was getting heavier and heavier . It was bing a direct downpour, and the wind¡ªwhich blew everywhere fiercely¡ªwas making the ship rock from side to side in the massive waves .

    As time went by, tremors began to run through the entire structure of the ship as the waves crashed into the sides . It was truly troubled waters ahead, and the further they sailed the worse it became .

    The crew was all out on the deck, doing their utmost to ensure that the ship would be able to get through the storm without too much damage, and no loss of people .

    Xue Wei had wanted to go out and help, but Tang Tao had informed him that doing so would just put him in the way and interrupt the experienced sailors .

    Thinking about it, he realized that this was likely correct . He had no previous experience on board a ship, nor did he know anything about the rigs and different sails . He only knew that they were needed for the ship to move .

    While the sailors were busy out on the deck, the light within the room where all the experts were gathered was flickering because of the tempestuous elements that were constantly battering the ship from the outside .

    The night passed . Luoluo fell asleep in Xue Wei¡¯s arms, but the adults could not sleep as the weather did not show any signs of letting up; instead, it seemed to get worse and worse .

    Whenever they went to look out the door, all they saw was a curtain of rain so dense that it was almost impossible to see anything through it . Even the crew who were outside could not see each other, nor hear their words when they yelled at one another . It was a mess .

    The main mast suddenly started creaking . The water and wind kept on battering against it until finally, it was unable to withstand the strain, and with a tremendous tremor and cracking sound, it came crashing down, bringing with it destruction .

    The crash was so loud that everyone within the shelter under deck heard it and felt the intense tremor that ran through the ship .

    Even though they knew that they should not be in the way outside, they all rushed out, and even Xue Wei rushed out with Luoluo in his arms .

 Chapter 304

    Chapter 304: 304

    The ship was worse for wear . The railing had broken in multiple ces, but worst of all was the mast, which had splintered in two ande crashing down .

    It was now tangled in the rigging and was slowly falling further down . It was creaking loudly, and the railing underneath was about to give out .

    The weather was horrid, and the rain pelted down on them all, stinging their faces and soaking their clothes within mere minutes .

    Xue Wei hurried back into the main room under the deck andid the sleeping Luoluo on a bench . He secured her with a rope so that she would not fall off, and then he returned outside to assist the others in weathering the storm .

    "We have to cut the mast free!" one of the sailors yelled against the wind . His words were lost in the driving rain and wind, so he had no other option than to brace himself against the elements and move towards the group of experts, who were unsure of how to help .

    When he reached them, his legs were trembling from fright . Never before had he experienced a storm this terrible, and his fear was getting the better of him .

    When he reached the group of experts, he yelled at them, "Cut the mast free! We need to let it fall into the sea! It is going to drag us down!"

    Hearing this, the experts, who had been waiting for instructions, all rushed to the main mast . Xue Wei, Hei Gou, and Lin Xiao, alongside the cultivators from the Demon Phoenix Continent, were all Qi cultivators and capable of somewhat steady flight, so they took the job of cutting the ropes at the top .

    The King, Bai Tianyi and the experts from Yan Dalu were all running around on deck, trying to cut the ropes loose and push the mast .

    Everyone had to be careful . As the mast fell further and further down, everyone was more and more alert, ready to move out of the way at any time so that when it gave way and fell into the sea, it would not drag anyone with it .

    Even though they were cultivators, there were things they could not fight, and the storm was one of them . Their current strength was simply not enough to contend with Mother Nature when it was raging so fiercely .

    Xue Wei and the others were very worried, and they rushed around the deck trying their best to aid the crew of the ship and do everything they were ordered to do .

    Although they were only passengers, right now there was no doubt that they all needed to work together if they were to survive .

    It felt like an eternity for them to pass through the storm, and when they managed to get past the worst part, their ship was in such a sorry state that it was impossible to continue their journey unless they found somewhere to repair their ship .

    Fortunately, there were many small inds along the way to the Demon Phoenix Continent, and some of these inds were inhabited . These ind peoples were seafaring by necessity, and thus they specialized in ships and sailing . Getting their ship repaired should be possible .

    Things were, however, not that simple . Currently, the ship was moving slowly as the main mast, and therefore the biggest sail, was gone . Not to mention that they had lost track of their original route when the storm hit, and had to simply let the ship head out of the storm the fastest way possible .

    When he saw that the situation had stabilized, Xue Wei hurried back to the cabin and found that the adorable Luoluo had slept through everything that had happened . Her eyes were still sweetly closed, a bit of drool falling from her slightly parted mouth .

    Seeing this, he heaved a heavy sigh of relief and allowed for her to continue sleeping while he headed to the deck once more, to help the crew as much as he could with temporary repairs and cleanup after the disaster that had struck them .

    The sky was grey, and rain was slowly drizzling down from the clouds above . Visibility was low as the gentle mist fell, and everyone was so focused on cleaning up after the disastrous storm that no one noticed the ship that was slowly creeping up on them .

    The ship was the same size as the one that they were aboard . However, the ship was not in bad shape; in fact, it seemed in perfect condition as it glided through the rain .

    By the time Xue Wei and the others noticed it, it was already right next to their broken ship, and everyone suddenly turned tense .

    What was the purpose of a ship to appear silently like this?

    They soon got their answer: a loud bustling noise suddenly came from the other vessel, apanied by hooks and ropes that were thrown to their ship, and a group of pirates rushed to board their ship .

    "Prepare to battle!" the crew called out as they took out their weapons from their storage artifacts .

    Xue Wei looked around and sighed . Their ship was already a wreck; transforming into a full Azure Dragon would simply make their ship sink, so instead, he started taking on a dragonoid shape, a human body but with scales all over, and a tail .

    Everyone was bing excited . Although a pirate attack was supposed to be dangerous, the group of Xue Wei, Hei Gou, Lin Xiao, Bai Tianyi, and the King were filled with anticipation . They had not been in a real battle in ages, and it felt like forever since theyst killed . It was finally time for them to kill people again .

    The people from the Demon Phoenix Continent were also excited, and fervor could be seen in their eyes . However, the eyes of the Yan Dalu citizens and the crew were petrified and worried .

    "They are the pirates under the Fierce Demon, Tao Wu!" one of the crew members said, horrified . "We cannot kill them, or he wille and kill us!"

    "Well, do you suggest we just let them kill us then?" Xue Wei sneered back, his scaled hand suddenly shooting out and grabbing a pirate around the throat .

    This pirate was a ninthyer Earth Knight, so he had no ability to resist when Xue Wei clenched his fist, breaking his neck . The pirate breathed his final breath as the smile on Xue Wei¡¯s lips widened .

    The Soul Power in the surrounding air was growing dense, as people died left and right . Xue Wei was having fun . He was like a fish in the water, darting around to kill everyone that was within reach and reveling in the bloodlust which was rushing to his head .

    It was not only him who felt like this . Hei Gou was also bing more and more ferocious as the bloodlust began to consume him . The metallic scent of blood in the air was also affecting them, and they could no longer hold back . The speed with which they killed increased in a frenzy .

    At first, the pirates who boarded their ship were easy to deal with . They were all Earth Knights or low-rank Sky Knights . But as more and more pirates appeared, their strength seemed to climb ever higher .

    Xue Wei went from killing them with an effortless swipe of his hand to fighting against them seriously . The more he fought, the more the blood sttered on his clothes, and the wider the smile on his face became .

    Azure Light Finger!

    Devouring Fist!

    These two attacks rained down on one of the fourthyer Sky Knights,nding directly on his spine . A terrifying crack resounded, and the Sky Knight pirate copsed on the ground, his body limp and blood seeping out from the corner of his mouth as his final breath left him .

    "I¡¯ll take the dragon, you guys take the kid!" someone called out, and suddenly a mountain of a mannded on the deck right in front of Xue Wei .

    This was a Qi cultivator . He had no spiritual energy, but he was a fullyer ahead of Xue Wei in Qi rank, so Xue Wei no longer dared to be as unbridled .

    His eyes, which had been red from the bloodlust, were slowly turning solemn; his hands, which were drenched in blood, were clenching slowly .

    He felt his ears buzzing from the bloodlust, but he did not lose his mind . He had been reveling in the feeling of bloodlust, but now it was time for him to return to his senses¨Cif he forgot himself, then he was likely to end up dead .

    Xue Wei reached out his hand, and azure Qi pooled in his palm .

    Inner Might: Qi Sword Style .

    Twenty-sevenyer Azure Sword!

    Just as he was releasing the eightyers he could control of the Twenty-sevenyer Azure Sword, he pressed forward with indomitable power and all the strength that his physical body could produce .

    The pirate lifted a sword that seemed anything but ordinary . It was shining with a lustrous glow, and Xue Wei was vignt as he shed down eight times with the sword technique .

    Each wave of shes was more powerful than thest, and while the strength of the first was not unbearable, when the secondnded, the pirate started to get a feeling of apprehension .

    When the third shnded, he gritted his teeth and understood that he could not continue to meet the attacks head-on .

    Xue Wei acutely felt the pirate¡¯s change in tactics . He no longer tried using force against force; instead, he was like a slippery snake, twisting around, trying to dodge the attacks as much as possible, or softening the shes that Xue Wei was releasing .

    Unfortunately, the bandit was experienced in life and death battles, and Xue Wei had lived a carefree life for a couple of years, causing the bandit to have the upper hand in the battle .

    He managed to avoid the Twenty-sevenyer Azure Sword¡¯s shes, but Xue Wei was not simply going to give up .

    After sensing that the pirate was slipping away from his final sh, Xue Wei twisted his body and kicked out .

    Kick of the Raging Tempest!

    The wind started to gather, and suddenly a tempest was created which headed straight for the pirate who had just managed to avoid the final sword sh .

    Just as he avoided one attack, another came crashing down towards him .

    This one was not as threatening as the final sh, but it was a rather annoying attack . The tempest shrouded him in a whirlwind of Qi, the attack ripping his clothes and skin . He felt how small cuts appeared all over his skin, and when they did, small threads of dragon Qi would invade his body, absorbing the Qi within his body .

    Stepping backward, the pirate grit his teeth as he used his own Qi to attack the invading Qi dragons before making a hand seal .

    Hellfire Seal!

    Qi exploded forward like a ball of fire, heading straight for Xue Wei . The attack was as vtile as fire, and although it was made from Qi, it was extremely explosive .

    Xue Wei felt an impending danger, but the speed was too fast; it was simply impossible for him to avoid the attack, so he struck out with his arm .

    Devouring Fist!

    The fist, which was capable of absorbing some of the energy of an attack, quickly swallowed a lot of the attack . Unfortunately, he did not have full control orprehension of the attack, and he could only swallow so much of the energy, the restnding squarely on his chest, causing him to cough up blood and stagger backward a few steps .

    Xue Wei lifted his hand and wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, and a smile appeared on his lips . It was simply far too long since someone had managed to make him bleed .

 Chapter 305

    Chapter 305: 305

    Xue Wei felt the blood rush to his head, and threaten to take over, turning him into a bloodthirsty monster, but he regained his consciousness and shook his head slightly .

    In the short moment, he had been almost drowned by his own bloodthirst, the pirate had moved towards him, his weapon came crashing down upon Xue Wei, and the momentum was so heavy that there was no way of escaping .

    Lifting his scaled hand, Xue Wei tried to block the weapon with the hands instead, and a cracking sound resounded as the weapon pierced his scales and dug deep into his hand .

    The pirate felt a shiver run down his spine as he looked at Xue Wei . The dragonoid shape was already frightening to a certain degree, but seeing the face twisted in a sinister smile, even as the hand was so deeply wounded, the pirate had a terrible feeling .

    And rightfully so . Moments after the sword embedded itself within Xue Wei¡¯s hand, he held onto it so tightly that the pirate could not withdraw it, and suddenly an attack came crashing down upon him .

    Kick of the Forgotten Kings!

    The kick that was filled with the strength of the forgotten kingsnded squarely on the pirate¡¯s chest, sending him reeling backward, his sword ended up staying within the hands of Xue Wei, and he cursed out loud as he felt his chest ache from the kick .

    Xue Wei snickered slightly when he saw that the pirate was swearing . He quickly removed the sword from his hand and threw it within his storage artifact, keeping it for himself .

    Weapons were always risky to use as if one could not keep a hold of them, then the enemy could take them, rendering one even more helpless against them .

    This was precisely the situation that the pirate and Xue Wei were in right now . A few weapons were capable of being bound by blood, however, they were so few in numbers that they were practically impossible to see, especially amongst a pirate in the middle of the Sea of the Enchanted .

    Xue Wei was bleeding . His hand and arm was seriously harmed from the previous collision with the sword, and he had the wound from the earlier collision with the Hellfire Seal as well .

    Blood was leaking from the corner of his mouth and down his arm, dripping on the deck of the ship, but Xue Wei had not felt this alive for a long time, and his eyes were glistening with a fervor that could not be exined .

    Bai Tianyi, who was fighting against another pirate a bit away felt a shiver run through his body . He was a sword spirit, and he was connected to Xue Wei, so it was impossible for him not to feel the sudden change in his mental state .

    Sensing that Xue Wei was ecstatic, he said nothing but a slight smile appeared on his lips . He remembered the young man he had met back in the small vige when he was still just a sword, and how that young boy had matured into a fine young man .

    A young man with a slight tendency for murder .

    Hei Gou was also able to sense the bloodlust from smelling the blood of a Sovereign Beast being shed on the ship, and all the other Primordial Beasts were the same .

    The scent of the blood was intoxicating, and their eyes started to turn slightly red and filled with bloodlust .

    The pirates they fought were mainly humans and Primordial Beasts from the deep sea, and while the humans felt nothing, the Primordial Beasts felt their own bodies suddenly start to be restless, their blood was bursting with energy and they suddenly felt much stronger than before, as if they were undergoing a mutation from the scent of his blood alone .

    Xue Wei seemed to notice that his blood had caused a massive effect on everyone present . Not only had the ones on his side gained better fighting abilities, the opponents had too, and he could not help but shake his head andugh wryly .

    Still, he was excited as he looked at the pirate in front of him . The pirate was more apprehensive now than he had been before . He was a human through and through, and the blood had done nothing to assist him in increasing his fighting abilities .

    Not only this, but he had also lost his sword, and he knew that if he were to face Xue Wei right now, he would die .

    However, he did not feel that he had much of an option . If he was not fighting Xue Wei, then this dragonoid creature would run amok on the deck, killing the other pirates as he pleased .

    Although he was a pirate and someone who was very casual about life and death, he still cared for hisrades . They had lived together for many many years, fought by each other¡¯s sides, and be what they were today by relying on one another . Seeing them being killed was hurting his heart, and his eyes turned solemn as he realized that he was willing to die for them .

    Thinking like this, he went further forward, his eyes glistening with an urge to do battle and keep Xue Wei upied, and his sudden behavior caused the excitement within Xue Wei to erupt . Someone who was willing to disregard their own safety for the sake of theirrades was a real man!

    Inner Might: Qi Sword!

    Xue Wei waved his hand, and the azure Qi within his body erupted out from within, making a sword in his hand .

    Although he was injured, he was still capable of holding onto the sword, and thus he continued forward with a smile on his face and a Qi sword in his hand .

    The pirate¡¯s eyes were filled with determination, his hands making another group of seals, and suddenly Qi started erupting from his body likeva from a volcano .

    This was not a technique that one should use unless they had absolutely no choice . It not only required Qi to be used, but it also ignited one¡¯s own life force, fueling the Qi that erupted with both Qi and soul power .

    The erupting Qi was scolding hot and difficult to avoid . It was at a point where when itnded on the ship, the wood would be burnt like acid, and it was not only hitting the ship, it also hit the other experts, both friends, and foes .

    Xue Wei quickly understood that this was a dangerous technique . He had never before seen anything like it, but he understood that if he was not careful, then he would be seriously injured by this .

    Even worse was that the attack seemed to intensify the closer one came to the pirate who was unleashing it .

    Xue Wei was astounded . He understood that the pirate was going all out in an attempt at keeping him there, and even more so, trying to make everyone else leave the area and iste the two of them .

    But he was not that easy to deal with . Although Xue Wei was not able to get too close, it did not mean he had no way to deal with him .

    First, he looked at the pirate who was looking mightily pleased with himself, and then he smiled .

    Azure Light Finger!

    Kick of the Raging Tempest!

    Suddenly two attacks were beingunched at the same time . The first was the Azure Light Finger, an attack that released a beam of azure qi towards the opponent .

    Secondly, he unleashed the Kick of the Raging Tempest, and before he knew what was happening, the whirlwinds had appeared all over, interrupting the pirate in his channeling of the attack .

    Xue Wei rushed forward the moment that the attack was paused from the pirate¡¯s side, and then he reached out his hand, grasped the pirate by the throat and ripped the throat apart with his strong and sharp ws .

    Blood sttered everywhere, and Xue Wei felt how it rained down upon him, but he did not care . The blood felt refreshing to him, and the fact that he had emerged as the victor in the battle had made him feel relieved and excited .

    Having finally gotten rid of his opponent, Xue Wei observed the rest of the ship . Most of the pirates were dead; they had overestimated their own ability and attacked a ship filled with experts .

    The King had single-handedly dealt with one of the upper echelons of the pirates, while the ambassador, Tang Tao, had dealt with the captain .

    The remaining people on board the ship were slowly being weeded out . The pirates were all killed; not a single one was spared .

    After killing the pirates, the rest of the crew who were in charge of the ship boarded the pirate ship and started scavenging all that they could use to repair their own ship .

    Although it was not enough to make it fully functioning again, it was in fact, enough to make it sail towards the next ind where they would be able to get into contact with some ship wharfs and their ship could be fully repaired again .

    At the same time, they also took all the gold and jewels on board the pirate ship, alongside their rations and whatever could prove to be of useter .

    After finishing this, they all returned to their own ship and once more set sail .

    Heading towards the ind, life on the ship was once again calm and rxed . Luoluo was ying with all of the adults, and the experts were taking the time to cultivate their strength .

    It took them a full twelve days to reach the closest ind . Although the journey could have been done much faster, it was not possible with the current condition of the ship, and when they finally made it to the ind, the crew was cheering in excitement . The ship had been a pain to control, and now they would finally be able to once more sail properly .

    When they arrived, Xue Wei was looking at everything curiously . He was not sure what he had expected, but it was definitely not what he ended up seeing .

    The ind was small, and the inhabitants were fewpared to his expectations . Only around a couple of thousand people lived on the ind, but they were all incredibly friendly when they saw the ship docking in their harbor .

    Their lives were incredibly primitive, and their houses were built from mud with straw as roofs, they lived off the fish they could get from the sea and the few nuts and berries that were growing on the ind .

    When they arrived, the one who came to greet them was the vige elder . He sent a polite smile to all of them and prepared for huts to be emptied for them to live in while they were there .

    It would take a couple of weeks to get the ship ready for sailing again, and while this time was passing, they would be able to rx on the ind .

    Just as they sat foot on the ind, Xue Wei felt an ufortable tremor run through his body, and he could not help but look up at the sky . Everything looked normal, but there was a nagging feeling in Xue Wei¡¯s mind that not everything was as good as it seemed .

 Chapter 306

    Chapter 306: 306

    As they walked through the town, the vigers came forward to greet them . The children were running around in groups, looking at them with reverence and excitement, gossiping about them and pointing their fingers .

    Xue Wei was not too alerted about these children, and he smiled at them while holding Luoluo in his arms, her petite face looking at all of them with excitement .

    She had not met many children in her life after escaping the Forbidden Area, even in Yan Dalu, she had mainly spent her time together with Xue Wei and the others .

    Now that she was finally together with a lot of children, her mental age was shown, and her body was struggling in Xue Wei¡¯s arms, struggling to be let down and y with the other children .

    Xue Wei hesitated for a moment as he looked at them . He had not forgotten the feeling of unease he had earlier, but at the same time, he could not help but feel that it was necessary for her to y with other children her own age .

    Not to mention, it was natural for children to be ying together, and these children were likely very easy to get along with, the adults seemed as if they were at least .

    Xue Wei put down Luoluo . "Protect yourself well," he warned her, "make sure that you don¡¯t do something bad, and I wille to find you againter . Do not leave the vige, and make sure not to enter the sea . "

    Hearing all the do¡¯s and don¡¯ts that Xue Wei was sharing with her, Luoluo grimaced, but her heart was warm . It was indeed the best to have an older brother that cared for her .

    While Luoluo ran towards the other children, Xue Wei observed their behavior . Truth be told, he was not too worried about Luoluo . When it came to strength, she was the strongest amongst them all, and although the price she had to pay for her using her powers was high, these children could not require too much of her power to deal with . Even the adults on the ind were at most Mortal Knights .

    While Luoluo ran towards the children, Xue Wei observed her movements before he finally shook his head with an endearing smile on his face .

    He finally turned around when he saw that Luoluo had merged well with the group, her face showing a sweet smile as she was holding onto a massive seashell that one of the other children had given her .

    Continuing into the ind, Xue Wei noticed that the vigers were all very friendly and open towards them, but the nagging feeling of something being wrong was still within his heart .

    He could not ce his finger on it, but he was not the only one who felt like this . His entire entourage was rather alert; the only one who had noticed nothing and was feeling casual and happy was the King .

    Bai Tianyi did not even have his trademark sarcastic smile on his face, Hei Gou was frowning, and Lin Xiao was contemting about something . All four of them could feel that there was something wrong .

    The further into the ind they got, the more certain Xue Wei became .

    "Do you smell this?" he asked with a low voice to Hei Gou, and the celestial dog nodded his head .

    "It is the scent of blood," he said affirmatively .

    "The further into the vige we get, the more prominent the scent is," Hei Gou continued to say with furrowed brows, "there are different scents trying to hide the smell, but it is impossible to cover itpletely . A lot of people have died here, and it was somewhat recently too . "

    Xue Wei nodded his head absentmindedly .

    He started realizing that they had all been spread into small groups, that the crew was parted in groups of three to five each, even the two delegations had been switched into groups .

    "Let¡¯s fetch Luoluo," Xue Wei suddenly said . Although he was not worried about her strength, being alone was not a good situation before they knew where this scent of blood came from .

    Xue Wei and Hei Gou had fought enough humans to know that the blood they could smell came from human beings . It was clear that it was not something that came from beasts .

    Turning around, they found that behind them were a group of twenty vigers, all of them smiling as they reached out their delicacies of food and drinks .

    "Guests, please eat," one of them said, "we have prepared some delicacies," they continued, but Xue Wei narrowed his eyes and looked at these dishes with a certain degree of doubt .

    The citizens on this ind were all rather weak . For them to be able to kill a huge number of people, tricks had to be used, so he dared not touch the food or drinks .

    "I apologize," Xue Wei said with a smile on his face, not disying his distrust at all, "We are looking for my younger sister Luoluo . I am sorry to trouble you to find her for me . "

    The vigers looked rather stunned when they heard his words, a slight gleam of panic shed in their eyes, and although they quickly hid it, Xue Wei managed to catch it .

    His heart grew cold, and a sneer appeared on his lips . "There should be no problems, right?" he asked with a raised eyebrow, his words carrying a slight trace of a hidden danger .

    The vigers instantly started shaking their heads as rattle drums, they knew that they could clearly not say anything and thus they began to look for Luoluo alongside Xue Wei and the others .

    "Why don¡¯t we split up?" One of the vigers suggested hesitatingly, and the eyes of the other vigers shone with excitement as soon as they heard it, "yes, the children can be anywhere, why not split up and look through the vige? It is much easier for us to find her that way . "

    Xue Wei looked at them with narrowed eyes, a yful smile flittering across his lips .

    "Nah, I don¡¯t think we should," he saidnguidly, "we are fine together, she is not one to be overwhelmed by danger, and her cultivation base is shockingly high, so she is safe . It is much more fun to go together so that we do not get lost," Xue Wei answered, not even caring if his excuse made sense .

    Hearing his answer, the vigers exchanged nces with one another, but they quickly returned a smile on their faces, and nodded their heads, "We will look together," they said with smiles, "Are you not thirsty after looking this long? Let us take a short break; we have some delicious sugary water for you to drink . "

    "Sorry, we are not thirsty," Xue Wei answered with a cunning smile, and even the King, who had not sensed anything at the start, was starting to feel alert when she saw and sensed that Xue Wei and the other¡¯s had their bodies taut and ready to burst out with energy at any moment .

    The King had grown up in Yan Dalu . Although she was used to schemes and underhanded tricks, she had not been in many life and death situations . Fortunately, she was very quick to pick up on the subtle signs that Xue Wei and his friends were showing .

    The more they searched, the more things were starting to make them worried . In the beginning, they had still run into members of the crew and delegations, but now the only thing that was left was citizens of the vige .

    The vigers were leading them around in a ring, they looked at the same ces again and again, but saw no signs of Luoluo and Xue Wei started to feel worried .

    "So what exactly have you put in the food and drinks?" he asked straight forward after a bit of time, his question stunning the vigers and make them back up filled with dread .

    Xue Wei knew that Luoluo was a foodie . If she was offered food, she would eat it no doubt about it .

    She had likely already fallen to their schemes, and he was starting to feel worried .

    "There . . . There is nothing in the food and drinks," one of the vigers said, but he still backed up in fear .

    "Oh?" Xue Wei chuckled slightly as he took a step forward, his arm shot out like a snake and grasped the viger by the throat, "why don¡¯t you drink it then?" he continued to ask, and pulled a ss of sugary water from the tray, pouring all the drink into the mouth of the viger .

    The viger coughed constantly, his face was filled with dread as he tried to close his mouth, but Xue Wei broke his jaw before he poured another ss into the mouth of the viger .

    Before he managed to finish pouring the third ss into his mouth, the man became limp, his eyes rolling back in his head, and his breathing evened out .

    "So it is a sleeping drug," Xue Wei said casually as he pinched the throat of the viger, killing him on the spot .

    Seeing the sudden disy of cruelty, all the vigers in the surroundings retreated with fear in their eyes . Even the King was slightly ufortable .

    "Don¡¯t pity them," Xue Wei said, "they have spiked our drinks . They clearly have some ulterior motives to do so, not to mention the stench of human blood on this ind is so strong . They must have something nned . "

    "For now the most important thing is for us to find Luoluo and the others," Lin Xiao sighed, he too had once been against any unnecessary cruelty towards humans, but having traveled with Xue Wei for as long as he had, he understood now, that humans were not as innocent as he once thought .

    Xue Wei flew into the air to get a better overview of the ground, and there he found that a group of vigers were driving three carts that were covered with ck fabric .

    "I think I found them," he said to the others as he shot towards the carts .

    Treading on air, he, Hei Gou and Lin Xiao all rushed to the carts, and the first thing that greeted them was an arm that was visible underneath the ck fabric .

    The vigers that were pulling the carts were shocked when they saw the three descending from the sky above, their legs started to tremble, and their eyes widened in shock .

    They fled away from the carts as quickly as they could, and Xue Wei quickly reached out to remove the fabric, only to see that their crew members and others were stacked like goods on the carts .

    There were a full seven carts, and all of them were filled with crew members, delegation members, and even Luoluo was there .

    "What do we do now?" The King asked tentatively as she looked at the people, even Xue Wei was frowning .

    "Let us all return to the ship," he said after considering for some time, "We need everyone to wake up before we can decide what to do .

    "If they do not wake up soon, then we will unleash a massacre until they start telling me how to wake them up .

    "If they keep their mouths shut, then we will just kill every single person until not one remains, and then we will search their vige for the antidote .

    "But most likely, this is just amon sleeping drug," he argued, "as amon sleeping drug, they should wake up on their own after a short amount of time . "

 Chapter 307

    Chapter 307: 307

    Xue Wei took the carts and went back to the ship where he ced everyone within their own cabins, on their own beds .

    He was slightly worried about what might happen to them, but even more was he livid with the vigers . If it was not because he might need themter, then he would have killed them one after another, massacring the entire vige for their attempt at harming his dear ones .

    After considering for a moment, he decided that no matter what, he would kill them when he had no more use for them .

    Xue Wei was not a forgiving person . He was aware that these vigers were not forgiving towards him or hisrades, so why should he be towards them? He was no saint .

    Hei Gou, Lin Xiao, the King, Bai Tianyi, and Hei Gou were all spending their time moving from one end of the ship to another, constantly observing their friends, while at the same time, they were observing the vige in turns so that they were not suddenly surprised by them .

    The vigers were quiet . Throughout the entire afternoon, evening and night, none of them came towards the harbor, not even the sailors came out to look at theirs that had been sat out during the morning .

    Sensing that they were all hiding inside, Xue Wei was not feelingfortable . He felt that they were preparing something, and he was alert .

    It was not only Xue Wei who was tense, everyone on board the ship felt ufortable . They were so fewpared to the vigers, and although the vigers were weaker in strength, executing such a massive number of people would drain their energy, causing them to be easier to overwhelm .

    The night went by a second at a time, and every minute felt like an eternity . No one was showing any signs of waking up .

    Xue Wei was standing next to Luoluo, she was petite as she wasying in her bed, her face pale, and her eyes closed .

    Seeing her like this made him hurt . She was like a true little sister to him, and he could not help but feel that he had failed in the task of protecting her .

    The days went by slowly, and after two days, there was still no signs of awakening . Xue Wei¡¯s eyes turned solemn, and he looked out over the deck of the ship .

    The vigers had not shown any reactions these two days either, but Xue Wei had gotten enough .

    "Lin Xiao, you are staying onboard the ship . You are to protect everyone if anyone is harmed, then you will take the responsibility . The rest of us will go to the vige again and force them to give us some information or an antidote . "

    "This is risky," the King said, but she had no other idea of what to do . The reason they had not gone before was that there were so many people in the vige and so few of them . Although they could manage, it would be a challenge for them .

    Xue Wei made ready for the group to leave, he was willing to do anything to get the antidote, he was anything but happy with how Luoluo was lying unconscious .

    He was not worried about the crew being incapable of fixing their ship . As long as the materials were there, then they would be able to repair it themselves, so there was, in fact, no reason to keep the vigers alive .

    Xue Wei took the armor from his storage artifact and wore it on his body . His eyes shed with a cold gleam, and he was ready to execute everyone in the vige .

    The King and Lin Xiao were both somewhat ufortable about the fact that they would be killing vigers, but after thinking about the vigers¡¯ actions, then they felt more calm about it .

    Together the group took out their armor and weapons before they went towards the vige . Everything was quiet, and there were no sounds or movements in the houses close to the harbor .

    Xue Wei was alert, his muscles were taut, and he spread his spiritual energy around, but no matter where he searched, he found no signs of living creatures, not even livestock was present .

    Frowning, Xue Wei looked around, but he saw that Bai Tianyi and the King had the same perplexed expressions on their faces, unsure of what was going on .

    "They have evacuated," Xue Wei said after a bit of time, his voice so cold that it felt as if the temperature surrounding them was dropping from his foul mood .

    "They can not have left the ind," he continued, "so let us look for them . "

    "We need to be careful," the King added, "Maybe they are nning something, they could have been trying to lure us away from the ship . "

    Xue Wei heard this and felt annoyed . "King, please go back to the ship too," he asked, "if you are there, you will be able to support Lin Xiao, being able to keep them at bay . "

    The King hesitated for a moment . If she left now, then it would be a much more ruthless battle when Xue Wei encountered them, should their n not be to lure them away from the ship . But she understood that he would never risk Lin Xiao and Luoluo¡¯s safety . He would rather brave danger alone than let his friends be in danger .

    They moved further into the ind, they found marks and tracks of their migration, and it was obvious that they had fled hurriedly, not even bothering about trying to hide their tracks .

    This fact made Xue Wei ufortable . If they had evacuated, should they not have done so in the cover of the night, hiding all tracks and making it impossible to find them?

    But now they were basically inviting them to follow them . Could it be that their ns were to actually lure them away? Or did they want them to think like this?

    Xue Wei felt a headacheing his way .

    "The King and Lin Xiao are strong," he muttered to himself, "They will be able to hold out on the ship . Although they will be pushed to their limits, they will be able to manage . So we should follow these tracks and see what is going on . "

    Bai Tianyi heard his words and a small smile flittered across his lips . He knew that his master was the most conflicting person he had ever encountered before .

    He was ruthless, cold-blooded, and bloodthirsty towards those who wished to harm him .

    But he was warm, friendly and a real friend towards those he considered friends .

    Bai Tianyi had picked him out of desperation . He had wanted to leave the vige no matter what, to be a living being again, or as close to a living being as he could, so he had picked the first, the best, candidate that appeared .

    Now that they had been together for years, Bai Tianyi was very happy with the random master he had picked .

    Xue Wei did not treat him like the spiritual artifact that he actually was; he treated him as his real friend, and someone who had given up his humanity for immortality, this was an exciting thing . It felt that he was still human .

    Just as they thought like this, Xue Wei stopped in his tracks . The scent of blood in the air was getting more and more prominent, the scent was so dense that he could almost taste it, and he felt how his own blood was boiling, wanting to let go of everything and rush forward, ready to fight anything that came across them .

    The bloodlust in his body was much more overwhelming than normal . It was as if there was some sort of drug within the bloody smell, some sort of drug that was making him have an even more overwhelming urge to murder than usual .

    It was not only Xue Wei who felt it . When he looked at Bai Tianyi and Hei Gou, he saw that their eyes were red, and their teeth were tightly clenched .

    "The smell is wrong," Xue Wei growled, his eyes narrowing dangerously . He found a soul-calming pill he had concocted back in Yan Dalu and tossed two to Hei Gou and Bai Tianyi before he took one and sat down to cultivate .

    The Soul-Calming Pill was a very different type of pill than what one would normally consume . It did not increase one¡¯s cultivation base, neither did it do anything for one¡¯s strength, all it did was to calm one¡¯s mind and bring control over the soul .

    This pill was not consumed unless necessary . Pills left impurities in one¡¯s body if one did not eat high purity pills, and thus they were only consumed in limited quantities, or to improve one¡¯s cultivation base .

    But right now, the Soul-Calming pills were very important, and they could help them maintain their sanity while investigating what was happening with this heavy scent of blood .

    Xue Wei sat still for as long as it takes for a cup of tea to brew before he stood up once more . When he stood up, he felt that he had control over his mind again, although the bloodlust was still struggling under his control, he could feel that it no longer threatened to take over his mind any longer .

    Hei Gou and Bai Tianyi took a bit longer to calm themselves, but when all three of them were back to normal, they once more began moving forward .

    They rxed and took a lot of time to slowly inch forward . They had entered a dense forest, and this forest was ideal for setting up ambushes, so Xue Wei and the other two were on high alert as they moved past the trees, bushes, and branches .

    The forest was filled with ancient old trees, but the further they got into the forest, the more overwhelming the silence became . There was no wildlife sounds, no living beings at all, not even insects .

    There was only a bit of dim light in the forest as the crowns of the trees were a thickyer of green above them . The sun could not break through the dense nket of leaves and branches .

    Suddenly, in front of them was a clearing in the branches . This clearing was filled with old ruins of an ancient civilization, the pagodas and buildings were almost ruined, and in the middle was a massive altar .

    When they found the clearing, the scent of blood was much more overwhelming than it had been before .

    The closer to the ruins they got, the more alert they became . In the ruins were a river that ran through the ancient city, and this river was filled with blood . The river originated from the altar and ended in a sea that was located in the middle of the city .

    The amount of blood needed for this river was not able to be counted in the thousands, in fact, much more was needed . It seemed as if millions had left their lives to be able to fill up this river andke .

    But even within this ancient city, there was not one living being . The city had clearly been visited recently, it waspletely spotless, not a grain of dust could be seen, but no one living could be seen . Even when they spread out their spiritual energy, could they not find anyone .

    Their eyebrows furrowed, their hearts beating rapidly as the adrenaline started to rush through their bodies .

    "Let us look at the altar," Xue Wei said after a bit of thought, and the other two had no objections . They were constantly looking around as they made their way towards the altar .

 Chapter 308

    Chapter 308: 308

    The altar was on top of a tform, overseeing the entire city, four pagodas ced so that they formed a square around it .

    Blood was flowing in rivers underneath the altar, and it seemed as if all the blood had dropped from the altar into the river .

    The entire altar was red, bordering on ck, as it was dyed with the blood of various ages, some marks were fresh, others were ancient .

    There were many marks of knives and swords on the altar top, clearly many people had been executed here .

    The scent of blood was so intoxicating that even with the soul-calming pill, Xue Wei was feeling restless .

    Hei Gou and Bai Tianyi were not doing much better than him . Hei Gou and Bai Tianyi¡¯s eyes were red, with their fists clenched tightly as they were trembling .

    Xue Wei surveyed their surroundings, but noticing that there was nothing around them apart from the bloody city, he quickly turned around and started leaving .

    "There is something in the blood here," he muttered, "some sort of drug . "

    Hei Gou and Bai Tianyi nodded their heads, they too could sense it . Although blood usually went to their brains, it was never like this which was invading all their senses and making them lose their rationality like this, urging them to be mindless killing machines .

    "There is no one here . I bet they hoped we would lose our sanity and fight each other to death," Xue Wei muttered as he hurried away from the ancient ruins, his movements as fast as he could without activating any movement techniques .

    Hei Gou and Bai Tianyi followed suit, and the three of them quickly returned to the safety of the trees, the ancient ruins vanishing in the backgrounds .

    "Do you think that perhaps there is some sort of strength boosting effect in the blood?" Bai Tianyi suddenly asked, and Xue Wei was quiet . When it came down to it, he knew a lot less than the sword spirit .

    "If there is, this might be the lost city of the Berserkers," he muttered, evidently in doubt .

    "Berserkers?" Xue Wei was notfortable hearing such names . It sounded like they would be quite powerful .

    "Berserkers are, like all other races, quite different from humans . They have a hard time cultivating normally, but when they enter bloodlust their strength soars for a short period of time .

    "They safeguard their lost city with their lives, this ce is fueled by the blood, and is their life source . As long as blood runs in the lost city of the Berserkers, then they will be able to survive, and killing them is near impossible . "

    Xue Wei was ufortable hearing what Bai Tianyi said . It sounded quite a bit as if he was correct . But if this was truly the lost city of the berserkers, then it was not a good ce to be .

    "Back to the ship . Right now . " Xue Wei made a decision quickly and together with the others, turned around to rush back to the ship .

    The eerie silence in the forest was broken by them as they rushed back to the ship .

    On the way, they encountered no one, neither friend nor foe . Everything was empty .

    Xue Wei was thinking the entire time, wondering if there was some way to get rid of these vigers .

    "You said that they are near impossible to kill when there is blood flowing in their lost city?" Xue Wei suddenly asked, and Bai Tianyi shrugged, "I think so," he said, "it is what the legends say, and legends tend to have a base in reality . "

    Xue Wei paused, they had reached the vige, and as they looked into the distance arge column of smoke was rising into the air, a column far away, seemingly in the direction of the harbor .

    Xue Wei¡¯s eyes glistened with malice and worry as he sped up . He even activated Forbidden Rush as he shed through the vige towards the harbor, but what met him was a sight that made the heart in his chest drop .

    The ship was burning . It was aze with mes all over, licking the wood as if it was a massive bonfire .

    "They were here while we were gone," Xue Wei was certain as he spoke . "They must be Berserkers, otherwise it would be impossible to overwhelm both the King and Lin Xiao with the strength of the vigers . "

    "What do we do now?" Hei Gou was slightly ufortable . If they had been able to handle the King and Lin Xiao, would the three of them be able to do something to them?

    "We will return to the lost city," Xue Wei said decisively, "We will ensure that no more blood flows in their city, as long as we get rid of all the blood, then they will be able to be killed . It is also when we will be able to execute them easily . "

    "They are likely to return to the city now," Bai Tianyi said while considering their options . "To keep the blood flowing, they need to add more and more blood to the rivers, and this blood is taken from wayward wanderers who identally arrive at this ind . "

    "We will stop their river of blood," Xue Wei said decisively, his eyes were glistening with determination, and neither Bai Tianyi nor Hei Gou tried to talk him out of it .

    They both felt it was risky, but having lived up until now, had they not experienced risky situations before?

    If they did nothing, then their friends would lose their lives, and that would forever bring pain to them . They would rather fight with all they had to protect their friends and family than to be a coward who hid away from danger .

    Since they had made a decision, Xue Wei rushed back to the lost city . He was careful and alert at all times, but they did note across anyone on the way .

    As they were just about to reach the lost city, Xue Wei fished out another three soul-calming pills . He consumed one and gave the other two to hispanions, who quickly swallowed them and sat down .

    When their minds were as calm and collected as they could be, they moved on towards the lost city, this time not as fast, and not as obviously .

    The lost city had previously beenpletely deserted and silent, but now that they returned they could hear the sound of people chanting, as to what they were chanting, it was hard to make out the words, but there was no interruption in the chants .

    While still being within the forest, Xue Wei saw that the sleeping experts were all awake now . They had been bound and ced in a line that was being pushed towards the altar . Even Luoluo was there .

    Xue Wei felt his blood boil . Lin Xiao and the King were there as well, but they were not in good shape . Blood was flowing all over their clothes, and open wounds and gashes could be seen in their skin . They were pale, and the five eyes of the King were all ssy .

    Hei Gou was ufortable seeing them like this, and he was about to charge forward, only to be stopped by Xue Wei . He shook his head without saying anything, and Hei Gou could only gnash his teeth before suppressing his urge to run over and save them .

    "They will not execute them now," Bai Tianyi whispered with certainty, and Xue Wei looked at him, silently inquiring why he thought so .

    "They used some sort of drug to knock them all out . This drug is in their blood right now . If they were to let the drugged blood into the river, does that not mean that they will drug themselves?"

    The question was incredibly logical and reasonable, and Xue Wei nodded his head . Since they depended on the blood, they would not let drugged blood join the river .

    Although they had already woken up from their drugged sleep, there was very little chance of their blood being pure already . They would wait at least a day with executing them .

    Since this was the case, the sense of urgency slowly evaporated, and Xue Wei began nning what to do .

    The river was carved into the ground, there was no way to get beneath it, and he was unsure of how to make all of it spill .

    Bai Tianyi was aware of the problem as well, but he had no sudden ideas either .

    Hei Gou looked at the river in front of him and observed his surroundings . "Why not lead the river out of the city during the night?" he asked, and both Bai Tianyi and Xue Wei looked at him with great curiosity .

    "I mean, we can¡¯t let it stay in the lost city, but if we make an extension of the river and theke, make it flow out of the city and into the ground here in the forest, then they will be incapable of fighting back . "

    "there is a lot of blood," Xue Wei muttered as he looked at it, but they had no better idea, and thus they waited for night to fall .

    As the darkness nketed the entire forest and the lost city, Xue Wei, Hei Gou, and Bai Tianyi began moving .

    They went to thergeke that was at the end of the city and started digging . They quietly destroyed the tall dam that kept the blood in ce and watched as it started to slowly but surely drain into the forest .

    More and more blood started running into the forest, and as the soil absorbed it, a tremble ran through the ground .

    The hole in the dam was gettingrger andrger, more and more blood was being lost, but no one in the city seemed to notice .

    Xue Wei was constantly on high alert . He was using his spiritual energy to keep an eye on everything, but no one was guarding theke of blood, neither were they guarding the rivers, and it allowed for Xue Wei and his two friends to act so presumptuously and slowly but steadily empty their lost city for blood .

    The blood was flowing into the forest, and the leaves of the trees started changing their color from green to red . The scent of blood was everywhere in the air, and the intoxicating smell was invading the senses of Xue Wei, Hei Gou, and Bai Tianyi . It was even worse than the first time they had been there, and their nails were dug tightly into their palms, making it so that the pain kept them sane .

    Blood was dripping from their palms down on the ground, and when Xue Wei¡¯s blood came into contact with the blood of the lost city, a magnificent sight happened .

    The blood of the lost city had been red, but the moment it came into contact with Xue Wei¡¯s it turned blue .

    Before, the blood had been slowly seeping out of the hole they had made in the dam, but now the blood was, as if acting with a consciousness, hurrying out of the river andke and rushing towards Xue Wei where it gathered underneath him, greedily mixing with the drops of blood that fell from his hand .

    Xue Wei looked at Bai Tianyi and Hei Gou, and then he realized what had happened . Bai Tianyi had previously exined to them that all different races came from the union of a mix between beasts and humans .

    This race was exactly the same as all other races, and it was obvious that there was happening a mutation to the blood .

    Previously a mutation had happened to Hei Gou, but this time it was the Berserker blood which was changing . It was abandoning the Lost City for the sake of absorbing just a drop more blood of Xue Wei, before slowly seeping into the ground below .

    The treetops which had slowly turned red from the blood were now changing their colors to blue . The entire forest was changing at a rapid speed .

 Chapter 309

    Chapter 309: 309

    The forest was greedily absorbing every drop of blood, sucking it out of the city, and into the ground instead . The river of blood in the lost city was being drained at a rapid pace .

    A resounding boom sounded in the city, and suddenly the altar that was high above the rest started cracking .

    The Berserkers within the city were looking at each other with shock . They saw that the river of blood was slowly draining and even their altar was starting to be destroyed .

    Their eyes turned scarlet, and their breathing hurried in fear . They did not have a great talent for cultivation and relied solely on their innate connection to the river of blood in the lost city .

    Xue Wei had hidden himself rather well . The moment the forest started changing, he quickly took the other two and left . Not long after, a group of people appeared, these people looked at each other with dismay in their eyes .

    The destruction brought to the dam that kept the blood in the river andke was so overwhelming that they were incapable of repairing it easily, and blood kept being drained at a rapid pace .

    They were at a loss for what to do . Should they spend their time trying to block the blood, or should they try and find the ones who had caused the leakage, so that they did not cause more problems .

    And causing problems was exactly what Xue Wei was nning on doing . He had left their original position, but he had not given up his goal, instead, he went to the other side of theke and started destroying the dam on this side too .

    It was taking some time, but after the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, he finally seeded and broke the second hole in the wall of the bloodyke .

    Once again, the blood started streaming out of the dam, and the dry soil absorbed it rapidly, the trees slowly turning red .

    This time, no blood of Xue Wei dropped into the blood, so it did not turn blue but stayed red . The speed of the absorption was also much slower than on the other side, where the trees were greedily sucking out the blood from theke .

    It was night, but many of the Berserkers who were within their rooms sleeping quickly woke up and understood that something was happening .

    Their bodies were turning feeble, their eyes bloodshot . They could feel that their connection to the blood river was weakening drastically, and it felt as if a part of their soul was being forcefully ripped apart .

    Xue Wei saw that the previously deserted city was now bustling with life, the worn out houses were housing Berserkers, and all of them were waking up now, unsure of what was going on .

    Xue Wei could see everything from where he was, and he observed them running around like headless chickens, their expressions filled with fear but also undisguised malice .

    They could sense themselves weakening, and they could not help but feel ufortable .

    "They should be easy to pick up one after another," Bai Tianyi suddenly said .

    "We don¡¯t know where the others are held prisoner," Hei Gou agreed, "but what we can do is to find the experts of this Berserker city and question them . You can use Mind Infestation on them, I doubt they have strong mental fortitude . "

    Xue Wei nodded his head . These Berserkers relied fully on their bodies being strong and their Qi levels being high . Xue Wei and Bai Tianyi had high spiritual energy levels, and when it came to something like their spiritual energy, they could easily manipte them as they pleased .

    Xue Wei, Bai Tianyi, and Hei Gou inched closer to the popted part of the city . They were waiting in the shadows for when someone was alone, and after waiting for a short while, they encountered a person who was heading towards the outskirts of the lost city with the purpose of bringing a message from the elders to the scouts that had noticed the leakage of bloodke .

    This person was hurried and did not look around carefully . She was rushing and nervous, and when she ran past Xue Wei, Hei Gou, and Bai Tianyi, all three of themunched their attacks at once .

    Mind Infestation!

    Spirit Cage!

    Swallow the Moon!

    Hei Gou was using his innate ability to devour all light in the surroundings, Bai Tianyi caged the figure in a cage made from spiritual energy, and Xue Wei finally used Mind Infestation to take over her mind .

    She was soon renderedpletely immobile, her mind a mess and her body unable to move without being given the order by Xue Wei .

    Xue Wei, however, quickly ordered her with his mind to follow them as they hid from view once more .

    Finding a small ck alleyway where no one would enter, Xue Wei looked at the person in front of him .

    The female Berserker¡¯s eyes were clouded over, she was not seeing anything, and solely working on Xue Wei¡¯s orders .

    "Keep an eye out," Xue Wei said to Bai Tianyi and Hei Gou, and he put all his focus on the woman whom he had under his control, he closed his eyes and started searching her memories .

    There were not many people in the Berserkers¡¯ vige, so they were all moving together in a group when they had attacked the ship and took all of them prisoner again .

    He found that this woman was not in the vanguard, but had been scouting the back of their group, keeping an eye out for Xue Wei and the othersing back and interrupting their attack .

    He saw everything in her memory, and at the same time, he was able to sense her feelings . He could feel her unhappiness with the rest of the Berserkers, but she was one of them after all and could not go against the rest . If she voiced her disagreement, it was obvious that she would end up as a corpse, drained of all her blood .

    Now that Xue Wei found her memories, he also found that she was not struggling against his control, it was obvious that she was not against helping these visitors, and Xue Wei was feeling rather surprised .

    He quickly continued to scan her memories and found the location where all the others were held captive, and then he contemted for a moment . He could kill this woman easily, but he felt that she had done nothing to deserve it . In fact, she was trying to help him in her own way, so killing her was quite ungrateful .

    "Let¡¯s go," he said, as he kept his control over the woman, and the group of three had be a group of four, as they moved towards the dungeons .

    The dungeons were located close to the altar, in the midst of the city, and they were heavily guarded normally .

    Today was different, however . Although they were heavily guarded, there were quite a few people who had been forced to hunt for Xue Wei and hispanions, and even more, who were dispatched to check what had happened to the forest .

    Some of the trees had turned blue, while others had turned red . Some of the guards had also been tasked with repairing the destroyed dams that allowed for the blood to leak from the river andke .

    So many things were happening at once, and it was impossible to deal with it all in one go . Everything could cause a disruption of their ns, and no one knew how to deal with it .

    The Elders were shocked and ufortable . Many people hade by their vige and ind throughout the eons, and while many had been left alone on their travels because they were too strong to be provoked, most of the people who had visited had ended up in the river of blood .

    The Elders were the ones who determined which ships were to be attacked and which were to be left alone, and these elders had picked the delegation as one of their targets .

    They had not expected that things were not as simple as they had thought . Things had be chaotic and ufortable, the people who were on board were stronger than they had expected, and they fought back relentlessly . Although only a few of them were awake, these few people were enough to cause a headache .

    The Elders had a headache . They were wondering what to do with their sacred blood river andke, which was currently emptying at a rapid speed, they were wondering what to do with the forest which was turning crimson and indigo from absorbing blood, and they were also wondering what to do with Xue Wei and the other free-roaming experts .

    Xue Wei was aware that he had caused headaches, and he was very pleased with the results . As they reached the dungeons, they quickly started to execute their attacks .

    Mind Infestation followed by Spirit Cage was the bestbination . It could be used from a distance, and as soon as Mind Infestation took over, they forfeited their lives .

    Xue Wei felt that there was indeed a major difference between the woman who was following them and the Berserkers he met . The woman whom he still held full control over was obedient and cooperated willingly . Although she knew instinctively that her mind was invaded, she did not fight against it, her soul tranquil like ake .

    The gate to the dungeons was manned by seven guards . Xue Wei contemted what to do, but while he was thinking, Bai Tianyi had alreadyunched the first Mind Infestation, coupled with Hei Gouunching Swallowing the Moon .

    Everything went ck . No one could see anything, and the guards started calling out for one another, but a dull sound was heard as one person after another copsed on the ground, Mind Infestation shattering their souls .

    One after another they sumbed to death, and Xue Wei went to the prison, only to find that all of them were awake, albeit rather groggy and their eyes ssed over .

    Luoluo was the first one to notice him, and she was about to call out when she saw him ce a finger on his thin lips and shake his head .

    Realizing the situation they were in, she quickly nodded her head and kept quiet .

    Soon after the gate was broken open and all of them staggered out of the chamber .

    "Let us show those bastards that we aren¡¯t easy to deal with," one of the sailors grumbled as he rubbed his sore head .

    The others nodded their heads, and although they were all feeling as if they had a hangover, they quickly took out their weapons and prepared to strike .

    They soon found that they had no weapons on them, as the Berserkers had taken away their items, but after scouring a few houses close to the prison where they found a variety of weapons . Although it was not the ones they were used to, they could assist them in this time of need .

    Xue Wei was not going to tell them not to, but he still opened his mouth to warn them, "don¡¯t let them connect with the bloody river," he said seriously, "they are Berserkers, so it is best for you to destroy the bloody river first, and when it is destroyed, then you can focus on killing them all . "

    "What about the woman who is following you?" one of them asked hesitatingly . All of them had noticed that a woman was with Xue Wei from beginning to end, and he just shrugged his shoulders, "she has assisted me quite a lot, so leave her alive . "

    The others nodded their heads and together, all of them rushed towards the city¡¯s streets, ready to bathe it red in the blood of the Berserkers .

 Chapter 310

    Chapter 310: 310

    The experts were all filled with anger and frustrations . They had listened to the Berserkers throughout the time and understood that their end would be rather gruesome; all the blood would be drained from their bodies while still being alive .

    They had felt hopelessness and despair as they knew that their end wasing; the only one who had been calm was Luoluo . She had imed that her older brother would save her, and the sailors and delegations were feeling incredibly embarrassed for not believing her now that it had proven to be true .

    In the cage were also the King and Lin Xiao . Both of them were severely beatenpared to the others who had no injuries . Their bodies were riddled with wounds, both shallow and deep ones; it was clear that they had been fighting to theirst breath, and only kept alive because of their precious blood .

    Anger red in Xue Wei¡¯s heart . He considered these two people his friends, but now they had been beaten this badly, he could not ept it!

    He quickly found a few pills from his storage artifact and ced them in the mouths of the two unconscious friends .

    The pills he used were improved versions of the Returning Spring Healing Pills . These pills were not the best pills he had, but considering the injuries, they were the most suitable ones as they would treat every single wound and not focus on one specific injury .

    As the pills dissolved in their mouths, the two slowly woke up, their bodies aching, but stream after stream of energy shot into their bodies and slowly alleviated their pain and healed their bodies .

    While Xue Wei was busy dealing with his two friends, the sailors and the two delegations swept through the entire city . Their storage artifacts had been taken away from them, but they quickly found weapons or tools they could use as weapons or fought with their bare hands, releasing all the restrained anger and frustrations they had felt while being captured .

    The city was painted red; blood was flowing in rivers . More and more were killed as their power was weak after the loss of blood from the blood river and bloodke, because of this, they were easy to kill, like sitting ducks waiting to be ughtered .

    Panic erupted in the lost city of the Berserkers; the Berserkers were all filled with dread and fear . They had been the hunters, but now they became the hunted . All the feelings of fear that their original targets had felt were being returned to them one by one .

    "Hei Gou, carry the King, I¡¯ll drag Lin Xiao with us," Xue Wei said, and as he said, he went to drag Lin Xiao with him out of prison, while Hei Gou carried the King .

    Luoluo looked on in dismay . Clearly, she was unhappy, but because of the circumstances she did not cause any problems, but when Xue Wei saw her indignant face, he did not know whether tough or cry . It was clear that she was unhappy that her hubby was touching another woman .

    Sighing he shook his head, and dragged Hei Gou with him, behind him was the Berserker and Bai Tianyi, both of them were observing everything around them, and both the King and Hei Gou were getting better and better .

    Halfway through the lost city, they had note across even one living person; only corpses were littered on the ground, blood flowing from their limp bodies, and vacant eyes staring in horror into the sky .

    Xue Wei and his group of people showed no interest in these dead bodies, but Bai Tianyi was not so naive as to not inspect them . If any of them had the slightest trace of being alive still, then a spiritual energy sword severed the head from the body, ensuring that no ambush wasying on the way .

    As they advanced, they soon reached the front of the battle . Here they saw how the Berserkers were pushed back, all of them filled with fear, and their attacks were filled with hesitation . It was clear that everyone was doing their utmost to escape, but where could they escape to? They were on an ind; everything was under control of the delegation and sailors .

    Xue Wei sent Bai Tianyi out to find the storage treasures of everyone, and soon he did not have to drag Lin Xiao anymore, soon he could support him, as they returned to the harbor .

    There they were greeted by sight of the wreckage of their ship . It waspletely burnt down; the charred wooden frame was all that was left .

    Looking around the harbor, they found no other ship as magnificent; all of them were rather crude and not made for long distance sailing . They could not amodate all of them either .

    Pondering on what to do, Xue Wei ced Lin Xiao on the ground; the King was also being ced down on the ground, both of them sitting down and slowly using their own Qi and Spiritual Energy to heal their bodies .

    Not long after, Bai Tianyi returned . He handed two rings to Lin Xiao and the King while the thing he gave Luoluo was a small bracelet . This was their storage artifacts .

    "I kept them all," he said, "I found the one who had all the storage artifacts, and then I took them all with me . On top of that, I also looted the corpses I came across, so we have quite a few storage treasures . "

    "Give the ones from ourrades back," Xue Wei said with a nod of his head, "but keep all the other ones for yourself . No need to share them with others . "

    Bai Tianyi snickered . He felt the same, had they not been there to protect them, then it was likely they would all have died . To let them take the loot was not too much to ask for .

    Slowly as time ticked by, the ones who had survived from the sailors and delegation made their way down to the harbor where they met Xue Wei and the others . They saw the stack of storage artifacts and their eyes shone . They thought they had lost their treasures for good .

    None of themmented on the fact that Xue Wei and his friends kept the extra ones, they just found their own and ced them on their bodies before starting to ponder on what to do with the ship .

    The delegation was the ones who felt the worst . They did not know much about ships or sailing, but they knew that they had to get away from here, they could not stay here for a long time .

    "Don¡¯t fret," one of the soldiers chuckled . "We are sailors, and we know about building ships . Even the ship we sailed before was built by us . "

    "Aren¡¯t you sailors? Not carpenters?" one of the members of the delegation asked curiously, but the sailors justughed . "We are cultivators, and to build a ship, you need strength and speed . Normal carpenters can¡¯t build ships as fast as we can . "

    There was a pride in his voice as he spoke, and right after, they began to run through the city towards the forest behind them .

    The forest which had been green before was now red and blue; the trees were much stronger than they had been before .

    After a few days, the red and blue wood had been turned into a magnificent ship . The ship before had been the brown shade of trees, but this one was now blood red and dark blue .

    While they had been busy working on the ship, Xue Wei had been upied speaking with the only Berserker still alive .

    She had been shocked when she awoke from her stupor induced by mind infestation, but after thinking it through, she quickly decided to pledge her allegiance to their delegations .

    "Let us set out," the delegation did not wish to stay on the Berserker¡¯s ind any longer .

    Having said this, all of them were eager to get away, and thus, they boarded the ship . Lin Xiao and the King were both feeling much better now than before, their wounds were also more or less healed, and they were ready to continue the travels .

    Everyone boarded the ship, and as they began sailing, they soon found that this red and blue wood had a great ability to draw in the essence of the heavens and the earth, making cultivation even faster .

    "The blue trees have been tainted by your blood, right?" Hei Gou asked with a low voice when they were seated in the corner of the room .

    Xue Wei looked around and nodded his head, "should be," he answered, "I don¡¯t know what this blood river has done to the forest, nor do I know what my blood has done either, but it is without a doubt a treasure for cultivation, since the heaven-and-earth essence is absorbed so fast . "

    Bai Tianyi looked at the wood beneath their feet and started contemting . After a bit of time, he answered, "I think that the river of blood and theke of blood from the Berserker¡¯s lost city was mixed with various herbs and treasures to make it easier to absorb . These medicines and treasures made it possible for the trees to absorb the blood fast .

    "At the same time, this blood is making the trees much stronger than before; in fact, I think that if the trees had not been cut down, they would have evolved into spirits . "

    Xue Wei was quite surprised when he heard this . Spirits were something that was created by nature, so to have made it possible for spirits to be created much faster, that was indeed a magical thing .

    The ship was rushing through the sea, the front cleaving the waves as easily as a hot knife went through butter, and the boat was even steadier than before .

    After the episode on the ind with the Berserkers, the people onboard the ship were much more alert . When they docked in some other inds, they were all cautious and did not trust the citizens at all .

    Like this time flowed by, they experienced nothing too exciting on the sea, a day turned to a week, and a week turned to a month .

    During this month all of them, even the sailors, were eager to cultivate in the dense heavens and earth essence that was present onboard the ship .

    During this time, Hei Gou had a breakthrough to the firstyer of the Heavenly Knight rank, Bai Tianyi was at the ninthyer of the Sky Knight rank, and Lin Xiao was also at the firstyer of the Heavenly Knight rank .

    Xue Wei was at the ninthyer of the Sky Knight rank with his Qi levels and the ninthyer of the Sky Knight rank with his spiritual energy .

    Although he and Bai Tianyi had the lowest rank, they were the ones they wanted to fight the least . Especially Hei Gou had felt the bloodline suppression from Xue Wei, and all the other delegation members from the Demon Phoenix Continent felt the same whenever they sparred against him .

    He was not someone who was simple to fight against, and thus, he fought against the delegation members of Yan Dalu, and also the human sailors who were of higher rank .

    This fateful day, just as they thought it would be a day like any other, they realized that it was not . A big ship came rushing towards them, the speed so fast that it had to be fueled by a person with an excellent cultivation base, even if Xue Wei and the others fueled the blood ship, as they had named the new ship, it would not be able to outrun it .

    After experiencing the episode at the Berserker ind, they were all rather alert and suspicious of others, hence when they saw the rushing ship, they all felt apprehensive and worried .

 Chapter 311

    Chapter 311: 311

    As the ship arrived next to the blood ship, it stopped, and the passengers could see a bunch of dangerous-looking people on the other ship were looking menacingly at them, greed shing in their eyes .

    They had seen that their own ship was incapable of catching up with this blood ship, was it not for the fact that they had a great expert on board their ship to fuel it with Qi .

    Xue Wei was tentative as his eyes swept over the experts on the opposite deck . There were a lot of experts, but their strength was all equal to his, they were all a wide variety of Earth, Sky, Heavenly Knights .

    None of the people present were capable of fueling the ship as they had seen so although he was not too worried about these experts, he could not let his heart rx, as he knew the real owner of the boat was not to be taken lightly .

    They did not board their ship as the entire delegation had expected, but they gathered on the deck and observed them, all of them clearly restless as their eyes scanned the people aboard the ship .

    It was as if they were looking for something or someone, but they had not exined who it was, neither did they know seem familiar to any of the people aboard the blood ship .

    Suddenly the other ship trembled, and a magnificent person appeared from below the deck .

    Looking at him, Xue Wei instantly had one word popping into his mind: Demon .

    This man had grey skin, pointed ears, two long horns on top of his head, cat-like pupils, fangs, ws and tiger paws, and legs .

    This was a race different from any other race Xue Wei had encountered so far, and the only name that would fit him would be a demon . Although Xue Wei was aware that he too was a descendant of the different unions between man and beast, he felt that this was a mutation that had changed drastically throughout the thousands of years that had passed .

    When Xue Wei came across this man, he felt as if he was looking at a big ck hole . There was simply no way to measure his strength, no way to determine how strong he actually was .

    When he appeared, the greed that shed in the eyes of the rest of the experts quickly vanished and they all respectfully made a path for him to walk through towards their blood ship .

    Xue Wei noticed that this demon was looking at one person only . He was staring at the King, and the King was also frowning as she looked back at him . It seemed that she had recognized him .

    At first, Xue Wei was worried that there was hostility between the two, however, after seeing how the demon was smiling brilliantly, and the frown on the King¡¯s face was more of a confused frown than a hostile one, he quickly rxed his taut muscles .

    A small smile flitted across his lips, and he leaned back against the mast . It was at this time the demon looked at him, their eyes shed, and the demon instantly guessed his thoughts .

    Xue Wei did nothing to hide his thoughts, and then he called out, "Rx and make space for him, he is here to visit an old friend . "

    Hearing Xue Wei¡¯s words, the sailors and two delegations suddenly felt much safer . They somehow wholly trusted in his words after experiencing the drama back at the Berserkers¡¯ ind .

    Since they trusted him, all of them suddenly rxed and retreated; they allowed the demon to jump across from one ship to another casually .

    He went straight to the King, stood in front of her, two heads taller than her, and looked down upon her .

    "I wonder if you could predict that we would meet again," he said with a slight happy smile on his lips, and the King who had been frowning before had a helpless expression on her face as she shook her head .

    "Let us go to the side to talk," she said feeling slightly ufortable with everyone staring at her, especially the dangerous-looking experts on the other ship were staring at her as if they had seen the most wondrous scene .

    Xue Wei had a good guess as to why . This man was a demon, it was evident that he would not be a friendly person, but right now, he was overly happy and gentle towards a woman .

    Xue Wei did not know about their past together, but it was clear they knew each other somehow, and he slowly went back to cultivating .

    After they had spoken together for some time, the King walked to the middle of the deck, the demon casually following behind her, towering above her as a gentle giant, protecting her and sheltering her from everything that might be dangerous .

    "This is Tao Wu," she introduced . "He is known as the Fierce Demon, and he is a pirate leader here in the Sea of the Enchanted . "

    She paused for a bit, wondering how to continue . "I met him some years ago when he was injured and helped to nurse him back to health, so he feels obliged to assist us as well . "

    She looked around, but no one pointed fingers or made fun of her, so she quickly continued, "He has offered to take us to the closest ind with a busy port town, a ce where crouching tigers and hidden dragons lives . "

    When hearing that there was another port, the crew was slightly nervous, but the King quickly soothed their worried nerves, "although this ce is dangerous, as it is the home for all pirates in the Sea of the Enchanted, it is also a good ce to find treasures and stock up on necessities . "

    "Also, as long as you are cautious, you should be fine . Never walk around alone, and make sure not to trust strangers . But I am sure you already understood this point . "

    Everyone still hesitated, and eventually, they looked at Xue Wei . Xue Wei was obviously above the delegation from the Demon Phoenix Continent because of his bloodline being as noble as it was, and he was also the savior of Yan Dalu, so they too would listen to his words . He had saved the sailors on thest ind, so they too felt no remorse about leaving it in his hands .

    "Let¡¯s go," was his answer; he was not against going to this ce . He was quite curious as to what wonders they might have . He even hoped to be able to get his hands on a form for two-colored Rainbow Pills .

    Although his alchemy was not at the point where he would be able to make two-colored Rainbow Pills easily, if he had the form, he would be able to find the ingredients, and then he should be ready to begin practicing on it after a few more months .

    It was hard to get one¡¯s hands on these forms, but guessing that there were a whole lot of treasures in the port city that they mentioned, he could not see anywhere else with more potential for having the form .

    As he had made a decision, the others naturally epted it, and the smile on Tao Wu¡¯s face grew increasingly brilliant . It was clear that the King had no opinion and just followed what the others decided upon .

    She seemed casual, but Xue Wei was quite confident that this was a facade she hid behind .

    He had not forgotten her words from when they were in Yan Dalu, where she had said that her dream was to be a pirate . This had already been a somewhat surprising wish, but now that he saw Tao Wu, it suddenly made sense .

    Not only was she eager to live the life of a pirate, the free and unfettered life on the sea, she also had someone who mattered to her, someone who had likely been the one to tell her about the experience as a pirate .

    As to what their rtionship was like, Xue Wei did not want to interfere, but it was apparent that this powerful person mattered to the King .

    "Men set sail towards Treasure City!" Tao Wu yelled out, his voice so domineering that it was impossible to ignore .

    "You can follow my ship towards Treasure City, that ce is a haven for those who know how to do a deal, but it is also a nightmare for anyone too weak . I suggest all of you be a minimum of Earth Knight rank to enter; the rest ought to stay on the ship .

    "Although the city is chaotic, there are specific rules . Stealing a ship is something you can never do, no matter how wonderful the ship is, stealing it is impossible, or you will be chased down by the entire pirate fleet in the Sea of the Enchanted .

    "Also, as long as you are aboard your ship, you are safe . No one will bother you, and no one can board a ship to cause problems for you . in the city itself it is entirely different though, and murder is seen rather often .

    "There is one auction house but plenty of shops that specialize in buying stolen goods and selling it off to those in need .

    "There is a red light district for those of you who cannot handle the long voyages on the sea, which caters to both men and women .

    "As a matter of fact, there is everything you might need, although these thingse at a cost . Some things cost essence stones; others cost gold and silver . "

    Hearing how Tao Wu described Treasure City, many were eager to experience it for themselves . However, a small number of experts were still too influenced by the encounter on the Berserker¡¯s ind and thus they were relieved when they heard that the ship was a haven, a ce where no one could touch them .

    The sailors were much more eager now than they had been before, and they hurried to make their ship follow behind the one belonging to Tao Wu, running towards the Treasure City that he had introduced to them .

    Tao Wu looked at all the sailors and saw their excitement and a twinkle appeared in his eyes, as he turned towards Xue Wei .

    "Don¡¯t you feel worried that I will trick you?" he asked with a slight smile on his lips .

    "If you do, I will help you count the money," Xue Wei answered casually as he continued to cultivate .

    "You seem quite confident that I am not tricking you," Tao Wu continued, quite eager to know how Xue Wei was so observant .

    "It¡¯s simple," Xue Wei said, "You clearly have some affection towards the King, and want to travel with her . If you just suggest it, she will decline you, but now we have a purpose, so it is fine . At the same time, you are much stronger than any of us here . If you truly had malicious thoughts, then there would be nothing we could do about it, so following your suggestions would be our only option . "

    Tao Wu was surprised that he had understood that much, and he suddenlyughed as he sat down next to him, his eyes never once leaving the King¡¯s side .

    "You remind me of a friend of mine," Tao Wu suddenly said, "his name is Lan . He is also annoyingly observant, but he is so in an annoying way, making you want to hit him in the face . Unfortunately, I am not his match, but I¡¯ve given it a few tries . "

    "Oh, you know Lan?" Xue Wei did not doubt that it was the same Lan as he knew . How many annoying Lans existed in the world?

    Hearing that Xue Wei knew Lan, Tao Wu gave him another nce, wondering why this youngster could know such an esteemed person, but seeing that he also had an opinion about him, he decided that it was much better to start trash-talking him than to figure out why a youngster like him could know this esteemed expert .

 Chapter 312

    Chapter 312: 312

    "Yes, I have encountered him a few times," Xue Wei readily admitted . "He was the one who sent us to Yan Dalu when he promised to send us to the Demon Phoenix Continent . "

    "That¡¯s typical Lan," Tao Wu nodded his head, "he is a perpetually unreliable fellow that finds amusement in watching other people suffer . "

    Thinking about the task at hand, having to get his hands on the Thunder me Crown, Xue Wei could only sadly nod his head . It was indeed asking him to suffer to ask him to get it for him .

    Tao Wu and Xue Wei did not speak for some time; they just sat by one another looking at different things . Tao Wu¡¯s eyes never left the King, while Xue Wei was busy observing Luoluo ying on the deck .

    The ship was quickly following after the pirate ship belonging to Tao Wu, but while everyone on the blood ship was rather happy and excited, the members on the pirate ship were anything but pleased .

    Tao Wu was known as the King of the Sea of the Enchanted . He was a revered person, a person who was high above the masses . He would ughter fleets that came after him, he could raise the seas, control the weather, he was a god in their eyes, however, now this god had been tainted .

    The King was unaware that the pirates were filled with hostility towards her, that they felt that she had tainted their god . She continued to cultivate onboard the ship .

    She was indeed a creature blessed by the heavens; her talents were not only in the spiritual energy category, but she also had an outstanding talent for Qi cultivation and after they had built the blood ship her progress had been upgraded by leaps and bounds since she decided to focus on it, her body growing stronger by the day .

    Xue Wei had given her some martial arts techniques so that she could continue to train skills alongside her cultivation base grew stronger, and she never cked off .

    She had decided to use a whip as a weapon, and this whip was a treasure that was specially crafted back in Yan Dalu for her . It was a whip that could be enhanced with both Qi and Spiritual Energy, maximizing her attacks .

    Whenever she was training, she was like a dancer, who flickered across the deck, the whip was swirling around her like a ribbon, so fast that no one dared to get close .

    Watching her dance like a fairy across the deck, the eyes of Tao Wu lit up with appreciation . It was clear that there was some affection between the two, but for some reason, the King behaved as if there was nothing .

    As she finished her dance, Tao Wu looked at her red face, where a thin sheen of sweat was evident .

    Her breathing was hurried, and her body was trembling slightly on the verge of copsing .

    She had been training the same technique for thest two hours, spending all the Qi in her body and tired it outpletely .

    Seeing her tired and exhausted countenance, Tao Wu could no longer hold back, and in a sh, so fast that Xue Wei only saw an afterimage, he was by her side . He took her into his arms and carrying her to the mast where he ced her against the thick main mast and found a gourd filled with spirit wine in his storage artifact .

    Everything happened so fast that the King had no time toment, but when she was seated next to Xue Wei and Tao Wu was trying to make her drink the wine, a bashful blush appeared on her cheeks .

    "Drink," Tao Wu said gently, but the King was shaking her head, not willing to do so . She felt that it was too embarrassing being made to drink by him, she could also feel a lot of eyes on her, as if they wereughing at her and Tao Wu¡¯s rtionship .

    "Don¡¯t overthink," Xue Wei suddenly said by her side, making her look at him . "Life is precious, and as long as we live, we are moving towards the end . Why not let go and follow our dreams for once? Just give in and do what you want to do, don¡¯t think about others and their thoughts . You are no longer held back by the title of the King; you can do what you want to . "

    Listening to Xue Wei, the King was suddenly enlightened . She had been used to someone watching her every move and ensuring that she never stepped upon the wrong path .

    She was a national treasure because of her five eyes, she had been decided as the King from the moment she was born, and all expectations had been ced upon her head .

    She dared not act on her own impulses, she dared not do what she truly wished to do, but things had changed . She was no longer the King . She had never been given a name, from the time she was born, she had just been known as the small King, and after the old King passed away, she was the King .

    Even now, everyone referred to her as the King, but she understood that this was something that no longer existed in her life . She was free!

    Her eyes suddenly turned red, and she bit her lower lip while trying to hold back the tears that were threatening to spill .

    "I want a name," she suddenly said, catching both Tao Wu and Xue Wei entirely by surprise . After thinking about it, they both understood her thoughts .

    She wanted a new beginning in life, a fresh start to everything . Looking at her, tenderness overflowed from Tao Wu¡¯s eyes, and he reached out his hand and caressed her head . "You should be named Jiang Yingyue . As the moonlight reflects on the river, such a beautiful name only matches a beautiful woman such as yourself . "

    The King nodded her head, quickly epting the name given to her by Tao Wu .

    Watching the two of them together, Xue Wei smiled, but in his heart, he too was hurting . He could only sigh as he looked into the sky and wished for Wang Xiaoyun to be doing well . At least they were under the same sky, but it was so far away from her that he could not help but feel slightly sad .

    After Jiang Yingyue epted her name, she felt that it was indeed a new life, and she could do what she wished . Since she was free, why not do what she had always wanted to do?

    Things had finally managed to make sense to her, and she reached out her hand and grasped Tao Wu¡¯s hand in her own . She tightened her grasp and smiled at him .

    "When I found you at the beach those years back, and you were injured, I helped you because I was intrigued by your race," she suddenly began speaking, and both Tao Wu and Xue Wei listened curiously as to what she had to say .

    "When I got to know you, you fascinated me . I started to see the world outside of Yan Dalu; I began understanding that there was something else than just doing one¡¯s duty .

    "I understood that thends were vast and that everyone had dreams that could be followed . I realized from the stories of your life that were my dream, to be free and unfettered on the ocean, traversing the seas and fighting with my life on the line every day .

    "I knew that it was impossible for me, but the life of a pirate was the dream I often dreamt about when life got tough .

    "When I was down and depressed, I would think about the high seas and the fairytale lifestyle .

    "I never thought it would be possible for me to ever live like that, but Xue Wei is correct . I am no longer the King; I am Jiang Yingyue . I am no longer obliged to care about Yan Dalu . They will be just fine without me .

    "I want to live life for myself now, I want to be a Pirate, but in all of this, there is one person who had supported me when life was tough . Tao Wu, you were my rock . My support . Please let me join your crew . "

    Tao Wu was utterly taken by surprise as he listened to Jiang Yingyue¡¯s words . He would never have thought that he meant that much to her, he would never have expected that they were possible to be together, but indescribable happiness bubbled in his heart .

    "I want you to live life with me; I want you to be mine!" he eximed, and Jiang Yingyue smiled as she nodded her head .

    After thinking for a bit, Tao Wu¡¯s face turned somewhat ugly, "We are different races though, so we can never give birth to children, are you sure that you still want to be with me?"

    "I do," Jiang Yingyue did not even hesitate for a moment, she smiled at Tao Wu, her restless and worried heart had finally found its own harbor and ce to nestle .

    Seeing the two, Xue Wei snickered . He was happy for Jiang Yingyue . She was a good friend of his, and they had known each other for years now .

    He knew it was hard for her to make such a decision, but now she was liberated from her chains, now she was finally free .

    Like this, everything aboard the ship turned enjoyable . Every sailor and delegation member went to congratte Tao Wu and Jiang Yingyue; even Luoluo congratted them in her own way .

    "Big sis, this uncle is scary, he has horns," she said when she saw theming towards her, "but as long as big sis likes him, I will ept him as my uncle!"

    Jiang Yingyue felt very guilty towards Luoluo . It was because of her and the other members of the Yan Dalumunity that she had been forced into a toddler stage, but she never saw any difort on Luoluo¡¯s face, in fact, she was delighted with having a big sister like Jiang Yingyue .

    Like this, a couple of days went by . Tao Wu took Jiang Yingyue to his own ship to introduce her to the crew, and those who previously had been unhappy with her did their very best to hide their displeasure, they understood better than to challenge their god .

    After roughly a week, they suddenly saw an ind in the distance; the ind was different from most of the t inds they had passed previously . It was a mountain in the middle of the ind, with a jungle shrouding it, and amid the jungle was a big harbor city that took up almost a quarter of the ind .

    The harbor that was clear to see the closer they got was already almost fully upied; there were quite a few ships docked .

    Many looked curiously at the blood ship and the one belonging to Tao Wu . Tao Wu¡¯s boat was well known here on Treasure Ind and in Treasure City, but the blood ship was wholly new and something they had never seen before .

    Was it loot that Tao Wu had taken with him? Was it arade? Was it the beginning of a fleet? Everyone was curious, and slowly, they found two ces to dock their ships .

    As they docked, an official from the Treasure City arrived and requested a fee to use their dock . They had already been aware of this as Tao Wu had warned them, and the delegation leader from the Demon Phoenix Continent took out a few precious gems that he handed over to the official who smiled and left happily .

    These delegations had a lot of treasure on them, and when others saw how easily they paid the high fee, they started getting interested in their treasures, not to mention the ship was so outstanding, as it was docked in the harbor everyone could feel how it was draining the heaven and earth essence towards the ship itself .

 Chapter 313

    Chapter 313: 313

    Treasure City and Treasure Ind were exactly as Tao Wu had said . Although everyone was filled with greed and excitement when they saw the magnificent ship and the ability to draw the heaven and earth essence over, they did not act on their desire to own it .

    The rules were irond, no one could shake them, and if anyone tried they¡¯d end up as the target for all others, alongside no harbor letting them enter .

    However, this did not stop them from plotting against the delegation . Although they could not do anything while they were docked in Treasure City¡¯s harbor, no one said anything about following themter when they left and thenmandeering the ship .

    Xue Wei was aware of their thoughts . Their eyes were glistening with malice, and they did not attempt at hiding their intentions . Many onboard the ship started frowning . They too understood that having gone to Treasure Ind was not a bad idea initially, but after seeing them all being like this, they realized that when one had a treasure, unting it could cause infamy and bad luck .

    Xue Wei smiled wryly . There were not many in the city who were stronger than him and the crew, but there did not need to be many, just one Saint who wished to take over the ship and they would be done for .

    Pondering over what to do, Xue Wei was feeling somewhat regretful .

    Should they sell the ship and buy another one? If they did, then they would end up no longer being the target for the others, but they would also lose out on an excellent cultivation resource .

    However, life was more important than speedy cultivation . Although external factors could help them progress faster, they did not doubt their own strength and talent, so instead of holding on to such a hot potato, why not sell it to someone else and let it be their problem?

    He was not the only one who thought like this, more and more of the people on board the ship were more than willing to cut their losses .

    They had almost lost their lives on the Berserker ind . Now that they were alive, they had to treasure their lives much more .

    Since this was the case, Xue Wei did not have to say anything . Although they were slightly reluctant, the ambassador did not hesitate and ordered someone to guard the ship while he went to one of the ship vendors in town .

    Slowly everyone who had the courage, or the ones who had something they needed started to disembark the ship in small groups so that they could protect one another .

    Xue Wei did not waste any more time either and disembarked the ship together with his group of friends . The only one who did not go with them was Jiang Yingyue . Instead, she stayed along with Tao Wu and left the ship with him .

    Seeing this, Xue Wei was more than confident that in the future, he would no longer be traveling together with Jiang Yingyue .

    She had a dream from before, and now she was able to live out this dream and be together with the man she loved . This was an ending he was quite pleased with .

    It was not that he did not want to travel with her, he just wanted his friends to live the life they wanted; he wanted them to be happy and satisfied, so seeing this was the best possible ending .

    Xue Wei was feeling quite happy knowing that they could once more put their feet on the hard soil, and not only this, this entire Treasure City was a full treasure trove .

    Xue Wei was carrying Luoluo in his arms; Bai Tianyi walked on one side of him with Hei Gou and Lin Xiao on the other .

    The streets were bustling with life . Many experts were walking down the roads . Some were casually standing in groups and chatting with one another . The subjects were mainly about the newest treasures that had been unearthed here in Treasure City .

    Others were drinking wine at the taverns or eating at the restaurants . Although food and drinks were not necessary for experts of a certain strength, eating the meat of Fierce Beasts, alongside medicinal herbs, could still provide a boost in one¡¯s cultivation base .

    The same was the case with spiritual wine, and thus Treasure Ind¡¯s restaurants specialized in this aspect .

    The price of everything on Treasure ind was immense . They did not take any form of payment in gold coins . Instead, they were paid in rare materials, cultivation resources, and essence stones .

    Xue Wei had received a whole bunch of materials when he was in Yan Dalu, but he had not received many essence stones . Here he had to depend on the ones he already owned from before he left Chang¡¯an .

    Fortunately, he had no interest in buying any food or drinks, for now . Instead, they headed towards the center of the city where arge pavilion was towering above the other buildings .

    On a sign outside the building was written the name of the ce, Thousand Treasures Pavilion .

    This Thousand Treasures Pavilion was a ce where both snakes and dragons would go with their loot and try to sell it off . When a thing was sold to the Thousand Treasure Pavilion, no one was capable of taking it back .

    At the same time, Thousand Treasure Pavilion was never med for anything they sold; even if the original owner came back, they would not be able toy im on the things, also if they had proof of it being stolen, they would have to purchase the item back as any other person would have to buy it .

    The walk towards the Thousand Treasure Pavilion was longer than expected . Although they had already seen the namete, they still had to walk for as long as it took for an incense stick to burn before they reached the front door .

    A steady stream of people walked in and out of the gate; it was clear that they were incredibly busy . These people were indeed a mixed bunch of people; some were dressed slovenly while others had their most elegant attire on .

    Although some of them looked slovenly, Xue Wei did not dare look down upon them; a ce like here was impossible to say who were the powerful experts and who were the cannon fodder .

    Xue Wei had seen many magnificent sights throughout his young life, as he had been many ces on his journey, but never had he seen anything as grand and overwhelming as this building .

    It was towering into the sky, reaching so far up that the spire was hidden in the clouds .

    When he entered the gate, Xue Wei looked around with interest, but it was not only him who was curious as to what goods could be for sale here on the Treasure Ind, Luoluo and every otherpanion were observing with big eyes .

    Xue Wei had taken all the loot from the Berserkers¡¯ ind . He had not had the time to really look through it, as he had been focused on cultivating, but now that he was here, he could not help but feel that it was the perfect time to empty his storage treasures for useless items .

    However, before he started considering what to keep and what to sell, Xue Wei wanted to have an idea of what the different things sold for . If the price tag was too low, he might as well keep the materials forter .

    Having thought like this, he started roaming the lowest floor of the pavilion . Here he found the mostmon and everyday materials; however, even though they weremon materials, their price tag was in no way simple .

    The mostmon cultivator could buy these materials on the maind for a few gold pieces, however here the price was counted in essence stones .

    It was not long before Xue Wei realized why . Materials, herbs, and ores came from the continents . It was more or less impossible to get their hands on them on the sea unless they managed to get it from robbing others, and thus the price was high .

    Thinking like this, the eyes of Xue Wei started glistening . What he had was an abundance of resources that could be used to cultivate his cultivation base, but also to concoct medicine or create inscriptions .

    On the first floor were no pills, nor inscriptions . They were on the second level and above, all pills, no matter their efficiency, were priceless treasures here on the sea as alchemists and inscription masters were simply too rare .

    There were not enough materials on the sea to nurture more than a few of these professions . On top of this, everyone who had a trade like this was treated like kings and emperors by all .

    Xue Wei did not hesitate any longer; he gestured for his friends, who had run around the floor to look at the things, and went to an appraisal desk .

    "What can I do for you, young sirs?" The clerk behind the desk was immensely polite, but not to the point where he was humbling himself . He did not show any signs of arrogance or superiority, but he was not acting as a servant either . His behavior made Xue Wei acknowledge him as a figure of importance .

    "We have a ratherrge haul of items we wish to have appraised and sold," Xue Wei said . "I am sure you have some rooms somewhere where we can discuss the matter in detail?"

    The clerk took a second nce at them and nodded his head . "We do indeed, please follow me," he said as he politely gestured for them to follow him up the stairs .

    The clerk did not stop before they had reached the ninth floor . Here he opened a door into a small chamber and let Xue Wei and his friends enter .

    In fact, every single floor had their own appraisal rooms, but this clerk was experienced . Looking at Xue Wei and the others, he could sense that they came from a continent and were likely to have a lot of things they wished to sell .

    As such, he took a gamble and led them to the upper floors where the VIPs were treated .

    As Xue Wei entered the room, he instantly noticed that there were inscriptions all around . Many of these inscriptions were a rather low level - even he was capable of creating them - but there were so many of them that it was impossible to overlook them .

    Narrowing his eyes, he quickly rxed . He understood that these inscriptions were beneficial to him . Their purpose was to block out all sound heard in the room so that even if someone were standing with their ears pressed on the door, they would hear nothing .

    The group did not have to wait for a long time before a withered old man appeared in the room . He had a long white beard and long white hair tied up elegantly on top of his head .

    "Young masters," he greeted as he entered, but although he greeted all of them, his eyesnded on Xue Wei .

    He was an experienced old man and could instantly tell who was the leader of this bunch of people, so he quickly went to look for him, to see what they had to sell .

    Xue Wei nodded his head, "I have seen the senior," he greeted back, and the withered old man felt pleased before he sat down opposite him .

    "Which items do you have you wish to have appraised?" the old man asked while looking at Xue Wei, who withdrew one storage treasure after another, emptied it on the table . one item after another stacked up on the table, it was herbs, ores, pills, inscriptions, weapons, everything that one could think about appeared in the hands of this youngster, and it was in such magnificent quantities .

    After emptying all the storage treasures he had gotten from the Berserkers¡¯ Ind, Xue Wei went on to clean his own storage treasure .

 Chapter 314

    Chapter 314: 314

    Here many pills, materials, and inscriptions fell to the pile of things that was already overflowing on the table .

    Even the majority of the floor was filled with items . The pills were all in jade bottles, the herbs in jade boxes and the inscriptions tightly rolled into scrolls .

    The old man was stunned the more he saw Xue Wei withdraw from the storage treasures . Although many came withrge quantities of items, it was simply nothingpared to the amount of things that Xue Wei took out .

    Not to mention, these things were what people needed the most . It might seem to bemon materials with a few rare materials thrown in here and there, but this was what they truly needed on Treasure Ind .

    When the old man saw that one of the jade vials were different, his eyes widened in shock . The jade vial was smaller than the others and clearly contained only one pill . For a pill to be ced on its own, it was likely a rare pill, and this was something he was eager to look at, but he held back .

    After half the time it takes an incense stick to burn, Xue Wei finally stopped emptying his storage treasures . Even the storage treasures of the Berserker Ind had been thrown into the pile . They were not worth much, but even a little was worth something .

    In the end, the entire room was filled to the brim with items, even thepanions of Xue Wei were surprised by the sheer quantity of things he had brought with him, only Bai Tianyi knew it was not even half of the items he had in his storage treasure .

    Over the years he had killed and looted quite a few people¡¯s items . At the same time, he had also managed to buy a lot of ingredients not to mention all the stuff the citizens of Yan Dalu had thrown to him before he left .

    Clearing his throat, the old man had been stunned for some time . "I will start looking through this," he said . "I will suggest that themon materials are sold at market value, and the rarer things will be sold at an auction . We have an auction that takes ce seven dayster . If you have time to attend this auction, then you will be able to earn a muchrger amount of essence stones . "

    Xue Wei contemted . He was not sure how long they nned on staying on Treasure Ind, but a week should be possible to dy their travel .

    The ambassador had already started the process of selling their ship, and he would need to amodate a new one before they could leave anyway .

    Making a decision on his own, he quickly agreed to the idea of the auction seven dayster .

    Nodding his head, the old man began to sort and take inventory of the items . The further into the pile he got, the bigger his eyes became .

    When he opened the jade vial he had looked at from the start, he almost forgot to breathe .

    "A rainbow pill!" he eximed filled with shock in his eyes and shortly after he looked at Xue Wei with fervent eyes .

    "I see that you have many pills, can this old one assume that you are the alchemist behind the Rainbow Pill?"

    Xue Wei narrowed his eyes while contemting whether or not he should lie, but after considering it, an alchemist was a respected profession . If he could use it to add ayer of protection towards himself and his friends, then it was worth it .

    "I am indeed the one who refined the rainbow pill," Xue Wei admitted, and the eyes of the old man shone with a cunning light .

    "What would you take inmission if I were to ask for you to refine a few batches of Rainbow Pills for my shop?"

    Xue Wei had never expected this question, and his eyes narrowed further .

    "I have a few requests," he said, "I will put ten Rainbow Pills up for auction seven dayster, but during this auction, you are not to sell any of the Rainbow Pills I refine for you . "

    This request was easy to promise for the old man . It was not worth it for him to put rainbow pills up for sale at the same time as Xue Wei, they would just end up lowering the value of each other¡¯s pills .

    "Secondly, help us, and the rest of ourrades, find somewhere to reside the next seven days we are present at Treasure Ind . "

    Once again, the old man quickly approved of the request .

    "Finally, help us purchase a ship . "

    This time the old man was confused . How had they arrived at the Treasure Ind if they had not sailed on a ship? But he was not going to ask questions and just nodded his head .

    Ships were all over Treasure Ind, new and old ships were put up for sale all the time, so these requests that Xue Wei had were not excessive .

    "Oh, and I also require a fee," Xue Wei continued . "You can pay me what you think my work is worth . "

    Xue Wei was not sure how much it cost to hire an alchemist, he had never beenmissioned before, so he was quite clueless, and as such he decided to throw the hot potato back at the old man instead .

    The old man chuckled when he heard Xue Wei¡¯sst remark, and he nodded his head . He was not going to cause problems and underpay, but this way, he was not requesting an immense price either .

    After some time, the old man had finished taking stock and had split the items into what should be sold directly and what had the quality to be put up for auction .

    After looking at the price that he had to pay out, even this old man¡¯s eyebrows could not help but raise in surprise . It was not that they could not afford it, but it was without a doubt the highest sum of money they had ever forked out like this to an unknown figure .

    The old man paused for a moment, and then he said, "wait here for a moment," before he left the room in a hurry .

    He returned after a few moments, and this time, he had a younger man with him . This younger man seemed very amiable, he had a friendly smile on his face and was wearing light blue robes, and his hair was tied up with a beautiful and elegant silver hairpin .

    "Young masters, I am the young heir to the Thousand Treasures Pavilion," the younger man introduced himself . "I am here because Old Lao said that you had an outstanding amount of treasures and I have an offer for you . "

    Hearing that there was an offer, Xue Wei frowned, but he still continued to listen, curious as to what they would offer him .

    He was not afraid of them, causing havoc and stealing his items . Although the men here at the Thousand Treasure Pavilion were much stronger than him, they also had their reputation to care about . If they stole from others, then they would not have be as famous as they were today .

    "A few years ago, I managed to get my hands on a pill recipe," the young heir said when he saw that Xue Wei was listening to his words . "The pill recipe is no simple recipe, but a two-colored Rainbow Pill," he continued .

    "I have, for a long time, been looking for someone who can refine this pill for me, but it is hard to find someone .

    "My offer to you is this . You have items here for three million, seven hundred and ny-seven thousand essence stones . If you give me one million seven hundred and ny-seven thousand essence stones and refine one two-colored Rainbow Pill for me, provided I produce the materials, then I will let you have the recipe . "

    Xue Wei felt his heart beat faster when he heard that there was actually a two-colored Rainbow Pill recipe here at the Treasure Ind .

    This was what he had hoped for, but he had not dared to get his hopes too high . First of all he was not sure if there was any, and even if there was, would he really be able to get it?

    But now, because he had dumped some items, he was offered a form and all he had to do was concoct a pill, at the same time as he would have to pay a strange amount of essence stones .

    "I am willing," Xue Wei did not try to stand on ceremony but instantly nodded his head . "I have some sets of ingredients needed to refine a two-colored Rainbow Pill, so I can attempt it a few times before I make yours, to improve the sess rate . "

    While Xue Wei was ecstatic about the pill recipe, the young heir was also ted . The essence stones did not matter much, but if they could get a few two-colored Rainbow Pills, then it would be much more worth it than a recipe that no one could use .

    In the end, both the young heir and Xue Wei felt that they had benefited from the other side, and they were suddenly very amicable towards one another .

    The young heir quickly sent someone to fetch the essence stones alongside the recipe, and Xue Wei promptly found all the items he needed to refine the pill .

    "Can you lend me a refining room?" he asked, and the heir was simply over the moon to hear he was willing to go into refining right away .

    "Of course!" he promised .

    "I have to trouble you then," Xue Wei smiled before he turned to Hei Gou, Lin Xiao, Luoluo and Bai Tianyi .

    "While I am creating two-colored Rainbow Pills, I need you to go to the harbor and tell the ambassador that we are staying for a week . gather all our men and bring them to the lodgings that the Thousand Treasure Pavilion has promised to prepare for us . "

    The heir had not heard about the fact that they had to prepare amodation for his men, but thinking about the fact that an alchemist who could create two-colored Rainbow Pills would owe him a favor he quickly smiled and called for a few servants to prepare rooms for them all .

    After sorting this, he personally led Xue Wei to a refining room, while the old man led Xue Wei¡¯spanions down the stairs and out the pavilion .

    Many were curiously looking at these people to determine their background, but no matter how they looked, they all seemedpletely new to Treasure Ind .

    After they exited the pavilion, the old man quickly started spreading rumors of the one-colored Rainbow pills that would emerge at their next auction, and the knowledge that rainbow pills alongside rare materials were appearing was enough to cause excitement for all of those who heard it .

    Slowly the auction seven days from then became the focal point of all in Treasure City; everyone was excited to show up at the auction and see what could be won with their fortunes .

    Rumors even made it out to sea, and many of the closest pirate fleets and even some factions from other inds hurried towards the auction .

    While all of this was happening, Hei Gou and the others were cultivating in the provided chambers by the Thousand Treasure Pavilion, and Xue Wei was deeply buried in refining pills .

    He still had a significant number of materials, but he had failed three times before he managed to refine a two-colored Rainbow Pill sessfully .

    This pill was exchanged with the Thousand Treasure Pavilion for a set of ingredients before he once more dove headfirst into concocting medicine .

    After ten attempts, he was sitting with six pills, not at all a bad result .

    It had, however, taken him five days to create these six pills, it was abor-intensive procedure, and even worse was that when he failed, it was always at the merging process, the final process, and thus he would have to spend a long time recuperating before he could attempt another try .

 Chapter 315

    Chapter 315: 315

    Time ticked by slowly . Xue Wei had been in the refining chamber for five days, and when he emerged, he was not sure as to how he was feeling .

    Although it was his first time refining these pills, and the first time attempting something this challenging, he had hoped for a better sess rate than what he had gotten .

    A servant had been standing outside the door of the refining room, waiting for Xue Wei to emerge . When he saw him, he was very polite as he led Xue Wei towards the lodgings, that had been prepared for him and his friends .

    Behind the Thousand Treasure Pavilion was a whole district of the city which was designated to the Pavilion¡¯s workers, guests, elders, and so on .

    They had found rooms for every single member of the ambassador¡¯s entourage . Xue Wei was sent to a courtyard that looked very simr to the ones he had stayed in back in the academy in Yan Dalu .

    Xue Wei decided to stay in the house for a day . Although he had managed to concoct pills and take breaks in between to restore his energy, he still felt fatigued after working non-stop for five days .

    When he arrived in the courtyard, he quickly found out that the house was empty . Hispanions had left to enter the city, as to what they needed to do, Xue Wei was not sure .

    Maybe they had gone shopping for fun, perhaps they had gone to help find a ship, or even more likely was it that they had entered the town to get rumors of the auction that would happen in a few days, and see what the response was to the things Xue Wei had put up for auction .

    Xue Wei did not put too much thought into the subject but found an unupied room where heid down on the bed and slipped into a deep slumber .

    While he was sleeping, Lin Xiao, Luoluo, Bai Tianyi, and Hei Gou were walking on the streets of Treasure City .

    All of them were cultivators, and their hearing was much better than that of ordinary people . When coupled with the fact that these experts did not bother to hide their conversation, it was easy to listen in on the subjects that were being discussed .

    The most discussed subject was the auction . Everyone was eager to know more about the things that were being put up for sale at the auction .

    Secondly was the infamous blood ship that had emerged in the harbor . All were curious about who had purchased it, but no one knew . There were rumors about the Fierce Demon Pirate Crew having acquired it, but there was no concrete proof for anyone buying it .

    The ship was ced in the harbor where it had been from the beginning, a few men and women were onboard it, but not many . If one wanted to steal the ship, it would be possible, but all knew the consequences of stealing a ship on Treasure Ind .

    Lin Xiao had looked around after listening in on the conversations, and after considering for some time, he took Luoluo with him to a teahouse .

    Bai Tianyi and Hei Gou tried finding news on the streets while Lin Xiao and Luoluo listened in on things in the teahouse .

    "Did you hear that there will be rainbow pills at the auction?" was the phrase most said in the teahouse, and most would answer with disdain that they had known for a long time .

    "Such a cute little girl," a voice suddenly sounded in the teahouse, and a small boy who seemed to be around ten years old looked at Luoluo with curiosity in his eyes .

    He had never seen a child who looked so pure and so much like a little doll, and he instantly felt a curiosity towards the child .

    Luoluo looked at the boy, but her facial expressions did not change, she did not even acknowledge seeing him .

    The young boy was curious about this young girl . He was too young to understand the matters between men and women, but he still felt favorable emotions towards this little girl and wanted to bring her home with him to y with .

    He had grown up getting everything he wanted . When he wanted to y, servants would y with him . When he wanted a pet, Fierce Beasts would be tamed for him . If he wanted to y with someone, then it would be that person¡¯s honor to y with him .

    Never before had he seen a small girl like this who viewed him as air . "Men, I want to y with her!" he eximed, and the men who had followed him out of the mansion went to Lin Xiao¡¯s side and withdrew a small purse which seemed to have some essence stones in it .

    "Let our young master y with your little sister, and we will pay you two hundred essence stones in return," the man said as if he had already determined that they would ept, but to his surprise, Lin Xiao just snorted .

    "Take your essence stones and scram," he said in a low and dangerous voice . Although Xue Wei had warned them before he entered the refining chamber to be careful, he also would never allow them to be abused, so Lin Xiao did not fear them .

    The men that hade out were all Sky Knights ranked between the first and thirdyer . They were simply not the opponent of Lin Xiao .

    However, the young boy did not seem to understand this point . He pointed at Luoluo with his small childish fingers and once more said, "I want that girl to y with me! She is cute as a doll; only such a high-quality person deserves to y with this lord!"

    Luoluo who had been quiet for a long time lifted her head, and her previously expressionless face turned loathing .

    Although her age was like a child, she was not stupid . "Who wants to y with you, ah!" she eximed as she shook her head in annoyance .

    Lin Xiao had been scared that Luoluo would blurt out some unwee words, such as calling him her hubby, but fortunately, she only did so when they were alone or with the friends . Luoluo knew better than to add injury to Lin Xiao and the situation they were in .

    "Grab her!" the young man was not willing to give up . He was calling out for the seven men behind him to act up, but the moment the first person took a step forward, a magnificent force erupted from Lin Xiao, and the man who had taken a step was thrown back like a ragged doll, his body was crushed and blood flowed incessantly from his mouth .

    Everyone was shocked when they saw that this man was so ruthless and got rid of the man the moment he took a step forward, but they all also sensed his strength . This man was actually a Heavenly Knight!

    Although there were Saint ranked experts in Treasure City, most of these experts were hard to find, leaders of families or they were recluse and lived outside the city .

    Heavenly Knights were fought over for many factions and pirate crews . A Heavenly Knight had the chance of turning into a Saint ranked expert, and these would make any faction ecstatic to recruit .

    The men who hade with the child were all stunned when they saw the strength of Lin Xiao, and they hesitated .

    They were familiar to the Treasure City, and everyone knew them, but to still act like this towards them, he had to have a strong backing or was new to the city .

    Being new could be good and bad . If he were willing to be recruited by their family, then it would be beneficial, but if they were hired by someone else, then he would prove to be an enemy in the future .

    Considering that they had this obvious disagreement with them, it was apparent that Lin Xiao would never ept allying himself with their family, and thus these men quickly convinced their young master to retreat for the day .

    Lin Xiao was not paying extra attention to the people . He had killed one of their men already, but the one he killed was merely a simple guard . If he killed the young child, then there would be an incorrigible hostility between himself and the family backing the young man .

    With a final, hesitating nce at Luoluo the young man clenched his fists and left the teahouse together with his men, two of them carried the body .

    Lin Xiao was not in the mood to stay at the teahouse and quickly paid for their tea and snacks before he and Luoluo exited the house and went to see if they could find Hei Gou and Bai Tianyi .

    It did not take long to locate the two figures in the crowd . One was small and wearing white robes with golden embroideries, had long white hair, and seemed like a fair but sinister child .

    The other figure was tall, a whole head taller than then average people surrounding them . The face was so attractive and handsome that every woman on the street was looking at him with curious and interested gazes . He was wearingpletely ck clothes with silver embroideries in stark contrast to the child by his side .

    Seeing them standing out like this, Lin Xiao¡¯s lips twitched slightly as he tried to keep theughter down . When thinking about it, he and Luoluo were also an unnatural pair .

    As they reunited, they hurried back to the lodgings that Thousand Treasure Pavilion had prepared for them, none of them were aware that they had been followed by a few people who specialized in stealth .

    When they saw the group enter the Thousand Treasure Pavilion¡¯s residential area, they all retreated back to where they hade from .

    "They are part of the Thousand Treasure Pavilion?" this sentence was asked in many of the significant families chambers as the stealth experts returned to announce what they had seen .

    "This is weird," another man said, "The Thousand Treasure Pavilion is not a faction that causes problems, and it is rare for them to recruit people . People queue up to join them, but only those who have exceptional talents can enter their eyes . "

    "The Thousand Treasure Pavilion has a lot of things happening recently . First was the emergence of the One colored Rainbow Pill, now it is an unknown expert . I wonder what exactly is going on . " A third person was alsomenting in another family .

    "Could they be connected? This is a never before seen expert in Treasure City, and now there are suddenly rainbow pills here . " Someone could not help but guess, but he quickly dismissed this thought .

    When they returned to the courtyard, they could all sense that there was some energy flowing towards a room on the upper floor, which had previously been empty, and all of them suddenly felt happy .

    It was evident that Xue Wei had returned, and they could not wait to hear how he was doing after not seeing him for a few days .

    They were especially interested to hear what he had to say about the two colored Rainbow Pills .

    It was not that they did not care for Xue Wei, but they knew he could protect himself . The rainbow pills were of utmost importance to them, especially Bai Tianyi, Xue Wei, and Hei Gou would benefit greatly from the pills as they might help them break into the Heavenly Warrior rank .

    As Xue Wei awoke, he was still alone in the house . He sat down and began cultivating and after cultivating for some time, he suddenly felt someone on the way into the house, the auras were familiar, and a gentle smile appeared on his lips as he stopped cultivating, stretched his body and walked down the stairs towards his friends who were on the way inside .

 Chapter 316

    Chapter 316: 316

    "Long time no see," Bai Tianyi was the first to speak when they finally saw Xue Wei in the living room of the courtyard .

    Just as he spoke, a sh rushed towards Xue Wei and buried herself in his embrace . "Big Brother!" Luoluo eximed happily as she climbed onto hisp, nestling happily in his embrace .

    Although she had a good rtionship with all of Xue Wei¡¯s friends andpanions, it could notpare to the familiar feeling she had towards Xue Wei . He was her family .

    "I have something for you," Xue Wei grinned as he waved his hand and five vials of jade appeared on the table by his side .

    "One for each of you, go to your rooms and consume them, we are in a bit of a rush . We need to have fully consumed the medicinal properties of the pill before the auction begins . "

    Hearing this, the eyes of the others glistened with excitement . Had he actually seeded in creating two-colored Rainbow Pills?

    Lin Xiao was the first to awaken from his stupor, and he quickly grasped one of the vials, opened it and looked at the pill that was within .

    It was red and orange, the first two colors of the rainbow, and it looked incredibly unassuming as itid there .

    Seeing Lin Xiao open a vial, Bai Tianyi and Hei Gou quickly grasped a bottle each and looked ecstatic . Especially Bai Tianyi was ted, he had been the strongest of the group for a long time, but right now he was amongst the weakest . He wanted to improve his strength as soon as possible, upgrade himself, and be able to assist in battles again .

    Xue Wei also took a bottle and handed it over to Luoluo . "Go to your room and consume the pill . It should be able to assist you a bit in nurturing your spirit," he said gently .

    Rainbow pills were weird because one could rarely determine what energy it would enhance . However, for Bai Tianyi and Luoluo, it could only be spiritual energy as their bodies had no shred of Qi, nor any physical bodies .

    Their bodies and energy was spiritual energy, and thus, it was the only energy the pill could produce in their bodies .

    Rainbow Pills up until the fourth color all focused on the three energies, physical strength, Qi, or spiritual energy .

    When they were of the fifth color and above, they suddenly had one extra energy that could be produced, and that was theprehension of a dao .

    Because of this, one needed to be at least an Earth or Sky Saint to be able to refine a Rainbow Pill of the fifth color . But the biggest problem was not the rank needed; it was the refinement rank that truly mattered .

    Currently, Xue Wei was a two-colored Rainbow alchemist . To raise it to the third color, he needed not only a particr rank of cultivation, but he also required experience as a refinement alchemist and understanding of the forms .

    The hardest, however, for raising one¡¯s rank was not all these problems, but to gain a form . Everyone who had the recipe would guard it with their lives, and those who did not would hunt them down in an attempt to get the method for themselves .

    Xue Wei knew about the Rainbow Pills because Bai Tianyi had told him about it . Even when Bai Tianyi was the still a human, the rainbow pills were also amongst the rarest pills on the continent .

    For Xue Wei to havee across a two-colored Rainbow Pill recipe, and that he had acquired it for the price he had, it was as a meat pie that fell from the sky .

    Xue Wei felt lucky too . He was quite eager to see what the pill would enhance for him, and he quickly grasped the final vial before he returned to the bedroom he had imed as his own .

    As he entered the room, he took a deep breath as he rolled the red and orange pill out into his palm . Looking at it, he calmed his beating heart before he ced the pill in his mouth .

    As soon as it came into contact with his tongue, it melted and turned into streams of energy .

    These streams of energy continued to rush through his body, everywhere they reached he felt how the azure qi dragons were slowly retreating . Even the azure dragon spirit in his dantian was withdrawn . It was as if they were afraid of impeding the advance of the energy .

    Suddenly a nerve-wracking pain erupted in his body . It was as if he was being filled with energy from within . As if he was a balloon that was being inted .

    He felt all his meridians suddenly fill with essence of the heavens and the earth .

    Usually, when this essence entered his body, the azure dragon would refine it into Qi dragons . But this time, there were no actions from the azure dragon spirit, and more and more energy was gathering in the meridians, causing them to widen .

    Xue Wei¡¯s eyes widened . He instantly understood that the pill was increasing not his Qi, neither his Spiritual Energy, but was enhancing his body .

    It was as if he was shedding his mortal body and bing a true immortal . He felt as if his bones were being disintegrated and rebuilt . At the same time, his meridians were being widened . His dantian was also getting bigger and bigger, able to allow for the Azure Dragon to grow evenrger than it was before .

    He felt as if his flesh was reborn; he knew that in the future, his cultivation speed would advance by leaps and bounds . Especially since the meridians had increased in width . At the same time, his physical strength had risen to an entirely new level .

    Although his body was being nurtured and enhanced when he was cultivating Qi, it was possible to improve the body further . Currently, by relying on his body alone, Xue Wei¡¯s body was equal to someone at the firstyer of the Heavenly Knight rank .

    This did not mean that he would be capable of defeating Heavenly Knight experts while relying on his body alone . It just meant that he would be much more capable than those of the same levels or slightly above him .

    Xue Wei had hoped that the pill had increased either his Qi levels or his Spiritual Energy levels . He wanted to reach the Heavenly Warrior rank soon . But it turned out that he was growing and purifying his body instead .

    "It is not so bad after all," Xue Wei muttered to himself after checking the changes done to his body . "Although my rank has not been raised, my strength is far superior to how it was before . Not to mention, I should not only go for immediate benefit . Having my meridians widened like this is a great benefit during fights and when I cultivate . "

    The entire process was a lot less painful than what Xue Wei had expected . Although there was pain and he was gritting his teeth most of the time, it was not at a point where he wished to lose consciousness and pass out to avoid it .

    The time ticked by slowly and disgusting ck goo started seeping out from his pores as impurities in his body were being extracted from his body .

    The smell of the entire room turned foul, most of the impurities that had been left behind by most of themon pills had vanished alongside impurities from the body itself . The not fully refined essence of the heavens and the earth was also pushed out .

    It took him a full day before the excretion of ck goo stopped . Xue Wei had previously thought that his body was of good quality from being of Azure Dragon heritage; however, now he understood that even good could be better .

    He was unaware of what effects this pill would have on his dragon shape, but the human form had gone up to a whole new level .

    Xue Wei quickly summoned a servant and went for a bath . The clothes were left for the servant to clean . Xue Wei promptly changed to a new set of clothes as soon as he had managed to get rid of the putrid smell and the ck goo that had oozed out of his pores earlier .

    When he finished, he went to the living room, where he found that Luoluo was already sitting . She looked much older now than she had done before, she seemed to be a full eight years old now, and her eyes were sparkling with childish purity, but also wisdom .

    "Big Brother!" she called out the moment Xue Wei entered the room . Her face, which had been shrouded in deep thought, was suddenly lit up with a brilliant smile .

    "You seem to have grown well," Xue Wei said with a smile as he went closer and affectionately rustled her hair .

    Luoluo¡¯s face was brimming with happiness, her eyes were glistening like stars in the night sky, and her cheeks turned slightly red from excitement .

    "I am different from other creatures," Luoluo said while nodding her head . "As soon as the pill entered my mouth, it was an instant boost to my strength . It was bizarre feeling my body creak from suddenly growing in minutes . I felt a bit like a beansprout . " She pouted slightly when she made theparison, and her expression was simply adorable .

    "You are our very own little beansprout then," Xue Weiughed as he sat down and poured himself a cup of tea .

    "I unlocked a bit of my hereditary knowledge," Luoluo finally said after calming down, her expression still slightly naive but there was a grave atmosphere around her .

    "I will unlock more and more of my knowledge the older I get," Luoluo continued seriously . "and I have learned how to store Spiritual Energy in my body so I can attack without having to sacrifice my age and knowledge all the time . "

    Xue Wei raised an eyebrow in surprise . He was not used to seeing Luoluo so mature, but he quickly understood that it was a transformation that would happen sooner rather thanter .

    Luoluo was growing at a different speed than other creatures . Although he had always considered her his little sister and a child, she was, in fact, not a child .

    "Are there any drawbacks from storing this energy?" Xue Wei was most worried about this . He would not allow his adorable little sister to be harmed at all .

    "There are no drawbacks, it is a technique that most spirits can use," Luoluo said, her heart felt warm when she could feel Xue Wei¡¯s worry about her, and she once again thanked fate for having led Xue Wei to the forbidden area and having saved her from slowly being drained of all life .

    The two talked about everything and nothing before Luoluo finally told Xue Wei about the situation that had urred when she and Lin Xiao was at the teahouse .

    "He did the right thing," Xue Wei said with a nod of his head . "No one can buy our little Luoluo, and to even think about it is just incredibly stupid . "

    Luoluo nodded her head; her cheeks were puffed up in anger when she was reminded of the young boy and his behavior earlier .

    "If we meet him again, we will deal with him the same way," Xue Wei said smilingly . "Although Treasure City is big, I do think we might meet him at the auction," he continued, and Luoluo looked at him confused . "Why do you say that?" she asked curiously .

    "You said he was arrogant and used to getting things his way . He was clearly a young master of an influential family within Treasure City . The auction this time is bigger than normal, and thus it makes perfect sense for him to show up," Xue Wei exined patiently, and Luoluo nodded her head . She had not thought that far before .

 Chapter 317

    Chapter 317: 317

    While Xue Wei and Luoluo were chatting Lin Xiao made his way down the stairs towards the living room .

    The courtyard was built in such a way that the shared rooms were on the ground floor while all the bedrooms were on the first floor .

    When Luoluo and Xue Wei heard the steps on the staircase, they both stopped talking and looked over curiously .

    When they saw that it was Lin Xiao, smiles erupted on their lips . Luoluo jumped to her feet and ran towards him . But where she previously would have thrown herself into his embrace, she now stopped in front of him, her hands sped between her back and her eyes twinkling as she looked up at him with a brilliant smile .

    "You worked hard, hubby!" she said with a sweet smile on her face, her words making Lin Xiao¡¯s face turn ck like the bottom of a pot .

    Although he did like Luoluo and thought she was cute, he was in no way into children! To be called hubby by such a child, he felt very wronged especially when he saw that Xue Wei just chuckled but said nothing about it .

    Xue Wei was simply spoiling that brat way beyond recognition!

    "How did it go?" Before Lin Xiao exploded in difort, Xue Wei shifted the topic . He was also very curious as to what results the two-colored pill had brought Lin Xiao .

    Lin Xiao also quickly forgot about the injustice he had suffered, and a pleasant expression appeared on his face . "Not bad," he answered truthfully .

    "I was very worried that it would boost my spiritual energy levels," he began . "I had attempted to try training spiritual energy before, but I have almost no talent for it, I never got further than to the Sky Warrior rank, and even that was an arduous journey .

    "When I took the pill, I feared it would raise my spiritual energy, but luckily, it enhanced my Qi . I am currently at the peak of the thirdyer of the Heavenly Knight rank," he said proudly .

    Xue Wei clicked his tongue in amazement . Lin Xiao had raised two, almost three,yers from this one pill, that was terrific results!

    "What about you?" Lin Xiao asked as he looked at Xue Wei, but no matter how he looked at it, Xue Wei seemed to be the same rank as before .

    "I got my body strengthened," Xue Wei did not attempt to hide his physical advancement . Although it had not directly raised his rank, it was another thing for his strength, and his future prospects were much better than before due to the pill he had consumed .

    Lin Xiao was surprised, and then he frowned . "I am not sure if that is a benefit or a problem," he said honestly . "It has not done anything for our immediate need for higher rank, but on the other hand it has increased your chances of breaking through the Saint rankter on in life . "

    Xue Wei nodded his head; he too did not know if it was a blessing or a curse to have received the physical enhancement .

    Not long after Hei Gou emerged, and his face was also filled with smiles as he proudly showed his strength, which had broken through to the firstyer of the Heavenly Knight rank .

    Thest one to emerge was Bai Tianyi, and even he looked pleased as he stepped into the living room, a smug smile was on his child-like face .

    "I too broke through to the Heavenly Knight rank," he said inly, filled with excitement . Currently amongst them all, the weakest, rank wise, was Xue Wei .

    Although he was weaker than them in rank, none of them wanted to spar against him; they feared that he would bash them up so badly for having overtaken him that they would lose all face .

    All of them were very well aware that the reason they were able to advance as fast as they did was entirely due to Xue Wei .

    In fact, the reason they could live freely was due to him .

    It was not only Luoluo who had been saved by Xue Wei . Without him, Hei Gou would have been caught by his family and killed, Bai Tianyi would have been sealed in the misty vige within the Vermilion Forest, Lin Xiao would have been captured and forced to tame beast after beast, and Luoluo, her fate would have been to slowly be sucked dry by the people she had helped initially .

    Of course, it was not only them who had been saved . Xue Wei could not even begin to imagine where he would be, had he not encountered hispanions along the way of his journey .

    He had saved them, but they had also saved him . Not just his life, but also allowed him to keep his rationality .

    Without them, he was likely to have sumbed to his inner demons . To suddenly realize that he was a beast, and not just any beast but a Sovereign Beast .

    To lose the one he loved the most because of this could break anyone, but because he had his friends, his brothers, by his side, he had managed to get past it . He was even capable of seeing things in another light and believed that one day they could end up together even with the hatred between their races .

    All of this was possible because of the support he was getting from his friends, and he would never belittle them . In fact, Xue Wei was more than willing to give his life to ensure that these friends whom he considered family members would be able to live a life of happiness .

    s, he was aware that to ensure their happiness, he could not just go and die . To be sure that their lives were filled with joy they needed strength, and he was willing to fight everyone for the sake of gaining the strength to stand tall, increasing the strength to fight for joy and pleasant life .

    Soon it was time for the friends to depart their residence as they headed towards the Thousand Treasures Pavilion¡¯s main gates where they would enter to attend the auction .

    Previous to this, Xue Wei had been handed a VIP card, so that they would have a booth for them to sit in during the auction . It was quite hard to get ess to a VIP card, only the most prestigious families within Treasure City had ess, alongside the strongest rogue cultivators and those who had treasures surpassing a certain value .

    Xue Wei had gotten the VIP card because of him putting up such an amount of Rainbow Pills and rare materials up for auction .

    When they arrived at the entrance to the Thousand Treasure Pavilion, Xue Wei took out the VIP card and handed it to a servant .

    He quickly epted it and found another person to take over his tasks, before he respectfully led Xue Wei and his friends towards another entrance .

    "Who are they?" Someone in the crowd could not help but ask, but as soon as the question escaped his lips, another looked at him in disdain, "I don¡¯t know, but he is special . He had a VIP card, and they are almost impossible to get without an overwhelming backing or earth-shattering strength . "

    "What are you talking about?" another person could not help but ask . "If he had an overwhelming background, all of us would know of him!"

    "And his strength is decent, but it is merely at the Knight Rank, he has not broken through to be a Saint, neither has anyone in his group," someone elsemented . "It is known that to get a VIP card; you need to be a Saint ranked expert . "

    The voices in the crowd were a mixture of knowledgeable people and less knowledgeable people who shared their thoughts and information .

    Just as Xue Wei and the others had left, a ten-year-old young boy appeared with a splendidly dressed middle-aged man .

    He was wearing purple robes, and while a smile was ying on his lips, his eyes were incredibly cold .

    The many conversations which had been going on within the crowd suddenly died out, and no one dared to say a word .

    Had Lin Xiao and Luoluo been here, then they would instantly have recognized the young boy as the one who had tried to grab Luoluo before, but they had already walked out of sight .

    By the time the others caught up, Xue Wei and his friends had already been led into a small booth where no one else could look inside, only those on the inside could see the rest of the auction house unhindered .

    The booth number they got was booth number one . It was the utmost honor to be ced here, and not even the usual VIPs were allowed to be seated in this booth .

    There was only one person who was allowed, but for once they had made an exception and allowed Xue Wei and his friends inside while the usual upant of booth one had been moved to booth two .

    If Xue Wei had been capable of looking into the booth next to theirs, he would look rather shocked . In there were also people he was familiar with, the people he would have seen were the King alongside Tao Wu .

    It is evident that Tao Wu, the pirate King, was the most famous figure in the entire Sea of the Enchanted . His status could not be shaken, and his strength was unquestionable .

    These booths were filled with inscriptions that protected the boxes from being looked into by other people, however unknown to Xue Wei, some people were strong enough to ignore these inscriptions, and Tao Wu happened to be such a person .

    He had been surprised when he arrived and was told that booth one was upied by someone else . He had not been insulted by it, nor had he taken it to heart .

    However, as a leading figure in the Sea of the Enchanted, he was unsure about which kind of character was more important than him, what kind of person had appeared to make him be their second choice, and when he sneaked a peek into the booth a smile slowly bloomed on his lips but his eyes were filled with disbelief .

    He had heard of Xue Wei¡¯s wondrous changes to Yan Dalu from the King, and he was very grateful towards Xue Wei for having given her freedom, and even encouraged her to live her dreams, so that the two of them could reunite, but he had never taken too much notice of him . He was still too weak to matter to him .

    Now he understood that Xue Wei and his friends might be more than what met the eye . As a demon, he was unable to sense the Sovereign Beast blood in Xue Wei¡¯s body, so he had ssified him as a normal human being, not worthy of too much attention .

    Now he understood that this group of youngsters was nothing but a group of misfits, freaks who went against nature . The stories that the King had told him about were not as farfetched as he first had thought .

    Then a thought erupted in his mind, and his eyes widened .

    "Dear, is this Xue Wei friend of yours capable of creating Rainbow Pills?" he suddenly asked the King who was seated by his side, and the King nodded her head .

    "He created quite a few Rainbow Pills back in Yan Dalu . Even I was fortunate enough to get to taste one," she answered honestly .

    "I see," Tao Wu smiled and suddenly understood why the Thousand Treasure Pavilion so valued him .

    Tao Wu was well aware of the two-colored Rainbow Pill recipe that was present in the Thousand Treasure Pavilion, but no one had been able to create the pills before . Had Xue Wei seeded?

    This was something that required extra thoughts . If this human was capable of creating two-colored Rainbow Pills, then he had to make good friends with him, and hopefully convince him to refine a few for his own sake .

 Chapter 318

    Chapter 318: 318

    Xue Wei was unaware of Tao Wu¡¯s train of thought; all his focus was on the auction hall that was spread out beneath him .

    Thousands of people were pouring into the hall, and soon all the seats were filled . The auction was not free for all to attend, each ticket cost a full fifty low ranked essence stones, and the Thousand Treasure Pavilion invited only the VIPs as honored guests .

    Time went by fast; soon, the auction hall was filled to the brim with people, and no more could be squeezed into the venue .

    Just as the final person entered, the light of the auction hall dimmed, and the only ce where the light still shone brightly was the stage .

    A young woman stepped onto the stage . Her appearance was exquisite . She was beautiful as a fairy, and her clothing was provocative, enough to make the audience in the hall whistle at her .

    The woman was not insulted . Instead she winked at the audience before she swaggered towards the side of the stage . Here an auctioneer¡¯s podium was located .

    She took her position, but she was not in a hurry as she nced at everyone in the audience . Even the boxes and booths on the upper floor were looked over . Even though she could not see who was inside, she still sent a flirtatious smile their way .

    "Wee to yet another auction at the Thousand Treasure Pavilion," the woman began her introduction to the auction . "As you all know, we often hold auctions . However, this time, it is different from the usual . Not only are the treasures we have brought with us outstanding, but even the audience is not to be belittled . "

    "We have a mysterious two-colored Rainbow Alchemist in our audience today . And as if this was not enough, we also have Sir Tao Wu visiting our humble auction . "

    As she spoke, her words caused absolute silence at first in the auction hall and the booths, before it suddenly erupted in excitement .

    "A two-colored Rainbow Alchemist?" someone eximed shocked and unable to believe what he had just heard . "She said it is a two-colored Rainbow Alchemist!"

    "I heard earlier that there were rumors about one-colored Rainbow Pills appearing at this auction, but to think that the seller was a two-colored Rainbow Alchemist! That¡¯s simply out of my expectations!"

    "He is too cheap!" someone suddenlyined . "He is a two-colored Rainbow Alchemist, but he is only auctioning the one-colored pills! This is simply making light of us; he should have sold some two-colored pills too!"

    Hearing the person who was filled with anger, the others looked at him scornfully . "Who are you to require what he brings out? Would you perhaps bring out your pill if you owned a two-colored rainbow pill?"

    The man was stumped for words at first and then embarrassed, but after a bit of consideration, he still did not think he had said something wrong . "Well, it is true that I would not sell my pill if I had one . However, this is an alchemist! He is capable of refining these pills, so they are not as valuable to him as they are to us!"

    "He is likely to keep all the pills for himself as well," someone said annoyed . "Unless he is as strong as Sir Tao Wu, then he needs to strengthen himself in an attempt to be a third-colored rainbow alchemist . It makes sense that he is keeping these pills to himself . "

    The argument did not end there; it continued to go on for a long time . Not only was it in the hall but also in the different boxes amongst the VIPs .

    The VIPs were able to understand that two-colored rainbow pills were much more challenging to get your hands on than one-colored pills . The resources they needed as ingredients were exponentially higher .

    Although they could not buy a two-colored rainbow pill from the auction, if they managed to get a good rtionship with the two-colored rainbow alchemist, then there was a possibility that they could convince this expert to make a pill for them .

    The female auctioneer was smiling when she saw how her words had stirred up the entire auction house, but she then smiled and called out .

    "Okay, please calm down," she called out, and soon the talks within the auction hall died down . "Today, we will go with the items of lower value first, but we have many rare treasures up for sale today, so make sure to bring out your essence stones .

    "Every price will be bid on in low-grade essence stones . One thousand low-grade essence stones equal one medium-grade essence stone, and another thousand medium-grade essence sones equal a high-grade essence stone . Thousand high-grade essence stones are the same as one peak-grade essence stone .

    "You can pay with whatever essence stones you have in your hands, but the bids are made in low-grade essence stones . "

    Although this conversion rate was the standard conversion rate for essence stones; the truth was that essence stones were a resource of limited quantity .

    Although they could be found in veins in the ground, there were limited amounts of them, so medium, high, and peak graded essence stones were scarce . People would rarely exchange them for low ranked essence stones, and when they did, it was because they had no other option .

    Xue Wei had gotten two million low-grade essence stones from selling things to the Thousand Treasure auction house, and on top of that, he had around a hundred thousand from earlier .

    Although he was not incredibly rich, he did not feel poor either, and he was eagerly awaiting the auction to begin .

    Unfortunately, he soon found that he had overestimated the auction . As it started, it was putting up a few martial arts techniques, and although they were interesting, they were not at the point where Xue Wei felt a need to have them .

    After the martial arts techniques, materials were being disyed, the majority of which came from Xue Wei¡¯s own hands so bidding for them would be utterly stupid .

    The prices rose higher and higher, and Xue Wei was feeling surprised to see that items he had deemed ordinary, or at least just slightly rarer than most, were selling for a price more than ten times the estimates of what they cost on the continents he hade from .

    After the items, he saw formations and inscriptions put up for sale . These inscriptions were some he had directly sold to the Thousand Treasure Pavilion . A wry smile could not help but appear on his lips .

    "Big Brother," Luoluo looked at the smile and felt that something was off . She looked at the stage and frowned . "These inscriptions are the ones that we sold to them? They are quite cheeky, putting them up on auction like this and earning a benefit . "

    "It¡¯s fine," Xue Wei smiled as he rustled her hair . "I already sold it to them, so what they want to do with it, it is their choice . "

    Luoluo puffed her cheeks indignant and looked with disdain at the woman on the stage . "It is bad behavior!" she said with her adorable childish voice, "They are cheating you!"

    Xue Wei could not help butugh when he heard her words, but he did not mind . Although it was true that the Thousand Treasure Pavilion would earn some low-grade essence stones this way, their profit would at most be around fifty thousand low-grade essence stones .

    Considering their dealings and how much Xue Wei had earned from them, he did not feel that it was that bad a move from them, he was not insulted at all by their actions .

    Luoluo, on the other hand, was very indignant because of it, her cheeks were puffed in anger, and her expression was simply too adorable .

    After the inscriptions came the weapons and armors, these weapons and shields alongside armors were treasures . They did not have a spirit within them, but they could enhance one¡¯s attack power and strengthen the Qi or spiritual energy .

    These weapons were beneficial for most people, but once again, the team had no use for them .

    Bai Tianyi was a sword . It was impossible to get a better weapon than what he already was .

    Hei Gou was a beast, and he had his beast ws . These ws were a part of himself, and even when he was in human shape and used the ws, they were fused together, and the boost his fighting ability got was way better than any of these weapons .

    Xue Wei had his Inner Might technique which was capable of forming Qi into any weapon, an ability which could already enhance his fighting strength . He also had his beast form .

    Then was Lin Xiao . He was a diviner, and he needed a special weapon to provide him support when taming beasts . If it was not a diviner weapon, then it was useless to him .

    Luckily, Lin Xiao was the genius from the entire sect of diviners, and thus he had been given the temple¡¯s most treasured item, the beast staff .

    This staff was able to grow together with the owner . It was a treasured weapon with a weak consciousness, and although this consciousness still had not turned into a spirit, it was not long away from doing so .

    Luoluo was a spirit . She couldn¡¯t enhance her fighting strength by wielding a weapon, and thus, they were wasted on her .

    The armors and shields were also quickly dismissed by Xue Wei . Although a flexible armor could save their lives, it was easy to be a crutch and weaken one¡¯s alertness because they were trusting their external help too much .

    After the items came the pills, many different pills were disyed at the auction, Xue Wei again provided most of them . Some had been sold to the Thousand Treasure Pavilion; others were put up for auction by himself .

    The pills got more and more exquisite and expensive as time went by, and finally, it was time for the final ten pills, the one-colored Rainbow Pills .

    This was the most crucial part of the auction, and the moment it appeared, everyone held their breaths as they looked at the ten vials that were ced in a ss case in the middle of the stage .

    "As you all are aware, we are now reaching the end of the auction," the female auctioneer said with a smile on her face, "you have all heard the rumors that we will be bringing one-colored rainbow pills up for sale at this auction, and I can now confirm these rumors!

    "We do not have one, nor two one-colored rainbow pills up for sale; we have a full ten pills!

    "The pills will be released one at a time for sale, and the minimum price is a hundred thousand low-grade essence stones . Each bid has to be raised with a minimum of a thousand low-grade essence stones a bid . "

    The auctioneer quickly exined the rules of their auction, and everyone was eager to begin bidding .

    When the auctioneer was sure that everyone understood the rules, she smiled as she raised her hammer . "We will begin with one pill at a time," she said, "one pill will be auctioned at a time, so you have ten chances to get your hands on the pill, we will start the auction at one hundred thousand low-grade essence stones . Who is willing to bid a hundred thousand?"

    She looked around, and multiple people lifted their cards when she was about to pick one of them, a dominating voice reverberated through the entire auction house .

    "Five hundred thousand low-grade essence stones . "

    The voice belonged to Tao Wu, and everyone within the auction hall recognized it .

    Hearing him call out a price, no one dared to bid against him, but the price he had offered was already immensely high, so although he had intimidated everyone, he was still paying a decent amount for the pill, so Xue Wei did not mind his actions at all .

 Chapter 319

    Chapter 319: 319

    After Tao Wu bought the first one-colored Rainbow Pill, the bidding for the second pill begun .

    This time no one was rushing to make the first bid . Instead, they waited patiently to see if Tao Wu was going to continue bidding . No one wished to be considered as someone who was going against him .

    However, unlike their expectations, Tao Wu did not continue his bidding . Instead, he had leaned back in the chair and smirked as he considered how he could work with Xue Wei at ater time .

    After ensuring that Tao Wu was not willing to continue bidding a few brave people began raising their numbers and slowly made their bids .

    As time went by, more and more found their courage, and they all began bidding in a frenzy .

    The price rose from the one hundred thousand low-grade essence stones to five-hundred thousand low-grade essence stones in a short while, and it was still rising .

    It was a few bandit and pirate groups that held power in the Sea of the Enchanted, that were bidding against the families which held power in the Thousand Treasure Pavilion .

    In total there were around twenty factions interested in the one-colored Rainbow Pill . In fact, many more were interested; however, only twenty factions had the background, the strength, and the finances to purchase these pills .

    With this many factions willing to bid for the pills, they could all realize that not every faction could get a pill . As a result, even more of the audiences were bing frenzied as they made their bids .

    Xue Wei was smiling slightly when he heard the bidding reach seven hundred thousand low-grade essence stones . This was a very high price . Before he had already been satisfied with the five hundred thousand that Tao Wu had offered . It seemed that he was still too naive when it came to understanding the value an alchemist held in the Sea of the Enchanted .

    When the price hit eight hundred thousand low-grade essence stones, it slowly stagnated . Eventually, the price ended at eight hundred and eleven thousand low-grade essence stones . This was a fortune for themoners . Even these factions could feel the sting when it came to such arge amount of wealth .

    The third pill was released into the bidding war, and although it was fierce, it was not as bad as before . The final price was ending up at seven hundred and sixty-seven thousand low-grade essence stones .

    The fourth pill went back up to just around the eight hundred thousand; it ended at seven hundred and ny-three thousand low-grade essence stones .

    The fifth pill was snagged by Tao Wu again; this time, he offered a full nine hundred thousand low-grade essence stones . He was not willing to make low offers, he wanted to leave a positive impression on Xue Wei, and since it was impossible for him actually to bid like the others as no one wanted to bid against him, he had no other option than to call out high bids .

    Like this, all the pills were sold on auction with around a price of eight hundred thousand low-grade essence stones . The price was slowly climbing ¡ª the sixth pill sold for eight hundred and twenty-four low-grade essence stones . The seventh sold for eight hundred and thirty-one low-grade essence stones . The eighth sold for eight hundred and thirty-six low-grade essence stones . The ninth sold for eight hundred and fifty-nine low-grade essence stones .

    Finally, the tenth pill was sold at the unbelievable price of nine hundred and four low-grade essence stones .

    "Thank you, everyone, who came to our auction," the auctioneer¡¯s voice cut through the auction hall, causing the many people who previously had been starting to chat to quieten down .

    "We would like to say a special thank you to the two-colored Rainbow Alchemist who showed up at our humble business and thank him for choosing our auction house as the ce to work with .

    "Before we all exit the auction house, I would like to call out to the higher-ranked forces within Thousand Treasure Pavilion to not make things difficult for this esteemed alchemist .

    "If you wish to have an audience with his lordship, please wait until he has given his permission for us to proceed .

    "What I am trying to say is, please do not cause problems, please do not irritate his lordship or we might not be able to handle the recuperation . "

    Xue Wei was surprised when he heard the words spoken by the auctioneer and raised an eyebrow .

    He had not expected that she would stand up for him after revealing him earlier in the auction, but he was quite pleased . He was not in the mood to meet a lot of people, nor was he willing to socialize with people he would never have anything to do with anyway .

    "Let¡¯s go," Xue Wei had not purchased anything, but he needed to contact the auctioneer to be paid the essence stones that others had bid on his items .

    When he opened the door, he saw, to his surprise, that the hallway was already filled with people who were looking at him with curiosity . In fact, he felt like a virgin thrown into a room filled with lecherous men; their eyes were so greedy as they looked at him; some were even rubbing their hands together . It was a very ufortable feeling .

    When his eyes roamed across the people, theynded on the purple-skinned Tao Wu, and he felt that he was the only one who looked at him with curiosity instead of greed, and as if he had found his savior, Xue Wei walked to Tao Wu¡¯s side .

    Xue Wei was not stupid . He had seen how everyone treated Tao Wu, and if they could get his protection, then they would be safe .

    Tao Wu seemed to have guessed his thoughts and a smile flitted across his lips as he greeted him, "Xue Wei, I never would have guessed you hid yourself so deeply,"

    "Same to you," Xue Wei smiled when he looked at Tao Wu . Although he had known that his strength was not to be belittled, he had not known that Tao Wu was treated like a god by the others in the Sea of the Enchanted .

    Tao Wu smiled knowingly as he was aware of what Xue Wei was hinting at .

    "Why not return to your chambers and discuss a coboration?" Tao Wu asked, and Xue Wei did not need to even consider for a moment before nodding his head, "please . "

    Seeing that Tao Wu and Xue Wei knew each other, and hearing their strange conversation without heads or tails, everyone was looking puzzled .

    But they understood that now was not the time to try to contact Xue Wei . Even if the rainbow pills that he could create were attractive, the truth was that they had to be alive to enjoy them .

    Challenging Tao Wu was not a brilliant idea, and as he had already said that he would talk with Xue Wei, the rest of them would have to line up after him - in case there were any crumbs to catch .

    Tao Wu knew exactly what all of them were thinking about, but he did not mind it . He was the undisputed king of the high seas, he was the most influential expert who roamed the oceans, and he was also the only person who they dared not offend .

    As for what happened when he had gotten what he wanted, he did not care . Although he felt that he owed Xue Wei something for bringing him and Jiang Yingyue together again, he was not willing to care about his matters too much .

    Tao Wu was a demon . He was self-centered and would never go out of his way to assist others . Xue Wei was not an exception .

    The only person he would help was Jiang Yingyue . She was the only person whom he cared about, and also the only person he would suffer for .

    Xue Wei was aware of this, but he did not feel indignant . He was just happy that Jiang Yingyue had found someone who cared about her to that extent . If Tao Wu were not willing to suffer for her sake, then Xue Wei would not feel that they were suited for one another . If one truly loved someone, they would not let anything stand in their way of bringing that person happiness, even if it was something that required enormous efforts .

    Xue Wei felt that way towards Wang Xiaoyun . Just thinking about her would make his heartache when he thought about theirst meeting, and he was filled with longing as he was thinking of her .

    He had initially not nned to get involved in the war between humans and beasts in Chang¡¯an, but after realizing that he was partly a beast, then he knew that Wang Xiaoyun would never approve of him unless he proved that he was not like the ice harpy, Chu Huiyin .

    Sighing, Xue Wei shook his head, once again forgetting the sadness and longing that he felt whenever he thought about Wang Xiaoyun .

    Tao Wu could sense the mncholy washing over Xue Wei, but it was gone so fast that he was unaware of whether or not he had been mistaken .

    Together, Xue Wei, Tao Wu, and theirpanions exited the auction house and headed back to the residence which had been prepared for Xue Wei and his friends .

    None of them spoke on the way; they were not willing to discuss in the middle of the road .

    Many followed behind them at a respectful distance, curious as to see where they were going . If they were able to see where they resided, it would be easier to make ¡¯idental¡¯ encounterster .

    What they feared was that they would head towards the mansion owned by Tao Wu and his pirates . If they were going to be discussing their matters there, then they would have problems .

    Fortunately, they did not head towards the residence of Tao Wu but into the housing owned by the Thousand Treasure Pavilion . They were guests of the Thousand Treasure Pavilion .

    Knowing where they resided, the people following them turned around to announce their findings to their family leaders .

    Xue Weipletely ignored them, and so did Tao Wu . When they reached the home that currently belonged to Xue Wei, they went to the living room .

    "Is it true that you can refine two-colored Rainbow Pills?" Tao Wu was not skeptical, but it was indeed too unexpected that this unremarkable young man was a two-colored Rainbow Alchemist .

    "I only became one recently," Xue Wei admitted readily, but he was not so full of himself as to not warn him . "My sess rate is still only around half . "

    Tao Wu was very excited when he heard this . He could instantly guess that he had learned the form that the Thousand Treasure Pavilion had owned, and to already have a sess rate of around fifty percent was quite remarkable .

    "What do you want in return for concocting a few two-colored rainbow pills for me, alongside a batch of one-colored rainbow pills," Tao Wu asked while leaning against the wall of the room .

    He looked decadent andzy . Unruly and domineering . Xue Wei looked at him, and the corner of his lips twitched slightly . What a poser!

    "Well," Xue Wei controlled theughter before it managed to escape his lips, and he sat down on a chair .

    "You are a friend of Jiang Yingyue, so you can be considered my friend as well . I am always interested in getting more friends, so as long as you consider me a friend of yours, I will make them for you for free, as long as you provide me with the materials . "

    Tao Wu¡¯s eyes widened in surprise . He had never expected this to be the request that Xue Wei had .

    Tao Wu was a demon, and thus, he did not have any real friends . He did not know much about how one socialized with others, and although he was the leader of a bandit group, he never felt friendship with the pirates, he just saw them as subordinates .

    Could he really have a friend? He frowned as he thought about it .

 Chapter 320

    Chapter 320: 320

    Seeing that Tao Wu hesitated, Xue Wei did not pressure him at all . He was aware that his request was rather simple for some to agree to, however for someone like Tao Wu, it was the hardest kind of request .

    Had Xue Wei requested items, then it would be no problem whatsoever . He would have given him any materialistic thing he had asked for, but when it came to something like this, he hesitated .

    Jiang Yingyue looked at Tao Wu, frowning slightly . In her world, Xue Wei was already considered a friend, and thus she thought it would be a simple request he had put forth, but it seemed that Tao Wu was taking the request very seriously .

    Xue Wei was not insulted because of this . Instead, he was relieved . If Tao Wu had said yes instantly without thinking about it, he would have thought that it was not a genuine decision . That he would just im them to be friends, without actually putting any effort into their friendship, but from seeing how he was seriously considering it, he knew that if he could be a real friend of Tao Wu, he would no longer need to fear anything at all in the Sea of the Enchanted .

    Xue Wei did not rush him, and no one else in the room spoke either, they allowed for Tao Wu to think as he pleased .

    "You said you knew Lan?" The demon finally opened his mouth, but instead of answering right away, he asked a question to Xue Wei .

    Hearing Tao Wu mention Lan, Xue Wei nodded his head honestly . "I know him," he answered .

    "Are you considered friends with him?" Tao Wu continued to ask, and Xue Wei frowned for a short while .

    "I am not sure," he said honestly . "He has assisted me multiple times, and given me a task; I am to solve for him . He was the one who sent us to Yan Dalu when he had promised to send us to the Demon Phoenix Continent .

    "He was quite certain that he wanted me in his collection of oddities, and he gave me some heart blood essence of a real azure dragon to enhance and awaken my own bloodline .

    "Lan has done a lot for me, but he is impossible to see through," Xue Wei answered everything honestly . "I don¡¯t know if he considers me a friend, but I do know that I do consider him one," Xue Wei finally said with a shake of his head .

    Tao Wu was surprised when he heard Xue Wei¡¯s answer . From his response, he could tell that Lan had ced a lot of expectations on Xue Wei, that he had considered him unique . It was likely that he considered him a friend .

    But Lan was a unique entity in this world . Lan was not like any other person . Thews of the world did not restrict him; he was thews themselves .

    Looking at Xue Wei, Tao Wu made a decision . "I will be your friend," he finally said . "Not because of the rainbow pills, but because I admire you .

    "My friendship is not something that one can gain by a trade, it is something that is earned, and although I am not sure whether or not I am making the right decision, my gut is telling me that if I am not befriending you, then I will regret it for the rest of my long life . "

    Xue Wei was surprised when he heard Tao Wu¡¯s words . He had not expected that this demon would be so upright and so straight forward, but his personality was something that worked very well together with him, he was very proud of being able to make such a friend .

    Although one of his reasons to make friends with Tao Wu was protection, the main reason was that he felt some sort of connection with this demon . He was not like anyone else he had ever met before; the one that came closest was Lan .

    Cupping his hands and bowing slightly, Xue Wei hid a smile on his face, "It is my honor to be friends with you . The Pirate King of the Sea of the Enchanted is famous; I can now roam free and unfettered through the high seas as I please . "

    Tao Wu smiled wryly and shook his head . He knew that Xue Wei was just teasing him, but he also felt as if a big boulder had been removed from his shoulders .

    Although he previously would not have gone out of his way to assist Xue Wei things had changed now that he referred to him as his friend .

    "I have only a handful of friends," Tao Wu said after a bit of time . "You are by far the weakest of them all . The strongest amongst our group of experts is Lan, thenes I and after mees the Winter Witch . After her is another three experts, and us six are the only people I consider friends . "

    Jiang Yingyue heard this, but she also knew she was not considered one of the six people and her attractive face turned pale, her five eyes turned downcast and filled with sadness .

    Tao Wu seemed to catch her sadness, and he quickly reached out, ced his arms around her waist, and dragged her into his embrace .

    "You are not one of them, because you are even more important than my friends," he coaxed her, feeling worried in his heart . What would he do if she left him?

    "You just say that," Jiang Yingyue said unhappily, and her words caused Tao Wu to feel ufortable and worried . He felt panicked from the bottom of his heart .

    Tao Wu was the second most influential expert on the entire continent, but he was not able to coax the girl in his arms, making the usually never fearful pirate king sweat cold sweat in worry .

    Seeing their behavior, Xue Wei smiled gently . He could understand Jiang Yingyue¡¯s worry, but he could also see that Tao Wu waspletely serious about her, so her concern was unfounded .

    "Dear, you are not just a friend; you are my heart, my life!" Tao Wu was getting desperate as he lifted Jiang Yingyue¡¯s hand and ced it on his chest, making her feel the strong heartbeat beneath the clothes .

    Sensing it, her expression turned much gentler, and she giggled slightly . "Am I that important to you?" she asked sweetly, and Tao Wu, who felt as if he had been pardoned of a great sin, nodded his head like a chicken pecking corn .

    "I wille by tomorrow with the ingredients for the pills," Tao Wu said after a bit of chatting and Xue Wei quickly agreed .

    After Tao Wu exited, Xue Wei grinned . He had gained a lot this way . "Let us go out and eat," he said after considering what to do now .

    "Food on this ind is costly, but we do notck in essence stones anymore, so let us go splurge a bit . " Xue Wei grinned as he gestured for the others to follow him .

    There was nothing he wanted in the auction, so he still had plenty of stones on his person, and he knew that the Thousand Treasure Pavilion soon would send arge number of essence stones his way .

    Luoluo was a real foodie . She did not need to hear such an invitation more than once before she smilingly went up to Xue Wei¡¯s side and merrily started to jump around in excitement .

    Bai Tianyi, Hei Gou, and Lin Xiao were more casual about it . They smiled wryly when they saw Luoluo¡¯s excited expression and instantly knew that Xue Wei had offered them a meal because he knew that Luoluo would like it . He truly pampered Luoluo to an extreme level .

    As they exited the Thousand Treasure Pavilion¡¯s residential area, Xue Wei instantly sensed that a group of experts started trailing them . None of them had any malice in their actions, so he did not mind, and instead, he smiled gently at Luoluo .

    "What do you feel like eating?" He asked warmly, and Luoluo paused for some time, unsure of what she felt like having .

    "Crystal shrimp dumplings!" she said after considering for some time . "It is a ssic, and I love it!" she eximed happily, pping her small hands already thinking about eating her favorite food .

    "You want to eat shrimp?" Bai Tianyi could not help but ask with disdain, and Luoluo looked at him with annoyance . The girl and the boy were shing all the time . Not only because both of them were children, but also because one was an artificial spirit while the other was genuine . They were bound to dislike one another .

    "What is wrong with wanting shrimp?" Luoluo asked, lifting her nose high into the air as if she was looking down on him .

    "We had so much seafood when sailing, and now we are having even more seafood? Don¡¯t you think you¡¯ll turn into a m if you only eat seafood?" Bai Tianyi could not help but mock her, but Luoluo just snorted .

    "I like seafood . What can you do about it? bite me!" She was more arrogant and had grown much more whenpared to her younger version, she was a lot more rebellious now, at least when she was faced with Bai Tianyi .

    "Okay, no fighting," Xue Wei quickly parted the two of them before they had the time to argue further, "We will order a mixture of everything . "

    Bai Tianyi wanted to say that he had notined because he wanted to eat different food, but after considering the situation, he kept quiet and sent an annoyed nce at Luoluo .

    Together the group managed to make it into the bustling center of the Treasure City . Here everyone was alert . Although Xue Wei was not a well-known figure, not many knew what he looked like . If they identally insulted a Saint ranked expert, their lives would be forfeited .

    Along the way, most of the people who had followed them stayed on their trail . A few vanished to inform their masters of the appearance of Xue Wei, but most wanted to see his destination before they returned to report .

    Xue Wei and the others walked past a market where they curiously looked at the items that were up for sale, but nothing sparked their interest, and soon they had walked through the market, making it to an upper-ss square of the city where the most exquisite restaurants were located .

    Looking at the restaurants, Xue Wei was suddenly at a loss . Three were located right next to one another, one as exquisite as the other, but how to pick?

    "We¡¯ll take this one," Luoluo said as she pointed at the one that was ced at the south-eastern corner of the square .

    Xue Wei shrugged his shoulders, indicating that it was okay with him, but Lin Xiao was curious, "Why that one?" he asked .

    "It has a picture of a cute kitty," she said, "I like cute kitties, so let¡¯s pick it!"

    Looking at the restaurant, they saw that the logo was a ferocious and massive ck lion . It looked terrifying and threatening, but in Luoluo¡¯s eyes, it had be a cute kitten .

    None of them said anything but Bai Tianyi¡¯s lips twitched slightly . Damn brat! He thought . She was the kitty; her whole family was kitties . Could she not see how ferocious that beast was?

    Still, he said nothing as all of them went to the restaurant .

    As they arrived, a servant looked at the group of them and frowned . "To dine here you need to provide us with a deposit of hundred thousand low-grade essence stones per person," he said .

    Xue Wei frowned when hearing this . He had seen other experts enter the restaurant before them, but none of them had taken any kind of deposit out of their storage treasures before .

    "Are you sure?" he asked, his voice slightly low and emotionless .

    "Of course!" the servant was sure that they could not afford the food at the restaurant, and although it was costly to eat here, it would at most amass to a thousand low-grade essence stones a person, never the hundred thousand that he had requested . He was simply robbing people .

 Chapter 321

    Chapter 321: 321

    Xue Wei¡¯s narrowed eyes shed with a bit of coldness . "Where is your manager?" he asked, not willing to let it go .

    Had it been a small amount, then it would be fair, but this waiter was clearly looking for trouble, and he was not someone easy to bully .

    Xue Wei sneered when he saw the slight hesitation in the eyes of the waiter, but he quickly put up an unbending front .

    Xue Wei had experienced this more than once, even back in Yan Dalu a waiter had done the same to him, and now it seemed that he was easy to bully just because he was an unfamiliar face .

    Before he had the time to do anything, a figure came rushing through the streets and walked straight towards the restaurant .

    His clothes were made from the most outstanding cloud silk, something that came from a primordial beast .

    Most people, such as Xue Wei and his friends, were wearing the cheaper version made from materials from fierce beasts .

    The reason that Xue Wei had picked clothes from Fierce Beasts as opposed to Primordial Beasts was that he ended up in fights all the time . Their clothes were being ruined time and time again, so paying for the highest graded clothes was a waste of money .

    Only the nobles and influential families, or people who did not often engage in battles would dress in clothes made from Primordial Beasts .

    When the waiter saw that the man wearing the primordial beast robes moved towards the restaurant, his eyes glistened with excitement . He was going to service this man as he was sure that his tip would be high .

    The reason he had stopped Xue Wei and the others was of selfish motives . When a waiter was in charge of a group of people, he would have to focus mainly on them . They would also almost solely determine their sry depending on how much they paid in tips .

    Although there was base pay, it was lowpared to the essence stones one got as tips for looking after people, and this waiter was getting greedy .

    As time was going past, he wanted more and more tips . Usually, he would somehow make the other waiters and waitresses serve the poorer looking experts that came to the restaurant while he took the richer ones, but this time he had no choice but to deal with Xue Wei, and it had lowered his mood, making him immensely frustrated .

    Seeing that a rich man wasing towards the restaurant, he found a solution, and he looked at Xue Wei with disdain in his eyes, not even bothering to hide it .

    "Stand back," he sneered . "I will deal with this esteemed customer who ising, and you can wait for another servant to help you . I will not pursue the fact that you do not have enough essence stones for the deposit; just don¡¯t trouble me . "

    Saying this, the man pushed past Xue Wei and went towards the nicely dressed man, his expression which previously had been filled with disdain was now filled with fawning .

    Xue Wei snorted when he saw it and shook his head . He had instantly guessed that the servant was unaware of who he was, and even more so, he could imagine the reason for the waiter¡¯s behavior, but this did not mean he would allow him to behave so unbridled .

    He was not going to do anything to the restaurant itself, but he was going to ensure that the waiter lost his job . He was even tempted to kill him to vent his anger .

    Xue Wei was not a friendly person . He was quite cold and callous and did not mind killing others . He was not someone who felt that life was especially important .

    Since he was willing to kill, Xue Wei had also epted that one day, his life would likely end from being killed by someone stronger than him .

    This was something he had epted, but he was not going just to let anyone kill him easily . He loved his life and would fight for it, and he expected others to do the same . However, some were just too stupid .

    The waiter who had caused problems was a mere Ordinary Knight . He did not cultivate his spiritual energy, and his strength was not very strong, even amongst themoners on Treasure Ind, he was considered amongst the weakest, yet his arrogance knew no bounds .

    Xue Wei could only think of one reason for this . The restaurant he had entered was not a simple ce . It had to have some outstanding backing, and this backing had caused them to becent and arrogant .

    While Xue Wei was struggling to suppress the killing intent in his body, he turned around . His arms were on his chest, and he saw that the neatly dressed person was looking at him with admiration .

    Sensing his gaze, which was focused on Xue Wei, Xue Wei could not help but frown . Did this person know of him?

    "Master Xue," the person called out when he saw Xue Wei, his eyes lit up as if he had just seen his savior .

    "I am Murong Jing, the leader of the Murong family," he quickly introduced himself .

    "The Murong family is one of the strongest families within the entire Sea of the Enchanted . Although we cannotpare to Mister Tao Wu, we can still challenge all the normal families . It would be my honor to share a meal with you and your friends . "

    He was quite nervous . He knew he was pressuring Xue Wei, and pushing quite severely, but the allure of two-colored rainbow pills was something that had caused him to be quite panicked .

    Xue Wei felt conflicted . He was not against striking a deal with specific families . He was not sure who to team up with yet, but he knew that he would work with some of them .

    However, now was not the time for him to be discussing business . As a matter of fact, he was only here to eat with his family .

    "Master Murong," Xue Wei smiled and nodded his head towards the person who was so respectful towards him .

    "I am currently about to dine with my family," he said apologetically, "I am going to consider who to work with afterward . "

    Murong Jing was not too depressed because of it . He had known that Xue Wei couldn¡¯t ept his sudden invitation . But this did not mean it was the end of it .

    "Can I perhaps get a moment of your timeter?" Murong Jing asked . "I would like to discuss the possibility of working together on concocting a two-colored rainbow pill . "

    Xue Wei considered the options, and then he nodded his head . This Murong family were not humble as such, but they were not arrogant either . They were treating him with respect as they would someone of equal status .

    It has to be said that this Murong Jing was an Earth Saint, someone who was not straightforward and his strength was much higher than Xue Wei, so he did not have to treat him with such respect, but because of his alchemist status, he had suddenly be a much more magnificent person .

    Seeing the way that Murong Jing was treating Xue Wei, the waiter was pale and ufortable . He had never expected that Xue Wei would have such a distinguished personality that he had managed to cause even this high ranked expert to be respectful .

    The waiter suddenly started to regret his actions . He started to fear that he had made an unsalvageable mistake, and his hands clenched tightly as they trembled .

    For a moment, he started to feel guilty for his previous favoritism, and that he had been so stuck up and had caused problems to Xue Wei .

    Xue Wei, on the other hand, was not willing to forgive him for his actions . He was not interested in forgiving him .

    Today was supposed to be a good day . Today was supposed to be a day where he was happy and celebrating with his family, but this annoying person had destroyed the mood .

    Sensing that something was not right, Murong Jing looked from the hostile eyes of Xue Wei towards the panicked waiter . He could instantly guess what was going on .

    "Old Man Baie out here!" Murong Jing suddenly yelled, his voice was infused with Qi, and it reverberated through the entire Treasure City .

    Silence descended over the entire city; everyone held their breath as they wondered what had happened . Everyone close by looked at Murong Jing with trepidation .

    Xue Wei raised an eyebrow in surprise, but he did not say anything and just crossed his arms over his chest .

    At that moment a beam of light came shooting out from the inner regions of Treasure City, rushing towards the restaurant, and when it arrived, it stopped right in front of Murong Bai .

    "What¡¯s wrong Master Murong?" the person who appeared asked . He was an elderly man, he seemed to be around eighty years old, and he had a long white beard alongside long white hair . He was dressed in white robes with a cloud pattern on the fabric .

    Xue Wei looked at him and instantly knew that this man was the owner of the restaurant .

    "Old Man Bai, you taught outstanding waiters!" Murong Bai snorted when he looked at the man without sparing his face in the slightest .

    "Not only do they want to score a lot of essence stones in tips, but they also started to coerce and threaten others into parting withrge quantities of essence stones!"

    Murong Bai was not sure of how many essence stones they had needed, neither did he know what exactly had happened, but he could guess the gist of it and dared speak as such .

    The man referred to as Old Man Bai had his face turn dark, and he nced a the waiter before he looked back at Murong Jing .

    Old Man Bai was an Ordinary Saint . Although he was considered a dragon amongst men, he was not Murong Jing¡¯s opponent .

    He knew that his waiters and waitresses could be a bit brazen from time to time, but they were good at checking everyone who they could afford to offend and who they could not .

    To think that they had somehow managed to offend Murong Jing, made Old Man Bai curse beneath his breath as he shot a hate-filled re towards the waiter .

    "Master Murong, could it perhaps be a mistake?" Old Man Bai was already aware of exactly what had happened, but as the crowd was increasing, he could never admit to having silently approved of his servants suppressing the more unfortunate customers .

    "Who is this young master?" Old Man Bai tried to change the subject . He looked at Xue Wei with narrowed eyes, a bit of killing intent was hidden deep within these eyes .

    He could guess that it was Xue Wei who had caused Murong Jing to turn against him suddenly, and it was causing him to feel rage .

    Xue Wei was able to catch this slight killing intent, and his eyes turned cold as they narrowed .

    He knew he was not the opponent of Old Man Bai, but he was not willing to be a fish on the chopping block either .

    "Old Man Bai, this is Young Master Xue, an outstanding two-colored Rainbow Alchemist," Murong Jing instantly introduced Xue Wei . It was not something he asked for permission for first but did because he knew that thisyer of protection would be able to make people hesitate about insulting him .

    Rightfully so, when Old Man Bai and the waiter heard that the man they had insulted was a two-colored Rainbow Alchemist, both of their faces paled, and their eyes widened in shock and fear .

    Although his strength was not outstanding, if they considered his status, every person on Treasure Ind would be at his beck and call for the sake of befriending him . If they could convince him to make two-colored rainbow pills, every major family on Treasure Ind would risk their lives to fight for him .

 Chapter 322

    Chapter 322: 322

    "Master Xue Wei, it is our mistake . We had eyes but failed to recognize Mount Tai . " Old Man Bai bowed deeply to Xue Wei, his inner being filled with rage and hatred towards the waiter who had caused problems .

    The crowd who heard the words of Murong Jing were all stunned . This youngster who seemed to be just around twenty years of age was actually a revered two-colored Rainbow Alchemist? That was simply unexpected .

    Many wanted to go towards him and make connections, but after considering they all smiled wryly .

    This was in the middle of the Sea of the Enchanted . Although they were more than eager to convince Xue Wei into making a pill for them, they did not have the ingredients, neither did they have the resources to buy the ingredients .

    After considering this, they could only shake their heads and feel pity for themselves and their bad luck .

    Old Man Bai was also filled with hatred . He was unable to unleash his anger on Xue Wei, so the only other option was the waiter . Without considering his image at all, Old Man Bai went for the waiter, pped out his fist, and the impact instantly exploded the waiter¡¯s head into a bloody mist .

    The waiter did not even have a moment to think of what was happening . Neither did he have a chance to know how he died . His headless body copsed on the ground, and blood started to flow from the neck .

    Xue Wei raised an eyebrow in surprise as he looked at Old Man Bai with a sh of alertness in his eyes .

    He had previously seen the killing intent in Old Man Bai¡¯s eyes towards himself and his friends .

    Seeing his actions which were so fast, and that his anger had caused him to kill his own waiter so easily without even hearing what he had to say, showed that he was a figure that was controlled by anger . He was like a ticking time bomb .

    Even now, Xue Wei could see that this man was not feeling any remorse, he was still angry, and although he had killed the waiter, the remaining anger had been shifted towards Xue Wei .

    Murong Jing was also unhappy when he saw this . He knew Old Man Bai and his reputation . He was an easily angered man who was killing indiscriminately, and he was not willing to suppress himself at all .

    Knowing Old Man Bai¡¯s personality, Murong Jing had told him about Xue Wei¡¯s identity . Even if he did not want to suppress himself, he had no choice now .

    "Why are you all standing here?!" Old Man Bai was angered by embarrassment when he thought of how his restaurant was being turned into the joke of Treasure City .

    "Attend me!" he called out, and a few servants appeared with buckets of water, and some of them began removing the headless corpse while others were washing the stones beneath where all the blood had flowed .

    "Are you entering the restaurant or not?" He sneered while looking at Xue Wei, but before thetter could say anything, Luoluo tugged at his sleeves .

    "Big Brother, I do not like that old man," she said with slightly frightened eyes . "I don¡¯t want to go to his restaurant . I fear that we will be poisoned . "

    Although Luoluo had matured, her mind was still that of a child, and she was brutally honest .

    Her voice was not low, and she was saying exactly what she thought when she thought it .

    Hearing her words, all the other people widened their eyes in shock, some choked slightly, and even some started sweating in fear for her . The words she spoke were clearly causing Old Man Bai to lose even more face andpletely disregard him .

    Xue Wei¡¯s lips twitched slightly in amusement; even Murong Jing felt that Luoluo was pping the old man¡¯s face .

    "If you don¡¯t want to eat at his restaurant, then we will go to one of the others," Xue Wei said as he rubbed her hair . "Which one do you want to go to?" he asked as he looked at the remaining two restaurants .

    "I like the kitty one," she said, and then she started stroking her chin, "but I guess I can ept the turtle . " She pointed at the restaurant that was ced in another corner of the square .

    The square was big and located in the middle of the city¡¯s most busy part . Many had gathered to chat and see the drama that was unfolding .

    From the beginning, Murong Jing was the expert from the noble families who had arrived first, but during the entire drama, more had reached the square and were standing amongst the crowd, ready to step in at the moment Xue Wei would be in danger .

    Right now a full seven Earth Saints had appeared . These Earth Saints were the rulers of the Treasure Ind, and for them to all gather the same ce, that was simply unheard of before .

    Now it had happened, all because of Xue Wei . Old Man Bai could sense them all . He also felt an immense pressureing from their bodies, threatening him to behave .

    Gritting his teeth and clenching his fists, Old Man Bai was very unhappy . He was not used to being pressured . Instead, he was used to being a local tyrant, killing as he pleased .

    Usually, people would not stop him or even look at his actions, but because this involved a two-colored Rainbow Alchemist, all of them were extra cautious .

    This was making him super frustrated, and he did not know where to vent his anger, so instead, he flicked his sleeves and turned around, turned into a beam of light and shot out of the city, looking for some unfortunate souls to massacre .

    Xue Wei shook his head as he looked at the disappearing light beam, a deep contemting gleam within his eyes .

    This Old Man Bai was a vengeful person . He was likely to cause problemster on, and Xue Wei could guess that this was not the end of their interactions .

    Still, now was not the time to consider this . Instead he smiled at Luoluo .

    "Well then, Master Murong," he turned towards Murong Jing . "You assisted me just now, so I guess I should show you some gratitude . Why don¡¯t you join us for our meal?"

    Although he originally had not nned on eating with Murong Jing, this man had shown genuine concern for him, and thus he felt that he ought to return the favor .

    Murong Jing was taken by surprise . He had never thought that Xue Wei would invite him for a meal, and his eyes were filled with excitement . He had never thought that the appearance of Old Man Bai would indirectly help him like this .

    Cupping his fists, Murong Jing quickly nodded his head and said: "thank you so much for your invitation . I would be very honored to share a meal with you and yourpanions . "

    Smiling, Xue Wei then took Luoluo¡¯s hand and together with the others they walked towards the restaurant that had a picture of a turtle on the door .

    Bai Tianyi, Lin Xiao, Xue Wei, and Hei Gou had not actually participated in the drama that took ce just before . Although Xue Wei had been the main character, he had not really said anything, and Murong Jing and Old Man Bai had handled everything .

    When they reached the restaurant, a waitress came to greet them . Unlike the other restaurant, here, the waitress was immensely respectful .

    "My lords, would you like to dine on the floor or have a private room?" she asked humbly, and Xue Wei instantly picked a private room for them .

    Xue Wei and the others were led to a room on the upper floor of the restaurant . As they reached it, they found that it was a VIP room; it was big and magnificent . The floor was filled with cushions, and the table was of the most excellent wood that could be found in the entire Sea of the Enchanted .

    When they sat down, the waitress gave Xue Wei and the others a menu, and when Xue Wei looked at it, he was surprised to see that all the seafood was much cheaper than the other dishes .

    Still, he had lived of seafood for a very long time, and he wanted to eat something else, so he casually ordered a bit of everything . The things he ordered added up to a full seven thousand low-grade essence stones .

    After the dishes, Xue Wei also ordered spirit wines and juices . The juices were for Luoluo . She was not allowed to drink wine at her age, but the rest of them had to enjoy the wine to the fullest .

    Xue Wei looked at Murong Jing, who had spent some time observing the friends . Murong Jing had noticed how seamless the actions were between Xue Wei and the others .

    It was evident that these five people had spent a lot of time together . They were so used to each other that their every gesture showed their connections .

    "I am wondering where youe from?" Murong Jing suddenly asked, and Xue Wei honestly gave a reply .

    "Wee from Chang¡¯an, however right now we are traveling with the ambassadors from Yan Dalu and the Demon Phoenix Continent . "

    "I see," Murong Jing nodded his head and considered for some time what exactly Xue Wei had said . He knew of Yan Dalu and the Demon Phoenix Continent, but he had never heard about the continent named Chang¡¯an before .

    Xue Wei did not care much about his thoughts . Not many knew of Chang¡¯an, even Chang¡¯an was unaware of the other continents, so it was clearly wholly isted from the rest of the world .

    "Well then, how many rainbow pills is it you want?" Xue Wei suddenly asked . "Do you want both one-colored rainbow pills or also two-colored rainbow pills?"

    Murong Jing was taken by surprise when he heard Xue Wei¡¯s question . Was he considering helping them with the pills? His heartbeat suddenly beat faster, and he was excited .

    "I can tell you a bit of information before you decide," Xue Wei continued . "I am rather new to two-colored rainbow pills," he exined .

    "Because of this, I only have around fifty percent sess rate of the two-colored rainbow pills, so be aware that some of the materials will be lost .

    "At the same time, my sess-rate for one-colored rainbow pills are around ny percent; I cannot promise you that I will make all ingredients into pills . "

    Murong Jing was shocked . "What . . . What do you want in return for creating these pills for me?" He asked while looking worriedly at Xue Wei .

    Xue Wei mused for some time . He did not need new resources; he already had all he needed .

    "I need you to kill Old Man Bai," Xue Wei said as a cold gleam appeared in his eyes . Murong Jing was surprised when he heard the words spoken by Xue Wei .

    He would never have expected that he would make such a request . Old Man Bai was someone that they had to respect, but since he was merely an Ordinary Saint, he was kible for Murong Jing if he exposed a few of his ace attacks .

    "I am not saying you have to do it on your own," Xue Wei suddenly said . "I imagine that you have some friendly families . If they assist in killing Old Man Bai, I will help you and your friends concoct pills . "

    Murong Bai was shocked, but then his eyes shone with excitement and happiness .

    He had somerades amongst the leading families of Treasure Ind, and to be able to enhance their strength would not be a wrong decision .

    "Thank you!" he said excitedly . So what if he, a revered expert of the Treasure Ind, was to be a hitman? The price was worth it .

    Xue Wei was surprised when he saw how easily Murong Jing made a decision . But he was pleased with it . He could not afford to let Old Man Bai pose a threat to him and his family .

 Chapter 323

    Chapter 323: 323

    As the meal progressed, no one spoke more about the transaction that was made between them .

    They began eating and focused on chatting . Murong Jing was open about living on Treasure Ind and the life in the Sea of the Enchanted .

    All the families that resided on Treasure Ind lived of piracy . The family leaders and their elders rarely attended the looting, but most of their ordinary members did .

    Each family owned many ships, and if one were to insult the Treasure Ind, the entire group of pirates in the whole Sea of the Enchanted would gather together to deal with the outside influences with their massive fleet of experts .

    As long as it was a power struggle amongst the pirates themselves, no one else would step in, but as soon as it involved outsiders, they would all band together as a tight ball of dynamite, ready to explode at any moment .

    Xue Wei was surprised to hear that although they were pirates, they were all so protective of one another . It was not something he had expected to happen, but it made him smile and feel that they were indeed worthy of befriending .

    After the meal, Murong Jing excused himself . He had to gather a few friends and then go hunting for Old Man Bai . He was not willing to let the old man survive after making a deal with Xue Wei .

    Xue Wei, on the other hand, returned to the Thousand Treasure Pavilion together with his friends . When they arrived, they found that a delegation of experts was present . All of them were from the Thousand Treasure Pavilion, and they seemed to have been waiting for quite some time .

    Xue Wei frowned when he saw them, his body turned taut and his eyes alert . Why had such a group of experts decided toe to his courtyard? He could not remember having done anything to insult the Thousand Treasure Pavilion .

    "Young master Xue," one of the people who had been waiting for him stepped forward and cupped his hands as he bowed deeply .

    "We are sent by the supreme elder of the Thousand Treasure Pavilion," he introduced himself . "We are here to hand over your winnings from the auction . Please be at ease; every single essence stone is within this storage treasure . "

    The man reached out and gave a bracelet to Xue Wei . It was a high-grade storage treasure, and it needed to be a high grade one to fit the sheer amount of essence stones that had been stuffed into it .

    The Thousand Treasure Pavilion would usually charge five thousand low-grade essence stones for these high-grade storage treasures, but when they considered the sheer quantity of essence stones they had taken as a cut for selling these pills, they felt that it would be too petty also to charge him for the storage treasure .

    Xue Wei unceremoniously kept the bracelet . He did not even look within it to see whether or not the storage treasure contained the many stones that he had been promised . Instead, he stored it away in his own treasure instantly .

    Seeing his actions, the eyes of the elder who had spoken turned surprised . He would never have expected that Xue Wei would trust them so much, or be so casual about wealth .

    The elder smiled wryly when he realized that they had looked down upon this person before . He was not just an alchemist; his personality was also outstanding . He would be a legend in the future - if he were allowed to grow .

    After this, they quickly excused themselves and retreated while Xue Wei and the others entered the courtyard . Xue Wei could not help but feel ufortable .

    Ever since he had seen Old Man Bai, he felt as if a poisonous snake was lurking in the darkness, readying itself to strike .

    Although he was nothing for Murong Jing if he teamed up with others, the truth was that he was a genuine Saint ranked cultivator, and Xue Wei could be killed with a p of his hands .

    Xue Wei clenched his hands . He needed strength! Even now, his own power was not enough for him to save himself .

    It was not only Xue Wei who thought like this, but hispanions were also equally ufortable about theirck of strength . After reaching the Sea of the Enchanted where, although Saint ranked experts were not the most numerous, they were still much moremon than they had been on Yan Dalu .

    The further towards the center of the world they came, the more outstanding the geniuses and their cultivation bases became .

    "Tianyi?" Xue Wei called out, and Bai Tianyi turned around, looking at the contemting Xue Wei .

    "What is it?" he asked frowning, not sure of what weird thoughts his friend had suddenly thought up .

    "Why is it that the closer to the center of the world wee, the stronger the experts are?" Xue Wei voiced his concern to the only person he thought might be able to answer the question for them .

    Although Bai Tianyi looked like a child, he was without a doubt the wisest of them all . He had lived the longest and experienced most . He would be the only one amongst them who could answer this question .

    "This was the case before too," Bai Tianyi said as he shrugged his shoulders . "Back when the world was one single continent, the outskirts were all filled with weaker experts while the center was the world for the martial artist .

    "I am not sure as to why, but the closer to the center you get, the denser the soul energy and the heaven-and-earth essence bes .

    "There has to be some reason behind it, but we don¡¯t know what it is . It has been like this for as long as I¡¯ve known . The geniuses of the central province were also much more heaven-sent than the geniuses of the outskirts .

    "One¡¯s future aplishments were often determined by birth and where one began their lives . Even if your talent was outstanding, if you were born at the outskirts of the continent, or now in the outer border continents, then you had no chance topete against the other geniuses .

    "You are the same . " Bai Tianyi looked at Xue Wei . "Although your talent is heaven-defying, and although your advance is rapid, you can only just bepared to some geniuses of the central region . If you were not an Azure Dragon, it would be deadly for you to travel around like this . "

    Xue Wei looked at Bai Tianyi, and his eyes had turned solemn . He knew that Bai Tianyi was not lying, so although he had been quite proud of his own achievements, it seemed that he had beencent . He was still nothing whenpared to the rest of the world .

    Sighing, he looked up towards the ceiling, feeling slightly apprehensive . He never questioned his decisions and now was not the time to do it . He just felt resigned . Life was so fragile .

    "Don¡¯t look so sad," Bai Tianyi said . "We are living life to the fullest," he continued .

    "Although we are not heaven-sent geniuses, we are still able to traverse the world . We are seeing things that most people would never get to see in their entire lives . We are lucky as we never go hungry and we are able to chase our dreams and our goals, never looking back, never backing down . "

    Xue Wei listened to Bai Tianyi¡¯s words, and he felt more and more invigorated by listening .

    Bai Tianyi smiled wryly when looking at Xue Wei . Although Xue Wei was the core of their group, he was also the one with the most pressure on his shoulders .

    When they encountered problems, it was Xue Wei they looked to, to solve them .

    When they needed something, it was Xue Wei they looked at to get what they wanted or found a way to get it for them .

    Xue Wei was always in charge of their living expenses; he had to make sure that they could afford not only the regr costs but also have resources to cultivate their energies as fast as possible .

    It was no wonder that he sometimes felt lost and unsure of his path in life, but at moments like these, his friends proved that they were indeed worthy of being considered good friends .

    They would encourage him, support him, and calm him . It was these friends who were the reason that he had not given up on life yet, and for them, he would do anything .

    Thinking like this, Xue Wei smirked . So what if he was not a geniusparable to the geniuses of the central region? He was able to work harder than anyone else!

    Even if he was not a talent, he was a hard worker, and he believed that everything would be possible if he just tried his best . In case it ended up not being enough, then there was nothing to do about it, but he would be able to die without regrets because he did his very best . He lived strongly and never backed down!

    The more he thought like this, the stronger the aura around him became . He was filled with excitement and energy, his face, which previously had been slightly listless, was now blossoming with a brilliant smile .

    Bai Tianyi smirked when he saw this, and he felt much better now than he had before . It was good to see that Xue Wei had refound his faith in himself .

    "Let us rush to the Saint realm!" Xue Wei eximed and smiled as he went up the stairs towards his own room . "Call for me if Murong Jing arrives . The delegation is leaving in neen days, so until then, focus on your cultivation!"

    The King, or Jiang Yingyue as she was called now, had decided not to follow the delegation any longer . She was going to stay with Tao Wu and the pirate group .

    But apart from her, the rest of the delegation had nned on continuing their journey, and it could not be dyed for too long .

    They were currently stuck on the ind because they had sold the blood ship . But they hadmissioned another ship which was being made right then and there .

    The blood ship had provided them with an outstanding number of essence stones, and they had bought a ship that was infused with formations and inscriptions .

    It was going to be able to utilize the wind in the air to increase its speed . It was going to be unable to burn, and it would be still even during high seas and storms .

    Because of the many inscriptions and formations, the creation of the ship was going to take a long time . This was also the reason why the delegation was still residing on Treasure Ind .

    In these neen days, Xue Wei needed to refine pills for Tao Wu and Murong Jing . Neen days had to be enough .

    When refining pills, Xue Wei was cultivating his spiritual energy . It required spiritual energy to refine pills, and the more difficult it was, the more spiritual energy one would gain .

    So it was beneficial for Xue Wei to refine pills, but he did not have an unlimited amount of resources . The price for making a two-colored Rainbow Pill was simply unexpected, and the previous five pills had almost exhausted his supply of resources .

    He still had ingredients for the one colored rainbow pill, but the two colored rainbow pills were costly, and he could not help but fear the price of the three colored rainbow pills . If the price continued to rise like this with each of the recipes, Xue Wei started thinking that the seven-colored Rainbow Pills would end up exhausting a whole continent for resources .

    Unless the ingredients changed with time, then he could only fear that it was impossible to make a seven-colored rainbow pill .

    With this in his mind, Xue Wei went into his room and began cultivating his Qi while waiting for Tao Wu to send the ingredients his way .

 Chapter 324

    Chapter 324: 324

    During this time, Xue Wei was cultivating casually without fearing about Old Man Bai appearing and causing problems for him .

    At the same time, Murong Jing did not go home . Instead, he went towards another mansion in Treasure City, the family mansion of the Tang family .

    The Tang family were not as highly ranked as the Murong family . However, they were not to be belittled as they also had an Earth Saint amongst their ranks .

    Two Earth Saints against one single Ordinary Saint, this should be a line up which could not be defeated .

    When Murong Jing made it to the Tang Mansion, the guards respectfully saluted him, before one of them led him towards the central hall of the family .

    At this central hall, the entire family¡¯s higher-ups had gathered, all of them discussing something rather important .

    As a family leader himself, Murong Jing was capable of guessing that the subject they were talking about was Xue Wei and the two-colored rainbow pills .

    When they announced his arrival, Murong Jing was quite shrewd . He had told the guard to announce that his arrival had something to do with the two-colored rainbow pills, and thus they instantly invited him into the hall .

    When he entered, he saw that the entire older generation had gathered together, most of them frowning and unhappy .

    The leader of the Tang family, Tang Julong, was seated in the center of the hall, and a slight bit of hope had appeared in his eyes when he looked at Murong Jing .

    "I am here on behalf of the alchemist master Xue Wei," Murong Jing introduced . "I need Master Tang to do something together with me for him . When it has been done, master Xue will refine a two-colored rainbow pill for us both, provided we have the materials . "

    Tang Julong¡¯s eyes widened in disbelief and then narrowed dangerously . "He needs us to do something for him?" he asked hesitatingly, and Murong Jing nodded his head . "As to what it is, I would need to discuss it with you in private," he said . He knew that the murder of Old Man Bai was somewhat controversial, but he could not do anything about it . This was the price to pay for a two-colored Rainbow Pill .

    Muring Jing did not fear that Tang Julong would not agree to his offer . Tang Julong had a good rtionship with him, and he knew which people he had connections to and not .

    As to the fact that they would murder someone, that was no worry for either of them . They were pirates, and pirates were not pacifists .

    "Everyone leave us . " Tang Julong understood the matter was sensitive, and thus they hesitatingly left . Many looked back with uncertainty and curiosity .

    When the hall was emptied, Tang Julong slumped back into the seat and looked at Murong Jing .

    "So old friend, tell me what is going on . "

    Murong Jing quickly exined the situation that happened earlier that day at the square, followed by the deal he made with Xue Wei .

    "I am aware that I can kill Old Man Bai on my own," Murong Jing sighed . "but that requires for him not to have any life-saving treasures, nor speed-enhancing techniques . If he has either of those, it could be troublesome to kill him . "

    Tang Julong had not spoken while Murong Jing was talking . Instead, he was listening intently .

    Closing his eyes for a moment, he was not too sure if he was doing the right thing . Xue Wei was an outsider while Old Man Bai was a resident of Treasure Ind, but the allure of the two-colored Rainbow Pill was simply immense .

    Sighing, he nodded his head . "Let us set out," he said resigned . He had made his decision . Old Man Bai was notorious for his temper; he had killed multiple experts on Treasure Ind before just because they did not see eye to eye with him, so he could consider it doing a good deed .

    When they exited the hall, they were found by a group of Tang family members . Looking at their faces filled with expectations, Tang Julong knew he had made the right decision .

    Although one two-colored Rainbow Pill sounded like very little as only one person could consume it, it was maybe their only chance for Tang Julong to break into a higheryer of his rank, which would result in a higher position on Treasure Ind .

    Refining more than one pill was not something they would expect . They simply did not have the resources to provide more than two sets of ingredients, and although there was a small chance of them getting two pills, there was also a chance of getting zero .

    This was a gamble, but they felt it worth it . "Find two sets of ingredients," Tang Julong said to the supreme elder of the family . "When I return home, we will send them to great master Xue, and he will refine pills for us . "

    The eyes of everyone were filled with excitement . To think that Murong Jing had appeared with a chance for them to get their hands on a two-colored Rainbow Pill waspletely unexpected, but it was making them very excited .

    Tang Julong and Murong Jing left the mansion and started scanning the entire ind for any lead for where Old Man Bai might be .

    They quickly located him in a small vige at the outskirts of Treasure Ind .

    This vige was filled with fishermen and farmers . They were not pirates . Instead, their jobs were to provide for the rest of the Treasure Ind, so even though they were weak and looked down upon, people rarely touched them .

    Old Man Bai, however, was in a foul mood, and he had gone to the ind¡¯s viges where he had found a few people and killed them without a care .

    His restaurant depended on these vigers, but he killed them within moments . He did not even care about which effect it might have on his own livelihood; all he wanted was to vent his frustrations .

    The reason he unleashed his fury on the vigers was because of the rules of Treasure Ind .

    No one would participate in a dispute amongst people who lived on Treasure Ind, so even if he killed them, no one would be able to stop him .

    In the middle of Treasure City, it was impossible to tell if someone had connections with Earth Saints, which would cause him problems, so for self preservation, he killed the weakest .

    Blood was flowing in rivers when his hatred finally seemed to be under control .

    The entire vige¡¯s walls were painted red and corpses were littered all over the street .

    This was the sight that greeted Murong Jing and Tang Julong when they came looking for Old Man Bai .

    Tang Julong, who had been hesitating whether or not to kill Old Man Bai, suddenly felt that it was for the better for him to die as soon as possible .

    Murong Jing¡¯s eyes, which had been tranquil for a long time, were also filled with undisguised disdain and fury .

    "Old Man Bai!" Murong Jing called out loud, and the man who had been drenched in blood, startled before he turned and looked at the two iing experts .

    His eyes shed with surprise and confusion .

    He instantly recognized Murong Jing and Tang Julong, but as to what their purpose was, he had no idea .

    "Master Murong, Master Tang, what brings the two of you here?" he asked tentatively, and Murong Jing flew down andnded right next to him .

    His face was no longer disying any emotions, he seemed tranquil like a stillke, and his lips even carried a slight smile, so Old Man Bai could not feel even the slightest feeling of threating from him .

    Tang Julong was not as capable of hiding his true emotions, but he stayed behind them, so Old Man Bai did not notice his expressions nor his killing intent .

    "Old Man Bai, I need to speak with you," Murong Jing said smilingly as he stepped closer and closer to the older man, and when he was within range, his palm suddenly shot out .

    Rock Shattering Palm Strike!

    The technique that he was using was not the highest ranked technique he controlled, but it was the one with the most direct power .

    A cracking noise resounded in the surroundings as the palm strike made contact with Old Man Bai¡¯s chest, breaking his ribcage with a single attack .

    When Tang Julong saw that Murong Jing was attacking, he rushed forward with his movement technique, and he brandished his sword before he unleashed an attack .

    Sky Shattering Clouds!

    This attack was the strongest that Tang Julong could unleash, and the sword light shot in front of Tang Julong andnded on Old Man Bai¡¯s shoulder, cutting a deep gash into his flesh .

    Old Man Bai¡¯s eyes were widened in horror when he saw how the two Earth Saints were attacking him, his hands were trembling in terror and he was backing away as fast as he could, however with the injuries he had sustained, his speed was heavily impacted .

    Neither Murong Jing nor Tang Julong was willing to let go just like that, and they pressed forward, cornering Old Man Bai in a pincer attack .

    One was wielding a sword, while the other was raining fist and palm attacks down on him .

    He could only defend himself from the most deadly of the attacks, but the remaining ones were drawing blood, breaking bones and making him spit out blood which mixed with the blood from the farmers and fishers he had killed previously .

    "Why are you doing this?!" he roared filled with indignation and hatred, but he got no answer . Neither Tang Julong nor Murong Bai was willing to tell him the truth . They had the mindset of killers right now, and they would end their jobs as fast as possible .

    While they were able to dominate Old Man Bai and push him further and further back, the old man started using life-saving treasures one after another .

    Never would anyone have expected that he was that rich, he had a whole bunch of protective talismans, inscriptions, and formations .

    If they had not been two, then it was likely that he would have seeded in his escape, but since they were two who constantly attacked him, he could only passively defend .

    The loud sounds of battling reverberated through the vige and the survivors had hidden far away .

    Some experts within Treasure City could feel the fluctuations of energy and came to see what was going on; others were blissfully unaware .

    Sensing that others were on their way, the face of Murong Jing and Tang Julong turned solemn . They knew that they had to hurry up, and both of them used their most prized attacks .

    Thunderous Mentality Sword!

    Fist of the Ancient Demon!

    Both of them did not hold anything back, and finally, they managed to break through all the defenses shrouding Old Man Bai, their attacks cutting the remainder of his life short .

    His final breath was filled with bitterness and unwillingness . His eyes did not close but stayed staring at Murong Jing with disbelief and venomous hatred .

    "Let¡¯s get going," Murong Jing said, and Tang Julong nodded his head . The two of them turned into shes of bright light and vanished into the distance before another person made it to the vige .

    Seeing the murder that had happened, he was stunned at first, but after questioning the survivors, he understood that it was Old Man Bai who had murdered wantonly and that two experts had arrived and killed himter .

    As to what their reason was, no one knew, and who they were was also a mystery .

    These vigers would never see the leaders of the major families within Treasure City, so it was impossible to guess their identity . Thus rumors said that it was two experts that came by and felt pity for the vigers, hence became the heroes saving the innocent .

 Chapter 325

    Chapter 325: 325

    Xue Wei did not have long to cultivate . Tao Wu had quickly arrived with a lot of ingredients, enough ingredients for seven two-colored Rainbow Pills, and twenty one-colored Rainbow Pills .

    Seeing the sheer amount of ingredients, Xue Wei felt his lips curl into a smile . Clearly, Tao Wu had gathered all the treasures his pirates had found over the years .

    He was not at all humble as he delivered the entire stash of ingredients in front of Xue Wei .

    "You gave me an immense price tag for these pills," Tao Wu began smilingly, his smile being slightly cunning .

    "As such, I ought to milk you dry, and since we are friends, there should be no problem with you spending a bit more effort to refine pills for me . "

    Xue Wei¡¯s lips twitched in amusement, but he quickly shook his head resignedly . He had indeed given an excessive price for these pills, so it was not too unexpected that he was asked to pay a lot back .

    "Bring it on," Xue Wei snickered . "I will make you so stuffed with pills that your stomach would burst!"

    "I got a big appetite," Tao Wu, who had heard what Xue Wei saidughed out loud, "I can handle all the pills you can concoct!"

    Shaking his head, Xue Wei epted the ingredients, and after leaving a message for hisrades about the Murong and Tang members, he closed up in the pill refinement room .

    Here time went by fast . Xue Wei was entirely focused on refining pills, and during the progress, he was continually enhancing his spiritual energy .

    He started making the one-colored Rainbow Pills . These rainbow pills were all sessfully refined . He had by now refined quite a lot of one-colored Rainbow Pills before, so his sess rate was high . Of the twenty batches, only one failed .

    It only took him two days to refine the neen one-colored Rainbow Pills, and before he began the two-colored rainbow pills, he exited the chamber to see whether or not Murong Jing and Tang Julong had been by with the ingredients yet .

    "That Murong guy has been here," Lin Xiao said as he handed a storage treasure over to Xue Wei . "But that Tang guy hasn¡¯t . "

    Xue Wei nodded his head as he epted the storage treasure . "I imagine it will take him some time to produce the ingredients," Xue Wei said . The two-colored Rainbow Pills were expensive in resources . Gathering them all would take a few days .

    Entering the refining room again, Xue Wei opened the storage treasure to see how many sets of ingredients that Murong Jing had sent him, and he saw that there were actually six sets of ingredients . It was almost as much as Tao Wu had managed to get, from this one could see that the background of Murong Jing was not ordinary .

    After this, Xue Wei focused on refining two-colored Rainbow Pills . He was locked up for eight days straight, and during this time, his spiritual energy was on the verge of breaking through due to the constant use when refining pills .

    Out of the seven sets of ingredients he had gotten from Tao Wu, he had managed to get five pills, and from the six sets from Murong Jing he had managed four .

    As he exited the chamber, he found that Tao Wu and Murong Jing were both waiting outside the room, their faces filled with worry .

    Even someone as powerful as Tao Wu was filled with worry when it came to rainbow pills, this showed how hard it was to get one¡¯s hands on resources in the Sea of the Enchanted .

    Xue Wei snickered when he saw them and tossed two storage treasures out, one for each of them .

    Catching the treasures, neither could hold back and started to look into the storage treasures to see what was the sess rate, and both of their faces lit up in joy when they saw the five and the four pills within .

    "Thank you," Murong Jing cupped his fists and felt eternally grateful . The killing of Old Man Bai was worth it .

    Murong Jing sent a mental note to Tang Julong to inform him that Xue Wei had exited the refinement chamber, and moments after he rushed to the courtyard where Xue Wei was present .

    This was the first time that Tang Julong and Xue Wei met face to face . Tang Julong was shocked to see that Xue Wei was, in fact, a young man . He did not look a day over twenty years old, in fact, he seemed just like a youngster, but his strength was rather outstanding, and his status as a two-colored rainbow alchemist was also something that ced him well above the masses .

    "Master Xue," Tang Julong dared not be the slightest bit impolite as he cupped his fists and bowed . "It is an honor to meet you . I heard from Murong Jing that you had a task that needed doing . I assisted in this task and was promised that you would refine a two-colored Rainbow Pill for us?"

    Xue Wei could feel the worry in his voice, so he did not hesitate to answer . "Master Murong already exined that you indeed assisted him in the task I requested, and thus, I will naturally refine a medicinal pill for you . "

    Hearing this Tang Julong¡¯s eyes widened in surprise before wild joy exploded in his chest .

    Sensing his happiness, Xue Wei smiled wryly . He had experienced the excitement because of his professions before when he was a formation master back in Chang¡¯an .

    "Do you have the ingredients?" Xue Wei asked, and Tang Julong quickly fetched the ingredients out of his storage treasure and ced them in front of Xue Wei .

    "Wait here," Xue Wei took the ingredients and went towards the refinement room .

    Tao Wu and Murong Jing excused themselves, but Tang Julong stayed rooted in position, his heart beating rapidly and he was filled with worry for how it would go .

    When they began refining, Xue Wei suddenly sensed his spiritual energy erupting like a volcano . It was as if it was boundless, and suddenly he felt how his energy was growing at a rapid speed . His spiritual energy had a breakthrough and was now at the ninthyer of the Sky Knight rank .

    Under the now stronger spiritual energy, the process of refining pills, which previously had been arduous and difficult was suddenly easy as walking in a garden .

    Tang Julong had given them ingredients enough for two pills, and both of them were sessfully refined .

    After refining the two pills, a smirk appeared on Xue Wei¡¯s lips as he packed them into a jade vial . He then went down the stairs where he found that Tang Julong was standing the exact same ce as before .

    "It was a sess," Xue Wei announced, and the taut nerves that had been stretched to their limits were suddenly rxed, and he looked excited .

    "I managed to refine two pills, you were quite lucky," Xue Wei chuckled as he handed over the jade vial to Tang Julong who was dazed by the news before he suddenly became amazingly excited .

    "Thank you . Thank you so much!" Tang Julong¡¯s voice was trembling with excitement, and after greeting Xue Wei, he quickly rushed away from the Thousand Treasure Pavilion and back to the Tang family to tell them that their harvest was even better than expected .

    Xue Wei shook his head in amusement when he saw them rush away .

    "How many days are left?" Xue Wei asked Bai Tianyi when he finally had the time to stretch his tired body .

    "We are leaving in six days," Bai Tiany answered casually as he looked at Xue Wei .

    "You had a breakthrough in your spiritual energy?" he asked astonished, and Xue Wei nodded his head .

    "Not bad," Bai Tianyi said with a smile . "You are getting closer and closer to the Heavenly Knight rank . Just a bit more and both your spiritual energy levels and Qi levels will be there . "

    Xue Wei nodded his head absentmindedly .

    "My sess rate of the two colored Rainbow Pills are even better now than it was before . "

    "Are there any more ingredients left?" Bai Tianyi raised an eyebrow in surprise, but Xue Wei smiled wryly and shook his head .

    "Then it doesn¡¯t help," Bai Tianyi said casually, and Xue Wei shrugged his shoulders .

    "Well eventually we will get more ingredients I bet," Xue Wei said . "But for now, I cannot make more pills for us . "

    They quieted down, and after a bit of time, they both sighed . It felt like an eternity since Bai Tianyi had arrived and requested of Xue Wei to begin practicing pill making .

    In the beginning, he had not been eager to learn it, but now, after realizing how many benefits it brought them, he felt it was the right decision that Bai Tianyi had made back in the day .

    Although it was hard to learn alchemy, he had managed to seed, and now it was not only possible to create pills that enhanced their strength, it also directly increased his spiritual energy and helped it break through .

    Thinking like this, it was indeed an excellent benefit for Xue Wei, and now that he was a two-colored Rainbow Alchemist he had a certain amount of protection .

    It was thoughts like these that had caused Xue Wei and Bai Tianyi to sigh while thinking about them . Life was truly unexpected . Never would they have expected that they would end up where they were now .

    Just as they sunk into contemtion, Luoluo came running in through the door and went straight to Xue Wei .

    "Big Brother!" she called out sweetly and excitedly, her adorable eyes were glistening with wonders .

    "The ship is done! We are ready to leave at any moment," she said excitedly, and Xue Wei raised an eyebrow in surprise .

    "I did not think that we would leave for another six days?" He asked, but Luoluo shrugged her shoulders, "the ship is finished," she said with certainty .

    "Maybe they want to wait a few days to stock up on every item we might need on the trip?" Lin Xiao asked, but the others shook their heads . They had likely already gotten every item needed for their future travels as they had storage treasures to pack it down in .

    "Let¡¯s go and check," Xue Wei said and called for all his friends .

    When they made it to the harbor, they found that a new and ratherrge ship was docked where the blood ship had been earlier .

    The ship was filled with formations and inscriptions; it was sturdy and seemed to be able to sail at a rapid speed across the sea .

    Xue Wei saw that the members of the delegation from Yan Dalu and Demon Phoenix Continent were boarding the ship .

    "Xue Wei!" the ambassador from Demon Phoenix Continent called out excitedly when he saw Xue Wei .

    "We dared not trouble you," he said, "but we expected you would show up here sooner orter . When you showed up would be the time for us to set sail and return on route for the Demon Phoenix Continent . "

    Xue Wei looked back at the Treasure Ind and Treasure City and smiled slightly .

    "Let¡¯s leave then," he said, not nning on returning to say his goodbyes . He did not believe this was thest time he would be here .

    Hearing that Xue Wei was willing to leave just like that, without saying his goodbyes, everyone was startled, but they were also relieved . They could not help but feel that they had already dyed their trip for long enough, and needed to get a move on as soon as possible .

    Boarding the ship, Xue Wei suddenly started feeling excited . Although he had enjoyed the time on Treasure Ind, and he had gained a massive amount of wealth here, he could not wait to move into more challenging seas . To experience more things that could push him to his limits and see where his final destinationid .

 Chapter 326

    Chapter 326: 326

    The ship set sail and left Treasure Ind behind . Every member of the delegation was on board . The only person who was missing was Jiang Yingyue, who had decided to stay with Tao Wu .

    The mood on board the ship was uplifting . Everyone was energized and happy to once more be on their way towards the Demon Phoenix Continent .

    As they left, one would have to be careful as pirates would be waiting for outsiders outside of Treasure City¡¯s harbor .

    However, no one blocked their way, everyone was immensely polite and friendly, and Xue Wei knew that the reason for this was Tao Wu .

    Although through his rank as a two-colored rainbow alchemist, he was revered, it was a double-edged sword .

    This was awless ce . It was likely that Xue Wei would have been captured and forced to create pills for one of the factions . Yet, the truth was that no one dared to do this as they knew he had a rtionship with Tao Wu .

    Upsetting Tao Wu was a suicidal decision .

    As the ship left Treasure Ind further and further behind, everyone got into the usual mood that had been onboard the blood ship .

    Most of the experts sat down to cultivate, while the sailors controlled the ship .

    Even Luoluo, who gained barely anything from cultivating, sat down next to Xue Wei and closed her eyes to feel the soul power in the surroundings .

    The ship was enhanced with formations and inscriptions . The speed with which it moved was in no way inferior to the blood ship . There was even an essence gathering formation on board the vessel, making it so that they could advance their cultivation much faster .

    The ship cleaved the sea, moving at a rapid pace towards the Demon Phoenix Continent .

    The trip was very effortless, no pirates blocked their way, and the ship did not dock at any harbor .

    The further along the travel they came, the more restless the sailors became and a tense atmosphere shrouded the entire ship .

    "What¡¯s happening?" Xue Wei asked the ambassador as he woke up from his cultivation after a few weeks of training .

    "Don¡¯t worry," the ambassador said while his eyes roamed the horizon as if he was looking for something specific .

    "We are close to a forbidden area," he sighed after looking around with slight worry in his eyes .

    "Although the Berserker Ind was quite dangerous, it is nothing whenpared to the dangers that exist within the Thunder Twilight Zone . "

    "The Thunder Twilight Zone is named after how it looks like on the outside . Thunder and lightning are striking constant, and the light that breaks into the Thunder Twilight Zone makes it seem like a ce where it is always twilight .

    "The Thunder Twilight Zone is very dangerous . Only one out of ten who walks in will be capable of walking out . If you are beneath the Heavenly Knight rank, it is merely suicidal to enter . Saints cane and leave a bit more easily, but even they need to be careful .

    "The Thunder Twilight Zone is stationary, but because of the constant storms and bad weather, hurricanes and other phenomenons will ur on route to the Demon Phoenix Continent . "

    Xue Wei was slightly startled when he heard about the forbidden zone . There had been forbidden zones back in Chang¡¯an, but that was due to the war between Primordial Beasts and humans . Humans would not enter their of the strongest Primordial Beasts, just as these beasts would not enter the crowded cities .

    Forbidden zones that were dangerous because of natural phenomenons, he had never before encountered these things .

    Xue Wei was deep in thought that day, thinking about how marvelous the world was, and how dangerous every step could be .

    As he thought he suddenly realized that multiple ships had arrived in the sea surrounding him and his nerves grew taut . Were there still pirates who were eager to try their strength, even when he had publicly disyed his friendship with Tao Wu?

    Standing up, he looked at the armada that was gathering in the sea surrounding them, his eyes shed coldly, and he clenched his fist as he got ready to gather his friends .

    "Don¡¯t worry . " Noticing the killing intent that was leaking out of Xue Wei, the ambassador appeared by his side . Heid his hand on thetter¡¯s shoulder and tried to calm him down . However, his voice was trembling slightly .

    "These experts have all arrived because of the Thunder Twilight Zone . Although it is a death trap, many head inside anyway, the Thunder me can be found within, alongside many rare and extremely precious herbs and ores .

    "Under the baptizing of thunder and lightning, many of the beasts that live within are also much more ferocious and horrifying . Although no one can tame them, they can sell their skin, cores, and other items for immense amounts of wealth .

    "Beasts, herbs, and ores are not the only treasures within . There are many human-made treasures too . Legend says that the Thunder Twilight Zone was originally a battlefield between King and Emperor level experts . There are many treasures which can be found in the ruins . The deeper one dares to venture the more rewards one can gain . "

    Xue Wei sucked in a breath of cold air when he heard his, but then he frowned .

    "King and Emperor level experts?" he requested, and the ambassador looked at him curiously . "You do not know about King and Emperor level experts?" He asked, and Xue Wei shook his head .

    "It is the legendary realms for cultivators," the ambassador began exining . "The first step into cultivation is the Warrior, Knight, and Saint Ranks . To reach further than the Saint rank is near impossible, but some have managed to seed throughout the years .

    "King ranked experts are revered as Kings all over the World while the Emperor ranked experts can be counted on a single hand .

    "I don¡¯t know too much about King and Emperor ranked experts . The Vermilion Bird n has one King ranked expert, but the entire Demon Phoenix Continent has no Emperor ranked experts at all . "

    Xue Wei was astounded to hear that there were Emperor and King ranks above the Saint rank, but after careful consideration, he realized that he was simply a frog at the bottom of a well . He had not understood how vast and outstanding the world truly was .

    When he thought about it, Xue Wei knew that there were many things he had not known about .

    Before leaving Chang¡¯an, he had not known about the different races that had appeared after mixing blood of the beasts and humans . Now he was also learning about the ranks above Saints .

    When the ambassador saw that Xue Wei was in deep thought, he chuckled before leaving . Although Xue Wei was their savior, he came from a remote continent . It was clear that he did not know as much as all the rest of them .

    Xue Wei looked at Bai Tianyi, but the sword spirit just shrugged his shoulders, "You are not supposed to know about the ranks above Saints yet," he answered honestly . "It is the world where cultivation truly begins . "

    "What rank were you when you were still alive?" Xue Wei could not help but ask, and Bai Tianyi nced at him considering answering honestly .

    "I had reached the highest realm you could beneath the immortals," he said proudly . Then he looked slightly sheepish . "I was able to cleave an entire world into multiple continents . It was a strength that others could notpete against . "

    Hearing this, Xue Wei nodded his head . Although he knew that Saints held much power, he was aware that they did not have the strength to do what Bai Tianyi had done all those years back .

    Even if it was a full-powered strike with his life on the line, it should not be possible to cleave an entire world, but Bai Tianyi had done so .

    Thinking like this, Xue Wei could not help but muse on whether or not there were ranks above the Emperor .

    "Oh well," he muttered to himself . "I am not in a position to care about whether or not there are ranks above the Emperor rank . For now, I should focus fully on reaching the Heavenly Knight rank . "

    Reaching this conclusion, Xue Wei felt as if a load had fallen from his shoulders, and his soul became free all of a sudden . Although he wished to get stronger, he was aware that he needed to walk step by step towards a higher rank, towards a much brighter future .

    Bai Tianyi smiled slightly when he looked at Xue Wei . He could sense that the other was on the verge of having an enlightenment . An enlightenment would be capable of increasing his Qi and Spiritual Energy at a rapid pace, but he needed just the final push to enter enlightenmentpletely .

    Xue Wei was feeling immenselyfortable . His entire soul was much more rxed than ever before . He had understood that although he strived for the peak of martial arts, he had to take it slow, one step at a time .

    Xue Wei sat down and began cultivating again . While he was cultivating, he sensed everything around him; he even sensed the fish that were moving in the sea, the birds flying in the air .

    Everything turned silent; all he could hear was the crashing of waves against the hull of the ship . The sound was tranquil and soul-stirring, and it was enough to make anyone feel at ease .

    While Xue Wei was as free as the birds in the sky, the rest of the ship had a dreadful atmosphere surrounding them all .

    The ship, which previously had been moving around fast through the sea was now moving along at snail speed .

    It was evident that they were horrified of the Thunder Twilight Zone . Xue Wei and his friends were much more rxed . Although they understood that the Thunder Twilight Zone was dangerous, they had never seen it before, so they could not know which horrors were inside of it .

    The members of the delegation had not been inside the Thunder Twilight Zone either, but they had passed the zone multiple times . One nce at the Thunder Twilight Zone would be enough to insert horror into the soul of anyone .

    The closer they came, the more ships they encountered . Onboard these ships were outstanding crews, where no one was beneath the Heavenly Knight rank - even the sailors were above .

    From this, one could expect that the strength that these crewsmanded was immense; their fighting strength could not be belittled .

    Xue Wei and his friends were all happy that they were not in a position where they had to fight against them . Although they had faith in emerging victorious against the majority of the crews, they knew it would be dangerous and that they would have to exhaust arge amount of energy to do so .

    Just as Xue Wei was about to sit down and cultivate again, he felt a current of energy enter his body and roam the meridians like small lightning bolts .

    Lifting his head, and looking into the distance, his eyes narrowed and his pupils constricted .

    There, into the distance, as far as the eye could see, was thunder and lightning crashing down from the sky above .

    All light seemed to be swallowed by the roaring thunder and zing lightning .

    All one could see was a dim, twilight-like light that had descended upon the entire world . The thunder, albeit far away, was so booming that it felt as if someone was hitting Xue Wei¡¯s heart, his whole being was shaking from the loud sounds .

    He finally understood why they were so worried about the Thunder Twilight Zone . This was no ordinary thunder, only second to the tribtion lightning, and it was able to reduce weaker experts into ash in a moment .

    It was no wonder that people said that experts below the Heavenly Knight rank were suicidal in case they entered the forbidden area .

 Chapter 327

    Chapter 327: 327

    Xue Wei looked at the incessant lightning strikes that hit the sea . There was no break in between, and the ships would need to be equipped with all sorts of formations and inscriptions to protect them from the lightning strikes .

    To Xue Wei¡¯s surprise, most of the ships halted just before they were about to enter the Thunder Twilight Zone . The vessel would then be stored in an extreme storage treasure, while the sailors and the experts on board all shot into the dense cluster of lightning .

    It seemed that it was impossible to enter with a ship after all . These people did not travel together . Instead, they split up and searched for their own lucky chances .

    Resources were hard to find in the Sea of the Enchanted, so the ones that were present in the Thunder Twilight Zone were tempting to all factions .

    However, these resources were not so simple to pick up . One had to risk their lives to be able to produce the things they wished for .

    Even so, everyone knew that fortune and danger went hand in hand . Because of this, it was not impossible to find a group of people who were willing to head into the dangerous area .

    Xue Wei would be lying if he said that he had no interest in the Thunder Twilight Zone, but because of his current strength, alongside the fact that he was rushing towards the Demon Phoenix Continent, he decided to reign in his excitement .

    He looked around the ship and found that the sailors¡¯ faces were pale and frightened . Even the ambassador was looking slightly ufortable . Only a few of the members of the delegation from Yan Dalu and Xue Wei¡¯spanions were looking at the Thunder Twilight Zone with excitement .

    They understood that it was not doable to go there now, but all of them could not help but think that they would enter it on ater date . It was a ce that begged to be explored .

    The myths of it being a legendary battleground for King and Emperor ranked experts; this meant that it could not be belittled and neither could the treasures .

    There were chances of encountering ruins with remnant wills of the King and Emperor ranked experts who were waiting for their sessors to appear . Maybe even let them inherit a wondrous technique or profound mystery .

    "Let us head around it!" the voice of the ambassador from the Demon Phoenix Continent suddenly called out, and the sailors all nodded their heads as they went to work .

    They made the ship sail to the east of the Thunder Twilight Zone . Although the zone filled up the entire horizon, as long as they kept sailing east they would reach its edge eventually .

    Just as the ship started moving, an undercurrent suddenly crashed into the ship, causing it to creak and sway in the waves . The sailors were getting worried, their hands working faster than before as they rushed around on the deck, trying to gain control over the vessel once more .

    Unfortunately, things were not going as they expected . The ship was not reacting as they wanted it to, and they were not capable of making it turn east . Instead, it was drifting on the undercurrent closer and closer towards the Thunder Twilight Zone .

    "Not good!" The ambassador called out in horror, "The Thunder Current has taken the ship! Everyone, we have two options now . One is to abandon the ship and fly towards the Demon Phoenix Continent; the other is to go down with the ship and enter the Thunder Twilight Zone!"

    Xue Wei looked at the Thunder Twilight Zone with some regret written over his face . It seemed as if even the universe wanted him to enter this region, but since he still had a choice, he had to pick the Demon Phoenix Continent .

    Hovering in the air, Xue Wei looked at hisrades who slowly but surely bade their farewell to the ship and joined him in the sky above the sea .

    Luoluo and Bai Tianyi were not supposed to be able to fly, as they cultivated Spiritual Energy, but when looking at them, Xue Wei found that brilliant golden wings were attached to their backs . These wings clearly had undtions of Spiritual Energy .

    Sensing Xue Wei¡¯s nce, Bai Tianyi snickered . "We are not humans," he exined, "we can fly with the spiritual bodies we have . "

    The Yan Dalu members were also able to stay in the air, not because of their Spiritual Energy cultivation, but because all of them had consumed a Sky Knight Pill . They were capable of flying because Xue Wei had boosted their Qi to the Sky Knight level .

    Even so, they would not be able to stay in the air for too long . Their primary cultivation was not Qi, and they were not familiar with flying so they would be much more troubled than the others .

    Just as Xue Wei was about to turn his back to the Thunder Twilight Zone and suggest that they set off, a resounding boom rang throughout the entire area, a swirl of energy began creating one tornado after another .

    These tornadoes were not inside the Thunder Twilight Zone but outside, and every ship that came into contact with them were torn to shred in moments, even the cultivators ended up dying a gruesome death .

    The sudden emergence of these tornadoes took them by surprise, and their eyes widened in shock and horror when they saw their destructive power .

    "Flee!" was thest word that the ambassador said before he started fleeing for his life, all the others followed suit, but the tornadoes were hurrying after them, clearly chasing them as if they had a mind of their own .

    The other ships that had reached the Thunder Twilight Zone quickly left the ship and entered the forbidden zone instead . Compared to the tornadoes that could rip them all to shreds, the lightning seemed much more manageable .

    A shrill scream suddenly sounded out behind Xue Wei, and when he turned around, he saw that one of the sailors from the ship had been incapable of keeping up .

    The tornado had caught him . His body was being ripped apart by the sheer force within the winds . It was as if he was made from paper .

    Xue Wei¡¯s eyes shed slightly, and he looked at Bai Tianyi, Luoluo, Hei Gou, and Lin Xiao . All of them were flying at a speed not too fast but not too slow either . They were not pressing their speed, so they could maintain their pace for a long time without getting exhausted .

    Seeing this, Xue Wei nodded his head approvingly, but then his face turned ugly .

    Suddenly the tornadoes were not only behind them; they were also in front, blocking their escape route . Even their side waspletely sealed off .

    "Our only option is the Thunder Twilight Zone!" Xue Wei said through gritted teeth . He was not too worried about his friends when it came to the lightning strikes as all of them were of the Heavenly Knight rank, but he feared for their safety within .

    Only one out of ten were said to survive the entrance into the forbidden zone, so he was not toofortable about it . Still, he understood that this was a risk he had to take . Staying here was certain death .

    Having made up his mind, there was no hesitation in his body as it shed . He changed his direction and headed straight for the Thunder Twilight Zone .

    Sensing the certainty in Xue Wei¡¯s actions, hisrades did not hesitate to follow him, all of them rushing towards the Thunder Twilight zone .

    Only the delegations of the two continents were left behind together with the sailors . All of them were unsure of what to do .

    They all took Xue Wei as the leader of their group after the incident on Berserker Ind . However, they also knew that if they entered the Thunder Twilight Zone, they were likely to die .

    Since they would die no matter what choice they made, why not try to see if they could make it past the tornadoes?

    Xue Wei did not have the time to care about who followed him and who did not, all that mattered to him was whether or not they would survive the onught of tornadoes .

    The closer they came to the Thunder Twilight Zone, the more electricity he could sense in the air . It was as if every breath he took contained small lightning bolts that entered his body and started tempering his meridians .

    The pain was manageable, but the closer they came the number they became, the pain was more and more painful, and they had to grit their teeth in an attempt to ignore the pain .

    Although Xue Wei was merely a Sky Knight, he was handling the electric current much better than others, notably better than the members of the Demon Phoenix Continent and Yan Dalu .

    Hei Gou was seemingly a beast walking in his own backyard; the electricity was doing no damage to him, even the bolts which had caused pain to the others were only tickling him .

    Hei Gou was a mutated Celestial Dog . It was natural for him to have a connection to the weather . His most profound attacks depended on the moon and the sun, so for him, the thunder was a friend and not a foe .

    After Hei Gou, the one who managed the best was Luoluo . Her petite face was slightly pale, and she was clearly feeling ufortable, but not to the point where she was feeling unbearable pain .

    Bai Tianyi was equally pale, and his face grimaced from time to time, disying that he was feeling pain .

    Lin Xiao¡¯s face was equally dark . His fists were clenched so tightly that a small stream of blood was trailing down his fingers .

    Xue Wei himself was feeling ufortable and painful . Although it was painful, he did not stop his reckless advance towards the Thunder Twilight Zone .

    The pain was biting through his entire body, but it did not stop him, and he was even feeling ted . The electricity that invaded him was starting to embed itself within every cell of his body, and he felt himself grow in strength .

    He knew that the electricity was further tempering their bodies . This Thunder Twilight Zone was an open treasure box .

    Xue Wei smirked when he felt this . As an Azure Dragon, his body was more robust than ordinary cultivators of the same rank, so he was not too worried about being able to fend off the lightning bolts .

    The loud booms resounded one after another, and the closer they got to the zone, the louder it became .

    The tornadoes behind them were still ferocious and following them in every step they took, but the moment that Xue Wei and his friends had rushed into the Thunder Twilight Zone itself, the sea calmed, the tornadoes fell apart, and a chuckle could be heard resounding over the entire sea .

    Xue Wei, Hei Gou, Lin Xiao, Luoluo, and Bai Tianyi were unaware of this, they only heard the rumbling thunder and saw the streaks of light from the lightning bolts that kept shing in front of them .

    It was as if they had entered a new world, a pocket dimension, where everything from outside was sealed off .

    All they could see was thunder and lightning as far as the eye could see, and the sea underneath them was like a boiling pot of water, continually bubbling and cascading upwards from the impacts .

    Outside the Thunder Twilight Zone, the ambassador of the Demon Phoenix Continent frowned .

    It felt to him as if someone had forced Xue Wei to enter the forbidden area, but who held such frightening power?

    Far away, Lan was leaning against a chair and chuckling . In front of him was a small bowl of water, and when one looked at it, it seemed still .

    Moments before thousands of small tornadoes had been present in the bowl, but now they were all gone, but a satisfied smile was evident on Lan¡¯s lips .

    "Don¡¯t disappoint me, little fake snake . "

 Chapter 328

    Chapter 328: 328

    Xue Wei was utterly unaware of the actions made by Lan far away in the continent of Chang¡¯an .

    He was also unaware of the fate of the delegation from Yan Dalu and the Demon Phoenix Continent .

    The delegation had almost all survived the onught of tornadoes . They had managed to keep a safe distance from the storms, and when they dissipated into nothing, they were still safe .

    When they thought about what they had just encountered, all of them felt lingering fear . They were all able to guess that this phenomenon was not natural at all, that it was humanmade . The aim was clearly to lure Xue Wei and hisrades into the Thunder Twilight Zone .

    The two delegations sent a final nce towards the Thunder Twilight Zone before they shook their heads in regret .

    "Let us get going," the ambassador from the Demon Phoenix Continent finally said after staring into the dense cluster of lightning that was in front of them .

    "Xue Wei and his friends are fortunate beings; we might see them one day again back at the Demon Phoenix Continent . "

    Although he said this, it sounded much more like an attempt to make him feel better . His voice was slightly hesitating, and it was clear that he did not believe it himself .

    Like this, the group of members from Yan Dalu and Demon Phoenix Continent felt slightly regretful, but none of them were willing to enter into the Thunder Twilight Zone for his sake .

    Although he had saved their lives before, they all came up with reasons to themselves that it was useless to attempt to rescue them . They did not even want to wait and see if they emerged from the forbidden zone .

    Like this, they continued on the way towards the Demon Phoenix Continent, yet only a handful of them would survive the trip .

    Many sumbed to the harsh environment on the way . Not having a ship made the trip arduous and painful . Many over-exhausted themselves and ended up in the stomachs of ferocious sea creatures .

    Only the strongest made it back to the Demon Phoenix Continent, and those who survived had started to me it all on Xue Wei .

    Had he not been chased by the tornadoes like this, then their ship would not have been shattered and their return trip would have been much more straightforward .

    They had even forgotten that he had saved their lives on Berserker Ind . Everything was med on Xue Wei, and when they arrived at the Demon Phoenix Continent and were about to announce their experiences, everything was also med on him .

    While these delegation members were rushing back towards the Demon Phoenix Continent, Xue Wei and his friends were all inside the closed-off space that was the Thunder Twilight Zone .

    The Thunder Twilight Zone was unlike any other ce they had ever been before . It was in the middle of the sea, but they could walk on top of the water without any problems .

    The thunder and lightning were constant, and the only thing that lit up the entire area was the constant blitzing of lightning that descended from the sky .

    Small inds were all over the area, one couldnd on an ind at any moment, but after closer inspection, Xue Wei found that these inds were not actual inds but instead skeletons .

    The skeletons had massive amounts of herbs growing on top of them; some were Corpse Grass and Blood Ginseng, clearly many many years old, and Xue Wei started picking them indiscriminately .

    Although many might consider them useless, they could be used in certain pills, so Xue Wei picked them without a care in the world .

    After sensing the Corpse Grass and Blood Ginseng, he also saw a Nightmare Lily and a Skeleton Hyacinth . Both these herbs were immensely rare, but main ingredients on a few forms that Xue Wei had in his storage treasure .

    After picking up the Nightmare Lily and the Skeleton Hyacinth, he slowly moved further into the Thunder Twilight Zone .

    His friends were right behind him; all of them were looking at the ground and were amazed to see the sheer amount of resources and herbs they had found already .

    "If they have this many rare herbs in the outskirts like this, the inner regions ought to be a true mine of resources," Xue Wei snickered . But Bai Tianyi sighed as he shook his head, "have you not realized yet that although we entered this way, we can¡¯t leave . It is as if the exits are blocked . "

    The resources had blinded Xue Wei, and thus, he looked behind him with curiosity . It was true that what Bai Tianyi had said was correct . Everything behind them was like a wall of lightning that was impossible to walk through . Anyone who attempted would be turned into ash on impact .

    "Well then," Xue Wei smiled slightly . "We do not have any other option than to move forward . Although we had not nned on entering the Thunder Twilight Zone, now that we are here we ought to get the best out of it . "

    The others held smiles on their faces; their eyes were glistening with excitement . All of them had felt excitement about entering the Thunder Twilight Zone, but because of having to go to the Demon Phoenix Continent, they had decided to pass on it for now .

    Now that the circumstances had forced them in here, they would explore to their heart¡¯s content .

    Although Xue Wei was alert and his nerves taut, he knew that to advance rapidly they needed to face some dangers .

    Not only this, they needed to do something about their strength . The world they were going towards was the Demon Phoenix Continent . This was a ce where Sovereign Beasts existed, an area with a King ranked expert!

    If they were not careful, and considering the task the annoying prophet Lan had given them, then it was likely they would insult the King ranked expert in Demon Phoenix Continent .

    Giving away their Thunder me Crown was not very likely, so they would need to steal it . To do that, they would need to enhance their strength tremendously .

    Xue Wei was not so naive as to think that they would reach the King ranked level during their time in the Thunder Twilight Zone, but if they could increase their strength just a bit, then they would be able to raise their survival chance .

    The group slowly moved forward . They were no longer rushing and instead taking it slowly as they looked around them .

    Suddenly, as the group walked by a cluster of lightning bolts, a beam exploded out towards them, and when it came closer, they realized that it was not a normal lightning bolt .

    Instead, it was a snake where the scales were covered in lightning . "Crap!" Bai Tianyi¡¯s eyes widened in surprise when he saw the beast, but Xue Wei just roared once, and the lightning snake instantly stilled in the air, looked at Xue Wei, and slowly slithered back into the dense cluster of lightning .

    "Oh, right," Bai Tianyi looked at Xue Wei as if he was looking at a freak . "I forgot we have the king of beasts with us here," he snorted .

    "What was that?" Xue Wei asked curiously, and Bai Tianyi nced at the cluster of lightning and felt a tremor run through his body .

    "It was a Lightning Snake . They live in lightning, and they are immensely troublesome . Their bodies contain no thunder, but their strength cannot be looked down upon . Their speed is like lightning bolts, their strength like sping thunder, resounding throughout thends . "

    Xue Wei was surprised when he heard this, but Bai Tianyi was not done exining . "They are incredibly rare . They are only able to be found in ces filled with thunder and lightning, and they contain a thunder source alongside their beast core .

    "The thunder source is significant for tempering the body . Above the Saint Rank, everyone bes spiritual entities . Not spirits, but their bodies transcend the mortal limits .

    "The body bes a spirit entity, and it is graded in different ranks . As to what level you have depended mainly on your cultivation base and energy purity .

    "There is the below-average spirit body, which is quite hard to gain, as one needs quite a talent to be a King ranked expert .

    "After the below-average spirit body is the average spirit body . This is the body that most conjure after reaching the King rank .

    "Thenes above average spirit body followed by the good spirit body . This continues to the pristine spirit body .

    "I will go more into details about the spirit bodiester on when you are closer to the ranks, but in general, it is hard to increase the rank of your spirit body .

    "This can only be done by purifying your energy, and this is where the thunder sourcees into the picture .

    "The thunder source is capable of purifying one¡¯s energy . It contains the purest lightning and thunder energy and is capable of forcing impurities out of energies and bodies . "

    Hearing Bai Tianyi talk about spirit bodies, Xue Wei was quite stunned and surprised, but he understood the meaning of it after a bit of time . Although Saints were almost considered immortals, they were not really . Only King and Emperor ranked cultivators were deemed to be real immortals .

    Xue Wei smiled slightly as he looked into the dense cluster of lightning, but then he shook his head .

    "They might be quite tempting, but their speed is not to be belittled . We are still foreigners in this ce; it is far too risky to begin battling already . "

    Bai Tianyi nodded his head . He did not really care about the thunder source as he was a real spirit body; he had already created a pristine spirit body - a natural spirit body .

    And although the thunder source was essential for cultivators, Xue Wei was still merely a Knight ranked expert, it was a long time away from bing a King ranked expert, and thus he did not have to gain the thunder sources right now .

    The group slowly moved further and further into the area, and suddenly Xue Wei came to a standstill and froze, his eyes narrowing .

    In front of him was something he was fairly familiar with . This was a purple mist he had seen back in Chang¡¯an . It looked simr, and even the feeling he felt was identical .

    Walking closer to it, he sensed that the purple mist was as weing asst time . It was dense and covered the entire area, and when he touched it, it was as if it tried to enter his body, to transform into energy and boost his strength .

    Frowning, he could not help but wonder what exactly was happening . Why would something like this mist that had appeared in Chang¡¯an be in the middle of the Thunder Twilight Zone?

    The others looked curiously at Xue Wei, wondering what exactly was going on with him . Why was his expression so grave, and howe he was walking towards something that would cause most people to be apprehensive?

    Xue Wei ignored his friends . He felt as if he heard a calling from within the mist and he paused only slightly before he found a rope in his storage treasure and started wrapping it around his waist .

    "We are going in," he said before he tossed the rope to the others, who hurriedly tied it around their waists and followed .

    While Xue Wei was feeling excited and hopeful, the others were worried and alert .

    One step at a time they ventured deeper and deeper into the mist, soon the glints of lightning could not be seen, even the thunder was muffled and not as loud as before .

    It was as if they had descended into a purple world, the mist that was surrounding them was not threatening, but the tranquil atmosphere was making the others much more alert .

    Only Xue Wei was like a fish in water, he greedily absorbed the purple mist, consuming it and felt how it was slowly enhancing his Qi and Spiritual Energy, both at the same time . The Golden and the Azure Dragon spirits were busy converting it into useable energy .

 Chapter 329

    Chapter 329: 329

    The mist was so dense that although the two energies within his body were continuously nourished, there were no signs of the mist bing less dense .

    The five friends traversed through the purple mist, and the other four could sense the energy in Xue Wei¡¯s body bing turbulent alongside the strength growing .

    They understood that there was some sort of secret within this purple mist, but no matter how much they tried, they couldn¡¯t absorb even a sliver of the purple mist .

    Still, no one said anything as they advanced deeper and deeper into the unknown . The thunder had gone from muffled cries to bing almost impossible to hear now, and the lightning shes which previously had illuminated the sky were now nowhere in sight .

    As they moved deeper into the purple mist, they became more and more alert . So far, there had been no signs at all of anything living within the mist; neither were there any signs of prior visitors . It was as if they had entered a wastnd, filled with deathly silence .

    Although Xue Wei could have stopped and consumed the purple mist as he pleased, he did not do so . Instead, he continued his advance .

    It was as if something deep within the mist was calling out to him . As if his innermost being was being summoned by something within the middle of the mist .

    He was as if in a trance, he took step by step closer towards the soundless voice . He looked to neither the left nor the right; all he did was head straight towards the unknown .

    Usually, Xue Wei would not have been so carefree, especially not in a region such as the Thunder Twilight Zone, but the purple mist felt so familiar, like being in a mother¡¯s embrace .

    When Xue Wei felt this, he could not help but lower his guards . He remembered how the Purple Mist had healed him before; now, it was bringing back the same feelings offort . But when he looked at hisrades, he understood that everything he felt was exclusive to him .

    Looking at hisrades, he could not help but frown . They looked worried and scared . They were not at all as casual and carefree as him, their nerves were taut and their bodies rigid .

    "Do not fear," a voice suddenly sounded in the mist, startling all of them . While the voice sounded next to their ears, it was ever present within the entire mist, and no one could figure out where it came from .

    "I wish you no harm," the voice continued . "My King has arrived . I have to greet him . Although humans are not wee within my Purple Domain, an exception shall be made for the sake of my King . "

    No one needed to ask who this King was, clearly it was Xue Wei . Although the voice had boomed, Hei Gou and Lin Xiao did not calm down; on the contrary, they were even more alert afterward than before . However, Bai Tianyi looked at them with the usual disdain .

    "Blockhead and stupid dog, calm down," he said casually, not at all caring for the fact that he was insulting them . "Since the creature who spoke was able to materialize their voice like this, then they are above our strength . Far above our strength," he exined . "If it wanted us dead, we would be dead thousand times over, so just ept the grace we have been shown by being together with Wei . "

    Bai Tianyi was as crude as always, never holding anything back, and saying whatever was on his mind . Even Hei Gou and Lin Xiao did nothing when they heard him insult them and calling them stupid dog and blockhead .

    They knew that although he spoke harsh words, he was the first to stand by their side should they ever need it .

    Not to mention he was much more experienced than them, and thus they often relied on his knowledge to manage in difficult and tricky situations .

    Xue Wei was not worried, and after hearing Bai Tianyi¡¯s words, the rest also slowly put away their worries . Their bodies rxed gradually, and instead of being too wound up, they slowly started to examine the world of purple mist .

    Although it seemed to be a wastnd, it turned out that beneath their feet was grass at times, waves at others . There were no rare herbs or exquisite items, but there were regr inds and sea . Here and there were nts, but the only thing that they could feel was silence . Utter silence .

    The others, although they had been promised that there was no danger, did not remove the line that held them all together .

    This was not because they feared that something would appear from the mist and attack them, but because they realized that the mist was too dense . You could only see one meter ahead of you, so getting lost was entirely possible .

    The reason they were able to navigate in the dense mist was because of the weird feeling that was leading Xue Wei on the path .

    They walked for what seemed an eternity . It was impossible to determine how long it was as everything looked the same within the mist . It was impossible to say if they had walked in circles or if they had actually reached some ces .

    Anyone who entered and did not have a guide like Xue Wei would have gotten lost almost instantly .

    Finally, the dense mist suddenly started to thin out, and in front of them was a beautiful scenery that none of them had expected to encounter in the middle of the Thunder Twilight Zone .

    In front of them was a beautiful ind . It had a sizeable mountain filled with lush green forests, and it reached up into the clouds . Right in front of them were beaches with white sand and seashells while the first trees were around a few hundred meters away from it .

    In between the forest and the sand was green grass, and on this grass was a small cottage .

    There were no animals on the ind, and everything was still as silent as it had been within the purple mist .

    "Let¡¯s head for the cottage," Xue Wei said with a low voice . He could sense that what was calling for him was within the cottage, and his heart was beating rapidly . What was this feeling?

    As they headed towards the cottage, the door swung open and a woman stepped out .

    The woman resembled a fairy; her beauty was ethereal, her appearance otherworldly .

    "My King," she greeted as she cupped her fists and bowed slightly towards Xue Wei .

    Xue Wei, however quickly went to help her straighten herself again, "I am no king," he said honestly . "But why have you summoned me?"

    The being that was standing on the grass looked at Xue Wei for some time, before its body suddenly expanded .

    Scaled erupted from beneath the skin, and the body turned into that of a dragon . While Xue Wei was an azure dragon, this was a white dragon with a slightly blue tint to the scales .

    "I am a flood dragon," the dragon said as it looked deeply at Xue Wei . "My mate lives in Chang¡¯an . This purple mist is a skill that only he and I know .

    "I can feel the life force of my mate inside of you, and at the same time, I can also sense your aura like an emperor .

    "I hoped you could tell me about my mate, but more than anything I knew you were the esteemed Azure Dragon .

    "An Azure Dragon is the King of all dragons . We are forced to bow to the Azure Dragon, and thus, I wanted to see what my King looked like .

    "I understand that you are young and that it is quite a time before you be a real Dragon King or perhaps even a Dragon Emperor, but seeing you in your growth period is also an honor .

    "I cannot do much for you, but what I can do is to help you mature slightly .

    "The Thunder Twilight Zone belongs to me . I am a flood dragon, and I entered this area a millennia ago .

    "Since then I have stayed here, waiting for the time I can be reunited with my mate .

    "I can tell you where the most prosperous area of the Thunder Twilight Zone is, the area with most treasures .

    "Although this ce is a real treasure trove, it is also the most dangerous area in the entire zone apart from my purple mist .

    "Although it is not as dangerous as my purple mist, it is still quite dangerous, so you have to depend on both luck and skill to make it through . "

    Xue Wei considered for some time, but he had already been prepared to fight for his life . Now that he was within the Thunder Twilight Zone, he was not going to give up just like that .

    However, it was not a decision he could make on his own . This was a life-threatening decision, and therefore, he had to ensure that his friends were equally ready to risk their lives .

    Bai Tianyi smirked when he heard the words of the flood dragon, Hei Gou was grinning, Lin Xiao was chuckling, and Luoluo was looking puzzled .

    Although Luoluo was the one who seemed like she was the most unsure about what to do, Xue Wei was the least worried about her .

    She was immortal, and not only this, but she was also the strongest of them all if they ended up in a tricky situation .

    "It seems that you all have made a decision," the flood dragon said approvingly . If he had shied away from this, then she would not have believed in his ability to be a Dragon King, much less a Dragon Emperor .

    But he had not disappointed her; he had not hesitated at all and ended up going straight for the danger area .

    "Let me show you the way," the dragon once more transformed into the shape of a woman, and her long flowing white fairy dress was floating around her as she started moving through the purple mist .

    By the time she had reached the purple mist, it was as if it warped around them, and in a few steps they had left behind the purple world, once more returning to the booming thunder and the lightning that was continuously brightening up the sky .

    Xue Wei was astounded when he saw how the flood dragon was capable of making them move through the mist so fast .

    Although it had been impossible to determine exactly how long he and the others had spent to reach the center, it was in no way a short amount of time . It could have been a day, but it could also have been days since the purple world hadpletely messed up their ability to detect time .

    Still, this was so fast that they knew that it was unnatural .

    Although they had moved too fast, Xue Wei was not in a position to ask anything . He had to look around and determine if their current location was safe, and the more he looked, the darker his face became .

    This ce was indeed as dangerous as the purple mist would be formon experts .

    He could sense that the lightning in the area was many times stronger than it had been at the outskirts of the Thunder Twilight Zone . It was clear that they had reached the very center of the zone .

    "Well then, I am off," the flood dragon said, and without giving Xue Wei time to say anything, she vanished from her position . It was clear that she was scared of him changing his decision and wanting to return with her .

    Smiling wryly, Xue Wei shook his head and looked around them . It was, contrary to his expectations, not the middle of the sea . Instead, it was a deste ind .

    The deste ind was not too big, it was around the size of the ind the flood dragon resided on, but where that one was full of life, this one was scorched, and filled with a deadly gloom .

 Chapter 330

    Chapter 330: 330

    Although this ind was deste and no living creature could be seen on the ind itself, a few people were standing in the vicinity of the ind in small groups .

    Most of them were already filled with vignce . Now all of them were alerted to Xue Wei and his friends¡¯ arrival .

    They had all seen how an alluring woman had brought over a group of experts . All of which had appeared out of nowhere . Afterward, she had even vanished as silently as she had arrived .

    These groups of experts were experienced in moving around in the Thunder Twilight Zone . Their livelihood was to enter the Twilight Thunder Zone and bring out the resources that could be found within .

    They knew how dangerous this area was; they understood what it meant to arrive here . Even they needed to consider seriously before entering the center of the Thunder Twilight Zone, so what were these youngsters doing here?

    When they looked at them, they could also see Xue Wei was not even a Heavenly Knight . How had he survived the Thunder and Lightning that was constantly cascading down from the sky?

    Even now, many people could see how the numerous lightning bolts werending on his body . Even so, not even a tremor ran through him, much less severe damage .

    Everyone within the Thunder Twilight Zone was regrly hit by lightning . Anyone beneath the Heavenly Knight rank would have been turned to ashes . But nheless, these people could see that Xue Wei, who was clearly a Sky Knight, was standing unmoved in the middle of the lightning .

    They could see his eyes were scanning over the ind in front of them; it seemed as if he had a n on entering the ind . Even these experts, who were Heavenly Knights, would have to be careful before entering his area, much less a simple Sky Knight .

    Many suddenly started to wonder about the background of this figure, it could not be simple to allow him to enter the Thunder Twilight Zone, and he was likely to have a lot of treasures on his body .

    Thinking about the treasures that were likely to be on his body, all of them suddenly felt a bit of greed in their hearts . They were contemting if it was worth it to attack him and kill him and hispanions before looting their corpses .

    Xue Wei was unaware of the thoughts of these people, but even if he had known, he would not have minded .

    Although he was a Sky Knight, he was more than capable enough to go against a Heavenly Knight or two . His friends were all Heavenly Knights, and they would be able to defeat more than one at a time too .

    So even if these observers decided to attack, then Xue Wei would not fear them too much . What he had to be most alert about were the experts who did not want to attack, and then decided to be the fishermen, waiting behind to reap the benefits .

    Looking around, he noticed the greed in the people¡¯s eyes and his own hardened . He frowned, but he was not in the mood to be entangled with these people .

    "Let¡¯s go!" Xue Wei said and rushed towards the deste ind in front of them . The lightning that was there was so much more overwhelming and powerful than anywhere else in the Thunder Twilight Zone, but even so, all it managed to do was make Xue Wei itch slightly .

    Looking at the others, he saw that they weren¡¯t affected by the lightning either . All of them were feeling casual as they shot towards the ind .

    Lightning came crashing down, it was as if there was an attack of lightning bolts, all attacking Xue Wei and his friends, but when the lightningnded on their bodies, nothing happened apart from a few chills running through them .

    Thunder boomed, it was much louder than before, and it was getting louder and louder, so loud that one could not help but feel that their ears were ringing .

    Even so, the speed of Xue Wei and his friends did not diminish . Luoluo and Bai Tianyi had wings on their backs made from spiritual energy, while Xue Wei, Hei Gou, and Lin Xiao were able to fly due to their Qi levels .

    After as long as it took for half a stick of incense to burn, they arrived at the ind andnded on the destend .

    Beneath their feet were withered grass, it seemed as if it had all the life force sucked out of it .

    Frowning, he saw how it turned to dust underneath their feet . Looking at the sky, Xue Wei also noticed that the lightning and thunder was not striking on the ind . All the boltsnded in the sea just outside the ind; it was as if it was making a cage surrounding the ind .

    "This ce is creepy," Luoluo said as she pursed her lips slightly . "I can feel some weird energy here," she continued . "I don¡¯t know what kind of energy it is, but it is notfortable at all . There is also a big killing intent!"

    Xue Wei could also feel the killing intent . His own murderous aura in his body was starting to react to the killing intent in the air; his soul was getting restless .

    Waving his hand, a small vial appeared in his hand . The vial contained the soul calming pills, and Xue Wei quickly took one of them and ced it in his mouth before he passed it around, allowed for all of them to take one each .

    The soul calming pill was instantly working, entering their minds and making them calm down .

    The killing intent on the ind was not natural at all . It would invade any visitor¡¯s mind and erode their reasoning, making them turn into a mindless killing machine, but these soul calming pills removed the invading killing intent and allowed for them to regain their minds .

    They did not need to walk far before a figure appeared in the distance . The clothes were dirty, and the hair was messy . The eyes were empty, and the mouth was open, wuwu sounds continuallying out of its mouth .

    "I guess not everyone can fight against the killing intent," Xue Wei muttered as he saw the unconscious-but-still-moving person .

    "He is still wearing his storage treasure," Bai Tianyimented as if the most important thing for him was whether or not the target was worth killing .

    "Well then," Hei Gou looked at Bai Tianyi . "If you want the storage treasure, he is all yours . "

    Bai Tianyi snorted, waved his hand and a spiritual energy sword at the size of five meters suddenly chopped at the figure .

    Before the figure had time to move, it was cut in half, but contrary to what one might expect, no blood was spilled .

    Looking puzzled, they walked over to look at the now-dead figure, only to find that there was no blood in his body, his entire body seemed as withered as the grass they had stepped upon when they arrived .

    "Interesting," Xue Wei muttered as he looked around . He nudged the corpse with his feet, and just as the foot came into contact with the skin, it turned into dust and started to float away in the wind .

    "They areing," Hei Gou said after a bit of hesitation, he looked around and saw that hundreds of figures had surrounded the entire group .

    These figures had various degrees of decay . Some werepletely withered away, some were more human-like, but all of them had dull, dead eyes .

    "I wonder what is hidden on this ind," Xue Wei muttered what they were all thinking about . To be able to take over everyone¡¯s mind like this was simply outstanding, and also quite frightening .

    "There is a spirit here," Luoluo said, but she did not sound happy about her discovery .

    "It is an evil spirit," Bai Tianyi added, but neither Xue Wei nor Hei Gou or Lin Xiao knew anything about evil spirits, so they just looked at him, curious as to what it was .

    "Evil spirits are vile spirits," Bai Tianyi began exining . "Spirits rely on spiritual energy to increase their strength . But usually, they do not kill for the sake of gaining spiritual energy . However, some spirits kill anything theye across for soul power .

    "The more they kill for the sake of soul power, the more bloody their souls be, and eventually they will be evil spirits or blood spirits .

    "An evil spirit can be evil from creation . If they are born on a battlefield, their entire core is born from death and blood, and then it is their nature to be evil spirits .

    "This was supposed to have been a battleground for Kings and Emperors, so, naturally, an evil spirit has been born over the passing of time . "

    "We might have a problem though," Luoluo cut in, and Bai Tianyi stayed silent, nodding his head .

    Xue Wei looked at them wondering what the problem could be, but what he heard next made a chill run down his spine .

    "If this spirit has managed to absorb the soul power of the Kings and Emperor experts, then we have truly entered a death trap," Luoluo smiled wryly .

    "Emperors and Kings can seal their soul power," Bai Tianyi continued to exin . "This is usually done in the purpose of finding an heir to their legacy, but if the spirit has managed to get its hands on this energy, then we are likely to be facing a dangerous entity . An entity we can¡¯t face at all . "

    "It should not be that serious," Xue Wei said hesitatingly . "The flood dragon would not have sent us in here if we had no chance of survival . "

    He did not know the flood dragon too well, but he could feel the reverence and respect the dragon felt towards him . It would never harm him intentionally .

    He was silent for some time, and then he looked at the figures who continued to stumble forward . Their speed was slow, and their movements clumsy .

    "Can this energy help you?" Xue Wei suddenly asked as he looked at Luoluo and Bai Tianyi . "Can we take the energy and share it between the two of you?"

    Bai Tianyi and Luoluo were always arguing, but this time they looked at one another and grinned . "We can even steal it if the evil spirit has consumed it," Luoluo snickered .

    Xue Wei did not know too much about spirits, but he smiled and nodded his head .

    He could sense that these two spirits were eager to get their hands on the soul power and spiritual energy . As their friend, when there was something they wanted, he would naturally support them to the best of his ability .

    His friends were aware of this, and they looked gratefully at Xue Wei . Hei Gou and Lin Xiao were also smiling and grinning when they saw that they were all on the same level . None of them were eager to leave the ind .

    "Well, first off, we have to get rid of these withered experts . "

    Having said this, Xue Wei shed towards the withered creatures in front of him . All of them were Heavenly Experts, but having lost their lives, and all their soul energy, they were like mechanical dolls that were unable to move fast .

    Inner Might - Qi Sword Style!

    Forbidden Rush!

    Xue Wei rushed, and his sword was being brandished with a flourish, head after head was being decapitated and they fell to the ground, some disintegrating while others had been dead for a shorter amount of time, their bodies only partly vanishing .

    Xue Wei, Bai Tianyi, Hei Gou, Lin Xiao, and Luoluo were efficiently disposing of every one of the withered experts, they did not even break a sweat as they killed them, and soon the hundreds of experts had turned to dust that was blowing in the wind, small hills of dirt on the ground and partly destroyed corpses .

 Chapter 331

    Chapter 331: 331

    The ground was littered with dust but also storage treasures . Xue Wei did not mind it and waved his hand, qi erupted from his body and dragged the storage treasures towards him where itnded in front of him, turning into a small mountain .

    He quickly put them into his own storage treasure . Now was not the time to check their spoils of war .

    Although the battle had been effortless, the fact that so many undead cultivators had appeared was a sign of something dangerous happening on the ind .

    Before going any further, Xue Wei checked his stock of soul calming pills . He had easily been able to connect the dots - the ones who entered the ind without something tobat the fierce killing intent would end up as mindless undead, wandering the ind and slowly lose all their soul power .

    Some of the experts on the ind had already turned to dust long ago, so storage treasures were randomlyying on the ground .

    Knowing that he still had a few vials of the soul calming pills, he did not mind it too much . As long as he could get rid of the killing intent that was shrouding the entire ind, they would at least not have to fear being made into the undead .

    Xue Wei and his friends had their nerves stretched tautly . They understood that this ind had to have other dangers than this killing intent and the risk of bing undead .

    They advanced further into the ind and came across a withered, grey and dark forest . It stretched as far as the eye could see, and even when they walked by the side of the forest, they were unable to see the end .

    Eventually, after walking by the forest for a long time, Xue Wei frowned . "The forest is likely to cover the entire inner ind," he sighed when he realized that no matter how far they walked, they would still be seeing only forests on their side .

    "I have a bad feeling about this dead forest," Hei Gou said tentatively as he looked into the forest, a bit of dread was in his eyes .

    This forest was not giving out any feeling of killing like the rest of the ind, but instead, it was silent . It was as if everything that entered became nothing - that no sound could prate the thicket .

    It was as if, anything that entered was incapable of exiting again .

    Xue Wei looked at the forest, but his eyes shone with determination . He was not going to cower in fear; he was going to give it all he could and not back down . If he died trying, he had no regrets .

    It was not only Xue Wei who thought like this . When he looked at the others, although he could see worry and difort in their eyes, there was no regret, no backing down .

    Sensing their determination, he felt proud of having exactly these people as his friends . They were not willing to give up, nor were they willing to let go of any chances . Although they knew that they would encounter danger, they refused to cower!

    "Well then, no need to waste any more time considering," Xue Wei said smilingly, as he took a step forward, and the friends followed suit as they too stepped into the withered and dead forest .

    As soon as they entered the forest, it felt as if they had entered another world . This world was utterly silent, not even a rustling of the branches could be heard .

    This Thunder Twilight Zone was filled with lightning and thunder; winds were blowing all over the ce, making it near impossible for these trees to stand still, and even less impossible for them to not rustle slightly .

    But looking into the treetops above them, there were no signs of the wind reaching the trees . Nor were there any signs of life, but that had be normal on this ind .

    Even so, the danger Xue Wei felt after entering the forest was many times higher than it had been before . His nerves were stretched to their limits, his senses on high alert .

    Although the forest felt dead, and although no signs of life could be seen, Xue Wei could sense that something was living in the shadows .

    It was observing them . Every step they took was being followed closely, and when Xue Wei¡¯s eyes hardened as he started moving deeper into the forest, but all his focus was on the shadows .

    He soon found that there were two types of shadows . One of the shadows waspletely ck . It was moving strangely, not retracting when the lights of the lightning descended from the sky . Instead, it kept stretching its shadow further and further towards Xue Wei .

    "It is hiding in the shadows!" he called out and looked behind him, only to find that Luoluo was quite a bit behind, her face showing some difort and her body unable to move .

    "It is the shadows," she said with a suppressed voice, "it got a hold of me," she continued .

    Although she was in a horrible situation and unable to move even a muscle, she was not panicking . Her eyes were bright, and she was looking forward without hesitation .

    Xue Wei paused before he rummaged through his storage treasures and picked out five small stones which he then passed on to one each .

    As soon as they gained them, they activated the stones . These stones were ordinary stones, but they were inscribed . The inscription on them was explosive, and Xue Wei activated his first .

    The inscription in his hand suddenly shone with a bright light . A light that forced away every shadow that had gathered around them . Even the shadows that had gathered around Luoluo vanished .

    "We don¡¯t know how deep the forest is," Xue Wei said as he looked into his storage treasure and found that he had another twenty-seven of these illuminating inscriptions .

    Although it sounded like a lot, it was not that many considering they were unaware of the length of the forest . Even when walking within it, they did not know if they were walking in circles .

    As they continued forward, they found that the shadows had not truly retreated . They were staying outside of the light¡¯s circle and were waiting for another chance to return .

    "They are likely soul remnants of the ones who died here on the ind," Bai Tianyi said when he looked at the many shadows that were gathering just outside the light¡¯s border, but he still felt ufortable looking at them .

    "The people who died had felt such extreme grief, resentment, anger, or other emotions that even after their death, some of their soul could not be erased, and some of their soul power could not be devoured by the evil spirit .

    "As such, the result is that they roam the darkness and try to release the pent up frustrations and emotions that they consist of . If they are angry, they are acting in anger, attacking in the hope of releasing this feeling, if it is hatred, then they wish to destroy the world . It is hard to say what exactly is fueling each of these remnant soul fragments, but it is obvious that they are plentiful . Many have to have died on this ind throughout time . "

    Xue Wei nodded his head absentmindedly . He was busy looking at Luoluo and ensuring that the shadow that had grasped hold of her earlier was no longer attached, that it had caused no damage to her .

    "I think that the fake spirit is right," she said, not forgetting to insult Bai Tianyi while speaking . "The remnant soul fragment thattched onto me seems to have been filled with hopelessness . I could feel that it had no intention of attacking me, but wanted me to feel the pain of being abandoned . Feel how it was like to not even be able to fight for my life . "

    While thinking back on this, Luoluo shivered slightly, but Xue Wei gently patted her head . "The mindset might have entered your body and affected your mood," he said, "but that does not mean that it will stay . You can erase it easily if you do not let it take control of your feelings . "

    Xue Wei did not know about remnant soul fragments before, but he could guess how they worked .

    They were fueled by emotions, not to mention some soul power, but they had limited quantities of both .

    When the shadows decided to attack, they had to use the soul power they had stored up and kept through all the years of feeling . Sometimes these remnant soul fragments would evolve and start to consume the others, but that mainly happened for the hateful ones .

    Although many hateful soul fragments existed on the ind, only a handful of them had learned how to cannibalize the others .

    Xue Wei looked at the shadows . Before they had seemed just like regr shadows, but now they were moving .

    It was as if the outside of their light border was a big ck sea . It was as if it was impossible to see through these shadows, and knowing that they had been seen through they did not even attempt to pretend to be a shadow anymore .

    Instead they were stacked high on top of one another . Making a big barrier surrounding them, only the light could keep them at bay .

    "Let us get moving," Xue Wei finally said through gritted teeth . He could see that the illuminating inscription on his stone was already starting to diminish, and he knew that although he had quite a few, they might not be able tost all through the forest .

    None of the others said anything as they also began moving forward . They were walking in darkness; it was utterly impossible to see which direction they were taking .

    Everything had descended into silence; even the group did not speak; all eyes were on the many remnant soul fragments that had surrounded them .

    As soon as one illuminating inscription died out, another was turned on . The advancing shadows would retreat once again, and wait, bide their time, for when Xue Wei and his friends ran out of these illuminating inscriptions .

    The group continued forward . Although none of them were masters at geography, and although it was impossible for them to see more than a yard in front of them, they had a basic understanding of their own movements and knew that they were more or less walking in a straight line through the forest .

    Each illuminating inscriptionsted for as long as it took an incense stick to burn . It was not a long time, and the forest was vast . After walking for some time, they had already used ten of the illuminating inscriptions, and there was still no signs out of the forest .

    Here and there, they hade across some storage treasures on the ground, and not wanting to be wasteful, Xue Wei had picked them up and ced them in his own storage treasure . He did not have the time to look at them, but he could still gather them forter . Managing the household was not an easy task, and providing these friends with resources was a costly endeavor .

    No onemented on this behavior of Xue Wei . They all felt that it was reasonable of him to take the loot . He provided them with items, so they obviously would give all their findings to him .

    After twenty of their illuminating inscriptions died out, they finally saw the trees thinning in front of them . The shadows started to diminish in numbers, and the forest seemed less frightening, but something told Xue Wei that this part, although seemingly the most secure ce in the forest so far, was the most dangerous one .

    Not waiting for the others to stop up and catch their breath, he started walking again, this time at a rapid pace so that the others had almost to run to catch up .

 Chapter 332

    Chapter 332: 332

    "What is happening?" Hei Gou could not help but ask, but Xue Wei did not answer . Instead, he ced his finger on his lips and indicated that they had to be silent .

    Sensing the seriousness of the situation, no one questioned his actions but picked up their pace and began rushing through the now more sparse vegetation of the forest .

    Just as they had almost left the forest behind arge boom resounded throughout the forest . The forest which had previously beenpletely silent was giving off a boom that was even more resounding than the outstanding thunder that could be heard outside .

    "Crap," Xue Wei was not one to swear, but right at that moment all hairs stood on end, and he was feeling very ufortable . Every cell in his body was screaming for him to get out of there right away .

    Even the remnant soul fragments which had followed them like a dog following a bone before were now fleeing without a second thought . Their primal instincts were also telling them to escape .

    "What¡¯s that?" Lin Xiao asked, his eyes widening in fear, and his body starting to tremble from the pressure whatever had caused the boom was pressing down upon them .

    "I think it is a fused remnant soul fragment," Bai Tianyi said slowly, and when he spoke, Luoluo¡¯s face turned dark . Even the ones who did not know what it was were feeling ufortable . They could guess that if the typical remnant soul fragments were dangerous, then this fused one had to be horrible .

    "We can¡¯t outrun it . " Xue Wei said . He had seen the movements in the shadows, and he felt a headacheing his way .

    "How do we defeat it?" Hei Gou asked as he looked at Bai Tianyi . Thetter¡¯s face was pale . Sweat was beading on his forehead .

    "I am not sure," Bai Tianyi answered honestly . "I only knew about the remnant soul fragments and that they can fuse because I read of them in a book . I never encountered them before, so I don¡¯t know how to defeat them . "

    Xue Wei was silent for some time as he looked at the creature wiggling in the darkness . Right now it seemed slow, but he knew that if they moved, then it would be much more difficult to escape .

    "It is an evil spirit," Xue Wei concluded after thinking for some time . "It can be defeated with light, fire, or thunder and lightning . Thunder and lightning is the nemesis of evil spirits, so I am quite surprised that so many exist within the Thunder Twilight Zone . "

    "This is why they are here," Luoluo said silently . "They are forced to stay on this ind because they cannot escape . The ind is not being struck by lightning . The thunder cannot enter either .

    "So the spirits can flourish on this ind, but as soon as it gets to the outside, they can do nothing . They will die the moment they step away from the ind itself . "

    Xue Wei nodded his head as he considered what to do . He was a dragon, but he had no thunder and lightning abilities, and the only me he had was his alchemist me .

    "You forget something," Bai Tianyi said after thinking for a bit . "I am a sword spirit . I am also a natural enemy of evil, but this might be a bit too much for me to handle on my own . "

    "I have a beast me," Lin Xiao suddenly said, his words surprising the others .

    Beast mes were exceedingly rare . They were something that you had to take from a beast, and no beast would willingly give up their mes .

    When a beast me was taken away, it would never regrow, and the few beasts that had a beast me would guard it with their lives .

    But Lin Xiao was a diviner . It was not unnatural for him tomand a beast me .

    "Why did you not use it before?" Hei Gou asked curiously . There was no ming just confusion in his voice .

    "I have nothing to use it for," Lin Xiao said as he shrugged his shoulders .

    "My current attacks are much more connected to pure strength, and I have no techniques that rely on mes . "

    Xue Wei nodded his head as he started to take numerous inscriptions out of his storage treasure . Most of them were explosives; some were mes others were bombs . Some were for the sake of lighting up surroundings; another was for burning your enemy to ashes .

    Bai Tianyi with his dao of the sword, Lin Xiao with his beast me and Xue Wei with his many inscriptions and formations, all of them stood ready for the battle that would begin .

    Even Luoluo and Hei Gou had epted inscriptions from Xue Wei .

    After the two booms, silence once more descended into the forest, only a few rustling sounds interrupted the silence here and there .

    "Okay, I doubt we can defeat it," Xue Wei said with a low voice, "but what we will do is we will attack and escape . This entity is far too powerful for us to deal with . "

    Bai Tianyi heaved a sigh of relief when he heard this . He was afraid that Xue Wei wanted them to fight till the end, but he was just aiming for making distractions .

    The others quickly epted their orders and soon after the area was exploding with light, fires and random attacks .

    These attacks went out in every direction, and soon, a screech could be heard . "Run!" Xue Wei yelled out as he began running . The others were also running for their lives; all of them were rushing out of the forest .

    The mes and attacks behind them were zing, the withered forest was unable to handle the mes and disintegrated from just being touched by the fire, but they managed to keep the fires alive for a short moment, and the screeching sounds of the fused remnant soul fragment was making cold sweat run down all of their backs, their faces were twisted in pain as the sound was excruciating .

    As they ran, Xue Wei suddenly heard a muffled sound from behind him, and when he looked back, he found that Hei Gou had fallen t on the ground, his body was slowly being dragged backward .

    Xue Wei could not help but curse under his breath as he leaped back towards Hei Gou, got hold of his hands and tried to drag him back towards the exit of the forest .

    Unfortunately, he had severely underestimated the strength of the shadow that was pulling Hei Gou, and with a slight tug, Xue Wei almost fell on top of Hei Gou .

    Gritting his teeth, he called out, "Help!" and he saw how Bai Tianyi turned around, his pupils constricted and suddenly a massive sword made from spiritual energy appeared behind him .

    This sword was not to be belittled, it was around fifty meters long, and it chopped down with a strength that could shake a mountain .

    The shadow behind Hei Gou was cut into two, and it was possible for Xue Wei to drag Hei Gou with him to leave .

    Another few inscriptions were thrown out by Xue Wei on the way, in an attempt to keep the shadows at bay, but he always felt worried and filled with lingering fear .

    They managed to escape slightly faster this time, but when Hei Gou was released, Lin Xiao suddenly called out in surprise .

    Before he had the time to help, the beast me on Lin Xiao¡¯s body erupted and cut off the shadows, causing the creature in the darkness to cry out in pain once more .

    It was a gruesome sound . The Fused Remnant Soul Fragment was much more intelligent and powerful than the individual ones, but it was still far from human . It was a mixture of many sentiments that had merged during the cannibalism of other remnant soul fragments, and thus it was no longer aplete creature but a fusion of many .

    As they ran, Xue Wei saw that the illuminating inscription in his hand was dimming drastically, and he used all his force to throw it into the darkness as he activated another one .

    As the illuminating inscriptionnded in the darkness, Xue Wei had nced at where he had thrown it, and suddenly, his heart stopped, and his mind shook .

    In a split second, he had seen what the fused remnant soul fragment looked like, and it had been horrifying even to a cold-blooded person like Xue Wei .

    Thousands of eyes had been upon the shadowy figure . It had once resembled a silhouette of a human, but now it had arms, heads, and legs growing on every spot on the body, and the heads were especially terrifying with mouths that were opened in screeches, the insides so red they resembled blood, and sharp teeth were looking as if they could rip through flesh .

    Shaking his head, he awoke from his stupor, and a chill ran down his spine . If this shadowy creature got a hold of him and his friends, then it was evident that they would be doomed, so he had no other option than to continue fighting for their survival .

    Having seen what they were fighting against, the feeling of dread had crept up on Xue Wei, but he forced himself to calm down before he began dragging the injured Hei Gou out of the forest .

    Lin Xiao and Bai Tianyi held the back, they were throwing out attacks filled with the dao of swords, and the beast me, while Luoluo was in front and was throwing inscriptions and formations left and right .

    Eventually, they made their way out of the forest, and as they did, they copsed on the ground .

    All of them were panting hard, and they could not help but feel that they had indeed had a close struggle with death .

    As they were gasping for air, they saw how the shadows were roiling in the darkness beneath the tree branches in the forest behind them, but they felt fortunate not to have to go through it again just now .

    "How do we get back?" Lin Xiao suddenly asked, and everyone, who was happy that they were now alive, sighed and shook their heads .

    "We think about it when that timees," Xue Wei said, feeling dejected . He was not regretting his decision about entering the ind, but he was starting to wonder if he should have brought his friends .

    Just as the thought hit him, he looked at the many people around him, and he finally felt happy . Although it was dangerous, these people were able to make him feel human . They were able to make him think of warmth and friendship . Without them, he would not be much different from the undead; his only urge in life would be to kill .

    Thinking like this, his features softened, and he felt much more at peace .

    Just as he was about to open his mouth, he suddenly heard the sound of footstepsing towards them . The steps belonged to a group of people .

    Standing up, Xue Wei gestured for the others to be careful as well, and they all caught their breath as they stood up, alert once more .

    Was it more undead that had made their way towards them? It could not be remnant soul fragments as their movements left no footsteps, but these were all-powerful and not at all like the withered corpses of the undead .

    Xue Wei looked at the distance, and shortly after a group of experts emerged . These were all looking haggard and somewhat dirty, but they were all alive . One or two were injured, but nothing serious .

    "Who would have thought that another group managed to get this far in!" the leader said, but there was no greed or hostility in his voice . Instead, there was relief and happiness .

 Chapter 333

    Chapter 333: 333

    "We were lucky," Xue Wei merely answered with a smile on his lips . He did not feel that they should be too close to this other group of experts .

    The group consisted of a full twelve experts, all of which were Heavenly Knights and there was even an Ordinary Saint . The Ordinary Saint was the one who had spoken, clearly the leader of the group .

    "Luck is indeed a factor," the leader said, "but it is not enough to allow someone to venture this far into the Thunder Graveyard . "

    "Thunder Graveyard?" Xue Wei asked puzzled, and the leader looked at him with surprise and shock . "You do not know where this is?" he asked .

    His question made Xue Wei shake his head, "We do not know," he said honestly . "We were told this was the most rewarding ce in the entire Thunder Twilight Zone and thus came here, but so far we have found nothing of value, and instead we have been put in life-threatening danger time and time again . "

    "I see," the leader nodded his head gravely and slightly solemnly . "They were not lying to you," he then stated . "This is indeed the most rewarding area in the entire danger zone, but it is also the most deadly, only the purple mist can get close to it in danger levels .

    "This ce has trial after trial, and for each of these trials, you will get closer to the actual battleground of the Kings and Emperors . This ind is massive, and it is also where most treasures can be found, however, to get each of the treasures, you need to get through the trials first . "

    Xue Wei had already guessed this, so he was not surprised when he heard the words said by this Ordinary Saint .

    Seeing that they had no surprise in their expressions, the Ordinary Saint instantly knew that they were not the average person who would enter . The fact that they had survived until now, even with a Sky Knight on the team, made them understand that they were in no way simple .

    "Why don¡¯t we travel together?" the Ordinary Saint suddenly asked, and Xue Wei frowned . He was not willing to walk with them, but the other was an Ordinary Saint, and going against him would be rather useless in the middle of this dangerous environment .

    Although they might be able to defeat him and his entourage, the truth was that it would be a hard battle and they would be drained of power and then would have problems advancing .

    Retreating was not an option either as the soul fragments were waiting for them within the forest, and they had run out of inscriptions and formations .

    Looking at the Ordinary Saint, Xue Wei saw that he seemed immensely genuine, but he still narrowed his eyes, unwilling to go with them .

    Feeling his hesitation, the Ordinary Saint smiled slightly . "I understand your worries," he said . "I too would have some doubts if someone came up to me and said such a thing when I was in a danger zone, but the truth is that the danger in this danger zone is far above any other in the Sea of the Enchanted, and we all stand a better chance for survival if we work together . "

    Xue Wei looked at him without saying anything . He was worried that this leader intended to make Xue Wei and his friends walk at the front of their group and be the ones who would be the first to encounter the danger .

    Seeing that although the leader had spoken such flowery words, Xue Wei was still not taking the bait, the rest of the group became restless .

    Their group had initially been numbered twenty-five experts, all of which had experience within the Thunder Graveyard Ind, but even so, after only a few challenges only twelve had managed to survive so far .

    The leader¡¯s heart was aching with pain whenever he thought of how their group was diminishing in numbers rather rapidly, and now Xue Wei and the others had appeared, it would be ideal to use their numbers and strength to pressure them into joining their group, and then taking the front of the group .

    "It is not that we do not appreciate your goodwill," Xue Wei said after contemting for some time . "However, we have all unknowingly stumbled upon this ind . We were unaware of the dangers that exist on this ind, and thus, we will likely turn into obstacles rather than aides . "

    Hearing his words, the face of the leader darkened . How could he not tell that Xue Wei was just saying so, when he, in fact, did not want to join them?

    Even so, he just smiled and stayed calm . "You do not have to worry about being a burden or not . Us cultivators should stick together and help one another in our attempt at surviving this ce . Even if you turn out to be an obstacle, we will be happy to have done a good deed and helped you out . "

    Xue Wei¡¯s eyes shed with coldness . It seemed that they had no intention of letting them go, so in the end, he had to decide whether or not to join them, or if he was going to fight it out .

    In the end, Xue Wei decided to join them . Although they could win a battle, it would be a messy win, with severe injuries . He could not help but fear what the evil spirit would throw their way when they were injured . Thoughts of the fused soul remnant were already enough to cause chills to run down his spine .

    "Well then, let us work together," Xue Wei finally said, rather unwillingly, but no one seemed to care if they were willing or not .

    The others had stayed entirely silent throughout the entire time . They had been ready to fight if Xue Wei had made that decision, but they were also prepared to join them if he ended up choosing like that .

    In all, they were waiting to follow his lead and would do whatever he decided upon .

    The leader was a veteran mercenary . He could quickly see that Xue Wei was the core of the team and gleam shed by his eyes rapidly .

    Xue Wei was the weakest in the group - merely a Sky Knight, but he was still the one making the decisions .

    From this, the leader instantly knew that this was a group with some fantastic team spirit, or they had some secret that could make Xue Wei stronger than the average Sky Knight since they all respected him .

    He was leaning towards thetter, as he knew that one needed to be a Heavenly Knight to survive within the Thunder Twilight Zone, so unless he had some treasure that could neutralize lightning, then he had to have some hidden strength .

    Still, even if this boy could jump ranks and fight against Heavenly Knights, he himself was an esteemed Ordinary Saint . It would be impossible for them to resist him, and thus, he was feeling rxed .

    "Well then, since you made the right decision, let us move forward," the leader said . "I better introduce myself . Name is Gu Yan . I am a normal mercenary who takes on tasks like these to enter danger zones and salvage resources . My specialty is indeed this Thunder Twilight Zone, and I have been here at the thunder Graveyard Ind a few times before . "

    "Xue Wei,"

    "Hei Gou,"

    "Lin Xiao,"

    "Bai Tianyi,"

    "Xue Luoluo . "

    All of them quickly introduced themselves, but none of them said anything unnecessary . They could all feel the intentions that this group had for them and knew that it was not out of kindness they had been invited, so they were not willing to share anything about themselves .

    Even so, no one seemed to really mind . They all looked at Xue Wei and his friends as dead men walking . There was no need to know about them or their secrets . If they had something of value, it would end up in their hands anyway .

    If Xue Wei had known their thoughts, he would haveughed . What was making them so confident that the ones who died would be them? In the end, Xue Wei was nning to be a fisherman reaping all the benefits .

    Xue Wei had no intention of letting these people off alive . Although he was not capable of fighting them right now, because he had to look at the bigger picture, it did not mean he was going just to leave them be .

    The moment they had forced him and his friends to join their group, he was ready to kill them all .

    It is evident that they wanted him dead . It was clear that they aimed to use them as dummies, that would die for their chance of survival . He could never forgive them for this .

    A chilling smile flitted across Xue Wei¡¯s lips, but it vanished before anyone noticed it .

    "Well then, now we know each other, why don¡¯t we go on?" Gu Yan asked as he smiled, but the smile did not reach his eyes .

    "Sure," Xue Wei said with a nod of his head . He had already steeled his heart for what was going to happen .

    "Why don¡¯t you all walk at the front?" Gu Yan asked . "We will take the rear so that if the Soul Remnants appear, then we can fight them off . "

    Xue Wei smirked when he heard this, and he shook his head . The Soul Remnants could not fight outside of the forest, but they made it sound as if they were making a considerable sacrifice .

    "Okay," Xue Wei just said with a nod of his head . He was not going to argue with them about it, but his eyes were cold as he told Luoluo to walk behind him .

    Bai Tianyi, Hei Gou, and Lin Xiao walked by Xue Wei¡¯s side while Luoluo was walking behind the four of them, being shielded by theirrge figures and protected by them .

    Luoluo felt at peace and was walking in a carefree manner as if they were in the middle of their own backyard .

    Gu Yan looked at Luoluo and her carefree attitude and knew instantly that it was not because she was unaware, but simply because she trusted the four men who were shielding her unconditionally .

    Then he looked at Bai Tianyi, and he could not help but frown .

    These two were obviously kids, but even so, they were still in the middle of the Thunder Graveyard Ind .

    One thing that puzzled him was how they had the strength to be inside the Thunder Twilight Zone . Kids were not that strong, and they had a short time to cultivate, but they were already Heavenly Knights .

    Secondly, even if they made it into the Thunder Twilight Zone, they needed experience and some sense of alertness .

    These senses should have been trained through multiple life and death situations . But kids could not have gone through many of them, so how could they have gotten this far?

    Suddenly a chill ran through his heart as he realized that the group in front was not one he could see through . All of them seemed to be more secretive than the other, and if he was not careful, he might end up suffering instead .

    Frowning, he started to wonder if he had made the wrong decision . This Thunder Graveyard Ind was already immensely dangerous, and having added an unknown variable of Xue Wei and his group, was it going to be even more dangerous than what he had initially nned?

    A sh of murderous intent flittered past his eyes . He saw how Xue Wei and the others had their backs to them . Should he just kill them all in one st?

    Unsure of what to do, he was ufortable, and a bit hesitant, but then heughed slightly .

    He was an esteemed Ordinary Saint . How could he be scared of a mere Sky Knight and his friends?

 Chapter 334

    Chapter 334: 334

    Xue Wei was unaware of what thoughts Gu Yan was having . If he knew that his casual attitude had caused such immense doubt and fear, he would have snorted in disdain .

    How could Gu Yan call himself a cultivator when he had such unnatural and sudden fear .

    As a cultivator, although they could be cautious and alert, they should never doubt themselves or their achievements . If they started questioning themselves, a heart demon would appear, and it would be difficult for them to advance in the future .

    Xue Wei understood this very well, and if he had known that Gu Yan was already starting to doubt himself, he would feel that he had already managed to win half the battle .

    As they began walking, Xue Wei, Lin Xiao, and Hei Gou were all on high alert, looking at everything in their surroundings, but nothing appeared .

    Instead, they came to the foot of a mountain . This mountain was towering above them, spreading so far into the sky that it was impossible to see the peak .

    "Go east, and around the mountain," Gu Yan said, not at all caring for howmanding he sounded . He was already very wary of Xue Wei, and he could no longer hold on and pretend that they were on friendly terms .

    "This is the first of the two gate mountains," he continued . "Between the two mountains is a narrow passage, and this is where we need to go through before we can enter the actual treasure trove that is the Thunder Graveyard Ind . "

    Xue Wei frowned . If it was already the final challenge before they would encounter riches, then he had to act soon .

    Although the central part of the ind could not be danger-free considering that an Evil Spirit resided there, it should not be as challenging as what they had encountered when they met the remnant soul fragments .

    Even so, they could not help but feel ufortable . The forest had already been this dangerous . Who knew what level of danger the passage they had to pass would bring them .

    Still, worrying about it would not make it less troublesome, and thus he continued forward without saying anything, all his senses were on high alert . At the same time, he kept an eye on Gu Yan . Although he knew that they were here to die for him, he could not help but feel that Gu Yan was ufortable about them .

    If he were unable to keep it in, then he would attack them when they least expected it .

    This was Xue Wei¡¯s n . To attack them when they did not expect it . Unfortunately, it seemed now that their behavior had caused Gu Yan to fear them, and now he was not sure who would be the first to act .

    Although Xue Wei had to admit that it was less than ideal, he had to admit it was not as bad as it could be .

    Gu Yan was familiar with the Thunder Twilight Zone, and even the Thunder Graveyard Ind .

    If he picked a ce to attack Xue Wei, it would definitely be a safe location . It would be somewhere that they would not suddenly get ambushed by other unknown entities, and thus it was actually not too bad .

    Xue Wei knew nothing of the Thunder Graveyard Ind, and he could not pick the right ce or time to attack . All he could do was wait and see what Gu Yan did, or to kill them all when things became messy because of outside factors .

    With this in mind, a part of his focus was always on Gu Yan, but he was managing to hold himself back, and their group continued to move forward .

    During their advance, Xue Wei had picked up various herbs . Most of them were Blood Ginsengs and Corpse grass .

    Although these herbs were widespread, they were all rather old, and Xue Wei had a use for them, so he happily harvested everything he came across .

    Gu Yan did not stop him . Although these herbs were widespread in the outside world they were rare in the Sea of the Enchanted, and they would definitely want the herbs, but all of them could not help but feel that Xue Wei would definitely die, and then everything within his storage treasure would naturally fall to them .

    Guessing their intentions, a cold sh appeared in Xue Wei¡¯s eyes, but he continued harvesting the herbs . He did not trust that they knew how to harvest them correctly, so he would much rather do it himself, and make sure they were stored right in their jade boxes .

    While the mercenaries thought he was dumb, Lin Xiao and Hei Gou could not help but exchange a look of apprehension and slight pity .

    These mercenaries were strong, and they had an Ordinary Saint as their leader . Any other ce they would have been capable of winning, but this was against Xue Wei .

    Xue Wei was literally a little monster . He was a Sovereign Beast, and he had a fighting strength that others could simply notpete against .

    These mercenaries had no way of knowing about Xue Wei¡¯s real strength . Even Lin Xiao, Hei Gou, Bai Tianyi, and Luoluo were currently unaware of his real strength .

    Alone it would be hard for him to defeat Gu Yan, however, he was not alone . Xue Wei had the aid of two spirits and a mutated beast, not to mention a diviner .

    Diviners were native to Chang¡¯an . They were the process of thousands of years of experimenting and finally seeding in taming of beasts .

    No matter which other continent they had visited or heard about, taming beasts was simply impossible . Beasts were as free as humans, and their status in the world was equal .

    Although human ves and beast ves existed, that was not aplete submission such as the taming contract made .

    Also, the Fierce and Mortal beasts, which were the ones Diviners usually tamed, were less intelligent . Some were domesticated, but they could not be tamed in the same way with unyielding loyalty .

    Gu Yan was not a beast . But some of the members within his group were, and for some reason, they felt an unnatural fear towards Lin Xiao .

    This fear stemmed from their innermost being . At the same time, they felt reverence towards Xue Wei .

    This reverence also came from their instincts . It was as if he was a monarch that they could never harm . So their feelings towards Lin Xiao was hostility and fear, while towards Xue Wei it was reverence and worship .

    Even so, they said nothing to Gu Yan about their feelings, and they managed to go against their own conscience . They thought that when it came to battle, they could ignore these feelings .

    They were underestimating the instincts in their bodies . None of them knew what a Diviner was, and they were even less aware of the fact that Sovereign Beasts existed .

    Since they could not understand what was behind their feelings, they could only ignore them . They did not even bring it up to their friends, and thus Gu Yan was unaware that almost half of his men were unable toy a hand on Xue Wei and Lin Xiao .

    Xue Wei was aware of it .

    He knew that although he was no Diviner if he were to exert his bloodline pressure, no Primordial Beast would be able to go against him .

    This was not taming, but purely the sovereignty of a monarch . He was the leader of them; he was their Emperor; it was simply impossible to go against him .

    But Xue Wei was not using his bloodline yet . This was something he would use when they had to fight .

    This was also why he dared to fight against Gu Yan although he had a whole group of mercenaries .

    Most of these mercenaries would be dealt with by the Primordial Beasts in the group . They would turn against their friends and their brothers because they had no choice . They could onlyply with an order given by Xue Wei .

    Everyone was thinking about their own thing as they were moving forward . Soon they reached a somewhat deserted area . There were no nts around it, and the ground was t and filled with charred soil .

    "We will camp here for the night," Gu Yan said as he looked into the sky above . The thunder and lightning were shing everywhere; the rumbling was vaguely heard .

    Although they were all cultivators, and although they were able to continue onwards for days on end without rest, they had to be on high alert at all times when being in the Thunder Graveyard Ind .

    Since they had to be on high alert, their souls were stretched to the limits, and they were unable to continue like this if they did not rest from time to time .

    Not only would the killing intent whittle down their minds and take over their bodies, but their nerves would also be stretched taut, and their soul could be injured from being stretched too tightly .

    Although Xue Wei had the assistance of the golden dragon in his mind, he was still aware that if he did not rest, then he would notst long . He might even sumb before it was time for him to face off against Gu Yan .

    Luoluo was a spirit, and she had no soul as such . Her entire being was just a spirit, so she was not in the same position as Xue Wei and the other soul-owning experts .

    Even Bai Tianyi, who was an artificial spirit, was more affected than her . Although he had be a spirit, he was after all imperfect .

    "Luoluo, please keep watch tonight," Xue Wei asked . The team was supporting each other, and Luoluo was the one who was able to go on without rest . Although she seemed to be the youngest of them all, she was in many ways the toughest .

    "Sure," Luoluo was aware that she was the one who could help in this situation, and she was also very conscious that her Big Brother and the others were putting their lives in her hands .

    By daring to sleep, that meant that they trusted she would be able to warn them in time, and her heart swelled with happiness and pride .

    Gu Yan and the others did not hear the conversation between Xue Wei and Luoluo, so they were rather surprised when they saw how they sat down and got ready to rest .

    It was evident that the group of mercenaries and they were not on friendly terms, but they still dared to sleep?

    When they saw that the only one who stayed awake was the youngest of the group, all of them were puzzled . But seeing that Gu Yan did not make any move against them, the others slowly calmed down too after making a small rotation of who would be keeping watch .

    Like this, the group rested . Luoluo observed them all like a hawk, ready to awaken Xue Wei, should they make the slightest unexpected move .

    Fortunately, the mercenaries did nothing and slept a couple of hours . This also meant that Xue Wei got some well-deserved rest, and after some time, he awoke by himself, feeling rested .

    His soul was much better than before; it was no longer taut and nervous, but calm and able to take care of whatever mighte their way .

    Gu Yan had also rested, and most of the fear he had felt earlier had significantly diminished . He was an esteemed Ordinary Saint, not a simple Knight such as all the others here, and he was not going to let anyone threaten him .

    A sneer appeared on his lips as his eyes nced over Xue Wei, and then he shook his head . Why had he been scared of such a youngster? It was greatly embarrassing .

    This was also because his soul was now rested, he was no longer as easily affected by the killing intent on the ind, and did not fear everything around him .

 Chapter 335

    Chapter 335: 335

    As they all had awakened, they were feeling much more rxed, but no one dared to lower their guards .

    If they did lower their guards, it was obvious that they would not know how they had died, especially now that they were preparing to enter the narrow mountain passage .

    While Xue Wei waspletely unaware of what might wait for them within the narrow passage, Gu Yan had a slight idea, but he was not going to share his experiences with Xue Wei and his friends .

    Initially, he had also entered without knowing anything, and he knew that the majority would die within . Even some of hisrades were likely to lose their lives through this advance, but when they got through the passage, they could start gathering items and treasures, herbs, and ores .

    These people likely had some secrets as well, and many manuals, treasures, and resources on their bodies and in their storage treasures, so getting them would be no small harvest at all .

    Unfortunately, things rarely went ording to n . Xue Wei was not just going to watch while they plotted against him, he too had already begun plotting against them also .

    This narrow passage would be the perfect ce to fight off against Gu Yan .

    The reason was simple . Although they might be able to defeat Gu Yan in a battle, he was, after all, an Ordinary Saint .

    A strength that was way above their own, so if they wanted to stand a chance, they had to wait for a chaotic encounter, a time when a lot of deaths were happening around them, and then they should be able to turn the situation around .

    Xue Wei smiled slightly as he, Lin Xiao, Bai Tianyi, and Hei Gou went to the front of the group . Instead of arguing with Gu Yan about walking at the front, he might as well just take the task and take the position as the front guard .

    Luoluo was ced behind them . Although she could burst out with the most damage, she was also the one they had to look after the most . She had to store energy, and this energy was not only stored for fighting but also to allow her to grow bigger .

    If they ended up in a true life and death situation that could not be resolved by Xue Wei, Lin Xiao, Hei Gou, and Bai Tianyi working together, then they would ask for her help, but only in thest moments before death . They were too worried about her otherwise .

    Luoluo understood their worries, and while she was feeling slightly lost by the fact that she could not fight side by side with them, she was even more determined to grow up fast so that she could fight alongside her brothers .

    The others were unaware of the reason that they had put Luoluo behind them . They had no idea of her real strength, nor did they know of her identity as a spirit .

    To them, all they saw was that her cultivation base could not be easily seen through, and while some thought it was a unique method she had trained, others just assumed that she was a mortal who had survived up until now because the others of the group had saved her .

    They were unaware of how many originally had been in Xue Wei¡¯s group . If they had known that they were as many now as when they began the journey, they would have failed to believe it .

    Their group, which seemed many times stronger, had already lost a lot of members, so how could their small group not also have casualties?

    Xue Wei had long since known that their entire group being alive still was an oddity and that no one would believe him if he said anything . Not to mention they were not on friendly terms, so there was no way he would share information with them .

    "Okay, everyone focus!" Gu Yan called out, his usually arrogant voice was strained, and his hands were clenched . Although he was an Ordinary Saint, he only had slightly better chance of survival than the others, and thus he was also feeling how his palms were getting sweaty .

    Inner Might: Sword Style!

    Xue Wei summoned a sword in his hand that he could hold onto while diving into the passage .

    As they entered, they found that it waspletely dark . The two towering mountains on either side were blocking out all light, and a dense feeling of death and disaster was spreading from the passage .

    Xue Wei was tensed . All his senses were heightened to their limits, and his eyes were continually sweeping his surroundings .

    His spiritual energy was incapable of sensing anything, but he knew instinctively that this ce was the most dangerous one they had encountered so far .

    "They areing soon," Gu Yan muttered as he too clenched the hold on the two-handed axe he held in his hands .

    Xue Wei did not bother asking what he was referring to, as he knew he would get no answer, but he had already received the info he needed . Something was within this passage, and it wasing for them .

    All of a sudden, he heard a very loud screech sounding, and when one sounded, thousands of screeches suddenly rung out throughout the entire passage .

    What happened next made Xue Wei snicker . Thousands upon thousands of Scarlet Blood Bats came flying towards them; their eyes were utterly red from the bloodlust they felt .

    But when Xue Wei saw that it was Scarlet Blood Bats, he rxedpletely . Scarlet Blood Bats were Fierce Beasts . They were of a high tier and were almost impossible for ordinary Primordial Beasts to control, but it was possible for a few of them with extremely pure bloodlines .

    However he was not a Primordial Beast, he was a Sovereign Beast, and a mere Fierce Beast was an ant in front of him .

    As long as he released his bloodline pressure, none of them would dare to even advance towards him and his friends . As long as he willed it, this Scarlet Blood Bat horde could be his army .

    Pondering for a bit, Xue Wei was not in a hurry . He released a bit of his bloodline pressure, just enough to cover himself and his friends, and the many iing Scarlet Blood Bats suddenly looked fearful as they changed their direction and rushed towards Gu Yan and his people .

    Using a borrowed knife to seal the deal was not a bad idea, Xue Wei thought to himself . He then no longer bothered to try and hide his aura, and it erupted from within like a fountain, and he was like a king suddenly overshadowing everyone else .

    While humans were unable to sense the majesty, every beast present, including Hei Gou, felt the sudden need to kneel in front of him . It did not matter whether or not they were Primordial Beasts or Fierce Beasts; all of them were under his control at this very moment .

    The charging Scarlet Blood Bats all stopped right in front of them, their eyes were filled with pure reverence .

    Gu Yan quickly noticed the strange behavior of the Scarlet Blood Bats, and then he also saw the same odd behavior amongst all his own Primordial Beast members in the group .

    He started to feel cold sweat trickle down his neck, as he looked at the one they all revered .

    Xue Wei had also noticed the sudden difort that Gu Yan was feeling, but he did not care in the least .

    Gu Yan had intended for them to die, and thus it was only natural that they would kill him in return .

    "Do you have something you wish to say?" Xue Wei inquired as he picked up one of the Scarlet Blood Bats to look closer at them .

    They were not significant, around twenty centimeters long wingspan, but their teeth were immensely sharp, and they had many of them . They were like razors, and when they attacked in groups like this, no one could survive, not even an Ordinary Saint .

    "I . . . I failed to recognize Mount Tai," Gu Yan stuttered . "Please excuse this old man for his mistake; he will never do it again . "

    "You wanted us dead," Xue Wei stated with a t and emotionless voice as he gently caressed the Scarlet Blood Bat in his hands, it showed immense pride and satisfaction from being able to be in such proximity to their king .

    "I . . . I can exin!" Gu Yan tried to argue, but when Xue Wei waited for him to exin he could not find any suitable words .

    When he finally seemed able to find some words, Xue Wei shook his head casually, "Well, don¡¯t try too hard," he said . "I am not going to forgive you no matter what reason you have . Go forth!"

    Xue Wei sent out all the Scarlet Blood Bats and was merely watching from the side as they gathered in a swarm and attacked Gu Yan first . The Primordial Beasts of the Mercenary group were alsopletely swayed by his domineering and royal aura, and they ended up fighting against their own brothers in an attempt to stall them from helping Gu Yan out .

    Seeing the bloody battle, all of them had calm expressions on their faces; in fact, they were feeling relieved . Every one of these Scarlet Blood Bats could rival a Heavenly Knight, and there were thousands of them, so although hundreds were dying in the hands of a maddened Gu Yan, they were continuously attacking in waves, drowning him with their sheer numbers .

    "You! If I survive this, I will kill you!" Gu Yan¡¯s furious scream could be heard in the entire passage; it was so filled with fury and force that eleven Scarlet Blood Bats died straight away from the sound shockwave alone .

    He kept screaming curses and threats, but as time went on and his powers were diminishing, he realized that he did not hold the upper hand .

    "I swear that even if I die, I will never let you go even as a ghost!" was the final words that came out of Gu Yan¡¯s mouth before he was chewed into a meaty pile of flesh .

    His flesh contained a lot of energy, and by eating this, the Scarlet Blood Bats would be capable of enhancing their own strength .

    When he had finally run out of Qi to protect his body, he was gobbled up by the bats in a heartbeat, leaving only a white skeleton .

    After which the bats set their eyes on the members of the mercenary group . They did not hesitate to attack, not distinguishing between friend and foe amongst the members, killing and consuming indiscriminately .

    Xue Wei did not stop them . He knew that he could exert his bloodline pressure and force them to do his bidding, but these Primordial Beasts did not wish to help him, they were not loyal to him, they were only doing as their bloodline was telling them . They hated him with a vengeance after seeing how he was making them kill their friends and brothers .

    As such, Xue Wei had no intention of bringing them with him . Since he was not bringing them with him, he might as well let the bats consume them as a gift for having helped him get rid of Gu Yan .

    When thest person had died, Xue Wei picked up the storage treasures that had fallen to the floor .

    He was not beingzy and picked up every single one before he turned to look at the bats .

    Suddenly one of the bats transformed into a young woman . She was wearing a ck silk dress, and her ck hair was tied in a bun on the top of her head .

    Her eyes were dark as ink, and she was immensely attractive, but also cold like an ice sculpture .

    "Dear King," she said, her voice like a stream of clear water, "We have a request to make . "

 Chapter 336

    Chapter 336: 336

    Xue Wei was slightly taken back . The Scarlet Blood Bat was a Fierce Beast, not a Primordial Beast, so how was it possible for it to take on a human body and a human speech?

    Sensing his confusion, the woman¡¯s lips curled into a self-mocking smile . "We are indeed Fierce Beasts, but there exists a specific herb, a herb named Scarlet Blood Lily, which has only one purpose which is to remold and remake the body and bloodline of a Scarlet Blood Bat and make them be a Primordial Beast .

    "This Scarlet Blood Lily blooms with one flower every three thousand years .

    "It is about time for the flower to bloom again, and we have already decided on who should be the next bat queen . However, a Scarlet Blood Bat tribe can¡¯t have more than one Scarlet Blood Bat Queen .

    "The Scarlet Blood Bat Princess happens to be my daughter . The moment she is going to take the Scarlet Blood Lily, and have consolidated her foundation as a Primordial Beast, we will have to fight to the death .

    "I am not willing to fight against my daughter until one of us dies . I had originally nned onmitting suicide, but now you arrived, and it is a heaven-sent opportunity . "

    The Scarlet Blood Bat Queen looked at Xue Wei, slightly hesitatingly .

    "I understand that we are strangers to you," she began again, her voice filled with worries, "but we have no one to rely on . Around two hundred of the older bats and I would like to leave the Thunder Graveyard Ind . We would like to encounter the world outside, but we do not have the strength to leave on our own .

    "This is where youe into the picture . The Evil Spirit that resides at the center of the ind has a beast tag .

    "A beast tag is the same as a storage treasure but not really . It contains a small world of its own, and it can store living creatures .

    "A beast and a human, or spirit, can enter into an alliance with a blood bond . This blood bond is a sacred thing, and a beast and a human, or spirit, bes wholly connected .

    "They can share their thoughts, and even their lives are connected . The Evil Spirit has made such a blood bond with a Primordial Beast . This Primordial Beast is a rather ferocious creature . It is a Blue-eyed Flood Dragon .

    "Although it has the bloodline of an Azure Dragon . However, this can prove to be a real issue for them . You are a real Azure Dragon, so anyone who is of their descent is purely your ve .

    "The Evil Spirit is injured . He previously tried to force his way out of the Thunder Twilight Zone but failed, so right now you have the best chance to fight him .

    "Our Scarlet Blood Bat Tribe will also help out . I understand that we are asking for a lot, so in exchange for helping us to escape the Thunder Graveyard Ind and the Thunder Twilight Zone, we will promise to work for you for the next two hundred years .

    "For the next two hundred years, we will follow you and do your bidding . We will stay in the Beast Tag and be called out whenever you need us . "

    The Scarlet Blood Bat Queen had been speaking a lot, and she had spoken fast . Her eyes were filled with worry and fear, but also a longing and slight expectations .

    Xue Wei looked at the Queen, but before he even had to open his mouth, Luoluo stepped forward, "This big sister, you already helped us," she said with a gentle voice . "Big Brother is not so ruthless as to not return the favors he receives . Don¡¯t worry; Big Brother will take you all out of this depressing danger zone and into a much brighter world outside . "

    Hearing her words, the eyes of the Scarlet Blood Bat Queen opened wide in surprise, as she could not help but look at Xue Wei, to ensure that what the child had said was correct .

    Xue Wei chuckled and nodded his head, "Our dear Luoluo has already said so . I am not one to not pay back my favors . "

    Understanding what he meant, her face filled with joy and excitement . They suddenly had hope!

    Xue Wei smiled when he saw their undisguised happiness .

    "Tell us everything you know about the Evil Spirit," Xue Wei requested, as he looked at the Scarlet Blood Bat Queen .

    "We do not know much about it," she admitted . "We have mainly stayed here within the passage and in the caves that are connected to it . We have not entered the actual ancient battlefield; neither have we gone to the forest of despair . "

    "What a fitting name," Xue Wei muttered when he thought back at the remnant soul fragments .

    Smiling wryly, the Scarlet Blood Bat Queen nodded her head, "It is indeed a ce of despair and horrors . "

    "The Evil Spirit, when he is healthy, roams the battlefield . He is continuously searching for soul power, and soul remnants of the King and Emperor ranked experts who were fighting here on the ind once upon a time .

    "But right now he is injured, so he is likely to be hiding in hisir . It is an immortal cave made by himself that¡¯s at the outskirts of the battlefield . We will have to cross the entire battlefield to get there . "

    The Scarlet Blood Bat Queen hesitated for a moment before she continued, "that is not a bad thing though . There might be some treasures along the way . If we are lucky, we might even encounter soul power . Considering you have two spirits in your group, that would be ideal . "

    Xue Wei was not too surprised that she knew of the fact that Luoluo and Bai Tianyi were spirits . She was not too familiar with the Evil Spirit, but she had surely sensed his aura before .

    "Well, let us get going," Xue Wei said with a smile . He was a lot more casual now than he had been before . Having the protection of thousands of Scarlet Blood Bats made him much calmer .

    "Oh right," he paused before exiting the mountain passage, "what should I call you?" he asked as he looked at the Queen .

    "Fu," she said casually . The character for her name was the same as the one that spelled the word bat .

    "Anyst name?" Xue Wei asked, but she just shook her head . She was just a bat; she had no use for a family name .

    "Well then, take the name Xue for now . " His family was rather small, so far it only consisted of himself and Luoluo . What harm would there be in adding a Scarlet Blood Bat Queen as well?

    Hearing this, Xue Fu felt slightly stunned, but then she felt the warmth . To be considered a person in the same family with a Sovereign Beast, this was indeed a great honor . She had not expected such favor to be bestowed upon her, and her cheeks flushed with pride .

    Xue Wei¡¯s childhood was lived as a human . He did not know how revered the Sovereign Beasts were, and he had never grown up thinking he was better than others . In fact, when he grew up, he was always looked down upon and seen as trash . Now that he was able to cultivate, he was still of the mindset that although some people might be geniuses, only hard work was what mattered .

    The other bats were also filled with reverence . All of them looked at Xue Wei as if he was a deity who had descended into the mundane world .

    They felt that he was capable of fighting against anyone and winning . He was, without a doubt, a Sovereign Beast, and they were unbeatable!

    Their faith in Xue Wei was unquestionable .

    If the Evil Spirit was against him, he would kill the Evil Spirit . If the heavens were against him, what harm was there in exterminating the heavens too?

    They all hadplete faith in Xue Wei, anything he wanted to do he could do . They were not even thinking about him being a lower rank than them . Although he was the weakest present, when one looked at cultivation base, he was the one they all looked for to make decisions . He was also the one they felt would save them all when the actual battle would ur .

    No one spoke anymore, as they walked out of the passage, and into the battlefield .

    The battlefield stretched as far in front of them as far as the eye could see .

    Broken bones, armors, banners, and weapons were lying everywhere on the ground . When walking, it was near impossible to find a ce to step .

    Millions of people had died here . Not all of them were King and Emperor level cultivators, some were Saints, and a few were even Knights .

    However, the Knights had died instantly upon entering the battlefield, and that was why so many bones and items could be found at the front of the battlefield .

    The further in they came, the fewer skeletons and things they came across, there were at least three to ten meters between each dead person .

    Most of these had already been looted, but there were rare herbs everywhere that they harvested one after another .

    While the outside was mainly Blood Ginseng and Corpse Grass, a wide variety of herbs were present within the battlefield .

    They found Soul Hyacinths, Crimson Blood Sunflowers, Wyvern Tail Lily, Ethereal Light Rose, Radiant Frozen Daisy, Man-Eating Alchemi, and many more .

    These herbs were all immensely rare, and all of them were hundreds of years old, making them able to increase the potency of the herbs that Xue Wei could concoct .

    As they came further into the battlefield, they also found various rare ores, and they quickly excavated them .

    "My King!" Xue Fu called out and caught the attention of everyone present .

    "We have found a top grade essence stone lode," she said humbly, and Xue Wei¡¯s eyes widened in shock when he heard that .

    Essence stones were a universal currency throughout the entire world, but at the same time, it was also a resource needed when cultivating .

    Essence stones were as the name said, stones that contained heaven and earth essence .

    This essence was much denser than it was in the surrounding air, so they could help improving one¡¯s cultivation base much faster than when one relied solely on the usual cultivation speed .

    Especially top-ranked stones were very hard toe by, and Xue Wei was ecstatic . Providing for his friends and family was not simple, so if he could mine this lode, he would be able to manage for a long while, both when cultivating, but also when purchasing things .

    He, therefore, rushed towards Xue Fu to see how big the lode was, and when he arrived, his eyes widened in shock . It was not a small lode; it was a massive one, so big that there were at least a couple of millions of essence stones, if not more .

    "This is going to take some time," Xue Wei muttered, but he was in a brilliant mood, as he began excavating the stones, getting help from the bats and his friends .

    Even though they were thousands of creatures who were mining, it ended up taking them four days of intensive work before they had finished taking out every single essence stone .

    These essence stones ended up counting a total of eight million, three hundred thousand, and eleven top-ranked essence stones .

    It was an astronomical amount, and since the bats had absolutely no use for these stones, all of them were handed over to Xue Wei .

    Getting so many essence stones, one of his storage treasures were filled up, with no space for anything else .

    Fortunately, he had gained a numerous amount of storage treasures while being on the Thunder Graveyard Ind, so he was not about to run out of space .

 Chapter 337

    Chapter 337: 337

    After emptying the rather sizeable lode of essence stones, Xue Wei came across more rare herbs, all of which were hundreds of years old .

    He not only came across herbs and ores, but they also found a smaller essence stone lode, with medium-grade essence stones .

    Frugal as Xue Wei was, he decided to pick up all treasures they came across on the way, not at all willing to let any of them go .

    He knew that the higher rank they became, the more resources they would need, so wealth would never be enough .

    Like this, they walked for many days on the Thunder Graveyard Battlefield, before they had crossed it .

    The closer they got to the other end, the more menacing the aura that surrounded them became . It was clear that they were getting closer and closer to the evil spirit .

    Especially Luoluo was pale as they advanced . She was a pure spirit, so the evil energy was attacking her immensely hardpared to the others .

    The mostfortable one was Xue Wei . Although the killing intent was adding pressure to him, it was not at the point where it was enough to inconvenience him anymore . His body had adapted to the killing intent - he had quite an overwhelming killing intent himself, making the process much smoother .

    The bats and Hei Gou were not too affected either . As beasts they were many times more ferocious than humans and spirits, it was in their nature to be brutal, and thus their inherited killing intent was far superior to Luoluo, Bai Tianyi, and Lin Xiao .

    "My King, do you have a n?" Xue Fu asked tentatively . She was aware of the strength that this Evil spiritmanded . Although she had faith in Xue Wei, she could not help but wonder what his n was . Going in without a n would seem somewhat suicidal .

    "You said he was injured?" Xue Wei did not answer right away but instead asked another question .

    Puzzled, Xue Fu nodded her head . "He is indeed rather grievously injured . I would expect around five percent of his fighting strength remained when he got injured . It has now been around a month, so I guess he has restored to approximately ten percent . "

    "Ten percent, huh?" Xue Wei did not know how strong the Evil Spirit was initially, so even when it was injured to this extent; he dared not belittle it .

    "Luoluo stay at the back and provide us with cover . Lin Xiao, Hei Gou, and Bai Tianyi continuously try to strike once, and when your attack hasnded or failed, you will instantly withdraw . Do not wait to see how much damage you did, just withdraw immediately .

    "I want the three of you to be like annoying flies . Always hovering around, throwing out attacks, one after another, but do not stand still ever . If he gets his ws on you, you are likely dead .

    "Fu, take your bats and do the same . Split into teams and harass him as much as possible . I will deal with the main attack . I will obviously take on the Azure Dragon shape, and I will fight him with everything I have so that he does not have the strength to go against you all . "

    The others were feeling that this n could work, but it was immensely risky . If anything happened to Xue Wei, they would undoubtedly die .

    Then again, no matter what n they came up with, there would always be an element of risk . Not to mention this tactic allowed for them to minimize their death count since all the damage and focus of the Evil Spirit should be aimed for Xue Wei .

    They were all somber, their expressions solemn as they headed closer and closer to the Evil Spirit¡¯sir .

    As they were around ten kilometers away, a prating voice reverberated through the heavens and the earth . "Leave!" it said .

    After it, there was no sound, and even the wind had stilled, but Xue Wei continued walking forward with no intention of stopping .

    Even though it was indeed possible for them to stay at the Thunder Graveyard Ind and get a lot of rare treasures while staying clear of the evil spirit, Xue Wei had decided to confront him .

    He had chosen so out of different reasons . First of all, he wanted to get the beast tag for the sake of bringing the Scarlet Blood Bats with him out of the danger zone .

    He had given his promise to them, and he was not willing to go back on his words . He had promised to take them out of the ind and the zone, so he would do so, or die trying .

    Another reason was Soul Power . Spirits contained spiritual energy and soul power . They were solely made from energy, and this energy could help nourish and strengthen both Luoluo and Bai Tianyi .

    He knew that although Luoluo was growing, her foundations had been severely injured back at Yan Dalu . Even if she was capable of growing again, and she would be a strong spirit, she would have hidden injuries unless she got enough quantities of energy to heal it .

    Consuming another spirit was exactly what she needed . Although this was an Evil spirit, the energy that he consisted of was still pure . If she consumed it, she would be much closer to healed .

    Not only her, if Bai Tianyi were to get arge quantity of energy, he could get a more solid body as well .

    So all in all, although this Evil Spirit had done nothing to harm Xue Wei, Xue Wei had already decided to let his friends consume him .

    Although it was dangerous, he had no intention of backing away . This was the most rewarding thing they could get out of their trip to the Thunder Twilight Zone . Not to mention, it seemed that this Evil Spirit had killed plenty of people throughout the years, purely for the sake of consuming their soul power .

    The Evil Spirit was not a good creature . Had it been one who did good for the world, Xue Wei would not have considered killing it, even if it was beneficial for him, but this was a spirit that brought death and destruction towards others .

    There was no harm in killing such a creature . Xue Wei smiled slightly and shook his head when he realized what he was thinking about .

    Right now, he should not care if it was a good or an evil creature; he should be entirely focused on the battle ahead . He was going to give it his all in an attempt to defeat the spirit .

    They had advanced to five kilometers from their, and the voice once more boomed out from everywhere in their surroundings .

    "Turn back now, or face the consequences!"

    Xue Wei¡¯s face turned solemn . He understood that this was likely the most challenging battle he had ever encountered, but he could not back out .

    He was standing still and reached out for the Azure Dragon Spirit in his core .

    An earthshaking transformation happened with Xue Wei as his body transformed from that of a normal human youth into the shape of a massive, domineering, and overwhelming Azure Dragon .

    There was no time limit to his transformation . The Azure Dragon shape was his natural shape just as his human shape, and thus he could be a dragon for as long as he pleased .

    Although this was indeed a fact, he was not asfortable being a dragon as he was a human, but this mainly stemmed from his many years of growing up as a human and simply being unustomed to suddenly managing such a massive body .

    Although it was bursting with strength and speed, power, and toughness, it was many times different from being a human and required of him to be more considerate when doing things .

    When the Scarlet Blood Bats saw the majestic shape of an Azure Dragon in front of them, a fervent expression appeared on their faces . They all felt that even if the Evil Spirit was to kill them all, then they had already significantly benefited .

    To be able to fight side by side with Xue Wei was their greatest pride, and a moment they would forever reminiscence about . This was something that they would tell their children and grandchildren in the future .

    Xue Wei was unaware that him merely changing his shape was enough to cause the Scarlet Blood Bats to be filled with frenzy, but if he had known he would have chuckled and thought it was a good thing .

    To be able to convince them to fight with all they had, even exceed their limits, this was something that could only be done when they were profoundly motivated and seeing Xue Wei had truly motivated these Scarlet Blood Bats so much that they would do their best . They might even do better than ever before .

    When they reached their, there was an opening in the mountain wall . This opening led into the Evil Spirit¡¯sir, but they did not enter it easily .

    Xue Wei was simply toorge now . He was not able to enter their, but fortunately the Evil Spirit was not willing to be looked down upon .

    Although it was injured, it did not doubt its own strength, and it had no intention of hiding within their . It was inevitable that Xue Wei would not pose any danger to him .

    Seeing the spirit that flew out of their, all of them could feel their nerves tensed .

    "Oh, a Sovereign Beast?" The spirit looked human, but the eyes were red, and the veins on the body were protruding . It looked terrifying as he licked his lips and looked at Xue Wei as if he had just found a delicious meal .

    "I havecked some quality Soul Power," he snickered when he looked at Xue Wei, then his eyes nced at Luoluo and Bai Tianyi . "A wounded pure spirit and an artificial spirit? They are not as high quality as a Sovereign Beast, but they are definitely not bad . The humans who usually make it here are so bad . "

    The more the Evil Spirit spoke, the colder Xue Wei¡¯s eyes became . He could handle that this Evil Spirit was looking at him as a snack, but to look at Luoluo and Bai Tianyi and even disdain them? This was simply not eptable .

    Xue Wei roared, a dragon roar was reverberating throughout the entire Thunder Twilight Zone . Even in the outskirts of the zone, where the thunder was booming unceasingly, the dragon roar was enough to startle the many people who had appeared in the zone to try their luck and get some treasures .

    "Is this the birth of a heavenly treasure?" Some mused while others shook their heads .

    No one was able to determine what this roar signified; they did not know where it came from or what was the cause behind it .

    Only the flood dragon within the purple mist was calm as she recognized the roar right away . Her body trembled . Although she was immensely strong, she was after all a dragon . The Azure Dragon was the King of all dragons, the monarch of all beasts, so how could she not recognize the roar?

    "The little brat has guts," she muttered to herself as her eyes looked into the deep purple mist, "he is actually confronting an Evil Spirit when he is merely a Sky Knight!"

    Although the Evil Spirit, one should not look down upon them, especially not this one who was born on a battlefield that belonged to King and Emperor ranked experts .

    The roar had caused every beast within the Thunder Twilight Zone to feel their blood boil with excitement .

    While most of the beasts were unaware why there were a few who knew the presence of a Sovereign Beast, and their hearts shook .

    But the beasts that were the most affected were the Scarlet Blood Bats . Their bodies felt as if they were on fire, burning with energy, and ready to fight .

 Chapter 338

    Chapter 338: 338

    The Scarlet Blood Bats did not have to wait long before it was time for them to battle .

    After releasing the roar, Xue Wei twisted his massive body and shot forward like an azure lightning bolt . His speed was so outstanding that even the lightning bolts that were present in the Thunder Twilight Zone seemed slow next to him .

    When he was in his human form, Xue Wei was not the fastest of them all . When Hei Gou used his wings, it was impossible for Xue Wei to catch up to him .

    However, now that he was in his Azure Dragon shape, his speed had advanced by leaps and bounds . It was simply impossible to keep up with his pace . Even the ones who were supposed to follow him and harass the Evil Spirit were left behind in the dust . They were unable to react before they heard a resounding booming from in front of them .

    When they looked, jaws dropped to the ground .

    Xue Wei had not used any flowery attacks; he had not tried to make any superfluous movements . All he did was head straight for the Evil Spirit with brandished ws and sharp teeth .

    He was making the most straightforward attack that he could think about; he simply headbutted the Evil Spirit!

    The first attack hadpletely stunned the Evil Spirit . He had never expected that Xue Wei would be so daring and attack him without a word . Neither had it expected him to be as strong as he was .

    He had been caught unprepared, and thus his entire body was sent reeling backward . His body was tumbling, and with every step he took, the ground under his feet sunk in, deep fissures spread out, and muffled booms cried out .

    "Good! Very good!" the Evil Spirit was filled with frenzied anger when he saw how he had been forced backward by Xue Wei . He had not even used an ability . He felt as if he was more humiliated than ever before in his entire life .

    Xue Wei had not used the Azure Dragon Shape much in the past, but now he could feel the power surging through his body .

    Each one of the four divine beast races had a connection to one of the elements each, and the element that was easiest to connect to for the Azure Dragon was the wood element .

    The wood element heralded the beginning of all life . It was the element that allowed for all life to sprout, to grow .

    The Wood element was capable of allowing Xue Wei to heal faster than average; it allowed him to make use of the energy of life in the surrounding areas . Unfortunately, he was at a graveyard, and it was not a forest or another ce filled with vitality .

    Xue Wei was not familiar with this foreign life force that was rummaging through his body .

    But he knew that he could control not only his own life force and heal himself . He would be capable of cutting off other¡¯s life force and consume it for himself .

    Not only this, he was able to allow for his energy restoration to speed up if he wished so, by using his life force .

    He had previously created a devouring azure dragon and used it to attack . But now that he took the shape of an Azure Dragon, he finally understood the underlying mysteries that belonged to the ability .

    He was capable of being able to consume one¡¯s Qi, one¡¯s Soul Power, Spiritual energy, and even Life Force .

    Soul Power and Life Force was almost the same . Soul Power was the energy that belonged to humans, while Life Force was what belonged to the world . To gain Life Force one had to fight against an elemental spirit of the Wood attribute, or a being of nature such as a forest .

    Depending on what he needed, he had to use that energy to create the Devouring Azure Dragon .

    Now that he was transformed into the Azure Dragon, a wide variety of different skills appeared in his mind . These were all innate abilities he could use .

    Although he was an Azure Dragon, half of his blood was still human . When he was in his human body, these abilities did not impart themselves in his mind . Now they were there as he had taken on the dragon shape .

    Unfortunately, he did not have the time to delve into these skills fully . He was currently in the midst of a life-threatening battle .

    And although he had seeded in headbutting the Evil Spirit, forcing him backward, it was not enough to cause him to suffer any severe damage . Instead, it had sessfully caused the Evil Spirit to be filled with anger .

    "I will kill you!" it roared as it stomped hard on the ground and rushed towards Xue Wei .

    The air surrounding the Evil Spirit was turbulent, wherever its ws passed space would twist and turn .

    Xue Wei dared not underestimate this attack . By reflex, he used one of his abilities that he had just seen . An innate ability that did not rely on the Wood element, but instead his strong body

    Scale Shield!

    This shield had different forms, and depending on the form he used, the strength would also differ .

    The Scale Shield had three levels . First was the Scale Shield, which solely relied on the physical body¡¯s strength .

    It managed to produce a massive shield made from Qi in front of him, and this shield was not to be belittled .

    However, if the Scale Shield was not enough, then it could be enhanced further with the Life Force that was flowing in Xue Wei¡¯s body from the Wood Element . This was called the Life Scale Shield .

    The Life Scale Shield was immensely powerful, and it was something that Xue Wei should not use unless absolutely necessary as the Life Force within his body was limited and needed time to be restored when used up .

    Finally, thest level was called Devouring Life Scale Shield . This was an immensely domineering name, but the skill was also as domineering as the name implied .

    The Devouring Life Scale Shield also relied on Life Force . However, it did not rely on the Life Force within Xue Wei¡¯s body, instead, it relied on the Life Force in the surrounding nature .

    It would devour the Life Force in nature and use this to defend his body .

    There were, however, different problems with using this ability, and it could not be used indiscriminately .

    The ability devoured the Life Force of nature, and if enough was consumed, then he could cause a whole surrounding area to be deste .

    Not only this, the energy in the surrounding air was simply too oppressive and overwhelming, and although he was an Azure Dragon, he was still only a Sky Knight, and if he consumed too much energy, his body might explode .

    The Scale Shield was like a massive scale in front of him, but the moment the Evil Spirit appeared, the shield turned into thousands of smaller scales that dissipated into thin air .

    It was a mere sh from the Evil Spirit, but his shield could not withstand it .

    Even so, before the Evil Spirit managed tounch a second attack at Xue Wei, two groups suddenly appeared, one on the left side of him, the other on the right side .

    On the left side were hundred Scarlet Blood Bats, on the right side was Hei Gou .

    Both sides had long since prepared to strike, and when they saw that he had thrown his attack and was unable tounch another instantly, they struck!

    A roar of anger escaped the lips of the Evil Spirit . It had not gotten injured from the many attacks that had rained down upon it, but instead, it¡¯s fury was rising to unprecedented levels .

    However, as it was swatting out with its ws, there was nothing . They had run away as fast as they had arrived .

    The blood-red eyes of the Evil Spirit were filled with frustrations and hatred, it was growling, and the eyes turned to look at Xue Wei .

    "I will kill you first!" he roared, something that Xu Wei had long since expected .

    Although he had not received any injuries from the first wave of attacks, Xue Wei was not upset . Instead, he summoned his Qi and once more made a Scale Shield .

    At the same time, the Golden Dragon in his mind woke up, and a massive golden dragon appeared in front of him .

    This was a Devouring Azure Dragon made from Spiritual Energy . It would fight with a strength half of Xue Wei¡¯s, and it would devour any Spiritual Energy that it came across .

    This spiritual energy would be Xue Wei¡¯s in the future if he could refine it .

    The shield once more copsed with a single attack from Xue Wei, but as soon as the shield copsed the Spiritual Energy Devouring Azure Dragon advanced .

    The eyes of the Evil Spirit narrowed as he dodged to the side, but the devouring dragon was not giving up just like this . As long as it could consume spiritual energy it could stay alive, until it was returning on Xue Wei¡¯smand, and while the Evil Spirit was attacking, it did not try to limit its use of spiritual energy, it was everywhere in the surrounding areas, and the dragon was getting fiercer and fiercer by the second .

    Xue Wei was solemn and severe . This battle was dangerous, and he could feel as if death was looming just behind him, but he could not give up . Too much was depending on this battle .

    Xue Wei continued forward, he twisted his massive body and avoided a sh of the Evil spirit¡¯s w, but before he could move more, another w came crashing down towards him .

    Scale Shield!

    Another Scale Shield was raised in front of him, and as it copsed, the speed of the w was slowed just enough to allow Xue Wei to escape .

    Seeing that the Evil Spirit was not using special abilities but purely brute force, Xue Wei could not help but wonder if it was because the spirit was confined to the Thunder Twilight Zone . It was impossible for it to gain any abilities that suited it .

    Even if he had guessed correctly, Xue Wei dared not belittle the Evil Spirit . The brute force alone was enough to cause him problems, so if it had also learned some skills, then he would indeed be in a dangerous situation .

    Xue Wei advanced and retreated . He created Scale Shield after Scale Shield .

    Not only this, but he also attacked using random innate skills he had suddenly learned such as Lightning sh, Draconic Illusion, Scale Vortex, Wood Pattern .

    Attack after attack wasunched, and while the Evil Spirit was chasing Xue Wei and trying to kill him, the others were slowly attacking whenever they found a safe time tounch an attack .

    Soon thousands of attacks had rained down upon the Evil Spirit, but no blood had been shed yet, his hair was disheveled and his clothes messy, but there were no signs of it being injured or even tired .

    Xue Wei knew that this battle would turn into a battle of attrition . It would be impossible to win in one fell swoop, so instead, he continued to wear down the Evil Spirit .

    The further they struggled like this, the more furious the Evil Spirit became, and this was what Xue Wei was looking for .

    When he became furious and lost his cool, it would be easier to defeat him . He knew it from himself when he lost himself in bloodlust or in killing intent; he would be much easier to deal with for someone who stayed coolheaded . This was also the reason Xue Wei never allowed himself to let go entirely . He would end up dead if he did so .

    Unfortunately, it seemed that although this Evil Spirit was immensely strong, it did not have much actual battle experience . It did not even hesitate to be furious, and it dly embraced the rage, using it to fuel his brute force to new heights .

 Chapter 339

    Chapter 339: 339

    Xue Wei was pushed continuously backward . He was unable to gain the upper hand, but at the same time, because he was getting aided by the Scarlet Blood Bats and his friends, the Evil Spirit couldn¡¯t gain the upper hand either .

    Although thousands of attacks had rained down upon the Evil Spirit, it was uninjured . Fortunately, Xue Wei and the others were uninjured as well .

    But even though this was the case, the scales were notpletely even .

    Xue Wei had cast many Scale Shields and depleted around ten to twenty percent of his Qi . The Devouring Azure Dragon had also depleted around ten percent of his Spiritual Energy . Until it returned to him, he would not benefit from the energy it had consumed .

    He had yet to use the new Life Force that was flowing in his body, but the rest of the energies were rapidly bing depleted .

    It was not only him, the Scarlet Blood Bats and hisrades were also using all the energy they had in their bodies tounch their killing attacks one after another .

    At least they could sit and restore their energy before it was time for a new attack, Xue Wei could not do so .

    Xue Wei wondered what attack to use when a skill suddenly appeared in his mind .

    Life and Death Wheel .

    This was an attack that required not only the Life Force within his body but also the Life Force in the surrounding areas . It would make a massive illusionary wheel and trap an opponent in the illusion of both living and dying .

    Each illusion was different from person to person, but one thing was sure, it would make the one they attacked experience birth, but also death . When they were trapped in the Life and Death Wheel illusion, they would be incapable of breaking free .

    But it was not certain that it would seed . The stronger the opponent was, the more likely it was to fail . Fortunately, the Evil Spirit was severely injured right now, and there was a chance for the Life and Death Wheel to work .

    Xue Wei took a deep breath and calmed himself . The Life and Death Wheel required outside help from external Life Force . However, the Thunder Graveyard Ind was rather deste . Although herbs grew here and turned old, it was a ce of death, and not much Life Force could be gathered .

    Xue Wei started collecting the Life Force ording to the inherited thoughts that had appeared in his mind, and he felt a shocking rumble in his body . Specks of green light started appearing on top of the surface of the ground, and these specks all flew towards Xue Wei and entered his body .

    The more energy that entered, the more painful he became . He was still only a Sky Knight, and the Life Force was overwhelming him .

    He did not dare hesitate as he began pouring the energy through his body in a specific pattern, following his meridians and unlocking the ability .

    As the energy rampaged through his body, he was on the verge of losing consciousness . The energy was simply too overwhelming, and he could do nothing about it other than continue channeling it . As soon as it entered his body, he would channel it in a specific pattern after which it would leave him again . The illusionary wheel that looked like yin and yang in the sky turned more and more corporeal .

    The Evil Spirit, who previously had seen Xue Wei and the others, as annoying flies whom he could kill as soon as he got his hands on them, suddenly felt a sense of dangering from the massive wheel in the sky .

    It gritted its sharp teeth before it elerated . Itpletely ignored the attacks that came down upon it from all sides as the Scarlet Blood Bats, Lin Xiao, Bai Tianyi, and Hei Gou all decided to throw attacks at once .

    The only thought in its mind was to attack Xue Wei . If it could kill him, then the threatening attack in the air would not have anyone controlling it, and it would be safe .

    Xue Wei quickly understood the thought of the Evil Spirit, and a helpless smile appeared on his lips .

    The Life Force was running rampant in his body and was impossible to control . It was widening his meridians, and the pain was so intense that Xue Wei was unable to think clearly .

    Life Scale Shield!

    Xue Wei could not avoid the attack that the Evil Spirit sent his way, and all he could do was try to protect himself against it .

    Fortunately, he had arge quantity of Life Force in his body at the current point in time, so he activated the upgraded version of the Scale Shield - the Life Scale Shield .

    Things did not go exactly as nned . The standard Scale Shield was almost pearl white . However, the Life Scale Shield was emerald in color . It seemed much more real than the other shield, and an aura of indestructibility was projected outwards .

    Unfortunately, the Evil Spirit was not your average opponent .

    The attack that wasing down contained the full strength of the Evil Spirit, and he was not showing any signs of stopping, even when facing this massive shield .

    The arm shed down, the ws were sharp and filled with explosive strength .

    A loud boom resounded on the battlefield as the hand came into contact with the Life Scale Shield . A shockwave of energy exploded outwards with Xue Wei and the Evil spirit in the center, causing all the others to retreat rapidly .

    Dirt, grit, and dust were kicked up from the ground, swirling around them, making it impossible to see what was happening in the eye of the storm .

    Xue Wei was, however, in the midst of it all, and he could feel that although the attack had been slowing down drastically, a bit of the ferociousness remained and continued towards him .

    At this point, all he could rely on was his body¡¯s natural defenses .

    After using some of the Life Force in his body to create the Life Scale Shield, he was no longer entirely at the mercy of the pain . Instead, he could move, and he twisted his massive frame and managed to avoid the w, only having it shing at his tail, ripping out a few scales .

    Blood began flowing from Xue Wei¡¯s tail . He could feel the pain butpare to the previous agony of having his meridians widened; this was nothing .

    He looked at the Evil Spirit and saw that it was not only him who had be injured, but the Evil Spirit had also wholly ignored the killing moves of his friends and the Scarlet Blood Bats, not to mention the explosion after destroying the Life Scale Shield .

    Blood was trickling out of the corner of his mouth, and a few cuts of varying size were littered over his body .

    "Now¡¯s my chance!" Xue Wei¡¯s eyes glistened .

    Life and Death Wheel Activate!

    The wheel started swirling around as it descended towards the Evil Spirit . Feeling the danger that was looming, the Evil Spirit¡¯s eyes widened, and it shed out with the ws .

    "Break!" he screamed . "Break! Bloody hell, break already!"

    But no matter how much he attacked the wheel, nothing happened . A hole would appear where he touched it, but moments after it would restore itself back to its previous appearance, not at all minding the attack .

    From this, one could see that Life Force was, without a doubt, the strongest power amongst them all when it came to healing and regeneration .

    Soon the wheel had descended all the way from the air and down on top of the Evil Spirit . It shrunk in size, from a massive wheel that had been more than fifty meters long and covering the sky, to a ten centimeters small emblem that stuck to the Evil Spirit¡¯s head .

    The moment it came into contact with the head, the eyes of the Evil Spirit turned vacant . He stopped attacking, and his entire body slumped down on the ground .

    "Don¡¯t hesitate! Kill him!" Xue Wei yelled out, and he used all his innate abilities one after another .

    Not only was he using his innate abilities, but he also created a new spiritual energy devouring dragon figure, and allowed for it to attack .

    "Luoluo,e and drain him of Soul Power!" Xue Wei once more called out, and the small girl, who had been sitting behind the entire battle rushed forward .

    She hadplete faith in Xue Wei, so she ced her small palm on top of the Evil Spirit¡¯s head and began absorbing his Soul Power forcefully .

    "Tianyi, you too!" Xue Wei called out, and Bai Tianyi flew over and did the same as Luoluo .

    Both of their faces flushed red as they gritted their teeth and began absorbing his soul power .

    The more they absorbed, the weaker the Evil Spirit became .

    Xue Wei kept an eye on the Life and Death Wheel that was on the forehead of the Evil Spirit .

    It was slowly growing dimmer and dimmer . When it vanishedpletely, the Evil Spirit would be released from the illusion .

    The Scarlet Blood Bats and Xue Wei were fighting so seriously, their lives were on the line, and they did anything they could to kill the spirit, or at least weaken it immensely before it was time for it to awaken again .

    "Everyone, back up!" Xue Wei yelled out, and they all retreated . Luoluo and Bai Tianyi were unable to attend the rest of the battle; their task had been fulfilled; for now, they needed to refine the energy they had absorbed . It was still too ferocious and evil for them to just absorb right away, and if they did not seed in cleansing it, they also might turn into Evil Spirits .

    Xue Wei looked at the Evil Spirit warily . It was severely injured . Not only externally but also internally as they had absorbed his soul power, and it too sensed the damage it had received .

    "I am going to kill you all!" it howled furiously as it rushed towards Xue Wei . The speed this time was faster than before, and the ws came crashing down before Xue Wei had the time to raise a Scale Shield .

    The two hands and the ten ws were sharp like razors, they ripped out multiple scales on Xue Wei¡¯s side, causing blood to flow .

    "Scarlet Blood Bats, drink the blood!" Xue Wei called out, and the bats, somewhat puzzled, went to drink the blood .

    Boom after boom resounded on the battlefield as the Scarlet Blood Bats mutated .

    They were still Fierce Beasts, but their intellect and their battle prowess were enhanced dramatically, and they continued to fight against the Evil Spirit .

    Sensing that they were getting stronger, the Evil Spirit was feeling helpless . He had injured his enemy finally, but now the others were using this injury to enhance their strength .

    Blood was spat out of the mouth of the Evil Spirit . It was furious but also regretting . If it had beenpletely serious from the beginning, things would never have escted to this point .

    Unfortunately, it was toote to regret it now . He had been holding the upper hand, but now he was being pressured, and he felt his soul power dissipate little by little .

    The energy that dissipated was being consumed by the two spiritual energy devouring dragons, Luoluo, and Bai Tianyi .

    The Evil Spirit was a spirit, after all . It was a very resilient creature, that although not hard to defeat was very hard to kill .

    They drained the soul power little by little, and the Evil Spirit was unable to make aeback .

    A few days went by where Luoluo, Bai Tianyi, and Xue Wei continued to drain it of energy before it turned into nothingness .

    Only when thest wisp of energy was absorbed did Xue Wei breathe a heavy sigh of relief . They had finally defeated the Evil Spirit .

 Chapter 340

    Chapter 340: 340

    Although the Evil Spirit had died, it was not the end of the battle . Luoluo and Bai Tianyi were both bloated . They were filled with the soul power of the Evil Spirit, and this was immensely dominating and overpowering .

    Xue Wei and the Scarlet Blood Bats could do nothing now . The rest of the battle depended entirely on Luoluo, and Bai Tianyi¡¯s willpower to resist the killing and evil vibes within the soul power .

    "Guard them well," Xue Wei left the task of protecting Luoluo and Bai Tianyi to Xue Fu and the other Scarlet Blood Bats, while he himself headed towards the cave that had belonged to the spirit .

    When the Evil Spirit had died, it had not left behind a corpse, as it had dissipated into thin air . Even the clothes it had been wearing were created from Spiritual Energy and had turned to nothing .

    Hence, Xue Wei quickly deducted that the beast tag was left within the cave, and within this beast tag should be a destructive beast that could not be belittled .

    "Come with me . " Before actually entering the cave, he turned to Lin Xiao and gestured for him to follow . Although Xue Wei could use his bloodline to threaten the beast in the beast tag, it would be much better if they could tame it .

    Inside the cave was many wondrous things . Resources of every kind could be found piled into mountains .

    There were storage treasures in one corner, all of which had clearly been tossed aside after killing their previous owners .

    In another corner were jade boxes and bottles filled with herbs and pills . There were scrolls with formations and inscriptions .

    As they walked through the entrance, Xue Wei waved his hand, and everything flew into his own storage treasure .

    He had gained many spoils of war throughout the trip to the Thunder Twilight Zone, but so far he had not had the time to look through what items he had gained . It would take a long time for him to look through it all and figure out what he could use and what should be stored to sell .

    Xue Wei went through the entire cave, and everything he encountered was scooped up and ced in his storage treasures . When one was filled, he would find another and fill that one as well .

    When he reached the inner areas of the cave, he found that this was the residential area of the Evil Spirit . In here were random materials, mainly the furniture which was made out of exotic ore, and was quickly stored by Xue Wei .

    When he reached the table, he found the beast tag .

    The beast tag seemed as if it was a small emblem . It appeared to have been created from some unknown type of wood, and on top of it was the sign for beasts .

    Xue Wei ced his hand on top of it and embedded his spiritual energy mark onto it .

    The moment his energynded on the beast tag, Xue Wei felt resilient energy that tried to fight against him .

    Even so, Xue Wei activated his bloodline, and the resilient energy started trembling . It was clearly not willing, but in front of the overwhelming sovereignty, it could do nothing but bend and bow .

    "You tame it," Xue Wei said as he tossed the beast tag to Lin Xiao . It was not that he was not willing to overwhelm the beast with his bloodline . However, it was better to tame it .

    When a beast was tamed, it would be a ve of the Diviner who tamed it, not only in body but also in mind . In the mind of a tamed beast, it would be impossible ever to have a rebellious thought towards their master .

    Lin Xiao sat down in the middle of the living area within the cave, took out his staff, and began facing off against the beast tag .

    Xue Wei nced at the focused Lin Xiao, but he did not stay around him . He knew that as long as the beast was within the beast tag, it had absolutely no way of fighting back against the taming process . Although the beast was likely of a higher rank, it was currently constrained by the beast tag, and thus unable to put up a fight .

    Since Xue Wei knew that Lin Xiao was safe, he did not hesitate to continue his exploration of the cave .

    He walked deeper into the cave . Although the living quarters were somewhat big, they were not the end of the cave .

    Walking deeper in, he found that there was a stone door . This stone door seemed somewhat familiar, but he could not remember where he had seen it before .

    Curious, and feeling as if something was pulling him, Xue Wei pushed open the door and looked into the room in the front .

    The room was round . It was illuminated by a strange pearl-like orb that was in the very middle, spreading a warm and gentle light over the entire room .

    Although the light was warm, Xue Wei felt a shiver run down his spine as he looked at the room he was in .

    Bloody scratch marks were embedded in the walls, there was not even a slight space without scratch marks, and while some of the blood seemed ancient, some was fresh .

    Although the blood was on the walls, the floor was immacte . There was not even the slightest bit of blood or spots on the ground; it was spotless and white like marble .

    When looking at this room, Xue Wei instantly felt that he had been dragged back to the time when he was on the ninth floor of the Soul Tower .

    From size to bloody scratches, light to floor, everything was the exact same .

    Xue Wei took a deep breath . He was hesitating to enter the room . Something was calling for him within the room, but at the same time, he felt an almost tangible feeling of danger .

    "Well, danger and fortune go hand in hand," Xue Wei muttered as he made a decision . Steeling his heart, he took one step into the room, and as soon as he did, the door mmed behind him .

    Xue Wei felt his heart jolt, but he had more or less foreseen this happening .

    Since he was prepared, his heart quickly calmed down again, and he scanned the room .

    "Wee to one of the rooms of Samsara," an ancient voice suddenly boomed out from within the orb on the table .

    Xue Wei frowned . Samsara? The circle of life and death? What was this ce?

    The feeling of danger increased in Xue Wei¡¯s mind, but he still managed to calm down . Even if there was a danger, he could do nothing about it now . He was trapped within the room .

    Taking a deep breath, a dangerous glint appeared in Xue Wei¡¯s eyes as they focused on the orb .

    Just as it was about to continue the door was suddenly opened, and Hei Gou was standing in the door frame together with Luoluo .

    Every single feeling that Xue Wei had felt before vanished . The danger had perished instantly, and so had the feeling of being summoned by something .

    He looked at the pearl-like orb, but it did not even let out an ounce of light anymore .

    "What a grim room," Hei Gou said as he strolled inside, looking at the many scratch marks . Xue Wei looked as both Luoluo and Hei Gou entered, but the door did not close, and the orb did not light up again .

    Xue Wei hesitated, but he understood that this room would no longer activate . He instinctively realized that when Hei Gou and Luoluo entered, whatever had activated had shut down and would not activate again .

    Looking at the pearl-like orb, Xue Wei hesitated for a moment before he reached out his hand and picked it up .

    The orb was cool to touch, and when he touched it, space surrounding them suddenly started twisting . All of a sudden, a massive eyeball appeared in front of them .

    The eyeball was red, unlike normal eyeballs, and it was leaving a heavy pressure on all of them .

    Suddenly an archaic and slightly withered voice resounded in the ears of Luoluo, Hei Gou, and Xue Wei .

    "Samsara is the cycle of death and rebirth to which life in the material world is bound . There is no escaping the circle; there is no escaping fate . "

    Xue Wei narrowed his eyes, but before he had the time to say anything, space twisted again, and the eyeball had vanished into thin air .

    "How strange," Hei Gou said as he looked slightly stumped at the ce where the eyeball had vanished, only Luoluo and Xue Wei were both silent .

    Both seemed to be in deep thought . Xue Wei was contemting what these rooms of Samsara might be and what their purpose was while Luoluo, on the other hand, was feeling ufortable because of the massive spiritual energy that had leaked from the eye .

    Hei Gou was the least affected, and when he saw that both others were deep in thought, he just shrugged his shoulders as he left the room and continued on his search for treasures .

    It took both Luoluo and Xue Wei took a long time before they calmed down . Xue Wei kept away the pearl-like orb, while Luoluo sent a final nce at the ce where the eye had been .

    "How was the refinement going?" Xue Wei asked her gently, and Luoluo, who had been severe and solemn smiled lightly when she heard his concern for her .

    "It will take me some time to refine all the energy I consumed this time," she said without hiding anything . "The evilness within the energy is struggling when I am trying to cleanse it . But it is also much more powerful than the rest of the energy Imand, so in the long run, it will be worth it . I just need to be patient and cleanse it little by little . "

    Xue Wei nodded his head approvingly as he reached out his hand and ruffled the girl¡¯s hair .

    There were no more treasures in the residential area when they exited; everything had been swiped clean by Hei Gou .

    Together they left the cave, only to find that Xue Fu and her bats had surrounded Bai Tianyi, protecting him .

    His brows were furrowed, sweat was pouring down his face, and his clothes were drenched .

    A red mist seemed to envelop him, and from this mist, Xue Wei could feel hatred, anger, resentment, and other negative energies .

    This was the evil energy, and Bai Tianyi was pushing himself . "That idiot," Luoluo muttered as she looked at Bai Tianyi with a tinge of worry in her eyes, "He is reaching for the Ordinary Saint rank," she exined, "but he will need to consume a whole lot of evil energy to do so . I don¡¯t know if he can cleanse it fast enough, even with the natural defense that a sword artist has against evil beings . "

    Xue Wei had a grim expression on his face as he observed Bai Tianyi . "We can only trust in him," he said eventually with a sigh .

    "He must have a certain amount of faith in himself to be able to attempt this," he continued, "so we need to give him peace an quiet and trust that the evil spirit will not erode him, but conquer it instead . "

    Luoluo nodded her head . Things were indeed as he said, they could do nothing else than trust in Bai Tianyi, and considering how he was an ancient old monster who had seen so many things, he was likely to know what he was doing .

    "Time to look at our spoils of war," Xue Wei snickered as he began sorting the many spoils and resources he had gained throughout the adventure .

    Xue Weiughed happily when he looked into the many resources he had gained, and even more so, he was relieved when he saw that there were multiple ships in the storage treasures .

 Chapter 341

    Chapter 341: 341

    These ships could be used to help them traverse the remainder of the Sea of the Enchanted .

    Xue Wei found that there were thirteen ships, all of them of different quality, but one of them was rather small in size, but the inscriptions on top of it, alongside the speed it could reach were far from average .

    A smaller ship was the best idea to take . Although it required essence stones to sail, it did not require sailors . It was a spiritual treasure .

    After having mined a lot of essence stone mines all over the Thunder Graveyard Ind, Xue Wei had a lot of essence stones in his hand, and he would be able to maintain the speed of the ship for more than thousand years, as he had gained some top-ranked essence stones too .

    Not only had he gained essence stones from the mines he had emptied, but he had also gained a massive amount of essence stones from the storage treasures .

    It was not only essence stones and ships that were in the many storage treasures, every kind of resource that one could imagine was present .

    There were herbs of every kind, some of them were immensely rare, while others were quite ordinary .

    There were ores of various colors . Some of them were even considered heaven and earth treasures, while others weremon ores, but used when making Rainbow Pills .

    Apart from ores and herbs, there was arge number of beast cores, skin, horns, and so on .

    There were also many skills and techniques, alongside weapons of every kind, some of them had even reached the rank of a spiritual weapon .

    Having this many things falling into their hands . Xue Wei went into seclusion for a few days where he continued to refine two-colored Rainbow Pills .

    By now, he had an eighty percent sess rate, and he created a full nine pills by the time he was done with his closed-door seclusion .

    Handing one out to each of his friends, Xue Wei also gave one to Xue Fu, while keeping the rest for himself .

    He was not going to consume them, but he wanted to have them for when someone was close to a breakthrough . Other than that, he could use them for trading for something he wanted when they reached the Demon Phoenix Continent .

    After he finished, all of them consumed their pills . Xue Wei broke into the Heavenly Knight Rank with his Qi levels; he was at the secondyer when the efficiency of the pill started to run out .

    Lin Xiao had reached the ninthyer of the Heavenly Knight Rank, while Hei Gou had reached the eighthyer .

    Bai Tianyi had managed to force himself to the Ordinary Saint rank, the energy he had refined from the Evil Spirit alongside the pill pushed him to the firstyer of the Ordinary Saint rank .

    Luoluo was hard to tell what rank she reached . However, her body grew up, and she seemed as if she had grown to the age of ten to eleven years old .

    This was a mixture of the energy she had consumed from the Evil Spirit, alongside the medicine from the Rainbow Pill .

    Xue Fu managed to reach the thirdyer of the Ordinary Saint rank . Although she was the highest ranked amongst them, her fighting strength was beaten by the newly advanced Bai Tianyi .

    Even so, if Xue Wei were about to encounter either of them in a battle, he would have to exhaust all his methods, and even then he was not sure he would be able to win .

    Xue Fu had ced all the Scarlet Blood Bats within the beast tag . Lin Xiao had sessfully tamed the beast, which had turned out to be an Ordinary Saint firstyer ranked Crimson-Mawed Sea Crocodile .

    This was a ferocious Primordial Beast with frightening fighting prowess, but neither Xue Wei nor Lin Xiao had any intention of making it join their group, and thus it was left in the beast tag as help if they ever needed it .

    The beast was now fully loyal to Lin Xiao and did not question his decision . It just epted the order given and continued to cultivate in the middle of the beast tag .

    Xue Fu was ufortable when she saw how easily the mind of a Primordial Beast almost as strong as she had been controlled .

    She suddenly started to feel some fear towards Lin Xiao .

    "Well, let us get thest resources," Xue Wei said with a smile when all of them had finished cultivating . He was not willing to let go of any of the resources that might assist him in the future, and thus he continued to harvest herb after herb, ore after ore and so on .

    Days went by on the ind as they found treasure after treasure, and as they had finished taking all the things they had found and were on the way to leave the ind, they were suddenly greeted by the forest filled with Remnant Soul Fragments .

    How to get past it?

    Xue Wei spent another few days making inscriptions and formations . All of these were focused on explosion, light, and fire .

    "Let¡¯s go," he said, and the group rushed through the forest . Fortunately, the big soul remnants were not present, but even so, they still received a few injuries on their escape through the woods .

    As they exited the woods, the rest was a walk in the park . They encountered a few undead, but they were blown to dust as soon as they got within range of their attacks .

    They encountered more and more people on the ind in groups, but these groups dared not touch Xue Wei and his friends .

    When they exited the Thunder Graveyard Ind, they went straight for the purple mist .

    It was simple to locate this mist, and the flood dragon within was filled with praises for their performances .

    She was genuinely surprised to see the results that Xue Wei had produced, and she could not help but marvel in her heart about their gains .

    Xue Wei was also quite astounded by the riches they had gained this time . Not only had they all be Heavenly Knights, but some had also even be Ordinary Saints .

    Not to mention all the resources . They had gained numerous resources that could not be found generally in the outside world, as they required specific conditions, and only extreme locations such as the Thunder Twilight Zone allowed for these conditions to be met .

    After finishing their talk with the Flood dragon, Xue Wei and the others exited the Thunder Twilight Zone .

    Just as when they entered, a lot of people outside were waiting for them . Some had the purpose of robbing the people who had entered and gained fortune in the Thunder Twilight Zone, while others were there because they were supposed to enter it and try their own luck .

    Xue Wei was observing the people that were looking at them as if they were fat sheep ready for ughter, and he could not help but feel alert .

    Although these people were not enough to threaten him if he used the Scarlet Blood Bats, he was also curious about his current strength .

    The opponents had a full seven Ordinary Saint and twenty-three Heavenly Knights . There were even more Sky Knights as well, and although their damage was not enough to threaten them, they could still wear them down with their numbers .

    The two groups were facing one another . One seemed small and easy to overturn, while the other was numerous and almost blotted out the horizon .

    "Attack!" sounded from the opposite side, the ones with the most people did not at all fear Xue Wei nor his friends . However, reality would prove to be different from what they had expected .

    The Ordinary Saint aura erupted from Xue Fu and Bai Tianyi, their strength far surpassing usual Ordinary Saints .

    A massive sword made from the spiritual energy swept down, and one Ordinary Saint alongside a group of Heavenly Knights numbering three and even a whole bunch of Sky Knights suddenly lost their lives in an instant .

    The sword intent that was left behind was enough to cause the heads of the remaining experts to quiver in fear, but before they had the chance to attack, Xue Fu waved her hands .

    Scarlet Blood Phantom w!

    This was one of the Scarlet Blood Bat¡¯s innate abilities and could be used in both her original form and her human shape .

    A w-like phantom appeared in the sky far above the others, but as if teleported it suddenly appeared in the midsts of the group, wreaking havoc on anyone that came close .

    Lin Xiao was also testing out his new strength, the staff in his hand was being wielded with experience, and anywhere it passed, skulls were cracked, and blood shed .

    Xue Wei had initially nned on partaking in the battle and experiencing his own strength, but when he looked at the battlefield, he found that there were not enough to make him serious .

    Instead, he decided to rob the corpses of their storage treasures, and while the ones observing thought that Xue Wei was just an errand boy for this group, the eyes of the friends popped out in shock . Xue Wei was simply bing far too frugal!

    Xue Wei did not care about their nces . He liked resources, and he needed an outstanding amount of them now their group had enhanced with over two hundred scarlet blood bats .

    He could not let them be all on their own for cultivating; he would have to provide them with some resources for their strength to continue to be of use to him, so his obsession with resources was quite understandable .

    The battle ended just like that . The experts died a gruesome and bloody death . They had no real chance to fight back, and although Xue Wei¡¯s group was much smaller, it was much more oppressive and forceful .

    After finishing the battle, no one else dared to even look at them, the other experts standing outside the Thunder Twilight Zone were all feeling a chill run down their spine and feeling scared .

    With a simple nce towards them, Xue Wei shook his head and withdrew a ship from his storage treasure .

    The ship he withdrew was small but immensely fast . Sitting on the ship, they once more began moving towards the Demon Phoenix Continent . There was just one problem - they did not know the way .

    As they sailed forward, they encountered another ind that was a stop for most sailors and pirates in the Sea of the Enchanted .

    They did not stay long on this ind, but they managed to get their hands on a map, and afterward, their ship set sail towards the Demon Phoenix Continent .

    After encountering the Thunder Twilight Zone, nothing exciting happened . Even when they encountered another ship, they did nothing to offend Xue Wei and his friends, even the pirates allowed for them to pass undisturbed .

    Xue Wei was not stupid and knew that this was most likely done under the order of Tao Wu . He did not know where this monstrous expert came from, nor did he know what his ns were, but he knew that his strength was unquestionable, and having made him into a friend was the right decision .

    He was also quite happy that Jiang Jingyue had found such a strong backer . Although he would have liked to spend more time with her, he understood that her destiny was different . She was to roam the high seas alongside Tao Wu and his band of pirates .

    Xue Wei was unable to stop like this; he wanted much more than just be an overlord in a sea, he wanted to reach the peak of existence, he wanted to thread across an unventured path .

    Like this, a year went by . The experts on board the ship were cultivating, and during this year they finally understood why Xue Wei was so obsessed with treasures . During thest year, they had not restored any resources, they had only used their stock, and it was dropping fast since he had to provide for more than two hundred experts¡¯ cultivation bases .

    One day, when Xue Wei was deep in thought and cultivating his Qi, he suddenly felt something pull on his soul, and as he raised his head, he sawnd in the distance .

 Chapter 342

    Chapter 342: 342

    The caw of a seagull could be heard across the sky as the small ship with an even smaller crew sailed towards the continent that was strewn out in front of them .

    While the experts on board the small ship were all of the Heavenly Knight and Ordinary Saint ranks, their auras were fiercer than normal cultivators of the same level .

    The pirates in the shallow water were looking at the group with wary eyes . Although they had the benefit of numbers, none of them took action .

    The many merchant ships that were also sailing towards the continent saw this phenomenon . Their eyes filled with shock and disbelief . Who were these experts on board the small ship? Even the pirates of the Sea of the Enchanted dared not touch them!

    These merchants knew the deadliness of the pirates, many of them had already paid a hefty fee to be safe from their attacks .

    Some thought that the small ship had done the same, but many of the real experts present had seen wariness and hesitation in the face of the pirates as they looked at the crew onboard the small ship .

    This was not an expression that would be shown unless they had some sort of power backing them .

    The small ship arrogantly maneuvered through therger vessels; it quickly advanced towards the ind zone .

    The sea was split into different parts, where the majority was the high sea . This was the deepest part of the sea, then came the shallow sea, and finally was the ind zone .

    While the shallow sea was still considered a part of the Sea of the Enchanted, the ind zone was different . When one entered the ind zone, they had entered the territory of the continent . Here the pirates would never enter as it was the same as asking for death .

    Onboard the small ship, in the cabin of the captain, was a young youth . He did not seem much older than eighteen or neen . His ck hair was fluttering in the wind, which came through a window, resembling ink that was artistically being spread over a piece of paper .

    His skin resembled white jade; it was so delicate and smooth that even women would be jealous of him .

    His eyes were ck like the darkest night but still glistened as if they contained the entire starry sky . From time to time, an azure gleam would sh past, but one would only notice it if they really focused on observing him .

    This young youth who was not even twenty years of age was Xue Wei . His strength had increased tremendously while he had spent a year onboard the ship cultivating .

    His Qi levels were now at the seventhyer of the Heavenly Knight rank, while his Spiritual Energy had risen to the ninthyer .

    It was not only him who had benefitted from the year of cultivating, but Lin Xiao, Hei Gou, Bai Tianyi, and Luoluo had also all benefitted greatly, the one with the least advances was Xue Fu .

    It was not that she had not been given the same amount of resources as Xue Wei and the others; it was due to her being a Scarlet Blood Bat . Although they were immensely strong, they had an ancient bloodline; the truth was that their talent in cultivation was terrible . It had already taken them thousands of years to reach the Ordinary Saint rank .

    Xue Fu, who had the least progress, was still ecstatic . During the time she had been aboard the ship, she had gained more than one Rainbow Pill; one was a two-colored pill, the others were one-colored Rainbow Pills .

    She had never expected that she, a Fierce Beast who had mutated and improved her bloodline and be a Primordial Beast, would be able to consume a Rainbow Pill .

    Their advance made a lot of people pay attention to them . Their arrogant attitude that showed no fear of anyone, and sailed through the muchrger ships caused many to have a bad impression of them .

    Xue Wei was the one who had decided that they should move towards the harbor,pletely ignoring the other ships .

    Xue Fu could not help but feel some sweat appear on her face, and her hands were clenched tightly .

    She had just emerged from the Thunder Twilight Zone and was unaware of how things worked in this world .

    She was not willing to offend that many forces in a ce she did not know, but Xue Wei seemed utterly unmoved .

    It was not only the ships present that had noticed the arrogant and confident behavior of the small ship, but the harbor control and customs at the Demon Phoenix Continent had also long since realized that something was amiss .

    "Someone, go out to the ind zone and greet them . If they are just inly arrogant, teach them a lesson . If, by some extreme luck, they have a reason for being this arrogant, then politely help them into the harbor . "

    The one who spoke was the foreman of the harbor workers, and his words werew .

    He had seen many things throughout his time as a foreman, and he knew that either this ship¡¯s captain was stupid or had something to rely on .

    Looking at the small ship, the foreman dared not guess whether or not it was stupidity or confidence .

    "I¡¯ll go . " A young girl appeared next to the foreman . She seemed to be around twenty years old, but while her body was attractive and mature, her face was youthful and seemed much younger than her actual age .

    "You?" The foreman was surprised . This young woman was not a regr worker in the harbor, she was sent over by the royal family, and her bloodline was immensely pure even for a Primordial Beast .

    "I am curious about what might have made them so confident," the girl answered with a slight smile on her face .

    "You go then," the foreman knew that he could not stop her, and he also felt that it was benefitting him to send someone of a higher rank, in case they really had something backing them .

    Hearing the foreman approve, big white wings appeared on the back of the woman; she looked like an angel as she flew towards the small ship, not at all hiding her aura of an Earth Saint .

    "Someone ising," Xue Wei suddenly muttered and opened his closed eyes .

    This was what he had wanted . He wanted them to notice him, and hopefully, he could use his bloodline to be received as an extinguished guest in the Demon Phoenix Continent . He was tired of always being on the run or just barely scraping by .

    He had understood much about the Demon Phoenix Continent while traveling with the delegation, and one of the things he realized was that bloodline was something that was paid close attention to .

    The purer one¡¯s bloodline, the more likely one was to be something on this continent .

    Humans existed here too, but it was very rare for them to make a name for themselves, the majority were the beasts .

    This Primordial Beast with the white wings flew towards the small ship, a gentle smile hung on her lips, but although she looked ethereal, her eyes shone with disdain .

    "Halt!" her voice spread out over the entire ocean as she reached within hearing range of the small ship, but it was not only the small ship that heard her, everyone that was trying to sail ind heard her and while the majority of the ships stopped, her target, the little ship, continued forward undisturbed .

    Seeing this, the woman¡¯s face turned slightly cold . Her angered expression was very unsuitable for her child-like features .

    She pped her wings a few times, and after what seemed like only a second, she appeared on board the ship .

    Everyone who saw this scene was gloating secretly . They wanted to see these unknown people being taught a lesson .

    "I told you to halt," her rather forceful voice sounded on the deck, but Xue Wei just nced at her and said nothing .

    Hispletely disdainful attitude shocked everyone present, friends and observers alike .

    The woman had to control herself, or she would have jumped over and killed him right away, but she knew she still had to check whether or not he had some sort of background .

    Xue Wei snickered coldly inside when he saw her eyes filled with anger and her fists clenched . He had a somewhat unfavorable impression of this person .

    "I am talking to you!" the woman said, and the heaven and earth essence started to move, it was clear that her anger could not be contained any longer and that she was about to make a move .

    Looking at her again, Xue Wei unleashed his bloodline pressure . Although he was a lower rank than this woman, in apletely different realm from her, his bloodline pressure made the woman tremble and feel like she had to kneel . This was the pressure of a monarch .

    Her eyes instantly widened when she felt the pressure, and cold sweat appeared on her body .

    She had been sent to the harbor by the royal family, so she had seen the royals before . The pressure she felt from this youth was simr to the pressure she felt from the royals, and this could only mean one thing - this was a Sovereign Beast of unknown origin!

    The woman suddenly understood why this youth was so disdainful towards her . He had every right to be so . He could be as arrogant as he wished; he was a creature that stood above all others .

    "This one had eyes but failed to notice mount Tai," the woman said while bowing deeply . Her sudden change in behavior shocked all that wereas observing the situation .

    Many of the beasts who had been observing had felt a wisp of threat from the aura, but they were too far away to really sense the ripple of bloodline pressure, so they were puzzled as to why the woman would change from burning with anger to bing immensely respectful and even a bit frightened .

    "Let this one lead Sir towards the harbor," the woman said respectfully, her attitude had taken aplete turn, and she politely let the ship enter the ind zone and even reach the harbor in front of all the other vessels .

    The others were all requested to wait and let this small ship enter first, the others became annoyed, but no one dared to go against the young woman with the white wings .

    As they reached the harbor, the woman excused herself . She made sure to give the foreman the task of looking after them himself and even told him that they should not charge this small ship any fee . They should receive the best treatment .

    The foreman was surprised, but he did nothing to go against the order . Instead, he looked solemn as he went forward to help to look after them and assist inhelp them docking their ship .

    While the foreman was helping the crew onboard the small ship, the woman with the white wings flew directly towards the pce .

    Xue Wei was lucky and had arrived straight at the capital, which was also why he had been the object of so many ships¡¯ attention .

    As such, the woman did not have far to fly to reach the pce, and when she arrived, she instantly announced her purpose .

    "Please tell His Majesty, the Emperor, that an unknown Sovereign Beast has appeared at the harbor!" She told a eunuch who instantly rushed towards the pce¡¯s inner halls to inform the Emperor of the news .

    Within a moment, the entire pce was taking action, and the Emperor himself came out from the pce .

    He was wearing a vermilion robe, the color only the royals of the Demon Phoenix Continent were allowed to wear, and his expression was solemn .

    "Take me to meet the Sovereign Beast," he ordered the white-winged young woman .

 Chapter 343

    Chapter 343: 343

    The white-winged woman was filled with reverence and fear as she looked at the Emperor . She had expected them to put great importance on her news, but toe out himself, she would never have expected this .

    Although she was honored, she also suddenly started to doubt herself . Was it indeed a Sovereign Beast she had encountered? Had she not just been confused?

    If she had made a mistake, she did not doubt that she would end up dead . Lying to the Emperor was, without a doubt, the biggest taboo of them all .

    "This . . . this way," she said trembling as she started to walk out the pce with trembling legs .

    The Emperor could not walk to the harbor; it was not befitting for someone of his status . As soon as they exited the pce, a luxurious carriage was waiting for them .

    Outside the carriage wasere a regiment of soldiers, all of them were standing motionless, their eyes sharp and their bodies taut .

    No one knew the purpose of this Sovereign Beast that had just appeared, if heit was here to cause problems, then they needed a lot of people to deal with him, but if he was here as a friend, then they also needed to show him due respect .

    While the rumors of an unknown sovereign beast started to spread from the pce, and cause many to be nervous, Xue Wei was casual and rxed at the harbor, finishing all procedures .

    He was calm and collected, not at all worried . "Should we leave the harbor?" Lin Xiao asked when they had stored the ship in their storage treasure, but Xue Wei just shook his head .

    "They can¡¯t find us if we leave," he said confidently . "Who?" Lin Xiao was perplexed . They knew no one in the Demon Phoenix Continent, so who should look for them?

    "Did you not notice how hurriedfast that wingeddy was with leaving?" Xue Wei asked with a slight smile on her face, and Lin Xiao suddenly realized it . She had left veryso fast .

    "She is fetching someone?" Lin Xiao suddenly understood what Xue Wei meant, and his face showed signs of worry .

    "She should have told the Emperor about my appearance," Xue Wei said with a nod of his head .

    "Aren¡¯t you worried about them suddenly capturing you?" Lin Xiao continued, but Xue Wei shook his head .

    "He should be treating me with respect . " Xue Wei said with certainty . "I might not be of his race, but I am a Sovereign Beast . The four Sovereign Beast races are all friends . It is unnatural for them to attack one another . "

    Hearing Xue Wei¡¯s words, they calmed down . If he said that there was a sense of brotherhood between Sovereign Beasts, then they would trust in him .

    Xue Wei was sometimes a bit too cruel and bloodthirsty, but he would never lie to them, nor had he put their lives at risk intentionally .

    Since that was the case, they were eager to see who was the one that was sent to greet them . Was it going to be an essential official? Was it going to maybe even be a prince? They were quite curious as to how much importance would be put on them .

    They did not have to wait for long before they heard themotion at the northern entrance to the harbor .

    Arge entourage was arriving, there were around five hundred Primordial Beasts, all of them at the Heavenly Knight rank, and on top of that were ten Ordinary Saints .

    In the middle of this army of experts was a sizeable luxurious carriage . The carriage was very different from others Xue Wei had seen, it was as if it had been created solely from rare materials such as moonstone and star gems .

    "We might have hooked a big fish this time," Xue Wei muttered, his eyes disying how stunned he was, but he said nothing and continued to observe this army of experts .

    Flying in front of them all was a figure they had instantly recognized . It was the white-winged woman, but she looked anything butfortable, her eyes were showing tinges of panic, her body was trembling, and when she noticed that Xue Wei and the others were casually standing around the southern parts of the harbor, she seemed as if she had found her savior .

    She started leading the entourage towards them . Everyone they came across quickly made way for the carriage, no one dared to be in the way .

    Xue Wei was quite surprised . From what he could see, the one who had appeared was of very high standing . Otherwise, he would not be followed by such arge entourage .

    "Could it be . . . " Seeing how everyone was filled with awe and reverence as the carriage passed, Xue Wei was somewhat confident that the person within this carriage was of exceptional standing .

    Even the country¡¯s prime minister would not be treated with such reverence . A prince? Perhaps, but it had to be a prince of a certain standing .

    Even if it was a prince, he should not have the power to summon this many supporters, only with the Emperor¡¯s ept would it be possible to send this many people out to greet them .

    This also left one rather frightening option . The Emperor could havee himself .

    Just the thought of that made Xue Wei feel a chill run down his spine . If the Emperor himself had arrived, it would naturally be a good thing if he was friendly . However, it was also a possibility that he would take Xue Wei as someone who had overstepped his boundaries, and someone who wanted to take over his kingdom .

    Thinking like this, a slight bit of worry appeared in his heart . He knew, from his inherited Azure Dragon memories, that the Sovereign Beasts had a brotherly rtionship .

    However, one thing was what he knew from memories; another was what was real . He had never encountered another sovereign beast, so the actual reaction was unknown .

    Of course, he did not tell his friends about his worries . He knew that if they were aware, they would be filled with fear, so he stayed silent and looked calm andposed outside .

    The speed atof which the entourage was traveling was rather fast; they were not caring about whether or not people would move out of the way, if they did not, they would simply be pushed away .

    Although the soldiers killed no one, many ended up wounded in various ways .

    Even when they were wounded, no one dared to say anything about it . They were not even paid any kind of remuneration, but they still felt awed when looking at the carriage .

    "They are here, Your Majesty . " the white-winged woman said as she looked at Xue Wei . Hope sprung into her eyes once more, but it quickly died . There was no longer any Sovereign Beast aura around him .

    The first soldiers came to a stop right next to Xue Wei, and everyone present observed with big eyes .

    Many of the citizens of the capital had seen the moonstone carriage drive through town and had followed it out of curiosity . Amongst the observers were also many of the merchants and sailors, who had seen their arrogant entrance .

    Their eyes were bulging out when they saw that even a moonstone carriage hade to greet them .

    Even more shocked were they when they saw who stepped out of the carriage .

    A middle-aged man appeared . He had long red hair that flowed in the wind, his eyebrows were like sharp swords, and his eyes were red like crimson blood .

    He seemed to be smiling, but the smile did not reach his eyes . His aura was overwhelming and oppressive; it was as if the entire world felt a need to bow before this being .

    Even humans like Lin Xiao and spirits like Luoluo and Bai Tianyi felt their hearts move, while Hei Gou was standing on trembling legs, to avoid bowing down . Xue Fu had already bowed down; sweat was pouring down her forehead .

    The Emperor was looking straight at Xue Wei, his eyes twinkling with interest .

    Xue Wei did not bow down either, but he cupped his fists and said, "It is this one¡¯s honor to meet the revered Emperor of the Demon Phoenix Continent," he said, and his words made his friends suck in a cold breath of air .

    "Little friend is too polite," the Emperor said with a nod of his head . His voice was amicable and friendly, and although he still looked stern and cold, there was a twinkle of friendliness in his expression .

    Sensing that he held absolutely no hostility towards him, and instead was incredibly polite, Xue Wei released a deep breath of air in relief .

    "So maybe this little friend would be willing to follow this Emperor back to Our pce . We have a lot to discuss with Oour little friend . "

    Xue Wei had hoped for this and made a slight bow, "It would be my honor," he said .

    "Prepare horses for Oour friend¡¯spanions," the Emperor yelled, and suddenly some of the soldiers dismounted their Fire Dragon Horses, leaving them to Xue Wei¡¯s friends, while the soldiers themselves started following behind .

    Xue Wei, on the other hand, was invited into the moonstone carriage .

    The people who were observing were unaware of what was going on . Why was the usually frightening Emperor so friendly and polite to this young man?

    What was his identity for him to be allowed into the moonstone carriage? One has to know that only two beings were allowed to use it - the Emperor and the Crown Prince .

    But now, this young man, who no one knew, was invited inside by the Emperor himself . He was getting more respect than even the other Sovereign Beasts in the Vermilion Bird n .

    Xue Wei did not stand on ceremony and entered the carriage together with the Emperor .

    When they sat down, the Emperor said nothing at the start, he just looked at Xue Wei with his deep red eyes that seemed as if they could see right through his soul, and then he shook his head .

    "I would never have thought that an Azure Dragon would appear in our Demon Phoenix Continent," hemented, and Xue Wei smiled wryly .

    He had known for sure that this Emperor had noticed that he was a Sovereign Beast, but that he had even been able to sense that he was an Azure Dragon, Xue Wei was astonished .

    Even so, he kept his calm andposed expression and smiled slightly at the Emperor .

    "I had to leave my continent, and a Prophet from our continent known as Lan asked me toe here . "

    "Lan?!" The Emperor¡¯s face showed shock and fear when he eximed the name .

    "You know him?" Xue Wei was shocked . Why was it that everyone he encountered knew Lan?

    "Everyone with a bit of status knows of Lan," the Emperor said as he observed Xue Wei a bit more in detail .

    To think that this Azure Dragon not only knew Lan, he had alsoe from Lan¡¯s continent .

    No one knew where Lan resided, but he sometimes appeared out of nowhere and made some outrageous requests, or helped someone through a cmity .

    No one understood Lan, but everyone revered him . Now it seemed as if this kid knew more about Lan than most did .

    "What continent are you from?" The Emperor asked hesitatingly, and Xue Wei looked at him for a moment before deciding to answer, "I am from Chang¡¯an . "

    "Chang¡¯an . . . " the Emperor paused . "Never heard of it," he said regrettably while shaking his head .

    "How long have you been on the way to reach the Demon Phoenix Continent?"

    "Well, I arrived at Yan Dalu after entering a Space tunnel created by Lan, so right now, I actually have no idea where in the world I am," Xue Wi said somewhat embarrassedly and scratched his head .

    "You are the Sovereign Beast that should have arrived with the Yan Dalu delegation?" The Emperor had heard that there was a sovereign beast in the delegation, but he had died on the way . Now it seemed that he had not died on the road but been deserted by his men .

 Chapter 344

    Chapter 344: 344

    "That would be me," Xue Wei answered with a nod of his head . He had no idea that the delegation had told the Emperor that he had died on the trip, and thus he held nothing back .

    "Tell me about your trip towards the Demon Phoenix Continent . " The Emperor asked this question, not for the sake of knowing what treasures he had obtained, but because he wanted to know what else the delegation had lied about .

    "You want to know about our trip?" Xue Wei was puzzled . What purpose could he possibly have?

    Thinking that Xue Wei might have been alert, the Emperor quickly decided to diffuse the situation . "I heard from the delegation that a Sovereign Beast joined their group in Yan Dalu, however, he died underway . "

    "Died underway?" Xue Wei¡¯s face turned slightly ugly . Although he had not expected anything from the delegation, he had not expected them to curse him tofor being dead . He had, after all, saved them before .

    Xue Wei understood what worries the Emperor had then, and he quickly exined their trip . He skipped the valuables he had gained on the way, but he did remember to announce that he was a two-colored rainbow alchemist .

    Even in a continent like The Demon Phoenix Continent, two-colored rainbow alchemists were immensely rare, and a lot of attention was ced upon them .

    The more the Emperor heard, the darker his face became . Xue Wei had done so much for this delegation, but when he encountered problems, they did nothing to assist him, instead they ran away and imed he had died .

    That they ran away could somewhat be exined . Everyone would be fearful in such a situation, but when they arrived at the Demon Phoenix Continent, they should have announced that a Sovereign Beast was in trouble and required assistance . They had not done so; they had said he was dead .

    Xue Wei was not too upset about it, he just felt that they were ungrateful, but the Emperor was angry .

    He was unhappy with his men¡¯sck of loyalty, and that they lied to him was a thing that could never be excused .

    Sovereign Beasts were the royals amongst all beasts, but he had been betrayed by the men he had saved . Was that really the kind of people he wanted in his court?

    He had already decided that it was time to do some cleansing amongst his ambassadors when he returned to the pce .

    Xue Wei was unaware that the Emperor was this angry over the information, and the Emperor said nothing about it, as he changed the subject .

    The two conversed about various details of their travel towards the Phoenix Demon Continent .

    They did not start discussing the state of the Phoenix Demon Continent; neither did they discuss why Xue Wei had arrived at the continent . All in all, they kept the subject tame and ensured that they would not face a disagreement .

    As they arrived at the pce, the Emperor personally led Xue Wei into a study room while the soldiers returned to their ces, and eunuchs led Xue Wei¡¯s friends to some rooms that had been prepared for them .

    When they were seated in the study room, the expression of the Emperor finally turned a bit more serious .

    "What brings you to the Demon Phoenix Continent?" he asked, and Xue Wei pondered on how to answer . He could not very well say that he wanted their Thunder me Crown right away, as this crown was the mark of the Emperor .

    "Lan asked me to retrieve something for him," Xue Wei said with a sigh after deciding that it would be best to forge a good rtionship first .

    "I cannot go into details about what it is he wants, as I don¡¯t know much about it either, but I have been tasked with getting something back to him . At the same time, I am also hunting for fortunate encounters so that I can increase my strength . "

    Xue Wei began exining the situation back at Chang¡¯an . "I am not a peace-loving creature, nor do I wish to lead a country, but I want the millennia-long war to end . Mainly for my own personal reasons as my sweetheart is a human . "

    The Emperor was surprised when he heard that Xue Wei had found a human sweetheart . It was evident that they would never be able to give birth to children, as different races could no longer could breed with one anothers, but even so, he wished to be with this human . Such pure feelings made the Emperor astounded .

    "Will the Azure Dragons allow you to be with a human?" He could not help but ask worriedly . In the Vermilion Bird n that he was part of, you could only marry with others of the same race . This was because they were already few in numbers, if they let their youngsters fall in love with other races, then they would turn extinct .

    "I think that the Azure Dragon n has copsed," Xue Wei said seriously . "I have only met one other Azure Dragon, and that is my uncle . It is now many years since Ist saw him, and I don¡¯t know anything about others of my kind . "

    "How can this be?" The Emperor was shocked, but Xue Wei quickly exined that he had grown up amongst humans .

    "I see . " The Emperor was in deep thought . If he was a beast that thought he was a human for many years, then it made sense that he wished for the war to end .

    "I have eleven sons," the Emperor suddenly changed the subject . "Amongst these eleven sons, I will need to find one heir . Right now the spot as Crown Prince is unupied .

    "Soon, I will open up the sacred realm of our ancestor, the Ascended¡¯s Realm," the Emperor began exining . "This Ascended¡¯s Realm is not only connected to our continent but also a few other continents, so when I open it, many experts will join, humans, spirits, beasts, chimeras . Every race you can imagine will appear within the Ascended¡¯s Realm .

    "There is much fortune to be found within this realm ¡ª not only resources but also the inheritance of our ancestors and other Sovereign Beasts .

    "I am letting you and yourpanions join the group entering the Ascended¡¯s Realm . This can be arge fortune for you, but at the same time, I hope, if you encounter my sons, you can lend them a helping hand .

    "Unlike you, who has been chased for a long time, experienced the hardships of life, they have all been raised with a silver spoon in their mouths . They have no experience whatsoeverwhat so ever with challenging situations . "

    The Emperor sighed as he shook his head . He wished that his sons could be tempered somehow, but it was impossible in the environment they lived in .

    Xue Wei did not answer right away . He was quite eager to join this Ascended¡¯s Realm, but he was also a little confused as to why this Emperor trusted him so much .

    Since he was unsure, he did not keep quiet and simply asked, "I can join, but why are you so trustingsure of me?" he asked, and the Emperor gave him a long nce before he answered .

    "Long ago, I had a friend of the Azure Dragon n," he said . "His name was Xiao Lei, and he was my best brother . From you, I can feel a bit of his grandness, and I trust you because of him .

    "Another reason is Lan . Lan is a trickster, but he is also the strongest being in the entire world . For him to have given you a task, it is obvious that he has big expectations from you, and thus I will expect no less from the being having been chosen by Lan . "

    Xue Wei could not help but wonder if this Emperor would be as supportive of Lan and Lan¡¯s mission if he knew, that the one thing he had been tasked with retrieving was the Thunder me Crown .

    "When will this Ascended¡¯s RealmRealm of the Ascended open?" Xue Wei asked, and the Emperor answered quite fast, "We can open it when we want to . The original n was to open it in a month, but perhaps that¡¯s too soon for you and your friends?"

    Xue Wei, who was stunned about how fast things were happening, shook his head . "One month is enough time to prepare," he said decisively .

    Secret realms were excellent for finding fortune and riches . It was the ce to find treasures and resources, and if he could get his hands on some inheritance from an Azure Dragon, then he would be very pleased .

    "How long is this realm open?" This was the only thing that Xue Wei was worried about . If they entered the realm, how long would they have to stay in there?

    "It will be open for half a year," the Emperor answered . "from the first person enters, until they get kicked out of the realm will be half a year exactly . "

    Xue Wei nodded his head while deep in contemtion . Half a year was not too bad . He could spend half a year in there, hopefully, make the princes owe him some favors and help him get his hands on the Thunder Fire Crown .

    Thinking that this was his best chance, Xue Wei released a breath of bad air .

    He was suddenly excited .

    An unknown world was waiting for him, a challenge and a treasure hunt, half a year in another world . This was exciting for him .

    "Go back to your friends, rx a little for today . Tomorrow I will hold a banquet to introduce you to my sons alongside the other geniuses of the Vermilion Bird n that are going to the Ascended¡¯s Realm . "

    "After the banquet, you can begin preparing for the adventure . I will delegate a servant to show you around . "

    Xue Wei nodded his head, cupped his hands and bowed to the Emperor in gratitude . The Emperor then waved his hand and gestured for him to retreat .

    As Xue Wei left the study room, the Emperor sat still on his seat for some time . He then took out a small painting from his cab and looked at it with longing .

    "Xiao Wu, he looks so much like you," he muttered with a soft voice .

    On the painting was a female . She was around twenty years of age and seemed very refined and elegant . Her beauty was on the celestial maiden level .

    Although she was immensely beautiful, her features were very simr to Xue Wei .

    "He must have been your son," the Emperor muttered, a bit of pain was in his eyes when he thought about some painful memory .

    Xue Wei was unaware of what had happened in the room after he left . A eunuch hade to find him and lead him to the rooms where his friends were waiting for him .

    As he arrived, he saw that his friends had gathered in one room, all of them looked slightly ufortable, and hesitant as they waited for Xue Wei to return .

    As Xue Wei returned, they all felt a lot more relieved, and after Xue Wei sat down, he instantly began exining what he had heard .

    "An Ascended¡¯s Realm?" Xue Fu was stunned when she heard this; her eyes were shining with excitement . She came from the Thunder Twilight Zone, but she knew a bit about ascended¡¯s realms .

    "The Ascended¡¯s Realms are a dimension which contains resources that no other ce have . Their resources are much better than any other . Tthere areis also weapons, spirits, and inheritances . "

    The more she spoke, the more excited the others became . Soon they had all discussed it, and Xue Wei informed them about the date they had to leave .

    All of his friends suddenly felt their blood boil, and they were excited and amazed . They were going to enter a strange new world and experience a new adventure .

 Chapter 345

    Chapter 345: 345

    The rumors about a new Sovereign Beast having appeared spread across the capital as fast as a wildfire .

    Everyone was curious as to what the purpose of this Sovereign Beast was . At the same time, the upper echelons of the capital suddenly heard that the Emperor was hosting a banquet the following day in honor of this Sovereign Beast .

    They suddenly all were immensely busy trying to pull all their connections in an attempt toat getting an invitation .

    The Emperor was aware of this, but he had already decided that the only ones who were invited to the banquet were all members of the Vermillion Bird n .

    The geniuses of the Vermilion Bird n, alongside the pPrinces, were all entering the Ascended¡¯s Realm . As such, it was better to get to know one another before entering the ancient realm .

    While the capital was in an uproar, even the pce was filled with gossip . The many members of the Vermilion Bird n were filled with curiosity towards this other Sovereign Beast .

    While some of them felt pure curiosity, some felt rivalry, and even some felt hostility .

    Xue Wei was being regarded highly by the Emperor . Although he was a Sovereign Beast, so were the other members of the Vermilion Bird n, but they were not treated the same way . Even the geniuses rarely saw the Emperor, but now he was hosting a banquet for this foreigner . This made some jealous .

    While the pce and the capital were abuzz with emotions, Xue Wei was casual in the rooms that had been prepared for them . He rxed and calmed down .

    For once, he did not cultivate . Instead, he focused on his mental state, and he slept from the middle of the day until the following morning .

    As he woke up, he left the sleeping chamber and entered the living rooms where he stopped in his tracks, slightly stunned by what he saw .

    Inside the living room were Hei Gou, Luoluo, Lin Xiao, Bai Tianyi, and Xue Fu . All of them looking helpless as arge group of people were fussing about them . They were stering different fabrics to their bodies, cutting the materials, and creating clothes that were of high quality .

    When these people saw Xue Wei, their eyes shone with excitement, and they flocked to him as if they were seeing their most respected ancestor .

    "Lord Sovereign, please allow us to prepare some garments for you," one of the people said with reverence in his voice . "We have been tasked with preparing you and yourpanions for tonight¡¯s banquet . "

    Xue Wei nodded his head . Primordial Beasts made all the fabrics they had brought; it was not like the clothes they were currently wearing, which were from Fierce Beasts .

    "I see you like red," the man said as he looked at Xue Wei, who was wearing a white and red robe . Xue Wei did not care too much about the clothes he wore, but he felt that red was suitable since it could hide the color of blood .

    ck was also suitable, but Hei Gou was always wearing ck robes with golden or silver embroideries, and it seemed that he cared a lot about his appearance, so Xue Wei did not mind letting him have the ck clothes .

    Bai Tianyi was always wearing white clothes . It matched his white hair, and it seemed that he preferred this color .

    Luoluo was usually wearing purple dresses, and Lin Xiao was often wearing blue robes .

    Even Xue Fu had a color of her own, a magenta-colored dress .

    They looked quite colorful as the entire group walked together, but none of them cared . They each had gotten a specialized attachment to the color they wore and would usually pick clothes of that color .

    These tailors were all Primordial Beasts who excelled in creating different silks, and they knew their fabrics better than anyone else .

    Xue Wei knew that the Emperor had offered to make clothes for them for the sake of them not embarrassing themselves at the banquet, so he did not reject the offer .

    The majority of the day was spent in the rooms . The many tailors created a beautiful and extravagant robe for Xue Wei . It was crimson like the sunset with golden embroideries .

    After finishing his clothes, they quickly began creating clothes for the others, and by the time they hadpleted every single piece of clothing, it was time for them to change their clothes and head towards the banquet .

    A eunuch hade to fetch them, so they quickly changed their clothes and followed behind him .

    This eunuch was the same who had led Xue Wei away from the study room before . He was the most trusted eunuch by the Emperor¡¯s side, so seeing him humbly leading the way for a bunch of youngsters made all the servants gossip in the pce . They could instantly guess that one of the people in this group was the famed Sovereign Beast that had appeared out of nowhere .

    Xue Wei ignored everyone around him and looked forward with solemn eyes . He knew that although the Emperor was supportive of him, the other Vermilion Birds might not be . They were, after all, young . Having grown up as the hegemons of an entire continent, they might even have turned arrogant .

    Soon they arrived at a massive dining hall where tables were ced in an u-shape . The ce that connected the two long sides were raised above the ground, and there were three seats there .

    "Sir Sovereign, your friends have been ced amongst the princes," the eunuch said politely as he gestured towards some seats on one of the long sides of the table where a group of experts was already seated .

    Xue Wei nodded his head in approval . This was already showing a fair deal of respect towards him, so he did not want to fuss about them not being seating together .

    Rubbing Luoluo¡¯s head, Xue Wei said gently, "listen to the others, and don¡¯t act up . We are guests here . "

    Luoluo pouted slightly, but she still nodded her head obediently as she and the others were greeted by another eunuch who showed them the way towards their seats .

    The moment their seats were revealed, everyone in the hall quieted down, and their eyes gleamed with dissatisfaction .

    Thepanions of Xue Wei were not Sovereign Beasts . Although the two spirits held a rather high rank, the human and two Primordial Beasts should not even be allowed within the banquet in the eyes of many .

    Even more, disbelief was shown on their faces when they saw that the eunuch who was leading Xue Wei to his seat went to the three raised seats and ced him on the one on the right side .

    However, before they had the time to say anything, a guard said, "The Emperor is arriving . The First Prince is arriving . "

    Everyone suddenly quieted down and stood up to greet them . Xue Wei and his friends also stood up, but while all the others kneeled down, his friends merely bowed slightly, while Xue Wei only cupped his fists .

    "Outrageous!" one of the youngsters suddenly called out with anger, his voice was iembued with Qi, and his strength was at the Heavenly Knight rank . Alongside the Qi was also a bloodline pressure that struck Hei Gou and Xue Fu hard, making them tremble in fear and almost copse on the floor, was it not for Xue Wei quickly using his own bloodline pressure to fight against this young genius .

    "What do you think you are doing?" Xue Wei asked with a low and dangerous voice . Although the Emperor had shown him a great favor and was treating him immensely well, he was not going to overlook it if they tried bullying his friends .

    The Emperor also frowned . He could not act against his n¡¯s junior, but he was slightly annoyed when he saw the actions this youngster had made . It was losing face for the Vermilion Bird n .

    "How dare you not kneel in front of his majesty the Emperor?!" the genius did not back down but continued to press forward . He was feeling quite confident because hierarchy was important amongst the members of the Demon Phoenix Continent . Unfortunately, he had forgotten that Xue Wei was a foreigner .

    "The Emperor has not said anything, yet you are acting like this? Is this not the act of not putting the Emperor in your eyes, trying to climb all over his head?"

    Xue Wei¡¯s voice was calm and casual . Although the words were harsh and cut straight to the bone, making the genius feel fear from the bottom of his heart, Xue Wei even had a slight smile on his lips .

    "Enough about this," the Emperor sighed just as he saw that the genius was about to lose control of himself, and he shook his head in disappointment .

    Even their geniuses, although they had the best resources, had never faced hardships, so they were arrogant and unable to deal with real setbacks .

    When he looked at Xue Wei, there was a bit of fondness . The like that an elder had towards their own sons or grandsons, and he was clearly appreciative towards this youngster, not at all trying to hide it either .

    Everyone within the hall could sense that the Emperor was looking differently at Xue Wei, that there was some sort of connection between them, and this puzzled all present, including Xue Wei . Even if the Emperor was looking at him favorably, should it be this prominent?

    Was it perhaps because of his uncle, Xiao Lei?

    Although Xue Wei was close to guessing the truth, he was still a bit away from it .

    The reason that the Emperor was kind towards him, and treated him like one would their grandson, was because of his mother, Xiao Wu .

    But considering that Xue Wei did not even know the name of his mother, he couldn¡¯t guess that this Emperor knew her .

    After sensing that the Emperor was immensely gentle towards Xue Wei, the genius who had yelled at him earlier suddenly felt frightened .

    If the Emperor even allowed Xue Wei to not kneel for him, also extending to his friends, then this young unknown Sovereign Beast would quicklyfast be a much more important being in the court .

    The princes were also all in deep thought . Currently, it looked as if the First Prince would be the Crown Prince, but if they could get the support of Xue Wei, perhaps it would be possible for them to seize the throne .

    It was not only the princes seated who thought about this, but the First Prince also realized that this unknown person who had appeared out of nowhere could shake his foundations .

    A cold sh appeared in his eyes, but it vanished as soon as it had appeared . The gentle and soft smile on his lips was ever present .

    If no one knew better, they would think that he was amiable and gentle, not at all concerned with the battle that was happening for the throne .

    While Xue Wei did not know him very well, the other princes knew him, and they understood that this was the calm before the storm .

    Some of the princes even started to think that they should give up on Xue Wei, as he was doomed to die in the hands of the First Prince .

    The First Prince was the oldest of them all; he was also the most ruthless and the one that had the best talent for cultivation, already being a seventhyered Ordinary Saint .

    When they reached the upper seats, the Emperor sat in the middle, next to Xue Wei, and the First Prince sat on the other side .

    The Emperor was aware of his oldest son¡¯s appearance, and behavior was not always as it seemed, and he sighed internally . He had hoped that this son of his would appreciate Xue Wei, but it appeared that he was not willing to risk his position and wanted to get rid of Xue Wei .

    A cold gleam appeared in the eyes of the Emperor . Although the First Prince was his son, he had many sons, while Xue Wei was all that was left of Xiao Wu .

    If his son left Xue Wei alone, then things would be fine . If not, he would not be polite .

 Chapter 346

    Chapter 346: 346

    Looking at the First Prince who was smiling gently, Xue Wei¡¯s instincts told him that he was looking at a vicious snake . One that would act docile when you looked at it, but attack him in the darkness as soon as you gave him a chance .

    Although Xue Wei understood the behavior of the First Prince, he did not take it to heart . While this First Prince was immensely skilled at scheming and court intrigues, Xue Wei hadplete faith in himself when it came to survivingliving in the Ascended¡¯s Realm .

    He also felt that the Emperor would keep him alive before they entered the other realm, and after then, his experience would y a significant role .

    Xue Wei said nothing and just observed the First Prince and the Emperor sit down on their seats, and the servants were ordered to serve the dishes .

    As they ate, the princes and geniuses of the Vermilion Bird n all observed Xue Wei and hispanions, but most of their attention was on Xue Wei while they just assumed that his friends were his sidekicks; unable to stand out .

    After finishing eating, the Emperor made all of them enter the training fields, where he let the geniuses and princes of his n spar against each other .

    Xue Wei observed their battles, and he was suddenly enlightened . Although they all had simr innate abilities, each personprehended the ability differently from the others .

    While these experts were fighting, Xue Wei found multiple mistakes and faults in their battles .

    It was as if they were not going for efficiency, power, or speed . Instead, it seemed as if they were aiming for flourishing looks .

    When they fought, it was as if they were dancing . It looked elegant and refined, but they were using far too many moves that werepletely useless and could be made much more efficient if they wanted to kill their opponents .

    "You seem slightly disappointed," the Emperor said as he looked at Xue Wei by his side .

    Although his voice was not high, a few close by heard it, and all of them perked their ears, trying to listen in on the subject that the Emperor and Xue Wei were discussing .

    "I¡¯m not disappointed," Xue Wei answered while shaking his head, "I feel that perhaps these princes and geniuses need some tempering . They are very obsessed with looking cool while fighting when that¡¯s actually not at all important . Killing your enemy as soon as possible is what matters, not how many mes you can control and how beautiful they are while battling . "

    Hearing this, many of those who were listening descended into deep thought . They had never thought about it like this before .

    For them, battling was not something where you had your life on the line; it was a disy of skills .

    They had grown up in a world where there was no one who could threaten their power, so they had never had to actually to fight for their lives . Now that they thought about it; it seemed that Xue Wei was correct .

    The words of Xue Wei quickly spread from one person to another, and soon everyone had heard it .

    While the majority felt that there was some reason behind what he said, there were a few who felt insulted by how Xue Wei had said they focused on ir .

    "You there! New guy, I wish to challenge you to a duel!"

    Suddenly a loud voice reverberated through the entire training field . A Seventhyered Heavenly Knight looked at Xue Wei with eyes that shone with battle intent .

    Xue Wei nced at the person . Although this person seemed as if he truly wished to battle him, Xue Wei could not help but shake his head . "You are not my match," he said gently .

    It was not that Xue Wei was looking down upon him, but he had seen him fight before . He was not enough to even threaten Xue Wei .

    "I wish to exchange pointers with you," the genius did not back down . "I wish to see what this efficiency you talk about is . "

    Forbidden Rush!

    Inner Might: Qi Sword Style!

    Xue Wei moved like a lightning bolt and appeared behind the expert before he even realized anything . The Qi Sword was suddenly pressed against his neck, and a drop of blood fell .

    "Did you see me move?" Xue Wei asked as he released the genius who was now deadly pale .

    The genius shook his head and felt horrible . There was a decent distance between the two of them, but even so, he had moved so fast that he had seen nothing .

    Although there was nothing outstanding about his movements, although there were no shining lights or beautiful disys, it was evident that if Xue Wei wanted to kill him, then he would have been dead already .

    Everyone saw the actions . Many of those who were observing saw that Xue Wei shot forward like a bolt of lightning with a speed that in no way lost out to an Ordinary Saint, even an Earth Saint might not be as fast .

    The weapon he used was also weird . It was made from energy, it was clearly not an innate ability, but Xue Wei could still use it?

    Every one of the Vermilion Bird n knew that beasts could not learn human techniques, but for some reason, it seemed as if Xue Wei had just used human techniques .

    No one thought of him being a mixed breed, as everyone knew that it was impossible to get a child between races .

    But they could not help but marvel when they saw the simple attacks he was unleashing . What kind of beast could he possibly be?

    Although they all knew that he was a Sovereign Beast and that there only were four races of this kind of beasts, they could not help but wonder what exactly he was . Was he a White Tiger? An Azure Dragon? A ck Turtle?

    He was not a Vermilion Bird, they could sense that right away, and the skills he used were not skills they could handle, so that was obvious .

    Xue Wei knew their thoughts, but he said nothing . H he just smiled lightly and returned to the Emperor¡¯s side .

    Everyone was looking at him warily . Some began discussing amongst each other, and while most saw him as being dangerous, a few felt as if they had been pped on the face .

    "He was cheating," someone muttered with a voice just loud enough for others to hear it .

    "He used a sneak attack . It is not fair, and, naturally, we could not react . "

    "If we were on the stage, things would be different . "

    "Idiots . " Xue Wei heard the many voices, but he just snorted that one word as he shook his head, his words shocking them all and making them look at him with hostility .

    "Why are we idiots?" One of them asked, his eyes were ming with anger .

    Xue Wei nced at them and snickered . "You are going to a ce where it¡¯s a life and death battle every time you fight . It is a ce where people will sneak attack all the time . Fair battle? There is no fair battle in the real world; all that matters is survival . "

    The many angered people suddenly felt as if someone had sshed a bucket full of cold water onto them .

    They suddenly realized that things were different in the real world . They could not talk about fairness; they could be killed without even realizing it .

    While a few were still ignorant, the majority were listening to Xue Wei and started pondering about what he had said . They began wondering how to increase their strength and their survivability .

    Especially the First Prince was inwardly shocked when he saw Xue Wei¡¯s actions . Although he was the strongest of the princes and the geniuses, he had only just caught Xue Wei¡¯s movements, and avoiding it would be hard even for him .

    If he truly battled against Xue Wei, would he then be capable enough to survive?

    The realization dawned upon the faces of all present, and when they looked at Xue Wei, there were traces of fear in their expressions .

    Xue Wei was calm and collected . His face was tranquil as if the person they were discussing had nothing to do with him . Even the Emperor by his side was looking at him approvingly .

    "Let the sparring continue," the Emperor said gently, and then he looked at Xue Wei . "Could you perhaps give these younger generation geniuses of our Vermilion Bird n a few pointers?"

    Hhaving already sensed the goodwill that the Emperor was showing him, and knowing that he was benefitting greatly from going to the Ascended¡¯s Realm, Xue Wei did not hesitate to ept the request .

    "You should condense your me . Although it looks stunning, the more area it has to cover the more itr will cause it to weaken in strength . "

    "The ming sword is far too big! Shape it as a thin sword, the thinner, the better, as with the other guy, condense your mes!"

    "Use the explosive fire to explode forward with a st . Don¡¯t cover your feet with mes, step on them instead!"

    Everyone who got pointers from Xue Wei could suddenly feel a boost in their strength . Although their rank was the same, their abilities proved much more lethal after listening to him, and their eyes shone with excitement .

    "Sir Xue," one of the geniuses looked at Xue Wei with shining eyes, as though he was looking at his biggest idol . "Could you perhaps tell us which race your excellency belongs to?"

    Xue Wei nced at the youngster and answered casually, "I¡¯m an Azure Dragon . "

    Although it seemed like a casual conversation between the two of them, everyone within the hall had been listening, and when they heard Xue Wei¡¯s answer, they were stumped for words .

    "The Azure Dragon controls Wood, while the Vermilion Bird controls Fire," one of the geniuses said as he looked at Xue Wei with big eyes . "You are at a natural disadvantage against us, but you show no fear, why is that?"

    "Although I control the wood element, it does not mean that all my attacks require this element to work," Xue Wei answered with a slight smile and a shake of his head .

    "You havegot other elements?" One of them asked curiously, but Xue Wei shook his head, "Not elements," he answered the questions that he was asked honestly . "I have managed to learn techniques that humansmand," he did not hide this fact . "I am afraid a mutation has caused this abnormality . I am also only neen years old this year, but I am already able to cultivate, and have even reached the Heavenly Knight rank . "

    The more he spoke, the more astounded everyone became .

    How had he learned human techniques? This was impossible! But he had imed that he could do it . Simply outrageous!

    But the more he spoke, the more astonishing it became . Everyone knew that Primordial and Sovereign Beasts were unable to cultivate before the age of thirty .

    Yet this boy had done so? How had he done it?!

    A woosh was heard as the Emperor vanished on his spot and suddenly stood in front of Xue Wei . He had raised his hand and held Xue Wei¡¯s wrist between two fingers . If he wished to break his wrist, it would be as simple as a snap of his fingers .

    But the Emperor was immensely careful as he touched the wrist and checked his bone structure .

    "It is true!" he eximed, his heart beating rapidly and he was fearful of what was happening . "He is indeed only neen years old!"

    An uproar exploded in the room as all of them looked at Xue Wei as if he was some kind of a monster . Although his strength was equal to many of them, he was not even half their age!

    Were all Azure Dragons this outrageous, or had theye across the most bizarre creature in the entire world?

 Chapter 347

    Chapter 347: 347

    Everyone looked at Xue Wei as if he was a freak . Some even started questioning whether or not he was a real Sovereign Beast .

    Perhaps he had learned a skill that allowed him to pretend to be a Sovereign Beast?

    Xue Wei quickly guessed their thoughts, and without further ado, scales started sprouting on his body, within a moment, a massive Azure Dragon was present in the middle of the training field .

    Fortunately, beasts were capable of shrinking their sizes down, or otherwise,; there would have been no space for Xue Wei .

    "He is a real Azure Dragon!" It was unknown who the first person to call out was, but everyone else gasped when they realized that it was indeed so . Although he was only neen, he could cultivate . Although he was a Sovereign Beast, he mastered human techniques .

    The more they heard about this Xue Wei, the more they thought he was shrouded in mystery .

    Xue Wei had intentionally said these things . When they entered the Ascended¡¯s Realm, everyone would get to know that he could use human techniques .

    And his age was truly too young . Although beasts aged immensely slowly, and these forty-year-old geniuses and princes looked twenty, the truth was that Xue Wei was different from them .

    Although he had the blood of the Azure Dragon in his veins and he could be considered an azure dragon, he was also hadving human blood flowing inside .

    "Could you perhaps tell us how you managed this?" The Emperor asked with bated breath . If he could make his Vermilion Bird n cultivate from a younger age, and if they could use human techniques, then their already overwhelming strength would be even more overbearing .

    "Sorry," Xue Wei shook his head dejectedly . "I wish I could help you, but it seems to be a mutation of my bloodline . "

    The Emperor had already guessed this, but he still held a slight hope . He still nodded his head, and under his breath, he muttered, "as expected of her son . "

    Xue Wei heard him say something, but as to what it was, he did not grasp it . Shaking his head slightly, he returned to give feedback to the many cultivators who were eager to be guided by him .

    Like this, a few hours passed, and it was not before the Emperor called out that the banquet had ended that the experts stopped asking questions of Xue Wei .

    Even when it had ended, they were all looking like lost dogs as they observed Xue Wei . He was a treasure trove and clearly the one who was able to support them when they entered the Ascended¡¯s Realm .

    The First Prince¡¯s eyes shone coldly for a moment before he once again had a gentle smile on his face, not even the slightest sign of dissatisfaction or hostility on his expression .

    "Sir Xue, it was our honor to have you here," he said as he spoke to Xue Wei for the first time . "We can learn a lot from sparring with you . We believe that with your help, our strength will be growing to new heights . "

    Xue Wei smiled slightly when he heard this, but he neither agreed nor disagreed .

    It was the Emperor who came to his help . "Xue Wei needs to prepare for the Ascended¡¯s Realm," he said gently . "He does not have too much spare time, but if there is any, he can alwayse looking for you . "

    Hearing that the Emperor was this defensive over him, the First Prince was shocked, but he did not show anything in his expression . Instead, he just nodded his head .

    "Of course, it is important for Sir Xue to prepare for the Ascended¡¯s Realm . If he finds that he has any spare time, then he can alwayse and find us . "

    After saying what he had to say, the First Prince turned around and started leaving . The banquet was over, so the geniuses and princes vanished one after another .

    At this time, Xue Wei also got ready to leave together with his friends .

    He had managed to make all the experts think he was mysterious, but more than that, he had managed to get rid of some subjects that could bring to be troublesometer if not handled well .

    Xue Wei then found his friends, and together they started walking back to the room that had been prepared for them .

    The rest of the night was uneventful as they cultivated . But while they were calm and cultivating, gossip spread like wildfire in the entire capital .

    The Emperor had not ordered a lockdown on the information gotten at the banquet, so it spread fast . The following day, everyone knew of all the strange things that Xue Wei could do .

    They also knew that he was an Azure Dragon, and while the Azure Dragon was supposed to be weaker whenpared tothan the Vermilion Bird, it turned out that because of all the miracles that centered around Xue Wei, he was not at a disadvantage when dealing with Vermilion Birds .

    Xue Wei was unaware of the fact that he had turned into a celebrity overnight, but even if he had known, he would just chuckle and leave it at that .

    The following morning, Xue Wei stopped cultivating and stretched his body . He could feel the energy roaring inside of his body, the heaven and earth essence here in the Demon Phoenix Continent was much richermore than any other ce he had ever experienced .

    It was like training was yielding double the gains of how it had been back in Chang¡¯an .

    As Xue Wei finished freshening up, he gathered with his friends in the sitting room .

    "We should go out and purchase some things," Xue Wei said with a smile on his face . "Although we have many resources, and many incredibly rare resources, some of them are not usable yet, others arecking . "

    Xue Wei was going to make an immense amount of pills . He knew that they were likely to get seriously injured in the Ascended¡¯s Realm, so he had to get everything ready before then .

    He also needed to stock up on inscriptions and formations again since he had used a sizeable amount back on the Thunder Graveyard Ind .

    Xue Wei knew that to survive in such an environment as the Ascended¡¯s Realm,; one had to be prepared for anything .

    If it was just the environment they had to look out for, then he did not need to care too much . However, the Emperor had said that entrances to the realm would appear on other continents as well .

    Many human cultivators were likely to enter the realm, one had to be beneath fifty to enter, but a human expert had the advantage of cultivating earlier than beasts, so a human genius of fifty had an advantage against a beast cultivator of forty .

    These humans were also hard to kill, and they felt no reverence towards a sovereign beast . In fact, they saw them as immense treasures of resources .

    So the biggest danger they would encounter in the Ascended¡¯s realm did note from the environment; it came from others who were entering the realm alongside them .

    Leaving the chambers, they found that an entire entourage was waiting or them outside .

    The leader was a soldier, but not just any soldier, it was a general of the Vermilion Bird Army, an expert of the Earth Saint rank .

    "Sir Xue, we have been given the honorable task of keeping yourself and your friends safe during the time before the Ascended¡¯s Realm opens . "

    Tthe General said thoughtfully as he looked at Xue Wei with hidden curiosity in his eyes .

    Even he, as a General, had heard all the rumors about this being in front of him .

    The General was also a Vermilion Bird, and he was a full hundred and twenty-seven years old .

    He could not enter the Ascended Realm, but his son was one of the geniuses who were entering, so he hoped to forge a rtionship with Xue Wei and have him protecting his son .

    "We are honored to be protected by an esteemed Earth Saint," Xue Wei said smilingly, and the General had a favorable impression of him . "It is my honor," he said with a slight bow .

    "We are going to town to purchase some ingredients for pills and inscriptions," Xue Wei said after contemting for a bit . "We also want to see if there is an auction house with interesting items . "

    "There is an auction house," the General answered right away . "The Auction house is having a monthly auction in three days from now . "

    Xue Wei nodded his head . "Let us head there and put a few things up for sale," he said as he looked around, and his lips could not help but twitch slightly .

    "Are we bringing a whole regiment with us?" he asked, and the general looked at the many soldiers who were standing outside the room, and even he felt it was a bit over the top .

    "How many would you like to bring?" he asked, and Xue Wei shook his head dejectedly . "Do we need to bring anyone else other than you?" he answered the question with a question of his own .

    "I guess it is fine," the General said after contemting for a bit . Although the soldiers had benefits in numbers, he was an esteemed Earth Saint . He should be able to protect them .

    Having decided not to bring the soldiers, many of the soldiers had depressed expressions on their faces .

    They too, knew about Xue Wei and his abilities and wished to hear about him . They wanted to get closer to him .

    But they all understood the value of an order . They were soldiers, so they would never go against an order . They had been told to wait here, so they would wait for him to return .

    Sensing that they would not follow them, Xue Wei exited the pce with his friends and the General in tow .

    There was a carriage waiting for them, but Xue Wei shook his head when he looked at it . "We¡¯ll walk," he said and began walking down towards the city that was spread out beneath the pce itself .

    Everyone who looked at them could guess Xue Wei¡¯s identity, and many were discussing amongst themselves . He was indeed the subject of the capital .

    Xue Wei strolled down the street and observed the things that were up for sale . He entered different shops and bought a few materials here and there .

    The General was not sure about how many essence stones that Xue Wei had, but after seeing how he casually took out essence stones time and time again, he realized that this person was much richer than he had expected .

    Xue Wei¡¯s background was unknown . He came from some continent far away that they knew almost nothing about .

    Even so, he had note from this continent, also as a neen-year-old, he hade from Yan Dalu and had been to now three continents . This was already exceptional . Usually, there were only a handful of people who could leave their continents, and when they did, they only went for one other continent, not two .

    Xue Wei was utterly ignoring the curiosity everyone was showing him, and he continued to buy things, filling storage treasure after storage treasure .

    They continued moving further down towards the center of town where a big building was located .

    Even without asking anything, Xue Wei knew that this building was the auction house .

    He could also guess that this auction house not only dealt with auctions but also sold items in everyday life .

    Walking towards it, Xue Wei had decided to sell some of the items he had in hand . Some one-colored Rainbow Pills and some materials would be able to bring in some essence stones he could use to buy new materials needed for two-colored Rainbow Pills .

    As they arrived, the guards who were outside the gates looked at Xue Wei¡¯s group with curiosity, but no one stepped forward to stop them . As long as no one made drama, they would not take action .

    Even so, Xue Wei could feel that they, normal guards of this auction house, were all Earth Saints .

 Chapter 348

    Chapter 348: 348

    When he entered, he saw that the entire first floor was as crowded as a market ce . People were everywhere, some were being led up the stairs to the upper floors, some were standing in a queue and waiting to buy materials and resources, yet most were walking around, looking at the many items that had been put up on disy .

    "The first floor is where people buy and sell the moremon items," the General exined in his ear . "Here all the mercenaries will sell what they have gained after going into the forests, and many merchants and sailors will alsoe here and sell their wares from different parts of the country, even from different continents and inds . "

    Xue Wei absentmindedly nodded his head as he looked at the resources that were on disy .

    They were widespread materials . Stuff that could help someone enhance their strength or heal, but not at a quality that could be considered good . Even the pills were of decent quality only; they had some impurities within them . Otherwise, they would never be sold on the first floor .

    "How do Ito meet with an appraiser?" Xue Wei asked suddenly . He knew that the items he had would quickly end up as the finale at the auction if thesemon materials were looked at as being unique .

    "We havegot to queue up," the General said as he pointed to another queue than the ones who were selling and buying items .

    "Here you will have to show off what you havegot, and they will send you to a floor depending on how rare your items are . "

    "I see," Xue Wei did not care about standing in a queue and went to the back, standing still and observing the surroundings .

    The General had been worried that Xue Wei perhaps would not be satisfied with having to wait, but seeing his casual actions, he suddenly understood that he had been overly worried .

    Xue Wei was casually standing in the queue, he didwas not careing too much about how fast it moved, and he neverined .

    The queue was long, and it took some time before a person was called forth .

    Xue Wei had been waiting for a long time, and he was getting further and further towards the front when he looked around and noticed a young man entering the auction house .

    It was not only him who noticed this young man . He was walking with arrogance, and a haughty air was all around him . He scanned the auction house, and when he saw that all looked at him, he felt important and puffed up his chest .

    Wanting to show off his mighty air, he suddenly yelled, "Who do you think you are looking at?!"

    Seeing his behavior, Xue Wei could not help but mumble, "Idiot . "

    Although he was mumbling it with a low voice, it reverberated through the entire hall . The General could not help but shake his head whileughing wryly, Xue Wei was skilled at pissing people off .

    "Who said that?!" the man eximed, his expression contortded in hatred . He had just felt as if everyone were admiring him, but now he felt that he was a joke .

    "I did, so what?" Xue Wei crossed his arms across his chest as he looked at him with the same carefreeness as before .

    He had long since sensed that this self-assured young man was merely a Heavenly Knight, and he did not need to take him seriously .

    Looking at him, the young man¡¯s face was about to say something, but then his eyesnded on the General who was standing by his side, and his expression froze slightly before he frowned .

    "Who are you?" He asked hesitatingly before ncing at the General . Everyone knew the generals of this continent, to be protected by a general, it was evident that he was not somemon man .

    "I¡¯m Xue Wei," Xue Wei said casually as he looked at the young man, whose face was turning paler and paler .

    Everyone with knowledge knew who Xue Wei was . Even the ordinary people stared at him with wide-open eyes and dropping jaws .

    Xue Wei was the full name of Sir Xue, the Sovereign Beast that was heavily favored by the Emperor .

    The Azure Dragon that had appeared out of nowhere, and although he ought to be weaker than their geniuses, he could beat them with his eyes closed .

    The Sovereign Beast who could cultivate before the age of thirty, and was capable of practicing human techniques .

    Every one of these were enough to make a person¡¯s name resound throughout the continent, but all things hadnded on one person¡¯s body, and now that they knew he was present, everyone looked at him curiously .

    "This one apologizes," the previously arrogant young man quickly bowed deeply to Xue Wei, sweat started beading on his forehead, and he started cursing himself for having been too full of himself, causing problems with such a rising star .

    Xue Wei did not really care about what had happened before and waved his hand, "it¡¯s fine, but be more careful in the future," he said apathetically as if he was bored .

    Having waited in the queue for more than an hour, this was the most exciting thing that had happened, so he did not n on making things hard for the young man, and he instantly felt relieved when he realized this .

    Thanking Xue Wei profusely, he finally left the auction house, as if he was afraid that Xue Wei would change his mind .

    Shaking his head in amusement, Xue Wei returned to look towards the front of the queue, waiting for it to be his turn, but everyone was now looking at him as if they could find some sort of secret hidden beneath his skin .

    Finally, after three hours of queueing, it was time for Xue Wei to disy his items .

    "What would you like to have appraised?" the clerk asked, with a voice that sounded as if he had asked the same question so many times that he had gotten sick of it .

    "I have a lot," Xue Wei said casually as he took out one jade vial from his storage treasure .

    "A lot?" the clerk frowned and quickly assumed it was just somemon materials, but just as he was about to tell Xue Wei to go to another counter, he caught a glimpse of whaty within the jade vial, and his heartbeat quickened .

    "This is one of the things you wish to sell?" he asked, his previously monotonous voice was now trembling slightly from excitement .

    "Yes . " Xue Wei smiled and knew that he had finally taken Xue Wei to be a serious customer .

    "Lead this gentleman and his friends to the seventh floor," the clerk ordered a woman that was standing by his side, and her expression turned grave when she heard what floor they were going to .

    One has to know that the seventh floor was the highest floor, where one could get their things appraised .

    "Follow me . " the woman gestured for them to follow her, after which she started leading the way up the stairs .

    Xue Wei was not the only one being led up and down the stairs . Many women were leading customers around, depending on what they needed .

    When they reached the seventh floor, Xue Wei found that here was quiet and no other customers, only the staff were making their way around the floor .

    The woman led them to a room, where they entered, only to find an elderly man seated within .

    His hair and long beard was white, his eyes deep, and gave off a feeling of someone who had seen the vicissitudes of life .

    He took one nce at Xue Wei, and then his eyesnded on the vial he held in his hand .

    An eyebrow rose in surprise as he recognized the item that had been ced within the vial .

    "You are here to auction off a two-colored Rainbow Pill?" the elderly man asked with a friendly voice .

    "That, amongst other treasures," Xue Wei admitted with a nod of his head .

    "Llet me see . " The old man sounded excited as he rubbed his hands and looked at the things Xue Wei took out from his storage treasure .

    "Ten thousand-year-old Lightning Bamboo!"

    "Thunder Lily Leaves!"

    "Corpse grass at least a few thousand years old!"

    "Blood ginseng of tens of thousands of years!"

    "Scorpion tailed Hyacinth!"

    The more materials Xue Wei removed from his storage treasure, the more shocked the elderly man became .

    All of these items were seen as real treasures, and even one of them were hard toe by, but Xue Wei had so many of them and all these different ones as well!

    Although Xue Wei took these things out, they were not even a tenth of the total amount of herbs he had gotten . He took out two corpse des of grass but kept fifty for himself . He took out three blood ginsengs and kept the other seventy for himself .

    "Wonderful! Simply Wonderful!" The elderly man was so excited that he was trembling . He had initially thought that just the two-colored Rainbow Pill was a great harvest, but thisese many items were simply outstanding, e . Especially since their quality was this high .

    "I want to put them all up for this month¡¯s auction," Xue Wei said casually . He was not able to wait for ater auction, so he wanted to get them sold as soon as possible .

    "Understood . " The elderly man had already guessed his identity, and knowing that he was going to enter the Ascended¡¯s Realm, he did not have a lot of time to waste, so he did not try to persuade him into selling themter .

    Although they could not advertise as much as they wanted, and the prices would be somewhat lower than normal, but Xue Wei had already epted this .

    After appraising every single item, the value turned out to be worth as much as a second-rank family in the Demon Phoenix Continent . The elderly man could not help but sigh .

    Not long after, they left the auction house, Xue Wei had a VIP badge in his storage treasure, and he had been given a booth specially prepared for him when he wasing to the auction a few dayster .

    After this, Xue Wei returned to shop for random materials across the entire town, and he did not stop before the sun had started to set in the sky .

    "Let us return," he said, quite satisfied with the items he had managed to get his hands on during the day .

    As he returned to the room, he instantly found his cauldron and began refining medicinal pills .

    While Xue Wei was busy refining pills, Bai Tianyi was busy creating inscriptions .

    Xue Wei only had so much time a day, and he was not able to both refine pills and create inscriptions, and thus they split it up .

    Bai Tianyi also was of a higher rank than Xue Wei, and when it came to creating inscriptions, one¡¯s spiritual energy truly mattered, so the higher the rank, the better the results of the inscriptions .

    Like this, a couple of days went by . Xue Wei had been in closed-door cultivation where he had been entirely focused on creating and refining medicinal pills, and Bai Tianyi had inscribed one inscription after another .

    "It is time for us to go to the auction," was the first thing that Xue Wei said when he emerged from the room . He seemed as usual; his clothes were clean and neat, his expression normal . It was hard to imagine that this person had been the one who had been going mad refining for a few days .

    Bai Tianyi was not as unruffled . He looked like a ghost, big circles were underneath his eyes, and his skin had turned somewhat pale .

    They waited for Bai Tianyi to freshen up, and when he returned out from within the room, he no longer looked as pale, but the ck circles underneath his eyes were not so easy to get rid of .

 Chapter 349

    Chapter 349: 349

    "Why did you sell the items?" Suddenly Lin Xiao asked something which had troubled him for a long time .

    "You found so many lodes and mines of essence stones back on the Graveyard Ind . You should not need essence stones, and the materials, although not useful to us right now, could prove neededter . "

    Xue Wei looked at Lin Xiao, and approvingly nodded his head . "That¡¯s a good question," he praised, but then he stayed quiet and smiled enigmatic, causing the others to feel puzzled .

    . Before they had the time to say anything, Xue Wei suddenly said, "did you notice that this ce is called Golden Chambers Auction House?" he asked, and the others frowned as they thought about it . It was indeed called Golden Chambers Auction House, but what did that matter?

    "When we were back at Chang¡¯an, do you remember the name of the continent-spanning auction house?"

    As Xue Wei asked, the expressions on the others suddenly turned grave .

    There was also a Golden Chambers Auction House on Chang¡¯an!

    Could this be a coincidence?

    "They disyed their might yesterday," Xue Wei continued, but the others considered what he meant unable to grasp his meaning .

    "Even though my name resounds through the entire Demon Phoenix Continent, I still had to wait for three hours in a queue . I bet that even the Emperor would have to humble himself in front of the owner of this auction house, which is spread over many continents . "

    Hearing all of Xue Wei¡¯s words, the others suddenly seemed to understand . Xue Wei was not selling his items for the sake of getting essence stones, but because he wanted to get a VIP card from the auction house, and the benefits he could get from it, that was the real goal .

    Suddenly, the others felt some trepidation when they thought about how this auction house could span various continents . The power backing it was simply too oppressive, who could have the strength to set up such a great business?

    A figure shed in Xue Wei¡¯s mind . It was a young man with long blue hair, blue eyes, and a robe that had a winged snake, a mingshe, embroidered onto it .

    As soon as the thought shed in his mind, he shook his head . He did honestly not think that the owner was Lan . Lan was mysterious, but from what Xue Wei had understood about him, he was immenselyzy . Running a business was not something he was likely to do .

    As they went towards the Golden Chambers Auction House, Xue Wei and the others stopped talking about who might be the elusive owner of the business .

    As they arrived at the Auction House¡¯s entrance, Xue Wei took out a VIP token he had been given before . The moment the servant noticed the VIP token, their expressions turned dignified, and they respectfully led Xue Wei and the others towards a booth .

    These booths were ced on the second, third, and fourth floor . The higher up you were, the more prestigious their status was . Xue Wei was instantly moved to the fourth floor, which was usually reserved for the Royal family .

    When they sat down in the booth, they looked down on the auction hall, which was slowly being filled with merchants, nobles, and officials .

    This auction had gotten renowned throughout the capital after hearing that a two-colored rainbow pill would appear . They also heard about some immensely rare treasures, and materials would be brought out as the finale for the auction, and thusmoners had no way of making it to the sale this time .

    Suddenly a loud voice sounded from outside the booth, "what is the meaning of this?!" the voice sounded as if it came from a middle-aged man, and both Xue Wei and hispanions¡¯ ears instantly perked, listening in with curiosity .

    "The third booth has always been reserved for his Highness the First Prince! Why would it suddenly be given to someone else?!"

    "Lao Fu, calm down," a melodious voice sounded . It did not seem upset or angry . Instead, it gently soothed the mind of those who listened to it .

    "I am sure that the Golden Chambers has their own purpose for this," the melodious voice continued . "Who are we to question their way of management . We will ept the booth on the third floor . "

    Xue Wei had added together what he had heard them say, and after recognizing the voice, he knew that the First Prince usually reserved the booth that they were in currently .

    It was indeed like they said, enemies meet on a narrow road .

    Xue Wei had no positive feelings towards the First Prince . Although he had not stepped out of line in front of him, he reminded Xue Wei of a snake .

    A snake which would hide in the shadows but strike when you least expected it .

    Although he had not acted out of line yet, Xue Wei knew that he was waiting for the opportune moment to attack him .

    He would likely do so in the Ascended¡¯s Realm . It was clear that he was feeling threatened by Xue Wei, and he was not even remotely tempted to seek the support of him, he just wanted to get rid of Xue Wei .

    When someone held such apparent dislike towards him, Xue Wei was not going to wait around for him to make the first move . As soon as they entered the Ascended¡¯s Realm, he was going to kill this First Prince soundlessly .

    Although Xue Wei was thinking about killing someone, nothing could be seen on his expression, and when the silence returned to the room, he also returned to his senses and looked down upon the crowd .

    He was surprised to see quite a few familiar faces in the audience, but then it struck him . These geniuses had all learned that their current strength was insufficient, but a two-colored rainbow pill was going to be presented at the auction . All of them ought to be eager to get their hands on it .

    Realizing this, Xue Wei smirked . Although a two-colored rainbow pill would not be unusual in the eyes of the owner of the Golden Chamber¡¯s Auction House, it was evident that it would be enough to forge a good rtionship with the branch in the Demon Phoenix Continent, which could already be considered very good .

    As Xue Wei was feeling thrilled, the light in the hall dimmed, and a slender young woman stepped up onto the stage .

    She was alluring, and every man within the auction hall could not help but dotake a double-take on her body . Xue Wei was no exception .

    While many of the people looked with undisguised lust, some were looking with appreciation and curiosity . Xue Wei was one of these people .

    He had not considered what he thought the auctioneer would look like, but this woman had taken him by surprise .

    Although she could sense the many lecherous nces that were sent towards her as she was wearing her tight fitting red dress, she just chuckled and ignored itpletely .

    While the ordinary people did not know the weight of the Golden Chambers had on the Demon Phoenix Continent, everyone with some status knew that it was an existence that was way above even the Emperor, and thus, although they ogled at the woman, no one dared to take it further .

    "Ladies and gentlemen, wee to today¡¯s auction here at the Golden Chambers, it is our honor to have so many people attending today .

    "Today¡¯s items are of the highest grade; not only do we have a two-colored Rainbow Pill; we also have some resources and herbs that can be considered real heavenly treasures .

    However, as you all are aware, our auction house will begin with the lower-ranked items first, and slowly move towards the finale . I can promise you that it will be worth it . "

    Everyone had been chatting amongst themselves, but when she opened her mouth, all chatter in the hall disappeared, their focus was on her undisputedly .

    Xue Wei was also focusing on her . Not because he was too interested in the things up for sale, nor because he found her alluring, but because he felt a strange familiaritying from this woman .

    It was as if he had met her before somewhere .

    Thinking like this, Xue Wei shook his head . It was impossible that he had met her before . If he had, he would definitely recognize her, but he could not pinpoint the feeling of familiarity he felting from her .

    Eventually, he just shook his head and sighed as he leaned back in the chair and observed as the auction began .

    As the woman had said, first up were the moremon things . It was either ordinary things inrge quantities, or it was items that could not be considered rare .

    Xue Wei bought some materials that had been sold in bulks; there was no real fight for these materials, so he picked them up at a reasonable price .

    Since the auction house was filled with high ranked experts, thesemon goods could be bought at reasonable prices since no one had any real interest in them, and wereas not willing to waste their gold before it was time for the things they wanted to be auctioned .

    Having as many essence stones as Xue Wei hadgot, one might fear that he would splurge them, nor care about the price he had to pay for the items he wanted or something simr . However, Xue Wei was not willing to be wasteful .

    At the same time, he knew that their cultivation would continue for a long time, and thus it would notst them their entire lives . If he was not frugal now, then they would run out sooner orter .

    Looking at the stage, nothing of real interest popped up, and soon half the auction had passed . They had been seated in their chairs for a couple of hours, but even so, only a few materials at the beginning had entered their pockets .

    Now, that they were halfway, the items were getting rarer and rarer . Unfortunately, there was indeed nothing that Xue Wei was interested in, and instead of paying much attention to the auctioneer and her items on the stage, he observed the people in the hall .

    Not many of them raised their hands to bid, but while some of those who did had nervous and ufortable expressions, others were calm and collected .

    ItT was not before the final third of the auction that Xue Wei¡¯s items made it to the stage .

    First up was the Corpse Grass . Although it was a couple of thousand years old, it was, after all, just corpse grass .

    Then came the Blood Ginseng . The same logic appeared to this item . Although they were immensely rare and their medicinal potency would be outstanding, they were nothing more than aged standard materials .

    Even so, this was the first time that people began bidding like a frenzy during the auction . Every one of the older generations wanted these two items, and they were even willing to fight for them .

    After these two came, the Thunder Lily Leaves followed by the Scorpion Tailed Hyacinth .

    These two also caused an uproar, but while everyone was overly excited and bid as if their lives depended on it, no one was ever going out of line, nor were they causing problems in the auction hall out of fear for being chased out .

    Even more abnormal was it, that no one tried to use their name and rank to pressure others to give up on the items they wanted . Everything within the auction house was fair .

    Then, after these herbs came to the two-colored Rainbow Pill, Xue Wei was astounded to know that it had not be the finale, that the finale had ended up being the Ten-Thousand Year Old Lightning Bamboo . It seemed he had to do some more research on what this bamboo could be used as, as he had an enormous quantity of them in his storage treasures .

 Chapter 350

    Chapter 350: 350

    Ten Thousand Lightning Bamboo could only appear in an environment where there was constant lightning for ten thousand years or more .

    This bamboo had been immersed in lightning and thunder for ten thousand years . It was truly a marvelous treasure that was immensely hard toe by . If the people present knew, that Xue Wei had filled a whole storage treasure with these bamboo shoots, their eyes would be filled with greed and murder .

    In fact, all the treasures that were deemed very rare, and everyone wanted during the auction had all been provided by him . If someone were to say that all these treasures came from the same person, then the crowd would not be able to believe it .

    It was simply too unbelievable!

    The auctioneer and the Golden Chambers Auction house was aware of where all these treasures came from, but although they were tempted to act on their own to seize even more wealth for themselves, they dared not .

    They had contacted their higher-ups, even went above the man who was managing their continent, but the only answer they had gotten was, "Don¡¯t cause problems for this young master, he has an outstanding backing . "

    As a member of the Golden Chambers, they understood precisely how frightening their own background was, and anyone with their heads screwed on correctly would never cause problems in their auction houses . When had they ever needed to consider other¡¯s background when doing things?

    Since they had had been heavily warned from the upper echelons of Golden Chamber¡¯s auction house to look well after Xue Wei, they would naturally do so, but they were very puzzled .

    Even Xue Wei was unaware of why the two elusive leaders of the Golden Chambers would go this far for him .

    Had he known, then he would have been much more apprehensive about trying to establish a connection with them .

    If these people had some sort of interest in him, then it was likely not a good thing . He had seen many things throughout his short life, and he knew that great samaritans did not exist, especially not amongst such influential figures .

    If they were friendly towards him, he likely held some sort of value to them .

    It could not be his bloodline, as he now understood that although Sovereign Beasts were rare, they were not unique in this world .

    Then it meant that it was he himself who had something that others needed .

    Bbut knowing himself, he knew that the only special thing about him was his half-bred status, which was a strictly guarded secret .

    Unfortunately, Xue Wei was unaware of the order that had been passed down throughout the entire world¡¯s Golden Chambers headquarters .

    The order that he was the most important VIP amongst VIPs .

    The auction finished with Xue Wei having bought a lot of materials inrge quantities, but also gained a whole mountain of essence stones .

    When he went backstage for the sake of getting the things, he was given a ckmand token .

    "This token is the highest gradedmand token," the manager said humbly while looking at Xue Wei with shining eyes .

    "You need to drop a single drop of blood onto it, and then it will belong to only you for the rest of your life . It can be used in any Golden Chamber Auction House across the entire world . "

    Hearing the manager so readily admit that all Golden Chamber¡¯s Auction Houses were connected, Xue Wei felt a bit deted, but he quickly epted the token and dropped a bit of blood onto it .

    The blood drop was sucked into themand token, vanishing without a trace, and the token was as smooth and clean as it had been before, but Xue Wei could feel a connection to it now, that had not been there before .

    After saying his thanks, he went back to the pce . Here he concocted a lot of new pills while Bai Tianyi was busy creating inscriptions .

    Like this, the time went by like flowing water, one day took another, and soon the days had passed, and it was time to enter the Ascended¡¯s Realm .

    In the morning, a eunuch which usually followed the Emperor came to fetch them . He was immensely respectful towards Xue Wei and hisrades .

    As they followed the eunuch, they soon reached the martial arts field . Here all the princes and geniuses had gathered together, waiting for the entrance to the Ascended¡¯s Realm to open .

    As soon as Xue Wei had arrived, another eunuch called out, "The Emperor has arrived!"

    Everyone stood up and bowed towards the Emperor, who dismissively waved his hand .

    "Rise," he said, and the people straightened their backs .

    "I have a few pieces of information to share with you all before you enter the Ascended¡¯s Realm . "

    The Emperor¡¯s gazended on all of them one after another .

    "First of all, all of you will be arriving at the same location when you enter the Ascended¡¯s Realm . I hope that you can all travel together, as you will, without a doubt, encounter other teams from other forces .

    "If a contradiction appears, then work it out peacefully, you need support from one another to survive this trial!

    "I am appointing Xue Wei, the leader of the team; all of you are to follow his lead!

    "At the same time, all of you should be aware that the Ascended¡¯s Realm was created by one of our ancestors, and the beasts within the realm are all gathered from outside of our world . They have no fear or subservience towards Sovereign Beasts .

    "Be aware that inside the Ascended¡¯s Realm, you are all equal . The humans and the beasts that enter will all be treated equally, and it is impossible to gather the beasts under yourmand .

    "When the Ascended¡¯s Realm opens here, it will open quite a few rifts all over the world . Some of them at specific locations, such as the Eight Great Families from the Huang Continent .

    "There will be at least one rift in every continent, and I think that many have already gotten information about our opening date, so many will enter the realm together with you .

    "These people will prove to be the most dangerous thing you will encounter in the entire realm . Since we are from different continents, no one cares about killing and looting .

    "At the same time, you also need to be aware that this realm will be open for a full year . During this year, you will have to gather all the lucky chances you can and enhance your strength tremendously .

    "You are the next generation that will lead the Demon Phoenix Continent to greater heights; we need you to enhance your strength as soon as possible . "

    Everyone felt emotional after listening to the Emperor . Their chests swelled with pride when they thought about how they were the hope of the continent . They were all eager to do their best .

    The only one who was looking slightly gloomy was the First Prince . Although he had already expected that he would not be the leader, he had never expected that his royal father would appoint Xue Wei, an outsider, the new leader of the entire Demon Phoenix Continent team .

    Xue Wei was not feeling too proud of being the leader of this team . He understood that since he had been made the leader, he was also made into the one who was responsible for their survival . This was something he would rather not be connected to .

    After he stopped speaking, everyone was excited . The geniuses did not care about who was their leader was as they knew it would not be them . However, the princes were all quite disappointed with the decision made by the Emperor . They all had a hope that they would be able to lead the group to gain significant achievements that could be used to convince others to support them in the fight for the throne .

    If Xue Wei knew what they were thinking, he would dly throw this hot potato back in their hands, but considering the kindness that the Emperor had given him, he decided to do an excellent job to protect the members of the Demon Phoenix Continent .

    Time ticked by slowly as everyone was waiting . As the sun stood highest ion the sky, a tremor suddenly ran through the ground, and the air started vibrating .

    A massive crack appeared in the space just in front of the many geniuses, princes, and experts who were waiting for the Ascended¡¯s Realm to emerge .

    Meanwhile, all over the entire world, cracks like this one started appearing . Some ces, it was in remote and deste areas, other ces it was like the pce, in the middle of a training field .

    On one continent, Lan was leaning back on a chair as he looked at a group of youngsters in front of him .

    "Miss Wang, are you sure you wish to do this?" he asked, his lips curved into a grin as he looked at the leader of the group .

    An alluring young woman was standing there, her hair was tied on top of her head, and she was wearing a beautiful green dress .

    "I will not back down! I will use this year to enhance my strength and the strength of my Murdering Heavens Sect . When we return a year from now, we will be able to kill all the Primordial Beasts and let the humans emerge victorious in this war!"

    Lan smiled slightly and looked into the sky above . He took a long time before he finally asked, "What will you do if you meet him there?"

    Wang Xiaoyun¡¯s face turned rigid when hearing Lan¡¯s question, and her movements towards the crack stagnated .

    "If he causes problems, then I will kill him," she finally said with a low voice, but even she could hear how unconvincing she sounded .

    "I see," Lan said no more; he just observed as the green-d woman entered into the crack, closely followed by neen other humans all below the age of fifty .

    When she had vanished, Lan¡¯s usually cheerful eyes turned sad, and he looked into the sky . "Ling¡¯er why weren¡¯t you as strong?" he muttered to himself before he sighed deeply and vanished .

    Back at the Demon Phoenix Continent, the experts and Xue Wei all went into the crack . It was simr to the time when they had entered the dimensional tunnel, and thus Xue Wei and the others were on high alert . If they encountered a space-storm, they would be done for .

    Fortunately, they did not encounter any of them and moments after they reached the exit .

    When they exited the tunnel, all of them instantly felt a heavy pressure on their bodies .

    It was as if they had entered a gravity field, the pressure on their shoulders made it so that they even the speed of which the Qi was circling in their meridians had slowed down .

    Sensing this, Xue Wei felt an urge to curse . He had not been told about this, if he knew he would have long since given up on being the leader .

    He knew that if they did not adapt to this pressure fast, they would be dead in the hands of the residential beasts within days .

    These beasts were used to this pressure and would be much more agile than them; they would also be much stronger than them, having lived their entire lives in such an environment .

    Looking around, Xue Wei found that they had arrived in a forest . The forest was quiet, no one could hear anything, not even the sound of beasts, and his already grave expression turned ugly .

    "Everyone, gather together," he said with a low voice as he looked around . Every sense in his body was telling him that this was an immensely dangerous ce they had encountered .

    As Xue Wei had spoken, many instantly followed the orders, but a few of the princes refused to listen to Xue Wei . They would not acknowledge him as their leader .

 Chapter 351

    Chapter 351: 351

    Xue Wei ignored them as well . He had promised the Emperor to do his best, but he was not going to try and persuade people to save their own lives .

    As the people gathered, his alert eyes observed the forest they were in once more .

    The nts were withered . Every single tree seemed as if it could copse at any moment, and the creaking from them was anything but assuring .

    "We need to leave this forest right away," Xue Wei said out loud, he had already made a decision and began leading the people who followed him towards the southern direction .

    This realm had four seasons . Every corner of the realm represented one season, and it was easy to know that they had arrived in fall from sensing the chilling winds that swept through the dead trees .

    Most treasures would be found in the summer part of the realm, and thus Xue Wei quickly decided on heading south .

    The princes were not happy seeing how he did not even try to convince them to join their group and instead just ignored them, but they too had started to get a chill from standing in this dead forest .

    Xue Wei looked at them all casually, before he began moving southward . Although he was moving he was not rushing, nor was he flying;, he was just walking normally inside the forest, making many of them puzzled .

    "If we fly we will have a much higher consumption rate of energy," Lin Xiao decided to tell them why Xue Wei was doing as he was, "it will be impossible to protect ourselves while flying and we will soon exhaust all our energy, bing an easy target for hunting beasts or other factions . "

    "Why not run then?" someone asked puzzled . Although the pressure was heavy, they were still able to run .

    "If you want to die, then you run," Xue Wei said coldly . "There is something within this forest which sucks out the life of everything living . Alerting it would do us no good . "

    "How can you be so sure?" one of the princes asked, his voice was filled with disdain as he looked at Xue Wei .

    "I cannot bepletely sure," Xue Wei admitted, something that caught them all by surprise, and they looked strangely at him, but then he continued . "I am just not willing to risk my life . It might be here; it might not . If it isn¡¯t, then, that¡¯s good, but if it is and I had not prepared, my little life and the life of my friends would be lost . "

    The people were a little unhappy listening to Xue Wei . None of them really believed it would be as bad as he said . What could possibly threaten them the moment they arrived?

    Seeing their appearance, Xue Wei said nothing more but continued forward . While the others were hesitating to follow, his friends showed their loyalty right away and followed behind him quietly while alertly observing the surroundings .

    Seeing the overly alert Xue Wei and the others, these geniuses and princes from the Demon Phoenix Continent could not help but smile andugh slightly, mocking them in their hearts .

    "We should not follow such cowards!" one of the princes said righteously, his voice loud and reverberating through the dead trees .

    "Idiot," Xue Wei spat out as he looked at them and continued forward,pletely ignoring whether or not they followed him .

    He had only promised to do his best . If they did not follow his lead, he would not go and die for their sake .

    As Xue Wei had just vanished out of the eye of sight, a scream suddenly reverberated through the entire forest . Hearing the cry, Xue Wei sighed .

    "So it was still here after all," he said as he spread out his spiritual sense .

    "Do we save them?" Hei Gou asked with disdain . They had mocked them before, but they had promised to look after them .

    "Go back," Xue Wei nodded his head with a sigh and rushed back the way he had just left .

    When he reached the ce where he had first arrived, he saw countless vines stretch up through the ground, holding the geniuses and princes captive .

    "Idiots, it¡¯s a wooden item, use fire!" he yelled out and understanding the severity of the situation every one of the geniuses and princes started to take on their original shape of Vermilion Birds .

    Their bodies were covered in mes, and these mes quickly burnt the vines into retreating .

    All of them heaved a heavy sigh of relief, but Xue Wei was standing looking contemting .

    While he was considering, Luoluo already ran out and followed the vines . "If we wait, it¡¯ll run away!" she yelled, and Xue Wei decided instantly .

    "Follow me!" he yelled and rushed after the vines, shocking them all . But having already once realized that this was a dangerous ce, no one questioned him anymore, and they followed him as he ran further and further towards the east, chasing the vines on the ground .

    Suddenly they reached a big clearing in the forest . Here the vines stopped, and a massive tree was standing in the middle .

    This tree was different from the others . It was not withered . Instead, it was bursting with energy .

    "It is forming a spirit!" Luoluo said gravely as she looked at the tree, "an evil spirit!"

    "It has formed a consciousness already, it just needs to form the body, and it¡¯ll be a spirit . But it has been absorbing the life of others . Hence it will be evil . "

    They all looked at the tree in front of them, wondering what to do, but then they saw a chilling grin on Xue Wei¡¯s face .

    "It has gathered all the beast cores and valuables from all of the forest underneath the roots," he grinned, "if we were to take it out, we would gain big time, not to mention the wood of this tree is a treasure in itself . "

    The geniuses¡¯ and princes¡¯ eyes almost bulged out of their heads . Initially, he wanted nothing to do with this creature, but now he was already counting the treasure underneath it .

    They felt the change was too obvious .

    But the truth was that Xue Wei had initially been not known how strong this creature was, but after realizing it was weak to fire and the fact he had so many Vermilion Birds under hismand, how could he not be eager to kill it and take the treasure?

    "Isn¡¯t it a waste to kill something that is almost a spirit?" someone could not help but ask, but then Xue Wei grinned, "It would kill you if it got the chance, why not kill it first and take the treasure for ourselves?"

    Hearing this, they could not retort . It was indeed as he had said . The tree had tried to kill them toand use their soul power to create its body .

    Also, the treasures were quite tempting . Although they did not know precisely what treasures it was, since Xue Wei held an interest towards it, they too found it fascinating .

    And thus, they all nodded their heads . They had decided to listen to Xue Wei¡¯smand .

    "Ookay, we are twenty-five experts, twenty Vermilion Birds, so make four lines with five on each line . "

    The experts were puzzled, but they did as they were told, while the tree suddenly seeamed to understand what Xue Wei was nning .

    A wail could be heard from the tree as the vines once more shot towards them with desperation, but before they had the chance to react, Xue Wei, Bai Tianyi, Hei Gou, Lin Xiao, and Luoluo had all attacked and removed the vines .

    "Shoot fire at the main body!" Xue Wei ordered, and the twenty vermilion birds acted as they had been told, they constantly bombarded the tree itself with fire, the wails of the tree turning more and more high pitched .

    At the same time, Xue Wei and his friends were merely back-ups . They just ensured that the vines were never allowed close to anyone, and soon the tree started burning .

    "Can we still use the tree if we burn it?" someone asked, but they did not stop their bombardment .

    Suddenly the vines became fewer and fewer in number, and Xue Wei called out, "Tianyi, time to be a woodchopper!"

    "It¡¯s a sword, not an ax!" Being called a woodchopper made Bai Tianyi feel helpless, but he still summoned his sword intent, the dao of the sword, and created a massive almost corporeal sword which then chopped the tree into two, after which it made a low sweep and cut the two halves off from the tree stump . "

    The big sword dissipated into nothing as the wails died out . The tree that wasying on the ground was scorched on the outside, but the inside was filled with spiritual energy .

    Xue Wei was the first to go over; he found many spiritual fruits, beast cores, and herbs, which could be used to increase one¡¯s cultivation base .

    Contrary to what one might have expected, Xue Wei split everything into twenty-five equal parts and handed one to each of the people .

    "LeEave the tree stump," he said when he saw someone heading towards it with slight greed in their eyes .

    "Let it grow big again so others can harvest it a few thousand years from now . "

    Hearing this, the tree stump, which still had slight consciousness, felt so hateful that it wanted to throw up blood, but it had no blood, and no longer a tree body, so it was utterly crippled .

    Even thepanions from the Demon Phoenix Continent felt that Xue Wei was too rude and evil, but since they had benefitted, they said nothing .

    "Well then, let¡¯s head for summer now," he said casually . "There should be no more danger within this forest, but no treasures either, so now we can rush . "

    Having said this, he began moving south once more, the others following him closely . Even the princes who had initially thought that he was not suitable as their leader had sumbed . Only the First Prince, who was running at the very back, had an immensely ugly expression on his face . His usually elegant appearance nowhere to be found .

    Xue Wei had long since known that the First Prince was anything but happy with him, but this did not mean he was going to back off .

    If the First Prince really caused problems, then he would have already done everything in his power to kill him .

    Xue Wei was not a soft persimmon; he was not willing to be trampled upon or used by others .

    At this time, everyone was feeling much better . They had been in the realm for less than a day, and they had already managed to get their hands on treasures that could improve their cultivation .

    As they left the forest, they came across a vast inne where many beasts were living in small herds .

    Some of these herds were immensely alert and would run away as soon as they arrived, others were aggressive and would attack .

    Fortunately, none of the groups were bigger than their own group, and thus they could deal with them fairly easily .

    These beasts were utterly immune to the Sovereign Beast aura . They looked different from any other beast they had ever seen, and it was clear that they came from another world .

    The previously very inexperienced Vermilion Birds also quickly learned how to act . Their bodies had been riddled with wounds at the beginning, as Xue Wei only interfered if they were about to die .

    As time had gone on, they had gotten much more familiar with the pressure and with their own strength . At the same time, they had looted every single treasure they hade across, and by now, all of them had already had an abundant harvest .

    As they left the inne, another forest stretched out in front of them, but unlike the withered forest, this one was filled with energy . In fact, it resembled a jungle .

 Chapter 352

    Chapter 352: 352

    This jungle in front of them was filled with life .

    The members of the Demon Phoenix Continent had by now understood that the Ascended¡¯s Realm was not for weaklings, nor was it easy to survive here, beasts would attack them anywhere they went, and death loomed around every corner .

    They were now like soldiers, adhering to every order Xue Wei gave, and when they saw the beautiful forest in front of them, their faces turned grave .

    If it was bursting with life, it was likely to house some beasts and creatures that could make their lives difficult, to whether or not they wished to enter, all of them looked to Xue Wei to make a decision .

    Contrary to their expectations, they had thought his expression would be filled with uncertainty and worry, but a smile hung on his lips, and his eyes were bright as he looked at the jungle in front of him .

    "Fortune and danger go hand in hand," he said to the members of the Demon Phoenix Empire . "We have been in the realms for a full month and a half already, but our gains are already quite numerous .

    "However, we have note across anything extraordinary yet, and I have a feeling that a forest with this much life will be able to contain a lot of unique treasures .

    "I am going to enter, but if you feel that it is too much, then you should not enter . If you are already satisfied with your gains, then you should head back .

    "I have a feeling that if we go to this forest, not only will we encounter danger, we will also likely encounter other humans . "

    "What makes you say this?" one of the geniuses asked puzzled . After a month and a half, they had not seen the slightest trace of other humans, so why would he suddenly be sure that they existed within this forest?

    Xue Wei smiled and pointed at the soil, not far away from them . Looking at it, the genius quieted down and felt his face heat up slightly .

    There, in the muddy soil, were footprints of other humans . The footprints were many; it seemed as if at least twenty people had walked past .

    "Would they have encountered a lot of treasure too?" One of the princes asked with a bit of hesitation . He was not opposed to killing and looting for the sake of getting rich .

    The others also looked at Xue Wei curiously, and Xue Wei smiled slightly as he shrugged his shoulders .

    "I don¡¯t know," he said honestly, "but we should go into the forest if we want to know . Anyway, don¡¯t attack anyone unless they attack us first . Even if they are alone, don¡¯t act on impulse . We don¡¯t know their backing or how many have entered from the different worlds .

    "Although the Ascended¡¯s Realm had opened in the Demon Phoenix Empire, we don¡¯t know howrge the cracks were onwith other continents . Some might have let ten pass; others might have been able to get even more than us . If the group is bigger, or if more cracks appeared on one continent, we would be even more unlucky . "

    Looking at the unwilling expression on the prince¡¯s face, Xue Wei sighed . Although they followed his orders, the truth was that the princes refused to submit and were looking for a way to overthrow his leadership .

    Xue Wei had not paid too much attention to them before, but looking at their resentfilled expressions, he began regretting having saved them a few times .

    The princes were, however, unable to do anything . The geniuses of the Demon Phoenix Continent were all hugely impressed by Xue Wei, and all of them supported him . If they wanted to cause problems, they had to see if they had theis ability .

    "Well, I said it before, only enter this forest if you want to . We can split into two groups here, one that goes into the forest and heads towards Summer, and one that stays at the inne and keeps killing beasts and benefits this way . "

    The looks of all of their faces turned to contemte . Their harvest was indeed not bad, and if they had not heard Xue Wei talk about exceptional treasures, they would all have been satisfied with what they had gained .

    However, after they had heard his words, all of them had their blood burning . Going to try and get their hands on even more and outstanding treasures would be much better and increase their strength and rank in the future .

    Even if they had to risk their lives, then so be it . From the moment they had entered the Ascended¡¯s Realm and encountered the Tree spirit, they had realized that they might not make it out alive .

    Even the prince whose face had looked ugly earlier went to the group that decided to go to the jungle and try their luck . Not only him, but everyone went there .

    Seeing them having made their decision, Xue Wei shrugged his shoulders . Although he had to split all the treasure he found with more people; he would also be much safer as long as he traveled together with these people .

    Not to mention his promise of looking after them . If they were not together, he would be unable to fulfill his promise .

    "Well then, let¡¯s enter," he said, and they entered into the jungle . Everyone was on high alert, but they soon found that a path had been carved through the thicket by someone who had walked there before them .

    They encountered animal carcasses; some were small and inconspicuous; others wererge with signs of battle having destroyed the surroundings .

    "This way we will gain nothing," one of the princes once again tried to make the people unhappy with Xue Wei and said .

    Unfortunately, no one paid attention to him and continued through the cleared road .

    They walked for a few hours before the sound of battling could be heard in front of them .

    Xue Wei gestured for the others to be quiet, and although they had been chatting and joking along the way, they now turned utterly silent .

    Advancing, they soon found the group of people who were engaged in battle . There were twenty youths, all of which were wielding a sword, their attacks almost touching upon the dao of the sword .

    Xue Wei was observing them closely and instantly knew that his team would only be their match if all of them acted in their original shapes and with their full power disyed . These sword-wielding youths were in no way simple .

    The leader of the group was a young man; he was currently busy giving instructions to the others onf how to attack the big rhino-like beast that was in a frenzy .

    Although his attention was on the beast and his friends, Xue Wei had noticed the nce that was sent their way .

    Cupping his fists, he asked, "Ddo you need any help?"

    "We are fine, thank you," the leader said coldly, not even looking at Xue Wei a second time . Shrugging his shoulders, Xue Wei did not mind and continued forward, starting to cut his path in the thicket and make it possible for them to advance while the sword-wielding youths were busy fighting .

    Seeing this, the expression on the young man turned surprised . They did not even want to stay and fight for the spoils of war?

    But Xue Wei¡¯s actions showed that they had no intention of doing so . Their behavior was puzzling the fighting youths much .

    "Halt! We were here first!" one of the youngsters yelled, afraid that if Xue Wei and his bunch of people went ahead of them, they would take all the treasures they came across, spiritual fruits, herbs, and others .

    "This realm does not belong to you, you cannot decide where we go," Xue Wei said inly as he continued to use qi to cut a path for him and the others to advance .

    The Demon Phoenix Continent¡¯s people had initially thought that Xue Wei would be more humble since he had said they shouldn¡¯t fight just like that, but he saved their faces, not allowing the sword-wielding youngsters to say anything .

    They quickly finished off the massive rhino-like beast, and while someone went to gather the materials, others rushed after Xue Wei in anger . He should not dream about stealing their treasures .

    "I say, are the Ouyang family teaching their youngsters to be so rude?" A cold but slightly immature voice was suddenly heard, bringing the sword-wielding youths to look at the one who spoke in shock .

    Although the Ouyang family was a family with tens of thousands of years of history, and their name was famed over the world, many continents did not know about them, and thus they had not expected to be recognized so easily .

    Narrowing his eyes, the young leader of the group looked at Bai Tianyi, who had spoken as if he wanted to see through his skull .

    "What do you mean with this?" someone asked, but Bai Tianyi just sneered . "We offered to help you, yet you declined . We did not want to be in the way and left, but even that was not epted? What? Do you expect us to admire you? We have a purpose withing here, and you have no right to tell us what to do .

    "I was always told that the Ouyang family amongst the great eight families were a tolerant, calm andposed family, but it seems they are just a group of robbers who wants to use their strength to bully others!"

    Xue Wei was surprised when he heard Bai Tianyi talk, but he could feel the deep-rooted hatred within Bai Tianyi, and he said nothing to stop him .

    Bai Tianyi was the coolest amongst them all, for him to blow his top like this, they had definitely wronged him before . Since that was the case, then Xue Wei had no intention of keeping his friendliness when facing them .

    Although he was slightly hesitant because of their strength, he was not scared . Sovereign Beasts were not to be belittled .

    Especially him in this environment . He was an Azure Dragon who washad connected to the wood element .

    This forest was filled with life force and would make it possible for him to use all the shields he wished, he could even use the shield to make them imprable and retreat without anyone being able to harm him and his team .

    Thinking like this, he let Bai Tianyi do what he wished .

    After hearing the words of Bai Tianyi, the members of the Ouyang family had ugly expressions on their faces, but they could say nothing in return .

    He was correct . When they had arrived, they had offered to help . It was they who did not want this unknown group¡¯s help . They had done nothing wrong and tried to give them space, but now they were unreasonable .

    Thinking like this, their faces turned to the color of pig liver, and their eyes were aze with anger, but they said nothing .

    "This young one, where do you know us from?"

    The leader asked as he looked at Bai Tianyi intently . This was clearly a child, but this child knew of them? How could it be possible?

    Bai Tianyi snorted, "Mmy ancestor knows some of your old men," he said casually, his words stunning the leader . Their old men? What a respectless way to refer to their elders!

    All the faces turned even more glum when hearing how Bai Tianyi referred to them, but they were still hesitating with attacking . If he truly had a good rtionship with the Ouyang family, then they would be the ones in problems when their elders found out about it .

    "Which elders are you referring to?" The leader asked with a furrowed brow .

    "Elders? No elders, its the old man Ouyang Jie and that old geezer Ouyang Yulong . "

    His words caused a bomb to explode in the heads of all Ouyang members present, their eyes filled with shock as they took a second look at this little child .

 Chapter 353

    Chapter 353: 353

    "You know about our Ancestors?" The leader of the Ouyang family was frowning and looking at Bai Tianyi with a strange look .

    Although these two ancestor¡¯s names had been spread far and wide around ten thousand years ago, they had suddenly be very low-profile, and no one remembered them anymore - that was if you were not a member of the Ouyang Family .

    The Ouyang Family were very well aware that these two old Ancestors, brothers by blood, were in seclusion, trying to extend their lives .

    The reason they were doing so was because of an old rival of theirs .

    Although Ouyang Jie and Ouyang Yulong, alongside the other eight great families, had teamed up once before to get rid of him, they had failed .

    The battle had split the world into several continents, but all they had found out was that the man was immortal due to having be an artificial spirit .

    These two ancestors, Ouyang Jie, and Ouyang Yulong were now waiting patiently for him to reemerge . But this was only known to the Ouyang family; everyone else had long since thought that they had vanished with time .

    Xue Wei looked at Bai Tianyi . He instantly understood what was going on . Bai Tianyi had never before hidden his past, and he could guess that the Ouyang family had been one of the families that teamed up to deal with him .

    Since that was the case, there was really no reason for Xue Wei to be polite to them anymore, and his eyes turned cold .

    But while Xue Wei was turning hostile, the Ouyang people were excited and felt that perhaps this young boy was someone important .

    The leader¡¯s eyes were shining with excitement . It was rare toe across someone who had knowledge of their ancestors, and although the child was somewhat young, he wanted to get closer to him .

    "May I ask what connection there was between yourself and our ancestors?" they asked with bated breath, but Bai Tianyi just nced at them .

    "With the way the Ouyang family has been treating us, I do not see any reason for mypanion to say anything," Xue Wei said with a smirk, his words stunning the Ouyang family¡¯s leader and his face alternated between pale and red . They had indeed been overly rude at the beginning, how they regretted it now .

    Bai Tianyi considered his options . Should he tell them the truth? They might actually die from shock when they knew he was Bai Tianyi . The thought alone amused him .

    However, if he told them his real identity, then it would, without a doubt, end with a fight .

    Looking at Xue Wei, to see what his thoughts were, he saw that there was an unwavering determination in his friend¡¯s eyes . It was clear that Xue Wei intended to support him no matter what he wished to do .

    Seeing this, his heart felt somewhat warm . It was good to have martial brothers in this life and no longer be a lonely swordsman .

    "My name is Bai Tianyi," he introduced himself with a smirk on his face, and the Ouyang family was shocked and looked at him .

    Their eyes widened first, but then they narrowed dangerously .

    "You said you are Bai Tianyi?" The leader asked, and Bai Tianyi generously nodded his head .

    "Bai Tianyi, the genius that needed the Eeight Ffamilies to gather together ten thousand of years ago to defeat?" the leader asked again, his voice was low and dangerous .

    "Time sure flies," Bai Tianyi said with a grin on his face . He was utterly casual about this, and no one, apart from the ones who knew Bai Tianyi intimately, understood what was going on .

    The men from the Ouyang family were hesitating . They did not know if Bai Tianyi was telling the truth . Since he knew about Ouyang Jie and Ouyang Yulong, it was evident that he also knew about Bai Tianyi, but to actually be him? They did not believe it .

    "Well then, Bai Tianyi, why are you running around in this world? You should be standing at the apex of the world," one of the Ouyang family members mocked .

    "Well isn¡¯t it because of your old men and the others who chased me down?" Bai Tianyi answered the question with another question .

    The Ouyang family leader looked deeply at Bai Tianyi . He could see no signs of lying; in fact, he was casual andpletely carefree, as if he did not even care whether or not they believed in him or not .

    This alone was enough to make the leader apprehensive . And when he looked at the cold eyes of Xue Wei, he became even more hesitant .

    Although he did not doubt their strength, he felt that five of the people in the group in front of him were impossible to see through the strength of, and he was not willing to take a risk with his members for something that was not certain .

    "Why don¡¯t we split up here?" the leader made a decision and instantly said . "I understand that we want to head towards summer, but we can¡¯t go the same way . I will let you walk southeast, which is spring and summer, and we will walk southwest, which is summer and autumn . "

    Xue Wei had not expected that he would take a step back like this, even less had he expected that he would give up the southeast direction to them .

    Since they had taken a step back, so did Xue Wei . He nodded his head and led his group of Vermilion Birds towards the southeast .

    As they vanished into the distance, one of the Ouyang members, a young girl, looked at their leader . "Big brother Yingwu, why did we not stop them?" she asked hesitatingly . "It could have been Bai Tianyi . If we y him, it would be a great contribution . "

    "Silly girl," Ouyang Yingwu smiled slightly . "If he was really Bai Tianyi, then he is immortal . At the same time, we have to take into consideration that he was not alone . Although the majority of them were somewhat weakpared to us, five of them were immeasurable . Also, remember, Bai Tianyi alone needed the eight great families to go together to deal with him in the past . Even if he is not at his peak, he will not be weak either . "

    The girl who had casually asked finally understood why Ouyang Yingwu had done what he had, and she nodded her head, which had turned crimson from embarrassment when she saw how seriously he was answering her .

    As they left, the people from the Demon Phoenix Empire were puzzled . What had happened? Who was Bai Tianyi? Was he not just a childish sidekick of the Azure Dragon?

    Understanding that things were different from what they had expected, many of them were puzzled, but a few of the smarter ones had listened in on the conversation and understood specific points .

    Bai Tianyi was an ancient monster . Although his shell was that of a young boy, he was, without a doubt, the oldest one amongst them all .

    At the same time, he held strength that could not be belittled . He was most likely amongst the strongest of them all; for the sake of being able to deter the Ouyang family, strength was definitely needed .

    The more they thought about this, the more they felt reverence towards Xue Wei . Even hispanions were special .

    They continued moving southeast and found that many treasures were untouched in this primal forest .

    But from time to time, they would also encounter strong beasts from another realm, that they had to battle .

    Some of these battles were easy, others were harder, but they had still yet to lose even one member of their team .

    Xue Wei had to warn them about staying alert always, or the sess would have risen to their heads, making them less likely to die .

    There were sneak attacks from snakes, even the insects were deadly, and although no one had died yet, they had to be alert, or they would be wiped out .

    Many of the geniuses were starting to get tired of the constant warning from Xue Wei . They were beginning to be overconfident, and the princes beganining about how they had not attacked the Ouyang family and robbed them, whennow they had the chance .

    This way, all of them were getting immensely unsatisfied with Xue Wei, and although he could feel the dissatisfaction, Xue Wei ignored itpletely .

    He was not here to make friends, as long as they would survive and gain some resources, everything else didn¡¯t matter .

    They were continuing towards southeast when the First Prince suddenly spoke up .

    "We should head directly south!" he dered . "There are more treasures in the south area of the forest; the southeast is going to be a waste of time for us!"

    Pausing in his steps, Xue Wei turned around and looked at the First Prince, who was challenging his authority, but contrary to what they all had expected, he did not get mad .

    "Why don¡¯t you head south then?" he asked as he crossed his arms on his chest .

    "You . . . You said we are going southeast," the First Prince said, wondering why things were so different from what he had expected .

    "Yes . I am heading southeast . But I never said you all had to follow me . I offered to lead you, but it is clear that some of you are displeased with me as a leader . To be honest, I am also displeased with being a leader . Having such a huge team who are constantlyining and never alert enough is dragging me down . I have to spend extra effort saving all of you and be alert for all of you; I simply don¡¯t want to . "

    Hearing this, all of them were silent . It was true that they had not been alert, and he had been the one to discover all the beasts that had arrived . He had also saved quite a few of them from time to time .

    Although they wanted toin about him, they were unable to say anything at all . He had made it impossible to refute .

    "Now, I am going to the southeast . Those who want to follow me are more than wee, and those who want to go south, just do so and stop troubling me . However, if you split up from the group, your life and death are in your own hands, and I will take no more responsibility for you . "

    Everyone was caught in a dilemma . Most of them had wanted to use this chance toin about Xue Wei, but he had turned itpletely around .

    "I am staying with you," a timid voice sounded, and everyone turned around to look at a young girl who was standing in the back .

    Not many girls were in the team, but the ones who were, were all very timid and silent . They did their best, but they never really spoke with anyone . They were real demuredies .

    Even so, the woman was the first one to speak up, and Xue Wei was somewhat surprised .

    Then she continued, "I value my life . What he said made sense, if we were to split up, no one can save us in the time of need . I would rather be scolded but live than be arrogant and die . "

    The more she spoke, the higher and stronger her voice became, and Xue Wei had to admit that he was astonished by the courage of this demure littledy .

    He did not mind going with the team . In fact, things were going much smoother when they were many as they could kill beasts faster, but he was not willing to be trampled all over . He was not ready to be humiliated by the princes .

    Hearing the words of the girl, many finally started to understand that this was their lives they were gambling with . Their faces instantly turned pale, and they realized that arrogance had gone to their heads .

 Chapter 354

    Chapter 354: 354

    The princes, who originally wanted to cause a mutiny suddenly turned quiet, their hearts wavered, but their innate arrogance told them that they could lead just as well as Xue Wei had .

    There were, of course, a few exceptions . Three princes had not been able to gather enough power to struggle in the fight for the Crown Prince position, and hence they were not as arrogant .

    They felt that the words said by the woman held some strength, and one of these princes even nodded his head while being deep in thought .

    A second one spoke up, "you are correct," he said apologetically . "I can see that we once again got arrogant . It seems that we have never experienced real danger back in the Demon Phoenix Continent, and now we expect everything to be a walk in the park for us . "

    Many of the geniuses were also embarrassed and quickly changed their attitude towards Xue Wei, but this time he had had enough .

    His face was emotionless, but a heavy storm was brewing in his eyes .

    "This is all very good, but for how long?" Xue Wei asked, his voice apathetic and his eyes sharp .

    The others looked at each other guiltily .

    "This is not the first time you are questioning my leadership," Xue Wei continued, this time a bit of impatience could be heard in the voice . "I am not doing this for my own vanity¡¯s sake, nor am I helping you because I feel I owe you anything . I am doing it because your Emperor asked me to do this .

    "I am doing my best here to bear with the unhappy nces you guys send out . I am trying to ensure that we get the richest harvest, but all you do isin . You don¡¯t even protect yourself!"

    "I am here to benefit from the realm that has opened, not to be a nanny for you guys . Either you start taking this serious, or we split up here and no longer have any responsibility towards one another . "

    The princes were choked when they heard his words . They were also split between wanting to take the people with them, and staying with Xue Wei .

    In fact, they wanted to leave on their own, but they knew that if they did, then the geniuses might not follow them .

    Right now, when they looked at the regr members of the n, they could see the reverence these geniuses felt towards Xue Wei . If they left, it might end with a group consisting purely of princes, and that¡¯d be quite bad . Not even all the princes would go with them, so their group would likely be small . Walking in a small group was suicide in this realm, even they understood this .

    Realizing that Xue Wei had once again countered them, the First Prince¡¯s face turned malicious for a moment before it returned to the gentle expression he usually wore .

    "I am afraid you misunderstood," he said with his melodious and calm voice . "You said it yourself, there is the most treasure in Summer, and we are heading more towards spring right now . We just wanted to get the best rewards from this year in the realm . We did not mean anything offending with it . "

    Xue Wei looked at the First Prince and praised him in his mind . He was sure good at turning ck into white, good at hiding in the shadows, and never showing his real thoughts .

    This First Prince was without a doubt the most dangerous amongst them all; it was him he had to watch out for .

    The other princes, although they had managed to fight for the throne of the Crown Prince, they did not have the ability to hide as deeply as the First Prince, neither could they endure as much as him .

    "Since it has been solved, if anyone questions me again, they can leave our group . " Xue Wei said casually, his words were neither loud nor low, but it caused a chill to rise in the hearts of all present .

    If they were chased out of the group, then they would be unable to survive . It was evident that Xue Wei was not some vegetarian; he was not pleased with being questioned time and time again .

    They understood this and felt ashamed . He was the one who had saved them time and time again . He was the one who had gotten them a lot of treasures, but all they gave him was doubtful eyes and questioning his leadership .

    It was natural that he had be upset with them .

    Truthfully, Xue Wei was not really upset . If he had been upset, then he would have left a long time ago an let them do whatever they wanted to do on their own .

    He wanted to continue working together with the ones from the Demon Phoenix Continent, but to do so, they had to understand that he was not one to be trampled upon .

    It seemed that his gamble had paid off . Instead of them attacking him, he had attacked them, knowing full well that it could go both ways . If they had been insulted, they would have left, but instead, they still have a sense of shame and were able to be trained into bing his personal Vermilion Bird Army .

    Of course, these geniuses and princes were unaware of Xue Wei¡¯s thoughts . Although he wanted to use them to gain more resources and treasures, he also wanted to share equally with them, so they felt it was worthwhile working together with him .

    Xue Wei sighed and continued towards the southeastern directly, all of the others following him closely, but this time they were alert and solemn . They understood that it was not as friendly a ce as they had initially thought .

    They continued forward for a full five days before they exited the jungle-like forest . At this point in time, all their storage treasures were bulging with herbs, spirit fruits, beast cores, and other resources they hade across .

    Although they had all these resources, they could not help but want other items . More rare items . These things were all useful, but they were not the most unusual things that could be found within the realm - if they were, they would not be so numerous .

    As they headed forward, Xue Wei was extremely vignt when he saw that the forest ended . Their new surroundings were in sharp contrast to what they hade from, and a frown surfaced on his face .

    In front of him, as far as the eye could see were dunes . San was flowing in the wind, and nothing living could be seen . Even then, Xue Wei had a feeling that this ce was filled with life underneath the sand, and that they might have an opportunity here to find real treasures .

    Although Xue Wei wanted to use the geniuses of the Demon Phoenix Continent, he did not want to abuse them .

    He was calm as he considered what to do . Entering the desert in front of them was dangerous, but he could see that these people were also eager to test their strength, anxious to get their hands on rarer items .

    "Are we going to follow this border between the forest and the desert?" one of the geniuses could not help but ask as he looked at Xue Wei waiting for an answer .

    "We are going to enter the desert," Xue Wei answered with a grin on his face as he turned around and looked at the others .

    "Entering . . . Entering the desert?" The others were puzzled . Even Xue Wei¡¯s friends were wondering why he would intentionally pick such a dangerous and highly unsuitable route .

    Even so, they did not doubt him . As such, they just shrugged their shoulders and began preparing to enter the desert .

    "Right," Xue Wei nodded his head decisively .

    "But, why?" someone could not help but ask, and Xue Wei nced at him .

    "You think everyone would intentionally avoid this desert?" he asked, and everyone nodded their heads . "Entering this desert is something you only do if you have no other option," The First Prince was the one who answered .

    Although he was cheering inside because Xue Wei had made such a stupid decision, he was not showing anything outside . He had learned that Xue Wei should not be underestimated .

    "Correct," Xue Wei nodded his head . "Everyone avoids it, does this not mean that any treasure within can be ours?" he asked, and all of them were suddenly stunned .

    If no one had ever entered the desert, it would have a few immensely rare treasures .

    "Not only this, it is a scorching environment," Xue Wei continued, "So every treasure within will be of Yang nature, something that is very useful to your ming bodies, your mes will be refined further . "

    Every single word that Xue Wei said tempted them further . They suddenly understood why he was interested in this desert .

    Knowing that they could maybe enhance their mes and that there was a chance for even more outstanding treasures, all apprehension that these people had before vanished like fog in the sunshine .

    Xue Wei snickered when he saw their eager expressions and felt relieved . The many people who were initially against it could suddenly no longer wait to enter and explore the desert .

    After resting for half a day, and preparing themselves, they sat off into the desert . The First Prince had naturally not said anything after realizing that the people were no longer on his side, and he too felt a need to get his hands on some items that could enhance his mes .

    The desert was challenging to traverse . Although they were no longer in need of water to clench their thirst, their throats were still feeling rough from the sand that was everywhere when they breathed .

    The sand was also very soft, so whenever they took a step, they would sink slightly into it, requiring some force to continue forward .

    They encountered a few creatures on the way, most of which were scorpions and snakes .

    None of them were very strong, but their bodies were filled with poison, so instead of wasting them, they were saved for the sake of giving them to alchemists when they returned .

    They also encountered a few herbs . These herbs were very different from the ones they had seen in the jungle .

    While the jungle¡¯s herbs were green and filled with vitality, these were all brown, and if one did not look closely, they would have thought them withered .

    But within these herbs was a tenacious lifeforce alongside overwhelming medicinal properties . Although there were none so far, which improved the quality of their mes, these were not bad for increasing one¡¯s cultivation base .

    Although they were very beneficial to one¡¯s cultivation base, they had to be refined by an alchemist first . The medicinal properties within were simply too overbearing, and if one were to consume it directly, they would explode .

    They had walked for two days before Xue Wei stopped in his tracks and a smile flitted across his lips .

    "We are almost there," he said smilingly as he looked at the sand in front of him .

    Looking in the direction of his gaze, the others stilled . There were traces of others moving this way .

    Although the traces seemed human, there was something about them that seemed out of ce .

    "Did you not say that no human would enter this desert? Now they are here, haven¡¯t they taken all the good stuff?" the First Prince was not happy, and he directly attacked Xue Wei who just nced at him . It seemed that the First Prince was about to lose his cool and could no longer act righteous, calm, and gentle .

    "They are not human," Xue Wei smiled as he looked closer at the traces he had found . "At least not the kind of humans we are used to . "

    His words puzzled the others, but by now they all trusted him an thus they asked no more, they just waited for him to continue .

 Chapter 355

    Chapter 355: 355

    Xue Wei did, however, not go into details with what he meant, just smiled with his eyes glued onto the traces he had found in the sand .

    These traces were human footprints, but the human footprints were not the only thing that they could see, there were also traces of something slithering across the sand .

    It was clear that there were more than just humans, and Xue Wei, who was new to this ce, had a somewhat urate guess as to whom it was .

    The ancestor of the Vermilion Birds had ced beasts from outside the world inside this dimension, then why would it not also bring in humans?

    However, these humans were likely different from the humans that they were used to . These humans were likely to cultivate differently . They were also expected to look different .

    But while Xue Wei had guessed this, the others were still clueless . The princes and geniuses from the Demon Phoenix Continent were all curious, but the friends of Xue Wei knew he would exin it eventually .

    They continued forward, but now the speed was much slower than before . They advanced while observing everything around them .

    Suddenly, a whistling sound could be heard, and soon after it was apanied by a scream, and someone who was cursing . Looking back, Xue Wei saw that one of his group members had been dragged halfway into the sand .

    His face was pale, and his breathing ragged . The sand around him had sshes of blood, and a thin trail of ringly red blood was tickling down the corner of his lips .

    "Get him up!" Xue Wei said, and the others rushed over an helped him up . They managed to drag him up the sand, and when he was free, they all took in a deep breath of air .

    His legs were mutted, blood was smeared all over the shredded flesh on his legs .

    Looking into the hole that he had fallen into, nothing was there apart from bits of flesh and blood . Whatever had caused him to be buried like this and bleed this badly had already vanished .

    Xue Wei did not push them to continue onwards . He fetched a Returning Spring Pill that he had concocted and gave it to the wounded man before they decided to set camp for the night .

    "Tonight, we need to be extra alert," Xue Wei said . "They will return, so keep an eye on the sand beneath us . Also, make sure never to be alone . "

    The others understood the severity of the matter . During the entire evening, they continued to give the wounded man Returning Spring Pills, and his wounds healed slowly . As the next morning arrived, his legs were once more healed, and he was immensely grateful towards Xue Wei for giving him this many pills, all of which were of perfect purity .

    Without Xue Wei, he would not have been healed this fast and would have dyed them all .

    Even so, Xue Wei was not happy . He had expected that the strange human tribe and theirpanions would make a move during the night that passed, but nothing had happened . They hadplete peace .

    Frowning, he was looking into the distance, but nothing was moving . He spread out his spiritual energy, but it was suppressed in this realm, and he could sense nothing moving around .

    Then he frowned . Even the ordinary beasts that should have been here were not around any longer . Had they been frightened away by whatever had arrivedst night to drag their friend underground?

    "Let¡¯s set out," he said . He no longer understood the thoughts of the humans living in the desert, but he was eager to find them . They ought to have the most treasures within the entire ce, and they were likely to have the desert ss rose that Xue Wei had entered the desert to get .

    The desert ss rose was a specific kind of herb that allowed for mes to increase in purity .

    He needed it for his alchemist me that he was using to refine pills with . If he wanted to be a four-colored Rainbow Alchemist, then he needed to have a much more refined me .

    The Vermilion Birds also needed this kind of desert ss rose . It could refine their mes, so they had to get a lot of these roses . The only way to get them was to find the humans who would likely harvest them when they came across them and had arge quantity of them .

    At least, that was Xue Wei¡¯s hope . If they just had to find these desert ss roses in the desert itself, they would have to spend the rest of their year in the desert, and he was not willing to do that . He wanted much more treasures for the time they were here .

    Xue Wei and the group advanced . They were alert, and their eyes were always looking at the dunes around them, staying alert in case an ambush was prepared .

    Just as they had walked half a day, the whistling sound that was familiar to them all appeared again .

    "Jump!" Xue Wei called out, and although the pressure in the dimension was higher they could still stay in the air for some time, and as they flew into the air, a group of scorpions and snakes broke through the surface of the ground .

    These scorpions and snakes were unlike the beasts they had encountered so far .

    The scorpions had a ck carapace that was covering their entire body . They were glistening in the sunlight and seemed to absorb all light that appeared around them .

    The snakes were red and golden, their eyes were also golden, and when someone looked into them, they could see intellect .

    These beasts were at least ten times bigger than the other monsters they had encountered so far .

    Hovering in the air, the expressions of all the people were pale as they saw the twenty beasts beneath them, ten of each kind .

    It was no wonder that the guy who had been injured had ended up looking like he had . When they saw these snakes and scorpions, they understood itpletely . It was actually a surprise that he was still alive .

    "Strangers, what is your purpose of tracking us down?" a voice suddenly sounded .

    It came with the wind, arrived right at the ear of all of them, but there were no humans in sight .

    "We are here to trade," Xue Wei said with a loud voice .

    "Trade?" the voice, and Xue Wei¡¯s group were all shocked .

    "Yes . We need Desert ss Roses . We can trade with spirit fruits, essence stones, beast cores, herbs from the jungle, and pills . "

    "Desert ss Roses?" the voice was contemting .

    While the voice seemed to contemte, the eyes shone, and the hearts of the Demon Phoenix Continent¡¯s cultivators started beating rapidly .

    They knew what the Desert ss Rose was, and they really needed it .

    As to the spirit fruits, herbs, and other resources, they were not that important, and they had so many of them, so trading some for the Desert ss Roses was something they were more than willing to do .

    "We will do the trade," the voice sounded, and moments after, the sand suddenly started rising and taking the shape of a human . Moments after the sand cracked and a person appeared from within .

    It looked peculiar and strange, but they quickly understood that it was a martial art technique that had helped him move towards them fast, by merging with the sand .

    The man was looking very different from the humans they were used to seeing in their world .

    This man had brown skin with white tattoos, his hair was white, and his eyes were blue .

    He was strong and sturdy, he seemed young, but his eyes showed the vicissitudes of life . He was not as young as he appeared .

    After raising his head and counting the number of people who were hovering in the air, he waved his hand, and the scorpions and snakes dug into the sand and vanished .

    "I have enough Desert ss Roses to be able to trade three for each of you," he said .

    His words shocked them all, but then their eyes widened in happiness and smile spread on their lips .

    "That¡¯s enough for us," Xue Wei said with a nod and descended to the sand again .

    "Queue up," he ordered, and all of them obediently stood in a queue, waiting for it to be their turn .

    The price for one of the Desert ss Roses ended up being ten spirit fruits, five beast cores, and three random herbs .

    Although the price was high, it was definitely worth it . The benefit they would get from the Desert ss Rose was impossible to be measured in wealth, so they quickly found the items and traded them without feeling even an ounce of loss .

    After trading the items, everyone was happy .

    Xue Wei then looked at the man an wondered if he could get some information . "Senior, we are going towards the Summer region of this Dimension, is it possible for you to perhaps guide us in the right direction?"

    The man nodded his head and said, "head straight west from here . Then you will encounter an oasis where you can rest before heading southwest from there on, and you should be out of the desert in around a week . That direction leads you towards Summer . "

    Xue Wei cupped his fists to the man and then thanked him before he left with his friends . All of them were energetic and felt that the trip into the desert was definitely worth it .

    Although they did not have to fight for these Desert ss Roses and traded them, that was still okay . They had gained some herbs and beast cores while heading deep into the desert, and on the way back, they would definitely encounter more, that could help them make up for what they had traded away .

    Xue Wei was calm as he led the way, but then all of a sudden, his expression turned ugly .

    "Everyone, gather together!" he called out before his body started changing its shape . He began growing azure scales, and his body became muchrger than before .

    Wrapping every member of the team within his coiled body, he started activating his defensive techniques .

    Scale Shield!

    Everyone was puzzled . What happened had happened in less than a moment, from Xue Wei had called out until they were wrapped up, not even a moment had passed .

    Seeing the greenyer that was present on top of Xue Wei they were stunned, what had happened?

    Moments after they were given an answer, a sandstorm appeared!

    This sandstorm was different from normal sandstorms in their world, every single grain of sand was like a razor de, and the Scale Shield was starting to wane .

    Life Scale Shield!

    Xue Wei was not sure how long it would take for the sandstorm to pass, but he knew that if he were not shielding them, at least a few would die . This was merely the outskirts of the sandstorm, and it had already prated his regr Scale Shield .

    Xue Wei gritted his teeth, and as time passed, he felt how the life force within his body - the wood elemental qi that he relied on to control the Life Scale Shield was running out .

    Devouring Life Scale Shield!

    This was the ultimate version of the Scale shield .

    The Scale Shield itself, relied on the body to create a shield .

    The Life Scale Shield relied on the wood elemental Qi inside his body .

    The Devouring Life Scale Shield absorbed the wood elemental Qi in the surrounding air and transferred it into Xue Wei¡¯s body, allowing him to convert it to his own strength .

    Unfortunately, there was not much wooden elemental Qi in the desert, so while it was somewhat useful, Xue Wei could feel that the wood elemental Qi in the surrounding air was about to dissipate .

 Chapter 356

    Chapter 356: 356

    A sandstorm could rage for as long as days on end, and even now not long had passed but they were already facing a dangerous situation .

    The experts of the Demon Phoenix Continent were all amazed by seeing Xue Wei using his own body to wrap around them and protect them from the razor-sharp sand that could tear them to pieces within moments .

    The Devouring Life Scale Shield was starting to sumb to the onught of the whistling winds, and the surrounding area was turning devoid of any Wood Element Qi .

    The longer time went on, the harder it became for Xue Wei to hold on .

    The Devouring Life Scale Shield downgraded to a normal Life Scale shield after two hours as there was no more wood elemental qi in the surroundings .

    After another three hours, Xue Wei had no more wood elemental qi within his body, and the life scale shield turned into an ordinary scale shield, the sand causing more and more injuries to appear on Xue Wei¡¯s massive body .

    Xue Wei could only grit his teeth in pain as he felt the wounds multiply on his body . Blood was flowing in rivers and scales were dropping to the sand, only to be covered up in an instance by the raging sandstorm, forever lost in the depths of the desert .

    As Xue Wei was on the verge of copsing the sandstorm finally died down . The gale started to turn into gentle winds, and the sand which had been flying every which where was turning into new dunes . The desert lookedpletely different now from how it had looked before .

    The dunes had moved ce, and although it was unmistakenly still a desert, everything had turned around .

    Xue Wei returned to the shape of a human when he had ensured that the sandstorm was truly gone . His body was bloody and battered, even as he stood as a human, he was riddled with wounds and exhausted .

    "We will rest for a day before continuing," Xue Wei said as he draped a robe over his shoulders and sat down . He quickly took out multiple different pills and popped them into his mouth, resembling a kid eating candy .

    The moment they entered his body, he felt how they turned into cool streams of energy that started working on healing his body .

    The many Demon Phoenix Continent¡¯s geniuses and princes had no objections at this point; not even the First Prince said anything .

    At this point, Xue Wei was a hero in the eyes of almost every member of the group as he had shielded them all with his own body, taken all wounds that should rightfully have been theirs . They all felt newfound respect towards him for this .

    The First Prince knew that if he said something at this point, not only would no one agree with him, the experts that usually revered him would grow alienated from hisck of gratitude towards Xue Wei .

    The day went by fast, and as the sun rose in the sky, Xue Wei stretched his body . Although it would take some time for him to once more have any wood elemental qi within his body, he still had restored his body to peak condition, and his Qi was also restored .

    He was slightly dejected about the wood elemental qi, but he knew he could do nothing about it . In an environment like this, it was hard to restore it .

    Sighing, he could only feel that at least he had not wasted it, he had used it to trade the lives of himself, his friends, andpanions . Also, it was not gone forever, just for a short period of time .

    Thinking like this, he felt that it was not too bad, and he began walking the same direction that he had walked before .

    He could not wait to exit this goddamn ce . Although he was not enjoying the time in the desert, he had to admit that he had gained a lot from their journey here .

    They walked towards the southwest, heading towards summer and the many treasures one could find there .

    However, after walking for a few moments, Xue Wei stopped and frowned . The sand underneath their feet had vanished, an instead it had turned to stone .

    The stone-ground was ck as obsidian, and there was a big gaping hole in front of them .

    This hole was clearly human-made .

    Stairs were leading down towards an unknown world underneath . No one could see anything else than pitch-ck darkness .

    It was not only Xue Wei who was frowning, but all of them also had the same thought . Should they enter this unknown entrance, or should they continue towards summer?

    After hesitating for some time, Xue Wei had decided that he wanted to check it out . Even if it was risky, it was likely that the treasures beneath this desert were as amazing as the stuff that could be found within Summer .

    "I am entering this ce," Xue Wei said with a determined voice . "This is going to be immensely dangerous, and I cannot guarantee your survival if you choose to enter together with me . "

    The Demon Phoenix Continent¡¯s geniuses were deep in thought . They wanted to go with Xue Wei, but they did not want to be a hindrance to him . Neither did they want to throw their lives away .

    "Why don¡¯t you all follow me?" the voice of the First Prince suddenly sounded .

    "We will continue towards Summer, and wait for Sir Xue to catch up with us again . "

    The First Prince had no intention of returning control of the group to Xue Wei, but it would sound bad if he said that, hence he made it look as if them going ahead was a great favor to him, and that he was a right person to offer to lead them .

    Xue Wei was able to understand what was going on without even thinking about it, and even most of the experts from the Demon Phoenix Continent could think of the reason for the First Prince to make this offer .

    However, they did not disagree; all they did were staying quiet . When Xue Wei returned to them, it was their choice whether or not they wished to follow the First Prince or Xue Wei .

    At that time, it would depend on whether or not the First Prince had done an excellent job . If he had led them to even more treasure than Xue Wei, then it would be stupid to leave him, but if they had suffered, then they would dly join Xue Wei once more .

    Xue Wei understood their thoughts . Although they said nothing, it was clear that although these geniuses were feeling happy towards Xue Wei for having saved them, they were still here for treasure after all .

    Xue Wei did not me them; he did not have a close connection with them, so he was not disappointed either .

    Seeing that none of them were against the First Prince¡¯s offer, Xue Wei did nothing to make them stay either .

    "Then let¡¯s meet again if fate allows it . " Xue Wei said casually before he no longer paid any attention to the experts from the Demon Phoenix Continent .

    He then turned around and walked towards the staircase leading down towards the darkness .

    Seeing that Xue Wei walked so firmly towards the darkness, and then how his friends followed behind without any form for hesitation, the geniuses from the Demon Phoenix Continent were all ashamed .

    They understood that the danger was great and that even Xue Wei had no idea what they might encounter, but he still went on with unwavering determination, while they were cowardly and backed away .

    They finally understood the difference between the two of them .

    Xue Wei was not afraid of death . He lived with his life on the edge, always struggling and fighting to improve, while they were flowers raised in a greenhouse .

    They had the best resources, they also had the best environment, but because of everything going their way, they had now realized that theycked the determination of cultivators from humble backgrounds . Theycked the desperation to improve .

    But having realized this, they also knew that it could not be changed just because they wanted to, it was a small step they had to take little by little .

    Jumping into this unknown world underneath the desert would be the same as throwing away their lives, and thus they did not regret their decision as they watched Xue Wei and the others take out luminous orbs from their storage treasures as they began descending the stairs .

    As they vanished from the sight, the First Prince could not help but hope that this was thest time he saw Xue Wei . If he sumbed to the strange underground world he had just entered, then he would not have to worry in the future .

    Xue Wei did not look back even once as he began walking . He already knew about his friends joining him, and as long as they had his back, then he would be content .

    The staircase was made from the same ck material as the surface above, it was impossible to determine what kind of material it was, but it was immensely sturdy .

    As they went down the stairs, they found that that they reached further down than they had expected .

    They walked and walked and walked, but it was as if the staircase was endless .

    After walking for a couple of hours, Xue Wei finally came to a stop . The stairs continued in front of him, but he had a nagging feeling that something was wrong .

    Touching the wall by his side, he determined that it was made from the same material as the stairs themselves, the ck stone-like material .

    Frowning, he wondered what to do . Without overthinking, he struck out a palm attack .

    Shattering Mountain Palm!

    This was one of the attacks he had learned first, and although it wasn¡¯t the most potent attack that Xue Weimanded, it was in no way bad .

    When it came into contact with the wall, something peculiar happened .

    Not only did the wall start to crack, the stairs they stood on were cracking as well; reality around them began to copse, but even though the stairs broke, they were not falling anywhere .

    By the time the scene in front of them had copsedpletely, the five friends were stunned by what they saw in front of them .

    What they saw in front and behind them was a long corridor . It seemed as if they had walked down this corridor for a long time, as when they looked behind them, it stretched into the darkness, continuing on for a long way .

    As they realized that the staircase was an illusion that they had been trapped in, all of them felt some lingering fear . It could have continued forever with no way for them to exit, and even if they had turned around, they would never have escaped .

    Now they were extra alert as they looked at the corridor . Was this another illusion?

    Shattering Mountain Palm!

    A muffled boom resounded in the corridor as Xue Wei¡¯s palm came into contact with the ck wall, but not even a dent was shown on it .

    "This is real," he said casually . This was the easiest and most direct way to test the realness of their current situation .

    "Let¡¯s continue walking," Xue Wei said . and they moved forward, only to find that there were doors on their side every time they had walked for around the time it took to brew a cup of tea .

    they did not enter the first door they found but continued onwards, until they saw that doors were really no rarity in this corridor .

    After checking this, they opened them, only to find that some led into smaller rooms with treasures, essence stones and materials were gathered there . However, all herbs had long since turned to dust, so they could only take the other things .

 Chapter 357

    Chapter 357: 357

    Standard weapons would long since have turned into nothingness, rusted to the point where only dust would remain .

    However, the weapons they came across were far from ordinary weapons . Although they had not evolved into spirits yet, and although they did not have a consciousness, they contained so much energy which had umted over the years, making them the best of the best weapons one could find .

    Xue Wei did not stand on ceremony and picked up all the weapons . He stored them in his storage treasure before taking out a thin sword .

    This sword was very different from most swords . The de only had a width of two fingers, and it was immensely thin . When moving, one could feel the flexibility of this sword . It was fast as the wind and could strike at astonishing speeds .

    This sword had no name, but Xue Wei had taken a liking to it . The silver shine that the de gave off was gentle, but the aura of the sword was tyrannical .

    Although the sword seemed gentle at first, Xue Wei did not doubt that it had seen its fair share of blood .

    He was not keeping the other weapons because he was stingy, but none of them fit his friends .

    Lin Xiao already had a weapon of the best quality, and it was also a weapon that was like a right arm to him . It was the staff he needed if he wanted to tame beasts .

    Luoluo did not use weapons at all, and giving her one would just hinder her fighting more than help it .

    Bai Tianyi was in the same situation . As a weapon spirit himself, he would be a joke if he was seen wielding another weapon .

    Then was Hei Gou, but Hei Gou was also using a rather unique weapon as he was using long ws that were attached to his hands .

    Finding new ws would depend on luck, and so far, they had note across any .

    They found a wide variety of resources within the underground building . Some were ced there by the one who had built the ce, others, especially herbs, had appeared because of the long time in the world underground .

    The ce was damp and dark and cold, perfect for many specific herbs to grow .

    These herbs were of different ages; some were only a few hundred years old; others were thousands of years old .

    From this, it was clear to see that this underground world had been untouched for thousands of years already .

    As to why it had suddenly appeared, he was not sure of, but this was a chance for him, and he was not going just to ignore it .

    So far, they had not encountered anything seriously dangerous . Although the illusion had been frustrating, it produced no harm to them, and the rooms they had entered did not even have a trap .

    Continuing down the corridor, they eventually reached the end . Here they had entered every door on the way and emptied multiple treasure rooms . However, all of them were treated as nothing, not even guarding them with traps .

    This made Xue Wei believe that there were even greater treasures inside the underground world . He was just certain that he had to figure out what this underground world was first .

    When they continued forward, they found a door at the end of the corridor .

    All the doors leading into the rooms previously had been made by wood . They had been easy to open, but now they were standing and looking at a massive door made from stone . It would require quite a bit to open this door .

    Xue Wei ced his hand onto the door, and when he was about to rotate his Qi in his meridians in an attempt to open the door, a strange heat rushed to his hand, and it was suddenly impossible for him to withdraw his hand .

    Frowning, Xue Wei used a bit more strength, but no matter how much he tried to pull back, his hand was stuck onto the door!

    The heat that he had felt at the beginning had beenfortable, but now it was getting more and more intense, it felt as if he was holding a scalding hot piece of iron .

    Gritting his teeth, he said nothing but sweat started to ooze out of his forehead, his eyes were narrowed dangerously .

    Seeing the situation of Xue Wei, the others did not advance, but all of them were ready to step in at any moment, it would be unbearable for Xue Wei to touch the door .

    Each second felt as if it took an eternity . The heat was increasing drastically, but Xue Wei was still gritting his teeth and enduring the pain . He felt that something was odd about this phenomenon .

    Whoever had built this underground world would be able to kill him with but a thought . Making a mechanism that burnt off one¡¯s hand was quite wasteful .

    As such, it proved that there was another reason for this mechanism, and only by enduring would he know what this purpose was .

    Time ticked by slowly, the heat climbed and climbed . The stone door had originally been dark grey like most other stones, not ck like the rest of the walls of this underground world, but now that the heat was permeating through the door, it started first to have a hue of red, before it turned crimson, and steam began to be released from the door .

    As the heat was increasing, it also started creaking and trembling . It was as if the door was on the verge of turning into molten stone .

    Time continued to flow like water in a stream, the friends¡¯ faces turned more and more solemn the more they saw, and their brows were furrowed in worry .

    Finally, when they could no longer handle watching Xue Wei in pain like this, a resounding bang rang through the entire corridor .

    Life Scale Shield!

    Xue Wei had not restored much of his wood elemental Qi yet, but at that moment, he used what he had to raise a faintly glowing green shield around his friends .

    Afterward, the sounds of explosions resounded in the corridor as stones of varying sizes continued to collide with the shield .

    Xue Wei, who had been in the midst of the exploding door, waspletely unharmed . The only thing that betrayed the painful experience he had encountered was the sweat on his forehead alongside his palm being slightly red .

    Looking at his palm, he suddenly saw a strange energy rune had been carved into his skin . It was not deep and resembled a scar, but when he put his spiritual energy into it, he could sense that it was not that simple . All his energy was like throwing a stone down a deep hole; it vanished without a trace or ripple .

    Xue Wei pondered for a moment what this rune could possibly mean, but he did not understand it . It looked somewhat like a me, but not really . It was bizarre .

    Deciding that he could not do anything about it and that it was likely to prove of some importanceter, he did not care too much . Instead, he smiled slightly . He felt as if he had passed a trial - the door had atst sessfully opened for him .

    When the dust fell, Xue Wei turned around to confirm that his shield had protected his friends, and after ensuring that no one was injured, his eyes nced at the rubble lying all over the corridor before he finally moved his eyes towards what was inside the door .

    What he saw shocked him . Everything he had encountered so far had been dark and damp, cold, and grim . Now they were looking at a magnificent hall . It was very different from before, pirs ted with gold were holding up the ceiling, which resembled the morning sky, shining light down on the entire hall .

    There were statues at the edges, standing five meters tall, all of them wearing armor made from gold and weapons made from some unknown materials .

    Xue Wei entered hesitatingly . Although there was gold everywhere, and there were many magnificent sights, there did not seem to be any treasures within this hall apart from the hall itself .

    There were no doors to either side, nor were there any herbs that had grown in the corners like they had in the previous corridor .

    Walking inside, he and his friends began examining the area . Xue Wei had no intention of taking the gold ting on the statues and the pirs . Although he was greedy, he was not that poor; gold really wasn¡¯t worth much to him any longer .

    However, his eyes were continuallynding on the weapons in the hands of the statues . These weapons were made from unknown materials, but they seemed very powerful .

    Contemting if he should take them, Xue Wei finally decided against it .

    Although it was tempting, he was not sure what the material was, so getting it would be quite useless . Not to mention, he had already gotten his hands on quite a number of good weapons already, so these were not too useful for him .

    After reaching a decision, Xue Wei did not waste any more time in the hall and walked further and further into the depths of the hall .

    There was truly nothing of interest, and they soon reached the end . Here they had expected another big stone door, but instead, they encountered a big tform with a throne in the middle and two small wooden doors, one on each side of the throne .

    Since he saw these two doors, Xue Wei was unaware of whether or not to pick one or the other . Looking around, he found a sign on top of the two doors .

    "Life and death let fate decide . "

    Instantly, Xue Wei understood that one door leads to death while the other led to life . However, there were no more leads, no more help to tell them where exactly they should go .

    Frowning, Xue Wei looked at the two doors . They werepletely identical .

    "You guys, go back the way we came from and catch up with the people from the Demon Phoenix Continent," Xue Wei finally said after thinking for some time, "I am going to gamble with my life, but I can¡¯t risk yours as well . "

    Hearing this, they were stunned as their eyes widened, and they were filled with horror .

    "No," Luoluo shook her head . "If I leave now, I will regret it . I have no idea what will happen, but you guys are my family . If I live, but you die, I will never forgive myself for not being by your side in the final moments . If we die, let us all end together . "

    "I have nothing apart from you guys," Lin Xiao agreed with a slight smile .

    "Yeah, we will gamble together!" Hei Gou grinned .

    "I can¡¯t die anyway; I might just lose a couple of thousand years, so let¡¯s go!" Bai Tianyi would never say anything cheesy, so instead, he acted tough, but hearing his words, the othersughed .

    "Okay then," Xue Wei paused and looked at the two doors . "We are taking the right door," he finally said .

    "Right door? Sure . " The others did not mind; to them, any door was fine; they did not even ask him why he had decided on this door .

    Xue Wei reached out his right hand, the hand with the strange rune, and pushed open the door . Darkness flooded out, but he did not hesitate and stepped inside, closely followed by the others .

    The darknesssted for a long time, they kept walking forward, but there was no sound, no visibility, no scent . Nothing .

    Xue Wei continued stumbling forward in the darkness . He called out but could not even hear his own voice . The others seemed to have vanished from behind him as well .

 Chapter 358

    Chapter 358: 358

    As to whether or not the others were genuinely lost or together with him, Xue Wei did not know .

    Since he was unable to hear anything, see anything, touch anything, say anything and feel anything, he could not say whether or not they were there or if they were gone .

    Trying to reach behind him, he still felt nothing, and thus he resigned himself to fate .

    Had he picked death? Was this death? It was not very painful, and his soul was still active and did not seem dead . He could also move his body, but he could sense nothing .

    Unsure about what was going on, Xue Wei was not one to just wait around to see what would happen to him, so instead, he began moving in this darkness filled with nothingness .

    He was fumbling around, there were no walls, but every step felt as if there was nothing beneath his feet . He did not know if he was falling down or floating upwards .

    Moving forward was like stepping on a cloud; it was soft beneath his feet, but even so, he did not resign himself to stopping and continued . Since he had not died, something had to be waiting for him inside this darkness .

    He was unaware of how long time passed . Because of the darkness, it felt as if it was an eternity, but it could have been mere minutes .

    More and more time passed, and although he was quite certain that the time moved slower, it was clear that he had been walking for hours, yet no change had urred within the darkness .

    Although the time was passing like this, he did not halt his steps even once . He continued forward, moving further and further away from his initial location . However, it was hard to say whether or not he had actually left the location as everything looked the exact same .

    Sighing Xue Wei was wondering if there was another solution, but unable to find it, he continued moving his legs . Even if he hade nowhere, it was better to try than to give up and await death .

    As such, he continued moving without stopping even once . Since he was not flying or running, he could walk for days on end without being tired .

    And thus, he did just that . The time continued passing, and soon, a few days had passed, but there were still no signs of ending . Xue Wei wondered if they had to stay within this darkness until the Ascended Realm challenge ended .

    But as he continued walking, he realized that even when he had walked for a hundred days, there were still no signs of its ending . He finally paused his legs, wondering if he had made the wrong decision entering these ruins instead of searching for riches elsewhere .

    However, the moment his feet stopped moving forward, a light shone brightly, and Xue Wei found that the darkness was forced to retreat, the ground underneath his feet bing hard once more, and a wall was by his side .

    Seeing the light after so many days in darkness, Xue Wei squinted, and his head started hurting when a silver beam of lightnded on him, soothing away all the difort .

    "Wee to the second stage of the trial," a voice suddenly boomed out within his head, shaking his mind .

    "You just came out of the Realm of the Dead, a world where no senses work . This world tests one¡¯s will power alongside their stubbornness . The longer youst, the better your rewards .

    "Five experts entered the Realm of the Dead; you were thest to exit . The otherssted fewer days than you . Hence they are in other chambers now getting other rewards .

    "This Realm of Death is a realm within a realm, although time flowed slowly in there, it flowed much faster than the outside world . You have been inside the Realm of the Dead for ten hours . "

    Xue Wei was stunned when he heard that the hundred days he stayed within the realm was nothing more than ten hours in the Ascended Realm . It was truly magical .

    He was also slightly relieved . If he had truly spent a hundred days within the darkness, he would genuinely regret his choice to enter this underground world .

    But now he was ecstatic . He understood that each ce in this realm was a chance, and although he might have entered one of the best ces within the entire realm, he was not willing to give up on the others either .

    "Go to the room next door and select your reward . After this, you can choose to challenge the secondyer of challenges and get another reward .

    "In case you manage to get to the final challenge, you will be able to get your hands on a drop of the diety¡¯s blood . "

    Xue Wei suddenly felt his heart race fast, his eyes widened, and he suddenly felt a lot of yearning .

    He was unaware of what this drop of the Diety¡¯s blood was, but his body wanted to get some of this diety¡¯s blood .

    Since his body had such an unexpected reaction, Xue Wei made a decision . Even if it took thest of his time within the realm, he would fight for the chance to encounter this blood . He had never felt such restlessness before .

    He was not sure what to do with himself as he paced the floor, feeling ted, anxious, and confused .

    Finally, he took a deep breath and calmed himself down before he slowly made his way towards the door that led to the rewards .

    Here he found a scroll with weapons, herbs, ores, and pills . All of which were extraordinarily precious and Xue Wei could pick one of them as he pleased .

    In the end, he picked up a tree called a Widow¡¯s Willow . It was not a herb as such it was a full tree, and when Xue Wei got it, the tree stood like a potted nt in front of him, natural to take with him .

    The Widow¡¯s Willow was extraordinary . The leaves were capable of healing wounds, no matter how horrible the wound was, as long as a limb had not been severedpletely, any injury could be healed .

    Xue Wei was often in danger, and so were his friends . It was natural for him to pick a healing treasure, especially since he was capable of getting his hands on a full Widow¡¯s Willow . If it had just been a handful of leaves, then he would have picked something else, but a full tree was quite good, it could also regrow the leaves he pulled, and thus, it was a great choice .

    After having made his choice, the Widow¡¯s Willow appeared next to him, and he quickly stored it in his storage treasure, before he looked around the room .

    He had not been able to find his friends yet, but he knew that they were capable of understanding their limits . If they had some doubts, they would, without a doubt, withdraw from the challenges .

    When looking at the other wall opposite him, he found two doors; one had a sign on top which politely stated "Exit," while the other was without a sign at all .

    It was evident that if he wished to continue, he would have to enter the second trial through this door .

    Xue Wei entered the door, and when he looked around, he found that he was in a small box-like chamber .

    The walls, the floor, and the ceiling were grey; they seemed to be made from another material than the usual ck stone that everything else had been made from .

    He looked around, but nothing happened, so he sat down in the middle and began cultivating .

    After waiting for a few minutes, the voice he had heard before sounded once more, "Young one, you have guts, daring to take on the second trial of mine .

    "The first trial took away all your senses, but this trial will test how well you handle pain . The longer you can stay conscious, the better rewards you will gain . "

    At this point in time, the voice vanished, and instead, an uncontroble itch began spreading all over Xue Wei¡¯s body .

    The itch did not hurt, but it felt as if thousands of insects were crawling all over his body .

    The feeling was ufortable, and difort made him frown slightly, but not a word escaped his lips as the itching turned to sharp stabbing pain that wreaked havoc over his body .

    Xue Wei¡¯s heart was bleeding . Not because of the pain he was undergoing, but because he understood his friends . All of them would definitely have tried this second trial as well, and that meant they were also experiencing the same excruciating pain .

    Knowing that his friends had to suffer, Xue Wei was frowning and unhappy, but then he thought about how they too, were like him . They needed to temper themselves and to grow alongside him . Although the pain was severe, they needed to know how to keep their minds clear even in such situations .

    In the other chambers within the underground world, all of them were sitting still . Luoluo¡¯s small, frail body was trembling from the intense pain she was feeling, but not a sound spilled from her tightly clenched lips .

    All of them had the same thought . For them to be able to get further on the journey of cultivation, for them to stay together, they had no other option than to endure this pain . The more they could endure, the more they would be rewarded .

    Looking at the rewards they had gotten in the first round, they knew that this was a ce filled with treasures .

    These treasures were able to increase their strength, so they wanted to do their best .

    Time trickled by slowly; every moment felt like an eternity in the excruciating pain they were experiencing, but none of them gave up .

    Deep within the depths of the underground world was a stone stele . This stone stele had strange rune-like writing on top of it, and the runes were shining with a blue light .

    An ancient voice, the voice which had been speaking to them earlier, could be heard .

    "These young ones are not too shabby," it said with appreciation .

    After a short while, a tremble ran through the stone stele, and it eximed in shock, "This bloodline!"

    Since the stone stele had no expression and no face, it was impossible to tell what and where it had sensed something, but from the voice alone, one could hear the great shock it experienced . A bloodline, unlike any others, had arrived in the underground world!

    Only this stone stele knew precisely what this bloodline signified, but it said no more, just observed .

    The entrance that Xue Wei and his friends had entered was not the only entrance into the underground world .

    In total, four entrances had appeared in the Ascended¡¯s Realm . Two of these entrances had been left unexplored, but one other had caught the attention of a group of experts .

    Now a full seventeen experts were inside the underground world, but the two groups were unaware of the other¡¯s existence . Only the stone stele knew everything that was happening inside .

    This time, time was going by the same time outside and inside the chamber . Luoluo was the first to give up in the face of the pain, after which a long time passed, and Bai Tianyi also had to give up .

    Hei Gousted longer than Lin Xiao, but none of them could overtake Xue Wei .

    After the others had finished their trial, they all picked a treasure and got ready for the next trial . All apart from Luoluo, who decided to give up .

    Xue Weisted more than a full day . As long as someone was still within the previous trial, no one would be able to advance to the next trial, and when Xue Wei came out, he quickly picked another rare treasure, a Vermilion Bird Feather, the most potent fire Qi treasure around .

 Chapter 359

    Chapter 359: 359

    After picking the treasure, Xue Wei continued to the next trial . The trials were testing people in different ways; it was anything from being able to withstand coldness, to being thrown into a hot sea of mes .

    The longer he endured, the tougher his body became . Although he was getting exhausted, his body was getting tougher and tougher, while the Qi within his body was getting purer and purer .

    He was not actively cultivating his Qi, but because the trials had been filled with an ancient heaven and earth essence, his cultivation base was also soaring rapidly .

    It was as if his body was immersed in a herbal bath created by rare herbs and other resources .

    This speed of advancement was much faster than any other ce within the Ascended¡¯s Realm, and only the rarest of the spirit fruits that allowed for one to advance a rank directly would be able to rival the speed with which Xue Wei was advancing .

    It was not only Xue Wei who was advancing by leaps and bounds, but Hei Gou, Lin Xiao, and the other Qi cultivators who were in the other end of the underground world were also all feeling the benefits .

    Luoluo, who had stopped advancing after the second trial, and Bai Tianyi, who was still forcing his way through, were not as lucky .

    Both of them relied on Soul Power to increase their Spiritual Energy, but it was not possible for this underground world to retain any soul power after the many thousand years it had been buried underground .

    The second to give up within the trials was not Bai Tianyi, as one might have expected, but Lin Xiao .

    He had faced a trial of endless ughter, and while his fighting abilities were strong, he was the least skilled at fighting in their entire team . Lin Xiao was a monk before he began traveling with them .

    Although he had some techniques, they were mainly to subdue and shackle beasts, so that he was able to tame them . Killing endlessly was simply an impossibility for him, and he was unable to clear the trial .

    After this, Bai Tianyi was the next to give up . He had spent all his spiritual energy, and if he forced his way through, he was likely to weaken or even injure his foundation, something he was not willing to do .

    He had already gotten his hands on arge quantity of soul cultivation resources and would be able to take his strength to a whole new level .

    It was not only Bai Tianyi and those who hade through the desert entrance that had gotten amazing rewards, the others who hade through the other entrance had also gotten so many rewards that their hearts were greedy for more .

    All of them knew that what they were fighting for was a drop of blood . But this drop of blood was not a simple thing; it was the drop of blood from the God who had made this realm .

    While the use of the blood drop was uncertain, Xue Wei was sure that it would be a priceless treasure to the Vermilion Bird n . If he brought this drop of blood, would he be able to trade it for the Thunder me Crown, perhaps?

    Even now, Xue Wei had not forgotten his promise to Lan . Although he was not very pleased with everything the annoying prophet had done, he was a man of his word . Since he had promised to bring the Thunder me Crown back, then he would, without a doubt, do so .

    The group which had entered from the other entrance was also slowly diminishing . Now only four people remained in the running, while Xue Wei and Hei Gou were the only remaining people from the desert entrance .

    A few trials further and Hei Gou also found himself incapable of continuing . Although his body was bursting with energy, his mentality was so exhausted that he was seeing double .

    After finishing a trial, he wisely chose to continue no longer . At the same time, Xue Wei continued forward his eyes dark as the deepest well but glittering like thousands of stars in the night sky .

    Although he too was exhausted, he could still feel an abnormal calling towards him, and the further into the underground world he came, the more he felt this calling .

    The experts who had failed the trials could advance every time a stage had been cleared . From this, it was apparent that everyone needed to gather in the innermost midst of the underground world .

    Xue Wei was unaware of the fact that other people had entered the world, he was also unaware of the fact that the people who had been eliminated from the trial could advance as the trials were finished . If he had known, he would have been extra alert .

    To gather everyone in one ce, it was evident that the reason for this was to see chaos break outter on .

    The truth was that Xue Wei did not care too much aboutpetition . He would do his utmost no matter what, and if he had done his best, then when they encountered this second team, they would be able to rob them of the resources they had gotten in the trials!

    Xue Wei was not a good person . It was not beneath him to rob others . Although he, as much as possible, tried to avoid killing innocents, his morals were getting worse and worse . His beastly nature was shining through .

    There wasn¡¯t much greed in his eyes, but there was ruthlessness . Xue Wei was always thinking about what would bring most benefits to himself and his friends, but while he was a merciless demon to others, he was the gentlest and most caring towards hispanions .

    He also knew that to survive in this world, strength was all that mattered, and although he was considered amongst the talented youths, he was far from being strong enough to protect what he held dear .

    Clearing his head, Xue Wei stepped into another door after picking yet another heavenly treasure .

    This trial made him frown . There was wood elemental Qi everywhere, and his body was absorbing it rapidly .

    Suddenly, out of nowhere, a figure appeared, the eyes of the figure looking stunned when the eyesnded on Xue Wei .

    "This smell," the figure mumbled to itself as it moved closer to Xue Wei .

    Although the figure was but a remnant soul, its eyes suddenly shook wildly as it looked at Xue Wei .

    "How can this be?!" it eximed with shock, and Xue Wei, who had been sitting in cultivation, opened his eyes and looked at the remnant soul .

    This was not the first remnant soul he had experienced within the time he was in the trials . He had experienced many of them earlier while fighting them for the sake of advancing the trials .

    This one was different, however . Where most of them were mindless fragments, this one seemedplete and with intelligence .

    The remnant soul moved next to Xue Wei and sat down, looking at him in the eyes . "What is your connection with the holy maiden?" he asked with narrowed eyes .

    "Holy Maiden?" Xue Wei was puzzled . "I don¡¯t know any Holy Maidens . "

    "This trial and the next three will pose no threat to you," the remnant soul finally said . "Each of the ces will be filled with elemental Qi, and you can absorb it as you please . After absorbing it all, you will be able to advance to the next trial . "

    "So, the trial is to absorb energy?" Xue Wei frowned . Was this not too good a trial?

    "Not for others," the remnant soul smiled and shook his head, "but for you, it is . "

    Xue Wei frowned . It seemed that the trial had changed because of this holy maiden, but he had no idea what she had to do with him . Still, he did notin and began absorbing the energy .

    He had used much of his Wood Qi earlier to fight and protect the others, and now he could finally restore it .

    His body was shining with a green hue, all the energy entered his body at a rapid speed and transformed even his skin to be green from the speed at which he was absorbing the energy .

    Although he was fast, this room was ratherrge, and it took him a long time to finish absorbing all the energy . When he finally finished, he spat out a mouthful of stale air, his body so bursting with energy that he knew that he was on the verge of a breakthrough .

    "Well done, continue to the next trial . "

    Xue Wei gave a long nce at the spirit, his eyebrows frowning and filled with confusion before he shook his head and went to the next room .

    Within this room, he was gifted another reward; this time, it was so rare that it would be almost impossible to find it, even in the treasured areas of the Ascended¡¯s Realm .

    After that, he entered another room, and within this room, he found that water Qi was everywhere .

    This water Qi was something he thought he had no fate with, but another remnant soul appeared and said the same as the previous soul .

    Mentioning the Holy Maiden and telling him to absorb all the energy .

    Unsure of what was going on, Xue Wei did as he was told, but the moment the energy entered his body, it vanished!

    It was as if there was a big ck hole within his body, and this hole was absorbing all the energy .

    More and more energy entered his body, but it was like throwing a pebble down a deep well; nothing happened .

    After finishing this room, he entered another one, and within this one metal Qi was everywhere .

    The scene from before was reying, and Xue Wei absorbed all the energy . However, it vanished as long as it entered his body .

    Xue Wei could not help but wonder what secrets his body held . He knew better than anyone that such a phenomenon was only possible if his body had some secret .

    After this, he took the reward from the room before entering thest trial .

    Thest trial was like the previous three, however here fire Qi was everywhere .

    Xue Wei absorbed it all . He once more experienced the feeling of energy pouring into his body but vanishing as soon as it entered .

    After absorbing all the fire energy, he looked at the remnant soul who was looking at him with reverence, and he shook his head, wondering what exactly was going on .

    Still, these souls refused to tell him anything and just stood by his side as he was cultivating and absorbing energies .

    Finally, he reached the room after the fire energy room, and he noticed that it had no more doors .

    As he entered, he saw that unlike the others, there was no scroll with rewards, but there was a big table with a small vial .

    The heat and pressure that was released from the small vial were so oppressive that anyone who came into contact with it would feel their hearts beat erratically .

    But Xue Wei could feel a strange feeling of belonging when he looked at this vial . Although he had nned on exchanging the vial with blood for the Thunder me Crown, he could not hold back his hand as it grasped the vial and opened it .

    The drop of blood flew out of the vial, but it did not try to escape, instead, it shot directly into Xue Wei¡¯s body, right between his two eyes .

 Chapter 360

    Chapter 360: 360

    The moment it connected with Xue Wei, the entire world trembled in front of him, his eyes widened in shock, and he felt a strange heat erupt before his sight went ck, and he copsed onto the floor .

    There was no pain, not even any difort . However, as soon as the blood came into contact with him, his consciousness copsed, and his body started spasming .

    A red hue appeared on around him, shrouding him in a veil of energy . The ce where the drop had entered his body was a tear-shaped red dot, which was fluctuating in the dim light .

    Xue Wei waspletely unaware of what was happening to his body, his mind was filled with darkness, and he was unable to control the changes that were happening to him .

    Energy started leaving the tear-shaped dot on his forehead, red feathers of energy began roaming through his meridians . Still, unlike what one might have expected, they did not sh with the azure dragons that flew in his veins, instead, they seemed to coexist, the red and azure streaks of energy so began intervening .

    They did not merge, but the dragons coiled around the red feathers, the streaks of Qi turned much thicker, and the undtions of power that they released were more than double of before .

    This was the perfect example of adding two together did not mean that it would just double in strength .

    All the Qi in the body started to coil together, red and azure colors bing the same, and slowly the light that was shrouding his body tuned a mixture of red and azure .

    More and more energy erupted from the blood drop that resembled a teardrop on his forehead . It was impossible for the Azure Qi to keep up with all the strands of red Qi that was being released in the body .

    This energy went straight for the dantian where it gathered . The Azure Dragon Spirit, which was present within the dantian, was observing the ball of red Qi, which was gathering at a rapid speed with interest .

    The red qi was gathering in a ming ball that somehow resembled an egg . The more energy that gathered, the deeper the red color became .

    Time shed by, but no matter what happened, Xue Wei did not awaken, and the energy of the tear-like blood drop continued to pour into his boy without any restraint .

    Slowly, as the hours ticked by, the tear-like drop of blood turned less and less visible, it became more and more transparent, and the energy it poured into the body became slower and slower as well .

    As the final strand of energy left the tear-like blood drop, the outline vanished, and soon the egg within the dantian heated up, mes erupted from all over it, and a crack could be heard alongside a loud bird cry .

    From within the egg, two massive ming wings erupted, and a bird came climbing out of the egg .

    Although it had just hatched, it did not seem disoriented, nor did it look like a young chick . Instead it was a majestic Vermilion Bird!

    The Vermilion Bird Spirit and the Azure Dragon Spirit observed one another for a long time, but no hostility could be seen in their eyes .

    This was not the end of it though, the Vermilion Bird Spirit within his dantian slowly started trembling, and suddenly a golden version of it split out from the spirit before it vanished .

    After vanishing from the dantian, it did not disappear, but ended up in the soul pce, together with the golden dragon spirit .

    All of this happened while Xue Wei was unconscious . Slowly, half a day after having merged with the blood drop, Xue Wei opened his eyes and hissed in surprise .

    There was no soreness in his body; there was no difort; in fact, he felt immenselyfortable . He slowly lifted his hand and looked at it, but it seemed the same as before .

    Everything seemed the same, but he felt as if his body had been reced with another body . That there was something so foreign about his body that he could not recognize it, but whenever he looked at it, it seemed the same as always .

    He slowly sat up and crossed his legs before he started observing the insides of his body, and the moment he did, his heartbeat so rapidly that his eyes opened in shock, and he could not believe what he had seen .

    He was a fouryered Ordinary Saint now!

    Had the blood increased his cultivation base? But even if it increased his cultivation base, was this not too much of a jump?

    He calmed his heart and rechecked his body, and this time he saw the strange mutation his Qi had undergone .

    Before, it had always been Qi dragons, thousands upon thousands of Qi dragons, but now these dragons were all coiled around vermilion feathers .

    Frowning, Xue Wei could not understand it, but then his gazended on his dantian . Here he was filled with shock . The Azure Dragon Spirit, which was something he was used to seeing, but there, next to it, was a Vermilion Bird .

    Xue Wei was quite familiar with the Vermilion Bird after having connected with them for some time, so he recognized it right away . But why was there a Vermilion Bird Spirit within his Dantian?

    Xue Wei was puzzled .

    He suddenly felt strange red energy within his body, the fire Qi he had absorbed earlier erupted like a volcano, bursting in his veins, and filling his entire body like it had been before with the wood Qi .

    He felt that he could move both wood Qi, fire Qi and the normal Qi with as little as a thought .

    Xue Wei was perplexed . His brows were furrowed, and he was deeply contemting .

    What exactly was the purpose of this Vermilion Bird Spirit within his dantian?

    The Azure Dragon Spirit was there because he was an Azure Dragon . It could not be that he was also a Vermilion Bird?

    Xue Wei almost chuckled at his own thought . Being a Sovereign Beast was already fantastic, but to have the bloodline of two sovereign beasts, was this not just wishful thinking?

    Xue Wei was aware that it was impossible to have a mixed bloodline thest couple of thousands of years, but perhaps he had a diverse bloodline from earlier than that?

    Could it be that he had a very weak trait of the Vermilion Bird bloodline, and because this drop of blood came from a diety, it was able to awaken the dormant energy within his bloodline?

    Unsure of what exactly had happened, Xue Wei could find no other reason for a Vermilion Bird Spirit to appear in his dantian, but he was quite happy with the rewards .

    Although he had initially nned on using this drop of blood to exchange for the Thunder me Crown, he now felt that this was a much better result . Not only had he gained immense upgrade in his strength, but he had also acquired another bloodline .

    Could he perhaps even transform into a vermilion bird?

    When this thought struck him, Xue Wei instantly tried to transform, and the temperature in the surrounding area turned hotter, as Xue Wei saw feathers sprout on his arms, vermilion feathers as he grewrger . His arms turned to wings, his feet to talons .

    He had actually transformed into a Vermilion Bird!

    Xue Wei was shocked and unable to maintain the beastly shape fo long, before he turned back to a human being, his eyes filled with disbelief .

    He was actually two sovereign beasts at once! How was this possible?!

    Then a thought suddenlynded in his mind, what if this had something to do with the Holy Maiden they had mentioned before?

    Was it possible that they knew something that he himself was unaware of?

    Suddenly he was reminded of Chu Huiyin . When she was notpletely mad from her insanity, she had left some clues . She and the others wanted to use his blood for some reason .

    His eyes suddenly widened . His blood . Right . He had managed to mutate Hei Gou¡¯s bloodline with his blood .

    He thought that this was an ability any Sovereign Beasts would have, but upon closer consideration, he knew that that was not the case .

    An ordinary Sovereign Beast would not be able to mutate the bloodline of a Primordial Beast . If they could, he would have noticed it back at the Demon Phoenix Continent .

    There were many primordial beasts in the Demon Phoenix Continent, but they were not mutated . With so many Sovereign Beasts around, if they had this ability, then they would use it to bind the primordial beasts to their side in exchange for a bloodline mutation .

    Understanding this, Xue Wei frowned . The further into the travels he came, the less he seemed to know himself .

    First, he had been convinced that he was human . Then he thought himself to be a Primordial Beasts . When he finally found out that he was an Azure Dragon, he was sure that he had figured out his identity, but now it had once more been turned upside down .

    He was neither aplete Azure Dragon nor a Vermilion Bird; he was both at the same time .

    Xue Wei said nothing as he rested his head in his hands, and he was deep in thought .

    It seemed that there was some secret behind his origins . At the current point in time, he could not help but question everything he knew .

    What was his rtionship with Xiao Lei? What was his rtionship with his father? Who was his father? What was his father? Where was his mother? Who was she? What was she?

    So many questions erupted at once, causing Xue Wei to be dazed and dizzy .

    Knowing that he was an Azure Dragon had already made him question his rtionship with his father . He was a human, so how could he possibly be his birth father?

    But he had none the less grown up with this man and held affection for him, so seeing him brutally killed by Xiao Lei had left a bitter taste in his mouth .

    Yet now he understood that Xiao Lei was likely the only one who could answer the questions he had about his origin .

    Initially, he had nned to find Xiao Lei and ask him about the murder of his father, but he had not dared to do so; he had been scared of what he might find out from the conversation .

    Now things werepletely different, however . He was in need of understanding himself, but he had no idea where to begin . The only solution he had was to talk with Xiao Lei, but he could not do so right now .

    Realizing this, Xue Wei sighed . This was a tricky situation, but he understood that he could not do anything about it and had no other option than to ept whatever life brought him for now .

    Reaching this conclusion, Xue Wei could not help but feel both relieved and depressed at the same time .

    He looked into the ceiling of the room before he slowly stood up and dusted off his clothes before he turned back to the door leading out of the chamber .

    When he did, things did not look as he had expected . Luoluo, Bai Tianyi, Hei Gou, and Lin Xiao were all waiting outside the room eager to see whether or not Xue Wei had seeded .

    The first thing he saw when he opened the door was their faces filled with admiration and curiosity .

    "Did you get it?" Lin Xiao asked curiously, but Bai Tianyi just snorted . "I already said he had gotten it! I could feel some insane changes happening to him through our soul connection, but you still ask!"

    "It is better if he tells us himself!" Lin Xiao continued and pouted slightly, causing Xue Wei to be filled with happiness . Having such good friends was truly rare .

 Chapter 361

    Chapter 361: 361

    Xue Wei looked at his friends with a tender expression on his face . It was only this group of people who could make him feel this warm inside, and he could not help but feel that his current turmoil within his mind waspletely uncalled for .

    Although he had been feeling panicked, Xue Wei could not help but suddenly experience a calming sensation wash over himself, and his soul was cleansed .

    Smiling slightly, Xue Wei stretched his body, and looked at his friends, but he was not eager to tell them what he had encountered .

    If the other people back at Chang¡¯an knew of this, they would chase him . The Primordial Beasts for the sake of getting their hands on his bloodline, and the humans to eradicate him as he was a threat to humanity .

    But the people in front of him were different . They had not said anything degrading, and they would not be fearful towards Xue Wei either, neither would they be filled with greed .

    "I have activated my bloodline," Xue Wei said with a grin, and his words made the others puzzled .

    Xue Wei¡¯s bloodline was an Azure Dragon . How could he activate his bloodline here in the realm that belonged to a Vermilion Bird God?

    Seeing them frowning, Xue Wei¡¯s smile increased, and he lifted his hand, after which a vermilion me appeared on his hand, dancing across his fingers .

    The sight was so strange, and the others were shocked . Xue Wei was using wood elemental Qi, not fire elemental Qi!

    "You . . . You unlocked another bloodline?" Hei Gou asked, shocked . This was the only reply he could think of .

    Xue Wei grinned and nodded his head before he took a few steps backward, and with a wave of his arms, vermilion feathers appeared on his body, and he turned into a vermilion bird - albeit a small one .

    Seeing Xue Wei suddenly change like this and be a vermilion bird, the people were shocked .

    Luoluo¡¯s jaw dropped so much that a whole egg would fit in her mouth, Lin Xiao rubbed his eyes, Bai Tianyi cocked his head, and Hei Gou gulped .

    All of them were shocked and unable to say anything for a short while . They just looked at him, unable to speak .

    "Are you still able to be an Azure Dragon?" Hei Gou asked something that confused him, but right at that moment, the vermilion feathers were reced with azure scales, and the vermilion bird vanished, and a small azure dragon appeared in its stead .

    "This is wicked . " Lin Xiao finally started grinning . "You are a total monster! Not only are you one sovereign Beast, you just had to have the bloodline of two beasts!"

    Luoluo nodded her head in agreement, and she was excited . The stronger her big brother became, the prouder she was, but even she, as a spirit, had never heard of such a situation before .

    "We got two options now," Bai Tianyi analyzed the situation . "One is to be as low key as possible, not allow anyone to know about Xue Wei¡¯s abnormal bloodline that seems to have mutated and be two sovereign beasts in one .

    "Another option is for Xue Wei to proudly announce to the world that he is special . Being able to do that means that he will gather more attention, more people will revere him, but he will also, unfortunately, be a bigger target for others . "

    "We have hidden enough," Xue Wei said . He looked into the ceiling above and sighed . "I know that we are likely to be hunted by others, I also know that we will be in perilous situations because of my bloodlines, but at the same time, I also feel that it is needed if we want to be able to move forward . Without some pressure and danger, we will never ignite our potential!"

    The others were unsure of what to say . They knew that Xue Wei was eager to be stronger at a rapid speed, but at the same time, they also knew that he had held back these days because of not wanting to pressure them .

    Xue Wei knew that if they were being hunted again, they would be able to advance by leaps and bounds . But he also knew that it was a decision he could not make alone . Although danger and chances coexisted, he was not willing to risk his friends¡¯ life .

    "If you feel that it is the best solution, then let¡¯s take over the entire Ascended¡¯s Realm! Although we are not the strongest within this realm, we will use our power, and together we will be the biggest winner of this adventure! I mean, what can defeat getting another bloodline?"

    Xue Weiughed when he heard this .

    "The biggest winner of the Ascended¡¯s Realm?" He chuckled . "I guess that can be us . There is a long time until this realm closes, and when it does, we will get our hands on a lot of resources and raise our strength so much that we might actually be able to return to the Chang¡¯an continent and deal with our unfinished business . "

    He had not forgotten about Wang Xiaoyun, just thinking about her made his heart ache and palpitate at the same time .

    There was also Chu Huiyin, whom he wished to kill; just thinking about her made his killing intent leak out .

    And finally was Xiao Lei, his so-called uncle . The only one who could tell him about the truth about himself and his origins .

    There were many things he needed to solve in Chang¡¯an . But because of his strength being too weak, he was not able to return to the Chang¡¯an continent . Now that his strength had soared and he had be a Saint ranked expert, he could easily return to Chang¡¯an and deal with the people who had previously caused him troubles .

    While the group was talking, Xue Wei and the others suddenly noticed a door appearing in the wall .

    The room they had been in before had no exits, but they had not been worried . They were likely to go out soon, and when the door appeared, they quickly entered .

    What they entered was a massive hall, and there were doors on either side of the hall . Big pirs were framing the hall, shrouding everything with shadows, but when they entered, they suddenly heard a voiceing from the other end of the hall .

    "There are other people in here!" someone called out, and Xue Wei, who was taken by surprise, looked at the end of the hall, where a group of seventeen experts was walking towards them .

    Seventeen experts were a lot more than them, but their strength was overall weaker . Although they had three Saint ranked experts, these three Saints were weaker than Xue Wei, and the majority were Heavenly Knights .

    All of them were wearing white clothes, and a sword was embroidered on their chests .

    Looking at them, Xue Wei suddenly felt something through his connection with Bai Tianyi, and when he looked at the sword spirit with shock, he saw that he was filled with hatred, and his expression was contorted in anger .

    "Dongfang family!" he spat out, his eyes lit with anger, and he was genuinely struggling to hold himself back .

    Xue Wei did not know much about this Dongfang family, but he could hear that they were not friendly with Bai Tianyi . Perhaps they were even one of the families that had caused his downfall back in the days .

    Xue Wei could not think of anyone else having such a great hatred with Bai Tianyi .

    It was not only Xue Wei who heard Bai Tianyi¡¯s call, but the entire hall also heard it, and everyone was alert . There was so much hatred in the voice that the people from the Dongfang family were on high alert .

    "This little one, how can you know about our esteemed Dongfang family?" the leader of the group looked at Bai Tianyi with puzzlement . It was but a child, but which child could possibly have such grievances with his family?

    The Dongfang family was known to be very righteous; they were known for their ancestors who were guarding the entire world, not just their own continent .

    The Dongfang was one of the eight great families, they were spread over the entire world, and their task was to protect the world .

    These eight families were the leading families of the world, only rivaled by the four sovereign beast ns . There waspetition between them, and although most thought it was innocentpetition, the truth was that it was actually not so innocent .

    These eight families had fiercepetition, and once every ten years, a tournament was held where they gathered to determine the ranking of the eight families .

    Also, although these eight human families were seen as the strongest families in the world, it was partly because if a new family arrived, with strength or the potential to rival their family, then they would band together to get rid of them .

    No one could challenge the might of the eight great families!

    Of course, no one thought that there was anything wrong with their actions . The strong ruled supreme in this world, the weak were sheep for ughter .

    This Dongfang family, who was surprised by Bai Tianyi were very apprehensive . Although they had the advantage of numbers, this group of experts seemed to be quite skilled . Not to mention, the leader of the Dongfang group had informed their team members that he had not been the one to take the final reward, that someone else had beat him in almost every challenge .

    If it was just once or twice he had been beaten he would not have thought too much about it, but this was happening time and time again, it was evident that the one who had defeated him was no simple person .

    Because of this, and the other unknown variables, he did not want toe into a fight with this strange group of experts .

    "Do you want us to fight?" Xue Wei looked at Bai Tianyi and asked . He knew that even though they were stronger, they were also at a significant disadvantage when it came to numbers, but he still had faith in himself and his friends to emerge victoriously .

    When hearing the question, the members of the Dongfang family all went alert . Swords appeared in their hands, and they observed Xue Wei and the others guardedly, ready to attack at any moment .

    "No," Bai Tianyi sighed . "Although I am very displeased with what the Dongfang family did, these youngsters were not there back then . I will direct my hatred towards those old fogeys who caused all this damage . "

    Bai Tianyi had calmed down . Although he hated the Dongfang family, he was not going to make his move as long as they did not overstep his boundaries .

    They had done nothing right now, so killing them might case someone righteous like Lin Xiao to gain a heart demon . It was not worth it .

    However, if they caused problems or if they attacked first, then it would be self-defense, and then it would be no problem to eradicate them all .

    Bai Tianyi even wished that these youngsters would have been insulted and would charge at them with their brandished swords, but the Dongfang family leader was holding his entire team back; his eyes were bottomless as he nced at Bai Tianyi .

    Although he had the body of a child, something told him that he was an old monster, someone that could not be judged withmon knowledge, and together with the fact that someone else had gotten the final treasure, he could not help but feel that the team was too dangerous .

    "Look for the exit!" the leader of the Dongfang finally decided not to fight for the remaining resources within this underground world . They had already gained plenty from the trials, so to retreat now was not a loss for them .

    Although some of the people were unhappy, the majority understood his decision, and finally, they retreated, starting to look for an exit from the hall .

 Chapter 362

    Chapter 362: 362

    Unfortunately it was not as simple as they had expected . The underground world was immensely tricky and unless they managed to somehow unlock the mechanism that released the exit, they would be trapped within forever .

    Xue Wei nced at them, but he paid them no mind as he began opening the different doors that were lined at the side of the hall .

    He had already guessed that these doors would lead into treasure rooms, that they would be able to get their hands on even further resources if they managed to enter them, but he was also aware that the more treasures they got, the more greed and difficulty the other team would have with holding back .

    Knowing that Bai Tianyi wanted to fight them, but was agaisnt being the one who made the first move, this would be the perfect way to bait them into attacking!

    A snicker appeared on his lips as he ced his palm on the first door and pushed .

    The door lit up with a red pattern, a pattern that was clearly answering the bloodline of the Vermilion Bird within Xue Wei¡¯s body .

    When the door opened he looked at the small chamber in front of him . It was not veryrge, it was just a few meters wide and three meters deep .

    The walls of the room had shelves all over and on these shelves were old books . These old books were all martial arts techniques, some were made for protection, others were made for attacks .

    These skills were ancient and their strength far outstripped the skills of the current day and age, so although Xue Wei did not feel the biggest attraction towards them, he still stored them all in his storage treasure . If nothing else then he could always sell themter .

    As they exited the door, they went to the next chamber, and this one was filled with weapons . All the weapons were at a point where they nearly had formed a consciousness . They were all forged with superior ingredients, they were not in any way something that others could even dream about owning, but Xue Wei had just stored twenty seven of these weapons in his storage treasure .

    The third room contained herbs . All of the herbs had been ced in jade boxes . These jade boxes were made from ten thousand year old ice jade, a jade that could keep anything looking exactly as it was when it was ced within the box .

    Although the herbs were immensely rare, the boxes were no less so, so it was getting a double treasure by entering this room, and Xue Wei¡¯s eyes had brightened with excitement .

    He quickly took everything down and ced it within one of his storage treasures, before the turned around and was about to leave the room .

    When he left he found that the other group, the Dongfang family, were looking at him with greed and having a hard time holding back their urges to attack him .

    Seeing this Xue Wei shed a very friendly, but also immensely provocative, nce at them . A group of them nearly lost their reasoning at this time and wished for nothing else than to advance and rip him to pieces .

    The next chamber contained ores . These ores were filled with energy and they were very rare .

    The room after was filled with gems and essence stones . Although there was not a lot of essence stones, all that were there were of the highest grade .

    Even though Xue Wei was not needing these essence stones, he was not a wasteful person and he quickly picked up everything and ced it in his storage treasure .

    The next two rooms contained pills and inscriptions . Truthfully Xue Wei was able to guess what wsa going on at this current point in time .

    The treasure that he was currently looting were all treasures that should have been given as rewards for the trials, but since Xue Wei had won the final challenge and had merged with the blood, he was now the inheritor of this underground world .

    As such, every item within this trial ground were given away to him, instead of just wasted . As to why the other group, the Dongfang family, had arrived here when they had not managed to get through the final trial, Xue Wei was not too sure .

    After entering every room and emptying them of even the smallest treasure, Xue Wei felt rather happy and lightheaded . These resources shouldst them for a long time, and he would not have to worry about being able to provide for his friends .

    While Xue Wei and his friends were happy, the Dongfang family had not given up looking for the exit, but their eyes were filled with jealousy and hatred .

    Xue Wei did not care . Even if they spread the news of Xue Wei having gotten his hands on all these treasures, would it really be easy to locate him in the future? The Ascended Realm was so big, it had already been quiet difficult to meet someone, so searching for a group of five people was like searching for a needle in a haystack .

    "Let¡¯s look for the exit," Xue Wei said as they had emptied all rooms . He did not believe that there would be no exit from the underground world, and rightfully so .

    The moment he asked for an exit a tremor ran through the entire underground world . The ceiling opened up, and the many experts within the hall were stunned when they suddenly saw the sunlight that was blinding them .

    They had been underground for quite some time by now, and the sun was as bright as they remembered it, their eyes squinting and their heads throbbing faintly, but they were all ecstatic .

    As they saw the ceiling opening, they all felt the tremors in the underground world bing even more intense and soon they were standing on the ground above again .

    They were no longer in a desert, neither were they in a jungle, instead they were on arge meadow .

    Lush grass was swaying in the wind, a stream was running by their side and the sounds of nature were all around them .

    As to where they were, they had absolutely no idea .

    Sensing the temperature of the surrounding air, Xue Wei had a guess that they were somewhere in spring . Although it was not cold, it was not summer weather, and the grass which was green, looked as if it had just bloomed .

    "We are heading west," Xue Wei said after considering for some time, "Southwest . "

    The Dongfang family leader was cursing under his breath . He too had wanted to move southwest, but he was not interested in moving the same way as Xue Wei, and hence he could only move directly west instead . Then they could change their directionter on in time and go towards summer .

    "This ce is very tranquil," Luoluo said with a happy expression on her face and sniffed the fresh air that was surrounding them .

    "Yes," Xue Wei agreed . "But because it is tranquil I am a little worried about what might hide here . "

    "Why so?" she asked confusedly .

    "To keep a ce tranquil you need to have someone of massive strength," Xue Wei said with a sigh . "You need to hold an overwhelming power to be able to keep a ce this tranquil . If you are around the same strenght as others, then you will be challenged time and time agian, and then it is never this tranquil . "

    Hearing his argument, the others were feeling quite worried . At first they had not thought too much about this ce, but after hearing his words, they suddenly wanted to leave instantly . If there really was such an entity that was able to strike fear in the beasts and humans living in the Ascended Realm, how would they ever stand a chance against it?

    Xue Wei was also a little confused . If there really was such a strong being here, why had it not shown up yet? But if there wasn¡¯t why would it be so peaceful here? Everywhere he had encountered so far had been filled with marks of fighting between some beasts .

    "Well, no need to dwell on it," he finally decided and started walking, "Let us get going . "

    The Dongfang family had already sat out, many of them were ncing at Xue Wei and the others with hatred and greed, but because of the leader of their group, none of them did anything extreme .

    "Leader, why don¡¯t we kill them?" one of the more aggressive members asked, but their leader just nced at him .

    "They are stronger than us," he said honestly . "If we fight them like this we are likely to lose . However we are not alone . Although the Eight Great Families are alwayspeting, we can also work together . Let us find the Ouyang or the Du families . We can team up together with them, and then we can take them down . I would especially prefer the Ouyang family, since our family works the best with them and they too are sword masters . "

    "Will they agree?" Someone asked but when the leader nced back at them, he snickered, "they¡¯ll agree if we tell them about the amount of treasures they have taken . "

    "But how do we find them?" another could not help but ask .

    "Don¡¯t worry about it . I have a token that lets me find the other Eight Great Families," The leader was not stupid, he knew they stood no chance alone against Xue Wei and his team, but together with the others they would be able to get at least some of his resources .

    When hearing his words, the others all praised their leader, but they were unaware that Xue Wei, who had just unlocked his new bloodline, had an immensely good hearing now, and he heard every word loud and clear .

    HEaring that they were nning on working toghether with two other families to deal with them, he could not help but snicker .

    They were not so easy a target .

    "I have used the tracking powder on their leader," a small figure suddenly said . He was unremarkable and when in a crowd no one would notice him .

    "It is smeared all over his clothes . Even if he wash it the scent wont vanish . I have the tracking bugs, and we will be able to find him fast if we wish to do so, these bugs can track the tracking powder from more than ten or twenty thousand miles away . "

    Xue Wei was pondering for some time on what to do . Should he change his clothes and leave these garments for them to findter, or should he keep the tracking powder on himself and then turn the hunter into the hunted?

    Contemting he kept the clothes on for some time and not before they were far away from the Dongfang Family did he tell them what had happened .

    "They n on attacking us with the Ouyang or Du families?" Bai Tianyi asked his brows furrowed .

    "This might be troublesome," he continued . "Although we can deal with the families independently, we might not be able to deal with them if they are working together . "

    "If we raise our strength we can," Xue Wei smiled and then his eyesnded on Hei Gou .

    "Do you want to try something?" He suddenly asked Hei Gou, who was puzzled .

    "What?" he asked, unsure of what Xue Wei had nned, but looking at his shining eyes, it was nothing good .

    "Well my bloodline has evolved, why don¡¯t we see if you can mutate once more?"

    Hei Gou¡¯s eyes widened in shock when he heard this . Another mutation?

    Although the pain that came with a mutation was severe, the truth was that the benefits far outdid the pain .

    "Let¡¯s try!" he said decisively, not even having to think about it for a moment, and Xue Wei found one of the daggers he had taken from the underground world and cut a long wound on his arm . He then did the same on Hei Gou¡¯s and started to let the blood mix .

 Chapter 363

    Chapter 363: 363

    The moment the blood merged, Hei Gou felt an indescribable power erupt in his body .

    This power brought with it pain, unlike any he had ever experienced before .

    It was clear that the second mutation was possible; his body was shedding the skin, recing the bones, and regrowing the meridians .

    He had been initially a Celestial dog, but after the first mutation, he had gotten wings like a crow .

    Now he was once more mutating, but as to what results this mutation would bring to him, he had no idea .

    At the current point in time, it was also impossible for him to actually think about the final result, all he could feel was immense pain, and he was gritting his teeth hard, fearing that if he started crying out, he would bite his tongue to end his suffering .

    Seeing the handsome face contort in pain, the friends were all worried about him . They knew that it would be painful, but for it to be this bad was something they had never expected .

    Xue Wei began ming himself . Although he wanted Hei Gou to be stronger, he was not willing to see his friend pass through such pain for it .

    The others were also worried about him . Even Bai Tianyi, who usually mocked him, had a frown on his brows as he looked at the silent Hei Gou .

    "He will pull through it, and then he will be like a new beast," Bai Tianyi muttered, both to himself and the others .

    They all stood guard around Hei Gou, waiting for him to be okay . At some point in time, his body began making weird creaking sounds, and at this moment, he copsed, unable to keep his consciousness any longer .

    Seeing him lose consciousness, all of them heaved a heavy sigh of relief . Now he no longer needed to feel the immense pain .

    While heid on the ground, the creaking sounds did not diminish, and no one dared to move even a finger of his, ck goo began oozing out his pores, and all impurities within were being excreted .

    They had no idea how long it would take for Hei Gou to shed his old body and gain a new one .

    After what seemed like an eternity, Hei Gou suddenly jolted, but he did not awaken .

    What did change, however, was that all the heaven and earth essence in the surrounding air suddenly poured towards him .

    At first, it was the air just around them, but as the suction force within his body became bigger and bigger, more and more essence was needed to sustain him, and a small whirlwind appeared on top of his body, sucking in essence from as much as twenty li away .

    The heaven and earth essence within the Ascended¡¯s Realm was immensely heavy . It was not as deserted as it was in the outside world, hence when he absorbed this much energy, they started fearing that his body would be unable to refine it all in time and he might even explode .

    But no matter how worried they were, they dared not touch him as that was likely to make it even worse .

    Xue Wei was regretting his choice immensely by now, but he looked steadily at Hei Gou, hoping that his friend would be able to pull through .

    After what felt like an eternity, the whirlwind slowly started to decrease in size . They could once more see Hei Gou¡¯s body, and when they saw him, they felt worried . He was lyingpletely still, not moving a muscle, as to whether he had died, or he was unconscious still, they had no answer .

    From when they had merged their blood until now, a full two days had passed, and after another two hours, Hei Gou finally started stirring .

    From his fingers twitching until his eyes opened, everyone was worried, yet when he slowly sat up, they were all feeling relieved .

    Hei Gou looked at himself, and then he frowned . "How dirty," he muttered while looking at the ck goo that had oozed out of his pores .

    It was not before now that the others realized how dirty he indeed had be, and they could not help but chuckle slightly .

    "There is a river here," Xue Wei said with a grin, "go wash yourself . "

    Hei Gou could not stand the disgusting feeling of having these sticky ck impurities all over his body, and thus, he quickly went to the riverside .

    The sound of sshing water could be heard in the distance, and after half an hour, a clean Hei Gou emerged .

    Although he had just experienced an immense pain of remolding his entire body, he was not looking haggard . Instead, he seemed immensely happy and excited .

    "I say, this was worth it all!" he eximed when he returned to the others, and without waiting for even a moment, he unleashed his aura, which proved that his Qi had risen to the rank of a firstyered Earth Saint .

    "This is not all!" he continued, and suddenly his body expanded . He turned into a massive ck dog, at least five meters tall, with big crow-like wings, and ck mes shrouded his legs .

    These ck mes had not been there before, but now they were present, and they gave off an intimidating aura, it was clear that they were not ordinary mes in ck, they were much more domineering .

    Xue Wei was shocked when he saw this, but then a smile appeared on his lips, and he felt grateful . If there had been no result after all that pain, then he would genuinely have kicked himself, but it seemed that the result was much more amazing than he had thought .

    "My midnight me is immensely powerful!" Hei Gou said proudly, "I even have the chance of wounding a nineyered Earth Knight if I use all the midnight me I have at my disposal!

    "Unfortunately, it takes quite a long time for the me to reappear . Not to mention this, I also found that I have a variant elemental affinity . " he continued .

    "The strongest elemental affinities belong to the five elements, but there are thousands of elemental affinities in the world . some of them are weaker while others are slightly stronger, but none of them can defeat the five pure elements .

    "Anyway, I have attained an elemental affinity with both darkness and death!"

    It was clear that Hei Gou was filled with excitement; his eyes were shining .

    After a short while, he returned to the shape of a human, but he couldn¡¯t hide the smile on his lips .

    Seeing that he did not at all take the pain he had experience seriously, Xue Wei also felt relieved, and then he smilingly shook his head .

    "You are okay now, let us move out again . "

    They were far behind the other people who were trying to find treasures because they had no idea of where they were .

    Xue Wei wanted to get to the summer area, just like everyone else, and he was not willing to give up too many of the treasures .

    However, he was aware that they truly needed to upgrade their strength before reaching summer . That was the ce where men turned to dragons, and the weak became stepping stones for the stronger .

    As a result, he picked one of the vessels that he had previously looted from the many people in the Twilight Thunder Zone .

    There were vessels of all kinds, ships, and flying ships . These flying ships were running on essence stones, and essence stones were something that Xue Wei did notck currently .

    As a result, all of them were leisurely sitting on the top of the flying ship . Xue Wei made it fly southwards, while he sat down crosslegged with some rare resources in his hands .

    Within one hand was the feather of a God-ranked Vermilion bird . Within the other was a desert rose .

    Both of them boosted the purity of one¡¯s mes, and the purer the fire, the more damage it would cause in battle, the purer the pills one refined would be .

    Xue Wei could have focused on raising his cultivation base . Still, considering the sudden boost to it that he had gotten from the merging with the god¡¯s blood, he felt that it was better to consolidate his foundations for some time and focus on strengthening himself in other ways .

    If he only cared about his rank, then he was likely to be a paper tiger, if he even was capable of continuing to advance .

    Because of this, he decided that it was much better to focus on his newly earned me, which he had gotten alongside his fire qi and affinity with the fire element .

    The trip was very peaceful . The pressure did not hinder the vessel that they were using in the Ascended¡¯s Realm, and due to the ship¡¯s speed and the fact that it relied on essence stones, their rate and advancement were much faster than before .

    Although they advanced faster because they flew above the forests, they also lost out on many resources that could be found in the forests beneath them . Still, Xue Wei prioritized the resources from the Summer area over the ones here .

    From time to time, they would encounter a flying beast that would attack them, but after making a quick work of them, they quickly advanced to summer .

    A few people had noticed their presence during their trip, but no one knew who was wasteful enough to use a vessel fueled by essence stones to fly within the Ascended¡¯s Realm .

    As they arrived in summer, Xue Wei made the flying shipnd . He had already used all the energy that was present within four desert roses, and a third of the energy from the God Vermilion Bird feather .

    putting away the feather, and dusting the crystals of the desert rose off his fingers, Xue Wei rose to his feet .

    The others had also awoken from their cultivation, and stepped off the ship, letting Xue Wei store it within his storage treasures again .

    "So this is summer," Luoluo said as she looked around . She was not sure of what she had expected, but it was definitely not what she was seeing .

    There were lush fields as far as the eyes could see . Within these lush fields where the scent of herbs from time to time wafting towards them, it was clear that treasured herbs were hiding within the tall grass .

    But where there were treasures were also dangers . It was evident that the tall grass was housing some dangerous beasts, some of which were sneaky while others were just in strong .

    Xue Wei was exited . They would be able to increase their strength by fighting these beasts, and at the same time, they would get the treasures that they were guarding .

    It was not only him who thought like this, but all his friends were also the same; their eyes were shining with excitement and happiness .

    They had managed to be calm and collected on top of the ship while flying towards Summer, but now that they were here, they wanted to stretch their legs and wave their fists around .

    "Well then, let¡¯s try hunting . " Xue Wei grinned as he entered into the tall grass, closely followed by his friends .

    They followed the scent of the herbs, and after a short moment, they arrived in front of a ming Ginseng .

    The ming Ginseng was rare amongst ginsengs, as it required hot weather all year round, the slightest coldness would make it wither .

    This one seemed to be at least a thousand years old, and when looking at it, they found that the energy contained within was denser than usual . It was a real treasure to any Fire Qi cultivator .

    Just as Xue Wei was about to dig it out from the soil, a hissing sound arrived at the same time as a red-scaled snake the width of an arm shot out from the tall grass and headed straight for Xue Wei¡¯s head .

 Chapter 364

    Chapter 364: 364

    Xue Wei instantly retreated . The beasts within this Ascended¡¯s Realm were very different from the beasts he was used to facing . They did not care about his bloodline at all .

    It was a new feeling, but he found that he quite liked the feeling of battling beasts . They were much more straightforward to kill than humans; they did not seem to have any schemes .

    The beasts had their natural advantages . Some were fast as the wind; some were overwhelmingly strong . Some had unique attributes, and others had spiritual energy .

    The beasts were as different as humans were, although there were many of the same races, the beasts were still different .

    The snake which had rushed towards Xue Wei was not too big, but it was so fast that Xue Wei hardly had the chance to escape .

    His bloodlust erupted, and his aura was released in a moment .

    Scale Shield!

    Without even taking the time to think, the Qi within his body erupted in a Scale Shield, and the red snake struck it head-on .

    A resounding boom spread alongside a small explosion from the impact . At the same time, a sizzling sound could be heard as the poison oozed out of the fangs of the snake,nding on the scale shield and slowly dissipating the Qi .

    Xue Wei was taken aback when he saw that the poison was capable of destroying his shield .

    Life Scale Shield!

    Wood elemental Qi was added to the shield, and it started holding better, making the snake realize that it no longer was dissipating, and a hiss resounded before it withdrew into the thick grass once more .

    Xue Wei was on high alert . Was the snake nning on escaping, or was it going to ambush themter?

    Anyway, he was going to take the ginseng fast, and he quickly dug it up before he ced it in an ice jade box and tossed it into his storage treasure .

    "Let¡¯s leave right away," Xue Wei made a quick decision . He had a strange and somewhat ufortable feeling that the snake had not given up, but it had retreated, so if they stayed, they would likely be subject to another ambush .

    The others all agreed with Xue Wei . Having had such difficulties blocking the snake, they knew that it was not easy to defeat, and considering that they had already gotten the ginseng, so no one needed to defeat the snake .

    Meanwhile, the Dongfang family had followed the treasure that would lead them towards the other great families, and luckily for them, the first group they met were the Ouyang family .

    The Ouyang family leader looked at the Dongfang family leader; his eyes narrowing slightly .

    "What brings you to our group?" the Ouyang family leader could not help but ask . Although the eight great families were officially allies, it was rare for them actually to help one another .

    "We encountered a group of five youngsters," the leader of the Dongfang family began exining . "This group was encountered within a deep underground treasure trove, a ce where treasures were everywhere .

    "They defeated the most of the trials and got the rarest of the treasures, alongside the final treasure, a blood drop from a God-ranked Vermilion Bird .

    "After finishing the trials, all of us were moved into a big hall where there were treasure rooms all across the hall, containing ancient skills, pills, herbs, and the like .

    "Unfortunately, these five people had a strength that even our entire team could not contend against .

    "So the entire hall was looted by them . We were not too happy with this, but when the situation arises, we have no other option than to ept it . We have to be alive to enjoy the treasure after all .

    "We put a mark on them, so we will be able to find them again, but we were looking for someone to work together with us, and then our thoughtsnded on the Ouyang family . Mainly because our families both specialize in swords and are able to work together a bit better than, for instance, the Baili or the Du families . "

    The more he spoke, the brighter the eyes of the Ouyang family became . Everyone wanted treasures, and no one was the exception of this . Knowing that a group of mere five experts had managed to loot an entire treasure trove, they were both angry and jealous . Why had they note across such an incredible treasure trove?

    In fact, although the Ouyang family had managed to get their hands on quite a few treasures, it was nothingpared to an ancient underground world filled with refined treasures .

    Although the herbs, fruits, and the like that they had found were useful, they were nothingpared to ancient pills .

    Thinking like this, the leader of the Ouyang family could not help but ponder deeply . If the Dongfang family had certainty of sess against this group of youngsters, then they would never have looked for the Ouyang family .

    No one was willing to trade the treasures that they obtained . This also proved that even if they went together, Ouyang and Dongfang families together, then there would still be a certain amount of sacrifices .

    Even so, the leader of the Ouyang family had to admit that he had been enticed by the words of the underground treasure trove . He was very eager to see what treasures they had found, and even more so to see whether or not there were any spiritual swords present .

    His own sword was not bad, but it was far from being able to contend against the proper spiritual swords . If there were refined treasures, there were also likely to be refined weapons .

    "We¡¯ll go," The leader of the Ouyang family finally made a decision . He could see that his group were of the same mind, and when he looked at them, he saw his own eagerness disyed in their faces .

    He had never thought that it would be possible for him to go through the entire Ascended¡¯s Realm without losing a member or two, so even if it happened, then it was not a significant loss . This was survival of the fittest; he was well aware of this .

    "Let us get going before the mark I ced on their leader will vanish," the Dongfang family leader said, and he began showing the way towards the south, towards summer .

    It was not only the Ouyang and Dongfang families who were heading towards Summer; everyone within the Ascended Realm was moving towards this season .

    Some had been arriving in Winter and thus had a further distance to travel, and some hade directly in summer, needing no extra travel time .

    One of the groups which had arrived directly within Summer was Wang Xiaoyun and her Murdering Heavens Sect .

    The Murdering Heavens Sect was a newfound sect within Chang¡¯an, but although it was slightly green, the power it wielded was not to be belittled .

    The sect master, Wang Xiaoyun, was a Saint ranked expert . Within Chang¡¯an, Saints were immensely rare, and to see a sect which contained a Saint had caused many to flock to her banner .

    The sect¡¯s purpose was very simple; to kill all Primordial Beasts within Chang¡¯an .

    She had made a team of Elders, all being at the minimum rank of Heavenly Knights, and a few other Saints . Together this group of ten individuals had raided many of the danger zones within Chang¡¯an, murdering and eradicating multiple races of Primordial Beasts .

    This Murdering Heavens Sect was like a breath of fresh air to the humans . It was a ray of hope for them to win the war against the Primordial Beasts .

    Even so, some of the beasts struck back with relentless fierceness . Especially the Ice Harpy Chu Huiyin was famous for her lethal ambushes .

    She was filled with madness . Every time the human cultivators executed one of the primordial beast races, she would descend into a murdering frenzy, bathing cities, and viges in blood .

    The hatred she incurred was so immense that even more humans signed up for the Murdering Heavens Sect, and the hatred that humans felt towards beasts was also growing each day .

    Initially, the Murdering Heavens Sect would have had no affinity with the Ascended¡¯s Realm; they did not even know what it was before the prophet Lan made an uninvited visit to their sect .

    Here he exined that the world was much bigger than what they had expected, that the Chang¡¯an continent was just a drop in the sea, that many other continents existed, and that the battle on Chang¡¯an was nothingpared to the rest of the world, a ce where humans and beasts coexisted .

    The wonderous tales that Prophet Lan told them about was so fantastic and different from what they had expected, and Wang Xiaoyun decided that it was time to bring her Elders with her to the Ascended¡¯s Realm to see what a genius from the outside world was like .

    They had been fortunate and ended in the Summer region from the first arrival . As to whether or not Lan had nned this, no one knew .

    Since then, they had traveled across the entire ce, taken resources with them from the many ces they hade across, battled beasts, and lived a peaceful life .

    The group of the Murdering Heavens Sect had not encountered any other people yet, but now that everyone was gathering in Summer, they could no longer enjoy the resources on their own .

    At the start, Wang Xiaoyun did what she could to avoid other people, but it seemed that the more they avoided, the further out of Summer they came, and suddenly, they ran into a small group of people .

    This group seemed to contain a few people only, five at most, and Wang Xiaoyun made a decision .

    "We will fight it out with them if they try to do anything fun to us!" she said decisively as she looked at her Elders, who all agreed with her . They were double the numbers of this small group; it should be possible for them to prevail, maybe even win with these odds .

    When they stepped forward to greet the five experts, Wang Xiaoyun¡¯s face suddenly showed a panicked color, and she felt her body trembling, ready to escape as fast as she could . However, she was the Sect Master, and she could not let her Elders face this group alone .

    At the same time, Xue Wei had also seen Wang Xiaoyun, his eyes widened in shock, and then happiness spread in his heart . He had dreamt about this woman often and wished to see her again . He had never thought that it would be possible to see her within the Ascended¡¯s Realm .

    "Xiaoyun," he said gently, and although he did not scream, the voice was high enough for the Elders to hear it, making them shocked . Was there another group from Chang¡¯an within this realm? If not, how did this youngster know Wang Xiaoyun? At the same time, it seemed as if Wang Xiaoyun was panicked .

    "Big brother, who is this pretty girl?" Luoluo stepped forward and dragged on Xue Wei¡¯s sleeve, smiling slightly as she looked at Wang Xiaoyun curiously .

    "Hey, that¡¯s the genius from the Diviners who vanished some time ago! His picture was everywhere since they were trying to capture him again! They said he stole their most valuable treasure!" someone eximed when he saw Lin Xiao, and Lin Xiao chuckled resignedly and scratched his head .

    "Why don¡¯t we talk?" Xue Wei asked and looked at Wang Xiaoyun tenderly . "This ce is not for the faint-hearted . As you can see, our group is merely five people strong, and yours is not much better . Why don¡¯t we all travel together?"

    "Who would want to travel with you?" Wang Xiaoyun retorted, but she was unable to sound as harsh as she wanted to .

    The truth was that she had been unable to forget about him . Although he was a beast, she could not entirely hate him . As long as he was away from her sight, she was happy so that she did not have to think about her emotions, but now that he was here, she found that her heart was fluttering .

 Chapter 365

    Chapter 365: 365

    Wang Xiaoyun¡¯spanions were all shocked when they heard the tone of voice that she used . Although she was clearly stating that she had no interest in traveling together with this Xue Wei, her voice was so soft that it was hard to believe her, and her cheeks were flushed red, her eyes lowered and her hands tightly clenched .

    She was clearly nervous . The Elders of the Murdering Heavens Sect were unaware that their sect master could actually look so feminine, look so innocent, and behave like a girl her age .

    While two of the Elders found it endearing, another three were unhappy . The three that were unhappy were all young men, and they too had been chasing the Sect Master, but she had never paid any attention to any man before, so who was this person who was able to cause her to be like this?

    "You heard our sect leader," one of them rushed up to say, "we are not willing to travel together with you . "

    Xue Wei nced at the speaking person; his eyes narrowing slightly . Who was this fly that was around his Wang Xiaoyun? It was clear he had some ulterior motives, was it time for him to do a spring cleaning amongst Wang Xiaoyun¡¯spanions?

    After calming down for a moment, Xue Wei thought against it . Although it might be what he truly wanted to do, he was not willing to anger Wang Xiaoyun when they had just met again .

    Wang Xiaoyun was also displeased with this Elder . Although she had said that she was not willing, she knew that both from a tactical point of view and from a personal point of view, she really wanted them to travel together .

    "Be quiet," Xue Wei said as he looked at the two Elders . Although he would not kill them, that did not mean that he would be friendly towards them . They were, after all, rivals in love .

    Xue Wei did not have too much confidence in himself . Wang Xiaoyun had left him once before, and he understood her hatred towards the beasts .

    He could not me her, as Chu Huiyin had killed her entire Wayfarer tribe, but he was unable to change his heritage too . Although he was a bit unsure about what exactly he was, he knew that part of him was a beast, and that was what she hated most .

    But when he heard her soft-spoken voice and saw her reactions to him, he felt as if spring had arrived . It was as if a breeze was sweeping across his frozen heart and letting him taste the sweetness of warmth once more .

    He still had a chance!

    "Looking at your group, you are likely not to have been able to go against the other groups that are currently upying summer," Xue Wei began analyzing . "Your group is small, and the strength is not considered top tier here within the Ascended¡¯s Realm . "

    "That is correct," Wang Xiaoyun did not hide the truth as she nodded her head .

    "So far, we have managed to get rid of both the Ouyang family, but also the Dongfang family," Xue Wei continued . He was not intending to brag but use their achievements to get the Chang¡¯an group to realize that working with them would be beneficial .

    Everyone from the group that originated from Chang¡¯an was unaware of who the Ouyang and the Dongfang families were .

    As inhabitants of Chang¡¯an, they werepletely unaware of the outside world . They knew nothing of the power structure, and all they knew had been taught by Lan, which meant that they knew barely anything .

    "Where have you been?" Finally, Wang Xiaoyun could not hesitate to ask the question that had bugged her for a long time .

    She had been looking around for traces from Xue Wei, but it was as if he ha vanished into thin air .

    After herst meeting with him, where she ran away after realizing his real heritage, she had not heard any news of him . However, his pictures had been spread all over the entire continent; he was known as one of the most wanted beasts around .

    She had also heard what the other Elder had said . One of Xue Wei¡¯spanions was a wanted person by the Diviners . To be wanted by the Diviners was in no way less troublesome . However, the two of them were unharmed an even much stronger than before .

    Wang Xiaoyun had thought that she had raised her strength at a tremendous pace because of her wayfarer bloodline, but when shepared herself to Xue Wei, it was still worse .

    One has to remember that when they first met, Wang Xiaoyun was stronger than Xue Wei, but now that they had met again after such a long separation, Xue Wei had far overtaken her .

    Hei Gou was also much stronger now than before, and Lin Xiao should not be belittled either . Luoluo and Bai Tianyi were a bit more mysterious, and because of them being spirits, it was impossible for her to see their actual strength .

    If it were merely Xue Wei, who had advanced by leaps and bounds, she would not be so shocked, but seeing that they had all grown so much more than herself . Just what had they experienced during the time they had been apart?

    "I¡¯ve been to a continent called Yan Dalu, and now I am here to represent the Demon Phoenix Continent . "

    Xue Wei did not hide anything and smiled as he spoke . "I am not sure where the rest of the team has gone, but it should still be possible to meet up with themter . "

    Wang Xiaoyun nodded her head and decided that it would be a good idea to work with Xue Wei . Their group was simply too weak on their own, and if they wanted to fight for some better resources, then they had to team up with someone, but being from Chang¡¯an was making this hard .

    No one else would be willing to work together with them . They were not overly strongpared to the other groups who had entered the realm, and neither did they have the advantage of numbers .

    Xue Wei was acutely aware of this . If it were not because of him knowing them personally, he would have never teamed up with them either .

    But how could he possibly be at ease knowing that Wang Xiaoyun was braving all sorts of dangers alone?

    Now that he finally saw her again, he was so happy that he would never let her just leave him without a good reason .

    He respected her opinion about beasts, but he was still stubborn . She was a special entity to him, he could never forget her, and he did not want to forget her either .

    "We will travel together," Wang Xiaoyun finally announced, and although two of the Elders had ugly expressions on their faces, the rest were relieved . Although Xue Wei and his team were small, it consisted of Saints . Having more Saints on their team would increase their survivability .

    "Everyone, this is Xue Wei," Wang Xiaoyun decided to introduce him to the others . Although he was wanted all over the entire continent, that was with a facemask and an alias, so no one knew who Xue Wei was .

    "Xue Wei and I have known each other for a long time and traveled together for some time . I ought to warn you, though; he is a beast . "

    Although Wang Xiaoyun did not wish actually to say this, she had no choice . When a battle ensued, he would likely disy his beastly transformation, and if she did not warn them, then they would, without a doubt, feel tricked .

    "This is Hei Gou; he too is a beast . This is Bai Tianyi . I am not too sure what he is . "

    Wang Xiaoyun introduced the three people she knew, and looked at Lin Xiao and Luoluo, unsure of how to introduce them .

    "This is Lin Xiao, he is a Diviner," Xue Wei took over and introduced the rest of hispanions . "This is Luoluo; she is my little sister . "

    "you said he is a beast?" a hostility was evident in the voice as the other Elders looked at Xue Wei warily . They hated beasts, and they knew that Wang Xiaoyun hated beasts even more than them . How could she possibly have traveled alongside two beasts?

    "I am a beast, but I hold no hostility towards humans; in fact, I am quite annoyed with the other beasts too . Unfortunately, humans do not seem to wee us, so our group decided to leave the Chang¡¯an continent until we hold enough strength . "

    Xue Wei had initially not intended to exin, but when he looked at Wang Xiaoyun, he wanted her to know the truth . He was not friendly with beasts, nor were he friendly with humans . On Chang¡¯an, there was only Wang Xiaoyun and Xiao Lei, who mattered to him .

    "You are still a beast, how can we fight alongside a beast?" one of the men who had been against Xue Wei from the beginning felt that he had found something totch onto so that they could get rid of him, but Xue Wei just snorted .

    "I believe that since you are here, Lan must have a hand in it," he began as he looked at them . "Lan would not have sent you here without the basic information such as humans and beasts do not fight everywhere . Only Chang¡¯an is a warzone between the two races . "

    "While I understand your feelings, you have to keep in mind that this is not Chang¡¯an . This is the Ascended¡¯s Realm, and it belongs to the Vermilion Birds of the Demon Phoenix Continent .

    "You are currently benefitting from a secret realm belonging to a beast race . If you loathe beasts so much, why even enter this realm? Or is it that as long as it benefits you, it does not matter, however as soon as you can use the beasts in your own agenda you will do so?"

    Although Xue Wei was unsure of what exactly he was, he knew that part of him was a beast, and seeing the way these two Elders were talking about beasts; he was slightly annoyed . Why could Chang¡¯an not just be like the Demon Phoenix Continent where beasts and humans co-existed?

    Although Xue Wei was depressed when he thought about how Chang¡¯an was currently at war between the races, he knew that he had to thank the war for the opportunity to move onto an even bigger stage .

    If the war had not happened, and if the beasts and humans alike weren¡¯t chasing him, then Xue Wei would never have left Chang¡¯an and entered Yan Dalu and Demon Phoenix Continent .

    This travel had made him find newpanions and friends, at the same time, made him understand more about himself and the secrets around his birth and also helped him increase his strength .

    The people who had been silenced by Xue Wei¡¯s questions had no way to answer . They looked at him with hostility and grievances, hoping that Wang Xiaoyun would speak out for them .

    Unfortunately, she did not seem to have any attention of doing so, she looked at Xue Wei with a bit of hesitation, but she ended up saying nothing .

    Another Elder could not stay silent, and he spoke out, "Young Master Xue, I understand that you are native to Chang¡¯an; how could you possibly leave the continent?"

    It was clear that they too wished to leave the continent . Maybe they had gotten tired of the constant war, or it could be that they thought the grass was greener in somebody else¡¯s yard . Either way, they had decided to leave if they got the chance .

    "Lan helped us," Xue Wei answered honestly after considering for some time . "He made a dimensional tunnel for us, but even then, we ended up somewhere else than nned due to a space storm . "

 Chapter 366

    Chapter 366: 366

    Hearing this, the people from Wang Xiaoyun¡¯s entourage were depressed . They had no idea as to how they could possibly convince Lan to make such a tunnel for them .

    Many of them simply gave up on the idea of leaving Chang¡¯an, while a few began ying with the thought of joining Xue Wei when he left the Ascended¡¯s Realm . If they could go with him, would their dreams not be a reality then?

    However, no one said anything . They knew that Chang¡¯an mattered a lot to Wang Xiaoyun, and if they considered leaving the continent before the war had been won, they would be seen as traitors .

    Even if they did not care too much about thisbel, they did not wish to be considered traitors right now, as it could cause them to be kicked out of the group .

    All alone in the ascended¡¯s realm . That was suicide!

    Wang Xiaoyun looked at the people in her group with narrowed eyes . She understood their urge to leave the Chang¡¯an continent, but she was not willing to do so before the war was over .

    "What are the ns for now?" She asked Xue Wei . Although both of them had been leading a group each, it was evident that Xue Wei took over the leadership role as he was more familiar with this realm . Not to mention, he was the strongest of the two .

    The fact that he was the leader of the group had stunned many of the people in Wang Xiaoyuns group . Xue Wei was not the strongest, so on what basis did he lead them?

    "We have some fliesing after us," Xue Wei said . "They dared not attack us before, but now they have teamed up with their friends they wille for us . We n to put up an ambush and let them taste what happens when someone covets our things . "

    "Why should we fight your opponents?" One of the younger Elders on Wang Xiaoyun¡¯s side asked .

    He was one of the people who admired Wang Xiaoyun, and thus, he was very displeased with Xue Wei .

    "Well, if you don¡¯t help, then leave now," Xue Wei said casually as he shrugged his shoulders .

    "Only those who participate in the battle will have a chance to get some spoils of war," he continued . "They are from the Eight Great Families, so their background is rather substantial," Xue Wei tempted them, "they ought to have a lot of interesting treasures on them . "

    "If they have influential backgrounds, why would we fight them?" The other of the young Elders could not help but ask . "If they knew were the ones who had killed their members, our lives would be forfeited . "

    "Don¡¯t worry," Xue Wei grinned, "They are from another continent, not only that, they have no way of observing what happens within the Ascended¡¯s Realm . No one knows what is going on, and as long as we stay silent, no one will ever know . "

    There was some logic to what Xue Wei was saying, his words causing the hesitant ones to be more interested . Everyone lusted after treasures, and they were no different .

    Although they had gotten quite a few rare items while being in the Ascended¡¯s Realm, that was mainly spirit fruits and herbs . They had not gotten weapons, talismans, or the like .

    These things were rare to find within this realm, not to mention that those that existed had likely been found in the prior times the realm had been open . If they wanted such treasures, they would have to rob it from other members .

    Reaching this conclusion, these people were no longer so much against battling these enemies of Xue Wei . Some had devious minds and wanted to push all the me onto Xue Wei, while others wanted to just get more items for themselves .

    Xue Wei did not care about what the different people thought . All that mattered to him was Wang Xiaoyun staying by his side .

    He understood that it would merely be for a short while during the time in the Ascended¡¯s Realm, but this was a little bit of heaven that he could not let go of . At the same time, he was worried about her traveling this dangerous realm on her own .

    After concluding that they would all stay together and fight off the experts that wereing their way, Xue Wei began looking for the best ce for them to battle it out .

    "The opponents are two families from the eight great families," Xue Wei began exining the situation in detail .

    "They will be around thirty to forty members, and their strength will range from heavenly knights to ordinary saints . There shouldn¡¯t be any earth saints .

    "Our best chance is to fight them through an ambush . Kill off as many as we can in one go, and then move on to a straight-up free for all .

    "The group is capable of following my directions as they have spread some herbal scent onto me that they can trace .

    "They think that our group only consists of five members, but now we are fifteen, our chances are much better .

    "The better you perform, the more resources you¡¯ll get . We are looking at so many highly skilled people, so their treasure should be able to help you through a long time of cultivation . "

    Having said this, Xue Wei could not help but smile . The hunted was turning into the hunters .

    Xue Wei did not feel any pity for the eight great families . As Bai Tinayi¡¯srade, he was bound to be enemies with them .

    Since this was the case, why not collect some interest? He had encountered two groups so far . One was the Ouyang family, and the other was the Dongfang family .

    Although they had been sensible, they were not able to escape from being Bai Tianyi¡¯s enemies, hence, also people that Xue Wei would be against .

    Not long passed before they found a small forest . This forest was not too big, but it served their purpose perfectly .

    There was a clearing at the east side of it, and Xue Wei, alongside hisrades, waited within the clearing while the others positioned themselves in the woods .

    They knew that if they hid in the woods, they would be able to attack when this group of enemies arrived .

    A few days went by like this . Xue Wei and the others cultivated quietly with the resources they had gathered earlier, and he even shared a few of his older resources with Wang Xiaoyun and her team .

    Most of the ones he shared came from the Thunder Twilight Zone, but to them, it was priceless treasures they could note across elsewhere .

    Everyone¡¯s strength was steadily climbing, and many of those who had held hostility towards Xue Wei let their guards down as he was much friendlier than they expected, and he even shared his resources with them .

    After a week had passed, someone finally entered the forest .

    "We are close," said the Dongfang family¡¯s leader . His heart filled with excitement, but he was also slightly agitated . Something felt wrong .

    The Ouyang family leader was much calmer . He knew that the group they were hunting had a lot of treasures, but he had, after all, not seen them loot room after room of treasures .

    Finally, the clearing came into view, and all of them stopped in their tracks . The shock was evident on the Ouyang family¡¯s faces .

    "It¡¯s them?" It was unknown who asked first, but when the question was asked, the others were stunned .

    Ouyang and Dongfang had both encountered them before . It was rather rare to think that they would be facing off against each other again .

    "You know them?" The Dongfang family lead was worried that they would not go through with the battle when he saw his the Ouyang family nodded their heads,plicated expressions on their faces .

    "Let¡¯s go!" They could not afford to let them run away, so the Ouyang family leader knitted his brows and gave the order .

    It was not before then that Dongfang¡¯s family was feeling relieved . They were still willing to fight!

    Xue Wei was waiting impatiently in the clearing . Why were they so slow?

    His blood was boiling; he could not wait to battle . He wanted to fight, wanted to test his new skills and his new elemental skills he had learned when he became a Vermilion Bird .

    As an Azure Dragon, he had an affinity with the element of Wood .

    The vermilion Bird was connected to fire .

    He had learned the new heritory skills, and he was eager to try them .

    At the same time, he also wanted to test how difficult it was to switch shape during battle .

    He wanted to be able to switch between a dragon and a bird . Only then would his potential be fully shown off .

    Finally, the group arrived . They got in position and rushed into the clearing, ready to attack .

    However, just as they arrived, they felt that something was wrong .

    Before they had the time to attack Xue Wei and the others, attacks were raining down on them from behind .

    in only a moment, three had already died as they were takenpletely unaware .

    a handful was also injured, and suddenly, ten people appeared from within the woods, and when the Dongfang and Ouyang families realized what was going on, they had been caught in a pincer attack .

    Xue Wei and the others were already fighting back; a resounding dragon roar exploded in the clearing as Xue Wei was taking on the body of a massive azure dragon .

    the sudden change in shape shocked all of them to the core .

    The people from Chang¡¯an were horrified . They often had something to do with primordial beasts, but this man seemed much more dangerous than even the highest-ranked primordial beasts .

    The Dongfang and Ouyang families were much more enlightened, and one of them cried out in shock, "a sovereign beast!"

    Some of them were gloomy . A sovereign beast of that strength was not something they could defeat just because they had superior numbers .

    Everyone knew that sovereign beasts were the true kings of beasts . They held so much strength and potential that they were known as the favorite of heavens .

    If they had known that their target was a sovereign beast, they would never have participated in this battle!

    Unfortunately, there was no medicine for regret; all they could do was grind their teeth and use their strongest abilities .

    "Kill all the others first; we¡¯ll take the beast at the end!" Someone called out, but then they looked at the others and felt a headache .

    Hei Gou was far too strong . He was an Earth Saint!

    Bai Tianyi was not an easy target; the Ouyang family held a deep-rooted fear of him since they knew his real identity .

    Luoluo was a small child; killing her was not glorious .

    Lin Xiao was a target, but he was also strong .

    Then the only targets that were left were the ones from Chang¡¯an, and the two groups from the eight great families turned towards them . However, they were being ughtered so fast that they now had no chance of fighting back .

    The Ouyang and Dongfang family leaders were filled with despair as they saw Xue Wei slither around the battlefield, killing one member after another as simply as killing chickens .

    Xue Wei was shing a grim smile before he headed to the Ouyang family leader . Hei Gou was quickly killing the Dongfang family leader .

    "With you guys around, we will be undefeated!" one of the members within the Chang¡¯an group eximed, but Xue Wei shook his head . "No," he said honestly, "There are many groups with more strength than our group, so we need to be careful . "

    Just as the battle ended, Xue Wei began gathering all the spoils of war before he tossed storage treasures to different people, handing them over ording to their performance .

 Chapter 367

    Chapter 367: 367

    The others from Chang¡¯an were shocked to see how casual Xue Wei was with handing over the storage treasures, but upon closer inspection, they noticed that only they were given some storage treasures .

    Xue Wei gave nothing to his own team, keeping everything for himself . They could not help but feel odd about this . Why would hispanions allow Xue Wei to manage their resources?

    But no one said anything . It was as if this was a natural urrence to them, and that it was as it should be .

    "Well then, let us move further into the inner reaches of the summer section of this realm," Xue Wei said as he put away their part of the loot before he tossed a few resources to his friends .

    Bai Tinayi and Luoluo both received a herb called a Soul Reaping Lily . It was a herb that consumed soul power and stored it .

    This was one of the most beneficial things for Luoluo and Bai Tianyi that Xue Wei had in his storage treasures, and he carelessly handed it over .

    At the same time, he took out a feather of the Vermilion Bird and gave Hei Gou a Death Stalker . Death Stalker was a herb that was different from other herbs . It had the aura of death and would be able to allow Hei Gou to increase the element of death in his attacks .

    Lin Xiao was given some herbs, which focused on Qi cultivation . Although he had touched upon a dao as a Diviner, he was not able to use a particr trait of an element to his Qi just yet .

    There were five primary elements . Earth, Metal, Water, Wood, and Fire . Apart from these, there were also a lot of mutated elements, such as death and darkness, as Hei Gou had touched upon .

    There was also wind, lightning, light, and so on, as long as one could think about it, then it existed . However, all of them originated from the five primary elements, and these five elements were the strongest of them all, had an overwhelming power and purity that other elements could night fight against .

    Elements were connected to Qi . Qi was able to be pure and without an element, but it could also have the assistance from an element, elevating the strength .

    Above Qi was the daos . The daos were unable to be easily exined . A dao was a path that one specialized in . There were thousands upon thousands of daos in the world .

    When one began to cultivate a dao, they were able to transcend the regr cultivation . Their energy would no longer be mainly controlled by Qi but by a Dao .

    Dao was the intent of a path . The dao of the sword meant that one now controlled the energy of a sword . It was no longer just pure Qi .

    Xue Wei had not managed to understand a dao just yet . It was not before one had transcended the Saint Realm that one would beginprehending a dao .

    But he did have an elemental affinity to his Qi . Usually, elemental affinities woulde when one turned into the Saint Realm or if someone had a sudden breakthrough in one¡¯s strength, which could unlock the elemental affinity .

    Just like the mutation for Hei Gou, or Xue Wei¡¯s sudden boost in strength .

    A flying ship appeared in the sky, and Xue Wei boarded it before the others followed .

    While his friends were now used to this method of transport, the people from Chang¡¯an were deeply shocked, even more, shocked when they realized that essence stones fueled it .

    Essence stones were immensely precious back in Chang¡¯an . There were not many mines that produced them, and most of these mines were located deep within danger zones, governed by Primordial Beasts .

    As such, essence stones were very hard to get their hands on, but now this Xue Wei was using them for the sake of transport! Such a waste!

    Although they were shocked, no one mentioned anything about it . This was Xue Wei¡¯s matter; they had no right toin about it .

    Instead, they began looking through the storage treasures they had gained . Some had a brilliant harvest, while others were not as lucky .

    Wang Xiaoyun was the luckiest of them all . She had gotten a whole mountain of essence stones, pills, and herbs .

    Xue Wei had given a quick nce into the storage treasures when he threw them out, and although he had been fair, he also felt that Wang Xiaoyun had the most significant aplishment in the battle apart from Xue Wei and his friends .

    The ship was quiet . Everyone was cultivating slowly, using the resources they had gotten their hands on during the time in the Ascended¡¯s Realm .

    Although they were more eager to getting cultivation resources than they were of the actual training, they still took the time they had now to cultivate .

    The stronger they were, the bigger the chance they had to survive in this hellish ce .

    Although they had managed to overwhelm the Dongfang and Ouyang families somewhat easily, the truth was that it was not as simple as it had seemed .

    Dongfang and Ouyang families had given up on fighting back the moment they knew that they were against a Sovereign Beast, alongside his cultivation base is higher than theirs .

    They had thought it would be a big group of cultivators against a small group of five people, but then it had proven to bepletely different .

    Not only were the five experts much stronger than they had expected, but they also had the support of ten other experts, all of which were highly ranked too .

    The Ouyang and Dongfang families were amongst the weakest in the eight great families . Although they were still renowned, they were nothing whenpared to the top family, the Nangong family .

    Apart from the Nangong family, the other five families also had their own strengths .

    The Guan family was known for their explosive battle ability . Although they could not fight a prolonged battle, they could explode with strength, unlike any other .

    Even the Nangong Family would have problems dealing with the Guan Family if they ignited their bloodline .

    The top three families in the five great families were noughing matter . If Xue Wei and the others met with just one of the top three families, they would have no chance of survival .

    This was after they had teamed up with Wang Xiaoyun and the Chang¡¯an team .

    So even though they could handle the weaker groups and teams, they could not easily take on the true hegemons of this world .

    Maybe they would have a chance if they once more would manage to team up with the Vermilion Bird n . However, the chances of meeting them again were rather small .

    Since this was the case, they might as well continue to hunt for treasures in Summer until the time was up .

    They were lucky that they had a small treasure finder with them . Luoluo was a spirit, and she was immensely sensitive to energy .

    She could feel the ces where much essence had gathered, or if there was a ce with dense Qi or soul energy .

    Everywhere she sensed the energy; their team would descend and pick up the treasures . They left all the moremon things and only went for what could be considered seriously rare .

    It was not that he was snobbish, but because that after thousands of years being secluded, this world was simply a treasure trove filled with things that no one else could imagine . Some of the items within this realm were even extinct in the outside world .

    Sometimes they had to fight against a ferocious beast that would not let them quickly take their treasure; other times, they had to enter tricky environments with powerful inscriptions put up to protect the items . Clearly, some of this had been done by the vermilion bird in a test to the descendants that came to the realm .

    Xue Wei was usually standing aside, letting the people from Chang¡¯an out on the front lines . Although they were not happy at the beginning, their displeasure quickly changed to gratitude .

    By letting them do the battles, they were getting more and more proficient in using their skills to the best of their abilities .

    They also got a bigger cut of the resources . All of them could easily see that Xue Wei was helping them .

    But even so, no oneined about it . The friends of Xue Wei would also stay back, killing random beasts that were attracted by the scent of blood or sounds of fighting, ensuring that the Chang¡¯an experts were not rushed or interrupted .

    "Liu Jingsheng, I am going to attack it from behind, take some of its focus away!" one of the young Elder¡¯s called out . At this point in time, although they were unhappy with Xue Wei, all of them were genuinely amazed by his strength and maturity .

    Even in the face of so many treasures were he able to stay calm and collected, even able to let others benefit more than himself .

    What they were unaware of was that Xue Wei had already gotten the biggest harvest of the entire Ascended¡¯s Realm .

    Back in the underground world, Xue Wei had emptied room after room and gotten so many rare herbs, pills, weapons, inscriptions, formations, and anything else that he could possibly need .

    These few treasures were really nothing to him .

    Liu Jingshen, who had been called out, looked at the big snow-white wolf beast that they were currently fighting .

    All of them were much braver now than before . They knew that Xue Wei would step in if it became too dangerous, and thus they focused on doing their best to train their skills .

    Shadow Clone Duplication!

    Liu Jingshen was an ordinary Saint at the firstyer . He was touching upon the threshold of having an elemental affinity but was not there entirely yet .

    The elemental affinity that he was close to having understood and acquired was the shadows .

    Only when using a technique that focused on the element of shadows would he be able to disy his strength fully, and this technique was very profound .

    Although it had very little battle ability, it was great at confusing the opponent . Instead of one Liu Jingshen, now ten Liu Jingshens were now standing on a line .

    All of them moved as one, wielding their swords as they charged at the snow-white wolf beast .

    The wolf was not easily defeated though, moments after it saw the ten figures rushing towards it, it bared its fangs and howling loudly before it pounced at the figures that were making it feel pressure .

    While Liu Jingshen was giving it his all to attract the attention of the younger Elder, the younger Elder, whose name was Zhang Moyun, snuck up behind the wolf .

    Wind Evasion!

    Sword Drawing Arts!

    He used his movement technique and moments after he was right by the through of the wold, the sword in his hands was drawn in a beautiful arc, and blood sshed .

    Wind Evasion!

    As soon as the first attacknded, Zhang Moyun used the movement technique once more and vanished from the side of the wolf .

    "Everyone retreats ten meters!" he called out .

    The wolf was going berserk . It had sustained a severe injury . It had been takenpletely unaware by Zhang Moyun, and when it sensed the danger, it was toote .

    The sword of Zhang Moyun hadnded on its neck and caused a bloody wound to appear; blood was gushing out .

    The eyes of the snow-white wolf beast turnedpletely red, as it turned around and started chasing Zhang Moyun .

    Sensing the imminent danger, his expression changed, but he stayed calm .

    Wind Evasion!

    He continued to use his movement technique while not being too far ahead of the wolf, in an attempt to get it to keep chasing him, bleeding itself to death with the overly vigorous movements .

    Xue Wei had disliked Zhang Moyun at the beginning considering that he obviously had taken a fancy to Wang Xiaoyun . Still, upon getting along with him, he realized that he was both smart and rather friendly .

 Chapter 368

    Chapter 368: 368

    The big snow-like wolf howled in despair and unwillingness as it became slower and slower .

    Its legs started trembling, and the hind legs began giving in . The wolf was unable to put up much more of a fight, but no one dared toy their guards down .

    Zhang Moyun rushed to the wolf¡¯s side . His sword shed, and a new trail of blood followed .

    The sword attacknded on the same wound that he had created before; this time, the wolf was split into two .

    Blood rained down, and the Chang¡¯an people cheered out loud . Even Xue Wei smiled slightly and approved of the way that Zhang Moyun had dealt with the wolf .

    "The Scorching me Daisy belongs to Zhang Moyun; the rest of you can share the snow-white wolf . Liu Jingshen gets the beast core . "

    Xue Wei quickly gave the items out to who deserved what and no oneined . The Scorching me Daisy was the herb that the snow-white wolf had been protecting .

    They continued on when Luoluo suddenly stopped in her tracks . "I can sense a faint energy fluctuation," she said with a frown on her face, "but another group of people is currently besieging it . They are fighting against the guarding beast . "

    "Should we go?" Wang Xiaoyun could not help but ask hesitatingly . Although she wanted items and resources, she was not so despicable that she was willing to steal them from others yet .

    Unfortunately, Xue Wei had no such scruples . For him, humans and beasts were the same, killing a beast and killing a human was the same to him, so if he could kill beasts for treasures the why couldn¡¯t he kill humans?

    "We should go . " Xue Wei made a quick decision . "This realm was opened by the Vermilion Bird n . I promised the n leader that I would look after them the best I could . There is a chance that the ones who are fighting are the Vermilion Bird n, so I have to go and see . "

    Hearing this, Wang Xiaoyun felt that there was some reason behind his words and was instantly tricked .

    Xue Wei was not caring too much about the Vermilion Bird n . They had made their own decisions back when Xue Wei entered the underground world .

    If they really did reunite, then he would be happy, but if they did not, then he wouldn¡¯t mind it either .

    As they went closer and closer, they did nothing to hide their aura; neither did they sneak forward in an attempt of being one with the surroundings .

    They were bold and straight forward as they advanced, moving right towards the fighting people, but the group which was currently engaged in frenzied battle had no time to consider them .

    It was a group of experts that could rival the group Xue Weimanded, but they had encountered a whole group of scarlet bees .

    The scarlet bees were very tenacious . They would suicide without a second thought, causing severe damage to the cultivators they were facing off against .

    Although their strength was not on par with the group of cultivators, their numbers more than made up for it .

    "Scarlet bee honey!" Xue Wei eximed excitedly when he saw the beehive that was ced on a tree not far away .

    "My friend, help us, and we will share the honey fifty-fifty!" the leader of the other group was quick-witted .

    He knew that this newly arrived group would be able to wait for the bees and his group to fight a prolonged battle, and then finish off the both of them when they had grown tired .

    Instead, he would much rather offer an olive branch and try to tempt Xue Wei into working with him .

    Xue Wei, who knew that Wang Xiaoyun had a hard time killing fellow humans, was not interested in all the honey within the beehive .

    It was impossible to use it all, even for theirrge group, so he was happy that the other group leader was so smart .

    "Remember your promise!" Xue Wei said smilingly before he gestured for the others to throw themselves into the battle .

    No one held back, all of them unleashed their potent attacks, raining them down upon the many bees .

    Even Xue Wei, who had not attended the many battles before, was now releasing a lot of fiery attacks .

    Ring of Fire!

    Fire Palm!

    These two attacks were very simple, the ring of fire was an attack thatnded on arge area and burnt everything within the circle, while the Fire Palm was much more straightforward, just a palm that carried with it the fire attributed Qi .

    The bees were not resistant against fire, and they sumbed one by one to the scorching temperatures and the oppressive power that was within the fire elemental Qi .

    The bees were numerous, there were thousands of them, but the majority were around the heavenly Knight rank so that they could be killed in batches .

    The group that had been fighting the bees at the beginning was feeling a significant relief when Xue Wei and his group arrived and started attacking .

    They could finally breathe a heavy sigh of relief, but they dared not rx . They continued to push forward, their attacks lighting up the entire sky, which was slowly darkening .

    Qi of varying colors could be seen, the silver color of the primary qi, the red qi that had the fire elemental affinity, ck Qi from Hei Gou, and so on .

    Although the majority did not have an affinity, a handful of the people who fought did, and the replenished light that shone from the many attacks caused many of the bees to be filled with anger and frenzy .

    They attacked with wild abandon andpletely ignored the consequences . At the beginning, the scarlet bees that had appeared had all been the Heavenly Knight rank; however, now even Saint ranked bees began emerging .

    The Heavenly Knight ranked bees were already able to create a massive stir in the battle and had injured the people fighting, but now that the Saint ranked scarlet bees appeared, the fight once more became equal, the final winner still not decided .

    Xue Wei was not taking on the shape of either the Azure Dragon, neither ha he taken on the body of the Vermilion Bird . Although he could do that, he wanted to test his limits and see how capable he was at fighting in his human shape .

    Sensing that they were having problems fighting, Xue Wei did not hesitate to create a Devouring Azure Dragon, which waspletely immune to the suicidal attacks of the scarlet bees .

    It was rampaging on the battlefield, an entity made solely from energy, so it was not stopped by injuries, as it absorbed the life force of the scarlet bees to fuel itself and continue on its massacre .

    The Devouring Azure Dragon was the skill that Xue Wei had most experiencemanding this attack, but while the spiritual dragon was baring its fangs and brandishing its ws, Xue Wei was also feeling the pressure from the battle .

    This battle was different from any other he had ever encountered . The battle required one to continually fight against an overwhelming number of enemies, not to mention that these enemies were tiny, so their attacks were hard to avoid .

    Sting after sting wouldnd on their bodies, and blood was drawn from the wounds .

    When the scarlet bees suicided, they would explode themselves, causing even more severe damage to their enemies, and when a whole bunch of them did this at the same time, the damage could not be belittled .

    Bai Tianyi and Luoluo were the ones with the most problems . These bees were not overly strong when it came to their physical bodies, but their soul was very strong, and although Bai Tianyi had his dao of sword and sword attacks tond on the bees, Luoluo had no other options .

    At the end, when Xue Wei nced at her to ensure her safety, he was stunned . Luoluo had realized that she herself was not the opponent of the scarlet bees, so instead, she had begun baiting the bees to follow her before she would rush to the Devouring Azure Dragon, feeding it with the life force of countless bees .

    The Devouring Azure Dragon was not intelligent . Still, it was able to work together with Luoluo without any problems, making Luoluo smirk happily and feel that she was doing something right .

    Zhang Moyun was working together with Liu Jingsheng; the two of them also ughtering many scarlet bees in mere moments .

    Even Wang Xiaoyun was using her fan to the best of her abilities, and Xue Wei was astonished to see that she had almost connected to the element of Wind .

    Every attack she unleashed depended on the wind to increase the swiftness and fierceness of the attacks .

    The bees were like a bunch of small boats in the stormy seas, unable to stay in the air as they were thrown here and there,pletely dazed by the wind that swept them away, before they were hit by her martial art techniques, killing them .

    The battle was intense, and the wounds were much more severe than any other battle they had been in before . A few had to retreat to nurse their wounds before once more throwing themselves at the Scarlet Bees .

    They were lucky that no more people were within their vicinity and appeared to reap the benefits, as all the fighters were simply too exhausted .

    The ground was littered with bodies of the bees, and more and more had to retreat as the Saint Bees were getting more and more engaged in the battle .

    Only the Saints of the two teams were left on the battlefield, the Heavenly Saints had been sent back, and Xue Wei was the most ferocious of them all .

    mes and life force was shrouding him, his eyes glistening like the stars in the night sky, and he held a chilling grin on his face as he ughtered bee after bee . Although not much blood was spilled when the bees were killed, he still felt the thrill of killing them .

    There were so many bees, and Xue Wei was already losing his rationale slightly, unable to fully control the killing intent that was bursting through his veins .

    The others were holding a decent distance from him, the killing intent he was releasing was so overwhelming that all of them were starting to feel somewhat scared, however even so, Hei Gou and the others were used to Xue Wei losing control slightly when killing numerous foes in such a frenzied battle, they knew he was currently enjoying himself, and thus they just left him be .

    However, the members of the Chang¡¯an group were all frightened by his disy of cruelty and the chilling smile on his face .

    Even the unknown group they had teamed up with was frightened as they looked at his disy of madness .

    Qi mestrike!

    This was one of the final martial art techniques that he had gained from the heritage ring . It was already quite a strong attack, but now that he had a connection to the fire elemental qi, his attack was on apletely different level .

    Hundreds of bees died in that one attack, but Xue Wei was not done . He had many martial art techniques, but recently he had been training the skills that he had gotten from the heritage ring, and some of them were specialized in attacking an area instead of just a person .

    Sky¡¯s Judgment!

    Sky¡¯s Judgement was an attack that unleashed the might of nine progressively stronger lightning strikes .

    This attack required of Xue Wei to channel his Qi, and the attacks were immensely powerful, the lightning bolts that descended from the sky caused so much destruction to the bees that the rest of them started trembling in fear .

    The battlested a full night and day; the surroundings were lit up by the reflections of the countless attacks that were being thrown out .

    When the day finally ended, there was only one bee left, the Queen bee, who turned out to be a ninthyered Earth Saint . Her strength was not to be belittled .

 Chapter 369

    Chapter 369: 369

    Although the Scarlet Bee Queen had a high rank, a rank that usually would be impossible to contend against with the strength of these experts, she did notmand the force of a ninthyered Earth Saint .

    The Scarlet Been Queen was used to being pampered by the many worker bees, and all she did throughout her life was to create more bees for the beehive .

    She had never needed to battle before, and although she had some inherited abilities, she could not use them to the fullest, as she had no experience .

    This was also the reason that they had not retreated yet .

    If it were any other beast who was at the ninthyer of the Earth Saint rank, they would be slowly retreating . They would not have any ns of battling it out with the beast at all .

    However, all of them were aware of thebat ability being below its actual rank, so it was possible for them to deal with it . Although they would have to sacrifice some effort, it should be doable to defeat the Scarlet Bee Queen, and then they would benefit greatly . The Scarlet Bee honey was a very rare but also useful resource .

    Hei Gou was the firstyer of the Earth Saint, Xue Wei was at the fourthyer of the Ordinary Saint, and Lin Xiao was at the seventhyer of the Ordinary Saint rank .

    All of them had had massive breakthroughs in the Ascended¡¯s Realm . They had gotten this luck from resources and the trials in the underground world . Now it was impossible to stop their advance .

    Bai Tianyi had advanced to the thirdyer of the Ordinary Saint rank, and Luoluo was impossible to see what her strength was at .

    Wang Xiaoyun was the strongest amongst the Chang¡¯an cultivators, and she was on the verge of breaking through to the Earth Saint rank . Although she had a rank that was above Xue Wei, she was not as strong as him due to his bloodline and innate strength .

    The other experts from Chang¡¯an were a mix of Ordinary Saints and Heavenly Knights .

    The other group, the one who had first started attacking, was also consisting of a few Earth Saints, yet none of these were at the higheryers . The strongest was a secondyer Earth Saint .

    Although the Scarlet Bee Queen was unable to control her strength fully, her power was much stronger than theirs, and they could not afford to be rxed .

    "Leave the protection of all of us to me," Xue Wei said, and azure scales began sprouting on his body . He started transforming from a human to an Azure Dragon .

    When he took on the massive shape of the Azure Dragon, everyone was suddenly surprised . The other party was shocked to see that there was a Sovereign Beast amongst the other team, but they took a deep breath of relief .

    The Chang¡¯an experts had their hearts in their throats . Seeing Xue Wei as an azure dragon was once more a reminder of the fear they continuously lived beneath in Chang¡¯an . They feared him, but at the same time, they also respected him .

    The wood Qi in the surrounding air was stirred, and Xue Wei¡¯s azure eyes shone brightly .

    Scale Shield!

    Xue Wei channeled all the Qi within his body and began cing a Scale Shield on the many experts that were about to fight . One person had a shield each .

    This required an immense amount of Qi, but he was aware that everyone needed protection, or otherwise, they could be damaged from the shockwaves of the shes that were starting to appear .

    The Earth Knights of the team were the ones who would deal with the main force of the attack, and Xue Wei looked at them before he upgraded the protective shield on them .

    Life Scale Shield!

    When Xue Wei was channeling shields, the experts rained down their attacks on top of the Scarlet Bee Queen .

    The Scarlet Bee Queen was bigger than most of the other Scarlet Bees, but it was still quite small whenpared to most beasts .

    Although the attacks rained down upon it, it managed to avoid all the attacks of the lower-ranked experts, but the higher-ranked experts managed tond a couple of strikes .

    "Hey, is it possible to tame this beast?" Xue Wei suddenly asked Lin Xiao, and the entire group was shocked .

    The people from Chang¡¯an were suddenly reminded that Lin Xiao was a Diviner, while the ones from the other group were shocked to hear about the term, taming beasts .

    In the entire world, it was only possible to tame beasts if you were a Primordial or Sovereign Beast . However, this man was clearly a human .

    It was only on Chang¡¯an that the Diviners had understood the dao of dependance and created the beast taming technique .

    Lin Xiao was slightly stunned when he heard the question, but upon looking at the Scarlet Bee Queen, his eyes turned solemn .

    "If she is close to death, then I have a chance of taming her," he deducted . "She is a lot stronger than me, so I will need to use the staff to the fullest of my ability . It is also the most challenging taming I have ever tried, but we will lose nothing to try it . If we fail, we can always kill her . "

    Xue Wei nodded his head and contemted . "We will take ten percent of the honey, the beehive, and the Scarlet Bee Queen, you guys can get ny percent of the honey, but you have to assist us in taming the bee queen . "

    The people of the other group had been feeling slightly unfair when they heard that they were nning on taming the Scarlet Bee Queen, but after hearing that they could get ny percent of the honey, their battle intent was reignited .

    The Scarlet Bee Honey was an outstanding treasure . Not only did it raise one¡¯s rank with ayer, but it also helped to solidify one¡¯s foundation .

    The foundation of one¡¯s cultivation was immensely valuable . The sturdier one¡¯s foundation, the further down the path of cultivation one could walk .

    Finding treasures that could improve one¡¯s foundation was very hard ¡ª especially one as useful as the Scarlet Bee Honey .

    Midnight sh!

    Hei Gou unleashed a mighty sh that caused ripples to appear in the fabric of reality as his ws wereing crashing down, freezing space in ce and trapping the Scarlet Queen Bee .

    Divine Judgement!

    Lin Xiao unleashed his most potent attack . The Divine Judgment carried with it a slight trace of the dao of dependance . The Diviners in Chang¡¯an had never been in contact with the real dao, but they had managed to mimic it .

    Lin Xiao, on the other hand, had actually touched upon the basics of the dao . He was, without a doubt a one of a kind genius amongst the Diviners .

    Soul-reaping Palm!

    Luoluo was not going to let them be the only ones who attacked . Since her energy was spiritual energy, striking the soul of the opponent, she unleashed her most powerful attack right away .

    The Soul-Reaping Palm was a palm attack that relied on one¡¯s ability to attack the opponent¡¯s soul . As long as the attacker¡¯s spiritual energy was purer than the opponent, then they could daze them and even unable to return to attack for some time . The weaker the opponent was, the more effective the attack was, it was also possible to shatter the soul of one¡¯s opponent if they genuinely wanted to do so .

    Celestial Cleaver!

    Bai Tianyi was using another heavenly attack, which was relying on his dao of the sword . A massive sword was created from spiritual energy, and infused with the dao of the sword .

    The sword was sorge that the Scarlet Bee Queen was dwarfed next to it .

    The Scarlet Bee Queen was rushing around . Some of the weaker attacks were allowed tond on its body, but the majority were being avoided by its nimble movements .

    The Scarlet Bee Queen had not begun attacking yet, it was quite hesitant and was still not familiar with its own strength; hence, it did not dare to unleash the attacks it had an inherited memory of just yet .

    Shadowless Kill!

    Stormbreaking Fist!

    Holy Heaven Palm!

    The three other highly ranked experts of the two groups also rained down their own attacks .

    The Queen Bee suddenly released a strange honeb pattern that shrouded her body, and a resounding boom exploded outwards as the attacksnded on the strange energy .

    This strange honeb pattern was fluctuating with energy . It was a shield that the Scarlet Bee Queen had inherited memories of, and now that she used it the first time, they realized that the attacks they used were unable even to dent it .

    "Such a shield will require tremendous amounts of energy to maintain," Xue Wei called out, telling everyone that it could not be maintained at all times, and the Scarlet Bee Queen seemed to understand his words, as she sent a deadly re towards Xue Wei .

    A buzzing sound could be heard as if she moved with a sudden jerk of her body, and she exploded forward with speed so fast that the naked eye could not see it .

    Xue Wei did not panic when he felt the pressure that was bearing down upon him, he widened his azure eyes, and unleashed both the Wood Qi and Fire Qi within his body .

    Devouring Life Scale Shield!

    Ring of Fire!

    The Devouring Life Scale Shield was to protect himself, while the Ring of Fire was an attempt to sense where the queen bee was arriving from .

    Unfortunately, the Ring of Fire was unable to detect the Queen Bee because she was flying in the air, so he quickly canceled the attack and began looking around with tension .

    Although he was alert, he did not feel that it was over the top . The opponent was a ninthyered Earth Saint . Even more than a full realm above his own strength .

    While it would be possible for Xue Wei to withstand a strike because of his innate protection of the scales and the Devouring Scale Shield, it was not going to be painless .

    And as he expected, the Queen Bee charged right at him . Her stinger was turned right at Xue Wei, and the explosion that came from the collision of the Devouring Scale Shield and her innate attack was so powerful that Xue Wei felt how his body was mmed backward . His entire body came reeling back, every step he took caused the ground underneath to shatter from the overwhelming force .

    The Queen Bee was not sent as far back from the collision as Xue Wei, but even she was sent backward .

    The sh had caused a severe gash to appear in the ground between them, and blood was trickling from the corner of his mouth .

    The massive azure dragon had shattered scales all over the body, blood was flowing in gentle streams down from the wounds, but his eyes were not clouded in pain .

    Instead, his eyes werepletely clear; a bright light shone within .

    Wood Qi Detonation!

    Fire Qi Detonation!

    Xue Wei poured two streams of energy out of his body, and they shot towards the Queen Bee, entering her body before they exploded with a muffled bang .

    The Queen Bee had been too slow to avoid the attack; at the same time, it had also been unable to raise the honeb defense .

    "Now!" The moment Xue Wei made her slightly wounded, other attacksnded on her .

    Reaping of the Full Moon!

    Hei Gou, who had taken on the shape of the mutated Celestial Dog, was using his most potent innate ability .

    The light within the entire area was vanishing quickly, gathering in front of Hei Gou, where it merged with the Qi .

    A long beam of light and Qi shot towards the Queen Bee, and the sky started to twist from the overwhelming power contained within the attack .

    Bloodletting!

    Xue Wei, who had stopped himself from retreating, used an attack that he had never used before because it relied on his bloodline rather than his Qi and Spiritual Energy .

 Chapter 370

    Chapter 370: 370

    Bloodletting was a technique very different from any other technique Xue Wei had ever used before .

    He knew of it, but he had never tried it before because he did not feel that it was all that useful .

    Bloodletting was a technique that could be used against humans and beasts alike . It drew out the essence blood of an opponent and conjured it into a small bead-like object .

    When Xue Wei consumed this bead, he would be capable of absorbing a certain amount of strength from the opponent .

    If the opponent was stronger than him, only a fraction of their energy could be absorbed, and if the opponent were weaker than himself, the power he would gain would be insufficient to do much of a change .

    As such, the technique seemed rather useless as it was most suitable to use against someone of equal strength, but right now, he did not have much choice .

    If he could lower the Queen Bee¡¯s attack just a little, their chance for survival was even bigger .

    The Reaping of the Full Moonnded squarely on the Queen Bee¡¯s body, knocking her far back, blood could be seen on her plump body .

    Seeing that blood had been drawn, Xue Wei¡¯s eyes suddenly turned red . Strange energy shrouded him in red mist-like energy, and swiftly the mist moved towards the Queen Bee .

    Although he was unable to control the beasts within the Ascended¡¯s Realm, he was after all a Sovereign Beast, and the energy within his body was bursting out, putting a bloodline suppression onto the Scarlet Queen Bee .

    A strange scene appeared in the eyes of everyone watching, and the Queen Bee felt how her strength was slowly vanishing from her body, making her lethargic .

    Blood started slithering as if it was a snake, oozing out of the wound, and soon it gathered in a very shiny blood-red bead, which then shot towards Xue Wei .

    "Attack her now, now is the weakest time!" Xue Wei growled as he popped the blood bead into his mouth .

    Strength instantly burst within his body . Although Bloodletting only had taken a fraction of her strength, a fraction was an immense boost to Xue Wei, and he felt how his entire body turned light .

    Reaping of the Full Moon!

    Shadowless Kill!

    Stormbreaking Fist!

    Holy Heaven Palm!

    Wood Qi Detonation!

    Fire Qi Detonation!

    A myriad of attacksnded on the body of the Queen Bee, all of themnding right on the wound that had been created by Hei Gou with his first Reaping of the Full Moon .

    Now the attacks rained down upon the bee, and she was unable to hold on, a whimper escaped her, and shey exhausted on the ground, on herst breath .

    "Your turn," Xue Wei turned to Ling Xiao, who grasped his staff with a determined expression .

    He then moved to the Queen Bee and began taming her . She was much stronger than Ling Xiao, and thus, her resistance was to be expected . However, she had been beaten ck and blue; she could only use her crumbling mind to put up a final defense .

    Blood started seeping out of the corner of Ling Xiao¡¯s mouth, but he was not giving up .

    The dao of dependance descended, scaring the other experts silly . They had never expected that this man was capable of controlling a dao!

    No one said anything; the pin-drop silencested for a full hour before Ling Xiao finally rose to his feet .

    His face was pale, while his lips were stained with blood, but a smile flitted across his expression within a moment, "it was a sess!"

    "Good!" Xue Wei was ecstatic . He found some healing remedies and fed the Scarlet Queen Bee some pills, after which he poured some elixir on the wound .

    "Take it into the beast tag," Xue Wei ordered, and Ling Xiao nodded . There were already two beasts within the beast tag, the aligator-like beast from the Thunder Twilight Zone and Xue Fu .

    "ording to our deal, we will divide the scarlet honey as we had agreed upon," Xue Wei said, and the other team finally felt a sense of relief .

    They had invested so much in this fight, but their harvest was also plentiful . Although they could not take the Scarlet Bee Queen with them, they got an amazing amount of Scarlet Honey .

    The rest of the honey, alongside the actual beehive, was left to Xue Wei . He quickly shared the honey with everyone from his group, before the beehive was thrown into the beast tag . Now the scarlet bee queen could continue to produce scarlet honey for them, and she could also give birth to an army of scarlet bees for them .

    The leader of the other family stepped forward . "It was a pleasure working with you this time," he said as he cupped his hands, "I hope we will meet again at ater time . Should you ever reach the Hanyang Continent,e look for the Qing family . "

    Xue Wei was not being overly polite but nodded his head . "I will," he promised . It was still unknown what continents he would visit in the future, so having a friend was not too bad .

    The two groups quickly split up and moved in their own directions . Xue Wei led his group further towards the southeast, while the others were heading southwest .

    The spring had mainly herbs and medicinal flowers, while the autumn had an abundance of spirit fruits and berries .

    Either direction would be beneficial to walk, but due to not wanting to steal one another¡¯s items, they quickly went their separate ways .

    "What are our ns now?" One of the men from Wang Xiaoyun¡¯s group asked as he looked at Xue Wei . This man had be the backbone of their entire group; he was the one who caused them to have such an abundant harvest .

 Chapter 371

    Chapter 371: 371

    Xue Wei contemted for a short while, before he said, "I think that we will continue to hunt for resources . I entered the Ascended Realm with a group from the Demon Phoenix Continent, all of which were Vermilion Birds .

    "Unfortunately, due to some danger we encountered on the way, we had no chance but to split up . Since that is the case, it would be ideal if we can meet up with them again . Hence I suggest we move towards the ce where Summer meets Spring . That was our original purpose .

    "I know that Autumn is where the spiritual fruits are, and while spiritual fruits are great, I am more interested in the herbs . Herbs can be concocted into medicine, it can be consumed raw, and while the spiritual fruits mainly help with cultivation base, the herbs can assist in many other ways that can help us with our strength and elemental affinities .

    "So we are going towards the southeast . If you want to follow, then you are more than wee, but if you¡¯d rather go for some spiritual fruits, then I would suggest we split up here . "

    Xue Wei was not interested in splitting up with Wang Xiaoyun, but he understood that he could not force his idea down on them, they had the right to choose their own path .

    "We will follow you . " While all of them were slightly intrigued by the Spiritual fruits, all of them were aware that they needed a certain strength to get these items .

    If they were to split up now, then not only would they be an easier target to others, they would also lose out on a great learning experience since staying with Xue Wei taught them many things .

    Also, one had to be alive to enjoy the benefits . Only by staying together with Xue Wei and his friends did they sense that they had a chance of survival .

    Looking at them all, and seeing the determination in their eyes, a smile erupted on Xue Wei¡¯s lips . "Good," he said happily . Wang Xiaoyun was not leaving him for a bit longer, at least .

    Taking out the flying vessel again, all of them went on board, and Xue Wei began cultivating .

    The Bloodletting had caused him to get an increase in his strength . He was not sure how much of an advance he had gotten, but he was inquisitive .

    Sitting down cross-legged, he found the blood bead within his dantian, constantly releasing wave after wave of Qi .

    The Qi then turned into a mixture of small azure dragons and small vermilion feathers that roamed through his veins and in his dantian . The Qi was being changed to be his own .

    Sensing that he could convert the blood bead into his own Qi, Xue Wei did not hesitate to start refining the blood bead, and his cultivation level soared at an rming speed .

    Although he had only managed to take a fraction of strength from the Scarlet Bee Queen, this fraction was equivalent to oneyer of cultivation for her, so she had dropped to the eightyer of the Earth Saint rank .

    This oneyer¡¯s strength was, of course, a great pain for her to lose, but to Xue Wei, it was a notable and rather frightening increase in power .

    Soon he broke through to the nextyer . Still, the blood bead had not lost its energy yet, even more, was hidden inside, and Xue Wei continued to absorb it, feeling how his bones and every cell in his body were being nurtured by the immense amount of Qi that was pouring into him .

    It was not before he broke through to the firstyer of the Earth Saint rank, that the energy slowly subsided .

    Such a massive boost in strength was terrific, but Xue Wei also understood that this was not the best time to have such a boost .

    It was just recently that he was promoted into the Ordinary Saint rank, he had not had enough time to fully get used to being a Saint, and while he had fought some battles, it was not enough .

    Realizing that his foundations might be unstable, Xue Wei was in deep thought and deeply considering what to do .

    Understanding Xue Wei¡¯s plight, Bai Tianyi, who was seated by his side, said casually . "I got a technique which will allow you to put seals on your cultivation base . The highest amount of seals one can have is nine . When you have nine seals, all your strength will be pressed together . Although your cultivation base will be lower than it is now, it will be better battle efficiency, and it will cause your foundations to be solid as a rock . "

    "Why did you not mention it before?" Xue Wei asked perplexed, but Bai Tianyi just spread his arms, "you need an unstable foundation for it to work . Up until now, that has never been an issue for you . "

    Xue Wei nodded his head . "I¡¯ll give it a try," he said and looked at Bai Tianyi, who raised a finger and a stream of light shot into his mind . The technique was imparted directly into the innermost thoughts .

    Taking a deep breath, Xue Wei began creating the seals on his body . The first seal was ced on his chest, it was hard to create as it was made from Qi, but after attempting it a few times, a weak seal appeared on his skin .

    Soon after, the seal turned much more real, as he marked the second seal on top of the first .

    Like this, a week went by, and during this week, no one disturbed Xue Wei . They could all feel that his cultivation base was dropping more and more as time went by, but the expression on his face was filled with happiness .

 Chapter 372

    Chapter 372: 372

    The people from the Wang Xiaoyun group were stunned . Why would he seem so ecstatic when his cultivation base was dropping? Was there something they had not understood?

    His cultivation base did not just drop to the Ordinary Saintyer; it kept dwindling until he was once more a Heavenly Knight .

    When he finally opened his eyes again, nine seals were ced on his chest, suppressing his cultivation . To be able to advance in the future would be many times moreplicated than it had been up until now, but the results would also be much more shocking .

    No one at his level would be able to beat him; even level jumping battles were not hard to him .

    Xue Wei smiled satisfied as he felt the Qi dragons and Qi feathers within his veins had gained a significant undtion of strength . Although they were now supposed to be weaker, he felt stronger than before . Not as feeble .

    "What happened to you?" Wang Xiaoyun had also seen the transformation he had undergone, and she was curious as to why he would be so pleased with his decrease in strength .

    "I had rushed to the Earth Saint rank," he said honestly . "When I joined the Ascended¡¯s Realm, I was nothing more than a Heavenly Knight . Within the short while we have been here, I was promoted to an Earth Saint .

    "While the strength is very wee, the problem is that my foundation had be unstable . Now I have sealed my foundation, and while my cultivation base has regressed, my strength has soared .

    "Now I have the sturdiest of foundations, all the impurities of the pills I have consumed throughout the years have also been dispelled . I am feeling much more powerful than ever before . "

    Hearing his exnation, everyone felt relieved . They had already seen his strength in battle, so for him to say that he was now stronger than before made them feel safe .

    Bai Tianyi also nodded his head in approval . It was definitely what he had wanted to see . Although it was great to advance fast, it was nothing if your foundation was unstable .

    There were different risks with an unstable foundation . First of all, one¡¯s attacks would be a lot less effectivepared to others at the same rank . Secondly, it might copse at any moment, and if this happened, one would either be unable to advance in the future; some might even be a cripple .

    Bai Tianyi had admitted that Xue Wei was his master, and as the master of him, the most amazing sword spirit in the entire world, he was not willing to see his master sumb to an unstable foundation .

    He was also proud when he saw that Xue Wei had not just used one or two seals, but had engraved the full nine seals that he could carve .

    Nine seals would mean that every single advance in the future would need nine times the effort, but he would also be nine times as powerful .

    At first, everyone was tempted to use the same technique to solidify their own cultivation base . Still, after being told that it would require nine times as much effort, the only one who continued to be curious was Wang Xiaoyun .

    "On behalf of you being my future mistress, I don¡¯t mind sharing the technique with you," Bai Tianyi said as he blinked innocently at Wang Xiaoyun, his words causing her face to turn beet red as she nced at Xue Wei, however right now he was unable to hear what they were saying, he was discussing their ns with Hei Gou .

    He had been spending a week cultivating, and during this week, the vessel had been flying towards their destination . From time to time, they would stop the vessel and pick up some rare materials that Luoluo had sensed, but they only stayed for the real treasures that were almost impossible to find in the outside world .

    Now that Xue Wei was awake again, they were wondering what to do . Should they continue taking the vessel and arrive at the border between spring and summer as soon as possible, or should they travel on the ground and pick up treasures on the way?

    The reason they hade to the Ascended¡¯s Realm in the first ce was to get treasures, and some felt that they were spending too much time traveling and not enough looking for treasures .

    Others felt that it was much better to fly directly to their destination and then look for treasures when they arrived there .

    Xue Wei did not care either way . His gains within the Ascended¡¯s Realm were simply too overwhelming, even if he got no more treasures, he had already significantly benefitted .

    Even so, he would never say no thank you to more treasures . As such, he allowed all the others toe up with a decision, and soon theynded on the ground, starting to walk towards their destination .

    Just as theynded, they found a few herbs that were of use to them, and they quickly pocketed them before they began moving .

    They had not gotten far before suddenly they heard the sounds of battles .

    The battle was intense, and the sound of yelling could be heard . It was clear that the people fighting were all guests in the Ascended¡¯s Realm .

    "Should we go and take a look?" Someone asked, and Xue Wei nodded his head . He had a feeling that he had finally found the people from the Vermilion Bird n, as some of the voices that were screaming could be recognized .

    As they arrived at the battle ce, they found that Xue Wei was correct . The temperature was rising drastically as five fully-grown Vermilion Birds were hovering in the air, ready to strike at any moment .

 Chapter 373

    Chapter 373: 373

    Xue Wei frowned . Why were there only Five Vermilion Birds?

    Looking around, he found that the rest of the Vermilion Bird n members were all knocked unconscious .

    Looking at the opponents, Xue Wei was not too surprised about the loss . Two groups had joined hands, and these two groups had two Earth Saints, alongside numerous Ordinary Saints .

    While the Vermillion Bird n was strong, they were unable to withstand such an onught . The only fortunate thing was that they had not been killed . The ones who were attacking them wished to take them prisoner . Was there perhaps a way to tame Sovereign Beasts?

    Thinking like this, Xue Wei¡¯s eyes narrowed . He had promised the Leader of the Sovereign Beast n that he would look after them . If they all got kidnapped when he was watching, he would never be able to look at the man again, not to mention the guilt he would be feeling would likely stop his cultivation progress in the future .

    "Everyone, save the birds!" he called out, and before the others had the time to react, Xue Wei¡¯s group attacked with a ferociousness that took them all by surprise . A relentlessness that spelled horror to the opponents .

    Hei Gou, who was an Earth Saint himself, pinned down the two Earth Saints that had attacked the Vermilion Bird n .

    His strength was so daunting that the two Earth Saint, although being two, were being continuously pressured and pushed backward .

    Their faces turned dark, their hands tightening their grip on their weapons and teeth grinding against one another .

    How could one single person stall two of them? He was even smiling mockingly, and every move was made casually as if it took him no effort to dy them .

    The others were also feeling dread when they saw this big group of people emerge . At first, they had not taken them seriously, but they had honed their skills through countless battles within the Ascended¡¯s Realm, and especially the struggle against the Scarlet Bees had made them all much more fierce .

    Now they did not hesitate to take the lives of their opponents . Blood was flowing in rivers, the scent permeated the air, making many beasts and humans in the surrounding areas curious as to what could have caused this .

    When they arrived, no one joined the battle . Instead, they were observing, hoping to reap the fisherman¡¯s benefits .

    Unfortunately, they soon understood that this was not an even battle that would leave someone weak afterward . This was a one-sided ughter!

    The battle did notst long; after a few minutes, the remaining people from the ones who had pressured the Vermilion Bird n noticed how things were going and tried to flee .

    Unfortunately, many of them died in the attempt . Turning their backs at their opponents was a must when wanting to flee, and these people of Xue Wei did not feel it beneath them to stab others in the back .

    This was a battlefield, and letting these people escape could end up causing evesting problems if they found someone else to protect them, or returned home and wished to get revengeter against Chang¡¯an or the Vermilion Bird n .

    The fact that they had dared to try and catch them showed that their backing in no way was inferior to the Vermilion Bird n . Hence Xue Wei wanted them eliminated .

    "Kill!" he called out, and a murderous killing intent started rolling from his body, shrouding everyone present in a killing frenzy .

    "Kill!"

    "Kill!"

    "Kill!"

    Everyone from Xue Wei¡¯s group felt their blood boil before they charged at the fleeing people, their eyes red from bloodlust, and no one was able to get far before they suddenly felt themselves caught .

    One after another, they were falling to the ground, and even the two Earth Saints were unable to escape in the end .

    Hei Gou had done a quick work out of them when he became serious .

    Although these people were Earth Saints, their foundations were not as sturdy as Hei Gou¡¯s; neither could they defeat his mutated bloodline, and they were taken by surprise, their throats shed by the ws on Hei Gou¡¯s hands .

    Now that they all had died, the bloodlust slowly subsided, and while some of the humans were frightened by their own ferocity, most of them were feeling excited .

    The fact that they were able to unleash their own strength in this way, under the guidance of the bloodlust made their blood boil with excitement .

    Although they were aware that the reason they could do this was because of Xue Wei, they did not think that anything was wrong with this . Xue Wei was the Leader of their group, after all .

    During the battle, he had dealt with the majority of the people; he had easily crushed people at his own level and Ordinary Saints, crushing them with his physical strength alone .

    "let¡¯s see the spoils of war," Xue Wei grinned as he began ruminating through the corpses, finding their storage treasures, and started looking through them .

    "Oh, they came from Autumn!" he said happily . "These storage treasures are bursting with spiritual fruits . How lucky we are!"

    The people from Wang Xiaoyun¡¯s group heard what Xue Wei said and was stunned . Then they startedughing . Some of them had wanted to go to Autumn, but because Xue Wei wasn¡¯t interested in going there, they went to Spring instead .

    Now they had encountered a group of people who handed over the things they had wanted from Autumn . This was simply the best of all worlds .

    Xue Wei split the treasures between everyone, including the five awake vermilion birds who had participated in the fight .

 Chapter 374

    Chapter 374: 374

    After splitting the treasures, Xue Wei went to the unconscious Vermilion Bird n members .

    When he saw them, he could not help but frown . It seemed that the trip in the Ascended¡¯s Realm had not been kind to them; theycked a full three members of their group . They had died during their adventures .

    Looking at the unconscious birds, he was unsure if he would be able to awaken them . He did not know if they had been drugged or just knocked out by force .

    Looking at the awake Vermilion Birds, Xue Wei asked them if they had seen them consume any medicine .

    "No," the awake experts said, "all of them got knocked out by force . If you look at them, you will see varying degrees of injuries . "

    "We have to take them away from here," Xue Wei suddenly said . His face turned ugly .

    "Pick one each and start running south!"

    The order was given, and no one dared dy when they saw the seriousness on Xue Wei¡¯s face .

    When they had all picked one up each, they started feeling slight tremors on the ground, and no one hesitated to flee . It was clear that a stampede of beasts was on the way .

    The thick stench of blood hung in the air; the mangled corpses were lying on the ground . Hopefully, this would be enough to stop them .

    No one hesitated as they ran, but although the escape was fast, they were all clear-minded and kept an eye on the people around them to ensure that they did not get split up from the group .

    They ran for a full two hours beforeing to a standstill in a small clearing . This clearing had a pond and an ethereal feel to it . There was a thin mist hovering on top of theke .

    Looking around, Xue Wei frowned . This ce was not simple .

    As to whether or not it was a ce of treasures, he did not know . He was not even sure if it was a dangerous ce, but everywhere within the Ascended¡¯s Realm contained a bit of danger .

    Xue Wei gestured for the others to ce the unconscious experts on the ground . He then found blood coagting herbs, medicinal pills, and other resources that could be used to help these people .

    Although these things were precious to most people, Xue Wei had gotten a mountain of these resources before in the Thunder Twilight Zone, and a lot back on Yan Dalu as well . He was a rich man .

    The herbs were crushed into a paste and smeared onto the wounds, the women were taking care of the women, while the men took care of the men .

    The Vermilion Bird n only had three women left surviving in the team, and all three had been unconscious .

    Wang Xiaoyun was behind a screen, taking care of them on her own . The screen was also one Xue Wei had found in one of the numerous storage treasures he had looted throughout the years .

    After smearing the herbal paste onto the wounds, and cing pills in their mouths, Xue Wei bandaged them, and they all just sat down, waiting for them to awaken .

    Wang Xiaoyun dressed the women after bandaging them, and then remove the screen again . It was best if they all could see each other .

    The Vermilion Bird n members who were awake were feeling conflicted when they looked at Xue Wei .

    Part of them regretted not staying with him at the beginning, if they had done so, they might all be alive now, but part of them was d that they had left him . Even now, he was still just a Heavenly Knight . He could not have experienced many lucky chances .

    Seeing theirplex eyes looking at him, Xue Wei was quickly able to tell what they were thinking, but he had no intention of telling them anything of what he had encountered .

    While he was not directly afraid of people, he had no intention of inviting trouble by showing off the many things he had gotten his hands on throughout the visit in the Ascended¡¯s Realm .

    The items from the Underground World alone were enough tost them for years of cultivating . He was aware that if someone knew of the wealth, he was carrying, then he would be the target of everyone .

    It was much better to be underestimated .

    While the group was waiting, Xue Wei was contemting . He had been cultivating simrly to how he did before, but even so, he had noticed that his advance was much slower now than before .

    Although the advance was much slower, the density of the Qi was also much more than before .

    It was clear that the benefits of the sealing technique were that his strength was simply undefeatable by others at the same level, but the downside was the immense time that was needed to advance .

    Sitting still, he was wondering if there was a way to increase the speed that cultivation took .

    He was not looking for short cuts, nor did he want to jeopardize the solid foundation he had just made, but he was aware that if he continued like this, it would take him a year to be an Ordinary Saint again, and that was a speed he could not ept .

    He began looking through his storage treasures to see what resources he had avable to him, and while he had many that could provide him with immense amounts of heaven and earth essence, he still needed time to refine it .

    Sighing, he took out a few resources, a few essence stones, ced them in his hands, and began cultivating by sucking the essence out of the stones and into his body .

 Chapter 375

    Chapter 375: 375

    Essence stones were not only currency, but they were also a resource that could be used to cultivate . However, no one wanted to use them unless they had a numerous amount .

    Many other resources could be used to enhance one¡¯s cultivation base, so it was not necessary to use essence stones .

    However, Xue Wei had gained more than one vein of top-ranked essence stones at the thunder twilight zone; he had also gotten a whole mountain of them in the underground world . He had so many that he could not use them all in his lifetime, so he might as well use them for cultivating .

    The many people who observed him were puzzled at first when they saw him taking out top-ranked essence stones . What purpose could he possibly have? But when they saw him starting to absorb the energy within, their hearts hurt .

    Even the Vermilion Bird n members were feeling their hearts ache . Although their n was immensely powerful and wealthy, it contained a numerous amount of members, all of them couldn¡¯t be rich .

    Seeing someone use top-ranked essence stones, which usually were used as currency, to cultivate was hurting them immensely .

    But Xue Wei ignored them . Although he had always been dillingent, he was now aware that he had to grasp every moment to cultivate . He was now much slower, so he needed more time as well .

    Bai Tianyi understood Xue Wei¡¯s sense of crisis, but he was still aware that Xue Wei would be able to go much further now than he could before, as his foundation and his bloodline were now both first ss .

    As a cultivator, time was the least of problems . Although it was true that one would be less of a genius if they took a long time to advance, time was what they had most of . When one reached the Saint rank, it was near impossible to die of old age, and thus Bai Tianyi was not too worried .

    Hei Gou, Lin Xiao, and Luoluo were all aware that something had changed with Xue Wei and his cultivation method, but they had not asked what had changed; neither did they show any interest in doing the same .

    They knew that the change had been gifted to Xue Wei from Bai Tianyi, so they knew it would not be dangerous . As such, they just kept to themselves .

    Slowly, while Xue Wei was cultivating, the Vermilion Bird experts woke up one after another . Their faces were filled with confusion .

    Some had expressions of despair, others had expressions of puzzlement, but when they saw Xue Wei and hispanions, excitement shed in their eyes .

    At least for most of them . The princes were looking at Xue Wei without hiding the disdain in their eyes . He had gone to some underground world, but now he was still just a Heavenly Knight . Still not a Saint, and now that the majority of the Vermilion Bird n¡¯s members were Ordinary Saints, they would not listen to his orders .

    It was not before after some time that they realized that Hei Gou was now an Earth Saint . And while he was an Earth Saint, many of the others were Ordinary Saints of the people who had saved them, and all of them were looking for Xue Wei as if he was their leader .

    The princes were unhappy . For what reason could this weakling order around an Earth Saint?

    At the same time, the many Ordinary Saints were a significant benefit in the Ascended¡¯s Realm, but why were they listening to Xue Wei? These princes very much disliked him .

    Xue Wei did not care about whether or not they liked or disliked him; he was only helping them because the old Vermilion Bird n Leader had been kind to him . He did not want to owe the older man anything .

    But the n Leader had already said that if they were too unruly, he could leave them, and if they did not follow orders, he could not be med .

    Even so, he was not going to run from his responsibility, and now he had saved them, so he was going to wait for them to wake up .

    The essence stones within his hands turned lusterless, and moments after, he crushed them to dust and removed it from his fingers .

    After a nce, he had seen that there were still three Vermilion Bird n members unconscious, so he picked another two top-ranked essence stones and began cultivating again .

    It was not only Xue Wei who was cultivating, but the others also followed suit, but a few were alert and frowning . Luoluo was one of them .

    There was something about this clearing, especially the pond and the mist, that made her feel ufortable . But as to why she was unable to say something .

    "Everyone, move away from the pond," Luoluo suddenly said, and those who had been standing close to the pond quickly left .

    Although Luoluo was a child, she was a member of Xue Wei¡¯s group, and they understood that she was not someone to be belittled . She was a child, but she should not be treated as a child .

    When the people who had been close to the pond left, Luoluo frowned as her eyes pierced the mist . The difort was growing increasingly, but it was not painful, it was more like something powerful was pressuring her .

    But of all the people present, only she could feel it . She looked at Xue Wei, but he was entirely focused on cultivating . She then observed Hei Gou, but he was busy scouting the forest that surrounded the clearing .

    The next she looked at, with some expectation, was Bai Tianyi . Bai Tianyi was a spirit like her, but he still showed no abnormality . It was weird .

 Chapter 376

    Chapter 376: 376

    Taking a deep breath, Luoluo took a step towards the pond, but this one step was already an immense challenge . The pressure on her was growing increasingly overwhelming with that one step, and she started sweating, her breathing became hurried .

    Xue Wei awoke from his cultivation and looked at Luoluo with a frown on his face; the others were also observing her curiously .

    What was going on?

    Luoluo¡¯s face was scrunched up in an ugly expression, her brows furrowed .

    She did not stop after one step but took another step, followed by a third . Gasping for air, anyone could see that something was happening within Luoluo as she was advancing to theke . Still, the strange thing was that this overwhelming pressure was only on Luoluo and no one else .

    Xue Wei went to her side with no problems, but just as he was about to speak to her, Luoluo shook her head . "Let me deal with this," she said, her eyes glistening with excitement, and also puzzlement .

    Hearing her gasp out the words, Xue Wei nodded his head . He then turned around towards the others, and said, "We are staying here tonight . Everyone, settle down . We will be cultivating and taking turns to look after Luoluo . "

    The others quickly agreed . They all sat down one after another and took out their resources from their storage treasures . These resources had all been scavaged within the Ascended¡¯s Realm, and they used them to increase their cultivation .

    The Vermilion Birds were slightly ufortable as they were in the group . They did not respect Xue Wei at the same level as the others, so they had gathered in a group of their own far away from the others .

    Looking at them like this, Xue Wei had no interest in looking after them, but at the same time, the group of Vermilion Birds was also aware that they could not survive in the Ascended Realm on their own, so they had to seek shelter in arger group .

    Xue Wei¡¯s group contained numerous amounts of Saints, even Earth Saints . Although they did not respect Xue Wei, they respected these Earth Saints .

    Xue Wei could not be bothered to deal with them . If they wanted to tag along, then they could, but he would give them no resources unless they participated in the battles .

    He was not a saint, and this group had annoyed him time and time again . He had done everything in his power to help them, this time even saving them, but in the end, they had still been ungrateful .

    Silence descended upon the group of people . Still, while Xue Wei was cultivating with all his might, Lin Xiao was observing Luoluo, he was feeling ufortable and worried about her .

    The little figure of Luoluo was trembling as she was inching closer and closer to theke . However, anyone who wasing towards her was being shooed away in an instant .

    They all understood that the pond was not as innocent and natural as it seemed . The Vermilion Birds had been tempted to enter it themselves to start looking for fortunate encounters, but they dared not since the other group had said that no one was to get into a close proximity of the pond . If they went against their words, they would lose more than they would gain .

    Luoluo spent half the night to take the few steps towards the shore, and as she arrived, the mist that had been hovering above it, suddenly split into two in front of her, but at the same time, it shrouded her from the back, ensuring that no one could see what was happening within .

    Luoluo vanished in the mist, and they all felt worried, but they did not rush to her side; neither did they hurry to drag her out .

    They could not hear any sounds from within the mist; all they could sense was that the thick mist had swallowed Luoluo whole .

    Luoluo, who was within the mist, was not blinded as it had split in front of her, making a line towards the center of the pond .

    In the center of the pond was a big ice sculpture of a winged snake . The blue eyes were glistening, the scaled body releasing an immense pressure .

    Although this was unlike anything she had seen before, Luoluo was not afraid . It was as if this snake was not hostile towards her .

    She continued to struggle to move forward . Her movements were not smooth, but they were not as troubled as before . Seeing the snake had made her feel a sense of belonging, and eagerness was creeping up within her heart .

    When she reached the side of the snake, she could not help but reach out her hand and touch it . The cool, smooth touch on her hand was gentle .

    Just as she touched the snake, all the mist that had been above theke suddenly flooded into her body, and the snake shrunk at speed visible to the naked eye .

    Within moments, it had be a small bracelet that was on her arm, but Luoluo noticed nothing . The moment the mist came into contact with her body, Luoluo lost her consciousness .

    Everyone had stopped cultivating and were now observing the mist . The moment they heard any noise from within, they would enter to get Luoluo out, but what happened stunned them .

    They saw how the mist all poured into her body, and her body began shining with a golden hue . It was clear that this energy was stimting her body in one way or another .

    Lin Xiao hurried into theke and took her out, cing her on the ground and observed her body .

 Chapter 377

    Chapter 377: 377

    The golden glow was growing in size and making a cocoon around her body . It materialized as if it was silk threads, and no one could see what was going on inside .

    Everyone hade to see what was happening; even the Vermilion Birds were curious as to what was going on, no one seemed to understand it .

    Xue Wei was observing it in silence, he reached out his hand, but the gentle golden light pushed him back again, not allowing him to close in on the cocoon .

    "Let¡¯s wait and see what happens," he finally decided .

    He could feel no maliciousness from the energy, and thus all he felt was the need to observe . Hopefully, this was a lucky encounter for Luoluo .

    After being drained of so much energy previously back at Yan Dalu, her foundations had been unstable, but due to her being a spirit, it was very different from a human cultivator .

    When a spirit had an unstable foundation, it was like a broken marble . There would have a crack within the marble itself, but it could slowly mend itself, the crack getting smaller and smaller until it vanished .

    This caused her cultivation speed to slow down, she was slower at advancing, but she was able to advance still .

    Her injured core was slowly being mended as she grew, but Xue Wei had the impression that this encounter with the pond would heal herpletely . He even had the impression that she might advance from it .

    It was not only him who thought so, everyone present could feel the undtions of advancement, and they all felt envious, some even jealous .

    But they knew that this lucky encounter was only for Luoluo . All of them had been next to the pond for so long, but it was only her who had reacted to it . Hence it was natural that the energy within theke had preferred her to any of the other people .

    Once again, the Vermilion Bird n looked down upon Xue Wei . He was their leader, but he could not even attract the attention of a lucky encounter . What basis did he have to lead them, even a child by his side was more fortunate than him!

    Xue Wei did not pay any mind to the Vermilion Bird n members, even if they had said out loud what they were thinking, he would merely snort at them in disdain . Not everything was about strength or luck .

    Also, he was not embarrassed by his current strength; he was delighted with his power after sealing his foundation .

    His goal was not to be revered by people . He was not cultivating for fame and recognition . What he needed was the strength and ability to go further than anyone else had ever gone .

    Xue Wei needed to be able to end the war in Chang¡¯an, but to do so; he needed to step into a much higher stage than now . And if he wished to cultivate further, his foundation had to be rock solid .

    Xue Wei took out another two essence stones and began cultivating again . He had told Lin Xiao to look after Luoluo, and if something were to happen to her, then he should awaken him immediately .

    The day went by with no problems; it was strange how easily they passed the day, no beasts arrived in the clearing, or even around it, they hadplete and utter peace as if they were cut off from the rest of the Ascended¡¯s Realm .

    The night was equally peaceful . It was so quiet that they all found it somewhat unnerving .

    As the sun reached above the horizon on the second day¡¯s daybreak, the golden silk-like threads on Luoluo¡¯s body slowly cracked, and her cocoon started to disintegrate .

    Inside the cocoon, the shape of a woman could be seen, this woman was not a young child as she had seemed like before, instead she seemed to be around fifteen or sixteen years old, a few years younger than Xue Wei and the others .

    Her body was draped in a golden dress, her hair adorned with golden hair essories .

    The ck hair was as fine silk, the skin as white as if it had powder smeared all over . She was an immense beauty .

    Her eyshes fluttered, her brows furrowed, and her eyes opened slowly . The confusion was evident within the beautiful eyes, and she had a sharp headache .

    Slowly she rose to her feet, and then everyone saw the beautiful but strange, tattoed bracelet on her arm . It resembled a winged ice snake .

    When she had been cocooned, the bracelet had been ced on her arms, but now it seemed as if it was a part of her skin .

    Everyone was looking at her in shock; even Xue Wei was stunned . He had expected that her core would be healed, but this advance was simply outstanding . What was the winged ice snake they had encountered?

    "Are you okay?" Xue Wei tenderly asked the girl . She was no longer a child, but she would always be his younger sister . There was nothing impure about his thoughts, only happiness about her having grown up and healed .

    "I¡¯m fine," Luoluo said, frowning as she tried to rise from the ground . "Big Brother Wei, I dreamt about a big snake! He was left here by someone named Lan . The guy named Lan has some rtion to the Vermilion Bird, who made this Ascended¡¯s Realm . "

    Luoluo wanted to exin what she had encountered in the dreams, but Xue Wei stopped her first . "Check your body first, see if you are feeling ufortable, and familiarize yourself with the changes . When you are certain that everything is good, then we can talk about Lan . "

 Chapter 378

    Chapter 378: 378

    Watching how the attractive young girl and Xue Wei were so close, and the fact that they had spent so much time together, Wang Xiaoyun suddenly felt a stifled feeling in her chest .

    She did not know why, but she was not feeling good about it . Even so, she quickly got hold of her feelings and suppressed the unhappiness .

    She was the one who had left Xue Wei back then . She was also the one who hated beasts more than anything .

    Why was it that now, when she had left him and when she obviously was supposed to hate him, that her heart ached and she was feeling ufortable .

    She was not even sure about the rtionship between Luoluo and Xue Wei, but she had already thought of the worst .

    Luoluo and Xue Wei were busy checking whether or not this encounter was truly a fortunate one, or if it just seemed like that on the outside .

    Luoluo sat down, her body being checked from every angle, and the smile on her face started to surface .

    "It removed all hidden injuries, and my body has even gotten a sheer amount of energy . Not to mention, my energy has changed to have a strange affinity with the element of Ice . "

    When she said this, Luoluo was quite puzzled .

    "Elemental affinities usually connect to Qi users, not Spiritual Energy users, but it seems that exceptions happen from time to time . I guess it has something to do with the Winged Snake . "

    "Winged Snake?" Xue Wei frowned as he looked at Luoluo¡¯s wrist, where the tattoo could be seen . He had not seen the snake elsewhere, but a bit of familiarity could be seen in the depth of his eyes .

    "That¡¯s right," Luoluo nodded her head . "When I was inside the mist, I saw a big frozen four-winged snake . It was so beautiful, so ethereal, and I am sure that the snake was the reason for my continued advance and healing . "

    Xue Wei nodded his head and rubbed her at the top of her hair . Although she was now older, she would always be his little sister; even if she grew older than him one day, she would still be his cute little sister .

    But while the gesture was very innocent in the eyes of Xue Wei and hispanions, it was causing Wang Xiaoyun to feel uneasy .

    "We should move on," Xue Wei said after realizing that Luoluo was fine .

    "The luck in this location has already been used up; if we stay here, we will not get any more fortunate encounters throughout the rest of the trip in the Ascended¡¯s Realm . "

    He looked at them all who had gathered together . "I was wondering who is going to continue traveling with us, and who wish to split up?"

    Although he knew that no one was going to split up, he gave them the chance to choose for themselves .

    He had already spent some time together with the Vermilion Bird ns, and he had understood that they would put all the me on him if everything went bad .

    Although he did not care about how others looked at him, he could not be bothered to be med consistently .

    As he had expected, everyone quickly agreed to move together . Although, what he had not expected was that the one who hesitated the most was Wang Xiaoyun, and his heart clenched . Why was she suddenly showing him the cold shoulder?

    After traveling for a full day, Xue Wei continued to observe Wang Xiaoyun, and he noticed that she was extraordinarily listless and walking at the back, not paying attention to anything .

    When they sat camp for the night, Xue Wei hurried to Wang Xiaoyun¡¯s side .

    "Can I talk with you?" He asked gently, and he saw that Wang Xiaoyun nced at him, then looked at Luoluo, before she nodded her head silently .

    Not sure what to make of her nce, Xue Wei frowned, but he gently left the camp, closely followed by Wang Xiaoyun .

    "Xiaoyun, what¡¯s wrong? You haven¡¯t seemed veryfortable today; I am worried about you . " Xue Wei said with his most caring voice .

    Wang Xiaoyun looked at Xue Wei and bit her lower lip; she bit so hard that the lip turned pale before a drop of blood appeared .

    Xue Wei felt his heart clench by this and quickly helped her ease, "don¡¯t harm yourself," he said distressed .

    "Wei, I will be honest with you," Wang Xiaoyun took a deep breath . "I like you, I have always liked you, but I am a simple woman . You are a beast, and this is something I am already having a hard time epting, but more than that, if something is to happen between us, then I need to know that I will be your one and only lover for the rest of our lives . If you betray me, I will leave you no matter how much I care for you . "

    Hearing the words Wang Xiaoyun was saying, Xue Wei¡¯s heart was beating rapidly . He was suddenly so filled with excitement and happiness . Since he met Wang Xiaoyun, she was the only woman who held a spot in his heart . Although he cared about Luoluo that was like one care about a sister, not like one would treat their lover .

    "You are the only one I like," Xue Wei said solemnly . "I can¡¯t stop thinking about you; I only want to be close to you . I even decided to be so strong that I could end the war in Chang¡¯an for your sake . "

    "But what about you and Luoluo?" Wang Xiaoyun could not help but ask; tears were threatening to spill from her eyes .

    "Luoluo?" Xue Wei was perplexed . "She is my sister . "

 Chapter 379

    Chapter 379: 379

    Hearing the answer from Xue Wei, Wang Xiaoyun managed to get her emotions under control . Even so, she looked at Xue Wei with distrust .

    "Listen to me first," Xue Wei said gently . "Luoluo is a spirit . She was kept captive for a long time; her powers used to fuel an academy at the continent Yan Dalu .

    "She had forgotten who she was and everything that had to do with her life . She was very pitiful and all alone, so I adopted her as my sister .

    "Back then, she was a brat, a tiny child . I might be a beast, but I already have you, and I have absolutely no interest in children .

    "She has been a child by my side since she started following us, and even now she has grown older, she is just a slightly older child . She will always be my little sister .

    "I don¡¯t mind exining to you, but please believe in my sincerity as well . I cannot leave Luoluo alone . She is my sister . But I cannot leave you either . You are the one in my heart, the one who took it away so many years prior and still make it beat rapidly . Without you, I would never have the strength to face the day after tomorrow . It is for our sake that I am increasing my strength . "

    Wang Xiaoyun had at first been devastated, but after hearing Xue Wei¡¯s exnation, she suddenly turned nervous .

    She had exposed her emotions with no restraint because she thought that she would be turned down, but now she was embarrassed because she had overthought the whole situation .

    Xue Wei reached out his hand and cupped her cheek into his palm .

    "I cannot return to Chang¡¯an right now," he said regretfully . "I need to get stronger before I go back and face those old monsters . But when I can, I wille and end the war . When the war is ended, I will take you as mywful wife . You will have to wait until then," there was a bit of pleading in his eyes .

    "I know that we are no longer as young as we were when we first met, but our lifespan is much longer now we are so far down the road of cultivation . I promise that before fifty years have passed, I wille and make you my wife . "

    Wang Xiaoyun¡¯s eyes widened in shock when she heard his promise . At first, she had thought that it was many years, but when she was reminded that he needed to stand on top of the continent, she knew it was already the shortest time frame he could offer her .

    Fifty years . It sounded like a lot, but the truth was that to cultivators, it was not that much time . Although she was unsure if she would be able to survive that long, she would hold on with herst breath for Xue Wei¡¯s sake while fighting against the beasts .

    Although she no longer held hatred towards all beasts, the ones who were engaged in the war, she could not let go of them .

    Especially Chu Huiyin, the ice harpy . She had to kill Chu Huiyin with her own hands, Chu Huiyin, who had murdered her entire family!

    Thinking about Chu Huiyin, coldness seeped into her bones, but moments after, she looked at Xue Wei and took a deep sigh .

    "Fifty years . You better remember it," she said, her face finally carrying a smile . Her smile seemed as if she had let go of arge weight that had been pressing on her shoulders for ages .

    Hearing her reply, Xue Wei was over the moon . He knew that it meant that she had agreed to be with him, and he was ecstatic as he dragged her into his embrace, hugging her tightly .

    Wang Xiaoyun was stunned, and her entire body stiffened in nervousness .

    "Don¡¯t worry," Xue Wei assured her, "I will not do anything respectless to you . I can wait until we get married . "

    Hearing this, her stiff body softened slightly, and Wang Xiaoyun returned the hug that Xue Wei was giving her .

    No one knew how long time had passed when they finally returned to the campsite . They were walking hand in hand, and everyone looked shocked - mainly the ones from Chang¡¯an .

    The Vermilion Birds were of the impression that Wang Xiaoyun, although beautiful, was just a person that Xue Wei had picked up randomly .

    Only the ones who had been with them for some time knew of their background, and they had no intention of telling anyone about it either .

    "Sister-inw!" Luoluo saw how they were walking hand in hand and hurried to her side, calling out a title that made Wang Xiaoyun flush red and embarrassed .

    "We are not married yet," she protested slightly, but the only change it did was that Luoluo started referring to her as future sister-inw instead .

    Everyone from Chang¡¯an and Xue Wei¡¯s group gathered together and were in a celebrational mood . They all knew of their background and approved of them being together .

    Just as they were about to begin celebrating, the Vermilion Bird n members also appeared .

    Some of them curiously looked at Xue Wei and Wang Xiaoyun but said nothing and stayed out of their matters, but others were looking at them with disdain .

    Xue Wei frowned when he saw that some of them were ogling at Wang Xiaoyun, and fury erupted in his heart .

    Moving faster than a sh, he arrived by the side of the vermilion bird n who had been staring at her in a lecherous manner, and he swung out his leg, sending the man flying like a broken kite .

 Chapter 380

    Chapter 380: 380

    The faces of the Vermilion Bird n alternated between white and purple, their expressions ugly, and their eyes shing with anger .

    But Xue Wei was even more furious than them; his mood was severely affected . This was a happy asion, but they had been ogling at his future wife! There was no way he would ept this .

    The Vermilion Bird n Members were also shocked . They were aware that Xue Wei should be the leader of their group since their n leader had given him this task .

    How could he possibly lift his hand against them? He was their protector!

    But when they looked at the dark and ferocious expression on Xue Wei¡¯s face, and they felt the killing intent that was roiling around him, then they decided not to speak .

    If it indeed came to a battle, then they knew that they would stand no chance against Xue Wei¡¯s friends and the Chang¡¯an group .

    Still, the prince was unhappy and felt as if he had been pped across the face . Although he was not the one who had been beaten down, he was still a royal Vermilion Bird, and he was not pleased with what Xue Wei had done .

    "You should not have done that!" he eximed after gathering his courage . "You were only allowed inside this realm because my royal father let you in, and in return, your job was to protect us . Now you have harmed us; our royal father will never let you off when you get out!"

    "Are you done?" Xue Wei asked, his voice was dangerously low, his mood horrible . If it were not because this person was a Vermilion Bird, he would not have been so lighthanded as he was . He would, without a doubt, have taken his life .

    The prince did not seem to understand that Xue Wei was at his limits of how much anger he could suppress, and he continued to bber on how much Xue Wei owed them, and he still dared to beat them .

    Suddenly a sharp and piercing energy erupted from Xue Wei, whichnded on the chest of the prince, sending him flying and shutting his mouth as he vomited blood .

    "Shut up!" he eximed angrily .

    "I am not here to babysit you guys; if you continue to piss me off, you can go your own way . The n Leader already said that I was allowed to leave you behind if you turned out to be a hindrance, do you really think he will hate me for this?

    "It is you who constantly challenge my bottom lines . You who were so lecherous that you could not help but ogle at my wife, you who are causing problems all the time! I have saved you more than once; I have already fulfilled my promise . I am sure he will not make it difficult for me . "

    The prince was shocked when he heard Xue Wei¡¯s decisive words, and he kept quiet . Although he disliked Xue Wei, he understood that they relied on him and his friends right now to survive in the Ascended¡¯s Realm .

    Harrumphing, he said no more but went towards the other guy who had been sent flying by Xue Wei . He quickly ced a pill in his mouth, and when he woke up, he ordered him to absorb the medicine from the pill so that he could travel with them again in the morning .

    The man who had been sent flying was scared of the sudden disy of ruthlessness that Xue Wei had shown, but he still wanted revenge . Yet he understood that now was not the time to get it .

    When they were back at the Demon Phoenix Continent, it would be much more suitable for them to gain vengeance . They could tell the n Leader about Xue Wei not protecting them and even injuring them; they were sure that he would be punished then .

    Not caring for them at all, Xue Wei took Wang Xiaoyun to the friends¡¯ campsite, and the mood once more turned joyous .

    Everyone congratted them on being together once more, but no one asked what they had talked about . No onemented on their different races, nor about the fact that they were far from one another . They knew that everything would be solved by Xue Wei one way or another .

    The night broke into dawn, and the people who had been celebrating got ready to move again .

    "I can feel Qilins not far from here," Luoluo suddenly said . "Qilins are magnificent creatures; they have Qilin horns, which are as rare as phoenix feathers .

    "Where phoenix feathers are wonderful at raising the me grade of a person with a fire attributed Qi, the Qilin horn can simrily raise or even gift you with an elemental affinity .

    "Phoenixes exists as fire and ice phoenixes, and that is it, but Qilin exists as many more varieties . There are Fire Qilins, Thunder Qilins, Water Qilins, and so on .

    "The ones I can sense right now are thunder Qilins, so if you can get a few of their horns, then you can gain a thunder affinity . Although it is not a pure affinity like the five elements of wuxing, it is still powerful and useful . "

    Xue Wei was in deep thought . Multiple elemental affinities were a good thing, and he knew that thunder and lightning were a very rare element . If he could gain it this way, it would no doubt be the best thing .

    "Lead the way," he said to Luoluo, who nodded her head and began moving towards the denser area of the forest .

    The rest followed with bated breaths . All of them wanted to get a Qilin Horn .

 Chapter 381

    Chapter 381: 381

    It was not only Xue Wei who was intrigued and tempted, but even the Vermilion Birds also wanted to get ess to another element .

    The Vermilion Birds had an elemental affinity with Fire, but that was the only elemental affinity they had ess to due to their bloodline .

    Currently, Xue Wei had an elemental affinity with Wood and Fire, but he was aware that it¡¯d be beneficial for him to get the thunder attribute too .

    The more elemental affinities that one had ess to, the better one¡¯s fighting ability would be . Although the affinities could not be merged, one could change between them in a sh, causing problems for their opponents if that was what one wished .

    Elemental affinities were unlike Qi . Where Qi was what determined one¡¯s strength, elemental affinity was split into initiate, mediate, and advancedyers as to where one¡¯s control over the element existed .

    Currently, although Xue Wei had consumed many rare treasures to raise the me of his, and the wood element, both of them were present in the initiate domain .

    He had not managed even to reach the threshold for the Mediate domain .

    But he was not in a hurry . The more he used the elements and got used to the elements and the more he consumed treasures . Eventually, it would reach the mediate and even the advanced domain .

    If he gained the Qilin Horn, he would be able to get a thunder elemental affinity, but that one would also be at the initiating domain .

    While Xue Wei was deep in thought, they were advancing through the forest . Luoluo was leading the way, and everyone was silent as they understood the seriousness of the situation .

    Usually, Qilins were not flocking animals . However, Luoluo had said that there was more than one of them . Could it be that they had all grouped up for the sake of mating, or was something happening that they did not understand?

    Xue Wei was also slightly worried and on high alert, but risk and rewards went hand in hand . If he wanted a chance to gain the elemental affinity, it was worth it . Even if he couldn¡¯t get it, if he could help his friends to get it, it would be worth it .

    "Someone else has been here," Xue Wei suddenly said . "It looks like the Qilins has attracted more than just us . "

    The others were anxious to hurry to the side of the Qilins, but Luoluo and Xue Wei continued forward in the same careful manner as before .

    They were even more careful now as they knew that an ambush could be waiting for them .

    When they finally reached the battleground, all of them were stunned . They had thought that they would encounter a handful of Qilins, but it turned out to be a full thirty-seven of them! This was simply unbelievable!

    Fighting them was a group of experts that were not foreign to Xue Wei . It was the same experts that had teamed up with them when they were fighting the Scarlet Queen Bee .

    The situation was very simr to back then, just right now, it was their group that was struggling to hold on .

    "Do you need help?" Xue Wei asked as he looked at them, and they quickly nodded their heads, their leader yelling out, "We will split the horns fifty-fifty!"

    He had already worked with Xue Wei before, so he did not doubt his ability, and he knew that things would be much safer with his help .

    Xue Wei looked around and paused . It seemed that they were not the only two groups who had found the qilins . It was clear that another group was observing them, waiting for them to be drained of all fighting power .

    "Guys, go attack the qilins!" Xue Wei ordered before he too threw himself into the battle .

    Scale Shield!

    Devouring Azure Dragon!

    He instantly created an azure dragon from his qi, which had a will of its own . It could devour others¡¯ strength and convert it into its own, and thus it could fight for a long time .

    Xue Wei had used a lot of Qi to create this devouring Azure Dragon, and the sheer size of it was overwhelming as it started attacking the Qilins .

    Xue Wei also looked around before he took on the shape of an Azure Dragon .

    His ws were brandished, and he was attacking with all he had, but at the same time, he continued to keep an eye on the group who did not participate in the fight .

    After teaming up, the Qilins held no advantage and were slowly being killed one after another . Although there was a bit of casualty on the other side too, it was nothingpared to the Qilins .

    The Chang¡¯an Group lost one member, while the Vermilion Bird n had two who were severely wounded .

    The people quickly removed the qilins horns, the carcasses of the beasts were also treasures, so they too were gathered by the people .

    Splitting the goods fifty-fifty was easy . There were enough for everyone to get a Qilin Horn, and even have a few in reserve in both groups .

    Just as the other group was about to leave, Xue Wei gestured for them toe closer .

    "There is a group who is currently eying us," he said with a low voice . "I think they are trying to take our treasures from us, but they will not act as long as we are togheter . If you leave now, we will follow in half an hour .

    "We got to lure the snake up from its hole, and then deal with it in one swift move . "

    The group leader contemted for some time, but he ended up nodding his head . If they left alone, they were likely to be wiped out, and working with Xue Wei was quite a fortunate thing so far .

    "We share the loot fifty-fifty again," Xue Wei said, a bloodthirsty grin on his face .

 Chapter 382

    Chapter 382: 382

    Looking back at Xue Wei¡¯s bloodthirsty grin, the other leader could not help but shiver slightly .

    He knew that Xue Wei was a beast . Although he seemed human when he was in his human form, he couldn¡¯t hide the ruthlessness that was inherited through his genes, his entire body was screaming for a massacre .

    He felt fortunate that he was allied with such a cold and callous person, he feared that if they were enemies, he would have died a horrible death .

    "Let¡¯s go, we have caused a ruckus here, so there will be beasts and humansing soon . We should hurry and leave right away . " The leader might not be the best at spotting enemies around, but he was a brilliant actor .

    No one could see that he had already known that a group of experts targeted them .

    Xue Wei smiled wryly, but he nodded his head . "It was a pleasure working with you; these Qilin Horns will be a great benefit to us . Be careful in the rest of the time that this Ascended Realm is open . "

    The leader waved his hand and began leaving . Xue Wei paused for a bit and felt that the people who were observing them had also gotten ready to go .

    "Well then guys, on to find new treasures somewhere else," Xue Wei grinned as he gestured for them all to follow him .

    The Vermilion Bird n members were all having mixed emotions . Although they did not like Xue Wei, he had gotten them some fantastic benefits, so even if they disliked him, they shamelessly continued to follow him .

    They took a detour . It looked as if they were heading in the opposite direction of the other group, but upon entering the thicket of the forest, they made arge curve in their path, heading in the same direction as the other group had left .

    "When we¡¯ve cleared these trashes, we will pause for a bit . It is safest to consume the Qilin Horn before we leave the Ascended¡¯s Realm," Xue Wei muttered to himself . "I need not only the Qilin Horn but also to raise the purity of my me, the level of my elemental affinity domain .

    Xue Wei knew that focusing on Qi cultivation would be hard . Although he had to advance to a Saint again, he was not in a rush . He understood that the most important was actually his mes and elemental affinities .

    The sooner oneprehended an elemental affinity, the bigger the chance it had to grow in the future, and one¡¯s level of the elemental affinity would also be likely to rise higher .

    Because of this, he felt that it was a good idea to spend some time after this to focus on his cultivation base and elemental affinities .

    As for his team, they had already reaped countless benefits since they came to the Ascended¡¯s Realm . It was clear that while they could get more items, it was no longer necessary . The most important thing now was actually to keep onto the treasures they had found and not be robbed in the final time the ce was open .

    Best would be to find somewhere secluded and use the many resources they had gathered . This way they would be able to increase their strength and reduce the chance of losing their itemster on .

    While Xue Wei was busy thinking, they were advancing on the other group who were fighting the ones who had been like the mantis stalking the cicada unaware of the oriole from behind .

    "Hand over all your items!" someone was saying with a loud voice . "If you give us all your treasures, then we will let you leave with your lives intact!"

    "Why should we do that? Let me gift you those words back at you . Give us your items, and we will let you go alive . "

    The one who spoke now was the leader of the group, his voice was calm and carefree, he had full faith in Xue Wei would appear on time, and just as he had expected, Xue Wei¡¯s voice suddenly sounded .

    "My dear friend, don¡¯t make promises like that," his voice was jovial, even his face held an amiable smile .

    "Who are we to decide their lives? They decided to move on us; it is only natural for us to return the favor . They can hand over their lives alongside their treasures!"

    The words were harsh and gruesome, but they perfectly showed Xue Wei¡¯s personality .

    He was not a good guy . These people had intended to rob and cause problems for others throughout the time that was left in the Ascended Realm .

    But if they really were able to leave alive today, they would tell everyone about the Qilin Horns .

    If news got out about them, they would never have a peaceful day . Letting the enemy leave was simply the same as wounding yourself!

    The leader shrugged his shoulders as he looked at the team, which was now in the midst of a pincher attack .

    "Well, you heard him . Let down your lives alongside your treasures!"

    As soon as the words left his mouth, the leader waved his hand, and Xue Wei did the same . Everyone began fighting with their lives on the line .

    Since Xue Wei had said that no one was allowed to escape, he threw out a few space inscriptions which locked down the area they were in .

    Usually, he would not use such expensive inscriptions, but this was a critical situation . He could really not afford to let anyone leave alive, it was akin to inviting trouble .

 Chapter 383

    Chapter 383: 383

    The people who had been expecting a simple robbery were suddenly stunned . They were experienced and knew that the inscription that Xue Wei had thrown out was meant to lock space and make it impossible for one to escape and enter the area for approximately as long as it took for an incense stick to burn .

    The people who had nned the robbery were filled with despair . They hoped that they couldst long enough for one or two of them to escape, but it was a naive thought .

    Their resistance was futile, and their hearts were filled with despair . Where birds died for food, man died for treasure . Although they were aware that it was risky to rob another group, they still did it, and the result was very different from what they had expected .

    As the billowing of energies ceased, the corpses were strewn across the ground . This time they had lost no one . However, a few had a varying degree of injuries .

    It was still a short while before the space inscriptions would lift, and Xue Wei went out to share the medication he had, while he ordered the healthy to gather the spoils .

    Not long after the two leaders met and split it up, although they were not one group, the share was not causing anyone to feel cheated, they were both satisfied with how it was shared, and both Xue Wei and the other guy began sharing it with their people .

    Soon all the treasures had been split . The people who had tried to rob them had encountered a stroke of quite amazing luck throughout their time in the Ascended¡¯s Realm, and now this fortunate luck belonged to Xue Wei and the others .

    "Guys, I think it will be best for us to find a ce to settle down now," Xue Wei said with a sigh to the others . "We have already gotten a lot of treasures, and everyone should have arrived in Summer . If we continue to move on like this, we will, at some point, lose our luck and be the corpses that are lying on the ground, never to leave the realm again," Xue Wei said .

    The person who was listening in stopped in his tracks and looked at Xue Wei .

    "Do you know why everyone is heading for Summer?" he asked, clearly aware of something that Xue Wei did not know, but due to the fact that Xue Wei had saved his life, he decided to share the news with him .

    "Isn¡¯t it because the treasures here are more numerous?" Xue Wei frowned .

    "Well yes and no," the other leader said . "There is a mansion hidden within the depths of Summer . It is said to be the residence of the entity that built the realm .

    He should have made two residences within the realm, one is underground, and one is above ground .

    Xue Wei paused . He had already taken every treasure that was within the underground pce, but if there was one with as many treasures, should he not try and get them too?

    However, if everyone were heading for it, the danger would be immense . With their small group, they stood no chance .

    "Why don¡¯t we take a month to strengthen ourselves . If our team manages to take a qualitative leap upwards, then we will head for the manor, but if we cannot a breakthrough, then it is fate telling us to be satisfied with what we have . "

    The treasures did not blind Xue Wei . Although he wanted them, he was not in a rush to take them at all costs .

    One had to remember that the realm had been open so many times, but the manor was still there, untouched . It proved that it was in no way a simple thing to go there and get their hands on the treasures .

    "Can you tell me some more about this manor?" Xue Wei asked .

    Considering they had saved their lives, the leader was not stingy with his words as he nodded his head .

    "The manor is known as the Blue Phoenix Manor . As to whether or not it was set up by the same guy who sat up, the realm is unsure, but it was an expert who lived here for some time .

    "The manor is currently being protected by various inscriptions and beasts .

    "The inscriptions has been faltering thest many times that the realm has been open, and it should copse this time .

    "As to what is inside the manor, no one knows with certainty, but it is a ce where danger and chances lurk around every corner . "

    Xue Wei was silent for some time . A Blue Phoenix? They were immensely rare . But this realm was created by a Vermilion Bird . Could the blue phoenix that had made the manor be a descendant?

    "Well, let us see how much strength we can gain in the next month¡¯s time," Xue Wei said finally with a sigh . "If we can¡¯t even guarantee our own lives, then it is stupid to dream about it . "

    "Can we stay with you?" The other leader asked . He felt that working with Xue Wei would be a much better solution than going alone .

    Considering it for some time, Xue Wei nodded his head . It would be beneficial to have a bigger team . And although there was no trust between the two of them, they had worked well together up until now .

    Although they were teaming up, Xue Wei did not trust them . It was the same with the people from the Vermilion Bird n and a few of the people from the Chang¡¯an continent .

    They had been brought together because of profits, not because of loyalty .

    Seeing that the inscription was tuning into nothingness, Xue Wei took out a vessel, and all of them boarded it before it sped off into the distance .

 Chapter 384

    Chapter 384: 384

    They flew for a long time until they reached a mountain range, where they descended . Here Xue Wei used his strength to carve out arge cave in one of the mountainsides, and they all entered, aware that this would be their home for the next month .

    As soon as they arrived, Xue Wei ced multiple inscriptions at the entrance, masking their cave and putting out an illusion for those who came by .

    Having epted the protective measures, they all sat down cross-legged . None of them needed to guard, as Xue Wei would feel it the moment someone came close to his illusion inscription .

    Since they did not need to guard, all of them took stock of their treasures . Some decided to strengthen their Qi; they took out spiritual fruits and other herbs that could raise and enhance their Qi foundation andyer .

    Others decided to consume their Qilin horn and try to gain an affinity with the Thunder element .

    There were many elemental affinities in the world . However, the purest were the five elements known as wuxing . It was Fire, Metal, Water, Earth, and Wood .

    While these elements were the base of all elements, many other elements were also beneficial, the thunder and lightning element was especially very sought after, due to the attack power, and speed .

    Xue Wei was pondering on what to spend his time doing, but after contemting for some time, he took out a Qilin Horn and a ck Scorpion Lily .

    He had one in each hand, and while it was immensely taxing on his mind, he found that it was possible to absorb the ck Scorpion Lily whileprehending the elemental affinity in the Qilin Horn .

    The Qilin Horn was not supposed to be eaten, nor was it supposed to be ground to dust and used as a pill ingredient .

    Instead, it was bursting with energy, which the cultivator was to consume . The power was Qi, and it would have a beneficial impact on one¡¯s Qi levels, but at the same time, the Qi also carried with it the thunder and lightning elemental affinity .

    One would have to extract this and then spend some time merging it with one¡¯s body before it became tempered .

    After being tempered with the Qi from the Qilin Horn, it would be much more sensitive to the thunder and lightning Qi, hence one had reached the threshold for gaining the elemental affinity .

    As to whether or not the person was able to have an actual breakthrough in the aspect that depended entirely on the person¡¯s ability toprehend the energy .

    The majority of the people present had taken their Qilin Horns and were trying to absorb the energy . The air in the cave was trembling, and thunder and lightning could be heard above the mountain from time to time .

    There was so much thunder and lightning elemental energy in the air that it was impossible to get rid of it in a short while .

    However, sensing this, Xue Wei was not too unhappy . He put away the ck Scorpion Lily and began absorbing the energy in the air alongside the energy within his horn .

    There was no leakage of energy from his own horn, and a handful of the other experts also managed to absorb the energy with no leakage . Still, the majority did not have a firm enough control over their absorption rate .

    This meant that although they would gain the elemental affinity, it would not be as strong as if they could consumerger quantities of the energy .

    Xue Wei was not standing on ceremony with them . They were not his friends, and they were not his followers either . Absorbing the energy that was in the air was beneficial to him, and he was not stealing it from anyone as it would dissipate if he did not consume it .

    The sounds of thunder and the shes of lightning grew increasingly dense as the days passed .

    Some hade close to the mountain for the sake of finding treasures . They all assumed that the strange phenomenon was a sign of a new treasure being born .

    But no matter how much they scoured the mountain, it was impossible for them to locate a treasure, and after around a week, the thunder and lightning became less frequent . After two weeks, it had stopped altogether .

    Inside the cave, the thunder and lightning elemental Qi, which had permeated through the air, was long since gone . Now it was dense with other energies; some were soul energies, essences of heavens and earth, Qi, and Spiritual Energy . There was even the asional elemental affinity of varying types .

    Although they had finished absorbing the Qilin Horns, they were all still in closed-door cultivation . They had initially nned to stay for a month, and Xue Wei was adamant about keeping this time to cultivate .

    The more their strength rose, the higher the chance they had of surviving in the Blue Phoenix Manor .

    Seeing that all of them had varying degrees of sess in absorbing the Qilin Horn, he now had more faith in their strength .

    The only two who had not consumed the Qilin Horns were Bai Tianyi and Luoluo . Neither of them could use them, so they had focused on their Spiritual Energy during this time, consumed numerous treasures that enhanced their strength .

    Luoluo was now like a seventeen-year-old woman, she was alluring and attractive, but although her age had only risen with two years, Xue Wei did not doubt that her strength had taken a qualitative leap upwards .

    The small snake was still attached to her wrist, and he could sometimes feel a dense aura being released from it .

    It seemed that the legacy that Luoluo had gotten was not ordinary .

 Chapter 385

    Chapter 385: 385

    Everyone had gained immense benefits throughout the one month they had been cooped up within the mountain cave .

    Xue Wei had focused on his thunder and lightning elemental affinity first, followed by his Qi levels next .

    He had consumed numerous treasures like the ck Scorpion Lily, which increase one¡¯s Qi levels . Thest week of their closed-door cultivation, Xue Wei had stopped consuming herbs and other resources, and instead focused on getting rid of impurities and stabilizing his foundation .

    Hei Gou, Bai Tianyi, Luoluo, Wang Xiaoyun, and Lin Xiao were the same . All of them had consumed lots of resources, but the final week they had all stopped, only to consolidate their gains .

    Although their strength had risen, and even though they had consumed many resources, their ranks had not leaped .

    Xue Wei¡¯s Qi level was still at the ninthyer Heavenly Knight rank, Lin Xiao was still at the seventhyer of the Ordinary Saint rank, while Hei Gou was at the Earth Saint firstyer . Wang Xiaoyun¡¯s strength was also still at the ninthyer of the Ordinary Saint realm .

    Even though this group had not risen their strength, they had gotten much more than the ones who rapidly rose in ranks, bringing with them a shaky foundation .

    Amongst the Vermilion Birds, one of them, a prince, had reached the Earth Rank, while the others were still Heavenly Knights or Ordinary Saints .

    The Chang¡¯an group had also advanced at a rapid pace; everyone had at least risen by oneyer, a few even by a fewyers .

    All of them were bursting with satisfaction and pride, especially the prince of the Vermilion Bird n .

    He looked at Xue Wei with disdain . Now, why would he ever take orders from a measly little Heavenly Knight?

    While the person was filled with self-righteousness, Xue Wei was considering the gains he had gotten . Although he had not returned to being an Ordinary Saint, he was very close to the breakthrough, and his currentbat ability was far better than ever before .

    Having realized this, he felt that the danger within the Blue Phoenix Manor had lowered significantly . Even if they could not defeat all teams they encountered, they could at least escape alive .

    Straightening his back, Xue Wei looked at the many people who were within his make-shift cave, and he smiled . Although they had to share the treasure, more treasure was always to be preferred .

    He did not currentlyck anything as he had all the resources from Thunder Twilight Zone and the underground pce, but realizing that his group was in need of numerous resources, he knew that this chance was not one he could miss .

    "We are leaving for the Blue Phoenix Manor tomorrow morning," he dered, "those who want toe with us are wee to do so, those who do not wish toe with us can either stay here within the cave and cultivate, or try their own luck as they travel around the Asceded¡¯s Realm . "

    "Who do you think you are, wanting to lead a group of Saints with your strength as a simple Heavenly Knight?" The prince had been waiting for a chance toin about Xue Wei, and now was the most suitable opportunity .

    "If you don¡¯t want to follow my lead, no one is going to force you," Xue Wei said casually, toozy to argue with the person . "I will be leading a group; what the rest of you does has absolutely nothing to do with me . It is not my responsibility to worry about you, so pick what you want to do yourself . "

    The prince paused and contemted for some time before he haughtily raised his chin . "I am leading a team to the Blue Phoenix Manor," he suddenly said, "my team will be led by an Earth Saint, rather than a Heavenly Knight . Those who want to get a chance of the treasures, would you prefer following a weak Knight, or an illustrious Earth Saint?"

    His words were very simple, and the others were moved . Especially the group who had teamed up with Xue Wei multiple times . Although they had benefitted so far, they were realistic . Xue Wei was merely a Knight; he would not be able to stand out, whereas these Vermilion Birds were much stronger over all .

    Seeing their dodging expressions, a sneer appeared on Xue Wei¡¯s lips, turned out he had been friendly towards a snake .

    "If you feel that way, then just pick whatever group you wish to join," Xue Wei said without a care in the world . The two groups were actually dragging him down in a way .

    While they would have a more significant intimidating power, they would be an obstacle if it really came to a fight .

    With fewer people, it would be easier to escape; it would also be easier to go all out in battles .

    Not long after, the people from Chang¡¯an also started feeling slightly worried . The Chang¡¯an group was the weakest amongst them all if Xue Wei lost the help of the majority, would he be able to keep them safe?

    As such, they decided to stay in the cave . All apart from Wang Xiaoyun would stay behind and use the many treasures they had already gained while she would follow Xue Wei to the Blue Phoenix Manor .

    In the end, the three groups had been formed . Xue Wei¡¯s group had narrowed down immensely, from before where everything had been considered his group, to now where it consisted of Lin Xiao, Hei Gou, Wang Xiaoyun, Bai Tianyi, Luoluo, and himself .

    The biggest group was, without a doubt, thebined groups of their previous allies and the Vermilion Bird n .

 Chapter 386

    Chapter 386: 386

    Xue Wei was not in a hurry to leave . He knew that the other group was rushing, as they felt that if they were slow, all the treasures would have been taken away by others .

    But Xue Wei was not in a hurry . This Blue Phoenix Mansion had been at the Ascended¡¯s Realm for a long time; it had never been breached before .

    Even if they managed to get there, it would take some time for the protective array to break down . They really did not need to hurry .

    Xue Wei looked at his group . Although the Chang¡¯an members had decided not to follow them to the Blue Phoenix Mansion, Xue Wei was not feeling disappointed .

    These people were weak; they would not be a benefit in the fight at the Blue Phoenix Manor . Therefore he was happy that only Wang Xiaoyun followed him and his friends .

    After waiting for a bit of time, Xue Wei kept away his half-used resources, and he slowly rose to his feet .

    Dusting his robes, he stretched his body . Abundant energy was bursting in his meridians, he could feel a strength unlike ever before, and he currently had control of three elements, wood, fire, and lightning .

    The sudden rise in strength had eclipsed what he had expected . He had initially thought that it would be enough to just consume and absorb the energy within the Qilin Horn within a month, but it was clear that he had gained much more than that .

    Moving out of the cave, the group walked down the mountain . The cave was still protected by the inscriptions, and no one would be able to locate it . Even Xue Wei, who had sat up the inscription, would be hard-pressed to find it again .

    But they did not worry . These experts of the Chang¡¯an Realm had decided to stay there until the closure of the realm; they knew that when the Ascended¡¯s Realm closed down again, then they would return to the exact ce they were when it opened .

    Xue Wei and his friends would return to the Demon Phoenix Continent, while Wang Xiaoyun would appear with the ones in the cave at Chang¡¯an continent .

    As they reached the foot of the mountain, Xue Wei once more took out his flying vessel, and all of them boarded it before it sped off into the distance .

    The essence stones that were needed to fuel the vessel were not a problem for Xue Wei at all . He had so many that this was the best use of them .

    When they reached the center of Summer, they found that others were also using flying vessels, all of them were heading the same way .

    Up until now, Xue Wei had not seen anyone apart from him using a flying vessel in the Ascended¡¯s Realm, so he could not help but raise an eyebrow in surprise .

    It seemed that he had severely underestimated the groups that had entered the realm this time . The ones they hade across so far were not amongst the top groups of experts that had entered the realm .

    Realizing this, Xue Wei could not help but grin slightly . It was clear that there would be intense fights in the Blue Phoenix Manor, but he was not worried too much about it .

    Xue Wei was not one to back down from a challenge, and just one look at these many experts made his blood boil .

    Initially, they had been unaware of which way to fly, but after seeing the others were all flying the same direction, he just followed the entourage of vessels .

    They flew for a few days before they finally saw their destination in the distance .

    The Blue Phoneix Manor was indeed a massive manor; it was even more precise to call it a pce . It was enormous, and although it was not overwhelmingly domineering, there was an oppressive aura leaking out from the castle itself .

    Xue Wei looked at the manor, and for some reason, the aura that he picked up reminded him slightly about Lan . How could it remind him of the phony prophet that cheated him at any given time?

    Shaking his head, he let go of the thought, but there was something about the castle that could not shake the sense of familiarity .

    On the ground in front of the castle, all the vessels were descending, and the experts were leaving them, ready to observe the protectiveyer around the manor .

    Seeing this, Xue Wei steered his vessel down on the ground, and all of them disembarked before he kept it away .

    The many groups were all close to twenty people each, only Xue Wei¡¯s group seemed dwarfed against the bigger ones, but while some were ignoring them, a few gave an in-depth nce at them, not at all hiding the inquisitive gaze in their eyes .

    A group like this had appeared ready to enter the Blue Phoenix Manor . Either they were stupid, or they had something to rely on .

    Being in the Ascended¡¯s Realm, the more intelligent groups could guess that no one willingly came to throw their lives away, and thus, they had to have something backing them .

    It was, no matter how they looked at the group, they could not see what could back them up . All of them were somewhat weak, only two Earth Saints and even a Heavenly Knight was amongst their ranks!

    Xue Wei was not caring about the many nces that were sent his way . He waved his hand and, without saying a word, gestured for the others to follow him .

    Seeing that the leader of the group was Xue Wei, the many people who observed were shocked . Was this person, perhaps a young master who had brought along a lot of guards and friends to wait on him, and protect him from danger?

    Was that why he was here? To be entertained and see the fun?

 Chapter 387

    Chapter 387: 387

    No one believed that a Heavenly Knight would pose any threat to them, and thus they were looking at him with disdain and mockery .

    Although he had a strong backing in the shape of some Saints, if his own personal strength were not enough to keep himself alive, then he would just throw away his life the moment he entered the Blue Phoenix Manor .

    Xue Wei and his group ignored the many gazes that were sent their way and began seriously observing the protectiveyer that surrounded the Blue Phoenix Manor .

    Luoluo, who was standing right behind Xue Wei, suddenly felt a strange feeling around her wrist, and the four-winged snake began heating up and wiggling around her wrist, as if it was eager to get closer .

    Sensing the longing from within the strange tattoo-like dragon, Luoluo quickly whispered into her big brother¡¯s ear, "big brother, I think that there is some part of my legacy within the pce . My four-winged snake is very restless . "

    Xue Wei looked at her for a moment and began pondering . If there was a connection between her legacy and the Blue Phoenix Manor, then they held a bigger chance than the others . But they could not let the others know about this .

    Although most groups present did not pay much attention to Xue Wei and his friends, there was one group that did .

    The ones who had left his group before were on high alert about Xue Wei¡¯s group . They knew that he had an overwhelming strength and that his friends were not ordinary either, so they might be able to benefit from observing them .

    Not to mention, when they arrived, they realized that their group was amongst the weaker ones that had gathered . Even if they managed to get their hands on some resources and treasures, it was not sure that they could keep onto it .

    But they were too thin-skinned to ask Xue Wei to take them in again, not to mention that they were unwilling to have to rely on a Heavenly Knight . Also, it was not certain that Xue Wei would wee them any longer .

    As they realized this, the group hid their presence as much as possible in a corner, hoping toe across a lucky chance .

    Xue Wei observed the protectiveyer that shrouded the Blue Phoenix Manor, and then he looked at Luoluo . "Try hitting it . If you somehow can borrow the snake¡¯s power, do that . "

    Luoluo nodded her head, and she took a step forward . Her actions caused all eyes tond on her .

    They had previously tried using force to break through to the Blue Phoenix Manor, but without any sess . The barrier had just absorbed all the energy they poured into it .

    But the young woman was stunning, and her appearance was enough to enthrall many men . Looking at her, they all admired her, but because of her ethereal beauty, no one was ogling, all were simply admiring .

    Feeling the many gazes boring into her back, Luoluo took a deep breath . She then raised her hand and connected with the snake on her wrist . A blue ice-like energy erupted from her fingers, and the moment the energy came into contact with the barrier, it began eroding it .

    Everyone apart from Xue Wei felt their jaws dropping . How did this dainty looking figure erode the barrier so easily? This was a barrier that had caused them problems for days!

    "Enter . " Xue Wei did not care about the other¡¯s thoughts as he calmly ordered his friends to enter, and all of them did one at a time .

    The final person to enter was Luoluo . He had done this intentionally, in case that the barrier would repair itself the moment she let go . Still, it seemed he had overthought, a small entrance stayed in the barrier, and it was slowly growing bigger and bigger .

    The other groups finally came to their senses when they saw Xue Wei and the others slowly move towards the Blue Phoenix Manor .

    They did not rush, as they were unaware of what traps and dangers that lurked around every corner .

    The others also hurried into the inside of the barrier, but all of them were very cautious . They did not dare to run rampant within the manor at all .

    The manor consisted of many different buildings . There was a road that led towards the main buildings, but even the ones at the edge of the manor were filled with treasures, and Xue Wei, who contemted where to go first, led his friends towards what seemed like a storage barn .

    As they reached the door, he hesitated before reaching out his hand and opening the door .

    A whistling sound erupted, and he used his Qi to knock all his friends to the floor, including himself .

    The moment they fell, a barrage of poisoned arrows came flying above their heads . They were shot with such force that it continued all the way to the other side of the road and embedded themselves into another building¡¯s wall .

    After ensuring that another round of arrows was noting, Xue Wei rose to his feet . "No need to keep lying down," he said casually, causing the others to grit their teeth in frustration . It was him who had knocked them to their feet after all!

    Looking at them, Xue Wei¡¯s eyes were emotionless, and no one said anything as they slowly rose to their feet again . What met them when they looked into the barn was magnificent treasures, it was filled to the brim with herbs that had been ced in thousand-year-old ice jade boxes, ensuring that they would never wither, there were beast cores of primordial beasts, there were even many essence stones .

 Chapter 388

    Chapter 388: 388

    The items were all exquisite, and Xue Wei, who loved treasures very much, quickly took them all and stored them within his storage treasures .

    Exiting the building, he led the others to another building - the one that had been hit by the poisonous arrows .

    This building had a trap with ming fireballs that got shot out, and when theynded on the building he had already emptied, the building itself burst into mes .

    This second building contained inscriptions and different books filled with inscription patterns and their uses .

    This was something that Xue Wei needed urgently to increase his strength, so he hurried and stored it all in a storage treasure, which he quickly hid away .

    By the time he had finished emptying these two buildings, the others had caught up to them . Some of them considered fighting Xue Wei for his treasures, but after careful consideration, they decided against it . This was merely the beginning of the Blue Phoenix Manor; it could not contain many interesting things .

    Xue Wei would have snorted at them if he knew their thoughts .

    These houses were the storage buildings . All the resources would be stored within these houses .

    The groups of people were split into two, half of them were heading straight for the main house, where they wanted to try their luck at getting some rare treasures, while others were emptying the storage buildings first .

    Xue Wei was amongst the group who emptied the storage buildings . Many were not fast enough to escape the traps that were triggered when the doors were open, but even more, were waiting behind the others, so even though Xue Wei and his group were the first to enter the Blue Phoenix Manor, they only managed to take the items from three storage houses, two of which had been opened before anyone else arrived .

    After all the storage houses had been emptied, a sea of people went towards the main manor of the Blue Phoenix Manor . It was very tall, many floors high, and those who had entered first were once again split into two groups .

    One group was turning over everything on the first floor, trying to get everything of value into their pockets, while others were rushing to the top level in the hope that the rarest of treasures were hidden here .

    When entering, Xue Wei instantly walked to a bookshelf, and he took all the books into his storage treasure . Many had ignored these books, but Xue Wei felt that there might be something of value in them . Hence he kept them .

    Continuing forward, he found many broken treasures and things which had been turned over by those who had entered first, and he took some of them while leaving others .

    Suddenly he stopped in his tracks, and a feeling of vignce appeared in his heart .

    "We are leaving," he suddenly said, and without waiting, he started ushering his friends out of the building .

    They had only reached the second floor, so it did not take them long to vacate the premises .

    As soon as they entered, the feeling of danger became increasingly prominent, and now not only Xue Wei could feel it, the others who had also gone through multiple life and death situations could sense that things were wrong .

    "We need to get out of the barrier!" Xue Wei said, and they began moving fast to the barrier .

    As soon as they reached the barrier, they saw that the original small hole that Luoluo had made had grown to a massive size, at least a fifth of the barrier was gone .

    "This is bad," Xue Wei said suddenly . "Why would the Blue Phoenix Manor be hidden beneath a barrier?" he suddenly asked a question to the others, but they did not know, shaking their heads .

    "Because it is the perfect ce to keep a beast in captivity," he continued . "The barrier was obviously not made by the Blue Phoenix for the sake of protecting its home; it is made to keep something inside .

    "and what that is, I think Luoluo should know . "

    Everyone suddenly looked towards the young woman, who was pale and trembling .

    "I am notpletely sure what it is," she said with a shaky voice, "but it is dangerous . The creature who left this inheritance I got also left a key to open this Blue Phoenix Manor . The beast beneath the Blue Phoenix Manor has been asleep for eons and has not awakened, but now that people are making such a ruckus above its head, it will definitely wake up . We got to hide!"

    Xue Weipletely agreed with her when hearing this, and just as they got ready to leave, the entire ground began shaking . It was not a small earthquake; it was as if the whole realm was trembling, space was distorted, and the surrounding temperature started dropping .

    "We have to go now!" Xue Wei said through gritted teeth, but Luoluo looked around them . "It¡¯s toote," she said . "The entire space has a space lock inscription activated . We have three options now .

    "One is to team up with others and fight the monster . Another is to hide and hope it does not find us . And the final option is for us to fight it aloneA final is to fight it alone . "

    Xue Wei contemted for some time as he looked into the depts of the Blue Phoenix Manor, where many of the experts had gathered outside the building .

    "They are all elites of their families . They will not die easily, but I do not know the strength of this beast that we are up against . Why don¡¯t we just wait and see what happens? Let them fight first . If they are close to victory, we will assist them; if they cannot win, we will hide . "

 Chapter 389

    Chapter 389: 389

    Xue Wei¡¯s n was actually pretty ruthless . He nned on using the many elites of the entire world as cannon fodder, but he had no other choice .

    The most important thing for Xue Wei was the safety of his friends . As long as they were safe and able to live another day, they would be able to gather more strength, and one day, they would stand at the peak of the world .

    This was their goal, but to reach the goal alone was not what Xue Wei wanted . He wanted to do so together with his friends and family, but as to the way there, he did not mind being ruthless .

    Even if he had to build their foundation on corpses and blood, he would do it . Even if innocent people were ughtered, he would not mind .

    In his world, there were only two kinds of people, his people and everyone else . While he would not kill for fun, he would not mind killing as a means to reach his goals .

    This was something he had realized many years ago . When he and Hei Gou were escaping through the Chang¡¯an Continent, he was killing many innocent for the sake of covering their tracks, but he never felt guilty .

    It was the same now . These elites had nothing to do with him, so using them as cannon fodder was, without a doubt, the best solution .

    Xue Wei did not doubt that the others also wished to use such tactics . However, only his group had managed to hide, while all the others were in the midst of the chaos .

    Xue Wei was curious as to what exactly was hiding beneath the Blue Phoenix Manor . The name of the manor made it sound as if there was a Blue Phoenix involved, but looking at the connection with Luoluo¡¯s inheritance, it should be a snake-like creature .

    The tremor of the ground was growing increasingly intense, the cobblestone path was showing signs of breaking up, and all the buildings were beginning to copse .

    The wind began blowing fiercely, and Xue Wei looked around as he heard a bell-like sound .

    The bell-like sound was loud and ringing throughout the entire ce . Xue Wei felt his heart beating rapidly in fear when he heard the noise . It was clearly not an ordinary beast cry .

    "Mingshe!" Luoluo and Bai Tianyi said at the same time . Both of them were spirits and had seen very many things throughout their long lives .

    "Mingshe?" Xue Wei frowned . The first thing that arrived in his mind when he heard the word was Lan .

    "A Mingshe is a snake-like creature . It is blue with four wings on it¡¯s back . It lives in the mountains where you can find gold and jade mines . When they arrive, then the wind will ripple through, the sound of their scream is a bell-like sound . "

    "Normally the Mingshe is calm and collected, it will only attack if itsir is attacked, but then it will be angry and aggressive .

    "I think the Blue Phoenix Manor is itsir . "

    Xue Wei nodded his head . At that moment, the mountain behind the Blue Phoenix Manor cracked open, and a massive beast, a blue snake, flew out . Four majestic wings were on it¡¯s back, but the eyes, which should have been tranquil, were red and full of hatred .

    "This is not going to be a simple fight," he muttered as he observed the massive snake hover in the air above the many elite geniuses of the many families of the world .

    But these were truly the elite . All of them were calm even when facing this massive snake, all of them gathered in groups, and began chanting spells, using their treasures items and activated their protective shields and barriers .

    The snake suddenly looked over, and the eyesnded on Xue Wei, or more precisely, Luoluo . Hatred was suddenly within the eyes of the snake, but it was currently being held in ce by the geniuses .

    "Seems like we cannot hide," Xue Wei sighed . "The snake wants to get here, but if it does, we will not stand a chance . Let¡¯s join all these heroes instead . "

    The others did not question Xue Wei but activated their items, and they all ran towards the battleground .

    Gravel and ice were creating havoc in the entire area; the scene was chaotic . Small wounds were appearing on the snake¡¯s body, but they were nowhere near severe enough to harm it . It was merely minor annoyances .

    But none of them had used their true killing moves yet either . However, it was clear that they were at a disadvantage .

    Although Xue Wei had decided initially to stay out of the fight, now that he had decided to fight, he was going to do his utmost to fight the snake .

    His eyes were flickering with a strange light as he lifted his hand . mes appeared all over his hand, covering his fingers and ying around in his palm .

    Xue Wei tossed the me around him, creating a bit fiery shield . This melted all the ice that wasing towards him, and it also blocked the gravel .

    Standing in the middle of the battlefield, Xue Wei looked around . He felt somewhat surreal, and as if something was wrong . This snake was clearly aiming or Luoluo, but why would it hate her so much? Was it because of her inheritance?

    Also, why would a mingshe be living in the Blue Phoenix Manor?

    Xue Wei was not in a hurry to make his move, so he spread the ming shield to cover all his friends .

    They were all confused as to why Xue Wei was so leisurely and casual in the middle of this fight . Was there something they did not know?

 Chapter 390

    Chapter 390: 390

    The other people who observed the battlefield were also frowning . This small group that was the first to enter was not battling for the sake of defeating the Mingshe . Instead, they were casually defending themselves .

    The only reason they were capable of defending themselves in this situation was that the many elites of around the word were going all out in their attempts at dragging down the four-winged snake . However, so far, the wounds that had umted on the snake¡¯s body was still not enough to genuinely cause it any problems .

    So why were they so casual?

    The battle was turning more and more desperate, blood was flowing like rivers from the wounds on the mingshe and the people who had let down their lives to try and injure it .

    The Vermilion Birds were dying one after another, as they were flying in the air, trying to beat the mingshe, experts on the ground were defeated equally fast, and the battlefield was littered with scattered limbs and broken corpses .

    Even so, Xue Wei stayed in the background with his group, looking around with a frown .

    "It should be about time," he muttered, and suddenly, an ear-piercing cry resounded as the wind blew even more intensely than before .

    The experts and the mingshe all stopped in their tracks, looking into the sky where a giant Luan Bird was descending from the skies .

    This Luan Bird was around the same strength as the Mingshe, it was not much stronger, but it was the eternal enemy of the snake, they had been locked in battle for millennia already .

    Now that the humans had caused injuries to the mingshe, and it had also expended a fair bit of its energy, causing it to be a much simpler target for the luan bird .

    The many experts who had survived so far scattered in an instant, retreated as fast as they could, as they observed the battle between the Luan and the Mingshe .

    They also couldn¡¯t help but look at Xue Wei with some shock and considerations .

    Their group was the first to enter the Blue Phoenix Manor . They had gotten the best results, and now they even knew to retreat in time .

    Could it be that they had some sort of information about this realm that no one else had? It would be a beneficial thing to either cooperate with them or capture them and force them to work together .

    Xue Wei was naturally aware of this, but he had no interest in sharing his deductions with anyone else . ording to his thoughts, there should be another inheritance location within the realm, but it was likely left in the winter zone .

    The mingshe inheritance was left, and a Mingshe was here . This was a Blue Phoenix Manor, so he had assumed there to be some sort of bird here, and birds were natural enemies of snakes .

    But when he saw the Luan bird, and it was a blue luan bird which controlled the element of ice, his thoughts changed .

    Initially, he had thought that the Blue Phoenix Manor was the second inheritance . Still, now he assumed that the second inheritance was within the winter region and that the owner of the two inheritances had left the two beasts in the Blue Phoenix Manor .

    His thoughts were that these beasts were likely left to be tamed by the one who gained the inheritance, but upon seeing the mingshe, Xue Wei realized that they had grown far too much from being within the Ascended¡¯s Realm .

    It was simply impossible to tame these beasts . Hence it was better for them to kill each other .

    What he was going to do was try and gain the fisherman¡¯s benefit, being as the one standing behind waiting to benefit from the two massive beasts fighting against each other .

    "Let¡¯s go," Xue Wei said after thinking like this . The bird had suffered immense injuries, but the snake was even more injured, as the two had charged at the mountains behind the Blue Phoenix Manor .

    This was why he had carefully kept his strength . He was going to see if he could kill both bird and snake, taking all the benefits from both beasts, but to do that, he would need his full strength .

    He also had to be shrewd and careful . It was not easy to trick these beasts into fighting against one another, and he had initially hoped for a Blue Phoenix, but a Luan Bird was also a beneficial thing .

    Blue Phoenixes were the rarest kind of phoenixes, as they were a mutated species . Luan Birds were somewhat simr to phoenixes, but they were not the same . A blue luan bird was reasonablymon, and although they were rare, they were notparable to a blue phoenix .

    At the same time, Xue Wei also realized that he had to be realistic . If he genuinely went to fight against a Blue Phoenix, he would likely not make it alive, even if it was severely injured .

    A blue phoenix was a phoenix after all, and it contained the power of rebirth .

    The many people on the battlefield were all too busy looking after themselves, their brothers, sisters, andpanions to keep an eye on Xue Wei and his group who rushed to the same direction that the two massive beasts had vanished into .

    Only a handful noticed it, and none of them were in the mood to follow . They had already lost a significant part of their fighting force, and everyone who was still alive had various degrees of injuries .

    Even if they knew that Xue Wei had followed the beasts, what could they possibly do about it? Their fighting force was still dropping drastically from their wounds .

 Chapter 391

    Chapter 391: 391

    Although it sounded easy to follow the Luan bird and the Mingshe, it was not as simple as it seemed . Thendscape where the two beasts had fought was filled with danger .

    Not only were there remnant wisps of energy, but there was also the problem of the entirendscape had been destroyed .

    Earthen spikes were rising into the heavens; deep fathomless abysses were next to them, if one was to fall into one, it was certain death .

    So it was not easy to traverse the distance of the Mingshe and the Luan bird, but they did not give up because of the challenges . Instead, they soldiered on, stepping on one peak of earthen spire after another until they had reached the back mountain .

    Here tremors were running through the ground, and shockwaves could be felt through the air; it was clear that the victor of the battle had still not been found .

    The battle was getting increasingly intensive; the shockwaves were getting to a point where the danger of getting hit could im them of their lives, so Xue Wei stopped their advance and stayed behind a part of the mountain which had been toppled over .

    This mountain was not able to contain the full force of the Luan Bird nor the Mingshe . Still, as long as it was merely the shockwaves, it could withstand the majority, and although parts were being chipped off with each iing shockwave, it was not so bad that it would cause them any damage .

    Xue Wei was using his senses to their limits, listening to the battle that was ongoing further away, and his heart was in his throat . This was by far even more dangerous than trying to battle the Scarlet Bee Queen .

    Suddenly he was hit by a thought . He had the scarlet bee queen, why not use her to help him improve his chances of sess?

    The small bees would be unable to survive the shockwaves, but they were capable of dodging, and their surveince was much better than what Xue Wei could achieve with his hearing alone .

    He made Lin Xiao summon the Scarlet Bee Queen and a handful of the scarlet bees, and then he gave his order .

    The Scarlet Bee Queen was tamed, and her mind waspletely loyal to Lin Xiao and Xue Wei . Hence she had noints about the task at hand .

    The handful of scarlet bees then began moving towards the battleground, and through the connection with the Scarlet Bee Queen, they started understanding what was happening .

    The Mingshe was seemingly the most injured of the two beasts, it had open gashes all over the body, and the blue scales had turned red from the flowing blood .

    The previously beautiful azure eyes were now red and bloodshot, and one of the wings had broken .

    The Luan Bird was not much better . Much of its feathers were ckened by being burnt by the Mingshe¡¯s azure mes, and the entire body was resembling a barbeque chicken .

    The beak had a crack; the talons were soaked in blood . The tail was also burnt off, and blood was flowing from the eyes of the bird .

    Clearly, both of them had paid a high price to injure the other, but they had not seeded in killing their arch enemy yet .

    Although these two animals held unimaginable power, they were different from Primordial and Sovereign Beasts . Although they were immensely strong, they did not have human-like intelligence, neither did they have the ability to take on a human shape .

    They were mainly driven by their instincts, and thus none of them even thought about retreating, even when facing death, they moved forward, spending all their energy in suppressing the other beast .

    From the fight, Xue Wei instantly understood that the Mingshe was actually the strongest of the two beasts . Still, because of the battle with the cultivators and elites of the world, it had fallen to a disadvantageous position .

    The Luan bird was aware of this and was doing everything in its power to keep suppressing the mingshe, but even their natural elements were opposite one another .

    The Luan bird controlled ice, which was a mutated version of water . The Mingshe had an azure me, which was a mutated version of fire, and water against fire, they were able to restrain one another perfectly .

    The me was melting the ice, but the ice was killing the me . As to who would be able to survive in the end, Xue Wei was still betting on the Luan bird, but that might just be his wishful thinking .

    These beasts had transcended the Earth Saint rank, their pride and arrogance did not allow them to back off, they were both Heavenly Saints, even above the Sky Saints, and the only reason that the elites hadsted so long before was due to the Snake just waking up, alongside its constant alertness of the Luan bird .

    Now that the Mingshe hadpletely woken up, its strength had been growing by the minute, but so had the Luan bird¡¯s . That was until they began bing severely injured . As their injuries increased but they kept fighting, their cultivation base became unstable and began dropping .

    They were dropping oneyer at a time, from the Heavenly Saint, ninthyer, to the eightyer . Moments after it became the seventhyer, followed by the sixthyer .

    The shockwaves of the battle also diminished in power, and the ground¡¯s trembling became more faint .

    "Let¡¯s advance," Xue Wei said calmly, but although he seemed calm and controlled, he was incredibly alert and on guard . If the least thing went wrong, they would end up as a snack for these two massive beasts .

 Chapter 392

    Chapter 392: 392

    The cultivation base of the two beasts continued to drop, but neither was letting the other get the upper hand . It was a desperate battle, with the current fight, no one would end up as the winner .

    This was precisely what Xue Wei wanted to see . He wanted them to mutually destruct each other, and then he could benefit from their demise .

    Their advance was slow, but the speed of which the two beast¡¯s cultivation base was dropping was going faster and faster .

    By the time Xue Wei and the others reached the threshold of the final battlefield, both of them had reached the rank of a Sky Saint of the firstyer .

    They were riddled with wounds, and their bodies could barely hold them any longer .

    "Now!" Xue Wei suddenly turned into a big azure dragon and shed at the battlefield in a moment .

    Although he was not at the Saint level, he was after all a Sovereign Beast, and he was capable of bursting out with intense power, the only problem was to maintain the strength for long, as he did not have as much Qi as others, and his strength was slightly weaker .

    However, behind him were two spirits, one scarlet bee queen, one mutated celestial dog, and a beast tamer .

    "Do you want me to tame them?" Lin Xiao asked as he twirled the staff above his head, ready to beat it down on the head of the Luan Bird .

    "Kill!" Xue Wei yelled as he was baring his fangs and brandishing his ws .

    The Luan bird and the Mingshe were so exhausted that they barely managed to put up a fight . Xue Wei and the others were incapable of breaking through their scales and feathers, but there were so many wounds, that as long as they attacked these open gashes, the beasts would die .

    In fact, these two beasts would die even if Xue Wei and his friends did not attack, but others would alsoe up here to scour for more resources, so it was better to be quick about it .

    When he saw his chance, he rushed into the fight .

    Not long after the Luan Bird breathed itsst breath, the eyes turned dark, and an anguished screech resounded in the Ascended¡¯s realm .

    After the death of the Luan Bird, the Mingshe did notst long either, and it soon died .

    Storing the two corpses in a storage treasure was done fast before Xue Wei continued forward to the mountains behind the manor .

    He was not willing to go just like this, the Luan Bird was likely to have air somewhere filled with treasures it had gathered over the years, and he was not willing to let others benefit .

    The group traveled to the mountain, and as they found the cave, they entered without too much worry . Inside were indeed any treasure they could imagine that held any interest for the Luan Bird .

    Everything was water or ice elemental, so although they were rare and handy for one who cultivated ice or water elemental affinity, Xue Wei did not, and neither did his friends . Still, these resources could be helpfulter on in their lives, so he was not willing to let them go, and he hurried to the depts of the cave to take the items .

    But as he reached the depth of the cave, he saw something that made him worried and shocked . Here was a nest and on the nest were eggs .

    The eggs were still warm, and it was clear that they were carrying small birds inside .

    Without wasting any time, Xue Wei grabbed the eggs, threw one to each of his friends, "keep it warm!" he ordered, before he started running, "we got to leave right at this instant!"

    The others were unsure as to why it was so important to leave, but Xue Wei knew that since the eggs were actually with chicks inside, there had to be a male Luan Bird somewhere around .

    The female bird had already caused such a headache to be defeated if a full-powered male Luan bird would appear, then they would be crushed in a moment .

    The group understood the severity of the situation . They each hid an egg within their robes, and then they began leaving at a rapid pace .

    When they exited the cave, Xue Wei made a decision - they were going to brave the dangers of the mountains and leave through the darkness of the forest .

    His n was simple . The people and the Blue Phoenix Manor should be able to attract the attention of the male Luan Bird, letting them, the real bandits, escape unscathed .

    They found a small cave, and within this cave, they settled down . Xue Wei took out the little egg he had stuffed into his clothes earlier and felt the heartbeat and lifeforce of the egg within .

    "They should hatch in half a year," he said contemting . "We are going to stay here until the Ascended¡¯s Realm ends," he made the decision that they had now gotten enough resources .

    When a male Luan Bird was involved in the equation, it was best to hide and strengthen themselves .

    Xue Wei handed some of the ice and water herbs and materials to Wang Xiaoyun . "Feed these to the Luan Bird," he said with a smile . "It will be connected to you with a spiritual energy band, and its strength will improve, it will be a great aid in a fight . "

    Wang Xiaoyun said nothing but nodded her head and kept the resources into the storage treasure .

    After this, they all sat down and began cultivating . They had a mountain of resources that could improve their strength, and after moving around for so much time, it was good to need nothing than just cultivating their inner energies .

 Chapter 393

    Chapter 393: 393

    Time flowed like water, days came and went, Xue Wei and his friends were hiding in the cave ever since they had left the mountain behind the manor .

    Sometimes they could hear the screech of a Luan Bird in the distance . It was full of agony and anger, but Xue Wei was not moved at all .

    Wang Xiaoyun looked at the egg . She was keeping warm withplex emotions . She truly wanted the Luan Bird within her egg, but she was also feeling sorry for the male Luan Bird that was flying around outside the cave, looking for the eggs in vain, while having lost its mate .

    "Don¡¯t think too much," Xue Wei said gently as he ced a hand around her shoulder, dragging her into his embrace . "Even if you go to the Luan Bird now, it will not value the eggs but will kill you in anger . You will gain nothing but throw your life away . "

    Wang Xiaoyun was no saint . She would usually not have felt sorry for the beast, but after spending more time with Xue Wei, she no longer held the same hatred towards beasts as she did before .

    Although some of them were evil, some were good, just like humans . It was not fair to hate all of them just because of the evil deeds that some had done .

    But right now, Wang Xiaoyun felt like a bad person for the first time . She had seen the mother dying without helping and stolen her eggs without a care in the world, leaving the male bird to be overwhelmed by agony and grief .

    But whenever she looked at Xue Wei and the others, what she saw wasplete and utter disregard for the male bird . They had clearly encountered many ruthless situations throughout the years to make them so unfeeling .

    But upon pondering on Xue Wei¡¯s words, she understood that he was correct . Although the male Luan bird was strong, it still had the intelligence of a beast; it was not as smart as a human .

    Upon having been touched by humans, and being tainted by the human Qi and spiritual energy, it was impossible for the Luan bird to take them back .

    She might as well keep her egg and pity to herself . If she genuinely acted on the emotions, she would cause problems for the others, and she was not willing to do so .

    In this world, there was no good or bad . There was only stronger and mightier .

    The Winner took it all, and although Xue Wei could not battle the Luan bird in strength, due to his intelligence, he could outwit the bird, and thus he had managed to seed .

    Day after day went by, and soon they had been in the cave for six months . The eggs had grown at a magnificent pace, their azure blue shell was lustrous, and a bit of lightning could be seen on all of them .

    This came from the lightning elemental affinity that they had gained from the Qilin horns .

    When passing their Qi and spiritual energy into the eggs, they had also used their own elemental affinities to enhance the strength of the Luan birds .

    The elemental affinities could be passed to the birds within the eggs if they were nourished with enough of the energy .

    All of them had at least one elemental affinity, with the element of thunder and lightning, but most of them had more than just one elemental affinity .

    Xue Wei wanted to give Fire, Wood, and Lightning to the bird . Their natural elemental affinity was water, and if it could master both water and fire, it would be immensely strong .

    However, there was a high risk involved with this . Water and fire were shing against one another, and when they did, there were two possible results .

    One was that the Luan Bird would be injured by the shes and have an early demise within the egg, another was that it would grow increasingly strong and be so powerful that even Xue Wei might have a hard time controlling it, had they not already connected through a parent-bond from feeding it his Qi and Spiritual Energy through such a long period of time .

    Xue Wei was aware that the bird within his egg was still alive after being baptized in fire, wood, lightning, and thunder elements for half a year . However, the life force was weak .

    If the egg did not break soon, the bird would die . Xue Wei knew that it was risky what he was doing, but he had no option other than to continue trying .

    If he stopped now, everything he had worked hard for thest half-year would be wasted .

    Another few days passed, and suddenly one night, the sound of cracking could be heard as the eggs began to crack . The first to crack was Wang Xiaoyun¡¯s egg .

    That one had merely been infused with lightning and thunder, so it was a healthy egg . After this came Lin Xiao¡¯s, which had also just been infused with lightning and thunder .

    Then came Luoluo and Bai Tianyi¡¯s eggs . Their eggs were special . They had solely been nurtured with Spiritual Energy, and while they only had their water affinity, they also had a strong soul power, able to make illusions and soul attacks .

    After theirs came Hei Gou¡¯s . His had Darkness, Lightning, and thunder alongside water .

    The lightning and thunder conflicted with the darkness, but it was not as much as fire and water . Hence the egg was still reasonably healthy .

    It was not before the others had nearly finished their hatching that Xue Wei¡¯s egg began trembling, and a weak sound of the bird trying to break through could be heard .

 Chapter 394

    Chapter 394: 394

    Xue Wei¡¯s entire focus was on the Luan egg in his hands . He infused Qi and Spiritual Energy into it, for the sake of helping it hatch .

    The egg was trembling, thunder rumbled, and other elements were raging around the egg .

    Although the bird was weak, it was still controlling arge number of elemental affinities .

    The first crack appeared on the shell, and soon it started lifting slightly . A beak could be seen in the gap, the beak was orange, with a golden line that ran from the top to the bottom .

    A weak cry came out from the beak, and it continued to push its way through the shell . The beak slowly began consuming the egg¡¯s shell, which was full of nutrients .

    The Luan birds of the others were stronger and bigger than the one Xue Wei held in his hands, but while the others, apart from Hei Gou¡¯s, were blue, and Hei Gou¡¯s feathers were blue with some dark shadows around the edges .

    But Xue Wei¡¯s bird was rainbow-colored . The feathers resembled a rainbow, and they looked amazingly beautiful . The light glistened onto the feathers; it was simply like looking like such a beautiful bird .

    The bird was weak, and Xue Wei instantly took out a lot of resources from his storage treasure . He began grinding the herbs into a paste, adding the juices of some spiritual fruits, and made a liquid that he gently poured down the throat of the luan bird .

    The luan bird was having half-closed eyes and was slowly consuming the liquid that Xue Wei had prepared for it .

    Xue Wei was not too worried now . The bird had already survived, so he was sure that he could nurture the bird back to health .

    As long as it survived until it was hatched, he would use all his resources to feed it .

    The Luan Birds were ancient beasts . Although they were stronger than Primordial Beasts, their intelligence was still that of a beast . They were unable to take on human form, and they were only beneath the Sovereign Beasts .

    Every beast within the Ascended¡¯s Realm was ancient beasts . They originated from worlds out of theirs, and they were immune to the Sovereign Beast suppression .

    They were the perfect supporters, and as birds, they connected to the first living being they saw .

    These birds saw their owners first, and their hearts were thrown onto them . They recognized the energy that they had been given, alongside the first impression, and the connection had been created .

    They were all busy spending their time with the hatchlings; the small luan birds were adorable and powerful . Seeing how Xue Wei was feeding it¡¯s luan bird varying resources, the others were enlightened .

    They quickly understood what resources could be used . They should use the elemental affinity resources, or Qi or spiritual energy enhancing items .

    The birds were feasting on the hard-earned resources that they had found throughout the time inside the Ascended¡¯s Realm .

    Xue Wei took out a storage treasure and tossed it to Wang Xiaoyun . Previously, when they were together with the other two groups, Xue Wei could not have given her a lot of items, as others would feel greedy and kill her for her treasures .

    They all knew this, but now that it was merely Xue Wei and hispanions that were present, he had no scruples and handed her a lot of items .

    None of his friends cared about these resources . They knew how many resources they had scoured at the Thunder Twilight Zone, and here in the Ascended¡¯s Realm .

    They had so many resources that even if they wanted to use them all, they had enough for many years, and many of the resources were not useful to them as they were a bit too weak .

    Even if they used them, the result would be miniscule, and thus the best usage of them was to feed the Luan birds and allow them to be stronger .

    Xue Wei handed a storage treasure filled with resources that were ideal for the Luan birds to Wang Xiaoyun, and she gratefully epted it . She did not say thank you; neither did she stand on ceremony . She had recognized Xue Wei as her partner, and thus she was not going to pretend in front of him .

    Seeing her epting it readily like this, he felt very pleased and happy . The others also thought it was natural . They had already epted Wang Xiaoyun as their sister-inw .

    Xue Wei put his focus back onto the rainbow-colored Luan bird in his hands, and he felt how the lifeforce within was getting stronger and stronger .

    The body was also growing at a visible speed; the luster in the feathers also became brighter and brighter .

    A chirp escaped the beak of the luan bird as it stopped consuming more of the liquid and nudged itself against the hand, settling itself in his palm, and fell asleep .

    While Xue Wei¡¯s bird fell asleep, the others began to y with their elements . Some of them practiced creating illusions, creating cracking lightning and thunder, and Hei Gou¡¯s bird began hiding in the shadows . Only Xue Wei¡¯s was trying to sleep in an attempt to convert the energy into life force and inner strength .

    Xue Wei observed his rainbow-colored luan bird, and finally, a smile erupted on his lips . The gamble had paid off . Although it would be more expensive to raise this bird, as it needed more resources than the others, and that the speed of advancing was slower, Xue Wei saw it as an investment .

    The bird had much sturdier foundations than any of the siblings, and at the same time, itmanded more elements than the others . It would be the strongest of them all if it had time to grow .

 Chapter 395

    Chapter 395: 395

    Like this, the group spent the next time within the cave . It was time for the Ascended¡¯s Realm toe to a close, but even so, Xue Wei had no interest in exiting the cave to look for more resources .

    They had enough, and at the same time, it was immensely dangerous outside due to the Luan Bird that was ravaging the entire ce .

    Although resources were useful, and that danger and fortune coexisted together, Xue Wei had already gotten all the most amazing treasures from the underground world, and a lot of items in the Blue Phoenix Manor .

    Xue Wei managed to break through to the Ordinary Saint rank again during the time they were in closed off cultivation . But due to the nine seals on his foundation, he was only able to reach the firstyer .

    The others, who were also using numerous resources at the same time, had all advanced with a minimum of twoyers .

    At the same time, they never forgot to feed their luan birds countless resources . During the time they were in the cave, although their resources were abundant, a huge dent had been made in their collection .

    As such, they stayed in the cave until the realm began trembling . It was as if the entire world was copsing, and Xue Wei, alongside the others, gathered in a circle .

    "The realm is closing," Xue Wei said, "We will be sent to the ce where we entered . "

    He looked at Wang Xiaoyun, who was alone by his side . She had not entered the realm alongside them in the Demon Phoenix Continent; she hade through a rift at the Chang¡¯an Continent .

    Now that they were being thrown out again, Wang Xiaoyun would be sent back to the Chang¡¯an continent, while the others would end up at the pce in the Demon Phoenix Continent .

    Looking at one another, they saw how their bodies turned transparent . The small Luan Birds vanished alongside them .

    Xue Wei looked at Wang Xiaoyun, his usual cold eyes were softened, and he said, "Remember our fifty-year promise . "

    Wang Xiaoyun nodded her head and smiled . She tightened her embrace on the Luan Bird as if she could get a feeling of security from the bird . It was as if the bird, which was a gift from Xue Wei, would have been a way to relieve her anxiety and difort .

    But before she had the time to say anything, the figures had vanished from the cave, and the Ascended¡¯s Realm was emptied of experts .

    Although many had died this time, even more, had survived . Many of the experts had survived by hiding, some had gone to other regions than summer, and not even everyone in summer was within the Blue Phoenix Manor, where the majority of the experts had died .

    Xue Wei suddenly felt the world spin around him, his body was floating in the air, and he could see nothing else than darkness .

    On one side, it felt as if it took a long time, but on the other, it was a mere moment before his feetnded on the ground, and his eyes saw the light again .

    Xue Wei found himself on the same tform that he had been on when he left the Demon Phoenix Continent, and when he looked aside, he saw that all his friends, and around a third of the experts from the Vermilion Bird n were present . From this, he could see that the survival rate of the Vermilion Bird n was not too surprising .

    He would not have been shocked if the Luan bird had killed all of them .

    The vermilion birds all looked at Xue Wei as if they saw the man who had murdered their father .

    On Xue Wei¡¯s shoulder was a small rainbow-colored luan bird . Hence, they were unaware of the rtionship between Xue Wei and the bird that had chased them for a long time in the Ascended¡¯s Realm, but upon looking at the others¡¯ shoulders, they saw the many Blue luan birds, and their faces twitched .

    Now they understood why the male Luan Bird was so angry and aggravated, attacking everything that came into sight, killing wantonly .

    "You!" the Vermilion Bird n people cursed at Xue Wei . As they saw it, he was the reason so many experts had died in their group . They did not question that he had gotten a whole lot of resources from his trip, while the most they got was when they traveled with him .

    In hindsight, they were very jealous of Xue Wei, and many regretted not staying with him . They knew that they had lost a lot, but looking at his group, not one of them was injured or dead .

    Amongst the surviving people were the princes . The princes were filled with hatred whenever they looked at Xue Wei, and while they knew they could have done nothing in the Ascended¡¯s Realm, they were aware that now things were different . Xue Wei was in their world now; it was easy to take his revenge .

    Xue Wei could feel the viper-like stare, but he did not turn his head . He knew exactly who it was from, but he did not think that the princes were worth his attention .

    However, what was worth his attention was the Thunder me Crown . He had promised Lan that he would get his hands on it, and now he had actually to do it .

    Deep in thought, he did not even notice that the Emperor had arrived .

    "So many survived this time?" he asked surprised as he looked at a third of the ones who originally entered the realm .

    Although he had not said anything, it wasmon that only a handful would survive due to the many people who entered the realm from all across the world .

 Chapter 396

    Chapter 396: 396

    The Emperor was an intelligent man . He was very shrewd and had seen many people who had schemed against him, so he knew that although these princes were saying nothing, he could sense the hostility behind their gazes .

    Initially, he knew that many of the princes would be unhappy with Xue Wei being given the task ofmanding them, but it proved to have been beneficial as they had managed to keep so many alive .

    Even so, even if the princes were going to act on their hatred, he was not going to interfere, much like he would not punish Xue Wei if he returned their attacks .

    This was a battle between the younger generation, not something he should, or wanted to, interfere with .

    But the thought of the entertainment that mighte from seeing the princes sh against Xue Wei was something that made the Emperor smile slightly .

    The Emperor was aware that these princes had been hardened and sharpened in the Ascended¡¯s Realm, so they were no longer the innocent and naive children that had entered the realm, but he also knew that if they were facing off against Xue Wei, they would suffer tremendously .

    It was not that he had any prior interaction with Xue Wei, but due to being that woman¡¯s son . He had grown up in a world where both sides of the war were against him, and he had been forced to flee for his life for years on end .

    Although these princes had encountered some problems within the Ascended¡¯s Realm and had been forced to mature, one had to remember that these Vermilion Birds were all between thirty and fifty .

    They had spent thirty years being unable to cultivate, where they had been pampered and spoiled .

    Now that they could cultivate, they had been gifted numerous resources and treasures, feeding them until they were at the rank they had now .

    They had encountered some hardships within the Ascended¡¯s Realm, but they had not understood the reality of life just yet .

    The dangerous people were not those who could be ruthless to others, but those who could be equally vicious to themselves .

    Xue Wei was such a person .

    To reach his goals, he would do anything as long as his friends and family were not harmed, and if someone threatened them, he would turn into a murderous devil that no one could stop .

    The Emperor knew his sons well enough that they might try something underhanded against him and his friends, but if he found out what they had done to them, he would make them taste hell on earth .

    Many officials and royal family members had gathered to see the return of their younger generation, and while many were happy, there was also much grief around the tform .

    While many of them had survived, it was true that there had been losses, and their families were filled with sadness and a sense of loss .

    But none of them dared say anything about it . They had all known before sending their youngsters into the Ascended¡¯s Realm that it was not an ordinary ce . They had to be lucky if just a handful survived, and now so many had survived, it was unsightly if they caused a scene .

    The princes noticed these saddened expressions and looked at each other . They had the same idea .

    "Royal Father!" the first prince stepped up, his voice sounding magnificent in the morning air .

    "We beseech you to punish the traitor!"

    His words instantly caused everyone to stop in their tracks . Traitor? What was going on?

    Xue Wei crossed his arms over his chest and observed with renewed interest . He had already expected something like this and was not flustered .

    "Traitor?" The Emperor observed his oldest son and asked with masked mirth in his voice . He, too, knew what his son was nning, but he was not against following along to see just how far he would go .

    "That¡¯s right," the first prince said with a nod of his head before he pointed at Xue Wei .

    "Royal Father assigned the task of looking after us to this sir Xue, but after entering the Ascended¡¯s Realm, he only followed us for a short while, before he ditched us and went treasure hunting on his own!

    "We met him a few times, but each time our groups split up again and again . I understand that the Ascended¡¯s Realm is made to hunt resources and opportunities, but this young man deserted hisrades, and we suffered heavy casualties because of this!"

    Xue Wei snickered slightly, what a waste of brain to give this young man . Although he was not sure about what the n¨®rmal survival rate of the Vermilion Birds was, he could tell for sure that these guys were at the bottom of the food chain within the Ascended¡¯s Realm, even though the realm actually belonged to them .

    Their environment was simply too peaceful when growing up; they were unable to make proper use of the external dimension they had .

    Seeing that Xue Wei held a casual smile on his face as his arms were crossed over his chest in a carefree manner, the first prince was so aggravated that he wished that he could tear him apart .

    "Oh, is that so? Then Sir Xue, what do you have to say in your defense?" The Emperor went to look at Xue Wei, curious as to how he would solve this issue .

    "A bunch of cowards," was what Xue Wei answered . His voice was light, and a trace ofughter could be heard within .

    "Oh? What makes you say this?" The Emperor was amused, but the expressions of all the younger generation vermilion birds turned unsightly .

 Chapter 397

    Chapter 397: 397

    "Would any of you have survived the tree spirit if it wasn¡¯t because of me?

    "I told you that you could join me if you wanted to, but you were too scared of possible death!

    "Later, I saved you when you were almost captured, but once again, you decided to leave our group because you disdained me .

    "It is not my fault that you are greedy cowards!"

    The words that Xue Wei said could not be disputed . Were they not cowardly and not daring to enter the underground world with him? Were they not greedy and left the group time and time again?

    But being called greedy cowards like this, it was truly infuriating, especially since they were unable to go against it .

    The Emperor smiled slightly before he shook his head . The many other Vermilion Bird officials and higher up members of the n could see that although their younger generation was angry and indignant, they had nothing to say against him .

    It showed that they were, in fact, cowards and greedy .

    Many were insulted by the words Xue Wei spoke, but he amused others .

    All of them had initially nned on using Xue Wei to temper their younger generation, but it seemed that they had split up in the Ascended¡¯s Realm . Thus they were excited to see that the younger generation was still wishing to rip Xue Wei apart .

    Many observed and found that the experts of the Vermilion Bird n had enhanced their strength so much, a lot were Ordinary and Earth saints .

    This advance was enough to make the families gratified; there was only one person who was still a Heavenly Knight .

    "The Ascended¡¯s Realm is over; everyone go your ways, Sir Xue and your friends, please follow me . "

    Xue Wei and his friends nodded their heads and followed the Emperor .

    They managed to reach the study, and the Emperor asked everyone to vacate the area, leaving only himself and Xue Wei in the room .

    Even Xue Wei¡¯s friends were asked to wait in a tea room where the servants served them snacks and drinks .

    "What does your majesty want from me?" Xue Wei asked with a frown . He could feel that this Emperor did not have any enmity towards him at all, but he was still puzzled .

    "Xue Wei, you got the bloodline of the Vermilion Bird, did you not?" The Emperor asked, but although he asked a question, his expression looked as if he knew what was going on .

    Xue Wei frowned . He did not like that his hidden cards were being talked about so casually, but this Emperor had been very gentle towards him up until now, so although he was alert, he was not panicked .

    "I do not understand what you are saying . " Xue Wei did not admit to it . Although he had a favorable impression of the Emperor, he was not aware of his hidden thoughts . Thus he decided to y dumb .

    "I can feel the Vermilion Bird blood within your body," the Emperor said with a smile, not at all insulted over the fact that Xue Wei pretended not to know what he was talking about .

    "The blood is much purer than any descendant in our current younger generation," he continued .

    "Do you know about your mother?" he finally asked, and Xue Wei, who was slightly annoyed by being seen through suddenly, lifted his head, his eyes a little lost .

    He knew nothing about his mother . He did not even know if the man he considered his father was really his father, or if the man he thought his uncle was really his uncle .

    Seeing that he had gotten Xue Wei¡¯s attention, the Emperor smiled slightly .

    "You look a lot like her," he said . "She was a unique beast; we all considered her the Holy Maiden .

    "As you know, it is impossible to mix the blood of races now, but once upon a time, it was possible .

    "Because of this, once upon a time, the races married amongst the races, the sovereign beasts equally so .

    "Due to this, the bloodline of the four beasts has actually diluted slightly, and mixed with one another, though it is hard to see, and after it became impossible for races to produce offsprings, the bloodline grew in density again .

    "However, your mother was known as the Holy Maiden because she was special . She had the bloodline of all four sovereign beasts .

    "She was the woman that all four sovereign beast ns considered their holydy, the one who kept us all gathered together .

    "But one day, she vanished . We do not know what happened to her, but she disappeared from the face of the earth .

    "Looking at you, it seems that she found herself a lover and was not willing to continue living as the sovereign beast holy maiden .

    "I do not know what happened to her, but I can imagine that she gave up her lifeforce to feed you and allow you to be born .

    "I can sense that you are half human . Hence you can control human techniques and able to cultivate before the age of thirty . "

    Xue Wei was in deep thought . Things he had never known before suddenly started falling into ce .

    The Primordial Beasts on the Chang¡¯an Continent were waiting for him and wanting something from him .

    "Your blood is special," the Emperor continued, "You might not know, but because of your status as the holy maiden¡¯s son, having her blood flowing in your veins, you can mutate other beasts and bring their bloodline to new levels . "

    Hearing this made Xue Wei aware that the mutation that Hei Gou had undergone could only be because of his blood . Even another sovereign beast could not cause it to happen .

 Chapter 398

    Chapter 398: 398

    Xue Wei was stunned by what he had been told . Although he was somewhat hesitant to believe what was said, he was also aware that it was likely correct .

    Whenever the Emperor spoke about his mother, his face was soft and gentle .

    It was clear that he had known Xue Wei¡¯s mother well, and that he considered her at least a friend .

    Xue Wei lowered his head and was in deep thought, but the Emperor let him think without saying anything to disrupt him .

    After a bit of time, Xue Wei lifted his head again, and he had hidden all his emotions behind his emotionless face, but even so, the Emperor was not annoyed .

    "Do you know what happened to your mother?" The Emperor finally asked the question that he was worried about the most, but Xue Wei shook his head .

    "I have no memories of a mother," he said honestly, "Do you have any knowledge about an Azure Dragon named Xiao Lei?"

    This was what Xue Wei was mostly interested in . He was unable to connect the rtionship between him and the man iming to be his father unless he heard about it from Xiao Lei . Still, now he had a chance to know whether or not Xiao Lei was actually his uncle .

    "I know Xiao Lei," the Emperor said while nodding his head . "Xiao Lei was your mother¡¯s older brother . He doted on his sister more than anyone, and it was because of him helping her that she managed to run away and vanish as easily as she did . "

    Xue Wei was not doubting that the woman that this Emperor was talking about was his mother . Not only the fact that they had simrities in appearance, but also because he was capable of merging with various bloodlines of different Sovereign Beasts .

    If he were an ordinary sovereign beast, it would be impossible for him to be both an Azure Dragon and a Vermilion Bird, but now he was able to be both .

    Xue Wei was therefore aware that Xiao Lei was his biological uncle, so why on earth did he kill his father?

    This made thingsplicated and hard to see, though, but Xue Wei could not entirely me Xiao Lei before he knew what had been going on .

    Because of this, Xue Wei knew that he would not be unable to unravel the question behind his background before he saw Xiao Lei again .

    But more things had be apparent . Now he knew more about his mother, and he knew that Xiao Lei was his biological uncle . Thus he felt that this trip was not wasted at all .

    But now it was time to get down to business .

    Xue Wei considered the options in his mind; he put the thoughts back to the back of his head and began to consider how he could get the Thunder me Crown .

    The Emperor looked at Xue Wei . He could see that the younger boy wanted something from him, but he was not sure what it was .

    However, since Xue Wei was the son of his childhood crush, he was immensely patient towards Xue Wei, and thus he waited good-naturedly .

    "Your majesty," Xue Wei finally decided on the price he was willing to pay for the Thunder me Crown .

    "I heard that you have a Thunder me Crown," Xue Wei said, "I am wondering if you are willing to trade it for the future generation of the Vermilion Bird n?"

    Hearing this offer, the Emperor was quite amused . The Thunder me Crown was not too important for him . Although it was a mark of the royals of the Vermilion Bird n, it had no actual usage, and thus he was not against trading it if Xue Wei could bring forth something of great value .

    "I have Scarlet Bee Honey, alongside Qilin horns and some various resources . With the Scarlet Bee Honey, I can also give you some scarlet bees . "

    The Emperor raised an eyebrow in surprise . The scarlet bee honey and the qilin horns were quite tempting, and adding some scarlet bees to the equation truly moved him .

    He knew that there was one Scarlet Bee Queen in the Ascended¡¯s Realm, and this queen bee was renowned . Some previous experts were capable of gathering some of the honey, but no one had ever managed to get their hands on any scarlet bees, let alone a scarlet bee queen .

    Scarlet bee honey was capable of helping one have a more natural breakthrough from oneyer to another, from one realm to another and from one tier to another .

    Anyone who consumed scarlet bee honey when they were about to break through, they would have a bigger chance of sess, and at the same time, they would also gain a more significant boost in strength .

    If he had his own Scarlet Bees, he would be able to continue to create more and more scarlet honey, and throughout the years, his n would enhance their strength .

    On top of this, there were also the Qilin Horns . The Qilin Horns had the useful elemental affinity that one could gain, but it also had another benefit for the Vermilion Bird n .

    The original Vermilion Bird, the ancestor of their n, had initially obtained a Qilin Horn and be a dual elemental affinity beast .

    "Also, I saved the lives of these youngsters time and time again, gave them Qilin Horns and resources, and ensured that they had the power to survive throughout the time within the Ascended¡¯s Realm . "

    The Emperor was surprised . So Xue Wei had managed to give all of them a Qilin Horn, had he ughtered a whole Qilin pack?!

 Chapter 399

    Chapter 399: 399

    Xue Wei had, in fact, killed a whole pack of Qilins and stolen all their horns alongside with two other groups of people .

    Although he did not have a massive amount of Qilin Horns, he had enough to make the Emperor interested .

    But he also understood what Xue Wei was saying . He was not only offering the items that he had, but he was also reminding the Emperor that everything the Vermilion Bird n youngsters had now, was due to his effort .

    Although he did not say it directly, the Emperor easily understood him . He was once again utterly tolerant of Xue Wei and smiled .

    "I will consider it," he promised . He did not give any definite answers, but Xue Wei understood that he was not against it .

    He also understood that although this man was the Emperor, the leader of the Vermilion Bird n, he was not able to make all decisions on his own .

    There was a Retired Emperor and a Grand Elder of the n . These two experts usually never participated in any mundane matters, but the Thunder me Crown was different from ordinary decisions .

    Xue Wei was not in a hurry to get the answer, either . He understood that some things could not be rushed .

    After finishing their discussion about the Thunder me Crown, Xue Wei bid his farewell . He and his friends had the same residence as they had before, and they returned to their rooms . Here they once again began to cultivate, feed their Luan birds, and rx .

    While they were busy, the princes and the other youngsters from the Vermilion Bird n were busyining to their parents about the misery they had encountered .

    While many of the original members of the Vermilion Bird n had a positive impression of Xue Wei initially, they had changed it throughout the period they were within the Ascended¡¯s Realm .

    Many of them were jealous of Xue Wei . They med him for the losses they had suffered, and especially after seeing that they had a Luan bird each, they were so filled with greed, jealousy, and hatred .

    They had been chased for so long by the Luan bird, and now they knew why, so theirints were in a way reasonable, they just forgot that they were the ones who had decided to abandon Xue Wei and his friends .

    The princes were crying to their concubine mothers, and even the first prince went toin to the Empress .

    The Empress was a woman who had been spoiled throughout the years . She was engaged to the Emperor since a long time ago, due to their dense bloodline, and she also regarded her son as her lifeline .

    She was sure that he would be the next Emperor, and to think that her treasure had suffered so grievously in the Ascended¡¯s Realm, she was full of fury .

    Even more so whenever she thought of Xue Wei and his face, which reminded her of the woman she hated the most .

    The Empress was aware that the Emperor had fallen for the Holy Maiden a long time ago, and that even now, the Holy Maiden would forever have the most important ce in his heart .

    Now that the Holy Maiden¡¯s son had arrived, the Emperor was treating him better than he ever had his own sons, and the Empress was full of hatred, anger, and jealousy .

    But because the Empress knew about the Emperor¡¯s favoritism towards Xue Wei, she was hesitating to make a quick move . She had to be careful and make sure that nothing was returning to her and her son .

    Xue Wei was aware that the Empress was starting to n against him . Even so, he was aware that many would be jealous of the attention the Emperor was giving him, but he was not scared .

    Even if he was going to encounter troubles, he was not going to stop pushing forward .

    Now that he had seen Wang Xiaoyun again, he was finally beginning to understand some things, and he knew that when he returned to Chang¡¯an, he had to stop the war .

    So before he had the strength to do this, he could not return to Chang¡¯an . But he had promised her to return within fifty years . He was in a hurry, he had no time to wait, and he was forced to pressure himself .

    As such, he knew he grew more in chaotic environments, so he was grateful for the ones who became his stepping stones .

    He could not afford to wait or slow down . Time was always flowing, and his life was waiting for him . His dear ones were waiting for him .

    Sitting in his bed, he took a deep breath . He then took out some resources from his storage treasure and began cultivating, while the small Luan bird was nestling on hisp .

    The Luan bird was cultivating at the same time as Xue Wei, as long as heaven and earth essence was entering his body, it was also entering the bird¡¯s body .

    The rainbow colors of the bird were lustrous, and the more it absorbed, the more it shone .

    Xue Wei was calm throughout the entire process . He was absorbing the heaven and earth essence, while also refining a treasure at the same time, absorbing the energy from within .

    A few days went by while Xue Wei was cultivating, and the city was bustling with life . Everyone wanted to celebrate that the Ascended¡¯s Realm trip hade to an end, and a festival was going to be hosted two dayster .

    Xue Wei heard about it while casually wandering the pce, and he was in deep thought . He had gotten many resources that he could not use, some were too low level or of the wrong elemental affinity, and thus he wanted to get rid of them .

    It was not that hecked essence stones, but because he needed space in his storage treasures .

 Chapter 400

    Chapter 400: 400

    Xue Wei decided to participate in the festival . He was not too interested in the festivities but he knew that the Golden Chambers would give arge amount of resources in return for the ones he had .

    Although he did not need more essence stones he might be able to trade the items for other resources that could be of use to him .

    If he was lucky he could perhaps even purchase the next rainbow pill recipe .

    He knew that it was a far cry to expect to be able to get a three colored rainbow pill recipe, even if he paid a mountain of treasures, but it was worth a try .

    All the resources he had taken at the Thunder Twilight Zone and in the Ascended¡¯s Realm were enough to fill thousands of storage treasures . He truly had to tidy it up .

    Even if he could not get the recipe for concocting and refining a three colored rainbow pill, then he might be able to get the ingredients for two colored pills . Even though he could concoct a few now, the resources were useful to feed the Luan birds hence he was not willing to use them all at refining the pills just yet .

    Xue Wei had made his decision and returned to the courtyard that had been given to him and his friends . Here he gathered all his friends and told them his ns .

    None of them really cared as the resources he was trading away were useful for warriors and knights . None of them were warriors or knights any longer and thus they had nothing to use the resources for .

    The Luan birds were also unable to use them . They had been nurtured with their Qi and spiritual energy, resulting in their energy also being the Saint rank .

    The only difference was that they could notmand as much of the energy as a normal Saint could, however all of the Luan birds could erupt with a strength equal to their owners for a short moment at a time .

    While Xue Wei was making his ns, the empress was making hers as well .

    She understood that she had to be very careful and she decided on hiring someone else to do the killing .

    This way she could escape the me and if it failed she was still able to push the me to someone else .

    The golden chambers was an organisation that not only thrived with merchants . They also had a killer organisation and an information gathering group .

    The killer organisation was said to never fail a task they had been given, and naturally the empress went to the Golden Chambers main office .

    Here, she offered the pay to kill Xue Wei, but while the empress was eager, the organisation neither epted nor declined .

    They promised her that they would have to do some research to see how much this mission was worth and the empress went away with a smile on her face .

    The moment she left, the steward who had epted her rushed to the upper levels of the Golden Chambers building .

    ¡°Elder Zhao,¡± he said politely as he entered .

    ¡°What makes you so flustered?¡± Elder Zhao was surprised to see the steward looking slightly disturbed and he was intrigued . This steward had previously been their best assassin . He was a cold blooded figure and not much could ruffle his feathers .

    ¡°The empress has been here to set up a task,¡± he said cutting straight to the problem .

    ¡°It is not the first time she has turned to us, why are you so flustered?¡± Elder Zhao asked with a frown .

    ¡°This time she wanted us to kill Sir Xue Wei . ¡±

    ¡°Sir Xue Wei?¡± The eyes of Elder Zhao widened in shock .

    ¡°Isn¡¯t that the one that we heard from the headquarters to never touch? The one who has a VIP clearance and someone our two bosses values greatly?¡±

    ¡°That is indeed the person . ¡±

    ¡°Crap . ¡±

    Both were silent for some time, but then Elder Zhao sighed . ¡°We got to forfeit this mission . We cannot go against our superiors¡¯ orders and honestly I am not willing to go against This Sir Xue Wei . ¡±

    ¡°I agree,¡± the steward nodded his head, ¡°at the same time I think we should warn him that the empress has made her move . It might not mean much, but it shows our loyalty . ¡±

    Elder Zhao nodded his head, ¡°that¡¯s what we will do then . ¡±

    The steward sent a letter to Xue Wei, and another to the empress .

    As soon as they were delivered Xue Wei and the empress were both ind deep thought .

    The empress was confused as to why they would need more time to consider the task . It was a mere assassination did it really need so much conside raw action? Her letter had stated that they did not reject the offer but they had not epted it yet either .

    At the same time, the letter sent to Xue Wei contained the knowledge that the empress had went to an assassination organisation to get rid of him

    He was slightly confused as to why the Golden Chambers went out of their way to warm him, but he was grateful for their assistance .

    Xue Wei was instantly able tobine two and two and figure out that the first prince was behind the empress¡¯ hostility .

    A cold gleam shed in his eyes as he thought of the fact that they looked for outside assassins, it showed that they were very ruthless and willing to do anything to seed .

    And he did not doubt that although they had failed their first attempt, they would undoubtedly continue until either he died or they did .

 Chapter 401

    Chapter 401: 401

    The Golden Chambers were not in a rush to decline the task sat by the Empress .

    They knew that when they declined, she would look for other options, and if she did that, then Xue Wei would be in danger .

    So they simply held onto the task . Their aim was to at least hold onto it until the festival to celebrate the end of the Ascended¡¯s realm was over .

    That was the ideal time to strike at Xue Wei, when there was chaos everywhere .

    It was easy to appear and get the job done, but because the Golden Chambers had not given a definite answer, the Empress was not in a hurry to make a move on Xue Wei .

    Xue Wei was not a very good person and the Empress had touched his bottom line .

    A cunning gleam shed by Xue Wei¡¯s eyes . Within a short time, rumours about the Empress having hired assassins to deal with Xue Wei was spread all over the capital .

    As to how Xue Wei had seeded in causing the rumour to flourish like this, no one knew, but everyone were aware of the rumours .

    The Empress had spent a long time painting a pretty image about herself, that she was the most benevolent and admirable young woman who was the role model for all women in the continent .

    Now it was as if everyone were ncing at her with strange expressions . Some of them

    We¡¯re looking at her with mockery and disdain, others with pity and even some with schadenfreude .

    Although the Empress had a public reputation as being an angel, the many people from the pce knew otherwise . Especially the many concubines .

    The Empress was jealous in nature, and she was causing problems for the concubines one after another . Often she would suppress them and sometimes she would even plot against them . Some had died in her hands, even the Emperor¡¯s sons had died in her schemes .

    So they were all ecstatic to see her battle it out with Xue Wei, they even wanted to add fuel to the fire .

    If Xue Wei died due to an assassination attempt, everyone would put the me onto the Empress . She would be known to be a merciless woman and a murderer .

    Not to mention it was obvious how much the emperor doted on Xue Wei, it was likely that she would lose some of her power .

    Since this was the case, many of the concubines headed to the Golden Chambers and tried to set up a mission to kill Xue Wei, but all of them were met with the same answer - he was untouchable .

    Xue Wei was aware that him spreading the word would cause even more problems for him as others wanted to tread in the muddy waters, but he was quite satisfied with the result so far .

    His performance had caused the empress to be extremely distressed .

    She was unaware of who could have shared the news . She was initially ming the Golden Chambers, but upon confronting them she was told that they could not take the mission and that they were unwilling to take the me for spreading the rumors .

    She knew then that she had toe up with a new way to deal with Xue Wei, but she was unsure of how .

    As long as he was murdered it would be connected to her, but if he died in an ident, or if he broke thew and was forced to suffer the death penalty, then she would be in the clear .

    Unfortunately, it was not easy to make him die in an ident . Not many idents happened where someone could kill an ordinary saint .

    At the same time scheming against him would also be hard as he had no contact with anyone really .

    But when thinking deeper about it she came up with a few different ns . She was never going to let Xue Wei survive, not since he was the bloodline of the Holy Maiden .

    This was where she was immensely naive . Xue Wei was not the holy maiden but he had the same ability as her, and he had her blood flowing through his veins . He was the new hope for all the sovereign beasts, hence he would never be given the death penalty by the emperor .

    This identity also proved to be beneficial in other aspects . When the Emperor went to speak with the retired emperor and the grand elder about the thunder me crown, although they were also eager about the items he could produce, their main concern was to get a good rtionship with the new holy son, and hopefully make him mutate a few primordial beasts on top of the items already offered .

    The Emperor was pleased with what he had gotten from the discussion . It seemed to him that Xue Wei really needed the crown and was willing to give a high price for it, so a bit of blood should not break the deal .

    The two old Vermilion Birds were both pleased with the trade off . The thunder me crown was an item of no use, and while everyone knew of it, not many had ever seen it before .

    As for the amount of mutated beasts they could get, it would depend on Xue Wei . They understood too little about the blood mutation to make an answer now .

    If they needed much blood for each mutation normally they would settle for fewer mutated beasts, but if it was a simple procedure then they would want at least ten .

    But all of this was something they needed to discuss in detail with Xue Wei .

 Chapter 402

    Chapter 402: 402

    The day began early in the morning with Xue Wei opening his eyes as he exhaled a stale breath of air .

    He was seated cross legged on top of the bed, his arms resting in hisp, a spiritual herb in each hand .

    By his side, right next to him, was the Luan Bird hatchling . It was gobbling down a spiritual fruit .

    The Luan bird was much stronger now than it had been when it hatched, the resources that Xue Wei had given it had not been wasted and while it was still smaller than the other Luan birds, it was often causing them to tremble when it looked at them .

    The bloodline was pure and the elemental affinities were far too many .

    It was enough to cause the others to tremble in fear . Xue Wei had also fed the bird some of his blood, but being an ancient beast there had not been any visible changes .

    The bird was quite keen on the taste of the blood however, but it knew better than trying to take it for itself .

    As the two awakened in the light of dawn, the rest of the capital was already bursting with life and energy . Today was the end of the festival, and everyone gathered to participate in the final celebration .

    Xue Wei, who had kept a low profile after calling everyone cowards and spread the rumours about the Empress, also nned on going out today .

    Today he nned on going to the Golden Chambers and sell the useless resources he had . He was going to try and exchange them for useful items, preferably me improving resources or thunder refining treasures .

    His affinity with wood was already very pure and powerful so it needed no more support, but this was because wood was his innate element as an Azure Dragon .

    He was also a vermilion bird, but the vermilion bird bloodline was acquiredter and thus it needed more time to assimte the blood into his bloodline .

    His Qi was a mixture of small mes and azure dragons that swam through his meridians, and since he had both an azure dragon and a vermilion bird spirit in both his dantian and his mind pce, his advancement was more than double before he became a vermilion bird .

    Unfortunately due to the seals, he was also slowed further down, so his speed, which should have soared, had actually slowed down .

    But whenever he felt how pure and dense his Qi was, he felt it was the right decision .

    After a whole night of cultivating, Xue Wei finally felt refreshed . He was at the peak of the firstyer of the Ordinary Saint rank . Only a small push was needed before he would advance to the secondyer .

    As he exited the room, he found that all his friends were already outside their rooms, waiting for him .

    They knew of his ns and none of them wanted to miss the chance to go out . Although they could exit as they pleased none of them were willing to leave on their own and they would not interrupt Xue Wei¡¯s cultivation .

    They understood his sudden urge to advance faster but they also knew that he was not going to risk getting an unsteady foundation .

    Hence they were not worried about him . He knew what to do and not to do .

    Xue Wei smiled as he saw them . ¡°Let¡¯s go then,¡± he said and began walking out of the courtyard .

    The group made their way out of the pce and started moving into the actual capital city of the Demon Phoenix continent .

    They went to the Golden Chambers where they were treated like royalty . They were actually treated even better than the royal family due to the order from above .

    When they saw the things that Xue Wei had brought with them, they were very pleased . They dared not give him a low price, but they could not give him too many resources either as they still had to keep the branch afloat .

    In the end they decided on giving him a fair deal of the resources he needed, but they imed that they did not have the recipe for the rainbow pill he was looking for .

    After haggling and debating for the majority of the time before noon, Xue Wei and his friends were satisfied with that they got out of it, and hurried back to the pce to share their spoils .

    But just as they say foot in the pce, an eunuch game to Xue Wei¡¯s side to tell him that the emperor had summoned him .

    Nodding his head, Xue Wei followed the eunuch while the others returned to their rooms .

    When Xue Wei entered the study he was slightly stunned . Inside was not only the emperor but also two other figures .

    ¡°Young one, we understand you want the thunder me crown,¡± one of them said with an amiable smile on his face .

    Nodding his head, Xue Wei was honest about his aim .

    ¡°We can give it to you,¡± the other old man followed up, ¡±but the price will be expensive . ¡±

    Xue Wei narrowed his eyes . Expensive? He was not willing to give away too many resources as he needed them himself so he waited to hear what they had to say .

    ¡°The big question is how much blood are you willing to sacrifice for the crown?¡±

    ¡°Blood?¡± Xue Wei¡¯s eyes widened . We¡¯re they interested in his blood?

    He was not dumb and instantly guessed what they wanted with it . Mulling it over for some time he said, ¡°I have only mutated one beast before . I cannot guarantee how much blood is needed for others . Why don¡¯t we try mutate one beast first and when we have answers we will mutate a specific amount of beasts depending on how much blood is needed . ¡±

 Chapter 403

    Chapter 403: 403

    Xue Wei looked at the retired Emperor, the current Emperor, and the grand elder . He was not against gifting some of his blood to mutate the primordial beasts . The Emperor had been immensely friendly towards him and even given him the chance of bing a Vermilion Bird in the Ascended¡¯s Realm . As such, he was not against giving something back .

    He knew that these Vermilion Bird n members were aware of his identity as the son of the Holy Maiden and that he had the bloodline of hers, the ability to be one of each beast . Thus he also knew that they valued him and had absolutely no intention of harming him .

    "Before we can take the discussion further, we need to know how much blood is needed," Xue Wei said with a smile . "Why not call a Primordial Beast, and we will see how much each mutation is?"

    The Retired Emperor was shocked, was this not too casual?

    But Xue Wei just smiled, "could it be that you have not decided on which Primordial Beasts you wish to have mutated?" he asked after considering for some time .

    "We know who," The current Emperor said, slightly embarrassed by the retired Emperor¡¯s expression .

    "Then call the first on the list," Xue Wei said . He was not too polite, but none of the older people minded it .

    They were quite happy to see that he was so decisive . The fact that he was willing to mutate a beast in front of them meant that he was not nning on scamming them . This made them feel goodwill towards him .

    "Oh right," Xue Wei suddenly looked at them, as he was reminded of something, "The mutation is not easy . It requires overwhelming willpower from the Primordial beast or it will fail . I am not sure what the failure would cause, it could kill them or cripple them, but it will be quite severe . Keep that in mind when you pick the Primordial Beasts that you wish to mutate . "

    The three old men considered this and nodded their heads, their expressions turning solemn . They were not sure about the process of bing a mutated Primordial Beast, but they knew that this was the best way to strengthen their armies .

    "Summon the Ghost Sword Lin Xuan . " The Retired Emperor called out and an eunuch who had been standing in the shadows bowed before leaving to fetch the Primordial Beast they requested .

    "Ghost Sword Lin Xuan is a general in our army . He has been the best swordsman we have, and he has protected our Continent for decades . "

    "What is there to be protected against?" Xue Wei asked curiously . Ever since he had arrived in the Demon Phoenix Continent, he had not seen any dangers appearing, everyone seemed safe and happy .

    "We are in an ongoing war," the Emperor sighed . "It is a war that has been going on for thousands of years already . The war is not in a hectic period right now, but we still have skirmishes from time to time with them .

    "The enemy is the humans who control the Xiyang Continent . Xiyang Continent has no sovereign beasts, only humans and primordial beasts, and some of these primordial beasts have allied with the humans in an attempt at getting rid of the Sovereign Beasts .

    "Although the Primordial Beasts are supposed to subservient to us Sovereign Beasts, there are many who is against this blind faith and refuse to follow us . They side with the humans to defeat us .

    "We sovereign beasts do not participate in the war itself very often, but the primordial beasts are going to war all the time .

    "Most of the battle is on the sea, and we need our primordial beasts mutated to gain the upper hand . "

    Xue Wei nodded his head . This Xiyang Continent had to be quite close to the Demon Phoenix Continent . Otherwise, they would waste too much time on the sea .

    Xue Wei was surprised to know that the Demon Phoenix Continent was at war when it was as flourishing as it was now .

    But in the end, he could not help but shake his head . It had nothing to do with him . All he wanted was to get the Thunder me Crown and somehow find his way back to the Chang¡¯an Continent, but he was not sure how or when this would happen .

    He was not even sure where in the world he was now . He was on the Demon Phoenix Continent, but was this in the north or south? Was it in the west or east?

    He had no idea where he was, and even worse, he did not know where the Chang¡¯an continent was located . He needed Lan¡¯s assistance, but only the gods knew when Lan was going to show up again .

    Lan was an enigma . He was impossible to understand withmon logic; no one knew where he was or what his ns were .

    Xue Wei actually knew very little about Lan . He had encountered him many times, and the two could be considered friends of some sort, but while Lan seemed to know everything about Xue Wei, Xue Wei knew very little about Lan .

    He knew he was strong . His strength was so high that he could not even imagine it, he was able to create dimensional tunnels, and he could change anything as he pleased .

    Lan was, without a doubt, the strongest expert that Xue Wei had ever encountered .

    After Lan came Tao Wu . And for some reason, Tao Wu was a friend of Lan . It was clear that Lan was residing within Chang¡¯an, but he was often visiting other continents .

    Xue Wei was hoping that when he got his hands on the Thunder me Crown, that Lan would suddenly appear .

 Chapter 404

    Chapter 404: 404

    While Xue Wei was rooted in his thoughts, Ghost Sword Lin Xuan arrived at the study, looking stoic .

    His body was sturdy, and his face expressionless .

    He was polite as he bowed to the people present, but even when looking at Xue Wei did he not disy any surprise, instead he showed utmost respect .

    Anyone who was able to have gathered the Retired Emperor, the Grand Elder, and the current Emperor had to be a person of utmost importance, and he dared not becent .

    The older men present were all pleased with his way of behaving, and they nodded amiably to him .

    "Lin Xuan, we can give you strength, unlike any you have ever encountered before . We can purify your bloodline and make you mutate to a stage where you have never been before .

    "Unfortunately, this boost in strengthes with an expensive cost, you have to withstand a lot of pain, and if you cannot handle it, then you might die or be a cripple .

    "The strength you get is a bloodline that is unlike before, and your potential will soar .

    "You have been stuck at the Sky Saint ninthyer for a long time, but with this mutation, you might be able to reach a higher realm; only the heavens will know your final destination . "

    The more the current Emperor spoke, the shinier, the eyes of Lin Xuan became .

    His race limited Lin Xuan . Although he could be a Saint, and even a Sky Saint, he was unable to advance further with his current bloodline .

    He had tried for a decade to break through, but he had failed time and time again, which had proven that his limits had been reached .

    When he heard that there was a chance to break through, a chance to get a new foundation and to improve his potential, his eyes shone with light and excitement . Even if there was a risk of dying, he was willing to take the chance .

    Xue Wei looked at him, "cut your arm," he said, and the man, without hesitation, took his arm and cut a long gash on it . Xue Wei also cut a wound on his arm, and the blood dripped down on Lin Xuan¡¯s open wound .

    Lin Xuan felt an intense pain spike into his body with each drop of blood that merged with his body . The spikes increased in intensity, and he started trembling .

    After dropping around fifty drops of blood onto the Ghost Sword¡¯s arm, Xue Wei wiped his wound and used his wood affinity to heal it .

    As he stopped bleeding, he continued to look at Primordial Beast in front of him, who was convulsing in pain but refusing to let out even the slightest sound .

    Xue Wei was apathetic as he looked at the Primordial Beast . He had no clue if he had used too much blood or too little . He only knew that he had taken a guess and hoped that it would work out .

    The Emperor was more worried . Lin Xuan was one of his most important generals, so if something happened, it would be quite bad for his army .

    The Retired Emperor and the Great Elder was also quite worried . The only one who waspletely carefree was Xue Wei .

    "How long does it take usually?" the Emperor asked Xue Wei, who shrugged his shoulders .

    "My friend is a lot weaker than this Ghost Sword Lin Xuan, but he took quite some time . I expect at least one day for this man, even when considering his strength . "

    "Do you mind staying with us?" The Retired Emperor asked tentatively . They had no experience with these mutations, so they would feel much more at peace if he stayed to look at it .

    Xue Wei nodded his head . "If we can get someone to tell my friends that I will be busy for a few days, then I do not mind staying here until we are done .

    "Also, I suggest that we do not mutate more before we know if this is a sess or not . "

    The others nodded their heads and agreed silently . As their eyesnded on the general on the ground, they found that he had stopped trembling, but he had lost consciousness .

    His hair was growing at a rapid pace; the color was changing from ck to azure blue .

    "What race is he?" Xue Wei asked curiously .

    "A ck Willow Swallow," the current Emperor said . "The ck Willow Swallow is a swift bird, and this Ghost Sword Lin Xuan specializes in speed .

    "His sword is so fast that it is near impossible to see with the naked eye; his flying skills also admirable . "

    Xue Wei nodded his head . He was not surprised that it was a bird, but he had not expected it to be a swallow .

    This man was big and sturdy, but a swallow was small and agile, he was suddenly disillusioned .

    Like this, Xue Wei decided to sit down and cultivate . He did not doubt that the mutation would take a lot of time, and he was not willing to waste any moment that he could spend cultivate, so he sat down crosslegged and began controlling his breathing .

    The three older men within the room were all appreciative when they saw that Xue Wei was not even willing to waste a moment that could be used cultivating .

    Like this, two days went by . Xue Wei was still not able to break through the bottleneck that was between him and the secondyer of the Ordinary Saint rank, but he was very close and could feel how the bottleneck was loosening .

    As he was feeling the bottleneck loosening, a screech suddenly resounded in the room, dragging him from his cultivation . As he opened his eyes, he looked at the mutated Lin Xuan, who had managed to break through to the Heavenly Saint tier .

 Chapter 405

    Chapter 405: 405

    The heaven and earth essence in the entire surroundings of the pce was being drawn towards the study room and pouring into Ghost Sword Lin Xuan .

    Lin Xuan was conscious again, and he could feel the energy booming in his body; his dantian was refining the essence as fast as it could, and Qi was pouring through his meridians at a rapid speed .

    Finally, he managed to take control of his energy, but he did not stop the influx of essence . He was eager to boost his cultivation base as much as possible, but at the same time not risk his foundations bing too unstable .

    After reaching the thirdyer of the Heavenly Saint rank, he finally stopped his quick advance . He had broken through to be a Heavenly Saint, and now he could feel that he was able to advance even further .

    He finally understood what they meant when they said that they would remold his foundations and reignite his potential .

    He had thought that it was a kind of herb that had been found in the Ascended¡¯s Realm, but now he found that it was, in fact, the blood of someone who could make this change in him .

    He was having a hard time believing it, and even more so when he looked at the strength of this person .

    Xue Wei was merely an Ordinary Saint, but his blood had managed to cause him, Lin Xuan, to break into the Heavenly Saint rank .

    Not to mention, he could feel that his entire body was changed . While he previously felt as if he was a bottle that was full to the bursting point, he now realized that he was like an empty bottle, able to contain much more Qi within . He might even break away from the Saint rank!

    Lin Xuan was grateful . Although he had encountered an immense pain, so painful that he had copsed and lost consciousness, he also had gained a lot .

    He was immensely grateful to Xue Wei . Although he did not know his identity, he could guess that he was not a normal person, that he was someone special for him to be able to mutate him like this .

    But he also understood what he should and shouldn¡¯t ask . He was well aware that if he were allowed to know about Xue Wei¡¯s identity, then he would have been told already . Since he had not been told, it was a secret he should not attempt to pry into .

    After the cultivation had stabilized, he stood up stiffly . His body was sore after all the pain that had wrecked his entire being, and now he was aching in all his muscles .

    His body was staggering slightly as he stood up, and a bit of dizziness arrived before everything cleared up, and the pain vanished .

    Ghost Sword Lin Xuan suddenly looked at himself . His skin had previously been tanned from all the time he had spent under the sun, but his skin was now soft and tender . It was like the skin of a baby .

    His hair, which had been ck and short-cropped before, was now long and azure in color . His eyes, which had been brown before, were now light blue .

    "I think, maybe, you are no longer a ck Willow Swallow . " Xue Wei said tentatively . "You have mutated to be a one of a kind beast, something that has never existed before and something that might never exist again . "

    Lin Xuan was stunned as he looked at the skin on his hands, and the hair on his head .

    "What . . . what am I then?" he asked hesitatingly .

    "I don¡¯t know," Xue Wei¡¯s lips twitched . "Maybe an Azure Willow Swallow, considering your new hair color?"

    "Azure Willow Swallow . I have never heard about that name before . " The Ghost Sword was contemting, but he found that he quite liked the name .

    "Azure is a good color," Xue Wei said with a smile . He was after all an Azure Dragon, so seeing an azure bird was also quite fun .

    After a bit of time, Lin Xuan left the study, and the two Emperors and the Grand Elder looked at Xue Wei with excitement .

    He had spent fifty drops of blood and had created a mutated swallow . Now they had to discuss how many more experts he was to develop .

    "I suggest we make ten experts," the Grand Elder started . Ten experts were five hundred drops of blood . This was an immense amount, but if they did it over some time, it should be doable .

    This was also their first suggestion; they were willing to go down to seven or six mutated experts if the need arrived .

    But Xue Wei was not in a mood to haggle . It was just blood, and blood was something he created all the time . It was not essence blood or heart essence blood; it was just normal blood .

    Nodding his head absentmindedly, the three older men were shocked . Was he epting it so casually? It was five hundred drops of blood!

    Xue Wei did not care too much about it, but to them, it was unimaginable that he was giving them so many benefits .

    He was also giving them some of his scarlet bees and some scarlet honey .

    He was even gifting them some Qilin Horns . This was the best deal they had ever made, and they felt that they were somewhat taking advantage of him .

    But Xue Wei did not care too much . He really needed the Thunder me Crown, and he was feeling even more indebted towards Lan after knowing that Lan had been the one who had let Wang Xiaoyun into the Ascended¡¯s Realm .

 Chapter 406

    Chapter 406: 406

    The days passed with the flow of time, mornings came, and evenings went, and soon a month had passed .

    During this month, Xue Wei had only been back to talk with his friends a few times, other than that; he had been busy mutating beasts .

    One of them had died, but the other nine had survived . The one who had died was a young female . Her death was not due tock of willpower, but because of Xue Wei being stronger than her, and the blood being too overbearing, simply killing her within a moment .

    After this, the Retired Emperor made a selection of who to use the blood on . He no longer picked weaker experts; only those who were at the Earth and Sky Saint Realm were able to withstand the powerful mutation process .

    As to how Hei Gou had done so, it was truly a wonder, and Xue Wei finally understood that the pain his good friend had been under was much worse than any of these beasts¡¯ .

    Xue Wei was apathetic throughout the entire process . He observed the beasts writhe in pain without any expression on his face .

    The three older men were slightly stunned by how cold and emotionless Xue Wei was, but upon closer thought, they understood it .

    They knew the situation of the Chang¡¯an Continent, but they were unable to participate in the battle . All sides likely chased Xue Wei after his identity was announced .

    Being chased by all sides, it was natural that he was not in a position to pity others . If he spent time pitying others, he was likely to end up harming himself .

    As thest beast had mutated, Xue Wei¡¯s face was slightly pale . As he stood up, he suddenly felt dizzy before he took a deep breath .

    He needed to rest for some time so that he could gain some new blood . Although there were a few days between each time he shed blood, it was a lot of blood and all within a month .

    His lips were pale white, and the three older men began ming themselves for having not been attentive enough, but Xue Wei shook his head and waved his hand . "It¡¯s nothing," he said . "I am going to go back and rest for a few days, and I will be fine again . "

    The older men knew that he was saying this just to let them rx a little, and the words he said made them feel even more guilty .

    Xue Wei knew that they were guilty, but he did not mind too much . He had indeed pushed himself a little bit more than he should, but he had lost much more blood during battles before, so although it seemed problematic, it was not that bad .

    Returning to his room in the courtyard, Xue Wei did not begin cultivating . Instead, heid down on the bed and fell asleep .

    Although he had not done anything special, he was exhausted, the blood loss was making his body heavy, and his eyes were closing on their own .

    The bed was soft andfortable; he felt as if he was floating in cloud nine .

    The light shone in through the windows, a gentle beam of light made the dust dance in the air as Xue Wei was lying on the bed .

    It was a picturesque image that seemed as if he was a male version of the sleeping beauty .

    His eyes fluttered, and his fingers twitched . He felt as if he was being dragged from the darkness into the light, and he was feeling much morefortable .

    Although his body was heavy, it was not as heavy as it had been before, and it felt rested . He opened his eyes and found the beam of light shining in on him .

    Xue Wei cleared his throat, only to find it being dry and annoying . It was clear that he had been sleeping for a long time .

    He slowly rose from the bed; his legs were slightly shaky and heavy . It felt as if he had been sleeping for much longer than ever before .

    When he stood up, he was suddenly lightheaded, but after taking a few deep breaths, he felt much better .

    His face had regained its color, and he took out a spiritual fruit from his storage treasure and began eating it . The fruit was full of fruit juice, and he felt the dry throat being soothed .

    The energy within the spiritual fruit also came to renew his energy, and he felt much better than he had felt before .

    He could feel his weakened body regain its strength, and he was starting to feel much better than before .

    Xue Wei slowly tightened and loosened his hand, trying to feel how the strength was returning to him .

    After ensuring that he was fully fit for fight again, Xue Wei left the room and found that all his friends were gathered in the living room of the courtyard, their faces ugly .

    "What¡¯s happening?" Xue Wei asked as he saw their expressions, his brows furrowing .

    "You woke up!" Luoluo and the others eximed with happiness as they looked at Xue Wei, but soon after, a bit of worry shed past their eyes .

    "What¡¯s wrong?" he asked again, but they just shook their heads, not sure about what to say .

    "The Empress has made an empress¡¯ edict that Luoluo is to marry the First prince," Lin Xiao said . "We refuse to let them, but she warned us that they woulde and take her away by force if we did not ept by tomorrow morning . "

    "We wanted to wake you up," Hei Gou said, "but Tianyi said that you were too exhausted due to the blood loss, and we wouldn¡¯t seed in waking you up even if we tried . "

 Chapter 407

    Chapter 407: 407

    Xue Wei¡¯s face darkened . "Did you ept the edict?" he asked, his voice dangerously low .

    "We did not, but they sted it on our door where it has been since then," Lin Xiao said with a sigh .

    "And the Emperor has said nothing?" Xue Wei was full of anger now . He had sacrificed blood to create so many mutated beasts for them, and the thanks he was getting was his little sister forced into marriage?

    "I don¡¯t think he is aware of it," Hei Gou answered . "No one has seen the Emperor since you returned home . "

    "Let us go and find them," Xue Wei said, dragging all his friends with him out of the courtyard, only to find that there was a group of royal guards stationed outside .

    "The Empress has ordered that no one is to leave the courtyard before the wedding," one of the guards said, his face full of menace .

    "Either we leave, or you bring the Emperor here right at this moment," Xue Wei said, but all he was answered was aughter from the royal guard .

    "Who do you think you are, summoning the Emperor as you wish? Now return to the . . . "

    He did not manage to say another word before his head was severed from his neck, and his body limply fell to the ground .

    Everyone was shocked as they looked at Xue Wei, even his friends . Xue Wei had been fairly well behaved since he arrived at the Demon Phoenix Continent, but now he was suddenly killing a royal guard so quickly . It was the same as pping their faces .

    The other Royal Guards were also shocked, but they quickly regained their senses and plunged at Xue Wei .

    "How dare you!" they eximed in anger, and their hands brandished the sabers at their waist .

    Xue Wei waspletely without a care for these Royal Guards; his mood was turbulent, and his anger unstoppable .

    His friends, who had been taken by surprise, finally reacted . Their bodies shed, and smiles erupted on their faces . They had been suppressed for far too long, and now it was necessary for them to let go of all their frustrations .

    Lin Xiao was using his staff to attack, while Hei Gou was using his ws . Bai Tianyi was using the spiritual energy swords, while Luoluo was using her physical body, enhanced with spiritual energy . Xue Wei was using his body, his Qi, and his spiritual energy at the same time, attacking and killing one guard after another .

    More and more guards came rushing towards them, but the more that came, the more he killed .

    Blood was flowing like rivers on the ground, more and more guards sumbed to their death as Xue Wei went on a rampage . He was angry, but he was not blinded by anger; his actions had another reason behind them .

    All the experts that had arrived were at most Ordinary Saints, Xue Wei and his friends quickly ughtered all of them, and soon the ruckus drew others to pay attention to the small courtyard .

    Many officials were shocked and scared as they saw the ongoing massacre; the younger generation also drawn to the fight, scared from seeing the ruthlessness of Xue Wei .

    Soon a high ranking General appeared, and when they saw his face, all the Royal Guards seemed as if they had been given a second chance of life .

    "General Lin Xuan! Please punish these heinous criminals who are wantonly murdering in the royal pce!"

    "Are you going to get involved?" Xue Wei asked with a cold gleam in his eyes as he looked at Lin Xuan .

    The battle slowly stilled, and while Xue Wei and his friends had stopped killing, the others dared not advance .

    "Good Sir, what mistake has these Royal Guards made?" Lin Xuan was aware that the identity of Xue Wei was unique, and even more so when he realized how polite the Retired Emperor, the Current Emperor, and the Grand Elder were towards him . He dared not touch this young man .

    "Mistake? They want to force mypanion into marrying the First Prince, not to mention refusing to let us leave our courtyard . I asked them to get the Emperor and hear if this is how the Demon Phoenix Continent repays their gratitude, but they justughed at me and tried forcing us into the courtyard again!"

    Xue Wei was angry, and his voice was loud, his words causing everyone to be stunned . This man had done something that caused him to be a benefactor of the Demon Phoenix Continent?

    The Royal Guards were not worried; they thought that Lin Xuan was definitely on their side, so they scoffed . "It is yourpanion¡¯s great honor that our First Prince has taken a liking to her and wants to marry her . It is an honor that the Empress personally sent an edict to make this happen, who do you foreigners think you are?"

    The more he heard, the darker the face of Lin Xuan became . "Is the Emperor aware of this?" he suddenly asked .

    "Why would his royal highness need to be made aware of such small matters?" the Royal Guard asked puzzled, but his words made it clear that this decision had been made by the Empress alone .

    "Someone go invite the Emperor, tell him that the Empress has made a grave mistake and insulted someone that should not be insulted!"

    Lin Xuan gave the order, and the Royal Guards finally realized that things were not as they had expected .

    They all started trembling as two unfortunate individuals went to invite the Emperor .

    When he heard their words, he was slightly stunned, but he said nothing just followed the guards .

    It was not until he saw the hostile eyes of Xue Wei that he realized who it was that the Empress had insulted, and his heart suddenly quivered .

 Chapter 408

    Chapter 408: 408

    "What has happened here?" He asked, slightly puzzled as he looked at the dead guards on the floor .

    "You owe me an exnation," Xue Wei said, his voice ice cold and full of enmity .

    The surrounding people were all stunned to see the young man speak like this to the Emperor . He was far too presumptious; it was not a good thing to talk like this .

    But contrary to their expectations, the Emperor was not angry . Instead, he just furrowed his brows .

    "Exin," he said as he looked at a guard by his side .

    The guard finally understood that they had done something wrong, and he was trembling, his teeth ttering as he tried speaking .

    "It was the Empress . She bestowed an Empress¡¯ Edict on mypanion," Xue Wei said, his voice still detached and full of coldness . "She is forcing mypanion into marrying the First Prince and locked us all under house arrest .

    "Let me ask you, your highness . I went through so much trouble to help you all for days on end, drained my body of all its strength, and used my own blood to help you, but in return, mypanion was forced into such a situation? Is this how my gratitude is being repaid?"

    The Emperor looked rather sheepish . They already felt guilty towards Xue Wei for having him undergoing such a situation, which caused him to be so frail, but at the same time, his Empress had caused such a huge ruckus .

    Now he was not sure how to handle it any longer .

    He had lost a lot of royal guards, and if he did not look to hold someone ountable for this loss, they would be displeased alongside the popce .

    But he also had to consider Xue Wei and his feelings . He had sacrificed a lot to mutate nine beasts for them, and at the same time, he had also given them amazing rewards . Although it was supposed to be a fair trade, they felt as if they had gained much more than they had given .

    Now he was unfairly treated by the Empress, and he was unsure about how to act .

    That was until it struck him . Everything was the Empress¡¯ fault, so why not use her as a scapegoat to divert the anger of the Royal Guards to her . If not for her suddenly deciding upon making such an edict, this would never have happened in the first ce .

    The Emperor was unaware of the feelings that the Empress had harbored for years towards the Holy Maiden, and now also towards her son .

    He did not know that she hated them both, and was doing what she could to cause them problems .

    She, on the other hand, was unaware that Xue Wei had the same ability as the holy maiden, and thus she did not think that Xue Wei would be so valued by the retired Emperor and the grand elder .

    The current Emperor was able to make certain decisions on his own, but the moment it was an important decision, he would need permission from the Retired Emperor and the Grand Elder .

    But she had forgotten that she was the one who had caused the problem by making an edict . She did not know that what she had done was the same as kicking a hos¡¯ nest .

    "Go and invite the Empress here right away!" The Emperor said, his voice was also containing anger and frustrations .

    Hearing that he was angry, Xue Wei understood that he was genuinely unaware of the actions of the Empress, but he was not feeling much better . To treat his friends like this, he would never ept it .

    Xue Wei crossed his arms over his chest before he nced at the many scared Royal Guards that were all around him . They were lowering their heads, especially three, who had survived the initial attack .

    They had heard the words of the Royal Guard, who had first died and knew now that Xue Wei was not bragging when he said that the Emperor had toe to meet him .

    Now when they looked at it, they understood that Xue Wei was not a simple figure .

    But Xue Wei said nothing while waiting for the Empress to arrive . The Emperor was not sure about what to say, he was feeling embarrassed, and eventually, he also summoned the Retired Emperor and the Grand Elder .

    He had hardened his heart and already decided what to do with the Empress, but he was not allowed to do it himself .

    The Empress came from a dominant branch of the Vermilion Bird n . If he made a move on her without permission from the Retired Emperor and the Grand Elder, they would cause problems .

    However, if the three of them together made a decision on her future, the family backing her could say nothing .

    Xue Wei saw that the Retired Emperor and the Grand Elder appeared in a fluster, and not long after, the Empress appeared as well .

    Her eyes widened in shock when she saw Xue Wei, who had blood on his body, even bloodstains were on his face, and rivers of blood were flowing on the ground .

    "You ungrateful creature!" The Empress said with a frown on her face, ready to rebuke Xue Wei for having murdered numerous Royal Guards .

    "Shut up!" The Emperor yelled at her, stunning her slightly . She looked at the many dead Royal Guards, but even so, the Emperor was angry at her, and not Xue Wei . Something was wrong .

    "My dearest, don¡¯t be blinded just because he is her son . He has murdered numerous Royal Guards; this is not something you can condone . "

 Chapter 409

    Chapter 409: 409

    "Do you not know why he has done so?" The Emperor asked, not even bothering to hide the anger in his voice .

    "Making an Empress¡¯ Edict and forcing hispanion to marry your son, even giving them house arrest to ensure that nothing is found out by me . What a good empress I have!"

    "I don¡¯t understand?" The Empress tried to pretend to be clueless, but the Emperor interrupted her, "don¡¯t understand?! What is that Empress¡¯ Edict that¡¯s hanging on their door then? Who was the one who told them to stay in their courtyard until the wedding?"

    The more he thought about it, the more enraged he became .

    "I just thought that she would be a good match for our son," the Empress tried changing her tune when she realized that she could not pretend to be unknowing about it, but the Emperor was not satisfied .

    "She was a good match, so you forced her to marry him? She is clearly against the wedding, but to ensure it happens, you have been abused your power and forced the Royal Guard to suffer from our young friend¡¯s anger! It was the same as asking them to die!"

    The Empress had by now understood that the Emperor had every intention of pushing the me onto her . She looked pitifully at the retired Emperor and the grand elder, but all she saw was disappointment within their eyes .

    She started to feel worried . If not even the Retired Emperor or the Grand Elder spoke up for her, then her punishment was sure to be grave .

    "Let me ask you what enmity do we have with one another? First, you hired the Golden Chambers to kill me, now you have tried forcing mypanion into marriage . Clearly, you are targeting me, but I have never harmed you before . Could it be because of your dear son?"

    "What does he have to do with anything?" The Emperor asked while frowning .

    "He dislikes me . " Xue Wei did not bother speaking politely any longer and said it as it was . "He instigated the other youngsters to revolt against mymand multiple times, and eventually, he seeded . "

    "This is also why so many died . During the time I was in control, we lost at most a few, but now it¡¯s much worse . "

    "He felt it beneath him to take orders from an expert weaker than him . He also disdains my identity . "

    The Emperor was usually a man who had great control over his temper, however now he had been angered time and time again, and he was so mad that his eyes had turned red .

    "What a good son you have raised!" he snarled, ming himself partly for the fault . If he had not left it to the women to raise the princes on their own, this would never have happened .

    "Little Friend Xue, I apologize to you on behalf of the Demon Phoenix Continent¡¯s royal family," he began and even bowed to Xue Wei, a disy of lowering himself towards this youngster, stunning everyone present and making them fear who precisely this young man was .

    "It¡¯s all that sluts fault! At first, you were entranced by her, and now you want to look after her bastard, it is simply too disgraceful for the Emperor of the Vermilion Bird Race!"

    The Empress already knew that she had no chance to avoid me by now, and her words got ugly .

    "How dare you call him a bastard!" The Emperor¡¯s voice boomed through the heavens and earth, and many who had not been there before hurried to see what was happening .

    Here they found that the Empress was copsed on the ground, her usual elegant demeanor was shrew-like, and her eyes were filled with madness, her lips curled into a sneer .

    "She was the holy maiden of the entire Sovereign Beast race," the Emperor said with a sigh . He hadpletely given up hope for his Empress by now .

    "He is nothing but her bastard son! Why is he allowed to gain the title of a benefactor of our Demon Phoenix Continent?"

    "He is the Holy Son of our Sovereign Beast race!" Now the Retired Emperor could no longer hold back, his anger was reaching new levels, and new officials came rushing, some of these officials being family members of the Empress, but seeing the three most influential members of the Demon Phoenix Continent being gathered and all being against the Empress they dared not step forward .

    "How is he a Holy Son?! He is a bastard son, a mere creature that brings disgust to us all!"

    The vermilion birds in the surroundings that knew of the holy maiden were shocked when they heard that he was her son . Even more shocked when they added two and two together .

    The Retired Emperor, the Grand Elder, and the Current Emperor were all so protective towards Xue Wei . He had to have brought some fantastic rewards to the Demon Phoenix Continent .

    And knowing the power of the Holy Maiden, they were quickly able to guess what he had done, especially when they saw Lin Xuan standing to the side, clearly mutated from how he looked before .

    Xue Wei epted the apology and nodded his head; his expression was finally softening slightly .

    "The Empress is to be banished to the Cold Pce; the First Prince is to be confined within his cambers for the next six months . "

    Xue Wei knew that it was impossible to kill the Empress and the First Prince, and for such a person, it was better to suffer humiliation .

    "This matter ends here," Xue Wei said with a nod .

    The Current Emperor nodded his head feeling relieved . He was not feeling much sadness about banishing his wife for many years . This marriage was loveless, in his heart was only one figure .

    A few days went by before Xue Wei once again was summoned by the Current Emperor . During these days, every Vermilion Bird n member came to curry favor, and the youngsters from the Ascended¡¯s Realm all came to plead for forgiveness .

    While the youngsters were unaware of what it meant to be the Holy Son of the Sovereign Beasts, the older generation waspletely aware of it, and thus they saw him as a treasure mine .

    Making a good rtionship with him was important .

    After being summoned, Xue Wei was finally given the Thunder me Crown .

    He had many expectations for this treasure, but when he stood with it in his hands, he was slightly disappointed .

    It was nothing special, just as the older men of the Vermilion Bird n had said . It was merely a crystal crown embedded with gems . The reason it had such a history was because of its owner .

    It had belonged to the first Vermilion Bird, the ancestor of their race, and thus it was an artifact they valued greatly, however not more than the future of the Vermilion Bird n .

    Xue Wei also handed over one hundred scarlet bees, alongside two jars of scarlet honey and two Qilin Horns .

    The price he paid was immense, but finally, he had seeded in getting the item that Lan had asked of him .

    He thought that Lan just wanted to add it to his collection . One thing was certain, Lan had a strange hoarding habit, and everything with just the slightest history was suitable to be within his collection, ording to him .

    Heck, he had even considered adding Xue Wei to his collection, just thinking about it still made him feel shivers all over his body .

    Having gained the Thunder me Crown, Xue Wei was not sure about what to spend his time doing .

    He could not return to Chang¡¯an continent for various reasons, but most practically, he did not know the way .

    But it seemed as if Lan was busy recently too . He had not taken any contact with them since they had left the Chang¡¯an Continent, but Xue Wei did not believe that it was because of the distance . If Lan wanted to do something, nothing could stop him .

    So, in the end, he decided to settle in the Demon Phoenix Continent¡¯s capital for some time, take the peaceful surroundings and focus on cultivating .

    Although their cultivation had been increased when fighting with their lives on the line, their minds also needed a break from time to time, so Xue Wei decided that they could stay up to five years in the Demon Phoenix Continent before they would set out again .

    At the same time, in another area of the Continent, a young man suddenly appeared out of the blue .

    His hair was white, his eyes blue . He seemed not much older than twenty-five, but his eyes showed a wisdom that could only be found amongst those who had seen the passing of life .

    "So this is where Lan She lives?" the man muttered to himself as he stretched his body .

    "The World is not too bad, but it is quite fragmented . So many continents, how am I to find a snake that has burrowed into a hole? Oh well, I promised Lan Feng to find his son, and as his best friend, I have no other option than to do so!"

    The young white-haired man smiled helplessly, and began walking, walking towards the Imperial Capital of the Demon Phoenix Continent .

 Chapter 410

    Chapter 410: 410

    The flow of time passed like running waters in the Demon Phoenix Continent .

    Xue Wei was focusing on cultivating alongside his friends, and they were all eager to improve, especially now that they had found a calm and steady ce to do so .

    Days came, and days went . Most of their time was spent in their respective rooms, cultivating their inner energies, while once in a while, they would exit the courtyard to stretch their legs or to soothe their fatigued minds .

    Ever since knowing that Xue Wei was the son of the Holy Maiden, the Holy Son, everyone was treating him and his friends with growing respect .

    Especially when they saw the various Generals of the Demon Phoenix Continent were all mutated .

    Even the First Prince, who had great enmity with Xue Wei, decided toy low and pretend that they had never had any kind of disagreement .

    It was a day like any other, Xue Wei was entirely focused on enhancing his strength, but suddenly a chill ran down his spine, his body trembled and his eyes shot open .

    He could feel that someone was observing him, but no matter how he searched, there were no signs of anyone present .

    "Come out!" he yelled, and suddenly a figure appeared in front of him . It was a young man, who seemed to be between twenty and twenty-five, suddenly stood in front of him .

    His hair was white, his eyes blue, and a gentle smile adorned his lips . His strength was on par with Lan, if not stronger!

    Xue Wei¡¯s pupils contracted, his eyes narrowed, but he did not do anything stupid like attacking . After knowing the strength of the other party, he was aware that no matter what he did, he would end up dead, should this expert wish so .

    "You¡¯re surprisingly calm," the white-haired expert said with a smile on his lips . "I can sense you have been in contact with Lan She . It is as if all traces of him in this world are gone, all apart from you . "

    "Lan She? The annoying blue-haired Lan who likes to collect rarities?" Xue Wei frowned . He had never heard Lan¡¯s full name, but this was the only Lan he could think of .

    "Exactly! That¡¯s him!" The white-haired man nodded his head smilingly . "I was sent here by his father, but it seems that I have some trouble finding him . Why don¡¯t you tell me what you know about him, and I will reward you . "

    "What is your purpose?" Xue Wei asked tentatively . Although this expert seemed extremely strong, and even if it seemed as if he was not here to harm anyone, Xue Wei dared not be too casual .

    Even if he did not like to admit it, he owed Lan a lot . He was not going to betray him for some rewards .

    The white-haired young man nodded his head, his expression turning dignified . "Lan She, that brat, ran away from home around fifteen thousand years ago . It was not before now that his father, Lan Feng, managed to find a trace of where he was .

    "Now that we know where he is, we naturally have toe and see if he is living well . Preferably bring him back home, but if he is refusing to leave, then we will not force him . "

    "Lan is my savior," Xue Wei said with a sigh . "I don¡¯t know what he wants to do, nor do I know much about him . He usually lives on the continent Chang¡¯an, where he has a big pce . But I can¡¯t help you much more than that; I don¡¯t even know which way Chang¡¯an is . "

    The white-haired man snickered . "Finding a continent is child¡¯s y for me when I know what to look for . Thank you!

    "My name is Hui Yue . I am from outside this world, so most of the things I have cannot be used by you .

    "Let me tell you a bit about the structure of the universe instead . First are the universes . There are countless universes, but traveling from one universe to another requires one to be at the highest tier of power .

    "Thene the gxies . Each universe has numerous gxies, but even traveling between them is difficult as there is archaic energy, which can only be controlled by a certain rank of cultivation .

    "In these gxies are millions upon millions of worlds . Each world has its own rules and regtions .

    "This world, for instance, is different from many others . Let me give you an example from my old world; if someone died there, then you could go to the Netherworld to discuss with the Ten Courts of Hell about getting them back .

    "If you die in this world, then you are gone forever . At the same time, the cultivation methods and systems are also different in each world .

    "However, one thing is the same: to break through the world¡¯s barrier; one needs to be a Deity, a God .

    "To be a God in this realm is very difficult . I don¡¯t think anyone has seeded since the Four Divine Beasts left .

    "I would have gifted you a strand of Archaic Energy, but knowing that you are not even a God ranked cultivator yet, I doubt you can survive it .

    "Close your eyes, focus on your dantian; I will give you a blessing instead . "

    Xue Wei did as he was told, closed his eyes, and waited to see what was happening .

    Suddenly he felt a stinging pain in his body, it traveled from the top of his head and ran rampant through his body, but he was not screaming out in pain . Instead, he continued to focus on his dantian, only to be severely shocked .

    His dantian was growing in size, the energy within was being purified, and it was expanding at a rapid pace . He was having a breakthrough after merely a few seconds!

 Chapter 411

    Chapter 411: 411

    The energy did not vanish after he finished his first breakthrough . Instead, it continued to fill his dantian, pressing it to the limits .

    The nine seals on his body began shining . First, the light was dull and hard to notice, but the more energy he absorbed, the lighter they became before they started trembling as if they were absorbing the excess energy .

    Xue Wei was unaware of what was happening outside, his full focus was on his body, and he felt the energy purifying every cell in his body; the elements within his body also rose a grade, and his elemental affinity became even better .

    It was not only his cultivation base that was improving; everything about him was being taken to another level . His body, which was already near-indestructible due to his bloodlines, was even more sturdy after the energy finished rebuilding his cells .

    His meridians had been widened from how they were before . Now more energy could be used and unleashed at once, making his attacks even more deadly .

    His dantian had been slowly expanded . Not to the point where it could not handle the influx of energy, but enough to store the extra energy that had appeared out of nowhere .

    All in all, the benefit that this Hui Yue had given him was simply over the top, and it was still not stopping .

    The energy from Hui Yue continued to pour into his body . It did not stop until it could no longer enhance his body any further, and the nine seals could not contain any more energy . Even his dantian was full to the bloating point .

    Looking at his strength, Xue Wei took a deep breath; incredulity lit up his eyes . Had he actually jumped directly to the Earth Saint thirdyer rank?

    This increase in strength first made him immensely nervous . Although a boost in power was good, he had already once used the nine seals to seal up his foundation to make sure it was sturdy . He was not willing to risk his foundation for fast advance .

    Hui Yue saw that the immediate reward did not blind him and that his expression turned solemn, and he praised the young man in his heart .

    "Don¡¯t worry, this energy will not affect your foundation," he said with a smile as he could instantly guess the worry that Xue Wei had .

    "I cannot use Archaic Energy as it would blow up the body you have, but I have other energies that can help you . They are all much more condensed than yours as theye from a Deity .

    "Deities are different from mortals . No matter how strong you get, you will always be a mortal, but upon bing a Deity, your body will cease to exist in the way you know of it now . You will be a creature of energy instead . "

    Xue Wei frowned . If he gave up on his body, would he still be able to take on the shape of a Vermilion Bird and an Azure Dragon? Would he remain what he was today?

    Hui Yue did not say anything more . If Xue Wei was not willing to give up some things, how could he possibly advance in the future? If he could not embrace the sacrifice of his mortal body, then he would never be a Deity either .

    Xue Wei was deep in thought as he thought of the words said by Hui Yue, and the white-haired guest did not interrupt him either .

    Finally, Xue Wei sighed . "So be it . Originally I thought I was a mere human, but then the belief was being taken away from me . Then I thought that I was an Azure Dragon, but even that has proven to be incorrect . Now I don¡¯t even know what I am, so why should I cling onto a body that is so confused as mine is? What I need is strength! Strength to ensure that my loved ones will never encounter any problems in the future!"

    Seeing him make a decision so swiftly, Hui Yue was surprised, but he quickly smiled and felt that this young man was interesting . It was no wonder than Lan She had taken an interest in him .

    He was a much more decisive person than many of the people Hui Yue had met along his travels . It was hard to find someone like this young man .

    Hui Yue looked at him and suddenly had an urge to see him grow, but he also knew that he was not here for the sake of discovering talents, but because he had to convince Lan She that he had toe back home .

    Sighing and shaking his head regrettably, Hui Yue waved his hand, and a small vial appeared in his hand .

    "This is a medicine that the Gods use to save themselves . As long as you have died with aplete corpse and the death happened less than ten minutes ago, you can then use it to revive the person, as long as it was a mortal .

    "There is one pill within, so guard it well . Don¡¯t waste it . This is a guarantee that you can save someone once, but only once . You are a genius yourself, so you should know just as well as me that the future can only be controlled by yourself .

    "Although you can receive a lot of help, it will not do you any good, and instead hinder your future aplishments .

    "The energy I used was Ancestral Worldpower . This power has no harm to you, and it will continue to roam in your body . You cannot use it before you be a god, and it will continue to purify all the Qi you gain . "

 Chapter 412

    Chapter 412: 412

    Xue Wei could feel that the energy that had prated deep into his dantian was different from the Qi he usually used .

    The Vermilion Bird and the Azure Dragon spirits within his dantian almost started fighting one another for the sake of gaining most of the energy, but surprisingly enough, it was impossible for the two spirits to consume the energy . Their attempts proved futile and caused quite some frustration to the spirits .

    Xue Wei almost burst outughing seeing them like this; it was the first time he had seen the two aloof spirits within his dantian being so greedy .

    At the same time, he understood that the energy was anything but ordinary in order to make them react like this .

    "Thank you," he said, heartfelt to Hui Yue . "I am very grateful for the help you have given me . Although I doubt I will be able to return the favor, if you need me to help you, do not hesitate to ask for me . "

    Hui Yue could see that Xue Wei was serious . He smiled slightly, but he did not reject his kindness .

    "Who knows what might happen in the future," Hui Yue said with a nod of his head, "I might actually need your help one day, so I will be impolite and remember your promise . "

    Xue Wei had been worried about Hui Yue not taking him seriously, so he was astonished when he heard how serious Hui Yue sounded .

    "Well then, I will go and find Lan She," Hui Yue said with a nod of his head, and suddenly a light breeze entered the room, after which the young white-haired man had vanished without a trace .

    Xue Wei was not too shocked to see him vanishing like that, but he was once again motivated to increase his strength as soon as possible .

    Previously he was unaware of the worlds beyond his own . He had thought that the apex of the world he lived within, was the highest he could ever reach, but now he knew that this world was but a small step towards the real adventure, towards the other worlds .

    He was indeed a frog in a well .

    He was feeling a strange sensation of yearning . These outside worlds, where everything was different . How could he not yearn for them?

    He was tired of this world . He was tired of the constant battles, the people scheming, and the enmity between continents, or races . He wanted to spread his wings in a world where no one knew him, where he was not the Holy Son, where he was nothing special . Somewhere he could just be himself .

    Hui Yue had left him, unaware of the dreams he had sparked in Xue Wei¡¯s mind .

    Xue Wei spent a few days in secluded cultivation . When he was not deep in meditation, he was thinking about the worlds beyond their own; he was thinking about the endless worlds .

    But he also realized that he could not just rush to the God level and then leave the world . He had too many things that had to bepleted before he could go .

    He had to solve the problems with the Chang¡¯an Continent . He had to solve the war, and find Xiao Lei . He also needed to know his own origin; he had to find out if it was only the Vermilion Bird n he could merge with, or whether or not he could also merge with the White Tiger and ck Turtle bloodlines .

    He also had to help Bai Tianyi solve his blood feud against the eight noble families .

    Although they had gotten some interest in the Ascended¡¯s Realm, that was far from enough to soothe his anger . He needed to eradicate the ancestors of these families, who had banded together to deal with him .

    Lin Xiao had no blood feud; he just wanted to run away from the other Diviners . Hei Gou had long since left everything behind him . Although he was not happy with his family having sacrificed him, he had no wish to get revenge on them . They were the ones who gave him life after all .

    Luoluo had also let down her hatred after being freed from the soul reaping formation within the Garden of Shadows . Although it was something she would forever remember, she saw it as a necessary thing to be able to meet the ones who truly mattered to her . Xue Wei, Lin Xiao, Bai Tianyi, and Hei Gou had turned into her family members now .

    And finally, there was Wang Xiaoyun . Xue Wei was aware that she had changed in their time within the Ascended¡¯s Realm . She no longer med every beast for the destruction of her family, with the exception of Chu Huiyin, the Ice Harpy . She would have to die before she could let go of her hatred .

    Although Xue Wei wanted to travel, and leave this world, he wanted to do so together with his friends and family . He was not going to leave them behind . Hence he also understood that he had to solve all the hatred first . He had to ensure that no one would encounter a heart demon due to leaving unfinished matters in this world .

    Sighing, Xue Wei left his room only to find that all the others were waiting for him in the living room . Their eyes disyed some worry as they looked at him, but soon this worry was changed to shock .

    "You released the seals?" Bai Tianyi asked, since this was the only reason he could find for Xue Wei¡¯s sudden boost in strength, but Xue Wei shook his head .

    "I will tell you about it in a moment, but why are you all gathered here?"

    "The war has intensified . " Hei Gou answered, looking somewhat worried .

 Chapter 413

    Chapter 413: 413

    "The war intensified?" Xue Wei frowned, feeling it was weird . "Has it not been stable for years, and onlyprised of small skirmishes? Why did it suddenly change like this?"

    "Well . . . " Hei Gou looked at Xue Wei before he shook his head and sighed . "It is indirectly your fault . "

    "My fault?" Xue Wei was surprised and quite shocked . Had he done nothing, he thought? Hadn¡¯t he been entirely focused on cultivating?

    Seeing him being so perplexed, Bai Tianyi shook his head and smiled . "The enemy has gotten intel that the Demon Phoenix Continent¡¯s generals have increased their strength . They now think that the Vermilion Birds has some treasure that can mutate a Primordial Beast, and their greed has surpassed their rationality . "

    "I see . " Xue Wei nodded his head . It seemed that he was the reason for the war ring up .

    "So, what is it to you?" Xue Wei asked again as he looked at them, and all of them looked at one another, not sure who should speak . It was clear that they had spoken before amongst each other, but now that they had to tell Xue Wei, they were worried about his reaction .

    "Come on; I don¡¯t bite . "

    "We are thinking of joining the army . " Eventually, it was Hei Gou who spoke . "We don¡¯t really care too much about who wins and who loses the war, but we have been rxing for a long time . Our hands are itching for a proper fight again .

    "A battlefield will be suitable or us to grow as well . We need somewhere where others can pressure us, and we feel that joining the war is the best solution for us . "

    Xue Wei thought about it for some time, before he nodded his head . Their reasons made sense, and after speaking with Hui Yue, he knew that it was, in fact, not a bad idea to go out and fight .

    At the same time, he also knew that his advance would slow down . He was different from the others because of the nine seals on his body . He needed to use every single moment to cultivate, but he also wanted to enhance his battle experience .

    Facing a difficult question, Xue Wei fell into contemtion . He was considering what to do when he suddenly heard a rage-filled roar erupting next to him, "Xue Wei! You traitor! How could you tell my uncle where to find me?!"

    Xue Wei did not have to turn his head to know that it was Lan who had emerged out of nowhere .

    "Lan, long time no see," Xue Wei said casually, not at all caring about the rage that was evident on the man¡¯s face . For some weird reason, Xue Wei felt that it was impossible for Lan to really harm him .

    "How could you? I have been treating you so well . Why would you tell my uncle where to find me? This won¡¯t do, let me hide by your side for some time!"

    "We are going to join the battlefield," Xue Wei said with a smile, "We are going to fight with our lives on the line to ignite our potential . With such a deity like yourself around us, how could we ever encounter life-threatening danger?"

    "Don¡¯t worry," Lan said through gritted teeth, "I will let you experience a lot of life-threatening situations!"

    Xue Wei smiled slightly . As long as Lan promised not to interfere with their battles, he did not care what the older man did .

    "Oh right," Xue Wei waved his hand and took the Thunder me Crown out of the storage treasure before he tossed it to Lan . "I got your crown . "

    Lan¡¯s rage-filled eyes changed, and a gleeful smile erupted on his lips . "You got it!" he eximed happily and started examining the crown from every angle .

    Then he stored it in his own storage treasure and he seemed to look a lot less unhappy .

    "Well then, let us go to visit the Emperor . We are going to join the army, so we need his approval . "

    The others nodded their heads . Together with the group, including Lan, they hurried to the study where the Emperor was buried in paperwork .

    "What brings you here?" He asked gently while looking at Xue Wei and the others .

    "We would like to join the army," Xue Wei said straightaway . "We have been cultivating for some time now, and we need some practical fights, some encounters to push our potential to new heights . "

    The Emperor gave a deep look at the group before he nodded his head . "Then I will let you join the army," he said . "But you have to be careful . Even if you wish to train your skills and fight, you have to make sure that you are not in any life-threatening danger . "

    Xue Wei nodded his head and looked at the Emperor . He could feel that the Emperor was gentle towards him because of his affection towards his mother, but he was not going to say anything .

    The Emperor was also aware that he could not control Xue Wei, but he still wanted him to be safe . He was, after all, the flesh and blood of the woman he could never forget .

    After having gotten permission, the group returned to the courtyard to pack up their things before they went to the military office .

    The military office was the ce where people were signing up in the army, and when their group arrived, they attracted a lot of attention .

    Many were here to sign up for the army, but none of them were as high profile as Xue Wei and his friends .

 Chapter 414

    Chapter 414: 414

    Many primordial beasts, humans, and even some Vermilion Bird n members were waiting at the sign-up point for the army .

    Everyone knew that if the Demon Phoenix Continent lost this war, their worriless lives would change once and for all, and thus they decided to register themselves for the army .

    They all wanted to do their best to help the Continent get through the danger that was now lurking around them . Still, they were all aware that they were doing this for their families, because of the patriotic feeling within themselves, and in gratitude for everything that the Continent had provided them with .

    Xue Wei and his friends were known to everyone . They were foreigners who were well received in the pce . They could live a leisurely life, and no one expected them to participate in the war, as they had no lingering feelings for this Continent .

    But now, this group of people, alongside one more they did not know, had appeared at the sign-up ce . Clearly, they aimed to join the army . Had they misunderstood these people? Did they really want to help the Demon Phoenix Continent survive the disaster?

    Xue Wei and his friends could see the surprise in the people¡¯s eyes, but theypletely ignored them as they went to que up .

    Murmurs erupted in the surroundings, everyone began discussing their purpose, but none of them reacted at all, even when some of them were speaking loudly enough for them to hear everything they said .

    As they stood in the queue, it took quite some time for them to reach the table where they could register, but even the military officer who was in charge of signing people up looked at them with confusion and some hostility .

    It was not known to the outside world that the one who had enhanced the ability amongst the Generals was the one in front of them, hence they thought that this group of people was merely here to live afortable life . They could not help but be alert whenever they saw Xue Wei and his friends wanting to sign up .

    Before anyone had time to question Xue Wei, a General of the army appeared at the registration area, his eyes scanned over the area, and he looked at Xue Wei with shock when he saw him and his friends lining up .

    "Master Xue," the General hurried to his side . This General was renowned for being patriotic and respected . They thought he was alert and vignt against Xue Wei . They could not let outsiders join their army, what if they were spies?

    But contrary to their expectations, the General looked politely at Xue Wei and bowed slightly .

    "Master Xue wishes to join the army?" he asked . "It will be our great honor to have such an esteemed expert such as yourself and your friends joining our army . "

    Xue Wei looked at the general and smiled politely . "That was our n . "

    The military officer who was supposed to sign up people for the army was stunned . How could this mutated general treat Xue Wei so well? It was not just normal respect; there was a level of reverence in his voice that made everyone understand that he even looked up to this young man who was weaker than him in strength, and much younger than him in age .

    Xue Wei knew that this General would never expose his achievements, but he would still not allow anyone to cause problems for him, and he looked at the people around them .

    "Master Xue has done much for our Demon Phoenix Continent," the General said . "We owe him a lot, but he is even thinking of joining the army to assist our Continent . It is our honor to have him working for us, so please approve of their registration procedures and hurry up! We cannot afford to waste time!"

    Xue Wei nodded his head approvingly . Saying that he had done much for them, but not going into detail was the best way to make them look at him in a favourable way .

    "Master Xue, all of you have to write your names down, after which we will send you to the training camp . There is no time limit for how long someone stays in the training camp; it depends on how fast someone bes ustomed to the army lifestyle .

    "When you are ustomed, you will be sent to the front line where you are going to join the skirmishes or undertake missions . The more kills you get, the more tasks youplete, the more merits you will get .

    "Merits can be traded for resources, so do your best!"

    Xue Wei nodded his head before he wrote down his name on the sign-up form . At the same time, the others signed their names as well . When Lan signed, Xue Wei saw that he only wrote Lan, he was not using his given name .

    Many knew of Lan, but those who knew his given name were few . Xue Wei did not know what his story might be, but he could often see a trace of sadness, loneliness, and grief in his eyes .

    Maybe his past was painful, and could have been the reason for him to no longer use the name ¡¯She¡¯ .

    Xue Wei said nothing; he just nced at the names that had been signed on the document . Then suddenly, Xue Fu came out of the Beast Tag, and she also signed her name on the document .

    Many of the people present were shocked to see that they had a beast tag and even more surprised when they saw that the one who came out from the beast tag was a Primordial Beast in human form . In the Demon Phoenix Continent, it was impossible to make a Primordial Beast be a tamed beast, so this was shocking to them .

 Chapter 415

    Chapter 415: 415

    Xue Wei had no intention of being low-key . He wanted to show everyone his might to make them all understand that he, and his group, were not to be belittled .

    If they pretended to be weak, they would be bullied, but if they showed their prowess, others, of decent skill, would be more interested in sparring with them, hence helping them when they trained .

    They wanted to enter the warzone as soon as possible to improve their potential and theirbat ability . But if they pretended to be weak, they would end up in the training camp for far too long .

    Xue Wei and his friends had considered many different things beforeing to this conclusion . They were going to be sparkling like stars, they would be so brilliant that no one would be able to take away the shine that belonged to them .

    The officer behind the registration table was also stunned, but he dared not be disrespectful due to the General¡¯s apparent reverence towards Xue Wei .

    "Please take these tags," the officer said, as he handed a wooden token to each of them, "drip a drop of blood onto them, to bind them to yourself, and then go to the training camp .

    "The training camp is located outside the city . It is not hard to find . "

    Xue Wei nodded his head, and all of them epted the tokens, after which they dripped their blood onto them, and stored them away in their storage treasures .

    Having already packed everything they needed to pack, all of them left the sign-up area, and started moving towards the outside of the city .

    Although they had not been given any directions, it was not a problem . Ass soon as they exited the city, they could move much faster, and they should be able to locate it quite soon .

    It took them three hours to locate the training camp . It was a massive location, built at the foot of a mountain . It housed around a million hopeful soldiers at this current point in time, and it was a rough environment .

    Looking at the barracks and the dirty ground that had turned to mud, Xue Wei could not help but nce at Luoluo . However, he was surprised to see that every step she took, left the soil under her feet frozen, so even the mud could not dirty her shoes .

    Luoluo had truly benefited greatly from being in the Ascended¡¯s Realm, and she had matured a lot .

    When they arrived at the entrance to the training camp, a veteran soldier greeted them .

    "Show me your tokens," he barked the order in a way that did not allow one to decline, and Xue Wei, alongside the others, took out their tokens, and presented them to him .

    "Okay, then let me tell you a few rules of the Training Camp," the man began after he had inspected their tokens .

    "There are three different kinds of residences in the Training Camp . Firstly the barracks . They take up ny-five percent of the residences, and here the majority live . Then there are the tents . They take up four percent of the residences, and here the strong live . Finally, there are courtyards . This is where the geniuses live, and only one percent live here .

    "To take over someone¡¯s residence, all you need is to challenge them to a duel . The winner takes the house; the loser goes to the barracks .

    "The Courtyards can house ten people, and the geniuses often band together in teams in order topete for the courtyard houses . "

    Xue Wei nodded his head . They were seven people, Luoluo, Hei Gou, Bai Tianyi, Lin Xiao, Xue Fu, Lan, and himself .

    Although they could find three others to work together with, Xue Wei was not willing to do that . He was much more interested in just winning against ten geniuses with their seven people .

    He knew that Lan could instantly defeat them all, but he was not willing to have him do so, he wanted to also benefit from the duels, but he dared not let Lan live in a barrack, neither was he willing to let his younger sister live in such a ce .

    As such, he instantly decided to head towards the courtyards .

    "We will start with Courtyard Nine . It has the lowest number . Hence they ought to be the weakest . I am not willing to let Luoluo sleep in a barrack with other men, so we will have to win over a courtyard today . All of you are to give it your very best!"

    They all nodded their heads solemnly, their eyes full of determination .

    Many overheard their words, and all of them could not help but snort or scoff in disdain .

    They had just arrived at the training camp and were already thinking of taking over a courtyard? Were they idiots?

    Xue Wei could see on the faces of the others that it was not easy to get a courtyard as soon as one arrived, but that did not dampen his enthusiasm . He was eager to fight after so much time had passed .

    When they arrived at Courtyard Nine, they found that it was a tranquil and peaceful ce . The courtyard was nothing like the barracks, which smelled, and were worn down .

    Xue Wei looked at the courtyard . He took a deep breath, thought things through, and then called out loud . "We are here to challenge the upants of Courtyard Nine . "

    His voice reverberated through the entire ce, and many were drawn to their location out of curiosity .

    When they found that it was a group of neers, all of them sneered in disdain .

    This was amon urrence, new experts thinking themselves to be stronger than they actually were .

    They were looking forward to seeing Xue Wei and his friends getting beaten to a pulp .

 Chapter 416

    Chapter 416: 416

    Xue Wei was unperturbed about the many nces that were thrown his way; he was used to being looked at as an idiot and a weakling .

    Lan, on the other hand, was used to being treated as a deity, and a smile could not help but flitter across his lips . This was new; to be looked down upon was actually such a novel feeling .

    Xue Wei nced at Lan, and his lips twitched slightly . He tried not tough and instead looked at the others . Just as Xue Wei was not caring about their expressions, his friends were utterly unmoved as well .

    Their ability to control their emotions was already quite unusual, so maybe they could bring out a surprise? Many started to feel quite surprised .

    "Courtyard Nine . Are you hiding like a turtle in a shell?" Xue Wei asked, his voice was no longer so loud that it reverberated through the entire area, but due to the silence, everyone could hear him, and they took in a deep breath in shock . This was a naked provocation!

    The people, who had waited inside the courtyard in an attempt at making them flustered were now the ones who felt as if they had lost their face .

    They all hurried out of the courtyard, their faces full of anger and shame .

    They were red faced, their chests were heaving, and their eyes were bloodshot . It was clear that they were immensely angry, and their eyes almost spat out mes .

    "Who do you think you are?!" the one who spoke was a Vermilion Bird n member . It was one who had not been in the Ascended¡¯s Realm, and although he knew of Xue Wei, he had never actually seen him before .

    When he looked at Xue Wei, he had a strange feeling, but he was not sure what it was . Instead, he was curious as to what idiot dared to cause problems for him and his band of brothers .

    The ones he called brothers consisted of both Primordial Beasts and humans; they were arrogant because their backer was from the Vermilion Bird n .

    "Idiot, you don¡¯t know that this courtyard belongs to Young Master Chi of the Vermilion Bird n?"

    Unfortunately, Xue Wei was not intimidated by the Vermilion Bird n, so when the young man tried to use his background to pressure him, Xue Wei just lifted an eyebrow and sighed .

    "Do you think that I will back off, just because you have someone from the Chi Branch of the Vermilion Bird n?" Xue Wei asked with a smirk on his face as he crossed his arms over his chest .

    "Who do you think you are, to look down on the Vermilion Bird n? This continent belongs to the Vermilion Bird n, so how can you possibly stand against them?"

    The others were also shocked and looked at Xue Wei as if they had seen a freak . How could he possibly be alive if he stepped on the pride of the Vermilion Bird n?

    But Xue Wei just snickered . "You seem to think that the Vermilion Bird n will pick a Chi-Branch member over me?"

    "Of course!" one of the henchmen said with a nod of his head . "You are merely a poser . Blood is thicker than water; they will, of course, pick their family over a foreigner . "

    "I am not so sure about that," another voice suddenly sounded out, and everyone turned to look at the one who interrupted them .

    It was the First Prince . He used to be revered by all, but they had heard that his mother, the empress, had been banished to the Cold Pce, and hence his status had also dropped .

    Even so, he was still revered for his own powers, and when he looked at Xue Wei, there was a mixture of feelings in his eyes . Before he had been immensely jealous, and wanted to trample all over him because his father seemed to prefer this man to him, he was burning with jealousy, but after realizing that this man was the Holy Son, he was no longer jealous .

    It was natural for him to be unique . It was natural for his father to prefer him too .

    Hearing that the prince said this, everyone was stunned . The First Prince gave Xue Wei a long nce before he took a deep breath . He understood that he ought to hate this man for what had happened to his mother, but he was also unable to hate him; in fact, he revered him .

    He had heard tales about the Holy Maiden since he was a young, about her magical powers and her ability to bring happiness to all Sovereign Beasts . She was a legendary figure, and he knew that all Sovereign Beasts had waited for her for many millennia, so now that the Holy Maiden had turned into the Holy Son, he was still feeling respect .

    The Chi Branch member was stunned when he heard the First Prince¡¯s words, and he looked at Xue Wei with narrowed eyes .

    Did this guy have some background that they did not know of?

    "Older Brother, who is he?" the Chi-Branch member asked as he looked at the First Prince .

    "He is Xue Wei," the First Prince answered right away, and the face of the Chi-Branch member was suddenly turning pale as a sheet .

    Before entering the army, his father had told him that he was not allowed to cause problems for this Xue Wei . He was not sure of what precisely his identity was, but he was aware of the fact that he could not afford to offend him .

    But although he could not offend him, he was really not able to ept the fact that he had to give up the ninth courtyard and move into the tents .

 Chapter 417

    Chapter 417: 417

    The expression of unwillingness on the Chi-Branch¡¯s member¡¯s face was enough to cause everyone around them to look at Xue Wei with curiosity .

    He was not from the Vermilion Bird n, if he was, they would all recognize him, and even if they did not recognize him, then the Chi Branch member ought to know him .

    Within the Demon Phoenix Continent, the Vermilion Birds were the upper ss . Only they could be considered genuinely noble, and thus everyone expected that they would use their might to bully others, but the moment this guy heard Xue Wei¡¯s name, he started cowering in fear .

    Although he was clearly unwilling to move back to the barracks, it was clear that he dared not go against Xue Wei .

    Xue Wei was also quite stunned . He knew that the different branch heads of the Vermilion Bird n were aware of his identity, but he did not think they would be so thorough as to warn their descendants not to trouble him .

    He was not at all caring about how he got the courtyard, whether he had to fight for it, or use his background, but he knew that both ways had positives and negatives .

    However, what mattered to him was to have the courtyard so that his sister did not have to sleep in the barracks with the many men . She was, after all, a woman, and her reputation was on the line .

    The Chi branch member seemed to understand it as well when he looked at Luoluo . He was aware that even if he won the battle, he would be forced to forfeit the courtyard .

    Since this was the case, the Chi Branch member sighed and gestured for his brothers to vacate the courtyard .

    The brothers were all unhappy, but they dared not go against Xue Wei . Since even the Vermilion Bird n¡¯s descendants had to respect him, his background had to be immensely frightening .

    Just as Xue Wei looked at the others, he realized that all of them were looking at him with curiosity, but also some hostility .

    This was the army, but he had used his background to suppress someone . This was something that was looked down upon, but he did not care . So what if he was hated by everyone? He did not need these people to like him .

    His friends were equally carefree, and all of them ignored the many ugly looks that were sent their way . Lan even beganughing out loud when he saw it .

    "Little Xue Wei, you are as disliked as always," he could not help but say, his words full of mirth, taking pleasure in others¡¯ misfortune .

    "Don¡¯t forget you are with us now," Xue Wei said with a shrug of his shoulders . "We may be disliked, but so are you . "

    Lan smiled as he shook his head . Although he was a deity, he loved fun things, and Xue Wei was a fun person . Although he now knew of his identity, he did not treat him with reverence, nor did he treat him with the utmost respect . He was treating him as always, and it was immensely refreshing .

    Their bickering was one of life¡¯s great pleasures . Initially, after all those things had happened, he had lost his will to live, but now he was feeling energetic once more .

    Life was not as bad as he had thought .

    "Well, to be hated is also a new experience," Lan said with a smile on his face . "I am used to being revered, so being the bad guy for once is actually quite exciting!"

    "You are always the bad guy," Xue Wei muttered . He was reminded of all the trouble this man had brought him ever since he met him the first time in the Genius Camp when he was merely a youth, but he was still smiling because he was also the one who had given him the chance to be someone strong .

    If he had not helped him escape Chang¡¯an, things would be looking very dire for him and his friends . Not to mention, he would never have found Luoluo, and her lifeforce was likely to be drained by the soul reaping formation .

    Lan knew that Xue Wei was grateful to him, but he also understood that he was the kind of person who¡¯d never say thank you, but instead would show his gratitude with his actions .

    In fact, he had never thought that Xue Wei would actually be able to get his hands on the Thunder me Crown, but now that he had, he was quite amazed by the skills of this young man .

    Although he was much weaker than him, he was worth it to guide and support .

    "Oh right, Hui Yue is likely to find us within a few days," Lan said suddenly . "He is incredibly stubborn and annoying . But at least it was him who came, and not his children; they are impossible to get along with!"

    "Oh?" Xue Wei was intrigued . He had a good impression of Hui Yue, so how could he be considered stubborn and annoying . Also, why were his children impossible to get along with?

    "He has three wives, and all of them have given birth to children for him . All of them are very loved and grew up in a sheltered environment, although he has been strict and taught them well, they are too cheeky and they often pulled pranks on me!"

    Xue Wei was staring at Lan with an amused expression on his face . Had he been pranked? That was something he would love to have seen .

    Lan looked at Xue Wei and saw through his thoughts right away, but he just snickered .

    "Do you want to get pranked too?"

    "No, thank you!" Xue Wei still wanted to survive!

 Chapter 418

    Chapter 418: 418

    After the Chi Branch member and his brothers vacated the courtyard, they did not hurry to leave the courtyard area . Instead, they went to the courtyard next to the one they just vacated and called out a challenge to the residents within .

    Most people in the courtyards were equal in strength . At least the ones from the fifth courtyard and beneath had no particr advantage against one another, and they did not care for what number their courtyard was . All that mattered to them was whether or not they were capable of staying in this area .

    It was only the top five that cared about their reputation and who would fight for the sake of taking over each other¡¯s numbers . So while it would be a challenging fight against the ones in courtyard number eight, it was not impossible for the Chi Branch member and his friends to win the battle .

    Xue Wei looked at them and considered going to watch their battle . He needed to see how skilled the men in the army were . Theirbat ability had to be better than the sheltered Vermilion Birds he had taken with him to the Ascended¡¯s Realm .

    After thinking it through, he left Luoluo and Lin Xiao at the courtyard to make it clean, and then he took Bai Tianyi, Hei Gou, and Lan with him towards the challenge stage .

    Here, the battle soon began . The Chi Branch n member was clearly the backbone of the team, and he was capable of providing both assistance and direct attacks . He was throwing out one order after another, and his brothers followed his words without the slightest hesitation .

    It was clear that they were soldiers, their approach to battle was very different from what Xue Wei was used to, and upon looking at them, he understood that they had teamwork .

    Teamwork . This was something that hecked with his friends in fighting situations . While they fought back to back, they did not fight together as a team . Instead, they fought as individuals that sometimes assisted one another .

    If they could fight as a team, how much better would theirbat ability be? From looking at the performance of this Chi branch member, it would be quite beneficial for them to fight together .

    It was not only Xue Wei who was deep in thought, Bai Tianyi and Hei Gou were both thinking deeply as well . Only Lan was casual and not paying attention to anything else than the frenzy on the tform .

    In the Vermilion Bird Army, it was not allowed to kill or cripple one another, but it was fine if the person was severely injured, as long as their foundation was not harmed .

    This meant that many ended up beaten so badly that even their mothers could not recognize them, and especially so in a battle like this, where the people who fought were equal in strength . It was obvious that it would be a desperate battle .

    Xue Wei was observing everything in great detail . Although he understood that it would be hard, he wanted to try and see if he could fight as a team with his friends as well . If they did, their potential would be much more frightening than it was now .

    They already fulfilled all conditions for being able to fight as a team, as they trusted each other with their lives . They also did not doubt one another, and were able to throw their lives away to save theirrades .

    The only problem was that all of them were powerful individuals . They were used to fighting on their own, and they had their own fighting style . To suddenly change, it would be quite challenging .

    "Oh well, I cannot decide on my own," Xue Wei muttered to himself as he narrowed his eyes and observed the battle on the stage in front of him .

    At the same time, the battle came to an end . Although it was a disastrous battle, it ended with the victory of the Chi Branch member, and that of his brothers .

    For some reason, Xue Wei had a good impression of this vermilion bird, and when he looked at him, he saw that he looked back at him, nodded his head, and supported his friends out of the arena .

    Xue Wei hesitated for a moment, but eventually, he walked to their side .

    "Here," he said and stuffed a jade vial into his hands . "I guess you already have medication, but these should be able to help you quite a bit in the future . "

    The Chi Branch member was shocked when he saw that it was a very high graded healing medication that could cure broken bones in minutes . Although he had such valuable medication, he was not willing to take it out, but now he had been given a whole jade vial full of them . There were at least twenty pills inside!

    Suddenly the sourness he felt from being chased from the courtyard vanished . Although they had to fight a desperate battle, the pills he had been gifted were totally worth it .

    It was not that there were no pills in the Demon Phoenix Continent . However, they were currently at war with another continent . As such, it was hard to get their hands on some resources . These resources were often sent straight to the battlefield and exchanged for merits and achievement points .

    The pills they had been gifted; if they each took one now to heal themselves, they would still have enough left to be able to bring them with them towards the battlefield . This was a priceless treasure to them right now .

    Xue Wei was unaware that the small gesture he made resolved some problems for him . If he had not done this, the Chi Branch members would hold a grudge, but instead, he was now grateful .

 Chapter 419

    Chapter 419: 419

    As Xue Wei returned to the courtyard, he found that Luoluo and Lin Xiao had already changed the futons and the nkets . Everything was new and fresh, even all the windows were open, allowing for a fresh air breeze to pass through, bringing with it new life .

    There were enough rooms for all of them, and they each found a room to settle in . After gettingfortable, they began cultivating their inner energies .

    Xue Wei still had the nine seals on his body, so he needed a longer time to have another breakthrough .

    Although he was aware of this, he was not upset . He knew that the purity of the Qi that roamed through his body was much purer than that of others, and that because of it he was able to have sturdier foundations, making it possible for him to reach higher realms further in the future .

    Xue Wei cultivated for a few hours before he woke up from the trance . He flipped his hands, and a two-colored rainbow pill appeared in his palm .

    Looking at the pill, aplicated gleam appeared in Xue Wei¡¯s eyes . These rainbow-colored pills were immensely hard to create as the resources needed were simply too many, but due to his luck, he had managed to get his hands on quite a few of them .

    The only problem was when he ate it; he did not know what it would strengthen . He wanted to use one and see if it could help his Qi advance, but what if it went to assist his Spiritual Energy, or his physique instead?

    Taking a deep breath, he knew that he should not be impatient; even if the pill assisted his Spiritual Energy, then it would not be wasted .

    The only option he did not wanting up was the strengthening of his physique . His body was already as strong as it could be at this current point in time . He was an azure dragon and a vermilion bird . He had eaten many rare herbs, and consumed many one and two-colored rainbow pills, throughout the time that he had been able to refine them .

    Currently, his strength was at the thirdyer Earth Saint, but he was aware that the reason he had reached this strength so fast was due to the blessing he had gotten from Hui Yue .

    Xue Wei was looking at his body . The nine seals in his body had be useless by now, as the Ancestral Worldpower of Hui Yue had caused his foundations to be rock solid . Even if he were to release the nine seals, it would bring no harm to him .

    But he was unsure . Should he release them now, for the sake of cultivating faster, or should he release them during a battle; to keep them as an extra trump card up his sleeves?

    Thinking about it, he could not see a reason to keep the seals . Although it was beneficial to be underrated, it did not lose out to the fact that he could get a much faster advance in cultivation . Currently, the seals were useless, so if he kept them on, he would just dy his cultivation .

    Thinking like this, he took a deep breath . He remembered just how painful it was for him to brand the seals onto himself, so he could not imagine it being less painless to remove them again .

    He found the first seal, and with his spiritual energy and Qi, he began to loosen it . The feeling was as if someone took a knife and slowly began slicing off some of his flesh . The feeling was excruciatingly painful, but he could not give up just yet .

    This was merely the first of nine seals .

    Xue Wei slowly but surely removed every trace of the first seal on his body . Ever since he had been remodeled by the Ancestral Worldpower, he knew that he did not need the seals any longer, but it was not before now that he finally had the time to remove them altogether .

    The entire night was spent in heart wrenching agony as Xue Wei tried his best to withstand the pain . The seals were being carved off, one after the other, and while he was feeling the intense pain, he was also smiling like a madman .

    With each removed seal, his strength had a breakthrough . By the time the sun rose in the sky and shined its light over the crimson horizon, Xue Wei had removed the final seal on his body, and he had be a oneyered Sky Saint .

    The strength that hemanded had risen drastically, but because of the Ancestral Worldpower that was lying dormant in his dantian, his body was still sturdy, and his foundations solid .

    Xue Wei could not help but smile slightly . He felt that it was quite ironic . He had struggled so long to be able to advance, but the moment Hui Yue appeared, his cultivation base had risen like a shooting star .

    He finally understood that the peak experts of the world were able to create geniuses if they wanted to, but they did not do so . If Hui Yue had gifted this Ancestral Worldpower to an average figure, that figure would have be a world-ss genius that not many could challenge .

    But the Ancestral Worldpower had been given to him instead . It was his now, and his strength had soared . His potential had been ignited, and his body had been reshaped .

    He was a brand new Xue Wei, and he understood that he was now much stronger than before .

    Now he was fully deserving of the title of a genius .

    Smiling slightly, Xue Wei tried standing up, only to find that his entire body was stiff from enduring the pain all night . Thinking about it, he also realized that his mind was fatigued . Although he had prevailed through the agonizing pain, he had used a lot of energy . Now he needed to sleep in order to restore his mind .

 Chapter 420

    Chapter 420: 420

    "Come out and fight!" a scream resounded in the entire courtyard, and Xue Wei was awoken from his sleep .

    He got up, feeling much more refreshed, and his mind was rxed . There was no bacsh from having removed the seals, and his body was much morefortable than before .

    He was now a oneyered Sky Saint, but he was not sure as to how his fighting ability was after advancing .

    He left the room and looked at a group of ten people who were standing outside the courtyard . All of them were full of hostility, and their auras were malicious and bloodthirsty .

    Compared to the Chi Branch members, these were much less elegant and much more crude .

    When Xue Wei came out, he saw that his friends had all gathered outside as well, and he raised an eyebrow . These arrogant and aggressive men were not weak, most of them were at the ninthyer of the Earth Saint rank, but one of them was actually a Sky Saint firstyer .

    With their strength, they should be able to get an excellent courtyard, so why were they aiming for Xue Wei and his friends¡¯ courtyard?

    The answer quickly appeared in Xue Wei¡¯s mind . He had gotten the courtyard by using his background . Not many would approve of this, and these arrogant soldiers would not ept it .

    But to think that they would act this fast, he had not expected it . Still, this was a godsent opportunity to test out hisbat ability . There were ten people, and none of them were stronger than him, so he thought that he would be able to fight all ten of them at once .

    He was a Sovereign Beast; if he could not defeat ten people, where only one of them was at the same level as himself, then hisbat ability would have dropped too drastically .

    Xue Wei looked at the people who were there to fight their group of people, and many gathered to see how Xue Wei and his friends nned on dealing with these aggressive soldiers .

    "I will take you on," Xue Wei finally said . "If I defeat you all, you cannot fight me again; I don¡¯t want you toe back and bother me time and time again just because you are unhappy with us . "

    Everyone was in an uproar . Did this young man say that he would fight them alone? One against ten? If he could defeat them, would that not be too overwhelming?

    Xue Wei was calm and collected . His friends were all perplexed as to why Xue Wei would say this, but after considering it for some time, they began trusting his judgment . Xue Wei did nothing that he was not, more or less, certain about .

    Lan was the only one who had seen through Xue Wei¡¯s cultivation base, and a slight smile was on his lips .

    He could also sense the Ancestral Worldpower within Xue Wei, and he instantly knew that his noisy uncle had given him a blessing .

    Blessings were powerful, but they could not be used very often . It required a lot of energy, even for an Overlord, and not many were willing to give it out .

    Lan had nned on giving Xue Wei a blessing at some point, but due to his current strength being too weak when theyst met, he had not done so yet .

    Now that Xue Wei had reached the threshold of being ready to receive a blessing, Hui Yue had already given him one .

    Shrugging his shoulders, Lan did not mind . Having Hui Yue giving a blessing meant that he could save some energy instead .

    But the blessing had many benefits that Xue Wei was still unaware of . One of them was that the Ancestral Worldpower had the same benefit as the Lightning Source, it was able to refine one¡¯s body and increase the quality of one¡¯s spirit body when one transcended the Saint rank, reaching the King rank .

    With the Ancestral Worldpower that Xue Wei had in his body, he was going to get a good quality spirit body, but as to how good it would be, it was still hard to say . Not only did it rely on the Ancestral Worldpower, but it also relied on his talent and the lightning tribtion he had to undergo .

    While thinking, Lan observed their otherpanions, and while they were all strong, none of them had Ancestral Worldpower, and he started getting a headache . Knowing Xue Wei, he would definitely try and get a thunder source for each of them, so their spirit bodies would be high tier too, but it was not so easy to get . Was this going to dy their cultivation time?

    While Lan was thinking, Xue Wei and the others were moving towards the arena . Everyone was starting to bet, and amongst all the people present, only Xue Wei¡¯s friends bet on him winning; all the others bet on his loss .

    Although they were not allowed to kill one another on the stage, there were sometimes idents, and many of these ended with someone being disabled . Many could see that the soldiers were truly angered at Xue Wei, and they began thinking that they would be quite heavy-handed . It was more than likely that Xue Wei would end up getting crippled by them .

    But when they saw the carefree and casual expression on Xue Wei¡¯s face, all of them were feeling perplexed . Could he not feel the killing intent from the soldiers?

    Xue Wei could feel it, but he did not put it in his eyes . Although their killing intent was potent, his own was much darker, and he was able to erupt with a killing intent so dense that it would affect the surrounding air, and even his opponents¡¯ movements . His, was not the stage his opponents had reached yet .

 Chapter 421

    Chapter 421: 421

    The stage was surrounded by many people . Everyone was shocked when they heard that Xue Wei was facing off against a group of soldiers all by himself, especially when they saw the soldiers that were waiting for him .

    This group of soldiers was known to be the most ferocious group in the entire army camp, and they had crippled quite a few who had not followed the unwritten rules .

    Everyone knew that Xue Wei had used his background to pressure the Chi Branch members to leave the courtyard, and they thought that he was far too arrogant . How could he possibly defeat a Sky Saint and a group of Earth Saints? If he had this strength, he would not have been using his background to pressure the Chi Branch member but used his strength .

    Xue Wei did not care about what everyone was thinking . He was starting to feel the anticipation of a big fight, and his blood was beginning to boil .

    A sinister smile appeared on his lips, and his eyes turned cold . These soldiers were all obviously thinking of attacking Xue Wei ruthlessly . They wanted to cripple him!

    Since they wanted to do this, Xue Wei was also going to return in kind . Anyone who wanted to harm him had to be ready to receive his fury .

    Xue Wei began to feel excited . He stood on the arena and looked at his opponents . Some of them were humans, but the majority were Primordial Beasts . Seeing this, Xue Wei snickered . They were doomed to lose this battle .

    Even the Sky Saint was a Primordial Beast . Xue Wei could release his Sovereign Beast breath, and they would be unable to stand against him, but this was not what he was going to do . He wanted to test his battle prowess, not to overwhelm his opponents with his innate advantage .

    Xue Wei looked at the soldiers, and he was ready to fight . Wood, Lightning, and Fire elements began roaring around him . The skies turned dark, and the sound of rolling thunder could be heard .

    The arena¡¯s ground was starting to grow grass, and small mes started shrouding Xue Wei in fire .

    Everyone knew about the fact that one could have an elemental affinity, but they had never thought that Xue Wei had three of them . Three was simply outrageous!

    Xue Wei looked at the soldiers, and his face turned solemn . Although he was confident he could win against them, he was not going to underestimate them, he had to be serious in every battle, or the one who would eat a loss would be him .

    Scale Shield!

    Inner Might: Sword Style!

    Twenty-Seventh Layer Azure Sword!

    Xue Wei first activated the Scale Shield, which created an eggshell-like shield around him . The shield glistened with a green gleam, as it was powered by Qi and the wood element .

    Then Xue Wei used the Inner Might to create a sword from his Qi, and then he used the Twenty-Seventh Layer Azure Sword attack that he had gotten before .

    The Twenty-Seventh Layer Azure Sword was a skill he had learned previously . It had differentyers, and the more proficient one was in the skill, the higher theyer one reached, the more potent the attack would be .

    The attack would grow stronger, the moreyers one could control . Each masteredyer of the skill produced an extra sword sh, all the way until the twenty-seventhyer . It would be like being hit byyer afteryer of waves . These waves woulde crashing down upon the enemy, and once one reached the twenty-seventhyer, the attacks were simply overwhelming .

    By now, Xue Wei could manage to unleash neenyers, and these neenyers were quite powerful . When he unleashed them, the sword attacks swept towards the soldiers, and just as they had blocked one, another came .

    Xue Wei was staying back, waving his Qi sword, his eyes dark .

    He had decided to use his human skills instead of transforming into an Azure Dragon or a Vermilion Bird . Only by using his human techniques and fighting seriously with these abilities would he know his ownbat ability .

    His strength was boosted tremendously when he was in his beast shape, and it was even more overwhelming when he was using his innate abilities .

    If he used them, then the opponents would stand no chance, so he was challenging himself like this, but many were misunderstanding it, thinking Xue Wei was a human .

    As the neenth wave had crashed against the opponents, Xue Wei shed towards them, his eyes were cold, and he got ready to use the next attack .

    Devouring Fist!

    The Devouring Fist was also an earlier learned technique . It was one which allowed for Xue Wei to convert the opponent¡¯s energy into his own and channel it back at the person he was attacking .

    Xue Wei had attacked the leader of the soldiers, his fistnded squarely on his shoulder, and while the leader had used some Qi to guard against him, this Qi was devoured by the fist attack, which in turn increased its potency, making the firstyered Sky Saint, the leader, back away for five or six steps, before he could finally stabilize himself .

    Xue Wei did not let him rx, he used the Qi sword to unleash another round of the Twenty-Seventh Layer Azure Sword, and then he lifted his leg .

    Kick of the Raging Tempest!

    Throughout the years, Xue Wei had learned an immense amount of attacks, and Kick of the Raging Tempest was also one of them . It was a magnificent attack, which could be used at a distance .

    The user would use their legs to kick up a raging tempest that was impossible to cut through, and impossible to break up . This tempest would only vanish after the energy poured into the attack had been entirely spent .

 Chapter 422

    Chapter 422: 422

    Having been subject to both the raging tempest made from Qi, imbued with the lightning attribute and the neenyers of the Twenty-Seventh Layer Azure Sword, the soldiers were like boats on top of a raging sea; they were being blown left and right, their bodies battered and wounds littered all over .

    The one who held up the best was the leader, but because he had been punched with the Devouring Fist, he too was aching all over, and foreign Qi was running rampant in his body .

    At the same time, none of them had even managed to get close to Xue Wei .

    Feeling bursts of strength in his body, Xue Wei was aware that he could skip ranks and fight some at the higheryers than him, so these people really posed no threat to him .

    The changes that had happened to his body after getting the blessing and removing the seals were simply too overwhelming .

    Xue Wei decided to dive into the raging tempest, and suddenly, his legs swept out like a snake,nding on the stomach of one of the ninthyered Earth Saints, sending him flying off the stage .

    As hended on the ground, he spat out blood before copsing . He was unable to get up again, and could onlyy on the back, feeling the blood foam around his mouth and his consciousness blur .

    As soon as Xue Wei had removed the first person, he retreated far away . Although he did not mind going straight against all of the opponents, he believed in keeping some of his strength hidden in case he needed to fight themter, and thus he was not willing to fight them all at once .

    Kick of the Raging Tempest!

    The second kick was unleashed, the winds around the stage were so heavy and sharp that anyone who got close could feel as if a knife was slicing their faces .

    Xue Wei was looking at the people who were fighting against the tempest, and then he found another old technique in his mind, a technique he had not used in a long time, but which was very useful, especially now that he had an affinity with the element of fire .

    Qi mestrike!

    The Qi mestrike transformed Qi into mes that shot up from the ground, but instead of using standard Qi, Xue Wei infused it with the fire element, causing it to be much more potent than initially nned .

    Screams were everywhere on the stage, and another person suddenly copsed . He was unable to withstand the many cuts from the Twenty-Seventh Layer Azure Sword, the sharp wind des from the Kick of the Raging Tempest, and now also the mes from the Qi mestrike .

    The moment he copsed and lost consciousness, his body was teleported from the stage and down on the ground next to the stage .

    Many of the people who were observing the fight sucked in a deep breath of air as they looked at him .

    His entire body was scorched, the skin was ckened from the lightning strikes embedded into the tempest, and the mes from the Qi mestrike .

    Even some smoke wasing out from his body .

    When they looked back to the stage, all they saw was the raging lightning tempest and the mes . They also heard the asional scream and curse word, but they could not see any actual movements . Everything was a mess of Qi, mes, wind, and lightning .

    From time to time, they could see some shadows moving about, and one person after another was being shot out of the arena, all of them looking immensely pitiful .

    But the observers did not pity them, they knew that these soldiers had initially been nning on crippling Xue Wei, so the fact that all he did was barbeque them was already quite polite .

    When only the final person was left, the leader of the soldiers, everyone had already understood that the winner would be Xue Wei, but the leader did not seem willing to ept this oue .

    He was a Fire Horse, with a slight trace of the bloodline from a Fire Qilin, and he saw himself as a noble beast . How could he not defeat a small youngster who could not even be considered a grown-up?

    A neigh could be heard as he took on his original shape, and suddenly the mes on the stage had almost no effect on him .

    It was not that Xue Wei¡¯s me was of low quality, but the Fire Horse had a natural immunity towards thousands of mes . The fact that he could still hurt him slightly was already quite good .

    Xue Wei narrowed his eyes .

    He had a whole mountain of techniques he could use . So far, he had used some of them, but he had another one he wanted to test .

    This one was quite simr to Qi Lightning . It used Qi to imitate an element, but he already had the elemental affinity with the element it tried imitating, so he would be able to upgrade the attack .

    Sky¡¯s Judgment!

    Sky¡¯s Judgement was a technique he had learned a long time ago . It was quite powerful and required the user to channel Qi before unleashing the might of nine progressively stronger lightning strikes .

    It was an imitation of the Tribtion Lightning . However, while it was not as strong, it was still quite painful to be hit by lightning, especially since it was not artificial, but real lightning summoned by the lightning affinity that Xue Weimanded .

    "Time to end this," Xue Wei muttered, as he channeled the Qi imbued with the lightning affinity, and suddenly the tempest died down, the mes vanished, but the sky turned dark and overcast .

 Chapter 423

    Chapter 423: 423

    The man from before was nowhere to be seen . Instead, a massive horse was standing on the stage . The hoofs, the mane, and the tail were made from mes; the fur itself was crimson like blood .

    But the magnificent sight of the Fire Horse did notst long before it was destroyed by Xue Wei .

    A resounding thunderp echoed throughout the entire area, as a lightning bolt the size of a grown man¡¯s arm shot down on top of the leader of the soldiers .

    Although he was able to withstand a thousand mes, lightning was different, and a neigh of pain erupted from the Fire Horse¡¯s throat .

    The Fire Horse reeled backward from the hit of the lightning bolt, but not long after, another, even thicker lightning bolt descended from the skies,nding on top of the Fire Horse once more .

    Realizing that no matter where he moved to, the lightning would follow him, the Fire Horse grit his teeth . Smoke wasing out from the skin and the flesh of the soldier leader as the lightning was charring his flesh .

    Since he could not avoid the lightning, he would head towards Xue Wei, and they would have to face it together!

    Seeing the desperate but also hate-filled eyes of the Fire Horse as it was advancing towards him, Xue Wei quickly guessed his thoughts, but he just snorted in disdain .

    This was his thunder and lightning . How could it possibly hurt him?

    When the Fire Horse appeared next to Xue Wei, Xue Wei did not waste any time . He looked at the horse, a cold gleam shing in his eyes .

    Kick of the Forgotten Kings!

    This was one of his oldest attacks, but it was one that never got old fashioned . It was an attack that relied solely on one¡¯s Qi, and Xue Wei¡¯s Qi had undergone the most intense purification that was possible, not to mention that no one below the King rank could rival the density of his Qi .

    When heshed out with his leg, a lightning bolt as thick as a grown man¡¯s leg also arrived at the same time, and the leader of the soldier was unable to withstand thebined attack . He instantly copsed on the stage, blood trickling out from the cracks in his body which were like charcoal .

    Xue Wei nced at the defeated soldier; his eyes were cold . Although he had charred all of them, making them unable to leave their beds for at least a few months, he still felt that he had been merciful .

    If they had been the winners, it would not be enough to be in bed for a few months, Xue Wei would have be a cripple .

    Thinking like this, Xue Wei raised his hand, Qi gathered in his palm, and he struck the Fire Horse in front of him .

    Most Primordial Beasts had a beast core instead of a dantian . It worked in the same way, but it was usually ced in the head of the beast .

    Xue Wei shattered this Fire Horse¡¯s beast core, and he was instantly crippled, bing the same as a mortal beast . He would even be unable to take on a human shape again in the future; his intelligence would also drop to the level of a mortal beast .

    Seeing the ruthless hand that Xue Wei dealt, everyone was shocked . This was much more ruthless than what they had expected, but no one dared to say anything . Everyone knew that it was already merciful not to cripple all of them, and only to take his anger out on their leader .

    At the same time, in a big luxurious tent, quite far away from the arena, two experts were standing next to one another, facing towards the direction of the arena .

    "He is quite ruthless," one of them said with a smile on his face, and the other, although stoic and expressionless, nodded his head .

    "I understand him, though," the smiling expert continued . "If someone threatened to cripple me, I would do the same as him . He has already let all the others go after barbequing them slightly . But we are going to have a headache exining the situation to the Fire Horse flock . "

    The stoic man continued being quiet, but it did not seem to trouble the man with the smile on his face . He continued to talk about Xue Wei and the battle they had just observed .

    At the same time, Xue Wei stepped down from the stage, everyone was slightly frightened by him, but they were also looking at him with reverence .

    Initially, they had thought that he was merely using his background to bully the Chi-Branch member, but now they knew that his strength was indeed not to be belittled . He was a real dragon amongst men .

    Bai Tianyi, Hei Gou, Lin Xiao, and Luoluo were all looking at Xue Wei with narrowed eyes . They knew that he must have had the seals removed . Otherwise, his strength would not jump as much as it had, but all of them were full of pride in their friend and happy about his performance . He had brought them a good reputation .

    Even Lan had to admit that Xue Wei had done an excellent job . Although he had gotten the Blessing, he had managed to get the utmost out of it . Not many could squeeze so much potential out of a Blessing .

    Lan could not help but wonder what would happen if he got another Blessing . Would it be utterly useless since he already had such results? Would he improve further? Would he explode from having gotten too much Ancestral Worldpower into his system?

    He was not sure, but since he did not know, he dared not gamble on it . If Xue Wei exploded, it would be quite troublesome .

 Chapter 424

    Chapter 424: 424

    Xue Wei took his friends and returned to their courtyard . He did not care about the rumors that would spread about him, nor did he care about the fear the other soldiers would have towards him .

    All he knew now was that he had killed the chicken to scare away the monkeys . Many had been unhappy with how he got the courtyard, more so than what he had expected .

    Now that he had crippled that Fire Horse, and severely injured the others, he was secured some time of peace . No one would be stupid enough to enrage him, for now .

    As Xue Wei returned to the courtyard, he gathered all his friends in the sitting room and handed out another Two-Colored Rainbow Pill to each of them .

    Seeing this, Lan smiled . Now he knew why Tao Wu had be friends with Xue Wei . Tao Wu was much like he himself; he could not stand the allure of treasures .

    But where Lan was much more approachable, Tao Wu was near impossible to approach and befriend .

    On the way to the Demon Phoenix Continent, Lan had stopped by the Sea of the Enchanted and had spent some time with Tao Wu . Thetter had told him about what waves and achievements Xue Wei had gotten on the sea, and that the two were now considered friends . Even so, he refused to say why they were friends .

    Although he had done many things in the Sea of the Enchanted, it was not enough to be Tao Wu¡¯s friend, but if he had provided him with multiple Two-Colored Rainbow Pills, then it was something else .

    Xue Wei delivered the Two-Colored rainbow pills to all of them, then he looked at Lan and contemted, before throwing a jade vial to him as well .

    "I know they are useless for you," he said, "but you collect treasures, so I am sure they will have some usage for you . "

    Lan¡¯s smile widened, and he unceremoniously kept the vial away . What Xue Wei said was precisely the truth . Although the pills could do nothing for him, they could still be useful in other wayster .

    Having given a pill to everyone, Xue Wei went to his room and took out the same pill that he had looked on before he released his seals .

    This time he was not contemting, but directly ced it in his mouth . Here, it dissolved and turned into energy which rushed into his mind pce and his spiritual energy . Previously his spiritual energy, which had been stuck at the thirdyer of the Earth Saint rank after the Blessing, began showing signs of improvements .

    It was like a tidal wave after a draught, the small golden dragon and the golden vermilion bird spirits within his mind pce began refining and absorbing the energy at a rapid speed .

    Fourth Layered Earth Saint .

    Fifth Layered Earth Saint .

    Sixth Layered Earth Saint .

    He grew up threeyers in a short time, but after checking his mind and his soul, he found that even his Spiritual Energy had such solid foundations that even if he became a Sky Saint, he would still be able to withstand it without an unsteady foundation .

    However, after reaching the sixthyer, the speed of absorption slowed down . Although he was still able to raise hisyer, he was met with a bottleneck .

    The energy kept mming against the bottleneck, each collision contained more and more power until it began shaking, and soon Xue Wei managed one more breakthrough!

    Seventh Layered Earth Saint!

    This was the final breakthrough that he could gain with the Two-Colored Rainbow Pill, but it did reach the peak of theyer . He needed just a bit more to be able to be an eightyered Earth Saint .

    It was not only Xue Wei who was having breakthrough after breakthrough, everyone within the courtyard was breaking through with the help of the Rainbow Pills, and the surrounding heaven and earth essence was chaotic .

    Many had followed them back to the courtyard . Some had done so because they wanted to see if they could mingle with their group, others had done so to scout for information about them . There were even people who followed them just because they were curious .

    But what met them was turbulent heaven and earth essence; it was clear to all of them that there were many people inside who were having breakthroughs .

    But how was that possible? How could there be so many breakthroughs at the same time? Did they possess some sort of treasure?

    Greed appeared in some of the experts¡¯ eyes, but after considering the situation, they all reigned in their greed . Even if they wanted the treasure, it might not end up bing theirs, considering the strength of the other party .

    While some of them were just putting away their greed after thinking this, others were not willing to let go . They knew how difficult it was to have a breakthrough, so they began spreading the news that Xue Wei had a treasure that could assist others in breaking through .

    They hoped to pressure the Army Camp¡¯s leaders into forcing him to give it up, and then they could all benefit from it .

    The rumors spread fast through the entire area, everyone knew of it, but no one dared acting rashly against Xue Wei .

    During thest battle, he had not shown any of his trump cards, as to how overwhelming his real battle strength was, none of them could imagine it .

    As such, all of them beganining to their teachers and the experts in charge of the Army Camp, all of them trying to put pressure on them to face off against Xue Wei .

 Chapter 425

    Chapter 425: 425

    Unfortunately, the leaders of the army camp did nothing . They would ignore the soldiers that came toin, and some would even scold them .

    Realizing that their tactic was not working, the soldiers within the Army Camp all felt dejected . By now, the rumors about Xue Wei¡¯s treasure had reached every corner of the camp, and all of them were eager to know what kind of treasure it was .

    After the battle against the Fire Horse and its friends, Xue Wei did not exit the courtyard . He was behind closed doors to familiarize himself with his cultivation base, until one day, a group of experts appeared at his doorstep .

    "Xue Wei,e out and face your crimes!" someone yelled loudly, causing the entire courtyard to shake . It was clear that the speaker was at the Heavenly Saint rank, if not above .

    The yell had alerted the entire Army Camp, and many hurried to the courtyard, flying there as fast as they could, and arriving just in time to see Xue Wei leisurely walk out of the front gates, looking at the group of seventeen experts that were standing outside .

    The breath that they were releasing was simr to the breath of the Fire Horse he had crippled, and it did not take much thought to realize that this was the family who hade toin .

    Xue Wei leaned against the gate into the courtyard, ced his arms across his chest, and looked at the people without saying a word .

    His calm and collected behavior was different from what the Fire Horses had expected; his self-assured and confident appearance was enough to impress them .

    "Are you Xue Wei?" they asked as they looked at the figure d in red in front of them, and Xue Wei answered readily, "that is I . "

    The people who had arrived took a deep breath . Even when facing someone who was on the verge of breaking through into the King rank, he was still this arrogant?

    But they could not understand what was able to make Xue Wei so confident . He was so sure that they would not kill him in revenge?

    Xue Wei was not worried . They were Primordial Beasts, and as long as he released the aura of a Sovereign Beast, their power would be significantly diminished . Although he might not be able to defeat them all, they could forget about killing him .

    "You were the one who crippled our genius son?" One of the Sky Saints asked, her eyes narrowed, and clearly, her mood was not good .

    Xue Wei looked at her, cocked his head to the side, and smiled slightly . "I am sure you have already investigated the ins and outs of the situation," he began . "They were the ones who challenged me, they were a whole group against me alone, and they had no good intentions towards me . It is only natural that I would return the favor . "

    The woman was stumped for words . What Xue Wei said was the truth, they had been the ones to initiate the entire episode, so how could they possibly me Xue Wei?

    But it was a true genius of their n who had been killed . They could not just let it go either .

    Seeing theplicated expressions on their faces, Xue Wei did not care too much . He did not feel guilty for what he had done, and he was not going to apologize, or do something topensate them in other ways .

    But this was not what they thought . The Patriarch of the Fire Horse n stepped forward . His eyes were full of greed as he looked at Xue Wei . On the way towards his courtyard, he had heard the rumors about Xue Wei possessing a treasure that could make people break through, and he was so close to breaking into the King rank, but he needed a treasure of some sort to purify his spirit body .

    If he could get his hands on Xue Wei¡¯s treasure, it would be worth losing his genius from the younger generation .

    "Young man, it is always better to make one more friend instead of an enemy," he began speaking righteously, and everyone was looking at him curiously as to see what he was going to say . "We heard that you have a treasure that can help people break through . Why don¡¯t you give it to me inpensation, and then we let the past rest?"

    Hearing this, Xue Wei sneered . This was a good idea, but Xue Wei was not going to be easily pushed around

    "I do have some treasure," Xue Wei said with a nod of his head, his words caused everyone present to hold their breath in surprise . Who would be stupid enough to admit they had a treasure in front of such arge crowd? It was basically suicide .

    "But my treasure is useless to you," Xue Wei then said . "I have Two-Colored Rainbow Pills, and I don¡¯t mind crafting them for people, as long as they bring the resources, and an adequate fee for me . "

    Initially, the Fire Horse n tried pressuring Xue Wei into giving away a treasure, but instead, it became Xue Wei using their arrival to advertise himself .

    Although he did not currentlyck resources, he did not know how long those he had wouldst him, and thus he did not mind collecting a few more .

    In a way, he was quite a scrooge when it came to resources . He was not willing to ever go low on resources, as it would slow down his and his friends¡¯ cultivation speed .

    The Fire Horses heard his words, and their faces turned ugly . While Two-Colored Rainbow Pills were extremely precious, they were not a treasure that could help their patriarch be a King . As such, they would not gain anything beneficial . Also, would Xue Wei really give them anything?

 Chapter 426

    Chapter 426: 426

    Xue Wei¡¯s words caused all the soldiers to be thoroughly shocked, though . They could not imagine that Xue Wei was capable of refining Two-Colored Rainbow Pills and that he even offered to make it for them, as long as they provided the resources and a fee .

    Most of them had the backing of certain ns and families behind them, so while they themselves would be unable to get their hands on the needed things, their family would be able to help them .

    And if they could not get the exact things that were needed for the pill, they still had a hope that Xue Wei would be able to trade items of equal value for the pills . They had not forgotten that there were multiple breakthroughs that day, so he had to have quite a few pills at hand .

    The leader of the Fire Horse n was gloomy . He had initially thought that he could get a treasure to advance with, but now he was told that this treasure did not exist .

    He also understood the underlying tone in Xue Wei¡¯s message, he would not give them anything inpensation, but he would make pills if they could afford his fee .

    And now, he could do nothing to Xue Wei . Initially, everyone had gathered for the sake of seeing some drama, but now they were all seeing Xue Wei as if he was the real treasure because they felt that he was the key to their promotion .

    If the Fire Horse n decided to act against him, they would stand against every other n on the entire continent, and they were not willing to do so . They understood that, while they were amongst the highest ranked experts right now, they could quickly lose their position .

    This was trulying for wool, but going home shorn . Their ns were utterly destroyed, and Xue Wei had managed to build an impregnable defense with a mere few words .

    Realizing that he would get nothing even if he stayed, the Fire Horse Patriarch flicked his sleeves and turned around to leave .

    Xue Wei observed him coldly . He understood that while this man was not going to do anything directly, he could see the killing intent in the eyes of the Patriarch . He was going to act in the dark .

    But even so, Xue Wei was not too scared . He understood that only with pressure could he improve, and thus he weed the challenge! He was aware that ever since he sat out on the path of cultivating, he would be in danger . He might die at any moment, and he had to fight for survival .

    Even so, he never once regretted his decision . If he had to choose between being the unknowing young boy that was apanying his father, and the expert he had be, he would choose thetter any time .

    Although he had lost many things, he also understood that no one could get to the apex without sacrifices, and as long as they were never forgotten, as long as he was true to himself, he was not worried .

    Thinking about his father, Xue Wei¡¯s eyes darkened . He still had not understood the ins and outs of the matter with Xiao Lei killing his father . He was no longer in doubt of Xiao Lei being his real uncle, but how much enmity was there between the two of them to make it possible for Xiao Lei to kill his own brother-inw?

    Sighing, Xue Wei pushed the matter aside . He could do nothing about it with how things were now . He knew that he would not get any answers before he returned to Chang¡¯an and confronted Xiao Lei .

    Sighing, he returned to his senses, only to see that all the soldiers were looking at him with a sparkle in their eyes .

    "Sir Xue, are you able to tell us which ingredients you need to refine a Two-Colored Rainbow Pill?" one of the people asked, and Xue Wei flipped his hand . Suddenly a stack of parchments appeared in his palm, and he handed them out to all of those who showed interest .

    He had long since prepared and had written down the ingredients . The Two-Colored Rainbow Pill required an outstanding amount of items, and it was not cheap, but when considering the performance of the pill, all of them were willing to gather them .

    "What is the fee to ask you to refine for us?" someone asked hesitatingly . When looking at the already steep price for the pill, they felt an ache in their hearts if they had to pay a high price to have it refined as well, but Xue Wei just waved his hand .

    "Just get me some resources of decent value . The more pills you need, the more resources you should hand me . I guarantee that I have a hundred percent refinement rate . "

    Xue Wei understood their worries . If they had to use so many resources and it failed, what were they going to do? But Xue Wei was already immensely familiar with the process of refining the pills, so he had confidence in promising a hundred percent refinement rate .

    If he failed, he would just substitute the pill himself . Since this could make more people work with him .

    Everyone was shocked, but soon undisguised excitement appeared in all their eyes . Everyone copied the listed ingredients, clutched the parchments in their hands, and hurried out from the army camp towards their family¡¯s homes . Those who lived far away hurried to their residence to contact their family . This was simply like meat pies falling from the skies; they had to grasp this chance!

    At the same time, Lan was looking at Xue Wei with appreciation . He had thought that this young man would be unable to solve the problem peacefully, and would have to resort to using his aura of a Sovereign Beast to pressure them, but he had not needed to do so .

 Chapter 427

    Chapter 427: 427

    Xue Wei casually went back to the courtyard . He had already said what he wanted to say, and he wanted nothing more to do with these people .

    If they wanted him to refine a pill for them, then Xue Wei would dly do so .

    At the same time, in the luxurious tent, the two experts from before, the stoic and the smiling person, were looking at each other, shock was evident in their eyes .

    They had already heard about Xue Wei¡¯s real identity as the Azure Dragon, as the Holy Son of the Sovereign Beasts, and they thought they had previously considered him quite amazing, but now they understood that Xue Wei was even more outstanding than first expected .

    To be able to concoct Two-Colored Rainbow Pills, they understood that his level of pill refinement could not be low .

    If they knew that he was also proficient in formations and inscriptions, then they would be extremely shocked by his skills .

    "Although the Vermilion Bird n was protecting him, themon people were not . Now, this is different since he can bring them to another level; this is truly a magnificent thought process . "

    Xue Wei was not aware that he was being observed by the General and the Captain, who were in charge of the Army Camp, but even if he knew, he would not care too much about it . As long as they did not cause problems for him, he would leave them be .

    After he returned to the courtyard, he locked himself in his room and began creating inscriptions .

    He had mainly relied on inscriptions back in the Thunder Twilight Zone to battle the remnant souls, but he had used most of his stock, and since then he had not had the time to sit down and create new ones .

    Also, now that his strength had soared, he would be able to create even more outstanding inscriptions, and these inscriptions and formations would be useful .

    Inscriptions and formations were not the same . Inscriptions were a pattern that was carved or drawn onto a piece of parchment, or a stone, or other items, which then had a one time use .

    When these inscriptions were used, they would erupt with power and explode depending on which pattern had been drawn .

    Formations were ced on the ground . They were ced with various materials, and while they also depended on having been drawn in specific patterns, they couldst as long as the materials needed were there .

    Let¡¯s say Xue Wei created an inscription . The lower ranked inscriptions could be made solely by using spiritual energy, however if he wanted to make the more borate inscriptions, then he would need to use various herbs and grind them together to make a specific ink . Then this ink would be infused with spiritual energy, and then it could be used for creating inscriptions .

    After an inscription was made, then it could be used, one time . It could explode with a certain power, or borrow a specific element like the meward Inscription, which erupted with mes all over .

    Then there were formations . When making formations, one did not need ink made from various herbs, but instead, you had to draw the pattern with spiritual energy, and then put specific ores and essence stones in strategic positions to ignite the formation .

    A formation that had been put down could be destroyed in three ways . First was the easiest, which was to wait for the stones and ores to run out or be drained of energy . However, some formations barely used any energy . Hence they would take years to run out . Also, some formations could absorb their own energy, making it impossible to run out .

    Another way to destroy a formation was to understand it . If one could locate the ores or essence stones and then remove one of them, then they would be able to break the formation, but it would be hard since most formations had their own defense system . And one had to be able to understand that they had entered a formation in order to be able to break it .

    The final way of breaking a formation was the most brutal way . That was to simply attack the formation until it was exhausted of energy . This was the best way if you had good strength; however, not many would be able to realize that they had entered a formation, and thus, their reaction was not good enough .

    Also, if one were weaker, then they would just exhaust themselves in an attempt at destroying the formation . Formations could often absorb the Heaven and Earth Essence, so even if the attacks were able to drain the energy, it could replenish itself .

    Xue Wei had learned both formations and inscriptions back in the Inheritance of the Moon Prince, He had never done much in formations, but now that he was going into war, he understood that he needed to delve into the different professions he had experimented in earlier . It was a good idea to have as much protection as possible .

    Not to mention, formations also had the ability to set up barriers . Right now, he had really caused problems with the Fire Horse n, so he needed some sort of security . A barrier around the courtyard would give him a few moments to prepare, should they strike in the middle of the night .

    But Xue Wei had never set up such a barrier formation before . He flew into the air and began drawing the pattern of the formation with his spiritual energy . Then he ced specific ores and essence stones on strategic positions, thuspleting the pattern, and soon a glimmer appeared, covering the courtyard in a dome .

    Looking at the formation, Xue Wei frowned . While this was, in fact, a sess, he knew that it was unstable .

    "Hei Gou!" he called out, and soon after, his friend appeared . "Try shattering this formation," Xue Wei ordered .

 Chapter 428

    Chapter 428: 428

    Hei Gou looked at Xue Wei puzzledly, but he did not say anything . Instead, he gathered Qi within his palm and struck it directly into the barrier .

    A boom resounded in the surrounding area, and the barrier shook drastically . While it did not dissipate, the glimmer of the barrier was much less than before and much easier to see through . Clearly, the attack had caused severe damage, and Hei Gou had not even used a martial art skill, all he did was gather Qi in his palm and strike it .

    Frowning, Xue Wei looked at the formation, and Hei Gou tried attacking with one more palm attack . The formation instantly shattered, and the stones and ores used turned dull as the energy within had been used up trying to maintain the formation .

    Xue Wei sighed as he felt the pain in his heart for wasting so many precious materials, but he began creating the same formation again .

    "Try now," he said, and this time the formationsted four strikes from Hei Gou before it copsed .

    Like this, Xue Wei and Hei Gou spent the entire day creating and destroying formations . As time went on, Xue Wei became increasingly proficient in creating them, and soon it took Hei Gou a lot of effort to destroy them .

    In the end, he was actually unable to destroy the formation even when using his innate skills that had the most power .

    But even so, Xue Wei called out Bai Tianyi, Lin Xiao, and Luoluo, and had them attacking the formation as well .

    It was not before early in the following morning that he was able to create a formation barrier that he was satisfied with .

    While they had been creating and destroying the formations, many had observed them with shock andplete disbelief . Everyone knew that formations were incredibly hard to understand and create, not to mention they were costly due to the ores and essence stones needed . Still, Xue Wei had destroyed so many valuable ores time and time again .

    It looked like he had no care about the price he paid . While it seemed careless to everyone who was present, Xue Wei and his friends knew the pain that Xue Wei was feeling from using up all those precious materials .

    But he was also aware that to improve his performance in the art of formations, he needed to invest some materials .

    Fortunately, he had found an essence stone vein back in the Thunder Twilight Zone, and he had managed to get many top-grade essence stones .

    These essence stones were initially nned to be used as cultivation resources, but there were so many that even if they were going to use a handful a day while cultivating, they would not run out for thousands of years .

    As such, it did not matter if they used up half of them on testing formations . These formations could help them protect them; they were also able to make illusion formations, and even formations that could attack their enemies .

    Xue Wei set up the barrier that he had spent a whole day and night learning how to create, and then he went to his room . Hei Gou and the others did the same, all of them ready to cultivate .

    Xue Wei did not begin cultivating right away . Instead, he found various herbs from his storage treasures alongside a mortar and pestle, after which he began crushing the herbs, releasing their efficiency, and imbued the liquid with his spiritual energy .

    Then he found arge stack of parchment papers, after which he also took out a quill .

    After gathering all the things, and preparing the ink, Xue Wei began drawing some patterns on the parchment . The pattern he was making was a Space Lock Inscription .

    It used the very rare element of space, and as the name implied, it made it impossible for things to move within . If someone locked space, every attack, and every person, would be frozen . Only the person who used the Space Lock Inscription would be able to move .

    This attack was quite peculiar . If the opponent was stronger than the creator of the inscription, then the time that the space lock worked would be shorter . The stronger the opponent, the shorter the duration .

    The Space Lock Inscription was able to lock down many people at once, but the more people it locked down, the inscription would stay active for a shorter time .

    Even so, the Space Lock Inscription was immensely essential and could save a life, so Xue Wei decided to make this inscription .

    The main ingredient was a herb with a space element; an herb called Space Tear .

    This herb was also obtained in the Thunder Twilight Zone, and Xue Wei had quite a few of them, so he was not worried too much about being able to create enough Space Lock Inscriptions .

    Like this, a few days went by . Xue Wei was fully focused on creating inscriptions, and every inscription he made resulted in his spiritual energy increasing in strength .

    At the same time, his friends were immersed in cultivation, but Hei Gou came to Xue Wei¡¯s side, his expression looking slightly forlorn .

    "I am interested in learning a profession," Hei Gou finally said after sitting still for some time, wondering if he should speak . "Lin Xiao is a beast tamer, a Diviner . Bai Tianyi is a specialist in formations and inscriptions . You are the same, but also an alchemist . It is only Luoluo and myself who do not have a profession, and I need one right now . "

    "Oh?" Xue Wei was puzzled . "What profession do you need?"

    "I need to be an armament master . My ws need to be upgraded, but we have no armament masters in our team, and I thought that I would like to be one . "

 Chapter 429

    Chapter 429: 429

    Most professions relied on one¡¯s spiritual energy, such as formations, inscriptions, and alchemy . However, armament mastery was different .

    Armament mastery depended on one¡¯s physical body and Qi . It was easiest topare it to the mortal upation of a cksmith, but because the resources were imbued with energy, the treasures the armament masters made were spiritual treasures .

    Having an armament master as a friend was a beneficial thing, so Xue Wei was not against him beginning to train the profession . However, he was confused by the reason given .

    The ws that Hei Gou had used were different from standard weapons . They were condensed from his own body, and would grow alongside him, so why would he need to rece them, or change them?

    But this was Hei Gou¡¯s own thing; if he did not feel like telling Xue Wei, then Xue Wei would not try to pressure him . He knew Hei Gou well . He would never harm him, and at some point, he would tell him what was going on .

    "Do you know anything about armament mastery?" Xue Wei asked with a frown . "Although I support your idea, you need some books about armament mastery to begin learning the craft . I have the materials necessary to start practicing armament mastery, so I will give you some when you have the required books to start . Also, I guess you need a furnace of some sort? I am not sure you can use a cauldron, so I think it is a necessity to buy a furnace .

    "Maybe we should go to town and find the auction house; they should have the books and the furnace we need . "

    Hei Gou¡¯s eyes shone brightly when he heard Xue Wei¡¯s words . But right now they had joined the army camp, were they allowed to leave it already? There had to be some rules about who and when one could leave .

    Xue Wei was not too informed about the rules of the army camp, as they had just arrived recently .

    They had been here a few days, but it was as if all of them had been thrown to the army camp and forgotten by everyone else . There were no leaders around, and this was a real dog eat dog world . Even when Xue Wei crippled the Fire Horse, no army representative came to step forward .

    As to whether or not there were any Generals or Captains, or other higher-ranked military officials, Xue Wei did not know .

    Even when the whole entourage of Fire Horses appeared, no one tried toe and solve the problem .

    But Xue Wei had a nagging feeling that they were being observed . It was all a trial, to see if the soldiers were ready for the battlefield .

    But as to how long they had to be there to show their worth, he truly had no idea .

    Although Xue Wei was confident about joining the battlefield, he was not sure how long it would take before he could enter it .

    Hei Gou saw that Xue Wei was deep in thought . He smiled slightly as he knew that his friend was always busy and shook his head .

    He was not in a hurry to learn armament mastery, so he just left the room silently, allowing Xue Wei to continue thinking in peace .

    It did not take long for Xue Wei to return to his senses, but he did not go to find Hei Gou right away . Instead, he began cultivating, but before he had the time to enter a focused cultivation stance, he heard someone outside the doors yelling his name .

    Feeling unhappy, Xue Wei shed in the air and arrived next to the barrier . Although the barrier could block attacks, it did not block sounds or visuals, so when he looked towards the courtyard entrance, he saw that a group of soldiers had gathered outside .

    These soldiers were looking at him with reverence, and their eyes glistened with excitement .

    "Sir Xue, we have gotten our hands on the resources you asked for, and we would like to hear what exactly could be used as a fee?"

    Xue Wei thought for a moment . "My friend wants to be an armament master, so I would like books on armament mastery . I would like resources that can be used by an armament master, and also a furnace . It does not have to be overly expensive or rare; just normal items will do . "

    Hearing this, all of them were shocked . This was too simple, wasn¡¯t it? One of the men stumped forwards, and then he waved his hand, and two storage treasures appeared in his hand .

    "I am an armament master," the man said . "This storage treasure contains some books on armament mastery and some basic resources . It also has a beginner furnace . Would this do?"

    Xue Wei smiled and nodded his head . He epted the two storage treasures and found materials for two two-colored Rainbow Pills inside them .

    Seeing this, he withdrew two jade vials and handed them to the man who gave him the things . "I concocted some pills some time ago," he said, "here are two two-colored Rainbow Pills . I will keep the materials . If you find anything wrong with the pill,e find me . "

    The armament master was shocked, and his eyes bulged when he hugged the two pills to his bosom . These two pills would change his life, and he knew that he could not allow anyone to take them from him .

    Thinking like this, he sat down on the ground, ced the first jade vial into his storage treasure, and then ate the first pill .

    Suddenly a lot of energy erupted in the surrounding air, and everyone could sense how his Qi levels were rising drastically . The might of the two-colored Rainbow Pills were not to be looked down upon .

 Chapter 430

    Chapter 430: 430

    Hei Gou looked out the window and saw the many experts exchanging their things, which were needed for armaments, for the Two-Colored Rainbow Pills .

    Hei Gou felt warm at heart when he saw that Xue Wei was getting the things he needed for armament mastery in exchange for the Two-Colored rainbow pills .

    He knew that Xue Wei had some doubts, but he was not ready to tell the whole situation to Xue Wei just yet .

    Hei Gou was a Primordial Beast who had mutated . The ws he used during battle might seem like any other weapon, but they were ws that had been created by his own flesh and blood, and they would grow alongside him . They would also repair themselves when broken, as long as Hei Gou was healing his body .

    Normally he would use these ws when fighting and they were, in general, the most beneficial weapons for him, so why would he suddenly want to practice armament mastery?

    Armament mastery was not a very illustrious profession either . Most people used a weapon of some sort; that could be a sword, a knife, a staff, a club, and so on .

    All these weapons were made by armament masters . Normal cksmiths could only forge weapons from normal steel, but armament masters used various treasured ores and minerals to create weapons that could withstand being imbued with Qi and Spiritual Energy .

    Some armament masters were also able to imbue special skills into the weapons and armor that they created, but that required both impressive skills and rare materials .

    Hei Gou was aware that Xue Wei wanted to save resources for their sake . He was aware that Xue Wei was under much pressure and wanted to help them, to shoulder all the trouble, and to not let them worry, but he wanted to share Xue Wei¡¯s worries .

    He did not have a powerful spiritual energy; he only had his physical strength, so the only way to be able to assist Xue Wei in the future would be to be an armament master .

    Although it was a tough job, Hei Gou was not against it . If he could help procure resources, then he would be proud .

    Also, their group did not have an armament master . In the Ascended¡¯s Realm, they had gotten their hands on numerous weapons and armors, but these were old and not custom tailored for them, so Hei Gou knew that they were not ideal for them to use .

    The best purpose for those armors and weapons would be to smelt them down and remake them into new weapons, or sell them at an auction .

    Now they were going to the battlefield, and while Xue Wei had a contract with Bai Tianyi, he could not very well use the annoying child as a sword .

    He was used to using the Inner Might: Qi Sword Style to fight, but Hei Gou wanted to craft him a special sword that could withstand his Qi and Spiritual Energy, one that would be able to stay by his side throughout the many breakthroughs he would have in the future .

    But Hei Gou knew that if he told this to Xue Wei, then Xue Wei would not let him be an armament master . He would not let him spend his time, which could be used for cultivation, towards creating weapons .

    But Hei Gou was certain in his own power . He was sure that he could do both without suffering a bit .

    As Hei Gou looked out the window again, he saw that Xue Wei had finished trading the pills for the fees, and then he returned, walking towards his direction .

    Straightening out his thoughts, a smile erupted on Hei Gou¡¯s lips . Although Xue Wei doubted Hei Gou¡¯s purpose, he acted fast and had already gotten his hands on some things needed to be an armament master .

    Xue Wei came to the door, and Hei Gou opened it excitedly . Xue Wei wanted to say something, but upon seeing the happiness and excitement in Hei Gou¡¯s eyes, he just shook his head and handed over a storage treasure .

    "I have gotten you some things," he said, "read the books first and then give it a try . If it is too hard, just leave it be . "

    Hei Gou smiled wryly, but he quickly epted the storage treasure . "Thank you," he said and hurried into the room to take the books out of the storage treasure to read .

    Xue Wei could see how eager he was and shook his head with a smile . He said nothing else, just shook his head with a smile, and walked away .

    Although Xue Wei did not know exactly why Hei Gou had suddenly decided upon bing an armament master, he had a good idea .

    Hei Gou was one of the few of them who had no profession . Lin Xiao could tame beasts; Bai Tianyi was a master of formations and inscriptions, Xue Wei was an alchemist, a formation, and inscription master .

    The only ones with no professions were Hei Gou and Luoluo, and Luoluo was slowly unlocking her inherited knowledge . No one knew if she would actually have a profession when she had grown enough .

    As such, when it came to earning money, the only one who could do nothing but spend them was Hei Gou .

    Xue Wei was aware of how proud this Celestial Dog was, and he was not going to try and dissuade him from something he had decided upon . He was just going to support him with all that he had .

    The group around Xue Wei were not just friends . They had be like a family . Those five individuals hade together with strange reasons, but now they would never leave each other again . They had a goal that could only be achieved when they were together .

 Chapter 431

    Chapter 431: 431

    Silence descended over the courtyard . From time to time, Xue Wei would exit the barrier to give the expert that arrived a two-colored Rainbow Pill and take the resources that they gave him, but else the entire courtyard descended into silence .

    Even those who wanted to upgrade their living quarters did not dare to challenge Xue Wei and his friends . After seeing what happened to the fire horse and his friends, all of them were terrified, not to mention they feared that he would not make any rainbow pills for them if they somehow managed to get the resources .

    After knowing that his strength could not be belittled, and that he could refine such pills, no one wanted to make enemies out of him .

    The Fire Horse n did everything in their power to convince the other ns to act against him, but none of them were tempted .

    The Fire Horse n even promised that as long as they worked together with them, then they would even give up the recipe for the two-colored Rainbow Pill that Xue Wei had to have in his possession .

    While the offer was quite tempting for some, they quickly dispelled the idea . While Xue Wei was unaware, they knew that there were two experts at the camp, and usually, they would step in to stop such mindless violence, but when Xue Wei acted unbridled, no one said anything .

    This proved that Xue Wei was someone with a great background . If even themanding people at the army camp let him do as he pleased, and they heard that even the Vermilion Bird n treated him with respect, who were they to cause problems?

    Only the Fire Horse n were so unhappy that they could not think clearly . They were unable to see that what they did might drag their entire n into the dust .

    The Fire Horse n was very famous in the entire Demon Phoenix Continent . They were not as revered as the sovereign beasts, but they were at the very top of the Primordial Beast ns, which had given them a lot of arrogance throughout the years .

    Even in their wildest dreams they would never be able to guess that Xue Wei was a Sovereign Beast, and since they assumed that he was a Primordial Beast or a human, they looked down upon him .

    Xue Wei was aware that the drama with the Fire Horse n had only just begun, but he was not too worried about it . Although they were much stronger and had many more experts, they were still beasts . They had an innate fear towards him, as a Sovereign Beast . Not to mention, he knew that the Vermilion Bird n would not let him encounter any danger before he entered the battlefield .

    And while they would likely try to protect him on the battlefield as well, Xue Wei had other ns . He was going there to unleash his potential, to fight in struggle filled waters, and to be a much more powerful cultivator .

    While he knew that his rank was not likely to advance much when he went to the battlefield, hisbat ability had to increase drastically .

    Although he was good at fighting, his foundation was also stable, but his strength had risen very fast, and he was not fully ustomed to the strength just yet .

    Even though he could defeat the Fire Horse, that was because they were around the same level, if he had to fight against someone of a higher tier, he would be forced to use many trump cards, and even then, a victory would be debatable .

    Until he got full control over his strength, he was not going to leave the battlefield . Here, he was going to ignite his potential for battle; here, he was going to do his very best to fight battle after battle .

    It was a ce where he could hone his killing intent as no one would care, no matter how many people he killed, it was a ce he could let go and charge into a brigade of enemies, to fully unleash his beastly side and give in to his urge to kill .

    While Xue Wei was half-human, he was also half beast . In the Ascended¡¯s realm, he had killed many, but he always had to consider the power behind the victims . It was different on a battlefield . Here, life and death weremonce; every day, many would die .

    Xue Wei was aware that although he had killing intent within himself, he could not harm the innocent . He had been suppressing his killing intent for many years, which had resulted in his killing intent not being as potent as it was before .

    If he could go on ughtering many of their opponents, he could help the Demon Phoenix Continent, at the same time, he could hone his killing intent again, and he would be able to increase hisbat ability . It was definitely good .

    Xue Wei¡¯s friends understood his thoughts, and they, too, wanted to make use of the opportunity to enhance theirbat ability . Most of the time, Xue Wei was the one who took most of the responsibility for their group, but by going to the battlefield, all of them would be needed .

    The battlefield was different from anything they had ever experienced before . While Xue Wei had been in the Genius Camp back on Chang¡¯an Continent, he had only been in a few skirmishes with Primordial Beasts, but that was nothingpared to a full out war against two continents as highly established as the ones who participated in this war .

    The battlefield that they were going to visit was simply much more bloody, and while the skirmishes in the Chang¡¯an Continent were short, this was a never-ending battle .

 Chapter 432

    Chapter 432: 432

    The days passed in a quiet manner . From time to time, the tranquility would be interrupted by a resounding boom from Hei Gou¡¯s chambers, but after experiencing it a few times, Xue Wei and the others got used to it andpletely ignored it .

    All of them were aware that he was doing everything in his power to be an armament master, and while they thought it was but a fleeting interest at first, they now knew that he was dead set on seeding .

    Xue Wei could only smile wryly and continue to exchange his two-colored rainbow pills for the resources he needed to improve Hei Gou¡¯s newfound profession .

    At the same time, Xue Wei and Bai Tianyi were busy creating numerous inscriptions that could be used during their time in the battlefield . These inscriptions might be a one time use, but they could tilt the battle in their favor .

    As such, they were not going to give up, and instead, they created many different inscriptions .

    Some were Thunderous Lightning Fire Inscriptions, which merged lightning and fire into creating an offensive inscription that could burst with a bolt of lightning wrapped in scorching mes that would burn anyone beneath the Sky Saint to death in a mere moment .

    This inscription was immensely powerful, but it also required much energy to create, alongside some very rare herbs . Fortunately, Xue Wei had gotten many lightning attribute herbs in the Thunder Twilight Zone earlier, so it was no problem for him to pay for thousands, or even tens of thousands, of these inscriptions .

    They also created many space lock inscriptions, as they could slow down or even freeze their opponents in time . While they did create many of these inscriptions, there were not as many as the Thunderous Lightning Fire Inscription, as they did not have as many resources needed to craft them .

    Another inscription he made was known as the Earth Spike Inscription . This inscription used the element of earth to create many sharp spikes that would protrude from the ground . This inscription was amongst the most difficult ones he could craft, as it required a tremendous amount of energy, and the resources needed to make the ink required some ancient herbs .

    Xue Wei had been fortunate toe across some of them in the Ascended¡¯s Realm, but even so, he did not have many . Although he only had a few, he decided to use them on the Earth Spike Formation, because this formation targeted arge piece ofnd, and was able to overrule a whole battalion if they were taken unaware .

    It was not only inscriptions that Xue Wei specialized in, but he also spent a lot of time refining pills . He had gotten many resources for Two-Colored Rainbow Pills, and he refined them all . At the same time, he also refined numerous healing pills, Qi Returning Pills, and blood clotting pills .

    He also spent a noticeable amount of resources and time on improving his understanding of formations .

    After getting a rough understanding of all aspects, and creating a mountain of inscriptions and a sea of pills, Xue Wei finally felt ready to enter the battlefield . However, it was not enough that he wanted to go . He had to be sent out by the Army Camp .

    This camp was made to prepare the soldiers for the battlefield, but so far, Xue Wei had seen nothing of the sort . This was a ce where everyone fought hard for a better living environment, but that was it .

    There were no signs of beingrades apart from the small groups that people had gathered in, and there were constant small fights amongst these groups .

    But the Demon Phoenix Empire preferred this . The morepetition between the groups, the better . Especially since they wouldpete against each other for rewards and achievement points .

    The battlefield was full of fights everywhere, but it was not often that it was a true battle between two armies . Most of the time, it was smaller groups who were charging against the border, trying to harass the citizens, and so on . It was why they often ended in skirmishes rather than all-out battles .

    A few days went by while Xue Wei was preparing a few extra items before he just began cultivating again .

    Finally, after waiting for nearly a week, a message arrived at the Army Camp . A new regiment was to be sent to the frontlines!

    However, this regiment only consisted of five thousand people, while the army camp had more than fifty thousand .

    To be picked, one had to disy their best ability in a tournament . They only allowed the strongest of the participating members to partake in the war, due to the fact that it had reached a much tighter time .

    Now all the participating experts were Saints . Even the lowest-ranked soldier was a Saint ranked expert, and Xue Wei and his friends were quite surprised by this, but they also understood that the war they were entering had reached the final stretch . It would end within a few years, as both sides were sending out their trump cards now .

    Xue Wei prepared for the tournament alongside his friends . They did not have much time to prepare, as only a two days notice was given, but they had already gotten ready for the war, how much problems could a tournament cause them?

    The morning of the tournament, Xue Wei and his friends woke up bright and early . They left the courtyard and headed for the arena where he previously had fought against the Fire Horse .

    As they arrived, Xue Wei found that there was everyone from the army camp, it was full of people, and not only the contestants, there were also spectators . The atmosphere was boiling with excitement .

 Chapter 433

    Chapter 433: 433

    As they arrived at the arena, they found that the usual arena was nowhere in sight . Instead, a massive tform had been ced in its position .

    The tform was raised above the ground with at least ten meters, and next to it were numerous spectator stands .

    Looking at this, Xue Wei had a good impression of what they would be facing that day . Not only him, but his friends also had knowing expressions on their faces .

    With such arge tform, it was clear that it would not be made so that they would fight each other one on one . With so many people present, that would also waste far too much time .

    So what was happening was likely a Battle Royale . They would all be ced on the tform, and only the winners, the ones who remained standing at the end, would be able to leave for the frontlines .

    Xue Wei looked at the people around him . Of everyone present, at least ten thousand were Saints, but more than eight thousand of those were Ordinary Saints .

    On the Demon Phoenix Continent, it was not hard to be promoted, especially not for the beasts . They had long lifespans, but their biggest disadvantage was their age .

    A Primordial and Sovereign Beast needed to be thirty years of age before they could cultivate . This meant that they were still in their youth at the age of fifty, while humans had much shorter lifespans .

    When Xue Wei looked around the Saints that were present in the Army Camp, he only found a handful who were humans; the rest were all Primordial Beasts or Vermilion Birds .

    In Xue Wei¡¯s group, age was not something they spoke much about . Xue Wei was undoubtedly the youngest of them all, but even so, he was the one they listened to .

    Bai Tianyi was more than ten thousand years old, and so was Luoluo . While she had not regained all her memories, her age was not to be doubted .

    Hei Gou was around fifteen years older than Xue Wei, and Lin Xiao was the second youngest, only about eight years older than him .

    And when speaking about Lan, Xue Wei dared not even guess how old that monster was . He was a deity, not someone that could be judged by usual standards .

    Not to mention, from what that Hui Yue had said, Lan came from another world, another ce far far away . It was not a trip one took for fun .

    So, when looking at all these experts that were standing around the tform, Xue Wei could not help but rub his nose embarrassedly . Were they using their seniority to bully the youngsters?

    Although he could be considered a youngster too, he was only able to drag their average age down that much .

    Shaking his head, he could not help but chuckle . What did it matter that they were much older than the others? They had been injured in various ways throughout their lives, so while Bai Tianyi and Luoluo were ancient monsters as well, they were not much stronger than the others .

    Hei Gou was an average age amongst the beasts present, maybe even a bit younger than some of them, due to his talent for cultivation, and Lin Xiao and Xue Wei were both youngpared to the others here, and their cultivation bases were amongst the best .

    Suddenly, two figures appeared on top of the tform; one looked like a happy-go-lucky kind of person, the other was taciturn and stoic .

    They both looked over the entire sea of people, their eyes bing bright as they saw how many had attended . The happy-go-lucky man straightened his back and began speaking .

    "Everyone, this is where we decide on the people who are to join the Army . Originally we nned on allowing a specific amount of people to join, but in the end, we have changed our selection quota .

    "Everyone who wishes to enter the battlefield has to stand on this stage . We will light four incense sticks, and when all four have burned down, those who remain on the stage will be allowed to go to the frontlines .

    "This is a battle royale; everyone will be against one another . Only your brothers and sisters can be trusted in this ce, so try your best to stay there for as long as possible . "

    Xue Wei and the others looked at one another, and a smile hung on their lips . This was a much better way of determining the numberspared to having a regr tournament .

    "You are not allowed to kill or cripple your opponents," the stoic man who had been quiet up until then finally spoke out, his words were short and precise . Not a word too much was spoken .

    Some were relieved to hear that they could not cripple or kill their opponents, while others were somewhat regretful .

    But one thing all of them had together was that they all looked towards Xue Wei . There had been many battles in the Army Camp, and while only a few of them had ended in crippling the opponent, and none in death . The only one that they all remembered the clearest was the newest episode, the one where Xue Wei had crippled the Fire Horse .

    Seeing their expressions, Xue Wei could not help but touch his nose embarrassedly . Why were they all waiting for his reaction? He was not someone who killed wantonly . Although he enjoyed killing, he was not going to kill the innocent, nor was he going to go on a massacring spree against someone loyal to the Demon Phoenix Continent .

    He still had hismon sense, so he just casually shrugged his shoulders and retained his focus on the two people speaking, while his friends could not help but twitch their lips in amusement .

 Chapter 434

    Chapter 434: 434

    "Everyone, the time hase for you to get onto the tform," the stoic man said . He and the happy-go-lucky man both flew into the air andnded onto a tower that was ced next to the spectator stands .

    Xue Wei and his friends looked at one another and nodded their heads . They then jumped into the air and flew towards the tform . The moment they were above the tform, they started descending, and upon closer inspection of the tform, Xue Wei found that an anti flight formation was ced around it .

    During their battle, they would not be able to fly into the air . While this was not a significant loss, it was something that not many were used to . As a result, some would not be able to unleash their attacks as well as they were normally used to, and might fall prey to others .

    "Let¡¯s all stand at the edge," Bai Tianyi said after considering where to position themselves . "First of all, everyone will try to avoid the edges of the tform, because they might fall, or get pushed down . They will push as much as they can to reach the middle of the tform, so the battle in the center will be much more intense .

    "At the same time, we can take out all the weaker people who are pushed towards the edge, and throw them off the tform with ease . "

    Xue Wei listened to Bai Tianyi¡¯s words and nodded his head . It made sense .

    While he was not afraid of the intense battle in the center, there was no reason to make things harder for themselves .

    They allnded on the tform, and as they had expected, everyone was already fighting to get to the center . Xue Wei¡¯s group casually stood at the edge, looking at the many people struggling, no one even looked at them or took their position to heart .

    The first incense stick of time passed quickly, and nothing happened . They were standing casually, looking at the mayhem that was in the circle .

    Every now and then, someone would be pushed towards them, but with a single kick from Hei Gou, they were thrown off the tform . They had not engaged in even one real battle .

    Xue Wei felt that Bai Tianyi¡¯s n was quite good .

    Sometimes people would be thrown off from the tform¡¯s center, flying through the air and crashing to the ground .

    As the second incense stick was halfway through, some of the people in the center finally noticed Xue Wei and his friends .

    Their eyes filled with surprise when they saw that they were just standing there, at the edge,pletely unharmed, and not at all entangled in battle .

    No one in the center had managed to escape unharmed, and all of them were looking for a ce to recharge their energy .

    Suddenly the pressure on the center became lighter, as a group headed towards different ces at the edge, but another group was full of unhappiness and tried attacking Xue Wei and his friends .

    Lan looked at the people heading towards them, his lips curling into a snicker as he crossed his arms over his chest .

    "I am leaving this to you," he said, his voice rxed, showing no signs of urgency . "We are not allowed to kill anyone, and it is simply impossible for me to make a move without eradicating everyone here . "

    If it had been anyone else who said so, then Xue Wei would have cursed them for bragging, but knowing that it was Lan, he could only shake his head and smile wryly . He knew it was the truth .

    "Leave it to us," Xue Wei nodded his head . He was not interested in being disqualified due to killing . In fact, they might even be persecuted, considering that these people were soldiers of the continent .

    Bai Tianyi, Luoluo, Hei Gou, and Lin Xiao were aware that Lan was too strong, they knew that when he made a move, the entire world trembled . Making his move in this situation was simply stupid .

    Luoluo created a whip out of her spiritual energy, Bai Tianyi created a sword, Lin Xiao brandished his staff, and Hei Gou took out his ws .

    The whip in Luoluo¡¯s hands cracked on the ground before she whipped it towards their opponents . It wrapped itself snugly around the waist of a big man, and with a simple flip of her hand, he was thrown off the tform .

    Xue Wei raised an eyebrow when he saw how smoothly Luoluo was dealing with them . When one person had been thrown off, she quickly untangled her whip, and with another flicker of her wrist, it tied itself around yet another man, throwing him off the stage, sharing the same fate as the previous person .

    It seemed that whips were very useful in this situation! But Xue Wei had no previous experience with whips, but after seeing Luoluo, he was a bit tempted by them when thinking about whether or not to make a whip or a sword with his Inner Might .

    Seeing how people were being thrown down left and right, Xue Wei was stumped . He did not even have to move; his friends were filled with battle intent and were taking care of everyone for him .

    So thinking that they could also benefit from the battles, Xue Wei withdrew, stood by Lan¡¯s side, and began chatting with him .

    "How long do you think it will take for Hui Yue to find you?" Xue Wei asked curiously, and Lan¡¯s face cracked slightly .

    "I left a lot of fake trails . If I am lucky, it will take him half a year; if I am unlucky, he will find me in a week . "

    Xue Wei nodded his head . "He is your uncle, right?" He asked curiously . Why was Lan so stubborn, not even wanting to see his own uncle?

 Chapter 435

    Chapter 435: 435

    Lan looked at Xue Wei . His gaze was a little guarded, but when he saw theck of malicious thoughts in the former¡¯s eyes, he sighed .

    "I was young and silly when I decided to leave the nest . I wanted to travel through the gxy, to see the various worlds, and experience different ways of living .

    "My Grandfather was a Vermilion Bird . He came from the Vermilion Bird n, but ended up creating a world of his own far away in this gxy .

    "Since I was out traveling, I decided to see what the world he originated from was like .

    "But when I came here, the world was much too different from what I had expected . The world had no owner, and it was slowly copsing .

    "I did not care too much about it, such is the fate for many worlds, so I just wanted to take a slight look at it before going on my way, but then I found something I could not let go of .

    "In the end, I became the owner of the world and have been guarding it ever since . As long as my mind is clear and my memories remain, I will guard this world as its owner . "

    Xue Wei could see the pain in Lan¡¯s eyes, and he understood that something must have happened to him while he was visiting .

    "Does this have something to do with the old cottage in your mansion back in Chang¡¯an?" Xue Wei could not help but ask, and when he saw the pain in Lan¡¯s eyes intensify, he got an answer .

    "That cottage is a ce full of memories," Lan said with a sigh . "This world is being protected, and that cottage can never be harmed . That cottage is the heart of this world . "

    Xue Wei did not fully understand what he meant when he said that it was the world¡¯s heart, but he realized that it held an unimaginable ce in Lan¡¯s heart .

    "So this Hui Yue is here to convince you to go back, but you are not leaving because you have some memories that connect you to this world, not to mention you are now the world¡¯s owner?"

    Lan nodded his head . "She was much like you," he finally said . "She was also a mixed breed, but I thought she would be thest . Never did I imagine that you would appear so many yearster . "

    Although he had not exined anything, these words made Xue Wei understand much more .

    The thing he could not leave was a woman . And this woman was likely also the reason that Lan was so friendly towards him . He reminded the Deity about his beloved!

    Xue Wei and Lan stopped talking . Both of them were in deep thought, forgetting that they were actually in the midst of a tournament . Their friends were blocking the enemies too well for them .

    Lan hade to their world on a whim, but he had met a woman who made him unable to leave . Even now, so many yearster, he still protected the world for her sake . This was true love, and Xue Wei understood that no matter what, Lan would protect the world till the end of time .

    But was he not lonely? He was not together with his family, having left them so many years ago, and his beloved had long since be nothing as well .

    How could he withstand the loneliness? How could he not long for his family, who were so far away . But even with all that, to keep the memories he shared with his beloved, he did not even hesitate to hide from his own uncle!

    For the first time ever, Xue Wei understood that, although Lan was joking most of the time, although he always acted so casual andid back, and although it seemed as if nothing mattered to him; he was lonely, he was sad, he was left all alone .

    Xue Wei understood that the pain of losing someone could not be erased even with the passing of time . Although he had been left alone by Xiao Lei when he was fifteen, at least he knew that his uncle was still alive .

    Although he had been separated from Wang Xiaoyun and wouldn¡¯t get to see her for many years, he knew that she had him in her heart, and that the two of them would eventually reunite .

    Also, although he was not amongst his biological family, he had his friends who never left him alone, no matter how bad things got . He never experienced having to face the world alone for long .

    He too, had lost people through his journey, but this had made him even more determined to protect the happiness he had now grasped .

    If he lost Wang Xiaoyun, would he be able to handle the blow? Would he be able to give up everything just to apany her remains?

    The thought alone, of losing Wang Xiaoyun, was enough to make him feel as if someone had sliced a part of his heart off; the idea alone was so painful that he could not imagine what would happen if it turned real .

    Would he lose his humanity and be a killing machine? He could imagine that it was a likely oue . If he lost his dear ones, he would end up as a beast that wished to watch the world burn . If they were gone, the world should apany them to the underworld!

    Such thoughts were somewhat scary, but Xue Wei did not shy away from them . Realizing how he would have acted, if it was him who suffered such a fate, made him to honestly look up to Lan . But he also understood that he could never let such a scenario ur .

    If he genuinely posed a threat to the world, Lan would be the first to kill him, he would not care about their previous ties at all .

 Chapter 436

    Chapter 436: 436

    Lan was a Deity, he could understand Xue Wei¡¯s thoughts just by looking at his face, but he said nothing tofort him .

    The conjecture that Xue Wei had reached was indeed correct . If he posed a threat to the world, Lan would instantly eradicate him .

    But right now, he was not a danger, but instead the hope for the entire world, so he would give him plenty of support .

    He also understood the danger of keeping Xue Wei alive, but danger and opportunity went hand in hand, and as a deity, he understood that if one wanted to have good results, they also had to take risks .

    He had been stuck in this world for so many years, but this was the first time that a ray of hope had been born . This ray of hope could bring life to the entire world; it might even make it possible for Lan to go back to living as he wished .

    Lan sighed . It had been many years since he hadst thought about her, but whenever he saw Xue Wei, he felt as if some of her heritage had returned .

    She was never fortunate enough to be a Holy Daughter, nor did she have the fortune to be able to cultivate .

    She was a mere mortal, her body was frail, and her lifespan short .

    Her name was Li Zhiqing . She was a mixed breed between a human and a Primordial Beast . It was from before the time when it was impossible to breed between the races, it was from when mixed races were everywhere, but things were different back then .

    Some of the mixed breed descendants were known as devils because of their outstanding ability to cultivate . They were real geniuses, the sons and daughters of heaven, the favored children of fate .

    Unfortunately, this was only true for some of the descendants; others werepletely useless . Their ability to cultivate was gone; they could only live through life as ordinary people, live out their lives as mortals, and be abandoned by their family .

    When Lan first came to this world, he descended near a small cottage that was ced next to argeke .

    This cottage was already very old and seemed as if it would copse at any moment, but a sweet melodious voice had resounded from within, attracting Lan¡¯s attention .

    Lan went to the cottage, only to find a very average woman sitting behind the house, looking at theke with a tranquil smile on her face . She was merely fifteen years old, but Lan could not sense the slightest fluctuation of Qi in her body, her body did not have the ability to absorb energy, neither did she have a beast core . She waspletely crippled .

    Lan was amazed by her smile . Although she was unable to cultivate, although she was all alone in the middle of nowhere, she seemed happy .

    Her peaceful appearance was a stark contrast to what Lan was used to . She was enjoying every single second of her life . Knowing that life was short, she did not suffer any sadness from knowing that she could not pursue the highest apex of cultivation, nor did she wallow in self-pity .

    Li Zhiqing was abandoned by her family when she was five years old . She had been left in the big dark forest all alone, and everyone had assumed that she would die .

    However, she had found this tranquil ce . Thiske, where no magical beasts dared venture close to, soon became her home . Here she could capture mortal fish, pick fruit and berries, and grow a few crops .

    Life was hard, but fulfilling, and she had gained an inner peace through these ten years she had been alone in the forests .

    When Lan saw her very average face, his heart trembled . This peace was what he had always been searching for, an inner peace that could make him happy .

    But now he had found it in the presence of a young woman who was not even a fraction of his own age . Li Zhiqing was fifteen years old at this time, but Lan was many, many times older . He was already a Deity and he knew that his lifespan was limitless .

    Hence, he decided to apany this woman and learn from her . Day in and day out, the two lived side by side in the small cottage, and as the seasons changed, love sprouted in the air .

    Lan was devastated, but unable to change his emotions . He knew that this young woman would not retain her youth forever as he would; she would grow older one day, her hair will turn while, and her skin would be full of wrinkles .

    But even so, he did not despise her . He stayed by her side, never leaving from the moment he firstid eyes on her until the day she no longer could withstand the passage of time .

    It was but a blink of the eye in Lan¡¯s lifespan, but for her, it was her entire life .

    The two had shared many things throughout the years, and Lan was grievously injured by the moment in which she finally closed her eyes with satisfaction, never to open them again .

    While she wished she could be with him for a longer time, she was already immensely satisfied to have been able to spend her life beside the man she loved .

    After losing Li Zhiqing, Lan felt as if his entire world had copsed . He felt as if someone had stabbed his heart and kept twisting the knife around in the wound . The pain he felt was many times more extreme than anything he had ever experienced before .

    He felt a heart wrenching pain . The tears flowed freely from his eyes as he held the elderly woman in his arms, but he never found her disgusting or unappealing . She was always the most beautiful woman in all the worlds in his eyes . She was the only woman whom he truly loved .

 Chapter 437

    Chapter 437: 437

    Lan could feel the bottled up emotions within his heart stir . It had been more than ten thousand years since the death of Li Zhiqing, but that short time they spent together was forever etched into his mind . He would never forget it, nor the effect it had on his life .

    For Li Zhiqing, he stayed behind in this world . He was never going to let her world sumb to the passing of time like she did .

    Lan feltplicated . He wanted to destroy the world to apany her in her burial, but at the same time, he also wanted to protect the world that she loved .

    Lan took a deep breath and steadied his emotions . While he was upset, the entire sky had turned overcast, the sound of rumbling thunder could be heard in the distance, and the wind was picking up .

    While the other contestants were unaware of what was happening, Xue Wei could see theplex emotions on Lan¡¯s face .

    It was clear that he had been affected by their conversation in one way or another, but Xue Wei was still not aware of how significant an influence this woman, whom he had mentioned earlier, had on Lan .

    Xue Wei did not continue the conversation, Lan also tactfully left it be, and the two of them stood with their arms crossed over their chests and looked at the battle that was ongoing in front of them .

    Hei Gou, Lin Xiao, Bai Tianyi, and Luoluo were all working hard, their foreheads beading with sweat, and their eyes full of a tenacious will to take down every enemy that dared approach them .

    In the beginning, many had charged at them, but after seeing that they were all thrown out, one after another, the remaining people became alert, and did not rush over .

    "They are quite stupid," Xue Wei muttered when he saw the people on the tform all consider everyone around them as enemies .

    "Oh, what makes you say this?" Lan asked curiously, and Xue Wei nced at him . His mood was back at being a joker, impossible to see through his small smile and apathetic eyes .

    Xue Wei knew that he was back to being the troublesome Lan he knew, and for some reason, he felt relieved .

    "The rules were that everyone who stays on the tform gets to go to the frontlines . As such, there is no need to fight at all; if everyone just stays in position, we can all go .

    "Thing is, those two experts said it so nicely, and now everyone thinks that it is better to fight for a spot, when in fact, it is not needed at all . "

    Lan smiled when he heard Xue Wei¡¯s words . He was not surprised because the thought had long since passed by his mind, but everyone who was fighting against his friends stopped in their tracks, shocked by what he said .

    Unfortunately, Xue Wei¡¯s friends did not soften their blows, and soon the perplexed experts were sent off the tform, feeling deeply regretful .

    If they had just found a corner and stood there casually, would they have been able to go to the battlefield?

    Now they had provoked Xue Wei and his friends and had been thrown off the tform; they would not have another chance at going to the frontlines before the next selection .

    Soon the battles came to a close, and the incense sticks burned down . Out of the fifty thousand people who had initially been on top of the tform, there were now only around two thousand left . Some of them were grievously injured, while others were without a scratch .

    But no matter how injured they were, they were all, in the end, approved two days of rest before they would make it towards the battlefield .

    Looking at the people, Xue Wei noticed quite a few of the people as the ones who had bought his rainbow pills . He also saw the Chi Branch member and his group .

    The happy-go-lucky person from before suddenly stood up, and he waved his hand . "Those who have been selected will have to gather on the field in two days, after which a captain wille and bring you to the frontlines . "

    After saying this, the two men vanished . The people who had been thrown off the tform slowly began to pick up themselves and also left . Even the spectators left .

    Xue Wei and his friends returned to the courtyard . Here, they gathered in the living room and looked at the various items they had crafted over thest month .

    "Let us apply for leave and go to the stores in town . We need to get some items used for formations; we also need to get our hands on somemon resources, so that if we run out of pills, we can refine more . ¡±

    As they arrived at the front gates of the Army Camp, they found out that there were many who shared their thoughts of wanting to buy the final supplies needed before going to the frontlines, and there was a long waiting queue for leave requests .

    Fortunately, it was easy to get leave, but they needed to wait for it to be their turn . Thankfully this was a world of cultivators, so the shops were open all day and night, there was no difference for when their turn arrived .

    After waiting for around a few hours, they finally exited the gates of the army camp and hurried to the city . They did not have a lot of time to spare .

 Chapter 438

    Chapter 438: 438

    When they had to find the army camp, it took the group much longer than now, when they knew the location of the city . As such, the trip to the city was shortened drastically .

    It was as if every person who had been chosen for the selection had set out towards the city . They were all eager to prepare for the deployment to the frontline .

    They all hurried to the various herbal shops, pill outlets, and other stores that sold various resources, and while Xue Wei and his friends also hurried to the City, they were slightlyte . Most of the resources had been sold by the time they arrived .

    The Imperial Capital, where they had arrived, was a ce with ample resources, but it was not only the soldiers who needed them . Usually, they would sell most of their stock to the residents, and they did not have arge stockpile of items .

    Every day, mercenaries would arrive in the Imperial Capital and sell the herbs and wares they had found while going out adventuring in the rest of the continent .

    Ships would also appear in the harbor with items that they had imported from other continents, but they did note often, and while they had some herb fields, the herbs grown there were all ordinary ones, and they were all beneath ten years old .

    Althoughmon herbs were the most sold ones, they were not useful for cultivators above the Saint rank; hence when the soldiers raided the Imperial Capital, all the resources had been taken wantonly, leaving only themon ingredients left .

    As they saw the hectic and bustling city life, Xue Wei instantly knew that they hade toote, but he did not despair .

    While most of the rare and most useful ingredients had been taken, he knew that not many studied the art of formations . The key ingredients when making a formation were essence stones and ores .

    While he had plenty of both, most of them were of the same rank and affinity, so what he needed to buy was something of different attributes .

    Those from the army camp were mainly here for herbs and pills, so Xue Wei could casually sweep all the rare ores away .

    He also exchanged some of his top-ranked essence stones for high ranked, medium ranked, and low ranked essence stones .

    Formations would work as long as energy was still present within the stones and ores that were ced with them . Although Xue Wei had numerous top-ranked essence stones, it was a waste to use them all the time, especially if the formation was not intended to work for long .

    Hei Gou also found most of the things he needed to continue studying armament mastery . Especially since his skills were still a far cry from being able to make anything useable for them, so the things that he created just neededmon materials .

    Although they felt a slight pity that they could not get their hands on some herbs, they did not take it to heart . Instead, they headed to a restaurant and booked a private room .

    At their levels of strength, one did not need to eat to sustain their body, but sometimes people would still eat since the food was delicious and was able to help one improve their cultivation base, not to mention it could condition their soul and relieve fatigue .

    Since they had a long trip in front of them, Xue Wei and the others wanted to indulge in the feeling of having a great feast before it was time for them to enter the battlefield .

    Like always, Lan was following them, but he was saying nothing, just smiling his enigmatic smile, neither interfering with their acts nor staying out of it .

    He never questioned what they chose to do, nor did he help them when it turned out to be troublesome . He was just there as a spectator from start to finish .

    But Xue Wei knew Lan well . Although he seemed as if he did not care about anything, he was actually the kind of person who just wanted to watch the world burn .

    Although he had sworn to protect the world, and he was indeed doing so, he was not against causing havoc and letting the people suffer . The world and the people were not the same to him .

    Even so, Xue Wei knew that Lan had no hostility towards him, so he was not too bothered . He was not a good samaritan, so he could not care about the many people in the world who were yed like chess pieces by Lan .

    All that mattered to Xue Wei were his friends and those he held dear; everyone else could do whatever they wanted, he was not going to care .

    Xue Wei and the others looked at the many Fierce Beast dishes that were delivered to their table, and all of them felt rxed .

    Fierce Beasts were everywhere in the entire world . While their intellect was above mortal beasts, they were unable to take on a human shape, and they could not evolve their intelligence to a level as high as the Primordial Beasts could .

    The Primordial Beasts were the ones that were simr to the humans in almost every way, except that their strength was bigger, but their maturity was slower, so it was evened out .

    The strongest Primordial Beasts also had problems reproducing . The stronger the bloodline, the lesser the chance was of producing many children, while humans expanded like mortal rabbits .

    Primordial Beasts and humans were, in many ways simr, and it was not only them . Every race that held the blood of the beasts and humans was simr, but even so, the races could not live in peace . It was not only Chang¡¯an which was at war, but most ces within the world were also warring with one race or another, and these wars were sharply reducing the number of experts that existed as the geniuses tended to die at a young age on the battlefield

 Chapter 439

    Chapter 439: 439

    It was not only Xue Wei and his friends who decided to eat at the restaurant . Usually, it was not an extremely lucrative business to have a restaurant in the capital, but today many people gathered in the restaurant, all of which were ordering the most exclusive dishes and the most luxurious wines .

    This was something that happened whenever a group of people was entering the battlefield, and the restaurant owner was cursing the leaders of the army camp for never warning them so that they could prepare a lot of food and drinks .

    Xue Wei was drinking a spirit fruit wine that did not make one intoxicated, but still tasted like wine . Luoluo was drinking juice, Lan was drinking wine, Bai Tianyi and Hei Gou were drinking tea .

    The dishes had a heavenly scent, all of them were mouthwatering delicious, and they dug in as soon as they arrived at the table .

    When the others saw Xue Wei and his friends digging into the meals, they too wanted their food to arrive as soon as possible .

    The day went by quickly, they ate their food, and when they had finished, they returned to the army camp . Their original n was to get resources, and while they got some, the majority were gone by the time they had finally arrived .

    Now they spent thest of the time, before they had to meet up, to ensure that they had all the things they needed, and condition their minds for the travel ahead .

    The following day, all the selected soldiers gathered at the arena where they had been tested two days prior .

    Here, the stoic and the happy-go-lucky man, were both waiting for them to arrive . Next to them was a whole group of tamed Fierce Beasts . All of them were of the same race; they were Golden-Winged Eagles .

    The Golden-Winged Eagles were extremely fast, but they had been picked because of their size . They were so big that at least fifty people could sit on each eagle¡¯s back .

    As such, although many beasts were still needed since there were so many people, it was a lot better than if they required a beast per person .

    Although there were many bird-n members in the Demon Phoenix Continent, it was hard to find a n with more than two thousand members to their n .

    Xue Wei had flown on a beast long ago when he was trying to escape the prison in the Chang¡¯an continent with the help of his swallow friend .

    Since then, he had not flown on any beasts; he would usually fly on his own .

    But because of the distance between the army camp, he was also reminded of Tie Haolong .

    It had been a long time since Xue Wei had thought about Tie Haolong, and his heart was aching slightly . Tie Haolong was his friend when he was still in the Heping Kingdom .

    Tie Haolong had lost his life in an attempt to save Xue Wei . He was the one whom Xue Wei considered his equal, the first real friend, but he had died in front of him .

    It was true that time heals all wounds, and while he was still saddened by Tie Haolong¡¯s death, he was grateful for his sacrifice .

    It was thanks to Tie Haolong that he was still alive . It was also his credit that he had been able to grow as much as he had . For Tie Haolong sake, Xue Wei was not going to belittle his life .

    When he had the strength, he was going to bury the entire Heping Kingdom together with Tie Haolong . He still had some friends back in Heping, and he had no interest in killing every citizen, but he wanted to rid the world of their royal family and their Primordial Beast hunters .

    The others looked at Xue Wei when they felt that the aura was turning dark and dense . The experts close by him were starting to be suppressed by his character alone .

    "Xue Wei!" Lan called out with a low voice, and Xue Wei was dragged from his thoughts, the aura diminishing again .

    Everyone looked worriedly at Xue Wei . They could feel his emotions were tumultuous, but they did not know why .

    Xue Wei closed his eyes and took a deep breath to calm down . He felt a throbbing in his heart . Initially, he had hoped that there was a chance for him to reunite with Tie Haolong¡¯s reincarnation, which had caused him to feel that it was somewhat eptable .

    However, after talking with Lan and knowing that even his lover was unable to reincarnate, how could Tie Haolong? His heart was heavy, and he did not know what to say .

    He had always been hopeful and thought the best about everything, he always thought that as long as he got strong enough, anything he had lost coulde back, but now he knew that he couldn¡¯t always get what he wanted .

    What was lost was lost forever . The sight of the birds was enough to make him remember all those unhappy thoughts, and he was forced to ept reality .

    His friends were worriedly looking at him, but Xue Wei quickly pulled himself together again . He was not going to destroy himself; Tie Haolong would not want him to do that, he would want him to live rightfully and be a cultivator that stood at the apex .

    This was also an excellent way to respect Tie Haolong . To never forget him, and to be the strongest of them in his stead .

    Lan looked at Xue Wei . A slight smile yed on his lips as he understood what he was thinking about .

    Lan knew everything that had to do with Xue Wei . Xue Wei was the key, so he had no other choice than to follow him carefully .

 Chapter 440

    Chapter 440: 440

    Xue Wei managed to be focused again . Although there was a slight ache in his heart, he did not show it off .

    Throughout the years, he had lost many people . First was his mother, whom he had never known, followed by his father who got killed right in front of him by his uncle for unknown reasons, and then it was his uncle who went missing .

    It was not only Tie Haolong who had been lost in his life, and Xue Wei understood that he could not change the past .

    Sighing, he and the others went to the Golden-Winged Eagles, and slowly all of the soldiers present moved onto the birds¡¯ backs .

    Xue Wei felt how the eagle underneath him trembled as he stepped onto its back, but the slight tremble that could be felt when Xue Wei stepped on to the back, was quite different from when Lan did .

    The moment Lan¡¯s footnded on the back of the eagle, the eagle copsed andid prostrate on the ground, shaking off everyone who had climbed up earlier .

    The corners of Xue Wei¡¯s lips could not help but twitch . The moment he stood on the eagle, it started trembling from the bloodline suppression, but the moment Lan stepped onto it, it was unable to even move . How would they ever arrive at the battlefield like this?

    Lan also embarrassedly touched his nose . He knew that his strength was overwhelming, but he did not think it was at this point .

    The two leaders also looked at them with some shock in their eyes . "Perhaps I should meet up with you at the battlefield?" Lan asked he looked slightly embarrassed as if he had been caught red handed, doing something terrible .

    The leaders of the army nodded their heads in utter shock . They had never experienced anything like this before, and they could not help but feel that Lan was too powerful .

    These leaders of the army camp were not aware of Lan¡¯s identity . They had only been told about Xue Wei¡¯s identity, and that Lan was his powerful friend .

    Lan identity was only known to certain people outside of the Chang¡¯an continent . Although the leaders knew of him, he was not willing to be a household name .

    He was satisfied being known as the prophet in Chang¡¯an, but that was because he lived there . It was his home, and thus, he was willing to let them know of him, but even so, they did not know his real identity, and only assumed that he was very strong .

    Chang¡¯an was a messy ce . Although it seemed very simple on the surface, with a war going on between the two races, the undercurrents were much more turbulent .

    Lan could not help but look forward to when Xue Wei returned to get his revenge and to solve the problem . It was clear that he was in for a great surprise .

    While Lan smiled, as usual, his eyes were unable to be seen through . They were dark and enigmatic, sucking in one¡¯s soul, and making it impossible to guess what he thought .

    The happy-go-lucky man¡¯s expression cracked when he saw how the eagle was lying on the ground, trembling like a leaf in a storm .

    These eagles were all trained by a Primordial Beast . They were bred for use in war, so they should not cower in the face of strength . Even so, the eagle could not even face a single step of Lan .

    "We will meet you at the battlefield," the stoic man said . "But, are you able to get there on your own?"

    It was not that he was looking down on Lan; he was just worried whether or not he was able to find his way .

    But Lan just chuckled, nodding his head and said his farewell to Xue Wei .

    "I will wait for you at the frontlines," Lan said to Xue Wei . "Don¡¯t take too long to arrive; I hate waiting . "

    Having said this, Lan tore open space, and a dark tunnel appeared in front of him . With a casual goodbye wave of his hand, he stepped into the tunnel, and it closed up behind him .

    Everyone was stumped when they saw the actions of Lan . How could he casually rip space apart?! How could he just step into it and vanish without a trace like this?!

    They all thought that they were strong, but in the face of absolute strength, they realized how pathetically weak they all were .

    Xue Wei was also looking at Lan¡¯s vanishing with sparkling eyes, but he was not shocked, neither were his friends . They already knew that Lan was much stronger than what they could even imagine at the current point in time .

    They were also aware that Lan had made the dimensional space tunnel that allowed them to leave Chang¡¯an . Since he could let them travel through space, it was nothing for himself to do the same .

    Silence descended over the rest of the eagles and the riders . They all knew that Xue Wei was strong, but upon witnessing the strength of one of his followers, they all gulped in fear . What was his real strength like then?

    Although Xue Wei was unaware of what they thought, if he had been told, he would have scoffed at them . Did they really think Lan was his follower? Yes, he was following along with them, but that was because Xue Wei had something that Lan needed .

    It was evident that Lan was not a person who would do something without a purpose, and while Xue Wei still did not know what Lan¡¯s true aim was, he knew that he was not malicious towards him .

 Chapter 441

    Chapter 441: 441

    After Lan left, the stoic and the happy-go-lucky men quickly got everyone on board the Golden-Winged Eagles and sat out .

    There was enough space for fifty people on each eagle, and there was a Primordial Beast present on every one of the beasts, to ensure that they stayed tamed throughout the entire trip .

    Xue Wei did not care too much about the trip . If he were to unleash his bloodline pressure, the Eagle would be as obedient as it was towards Lan previously, but he was not the only Sovereign Beast around .

    Although Vermilion Birds were rare, quite a few of them had been sent to the Army Camp, and three were amongst the soldiers who had gotten picked for the war .

    Two of them, Xue Wei had never met or known before, but the final was the Chi Branch member, and Xue Wei had to admit that he was quite skilled .

    If the Vermilion Birds who had been sent to the Ascended¡¯s Realm were like him, then things would have been so much easier . Fortunately, they had gotten through the Ascended¡¯s Realm with a multitude of treasures and items that could sustain them for many years toe, but he was still as much of a money-grubber as always .

    Lan was many millennia old, so old that he might even have forgotten when he was born . Even if they had treasures to sustain themselves for some years, it was nothingpared to their lifespan .

    Initially, the others had thought that Xue Wei was overly dramatic, but after hearing about Hui Yue and Lan¡¯s background, the others suddenly understood the severity of the issue .

    Although they could use whatever resource they wanted to right now, one day, that might not be the case, so all of them had to work hard to rob resources from the opponents and win merits that could be exchanged for more items that they could useter .

    As they were seated on the backs of the eagles, Xue Wei took out a top-ranked essence stone and ced it in his hand as he began cultivating .

    Seeing him cultivate even in such an environment, everyone could not help but admire him . Many were looking around, looking down, observing everything, as it was very difficult to be on a flying beast, but upon seeing Xue Wei¡¯s action, all of them became serious .

    They were not here for the joy of examining the surroundings; they were on the way to the battlefield . It was better to grasp every moment and cultivate, even the slightest difference in strength could prove fatal in a life and death battle .

    The first to follow Xue Wei¡¯s lead was Lin Xiao and Hei Gou . After them came Luoluo and Bai Tianyi, but they had needed more time because they needed to find the right resource to consume .

    They were different, after all, being spirits, who needed to consume spiritual energy .

    They both found a soul stone in their storage treasures . Soul stones were much like essence stones, but they differentiated in the energy stored inside .

    Soul Stones were usually found in graveyards and ces with much death . They absorbed the souls of the deceased and made it into spiritual energy .

    Anyone who cultivated spiritual energy considered them a treasure, but they were much more rare than essence stones, as essence stones were a product created by nature, but soul stones were a creation of death . They were immensely rare toe across in the mortal world .

    Everyone looked at Xue Wei, Lin Xiao, Hei Gou, Luoluo, and Bai Tianyi with jealousy . Not only did they have top-ranked essence stones, they even had soul stones!

    This was quite the shock for them, but after realizing that Lan was such a frightening figure, they quickly epted that they were not normal, and began cultivating on their own .

    Some of them used resources to increase their cultivation speed; others just depended entirely on the heaven and earth essence that was present .

    Looking at how everyone on the backs of the Golden-Winged Eagles began cultivating, the two men who were leading them nodded their heads in approval . They could not rx, as they had to stand vigil . If their enemies ambushed them, someone had to sound the rm .

    But they were aware that the battlefield these soldiers were going to was much more bloody than what anyone could prepare them for .

    The battlefield was not a big t ne where the two armies were facing one another, charging against each other and having such battles .

    The Demon Phoenix Continent and the Xiyang Continent were close to one another; one only needed to sail for three days to reach the Xiyan Continent . As such, most of the time, the battles were taking ce on the small inds that were between them, on the coastlines of the two continents, and in the airspace above the sea .

    There were thousands of small skirmishes a day, and many died and were injured every day . These soldiers, although they would be joining the army full of fighting spirit and energy, were unaware of how many would be able to return alive when the war finally ended .

    The war had already been ongoing for so long, and it was likely that although it was not in the final stages, it would take years to get the final result .

    During these years, many geniuses had died, and even more would die . They could not stop this vicious cycle .

    The King of the Xiyang Continent was human . Most of the influential experts on the Xiyan continent were also humans, and their greed was what had started this war .

    All of them had the dream of enving the Vermilion Bird n, and even after so many years, this dream had never died .

 Chapter 442

    Chapter 442: 442

    The group flew for a week straight . During this time, the surroundings changed numerous times, and finally, they reached a coastline .

    They found that the closer they got to the coast, the fewer people they found, and quite a few abandoned viges could also be seen .

    It was clear that all the civilians had long since retreated from the coastline and thend close to the coast, as these areas were turned into a warzone .

    Xue Wei put away the top-ranked essence stone and began observing the surroundings . He was trying to familiarize himself with the terrain so that he knew what kind of surroundings he would be fighting in in the future .

    Every member of the army was going to be put into groups, and they would decide the size of the groups by themselves .

    These groups would then roam the battlefield and fight as they came into contact with enemy groups .

    This type of warfare originally began when they had sent pirates to each other¡¯s shores and seas to fight, but slowly the pirates got reced by soldiers, and then the war escted .

    Xue Wei listened to the Primordial Beast, who was leading the Golden-Winged Eagle, and got a better understanding of the entire situation .

    He was quite relieved . Although he did not mind a full out war where two armies were facing one another, it would be challenging to excel in such a war . It was a chaotic battlefield where he could not improve much, but in the current situation, he could grow at an unimaginable speed .

    It was not only Xue Wei who had packed his resources away, the majority of the experts on the eagles were also sitting with straight and solemn expressions on their faces as they paid great attention to what their beast tamers were telling them . The briefing on the war was immensely valuable, and no one wanted to miss it .

    They flew above a few groups of people, but because they were so far up in the sky, it was impossible to see whether the people that were on the ground were friends or foes .

    There were also small skirmishes, but they did not stop to help anyone, they just observed as the people beneath them were being killed .

    This was the cruelty of war . While some people were important, themon soldier was not . Those who were truly important were not allowed to enter deep into enemy lines or protect thend in small groups .

    Everyone with a certain status was left in the main camp, and this was where they would do random, but dangerless, tasks .

    Initially, the Emperor wanted Xue Wei to maintain such a job as well, but after considering his purpose for joining the war, he could not say anything .

    Xue Wei wanted to get stronger and improve his fighting ability alongside igniting his potential . If he stayed within the main camp, he would be wasting time .

    It took them an extra day to reach the main camp . The main camp was located in a city that had been emptied of civilians . All the houses within the city now gave shelter to the soldiers .

    As theynded just outside the city, they found that a general was waiting for them . This was not one of the generals that Xue Wei had worked with previously, this was a genuine King ranked expert, and he was not to be belittled .

    Most of the soldiers looked at him with reverence and slight fear . Their goal in life was to be an Emperor or a King, but they knew how difficult this task was .

    They were not even aware of the ranks above the Emperor, only Xue Wei and his friends knew of the vast world beyond their own, and the reason they knew about it was because Xue Wei had been in contact with Hui Yue and Lan .

    These two experts were on another level than the ones within this world, and Xue Wei understood that he should not clip his own wings . He should not aim for the Emperor rank but aim for the world that was outside, for the many worlds that he could enter when he became a deity .

    He now understood that there was no ¡¯strongest¡¯ rank; one could always grow stronger; it was just that the stage that would change .

    Xue Wei did not look down on the other experts, whose aim was to be a King or Emperor ranked expert, as his goal was simr to theirs, once upon a time .

    It was just that now he knew that he was once upon a time a frog in a well . The frog thought that the well was the whole world, until the day where it ventured outside and noticed that there was a world on the other side, and that his entire world was but a fraction of the real world .

    But although Xue Wei was aware that all these soldiers were like the frog in the well, he was not nning on telling them the truth .

    They were happy with their goals in life, and while some might be even more driven by hearing the truth about the worlds beyond their own, others would despair .

    Also, he was not a person who would like to invite trouble . He did not care for the people he did not deem his own, and thus he was not interested in helping them out, especially not since they might be mad and turn on him when the things they believed in were shaken up in front of them .

    While Xue Wei was looking at them all with narrowed eyes, the two men who had led them to the main army camp saluted the King ranked general, before they, and the many Golden-Winged Eagles, all flew away in the air .

    Now the groups of soldiers were on their own, standing in front of the strongest expert they had encountered in their time within the army .

 Chapter 443

    Chapter 443: 443

    Xue Wei looked at the general who was also observing everyone who had arrived .

    When he saw that a group of the soldiers who stood in front of him did not show signs of fear, his lips tucked into a smile . These soldiers were the ones he had been waiting for .

    The ones who showed fear, just because of his strength, could still be used, but they would not be the core of their army .

    Only those who did not show fear in front of an overwhelming foe was worth spending time on and nurturing .

    Xue Wei was amongst the people whom the General noticed, and so were his friends, the Chi Branch member and his friends, and a few others who were fearless, but even so, they were all polite .

    "Attention!" the General called out, and while the majority trembled in fear after hearing his voice, Xue Wei, the Chi Branch member, and the others who did not fear him looked at him curiously . What was he going to say?

    "Since you have been sent to the main army camp, and respectively to me, I expect all of you to be elites . We do not need cowards, nor do we need people who cannot fight!

    "Although you belong to the Main Army Camp, you will spend most of your time roaming the coastlines, either here in the Demon Phoenix Continent, or behind enemy lines!

    "Here we fight, not only for our own lives, but for our homes, and for our people! For our freedom!

    "I need everyone to be aware of the fact that the freedom of our families depends on our actions . Kill all your enemies! If you cannot win, kill as many as you can, and make sure to bring them with you to your death!"

    Everyone felt a chill running down their spine as they listened to the General, but no one dared interrupt him .

    "I am not going to lie to you, out of you people, I do not even expect even a tenth to survive . When you signed up for the army, you signed your death warrant, but this is not a useless death, this is the sacrifice we pay to save the people of our continent from bing ves!

    The people who listened were frightened . Although they knew that the mortality rate of the experts in the army was big, they had never thought that it would be this bad . They had never thought that they would be another number in the statistic .

    While Xue Wei was listening, he stayed calm and casual . He was not afraid of fighting; all he knew was that he had survived multiple life and death situations . He knew that even if he could not defeat his opponent, he should have a chance to flee . As long as he did not encounter a whole army on his own, he had faith in his Forbidden Rush to escape .

    "People change," Xue Wei suddenly muttered, "endless battles change a person whether they want to or not . "

    He knew that the majority of the people who would die in the war were the ones who could not adjust to the ughter that was required of them .

    When he had been in the Ascended¡¯s Realm, he had realized that the experts from the Demon Phoenix Continent were pampered . They did not know the seriousness of life and death battles, and only when one had undergone enough of those, they would have faith in being able to stay alive .

    But this world was cruel . If one was willing to kill, they had to be ready to be killed in return . Even if they did not kill, others might try to kill them due to greed, wealth, or jealousy .

    There were very few innocent people left in the world, and those who were, did not get to old age .

    "In the Army Camp, you should have already formed some groups," the General continued to speak . "These groups will be your groups when entering the warzone; you will be brothers who rely on one another to survive .

    "Now you have to enter the city, and here you will pick an empty house . This house will work as your base for when you return from the frontlines .

    "You can buy things in the main camp, but gold and essence stones have no value here; everything has to be paid for by merit points or items of equal value .

    "You will be given a bracelet that will gather the souls of those you kill, and those souls can be exchanged for merit points .

    "Now, enter the city, and get ready for the time you will be told what mission you are assigned . You will be entering the battlefield either on this side, or the other side of the sea . "

    When he finished speaking, he flew into the air and vanished within the blink of an eye .

    Xue Wei shrugged his shoulders and gathered his friends . He had to find Lan as soon as possible, find a house, and volunteer to go behind enemy lines .

    He thought that it would be quite challenging to find Lan, but upon entering the city gates, he found the usual figure leaning against the city wall, looking at him with an enigmatic smile, and Xue Wei shook his head . Of course Lan would find him .

    "I found us a home," Lan said . "It is in the upscale area of the city . The previous owners were not happy with vacating it, but after bashing them a little, they gave it up obediently . "

    Xue Wei could not help but smile when hearing this . An illustrious Deity had bashed a few mortals for the sake of having a house . Did he not feel ashamed at all?

    As if he could hear Xue Wei¡¯s thoughts, Lan looked at him, and said a sentence withplete arrogance, "Not at all!"

 Chapter 444

    Chapter 444: 444

    Xue Wei was speechless when he saw how proud Lan was of bullying a few mortals, and he could not help but feel that although he was a Deity, these Deity¡¯s were not as illustrious as he had expected .

    But then he was reminded of Lan¡¯s behavior ever since he met him the first time, and he felt much more at peace . Lan had always been a joker, and it was impossible to understand his train of thought .

    Shaking his head, he quickly became resigned to fate . Lan was simply impossible to predict, and he had managed to get them a good home, so why would he cause trouble?

    As long as Lan was fine with bullying mortals, Xue Wei had nothing to say . He was, after all, benefitting from it .

    Many had entered the city just before Xue Wei, and while they had understood their orders of finding a house, they were slightly lost as they saw the massive town which had been remade into an army camp .

    They did not know where to go and had gathered inside the city wall, so when they heard Lan¡¯s words, many of them looked at Xue Wei with jealousy .

    However, this was not the first time, nor thest time, that they would be looked at with jealous eyes, so none of them acted on it .

    "Lead the way then," Xue Wei said with a smile on his face . "We got to see what kind of mansion our good friend has prepared for us . "

    Lan knew that he was being mocked, but he did not care, and just shrugged his shoulders, before he made a dramatic gesture where he spread his arms and said arrogantly, "follow me young ones, and I will show you that we can live like kings while being in this army camp!"

    Xue Wei could not help butugh out loud when he saw the dramatic gestures and heard the exaggerated words .

    Lan was like a breath of fresh air, and when Xue Wei was around him, he was much like a typical youth .

    He was carefree andughed out loud from such antics, and he could not wipe the smile off his face as he shook his head .

    It was not only Xue Wei who found Lan hrious . All his friends, and the even people who walked past them randomly, could not help but smile when they heard Lan¡¯s words .

    The ones who did not know Lan could not help butugh out at his naivety . To live like kings in the main military camp was simply an impossible dream . Only the most influential experts of the King and Emperor rank had this benefit .

    All the King and Emperor experts within the entire Demon Phoenix continent were renowned figures that everyone knew .

    This Lan was not known to anyone, so how could he possibly think that he would be treated with the same respect and reverence as the King and Emperor ranked experts?

    But many were curious as they followed Xue Wei and his group towards the more upper scale district within the city .

    To enter this district, one truly needed guts . If someone entered and caused problems for the residents, not even their ancestors would be able to save them .

    But even so, Xue Wei, Lan, Lin Xiao, Hei Gou, Bai Tianyi, and Luoluo all just casually continued forward while chatting amongst themselves . There was no tension in their eyes, no signs of being ufortable .

    What shocked the people even more, was that when the other residents of the district saw Lan, they did not instantlye to chase them out . Instead, they took a detour!

    Could it be that this blue-haired fellow was indeed a hidden expert with a strength that demanded such respect?

    Those who had been mocking them earlier suddenly felt their faces burn as if they had been given a p .

    While Lan had not said anything to all the people who had mocked him, he had taken actions to prove his words .

    The group walked to the top of a small hill . The mansion on top of the hill overlooked the entire city . Clearly, this was amongst the very best mansions in the whole town .

    Xue Wei had to admit that when Lan made a move, it was wless and fabulous! It truly left everyone stunned and speechless .

    "How is it?" Lan asked, his appearance somehow resembling a person who was begging for praise, and Xue Wei could not help but chuckle .

    "You worked hard," he said with a smile . He was very pleased with this house .

    "Yes, I actually worked quite hard . " Lan suddenly said . "It was damn difficult controlling my power . I was so afraid that I would just shatter their skulls if I used a tiny bit of my energy, even my physical body is much stronger than theirs . Even though I only touched them, they ended up severely injured . Sometimes even I am scared of my own strength . "

    Hearing Lan¡¯s words made Xue Wei unsure if he shouldugh or cry . Even he was afraid of his own power? Well, it made sense that he would be slightly scared of it, because if he lost control, even this world alone would not be enough to withstand his anger .

    If he wished for it, he could destroy the world in a single thought . Such strength had transcendedmon knowledge . No matter how much Xue Wei tried to understand, it was impossible to know precisely how strong Lan actually was .

    Like this, they settled in the house . They were not in a hurry to leave it, as Lan had been here for a couple of days already and was able to introduce the situation to them . It was much better than going out and finding out on their own .

 Chapter 445

    Chapter 445: 445

    "The majority of the shops within this city have been closed down, but there are two ces of interest .

    "One is what used to be the Golden Chamber¡¯s auction house; the other is a marketce .

    "In the building that used to belong to the Golden Chambers, you can go and exchange your merit points for resources . It is run by the Vermilion Bird n and the Demon Phoenix Continent .

    "The marketce is a bit different . It is run by soldiers, and here you can sell and trade the loot you get from killing enemies . Either you sell it for merit points, or you trade it for items of equal value .

    "The marketce is doing much better than the Golden Chambers, but that is because every person has a lot of items, but they are given a limited amount of merit points . "

    Xue Wei nodded his head . This was a military camp, restaurants, and so on, did not belong here, but they had already reached a rank where they did not need to eat, so that was not a loss .

    "We need to go to the Golden Chambers¡¯ office and get a merit bracelet," Lan said casually . "Without one of those, we will not be able to gather merit points . "

    Xue Wei looked at Lan and saw his eyes shining with greed . He suddenly became worried . Would Lan exterminate the other continent just for the sake of getting merit points, so that he could bankrupt the Demon Phoenix Continent? He wouldn¡¯t, right?

    Lan looked at Xue Wei and saw his uncertainty . He instantly understood his thoughts and said, "I am not going to do anything stupid," he said . "I promised to protect thend, so I am not going to destroy a lot of innocent people . "

    "And I need the chaotic war zone to obscure my aura so that Uncle Yue can¡¯t find me . "

    Xue Wei looked at Lan, and then he sighed . "Why are you hiding from Hui Yue? If you tell him honestly, I am sure he will respect your choices . "

    Lan was silent as he looked into the empty air . "I know," he said with a sigh . "But I feel guilty," he continued . "I feel guilty about not seeing my family and friends for so many years . I ran away the moment I became an Overlord, and I have been gone for so many years . Although life is unending at our rank, it is still hard to be away for so many years . "

    Xue Wei understood . "Is there any way to contact them without leaving this world?"

    Lan paused for a moment and frowned . "Such treasures should exist," he said with a nod of his head . "But, I do not have one . "

    Xue Wei contemted for some time . "You do not have one, but perhaps Hui Yue does? And if he does not, he is free to leave the world and try to get his hands on one . With your rtionship, I am sure he will try his best to get one . That way, you can contact your family while you are staying here until you can achieve your goals . "

    Lan had never really considered that before . Since he was a child, he depended on himself; he had never asked for something before; at most, he had robbed his father¡¯s treasury before he left .

    Xue Wei could see that Lan was truly considering the option that he had suggested, and he smiled .

    He quite liked Hui Yue, and he also liked Lan . It would be for the best if the two of them could reunite, and Lan could be reunited with his family .

    After spending some time lost in thought, Lan seemed to havee to a resolution, but he did not tell them what he decided upon .

    He then proceeded to take Xue Wei and the others with him towards the Golden Chambers¡¯ building so that they could sign up for the missions, and get their hands on the bracelets .

    When they arrived at the building, they found that many of the experts, who had shown up today alongside Xue Wei, had gathered to pick up a mission and get a bracelet .

    Around seventy percent of the new soldiers picked the task of defending the Demon Phoenix Continent¡¯s borders .

    Most of the people who went towards the Xiyang Continent were all experienced on the battlefield . If one decided to travel to the Xiyang Continent first, then it was close to suicide .

    But even so, around thirty percent still wanted to go behind the enemy lines, in an attempt to get more merit points . Some were greedy, but others hadplete faith in their own ability .

    Xue Wei and his friends also applied for going behind enemy lines . They wanted to challenge themselves, so they would naturally go for the most challenging task at hand .

    When they signed up, they were each given a ck bracelet . It was made from an unknown gem-like material, and shone like obsidian .

    There was no way to see how many merit points one had without entering this Golden Chambers¡¯ building .

    The bracelet was attached to them through blood, and in the moment they died, their merit points would be wiped clean .

    This was to ensure that people would not turn against their ownrades to steal their merit points .

    One would also gain additional merit points if they saved arade in arms .

    Xue Wei and the others got a brief introduction to the bracelets, and soon they had understood it well . Although they found it quite simple to use, they realized that it must have required a lot of effort to create . For it to be able to distinguish between friend and foe was not easy for a treasure .

 Chapter 446

    Chapter 446: 446

    After having epted their mission, and gotten the bracelets, Xue Wei and his friends all returned to the courtyard .

    There was no time limit before they had to leave the military camp . Everyone who joined the army were volunteers, so they were not going to stay in the military camp in order to hide from the ongoing war .

    Everyone who was a soldier of the Demon Phoenix Continent could enter the military camp whenever they felt like it, and stay as long as they needed, to recuperate their minds and bodies .

    Even though they could stay as long as they wanted, Xue Wei was not willing to wait too long in the military camp . He hade here for a purpose, not to rx .

    After spending a week in the military camp, they had gotten all the news and information about the Xiyang Continent¡¯s current state .

    They had gone as far as the Demon Phoenix Continent with their invasion and had gathered all their experts .

    They should expect to face off against the enemy on the sea, and if they survived the dangerous trip, they would be faced with a whole army on the other side of the sea .

    The Xiyang Continent was using a few Primordial Beasts, but the majority of the army consisted of humans . Which seemed a bit odd, considering that they knew that they were up against Sovereign Beasts, so using Primordial Beasts seemed useless .

    Xue Wei and his friends had spent a week gathering information and werepletely prepared for facing off against the other army . Many of the experts who had arrived with them had already left, but Xue Wei wanted as much information as he possibly could get before they set out .

    While he was eager to fight, and although he wanted them to fight against overwhelming odds, he was not willing to risk their lives . It would naturally be for the better if they could be prepared beforehand .

    Xue Wei and his friends set off on the eight day after arriving at the military camp . The city that had been turned into the main military camp was a harbor city, so they went to the docks andunched their ship into the water, before climbing aboard it .

    This ship was different from the other ships, it was grand and had formations and inscriptions all over it, it was the ship that Xue Wei had gotten in the Thunder Twilight Zone, and he could guess that it was the property of a noble person who had lost his life on the ind .

    The ship was perfect for the war zone, as it had offensive inscriptions that could st another ship to smithereens, if the right amount of energy was poured into it . It also had formations that would block the attacks of even Saint experts, and the ship itself was much faster than any other ship . It was the perfect vessel to use for traveling towards the Xiyang Continent .

    When the other experts at the harbor saw the ship, their eyes glistened with excitement . It was a long time since theyst saw such an exquisite ship in their port, and knowing that it belonged to some of their soldiers, they understood that they could not be amon group of experts .

    Everyone was born with some sort of curiosity, and when they saw this ship, many gathered at the docks to see who the experts that couldmand this ship were .

    When they saw that it was but a group of newly arrived recruits, many frowned, but the more influential experts were all acting respectful, as they recognized Lan at a nce .

    When Lan had first arrived at the military base, many had looked down upon him, but after deciding upon the house he wanted, and beating up the current upants of the house, no one dared to belittle him again .

    The way he beat those experts was still clear in the mind of the higher-ranked soldiers, and most of them dared not say that they could survive the beating .

    Xue Weipletely ignored the people who were observing them as he boarded the ship alongside his friends .

    These ships were handy because they did not require sailors . All he needed was to add a few thousand high-grade essence stones, and the ship would be able to keep itself afloat and sailing for a long time .

    As they boarded the ship, many were eager to ask for a lift . Although a lot of them had taken the task of working behind enemy lines, it was not so easy to get there, as good ships were quite rare in the Demon Phoenix Continent .

    While the army did prepare some ships, they only sent two ships over a week, and these two ships were already full to the brim with experts .

    Sometimes they even had to wait for the next boat to depart, as there was not enough space on the first, so many tried to hitch a ride when an expert with a ship appeared .

    But although they wanted to ask for a lift, no one actually dared to step forward . The higher ranked soldiers were all too alert because of Lan, and the few remaining new soldiers all knew of Xue Wei and his actions of crippling the Fire Horse, so they felt fear from the bottom of their hearts when they saw him .

    As a result, Xue Wei and his friends departed the military camp in their ship, setting sail towards the Xiyang Continent .

    Their destination was only a few days of travel away, but even so, none of them rxed . They had heard about the war on the sea, and knew that they had to be very lucky to avoid the enemy .

    In a way, they did not want to avoid the enemy either . They could easily outrun any other ship on the sea, but because of their purpose here, they would not do so .

 Chapter 447

    Chapter 447: 447

    As they were on the sea, Xue Wei went to Lin Xiao .

    "The Luans have been in the Beast Tag ever since we entered the army camp . Now that we are out, we might as well let them out and get some fresh air . "

    The beast tag was a treasure they had gotten in the Thunder Twilight Zone, and it had the ability to carry beasts within .

    Up until now, they had carried the crocodile that belonged to the evil spirit, and the bat, Xue Fu, inside .

    During the time in the Ascended¡¯s Realm, and after they just got out, they had given many resources to the Luan birds, and they had grown by leaps and bounds .

    However, there was a limit to how much could be achieved from external factors .

    After some time, they had fallen into aa to digest the energy from all the resources they had been given . At that point in time, Xue Wei and the others had tossed them into the Beast Tag .

    Lin Xiao had told himter that they had woken up again, but although they were awake, they were not entirely done digesting all the energy .

    However, since they were going to battle, the fighting would, without a doubt, increase their ability, and at the same time, allow them to digest the energy faster .

    Lin Xiao also thought that it was an excellent idea to let the Luan birds out, so he picked up the beast tag and released them .

    Instantly, chirping sounds were heard all over the ship, as arge group of birds appeared . Two of them sat on the mast, while the others sat on the railing .

    The mood on board the ship was good; everyone was happy and excited when they knew what they were about to encounter .

    They were also all feeling a bit of anticipation as they waited to run into another ship, but there were none . Even after sailing for a full day, they did not encounter any ships .

    Looking at one another, they saw helplessness in their eyes . "Do you think we have sailed the wrong direction?" Hei Gou suddenly asked, and Xue Wei looked at Lan .

    It was Lan who had given them the coordinates that they had plotted into the ship for their destination .

    "Don¡¯t worry," Lan said . "This is the right direction . It is just that we have been avoiding the other ships, and we should hopefully continue doing so . "

    "Oh, why is that?" Luoluo asked curiously .

    "Think about it, although we want to face off against a group of experts, a whole ship full of them might be more than we can handle," Lan said . "At least more than you guys can handle . "

    Xue Wei thought about it and found that what Lan said made sense . The ships sailed at specific dates, only being limited by the number of spots that were avable . Hence the ships were always full to the brim .

    Xue Wei had to admit that Lan had a good point . Even if they wanted to be able to handle a full shipter, now was not the time to take such a significant risk .

    "Then let us hurry to the Xiyang Continent so that we can engage in battle with someone . "

    Lan nodded his head . "I have set the coordinates tond us on a deserted area, but not too far away from another military camp . I think your first goal should be to exterminate that military camp . "

    Xue Wei¡¯s lips twitched . Exterminate a military camp? Lan made it sound so easy, but the truth was that an army camp, even a small one, had thousands of soldiers . If they wanted to exterminate it, they would need to really work hard .

    But at the same time, he could not help but smile . This was a good challenge . If they could, somehow, wash it in blood, then it would be quite a sess .

    Xue Wei smiled wryly . He was tempted by Lan¡¯s words and knew that while it was a rather lucrative suggestion that, if sessful, would make them end up with lots of merit points and battle experience, there was also a high risk involved in this .

    Lan knew what Xue Wei was thinking, and he did not pressure him to make a decision . The coordinations had already been plotted into the ship, so no matter whether or not he wanted to fight against that military base, they still had to arrive there first .

    The rest of the time on the sea was calm and rxed . They kept a lookout for other ships . Not for the sake of fighting the other continent¡¯s soldiers, but for the purpose of arriving safely .

    The Luan birds continued to observe the surrounding area . Sometimes they would fly out for a bit of a distance before they returned to the ship .

    A few dayster, they finally sawnd in front of them . Thend was not that different from the Demon Phoenix Continent . It looked very simr, but that was only thend .

    What they saw in front of them was a vast in . The lush green grass stretched as far as the eye could see, and no living creature could be seen .

    Where the in and the sea met each other was a sandy beach; it was simply too idyllic and beautiful .

    Unfortunately, as the waters got shallow, the ship could not advance further, so Xue Wei and the others flew into the air, stored the ship, and flew towards thend in front of them .

    Although it was immensely beautiful, none of them were carefree, all of them were alert and observed their surroundings with vignce in their eyes .

    As theynded on the in, they started looking around . There was no ce to hide, no ce to rx . But there was also no ce from which others could ambush them .

 Chapter 448

    Chapter 448: 448

    Xue Wei looked to all directions, but no matter where he looked, all he could see was a grassy in that stretched for as far as the eye could see .

    No matter what direction they looked, they could see the lush grass, there were no forests, mountains, or anything else in their sight . Only if they turned around would they see the sea, everything else was a green haven .

    Xue Wei looked around and felt a little confused . Had Lan not said that they were close to a military camp?

    It seemed as if they were far away from everything here, and he turned to look at Lan, who smiled happily . "If we travel for a week, we will reach the military camp," he said .

    Xue Wei was at first annoyed when he thought about how they had to travel for so long before they would encounter anyone, but he soon understood why .

    They were new to the Xiyang Continent . Although they were good at fighting, they had to get used to the new continent, and if they were too close to the camp, then they would easily be targeted without any time to adjust .

    Now they could easily adjust to the surrounding environment while moving towards the military camp, and on the way, they would encounter some soldiers they could battle it out with .

    Lan had taken everything into ount, and Xue Wei had no reason to scold him, so he nodded his head instead .

    The group began moving towards the direction that Lan had pointed out, and while they were not slow, they did not rush either .

    They kept up their vignce . The grass was up to their knees, so it was not only humans they were on alert for, but also animals, such as snakes .

    If they got poisoned by a snake, depending on the strength of the poison, they might not be able to survive it .

    The Luan Birds were flying in the air, working as scouts . While their intelligence was still lowpared to most beasts, they were not to be underestimated .

    From time to time, they would sweep down into the grass, and when they were flying back up, snakes and rodents could be seen caught in their talons .

    The unfortunate beasts that were caught by the Luan birds had no chance of survival as they were gobbled down swiftly .

    While their size was quite small, these cute birds managed to consume much more than their own weight worth in food .

    It was as if their stomach was a big ck hole, it was never full, no matter how many rodents and snakes that the birds caught, and stuffed into their mouths .

    The birds did not actually need to eat . They were so highly ranked that they were able to sustain their bodies with the heaven and earth essence around them .

    However, they soon found joy and thrill in hunting down these mortal and ferocious beasts and consuming them . Their taste was also not bad .

    The sight of the Luan birds frolicking in the air, and hunting down beasts was enough to make them smile and happy . Although they were in enemy territory, much of their hesitation had been removed by observing the birds¡¯ actions .

    Like this, the group continued onward . They traveled for two days without a break before they saw a forest appearing on the horizon . Although it was far away, it was the first change in the environment they had seen since they had arrived, and they could not help but be excited .

    But although they were excited, they also knew that they could not just rush towards it, they had to be alert . Although the in they had been walking on was straightforward, it was impossible to be ambushed; hence their vignce was slightly lowered .

    However, a forest was perfect for hit and run battles . It was ideal for hiding and attacking when no one was prepared . And they could not forget that they were getting closer and closer to the military camp that was their goal .

    Although they had not encountered any enemy soldiers so far, it was merely a question about time . The closer they got to the military camp, the more likely they were to meet soldiers, but Xue Wei was puzzled as to why they had not met any so far .

    Looking at Lan, he contemted asking him why, but knowing Lan¡¯s personality, he was not likely to tell him the truth .

    As such, he decided not to ask, and continued forward .

    Soon, they reached the forest . It was a big forest, and looking into it, they saw that the thicket was so dense that no sun reached the forest floor; the entire forest was shrouded in darkness, and seemed extremely looming and dangerous .

    Xue Wei frowned . He had a feeling that this forest was not what it looked like, but he did not understand where this feeling came from .

    It was as if there was something dangerous within, a threat that made him feel a chill going through his heart as he looked at the forest .

    It was not only him who felt like this, everyone was frowning as they looked at the forest; it was too silent and eerie .

    Xue Wei was not willing to enter, so he went to Lin Xiao and made him summon the Scarlet Bee Queen from the beast tag .

    She then summoned around a hundred of her normal scarlet bees, and they were sent scouting into the forest, one after another in different directions .

    Xue Wei had thousands of such normal scarlet bees, so using them to scout was not a problem .

    At the same time, every single bee had a connection with the Scarlet Bee Queen, who was a Primordial Beast, and she could see what they saw . As such, she could tell them what was happening inside the forest .

 Chapter 449

    Chapter 449: 449

    These scarlet bees ventured into the forest in different directions . The silence of the forest was overwhelming; the darkness swallowed up the scarlet bees as soon as they entered .

    Xue Wei and the others waited for around five minutes before the Scarlet Bee Queen began frowning .

    "I am losing contact with them, one after another," she said with a trembling voice . Although she had numerous bees in her beehive within the Beast Tag, the truth was that each and every one of them had hatched from her eggs .

    Losing contact with them would only happen if they had died . But before their death, the only thing she had seen was a silent and empty forest . There were no signs of hostile creatures, no sounds, and no smells . Everything was eerily quiet .

    The Scarlet Bee Queen informed Xue Wei of what she had encountered, but her heart was trembling . What if he made her send another batch of her children to their death?

    But Xue Wei did not order her to call out another batch of Scarlet Bees . Although he did not care much for them, the fact that all of them had died so inexplicably showed that even if he sent more inside, their death would be guaranteed .

    He would rather keep the bees for when a battle was needed, or to create scarlet honey since Scarlet Honey was a very rare and essential resource for him .

    The Scarlet Bee Queen heaved a heavy sigh of relief when she saw Xue Wei in deep contemtion .

    It was not only Xue Wei who was thinking about what happened, but also the others . The only one who was casual and carefree was Lan; he was standing against a tree, leaning with his back against the trunk, and smiled leisurely at the thinking group .

    The group, who was deep in thought, understood certain things . Lan had led them here intentionally, but as to why, they did not know .

    He had made them encounter this forest with a purpose, but asking him would be useless .

    Since they were here, there was only one reason . Lan wanted them to suffer, but knowing him, he would not kill them .

    If he wanted them to die, there was no reason for him to y with them like this, he could just think, and their lives would be forfeited .

    Reaching this conclusion, Xue Wei and the others were still alert and vignt, but they also knew that they had a chance of survival if they entered the forest .

    Since it was not certain death, they could not back down . If they backed down, the entire purpose of the trip would be lost, and they would have wasted a long time, and much preparation, not to mention the mental blow it would bring to them .

    So far, they had never backed down, no matter what they had been facing . If they suddenly gave up now, in the future, it would be easy to give up again and again .

    In the end, they would be cowardly, and the bold advance they have had so far would be in danger .

    Since this was their mentality, they could only advance . Xue Wei¡¯s eyes were full of determination, and as he looked in the other¡¯s eyes, he found the same emotions in them . None of them was willing to back down, even if it meant death .

    They had long since epted their lot in life . They had taken numerous lives, and their hands were full of blood, so if they died one day, that was also eptable .

    On the road to the apex, they had to encounter many situations that were seen as certain death, but they had their own luck to rely on in order to ovee it .

    When all of them saw the determination in the other¡¯s eyes, they smiled, and a frivolous and light mood spread in the middle of the silent and eerie forest .

    Lan had a twinkle in his eyes . This was his first test for them . Or, more precisely, the first test for Xue Wei . Was he going to back down in the face of something that might threaten them with their lives, or would he rise to the challenge?

    He was not disappointed with what he saw when looking at Xue Wei . Not even once had he seen an ounce of fear in Xue Wei¡¯s eyes . He had been contemting it, wondering what would be best for them, but he had never considered backing down .

    Xue Wei smiled and felt as if a big load had been lifted from his shoulders . Now that he saw that all of them wanted the same, he felt relieved . He did not want to pressure anyone into following him, but he had made his decision long ago, and it could not be changed .

    Seeing that all of them wanted to follow him out of their own free will, and when he noticed the trust in their eyes, he felt relieved . These people were indeed the ones who were the closest to him .

    Lan waited for all of them to enter the forest before he slowly followed suit . He knew that Xue Wei would not ask for his help, but even if he did, he would not help him . This was a challenge that Xue Wei had to pass on his own .

    Xue Wei was unaware that Lan was nning various challenges to test him . If he knew, he would be quite grumpy, but for now, he could only advance and hope that both he, and all his friends, would survive it .

    They hade into the outskirts of the forest, but so far, nothing had been seen . It was as eerie and silent as it looked, no traces of anything living could be found .

    The Luan birds were back in the beast tag, so was the Scarlet Bee Queen, and only Xue Wei and his friends were walking through the forest .

 Chapter 450

    Chapter 450: 450

    The silence of the forest was so eerie that no one knew what to do . There were no living creatures in the forest, only the nts seemed to grow well, but amongst these nts, there were no herbs or nts, other than the big trees .

    Xue Wei frowned . The silence was interrupted by a rustle that reminded him of the leaves fluttering in the wind .

    The only strange thing was that there was no wind .

    The sound made Xue Wei and his friends go on high alert, the only one who was still casual was Lan, who was looking at them with amusement in his eyes .

    Xue Wei had an urge to curse Lan and thest eight of his generations, as he felt that he had some serious bad luck to have ended up bing his target .

    His friends were also feeling slightly helpless . They all knew that Lan had targeted Xue Wei and had some strange ns for him, but no one knew exactly what these ns contained .

    At least, they knew that Lan had no hostility towards Xue Wei, but most of the time, they could not understand what Lan was thinking, or what he had nned .

    "I think we might be in trouble," Bai Tianyi suddenly whispered, and the others nced at him, urging him to continue .

    "I think I know what this is . I believe this is a very rare nt spirit known as the Monarch Piranha Flower . It lives in the forests¡¯ depths, and it will slowly grow, consuming every living thing within the forest, except for the trees .

    "It consumes the nts, the beasts, and everything else that might venture into the forest . It has a conscience, and it is quite intelligent . Sometimes, when they are old enough, they can take on a human shape, but that would mean that they have lived here since ancient times .

    "We need to be careful . If the nt has truly taken human shape, then we will be unable to fight back, but if it has not, then we still have a chance . "

    Xue Wei¡¯s expression turned dignified, his eyes shing with ruthlessness .

    "We can only continue forward," he said after contemting for some time . "Let us be extra alert, and keep observing our surroundings . When the flowerunches an attack, keep your guard up and attack with all you got . "

    The others nodded their heads; their energy was coursing through their meridians while they were looking around and slowly advancing .

    As they moved forward, they came to the depths of the forest . There was no light, no movements, only the asional rustle .

    As they reached the middle of the forest, they were suddenly blocked by a massive wall of thorny rose vines .

    "No doubt about it, it is the Monarch Piranha Flower," Bai Tianyi whispered, causing the others to be on high alert .

    "The flower has noticed us long ago," Hei Gou suddenly said . "The rustling sound has followed us for a long time; it is clear that it has been waiting for us to reach the main body . It is not willing to even move for the meal . "

    Xue Wei looked at Lin Xiao . "Call out the Luan Birds," he said, and while Lin Xiao was puzzled, he did as he was told .

    The Luan birds flew above the heads of their owners, looking at the dense thicket of thorny vines in front of them .

    Usually, these birds would chirp and fly about with happiness, but now there was an unprecedented seriousness in their eyes as theynded on the shoulders of their owners .

    Xue Wei lifted his hand, and an intense me appeared on his hand . This was no ordinary me, but because of the many resources that Xue Wei had fed it in the Ascended¡¯s Realm, and because of the Vermilion Bird me, it had risen it¡¯s rank to that of a Divine me .

    Feeling the heat from the me, the vines trembled slightly, but they were not retreating . The stubbornness of the Monarch Piranha Flower was beyond Xue Wei¡¯s expectations, but it was even weirder that it had not attempted to attack them yet; as if it was just a protectiveyer that protected the main body .

    Xue Wei felt that something was wrong, but he could not put his finger on what it was . He waved his hand, and a few fireballs flew towards the thorny wall, exploding upon contact and destroying a few vines .

    He frowned . These vines were much more robust than he had expected . To be able to withstand his Divine me like this was no easy feat, so he made another fireball, this time much bigger than before, and threw it at the dense thicket .

    This time, a big dent could be seen in the wall of the thorny vines, but not long after, these vines began moving and growing back as if they had never been injured before .

    Xue Wei felt increasingly ufortable .

    He was attacking what was known to be the most ruthless and intelligent flower spirit in the world, but it did not return any attacks .

    "I believe something serious is happening inside," Xue We said with a frown on his face . "We need to destroy this wall . "

    The Luan Birds understood his words and flew into the air where they began throwing one me after another at the wall of thorny vines, and the others quickly followed suit .

    Bai Tianyi was using his soul swords to chop down vine after vine, Luoluo was freezing them and shattering them into pieces, while Hei Gou was having fun with some bombs he had crafted .

    Soon, the group had cut their way through the wall that had been blocking their advance, and what they saw on the other side caused them to gasp in shock .

 Chapter 451

    Chapter 451: 451

    Right in front of the group of cultivators a clearing in the forest appeared . All trees had been uprooted and thrown down in a stack at the side, while a single stalk of a flower upied the middle .

    This stalk of a flower looked like a regr red rose, so red that it seemed to resemble blood .

    Because of the many uprooted trees, some sunshine shone down on the single rose, and the wind carried some fresh air, which made the rose flutter in the breeze .

    This single rose seemed so unremarkable, it seemed very out of ce and so strange, but none of them dared let their guards down . The atmosphere was so oppressive that one could cut it with a knife . The rose was nothing simple at all .

    This rose, which was swaying in the wind, was the main body of the Monarch Piranha Flower .

    It was hard to believe that this vast forest, which was full of nothing but trees, was the territory of such a single stalk of flowers . The big wall of vines they had fought to get through had vines with a thicknessrger than their thighs, but even so, this main body of the Monarch Piranha Flower was so thin that it looked as if any force could crush it .

    It was adept at masking its ruthlessness .

    The group took a deep breath, but they did not rush to advance towards the flower . Although it looked harmless, thepleteck of life in the forest proved that this was a real horror for anyone who entered .

    But Xue Wei and the others felt odd . The moment the Scarlet Bees had entered the forest, they had fallen prey to the Monarch Piranha Flower, yet they had gotten this far and were now able to see the main body of the nt .

    Everyone knew that the main body of the nt was the most vulnerable part . It was capable of always creating new vines endlessly, so if it lost a vine or two, it really would not matter .

    The main body was different . If anything happened to the main body, the vitality of the Monarch Piranha Flower would be seriously injured .

    So why had the flower allowed them to get so close? It was quite an intriguing question, but it was also what made them even more alert .

    The only one who was casual about it all was Lan . He stood behind the others . His arms were crossed over his chest, and a sliver of a smile adorned his lips . His eyes were staring right at Xue Wei, interest brewing deep within his pupils .

    Even so, he said nothing and just observed . This was a test he had made for Xue Wei . If he could not even ovee this, then what was going to happenter would, without a doubt, leave him dead . As such, Lan had no other option than to train him, and he had been training him ever since he first sent him away from the Chang¡¯an Continent .

    He was the one who intentionally created a space storm in the dimensional tunnel, which directed them to Yan Dalu instead of the Demon Phoenix Continent .

    Luoluo was his first test, and he had passed it with flying colors . Secondly, he had wanted to see if he could cross the Sea of the Enchanted on his own, and once again, everything had been done well, with him even bing a friend of Tao Wu .

    Then he had been sent to the Ascended¡¯s Realm, where he had also done an excellent job . But it seemed that the challenges that he faced were simply too light for him . Ever since he had left the Chang¡¯an Continent, he had never really faced any life-threatening difficulties or any moment where he had to erupt with all he had to stay alive .

    Now, it was time to see what he would do when his life was on the line . Therefore, Lan had sent them to this forest . Of course, he was not going to really let them die, Xue Wei still had a crucial task to fulfill in Lan¡¯s eyes before he would be allowed to die, but he would also not move on the Monarch Piranha Flower unless Xue Wei was only a sliver away from death .

    Xue Wei, Lin Xiao, Luoluo, Hei Gou, Bai Tianyi, and the many beasts within the beast tag were all unaware of Lan¡¯s thoughts; if they knew them, they would perhaps no longer trust him as much as they did before .

    Lan had a purpose in training Xue Wei . He was the key to solving the only regret he had in life, and he was not befriending him without wanting something in return .

    That was why the smile on his face turned increasingly radiant as he thought about how his ns would be brought to fruition soon .

    At the same time, Xue Wei observed his surroundings . Everything was quiet as before, and the flower just casually swayed in the wind . The Monarch Piranha Flower was a type of nt spirit . It was a nt that had grown intelligence and a soul, so even though it looked like a stalk of a rose, it was not to be looked down upon .

    It had to have something nned to be swaying so casually in the air . But it had no intention of acting, and Xue Wei could not help but frown . "Little Rainbow, go and see if you can burn it down," Xue Wei said to his Luan Bird .

    His naming ability was rather bad, considering that the bird was rainbow-colored, and he named Little Rainbow . Hei Gou was even worse, his was named Little Blue, and only Luoluo had found an original name for her bird, calling it Soaring Cloud .

 Chapter 452

    Chapter 452: 452

    Little Rainbow chirped as it looked at the flower in front of it . Although it was merely a beast, and even though its intelligence was still not as high as a human, it was still on high alert .

    It could feel danger from this flower, and it flew high up in the sky before a blue me wrapped in lightning descended from its beak heading straight for the flower .

    Just as the thunder me was about tond on the flower, a twitch ran through the herb, and a vine shot up from the ground around it, blocking the me, but also getting destroyed in the process .

    Xue Wei looked at this with a solemn expression on his face . He had not expected that the thunder me would do any real damage to the Monarch Piranha Flower, but he had hoped that it would at least hit the original body .

    He knew that while Little Rainbow was still immature, it held an explosive power within which could not be belittled .

    But this me, which was actually very strong, could only destroy the vine . The Monarch Piranha Flower was stronger than he had thought .

    "All of you use mes and attack at once!" Xue Wei knew that they had to take the upper hand, so he called out, and all the Luan Birds flew into the air and bombarded the flower with mes imbued with thunder .

    They had all been nurtured by the thunder element when they were in their eggs, so they were extremely proficient in using the thunder me to attack .

    At the same time, Xue Wei was using his Divine me, the Vermilion Bird me, to destroy vine after vine . Even Hei Gou was constantly throwing spiritual energy bombs at it, leaving craters all over the ground .

    But while they were neutralizing one vine after another, destroying thousands of vines in a short period, the Monarch Piranha Flower continued to sprout vines and even made a shield around its main body with vines that were as thick as a log .

    Luoluo and Bai Tianyi looked at one another; they saw the seriousness in each other¡¯s eyes and suddenly nodded their heads .

    They were spirits, and there were many secrets to spirits that only they knew about .

    Currently, the Monarch Piranha Flower was solely defending, but they knew that when it began attacking, then they would be in a tight spot, and thus they decided to use a trump card that only spirits possessed .

    This trump card was not possessed by a nt spirit, as its nature was too different, but it was precisely because of this that they decided to use it .

    Soul Fire!

    The Soul Fire was a me that was alternating between blue and white . It released strong undtions, not of heat, but of coldness instead .

    This was known as a me, but it was not really a me . It ignited their soul power and created a me out of it . Still, soul power was the foundation of their cultivation base, so it was not something any spirit would do unless absolutely necessary .

    "The Monarch Piranha Flower is evolving!" Bai Tianyi suddenly yelled . "It has lured us here to be the food for its evolution! It will not kill us before the evolution is a sess, and when it is, it will consume all our essence blood to stabilize its foundation!"

    "The sword spirit is not useless," Lan muttered to himself when he heard that Bai Tianyi knew precisely what was going on . He was also quite satisfied to see that they had used the Soul Fire, as it could help Xue Wei .

    Xue Wei was at the forefront of the battle . He was the one who had pushed the furthest into the vines that were appearing like raindrops on a stormy night .

    He had wounds all over his body, as the thorns on the vines were pricking his skin and shredding his clothes . Blood was flowing in a steady stream down his body, but his eyes were full of determination . He had to kill this Monarch Piranha Flower before its evolution wasplete .

    Xue Wei released his elemental abilities; the Wood element shrouded his body as he got ready to face off against the main body .

    Life Scale Shield!

    Green light slowly gathered around his body, and he found that the wounds were slowly healing . The Monarch Piranha Flower was not poisonous, so while the wounds were slightly deep due to the thorns¡¯ size, there was no real harm done .

    Xue Wei finally reached the body of the Monarch Piranha Flower, and his friends were just behind him . The flower swayed in the wind, and it seemed that the vines attacked them with renewed ferocity .

    Xue Wei was not to be stopped though, and while he had not changed his body shape to a dragon or bird, but stayed as a human, he still felt that this constant battle of attrition against the Monarch Piranha Flower¡¯s unending vines was the hardest battle he had fought in a long time .

    But it was also exciting . Feeling how he was fighting for his life again, feeling that he could not avoid it, he bravely continued forward, gathering more wounds that marred his skin, but also held a maddened smile on his face .

    The Monarch Piranha Flower started trembling slightly, and after a bit of time, it curled up in a ball . Green and red light began shining from the body of the flower, and a small seed appeared .

    Xue Wei was stunned . What was this? Did the seed have any special meaning for the evolution?

    Just as he was about to chop down the flower, the seed shot into his heart with speed so fast that he could not react to it, and it was not before he felt the seed grow root in his heart that he noticed what had happened .

    Right after the world turned ck .

 Chapter 453

    Chapter 453: 453

    As the others saw how Xue Wei copsed, they all felt their hearts stop beating for a second, and they rushed to his side .

    The Monarch Piranha Flower withered at a rate visible to the naked eye; all vines also copsed in mere moments .

    It was clear that Xue Wei had killed the Monarch Piranha Flower, but what happened? Why had he copsed in front of them?

    Lan¡¯s eyes shed with surprise, but then a smile adorned his lips . He had no intention of interfering with what was happening .

    Hei Gou and Lin Xiao moved his body to a shaded area, where they tried to investigate him, but no matter how much they searched, they only found the wounds caused by the vines which had shredded his clothes and left numerous wounds and gashes on his body .

    Because the seed that had entered his heart was small, the entry point at the front of his chest was small and looked shallow . When looking at all the wounds on his body, it did not seem as if it was special .

    An oppressive atmosphere shrouded them all; they were gathered around Xue Wei, ready to protect him if anyone came . Still, they also knew that they were generally safe in the forest, as every living creature had already been dealt with by the Monarch Piranha Flower .

    While his body was limp, and his mind was ck, a battle was ongoing in his body .

    The seed, which had entered his heart, had managed to grow roots that dug into the tissue itself . From then on, it would be impossible to remove it without digging out his own heart .

    The elements of Wood and Fire were fighting against the Monarch Piranha Flower¡¯s spirit inside his body .

    Although he had more elemental affinities, the wood and fire were the only ones who could subdue the Monarch Piranha Flower¡¯s spirit . It was all unconsciously done, Xue Wei noticed nothing, but the flower was trying it¡¯s best to take over his body .

    The Monarch Piranha Flower Spirit was not so strong that it could form a human body on its own, but it was capable of upying someone else¡¯s body .

    It was just that every living human being who came into the forest was killed, and it was not before it had its evolution that it could take over someone else¡¯s body .

    This was also why it had led them to its side while observing them . Throughout the entire process, it had checked who the leader was and who had the most beneficial body .

    Realizing that this Xue Wei was a Sovereign Beast, it was clear that he was the most beneficial target for it, and it conjured all its spirit and energy into a seed that had entered his heart .

    The battle caused ripples of energy to appear around Xue Wei¡¯s body . There were three colors to the energy, one was fiery red, the other was emerald green, and the final waspletely ck .

    Two of these colors represented his elemental affinities, and the ck was from the Monarch Piranha Flower¡¯s spirit .

    At first, when Xue Wei passed out, there were no problems, but the longer time he was out cold, the energy ripples became more and more powerful, and eventually, none of his friends could stand by his side without getting injured .

    He was unconscious for a full day and night before the powerful ripples of energy finally began subsiding .

    The ck color was almostpletely overwhelmed by the red and green, and after it was removed, Xue Wei finally began moving slightly .

    His fingers twitched, his eyshes fluttered, and slowly his eyelids lifted, and his eyes full of confusion could be seen .

    Xue Wei felt puzzled . Thest thing he remembered was fighting against the Monarch Piranha Flower, but then everything went ck .

    Now he could feel some changes to his body, and he felt drained as if he had been in a long fight .

    Looking around, he also saw scorch marks and other weird marks marring the ground around him .

    Clearly, something had happened . Xue Wei slowly rose from the ground, he sat down with his legs crossed, and he began observing the inside of his body .

    All the Wood and Fire elemental Qi in his body was nearly exhausted, and he found a weird ck energy roaming his meridians .

    As he followed this ck energy, he found that it originated from his heart, where he found a seed attached to the flesh, the roots growing from the seed were like blood veins, and he knew that he could not remove it .

    Frowning, he felt that the energy within this seed was familiar; it reminded him of the Monarch Piranha Flower .

    "Don¡¯t worry," Lan suddenly spoke up for the first time since he had fallen unconscious . "It won¡¯t kill you as such .

    "This is the seed of life, the ultimate ability of the Monarch Piranha Flower . It has nted itself in your heart, and it will continue to fight you until it can take over your body .

    "Right now, you can dominate it because of your Wood and Fire energy, but if it gets stronger than you, then you can only say goodbye to your body .

    "There are not only downsides to it, though, but you will also be half a Monarch Piranha Flower now," Lan said with an enigmatic smile on his face . "You can now create vines as you please . "

    Xue Wei looked at Lan, and he had a feeling that the man was hiding something from him .

    "Of course, the more essence blood that this Monarch Piranha Flower Seed consumes, the stronger its spirit will be, and the sooner it will take over your body . "

 Chapter 454

    Chapter 454: 454

    "So, this is like a ticking time bomb?" Xue Wei asked, with a bit of solemnity in his eyes . "It will attack whenever it wishes, and then I will have to fight not only the outside factors but also against my own body?"

    "Pretty much," Lan smiled . "Look at it as a way to temper your body and your mind . But keep in mind, that if you die, the Monarch Piranha Flower will also die, so the likelihood of it taking over during a battle is quite small .

    "Of course, that does not mean that it is impossible . It could happen, but the chance is not very big . "

    "And you led us here to meet the Monarch Piranha Flower for what reason again?" Xue Wei could not help but ask with a bit of annoyance .

    "Oh, it was to test your skills," Lan answered . "The Monarch Piranha Flower was even more shrewd than I had expected, attacking you like this . I had not expected it to conjure a seed and take root in your heart . It is indeed unfortunate, but make the best out of it . "

    Xue Wei knew that if Lan wanted to, he would be able to remove the Monarch Piranha Flower¡¯s seed from his heart, but he also knew that he was not likely to do so if he asked .

    He was not a dumb person . He knew that Lan had some purpose for getting close to him, and the more time they spent together, the more puzzled Xue Wei became .

    He did not think that Lan wanted him dead, but at the same time, he was causing him to experience danger after danger, and he was not going to help out . Even now, when he faced a deadly threat, Lan was smiling and speaking of it as if he was discussing the weather .

    It was clear that Lan did not hold affectionate feelings for Xue Wei . Sometimes, like now, where they experienced dangers due to Lan¡¯s arrangements, Xue Wei had a weird sense of feeling that Lan hated him .

    But momentster, Lan would do something that made it possible for Xue Wei to survive, and if he hated him, why would he help him? It was puzzling, and Lan was an enigma that Xue Wei could not understand .

    This was also why he was not willing to ask for help . He was confident that Lan would not help him, at least not before his life was truly hanging by a thread .

    Looking at Xue Wei, Lan did indeed have mixed emotions .

    On one hand, he disliked him . On the other hand, he admired him and found his personality very likable .

    But Xue Wei was a halfbreed . He was a mixture of different races, something that had been forbidden ten thousand years prior, and in these ten thousand years, he had be the only one sessfully born .

    Ten thousand years ago, many races appeared from the mixing of various species, but from one day to another, things changed . When someone was pregnant with a child, and if the parents were of different races, then the fetus would die, sometimes the mother also .

    The fact that everything changed from one day to another was strange, and many began wondering what could have happened, but the world was unaware of thews of the Deities, so they did not know that there was something called a Sovereign God, who owned the world, and who could create thews of that world as he pleased .

    Sovereign Gods were the ones who controlled the worlds . Originally, the Sovereign God was the Deity who created the world, but for many worlds, these original deities had vanished and left the worlds to fend for themselves .

    A world without a Sovereign God was considered weakpared to other worlds, and they would have less energy than the experts could consume,

    Eventually, the world would cease to exist, as it ran out of energy altogether, but if it had a Sovereign God, it would be able to continue creating energy, in a formation known as the Formation of Life .

    When Lan originally arrived in this world, he had no intention of taking over the task as a Sovereign God, but after meeting Li Zhiqing, he decided to spend the rest of his life protecting the things she held dear .

    After taking over the position as the Sovereign God of this world, Lan had not done much before Li Zhiqing died . After her death, he made it impossible to birth a child with mixed races .

    This was because Li Zhiqing was a mixed-race child, and these children were always categorized into two groups . Mixed-race children were either extremely talented, or they were utter trash .

    Most of them were trash, but because some were born extremely talented, interracial weddings had be extremely popr, until Lan put an end to it .

    It was unknown how many unfortunate children had suffered the same fate as Li Zhiqing, abandonment by their own families, and he could not approve of it .

    This was also why he disliked Xue Wei . Xue Wei was the person who had broken his rule; he was a mixed breed, someone who should not exist in this world . But it was also because he had broken thew that he was useful for Lan .

    Without breaking the rule, he would not at all care about him, but now that he had, he was the key for him to get back Li Zhiqing, so he was going to follow him everywhere .

    But there were indeed mixed feelings for Lan . The more time he spent with Xue Wei, the more he liked him and admired him, but at the same time, he felt sour . Why could his Li Zhiqing not be a genius when even Xue Wei could?

 Chapter 455

    Chapter 455: 455

    Xue Wei spent a lot of time in a deep cultivation trance . He was unaware of the thoughts that were pressing their way into Lan¡¯s mind; all he could focus on was the Monarch Piranha Flower that had taken root in his heart .

    He tried his best to suppress it, but he soon found that it was useless . He could not get the roots to release from his heart, but he could feel that the spirit within was subdued by the wood and fire elemental Qi in his body .

    It seemed that as long as he had these, then his body would continue being his own, but as Lan had said, if he used the vines of the Monarch Piranha Flower, and it consumed a lot of essence blood, then he would end up on the losing end .

    As such, he could only promise himself that he would not use those vines unless it were a life or death situation . He was not eager to die .

    After spending half a day trying everything within his ability to remove the seed, and knowing that he had no chance, he finally stood up . His face was not dejected . Instead, he was looking rather solemn, but at the same time also determined .

    So far, Xue Wei had experienced no real issues . He had managed to get through life wlessly without any hidden dangers, so now that he was faced with a real threat to his life, he could finally see how far he could go .

    Of course, he would prefer not having a Monarch Piranha Flower growing in his heart, but now that he had, he had to see everything from the positive side . He could not change what had happened, so he could only use it to temper himself, his mind, and his body .

    Xue Wei sighed, stretched, and rose to his feet . "Let us leave this ce," he said, and the others agreed .

    They all began walking towards the outside of the forest . They were unwilling to spend even a moment more within this forest .

    Xue Wei sighed as he looked at the others, and saw that their eyes were full of annoyance when they looked at Lan, and worried when they looked at him .

    "Don¡¯t worry," Xue Wei said with a smile as he looked at them . "I will not die to this, and I will not let the flower have an opportunity to take over my body .

    "Also, I am sure that Lan will not let my life end, so there is nothing to worry about for now . I am sure he just wants to temper me and make me stronger . "

    Lan looked perplexed at Xue Wei . He knew that Xue Wei was saying it for the sake of making hispanions not me Lan, but he felt quite weird . He had pitted Xue Wei like this, but Xue Wei was not even annoyed or angry . Why was he so understanding to a person who basically made his life be endangered?

    Xue Wei would be lying if he said that he did not have any annoyance with Lan, but he understood the difference in their strengths . Lan was a deity . He was a genius and was able to kill them with a simple thought .

    Everything that he did had a purpose, but Xue Wei understood that he had some hidden agenda, and until it was solved, Xue Wei would be unable to end his rtionship with Lan .

    Since he was stuck with Lan, then he was only able to ept all the horror that he was sending in his way . If he were going to object, their rtionship would sour, and Xue Wei would likely be even worse off than he was now .

    Not to mention, if their rtionship soured, then there was no one who could guarantee that Lan would not act against hispanions .

    While Xue Wei respected Lan, he also knew that Lan was ruthless and evil . He was able to do anything to get what he wanted and needed, and Xue Wei just happened to be beneficial to him .

    But it was not all bad . Xue Wei had grown stronger, much stronger, with the support of Lan . So although Lan was overbearing and evil, he was also his benefactor, and Xue Wei was definitely going to pay him back, as long as he did not ask for him to be crippled or dead .

    Lan and Xue Wei had different views on the world . Xue Wei was cold and callous to most people, but those who helped him or treated him with respect would see that he would give them back tenfold .

    Those who were rude, and who had harmful intentions against him, they would be returned hundredfold of their behavior .

    Lan was someone who, although grateful for someone to be friendly to him, he was not willing to give up a lot for others . Only those whom he deemed his most important people would feel his tenderness and care .

    This was the difference between Xue Wei and Lan, and this was also the reason they had problems understanding one another .

    While they thought about this, all of them slowly managed to leave the forest, and in front of them were lush green grasses and small signs of viges .

    It was clear that many people lived on this side of the forest, and Xue Wei suddenly smiled . This was his chance for attacking and fighting against the army of the Xiyang Continent .

    This was why he had arrived here, and while the Monarch Piranha Flower was a setback, it did not diminish his excitement and his battle intent .

    As long as he could keep the seed under control, he would be able to go rampant on the battlefield .

 Chapter 456

    Chapter 456: 456

    Xue Wei¡¯s eyes roamed across the distant horizon . Here, the lush green grass and the gentle breeze reminded him that he had indeed left the forest .

    They found a small animal trail that they followed . The path soon became a wider road, and the lush green grass that surrounded them changed to farmed fields .

    There were no traces of the war in thisnd, and when they came across farmers, they were greeted warmly . It was clear that they did not know that Xue Wei and his group were a group of infiltrating soldiers .

    They reached a vige, and looked at one another with doubts; they were ushered into the vige by the farmers, who began chatting with them about where they were from and how they had arrived at this ce .

    Xue Wei was glossing over most details . He said that they hade through the forest, and when the farmers heard this, they were even more enthusiastic .

    Xue Wei looked at the food and drinks that they were offered, but he did not consume any of it, and seeing his narrowed eyes, his friends also refrained from trying it out .

    The vigers did not seem to notice that Xue Wei and his friends were not tasting their food and drinks, but they continued to find more and more food and drinks to them, but soon their smiles became slightly condensed, as they saw Xue Wei looking at them with his soulful eyes, as if waiting to see them eat and drink .

    But none of them touched the food or the drinks, so naturally, he would not do so either .

    "Please taste our delicacies," the vige chief said as he smiled at Xue Wei, and Xue Wei lifted his ss . He looked at the red wine, which was swirling in the ss, and a smile broke out on his lips as he handed the ss over to the vige chief .

    Xue Wei¡¯s smile became even more brilliant as he said, "Why don¡¯t you drink this ss first, to show me your sincerity?"

    The vige chief felt his heart racing in his chest, and his hands became sweaty .

    "This can¡¯t be done," he said with a smile . "This feast was prepared for you and your friends to celebrate your arrival in our small vige . "

    "You either drink it, or I pour it down your throat," Xue Wei said, the smile on his face as gentle as before, but a chilling coldness swept over the vige chief as he was not sure of what to do .

    Seeing that the vige chief tried to push the wine away, Xue Wei released the ss, and the cup fell to the ground where it shattered, wine and ss shards spread all over the ground .

    "The smell of blood is quite heavy here," Xue Wei suddenly said . "It was rather faint at the beginning, but the closer we got to your vige, the more intense it became .

    "This heavy stench of blood cannot possibly belong to a simple vige, so why don¡¯t you tell me how many people have left their lives here when consuming your feast?"

    The expression of the vige chief turned ugly . He knew that they were no opponents of Xue Wei and his group . They were all Saints, while the strongest amongst the vigers was a Heavenly Knight .

    Even though they had a couple of hundred people, some were children, others were elderly, and many were even unable to cultivate . They were like sitting ducks, unable to survive if Xue Wei decided to move against them .

    And Xue Wei was an exceptional person . If someone showed him respect, he would return it tenfold, never back down, and always make sure to be there for those who had helped him in the past . However, if someone wished to harm him, he would make them suffer a hundredfold what they had nned for him . He would never let anyone go who had attempted to harm him or his dear ones .

    The Vige Chief closed his eyes and sighed . "Great Warrior, we understand the rules of this game . We are willing to kill, so any time we will be ready to be killed instead . This is what war is like; the winner takes it all, and the loser has to ept death .

    "I understand that you want to take revenge on us, but I beg you to let some survive . The children are innocent, and they cannot live alone . Please let the vige have a chance of survival . "

    Xue Wei nced around him and saw that many children were hiding in the shadows, looking at them with big and watery eyes .

    There was fear in their eyes, and they did not dare to go towards Xue Wei and the others, but seeing their Vige Chief, who was like an idol to them, kneeling on the ground, they understood the severity of it all .

    Xue Wei knew that the Vige Chief would not survive . He had tried to kill him, so naturally, his life had to be forfeited . However, he had not considered what to do with the rest of the vigers . Usually, he would kill all the ones involved, but somehow when he saw the children, he couldn¡¯t do it . After his father¡¯s death, and being left alone in the world, he did not want to destroy others¡¯ lives in the same way .

    Lan was observing Xue Wei . He saw his emotionless eyes, with no ripples, but he did not know what exactly he felt .

    Compared to Xue Wei¡¯s usual personality, he would kill everyone to vent his anger, but it seemed that he was actually considering it seriously .

    "You are the main culprit, so you will not be able to survive . As long as the vigers do not move against me, I will not mind looking the other way for once . "

 Chapter 457

    Chapter 457: 457

    The vige chief took a deep breath of relief . He knew that his life was forfeited the moment they found the poison in the drink and food, but to think that he was so magnanimous as to let the children and the elderly survive, alongside a group of people who had not participated in the event .

    Lan did not expect that Xue Wei could be merciful, and he was taken by surprise .

    Hei Gou, Luoluo, Bai Tianyi, and Lin Xiao were not too shocked . They knew Xue Wei well and had been with him for a long time . Although he was cold and callous to others, he was not unreasonable .

    He could kill children if he had no other option, but would not do it if he could avoid it .

    He hade to the Xiyang Continent for the sake of killing soldiers, notmoners, and the people in front of him were also forced by the situation to try and survive .

    There were no soldiers around them to save them, all they had was themselves, and thus, one could not me them for doing everything in their power to stay alive .

    They were forced by the situation, and thus Xue Wei decided to let them off easily .

    Lan¡¯s ever present smile stiffened slightly, and he lowered his eyes . It seemed that while Xue Wei was very different from his Zhiqing, they had things inmon, such as knowing when to forgive, and when to let go .

    Li Zhiqing had also forgiven the people who had sent her to her death; she did not hold a grudge, nor was she living for revenge . She was happy with her every day spent around herke, and after Lan arrived, he had even heard her say that she was grateful to them for sending her there .

    If she had not been sent there, would she have been able to meet Lan? This was an interesting part of life and fate; she believed that everything happened for a reason and that she had received a blessing in disguise .

    She was grateful for having been able to meet Lan and spending her life alongside him .

    Lan shook his head and looked at Xue Wei . There was suddenly much more appreciation in his eyes, and he found it harder to dislike the younger man .

    Xue Wei was unaware of Lan¡¯s thoughts . He was busy thinking about his current situation, and he looked at the Vige Chief . His eyes were cold, but not full of hostility .

    "You can choose tomit suicide, or I will kill you . I promise to do it painlessly, but if you prefer to do it yourself, I will allow you to do so . "

    The Vige Chief lifted his head in shock . Suicide was not something that was looked down upon . In fact,mitting suicide could be seen as thest sign ofst respect, thest bravery that no one else could take away from you .

    Being allowed tomit suicide was, without a doubt, better than being killed by someone else, and the Vige Chief did not hesitate .

    "Thank you," he said, as he lifted his hand . Qi gathered on his palm before he struck it against the side of his head .

    Blood oozed out of the Vige Chief¡¯s mouth, eyes, ears, and nose as he slowly began topping over .

    Seeing himmit suicide so decisively, Xue Wei was aware that this man was a respectful person, he was a person who he could have be friends with, had they not been on the opposite sides, but he did not regret his decision .

    Every action had a consequence, and if they were ready to kill Xue Wei, they had to be prepared to die themselves .

    Xue Wei did not believe in reincarnation, considering that Hui Yue and Lan had both said that there was no way one could return after death, but he still felt that he would meet this person again one day and that they might be friends by then .

    Shaking his head, Xue Wei looked at the surviving people . "You can do what you want to from now on," he said, as he turned around and began leaving .

    He had not killed them, but that did not mean he was willing to help them either .

    No one stepped forward to stop Xue Wei and his friends as they left the vige, but when they were gone, they suddenly heard a loud sound .

    "Warrior!" someone called from behind them, and Xue Wei turned around to see the whole vige, young and old, men and women, bending their waists, and giving him a deep bow .

    "Thank you for letting us survive," they said in unison, the sight was rather inspiring, and Xue Wei was surprised . He had expected that they would be unhappy that he had killed their chief, but it seemed that they understood how close to death they had been .

    "Don¡¯t worry about it," Xue Wei said, as he waved his hand . "But do try to mask the bloody stench . Many others will notice it . "

    With thest word, Xue Wei and the others left the vige, and the vigers were left behind, grateful, and still rather shocked .

    They had never thought that they would survive the day, but now they were still alive . They all looked at the dead Vige Chief, some of them sighed in regret, but after a bit of time, they bowed their bodies and said their thanks .

    They were able to survive because this man had been so quick at sacrificing himself . They owed him their lives, and he would forever be their hero . He was going to get the most borate funeral that they could handle .

 Chapter 458

    Chapter 458: 458

    As they left the vige, they found that the trails and pathways they had been using so far changed into roads with gravel, clearly, they were much more used than the ones that lead towards the forest .

    While it was a normal gravel road, it was much better than walking on a pathway that would vanish at one time, or turn into an animal trail at another .

    These gravel roads were definitely leading towards civilization, and thus, towards soldiers and other armies .

    Xue Wei and the others walked down the gravel road for a whole day without meeting another vige, or any signs of life, but the road was getting bigger and bigger, and soon they reached a crossroads where the road they were currently walking split into two others .

    Xue Wei looked at the two roads . One looked more deserted than the other . Grass and weeds were growing amongst the gravel, and it did not seem to be as frequently traveled as the other .

    It was easy to guess which road to take .

    Heading towards the more used road, Xue Wei and the others walked on the worn-down stones, heading towards a bigger town .

    Although Xue Wei and his friends were soldiers sent here from the Demon Phoenix Continent, they felt more like tourists .

    There were no warriors or soldiers around the area, and the citizenspletely ignored Xue Wei and hisrades .

    It was clear that they were unaware that Xue Wei was a soldier from the Demon Phoenix Continent .

    Next, they arrived at a bigger town, not a vige like the ones they had seen so far, and while the town was bigger, there were also stronger experts . Within the town they could detect the aura of at least eleven Saint ranked experts .

    Xue Wei was standing outside the town and contemting . Should they take the chance and enter to scout for some information, or should they take a risk and avoid the civilized areas while stumbling around looking for the military camp?

    Xue Wei was not one to cower in front of danger, so it did not take him long to decide that they were going to enter the town .

    Luoluo and Bai Tianyi were bothpletely calm and collected, but Hei Gou and Lin Xiao felt the backs of their hands wet from their cold sweat .

    They were extremely nervous, and feared that they would be noticed at any moment, after which the entire town would face off against them .

    Seeing their nervousness, Xue Wei¡¯s lips twitched in amusement . If they were so nervous, it was likely that others would notice them, while those who were confident and calm would not be doubted .

    Seeing the teasing gaze Xue Wei sent them, Lin Xiao and Hei Gou suddenly calmed down and realized the same things as he had . If they were too nervous, they would invite trouble, so they took a deep breath and calmed their hearts .

    Honestly, it was natural to understand why they were nervous . The people they were up against were more than double their own numbers, and one of these Saints was a Heavenly Saint, very close to reaching the next realm .

    He had not reached the next rank yet, the King Rank, but even so, he could not be belittled .

    Xue Wei and the others were not Heavenly Saints, so if they were to fight against this expert, they would have to use all their tricks and abilities in order to win .

    This thought made Xue Wei¡¯s blood boil, and he was almost eager to find the expert to challenge him to a duel, but he knew that it was not the time to do so .

    They were here to fight in a war, not to challenge strong experts . But their enemies had vanished, and all they could find weremoners .

    Xue Wei and the others slowly made their way to the center of the town . It was not a massive town, but it did contain at least a couple thousand households .

    In the town square was an inn, and while not many came to rest in this establishment, many came to eat and drink .

    "I want a roast duck," Luoluo suddenly said, as her eyes were glued to the inn in front of them . The scent of freshly cooked food was wafting out through the door, and Luoluo was swallowing her saliva .

    Although she was a cultivator and did not need to eat to sustain her lifestyle, she was a little foodie who enjoyed good food .

    Xue Wei¡¯s features softened when he heard Luoluo¡¯s request, and he nodded his head .

    He had already nned on entering the inn, as it would be the best ce to gain information on what was happening, so when they entered, they needed to pretend to be regr customers . As such, they needed to buy food and drinks .

    As they entered, they found that it was almost full, only three tables were unupied, and the waiter who noticed them instantly led them towards one of the bigger tables .

    Xue Wei threw an essence stone at the waiter who epted it graciously . The table they had found was located in the middle of the inn, and they could hear everyone¡¯s buzzing voices . The bustling atmosphere was enough to give anyone a headache, but this was precisely what they wanted .

    "I want some various dishes and drinks . Amongst them I want a roast duck," Xue Wei ordered the waiter, who was somewhat puzzled as to why they were so particr about a roast duck, but it was a stable on their menu, so he hurriedly epted the task, and went to get the dishes from the kitchen .

 Chapter 459

    Chapter 459: 459

    No one noticed that Xue Wei and his friends were foreigners, their casual actions, and the calmness with which they were moving, was causing everyone to think that they were ordinary residents of the Xiyang Continent .

    While they were seated, they listened in on the many conversations that were going on around them, and one especially caught their attention .

    "I heard that the Xiyang Army is recruiting again . " This was a conversation between a group of hunters, and Xue Wei narrowed his eyes as he pretended to drink a little of his wine, to mask his interest .

    "The army has been recruiting for thest many years," another answered as if there was no interest in the topic, but the first person continued to say what he had heard .

    "I know, but this is different from normal," he said . "They want to end the war once and for all, so they are mass recruiting and training their recruits in the shortest time possible .

    "They have caught three Vermilion Bird n members, and they have even put out the news that those with the highest contribution points will be able to get their hands on these Vermilion Birds as contract beasts .

    "I am not sure how they will tame them, but it seems that there exists a continent called Chang¡¯an, and on that continent there is a profession called a Diviner .

    "These Diviners have a unique method to force beasts into epting a contract with a human .

    "It is not a pure Dao, but it originated from the Dao of Dependence . It seems that the Diviners are capable of taming a Vermilion Bird, but it is an arduous task, so it will take a long time to get all three tamed, but it is a great reward, and many are willing to take the risk and face off against the Demon Phoenix Continent for the sake of getting these Vermilion Bird Contract Beasts .

    "I am not sure how they found these Diviners, but they are willing to take even Primordial Beasts and force them into contracts as long as you pay a high enough fee . "

    Xue Wei looked at the others and noticed that all of them had extremely ugly faces . They had escaped the Chang¡¯an continent, but it seemed that now the Diviners were starting to overwhelm the entire continent .

    Not to mention that the Diviners would definitely recognize Lin Xiao, considering that he had stolen the Diviner¡¯s biggest treasure, the staff that he was using, and that he was the saint son who was supposed to be the strongest of them all, if he had continued his cultivation to be a Diviner .

    If the Diviner were one who knew Lin Xiao, then they would also know Xue Wei, as it was well known in the Chang¡¯an Continent that Lin Xiao had escaped alongside an Azure Dragon .

    The group was contemting what to do . Although they were working for the Demon Phoenix Continent, none of them particrly intended to save Vermilion Bird n members .

    Although they wanted to risk their lives at battle, they were unwilling to throw away their lives . That was what would happen if they went to save the Vermilion Bird n¡¯s members for now .

    The Vermilion Bird n Members were without a doubt at the very core of the Xiyang Army, and there had to be both King and Emperor ranked experts present there .

    While they could ask Lan to help them, Xue Wei was very much against asking Lan for help . He preferred to rely on his own strength and not let others solve his problems for him .

    Xue Wei understood that the Xiyang Continent had nned something big . Not only had they shared the rumors of wanting to gift the Vermilion Bird n members away, they were also mass recruiting new members to the army .

    Xue Wei looked at Lin Xiao but saw that he was in deep thought . It was clear that the news he had heard were quite shocking to him, as his brows furrowed, and he looked down .

    They heard more and more news about the army, and what they heard was quite shocking . The Xiyang Continent had not sent anyone to the Demon Phoenix Continent for a few months, and they had no intention of sending anyone now .

    They were going to purge their own continent first, after which they would send all their soldiers to the Demon Phoenix continent and try to kill off the army in one fell swoop .

    Xue Wei listened, but he had a hard time understanding whether or not it was true .

    If evenmoners knew about the ns of the army, how could the Demon Phoenix Continent not also know of the ns already? Was this a trap, or something simr?

    The food arrived at the table, and Xue Wei, alongside his friends, dug into the food . They did not speak; they just focused on eating and listening, but nothing else appeared in the conversation of the many people in the inn .

    They did not end up renting a room in the inn . Instead, they left the inn as soon as they finished eating . They roamed the town for a short while to see if there were any signs of doubts, but they saw nothing special, so they left the town and found a small hill where they sat down .

    Here, they looked at one another and saw the grave and solemnity in each other¡¯s eyes .

    "I am not sure about those Diviners," Lin Xiao suddenly said . "As far as I am aware, the Sovereign Beasts cannot be tamed . No Diviner should be capable of taming a Sovereign Beast, so I do not know how they can suddenly appear here with the ability to tame those Vermilion Bird n Members . "

 Chapter 460

    Chapter 460: 460

    Xue Wei was silent when hearing what Lin Xiao said . "Could it be that these Diviners are unaware of what a Sovereign Beast is?" he asked hesitatingly .

    "The Chang¡¯an continent has beasts, but the Sovereign Beasts are known as legends there . To meet them is as difficult as finding a specific drop of water in the sea, so maybe they just assumed that they would be able to tame the Sovereign Beasts?"

    Lin Xiao was also slightly hesitating, not sure what might have caused the Diviners to boast with having the skill to tame a Sovereign Beast .

    "Do you think that they might have already tamed one of the Vermilion Birds?" Luoluo suddenly asked, and the others looked at her, only to see her grave expression, and the doubt in her eyes .

    "If they had not tamed at least one of the Sovereign Beasts, do you really think that they would announce to the entire continent that they would gift these beasts aspanions? If they fail, they will end up harming themselves instead of actually solving their problems . "

    Hearing Luoluo¡¯s words, Xue Wei and Lin Xiao, descended into silence again . What she said made sense, it would be very harmful to the continent leaders if they had promised something that tempting, but were unable to fulfill the promise .

    "Do you think perhaps it is a trap?" Hei Gou suddenly asked . "Maybe they are actually not gifting the Vermilion Bird n members to anyone, but they are spreading the rumors for the sake of having a lot of soldiers of the Demon Phoenix Continent gather in an attempt to rescue them, and then set up a Banquet of Hongmen?"

    "You think it is either a Banquet of Hongmen, or somehow the Diviners have managed to learn how to tame a Sovereign Beast?"

    Xue Wei was wondering what the most likely scenario was . He was notfortable, no matter which one of the possibilities it was . He knew that if the Diviners had managed to learn how to tame Sovereign Beasts, he too would be in a tough position . But if it was a trap, then the Demon Phoenix Empire would be in a tight spot, as they would lose a lot of soldiers .

    Xue Wei sighed . "Either way, we cannot go there," he said . No matter what the real reason behind this rumor spreading everywhere was, he knew it was not worth it to investigate .

    If it was a Diviner, he might end up domesticated as well, and if it was a trap, he would end up dead . It was much better to stay away .

    But this also exined why they had not encountered any soldiers so far . All the soldiers were with the Vermilion Bird n members, as such, it was easier for them to move around, but it also meant that thend was unupied .

    However, Xue Wei and his friends looked around, not sure what to do next . If there were no soldiers, they would not be able to fight, but they could not go where the soldiers were as there were too many gathered together, and some of them were King and Emperor ranked experts .

    Lan smiled as he leaned against a tree trunk that was on the hill, looking at Xue Wei and the others¡¯ careful expressions . He knew that Xue Wei was actually very concerned about his friends, and the reason he had not gone to see the situation around the Vermilion Bird n Members was because of them .

    Xue Wei had enough faith in his own speed and ability to escape . He was a Sovereign Beast, a Holy Son, so he had specific abilities that would make it possible for him to flee from even King and Emperor experts, but if he had his friends with him, then they would without a doubt be implicated, and he was unwilling to see this .

    Since this was the case, Lan did not mind helping out for once . He needed to see Xue Wei fight; he had to see the world burn for a chance to unlock thews of the world .

    Since he could help Xue Wei and he could help himself at the same time, why not try it out?

    "There is a group of experts from the Demon Phoenix Continent around seven hundred miles to the southeast . They are a couple of thousand experts, and there are five King ranked experts, and one Emperor ranked expert amongst them .

    "If you want to face off against the soldiers, you might want to team up with them before going to the Vermilion Bird n members¡¯ rescue?"

    Xue Wei narrowed his eyes when he heard what Lan said . He could not help but feel that something was off with him, helping them so readily, but he could not help but shake his head and ept his advice .

    "We will set off now then," he said, and while he was not sure why Lan had suddenly decided to help him, he would ept the help graciously .

    "Thank you," he said to Lan, who justughed and waved his hand . "No problem, I am also helping myself," he said, and Xue Wei nodded his head .

    He knew that Lan had something he wanted to obtain from him going to save the Vermilion Bird n members, but he was not sure what it was .

    Xue Wei felt relieved . As long as Lan wanted something from it, the chances of it being a trap were small .

    He had to admit that Lan¡¯s ns were making him slightly hesitant and worried . He could not help but feel that Lan¡¯s ideas had all ended with Xue Wei shedding blood, sweat, and tears .

 Chapter 461

    Chapter 461: 461

    Although Xue Wei was not too keen on following Lan¡¯s suggestion after what happened with the Monarch Piranha Flower, he also knew that they had no other option .

    They needed to find the army, and they could not fight them alone, so teaming up with someone would be the best solution . While Lan was very mischievous, he had never lied to them before, so when he had said who was gathering, they did not doubt him .

    So, instead of resting, the group hurried towards the direction that Lan had pointed out . They were solemn and alert . Things had taken a strange turn, and they did not know what they could expect any longer .

    But their trip was surprisingly easy . They did not encounter any soldiers along the way; neither did theye across many viges, and those they did cross were either avoided or quickly left behind .

    During the rush towards the other members of the Demon Phoenix Continent¡¯s army, they did not rest at all, and the trip which would have taken them quite some time to travel if they had been rxed was finished in three days when they rushed .

    "They are around here," Lan said with a smile, and Xue Wei could not help but curse . Right, they were around here, but where exactly?

    Also, would they believe in them being soldiers from the Demon Phoenix Continent when they arrived? Would they even be able to join them, or would the experts of this group think that they were spies and eliminate them right away?

    Xue Wei had not considered it much before because Lan was the one who told them where these people were, but after thinking about it for some time, he realized that it was not actually so easy to join the other Demon Phoenix Continent¡¯s soldiers .

    And it soon turned out that he was correct . They had just arrived at a big meadow where the lush grass was swaying gently in the breeze, but a horrendous killing intent locked onto Xue Wei and his friends as they entered the tall grass .

    "Here theye," Xue Wei muttered while preparing himself for a futile battle, but the killing intent vanished as quickly as it had appeared, and Xue Wei looked up to see a familiar face .

    The person who walked towards them was the Ghost Sword Lin Xuan, the primordial beast that Xue Wei had helped mutate in the pce¡¯s inner chambers .

    Seeing that one of the King ranked experts present was actually him, Xue Wei was quite surprised . He had not thought that Lin Xuan would have such a swift breakthrough, but he was even more astonished that this was the guard that had been sent to guard the meadow .

    With him present, they would be safe, so he heaved a heavy sigh of relief .

    "General Lin," Xue Wei greeted him respectfully and nodded his head . Seeing the respect that Xue Wei gave him made Lin Xuan feel veryfortable about himself, and he could not help butugh happily .

    "I did not expect to see you here," he admitted generously, but Xue Wei just smiled, not willing to tell how he had found them .

    While Lan had not directly said that he wanted to be unknown, Xue Wei knew that he would be annoyed if everyone knew of his strength . They might even try and pressure him into solving the problem at hand, which in turn would end up with the soldiers of the Demon Phoenix Continent dying a gruesome death, as Lan was not someone that others could coerce into working for them .

    Lin Xuan guessed that they had something that could not be said, but as long as it was no threat to the rest of the soldiers in the army, he did not want to pressure them too much . Xue Wei was after all his benefactor, and he had seen how even the Emperor treated him with respect .

    "Follow me, and I will take you to see the other members we have gathered here," Lin Xuan said and led them through the meadow, towards a small ravine located in a mountain behind the lush grass .

    At first nce, this ravine seemed inconspicuous, but upon closer look, it was much deeper than one would expect .

    In this deep ravine, multiple tents and shelters had been set up, and thousands of experts were gathered in teams, sparring and conversing . Clearly, this was the biggest camp from the Demon Phoenix Continent¡¯s army .

    Xue Wei looked around, but it was not only him who looked at it, but everyone in the ravine also stopped and looked at Xue Wei and his entourage as they entered .

    They were all members of the Demon Phoenix Army, and they were all curious whenever new people appeared in their location . Usually, the Emperor, or the King ranked experts were the one that would have fetched the soldiers from around the Xiyang Continent, but now it seemed that these soldiers had arrived on their own .

    What was even more puzzling was how a King ranked expert was so humble in front of a group of Saints . Although these Saints were more in numbers, they were on apletely different level than the King ranked experts, and thus the observers were confused .

    The other Kings and the Emperor ranked expert also noticed the arrival of Ghost Sword Lin Xuan, and they were surprised to see him return with a group of experts .

    "Hey, old man Lin, who have you brought back with you?" One of the people who came forth was a young boy . He did not seem much more than ten years old, but his eyes sparkled with the vicissitudes of life .

 Chapter 462

    Chapter 462: 462

    When looking at the boy¡¯s appearance, one could not guess that he was an old monster who had lived for hundreds of years . However, upon closer inspection, one could see that his acting was very graceful, not at all like a small child .

    Not to mention those eyes which spoke of the many ups and downs one encountered in their life, it was evident that he had lived far longer than what his body implied .

    "Brat, don¡¯t be impolite," Ghost Sword Lin Xuan said while looking at the child, and as one would have expected, the moment the expert was called a child, his facial expression twisted .

    "This is Xue Wei . I told you about him before, he is my benefactor, and naturally, I would have to greet him when meeting him . "

    While many observers were shocked, no one was more shocked than the child . While the audience thought it impossible for a Saint to be the benefactor of a King ranked expert, the child was aware that this was the person who had mutated Lin Xuan¡¯s bloodline and allowed him to have a breakthrough .

    This child was also a Primordial Beast; he was a Blue-eyed Lightning Leopard, a race which was especially famous for its speed and control of the lightning element .

    He had been stuck at the King Realm for a very long time, and while he had wanted to progress to the Emperor Realm, he had never had the opportunity to seed .

    As such, when he looked at Xue Wei, he resembled a starving beast who saw meat . His eyes sparkled, and a smile could not help but creep upon his lips .

    "Sir Xue," he greeted, and Xue Wei, who could easily guess the child¡¯s thoughts, could not help but smile wryly while greeting back .

    "I was wondering if it is possible for you to help me ovee my bottleneck? I heard many rumors about your marvelous ability, and while I know it is rude, I would like to ask for your assistance . "

    Xue Wei was not against shedding a bit of blood, especially not if it would help to assist their army in the battle they were about to encounter . He was not sure if they had enough time to mutate a beast before it was time for them to move against the Xiyang Continent¡¯s army .

    "We have around a month," the child, which had been introduced as Lei Jingshen, said eagerly . "There is a month and a half until the event that they have nned . We are not sure whether or not it is a Banquet of Hongmen they have prepared, or if it is genuinely a taming of our Vermilion Bird n¡¯s members .

    "We had nned to leave a month from now, so if we can mutate before then, that would be for the best . "

    Xue Wei contemted for a short while . He could not guarantee how long it would take to mutate, just as he did not know if his blood had any effect on those who had attained a spiritual body .

    At the same time, there was a risk of dying if one could not withstand the pain from the mutation . All in all, it was risky, but if Lei Jingshen decided to really try it out, then he would allow them to do so .

    "I can mutate at most ten people," Xue Wei said after contemting . "I do not know how much effect it has on someone who is as highly ranked as yourself, but we do not lose anything from trying it out .

    "Other than you, we can try mutating another nine experts . If you pick out nine with outstanding talent or bloodlines, then we will give it a try . "

    Lei Jingshen was shocked . He had already thought that he might have been too rude to ask for help to mutate, but now Xue Wei offered to mutate a total of ten experts! This could prove to be the deciding factor in the war .

    "We will do as you said," Lei Jingshen said, having a hard time to control his excitement .

    Xue Wei nodded his head . If the mutation needed his essence blood, he would be against mutating so many people, but since it was just normal blood, it truly did not matter .

    He was suddenly deep in thought . If his normal blood was so powerful, what would happen if he gave them some essence blood?

    Contemting, Xue Wei looked at Hei Gou . He was not willing to use his good friend as a guinea pig, but he was thinking of using one of these experts as a test, and if it were possible to survive, then he would also let Hei Gou try it .

    Being able to help him increase his strength would be extremely gratifying .

    Lei Jingshen looked at Xue Wei and shuddered suddenly . Why was it that he felt a slight fear creep up on his back when looking at theplex expression on Xue Wei¡¯s face .

    "Say, Lei Jingshen, are you willing to try getting more strength, but maybe put yourself more at risk at the same time?" Xue Wei suddenly asked, and while Lei Jingshen was shocked, he was also rooted in thought .

    "What do you mean?" he asked, his eyes narrowing slightly .

    "I have three kinds of blood, the normal blood, the essence blood, and the heart essence blood," Xue Wei began .

    "So far, every mutation I have made has been done with my normal blood, but imagine what would happen if I sacrifice some essence blood .

    "I am not willing to sacrifice too much essence blood, but this would be a test to see whether or not it is survivable so that I can offer it to myrade . "

 Chapter 463

    Chapter 463: 463

    Lei Jingshen looked at Xue Wei . He did not mind the fact that he was so honest . Although it sounded like he wanted to turn Lei Jingshen into a guinea pig, this was the kind of risk that one needed to take if they wanted to get more strength .

    Strength was not something that came naturally . One had to fight for it or build it up slowly . If there was a chance of suddenly building up one¡¯s strength rapidly, one had to be careful .

    There was a chance that it would destroy one¡¯s foundation, making it unstable, and if this were not the case, then it would bring with it tremendous risks .

    Was he, Lei Jingshen, someone who cowered in the face of danger? He understood that what was being done would ce him in danger, but he was willing to take the risk as it might push him even further .

    Xue Wei nodded his head in approval . He had not assumed wrongly; Lei Jingshen was a true warrior with a heart that beat for cultivation . Although he might lose his life, he was willing to take the risk .

    "Let¡¯s find a peaceful ce . Lin Xuan, you will have to stand guard . "

    Lin Xuan was not at all insulted by Xue Wei ordering him to be a mere guard, and he nodded his head with a grim expression .

    Xue Wei and Lei Jingshen entered a big tent . This tent was reserved for the Emperor and King ranked experts, and one could only enter if they got permission .

    This tent had formations and inscriptions imbued around it, so only those who had a strength that could rival Lei Jingshen¡¯s could actually enter . It was thest defense of the army¡¯s current base .

    It was the most suitable ce to try and see what would happen when Lei Jingshen got infused with essence blood from the Holy Son of the sovereign beasts .

    While Xue Wei was inside, Lin Xuan gave free rains to another King ranked expert to find nine soldiers with good talent or high tolerance for pain, so that they could be mutated as well .

    These Kings and Emperors had heard much about Xue Wei before, and knowing that they would be seeing him do his magic upfront, they became excited .

    This King ranked expert was not jealous of Lei Jingshen . While he also wished he could get such a boost in strength, he was a human, and thus unable to undergo the mutation .

    As soon as Xue Wei entered the tent, they found the bed belonging to Lei Jingshen . Here the Blue-Eyed Lightning Leopard sat down in a meditational trance and cut a sh on his arm . When the blood began flowing, Xue Wei also cut a wound on his finger . The wound was small, but every drop that left his body was essence blood . He dropped five drops into the wound on Lei Jingshen¡¯s arm, and after finishing the wound closed by itself again .

    Lei Jingshen was about to say something when a soul-wrenching pain erupted inside his body, making his face pale and his body tremble .

    He instantly understood why some of the previous people had not survived this torture . While the normal blood was supposed to be much lighter than the essence blood, Lei Jingshen was a King ranked expert, so he should also be able to withstand more pain .

    Gritting his teeth, Lei Jingshen had no other option than to wait for the pain to subside . He could not control it at all, his body was being wrecked with pain, but he also felt a strange new energy roaming in his meridians . He felt how his Qi was being purified, and he felt his innate talent risingpared to before .

    The more pain he felt, the more his body was improving, and this alone was enough for him to hold on for dear life . He was like a small boat on the stormy sea . He had no other option than to try his best to survive, since if he could not hold on, only death awaited him .

    He was able to avoid screaming in pain, but that was not because he did not want to, but because his body was paralyzed due to the transformation . He could only clench his teeth as he allowed the pain to run rampant in his body .

    After two days, there was no change to Lei Jingshen¡¯s situation, but Xue Wei was relieved . Since he could withstand it for so long, he was more or less out of danger .

    As such, he began fetching the regr experts who would receive a normal mutation, giving them blood one after another . After he was done, his face was slightly pale, but he did not mind . Instead, he took out a few healing pills, threw them in his mouth, sat down on the ground next to the many mutating experts, and began cultivating . He had to restore the amount of blood he had used .

    After a week, Lei Jingshen woke up from hisa . He looked like a ghost, his face was pale as if there was no blood at all beneath the skin . His movement also seemed somewhat rusty, as if he still experienced pain with each move, but a brilliant smile hung on his lips .

    He often went to find Lin Xuan, the two of them seemed to understand the other¡¯s thoughts, and they discussed the mutations in detail to understand the changes that were happening when using essence blood versus normal blood .

    They nned on telling Xue Wei their resultster so that he could use it to mutate his friend . However, it was clear that the subject of the essence blood mutation had to be a King ranked expert or above .

 Chapter 464

    Chapter 464: 464

    Hearing that an expert would need a spiritual body if he wanted to mutate him with essence blood, Xue Wei was not in a hurry to mutate Hei Gou . He knew that while Hei Gou was strong, he was not stronger than a King ranked expert .

    Knowing this, he put his focus on the nine normally mutated experts, curious to see how many would pull through, and how many would be unable to handle the pressure .

    He did not feel any psychological pressure knowing that it was because of his blood that these people were struggling between life and death . Many would be eager to get the chance of a mutation, so even if someone lost their life in the pursuit of strength, then it was not his fault, but the case of them not having a strong and firm enough mind .

    Many of therades of the picked experts were nervous and felt ufortable . No one knew in detail what was going on; they just knew that these picked experts had been chosen to undergo a mutation to strengthen themselves . They did not know how or why .

    Not long after, the first person woke up from the painful trance he had been in, and he found that his body was bursting with energy . He had increased his strength, and his innate talent rose drastically .

    He had initially been skeptical when he was told that the blood of Xue Wei could cause such miracles, but now he admired him greatly . He was a hero and a genius!

    Slowly the men and women woke up one after another; only one person did not rise again .

    She was a young primordial beast . She had not initially been picked to participate, but she had begged Lin Xuan to let her join, and eventually, he had given in . Unfortunately, she had not had the determination to withstand the pain, and she had given up her life .

    Xue Wei was not too troubled by it . She had initially not been supposed to be one of the people who had a chance, and she convinced Lin Xuan to let her try anyway . She had to be aware of what consequences this might bring for her .

    Unfortunately, she had been so adamant about trying it out because her lover had been picked . He had also seeded in his mutation, but it was not joy that awaited him when he woke up, but the grief of losing a loved one .

    "Why did you let her attempt the mutation?" He yelled, his eyes red from crying and his body trembling . He was unable to hold back his emotions, and while he med himself, he also med Xue Wei for having tried to mutate her .

    He knew that she was not very strong-willed, but by the time she had pestered Lin Xuan to let her participate in the mutation group, he had already been given the blood and was undergoing mutation .

    Xue Wei¡¯s eyes turned cold when he heard how this guy was ming him . His anger was not unreasonable .

    "Everyone is responsible for their own lives," Xue Wei said with a cold voice . "She was aware of what the risks were, we told her the facts numerous times, but she was the one who yed around with her life and ultimately lost it . "

    The man was stunned when he heard Xue Wei¡¯s words, and while his rationality understood the truth, he was currently too emotional to sit down and think it through .

    Just as he was about to re up, Lin Xuan appeared behind him and knocked him out . He had seen that Xue Wei was about to lose his patience and that he was unhappy .

    Xue Wei had mutated the experts for the sake of helping the army, but now he was being med instead; it was clear that he was unhappy with this .

    The others who had been mutated were quiet . Some of them felt fearful when they saw that a person had indeed died, and they realized that they had been honest when saying that it was dangerous, but none of them regretted epting the strength that they had been gifted .

    It was as if they had been reborn . Although their talents were already considered outstanding, it was nothingpared to the potential their bodies had now . Most of them knew that their limits were the peak of the Saint realm, but now they had a feeling that anything in the world was possible for them, that they could even be Kings, and that even the Emperor Realm was also possible for them .

    Although they might have died, the risk had paid off, and they had managed to get stronger and go further . This was worth risking one¡¯s life for!

    But they also understood the pain of the expert who now had been knocked unconscious . This world was not a ce for the weak, and everyone who was aiming for strength lost someone along the road .

    So far, Xue Wei had lost Tie Haolong and his parents . Even the whereabouts of his uncle were unknown . The only ones who remained by his side were the friends he had gathered over the years .

    Knowing the pain of losing someone, Xue Wei was going to do everything in his power to protect the ones he held dear . Although he had many wishes, nothing was more important than reaching them alongside his dear ones .

    If he one day seeded, but was all alone, then it would not be worth it . Standing alone on top of the world would be extremely lonesome, and he was unwilling to do so .

    He only wanted to conquer the world with his friends by his side .

 Chapter 465

    Chapter 465: 465

    Everyone understood the sadness of the expert who had lost his lover, but no one, apart from him, med it on Xue Wei .

    They were told about the risks when they epted the blood, and while they had not taken it too seriously, this was their own mistake .

    Xue Wei looked at the unconscious person, who had been full of anger just moments before . He released some of his wood elemental Qi and gave him some vitality, which woke him up, but also helped to clear his mind .

    "I am sorry," he cried at Xue Wei, but he could not control his tears, and they streamed down his cheeks as he was reminded of the loss he had experienced .

    He would never see her happy face again, her smile, and her touch . She was forever gone from his world, and he could not help but feel the loss that was gnawing away at his heart .

    He knew that he could not me it on Xue Wei, but it was easy to push all the me away from himself, however, after regaining his sanity, he knew it was unfair of him .

    He had to face up to what had happened . From the moment they entered the battlefield, they knew that the chances of both of them seeding and surviving was rtively small . They were not that strong whenpared to many others in the army, but this had also caused their thirst for strength to be greater .

    Knowing full well that death was a risk, they still did everything in their power to be picked for the mutation, and the loss of her life could only be attributed to herck of mental strength .

    The mood in the ravine plummeted upon knowing that one of the people living here had died, and no one told them how her death hade about .

    However, the depressed mood did notst long . Soon, someone noticed the experts who had mutated, their eyes almost popped from their eye sockets, and their hearts beat rapidly . How could someone gain so much strength so fast?

    This turned into a new topic in the ravine, everyone tried to pry information out of the experts who had mutated, but no one told them about Xue Wei and his blood .

    Like this, time flowed like water, and soon it was time for them to set off . Lei Jingshen had managed to seed in reaching the Emperor rank, and he was so ecstatic that he also treated Xue Wei like his ancestor . He knew how to be grateful .

    The entourage packed up everything they had in the ravine and set out like a snake that moved through thendscape . Everyone they encountered on their path hid away in their houses, and the army had no intention of attacking the small viges they came across .

    Their aim was a provincial capital where the experts of the Vermilion Bird n were being held captive .

    The trip took a long time, half a month of constant travels, but they were all cultivators, and the weakest one among them was a Heavenly Knight, while the strongest was an Emperor, so moving without stopping for half a month was nothing to them .

    As they had gone on for half a month, the viges they came across grew in numbers . Sometimes they were small and counted only a few hundred vigers; other times, there were towns with more than five thousand citizens .

    They avoided the bigger cities, mainly because they were barricaded and full of soldiers that were waiting to dy them, and hopefully, lower the number of soldiers in the Demon Phoenix Army .

    Xue Wei looked around as they were moving forward . He had a nagging feeling of difort in his heart as if something was going to go wrong, but he could not put his finger on what exactly was happening . Were they genuinely stepping into a trap?

    He was also still puzzled about the Diviners from the Chang¡¯an Continent . How had the experts of the Xiyang Continent found them? Chang¡¯an was supposed to be very far away from the Xiyang Continent, so far that it might even take ten years of travels, but somehow they had managed to find a Diviner .

    Even if the Diviner was lying and iming that it was capable of taming a Sovereign Beast, it had to be a genuine Diviner . Otherwise, the name and the continent would not have been mentioned .

    Everything was spiraling out of control . Xue Wei felt a need to understand what was happening, but things were eluding his grasp .

    For now, all he could do was to go with the flow, and hope that he could handle what would happen in the future .

    Suddenly, the people traveling in a snake formation stopped in their tracks, everyone looked towards the distance, and they could not help but take in a deep breath of air .

    In front of them was no town nor a city, but arge and t ne . The ne would usually be empty, but today things were different .

    A whole army of the Xiyang Empire was waiting for them . In front of them were two massive cages, and within these cagesy three Vermilion Birds .

    These Vermilion Birds were lying on the ground, the blood masked by the fiery red color of the feathers, but the agonizing cries that escaped their lips caused the Demon Phoenix Army to shudder . Just what had these noble birds experienced to cause such grievances?

    Looking at the birds, Xue Wei instantly recognized one of them as the Chi Branch member, and he tightened his lips . Although they could not be considered friends, he still respected this person, and seeing him beaten like this was never a pleasant feeling .

 Chapter 466

    Chapter 466: 466

    "To think that the Demon Phoenix Army is so precise," a voice suddenly boomed over the battlefield . "We had expected you to arrive tomorrow, but you made it here already! That is, indeed, unexpected . "

    The speaker was a chubby man who seemed to be in his fifties . His hair was ck, but grey streaks could be found within .

    He was sitting on a sizable ferocious beast, but the creature was not irritated or angry like they usually would be . Instead, it seemed tame and domesticated .

    Seeing this, Xue Wei narrowed his eyes, and when he looked at the army in front of him, he found that many of them were riding on a ferocious beast, but what made his heart sink was that he saw quite a few experts that were dressed as the Diviners from the Chang¡¯an Continent .

    Knowing that the Diviners had really arrived, Xue Wei knew that the battle would be much more difficult .

    Fortunately, the experts from the Chang¡¯an Continent were weakerpared to the others, so they could not tame the King or Emperor Primordial Beasts, but some of the Heavenly Knights and the Saints might get grabbed .

    "Lin Xuan, Lei Jingshen," Xue Wei called out, and the two experts looked at him with some doubt . Now was not the time to talk amongst themselves .

    "The monks need to be killed first," Xue Wei said seriously, not caring about who heard him . "They are Diviners, with the ability to tame and domesticate Ferocious and Primordial Beasts . Theye from Chang¡¯an, so don¡¯t lower your guard and kill right away . "

    Xue Wei¡¯s voice was clear, and it drew much attention to him, not only from the Demon Phoenix army, but also from the Xiyang army . Hearing him point out the diviners so urately caused their faces to turn ugly .

    But suddenly, a cry sounded through the battlefield . "Lin Xiao, you treacherous dog! To think that you stole the holy staff and ran away from the order! His holiness ced all his hopes on you, and you returned it with ingratitude! You are a white-eyed wolf! You are not worthy for the name of a Diviner!"

    Lin Xiao narrowed his eyes and looked at the man who was shouting, but he justughed out loud after seeing who it was .

    "I have to admit that I initially feared that the old man had found a way to tame Sovereign Beasts, but looking at the Vermilion Birds in the cage, it seems that I overthought things .

    "You are not here because you can tame them; you are here to try and im as many experts from the Demon Phoenix Army that you can . It¡¯s just a shame that I am here to interfere with you . "

    Everyone¡¯s expressions turned ugly . The expressions of the Xiyang Continent were ugly because they had been seen through, but the Demon Phoenix army was not much better .

    The Demon Phoenix army contained some human experts, but the majority were Primordial Beasts . Knowing that there was some sort of ability to tame and domesticate them, they were all livid with anger .

    "Don¡¯t worry too much," Lin Xiao said as his narrowed eyes contained some gloom . "The experts that have appeared here are at the Earth Saintyer at most . They will not be able to tame anything above the Earth Saint realm, and even those at the Earth Saint realm are pretty safe, as taming requires a lot of time and mental power .

    "During something as chaotic as a battle, they will naturally aim for the weaker experts, but even they will take a bit of time to tame, so if we follow Xue Wei¡¯s suggestion and all focus on killing off the experts that resemble monks first, then we should be safe . "

    Everyone had understood a few things from the conversation between the two of them, and no one had expected that this young man was so ruthless and said that they could just kill his oldrades as easily as if he was discussing the weather .

    They could not help but nce a few extra times at Lin Xiao, and then pitying gazes were sent to Xue Wei and his otherpanions, but none of them cared .

    Although Lin Xiao was ruthless towards the Diviners, this did not mean that he was a cruel and malicious person . It was just that the Diviners had crossed his line too often, and he could not ept their way of doing things .

    As to what exactly Lin Xiao had experienced while being trained to be a Diviner, Xue Wei had never asked, and Lin Xiao had never mentioned it . Xue Wei felt that he had no need to know about it as he trusted in his friend, and Lin Xiao was unwilling to dig up his most vulnerable and painful memories .

    The diviners only wanted the strongest experts to continue in their midsts, and sometimes they had to weed out the weaker ones .

    This had happened to Lin Xiao and his brother, and in the end, both he and his brother wished to be the one who died instead of the other, but his brother was faster, and hisst words had haunted Lin Xiao up until now .

    If not for having found Xue Wei, he was likely to have vanished by now, but now that he was friends with Xue Wei and the others, he was confident that he would have a chance of getting vengeance .

    As for killing his previousrades? They had forced him to kill his own brother, what was wrong with asking for some interest back on this now?

 Chapter 467

    Chapter 467: 467

    The Diviners were fearful as they saw the ruthless expression on Lin Xiao¡¯s face . They instantly knew that they would not be able to execute their n as expected initially .

    The Xiyang Continent had spent a lot of effort getting a handful of Diviners toe to their continent with the intent of taming the Primordial Beasts of the Demon Phoenix Continent¡¯s Army .

    The Primordial Beasts from the Demon Phoenix Continent were much stronger and had better potential than those in the Xiyang Continent . This was because it was a continent controlled by a Sovereign Beast family, so the beasts were more renowned and respected .

    That being said, humans were not suppressed or looked down upon, they just had fewer chances for brilliance, but these Primordial Beasts, if they could be caught, then they would, without a doubt, be the bestpanion in the future .

    As for the Diviners, the Xiang Continent had gone to the Golden Chambers and requested for a way to tame beasts, and the Golden Chambers had informed them of the Diviners .

    The Golden Chambers was owned by Tao Wu and Lan, but Lan had been in hiding for thest couple of months . Ever since he sensed that Hui Yue had arrived at the world, he had drawn away from everything of importance, and even Golden Chambers were left to Tao Wu to deal with .

    Tao Wu was unaware of the disagreement between Xue Wei and the Diviners . He was also unaware that Xue Wei and the others were involved in the war between the two continents, and even worse, he had aided Xue Wei¡¯s enemies .

    Lan only needed a nce to see through what had happened, but Xue Wei was still unaware and confused as to why the Diviners had suddenly appeared in the middle of the Xiyang Continent .

    The two armies were staring at one another . The Demon Phoenix Continent had located every monk-like figure within the opposing army, and their eyes were aze with anger . It was clear that they had every intention of killing these Diviners first .

    Seeing their intentions, the Xiyang army was suddenly unsure of what to do . Their original n was disturbed due to Xue Wei and Lin Xiao, and they did not know how to turn it around .

    As they were busy thinking, Xue Wei¡¯s voice sounded . "What are you waiting for?"

    Everyone looked at him with puzzlement . "We are going to save those Vermilion Birds . Now the enemy is in disarray, are we going just to let them collect themselves, or are we going to ughter all of them?"

    His words made the Demon Phoenix armye out of their stupor, but the Xiyang Army suddenly felt a strange fear creep up on them .

    Before they had the time to react, the Demon Phoenix Continent¡¯s army came rushing towards them like a flood . Some had taken on their beast shapes, while others wielded weapons .

    The beasts were aware that as long as they did not eradicate the Diviners, they would be in danger . Hence, while they also fought back against the ordinary soldiers, all their focus was on the Diviners, and on swiftly exterminating them .

    "Hold them back!" the chubby middle-aged man screamed, his eyes were full of malicious intentions as he looked at Xue Wei and Lin Xiao .

    "Protect the Diviners! Diviners, try to tame at least a few beasts! Soldiers, protect the diviners, and kill the man named Lin Xiao!"

    The chubby man had understood that Lin Xiao would be able to interfere with the taming of beasts, so he had to have him killed as soon as possible, but contrary to his expectations, Lin Xiao just grinned grimly . He was used to being a target .

    "Everyone protect Lin Xiao!" Xue Wei yelled out to his friends, and all of them took a formation around Lin Xiao, not allowing anyone to get near .

    Inner Might: Qi Sword!

    Scale Shield!

    Xue Wei activated his Qi and created a Qi sword, which he used to sh down one after another, cutting all approaching soldiers into half .

    The Scale Shield did not cover himself but covered Lin Xiao, who had lifted his staff in the air . He was muttering lowly, and strong fluctuations of energy rolled off his body .

    The Diviners opposite tried their best to stay alive, while also trying to tame beasts, but it was as if there was strange energy blocking them .

    Usually, when a Diviner connected to the mind of a beast, they could slowly erode and gain control over them, but it was as if they were encountering a wall blocking their minds .

    They could not help but stare at Lin Xiao with hatred . They knew that he was using the Divine Staff to block their attempts, but they could do nothing as he was protected well by the people around him .

    Lin Xiao did not have to do anything else other than blocking the minds of the Diviners . He trusted Xue Wei with his life while he had entered a strange trance-like status .

    Devouring Fist!

    Kick of the Raging Tempest!

    Twenty-Seventh Layered Azure Sword!

    Xue Wei was using his attacks one after another . He could conjure the Qi Sword up with a moment¡¯s thought, and thus, he also used fists and legs to both kick and hit whoever came close .

    He thought that he was doing well when it came to killing experts, but upon closer inspection, he saw that Bai Tianyi had changed to a massive spiritual energy sword, which was harvesting lives as a sickle was cutting weeds .

    It was not only Xue Wei and Bai Tianyi who were going all out; Luoluo had also created a massive spiritual energy ice snake which was attacking indiscriminately, anyone who got close was frozen into ice statues before she went closer and absorbed their soul power .

 Chapter 468

    Chapter 468: 468

    The battlefield was chaotic . No one had expected the war to escte to this scale, but Xue Wei was full of delightful and somewhat manic pleasure as he was killing one expert after another .

    He felt how his soul was being nourished as he absorbed the soul power of each of the people he killed . Never allowing them to reincarnate, but not feeling even the slightest guilt .

    It was not only him, all the experts who specialized in Spiritual Energy would also all absorb the dense and thick soul power permeating through the air .

    The smile on Xue Wei¡¯s lips grew increasingly malevolent as he stepped further and further towards the enemy lines .

    All his friends knew that the killing intent was taking over his rational thoughts, but they did not stop him . It was so rare for him to let go, and when he finally had the chance, who were they to try and stop it for him?

    "Everyone, Xue Wei has gone rogue, the rest of us are to protect Lin Xiao with our lives!" Bai Tianyi called out, but he was not mad . Instead, an amused smile hung on his lips as he nced at Xue Wei .

    Xue Wei¡¯s eyes were shining coldly, but with a bit of happiness deep within . He had long since transformed his hands and arms into that of a dragon¡¯s, and he no longer conjured up a Qi sword . Instead, he used his bare fists to rip apart anyone who came into striking distance .

    He was feeling the enjoyable smell of blood waft into his nose, and the beastly side of his personality was getting stronger and stronger, but he still retained a slight bit of rational thought .

    He knew that if he genuinely descended into madness, it would be impossible for him to extract himself again in the future, and that he would end up as a killing machine that would not differentiate between friend and foe .

    Taking a deep breath, he looked around the battlefield . While it was entirely possible for him to continue on like now, ripping apart person after person, and experiencing the feeling of being bathed in blood, he aimed for something different .

    He hade here to try and get his potential ignited, and it would never happen unless he was in a life and death battle .

    As such, he was looking for a strong individual whom he could fight against, and test his strength .

    "Little Wei, why don¡¯t you approach the cages?" Lan¡¯s voice suddenly rang in Xue Wei¡¯s head . "They captured one of your friends inside them, don¡¯t you want to save that little bird from the Chi branch? Not to mention, the stronger experts are likely to have been positioned around the cage, ensuring that no one can allow the birds to escape . "

    Xue Wei contemted for a moment as he nced towards the cage . The battle was frenzied, and the blood flowed like rivers down to the ground; the soil could simply not absorb the sheer amount of blood that was falling, and it turned to a thick and nauseating bloody mud that stuck to everyone¡¯s feet .

    The Emperor and King Ranked experts fought one another in the air, their battle producing many ripples of energy whichnded on the ground, tormenting anyone who was so unlucky to be hit .

    Seeing that they were engaged in an air battle, and that all the Knights and Saints were fighting on the ground, Xue Wei decided to fight his way towards the cage .

    Although he did not know how he would fare against stronger Saints, he knew that he would have to try it out .

    The stronger the enemy, the better the chances of him breaking through would be .

    The first, manyyers of soldiers were quickly dealt with . They died like the others before, killed with his bare hands, which had been transformed into dragon ws with scales adorning his skin .

    Up until now, Xue Wei had managed to proceed by using only raw strength, but as he was getting closer and closer towards the cage, much stronger opponents started appearing in front of him .

    Xue Wei¡¯s most used ability, while transformed into a half-dragon, was the Devouring Fist . The Devouring Fist was a technique that allowed the user¡¯s punch to devour the opponent¡¯s energy . Whether or not they used their energy to protect or attack, Devouring Fist was capable of devouring this energy and converting it into the energy of the user .

    He also used the Shattering Mountain Palm, which was amongst the first techniques he ever learned, but it scaled with his level .

    When he had first learned the technique, he was capable of destroying rocks with it, but now he could even shatter a real mountain .

    When he was faced off against more tricky opponents, he would use the Arcane Fist . The Arcane Fist was a technique that moved elusively . It created fist imprints, and they were hard to spot . Sometimes one imprint would be created, something multiple imprints, but due to the nature of the attack, it was tough to block .

    But he was not only using his hands, but the legs were also sweeping towards his opponents, carrying with them an immense strength . He mainly used two attacks when kicking, Kick of the Raging Tempest, and Kick of the Forgotten Kings .

    Xue Wei was not only relying on his physical abilities but also tried out the spiritual energy attacks, such as Psychic Wrath and Deadly Whispers .

    These two attacks had not been used for a long time, but they were now very useful after gaining so much Soul Power .

    Psychic Wrath was simr to Qi, it materialized spiritual energy as a seal outside of the body, and it was a quite rare technique .

    While Psychic Wrath was very simr to Qi, Deadly Whispers was aimed solely at the opponent¡¯s mind . It corroded the mind by making them sumb to their worries; it made them feel extreme amounts of fear, which would slow down their actions if it could not cause them to sumb to their concerns directly .

 Chapter 469

    Chapter 469: 469

    Xue Wei¡¯s strength had skyrocketed because he was using the half-transformation into the Azure Dragon shape, and vitality was flowing through his veins, removing every small ounce of exhaustion .

    The vitality came from the Wood Elemental Qi, and the sheer strength made it possible for him to gain the upper hand against his opponents .

    The experts that were flocking around him were Ordinary and Earth Saints .

    Xue Wei had many things he wanted to test out in the big battle, but he was not sure about how much he would have time for . He was also continually keeping an eye on the battlefield¡¯s overall situation, and he soon found that the King and Emperor ranked experts were very even in the battle . If Lei Jingshen had not advanced to an Emperor, the Demon Phoenix Continent would have faced a staggering defeat .

    On the ground, where the Saints and Knights were facing off against one another, the battle was chaotic . The Diviners were the main focus of the Demon Phoenix Army, and they were not overly strong, so one after another, they were picked off cleanly .

    While the Demon Phoenix Continent¡¯s army was working as one entity, the Xiyang Empire¡¯s soldiers were much more troubled .

    Some of them were guarding the Vermilion Birds within their cages, some went against Lin Xiao, and others were just bathing in bloodlust, ughtering anything that came close .

    Xue Wei had infiltrated the enemy lines; he was deep into the enemy army¡¯s ground, in an attempt at reaching the Vermilion Bird n¡¯s cage . He had no backup, but he was not worried . If he wanted to flee, no one would be able to stop him . He could transform into both an azure dragon and a vermilion bird, making escaping extremely easy .

    As long as the expert was unable to kill him in one hit, then Xue Wei would be able to escape .

    Because of this, he dared to venture so deep behind enemy lines, but he dared not bring hispanions with him .

    Just as he was fighting against a group of experts, he suddenly felt a chill run down his spine, and he swiftly evaded a sword attack thatnded where he had stood just a moment before .

    Xue Wei slowly turned around as he tossed a corpse away . In front of him was the first person to make him feel pressured, but instead of backing away, the battle intent in Xue Wei soared .

    This was precisely what he had been looking for, and an almost manic smile spread on his face .

    The man who had attacked frowned . He had not expected that Xue Wei had the ability to dodge his attack, and he became more serious .

    Seeing his serious expression, Xue Wei was full of excitement . Although he liked to rip apart his opponents, nothing was better than a fulfilling battle where his life was on the line . A battle where he could get familiar with his own limits and transcend them!

    The two people were very contrasting . Xue Wei was standing and resembled a demon . His clothes were red, but even so, one could easily see that they were soaked in blood . His arms were covered in azure scales with ws instead of fingers .

    His eyes were full of madness, the smile on his face was eerie, and his hair was whipping in the wind, giving him a terrifying appearance . A single drop of blood was running down his cheek .

    The other man, the one who had attacked, was wearing spotless white clothes . He was hovering above the air so that his boots would not get soaked in the bloody mud that the ground had turned into .

    He was carrying a long and thin sword in his hands, and his face disyed no emotions whatsoever .

    One was like a demon that had crawled up from hell, the other was like a clean deity descending from heaven, and no one dared to approach them .

    Xue Wei snickered when he saw how the man was hovering in the air . What a waste of Qi! He must have some sort of cleaning habit .

    The man did not have a cleaning habit, but he was not used to these situations . He was a prince of the Xiyang Continent, and he was used to being a genius amongst geniuses . A heavenly son, a Saint of unimaginable talent .

    But he was older than Xue Wei, and while it was a difference of merely a few years, these years were enough to make him fear that if he left Xue Wei alive, then he would no longer be the only peerless genius .

    To a person who was used to being revered, there was nothing more frightening than losing his fame and admiring gazes .

    He had a group of bodyguards with him, four Heavenly Saints, and if they attacked together, then Xue Wei would be in a tight spot, but the prince was rather arrogant in nature .

    He was confident that he would be able to deal with Xue Wei, and that he did not need the help of his bodyguards, so he ordered them not to interfere .

    Looking at the bodyguards, Xue Wei narrowed his eyes . He could escape, but when he had finally found a real opponent, did he really want to flee?

    He did not!

    If he could not handle the bodyguardster, he could always escape then; letting go of this chance was not something he would do, not to mention that he was not the kind of person who backed down in the face of danger .

    The chilling smile on his lips grew in size, and he could not help butugh maniacally .

    Azure Light Finger!

 Chapter 470

    Chapter 470: 470

    A blinding azure light shot out from Xue Wei¡¯s index finger . It moved as swiftly as light speed andnded on the body of the Xiyang Prince .

    The attack was the first that Xue Wei had learned, and while it was not overly strong, it had progressed tremendously throughout the years and it grew in ordance with his strength .

    The attacknded squarely on the chest of the Xiyang Prince, and while it did not destroy his armor, it made him backtrack a few steps in order to steady himself .

    His face disyed utter disbelief and shock . The battle had merely just started, but he was already forced back a few steps . However, he quickly calmed down again . He felt that this had to be amongst his strongest attacks, to be able to make him backtrack like that, and that it was the most horrifying strength that he could disy .

    The Xiyang Prince was truly looking down on Xue Wei . First of all, because he had a lower cultivation base, he also had a manic appearance full of bloodlust and the thrill of killing .

    Such a person was evil, and the good would always prevail over evil . Looking at the two of them, one seemed saintly, while the other looked demonic, and thus it was easy to guess who would win this battle .

    If Xue Wei knew what thoughts the Xiyang Prince had, he would haveughed out loud .

    Good and evil? There was nothingpletely good or evil in this world . Even this man who imed himself to be good wanted to kill others, so how was he any better than Xue Wei?

    Xue Wei was not at all blinded by the idea of good and evil . He believed that as long as someone was true to themselves, then that was what mattered .

    The Xiyang prince looked at Xue Wei with anger shing in his eyes; he felt like someone had pped him across the face when he was pushed back by a mere attack .

    He, the illustrious genius, had suffered under the hands of a meremoner!

    Xue Wei did not care about the Xiyang Prince¡¯s loss of face . He was eager to battle, and seeing that the Azure Light Finger actually managed to push him back, made him quite surprised and happy .

    Kick of the Raging Tempest!

    Mountain Shattering Fist!

    A kick and a fist attacknded on the prince before he had the time to react, and he was once more thrown backward, like a kite that was released from its string .

    His armor, which was made from a strange metal, had spider-web like cracks appearing all over from where the fistnded .

    A mouthful of blood sshed from the prince¡¯s mouth, and he was staring at Xue Wei in terror . The attack, which he had thought was the strongest, now proved to be the weakest!

    This kick had caused him to feel as if his internal organs were trembling, and at the same time, his chest was aching, and the blood was roiling in his body .

    He no longer looked down on Xue Wei, having suffered from his hands twice in a row, and lifted his sword high above his head .

    Twisting Heaven sh!

    The attack was one of the most powerful ones that the prince could use . It was a royal technique that only the most skilled geniuses were allowed to learn, and he had only learned it in thest three years . Even so, he had gotten to the initialyer of the technique, and was able to unleash around ten percent of the skill¡¯s potential .

    However, the attack was meant for King and Emperor level experts, and while he was merely a Saint, he was incredibly proud that he was able to unleash ten percent of the attack¡¯s potential .

    Xue Wei¡¯s eyes turned dignified when he saw the Twisting Heaven sh that came rushing towards him .

    Life Scale Shield!

    The wood element in the surroundings surged, and a green shield shrouded Xue Wei . The sh collided with the shield, and a loud boom resounded . Both Xue Wei and the Prince were knocked off bnce and staggered backwards, trying to stand steadily again .

    Xue Wei narrowed his eyes . That attack was quite tempting to get his hands on, and he suddenly turned into a shadow as he rushed towards the prince .

    Forbidden Rush!

    Inner Might: Qi Sword!

    Windwolf sh!

    Xue Wei rushed up to the prince, his speed so fast that no one could even see his movements with the naked eye, and suddenly a Qi Sword manifested in his hands . A chilling smile spread on his lips as he cut down with the Windwolf sh .

    Xue Wei was not aiming to kill this time . He had seen that the storage treasure of the prince was a ring on his finger, and he was keen to get his hands on it, hoping that the Twisting Heaven sh technique book was within it .

    The prince was shocked and stepped backward again . Ever since the start of the fight, he had only been retreating and getting pushed back, and his face was ugly . He managed to lift his hand and block the Qi Sword clumsily, retreating step by step .

    Blood flowed from the corner of his lips, and he was in a terrible shape . In a real fight, the two of them would have been evenly matched, but Xue Wei had been underestimated time and time again, so now it was natural for him to hold the upper hand .

    But even so, Xue Wei did not get cocky . He understood that this prince was currently fighting alone because he was overconfident, but when he was about to die, he would call for his bodyguards, and Xue Wei would be the one in the troubled position .

 Chapter 471

    Chapter 471: 471

    Knowing that he had lost the chance to fight back, the Xiyang Prince felt indignant . He was a genius! A bonafide genius! How could he lose to a simpleton from the Demon Phoenix Continent?!

    He was young, much younger than those beasts who could not cultivate before they turned thirty, and he was already a Sky Saint of the ninthyer! He just needed a break through to reach the Heavenly Saint Layer, then he would be able to be a King ranked expert!

    Xue Wei was unaware of the prince¡¯s thoughts, but if he had known, he would snort . So what was the purpose of being a genius? Could this ¡¯title¡¯ give one food to eat? Could it kill one¡¯s enemies?

    In fact, being a genius was not a good thing . When one was marked as a genius, they had a lot of pressure, and were more likely to die on their journey to the top .

    Many were jealous of geniuses and would try to kill them . Geniuses also tended to not put in as much hard work as an ordinary cultivator, as their road was smooth-sailing from the beginning .

    When they encountered a bottleneck, many would sumb to the difficulties, and this was what the Xiyang prince was experiencing right now .

    His eyes were red due to anger and disbelief . He was a true genius, so he had thought that he was omnipotent, that nothing could ever defeat him, but having underestimated Xue Wei, he now experienced loss for the first time .

    The prince was going crazy . "You cannot defeat me! Guards capture this man and let me rip him to pieces! Let me sever his limbs, and let him die with grievances without being left with aplete corpse!"

    The guards had been on high alert waiting for this order, and the moment that it was given, they rushed to surround Xue Wei .

    Looking at them, Xue Wei snickered . So they had expected that he was easy to capture?

    Should he be an Azure Dragon or perhaps a Vermilion Bird?

    After considering that he was now known to be an Azure Dragon, and that only a few people knew of his identity as the Holy Son, he started growing azure scales on every inch of his body as he transformed into a real Azure Dragon .

    Xue Wei did nothing to suppress his body¡¯s size, and the appearance of his real form caused the bodyguards of the prince to be pressed backward .

    The aura that was now surrounding Xue Wei was also enough to cause them to pause in their steps . They were frightened out of their wits .

    Everyone with knowledge of the Sovereign Beasts knew that there were four Sovereign Beast ns in this world . The Azure Dragons, the Vermilion Birds, the White Tigers, and the ck Turtles .

    The Demon Phoenix Continent was the home ground for the Vermilion Bird n . The actual reason that the Xiyang Continent wanted to wage war against them was to take over the Vermilion Bird n and make them their vassals .

    The Sovereign Beasts were the most illustrious and revered creatures in the world, and to have subjugated an entire Sovereign Beast n would prove their strength .

    But now an Azure Dragon had appeared . Did this mean that the other Sovereign Beast ns had appeared and wanted to interfere with the war?

    The appearance of Xue Wei in his Azure Dragon shape caused not only the bodyguards and the prince to feel faint, the aura he released caused many to be full of fear, and even the King and Emperor ranked Experts were full of trepidation .

    If suddenly another n of the Sovereign Beasts were added to the war, the Xiyang Continent would have no chance of survival .

    Xue Wei had not thought that his appearance would cause such hesitation and alertness to appear in the minds of everyone present .

    He had picked the Azure Dragon shape out of a few reasons . First of all, the Diviners knew that he was an Azure Dragon, so if he suddenly became a Vermilion Bird, it would be quite troublesome .

    It was the same for many of the experts in the Demon Phoenix Continent . Although a few knew that he was the Holy Son, many were unaware of this, but they were aware of his identity as an Azure Dragon .

    The final reason was that his body was massive . If he turned into the shape of an Azure Dragon, he would be able to push back the opponents he was facing, and the protectiveyer of the scales was much more durable than that of the vermilion bird feathers .

    Xue Wei¡¯s eyes had changed from human eyes to dragon eyes . They resembled an oversized cat, the vertical pupil in his eyes was ncing at the Xiyang prince, and he looked like a beast that had locked onto its prey .

    The prince was scared . He had never encountered anything like this before . He had always been sheltered, and while he had fought against Primordial Beasts, he was now breathless when facing a Sovereign Beast . The sheer momentum of Xue Wei was so overwhelming that he felt his heart quake in fear .

    Xue Wei had sent just a single nce at the prince, but this nce was enough to make him feel his entire back drenched in a cold sweat .

    But Xue Wei had already injured the prince, and he was not the current real problem that he had to deal with . It was the numerous entourage of bodyguards .

    While his scales were rather durable, and while his strength had exploded after shapeshifting, it was still a challenge to face off against too many bodyguards at once . But he weed the challenge!

 Chapter 472

    Chapter 472: 472

    Xue Wei faced the heavens, and a deep roar pressed it¡¯s way out of him, causing the skies to shake and the earth to tremble .

    His eyes were devoid of warmth, cold, and ruthless as he gazed at the bodyguards as one would look at a corpse .

    Slight green energy shrouded his body, working as a shield to block the many attacks that were raining down on him .

    Initially, he had only been fighting against the Xiyang Prince and his bodyguards, but his sudden transformation had agitated everyone present, and many wereunching attacks at him,pletely forgetting their own opponents .

    Dragon Roar!

    Dragon w!

    Life Scale Shield!

    Xue Wei used one attack after another, thrashing around, trying to find a break through the many swordlights, fist imprints, and other attacks that rained down on him .

    After sending out a few attacks, he was sessful enough to be able to tear the majority of the attacks apart and fled into the sky .

    While he might have been able to handle the bodyguards, when everyone else decided to kill him, he had no other option than to flee .

    He had managed to destroy the majority of the attacks, but not all of them, and although the Life Scale Shield had blocked most of the attacks, a few stronger ones had seeded in prating his guard and wounding him .

    Some of his scales were shattered, and blood flowed freely, but he was not too bothered by it .

    He was in a war, not a sparring match . If he got through without even the slightest injury, he would have to reconsider his original n .

    But that was for another time, right now, he did not have the time to consider this . Swordlights and fist imprints were being thrown his way time and time again . He had to be very focused on avoiding the deadly ones and had no other choice than letting the weaker ones be blocked by the Life Scale Shield, and then allowing some of them to break through his guard .

    Xue Wei¡¯s current n was to temporarily retreat . While he had strength and faith in himself he was not blind like the Xiyang Continent¡¯s prince to think himself unbeatable .

    But he was not willing to leave just like that, so he suddenly dove towards the ground, opened his strong jaw, and bit down on the Xiyang Continent¡¯s prince, before sweeping into the air, flying back to the side where the Demon Phoenix Continent¡¯s army was observing the havoc he had caused .

    Seeing that Xue Wei had been so brazen as to kidnap their prince right in front of them, the bodyguards¡¯ faces paled at a noticeable rate before they rushed after him .

    However, Xue Wei was a real Azure Dragon, and his speed could not be ignored .

    Many tried to block them, but they soon found that it was impossible, and they dared not use their killing moves, as they feared that Xue Wei would throw the prince out as a meat shield .

    As such, they could only observe as he took the prince with him to the Demon Phoenix Army, and even ced him down next to the Diviner whom they had tried to kill before .

    Xue Wei looked at the prince before returning to his human shape, and casually draped a robe over his body .

    "I couldn¡¯t save the Vermilion Birds yet, but we have a good hostage now . "

    Looking down at the prince, he found that his sharp teeth had punctured his skin, causing multiple wounds to appear on his body, and he was bleeding profusely .

    Xue Wei frowned . How troublesome . Fishing out a blood clotting pill, he pushed it into the mouth of the prince, and the wounds slowly stopped bleeding .

    Bending over, Xue Wei snickered as he took the storage ring of theatose prince¡¯s finger . Weighing it in his hand, Xue Wei did not have the time to check his loot, so he just ced it in his own storage treasure before looking at the two armies and their current battle .

    The Emperor and King ranked experts were evenly matched in their battle; it was as if they had their own battlefield, utterly unaffected by what was happening underneath them, and yet not .

    When Xue Wei had transformed into an Azure Dragon, the Demon Phoenix Continent¡¯s army was able to take advantage of the experts of the Xiyang Continent as they were shocked by the turn of events .

    Unfortunately, this advantage was soon lost, but the battle was still even, and wouldst for a very long time .

    On the ground, the Saints and Knights were engaged in a bloodbath . There had not been any casualties from the ranks of the Kings and Emperors, but on the ground, death was lingering everywhere, the amount of soul power that the cultivators absorbed was so vast that they could barely consume more .

    Some did not even spend time truly refining the energy, ending up their advance, but destroying their foundations .

    Soul Power was not pure and had to be refined into spiritual energy before it was possible to be used .

    If it was not appropriately refined, it would taint the rest of the Spiritual Energy, making it impure . Impure spiritual energy was not good to use, as it could copse at any moment .

    While everyone knew of this fact, many thought that just a bit of soul power infused in the spiritual power would not harm them, and when there was so much, they should not waste it .

    The only ones who could absorb soul power with no worries were the spirits, and both Luoluo and Bai Tianyi felt ecstatic being in the warzone . They were like whales swallowing water, they became two big ck holes, absorbing so much energy that their faces turned red .

 Chapter 473

    Chapter 473: 473

    For a spirit, breakthroughs were never apanied by bottlenecks, as long as there was enough energy, they would grow indefinitely .

    Even progressing from the Heavenly Saint to the King rank was not something that difficult for a spirit . .

    When humans and beasts reached the King rank, they would have to transform their body into a spiritual body, but spirits already had spiritual bodies, hence, while they needed excessive amounts of energy, they did not have to transform their bodies .

    Xue Wei was aware that their bodies would be changed when they became King ranked experts, but he was not sure how . He did not know much about the ranks above the Saint rank, but now was not the time to consider it either .

    He made a mental note of asking Lanter about the breakthrough into the King rank in detail, in order to learn everything so that they could prepare their own breakthrough .

    But right now, the battle was still ongoing, and while Xue Wei was wondering if Bai Tianyi and Luoluo would reach the King rank, others began dying from having their energy tainted by the absorbed soul power .

    As they realized that even a little tainted energy was deadly, many stopped their wanton absorption of the energy, but it was often toote for these experts . Many got killed even faster than before, causing the dense soul power in the surroundings to be even thicker .

    It was at the point where Bai Tianyi had entered a frenzy . His eyes were red; a great smile was spilling over from his lips, andughter ran in his surroundings .

    Two massive swords were created from spiritual energy, and they were harvesting lives left and right .

    He was descending into madness, but Xue Wei had no intention of stopping him . He understood the feeling of being drunk on killing, and Bai Tianyi was not entirely without rational thoughts yet .

    He had not touched the members of the Demon Phoenix Continent yet, and the massive swords were collecting only the lives of their enemies .

    Also, while Bai Tianyi seemed very controlled in everyday life, Xue Wei knew that he was actually just holding back his emotions .

    He had been pursuing immortality, and when he finally became an artificial spirit, he was struck down by the men whom he considered friends, but who were also his rivals while being human .

    He had been suppressed as a sword spirit for thousands of years, watching as maidens kept getting sacrificed time and time again to keep him imprisoned .

    Being imprisoned for so long, it was only natural that he needed to vent his emotions, but he had never found a suitable situation before now .

    It was not only Bai Tianyi who was running amok, Luoluo was also making frozen statues all around her, and her chilling smile made everyone try to run away from her .

    She was young, but she was a real terror on the battlefield . No matter who she came across, they all ended up as a frozen statue .

    Where Bai Tianyi killed instantly, Luoluo let them experience the feeling of their lives slowly ebbing away from them . While both were extraordinarily ferocious and frightening, they continued their massacre with no fear .

    Their strength was snowballing while killing due to the sheer amount of soul power on the battlefield . Luoluo was already a Sky Saint at the eightyer, while Bai Tianyi was a Heavenly Saint at the firstyer .

    Xue Wei could not help but wonder what would happen if one of the King or Emperor level experts died and they absorbed their remaining soul power .

    However, this was an impossible thought . The King and Emperor ranked experts would not allow others to benefit from their deaths, especially not since their bodies had turned into spiritual bodies, and they would be relying on Soul Power to improve their bodies .

    Xue Wei observed the battlefield with all his focus . He had previously tried to rescue the Vermilion Bird n Members, but because of the Xiyang prince, he had been interrupted .

    He was not willing to give up on the rescue mission, and he was contemting the current movements of the battlefield . Many had forgotten about the cage filled with birds, and the battle was moving into a stalemate .

    Although many were dying, it was on both sides of the armies, and the blood flowed freely .

    Many were stuck in the bloody mud, and this caused the battle to be even more desperate . No matter how strong they were, they needed to consider the ground under their feet .

    Some lost their bnce; others lost their focus . Some fell in the mud, and others were pushed down .

    There was not even one clean person left in the entire battlefield, and the desperation of the people who fought was overwhelming .

    Xue Wei did not care too much about the actual battle . He knew that what truly determined the winner and the loser was the battle between the Kings and Emperors .

    If the Demon Phoenix Continent¡¯s King and Emperor¡¯s won the battle, they would wipe out the Xiyang Continent¡¯s army . And the opposite would happen, should they lose the battle .

    This was a gamble with his life, and Xue Wei knew it was risky, but he did not regret his choice .

    He had to improve his strength, and rewards came risks . The riskier the situation, the better the results he would gain .

    Forbidden Rush!

    Taking a deep breath, Xue Wei began moving with his movement technique . He was heading towards the cage, but this time he was not getting entangled with the people on the way .

    The birds were awake now, and while they were injured, they were able to move, but they dared not make others aware of their current situation as they might be retaliated against .

 Chapter 474

    Chapter 474: 474

    Xue Wei¡¯s original shape was overwhelmingly oppressive and impossible to overlook . Still, when he had taken on his human shape, he was capable of hiding amongst the crowd, and closing in on the cage .

    Xue Wei appeared next to the cage, he did not materialize a sword out of Qi, but instead he transformed once again, the massive figure once more appearing on the battlefield .

    The shape, which was muchrger than before took up a lot of space in no time, and the cage which was beneath him was crushed .

    The cage broke, and the vermilion bird n¡¯s members looked in shock at the oversized Azure Dragon .

    But their shock was suddenly reced with ecstasy . They had not thought that their freedom woulde so suddenly, and they hurried to escape .

    Their retreat was covered by Xue Wei, and they all made it back to the main army .

    Looking around, Xue Wei found that all the Diviners who hade from Chang¡¯an were dead by now, and they had no reason to continue the battle .

    The two continents had never before nned on having an all-out war, so if they continued like this, then it would be equal to winning a battle while heavily injuring themselves in the process . Neither of the armies was willing to do this .

    Originally the Xiyang Continent¡¯s army had nned on eradicating the Demon Phoenix Continent with one swift move . Still, they had failed, and continuing the direct battle would not be beneficial to them .

    The Demon Phoenix Continent¡¯s army was also satisfied with the oue as their rescue mission was a sess .

    The two armies acted as if they had nned it beforehand . They retreated backward, and they did not continue to fight . The ground was littered with corpses, and the blood had turned the whole field into a muddy terrain, but no one paid attention to it .

    If a life was lost in the war, their bodies could not be reimed, and thus these corpses were left on the battlefield .

    Xue Wei was rxed . The rescue mission was a sess, and he had managed to try fighting against the Xiyang Prince .

    A smile appeared on his lips as he thought about the storage treasure he had stolen from the prince . If the Twisting Heaven sh was indeed within that storage treasure, then he would have benefited greatly .

    The two groups of people were like ebbing tides of water which were retreating backward . Initially, Xue Wei and his friends had wanted to return to the ravine where they had been stationed before, but now people often vanished from the army .

    The big battle was over, but now they had to return to the small skirmishes, battling amongst groups .

    There was no reason to stay in the big group, and only the Emperors and Kings went back to the ravine, bringing with them the wounded Vermilion Bird n members .

    These Vermilion Bird n members were seriously injured . They were going to be sent back to the Demon Phoenix Continent as soon as possible, but they could not handle the trip right now, and thus the group returned to the ravine to nourish their health before they could make it back .

    During this time, the Emperor and King ranked experts were acting as security guards for the Vermilion Bird n members .

    Knowing that they were safe, Xue Wei met up with his friends again, and moments after, they left the group of soldiers .

    As they moved to the side, they stopped at the edge of a forest and looked back on the snake of people who marched further away .

    There was a strange sense of belonging in Xue Wei¡¯s heart . He had never belonged anywhere, but the Demon Phoenix Continent¡¯s Emperor was very friendly towards him, and helped him in many ways .

    Xue Wei had the feeling that the Emperor was like an elder to him . He respected him and admired him, and now that he could pay him back, he would do his utmost to help .

    This was also why he had wanted to help mutate the soldiers of the army . Usually, Xue Wei was not a person who would interfere with others, but when someone was respectful to him, he would give them ten times the same respect, but if someone was impolite, he would also make them suffer a hundred times more than what he suffered .

    Hei Gou, Bai Tianyi, Luoluo, and Lin Xiao were used to Xue Wei¡¯s behavior of returning favors, but Lan was quite surprised .

    Ever since he had begun traveling with Xue Wei, he had seen new sides to him . Seeing that Xue Wei was the one who rescued the Vermilion Birds, he was quite curious as to why, but the answer he got when asking Xue Wei about it, had stumped him .

    "The Vermilion Bird Emperor was kind to me," he had said . "And I wish to return the favor . The Vermilion Bird n¡¯s members are all important to him, so the least I can do is to help his people . "

    "You were putting your life on the line," Lan had pointed out, but Xue Wei had looked at him withplete disdain in his eyes .

    "I entered the war well knowing that my life can be forfeited at any given moment . Although I had not nned on going behind enemy lines, I was confident in the messy battleground and my own skills . I will do what I can with the least amount of risk, but sometimes I have to take a chance to improve myself . "

    Lan had been surprised by the maturity of Xue Wei . Although he was young, his mentality was already so mature that Lan could not help but feel amazed .

 Chapter 475

    Chapter 475: 475

    The more Lan traveled with Xue Wei, the more puzzled he became . Although he had a lot of prejudice towards him, he had found that it was actually not true .

    While Xue Wei was indeed very talented, he was also unfortunate . He had experienced many things which would break any average person, but he had persevered .

    While he was talented, he did not get anything easily . He had to fight for everything he had, and he always had to walk forward, or he would have been killed long ago by the men in the Chang¡¯an Continent .

    Li Zhiqing might not have been very talented, but she had been lucky . Not only had she found theke, andter met Lan, but she had also been happy and content with life .

    Xue Wei could not be together with the woman he loved, he could not slow down, or he would get defeated by all the other geniuses . The stress he was under was something that Li Zhiqing never had to experience .

    In many ways, Lan was already aware that Li Zhiqing was satisfied with the life she led when they were together . She neverined, and her smile disyed her undisguised happiness .

    Even if she had been immensely talented, would she really have been able to handle the stressful life? Would she have been happy?

    When he began thinking like this, Lan was suddenly scared by his own thoughts and shivered .

    He had always been ming Xue Wei because of his innate talent, but thinking about it, Xue Wei had also paid a hefty price for his talent .

    His mother had died while giving birth to him, his uncle had killed his father right in front of his eyes, he had been chased and persecuted everywhere he went, and in the end, he had to flee his homnd .

    While one could live a peaceful life, the other always had to struggle and fight for advancement .

    He had never considered it before, but as he realized the differences, he also understood that his impression of Xue Wei was faulty .

    Xue Wei had never done anything wrong . All he did was forced onto him by the circumstances, and done in an attempt to survive and reach a higher ground .

    He never wanted anything else than to live life peacefully with his family, but the cruel world had shattered all those dreams . What one wished for was not always what one could get .

    Now that he knew that he could only live if he advanced, he had given up many things in his life, but the only thing he could not give up was his friends and family .

    This point alone was enough to make Lan understand that Xue Wei was not a bad person . To be respected like this, and genuinely liked by hispanions showed that his personality was not bad, and the fact that he was willing to give his life in return for theirs, also proved his loyalty .

    Such a person, what right did Lan have to condemn him? He had never asked to be a talented individual, and slowly, Lan¡¯s mind came around, and he observed Xue Wei as if it was the first time he saw him .

    The young man had grown a lot from the youth he had first seen back in the genius army . He had be stronger, but his demeanor and aura were also more restrained . He was like a sharp sword that was sheathed; everyone knew how deadly it would be once drawn .

    The young man was not overly arrogant, but he was not humble either . He was like a calm and collected person who knew what he wanted in life and was aware of the means of achieving it .

    This realization shocked Lan . Although there was a world of difference between the levels of their strengths, Xue Wei did not lose out to him in demeanor and maturity, but Lan was not ashamed . Instead, he nodded his head approvingly .

    While he no longer felt hostile towards Xue Wei, he had no interest in helping him get rid of the Monarch Piranha Flower .

    So far, although he had struggled, nothing had truly posed a threat to his life, and Lan was sure that this Monarch Piranha Flower would be the turning point in Xue Wei¡¯s life . If he could handle it, then he would be able to handle everything .

    But where Lan before was watching with amusement, he was now observing with interest to see how Xue Wei was going to change his fate .

    He, who had been chased by a whole continent . He, who was going against the rules of the world . He, who was not supposed to be born .

    He was the only person who could proudly condemn the heavens and break the heavenlyw .

    He was not supposed to be a toy for Lan to achieve his goal, he was meant for much more than what Lan could even imagine, and when that thought hit the phony prophet, a smile spread on his lips .

    Once upon a day, when Xue Wei had be renowned throughout the gxies, he, a simple figure, would be able to say with pride that he had tormented such a genius when he was still growing .

    Thinking like this, Lan could not help butugh to himself, and he felt as if a heavy load had been removed from his shoulders . He no longer needed topare others to his Li Zhiqing, he no longer felt that life was unfair . She had lived life brilliantly, although it had been short .

    However, he knew that even though there was no reincarnation in this world, although he knew that the dead did not return, he was also aware that as long as Xue Wei, the exception to the rule, existed, then there was hope .

 Chapter 476

    Chapter 476: 476

    The group of people began moving through the forest after observing the army vanishing in the distance .

    Their mood was suddenly light and cheerful . Their faces were full of smiles, and they began talking, but although they were merry, they never rxed their nerves .

    They were alert and observant as they knew that they were deep in enemy territory .

    Their journey did not encounter any problems; they encountered a few small viges but stayed away from them .

    They were entering deeper into enemy territory, and from time to time, they would encounter marks and signs of battle, but they had not experienced any skirmishes themselves yet .

    Thend did not resemble a battlefield . It was rxed and calm; the atmosphere was fresh and full of excitement as the farmers began harvesting their crops . To them, the war was nothing more than a subject talked about over the dinner table .

    Although some soldiers would ravage the ces they fought, most people would not go against the vigers . Not only because they were cultivators and the vigers were mortals, but it was against the moral and ethical values of real experts .

    There were naturally some who did not care about how a cultivator ought to behave, but even they had no interest in ordinary vigers . They had nothing that could catch their eyes, and ravaging their ces, razing it to the ground would gain them nothing .

    As such, the vigers were safe in their locations, but there were always exceptions, which was also why the first vige acted the way they did when Xue Wei and his friends arrived .

    Suddenly, as they were moving through a lush field of grass, the sound of shing weapons could be heard in the distance, apanied by energy fluctuations in the air . Someone was fighting .

    They hurried to follow the sounds, while being highly alert, only to find that a small group of experts was fighting it out close to a river .

    Three corpsesy on the ground, and seven men were fighting on the riverbank .

    If not for them wearing bracelets of different colors, it would be impossible to see the difference between who worked for the Demon Phoenix Continent, and who was on the side of the Xiyang Continent .

    The Demon Phoenix Continent experts were in dire straits . They had lost two men, while the opponents had merely lost one . While it was not a massive difference, it was enough to cause problems for the men of the Demon Phoenix Continent, and Xue Wei hurried over to participate in the battle .

    When Xue Wei and his friends engaged in the fight, the Xiyang Continent¡¯s soldiers instantly copsed, some tried to flee, but they were quickly disposed of .

    After this, they hurried from one end of the continent to the other, and they managed to help out arge group of men who were in a bad position . They did not help those who were doing okay but just observed their fight .

    There was a bad habit on the battleground that people would steal each other¡¯s points, and as a result, many were guarded, not only against their enemies but also against their own people .

    Xue Wei understood this, and he had never nned on stealing other¡¯s points . He had never cared about the points, all he wanted was a battlefield, but it was only after traveling far and wide that he could find someone to fight .

    He was starting to feel rather depressed . Perhaps joining the war was not the right decision . While they did advance in cultivation, it was at a normal speed, and the closest they had gotten to a real fight was the rescue mission for the Vermilion Birds .

    Although the small skirmishes also existed, they were not challenging enough, and soon they started trying out various gambles . Sometimes they fought two and three against five, other times, they fought one against three . Although they never fought all of them together, they always observed and kept it under control .

    If any of their friends got seriously wounded they would be able to step in right away .

    The one who grew the most was Luoluo . She had increased her powers recently . They had grown much rapidly, but now she was able to get control over her rise in power . She was able to use the least amount of energy to get the most effect out of it .

    Bai Tianyi had also benefitted dramatically from the fights where they had fought one against many .

    He and Luoluo had gained much soul power during the Vermilion Bird rescue mission, and their strength had soared as soon as the soul power had been refined into spiritual energy . Most of the battles were reserved for them to get better control on the newfound power .

    Hei Gou, Lin Xiao, and Xue Wei often stood by the side and observed the two spirits fighting with all their might .

    They were here for the chances to fight, and thus they made the whole war into their own little game .

    They understood the seriousness of the war and understood that while they could do this, there was also a chance that someone else could turn the tables around and execute all of them in a moment if they truly felt like it .

    However, this was also another reason for them wanting to be much stronger .

    As long as they were not the strongest people on the battlefield, they were always in danger . Themon soldier like them was actually just cannon fodder . When a big battle started, they could be killed by a single thought by a King or Emperor ranked expert .

    Sighing, Xue Wei felt the pressure . As long as the war was prolonged, there was a chance that it would end in one big battlefield again, and when that happened, they would need to be in their best shape, so that they could stay alive .

 Chapter 477

    Chapter 477: 477

    "Release them!" a voice boomed through the battlefield . Xue Wei turned around to look at where the voice wasing from, but the throat that was grasped within his hand was not released, and his eyebrows just casually rose in curiosity .

    It was not only Xue Wei who was surprised by the voice, everyone who was watching on the side also looked towards where it originated . Even Hei Gou, who was fighting alongside Xue Wei, also turned towards the spot where the voice wasing from .

    Two groups of experts had appeared on the horizon, their eyes were aze with anger, and their bodies were trembling as they were running towards them, their weapons unsheathed and raised in the air, and the Qi was swirling around their hands .

    Xue Wei frowned . Why had two groups appeared here? Usually it was difficult to encounter even one group, but now they had encountered two more, Xue Wei felt that something was wrong .

    "End it," he said coldly, as he clenched his hands, crushing the expert¡¯s neck within his grasp .

    Hei Gou heard Xue Wei¡¯s order, and his ws came down, shing at the throat of his opponent, ending his life in mere seconds .

    The experts who had called out were stunned when they saw that they still killed the people, although they had ordered them to stop .

    Usually, a group would flee when they were surrounded by two groups, but Xue Wei and his friends were calm .

    They had been having easy fights recently, so being against more people could end up as a challenge, a challenge that they were willing to ept .

    Xue Wei narrowed his eyes as he looked at the two groups who were livid with anger, their eyes ame with fury .

    "Kill!" one of the men called out, and Xue Wei snickered . Did they look as if they were easy to kill?

    "No need to hold back," Xue Wei said casually, and the people who previously had been standing in the background appeared by Xue Wei¡¯s side . They were ready to fight and show off their newfound skills .

    Xue Wei grinned . He was not sure why so many people had appeared, but right now, their focus was to kill the soldiers that had appeared out of nowhere .

    It only took a moment before the experts arrived by their side, and they saw the dead bodies on the ground which had been killed by Xue Wei and Hei Gou . They had died painfully, some of them did not even haveplete corpses, and the sight caused the arriving experts to burn with fury .

    Although they did not know each other personally, they were from the same army and held a connection . Seeing them killed like this, they wanted to take revenge .

    Unfortunately, things were not simple . Although the arriving experts had the advantage of numbers, outnumbering them was not enough to defeat Xue Wei and his friends . They had been fighting against the odds for a long time, but even so, none of them had died .

    Although they had sometimes been severely injured, their strength had grown tremendously .

    The fact that they could kill so many experts caused Luoluo and Bai Tianyi¡¯s cultivation base to soar after each battle . Xue Wei also refined some of the soul power, but not as much, his Spiritual Energy was merely at the Earth Saint, ninthyer .

    Luoluo and Bai Tianyi had reached the Sky Saint, seventhyer . They were the ones who had gotten the most noticeable advance in cultivation rank, and currently, they were also the strongest in the whole group .

    Bai Tianyi and Luoluo had been halting behind for a long time, but this war was a heaven-sent chance for them to catch up, and overtake everyone else in their group .

    Hei Gou was now the one who wasgging behind, he was not as talented as the others, but he made up for it with his hard work .

    Originally Hei Gou was a Celestial Dog, who was not a very talented race . After mutating twice, his talent had increased, but he needed to fight hard, and constantly do his best to ensure that he could keep up with the others . None of them rxed or rested on theirurels .

    They all knew that if one of them was far behind the others, that person would drag the rest of the group down .

    As their rtionship was very close, none of them were willing to pull their friends down . While they could ept not being too talented, they would never want to be the soft underbelly that was easily attacked .

    Now when these two groups had flooded towards them, none of them wanted to be the easy target, and their battle intent was roaring .

    The fight was extreme and intense, Xue Wei was fighting hard, his friends were fighting hard, but as time went by, little by little, the pressure on them diminished as the enemies died left and right .

    After killing them all, they looted their storage treasures, before they finally left, leaving the corpses on the ground, their eyes full of grief and disbelief .

    Like this, something strange happened . Every time they encountered a group of people, more and more experts appeared during the battle . The fights also became more and more challenging, but none of them were unhappy . While they received numerous wounds and injuries, all of them were healed by pills, and they could go on after a day or two of rest .

    The war had been ongoing for hundreds of years, and time was flowing like water . Nearly half a year had passed since Xue Wei had arrived at the Xiyang Empire, and he had been fighting non-stop ever since .

 Chapter 478

    Chapter 478: 478

    In the beginning, when Xue Wei arrived at the Xiyang Empire, he had encountered the Monarch Piranha Flower, but after spending more than five months with the flower deeply rooted within his heart, much of the initial chaos was gone now .

    He understood the dangers of the flower, but currently, it was in hibernation and was not causing problems for him .

    It would be a ticking time bomb when it did wake up, but the length of time it needed for this to happen was unknown .

    But the puzzling thing was that at the beginning they would travel far and wide without encountering anyone, but after four months in the continent, they were encountering battles every day, and more than one battle each day .

    As soon as they located someone, it was certain that a whole bunch of people would follow, and the battle would exhaust them both physically and mentally .

    But it was precisely in these situations that they grew, when they were exhausted and feeling as if they could not go on, but knew that if they sumbed, their lives would be forfeit, and thus, they found the inner energy they did not know they had .

    Time and time again, they were pushing their limits, but they were not unhappy . Instead, their eyes, albeit full of exhaustion, were sparkling with life and excitement .

    This was why they had joined the war; they had wanted to push their limits, transcend their potential, and step forward, closer and closer to the apex of the cultivation world .

    During all the battles, Lan had just been a bystander . He had never raised a hand; neither had he bothered to attack anyone who ran towards him . At most, he would dodge the attacks until Xue Wei, or one of the others were freed from their own opponents and picked them up .

    The more Lan saw, the more puzzled he became . He began understanding Xue Wei¡¯s personality better, and he even started respecting and liking him .

    He spent many days observing Xue Wei, observing his attentiveness towards his friends and how he would sometimes block a critical attack aimed at them .

    During the battles, Xue Wei had kept an overview of all his friends . When someone was pressured or had a hard time coping, he would instantly step in, even if he knew that it would bring him injuries .

    After each battle, the one who had gotten the most injured each time was Xue Wei, but he neverined, and his friends never thanked him . This did not mean that they were not grateful, but their gratefulness was too profound to be expressed with a mere thank you .

    There were so many things that they were grateful to Xue Wei for . He had given them a new chance in life, saved them from the darkness in which they resided, and brought them to see the world .

    He was willing to take a sword strike for them, he was ready to do anything in his power to protect his friends, and his feelings were not at all hidden, all of them were aware of it, and their hearts were swelling with pride for having such a friend .

    It was also then that Lan finally began understanding Xue Wei . Amongst them all, Lan was the one who met Xue Wei first, but he had never tried to understand him before . He had either teased him or seen him as a tool to get what he wanted .

    Now that he began seeing Xue Wei as a living being, he also began growing a notion of wanting to befriend him . Initially, he had never tried to understand him, but now he felt that it was a pity that he had wasted so many years looking down on him .

    "I once thought that this world was wicked," Lan suddenly began speaking while looking down at Xue Wei and the others who were lying on the ground,pletely listless and full of exhaustion .

    "I thought that the world was unfair, that the people who truly deserved to be respected were cursed, and that the fools were the ones who were blessed .

    "But looking at you people, I am starting to understand that things are not exactly as I thought . Everyone has their own misfortune and luck; it is just that it differs from person to person . "

    Xue Wei was lying on his back on the ground, looking at Lan who was looking down at him, his eyes full of solemnity . He understood that Lan was starting to open up to them, but he did not understand why . What could have changed Lan¡¯s thoughts on him?

    "Once upon a time, I came to this world as a foreigner," Lan said as he looked into the distance . "I was merely curious to see the realm where the Vermilion Bird, my Grandfather, whom I never saw before came from .

    "I was curious and saw a small hut where a youth was living alone . She was a mixed breed, and back then, mixed breeds were all over the world .

    "She was not talented, she was nothing special, but to me, she will always be the most important being in the whole world .

    "It is because of her that I am now protecting this world, this is her legacy, and when she returns, I will give her the world that she loved . "

    "Come back?" Xue Wei frowned . "Both you and Hui Yue have told me that it is impossible to be brought back to life when one has died . "

    Lan looked at him and grinned . "It is not possible to be reincarnated, and you do not end up in the Ten Courts of Hell as you do in most other worlds, but there is still a chance to see them again, and this chance has appeared because of your birth into this world . You are not only the Holy Son of the Sovereign Beasts, but you are also the Rule Breaker . "

 Chapter 479

    Chapter 479: 479

    "Rule Breaker?" Xue Wei frowned as he looked at Lan . He felt as if something important was about to be unveiled for him, and he could not help but feel excited .

    "Yes," Lan nodded his head and looked at Xue Wei withplex eyes .

    "A world does not appear out of nowhere," he began . "A world is created by a deity who has reached a certain level of strength . When the world is created, the deity sets down various rules and regtions that the world will follow .

    "These rules can control anything, from how you cultivate, to which lifeforms have intelligence . It controls how many suns and moons are in the sr system, the color of the clouds, and even where the dead will go after death .

    "Each world has an owner, but these owners sometimes die, or they find other worlds that they wish to own, as you can only connect with one world at a time, and as such, many worlds get abandoned throughout the passing of time .

    "This world was one of those . I do not know how or why it was abandoned, but when I arrived, there was no owner .

    "I never nned on staying for long, but I did not wish to leave again after meeting Li Zhiqing . However, it never reached my thoughts to actually take over the world and change it¡¯sws .

    "It was not before she had died, and I realized that the dead in this world do not go to the Ten Courts of Hell . Instead, they end up in the Ghost Realm .

    "These two ces are fundamentally different . Those who end in Ten Courts of Hell are still connected to each other, and their newborns are actually reincarnated .

    "Those who end in the Ghost Realm are never able to reincarnate . The Ghost Realm is much like any other realm . When you die, you be a soul, and you enter the ghost realm, where you will wander till the end of time .

    "Ghosts are cannibalistic and consume soul power to grow their strength . Only by consuming other ghosts is it possible to be stronger . But no matter how strong you be, you cannot leave after you have entered the Ghost Realm .

    "When Li Zhiqing died, I thought she would end up in the Ten Courts of Hell, but she did not . She ended up in the Ghost Realm, and I have no power to enter it .

    "No matter how strong you are, the Ghost Realm does not open its doors to others other than the dead, with one exception . The Rulebreaker can open the gates, but the cost is unimaginable . "

    "You see, these are the rules that have been made by the owner of the realm, and they are not made to be broken, but sometimes, something will happen that might cause them not to work, such as your birth .

    "Your mother was the Holy Daughter of the Sovereign Beasts . She was a young woman who never did things as others told her to do them; she only followed her own ideas .

    "One day, she had run away from home to see the outside world, and she encountered your father .

    "It was love at first sight, but at that time, the rules of the world had been changed . I had changed them in order to ensure that another Li Zhiqing did not appear, and no one would approve of your mother being with a human .

    "Your uncle helped her elope, but he made your father make one promise . No matter what, he was not allowed to make your mother pregnant .

    "Your Uncle was not dumb . He knew that if your mother became pregnant, she would never let go of her child, and she would even risk her own life to sustain yours .

    "This was precisely what happened . She fed you with her own life force . The mixed child should never have been able to exist, but she gave you all her lifeforce and ensured that you grew stronger and stronger by the day, but she gave up her own life in the process .

    "Your father was not a dumb person, he was aware that your mother was a Sovereign Beast, but he still made her pregnant, knowing full well that it would kill her .

    "As for what motives he had, you will have to figure those out yourself . But because of your mother, you became the Rulebreaker . And I have been searching for someone like you for many thousands of years .

    "I could easily change the rules again, but then a Rule Breaker would never have been born . Now that you exist, I finally found hope again .

    "I am aware that the hope is small, but it still exists . If another ghost has absorbed Li Zhiqing in the Ghost Realm, I am not sure what to do, but I cannot give up until I have been there and searched for her .

    "At first, I thought it would be enough if I could use you to achieve my goals, but now I feel that you are a person who deserves respect . I will not force you to help me, even though I could force you to help me, but I can promise to take you with me, and we can also look for your mother, if that is what you wish

    "But be aware . When someone enters the Ghost Realm, they do not retain any of their memories . Even if we do find my Li Zhiqing and your mother, they will not be able to remember us . "

    Xue Wei was shocked when hearing all the words that Lan had said . To think that a Rulebreaker was able to enter the Ghost Realm .

    "The Rulebreaker is much more than just this," Lan continued but sighed deeply . "But you will have to figure out the final things by yourself . Being a Rulebreaker is the same as changing the whole world, and it brings with it the air of change . "

 Chapter 480

    Chapter 480: 480

    Xue Wei frowned . He had understood that being a Rulebreaker meant that one was not supposed to exist . Lan had spent over ten thousand years waiting for a Rulebreaker to appear, but it was simply impossible to know if, or when, they would appear .

    Many worlds existed, but Rulebreakers were simply as difficult to find as a specific water drop in the sea .

    Also, Lan had decided to be the owner of this world, and he had never nned on leaving it, so the chances of finding a Rulebreaker were even smaller .

    A Rulebreaker did not have to be a person of mixed breed; it could also be someone who was born normal but somehow managed to break the rules during their lifetime . However, such a scenario was so unlikely that it was simply impossible .

    Xue Wei was deep in thought, pondering about his options and what it meant being the Rulebreaker .

    He understood many things now . Since Lan was the owner of the world, he could sense everything that happened on it, and he could control the world with but a mere thought .

    He knew of Xue Wei¡¯s background and history from the very beginning, but he never told him anything .

    But it was also now that Xue Wei understood that previously Lan had treated him solely as a tool, but now, he was willing to tell him the truth and began treating him as a friend .

    Xue Wei nodded his head, "What price do I have to pay to open the Ghost Realm?" he asked, and Lan looked a little sheepish .

    "I don¡¯t know," he said with a solemn expression . "Rulebreakers are hard to find, so actual knowledge about them is also difficult to locate . That is also why I have been observing you ever since I found you . "

    Xue Wei nodded his head . What Lan said made sense . "So, we need to open the Ghost Realm, but we do not know how, or what the price for doing so is?"

    Lan shook his head . "We could figure it out after a bit of time," he said . "But I imagine that this war might be a chance for us to solve the problem . "

    Xue Wei frowned and looked at Lan . "Because of the number of people who die?" he asked, and Lan nodded his head . "Every time someone dies, the Ghost Realm will open up and swallow their soul . If there was arge battle with many deaths, then I would expect that we would be able tear open the entrance and slip in alongside the many dead souls . "

    Xue Wei nodded his head . "Will we be able to bring our friends along?" Xue Wei asked as he looked at Hei Gou, Lin Xiao, Luoluo, and Bai Tianyi .

    Lan shook his head and looked apologetic . "I don¡¯t know," he said . "I have no previous experience with Rulebreakers, or entering the Ghost Realm, so I don¡¯t know what is possible and what isn¡¯t . "

    Xue Wei nodded his head as he looked at his friends . He was eager to enter the Ghost Realm to meet his parents again, but he was not willing to leave his friends behind .

    "Don¡¯t worry," Bai Tianyi said with a shrug of his shoulders . "We will enter if we can, and if we can¡¯t, then we will keep training ourselves here in the Xiyang Continent . "

    Xue Wei knew Bai Tianyi well . He was not just saying it to reassure Xue Wei; he truly meant that they would be fine without him .

    Xue Wei was not depressed by hearing his words . He also knew that they had been together for years now, and that they might have grown too dependent on one another . Spending some time apart from each other might actually help them progress .

    But it was still unsure if they could enter or not . They were not even aware about what was required to enter the Ghost Realm; it was simply tooplicated .

    "Don¡¯t think more about it now," Lan said with a sigh . "I just wanted to tell you about it, as I finally began understanding that you are more than just the Rule Breaker, more than just a tool for me to get Li Zhiqing back . "

    Xue Wei nodded his head and smiled . He was quite happy that he had managed to show his sincerity with his actions, but he also knew that Lan was not unreasonable .

    Lin Xiao, Luoluo, Bai Tianyi, and Hei Gou were slightly upset when they heard Lan¡¯s words . They knew that Lan had not been treating Xue Wei well, but they thought that he had at least treated him as a friend .

    Now it seemed that he had seen him as a tool, and they felt indignant, but they also knew that he had now changed his opinion on him, so their unpleasant feelings were left with nowhere to vent .

    Not to mention that this person was a Deity, a person whom they could never defeat, so even if he had caused them to be unhappy, they could never tell him about it .

    Lan could easily see their feelings of displeasure, but also them trying to keep it in, instead of speaking them out loud, and mirth rippled through his eyes .

    He knew that these people were truly genuine towards Xue Wei . They were his true friends, and he could not help but feel slightly jealous .

    Although he was a deity, he was not surrounded by good friends who were willing to get angry at a deity for him .

    He smiled slightly, but then he thought about how Xue Wei had considered him a friend, and he thought that maybe he was notpletely alone .

    Xue Wei seemed to sense that he was feeling mncholic, and he looked at him with a smile on his face .

    "You are also a part of our group now," he said, and his words stumped both Lan as well as the others .

 Chapter 481

    Chapter 481: 481

    It was not only Lan who was surprised upon hearing Xue Wei¡¯s words, but his friends were also shocked .

    Xue Wei knew that Lan was originally treating him as a tool, but he still trusted him enough to consider him part of their group?

    Upon thinking about it a bit more, they understood his reasons . Lan was a Deity, and if he truly wanted to treat Xue Wei as a tool, then he had no reason to open up to him .

    The friends Xue Wei had did not possess a low intelligence, and after considering it for some time they understood that he was actually sincere to Xue Wei now .

    Their displeasure reduced by more than half due to this, and while they still held a bit of a bad impression, they were much more polite and friendly, even their expressions turned softer .

    Lan smiled mirthfully, his eyes glistening with amusement . He understood that they were able to see that he was no longer as arrogant as before, and thus they epted him . Being epted was a surprisingly good feeling .

    The group was suddenly lighthearted as they continued their journey, but they had note far before Xue Wei¡¯s heart began aching . His face went pale in an instant, and he stopped in his tracks .

    It had been months since the Monarch Piranha Flower had edged itself into his heart, and during all this time, it had been well-behaved and silent, but now it seemed as if it had gathered enough strength to try and take over it¡¯s host body once more .

    Feeling the immense pain that wreaked havoc in his body, Xue Wei gritted his teeth, and he slowly began feeling how sweat was beading on his forehead .

    His friends also stopped in their tracks and turned around to see the sweating and pale Xue Wei, who was grasping his chest with his hand .

    Everyone frowned and hurried back to his side, they were worried about him but dared not touch him out of fear of making it worse .

    "Everyone back off!" Lan said, his voice was solemn and his eyes observed every change that happened to Xue Wei .

    The vines of the Monarch Piranha Flower suddenly erupted from the ground and wrapped Xue Wei within them, taking the shape of a wooden cocoon .

    His friends took out their weapons and wanted to cut open the cocoon, only to be stopped by Lan .

    "He has to ovee this tribtion on his own," he said seriously, his eyes shining with wisdom . "This is a battle between himself and the Monarch Piranha Flower, and he will encounter them more frequently . He was lucky that the flower did not decide to attack during, or right after a battle . "

    The others nodded their heads and observed Xue Wei worriedly . They knew that the Monarch Piranha Flower was not to be belittled, and that it was a ruthless and cruel flower that consumed the essence blood of cultivators to grow .

    Being embedded inside Xue Wei¡¯s heart, it was able to slowly consume some of his essence blood, but it also knew that it could not consume too much, as that would end up killing itself instead by proxy .

    However, the essence blood of Xue Wei was so rich, that even after being seriously injured in thest attack, it only needed several months to recuperate .

    Inside the wooden cocoon, Xue Wei slowly closed his eyes and put his focus into his body .

    When he looked at his heart, his eyes grew cold, and he was furious . The heart was encapsted in vines, they had fully taken over the entire heart area, and he could feel the powerful fluctuations of energying from within . The Monarch Piranha Flower was stronger than it was the previous time it had been encountered .

    Xue Wei guided the wood and fire elemental Qi in his system, and began a slow siege on the Monarch Piranha Flower, which had barricaded itself inside his heart .

    Wave after wave of green and red energy rolled towards his heart, but Xue Wei had to be careful . He could not use too much power, as it would cause his heart to also be injured, but he could not use too little either, as it would not be enough to get through the barrier made by the Monarch Piranha Flower .

    Xue Wei was not unconscious this timepared to the previous attack . He was slowly entwining the energies together . The Azure Dragons and the Vermilion Birds that the Qi was made from were entwined, and their beast-like shapes slowly vanished . Instead, they took on the form of needles, which barraged the Monarch Piranha Flower¡¯s vines .

    Xue Wei had an exceedingly strong control over his Qi, and he could manipte it as he wished . Previously, when the energy of the two elements had battled it out with the Monarch Piranha Flower, it had been entirely devoid of amander . Although it was powerful, it was not being used smartly, but now that Xue Wei was awake, he was able to grasp the weak point of the Monarch Piranha Flower swiftly, and return the agony that he had experienced .

    The Monarch Piranha Flower was unable to withstand the thousands of small needle-like energy bursts that Xue Wei had used . It slowly withdrew back into the heart, the vines that had previously encapsted the whole heart also retreating .

    Xue Wei felt weak all over . His heart had a dull ache from the battle, but he could also feel a strange exhaustion in his mind . Controlling Qi like this required an exceeding amount of spiritual energy to shape it into small needles, and thenmand thousands of those needles at once .

 Chapter 482

    Chapter 482: 482

    The victory might have seemed simple, but it had truly exhausted Xue Wei . He was not sure if he would be able to withstand if the Monarch Piranha Flower would get stronger, and he knew that it was a ticking time bomb that might explode at any time .

    When he was done with a battle, it would be the ideal time for the flower to make a move, and he knew that it was merely a question of time before the Monarch Piranha Flower would take over his body if he did not manage to cultivate fast enough .

    Xue Wei took a step, but he almost copsed as he felt his energy drained .

    He sat down and tried to control his breathing, but ck dots appeared in front of his eyes, and his body began trembling .

    Although he had suppressed the Monarch Piranha Flower, the flower had managed to poison him . Thest thing he thought about was how unlucky he was before losing his consciousness .

    His friends looked shocked when they saw how he copsed in front of them, his eyes were closed, and his face was pale .

    Lan frowned as well, and without anyone noticing his move, he was suddenly by Xue Wei¡¯s side .

    Heid him on his back and lifted his wrist to take his pulse, Lan¡¯s expression turned solemn .

    "He is poisoned by the Monarch Piranha Flower," Lan said with a frown . "The flower is not poisonous as such, but it seems that it has consumed his essence blood and somehow mutated . "

    "What should we do then?" The others panicked when hearing Lan¡¯s words; their hearts were shaking in fear .

    "I am going to help him," Lan said after contemting for a moment, and a strange golden energy entered Xue Wei¡¯s body .

    His body, which had been lying still on the ground, was now convulsing, and sweat was beading on his forehead as he kept twitching .

    It was clear that Xue Wei was in pain, an internal battle was being fought within his body . The Monarch Piranha Flower had already retracted, but the poison was putting up a fight against the energy Lan had poured into his body .

    Lan was also careful . He was a deity, and he used Ancestral Worldpower, an energy which was domineering and overpowering .

    If he had poured too much of it into Xue Wei¡¯s body, then he would have died, but if he had put too little, it would not be able to fight against the poison .

    Lan guided the energy through Xue Wei¡¯s meridians, and everywhere the Ancestral Worldpower moved, the poison was slowly being eroded .

    Lan was leaning over Xue Wei for the majority of the day, his eyes were solemn and grave, but he was not giving up on trying to save Xue Wei¡¯s life, trying to ensure that the Monarch Piranha Flower did not seed in taking over his body .

    Luoluo, Lin Xiao, Hei Gou, and Bai Tianyi were all standing in a circle around Xue Wei and Lan, but they did not observe his actions; instead, they kept an eye out on the surroundings .

    This showed their trust in Lan . Not only did they show their backs to Lan, but they also left Xue Wei in his hands .

    After a week had passed, Xue Wei woke up, his eyes were confused, but they quickly cleared up .

    Inside his body, he felt another strand of Ancestral Worldpower, which was slightly different from the one that Hui Yue had left in his body . While both of them emitted a horrible and strong dominance, the one Hui Yue had left him was deeper in color and seemed more powerful .

    Xue Wei did not know what ranks there were when one became a Deity; he only knew that there was one called God Rank and that there were many ranks above that .

    The path of cultivation seemed to have no end; there was always a higher peak, another world, a new rank .

    Even for the deities who had eternal life, the path of cultivation was endless, and they needed to use every moment to advance .

    Xue Wei had originally been like all the others from the Chang¡¯an Continent, thinking that the Saint tier was the highest rank possible, but then the world opened up for him, and he understood that cultivation was much more than he had thought . It was an endless path, and he was eager to walk down it .

    Xue Wei felt as if his entire body was light and full of strength . While he previously had been devoid of energy due to the battle between himself and the Monarch Piranha Flower, but due to the energy that he had been given by Lan when he was removing the poison, he was now bursting with energy .

    However, before he had the chance to stand up, he suddenly coughed up a mouthful of blood .

    The blood was ck, it was the poison that was being thrown out of his system, but while Xue Wei felt much better after getting rid of it, the others were anxious for him .

    Lan raised his hand, and they all stopped in their tracks while looking at him worriedly .

    "I am fine," Xue Wei said, as he wiped the blood off his lips . "I just had to get rid of the impurities left by the poison . "

    Although Xue Wei had been unconscious, he had still heard Lan¡¯s words, and he knew exactly what had happened to him .

    He looked at Lan with gratitude in his eyes . "Thank you," he said . Lan nodded his head and smiled . "No worries," he replied .

    Seeing the color returning to Xue Wei¡¯s face, and hearing his voice, which sounded normal again, his friends heaved a heavy breath of relief as well . It seemed that Xue Wei had dodged the bullet this time .

 Chapter 483

    Chapter 483: 483

    The Monarch Piranha Flower was quite shrewd . It knew when to advance and when to retreat . It had clearly put the poison as a test to see whether or not Lan had any intention of saving Xue Wei .

    If he had not saved him, then Xue Wei would have ended up being taken over by the flower, but because it was lodged inside the heart of Xue Wei, Lan was incapable of pulling it out .

    Even Xue Wei could not live without having his heart inside his body .

    Lan also looked at Xue Wei with mixed emotions, but he did not regret the decision to let Xue Wei face off against the flower .

    It was true that his reason back then was amusement, but now he saw it as a way to temper the younger man .

    Everything had been smooth sailing for him for a long time; he needed some sort of setback to finally break free and be stronger .

    A setback would allow him to be an entity that was like Lan himself, someone who could leave this small world and head to the bigger stage .

    However, everything came with a risk . Even with having Lan by his side, there was a chance that he would not be able to act fast enough to save Xue Wei . Ultimately, his survival depended on his own strength, both mentally and physically .

    Xue Wei was also aware of this . He did not me Lan for what he had done . Instead, he sighed and gazed into the distance . He narrowed his eyes and cocked his head, looking as if he was deep in thought .

    Finally, he stood up, dusted the dirt off his robes, and smiled wryly .

    Looking around, he saw that his friends were worried about him, and he could not help but feel warm in his heart . Even if he could not ovee the Monarch Piranha Flower¡¯s invasion in his heart, he was still satisfied with living his life like this .

    Naturally, he was not going to die without putting up a fight, but he was aware that sometimes you had no other options . Even so, as long as there was a glimmer of hope, he would hold onto it with all his might and never let go .

    "Let us move out," he said, and the others nodded their heads obediently . The rest were not harmed in the slightest, so continuing their journey was, without a doubt, the best idea . Staying too long in one ce made them into an easy target .

    The further they moved, the more they realized that something was wrong with the experts of the Xiyang Continent .

    As soon as they encountered a group, they would quickly call for backup . Upon entering the continent, they would walk days on end without meeting anyone, but now they were encountering people everywhere they went .

    It was as if they were sprouting from the ground, that was how numerous the enemies were .

    "I guess we are nearing a military camp," Hei Gou finally said, and Xue Wei almost scolded himself for not realizing that the increase in people could only mean that they were nearing one .

    Originally they had been close to a camp, but because of the Monarch Piranha Flower, the soldiers did not go towards the forest .

    Now that they were going towards a military encampment, Xue Wei felt the same blood rush as before . Wouldn¡¯t it be fun to kill a whole camp on their own?

    Well, it was not likely that they would be able to kill the entire army stationed there since there were likely to be a King or Emperor ranked experts, but everyone else could be killed .

    "Give the King ranked expert a try," Lan said as he looked at Xue Wei with amusement in his eyes . "I will be there as a backup, in case you can¡¯t deal with him . "

    Xue Wei pondered for a moment before nodding his head . It was quite good to try his hand against a King ranked expert, considering that he had not experienced much trouble against the other Saints he had been up against in thest many battles .

    The others also broke into smiles, their smiles were full of innocence, but a strange murderous air brewed around them . All of them were eager to wash the ground with blood .

    But no one knew that the most eager of them all was Lan . Lan somehow needed to connect the bridge between the Ghost Realm and the Real World, but he had no clue how to do so .

    The best way of attempting it would be to kill, and keep on killing, when considering that the Ghost Realm only opened when a dead person went there .

    The more souls that were ferried, the longer time the Ghost Realm would stay open, and the bigger the chance Lan and Xue Wei had of entering it .

    "Well then, we cannot just enter the camp," Xue Wei said with a frown . "We need to somehow figure out a way to dwindle their numbers before we enter . "

    "Well yes," Bai Tianyi looked around with narrowed eyes . "Should we perhaps ambush the people as they leave the area?"

    Xue Wei contemted as he looked around . "First, let us investigate what the camp looks like, and how many people are there . We can also try and capture a few soldiers and see if we can get anything out of them . "

    "They won¡¯t tell us anything," Luoluo said with a pout, but Xue Wei just snickered . "With spiritual energy experts like you and Bai Tianyi, do you really fear that we can¡¯t get the truth out of them?"

    Luoluo thought for a moment and broke into a brilliant smile . "Well then, let us go hunting!"

 Chapter 484

    Chapter 484: 484

    Xue Wei could feel Luoluo¡¯s energy and excitement, and his lips curled into a smile . While he felt slightly exhausted after the battle with the Monarch Piranha Flower andter with the poison incident, he was not against pushing himself to his limits so that he could improve .

    It was not only him who was exhausted; the Monarch Piranha Flower had clearly used up all its extra energy tounch those attacks . .

    Xue Wei was aware that it would take some time for the flower tounch another attack, but he could never rest on hisurels, at any moment when he was pushed to the breaking point, the flower could initiate another attack, and cause him to suffer .

    As such, he had to know what his limits were, and the only way to figure it out was by trying to push himself . This was a dance with death, as the slightest mistake could end up being his demise, and the Monarch Piranha Flower would take over his body .

    But right now, they had to focus on the problem at hand . They wanted to deal with the army camp that was close to them, but to do so, they had to be smart about it .

    They began scouting the area; it only took three days to reach the edge of the army . It was an old city that had been converted into a staging ground . The tall city wall was full of soldiers that were patrolling its premises . The gates were closed, and they only opened when the experts that arrived could prove their identity .

    Xue Wei and his friends were all hiding at the edge of a forest that was located right next to the city . Although they were close, they had to keep moving, as patrols were sent out from the city at regr times .

    These patrols were scouting the surrounding area, always on high alert, but they were never able to find Xue Wei and his friends .

    After moving for some time, they soon found the pattern in which these patrols were moving, and they easily avoided them afterward .

    "Why are we not killing the patrols already?" Luoluo was getting impatient as she watched another patrol pass by them . They had been hiding in the forest for a week to gather information, but they had still not made even the slightest move against the soldiers stationed at the camp .

    "When we move, we will show them that we are here," Xue Wei patiently exined . "Our aim is to kill as many as possible when we finally make our move, and force the others toe out to catch us, which will result in us hunting down even more experts from the Xiyang Continent . "

    Luoluo listened to Xue Wei and obediently nodded her head, but her eyes, which seemed pure and innocent, were a sharp contrast to the words that sprouted from her mouth, "When do we start killing then? We have wasted a whole week, and I cannot wait for the bloodbath to begin . It is exciting to try our hand against a whole army camp . "

    Seeing the madness disyed on Luoluo¡¯s expression, Xue Wei smiled wryly . She was once an adorable little girl, had he indeed failed in raising her properly, to see her so obsessed with killing now?

    He then thought back to his own behavior and his own ability to suddenly be lost in the blood rush, and he knew that it was likely his fault that the adorable little girl had turned out the way she was now .

    However, he felt no guilt when thinking about this . She might have lost some of her innocence, but instead, she had gained the strength to survive and to protect herself .

    Xue Wei took a moment to look at his different friends . All of them had changed throughout the years . He remembered when he met Hei Gou the first time, how he had been a very ordinary Celestial Dog, without the ability to protect himself, but now, after a few mutations, he was a talented genius .

    He then looked at Lin Xiao . He remembered how he used to refuse killing people, and only made a move when someone truly deserved it, but now, he was a lot more rxed, and his morals had changed . He had understood that there was no good and evil in the world, only one¡¯s own viewpoints .

    The one who had changed the least was Bai Tianyi . He had already given up his humanity to be immortal, to be a spirit, and thus he was much like he had always been .

    But no matter how much they changed, the group of friends would never turn their backs at one another, and they were eager to protect each other from dangers .

    Even the emotionless Bai Tianyi felt loyalty towards his friends . While he had lost his humanity, he had not given up on his morals .

    It was also because of the loyalty and the connection there was between them that Xue Wei dared to attack a whole army that consisted of thousands of soldiers .

    With his friends by his side, he felt invincible, and he truly wanted to test his own limits .

    If they failed, then so be it . The worst price they would have to pay would be their lives, but if they seeded, they would gain a lot of experience, be more powerful, and they would likely get their hands on some resources .

    Xue Wei was also aware that while this challenge was extremely hard, they had a life-saving card in their hands called Lan, who could save them if the worst possible scenario happened .

 Chapter 485

    Chapter 485: 485

    "Steady . . . Wait . . . " Xue Wei whispered with a low voice as he looked at the group of soldiers that were walking down the path of the forest .

    They had spent a month observing the military base, and now they had seeded in understanding the patrol patterns, and the various ways of avoiding them in the fastest and most efficient manner .

    "Go!" He whispered, and his friends all jumped down from the branches,nding right in front of the unsuspecting patrol .

    ring lights shed in the middle of the forest as they bombarded the soldiers with their attacks, and before they had the chance to return even the slightest move, the entire patrol had been wiped out .

    Xue Wei jumped down from the branch and began taking the storage treasures from the corpses before he ignited a me and burnt them to ashes .

    Their attack had been entirely under control, and while the shing lights could be seen in the surroundings, no marks were left on the ground or the trees, making it so that no one could notice that a battle had taken ce .

    "Hide again," Xue Wei ordered, and all of them returned to the tree crowns, ready to hide and wait for the next patrol toe by .

    The group disyed no excitement on their faces, but their hearts were burning with bloodlust . They had spent a long time preparing for the strike, and now that the time hade, they could not help but feel the anticipation .

    There was a tremendous battle on the way, and the excitement that they felt was boosting their strength, and although their faces were calm, their blood was rushing through their veins, and their hearts were beating rapidly .

    The next group of people that they fought against was as unsuspecting as the first, and they quickly fell to the ground, their lives forfeited .

    Once again, Xue Wei gathered all the storage treasures, and afterward, he burned the corpses again . The me was so intense that it managed to incinerate the corpses so swiftly, that not even the scent of burnt flesh remained in the surroundings .

    Xue Wei nced around, but he found no traces of othersing towards them, so he gestured for his friends to return to the tree crowns .

    ording to their expectations, they should manage to kill three or four patrols before someone noticed that there was something wrong, and up until now, they had only gotten two, so things were still going ording to n .

    The group also managed to kill the third group with no problems, but as they got closer and closer to the arrival of the fourth group, their senses heightened, their bodies were full of surging blood, and the adrenaline was rushing through their veins .

    This was the make it or break it point in their n . If they managed to kill the fourth patrol quickly, they would be fine, but if the fourth patrol was alerted to their presence, they would be fighting an uphill battle .

    All of them held their breath as the fourth group came towards them . Xue Wei gestured for Luoluo to go and scour the surrounding area to see if there was someone waiting in ambush .

    When the groups found out that the patrols were not returning, they would definitely send someone to follow a patrol in an attempt at luring out the prey and make the hunter be the hunted, but if they were still unaware, then Xue Wei and his friends would be a step closer to their goal .

    Although they could easily just let the group pass and not act, causing the patrol team to be safe, they could not allow a liability to run through their hands . In case they noticed something, then their entire n would fall t .

    Luoluo returned after a short while and shook her head . She was the one who had the strongest spiritual energy in the entire group, and she had spread it over the whole part of the forest without noticing even the slightest movement of other people .

    The patrol should be alone, or their protector was above the Saint rank .

    No matter which one of the options it was, it yed ording to their expectations . Xue Wei wanted to fight against the King ranked expert that was in control of the army camp, but he also knew that he could not just enter the base and fight against him . He had to lure him out from the protection of the big walls, and the many soldiers surrounding him .

    This was what they were doing now . Every soldier that exited the camp was going to slowly vanish without even a trace being found, making it so that the expert had no other option than to leave the safety of the encampment and search for the killers .

    Although he could move with the soldiers of his base, it was impossible to move an entire army to search for Xue Wei and his friends, as their group was small and mobile, allowing them to avoid a whole army .

    This was the n that Xue Wei hade up with alongside his friends, and all of them were excited .

    During this point in time, the people from the fourth patrol group had arrived, and Xue Wei gestured for the others to be careful . They all solemnly nodded their heads, and soon they jumped down from the trees, the lights shing from their attacks were already appearing as they fell . The first person of the patrol raised his head, only to be greeted by a spiritual energy sword, that cleaved him in half .

    The others also realized that they were under attack, but they did not even manage to scream out for help before they had been killed . None of them had aplete corpse .

 Chapter 486

    Chapter 486: 486

    Seeing that everyone had died a quick death, Xue Wei heaved a heavy sigh of relief . After looting and burning the corpses, he gestured for his friends, and all of them changed their location from where they had been hiding in ambush for a long time to another part of the forest, where they would put up another kind of ambush .

    Before, the patrols had walked through a specific pattern, and thus they were simple to ambush at the same location, but now there would be no more patrols; they would enter the forest in an attempt at finding the culprits behind the disappearance of the patrols .

    Their new ambush ce was located closer to the camp, and they waited for the people toe here .

    ording to Lan, when the chaos ensued, they would not send everyone out at once, but dispatch a few stronger teams with the purpose of locating the men who had gone missing .

    These teams would be sent out one after another, and thus Xue Wei would have time to deal with each team as he wanted .

    After the first group would have vanished, and the second and third groups would also have gone missing, it was clear that they would change their strategy .

    Xue Wei never doubted what Lan had told him, and thus he was nning their next moves from his words .

    As they waited, they saw a group appearing with bigger numbers than what the patrols had . The people in this group were all alert, and their hands were tightly gripping their weapons .

    They clearly knew that the patrols had not returned, and were sent out to find traces of the missing soldiers, and to preferably capture the culprits .

    Unfortunately, the military leader of the base had severely underestimated Xue Wei and his friends . The team he had been sent out was stronger than the patrol, but not by much . It just had more people in the team, and while it was true that having more people meant that it would be more likely that someone would manage to escape if they encountered any opposition .

    All of them were quite ruthless, and they were looking at the people in front of them as if they were looking at walking corpses .

    Xue Wei snickered when he saw their expressions, and he shook his head . Waving his hand, all of them, himself included, attacked the new group of soldiers from the Xiyang Continent .

    The soldiers were shocked when they saw lights from various skills and abilities raining down upon them .

    Raising their weapons, they met the attacks head on, their eyes glistening with slight panic as they felt how powerful the attacks were, and they stumbled a few steps back .

    Looking at the six people who had appeared in front of them, their faces, which had been full of panic, rxed slightly, and they snickered . So there were merely six people . How could they have been scared of such a small group when they had more than double their numbers?

    If the group had sent someone back to announce their findings to the base, then maybe the Xue Wei group would be unable to stop them, and their situation would be much more dangerous .

    However, they looked down on Xue Wei and his friends, and thought that killing them was as simple as killing a chicken . They had forgotten that in their initial sh, it was them who had been forced backward .

    Xue Wei heaved a sigh of relief when he saw how they had no intention of sending someone back, and wanted to fight together to kill them .

    Luoluo was also grinning . She knew that she was being looked down upon, and she was getting angry, her hands were ying with a few icicles, and her eyes were focused as she observed the people .

    Xue Wei was holding a sword in his hand, the sword was gleaming in the light that shone down from the gaps in the tree crowns .

    Lan snorted with amusement . These people from the Xiyang Empire were quite dumb . Xue Wei and his friends had already removed four patrols without any of them sustaining any injuries, and now they were attacking their group head on, but these Xiyang soldiers still felt as if they held the upper hand .

    Lin Xiao also held a slight smile on his face, but Hei Gou had no more patience and threw himself at the people . He held the ws on his hands and shed at the people standing in front of them .

    These people were shocked by the speed with which Hei Gou was moving, and they retreated rapidly, but two had been cut so heavily that open gashes appeared on their chests . Blood was flooding out, not only from the wounds but also from the mouths .

    One of them lost his life after trying to breathe for a few moments while the other tried hanging on, but he did notst long either as Bai Tianyi waved his hand, and a spiritual energy sword impaled his chest, causing him to copse and die .

    The Xiyang soldiers were shocked by the speed they had used to kill them, and now they started to fear that something was wrong . Was this a group of youngsters as they seemed to be? How could they possibly be so powerful?

    Xue Wei waved his hand and joined the battle like the others, a thick purple lightning bolt made from Qi erupted from his hand and sprung at one of his targets, making the young man who got hit, turn into a crisp corpse . The stench of burnt human flesh permeated through the air, and the others got nauseous when they saw how fast he had turned into a grilled chicken .

 Chapter 487

    Chapter 487: 487

    The ns were going smoothly; in fact, they were so smooth that all of them were extra alert, worried that the Xiyang soldiers had nned it .

    However, no matter how much they expected someone to ambush them, no matter how alert they were, the forest waspletely silent, and no one appeared to deal with them .

    After looting the corpses, and burning them to ashes, Xue Wei looked at his friends, and a sinister smile spread on his lips before he looked all around him .

    "I would imagine that more teams should have been sent out, so it is time for us to begin hunting . "

    The others were ecstatic when hearing that Xue Wei finally wanted to begin hunting the soldiers, and their hands were itching for a proper fight . So far, they had been ambushing their targets, and while this was necessary to ensure a swift and soundless method to kill their opponents, they did not feel their strength increase from gathering such easy kills .

    But right now, the battle was in a rather tense period . They needed to fight a whole base by themselves, and thus they had to clean up as many groups they could find, and as effortlessly as possible .

    Lan had no interest in interfering . He would step in at the veryst moment, when they could no longer hold on, and when their bodies would be riddled with wounds, but he would not step in if he thought they could hold on, even if they had broken bones or serious injuries .

    They were here to improve their strength, and if they knew that he would save them, the purpose of their fighting would be lost .

    The group snuck through the forest . They were cautious and moved slowly . They observed their surroundings, and listened to all the sounds around them, in case someone else was closing in on them .

    Bai Tianyi and Luoluo had their spiritual energy billowing out of their minds, shrouding them and their surroundings to ensure that no ambush was waiting for them .

    But although they knew that they could search the surroundings with their spiritual energy, they were also aware that if they met someone stronger, that person would be able to hide their presence and inflict them with severe damage, so none of them rxed .

    They had walked for a few moments before they finally came across a group of people . These experts were also on high alert . They were observing their surroundings with high vignce . The only reason they overlooked Xue Wei and his group was because they had no one as proficient in spiritual energy as Luoluo and Bai Tianyi .

    Knowing that the group of people was heading straight for them, Xue Wei gestured for his friends to hide in the bushes and the tree crowns, and he too proceeded to hide himself in a ce where he could not be seen .

    By the time the group made it to their ce, they were still on high alert, but they had not noticed Xue Wei and the others, as they had been shrouded by Luoluo and Bai Tianyi with spiritual energy .

    They waited for the opportune moment, and just as they arrived in their midst, all of them jumped down, their attacks shining in the twilight, their eyes cold and murderous, and their lips curled into sinister smiles .

    The Xiang experts were shocked beyond belief . Although they had been on high alert, they had not expected someone to jump at them like this .

    Clearly, their scout had not sensed them, so they had to have appeared out of nowhere, the realization causing them to be stunned and scared .

    But even so, they were seasoned warriors, and they knew how to react when under pressure .

    They wielded their weapons skillfully, and their Qi sprung from their hands, their eyes solemn, but no panic could be seen within them .

    When seeing this, the smiles on Xue Wei and his friends grew increasingly menacing . They were ecstatic to have encountered a group of true warriors . They had to be part of the elite of the military base, and encountering them meant that they could finally disy their abilities to the fullest .

    Forbidden Rush!

    Kick of the Raging Tempest!

    Xue Wei activated his movement technique . It was amongst the first techniques he had learned long ago from his heritage ring, but it had never let him down . Although the speed he could move with when activating the ability was not as much of a boost, as it was when he was weaker, every little helped .

    At the same time, because it was a technique that could be used as a beginner practitioner, it did not use much Qi, so keeping it activated was just a slight boost .

    Arge tempest of energy appeared at Xue Wei¡¯s feet as he executed the Kick of the Raging Tempest, and the swirling energy quickly dragged a few experts into the midst of the attack .

    The winds were razor-like, further enhanced by the Qi, and they soon had numerous cuts on their skin . Although they were sturdy cultivators, the wounds would not close, as they had been opened by a martial arts technique .

    Xue Wei was energetic and full of excitement as he saw one of the people rushing towards him .

    Devouring Fist!

    His fist connected with the approaching person, and he was knocked back, staggering multiple steps, before he looked at Xue Wei with horror in his eyes .

    Xue Wei was about to rush back to him and continue the fight when he felt a strange pain in his heart .

    He knew the origin of this pain all too well; it was the pain that came from the Monarch Piranha Flower .

    Although it was not making an attack, it was reminding Xue Wei that it was there . Its purpose was clear . It wanted Xue Wei to use the vines that belonged to it to absorb some essence blood in order to grow stronger .

 Chapter 488

    Chapter 488: 488

    Xue Wei was aware that these vines could not be used whenever . The vines were very useful and could end the entire group of people in mere minutes, however, the essence blood of these people would also end up in the body of the Monarch Piranha Flower .

    What it needed was strength . It had used up all the stored energy to try andunch an attack at Xue Wei before, and even more of that was used when it tried to poison him, so now it was recuperating .

    It wanted Xue Wei to help it recuperate by using its vines and allowing it to drink a lot of essence blood, but Xue Wei was aware that he could only do that if he was close to death, otherwise he was helping someone else with taking over his body, and he was not that stupid .

    But the strange difort he felt was suffocating, and he decided to use the experts that had appeared to vent his anger .

    Shattering Mountain Palm!

    Arcane Fist!

    Kick of Forgotten Kings!

    Xue Wei was like a killing machine as he wreaked havoc on the battlefield . He was reaping lives one after another without the slightest care for the opponents . His eyes were red, and his teeth were tightly clenched .

    Although he was feeling better by venting his difort this way, he still felt ufortable, his heart was aching, and he had no way to make it stop .

    The others frowned when they saw the grim expression on Xue Wei¡¯s face . He was not reveling in the fighting as he usually was . Instead, he seemed as if he was trying to vent something unpleasant, making all of them worried .

    They retreated slightly, and instead of killing the experts they were fighting with, they began just controlling them, letting Xue Wei kill them in an attempt at easing whatever difort he was feeling .

    Xue Wei knew what his friends were doing for him, and he felt a stream of warmth enter his heart, easing the pain and difort, and he calmed down slowly .

    Although it was ufortable, it was not painful . It felt stuffy and annoying, but he had experienced so many things throughout his life, that this heart ache was not enough to cause any real damage to him .

    When realizing this, he slowly released a turbulent breath of air and rxed . Calming down, he could slowly move on, and when he was able to exert vengeance on the Monarch Piranha Flower, he was going to make it suffer severely .

    Trying to cause problems for him, time and time again, was simply not eptable .

    Lan looked at Xue Wei and nodded his head in approval . The Monarch Piranha Flower tried to take over Xue Wei¡¯s body, but what the two of them were unaware of was that it was also possible to turn the battle the other way around . Xue Wei could swallow up the Monarch Piranha Flower and turn it into his own ability .

    Lan had not told Xue Wei about it; he wanted him to figure it out himself, and seeing that he was so alert when dealing with the Monarch Piranha Flower, he had great expectations that the young man would figure it out soon .

    It did not take long for them to deal with the experts, and even though they had sustained a few simple injuries, all of them were in a brilliant mood .

    They were smiling andughing while still on high alert . They robbed every valuable item from the experts and tossed the storage treasures to Xue Wei, who put them away . He did not have time to check the spoils of war right now .

    They quickly burned the corpses, and let the ashes fly away before they roamed the forest again .

    Luoluo and Bai Tianyi kept their spiritual energy spread out, and Xue Wei and the others observed the surroundings .

    Like this, they encountered multiple groups, and the longer they were in the forest, the more groups they encountered .

    Sometimes the noise of their battles would attract reinforcements, making the battles harder for Xue Wei and his friends . They were riddled with wounds, unable to get rid of them momentarily, even after eating the multiple medicinal pills that he had refined .

    The group had gathered in a small cave they had found . They were bandaging their wounds, and while Hei Gou had lost a lot of blood from a wound on his abdomen, the others were also sweaty and exhausted after running around battling day in and day out .

    Xue Wei could not help butugh when looking at them . They were the ones who had stirred up the ho¡¯s nest, and this was precisely their goal, but they looked embarrassed and like hunted dogs now . Their bodies were exhausted, and they truly needed rest .

    Xue Wei shook his head and looked at Lan . Lan, who sensed the gaze looked back, and he instantly guessed what Xue Wei wanted to say .

    "Sure," he said with a smile on his lips . "I will ensure that no onees close to this cave for the next day . All of you rx and go to sleep, leave your lives in my hands . "

    Before, the group might have felt ufortable doing so, but after spending so much time alongside Lan, they no longer felt ufortable around him, and they instantly went to sleep .

    Seeing their trust in him, the corners of Lan¡¯s lips curled upwards, and he shook his head before waving his hand, and a transparent barrier surrounded the cave . Now anyone who came close to the outside of their resting ce would only see a mountainside and no cave .

    Even if they knew that there was a cave, everything would feel like part of the mountain, and it would be impossible to enter .

 Chapter 489

    Chapter 489: 489

    The group slept soundly for a whole day . When they had arrived at the cave, it was dark outside, but when they woke up again, it was twilight . They had slept for a full twenty hours, and they felt full of energy again .

    Their bodies were aching, the wounds were still there, but their minds were much clearer than before, and they felt Qi and Spiritual Energy roaming their bodies again .

    Previously they had been depleted of strength, but now they could feel refreshed . They quickly found some healing pills that they ced in their mouths and sat down cross-legged and guided the energy through their bodies .

    The wounds on their bodies began healing at a rapid pace, soon the skin was back to its original state, and the dull pain that had been troubling them was gone .

    They stood up, stretched their bodies, and took a deep breath of relief . They felt much more refreshed and ready to continue their fight .

    Looking around, they found that Lan was seated deeper into the cave, his eyes were closed, and he was resting . His face had a healthy color, and he seemedfortable .

    When he felt their gaze on him, he opened his eyes and smiled .

    "I hope you had a good rest," he said . "I have some interesting news for you . "

    Xue Wei and the others¡¯ eyes lit up in excitement as they looked at Lan with curiosity .

    "You are aware that there is a King ranked expert in this base . Well, congrattions, you have killed so many of his men, that he has exited the base and began patrolling the forestst night, nning on personally putting an end to you all . "

    Xue Wei grimaced when he heard that, but then a strong urge to fight appeared in his heart . He wanted to fight against a King ranked expert, even if he could not win, he wanted to know how he fared .

    Lan looked at Xue Wei and saw the burning eyes . He knew that this youngster was eager to test his skills, and he did not decline it . Although he had experienced a slight setback because of the Monarch Piranha Flower, he had not actually met someone who was as strong as he himself, and thus he had no way of actually going all out .

    The King ranked experts were very different from Saints . They had spiritual bodies and were on the way towards bing deities . They were not to be underestimated .

    But Lan knew that he could keep Xue Wei alive, while still letting him try his hand against a King ranked expert and learning his own limits .

    Xue Wei did not know that Lan had nned on taking the King ranked expert as a training dummy .

    If he knew, he would be sweating slightly . Lan was truly heavy handed .

    After finishing the rest, all of them prepared themselves, before they exited the cave and began moving towards the forest once more .

    Their senses were on high alert, and they were extra cautious, knowing that a King ranked expert was roaming the forest .

    Every other patrol had been called back, so they did not have to fear getting ambushed by anyone else, other than the King ranked expert, but they also understood that this man was their actual foe, so they were both excited and nervous . Although they were arrogant, they knew that there was a vast difference between a Saint and a King .

    They were walking down an animal trail when Xue Wei suddenly felt an acute sense of danger . He dodged to the side, just in time to see a throwing knife embedded itself into the tree behind him .

    Xue Wei felt cold sweat soaking his back; that knife throw was deadly!

    "Well, well, well, so the ones who have caused such trouble for my military base proved to be a group of hairy youngsters . Although your strength is high, you are still merely Saints . To think you dare fight against my majesty at such levels, I do not know if it is bravery or stupidity . "

    A drawling voice sounded, and all of them looked towards it, their eyes widened slightly when they saw that a middle-aged man was standing next to a tree, leaning against the trunk . They had not sensed him before, so his sudden appearance caused them to be on high alert, but they did not panic .

    Seeing that they could keep themselves calm even when facing off against a King ranked expert, the man raised an eyebrow in surprise . They seemed genuinely talented .

    Lan was standing aside, looking at them all with interest in his eyes . He had never thought they would encounter him so swiftly, but it was not a bad thing . Now Xue Wei could let go and try his all .

    He raised his hand, and an invisible energy shrouded Xue Wei and the others without them noticing . The energy covered their internal organs and ensured that they would not die . However, they would still suffer greatly .

    Lan was aware of the differences between a King and a Saint . It was just time for Xue Wei to realize it also .

    Xue Wei smiled and felt happy; this was what he had been waiting for .

    Inner Might!

    A sword appeared in his hand, created from Qi . It looked like any other sword, slim and sharp, and the King ranked expert widened his eyes . What a useful technique!

    Both of them stared at one another, and Xue Wei looked back at his friends . He was afraid that they would be injured, but he knew that he alone would not be the man¡¯s opponent .

    "Back me up, but keep safety as the main priority!" he gave his orders, and the others nodded their heads . A tense atmosphere descended over the forest .

 Chapter 490

    Chapter 490: 490

    All of them were on high alert, their senses were heightened, but how could they possibly be more sensitive than the King ranked expert who had a spiritual body?

    Kick of the Forgotten Kings!

    Devouring Fist!

    Xue Wei instantlyunched an offense, his attack was lethal and aimed for the King¡¯s vital points, but the King just sneered and sidestepped slightly, causing the two attacks, and their gales of energy, to bypass him .

    Sensing that these attacks were useless to this King, Xue Wei¡¯s face turned grim, but he did not give up . Although the attacks contained a lot of his strength, they were not hisplete ability . He was still in his human shape, and he had not used any of his elemental energies yet .

    Xue Wei smiled wryly . It seemed that this was going to be a tough fight, and injuries should not be able to be avoided, but he was not too worried about himself . Instead, he was full of worry for his friends .

    Xue Wei gripped the Qi sword in his hand andunched another attack . This time he was using the thunder and wood Qi, merging them together, and his attacking power increased drastically .

    Twenty-Seven-Layer Azure Sword!

    This was amongst his strongest attacks while still in human shape, and he unleashed wave after wave of sword energy merged with elemental Qi at the King .

    The King raised an eyebrow in surprise; this was indeed a rather good attack . If he were still a Saint, it would likely reap his life, but he was a King now; this attack, although stronger than the previous ones, did not pose too much danger to him .

    The King reached out his hand, and he grasped the energy waves that were approaching him . He clenched his hand, and the wave was crushed, the energy leaking to every side, and not causing any damage to him, apart from a slight cut on his hand, where a few drops of blood oozed out .

    Azure Dragon Full Transformation!

    Xue Wei understood that as long as he relied on his human shape, he would never be able to deal with this man . His body began sprouting scales, growing in size; his fingers turned into ws, and his eyes became vertical slits .

    The King ranked expert was surprised when he saw this . He was an upper ranked expert in the Xiyang Continent, so naturally, he knew about the four ns of the Sovereign Beasts, and the Azure Dragons were the most mysterious amongst them all .

    It was said that they were extinct, and that they could not be found, but now one of them had appeared in front of him .

    The King ranked expert narrowed his eyes with a grin . He had lost his killing intent; he was looking at Xue Wei with greed instead .

    The Sovereign Beasts were selling well in the Xiyang Continent . Although they could not be tamed yet, they could be used as a means to show off their strength and fame . Anyone who owned a Sovereign Beast was amongst the top of the upper ss, but so far, the only Sovereign Beasts they could own were the Vermilion Birds, which were of the lower bloodline purity .

    Now, an Azure Dragon had appeared in front of him; he would be an idiot not to capture him and sell him .

    But it was clear that this man was arrogant and prideful . He would never allow himself to get caught, so the King began to counterattack .

    He did not dare use any of his martial arts techniques, as he feared that they would simply kill him or cripple him . He thrust out a fist, ready tond it on Xue Wei¡¯s shoulder de, but Xue Wei, who was now a big dragon, was not so easy to attack

    Life Scale Shield!

    A green shield appeared around him, blocking the fist thrown his way, but while it could block it once or twice, the third time the King mmed his hand into the shield, it cracked and copsed .

    Xue Wei¡¯s eyes were solemn . He sent a quick nce at Lan, and the deity instantly understood what he wanted to say .

    "All of you stay with me," he said to Xue Wei¡¯s friends, not letting them advance to try and save Xue Wei .

    "I will keep him alive, but if you guys also try to join in on the fun, he will be even less likely to focus on the fight . Right now, he has to learn his limits, so the rest of you stay here with me and do not move . "

    Hei Gou¡¯s hands were tightly clenched, but he nodded his head with a heavy mind . He understood that this battle was necessary for Xue Wei, but he had a bad feeling about it .

    Luoluo¡¯s face was also pale, and she was biting her lower lip in distress . She could feel the energy fluctuations easily, and the energy that Xue Weimanded was mighty, but next to the King, it was truly insignificant .

    While Xue Wei wasmanding energy, the King aura felt as if the entire nature was aiding him in his attacks, and he was not even using any martial art techniques .

    The King ranked expert¡¯s fist connected with the scales on Xue Wei¡¯s body, and while the scales were sharp like razors, they did not manage to provide much protection .

    Scales cracked, and blood began oozing out of Xue Wei¡¯s body, but he refused to give up .

    He looked at the King ranked expert with furious eyes, and he refused to sumb even when he was faced with overwhelming strength .

 Chapter 491

    Chapter 491: 491

    Xue Wei was a proud Son of the Heavens . He did not regret his decision to fight with the King ranked expert, but he was starting to understand that there was a whole world of difference between the Saint and the King ranks .

    Xue Wei felt how his body was aching . Many of his scales were shattered, the blood that was streaming down his body dyed the azure scales in a dark red color, and his eyes, which had been clear and beautiful, were now in a haze .

    The pain managed to make him clear-minded, but he also understood that he could not fight against a King ranked expert . Even so, he would not give up before he had managed to at least put up a battle that he could be proud of .

    He knew that he would not die . Lan was present, and as long as he was by his side, he could fight with all the abilities he had at his disposal . Although he would be severely injured, he would be able to survive .

    As long as he could maintain his life, Xue Wei became increasingly courageous . He had wanted to see what his limits were, so he had to give it his all this time .

    He started gathering his energy, creating a Devouring Azure Dragon from his Qi, and infused it with a bit of his essence blood .

    The Devouring Azure Dragon was merely a copy of Xue Wei himself, it was a copy that could move on instinct, and attack with the same ferocity as Xue Wei, but its only w was theck of intelligence .

    Xue Wei would not usually use the Devouring Azure Dragon that was fueled by his essence blood . Essence blood was not like normal blood . While it could be replenished, it took a lot longer to restore than normal blood, and it could not be boosted by consuming pills .

    But right now, it was important to do his utmost to fight this King ranked expert, and thus he was doing everything in his power to put up a brave fight .

    At the same time, his friends were also nervously standing by the side . All of them were worried, and whenever Xue Wei received an injury, their own hearts would hurt in response .

    But they also understood that things would be worse, for both him and themselves, if they stepped in and tried to save him .

    And although Xue Wei was being tortured by the King ranked expert, he was learning a lot, and he was getting a good grasp of his own strength .

    This was the real benefit from the fight, to know where his own limitsy .

    Sky¡¯s Judgement!

    Windwolf Sword sh!

    Qi mestrike!

    Deadly Whispers!

    Psychic Wrath!

    Xue Wei was using a wide variety of attacks . Some were spiritual energy attacks while others depended on Qi . The Sky¡¯s Judgement was further enhanced by his Lightning Elemental Qi, and the Qi mestrike by the Vermilion Bird me .

    However, no matter how many attacks Xue Wei rained down on the King ranked expert, he could not defeat him; all he did was to cause superficial wounds to appear on his body .

    In fact, Xue Wei should have been quite proud of his ability to even cause slight wounds to appear . Usually, a Saint would never be able to injure a King, due to the difference between a mortal and a spiritual body, but Xue Wei had caused him to bleed a few times . The more aggressive Xue Wei was, the more greedy the King became .

    This Sovereign Beast was not to be belittled; he was ferocious and strong, proud and fiery . He would be a perfectpanion, if they somehow found a way to tame him .

    Xue Wei could guess the thoughts of that King, and he was infuriated . He would rather die than sumb to someone like this person, and the anger spurred him on to unleash even more ferocious attacks .

    But the King was not just letting Xue Wei attack, he was returning the strikes with his own fists and kicks, causing Xue Wei¡¯s bones to break, his scales to shatter, and his blood to flow .

    Xue Wei¡¯s movements were fierce initially, but the more wounds he gained, the slower his movements became, and his expression looked even more strained .

    Eventually, he could no longer move . He was lying on the ground, drenched in his own blood, his body full of wounds, but unwilling to give up . His eyes were unyielding, and the King was surprised . Even when his body was broken like this, he refused to yield . This was an unbreakable spirit, but he was not at all pleased with it .

    Lan looked at Xue Wei, who was copsed on the ground and sighed . He felt that Xue Wei was indeed a capable person; even in the face of agony and pain, he never backed down . Only now, when his body could no longer move, did hey down, even though his eyes still kept that unyielding spark within them .

    This was the kind of person that could change a world . Lan saw hope within those unyielding eyes, and his lips curled into a smile .

    Just as the King was about to deal the final blow, he stepped forward and waved his hand .

    No one noticed precisely what happened; it was too fast for the naked eye to see . However, the person ying around with Xue Wei, torturing and taunting him, was turned into a bloody mist .

    Everyone¡¯s eyes widened in shock . They knew that Lan was strong, he was a deity after all, but to think that he could finish a King ranked expert with a mere wave of his hand . This was truly making them understand the difference in their strength .

 Chapter 492

    Chapter 492: 492

    Xue Wei had been conscious although his body had copsed, but upon seeing the King ranked expert explode into a bloody mist, he finally lost the will to stay awake, and his body entered a deepa .

    Sensing that he finally passed out, Lan could only shake his head in admiration . Xue Wei had held on for much longer than he had expected, and he now felt a shred of genuine respect and admiration for this young man .

    Even when he was severely injured, and his body was copsing beneath him, he had the energy to stand up again, based solely on his strong willpower .

    "Let us return to the cave . " Now that Xue Wei was in aa, Lan took over the job of ordering the others around, but none of them felt a need to question his authority . If not for him, then Xue Wei would have been dead now, and his strength had indeed subdued them . Their respect for him came from deep within their hearts .

    Hei Gou and Lin Xiao both carried Xue Wei back to the cave where they had rested before . They were inwardly anxious .

    The King ranked expert had been killed by Lan, and by doing so, it made it the ideal time tounch an attack at the base, but Xue Wei was in a horrible situation, so they could not attack now .

    As they arrived at the cave, Lan rolled up the sleeves of his robe and went to Xue Wei¡¯s side .

    The others observed everything with bated breaths . They did not stop Lan, because they knew that he would never harm Xue Wei, but they were unsure of what his ns were .

    However, Lan was an Overlord . He was a creature at the very top of the power levels within this universe, and thus he had abilities that others did not .

    He also had some healing abilities, and while it was not his strongest skills, the sheer difference in their strength made it so that treating Xue Wei¡¯s injuries was child¡¯s y to him .

    The only thing he could not heal was the strain that Xue Wei had received mentally . While his body was being repaired under Lan¡¯s gentle energy, his mind had seeped into a deep sleep, trying to repair itself .

    The broken bones were slowly mended, the blood was slowly regenerating, and his face, which had been pale as a sheet, was slowly gaining color again .

    The others heaved a deep sigh of relief when they saw how Xue Wei¡¯s body was being mended, but they could not help but nce at Lan, wondering if he had used up arge amount of his energy .

    However, Xue Wei was as weak as an ant next to Lan, and thus it was no problem at all for him to heal him . Even if he had been a deity, the healing would still not have been problematic .

    "He will sleep for a day, and while he sleeps, we can adjust our mindset," Lan said as he looked at the others . He knew that they too had gained some insights after watching Xue Wei¡¯s fight . "When he wakes up, he will most likely have advanced even further than before, and thus we can move on to attacking the base . "

    The others nodded their heads solemnly . Even though they had lost theirmander, the King ranked expert, the base was not likely easy to be taken over .

    So they all sat down and began resting . Lin Xiao released the Luan birds from the beast tag, and they pped their wings in excitement .

    They had not dared to use them before, but now things were different . The fight with the base was going to require all their strength, and thus they had no other option than to let out these small creatures of destruction .

    Lan nced at them, and a snort escaped his lips . He knew that they had the Luan birds, but he did not like them .

    The original Luan bird that lived within the Ascended¡¯s Realm had been ced there by his father, Lan Feng . Although he was now very old, Lan was a very strange person, and he was still in his rebellious age .

    This was also why he had not wanted to see his Hui Yue, who was like an uncle to him . He would much rather hide away than to face the world that he had left behind .

    Hui Yue and Lan Feng had long since known about Lan¡¯s personality . That was why they had left him alone for so many years, but no matter how long they had waited, he had never returned home, and now, after more than ten thousand years, they had finally lost their patience .

    They were not here to force Lan back, they just wanted to know how he was doing, but Lan wanted nothing to do with them right now . He was ashamed to meet them .

    Lan Feng and Hui Yue had always told him about protecting his dear ones, but his Zhiqing had died in his arms .

    He was nning on visiting home after he found her in the ghost realm, but who knew when that would be . Unknowingly ten thousand years had passed before Xue Wei had been born, and while he now had some hope, he also knew that Hui Yue was too stubborn . He was not going just to ignore Lan¡¯s attempts at escaping from him .

    If not for the fact that he had already left multiple imprints of himself on the world, Hui Yue would have already found him .

    Sighing, Lan shook his head . There was no reason to think about all of that now . As long as they massacred the entire base, he had a glimmer of hope towards opening the gates to the Ghost Realm .

 Chapter 493

    Chapter 493: 493

    Xue Wei slept for a day, just as Lan had expected, and when he woke up, he felt as if his body, which had been on the verge of breaking down, was full of energy .

    His face was ruddy, and his mind was clear . He was clearly much better off now than when he had copsed, and he instantly knew that the one behind his fast healing was Lan .

    As for how long he had been unconscious, he was unsure, but he guessed that it could not have been too long .

    What greeted his eyes was the familiar sight of the cave where they had rested before . When he slowly stood up, he found that his friends andpanions were also slowly adjusting themselves, preparing for a battle that would include rivers of blood and carnage .

    Xue Wei stretched his body, and his movements woke the others up from their rest . The group was finally relieved after seeing him wake up, and when they saw his healthy expression, and the slight smirk on his face, they all felt relieved .

    Although they did not doubt Lan¡¯s abilities, they did not know for sure when he would wake up, and it had left them slightly worried .

    However, seeing him awake, and noticing the familiar glint in his eyes, they all put down all their worries and felt relieved .

    The group gathered together; all of them had a Luan bird on their shoulders, and a knowing smile spread on their lips .

    Lan was standing back, and he too felt a strange bubbling excitement grow within him . This was it; this was the chance he had been waiting for .

    If they could open the Ghost Realm this time, then the ten thousand years of waiting would genuinely be worth it!

    He had done what he had promised, he had protected the world that mattered to her, but he had never forgotten the love that he felt for her, and he missed her dearly all these years .

    Now that there was a possibility of things changing, he felt a strange sense of excitement and nervousness .

    What had happened to her in the Ghost Realm? Lan did not know how the Ghost Realm worked . Did they retain their memories, or did they lose them? Would his Zhiqing be able to remember him, and their time together, or would she have lost all memory of it?

    He, who was amongst the strongest beings in the universe, was frightened beyond belief whenever he thought of the fact that she might not remember him .

    But even if she did not remember him, he would help her restore those memories, and build new ones alongside her .

    What he loved about her was her personality . It was not only her appearance, and while he would be sad if she had forgotten him, he would not be devastated .

    He would stay by her side, protect her, and love her . But his worst fear was if she rejected him; then, he did not know what to do .

    While Lan was deep in his own conflicting thoughts, Xue Wei and the others were getting ready to set out . Seeing that they were preparing to leave, Lan let go of his thoughts . What would happen would happen, and he could not change it .

    Coming to this conclusion, it was as if a big stone had been lifted from his shoulders, and a breezy smile sprung upon his lips .

    Lan had wanted to be the one to kill the people in the base if that meant that the Ghost Realm would open . However, he had previously tried this approach, and while the Ghost Realm opened, he had no possibility of entering it .

    This was because he was not the Rule Breaker . To enter, the Rule Breaker had to be the one who killed the people, so Lan was relieved that Xue Wei was so powerful .

    They also needed to kill the people at a rapid pace, which was why he had wanted the King Ranked dealt with before they moved on to the base .

    The base was now onlyprised of Saints and lower-ranked experts, and they stood no chance against Xue Wei . As long as his staminasted, he would be an unstoppable death god who came to reap lives .

    The group stepped out of the cave and made their way towards the base . They did not hide their tracks or slow down; no experts had entered the forest as the King ranked leader had told them to leave the hunt to him .

    When they exited the forest, they found the base was in lockdown, but it was not difficult to break it open . While Lan was unable to be the one who killed the people, he was still capable of helping them deal with the massive walls .

    All he did was to nce at the walls, and they came crumbling down . The soldiers who had been standing on top were suddenly thrown into disarray, and the ones within the base became alerted to the approaching danger .

    Lan waved his hand, and a big translucent dome covered the whole base . No one would be able to flee; the only fate that awaited them was death .

    While most of the soldiers had decided to fight, a small group had indeed thought of fleeing . Not because they were afraid of Xue Wei and the others, but because they feared Lan .

    Everyone could sense Xue Wei and hispanions, but Lan was only visible when one looked at him . This gave them all a sense of dread; no one doubted his strength .

    Scared, they all felt their hearts tremble, but some of them were loyal soldiers . They would rather die fighting than submit, and a group of them charged straight at Xue Wei with their weapons raised high .

 Chapter 494

    Chapter 494: 494

    Although Xue Wei and hispanions were arrogant in nature, they were also aware of when this arrogance had to be packed away .

    Although they knew that the soldiers who were advancing towards them would not be able to kill them, they might end up injured if they were not careful .

    They also had to consider their stamina . This was not a standard battle; this was a small group of experts against a whole base full of cultivators .

    While they could overpower every one of them in a one on one battle, things were trickier now that the soldiers were gathered together .

    Xue Wei did not instantly transform into an Azure Dragon, nor did he turn into a Vermilion Bird . While he knew that his stamina and attack power was increased when taking one of these two forms, he was also aware that these forms could not be used indiscriminately .

    While they were stronger than the ordinary human body, and the stamina was greater, the Qi usage was also greater than in his normal body .

    As long as he could depend entirely on brute force to crush the others, then the Azure Dragon form was without a doubt the best option . However, to defeat the army experts, he was aware that he had to use Qi, and thus he decided against transforming .

    When his stamina could no longer keep up, or if the experts became too numerous, then he would take the chance to turn into an Azure Dragon, but for now, it was still manageable .

    Luoluo flickered her wrist, and the giant icy Mingshe appeared, with blue eyes filled with a dangerous glint, coiling around her like a protective armor .

    This Mingshe was the heritage that Lan had left in the Ascended¡¯s Realm, so it was naturally not bad . Although it consumed energy to activate it, Luoluo had an almost unending supply of Spiritual Energy, and could provide it with all the power that it needed .

    She was the first to jump into the fight, ice arrows were being thrown from her hands with a mere movement of her wrist, and the ground had soon turned frozen, causing some trouble for the advancing soldiers .

    Not only this, but she was also aiming her arrows at the soldiers, and the unfortunate souls that were hit ended up frozen solid on the spot .

    The Mingshe legacy that Luoluo had gained came from an Overlord,, and the destructive damage that it could cause was overwhelming it was not to be belittled at all .

    Seeing Luoluo attacks, Lin Xiao smiled wryly . He would not let her attack alone, so he took out a staff from his storage treasure and wielded it with great affinity as he charged at the soldiers . While he did not have the same area of effect attacks, he could end the opponents with a mere ten moves .

    He used sheer power to defeat the enemies, bashing them into a meaty paste, and then moving on to the next, who were full of trepidation, but refused to give up .

    Hei Gou felt his blood boiling when he saw the fight in front of him, and he quickly found his ws, which he then ced on his hands before he too joined the battle .

    Hei Gou¡¯s battle method was known to be frantic . He relied on his beastly instincts to avoid damage and attacked in a flurry .

    His ws, which were sharp like razors and rtively long, were able to shred people to pieces, and he took delight in the feeling of shredding their bodies .

    Xue Wei did not want to waste time, so he conjured a sword out of Qi and threw himself into the battle, feeling the familiar rush of excitement as he killed one enemy after another .

    Only Lan and Bai Tianyi did not fight . They stood at the back, looking at the bloody battle with curiosity .

    "Are they always so bloody?" Lan asked, with a smirk on his lips . He, too, had killed numerous people in his life, but he found that this particr group of people were much more ferocious than he had ever been .

    While he had killed people, he had been as clean in it as possible, but these people seemed to want to create a mountain of corpses and rivers of blood .

    "The pleasure of killing is easily drowning them," Bai Tianyi answered casually . "It is a strength when considering their fighting ability, but it is also a downside since you might lose yourself in the battle . "

    Lan nced at Bai Tianyi with curious eyes . This little artificial sword spirit was not dumb .

    "Do you ever regret your choice of bing an artificial spirit?" he asked curiously, but Bai Tianyi paused visibly when he heard it .

    "You are indeed able to reach the apex of this world, and maybe even go further, but you have lost the majority of your emotions . "

    Bai Tianyi lowered his eyes and sighed . "Regret or no regret; there is nothing to change any longer . My emotions have been severed, and I have be an artificial spirit . I never understood that human potential is much stronger than that of an artificial spirit . However, this is a shortcut . "

    Lan nodded his head . "If we manage toe back from the Ghost Realm at some point, I can help you," he said while observing the ongoing battle in front of him .

    "I can not make you human again, but I can unseal your emotions . In fact, they are not severed; they are just sealed deep within . This is what happens to artificial spirits, but I can make you be a genuine one, just like yourpanion, Luoluo . "

 Chapter 495

    Chapter 495: 495

    Bai Tianyi nced at Luoluo, who was freezing people one after another . She held a slight smile on her face, and he could see the excitement in her eyes . It was clear that her emotions were active, so why was he so unlucky to be emotionless?

    While he was not totally emotionless, the emotions had a dampener on them, so he could not feel anything extreme, neither happiness nor sadness . It was as if he was an outsider to everything, looking at it from the sidelines, never fully engaged in the world .

    He had long felt a few pangs of envy towards the rest of Xue Wei¡¯s friends andpanions because they could let go of their emotions as they pleased, but he was unable to do so .

    To him, the offer that Lan had given was indeed very tempting, and he was instantly hopeful . But as always, the feelings were faint, and did not cause many ripples in neither his expression nor his heart .

    Lan looked at Bai Tianyi with a bit of pity . He understood that this sword spirit really wanted to unseal the emotions . Otherwise, he would not have any reaction at all, but he was unable to show it .

    "Once upon a time, I too sealed off my emotions," Lan said with a sigh . He did not care that Xue Wei and the others were battling; he knew that they would be fine even without Bai Tianyi participating, so he decided to speak with this artificial spirit instead .

    Bai Tianyi was interested when he heard the words of Lan, and he nced at the deity .

    Lan saw his interest, smiled, and continued talking . "When I lost Zhiqing, I was unable to handle the blow . I wanted to destroy everything around me, I wanted no one to be happy since she had died so tragically, but due to the promise I had given her, I knew that I had to guard the world that she valued so much .

    "To be able to handle the feeling of loss, and stay true to my promise, I sealed the majority of my emotions for a full two thousand years . It was not that the emotions became less; I just gained the ability to control them .

    "Even now, I feel the same heart wrenching sadness whenever I think about the loss I suffered when Zhiqing left me . "

    Bai Tianyi was thinking deeply . He was unsure why Lan had decided to speak with him about his experiences, but he was listening intently .

    "When your emotions be unsealed, they might be hard to control," Lan continued to exin . "You did not experience many emotions thest many thousands of years, so when they return in full bloom, your heart will clench, and you will feel that life is truly vivid . "

    Bai Tianyi nodded his head . He could imagine that it was so, and he was happy that Lan had made him aware of this so that he could prepare for it .

    While Bai Tianyi and Lan were engaged in conversation, the rest were fighting . Their Luan birds, which were still juvenile, were able to work together in a flock, and their abilities proved lethal against the ordinary soldiers .

    But although these soldiers were weaker than Xue Wei and the group, they dared not ck or rx . The sheer amount of soldiers in this camp was so overwhelming that they had to conserve everyst ounce of energy to deal with them .

    Initially, many had tried to run away, but Lan¡¯s barrier made it so that escape was impossible . Since they could not escape, the only other option was to fight for their lives, which resulted in all of them charging at Xue Wei and his group .

    Fortunately, there was only so much space around them, but the ground they were standing on turned into a mountain of corpses . At first, the soil had turned muddy from the blood spilled on it, but soon the earth could no longer absorb more liquids, and it turned into a river of blood that flowed freely from the battlefield .

    As the corpse mountain grew in size, many of the experts began pleading for mercy, but Xue Wei just continued the massacre . Strange energy began enveloping the corpses, and Lan, who had been remarkably calm, began trembling .

    His eyes widened, and he observed the surroundings .

    "Keep killing!" he shouted to Xue Wei and his friends, and they acknowledged the order, after which they sped up their attacks .

    More and more fell to the weapons in their hands, and the sound of agony spread through the battlefield .

    Lan narrowed the barrier so that the people had nowhere left to run, and Xue Wei was like a grim reader, harvesting lives left and right . Everywhere he went, death followed, and no one was capable of surviving .

    The dense aura of death that had surrounded the battlefield was growing in strength .

    Before the battle, Lan had specifically told Luoluo, Bai Tianyi, and Xue Wei that they could not touch the soul power that would be released by these experts .

    It was not that he did not want them to get stronger; it was more a question of whether or not the soul power could be the factor that made the Ghost Realm open up its gates .

    Xue Wei and Lan had not known if it would be possible, but looking at the current situation and the dense aura of death, both their eyes were glistening with hope .

    Xue Wei moved even more frantically . He knew how important this was to Lan, and if he could help him, he would .

    Although they had not always had a good rtionship, Xue Wei knew that if not for Lan, he would have died many times over, and this favor had to be repaid, not to mention, they were friends now .

 Chapter 496

    Chapter 496: 496

    Xue Wei continued to kill indiscriminately . He was ruthless, as he knew that if the tables had been turned, then he would have died miserably .

    Not to mention, these lives seemed to be triggering the gate to the Ghost Realm .

    The soldiers felt despair . They knew that escape was impossible, but looking at the situation, they could not fight back either . These youngsters were like devils that had climbed out from hell .

    They all held sinister and wicked smiles on their lips as they ughtered them and theirrades; there was no sign of pity or guilt in their eyes . Just how had these youngsters grown up to make them this ruthless and unfeeling?

    If they knew what Xue Wei and the others had been through, they might understand it more, but they did not know, and since they were dying, they would never find out either .

    Lan was also ruthless as he looked at these deaths . He was the Sovereign God of this world and he was supposed to protect it, but even though these people who lived on the world he had sworn to protect were dying like flies in front of him, he showed no signs of stopping it .

    In fact, a hopeful gleam could be seen in his eyes as he observed Xue Wei . The dense death energy was simply so heavy that everyone¡¯s movements had slowed, and their breathing had bebored .

    Xue Wei had ten experts left to kill, and a brutal gleam appeared in his eyes .

    He understood that the death energy would evaporate at a rapid speed, so to saturate it enough, he had to kill faster, to end lives as swiftly as humanly possible .

    And thus, he hesitated no longer, and threw some of his killing moves at thest group of people, ending them with a single strike .

    As the final death energy merged with the dense air, a tremor ran through the entire world, and suddenly a strange gate appeared in the air above the mountain of corpses .

    The gate seemed corporeal; it was not at all vague or hard to see; it was more than twenty meters high and ten meters wide . The doors were made from a strange ck stone, but there were hundreds of thousands of scratches made in it, and some of them even had the presence of dried blood .

    These heavy stone doors of the gate began creaking, and slowly swung open .

    Inside, a strange translucent being stepped out . It had a human body, but the head was that of an ox . In his hands was a big battle-axe, and his red eyes were ring at Xue Wei and Lan .

    He was about to say something when the red eyes widened in shock . "A Rule Breaker!" he eximed, and suddenly he moved . His movement was so swift that Xue Wei did not notice the action before the ox-headed creature was standing right in front of him .

    Lan could have stopped him, but he had to consider the options he had if he wanted to make a move . Fortunately, he felt no killing intent from the ox-headed man; all he felt was curiosity .

    The ox-headed man had been guarding the ghost realm since its creation, and he had never encountered a Rulebreaker before . However, the Ghost Realmws had been imprinted into his soul, and upon encountering one, he knew what he had to do .

    "Rulebreakers are permitted to enter the Ghost Realm . Depending on the sacrifice made to create you, you are allowed to bring foreign entities into the realm with you, but the number of entities you can bring fully depends on the grade of your Rule-Breaking identity . "

    Xue Wei could not help but raise an eyebrow in surprise . So there were different grades of being a Rule Breaker? How was this estimated?

    "Your grade is seven, not bad, it is in the upper realms," the ox-headed man continued to speak as he was pacing around the confused Xue Wei .

    "With such an identity, you can bring up to three entities with you into the Ghost Realm," he continued and looked at his group of friends .

    Xue Wei was also deep in thought, but then he shook his head . "I am going to bring Lan as the only one . "

    Everyone was surprised by his words, but Xue Wei had already made a decision .

    He looked at his friends, his expression was solemn, and his eyes shed with reluctance, but they held a firm belief at the same time .

    "We have been together for many years, but I cannot take all of you with me to the Ghost Realm . Splitting up is not feasible, so you will stay here while Lan and I enter the Ghost Realm . When I return, I will find you all; Lan can sense you, so don¡¯t be afraid of moving around .

    "Also, the war has not ended yet, so give it everything you have, make sure to fight in every battle and advance your skills .

    "When Ie back from the Ghost Realm, we will leave the Xiyang and the Demon Phoenix continents behind and move on . I have a deadline for when I need to find Wang Xiaoyun, so we have to find the White Tiger and the ck Tortoise ns first . "

    The others were suddenly enlightened . Xue Wei did not bring them with him for two reasons . One of them was that he did not know what he would encounter in the Ghost Realm, and thus he dared not put them in harm¡¯s way .

    Another was that if he did bring some of them, those who remained in the Xiyang Continent would easily be targeted and might end up losing their lives .

    Either way, he would me himself, so the choice he had made was the most suitable one for them all .

 Chapter 497

    Chapter 497: 497

    Lan approved of Xue Wei¡¯s decision, but he said nothing . Although he considered them friends, they were not bosom friends who had to depend on each other to survive .

    They were entirely dependent on each other for survival, and their ties were closer than many families .

    Although he was their friend, he did not feel that such an important decision should be within his hands, and thus he stayed quiet and looked at Xue Wei as he gave his reasons .

    The ox-headed man was quite surprised when he heard that this Rulebreaker did not intend to bring more than one person with him to the Ghost Realm . One has to know that entering the Ghost Realm was a very desired opportunity, but he was unwilling to bring more people, as it would endanger those who were left behind .

    This was enough to make him understand that they genuinely had a close bond, and he suddenly began to feel interested in this Rule Breaker .

    He had never encountered them before, and thus he had assumed that they were inhuman . He thought that they were above all others, looking down on the masses, and did not care for friendship, but now he understood that he had been prejudiced .

    "Well, I have to get going fast," the ox-headed man said . "The death energy is draining away swiftly, so follow me now if you want to have a chance to enter the Ghost Realm . "

    Xue Wei and Lan did not have to hear that order more than once before they rushed to his side and stepped into the big gate that had started to grow dim .

    As they entered, an acute sense of vertigo suddenly hit them . The sensation grew increasingly ufortable, and they soon began losing touch with their limbs, but as they were thinking that something had gone wrong, they could suddenly feel the ground beneath their feet, and their vision cleared up again .

    What greeted them was a world very unlike their own . Everything was deste . As far as the eye could see, thend stretched on . It was even, and without the slightest hill or mountain in sight . All the nts they could see were a few dead shrubs, but even they were scarce on the sandy and cracked ground .

    The few shrubs they did see were all withered, and there was not even a single leaf on them, the sight making both Lan and Xue Wei frown .

    They were not too shocked over thendcking in lifeforce, but the shrubs showed that once upon a time, lifeforce had existed in the realm .

    What had caused it to change?

    The ox-headed man looked at Xue Wei and Lan; amazement shed by his eyes when he saw their ugly expressions as they stared at the shrubs .

    While he could not be sure, he could guess that they had taken the hints . That this realm had, in fact, once upon a time been alive .

    But although he admired them for noticing this fact, he had no interest in telling them the story behind their Ghost Realm .

    This was something they had to figure out on their own as they began their journey in the Ghost Realm .

    "Well, I have done my task," the ox-headed man smiled slightly as he looked at Xue Wei and Lan . He then raised his hand, and a small bottle resembling a gourd appeared in his hand . He shook it, and a few wailing sounds could be heard from within .

    Xue Wei raised an eyebrow in surprise . He had not seen the ox-headed person make a move, but from seeing the bottle, he understood that this ox-headed man was quite powerful .

    "I should thank you," he continued . "If not for you, I would not have managed to get my hands on this many souls . Although I am obligated to release them, I can still absorb some of the death energy surrounding them, and no one will know if a soul or two goes missing . "

    "You consume souls?" Xue Wei was not sure if the ox-headed man would answer his question, but he still asked .

    Surprisingly enough, the ox-headed man beganughing when he heard the question, and then he nodded his head generously . "Not only do I consume souls, everyone within the Ghost Realm consumes souls . The cultivation method of us souls is to consume each other to gain more strength . Weaker souls get consumed, while stronger souls be ghosts . This is also why this is called the Ghost Realm and not the Soul Realm . "

    Xue Wei and Lan were both surprised . They had no previous knowledge about the Ghost Realm, but this fact alone was enough to make them understand how dangerous this ce was .

    Even more worrying was that Lan¡¯s little lover had been in this realm for more than ten thousand years . Had she managed to be a leading ghost during such an extended period, or was she now consumed, with nothing remaining of her, but the memory within Lan¡¯s mind?

    Xue Wei noticed the pale expression on Lan¡¯s face, but he did not know what to say in order to make him feel better . After all, it was against his ethics to lie to a friend, and he could not, with a clear conscience, say that she was a Ghost by now for sure .

    The ox-headed man sensed Lan¡¯s grief, but he did not care . He had seen too much destruction and sadness to be affected by such emotions .

    Instead, he also sensed Lan¡¯s overwhelming powers, and since Lan was no Rule Breaker, he had to put some restrictions on this being .

    "You there," he said, "Since you have followed the Rule Breaker into the Ghost Realm, you need to give up your human shape for the duration of your stay, and also downgrade your strength to that of a King Ranked Expert . As you get more familiar with the realm, your strength will slowly return, but it will take some time to adjust to the death energy and the destends . "

 Chapter 498

    Chapter 498: 498

    Lan was at first surprised, but he quickly understood the reason . As an Overlord, if he was allowed to roam free in the Ghost Realm, then no one would know how the world could end up .

    However, if he allowed them to seal his powers, he would not be exceedingly strong, and thus he would be unable to cause much damage .

    Although he did not know much about the Ghost Realm, he was very familiar with the sealing technique that the ox-headed man referred to .

    This seal was not left there by the Ghost Realm itself; it would require Lan to seal his own power, which was also why he would be able to unlock it slowly after adjusting to the realm .

    However, although he could put the seal on himself, he would not be able to break it . Even if he encountered a life-threatening situation, the power he had sealed away would not be unleashed . This kind of seal was the most ruthless towards oneself, but it was needed in some cases .

    Lan squinted as he looked at the ox-headed man . He could imagine that if he declined, then he would be kicked out from the Ghost Realm, and thus he reluctantly nodded his head in agreement .

    Xue Wei was not too surprised . Even if it ended up costing Lan his life, he was not willing to let go of the final chance to meet his lover, Li Zhiqing, again .

    Although this meant that Xue Wei had one less guarantee to return alive, he was not panicked . He understood that while Lan could save him once or twice, it was not wise to put all the trust in another being .

    He did not want to be dependent on others; he wanted to rely on his own strength to stand tall, and if he truly got used to having Lan and his overwhelming power around, then if he suddenly vanished, wouldn¡¯t he be useless?

    The ox-headed man was once again amazed by Xue Wei and Lan¡¯s demeanor . They were not panicked or scared; they took things as they came with their heads held high, and with an inborn pride and arrogance which could not be concealed .

    He could not help but feel excited about what changes these two figures would bring to the Ghost Realm . Would they be able to adjust, or would the constant battle in the world consume them?

    He did not know why, but he felt extremely excited as he looked at them, and both Lan and Xue Wei felt a shiver run down their spines . It seemed that their trip to the Ghost Realm was not going to be simple .

    Looking at the ox-headed man, Lan did not waste any time . He cut his wrist, and blood began oozing out . He ced his finger on the wound and drew a strange rune in the air in front of him with the bloody finger .

    The blood from the finger was infused with energy, and soon the rune had been finished . It glittered with a malicious red gleam, and Xue Wei could feel a strong fluctuation of energying from it .

    With a flicker of Lan¡¯s hand, the rune shot onto his forehead, and the red light enveloped his entire body .

    The light increased in intensity, growing more and more overwhelming, alongside an energy ripple that made Xue Wei breathless .

    The pressure on the surrounding areas grew increasingly oppressive, Xue Wei felt how his body was starting to be difficult to control, and beads of sweat were forming on his forehead . He was beginning to feel ufortable, but suddenly the difort vanished .

    Lan, who previously had been a handsome man with blue hair and attractive eyes, had now be a small blue snake with four wings, a mingshe .

    The only thing that made it so that Xue Wei instantly could recognize him were the eyes . They had the same color as the ones of the previous Lan . At the same time, a veil of mystery still surrounded him, but the strength was much lower .

    Xue Wei would previously not have been capable of sensing Lan¡¯s presence . Whenever he wanted to speak with him, he would have to look at him in order to locate him; it was also important to have him within one¡¯s line of sight .

    If he was not in one¡¯s line of sight, it was impossible to sense him . However, now he could sense his presence . It was clear that the seal had been created sessfully .

    The ox-headed man nodded his head in approval . To see someone so decisive was quite refreshing, and he said no more before he turned and vanished into the air, leaving the two intruders alone .

    Lan and Xue Wei nced at one another . They saw the smile on the other¡¯s face and began walking into the distance . They had no aim, no path, and no knowledge of how to find Li Zhiqing, but they believed that in one way or another, it would be possible for them to seed .

 Chapter 499

    Chapter 499: 499

    The destend stretched as far as the eye could see . A fierce wind was blowing, which caused the sand to dance in the air .

    On the hillside, Xue Wei and Lan were resting . They had been walking for three days without encountering any ghosts or souls . Xue Wei¡¯s clothes had be weather-bitten by the rough winds, and both of them had been covered by dust and sand .

    Lan¡¯s beautiful blue scales had be dusty grey, and Xue Wei¡¯s attractive features were hidden behind a mask of grime .

    The three days they had been walking had been both leisurely, but also nerve-wracking .

    There was nothing to interfere with their advance apart from the rough weather, but they did not dare to trust the surroundings since they were foreign to the Ghost Realm .

    They did not know how the ghosts looked, were they corporeal or intangible?

    The uncertainty caused both Xue Wei and Lan to be on pins and needles as they advanced . They were also curious as to how the ghosts lived in this world . Were there cities built by them, or did they just roam around the world on the constant hunt for other ghosts and souls to consume?

    There were many questions and no one to answer them . Both Lan and Xue Wei were aware that everything they knew was based on their own world, and thus they could not know for sure whether or not this ce was simr .

    As they sat down, Xue Wei began looking around . The Ghost Realm was a heaven for cultivation . Due to the ghosts consuming other ghosts and souls to cultivate, no one tried to absorb the heaven and earth essence, causing it to be increasingly dense in the world .

    "The air is saturated with essence," Lan said as he looked at Xue Wei . "Heaven and Earth Essence will always be created no matter where," Lan Began exined . "This world has not had anyone consuming the essence for so many years that the atmosphere has be saturated .

    "When a world bes saturated with essence, it is the ideal ce for a cultivator to train . You can absorb energy with the slightest movement, and it will pour into your body to be refined .

    "It is the same as if you consumed a pill that increased your absorption rate, but without any impurities, as you might get from the pill, or any downsides . In fact, it is the purest and most beneficial way to cultivate, so you should use the time we are here to cultivate . Maybe you might even be able to construct your spiritual body . "

    Xue Wei nodded his head . Although he was excited, his facial features did not disy any happiness . He had long since learned that although there was a possibility for it to happen, he still had to fight for it .

    Especially when it came to a spiritual body, he was well aware that they wereplicated to create . They required one to shed their mortal body and truly step onto the path of bing an immortal .

    The King and Emperor ranks were where one shed their mortal bodies and became immortal . After the Emperor rank, one¡¯s own soul would have to break through into the God rank, and only then could one truly be considered immortal .

    Xue Wei was naturally looking forward to this qualitative leap in power, but he knew that it had to be done step by step .

    He knew very well that if he becamecent and just expected the King rank to drop on him, then he would never advance . They needed to find a suitable situation which could help him breakthrough .

    After taking a short break, Xue Wei rose to his feet again . Lan had coiled his body around Xue Wei¡¯s neck, and the blue mingshe resembled a beautiful scarf .

    The two slowly and carefully advanced in the dangerousnds . They were unsure of what to expect, but they were both cautious people . Especially now that Lan had sealed the majority of his powers .

    He was quite ufortable in his original shape . It was said that the wind was seen when the mingshe arrived, and that it had a voice as loud as a big bell . The mingshe was usually found in the mountains that were rich in jade and gold . It was also said that the mingshe guarded treasures, and the more Xue Wei heard about the mingshe, the more he felt that Lan truly deserved to be such a creature .

    He loved treasure . Xue Wei knew from a long time ago that Lan had a very vast collection of treasures, and that he had gathered them throughout his life .

    Some of them had been robbed from his father, others had been scammed from other people, and some had been picked up by sheer luck .

    The mingshe was one of the more auspicious creatures as they guarded wealth, and Xue Wei hoped that by being on this journey with Lan, some of his luck would rub up on him .

    The two did not speak while traveling through the vast deste terrain . It was not that they did not want to talk with one another, but the moment they opened their mouths, they would be filled with the sand that blew through the wind, and the feeling was truly ufortable .

    Their advancested a full eight days before they encountered another lifeform . Their eyes shone with excitement as they saw arge caravan traversing through the deste area in front of them .

    The caravan was not being pulled by any creatures, but moved on its own, causing both Lan and Xue Wei to frown . They could not help but wonder what kind of power was behind these carriages in order for them to move on their own .

 Chapter 500

    Chapter 500: 500

    The carriages were different from anything that Xue Wei had seen before, and even Lan was curious as he looked at this foreign vehicle .

    As to what type of energy drove it, they did not know, but Xue Wei could sense an eerie atmosphere around the entire caravan . Was this due to them being ghosts and living in the Ghost Realm, or had something happened to this particr caravan causing it to have the gloomy aura?

    "Why don¡¯t we try to talk with them?" Lan asked, and Xue Wei nodded his head absentmindedly . He was on high alert . Both he and Lan were aware of how dangerous what they nned on doing was, but they also realized that they could not just continue moving forward with no knowledge about the realm they had entered .

    They did not know whether or not they looked different from the Ghosts, nor did they know if they would be able to fight their way out of the caravan, in case things went wrong .

    Lan did not have his overwhelming power anymore; he was a mere King, while Xue Wei had not even reached this level yet .

    Slowly, but without hiding themselves, the two began moving towards the caravan . They hade fairly close when the carriages stopped in their tracks, and a middle-aged man came out from the first of the vehicles .

    He looked like any other human, with the exception of his eyes . They werepletely ck, there was no pupil, and the sight caused Xue Wei to feel a shudder run down his spine .

    He was not scared of the differences; he just feared about the fact that he did not look like this man might cause them some problemster .

    The ghost looked at Xue Wei and Lan . His brows were furrowed, and he was gripping a sword handle tightly in his hands .

    "Foreigners, what are you doing here?" he yelled, and Xue Wei, who was not too sure how to answer, looked at Lan .

    "Tell him the truth," Lan decided . They could not trick anyone and say that they were ghosts, but being honest was also risky .

    "The ox-headed man abandoned us on this deste ground," Xue Wei said as he looked around . "We have been walking for days, but you and your caravan is the first sight of . . . other beings that we have encountered . "

    Xue Wei was just about to say that they were the first sight of life, but he had managed to change the wording upon considering their situation .

    These ghosts were not alive, but they were not really dead either . They were souls who existed within the Ghost Realm, but as to whether or not they could exist upon leaving, Xue Wei did not know .

    The middle-aged ghost narrowed his eyes when he heard that they were dropped there by the ox-headed man .

    Everyone knew the ox-headed man . His name was Niu Long, and he was one of the guardians of the Ghost Realm . He was not easy to get along with, and his arrogance made it so that everyone feared and revered him .

    Why would he have brought two living beings to the Ghost Realm?

    The Middle-aged Ghost was not unintelligent . To have been able to be a ghost, he was naturally rather shrewd and powerful . He had instantly sensed the breath of life from the two creatures in front of him, and while he was jealous of the life force, it no longer held any attraction to him .

    Ghosts could not use life-force for anything . They needed souls to increase their strength, and since they were dead, the souls of the dead were much morepatible with them . A living soul might even do more damage to them than it assisted .

    While this meant that they would not be treated as food in the Ghost Realm, it did not mean that they would not encounter danger .

    Ghosts were much more ruthless than the ones on the surface world . They lived off consuming each other, and thus the constant battle and scheming against one another made survival a hard thing .

    "Come with me," the middle-aged ghost finally said after considering his options .

    "I will exin the Ghost Realm to you . "

    The man had decided to help them, not because he pitied them, but because the ox-headed man had taken an interest in them .

    The ordinary ghost had no way of knowing about a Rule Breaker, so when they looked at Xue Wei, they did not see anything special about him .

    The only thing different about him was that he had a strange but very beautiful blue snake with four wings by his side that seemed to have a weird temper .

    Xue Wei and Lan threw a nce at one another, and without the need to say anything, they knew what the other thought . Joining this caravan would be beneficial to them .

    Xue Wei and Lan headed to the carriage that was upied by the middle-aged ghost . They were quite surprised as to why no one else had exited the carriages to see them, but upon entering, they instantly knew why .

    Inside the carriage was a big image of what was happening outside . It disyed everything, including sound, and everyone within the carriages would have known precisely what happened as if they had been there themselves .

    The strange energy that the carriages were running on and the technology were utterly foreign to Lan and Xue Wei, causing both of them to be perplexed .

    The middle-aged ghost smiled when he saw their reactions . He had previously been quite curious about these two living beings that had suddenly appeared in the Ghost Realm, and their reactions made him even more interested .

    The Ghost Realm did not only take the dead from Xue Wei¡¯s native world, but they also epted the dead from many other worlds that had no contact with the Ten Courts of Hell, and thus it was incredibly vast, with many different districts .

    Seeing that Xue Wei and Lan were new to the whole realm, the middle-aged man began exining in detail about itsyout and rules .

 Chapter 501

    Chapter 501: 501

    "The Ghost Realm is vast . It is so big that you will have to rely on teleportation arrays if you wish to travel from one end to the other . The realm is split into four regions, and these regions are always fighting one another .

    "Each region is further split into counties . The Full Moon Region has ny-six counties; the Twilight Sun Region has seventy-three counties . The Blood Star Region has eighty-nine counties, andst but not least, the Endless Abyss Region has ny-nine counties . "

    Although there were only four regions, the number of counties showed just how big the Ghost Realm was . These counties were also fighting against each other to be higher ranked on the county list of the respective region .

    Some of the counties were even bigger than the continents back in Xue Wei¡¯s old world . The Ghost World was truly vast to house so many ghosts and souls . Even so, if not for the natural selection of only allowing the strongest to survive, thend would have been full to the brim with souls and ghosts .

    Xue Wei listened intently to what the middle-aged ghost was telling him . He understood that searching for one specific soul would be much more challenging than he had ever thought, especially since the ghosts and souls had no memories of the time when they were alive .

    The only way they would be able to recognize her would be if Lan saw her face, and could remember her appearance .

    Xue Wei did not doubt that Lan could recognize her appearance; it was just that there were so many ghosts . How many lifetimes would it take them to walk from one end of the Ghost Realm to the other, and even if they did not do this, how could they be certain that they would not miss each other?

    Arriving at the Ghost Realm, looking for one soul that might have been consumed was even more challenging than looking for a needle in a haystack, but they were not going to give up .

    Lan looked thoughtful . He knew how difficult it was, so he began considering what options they had .

    He had spent years alongside Li Zhiqing, and the two of them had shared the most intimate of rtionships . They were lovers, confidants, and best of friends .

    He had been an Overlord, so he knew what her soul imprint was like, and while he had never forgotten her, he also held a memory of how her soul imprint felt .

    Could he use this as a means to find her? Much like how a metal detector would sense the metal under the ground, could he then use the soul imprint as a way to determine her location?

    He was not sure how to do it . The soul imprint was locked inside his own soul . Taking it out would be much easier if he was an Overlord, but right now, he was merely a King ranked expert .

    He narrowed his eyes, hiding half of the cat-like pupils behind his eyelids, and coiled up around Xue Wei¡¯s neck as he was deep in thought .

    Xue Wei and Lan had a good rapport, and he knew that the snake on his neck was thinking about an easier way to locate the lost soul .

    Xue Wei left Lan to think about how they might be able to solve it, and he continued to keep the conversation going with the ghost that had taken them in .

    He had called himself Gui Mo . Ghosts gave themselves names when they reached a certain rank; before then, they just remained unnamed .

    Xue Wei was curious as to why he chose precisely this name, but he did not ask . Instead, he tried to understand the ghost realm better .

    When a person died in a world that was not connected to the Ten Courts of Hell, their soul would then end up in the Ghost Realm .

    When a new soul appeared in the ghost realm, all their memories would have been wiped clean, and they would be like a newborn baby in the world of the living .

    However, while they had to relearn everything that they had to know, they did not die instantly, but instead, they had certain instincts that told them to hide and bide their time .

    The atmosphere was not only full of heaven and earth essence; it was also full of death energy and soul power .

    Even the weakest soul would be nurtured by these energies and slowly advance . While they could not be considered genuine ghosts, some souls who had enough strength could even consume a ghost .

    The world was very different from the one Xue Wei came from . He understood that ghosts were apletely different entity from that of the souls .

    Although they were not considered living beings, they were not dead either . They were a mixture right in between the two .

    They couldn¡¯t give birth to other ghosts . The only way to be one was to die and evolve from a soul .

    Xue Wei was deep in thought . It turned out that although they could not reproduce, ghosts still had feelings, and that emotions such as love existed in this world of the dead .

    However, most ghosts never dared to be lovers unless they unconditionally trusted their partners, as it was seen that beautiful female and male ghosts would end up consuming their partners .

    Since the world was cannibalistic, it was hard to trust another person, but even so, the strongest ghosts all had partners .

    Another good thing about being in the ghost realm was that monogamy was the way to go . You could hardly trust anyone, so finding casual flings was not verymon .

    Xue Wei could not help but worry . In case this Li Zhiqing had managed to be a ghost, she would be so old that she would likely be an ancient and powerful ghost by now . What if she had found a new partner?

 Chapter 502

    Chapter 502: 502

    Xue Wei and Lan were both somewhat nervous, but they knew that they could not rush anything .

    The middle-aged ghost invited them to follow their caravan all the way to the next city, and then begin their search from there on .

    It was the capital of a region . They were in the Blood Star Region, and the county was called the Ice Flower County . This county was one among the eighty-nine counties within the Blood Star Region, and it was also the biggest .

    Although there was a constant battle within the regions to advance the ranking on the county rank, the Ice Flower County had been on the top for thest thousands of years . No one had been able to shake the glory and foundations that had been built .

    The caravan wasing from three counties away; they were moving from the Sunset County, towards the Blood Star Capital, which was the name of the capital city of the Blood Star Region .

    The Sunset County was famous for its Ghost Vehicles . The carriage they were in right now was one of those mechanic vehicles that ran solely on the heaven and earth essence .

    The Ghosts could not use this energy in order to advance, so there was an abundant amount of it in the air, and Sunset County had invented a way to let carriages run on it . Other items absorbed the essence and transformed it into energy that could fuel their machines .

    Xue Wei was curious about how it worked, but the middle-aged ghost was guarding the mechanism with his life, and Xue Wei quickly gave up his idea of understanding its intricacies .

    He was not willing to insult their guide, who was so kind and offered them a lift .

    The carriage did not have any windows; however, inside there was arge screen that was made from energy . It showed everything that went on outside the carriage on an incredibly life-like disy .

    However, there was nothing to see . Thend was deste . The carriages kicked up the sand, and the only shrubs that were visible were all dead .

    There were no signs of animals, not even insects . The Ghost Realm seemed too empty .

    Xue Wei and Lan had both reached a rank where they had transcended the human body¡¯s physical needs . They did not need to sleep, nor did they need to eat or answer nature¡¯s call .

    This was not something they usually thought about . However, while being in the Ghost Realm, they realized just how important this was .

    There was nothing to eat since the ghosts only consumed other ghosts and souls . While there were some water sources, ording to the middle-aged ghost, they were scarce, and they should not be used for drinking .

    The water in the Ghost Realm could poison a living cultivator due to the overwhelming yin energy within .

    Xue Wei and Lan listened to every word that the middle-aged ghost told them . They understood that their lives would not befortable while they were in this ce, but they would not be ufortable either .

    The middle-aged ghost also went on to tell them that they were not in danger when staying in the ghost realm .

    While they too had souls, these souls were within their bodies, and could not be consumed by a Ghost .

    While the ghosts were somewhat envious of their life force, and the fact that they were alive, they would not feel any greed towards them . They knew their position well and understood that they were already another being than living humans .

    Xue Wei found it extremelyfortable to speak with the middle-aged ghost, and even Lan was finding it fortunate that they had encountered this caravan on the way .

    While they were very grateful, they never lowered their vignce . They understood that although this ghost was telling them many things, they had no way of knowing if he was telling them the truth or not .

    However, as their journey advanced, their connection grew closer .

    The caravan would not stop, apart from when it reached viges . They did not need to pause at night as there was no need to eat . They did also not need to be careful of beasts attacking their caravan after twilight .

    The only thing they had to watch out for was bandits . Bandits existed everywhere, especially in the Ghost Realm, where cannibalism was the only way to advance .

    The middle-aged man was always keeping an eye on the disy that showed the outside, even when speaking with Xue Wei and Lan . He was never tired, nor was he unhappy .

    They had traveled for a few days, and up until now, Lan and Xue Wei had still not met anyone else in the caravan apart from the middle-aged ghost . However, a vige was appearing in front of them .

    It was not a big vige, but it still housed around five hundred ghosts .

    Xue Wei was shocked to see that although it was a small vige, a giant wall had been erected around it, and one needed to enter through a small gate to visit the vige .

    The middle-aged ghost looked at the puzzled expression of Xue Wei and chuckled .

    "This is literally a man eat man world," he began to exin . "Merchants such as myself are very suspicious . We need to ept a seal when we enter the city, making it so that we cannot attack their vigers, apart from self-defense .

    "The seal onlysts for a week, and after that week, we will have left the vige again . Each vige and city has its own seal, and the seal they draw on your hand will only work for you, and only within the confines of that city . "

    Xue Wei frowned . They had a lot of technology he had never seen or heard of before .

 Chapter 503

    Chapter 503: 503

    Xue Wei was puzzled when he found out that the Ghost Realm had so much technology, and the seals that they epted were quite harsh .

    However, at least they allowed attacking for self-defense . If even self-defense was banned, then it was obvious that no one would enter another city than the one they had settled in, and then they would truly be a backward world .

    Each city would be an independent country that would not interact with others, and as a result, their advance, both technological and cultivation wise would slow drastically .

    Xue Wei was somewhat puzzled . Was he also going to get a seal, and would these seals even work on him, since he was not a ghost?

    If they did not work on him, then he was not likely to be allowed entry into the city .

    If he did enter, and something went wrong, everyone would suspect that he was the culprit .

    There were many things that he needed to take into ount, but after considering for some time, he knew it was not possible to stay out of the vige .

    He had to enter the vige and learn about how the Ghost Realm worked . He had only been in the deste areas and the carriage so far . Visiting a vige would be good to slowly adjust to the more popted ces within the ghost realm .

    When they arrived at the entrance, a group of guards appeared from behind the gate, opening itboriously, and then went to inspect the inside of every single carriage in order to put the seal on each of the ghosts .

    However, these guards were deep in shock when they saw Xue Wei and Lan in the middle-aged ghost¡¯s carriage .

    At first, they thought that something was amiss, but their eyes widened in shock after observing them closely . Were these not living beings?

    Although all ghosts knew that some living beings could enter the Ghost Realm, it was not something that had happened before ording to their knowledge .

    At least, no one had experienced it before .

    "Stretch out your hand," the guard said after hesitating for a moment and furrowing his brows .

    Xue Wei nodded his head . He understood the seriousness of this matter and obediently stretched out his hand .

    A white gleam of light shone from the guard¡¯s hand, and a strange rune appeared on the back of Xue Wei¡¯s hand . The rune seemed to be embedded into his hand, no one could feel it when putting their hands on top of it, but when looking at it, then everyone could see it .

    The guard was looking somewhat hesitant . He had not thought that the rune would actually appear on the hand, he had thought that it would be impossible for Xue Wei, who was alive, to be affected by the death energy of the Ghost Realm, but it proved that he had been mistaken .

    Frowning, he did not know what to do . Looking at the rune, it seemed that it had been sessful, but how could he test it?

    If he made Xue Wei attack someone without it being self-defense, then his soul would shatter . No one would be willing to take such risks .

    And if it were truly a case of self-defense, then no one would be able to say anything anyway .

    As such, he could only hope for the best .

    "What is happening?" the captain appeared next to the guard, and looked at him with a questioning expression on his face .

    The guard looked as if he had found his savior, and he instantly exined what had happened, "Captain, there is a bit of a problem here . The carriage has a living human inside," he said . His voice was so low that no one else heard it .

    He understood that Xue Wei was a living being, but a living being appearing would cause chaos .

    Many of the Ghosts would be jealous . They were dead, and life as a ghost was not easy . Many dreamt of returning to the real world, returning to be alive, returning to a life where they did not have to fear getting consumed .

    The life of the living was only a rumor to them, but the dreams were still vivid in the mind of most ghosts .

    If a living being appeared, then chaos would ensue . Every strong ghost would look for him in an attempt at finding a way to return to the real world .

    They wanted to live again .

    They were not nning on stealing his life force . Everyone knew that it was impossible for a ghost to suddenly take over a living body, but they hoped to find a path back to the outside world .

    Xue Wei could not me them . The Ghost Realm was extremely dark, gloomy, and deste .

    It was a hell, a ce where you only had to fight for strength, and the strength only mattered for the sake of survival .

    There was no purpose in life, no actual enjoyment . While some tried to get the best out of it, time indeed went by slowly in the Ghost Realm, and many often sumbed due to the harsh nature of the realm .

    Themander knew that the fact that a living being had appeared was extremely important . He had to inform his higher-ups right away, but it was even more pressing to hide the life force in Xue Wei¡¯s body . He also had to mask his eyes somehow, so that he no longer had a pupil, but two big, ck eyes .

    Fortunately, although the Ghost Realm did not really have living beings, most ces had ways to change a living being¡¯s aura .

    "Please take the carriages to the Mayor¡¯s manor," the Captain politely asked the middle-aged ghost to drive to the most crucial ce in the whole vige, and naturally, the ghost did not decline . It would be much better for his business to obey the orders and go there .

 Chapter 504

    Chapter 504: 504

    Xue Wei and Lan were told to stay within the carriage all the way to the mayor¡¯s manor . While he could not exist, he saw the city¡¯s conditions clearly as they drove through the streets .

    The Ghost Realm, at least what he had seen so far, was deste and harsh . The city was not much better . The houses were dpidated, and it seemed as if they woulde crashing down at any moment .

    The ghosts were all wearing worn-out clothes; their movements were not energetic or full of passion, but slow and dragging, as if their life itself was a chore .

    The more Xue Wei saw, the more puzzled he became . What was the purpose of the Ghost Realm?

    It seemed pointless for this realm to exist . There was no pleasure, no happiness, nothing else than chasing after the strongest peak, and staying conscious for as long as possible, not allowing anyone to consume them .

    One has to know that Xue Wei was new in the Ghost Realm . He did not know much of how it worked, and he was very curious as to why strength had such an importance to them .

    The middle-aged ghost that was seated next to him looked at the focused expression on Xue Wei¡¯s face as he observed the surroundings, and a slight smile appeared on his lips .

    Xue Wei had many things that the ghostscked . He hade from the realm of the living to the Ghost Realm, and he had brought his storage treasures with him .

    While it would have been ideal if he was capable of stealing this storage treasure from Xue Wei, there was another strange thing for the ghosts; it was impossible for them to open storage treasures that did not originate from here .

    While they looked real, they were ghosts, after all . They could not deal with the rules of the living world, and storage treasures were amongst these things .

    As such, he could only hope that Xue Wei had some treasures with extreme Yin energy, that he could be gifted in return for helping them .

    As they drove through the vige, the middle-aged ghost also asked for some treasures . He was a businessman, and would never let any chance of improving his wealth escape .

    But even though he was somewhat pushy, Xue Wei did not me him . This man had helped them a lot and made them aware of what it meant to be in the Ghost Realm, so returning the favor was to be expected .

    He ruminated through his storage treasure and found two pieces of treasures . One was a one thousand-year-old blood ginseng; the other was a millennium-old ghost wood piece .

    He had many of these . They were widespread materials in the livingnd, but they were nearly impossible to get in the Ghost Realm, especially the blood ginseng .

    Ghosts did not shed blood, and there were no living beings at all here, so how could they create blood ginseng?

    These two treasures were ordinary, while only the ghost wood was full of yin energy, the blood ginseng was still beneficial to the ghosts as it was an evil object .

    The middle-aged ghost had his ck eyes widened in surprise . He thought he could get some rewards, but this was much better than he had expected, and a smile stretched on his lips .

    Seeing him so happy over such ordinary treasures, Xue Wei could not help but be somewhat surprised . Was he a rich man in the Ghost Realm?

    Just as he thought that Lanughed lowly next to his ear . "Youngster Wei, it seems that you are going to be able to bribe your way out of any situation," he said with a chuckle in his voice .

    Lan was aware that Xue Wei tended to gather resources . He had been doing so for years, and he had been extremely fortunate . He had met numerous lucky encounters, and gotten uncountable pieces of resources and treasures .

    Although he could not provide the whole Ghost Realm with resources, it would be possible for him to bribe an uncountable number of ghosts, mainly because their price was low .

    Lan, an unscrupulous profiteer, felt extremely relieved, and he had the urge tough . Still, he was also aware that if he disyed his extreme happiness now, then others would notice and realize that they were considered cheap .

    If it were possible to pay less, naturally, one would be willing to do so .

    Xue Wei and Lan shared a knowing nce before they smiled and returned their focus to the disy .

    They soon arrived at the mayor¡¯s manor, the carriages stopped . Many of the vigers had followed the caravan as they traveled through the busy streets .

    It was rare for merchants to exist in the Ghost Realm, and those who did were always wee, as long as they followed the rules .

    But to their immense surprise, a group of guards blocked them as soon as they saw the caravan entering the mayor¡¯s manor, their eyes full of doubt .

    Had theye to deliver some sort of treasure to the mayor? Xue Wei did not care about their thoughts . All he knew was that he was here to find a way to mask the trace of life in his body .

    He was not sure how these ghosts would do it, and he was on high alert . He was not willing to risk anything going wrong .

    While he was eager to mask his life force, he was not willing to do so if it meant bing a Ghost or damaging it . Life Force was what made him a living being; he could not risk endangering it .

 Chapter 505

    Chapter 505: 505

    It was not only Xue Wei who was on high alert; Lan was also observing everything with scrutinizing eyes .

    Although he had sealed his power, he held many advantages against others at the same strength . He had his experience and insight . He also had his abilities, even though their power had scaled down alongside the sealing of his powers .

    Although he and Xue Wei were aware that it was risky to allow the ghosts to mask their lifeforce, they also had a certain amount of faith in themselves .

    Xue Wei had an affinity with the lightning element, and he knew that lightning was the ultimate enemy of the ghosts . While this world consisted of ghosts as the only living beings, they were all known as dark and evil creatures .

    Lightning was pure and heavenly; it could strike any evil creature down, and was the nemesis of anything which was evil .

    Although Xue Wei¡¯s lightning would not make him unbeatable in the ghost realm, it was still a great assistance for him, and it would allow him and Lan to escape .

    Lan and Xue Wei disembarked from the carriage . They looked at the gates that had been closed, their eyes were solemn, and their muscles taut .

    If they encountered the slightest threat, they would fight back, but they soon noticed that the ghosts were extremely polite to them, and exined everything they did in detail .

    They had nothing living to try their mechanism on, but after exining it well, Xue Wei felt a lot more relieved . They were not extinguishing the life force within him; they were merely going to hide it by putting a token on his body that had an illusion inscribed within .

    This illusion blocked all traces of life force, and those who looked at them would see a ghost-like existence like any other .

    Their eyes would seem all ck, and their aura would be cold and gloomy . Their cultivation base would also look very different from their actual strength, but more simr to that of the ghost realm¡¯s cultivation base .

    Lan and Xue Wei were feeling quite good when they realized that they did not need to alter anything in their bodies, and that they merely had to carry a token with them, but even then, they did not let go of their vignce .

    Xue Wei epted the token . The wood it was made from was dark purple, and there was a pulse of energy erupting from it every second .

    He looked at the inscription on the token, he was not familiar with the runes, but they seemed to work in the same way as the inscriptions he had learned .

    Xue Wei felt cold energy shrouding him as he held the token . It was not ufortable, but it caused a chill to run through his body . However, it did not permeate into his body; it was merely the skin that felt the chill .

    Xue Wei was even more convinced that this token would not affect or influence his body .

    Lan was currently in a small version of his original shape, and he could not hold the token in his hands, but he simply coiled his tail around it, and it vanished from sight . Moments after, the life force within his body had also disappeared .

    Xue Wei ced the token in his robes and nodded his head . He then took out many herbs and resources that were heavy in yin energy, and handed one to each of the people present, while the mayor managed to get a handful of items in return for the two tokens .

    Both sides felt that they had taken advantage of the other . Xue Wei had so many resources that using a few was truly no difference to him, but the mayor was also quite happy because the tokens were nothing special to him, as everyone had a few .

    These tokens also had another use . They were illusion tokens, and could change the appearance of a ghost .

    This was their primary purpose; the side effect was that they would make anyone appear as a ghost .

    After looking at Xue Wei time and time again to ensure that he was the same as any other ghost, the mayor finally allowed the gates to open, and for the merchants to disy their goods .

    Xue Wei was quite curious about what the currency here in the ghost realm was, and he was quite surprised to find that they used a strange white substance that was being carried in cbash bottles .

    Xue Wei could not help but walk next to the mayor . "What is the currency here?" he asked with a low voice, and the mayor nced at the many wooden cbash bottles with the white translucent liquid within .

    "This is liquified spiritual liquid," he answered . "There are different mechanisms that allow you to either convert your own spiritual energy into this Liquid Spirit, or you can convert the spirits you are consuming into Liquid Spirit . "

    Xue Wei nodded his head . He could not convert his own spirit into Liquid Spirit, as he was not a genuine ghost, but he did need one of those mechanisms that could transform others into this currency .

    He needed to buy it, and thus he had to have something that could be exchanged first .

    "If you have treasures with high yin density, then we are willing to make a trade with you," the mayor said, a cunning light shed in his eyes, and Xue Wei smiled .

    Although he knew that the mayor just wanted to benefit, he was not against it . He needed something that the mayor had, and it was only natural that he had to pay for it .

    After considering for some time what to take out, he took out a Night Luminous Pearl .

    This pearl absorbed yin energy and stored a certain amount at a time, but as soon as it was used, it would begin to convert more yin energy from the heaven and earth essence . To the ghosts, this was a heavenly sent treasure .

 Chapter 506

    Chapter 506: 506

    When the mayor saw the Night Luminous Pearl, his eyes widened in surprise . He had guessed that Xue Wei had some treasures from the mortal world, but he would never have thought that he would see the thing which most ghosts lusted after all their lives .

    His hand trembled as he quickly looked around; however, no one was observing them .

    "Hide it quickly!" The mayor wanted this Night Luminous Pearl very much, but he was also aware that wealth could bring the downfall of a person .

    If others found out that he owned one, someone would steal it from him, and he would undoubtedly end up dead .

    Xue Wei had guessed that this item would be highly sought after, but he had not thought it would be this attractive to the ghosts . After thinking about the properties of the pearl, he understood . This was an unending fuel supply . No one would say no thank you to such a thing .

    Xue Wei had many of these Night Luminous Pearls . They had been used in the Ascended Realm asmps in the underground pce, and he had conveniently taken them with him .

    He had at least a hundred of them, and the fact that they were priceless made him rub his chin in deep thought . It seemed that he would be able to achieve their aim much easier by epting help from the stronger ghosts if he offered them one of these pearls .

    The mayor was unaware that the pearl he thought was one of a kind, was actually quite numerous in Xue Wei¡¯s bags . He quickly packed away the pearl in the ghost storage treasure, and took out a whole survival kit for Xue Wei .

    It contained one hundred kilos of spirit liquid, a ghost storage treasure, a machine that could convert other ghosts and souls into spirit liquid, and numerous small gadgets that would make his life morefortable in the Ghost Realm .

    Lan was saying nothing as he rested on Xue Wei¡¯s shoulder . He looked like an ornament, a machine, as beasts did not exist within the Ghost Realm, so no one confused him with an actual creature .

    As the mayor happily left, Lan squinted his eyes . "You have quite a few of those pearls, don¡¯t you?" he asked with a snicker in his voice, and Xue Wei nodded his head casually .

    "There were so many within the Ascended¡¯s Realm, how could I not take them all with me?" he asked .

    The conversation was calm, but if a ghost had heard it, it¡¯s heart would quake with fear .

    "The underground pce was full of yin and death tools . I assume you took those with you too?" Lan continued, and Xue Wei once again nodded his head as he looked at his surroundings .

    "I emptied everything everywhere I went in the Ascended¡¯s Realm, not one treasure was left behind . "

    "How fortunate . Someone less selfish might have left something for others to benefit, but that is quite a stupid way of thinking . These things might not have been useful for you when you took them, but aren¡¯t they extremely useful now?"

    Neither Lan nor Xue Wei was saints . They would do what needed to be done for their own progress, and while they would never hurt those who were kind to them, they did not care about others .

    So why leave a whole treasury for others? That was simply stupidity .

    "The merchant is selling all kinds of goods," Lan continued . "If I don¡¯t remember incorrectly, the armory within the underground pce had quite a few death swords that had been baptized in blood . Why not take one or two out, and trade them for a carriage?"

    Xue Wei pondered for a bit, but then he shook his head . "The caravan is already moving to the capital, and we have already gotten a lift the whole way . They said that there are teleportation formations in the cities, so do we really need a carriage?"

    It was not that Xue Wei was stingy, he just didn¡¯t see a purpose in buying a carriage, and when he argued so reasonably, Lan nodded his head, but moments after he shook it .

    "It is true that we don¡¯t need it right away, however, who knows where we have to go in the future . If we cannot get a carriage at that time, we will have to spend too much time walking . "

    Xue Wei began thinking about it . He had not thought that far ahead, and he slowly nodded his head . It made sense . "Then let us talk with him," he decided after thinking it through .

    It was no problem to store it, as he had both his own storage treasures, but also the ghost storage treasures . As such, it was just recing a few swords for a carriage .

    The two, Xue Wei and Lan on his shoulder, went to meet the middle-aged ghost . When he saw them, he raised an eyebrow in surprise . They had the aura and appearance of ghosts now, and he had to admit that the disguise was truly well made .

    "We are leaving tomorrow morning," he said . "You can do whatever you want to do until then . "

    Xue Wei nodded his head and looked at the goods that the merchant had ced on the table . He did not understand any of them, they all seemed extremely foreign, and he was curious about their purpose .

    "I was wondering if you are interested in selling a carriage," Xue Wei asked, as he looked at the many exciting gadgets .

    "A carriage?" the middle-aged man frowned . "I can sell you a carriage, but the price is quite high . "

    Xue Wei nodded his head in acknowledgment . That made perfect sense . Then he waved his hand, and three ck swords appeared in his hands .

 Chapter 507

    Chapter 507: 507

    These ck swords did not have the cold yin energy attached to them; instead, an overwhelming death aura shrouded them .

    It was clear that they had been drenched in blood for many years, and that they had killed numerous experts, bathing in their life force .

    Such treasures, although not as important as the Night Luminous Pearl, were still precious .

    It was impossible to find a treasure that exuded such strong death energy in the Ghost Realm, as no living beings could be sacrificed for the sake of creating them .

    As such, they were very valuable . With a sword like this, one would be able to enhance its attack power by a noticeable amount, and in turn cause extreme damage to any ghost that they encountered .

    Any merchant would happily ept such goods, and the middle-aged ghost was no exception .

    He was not going to keep them for himself, but they were heading towards the capital of the region, where they would fetch a good price . This was a ce where dragons and snakes were mixed together .

    The powerhouses were always looking for goods like these swords, and if he could provide them with such a rarity, then he would be paving a road to sess .

    The powerhouses would remember him, and help him out in the future, and his business would flourish .

    He had thought that Xue Wei would bring more yin energy rted materials, but when he saw the swords, his eyes looked at them with greed and happiness .

    Initially, Xue Wei and Lan had agreed on two swords, but Xue Wei changed his mind to three swords, as there were a few other gadgets he wanted to get his hands on .

    The two looked at one another, and then at the table in front of the middle-aged ghost .

    The middle-aged ghost picked up a miniature carriage and showed it to Xue Wei . "This is a travel kit," he began exining . "The carriage will keep this size until activated . It drives on spiritual liquid, and while it is rather fuel efficient and can travel rather far, it will be useless if you have no spiritual liquid remaining . "

    Xue Wei nodded his head and epted the small carriage . He quickly ced it in his storage treasure, and then he began haggling for the other treasures .

    There were many exciting things, such as machines that could allow others to contact each other over a long distance, and mechanisms that allowed one to make small scale teleportation formations .

    The middle-aged ghost looked at Xue Wei with narrowed eyes, and then he took out a few different machines from his storage treasure .

    "This is a machine that condenses water from the air . It is not very useful for ghosts, but you can have it . I heard that living beings need to drink water to sustain their lives . "

    Xue Wei was at a level where he could eat some fastening pills, and he would not need to consume neither food nor water, but it was always best to have such a mechanism with him .

    The machines that the middle-aged ghost gave them were all verymon . Some of them had a mediocre attack system; others had rather decent defenses .

    Most of them had auxiliary uses though . They did not assist in battle, but they were capable of helping him with his everyday life .

    Xue Wei handed over the three swords, and put away the many gadgets in his storage treasure before returning to the carriage that they had been traveling in .

    He was not very curious about the vige . He had already seen it when they traveled through; there was nothing of interest in it, no restaurants, and not many stores either .

    There was no reason to venture out of the mayor¡¯s residence, so he went to the carriage to talk with Lan . They had toe up with a way to solve the most significant issue they had right now . How were they going to find Li Zhiqing?

    Lan and Xue Wei were seated opposite one another . The blue snake had its wings folded, and its body curled up, but even so, Xue Wei could feel the pressure that was emitting from the beast .

    Although he had sealed most of his powers, he was still overwhelmingly powerful whenpared to Xue Wei, and this also gave him a certain degree of safety .

    However, they were not sure how cultivation worked for the ghosts . Until now, the middle-aged ghost had not been willing to go into details, so their knowledge of this topic was somewhatcking .

    "I have a way to locate her," Lan said after contemting for some time . "I have her soul imprint in my body, and I will be able to recognize her instantly when she is close to me . I cannot impart this soul imprint to others though . "

    Xue Wei had expected this, and was not disappointed . "We will have to travel the Ghost Realm for quite some time then," he said casually, but he was not too worried .

    He had around forty-nine years left to return to the Chang¡¯an Continent and meet up with Wang Xiaoyun . Although it sounded like a lot, he knew that it might take them longer if they had tob through the ghost realm, but he was still not dejected .

    He believed that they would manage, one way or another, and even if they failed, Lan would somehow help him send a message to her .

    Since he was here, he was going to focus on the task at hand entirely . He was going to help Lan reunite with his lover, and at the same time, advance his cultivation base .

    The Ghost Realm was gloomy and deste, but the air was so dense with heaven and earth essence that it was indeed a paradise for living cultivators . If he did not use this chance, then he would look down upon himself .

 Chapter 508

    Chapter 508: 508

    Lan and Xue Wei were resting in the carriage . They had alreadye to terms with the fact that they had to search high and low in the Ghost Realm before finding Li Zhiqing, and that there did not seem to be any other way to find her .

    Since they had to wait, Xue Wei began cultivating . This was a small vige, and thus Lan could envelop the whole ce within his search, but there were no traces of Li Zhiqing .

    While Xue Wei was cultivating, Lan was not just lying around . Anyone who looked at him would think that he, too, was cultivating, but he was, in fact, slowly unraveling his seal .

    In a way, it could be seen as recultivating his strength, but it was done much more rapidly than if he had to cultivate from scratch . Even so, it would take time .

    Lan and Xue Wei were both aware that although their strength could not be considered little, it was far from strong enough to walk unimpeded through the Ghost Realm .

    If Lan had not sealed his powers, then they could cause all the havoc they wished, but with things like this, it was clearly impossible .

    The time went by swiftly, and soon, the middle-aged ghost returned to the carriage . Seeing Xue Wei and Lan both deep in a trance, he raised an eyebrow in interest .

    All memories from when he was alive had been removed, and thus he did not know how living beings cultivated, so he sat down without making a sound and observed them .

    He could sense the heaven and earth essence pouring into Xue Wei, but he could not see what happened to it as it entered his body .

    Lan, on the other hand, did not absorb any heaven and earth essence . He seemed more like he was asleep, but from time to time, a pulse of strong coercion would erupt from his body, and while the strength of this coercion would usually be at the same level, he could feel a miniscule increase in the density with each passing pulse .

    Clearly, the snake was cultivating, and the cultivation technique was much more efficient than the one that Xue Wei was using .

    The middle-aged ghost continued to observe the two of them . He was not only a merchant but also an inventor, and he liked fiddling with small gadgets .

    Maybe he could get some enlightenment from seeing how these two cultivated?

    However, after observing them for half a night, he found no pattern . When Xue Wei cultivated, everything just vanished within his body . He was like a big ck hole, absorbing all the heaven and earth essence, and leaking no information as to what happened to the essence, while Lan did not absorb anything, but constantly released a terrifying force .

    Even if the middle-aged ghost was better at discerning things, he could not understand the human cultivation system at all .

    He knew that there was arge quantity of heaven and earth essence in the ghost realm . They used it as fuel for certain machines, but he did not know it could be used by living beings for cultivating, and thus he was extremely curious as to whether or not he could trade something of his for a cultivation technique .

    He did not know whether or not it would be possible for a ghost to cultivate in ordance with the living¡¯s methods, but he wanted to try . He did not lose anything from attempting to strengthen himself .

    However, he was not sure how to ask Xue Wei . He knew that it was somewhat rude of him to pry into their secrets, but he had a feeble hope that this guy might have a technique that he himself was not using .

    Xue Wei had been intensely focused on cultivating, but his focus was slowly being lost, as he felt a pair of eager eyes staring at him . It was hard to ignore them, and he slowly went out of his meditation state and opened his eyes, only to see that the middle-aged ghost was looking at him with curious eyes .

    Both of them looked at one another, both hesitating as they waited for the other to speak first .

    The silence turned awkward, and Xue Wei frowned . He was not sure what the ghost wanted, but he understood that it had to be pretty important for him to not even dare to mention it .

    "What can I do for you?" he finally asked, biting the bullet, and trying to start the conversation as soon as possible .

    The middle-aged ghost hesitated for a moment more, before he somewhat embarrassedly said, "I saw that you were able to absorb the heaven and heart essence . I was wondering if you had a cultivation method that you do not use, that you can sell to me for spiritual liquid?"

    The middle-aged ghost felt somewhat embarrassed by asking the question, but he truly wanted one of these cultivation methods to examine, and maybe even train in .

    Xue Wei was stunned when he heard the question, and then he frowned . Could ghosts cultivate like humans? He did not know, but he had been told that they had forgotten all their memories .

    Living beings were only entering the Ghost Realm once every era, and thus they had no way of producing the cultivation techniques . It was not impossible that they could cultivate using heaven and earth essence .

    Xue Wei had numerous cultivation techniques . During his many travels, he had picked up many books and scrolls from corpses, but also in the graves and tombs, and the underground pce had mountains of them .

    He contemted as he began scrolling through his cultivation methods in his mind, and suddenly a bright light shone on his face .

    He seemed to have killed an unorthodox cultivator once and stolen his goods . He had a unique cultivation technique that was extremely suitable for ghosts to cultivate in .

 Chapter 509

    Chapter 509: 509

    The cultivation technique that he had was called the ¡¯Death March¡¯, and it was a method that allowed one to refine Qi from the heaven and earth essence . However, the price one had to pay was rather grave .

    The technique would cause the energy that one refined to be oozing of death energy, and one¡¯s life force would slowly get corroded until one became an undead .

    This technique had never caught Xue Wei¡¯s eyes before, as it was quite reckless to harm oneself for faster advance . Although one¡¯s strength would rise, the price to pay would be incredibly high, but now that they were in the Ghost Realm, this ability was quite useful .

    If ghosts could cultivate, then this would, without a doubt, be the most beneficial technique for them, as it would not only provide them with Qi, but also death energy .

    Xue Wei quickly memorized the technique before he found a small jade tablet . He ced it at his forehead, and then injected the technique into the jade tablet . He was not going to give the original copy of this cultivation method away, but a copy could easily be sold to this middle-aged ghost .

    Even more so, because he would be able to test it for Xue Wei, and inform him whether or not it was possible for ghosts to cultivate . When he got this information, he would be able to n even better for their future lives .

    The middle-aged ghost was not aware that Xue Wei was giving him a copy . He did not know what these jade tablets were used for; he thought that this was the natural way of giving away a cultivation technique .

    However, even if he was aware that it was merely a copy, he would still be over the moon with excitement .

    He was a merchant, and he understood that one had to keep their cards close at hand . Giving away such a valuable treasure like this cultivation method was not wise .

    The merchant took a ghost storage treasure and handed it to Xue Wei in return for the jade tablet .

    Xue Wei did not open the bag, as it would be quite rude to check the money right away, but he could guess that the amount of spiritual liquid he had gotten from this transaction should be more than the one hundred kilos he had gained earlier .

    The middle-aged man had no time to waste on Xue Wei . He sat down and looked at the jade tablet in puzzlement . What was he supposed to do to activate it?

    Seeing his confusion, Xue Wei smiled wryly . The culture in the living world and the Ghost Realm were genuinely different . The things they considered normal were foreign here, and the weirdest machines were used here, which had never before been seen in the world of the living, were confusing to them .

    "You inject your mind into the tablet," Xue Wei exined . "Then, the information stored within will be projected into your mind . "

    The middle-aged ghost nodded his head . His face was solemn, and his actions very cautious as he injected his mind into the tablet . Moments after, the cultivation technique had embedded itself in his mind, and he could not forget it again, even if he wanted to .

    The middle-aged ghost took a deep breath . He was a ghost, but he had been a human once, and he had meridians in his body . However, these meridians had never been used before, and were blocked by impurities .

    The ghosts cultivated their soul . The bodies that they controlled were nothing special to them, and thus they did not care that their meridians were blocked by impurities that had gathered from not cultivating the heaven and earth essence properly .

    Looking at his meridians, the brow of the ghost began to furrow . He was not sure what to do now, and proceeded to exin the current situation to Xue Wei .

    Xue Wei was deep in thought, and then he said, "I have a Marrow-Cleansing pill .

    "The Marrow-Cleansing Pill is actually a pill that people who begin cultivating use, so the medicinal properties are rtively gentle . However, the pain you will experience when consuming it cannot be exined in a few words .

    "The pill forcefully expels all the impurities from the meridians and the marrow, but I am not sure if it works on the body of a ghost . And if it does, I am not sure if there are any downsides . "

    "How many of these pills do you heave?" the merchant¡¯s eyes glistened with cunningness, and Xue Wei raised an eyebrow in curiosity . "I have quite a few," he said honestly .

    "Can you sell me two?" The middle-aged ghost was starting to feel that he was taking advantage of Xue Wei, but these tests were quite useful to him and Lan as well, so he did not even need to think it through before he found two small round red pills which he handed over .

    "Come with me . " The middle-aged ghost went to one of the other carriages . It was a small carriage, and inside were ghosts that were held in cages . Xue Wei could not help but raise an eyebrow in surprise . So there were ves in the Ghost World too?

    One of these caged ghosts was taken out of the cage, locked with a chain around her neck, and another around her wrists . She looked tenacious and angry, but not submissive as one would have expected from a ve .

    The middle-aged ghost went to her ce and put the pill right in her mouth . He wanted to use her as a test to see whether or not it was possible for ghosts to consume the pills that came from the world of the living .

 Chapter 510

    Chapter 510: 510

    Xue Wei could not help but raise an eyebrow in surprise . This tenacious will to live had surprised him, and he felt a bit of respect towards this female ghost .

    When the pill entered her mouth, she did not try to spit it out . Instead, she red at the man, and then slowly sat down and began rotating her energy through her body to find out what this unfamiliar item that had been put in her mouth was .

    She soon found that it had dissipated the moment it entered her mouth and that a strange, but warm, current of energy began traveling through her body .

    At first, she only felt the warmth . She frowned as she was unfamiliar with this sensation, and the energy began entering her meridians, slowly but surely, unclogging the impurities within .

    The warmth slowly began to be painful . She could feel spikes of pain as the warmth began to force the impurities out, and while she was puzzled as to what was happening, the pain made her feel a strange sense of strength .

    She did not feel as if she was being tormented . Instead, she was aware that this was helping her, and she gritted her teeth and stayed conscious while the pill was beginning to wreak havoc on her body .

    Pills did not exist in the Ghost Realm . There were no herbs and no resources to be found, apart from the ghosts, souls, and the essence in the air .

    This was also why the ghosts were doing so much to invent technology that could help them, since they could not rely on other resources that could be gathered in the realm .

    The middle-aged ghost observed with a cold look as the woman was twitching in pain, but she did not seem to be in grave danger .

    He was getting more and more excited as he saw how the pill was starting to take effect .

    He saw the ck goo starting to be expelled through her skin, and knew that these was the impurities that previously had been blocking her meridians .

    It seemed that the pills worked!

    Xue Wei observed the woman . He was much more interested in her than he was in the effect of the pill . She was strong willed and different from the others .

    He did not feel any romantic attraction to the woman, but he admired her for being so tenacious, even when facing such a horrible situation .

    "This woman, I want her to follow me, in ce of the payment for the pills," Xue Wei suddenly said .

    His words shocked not only the middle-aged man, but also Lan and the woman .

    Lan nced at the woman and understood where Xue Wei wasing from . He, too, had been in a desperate situation, where he just wished for someone to reach out their hand and protect him, but he had been left to his own fate .

    Now, he found someone in the same position, and he wanted to change her fate .

    The middle-aged man was somewhat surprised as well, but he did not overthink . He was of the impression that Xue Wei had taken an interest in the woman as she was rather attractive, but he did not think it mattered . Xue Wei was a living being, and a ghost could not consume him, so even if he wanted to have a lot of lovers, nothing could endanger him .

    If Xue Wei had known the middle-aged ghost¡¯s thoughts, he would have been rather indignant, and adamant about informing him that he was innocent, but since he did not know, he could only stay silent .

    The woman was near losing her consciousness because of the pain, but she could hear everything clearly due to the sharpening of her senses .

    She was puzzled and muddleheaded . Why did this young ghost want to save her? Usually, the Ghost Realm was ruthless, and no one was willing to disy kindness to others .

    Especially someone like her, who had proven to be an aggressive and hard to control ve .

    She did not believe that her looks had entranced him, as the woman was painfully aware that appearances did not mean much in this ruthless world .

    She was perplexed, and she could not think about reasons as to why he had decided to help her . She was still expending most of her focus, trying to survive the assault of pain that was continually erupting in her body .

    "If you want her, then you can have her," the middle-aged man was quite pleased . ves like her had no value, they only existed for the sake of being sold to higher-ranked ghosts so that they could consume them, and while their price was reasonable, they would never be able to bring in a sum that was even close to the cost of two marrow-cleansing pills .

    Everyone was happy . Lan was quite pleased too, as they could bring a guide around with them, and traveling with someone familiar with the Ghost Realm was much better than being on their own .

    The three individuals waited for the pain to subside, and the female ghost slowly released her clenched fists and took a deep breath .

    Her ck eyes were misty from the pain, and she slowly sobered up . She looked at Xue Wei with a frown on her face, and then she nced on her body, which was covered in ck goo .

    Xue Wei epted the key from the middle-aged ghost, and then he went to unlock the woman¡¯s chains . "Come with me," he said as he gestured for her to follow him .

    She hesitated for a moment before she followed suit, and then Xue Wei handed her the gadget that was used to condense water from the air .

    "Wash up," he said to her as he turned around to give her some privacy .

 Chapter 511

    Chapter 511: 511

    The female ghost was somewhat puzzled as to why Xue Wei was treating her like this . She was a ve, and most would consider them without pride or dignity, but he still respected her .

    The thought made her feel at a loss, but she quickly picked up the gadget . This gadget was quitemon in the Ghost Realm, but not often used . She knew how it worked, and she turned it on, after which she tossed it into the air .

    It hovered above her head before it began humming, and the humidity that was in the air was being condensed into droplets at first, andter a steady stream of water was formed that poured down on her .

    She had shed her clothes and stood naked as the water washed the grime off her body .

    Although the water was cold, and could not be consideredfortable, the female ghost was not picky . She was already satisfied that she would be able to wash herself clean .

    When she finished, she found that her clothes werepletely unrecognizable, and she felt a little sad knowing that she had no other clothes to change into .

    Xue Wei could hear that she had begun touching the clothes and quickly called out, "Stop . "

    The female ghost raised her head to see that Xue Wei had tossed a dress to her . The dress was one of Luoluo¡¯s, and this ghost had a figure that resembled hers . Although she was a bit shorter, the difference was not significant, and she could easily wear Luoluo¡¯s clothes .

    The woman felt her eyes redden slightly . She had never known that someone could show her such friendliness, and while she did not know what his purpose was, she was no longer as hostile towards him .

    After wearing the clothes, the female ghost went towards Xue Wei . She looked at him curiously for the first time and saw that he was a young man who exuded pride and strength that not many ghosts could rival .

    "What do you wish to do to me?" she asked while slowly biting her lower lip, feeling a little unsure, but Xue Wei did not look too much at her . Instead, he sighed .

    "I remember the time I was helpless and almost dead," Xue Wei began . "Back then, it was a friend of mine, a brother, who gave his life to ensure that I could go on . When I saw you, I was reminded of his sacrifice for me, and I wished to change your life as well .

    "You will be given your freedom when we reach the capital of the region, and from there you can go your own way . If you want toe with us, then you are also wee to do so . "

    The female ghost¡¯s eyes widened in shock when she heard Xue Wei¡¯s words . Was she going to regain her freedom?

    She was suddenly at a loss . She had been free before, butst year she had been captured while the caravan moved towards the capital .

    The caravan had been traveling for seven years so far, and on the way, they would capture ghosts and souls with the purpose of selling them in the capital to strong ghosts who could consume them .

    The more influential ghosts in the cities were unable to strengthen themselves in any other way than to buy these ves and consume them . They could not very well go hunting in their own city, as it might cause great chaos .

    They gained spirit liquid from the citizens in return for protection, and the taxes were also paid in the form of spirit liquid .

    This spirit liquid was then used to purchase ghosts and soul ves .

    One could cultivate using spirit liquid, but considering that it was merely a part of a ghost, it was nowhere as effective as consuming a whole ghost .

    She had been prepared that when they reached the capital, she would have to be consumed, but now this young man, who had appeared out of nowhere, had given her hope, and a chance to continue living .

    Her eyes, which had already reddened previously when he showed her some friendliness, were now full of tears, and they silently fell down her cheeks, one after another .

    Xue Wei was not the kind of person who felt tender feelings towards the opposite gender unless that person was Wang Xiaoyun, and while he did pity this ghost, he did not do anything tofort her .

    He had given her freedom and a choice to follow them, but he would never be ambiguous with her . Although he was not married, he considered Wang Xiaoyun his wife, and himself, a man with a woman whom he had to be faithful towards .

    Even so, he did not think that it was wrong tomunicate with the opposite gender . As long as he did not do anything to wrong Wang Xiaoyun, he did not care for the gender of hispanions and friends .

    The ghost was also not crying for the sake of arousing pity in Xue Wei . She was genuinely feeling relieved and grateful .

    After crying for a short while, she felt her emotions calm down, and she slowly began to rx .

    "Thank you," she said . Her voice was full of sincere gratitude, and her eyes sparkled . She was a rather astute person and could sense that Xue Wei truly had no ulterior motives to help her, and she feltfortable in his presence .

    Although he was a ghost, or so she thought, she could not see the usual greed and hunger in his eyes as he looked at her .

    She did not feel the fear of getting consumed, and thus she was feeling much more favorable towards him than any of the other ghosts she had seen .

    She was suddenly very trusting towards Xue Wei, as he had no reason to lie to her, not to mention that he had saved her . She felt that following him would be the right choice .

 Chapter 512

    Chapter 512: 512

    Xue Wei was not too troubled about the female ghost¡¯s decision . While she would make things much simpler if she could be their guide, he had not saved her with the purpose of having her return the favor .

    It was also because of this attitude that the female ghost was even more confident that following this man was the best decision she had ever made .

    After she had finished sorting her clothes, she stood by Xue Wei¡¯s side . He nodded to her in approval of how she looked now, and then returned to the caravan .

    The female ghost followed behind Xue Wei . Although she was staying close, she kept a polite distance, showing her respect .

    The middle-aged ghost looked at the two of them and frowned . It seemed that he had misunderstood Xue Wei, there was ack of interest in the woman, but he had still saved her .

    In the end, he could only feel that Xue Wei was inexplicable . The living beings were too different from them, the ghosts . He could not understand his thoughts at all, so he quickly gave up thinking about it .

    Xue Wei entered the carriage with Lan on his shoulder and the female ghost behind him . She hesitated slightly before entering the carriage . She was unsure if she was allowed inside, but Xue Wei gestured for her to follow him .

    Once again, Xue Wei created a jade tablet with the cultivation technique called Death March and handed it over to her . After being told by Xue Wei, she ced it on her forehead, and the method imprinted itself in her mind .

    She was dizzy at first, confused, and ufortable, but after digesting the information, she felt much better .

    She was quite smart, and it only took some time for her to understand what this was . She did not know about cultivating techniques, nor did she know who Xue Wei truly was, so she felt puzzled .

    Cultivating one¡¯s Qi? That was a legend in the Ghost Realm; in fact, everyone in the Ghost Realm had long since forgotten their memories of the time they were alive, and thus the cultivation system was also lost .

    They had bodies that were made from spiritual energy, but they worked like real bodies . They were simr to the spiritual bodies that King and Emperor ranked experts gained, and thus they could contain Qi just like a mortal body could .

    But the cultivation systems were different . The ghosts did not know about cultivation techniques . So, where did this Death Marche from?

    Xue Wei could see her confusion, but he did not answer the questions that emerged in her mind . Instead, he just casually asked her, "can you cultivate using this technique?"

    The female ghost was somewhat confused, but she understood that he had no intention of clearing her confusion, so she quickly calmed down and sat down in ordance with the technique that had been carved into her memory .

    She then began absorbing the heaven and earth essence in the surrounding air and began rotating it through her meridians, as stated in the memory . She refined it slowly, but surely, and then she began pouring it into her dantian .

    She had never used her dantian since bing a ghost, and the feeling of something entering it made her feel a mixture offort, but it also felt as if she had been eating too much, a strange sensation of being bloated could not be avoided .

    She continued to absorb the energy and refining it until she could not store more within her dantian .

    It was not that she couldn¡¯t advance; however, she had already reached a bottleneck . She was now close to reaching the firstyer of the Ordinary Warrior rank . Still, she had to rx and allow her body to get used to the feeling of having Qi running through the meridians before she could actually step into the world of Qi cultivators .

    Xue Wei raised an eyebrow in surprise as he saw the female ghost slowly awaken from her meditation .

    Her ck eyes shed with surprise as she felt a strange strength in her body that had never been there before .

    She could not get used to it right away, but it was not in any way colliding with her spiritual energy, and she felt strangely at ease .

    It was as if this energy was made for her body . She instantly understood that this was the legendary Qi cultivation, and she was shocked . Such an important thing, and she was capable of learning it?

    Who was this Xue Wei? How could he both free her and then give her a cultivation method as if it was nothing? It was truly puzzling her, but it was also making her even more devout in her decision of never letting him down .

    Lan could see the determination in the ghost¡¯s eyes, and he could not help but snicker . He had thought that Xue Wei would force this ghost into bing their ve, and in turn, their guide, but he had done things differently .

    When one tried to force others to submit to them, they might end up with someone who would revoltter or harm them . However, what Xue Wei did, was to win over her heart . She would forever support him, never betray him, and even be happy to be a guinea pig for him, to test whether or not it was possible for ghosts to cultivate .

    The middle-aged ghost entered the carriage, and when he saw the female ghost, he could sense the difference in the aura around her .

    He was rather shrewd and knew that Xue Wei must have given her a cultivation technique . He could naturally not see if it was the same as the one he had gotten, but the fact that she could cultivate was excellent news to him .

 Chapter 513

    Chapter 513: 513

    Xue Wei was aware that the middle-aged ghost had realized that cultivating was possible .

    He had no intention of hiding it from him . Although the ghost had been rather profit minded, he had helped them, and had not done anything to cause trouble, so it was only natural that Xue Wei also repaid the kindness somehow .

    Also, the jade tablet that the middle-aged ghost had been given was already used up . It could not impart the cultivation technique into another ghost¡¯s mind .

    Unless the middle-aged ghost found another way to copy the knowledge within his mind, then it would be impossible to spread the cultivation technique to others .

    The jade tablets were an item of the living world . They did not exist in the Ghost Realm, and could only be taken out by Xue Wei .

    The middle-aged ghost did not mind it either . Naturally he would benefit more if he was capable of selling the method, but without the Marrow-Cleansing Pills, the cultivation technique had proven to be useless .

    There were no herbs in the Ghost Realm, and thus it was impossible to refine the pills . They were relying solely on Xue Wei to be able to provide these pills, and thus it was not a long-term business venture .

    From the start, the middle-aged ghost had fully decided on using the cultivation himself . He wanted to increase his own chance of survival in the world .

    Knowing that he was a merchant, he would have to travel across the entire region . While he was somewhat safe, this world was filled with carnage, and if he encountered a true expert in the middle of nowhere, then his life would be forfeited .

    The legendary Qi cultivation would take him some time to train, but considering the sheer amount of time he was spending inside the carriage while traveling from vige to vige, this was not something he feared .

    When he managed to reach a higher rank, he would be able to take people by surprise and use Qi to overwhelm the opponent .

    Unfortunately, the middle-aged ghost was unaware that Qi was not suitable to use just like a raw power, and that it was much more suitable tobine it with martial art techniques .

    Xue Wei was not against selling martial arts techniques, but he was not going to offer them for free .

    He was not against sharing it, but he would not introduce it to the middle-aged ghost . Now he had taken in a stray bird, the female ghost, so he was going to provide her with the martial art techniques .

    This woman was going to assist them while they were in the Ghost Realm, so he was not going to be stingy towards her . He felt that by doing this, they would owe each other nothing when he, Lan, and Li Zhiqing returned to the world of the living .

    Silence descended onto the carriage . Xue Wei, the middle-aged ghost, and the female ghost were all cultivating, while Lan was working on unraveling the seal .

    There was a peaceful atmosphere in the carriage, no one interrupted the others, and everyone was busy doing their own thing .

    The outside of the carriage was bustling with life, the other merchants were selling their wares, but the carriage was like a world separated from the other . Here the aura was tranquil, and they all felt how the heaven and earth essence was stirring from three people cultivating at the same time .

    Time flowed like water, and the life and excitement outside the carriage slowly died out, as the vigers had finished buying the items they needed, and the merchants had sold a decent amount of wares .

    Silence descended on the caravan, and everyone returned to their homes or carriages to begin consuming the spirit liquid they had gotten, or using the mechanisms they had bought .

    Xue Wei was the first to awaken from his cultivation, and his eyes shed coldly . It was a long time since hest felt like this . Although he was at the Saint Rank, he was capable of sensing a clear advance in his cultivation base from the time he had been cultivating .

    It was clearly because the density of the heaven and earth essence here was just too outstanding, so he could gain ten times the results, with half the effort .

    Xue Wei was rather pleased with his cultivation base here in the Ghost Realm . Although it was rapid, it was due to the sheer amount of heaven and earth essence, and not because of not refining the essence properly, so his foundations were not even at risk when speeding through cultivation like this .

    When Xue Wei came about, the others also slowly left their meditation . The female ghost had broken through to the Ordinary Warrior rank . The middle-aged ghost seemed to have a bit worse talent, but was still moving forward at a rapid pace .

    No matter how bad the talent was, cultivation would still be rapid in this environment; however, at some point the cultivator would hit a wall, and no matter how much they kept cultivating, they would not be able to advance their cultivation base .

    For the middle-aged ghost, Xue Wei assumed that his wall woulde up after the Heavenly Warrior, and just before the Ordinary Knight . He would not be able to go much further than that .

    Xue Wei did not pity the ghost . Although this ghost would not be able to actually advance the Qi cultivation at ater time, it was not Xue Wei¡¯s fault that his talents were mediocre . Their trade had been extremely fair and just . If the middle-aged ghost wanted to me someone, he could only me himself and his talent .

 Chapter 514

    Chapter 514: 514

    While Xue Wei could bring Qi cultivation to the Ghost Realm, it was not as outstanding as one might expect .

    To be able to use this Qi cultivation, one needed a Marrow-Cleansing Pill, or to have just created their spiritual bodies . The Marrow-Cleansing pills could not be created in the Ghost Realm, and those who had just recently be ghosts were also not capable of getting their hands on a Qi cultivation method .

    So, even if the method got spread throughout the entire Ghost Realm, it was still impossible to train in it without the assistance of Xue Wei .

    The middle-aged ghost was not willing to announce the cultivation method to the rest of the world as it would not do him any good .

    The world was such that no one would be happy if others had something unattainable, and thus they would destroy it since they could not get it .

    The Ghost Realm was no different, and when the high ranked experts found out that it was impossible to learn the technique themselves, they would unleash their anger onto the middle-aged ghost, and kill him, so that the skill which they could not control would vanish .

    It was better that it vanished than itnding in the hands of someone else .

    Xue Wei was somewhat familiar with human nature, and he understood that this was the likely result . Hence, he also knew that the middle-aged ghost was an excellent working partner . He would never dare to reveal anything to ensure his own safety .

    The female ghost was equally unlikely to say anything to others . She had already experienced the agony and despair of not being in charge of her own life, and thus she was going to be extra careful .

    As such, Xue Wei did not have to say anything, but even so, these two ghosts were going to keep every secret that he might have, out of fear of someone turning their greedy eyes to them .

    Lan, who had been trying to loosen the seal, could not help but smirk when watching the two ghosts .

    He knew that the ultimate winner so far was Xue Wei . He had earned a fortune from selling his goods, he had also managed to get a loyal guide, and even the merchant, who one would usually have to guard against, was willing to cover his back to ensure that he was not threatened .

    This was truly getting the best profits for the least amount of work . Lan had to admit that Xue Wei was rather shrewd .

    While everyone knew that Xue Wei was the biggest winner, no one felt unhappy . They had each taken what they needed, and the time slowly ticked by .

    The following morning, the caravan left the vige, and once more set the direction towards the capital of the region .

    It was a long, tedious journey, but the ghosts were entirely focused on cultivating, and so was Xue Wei . Lan had managed to loosen his seal a tiny bit, so although he still had strength simr to a King ranked expert, it was no longer as one who had just broken through to the level .

    Xue Wei had also benefited greatly from the vast essence in the air . His cultivation rank was just on the verge of breaking through into the King rank, but he knew that he could not rush it . He had to take the time it took to fully transcend the mortal body .

    Just as when cultivating, one had to look after a steady foundation, the spiritual body turned out to be the foundation that one¡¯s immortal life was built upon .

    If the body was not created in the right way, then it would be impossible to continue advancing in the cultivation world .

    This was an error that many experts made . They were blinded by the excitement and would rush to the King rank as soon as they began feeling the changes in their body . However, Xue Wei knew that although his body had started showing signs of changing, he had to continue refining the essence and storing the Qi, letting it slowly change his body, cell by cell .

    Lan had not told Xue Wei about this knowledge . It was not that he did not want to help the younger man; however, cultivation was a journey that one had to travel alone . Enlightenment and understanding differed from person to person, and if someone was told how to cultivate and when to do what, theirprehension would lower . Thus their affinity with the dao would be damaged .

    While many people were unaware of this, Lan was a deity, so he understood the disadvantages .

    Xue Wei had been told a bit about cultivating before, but this had never been to a point where someone was guiding him through his cultivation, and thus hisprehension was remarkable . Lan did not doubt that when this young man became a deity, he would have a good affinity with the different Daos .

    While the group kept moving forward, not many words were exchanged in the carriage . Everyone was busy on their own, and the female ghost was shocking the middle-aged ghost, even making his face turn somewhat ugly from time to time .

    While both of them were novices to the Qi cultivation world, and while they had begun cultivating at almost the same time, it was shocking to see that the female ghost¡¯s breath was growing stronger much quicker than the middle-aged one¡¯s .

    While she was not rushing through the ranks, it could be clearly sensed that her energy was in another category than his . The Qi was much purer, and her body was absorbing more of the essence .

    Even Xue Wei could not help but raise an eyebrow in surprise . She was shockingly talented .

 Chapter 515

    Chapter 515: 515

    In the Ghost Realm, it was as if time stood still . There were no seasons, no change in the weather, or the temperature .

    Every day was like the previous, and as they were traveling in the carriages, the days began to be a long blur of what happened which day .

    None of the ghosts needed to consume food and drinks, and even if they did, there was simply nothing to eat in the ghost realm, and Xue Wei and Lan did not need to consume anything either .

    However, this caused every day just to be spent cultivating . Although they did not rush it, their advance was rapid and shocking . They spent their entire time cultivating, which provided astounding results, but also frustrations .

    When Xue Wei was cultivating in the world of the living, he would make sure to get familiar with his cultivation base . This was not a choice he made, but one of the ways he was living . He was constantly on the run, always chased or in danger .

    For him, he got familiar with his strength very swiftly, as he needed to use his abilities to their limits every time he was in a battle, but the ghosts did not have this option .

    While they were in a hostile world, there were no beasts attacking them, and due to the current location, they did note across bandits either .

    The Ghost Realm was incredibly vast, and most ghosts and souls who encountered a caravan would hide far away . If there was even the slightest risk of being unable to eradicate them all, then they would hide instead .

    Here death was truly final . They did not get reincarnated, nor was there a realm for the ghosts to enter; their souls were being consumed by others to improve their own strength . When dying, their whole being would vanish from the surface of the earth .

    This was also why bandits were notmon in the Ghost Realm . There were not many to rob, and each battle would be a close shave for survival . They would likely be injured, and the gains they would get from a whole caravan would end up just healing the injuries they had gotten .

    In the end, the ghosts were much more shrewd than the living . They were scheming against others, and consuming their friends andrades when they least expected it . A ghost could never fully trust another ghost .

    Xue Wei had understood this well enough . The middle-aged ghost was friendly towards him and Lan only because they were living beings . Had they been ghosts, they would have been locked up in the cages where they had found the female ghost .

    There was no doubt in their minds that the middle-aged ghost was cold, emotionless, and callous . But Xue Wei did not think he was in a position to judge him . This was what the world was like; if one was gentle, their chance of survival was low .

    He, who had experienced being hunted across more than one continent, was quite sure that he would have been just as unfeeling, had he died and been sent to this world .

    However, he was not from this world . A gentle smile spread on his lips as was grateful that he was not forced to live in a world like this, where you could only trust yourself .

    He came from the world of the living, and there was warmth in his heart, not only endless coldness .

    Yes, he had experienced many grueling things throughout the years . Yes, he had been chased, and felt wronged time and time again, but would he change anything? No .

    He had managed to gather a group of trusted friends by his side, friends whom he truly loved like family .

    He was no longer alone . He had his friends as a family, and he had Wang Xiaoyun, who was waiting for him to marry her .

    Xue Wei¡¯s life was nd and cold, he was not as emotional and caring as many others in the living world, but he was not a hypocrite either .

    He did not show gentleness to people he did not like, but those whom he cared about were so important to him that he would sacrifice his life for theirs .

    This was a genuine bond, and Xue Wei knew that they would not hesitate to do the same for him either .

    This knowledge was enough to warm his cold heart . A gentle smile was on his lips, and he had stopped cultivating . He was still seated, observing the screen that showed the outside, and was deep in thought .

    How were his friends doing? Were they still embroiled in the war, or had it ended already?

    Were they injured? He had given them all storage treasures filled with riches, resources, pills, and other things that could be useful, so they should be able to look after themselves, but he could not help but worry .

    His little Luan Bird had also followed the others in the Xiyang Continent . Had it grown? Was it eating well? Had its feathers changed colors, or were they still as brilliant as the rainbow?

    The more Xue Wei thought about his friends, the more splendid his eyes became . They shone like the stars in the sky, full of brilliance and happiness .

    He was going to return to them as soon as possible . It had been a long time since he hadst been without them, and this separation truly made him understand how important they were to him .

    However, he did not regret it . Lan was his friend, and he understood that this longing that he felt for his friends was nothingpared to Lan¡¯s emotions for Li Zhiqing .

    He had waited for her for more than ten thousand years . If that was not dedication, then Xue Wei did not know what was .

    Lan was an infatuated creature, but Xue Wei understood him . When one found their soulmate, you then started to realize there was truly only that one person who could make you feelplete .

 Chapter 516

    Chapter 516: 516

    When Xue Wei looked out the screen that disyed the outside of the carriage, he could not help but feel that there was a vast difference between where in the Ghost Realm one traveled .

    He had been spending so much time in the wilderness, just stopping every now and then at the viges, so crowded areas were rare . Even though many people gathered in the viges, one could not call it crowded, but now that they had entered the regional capital, Xue Wei understood that the Ghost Realm was genuinely bursting with ghosts .

    The regional capital was surrounded by arge and domineering wall . One had to enter through one of its four gates to gain ess to the city .

    Many ghosts came wandering from the smaller viges, or from the wilderness, to settle in the city . Others came to sell their wares, and yet some came to purchase items that were hard to gain elsewhere .

    Everyone who came to the regional capital had their own purpose for being here .

    Xue Wei, and the caravan he was part of, had also arrived outside the city gates . A long and straight queue was in front of him, and while Xue Wei wondered if the other gates were less busy, the middle-aged ghost shook his head .

    "This gate is without a doubt the least busy one," he began exining . "We came from the north, and the north is where the poorest areas are . Here, not many travel around, and there are no other regions north of this one . "

    Xue Wei understood the implied words . Since there was no other region north of here, then that meant that the only people who could enter through the north gate came from this region, and that they were much fewer than in many other gates .

    Knowing this, Xue Wei could not help but raise an eyebrow in surprise .

    This regional capital had to be humongous to house so many ghosts . While he was aware that ghosts would go missing every day, one also had to remember that there were no ghost families . While there might be couples, none of them had children, nor did they have pets .

    It was impossible to trust one another, so roommates were also rtively rare . Xue Wei was not sure what to expect from the city . When he had been in the viges, the architecture was very simr to the living world, but was it the same in the cities? He did not know, and due to the towering wall, which blocked every view of what was on the other side, Xue Wei would get no answers for now .

    The caravan hade to a stop . It slowly advanced as the line diminished, and when it was their turn, the guards ordered all of them to exit the carriages .

    It was clear that this was the typical procedure, and all of them exited the carriages before they went to the guard .

    The guard was flicking his hands, and a small shining rune appeared on the tips of his fingers before they embedded themselves into the ghosts¡¯ foreheads, and slowly vanished from sight .

    These runes were the rules of the regional city . It made it so that when you entered the city, you could not kill others, and were only capable of attacking in self-defense .

    If someone tried to break this rule, their spiritual energy would dissipate, and they would be erased from the Ghost Realm .

    Everyone took this rule seriously .

    However, when it was Xue Wei¡¯s turn to get one of these runes shot into his mind, he felt that it was utterly useless on him . He was not a ghost, and thus it could not bind him .

    Although he had no interest in the idea of causing havoc, and creating a massacre in the regional capital, he was now capable of doing so, should he wish for it .

    Lan was not even given a rune; everyone who looked at him was of the impression that he was a robot that had been created by a bored inventor .

    Beasts did not exist in this world, but robots did . Some of them resembled adorable animals, and others were for the purpose of helping with chores .

    Lan was quickly categorized as a robot which existed for the sake of keeping Xue Weipany, and not getting lonely, as a friend he could talk with .

    After all ghosts in the caravan had gotten one of the runes embedded in their spiritual energy, they could re-enter their carriages and continue through the gates .

    Xue Wei was observing the screen with curiosity, and his eyes widened in shock upon seeing the city that was stretching out in front of him .

    The architecture waspletely different from what he was used to . There were big and tall houses everywhere . These houses were clearly not made for one person each, but each of the buildings contained many small residences where the ghosts could have their privacy, but the owner of the city could still stack a lot of ghosts in minimal space .

    Because of this peculiar housing system, Xue Wei noticed that the roads were somewhatrge, but many ghosts and carriages were also present on the roads .

    Some ghosts were moving swiftly, while others were walking at a pace simr to that of a snail .

    When looking at their facial expressions, Xue Wei noticed that some looked happy, some had expressions of anticipation, and others were listless . Every expression that one could think of was present in the dense crowd of ghosts .

    When Xue Wei looked at the two other ghosts, he realized that this was the mostmon scene in the Ghost Ream¡¯s regional capitals .

    This was truly a ce where fish and dragons swam together .

 Chapter 517

    Chapter 517: 517

    Xue Wei had never seen anything like it before, and he could not help but feel intrigued . This was such a different way to house people, and he could not help but wonder if it could be implemented in the world of the living .

    Although there was not as much overpoption in the world of the living, the cities were still rather crowded, and many of the slums could be rebuilt into such residences, which could house more people while also giving them better living standards .

    Xue Wei was not considering it for the sake of being a good samaritan, but because he was considering the option of beginning to dabble in business .

    He had many resources right now, but from seeing how Tao Wu could sustain so many pirates at the Sea of the Enchanted with merely half of the profits from his and Lan¡¯s business, Xue Wei was rather tempted to start going into business himself .

    While he knew that he could not rival the auction house business that these two experts had started, he could enter real estate and construction .

    However, while it was true that Xue Wei was considering this, he was not going to do anything about it now . He was currently stuck in the Ghost Realm, and even when he would return to the world of the living, he was not sure that he would be able to focus on business right away .

    Some things were much more important, such as his friends, Wang Xiaoyun, and solving the problems that had been left behind by his parents .

    His mother was the Holy Maiden of the Sovereign Beasts, but she was gone . She passed away while giving birth to him, using all her life force to allow him to be born safely, and then losing herst breath as she saw her child greeting the world .

    Xue Wei was aware that she had been an Azure Dragon, but had the bloodlines of all the Sovereign Beasts . She was revered and a deity to all the sovereign beasts alike, but she had fled her responsibilities, and had fallen in love with a human .

    At that time, the world¡¯s rules had changed . A mixed-blood child would never have been able to live, but even so, his mother never gave up on him . A life had to be sacrificed, and thus she sacrificed her own .

    Xue Wei¡¯s father had felt guilt ever since he knew that she was pregnant . He had once promised Xiao Lei that he would never let her suffer any hardships, and that he would pamper and love her for the rest of their lives, but to give birth to his child, she died .

    He had failed to do as he had promised . In fact, he had a part in her death as he was the father of the child who had been born .

    Xue Wei was thinking about his parents . During the time he had spent with Lan in the carriage, he had gotten a much more detailed understanding of his family .

    While there were still things that Lan refused to say, Xue Wei understood the key points .

    His father was a human . The Sovereign Beasts would never allow for their Holy Maiden to be married to another race, and thus she ran away with the help of her older brother, Xiao Lei .

    Xiao Lei was not a big fan of the human she had taken a fancy to, but he respected her choice, and he had given his blessing to the two of them; however, little did he know that when he went to find themter, they had vanished without a trace .

    It took him many years to locate them again, and when he did, his sister was no longer in this world . While she had left behind a nephew for him, it was impossible for Xiao Lei to withstand the grief of losing his sister, whom he had cared for and spoiled since she was born .

    His anger was overwhelming, and he felt a need to destroy the world . To unleash the feelings which had appeared within his heart, and he took it out on Xue Wei¡¯s father, killing him in his thirst for revenge .

    One has to remember that Xiao Lei was not human . He was a beast, and while he had taken human shape, and had human intelligence, he was much more aggressive than humans were .

    Being one of the causes for Xiao Lei to lose his sister, it was only natural that he would die, however when the Azure Dragon noticed the fear in his nephew¡¯s eyes, he felt guilt for the first time .

    It was because of this that he erased Xue Wei¡¯s memories . He was not able to handle his sister¡¯s child looking at him with fear .

    Even so, he had every n of exining the truth to Xue Wei when he grew older, but currently, he was being kept as a prisoner . No one knew when he would be able to get out and solve the disagreement between Xue Wei and him .

    When Xue Wei heard this side of the story from Lan, he had been silent for a long time . He was feeling conflicted . He could understand why Xiao Lei had acted the way he had . If someone had been the cause of one of his partners¡¯ death, he would ensure that they too would die, to be buried alongside his dear ones, but this was his father . He was not able to ept the death of his father, just like that .

    Sighing, Xue Wei returned his focus to the streets that the caravan was traveling down . Many ghosts were looking at them with curiosity, and Xue Wei suddenly thought, if his mother was dead, was she located within the Ghost Realm as well?

 Chapter 518

    Chapter 518: 518

    Lan could not help but look at Xue Wei during their travel down the streets of the busy town .

    He had initially not intended to tell him about the situation with his family . It was very confusing and chaotic, and while he knew the facts, it was impossible to understand the emotions behind everyone¡¯s actions .

    Also, this did not actually concern him . He had no hand in what had happened, and had never involved himself before he came across Xue Wei and realized that he was a Rulebreaker .

    However, they were now in the Ghost Realm . While his parents would be unable to remember the time they had spent in the world of the living, they were still his parents, and since this young man was willing to help him look for Li Zhiqing, he felt that there was nothing wrong with expanding their search, and try to locate his parents as well .

    While he was unable to regain the loss he had experienced in his childhood, perhaps it would make him feel better to see the two of them at least, should they still exist in this Ghost Realm .

    Xue Wei had been shocked upon hearing what Lan had told him . He had initially thought that his parents would be something he would forever miss, but never get to see, and when Lan offered that they also searched for them, he felt a mixture of emotions .

    He had always epted the fact that his mother and father were gone . He had lost his memories of his biological parents for a long time due to the interference of Xiao Lei, but when he remembered them, he was already a young man .

    While he would lie if he said that he had never longed for family affection, he was not aware of how much this emotion mattered to him . He was of a mixed breed . He was the Holy Son of the Sovereign Beasts . But all of this was because of his parents .

    When he was a small child, his biggest wish had been to be a hero who could bring humanity victory in the war, but reality had proven that the humans in the Chang¡¯an Continent did not need him .

    They had chased him, tried to kill him every time they had the chance, and even the beasts had schemed against him . He was a being with no ce to belong, no ce to call home .

    Knowing that he might be able to get a family again, his heart was feeling excitement, but also slight worry as to whether or not they would be able to ever be a family again .

    His mother did not know him . She was not familiar with him at all, as she had died upon giving birth to him . His father had known him for ten years, but he had been an innocent and optimistic child back then . The world had changed his personality and his view of the world .

    Sighing, he took some time to calm his mind, and while he was tangled with the thoughts of what to decide upon, he suddenly remembered that, although he did not have his family by his side, he had so manypanions who had been by his side for so long . Naturally, they were equal to family now .

    Thinking about them, Xue Wei suddenly felt calm and collected once more .

    He would not mind if he managed to get in contact with his parents in this world, but there was someone else whom he hoped that they could search for .

    "Lan," Xue Wei called out, and Lan lifted his head and looked at the unusually solemn expression on the young man¡¯s face .

    "I had a friend once . He sacrificed his life to ensure that I could live on . His name was Tie Haolong, and if I were to search for someone within this Ghost Realm, I do think that I want to know what happened to him . "

    The reason that Xue Wei made this decision was not because he was ignoring his parents¡¯ situation, nor was it because he was uncaring about those who had brought him into this world .

    The reason he decided to search for Tie Haolong was due to the reason why Tie Haolong had died .

    Xue Wei¡¯s parents had been aware of the consequences when they had gotten together . They knew that it was near impossible to give birth to a mixed-race child, but they had gone ahead with it anyway, fully recognizing that it would mean the death of one of them .

    Xue Wei respected their decision and was eternally grateful for the two of them to bring him to life, but he was also aware that they had not died with grievances as this was a conscious choice they had made .

    Tie Haolong, on the other hand, had a good life . He had befriended Xue Wei indeed, but it was due to Xue Wei¡¯s identity that his life hade to an abrupt end .

    If he had not met Xue Wei, he was very likely to be still alive, and for this, Xue Wei felt guilty .

    He had never wanted anyone whom he held dear to risk their lives for his sake, but this young man was someone whom he owed so much, and thus he felt a need to ensure that he was not suffering after such a great sacrifice .

    Lan knew of this sacrifice . He had followed Xue Wei¡¯s growth for a long time, and he understood that this loss had a significant influence on him .

    "I will help you," he said with a nod of his head . Xue Wei had entered the Ghost Realm for the sake of helping him, so it was only natural that he returned the favor .

 Chapter 519

    Chapter 519: 519

    The carriage came to a stop in front of arge square . This square was clearly a very popr gathering ce within the city, as many other merchants had set up their carriages in the same ce .

    There was nothing green to lighten up the atmosphere, nor were there any statues . It was onerge and t square, but even so, numerous ghosts were making their way across it .

    Some had stopped in front of the other carriages and looked at the goods, while others were rushing through the crowd, not even looking at their surroundings .

    While the creatures who were living here were ghosts, they behaved exactly like the beings in the living world . Everyone was intelligent and moving rapidly to solve their own problems .

    There were not many ghosts who were standing still and talking amongst themselves . In the living world, you would see everyone being friendly, and willing to help one another, but here, it was truly clear that one could only put their trust in themselves .

    Gossip was not something that was very widespread, and those who did enjoy gossiping were generally the higher-ranked ghosts who had already reached a certain level .

    Xue Wei and Lan were curious as to what they could find in this regional capital, but they were also realistic . They knew that finding Li Zhiqing would not be easy, and finding her at their first real stop was not highly likely .

    But even so, they were not discouraged .

    As the carriages came to a stop, the middle-aged ghost began setting up the caravan¡¯s stores . Ghosts did not need sleep, and thus the square was full of life at any given time during the day .

    The middle-aged ghost had gotten many items from Xue Wei, and while he wanted to keep the majority for himself, there were still some things he could sell to the highest bidder .

    However, these things were not going to be ced on disy in this square . He was going to personally contact the leaders of the city, and try to get the best price for the items he had acquired .

    Even so, it would take time for him to get in touch with these people, so the caravan was likely to stay in the city for a long time .

    But this had nothing to do with Xue Wei and Lan . They had alreadypleted the deal with the ghost, and the ghost had also fulfilled his promises . Xue Wei and Lan had arrived at the Regional Capital, and thus they were going to split up .

    The female ghost followed Xue Wei and Lan as they departed from the caravan . The middle-aged ghost also came to say goodbye, and they parted on good terms .

    Many of the surrounding ghosts were quite confused . Ghosts did not have a good rtionship, so why would this caravan leader be so respectful and polite to another?

    Even a young female ghost was following behind him as if she was his servant .

    And he had a small, beast-like robot on his shoulder . This figure was truly an enigma, and no one knew his origin or background .

    When examining for his strength, they also soon found out that it was impossible for them to measure it . Whenever they sent a spiritual probe, their energy would be swallowed up by this figure¡¯s inner power, and would not even cause a ripple to let them know about how strong he was .

    This made many of the ghosts present apprehensive . Was this a new powerhouse who hade to their city to settle down?

    Many were nervous . Not because they did not like powerful experts, but because of the unknown . No one knew what these experts would do .

    If he began to harvest the souls within the city, then many souls would be lost, but putting up a fight was impossible .

    Fortunately for them, Xue Wei was not a ghost . He had no interest in consuming others to enhance his own strength, and he was only here to search for someone; however, exining this would be hard .

    "Do you know how to draw?" Xue Wei suddenly asked Lan, who was somewhat annoyed . "I do," he answered, but his voice was rather amused . "However, how do you expect me to draw in this shape?"

    Xue Wei¡¯s lips twitched . He had forgotten that the amazing and undefeatable Lan was suddenly a mere expert trapped in a tiny snake-form .

    He had no hands! How could he possibly draw? With his mouth?

    Lan and Xue Wei both felt somewhat stupid, but Lan understood Xue Wei¡¯s question . If they could spread an image of Li Zhiqing, then it would be easier to locate her .

    "Can you draw?" Lan asked Xue Wei, who furrowed his brows . Could he draw? He had no idea .

    Sensing the uncertainty, Lan projected an image into Xue Wei¡¯s mind . It was a picture of a beautiful and gentle woman . Her eyes were soft and generous, there was no darkness within them, and Xue Wei felt an instant feeling of kinship with this figure .

    The three of them, Xue Wei, Lan, and the female ghost, continued moving forward, but they were surprised to find that while there were stores in the city, there were no shops for recreational purposes .

    But upon thinking it through, Xue Wei understood why, and he frowned . He was thinking of finding a tea house and sitting down to draw a few images of Li Zhiqing, which he then would distribute and try to locate her, but now it seemed that it would be difficult even to find a ce to sit down .

    The female ghost was looking at Xue Wei with narrowed eyes . She had not directly heard that he was a living being, but she had understood some things from the way he was acting .

    Any ghost would be clear of how a city worked, but he was looking for something she had never even heard of before .

 Chapter 520

    Chapter 520: 520

    The three continued to move around until they found a shop where they could sit down . Xue Wei found some parchment, an inkstone, and a calligraphy pen from his storage treasure .

    As a cultivator, Xue Wei had full control over his movements, and while he had no experience with drawing, he soon found that it was quite simple .

    Although he was not experienced, the drawing was easy to recognize . The woman on the drawing was extremely beautiful . While the actual technical level of the drawing was rathercking, the image itself was stunning enough for everyone to forgive it .

    Even Lan was shocked upon witnessing the painting of his beloved, and his eyes turned moist for a moment while he became lost in memories .

    Xue Wei himself was also rather astounded to see that he had such artistic skills . It was not something he had attempted before, and frankly, he thought that it would be impossible to draw something nice; however, when he held the pen in his hand, he felt as if it was an extension of his arm, and just as easy to control .

    After drawing a stack of these paintings, Xue Wei and Lan nced at one another again . How were they to spread them?

    At this moment, the female ghost spoke up, "I would suggest that we head towards the Whispering Oak Inn . It is a chain of inns that are present in the entire Ghost Realm, across all the regions, and in all major cities .

    "This inn focuses on information gathering while also letting people rest when they travel from ce to ce . It is also the faction in control of the transportation arrays . "

    Xue Wei and Lan were both rather surprised when they heard what she said . They had not thought that such a faction would exist in the Ghost Realm, but it was exactly what they needed .

    Xue Wei found some more paper and began drawing an illustration of Tie Haolong and his father . He also wanted to draw one of his mother, but he had never seen her before, so he did not know how she looked like .

    Lan had also never met her in person . While he knew everything that happened to her due to his connection to that world, he had never actually met her, so her facial features were too blurred in his mind to be able to draw anything out from .

    Xue Wei had drawn the three illustrations of the three different figures, and he paid the owner of the shop for the time he had stayed there with some of the spirit liquid he had gotten from the merchant . Afterwards, he and Lan followed behind the female ghost .

    "Have you been here before?" Xue Wei could not help but ask, as he saw how confident she was in the direction she was walking . It was as if she had been here many times before, but the female ghost shook her head .

    "The Whispering Oak Inn is located in the center of all cities," she began exining . "Even the most powerful ghosts in the ghost realm dare not cause problems when ites to this faction, and it is one of the few factions in this entire Ghost Realm . To get ghosts to work together is extremely hard . "

    Xue Wei nodded his head . It made sense, so he also held some hope that this ce would be able to help them with locating the people they were looking for .

    Lan also felt his heartbeat rise, and he could not help but feel hopeful that they knew of Li Zhiqing . Although he had patiently waited for so many years, he was unable to keep the same aloofness now that he was in the Ghost Realm .

    While he kept a hope that she was still a ghost, he had to admit that the fear of her having been consumed had long since entered his heart .

    He was scared of facing the truth . When he had not entered the Ghost Realm yet, he still held onto the hope that she was having a decent life somewhere else, and that he could reunite with her at some point .

    However, now that he had entered the Ghost Realm, he suddenly began to feel fear . What if she did not exist anymore? What if she had been consumed by someone else, and her light had been extinguished forever?

    Xue Wei understood Lan¡¯s worries, but he was not sure what to say . He was not that good atforting others, and he could not say for sure that she still existed in this Ghost Realm, as he really did not know .

    While he was hoping for it with all his heart, he could not assure Lan about something he himself was insecure about .

    Lan understood Xue Wei¡¯s thoughts, and he was not expecting to beforted . However, he could feel that he was worried about him, and he felt moved .

    After a bit of time, they arrived at the very center of the city . Here was a massive square which was bustling with activity, ghosts were rushing through the busy streets, and Xue Wei was quite shocked by the scurrying ghosts .

    Why were they rushing around like this? Was there anything they needed to do? This Ghost Realm was truly confusing for Xue Wei . Many of themon things from the world of the living did not exist here, but even so, everyone was hurrying to do something all the time .

    He shook his head; it did not matter to him why they were so hurried; instead, he looked around the square, his eyes focused on a building on the opposite side of the square . It was magnificent .

    The building was towering towards the sky, it looked domineering, and not many dared to get close to it, and those who did were all looking at the building with reverence as they slowly made their way through its doors .

 Chapter 521

    Chapter 521: 521

    Xue Wei did not need the female ghost to tell him that this building was the Whispering Oak Inn, and while it did not at all resemble an inn, Xue Wei had learned that this Ghost Realm was different in every way from the world of the living .

    ncing around the square once more, he picked up his pace, and walked towards the building . Others noticed his movements and the determination in his walk, and while they were rather surprised, and somewhat stumped by his strong posture, they also felt a tinge of respect .

    They all feared the Whispering Oak Inn, but this man seemed not to sense the dread and danger that was connected with entering that ce .

    Xue Wei could sense the many gazes that were on them, but he did not care for it . He was not a ghost, so while the others might fear the ones behind the Whispering Oak Inn, he did not . He was sure that whoever was behind this faction would be interested in what he could offer them .

    Naturally, he was not willing to offer them something in exchange for nothing . However, he also understood that if he was generous with the rewards, then he was much more likely to locate the ones that they were looking for .

    As the trio reached the entrance, Xue Wei raised an eyebrow in surprise . They had ced guards just inside the door, waiting to examine anyone who tried to enter .

    This proved that their power was not to be belittled as a faction . The cities had guards, as they could offer spirit liquid in return for the services provided, but a private faction was capable of doing the same .

    Xue Wei did not need to think twice to know that they were famous, not only due to the informationwork, but also due to them using force to harvest spirit liquid to keep their faction running .

    The only reason that they could be so brazen about it was due to the faction¡¯s background . All the strongest powerhouses in the Ghost Realm belonged to this faction .

    Xue Wei was aware that while he was no ghost, he still had to be alert when dealing with these hegemons . While he would not be able to be harvested and turned into spirit liquid, he would still be in a disadvantageous position if the ghosts were much stronger than him .

    Lan was still able to hold his head high against mostmon ghosts, but as soon as they met the real experts of the Ghost Realm, even Lan would be unable to withstand them, as he had sealed his own powers .

    Although Xue Wei noticed the guards, he merely nodded his head to greet them before he strode into the building .

    The guards were shocked and somewhat disgruntled . Everyone who entered the Whispering Oak Inn would treat them as deities, but this young man did not . However, even if he did not revere them, and they were upset about it, they did not cause a scene . They understood that they, as mere guards, would not be able to handle the consequences of their actions .

    Lan and Xue Wei were equally surprised to see the unhappy expression on these ghosts¡¯ faces, and that they swallowed down their unhappiness . Clearly, the Whispering Oak Inn was horrifying, even for those who worked there .

    However, while Xue Wei understood that the Whispering Oak Inn was a terrifying ce for ghosts, what he saw was an excellent opportunity to reach their goals . The more horrifying the ce was, the more power it held, the better it would be for them .

    Xue Wei looked around in the dim-lit foyer . There was a reception with a female ghost behind the counter, sorting some paperwork, and seemingly very focused on her task .

    The foyer was of a rather impressive size, and there were chairs and tables ced in small groups, and a few of them were upied by a few ghosts, but most of the ce was deserted .

    Xue Wei could feel that many were observing them secretly, but he did not feel intimidated . He was certain that his proposal would interest this ce .

    While he did not know much about the Whispering Oak Inn, the fact that many were fearing them this much proved that they were willing to do almost anything, as long as it would benefit them .

    It was precisely due to this assumption that Xue Wei did not fear them . Working together with him would benefit them much more than if he was killed, especially since they could not even harvest his spirit liquid .

    Xue Wei walked to the reception desk, but the female ghost who was waiting behind the counter did not raise her head to look at him, and continued to sort the papers in front of her instead .

    Xue Wei politely waited for her . He did nothing to make her aware of his presence, as he knew that she had definitely noticed him long ago .

    Lan was coiled into a ball on his shoulder, and the female ghost that they had saved was standing three steps behind Xue Wei .

    While Xue Wei was not scared, she was horrified . She knew what rumors were swirling around the Whispering Oak Inn, and knew that she would have no chance of survival if Xue Wei failed in his business discussions .

    Even so, she did not regret telling Xue Wei about this ce . She understood that she had been saved by him, and even if her life ended up forfeited, she would not regret it .

    Time went by slowly, and the receptionist ghost was feeling rather surprised . Xue Wei was not feeling any pressure from waiting, he did not seem impatient or annoyed . In fact, a yful smile was hanging on his lips, and the receptionist was starting to feel somewhat worried .

    Had she perhaps annoyed a big shot?

 Chapter 522

    Chapter 522: 522

    Xue Wei was patiently waiting for her while maintaining the same gentle smile on his face, but upon closer inspection, the receptionist noticed that the smile did not reach his eyes .

    While he was not overbearing, he did not seem humble either . The receptionist began scolding herself and felt a bit fearful, but she still tried to calm herself . She was, after all, a staff member of the Whispering Oak Inn, they would not rebut her just because of some unknown figure .

    As a member of the Whispering Oak Inn, she had already been given illustrations of all the high ranked members of their faction, and she had never seen this guy, so she slowly began to calm down .

    In fact, a sneer appeared on her lips . She could not help but think that Xue Wei was extremely presumptuous, appearing at their building and thinking that he was important .

    She nned on making him wait for a bit longer, but upon careful consideration, she could not be too much, or she might still be punished .

    "Well, how may I help you?" The receptionist did not greet them, nor was she polite . She was acting condescending as she looked at the three of them with mockery in her eyes .

    Xue Wei seemed to have expected this, so he did not get angry . Instead, he chuckled slightly . Such a brainless woman was the receptionist in such an important faction? Were the leaders as blind as their subordinates? If so, he had no interest in working together with them .

    However, Xue Wei also understood that the leaders were not likely to know about someone as unimportant as a small receptionist . In this dog eat dog world, arrogance was the norm .

    "I need to meet with the branch leader," Xue Wei said unhurriedly, as if it was the easiest thing to do, but by now the secretary was utterly convinced that Xue Wei was not worthy enough to meet anyone important .

    One has to know that the branch leaders of each Whispering Oak Inn were the strongest expert in that city, and this was a regional capital . The branch leader here was extremely illustrious, and almost a legendary figure .

    He thought that he could meet with him by merely showing up?

    Xue Wei noticed the disdain in her eyes, and he flipped his hand . A Hell Court Lotus appeared in his palm . This was a herb that was known to have the strongest yin energy in the entire world of the living, and the energy was so dense that it billowed from the herb in a ck mist .

    Although it was constantly releasing a strange ck Yin Qi, it was as if the dense Qi within it could not be extinct, and it continued to release the fragrance which was the most tempting and alluring to the ghosts .

    The receptionist stared at the herb in Xue Wei¡¯s eyes with a frown . What was this?

    She knew what yin energy was . Although this energy was scarce in the Ghost Realm, it could be found from time to time in various locations, but due to the rarity, they were upied by the strongest experts .

    However, herbs had never existed in the Ghost Realm before, and thus she did not know what the Hell Court Lotus was; however, the sheer amount of yin energy which was being released into the air was enough to make her gulp .

    What a waste! To have one of these treasures, but allowing it to release the energy without absorbing it was simply too wasteful .

    Looking at the Hell Court Lotus in Xue Wei¡¯s hands, she could not help but try to calcte her chances of gaining it for her own purposes . While she was being paid handsomely, she still wanted to improve much more rapidly .

    She was aware that if she wanted to stand out in this branch of the Whispering Oak Inn, she needed a domineering strength .

    Unfortunately, she had struggled at the beginning, when she was a soul and had almost been consumed time and time again .

    Now that she had managed to join the Whispering Oak Inn, she understood that she was below a few, but above the masses .

    However, she also understood that if she took this treasure for herself, she would not be able to answer to the branch leader, and thus she hesitated .

    She gritted her teeth and stared at Xue Wei . But while he had guessed her thoughts, he did not say anything but smiled slightly; however, there was a bit of disdain and mockery hidden within .

    These high ranked ghosts in the Regional Capital were very sensitive to changes in the energy . They would have definitely sensed it the moment he took out the herb, but they had not shown up yet .

    It was clear that they were testing this receptionist .

    Since she had acted so arrogantly earlier, he had no intention of warning her, but smiled mockingly at her .

    "Can I meet the branch leader now that I have taken out this treasure?" he asked curiously, while ncing around with feigned anticipation .

    While Xue Wei was no longer the young and innocent man he had been back when he just started cultivating, he had found that he was a rather good actor .

    Since this receptionist was rushing to her death, then who was he to stop her?

    The receptionist was still hesitating before the greed took over . The yin energying out of this treasure was simply too overwhelming . If she hid somewhere secure and consumed it all, would she not also be a hegemon in the Ghost Realm .

    A cunning light shed across her eyes as she put on a friendly smile and asked, "Why don¡¯t you give it to me first?"

 Chapter 523

    Chapter 523: 523

    Xue Wei could not help but chuckle lowly when he heard the words of the receptionist . She was truly too dumb, and he could not understand how she could have been considered for such an important position .

    "I do not think that is such a good idea," Xue Wei said with a smile on his lips and shook his head . "This is a treasure that cannot be found in the Ghost Realm . I would be distraught if something happened to it, and I have only brought it out because I wish to strike a deal with the Whispering Oak Inn . "

    The receptionist¡¯s face turned dark as she heard what Xue Wei said . She had indeed nned on taking it andter she would have pretended that someone had stolen it . As long as the branch leader did not get involved, she would be fine, and if she did not inform the branch leader of this, then he would never know .

    This was, after all, the Whispering Oak Inn . Even if the person who owned the treasure was feeling upset, he would have to swallow the injustice, as no one was allowed to cause trouble in this faction, as they could easily end up being harvested .

    Having been sure about her own conjecture, and being confident that she could get her hands on that treasure in Xue Wei¡¯s hands, her eyes shed with disdain as she looked at the trio in front of her .

    "Give me the treasure, or don¡¯t expect to ever meet the branch leader . " The receptionist decided to use her prestigious position to threaten them . Thus her voice also lost every semnce of politeness . However, Xue Wei seemed utterly unmoved .

    "In that case, I will find someone else to work with . " Xue Wei waved his hand, and the herb vanished, taking away all the Yin Qi that had been spreading in the air .

    Seeing the herb vanish like this, the receptionist began panicking . She did not want the herb to disappear, she tried to benefit herself, but instead, she was losing out .

    Xue Wei had nned to threaten the Whispering Oak Inn¡¯s branch leader who was staring at them from the shadows, and as he had expected, there was a movement in the air, and a figure appeared by his side .

    Xue Wei did not seem surprised by the appearance of the figure, and this branch leader could not help but feel somewhat surprised .

    Taking an extra look at Xue Wei, his eyes deepened slightly, and shock shed past . He was at the very peak of the Ghost Realm, and naturally, he was much more alert than others . He was not fooled by the disguise that Xue Wei was currently using, and could instantly tell that this young man was from the world of the living .

    He was even more shocked when his eyesnded on the small snake that had coiled upon his shoulder . Everyone who noticed this snake would assume that it was a robot, but he could sense the vitality within . This was a living creature, and not something that had been created by technology .

    He had seen the treasure that Xue Wei had disyed . The dense Yin Qi had drawn him closer, and when he saw this herb, he instantly knew that it was from out of this world . Now that he had seen the situation that had urred within the foyer, he knew that the woman had no intention of handing over the herb to him, and thus his eyes chilled .

    "Young man, are you serious about wishing to work with this faction?" the branch leader asked while looking at Xue Wei . His eyes shed . If this young man had more treasures than just this one herb, then cooperation would indeed benefit both of them .

    Xue Wei nced at the man and nodded his head . "I took out just one random treasure; I have quite a few, so why don¡¯t we sit down somewhere and discuss what we can do to assist one another?"

    The branch leader was surprised by his straightforward answer, but also thrilled . This was indeed an extremely beneficial thing to him .

    When he appeared, the expression of the receptionist turned increasingly ugly, and fear began spreading in her heart .

    However, she noticed that neither the branch leader, nor Xue Wei, paid her any attention, and thus she began calming down again . She was suddenly sure that no one could touch her, as she was from the Whispering Oak Inn .

    Unfortunately, she had forgotten the inherent cruelty of ghosts . As soon as the branch leader and Xue Wei had finished agreeing on finding a room to discuss their future teamwork, he nced at the receptionist .

    "Harvest her," he said . His voice was cold and full of murderous intent . Before the receptionist had time toprehend the words entirely, she was grasped by two ghosts in ck suits, who then dragged her away, amidst her screeches and yells .

    Xue Wei looked at the woman with impassiveness . He did not pity her, nor did he feel that he should speak up for her . She had bad intentions towards him, so it was only natural that she paid the price .

    While Xue Wei was willing to help those who assisted him, he would also repay every grievance back a hundredfold . He was not one to care about right or wrong, only about who he liked and who he did not like .

    Seeing the unfeeling expression on Xue Wei¡¯s face, the branch leader could not help but praise him in his heart . Although this was a living being, his heart was as cold and ruthless as the ghosts .

    "Well then, young man, please follow me into the conference room . "

    Xue Wei nodded his head, and the four of them all went towards a room where no one could eavesdrop on their conversation .

 Chapter 524

    Chapter 524: 524

    Xue Wei followed the branch leader into the conference room . The female ghost he had saved from the caravan was also allowed inside, which surprised her, as she thought that they would be guarded against her .

    Seeing that they allowed her inside, she felt perplexed, but a warmth also appeared in her heart . She felt kindness for the first time . This kindness waspletely devoid of romantic emotions, it was more like the feeling that a child would have when the parent approved of one, and her heart was full of sweetness .

    Xue Wei was not paying attention to the female ghost¡¯s reactions right now, as his full attention was on the branch leader . This figure was strong . His strength could not rival Lan when he was at his peak, but it was not much lower than Tao Wu, who was the third strongest expert whom Xue Wei had encountered .

    If Lan had not sealed his powers, then this Branch Leader would never pose a threat to them, but now that they were, they had to tread cautiously .

    Also, Xue Wei had seen the Whispering Oak Inn¡¯s indifference towards the receptionist; he somewhat feared that if he left the female ghost in the foyer, he would return to having seen her being harvested . It was much safer to bring her along .

    The branch leader was very curious as to what Xue Wei could offer, but he was even more interested in what they had to provide in return .

    He also had a selfish wish, a wish to leave the Ghost Realm .

    Every ghost which lived in the Ghost Realm wanted to escape from their cage . While it was a ce where they could grow stronger, they were also trapped inside . Their lives were an endless circle of absorbing the souls and spirit liquid of others, and they had no joy in life . It was a struggle to live, and there was no beauty in life .

    Everyone who reached a certain strength wished to escape, but the Ghost Realm was amongst the few realms that you could not leave . No matter how much strength you gained, you were incapable of breaking through the formation which covered the Ghost Realm, and transcend to a higher realm .

    When the branch leader looked at Xue Wei, he saw a person who was capable of entering the Ghost Realm while still being a living being, and thus he might have a way to bring someone out as well .

    While the chances were small, he could not extinguish the hope that was sprouting within him .

    Xue Wei sat down in a chair in the conference room and gestured for the female ghost to take a seat by his side . He then took Lan from his shoulders and ced him on the table, and when the three of them were seated, they all focused their attention on the branch leader who sat across the table, looking at them with as much curiosity .

    "I noticed your treasure," the Branch Leader started the conversation . "It had an extreme amount of Yin Qi, and I am quite interested in purchasing it . However, I heard your words to the receptionist, saying that you are interested in working together with the Whispering Oak Inn, which made me rather curious . "

    Xue Wei smiled as he looked at the branch leader . He could sense that this man had something he wanted even more than the herbs and treasures in his possession, but he was unsure what it was, so he did not bring it up .

    Instead, he took out the three illustrations he had made and ced them on the table . "I am looking for three ghosts looking like this . I am especially interested in the female . "

    The branch leader frowned as he reached out and took the three drawings that Xue Wei had made, and as he looked at the three portraits, his pupils dted, and his eyes widened .

    Xue Wei, who was observing his every move, noticed this and narrowed his eyes . It seemed as if this branch leader knew at least one of these figures .

    Realizing that his expression was too revealing, the branch leader coughed and turned back to the previous indifference .

    "Who are these to you, and why are you looking for them?"

    Xue Wei nced at Lan, who seemed to be excited, and then he opened his mouth to answer . "I think you should have already guessed our origin," he began . "We came here for the sake of looking for these three figures, and we aim to take them back with us . "

    The branch leader frowned, but only he knew that he was feeling extremely ecstatic . If they had nned on bringing three with them away, then they could also bring him along . However, this was not a decision he could make on his own .

    "As you might have realized, I am not foreign to them . In fact, I know two of them, and I can contact them to hear what their thoughts are . The third, I am not aware of who it is, but I can use the Whispering Oak Inn to try and locate the person . "

    Xue Wei and Lan looked at one another, they could see the disbelief in the other¡¯s eyes, and their hearts were beating rapidly . Was there a chance for them to reunite with Li Zhiqing this soon?

    "Which two do you know?" Xue Wei asked the question that he knew Lan was dying to ask . He could sense the difort, anticipation, fear, and excitement in his body, and he too felt rather excited . He had a limited amount of time within the Ghost Realm, and if he could not locate Li Zhiqing within this time, then he would be in big trouble .

    The branch leader noticed the emotions in Lan¡¯s eyes, and he felt a little confused . However, he pushed two of the illustrations forward and said, "I know these two . "

 Chapter 525

    Chapter 525: 525

    Everyone looked at the two portraits that he pushed forward, and both Lan and Xue Wei felt as if their hearts stalled in their chests .

    One of the two portraits that he pushed forward was precisely that of the person that was behind their visit to the Ghost Realm . It was Lin Zhiqing .

    The other was Xue Wei¡¯s father, and thus, the person that the branch leader did not recognize was Tie Haolong .

    However, neither Xue Wei¡¯s father nor Tie Haolong were that important at this moment; both Xue Wei and Lan had all their focus on what the branch leader had said .

    He recognized Lin Zhiqing . He knew her . She still existed within the Ghost Realm . It was as if a heavy boulder which had been pressing down on their shoulders for a long time had suddenly been removed, and both Lan and Xue Wei felt a strange sense of relief and hope, but also a small amount of fear, notpletely daring to believe it .

    They had been prepared to stay in the Ghost Realm for years to locate her; however, the first high ranked ghost they encountered happened to know her; it was almost too good to be true .

    The branch leader seemed to notice their hesitation and theplex emotions within their eyes, and he chuckled slightly . He did not get insulted by theirck of belief in his words .

    He understood that this woman was likely the main reason for them to havee to the Ghost Realm, and thus it made perfect sense for them to be slightly skeptical .

    The branch leader was rtively certain that these two living beings had arrived recently . He was amongst the highest ranked ghosts within the entire realm, and thus he would have heard some rumors if they had been here longer .

    Not to mention, anyone who had stayed here for a longer period of time would have been able to locate the woman that they were looking for .

    "This woman is known as Qin Yi . She is the leader of the regional capital within another region . I am not sure whether or not you know the region; it is called the Full Moon Region, which is amongst the stronger regions within the Ghost Realm . It has ny-six counties under its banner, and only the Endless Abyss Region has more counties than this one .

    "The Full Moon Region is somewhat famous as it is amongst the Ghost Realm¡¯s richest regions . It has a lot of naturally appearing Yin Energy, and at the same time, quite a few ghosts who dissipate, making it so that much spirit liquid can be harvested . "

    Xue Wei raised an eyebrow in surprise . To think that she was the leader of such an important region . It seemed that she had not been wasting the time she had stayed within the Ghost Realm .

    "It is also because of her identity that I will need to contact her before I can make any decisions on her behalf . " The branch leader was aware that it was not suitable for him to make any decisions on her behalf, but he did feel that no ghost would decline a chance to leave this deste and glum realm .

    "How long will it take to contact her?" Xue Wei was also rather pleasantly surprised by the fact that they could find her so easily, and he genuinely hoped that she would join them sooner, rather thanter, as they would be able to cut their journey short .

    He was very interested in the Ghost Realm, and it was a heaven for those who cultivated Qi, but he was not enjoying his stay here . It was very gloomy, and it affected his mood . The depressing darkness, theck of life, the whole atmosphere, which was full of death, it was truly ufortable .

    However, he had to check whether or not he would be capable of locating his old friend, Tie Haolong, and he also wished to find his father . While his father would be unaware of what had happened when he had been alive, Xue Wei still wished to see how he was faring in this Ghost Realm .

    Also, since Lan had a way to bring Lin Zhiqing back to the world of the living, then he might be able to bring a few as well . His father had died to atone for his sins, so if he were returned to the world of the living, then Xue Wei would not me him anymore . He would even intercede for him when facing his uncle .

    However, Xue Wei had no intention of looking for Tie Haolong and his father before finding Lin Zhiqing . Although this ghost knew her, they still had to actually meet up with her .

    The branch leader also noticed that this woman was the most important, so he put the two other portraits away and began focusing on her .

    "I will contact her as soon as possible . It will take two days, at most to receive an answer . Why don¡¯t you stay at my manor until we receive the reply? I can promise you that we do not harvest any of our guests, and as long as you are within my manor, you will bepletely safe and protected, even the little female ghost which is following you around . "

    Xue Wei could feel the politeness of the ghost, and he nodded his head . The branch leader had some ulterior motives for getting close to them, and after considering it for some time, Xue Wei realized that this ghost most likely wished to leave the Ghost Realm alongside them .

    While Xue Wei was not sure whether or not it would be possible, he was not against forging a good rtionship with the branch leader, so he quickly epted the offer .

 Chapter 526

    Chapter 526: 526

    As the group exited the conference room, a subtle, and somewhat stifling feeling was present within the Whispering Oak Inn .

    Many of the people present were the same who had been there when they had entered the conference room, and they all looked at them without trying to hide their inquiring gazes .

    Many had shock and disbelief in their eyes . They had not expected that Xue Wei would be able to walk out of the conference room alive . He had such a great treasure, but he was still alive?

    The Ghost Realm was a ce where strength was revered . While most ghosts were unable to go against the restrictions and ughter in the cities, the hegemons in the Ghost Realm could not be contained by such rules .

    If they wanted to kill someone, they would not be bound by any regtions . This was also why everyone was aware that robbing was quite amon urrence .

    When such a great item appeared, it would be natural that Xue Wei would have been killed, and that the treasure would have been snatched by the branch leader, but what they saw now was that not only were they all still alive, they were also having a pleasant conversation together .

    "Please follow me; I will bring you back to my mansion . After I have contacted these people, I will inform you as soon as possible when I receive their answers . "

    Xue Wei nodded his head . He was genuinely grateful, not only to the branch leader, but also to the female ghost who had told them about the Whispering Oak Inn .

    He was quite surprised as to how quickly they had found Li Zhiqing, and while he understood that traveling to meet her would take time, this was still preferable contrary to having to search high and low throughout the entire Ghost Realm .

    Everyone had their own subtle thoughts . Xue Wei and Lan were upied with thinking of Li Zhiqing; the female ghost was not able to ovee the shock she got when she realized that her two saviors were actually from the world of the living, and they hade to look for someone .

    The branch leader was also still hoping for the best . Although he knew that the chances of him escaping the Ghost Realm were small, he did not wish to give up without trying .

    The experts within the Whispering Oak Inn understood that something had happened within the conference room, which they would never know about . Many were ncing at one another, trying to see whether the others had caught upon a critical clue, but all they found was utter confusion .

    Even if the branch leader wanted to get something from Xue Wei, he did not have to be so humble, did he?

    It was as if he wanted to pledge his allegiance to this young man, and everyone was deeply shocked . Was this the same arrogant and overbearing ghost that caused fear to erupt in everyone¡¯s hearts as soon as they saw him?

    He was a ghost who never put on a pleasant expression, even the ones working at the Whispering Oak Inn had never seen him smile, but now he was acting so amicable .

    Xue Wei¡¯s lips twitched when he saw the disbelief in the other ghosts¡¯ faces, and he instantly understood why . He was aware that this branch leader could kill him easily . The strength that hemanded was not to be belittled, so he understood their disbelief . He was, after all, rtively weak himself .

    The branch leaderpletely ignored everyone else . He knew that his actions were rather extreme whenpared to his usual self, but he was not bothered . Even if he were to behave like a dog, would these experts be able to say a thing about it? He was the illustrious branch leader of the Whispering Oak Inn, and no one could force him to do something he did not wish to do .

    The only reason he was this dog-legged towards Xue Wei was due to the burning hope in his chest . The hope of seeing the real world, leaving this glum and depressing ce, and stepping onto a muchrger stage .

    Even if the chance were small, he would give it his all so that he did not have regrets in the future .

    The four of them exited the Whispering Oak Inn, and the branch leader began walking through the regional capital with Xue Wei by his side .

    He exined many things about how the Ghost Realm worked and how one would be able to travel from one end to the other through teleportation arrays . He exined the time needed to travel through these arrays, and how it was faster to send messages than to send a person through .

    The time within the Teleportation array depended on the group of people who were sent .

    Therger the group, the longer it would take . When they sent a letter, it would arrive within an hour, from here to the next regional capital; however, if they sent a person, it would take a day .

    If the group consisted of more than one person, it would take even longer, and it could take up to a month to arrive at their destination . While a month sounded like a long time, it was honestly nothingpared to the distance they had to travel onnd .

    If they were to travel with their carriage, it would take them years to cross the same distance, so everyone who had the funds would use a teleportation array .

    While they were talking, they continued to walk, and while many recognized the branch leader, not many knew who Xue Wei and Lan were . The female ghost was entirely forgotten by the side .

    It did not take long before the rumors began spreading in the regional capital . The Whispering Oak Inn branch leader had been seen treating a young man with respect, and everyone started guessing the identity of this young man .

 Chapter 527

    Chapter 527: 527

    When the branch leader brought Xue Wei and his friends to his mansion, many had already gathered in the surroundings to catch a glimpse of the young man who could make even the most feared leader of the Whispering Oak Inn turn so humble .

    The branch leader sensed their arrival, and he was somewhat annoyed with their looks . While he was willing to humble himself in front of Xue Wei, he was not willing to do so in front of others .

    Xue Wei also understood the branch leader¡¯s mentality, and considering the fact that they depended on him to find Li Zhiqing and his father, he cleared his throat, and spoke very politely .

    Anyone who observed them would see that while the branch leader was extremely polite towards Xue Wei, Xue Wei was also very polite and humble when dealing with the ghost .

    The branch leader understood Xue Wei¡¯s attitude, and he felt grateful . In fact, even if Xue Wei had been snobbish and prideful, he would still be humble, as he was his only chance of leaving the Ghost Realm . However, seeing him being so friendly, he felt rather good about him .

    Ghosts would not usually have servants, but the branch leader was different . He was the top of the regional capital, and thus he had the capacity to hire ghosts to work for him .

    These ghosts needed a certain degree of strength to be able to be used by him, but they were all willing, as they could get some easy spirit liquid this way .

    Spirit liquid was something one could create by sacrificing one¡¯s own strength . This was not a feasible solution, as it would slow their own advance, but someone like the branch leader had, although limited, a rather sizable quantity of spirit liquid at his disposal, which he used to pay those beneath him .

    While he was not in charge of gathering spirit liquid himself, he was the one who could control who gained what, and how much . The position of power was not just for show .

    While the branch leader had an illustrious position, he only had three servants .

    These three servants were the housekeeper and two maids . Although they were servants, they were also amongst the upper ss of the regional capital, as their strength could not be belittled .

    Being the servant of the branch leader was known as a job which brought many benefits . One would enjoy undisguised respect and admiration from the other citizens within the capital . Their sry was also something that themon citizen envied, as they nevercked spirit liquid .

    While there were many benefits to the job, it was also somewhat risky . If the servant insulted their employer in one way or another, they would also be harvested, much like anyone else who caused problems in front of him .

    These servants were extremely arrogant when facing others, but in front of their boss, they became as docile as amb .

    That was why, when they opened the gates and saw the genuine and happy smile on their boss¡¯ face, they felt shocked, and their eyes filled with disbelief .

    They could not believe that their stoic, and rather ruthless boss, was suddenly showing such enthusiasm for someone else . This enthusiasm was simply too different from anything they had ever seen before .

    However, they did not believe that he was a fake ghost . He had the same overpowering strength and aura, and his appearance was exactly the same as before, so what they began wondering was about the identity of the guests .

    These servants all thought that Lan was a robot, so he was not getting much attention . However, the female ghost and Xue Wei, were being observed with a great interest .

    Xue Wei was considered average in strength whenpared to themon ghost, and his strength could never be the cause of why the branch leader showed him such attention .

    Another questionable thing was that ghosts had no family or memories of their lives when they were in the world of the living . They could not remember anything, so it was not possible that they had some connection to one another . Being interested in the other was also impossible, as the branch leader did not behave as one would if they were in love . Instead, he was being polite, humble, and admiring .

    This was all very puzzling, but the servants dared not show their confusion, and instead, they followed their orders to show Xue Wei and the female ghost to a room each .

    Xue Wei and Lan shared a room . Lan was stuck in his original form, and the size was so small that he could easily curl into a ball on the desk without interrupting or disturbing Xue Wei .

    He continued to try and unravel his seal while Xue Wei sat on the bed and tried to increase his cultivation base .

    Xue Wei had no intention of introducing Qi cultivation to the branch leader . This branch leader was already incredibly strong . He did not need to cultivate Qi, and even if he were to enter the world of the living, he would be a spirit . Hence Qi cultivation would be useless for him .

    The ghosts did not need to eat or drink to sustain their bodies . Food was also not a thing that existed within the Ghost Realm, and water was only used for washing . Wine and the likes did not exist in the Ghost Realm either, as nts were nearly extinct .

    As a result, Xue Wei stayed within his room for the following hours . He focused solely on refining the heaven and hearth essence, and further strengthened his cultivation base .

    Lan¡¯s cultivation was also recovering rapidly . The seal was unraveling swiftly, and his cultivation base was slowly returning .

 Chapter 528

    Chapter 528: 528

    While Lan and Xue Wei were fully focused on cultivation, the branch leader was seated in his office, deep in thought . He knew that he had to contact the woman first, the one whom they called Li Zhiqing, but he knew as Mo Lian .

    In the painting, which Xue Wei had drawn, he could see her gentleness, and her soft temperament . She was indeed a beauty made from water, with a lovable disposition .

    If not for the remarkably simr facial features, the branch leader would never have connected this gentle woman with Mo Lian .

    Mo Lian was the leader of another region . To reach this top spot within the Ghost Realm, one had to be ruthless and calcting . How were the two going to react when the person they had searched for happened to be so different from the one they had known?

    The branch leader could not help but sigh in regret . The Ghost Realm truly changed everyone who came inside . You lost your memories, and along with it, your humanity as well .

    He wished for so much more than to be caught in this dreadful and gloomy world where he never knew how long he would have to suffer, and he could imagine that Mo Lian would wish for precisely the same .

    He shook his head and began writing a letter . The letter was quickly written before he put it in a scroll, and sealed it with his energy . Only Mo Lian would be capable of opening it now .

    He then found one of his servants and sent him to the transportation array, with the purpose of personally handing the letter over to her . He did not trust that others would do a decent job .

    Now that the letter had been sent, there was nothing more to do than wait . The branch leader wished to forge a good rtionship with Xue Wei and Lan, but he soon found that these two were so focused on cultivating that they rarely stepped outside of the room .

    He wished to talk with them about the chances of leaving the Ghost Realm, but he was not willing to be abrupt, and he also did not want to be annoying . Hence he held back, feeling more and more depressed .

    The entire regional capital had spread the news of these guests staying at the branch leader¡¯s mansion, and many ghosts were full of curiosity . While the branch leader was the strongest expert in the regional capital, there were others who were almost at the same level, and they were extremely curious as to who these figures were .

    If these ghosts put their hands together, they would be able to get rid of the branch leader; however, they never considered doing so, as they feared the Whispering Oak Inn behind him .

    It was also due to this that the branch leader always carried himself with arrogance and contempt when looking at them, and they knew that the pride he had was rooted deep within his bones . They had been of the impression that he would never tter anyone .

    But now they heard the rumors that this man had be humble and friendly, and their eyes glittered with excitement . They felt that if the branch leader would act like this, then the foreigners had something which was simply too alluring, and if it was that alluring to him, then it would be the same for them .

    Thinking like this, the ghosts at the very top of the city all purchased gifts, and headed to the mansion belonging to the branch leader with the purpose of meeting Xue Wei . Lan was still not taken into consideration, as no one truly believed him to be a living being, but just a robot .

    "Why are you here?" The branch leader nced at the three ghosts that were standing outside his gates . Their faces held their friendliest smiles, and while a cunning gleam shed by in their eyes, they all seemed sincere and friendly .

    "We heard that an important guest has made his way to your abode, and wish to greet him . As the upper ss within the regional capital, we cannot let such an important guest trouble you all the time . " The ghost who spoke was strong and sturdy . His body was taller than the branch leader, and his arms were thicker than the branch leader¡¯s legs .

    Even so, cultivation for ghosts did not depend on physical strength, and while this ghost seemed much more overwhelming than the branch leader and the other ghosts gathered at the gate, he was actually the weakest .

    A lean and tall ghost quickly nodded his head as he looked at the branch leader . "Do not worry, we have all brought gifts to show our sincerity," he said . "You are the host, but as the regional capital belongs to the four of us, so naturally, we should share your burdens . "

    The branch leader was furious . He wished that he could bash them into the ground, and use them as spirit liquid, but he knew that he would not win, should a battle actually ur .

    But he had already done so much . He was not willing to give the chance of escaping the Ghost Realm to someone else, and he could only grit his teeth in anger, not knowing how to advance or retreat .

    At this moment, Xue Wei came down the stairs and noticed the stalemate outside the door .

    "Lord Branch Leader, what is going on?" He puzzledly asked as he cocked his head to the side . The branch leader had a myriad ofplex emotions flooding his heart, but he quickly exined the situation, while the other ghosts were openly staring at Xue Wei with inquiry and greed .

    Sensing their displeasing eyes, Xue Wei frowned and looked at the branch leader . "I am but a mere ghost . I am already honored that you are taking care of me; I will not trouble the rest of them . "

 Chapter 529

    Chapter 529: 529

    The branch leader was surprised . He had thought that Xue Wei would do anything to increase his sphere of influence; however, when he looked at the younger man, he quickly found that he genuinely had no interest in these other leaders of the regional capital .

    After thinking about it for some time, he began to understand why . Xue Wei was from the world of the living . Even if he curried favor with these ghosts, he would get nothing from it . Even so, he, the branch leader, had helped him previously, and thus he was willing to help him chase away these annoying bugs .

    The other ghosts were instantly shocked upon hearing Xue Wei declining their hospitality . They had thought that since he was rtively weak, he would not dare to deny them, but they soon found that they had overestimated themselves .

    Lan, who was resting on Xue Wei¡¯s shoulder, could not help but smile mockingly at these ghosts . While he was still not their opponent, as his seal was very far from being unraveled, he had a good understanding of the personality of these ghosts .

    While they dared to cause problems here, they were still very apprehensive . They clearly feared the branch leader . They were still behaving courteous and friendly, something you did not often see in the Ghost Realm .

    Since they feared the branch leader, there was no reason for the two of them to fear these neers .

    The branch leader nced at Xue Wei . He understood this young man¡¯s thoughts and felt quite satisfied . He nodded his head, and while his expression did not change, one could still sense his gloating as he opened his mouth and spoke .

    "As you heard, my guest is very good here . No need for you guys to go out of your way to take over . "

    Seeing that both the guest and the host were so adamant about not letting them in on what was happening, their expressions turned ugly, and the greed in their eyes turned more profound .

    They could not help but feel that the more these two acted like this, the more important this was .

    They were unwilling to let go of something, which would cause even the branch leader to be so alert . While they understood that this was connected with interests, dangers, and risks, they were more than willing to fish in troubled waters .

    The branch leader was aware of their mindset . Usually, he would not mind, as he would have to exert quite an overwhelming amount of energy to defeat them, and even if he could beat them, it was not certain that he could absorb their energy, so fighting them was a losing battle .

    However, the situation was different now . If he could leave this realm, then he was willing to even start from scratch as he exited . So why would it matter if he had to use all his energy now?

    The intruding ghosts had not expected that the branch leader would take such a strong stance . Iprehension shed in their eyes as they narrowed .

    They did not understand what could have such a great temptation to this branch leader, that he was willing to suffer through something that might result in his cultivation base declining .

    One has to know that the Whispering Oak Inn was no friendly faction . If his strength dropped, his position would be taken over by someone else .

    The more resolute the branch leader seemed, the more greedy and curious these intruding ghosts became .

    However, while the branch leader knew what was in y, they were in the dark and were still considering whether or not it was worth taking a risk to try and gain this unknown thing .

    In fact, although the branch leader was willing to risk everything for the chance to leave the Ghost Realm, he was truly grasping for straws . He was not even aware if there was a chance for him to leave this dreaded prison, but if he failed, then he would dly give up . He would be without regrets as he had tried everything within his ability to leave, and he was at a point where he was no longer willing to stay as such a gloomy existence .

    Xue Wei was unsure what the branch leader was thinking, but Lan could guess his mind when he looked at him . The deste and despaired expression in his eyes was enough to make him understand that while he was ruthless, he was actually extremely unhappy with the situation he was in .

    He had likely umted strength throughout the years in a desperate attempt to escape the hell that was the Ghost Realm, but as the years had passed, he came to realize that the chances to do so were near impossible .

    Lan understood his despair . While he kept the mask of a happy person who ruled, he was, in fact, feeling loneliness and despair that was simr to that of this ghost .

    Xue Wei did not know Lan or the branch leader¡¯s thoughts . He had experienced many things, but his life was still young . Whenpared to those monsters who had lived for many thousands of years, his thoughts were very tender .

    The branch leader noticed the contemting eyes of Lan, and he raised an eyebrow in surprise, but he did not have the time to have a heart to heart conversation with him, as he was still focusing on chasing away the other ghosts .

    Returning his gaze to the intruding ghosts, the emotion in his eyes had changed and became filled with mockery and disdain .

    These ghosts also wished for a better life; however, they were cowardly . The only reason they were willing to take risks now was because of their understanding of the branch leader .

    He was a hegemon amongst the ghosts, and he would not do anything he was not sure about .

    Since he put such importance on Xue Wei, then he had to be certain that he would benefit from him .

    Since he was so confident, how could they not try to grasp the same benefits?

 Chapter 530

    Chapter 530: 530

    It took quite some effort to get rid of these unwanted ghosts, but eventually, the branch leader managed to shoo them away .

    After seeing this, Xue Wei decided to wander the city in search of other small gadgets that could be of use to him .

    He understood that he should not take out too many treasures from the world of the living, but fortunately, he had gotten quite a bit of spirit liquid, which he could exchange for these small things that he took an interest in .

    The things that Xue Wei found interesting were the most basic gadgets in the Ghost Realm . There were small orbs that could lit up the darkness . There were small boxes that could summon wind and rain . It was weapons that could slice through iron as if it was a hot knife through tofu .

    The things he was interested in were tools that everyone consideredmonce, and thus their price was very low .

    The main reason that Xue Wei was curious about these small things was that they were driven either by spirit liquid or by the heaven and earth essence in the air .

    He found it extremely interesting that someone could convert the heaven and earth essence into fuel, while not using any other resources to convert it .

    This was the main reason that he was purchasing gadget after gadget . He wished to take them back to the world of the living with him, and understand the secret behind them in an attempt to somehow benefit himself and his friends .

    Just as Xue Wei walked out of a store, he noticed that the street, which previously had been bustling with life, was suddenly deserted . Even the stall owners at the side of the road were gone; themon ghosts had long since fled .

    The shops were closed, and as soon as Xue Wei stepped out of the store he had been visiting, he found that the shopkeeper¡¯s face turned solemn as he hurried inside, barricaded the door, and shut the blinds .

    Seeing this extreme behavior, Xue Wei raised an eyebrow in surprise . Something was going on .

    "Careful," Lan¡¯s voice sounded in his mind, warning him, and Xue Wei nodded alertly . He, too, understood that something dangerous was about to happen .

    He was not entirely sure who was behind these actions, but he guessed that this was aimed at him, as he was the only being present on the road .

    If they were directed at him, then the only ones who could be behind them would be the unwanted guests who had shown up at the mansion earlier that day .

    Thinking of them, Xue Wei¡¯s face turned serious . They were much stronger than both him and Lan¡¯s current strength . If they wished to kill him, he was unsure whether or not he would be capable of surviving .

    It seemed that he had to be more careful when he was moving around in the Ghost Realm in the future . So far, everything had been smooth sailing, but now it seemed that things were no longer so simple .

    Three shadows shed in front of Xue Wei, and he nced up to see three unfamiliar faces, all of which were at a strength that could rival the King rank in the world of the living .

    Seeing that the intruding ghosts were not handling this personally, Xue Wei heaved a heavy sigh of relief, but he dared not be arrogant . While these were much weaker than the others, they were still stronger than Xue Wei .

    Lan, who was resting on Xue Wei¡¯s shoulder, nced at the ghosts, and his expression also turned rather solemn . He had sealed his strength, and while he would be capable of fighting these three ghosts, it was not certain whether or not he would be able to defeat them all .

    However, as they hade to meet them, Lan and Xue Wei had no option other than to see what their ns were .

    "Are you that guest in the branch leader¡¯s mansion?" One of the ghosts asked, and Xue Wei scoffed in annoyance . "Would you believe me if I said no?" He asked with disdain in his voice, but the ridiculing attitude only served to make these ghosts furious .

    They were amongst the upper ss within the regional capital, and no one dared speak like this to them . They could sense that Xue Wei was weaker than them, and they could not help but look down on him . They did not understand why their superiors had ordered so many of them to catch him .

    "Are you going to follow us obediently, or do we have to beat you up first?" The man asked, with a sinister gleam in his eyes . It was clear that he hoped that Xue Wei would resist, so naturally, they could not let this ghost down .

    Xue Wei smirked as he saw the ghosts¡¯ arrogance . While he was not as strong as them, he had various trump cards, which could increase his chances of getting away safely .

    Neither he, nor Lan, was expecting a victory against these ghosts, but if they went all out, they should be able to escape without too much trouble .

    "Get him!" The speaker disdained Xue Wei, so he ordered his twopanions to act . He crossed his arms over his chest and smirked with a malicious gleam in his eyes . He hated it when someone tried to go against him, and Xue Wei¡¯s reply was enough to enrage him .

    Most ghosts with power had an extremely vtile temper . The nature of the Ghost Realm made them even more violent and ruthless than some beasts in the world of the living, and the thing they hated most was to be looked down upon .

 Chapter 531

    Chapter 531: 531

    Xue Wei was aware that his words had enraged the ghost, but that was his aim . He understood that these ghosts were not going to let him go, no matter what he did, so he might as well try and make them enraged in the hope that they might slip up easier that way .

    Lan, who had been resting on his shoulder, slowly pped his four wings before he shot out like a dart and attacked one of the approaching men . The speed was outstanding . Even though his powers were sealed, the mingshe always had an incredible agility and speed, causing it to be near impossible to catch .

    Xue Wei also decided not to fight with all he had, apart from his original shape . He was aware that if he transformed in front of so many observers, quite a few would be able to deduce his identity as a living being . Beasts were, after all, not a thing in this ghost realm .

    The Qi which gathered on Xue Wei¡¯s hand had a jade-like luster . It was beautiful and alluring, the color attracted the attention of the ghost which they were fighting against, and a strange fear crept up in his heart .

    He did not know what this energy was, but there was an innate fear in his heart telling him that even if this man was weaker than him, the green energy would be able to cause him quite a sizable amount of pain .

    Seeing the hesitating eyes of the advancing ghost, Xue Wei sneered . This was precisely what he had been looking for, but he had other trump cards than the wood elemental affinity .

    There was an element that was even better at fighting ghosts and anything else that had been stained by death .

    Lightning and thunder were the natural bane of these yin elemental creatures, and Xue Wei had nned to use almost anything at his disposal to defeat these ghosts .

    While he would not be able to hide his identity if he turned into an Azure Dragon or a Vermilion Bird in the middle of the street, he could still im that the elemental affinities were something he had gained through a fortunate encounter .

    As the wood elemental Qi was gathering on Xue Wei¡¯s palm, he began unleashing another attack .

    Nine Sky Judgment!

    This was a technique he hade across in the Ascended¡¯s Realm . It was yet another skill that copied the tribtion lightning, but due to the nature of this skill, it was not one which one needed to be channeled . Instead, it gathered nine lightning bolts into one and struck the target .

    As soon as Xue Wei had unleashed the technique, the pping sound of thunder rang in the street, and everyone was blinded by the sudden lightning bolt that descended straight onto the ghost which was rushing towards Xue Wei .

    Because this ghost had been too cautious about the Wood Elemental Qi on Xue Wei¡¯s palm, he did not have the time to protect his body against the lightning bolt, and the sudden feeling of pain caused the ghost to shriek in agony .

    The lightning was wreaking havoc in his body . It was attempting to purge the death energy, but this was a ghost, and his entire body was created from spirit energy, which was reaped and harvested from other dead souls .

    It was impossible to eliminate all the energy without ending his life . Unfortunately, the lightning was extremely stubborn . It was not willing to give up and continued to destroy anything that was near it, resulting in unbearable pain for the ghost .

    However, his strength was not just there for show . Although the pain, which was so intense that he felt as if he could die, was running rampant in his body, he gritted his teeth and red at Xue Wei .

    He would make this young man experience pain so gruesome that he would wish that he had died .

    Their boss had said to bring him alive, but he had not mentioned what state he had to be in . As such, no one would me him for cutting off his limbs, torturing him until only thest breath remained . He had to vent the pain that he was feeling now .

    It was unfortunate that this was not going as he had nned . Xue Wie could see the malice in the ghost¡¯s eyes and knew that he would be in dire straits if he did not win, so he instantly summoned more lightning .

    Nine Sky Judgment

    Nine Sky Judgment

    Nine Sky Judgment

    Xue Wei cast the same ability thrice . He was using up the lightning elemental Qi without worrying about what to do when it ran out . The reason for this was quite simple; he understood that if he hesitated, then he would not only drag himself down, he would also harm Lan .

    Not to mention, he had a rather sizable amount of treasures in his storage treasure, amongst them were some pills and resources which could help him restore elemental Qi in a shorter period of time .

    This Ghost Realm was suitable for cultivating pure Qi with heaven and earth essence, but it was devoid of elemental energy .

    If Xue Wei wanted to cultivate his elemental affinities, he would have to depend entirely on the resources he had brought with him into the realm . Even restoring it was also fully dependent on the energy within the storage treasure, as he could find none of what he needed in the air .

    Realizing this, Xue Wei could not help but feel grateful that the air was full of heaven and earth essence . If this had not even been here, then how would he have been able to restore his Qi after each confrontation?

 Chapter 532

    Chapter 532: 532

    The lightning strikes and the rumbling thunder was making the ghosts who were observing the fight frightened .

    There was never thunder or lightning in the Ghost Realm, but the sheer aura of this martial technique that Xue Wei used,bined with the Lightning Elemental Qi, made them all feel their souls trembling in fright .

    The ghost that Xue Wei was up against also sensed the danger . While he was unable to escape the first lightning bolt, he still managed to retreat from the second, and the third only caused him slight injuries whenpared to the first that hit him urately .

    Although Xue Wei had managed to catch the ghost unprepared, and in turn, caused him some severe damage, the ghost was not at a point where his soul would shatter .

    He was injured, and his body began to release something that looked like steam, but any ghost who saw this scene would be shocked . What was slowly rising from this ghost¡¯s body was not steam, but his spirit power .

    It was the energy that gave him his strength, and the more that evaporated, the weaker he would be .

    This was not something he had done voluntarily . The energy which was escaping him was caused by the lightning that was running rampant in his body, and he could not stop it before he extinguished the streak of energy which was so brazen .

    Knowing that his energy was evaporating little by little, the ghost¡¯s eyes were full of murderous intent, his teeth were clenched so tightly that they almost shattered, and his hands gathered energy in his palm .

    This ghost was so enraged that he had lost his mind . He had forgotten that their boss had told them just to capture him; all that he could think of was to kill him and absorb his energy to make up for what he had lost .

    Xue Wei naturally noticed the gleam of cruelty in his eyes, and he could not help but turn serious . While the ghost was enraged and had lost all reason, he was still dangerous; in fact, his attacks would be much more dangerous now, as he would be reckless .

    To deal with him, Xue Wei needed to be calm and collected, and abuse theck of thoughts that the other had .

    Currently, Lan was fighting against the other ghost, while Xue Wei was facing off against the one he had struck with lightning .

    But neither Lan nor Xue Wei could afford to put all their attention on their target, as a third ghost was standing not far away, leaning against a wall . His arms were crossed over his chest, and his eyes were brewing with interest .

    He was a typical ghost, and while he had made a group alongside these other two, he had no interest in looking after them . If their souls shattered, then he would not mourn them . Instead, he would consume their energy .

    The only reason he had not acted yet was due to the thunder and lightning that Xue Wei had summoned before .

    He was aware that he could withstand it, but he also knew that to do so, he would have to pay a rather hefty price .

    Not to mention, he did not know how often this mysterious person, Xue Wei, could summon it .

    If he summoned it multiple times, he was aware that his foundations would be damaged . This was not something he was willing to see, so his n was simple .

    He wanted to use these two ghosts as cannon-fodder . Make them use up their bodies to tire out Xue Wei and this curious little dragon, and then capture them when they were exhausted .

    He had not forgotten that he had to capture them alive . While he was tempted to take the secret of these two for himself, he understood his strength .

    By acting on Xue Wei, he would not only have the bosses¡¯ revenge to consider, but he also had to remember that this man had a good rtionship with the Whispering Inn branch leader .

    Leaving the regional capital would be impossible if he drew the hatred of these two groups .

    While he was thinking of his ns, he found that while Xue Wei was being pushed back, the little dragon-like creature was like a fish in water .

    It seemed to have an equal strength to a King Rank cultivator, and he was not troubled to deal with the ghost in front of him . Even so, he was not rushing to assist Xue Wei, which caused the ghost to frown .

    Xue Wei was aware that Lan had handled his ghost easily, and he breathed a sigh of relief . This meant that he would take care of the third ghost, should he engage in the battle, and that he could focus entirely on the battle against this ghost in front of him .

    The strength of this ghost was overwhelming, and each punch made the wind whistle and the space tremble .

    Xue Wei used the Forbidden Rush movement technique to narrowly escape the attacks, but even so, the near-hits caused him to feel his internal organs trembling in pain .

    Even so, what pain had he not experienced? He was able to grit his teeth and persevere as hended a few attacksced with lightning elemental Qi on his opponent .

    He was not currently using Martial Techniques . Instead, he was solely relying on his martial arts, and while the result was much less evident than when a Nine Sky Judgment hit the ghost, it was also much more cost-efficient, and the small strands of lightning were still wreaking havoc in the ghost¡¯s body .

    He found that while martial techniques caused damage, the attacks that only used pure lightning was not to be belittled either .

 Chapter 533

    Chapter 533: 533

    The pure Lightning Elemental Qi was able to cause damage to the ghost . The mist that had started to rise from his body was getting much denser, and the spirit energy that his body was created from was getting weaker and weaker .

    Although his strength was receding, it was happening so slowly that his cultivation level was not dropping, and the fight was starting to cause a lot of trouble for Xue Wei .

    He had to be grateful that this Lightning Qi was causing pain to the ghost, and that it made the opponent somewhat apprehensive; however, he had to be realistic .

    Defeating this ghost was not a possibility . The gap between their ranks was simply too overwhelming, and while he could put up a struggle, he was not able to turn the battle around . It already took all his capabilities just to stay alive; how could he turn it around?

    But he was not willing to give up . A cruel and ruthless expression surfaced on his face, and he ramped up the intensity of the lightning elemental Qi that was infused in his attacks .

    This did, indeed, cause the ghost to step back and grit his teeth in difort . He was feeling pain all over his body, and it distracted him from being able to focus entirely on the fight at hand .

    Xue Wei was used to pain sharpening his senses . He had experienced much suffering throughout the years, and the pain had been used to hone his senses .

    This ghost, on the other hand, had not experienced any real setback for a long time . Ghosts were quite peculiar . They did not experience much pain throughout their lives, because if they reached the point where they were to be injured, their lives would likely end, and they would not be able toter reminiscence about the experience .

    Xue Wei was unaware of this fact . He had initially used the wood and lightning elemental Qi to cause some severe damage to the ghost, but upon noticing that it did not do much damage, he had felt dejected .

    However, after observing for some time, he had found that although the damage done was not enough to truly harm the ghost, it was capable of impeding him from fighting smoothly .

    The battle between Xue Wei and the ghost had been at a stalemate before, but now that he had increased the amount of elemental Qi he was using, he held a slight upper hand .

    This upper hand was not really significant, as it came from the unconscious fear of pain that the Ghost had, and if he was pressured too far, he would explode with his full potential topletely ignore the pain and take down Xue Wei .

    Another worry was that Xue Wei could feel that the elemental Qi within his body was being depleted rapidly .

    While he would be able to restore the Qi after a certain amount of rest, it would run out within a rtively short time if things kept going as they were now .

    When the Wood and Lightning Elemental Qi ran out, how would he then be able to withstand the attack of the ghost?

    Xue Wei was considering his options . He nced at Lan, and when he noticed that the arrogant little four-winged snake was doing well, he heaved a heavy sigh of relief .

    Lan looked back at Xue Wei . He observed the situation throughout the battle, and he knew that Xue Wei was reaching his limits .

    From the beginning, neither he nor Xue Wei had any hope of defeating their opponents . However, Lan had not created a chance to escape so far, as Xue Wei had been able to hold his stance .

    Now that things were different, it was only normal to stop trying their hands against a group of ghosts, and Lan¡¯s body suddenly swelled to an unimaginable size .

    The majestic white wings pped in the air, sending gales of wind rushing through the road .

    The big silver eyes were coldly staring at the three ghosts in front of him as if he could easily crush them with the sheer size of his body .

    The blue scales were as illustrious as a pearl and as beautiful as the summer sky .

    Xue Wei¡¯s dragon form was azure, while Lan¡¯s was blue . The azure color was darker than the color of Lan . His was almost a sky blue shade, which caused one to feel tranquil upon witnessing it .

    The mingshe was, generally, a very calm and gentle beast . However, Lan¡¯s nature had long since been molded and changed by the passing of time .

    While he was still gentle towards those whom he deemed important to him, he had learned to leave others alone . He had evene to the point where he was willing to be ruthless to anyone who threatened his peace .

    Since Lan had epted Xue Wei, this mingshe wanted to help him as much as possible with advancing . While Xue Wei was still notpletely sure of what his identity as the Holy Son meant to the Sovereign Beasts, Lan was aware of the cruelty involved .

    He could naturally interfere, but he also knew Xue Wei¡¯s personality . Since he had said that he would return to the Chang¡¯an Continent after fifty years, at most, to marry Wang Xiaoyun, he would naturally also wish to change the continent along the way and bring peace .

    With his current strength, this was merely wishful thinking, so training was in order . These ghosts in front of them were extremely suitable training partners .

    However, now that he could no longer hang on, Lan had erupted with his stored up power, and caused such a panic that it allowed the two of them to escape amongst the uproar .

    The three ghosts had beenpletely fooled by their two opponents .

 Chapter 534

    Chapter 534: 534

    When Lan had erged his body, he had suddenly crushed the stones that made up the roads; cracks ran around the whole street, even the houses had cracks traveling up on the walls, which showed how heavy his body had been, and how severe the damage done to the foundation of the road was .

    The ghosts, which had seen this sudden transformation, had been so shocked that they had retreated rapidly, not wishing to be crushed beneath Lan¡¯s body . While they were retreating, they were also beginning to n their options for regaining the advantage .

    At that time, Lan was suddenly gone . He had shrunk to a tiny shape once more, and went after Xue Wei, who had begun retreating the moment the snake expanded .

    Now that he had returned to his normal shape, Xue Wei had already gotten far away, and the two were gone from the sight of the present ghosts before they managed to react .

    The three ghosts, who had been tasked with capturing Xue Wei, did not instantly hurry after them . They understood that Lan had been ying with the expert that he had fought and that even though the possibility of defeating them was high, the price they would have to pay would be equally high .

    While these ghosts were working for another, they were selfish . They knew that if they attacked Xue Wei and Lan, they would end up sacrificing much of their power, and would likely be prey to others .

    If they escaped, they had a chance of living . This chance was what they valued, and thus they did not spend much time considering what to do, before they turned on their tail, and ran away .

    They knew that if they hesitated, or wasted even the slightest moment, then they were likely to be caught by their employer .

    They knew that if they got caught, their ending would be gruesome . There was no hope of survival, and the street was suddenly empty; the only thing left was the destruction left by the crushing weight of Lan when his mingshe shape had grown .

    The ghosts, which had hidden away in the stores and buildings, slowly began emerging once more . Their faces were full of shock and disbelief .

    Beasts did not exist in the Ghost Realm, and while they had some robots shaped after their feelings, they did not actually know what a real beast was .

    But now, the appearance of Lan made them fearful . Was this a new form for technology, or a new shape of a ghost that had appeared? They were unsure of what to feel, and felt that this uncertainty could easily end up bing their doom .

    Everyone feared the unknown . In a world like this, where death was even more domineering than in the world of the living, the fear of vanishing forever was rooted in these ghosts¡¯ hearts, and thus they shunned everything foreign .

    Due to this deeply rooted fear, the ghosts hurried to share the event with others, but there was no way of recording what had happened, which resulted in no one knowing who the participating parties were .

    Many came to the street to examine the damage done to the road and the buildings, but what they saw did not help them understand anything . Instead, it just made them even more nervous .

    It did not take long before the news reached the branch leader, and he could not help but raise an eyebrow in surprise . He had never guessed that the little thing on Xue Wei¡¯s shoulder would be so powerful .

    While the rest of the city was feeling extremely fearful, the branch leader was instead excited . He knew that this duo would be hisst hope, so he wanted to cling to it with all his might .

    It was not only the branch leader who learned of the episode, the ghost leaders, who had sent out the ones that had been tasked with capturing Xue Wei, also got knowledge of the encounter not long after it had passed .

    At first, they were extremely unhappy with the fact that their hired help had fled the scene, but as the exnation became more detailed, their hearts quivered in difort .

    They did not doubt that this was a robot that had been created by Xue Wei . This robot was most likely going to be sold to the Whispering Oak Inn, as he had brought it to the branch leader .

    Thinking that the branch leader would get his hands on such a powerful robot, they felt their hearts shiver . They could not imagine the damage it would bring to them, as they were currently able to bnce the power in the regional capital . Still, with the aid of such a robot, the branch leader would naturally be able to gain the upper hand .

    The group of ghosts was shaken to their core, and they did not know how to move forward . They had fallen into a passive position, and did not know how to advance .

    Should they gather their forces and fight against the branch leader? Doing so would harm them deeply, as they knew that the branch leader would not give up .

    Should they wait and see? If they did this, they were convinced that one day they would not wake up, as the branch leader would act on them .

    Their final option would be to flee the city, much like their hired help had done, but this was also a result they were unwilling to see .

    Being uncertain on how to advance made the three ghosts ufortable . They had to consider their options well before acting, but they could not spend too much time dwelling on it, as they might end up dead if they did .

    Xue Wei and Lan were also very well aware that their appearance today had caused some chaos to emerge in the regional capital, but as to the level of danger that would bring them, they were still not aware .

 Chapter 535

    Chapter 535: 535

    Xue Wei had returned to his room and was not bothered by the decision that these people made . He understood that while Lan was a good deterrent, he was also something that could attract others .

    But relying on the fact that the branch leader was eager to leave the Ghost World, Xue Wei cultivated with no sense of worry, casually sitting on the bed, while the outside world was in chaos .

    The only ghosts who might prove dangerous to Xue Wei were the other branch leaders of the Whispering Oak Inn, but Xue Wei had faith in the allure that the outside world brought them, and thus he had no fear of theming to kill him anytime soon .

    As to whether or not he would be able to bring them out of the Ghost Realm, that was a question forter .

    Xue Wei felt no pressure from these ghosts who wanted to leave . He had arrived with the purpose of finding Li Zhiqing for Lan . However, their entrance into this world had been so magnificent, sacrificing numerous heroes and their souls, so right now, his biggest worry was not those ghosts who wanted to leave, but how exactly they would seed in leaving .

    It was clear that this pressure was also getting to Lan . They were likely to have already located Li Zhiqing, and while she had lost her memories from when she was alive, it was very unlikely that she would not want to leave the Ghost Realm with them .

    However, the more ghosts who learned of their ability to enter the Ghost Realm, and the possibility of them being able to bring others out with them, the more dangerous their situation would be .

    While others might kidnap them for the sake of trying to threaten them to take them out, some might just directly kill them to ensure that their enemies would not be better off than themselves .

    What Xue Wei could think about, naturally Lan also knew, and thus the two of them were focused, one on cultivating, and the other on releasing his seal .

    If Lan managed to release the seal and regain his true abilities, then even if he could not break apart the world and leave, he would be able to cause so much chaos that the ones who ruled the world, like the one who brought them here, would set them free to maintain some sort of order in the Ghost Realm .

    Unfortunately, no one knew how much time would be needed topletely unravel this seal . Lan had, after all, sealed the power himself .

    In the following days, a strange sense of oppression was present all over the city . Even themon ghosts understood that something big was happening, and they dared not leave their homes out of fear of being consumed .

    When unrest was brewing, it was natural that some wished to take advantage of the chaos, and many would be unfortunate . Those who were a bit more courageous came out to fish in troubled waters, and soon they found that the other overlords within the city were preparing to overthrow the branch leader of the Whispering Oak Inn .

    Everyone was aware of the sudden big creature that had appeared in the middle of the city some days back, and most had understood that it had some sort of connection to the branch leader, as he had made no movements since then to find it .

    "Do you think that they will be able to defeat the branch leader, now that he has the aid of such a thing?"

    "It is true that you should not show off your wealth, look how all those old overlords are gathering together to take care of the branch leader . "

    "I can¡¯t help but wonder when the battle will ur, and if a lot of ghosts will lose their lives in the process . Do you think that I will be able to absorb some of the lingering soul power?"

    Whispers were sounding in every corner of the regional capital, and everyone had their own theories, ideas, and hopes for the confrontation which was building up .

    The culprits, Xue Wei and Lan, were oblivious to the unrest outside, but even if they knew, they would not care much . They hadplete faith in the branch leader to keep them safe .

    In fact, even if the branch leader had to sacrifice some of the ghosts following him, he would not lose out on the current situation . The other overlords of the city had been growing for thousands of years, and they contained a rich, ancient, soul power, which would allow the branch leader to grow even stronger upon consuming them .

    "Branch Leader, the opponents have gathered in the South Street, and they are arrogantly marching towards our gates . "

    The ghost who spoke seemed rtively young, not even as old as Xue Wei, but the explosive power hidden within his body was not something that should be belittled .

    Although his expression was somewhat youthful, he was very old and ruthless . The benefit of ghosts was that they did not age, so those who lived in the Ghost Realm did not care about others¡¯ appearance . Even a small child could prove to be an ancient monster, so showing pity was also a thing they did not do .

    "How many are they?"

    The branch leader raised his head as he tapped his fingers on the armrest, seemingly deep in thought .

    "They eachmand around two hundred ghosts . " The young man answered the questions calmly . He was not a servant of the branch leader, but he had once offended a strong ghost, and had sought asylum within the Whispering Oak Inn .

    He did not feel much gratitude towards the branch leader, but he did not hate him either . Those overlords, however, were itching for a beating .

 Chapter 536

    Chapter 536: 536

    The branch leader was well aware of the thoughts that his subordinates held . None of them had much loyalty, but their arrogance was far above the average, and their intelligence could also be said to be amongst the best .

    Only those who were truly smart would see the benefits of serving the branch leader .

    "Well, let¡¯s deal with them . " The branch leader sighed as he slowly rose from his chair . There was no urgency in his eyes, only a bit of impatience in his facial expression . It was clear that he was not taking these Overlords seriously .

    In fact, within the Ghost Realm, very few knew the actual strength of the branch leaders of the Whispering Oak Inn, but everyone was aware that they were not to be belittled .

    Throughout the years, they had experienced countless assassination attempts, and many had even banded together to get rid of the Whispering Oak Inn, but no one had seeded .

    It was said that these Overlords were equal to the branch leader when they gathered together, but was this the truth?

    Only those who had actually seen the branch leaders attack would know how insanely tricky they were to deal with, and the majority of those who had seen it would never live to tell others of what they had encountered .

    "Are you making a move yourself?" The young man did not seem to hold much respect towards the branch leader . He narrowed his eyes as he stroked his chin, deep in thought .

    The youth had never paid much attention to Xue Wei, nor did he have any interest in why the branch leader was protecting him as if he was more important than his own life, but now he was somewhat curious .

    What in the world had this foreigner promised the branch leader to make him motivated enough to make a move on his own?

    The youngster was silent, but while he said nothing, his eyes shed with various emotions .

    There was no jealousy or envy, only contemtion . If this young man had something that even the branch leader valued and wanted, then naturally, he wanted it too .

    As he held no loyalty towards the branch leader, the youngster wondered if he should take this foreigner for himself . He knew himself, and he was aware that he had no chance to go against the branch leader, but maybe if he took this unknown man away, then the branch leader would think that he had been consumed, or that his soul energy had dissipated?

    In the ghost realm, the bodies were made from energy . If they died, their bodies would vanish . It was well known that those who vanished had actually been consumed by others .

    The youngster was not aware that Xue Wei was not even a ghost, and that even if he died, his body would be left behind . He was somewhat confident that he had found the perfect way to solve the whole problem, but even so, he felt hesitant .

    As long as he stayed by the branch leader¡¯s side, he would be provided with soul power . He was not being treated wrongly, and he had anything he could wish for, but his innate urge to get stronger was slowly eroding his rationality .

    Without considering the consequences should he fail, he rushed towards the room where Xue Wei and Lan were cultivating . While he did not know precisely what treasure this young man possessed, the fact that the branch leader was so eager to protect him showed that it was nothing ordinary .

    He knew that killing this young man would not give him the treasure, so he had to bring him out of the mansion, but only now, when the branch leader was actually taking action himself, would he have the chance to benefit .

    Although this current decision was very sudden, and without prior nning, the youngster did not care much . He had faith in himself, and his strength had rapidly progressed since the moment he had been taken in by the branch leader, so he did not think that any of the guards who were left in the manor would prove problematic to him .

    Not to mention, everyone knew that he was a respected aid of the branch leader; bringing this young man away might not even alert anyone .

    After having convinced himself numerous times, the youngster took a deep breath to calm the sudden unrest within his heart, and strode towards the courtyard where Xue Wei and Lan were currently cultivating .

    The youngster was a ghost with quite a bit of strength . He understood that what he was about to do would be to betray the branch leader, so he could not leave any traces behind .

    Fortunately, he had a somewhat overwhelming strength, so anyone he came across on the way was frantically absorbed by him .

    The soul power could not be refined right away, but he had been storing it so he could slowly refine it while bringing Xue Wei away .

    The journey to the courtyard was neither long nor short . He had rushed as much as he could, as he knew that since the branch leader was making a move on his own, then the overlords of the capital city would not be able to stall for time for long, but he dared not be sloppy either .

    Xue Wei slowly opened his eyes as he released a foul breath of air he had been holding in while refining the heaven and earth essence into Qi . A sharp gleam shed past his eyes as he nced at the door .

    It was not only Xue Wei who awoke from his cultivation, Lan also slowly began moving, and his eyes shone with malice . This was the Ghost Realm, so there was no scent of blood, but the oppressing air, and the dense killing intent were hard to hide, so both man and beast slowly turned solemn .

 Chapter 537

    Chapter 537: 537

    It was not that the two of them were unaware of the battle that was likely to happen outside, but they had expected it to be held far away from them . However, it seemed as if the killing intent was creeping closer and closer to their courtyard .

    They had to be idiots to ignore such tant hostility . Even if they hadplete faith in the branch leader, they had also understood that this realm was different from the other . Loyalty was scarce, and someone as the branch leader had so many subordinates . It was no wonder if a few of them had made their own ns .

    When the youngster pushed open the door into the courtyard, what greeted him was not Xue Wei and Lan deep in cultivation, but the two of them standing in front of him, vignce was evident within their eyes, and it was clear that they did not trust this man .

    The youngster was somewhat stumped . He had thought that he had already been slightly subtle, as no screams or sounds had escaped his victims . He had forgotten that everyone with some cultivation would be sensitive to the dense killing intent in the air .

    "Young Master, the branch leader, has asked me to get you to a safe location . Although he is confident in his own abilities, he also knows that there is a chance that unwanted criminals can enter the premises and harm you . "

    Xue Wei could not help but sneer upon hearing this . It was true that he was somewhat young, but he was no longer naive . Seeing the greed within the young ghost¡¯s eye, it was clear that he was actually one of these criminals who wished to benefit from the chaos .

    Xue Wei and Lan could not help but nce at one another . The young ghost was not aware of Lan¡¯s actual identity . He did not know what this little beast was; all he knew was that it was of a rather big importance . In fact, he was of the impression that this little beast was the reason that the branch leader was so polite to Xue Wei .

    He contemted for some time, but he dared not stay within the branch leader¡¯s nest for too long, as he knew that it could bode danger to him . Even so, he did not know what he was expected to do .

    Should he bring Xue Wei with him by force, or should he take the gamble, and simply steal the little beast-like thing on his shoulder?

    Xue Wei and Lan were somewhat stunned when they saw the hesitation in the ghost¡¯s demeanor . Was he not even sure of what to do after he hade this far?

    They could not help but sneer slightly . This was somewhat stupid, but it would benefit them . If they could drag out the time, then they should be able to wait for the branch leader to deal with the trouble himself .

    It was not that Xue Wei was unwilling to fight, but he was quite realistic . Although he would be able to fight, and likely stall this ghost for some time, he would not be able to defeat him . The energy ripples which erupted from this young ghost showed that he was above his own strength .

    Lan was restingzily on Xue Wei¡¯s shoulder . While he seemed very casual, he was alert and focused . He had not been in a dangerous situation for many thousands of years, as the ones who could pose a threat to him in this universe could be counted on one hand, but he was also aware that since he had sealed his strength, things were not as they used to be .

    He was no longer the undefeatable deity above all others; he was now just an ordinary beast with a bit of strength .

    "Do you n on giving me up?" Neither Lan nor Xue Wei answered the young ghost . Instead, Lanzily stretched on Xue Wei¡¯s shoulder as he asked the question .

    Xue Wei could not help but sneer . "I might not be a good person, but that does not mean that I am willing to sacrifice those who I hold dear . "

    While he did not answer directly, Lan did not need another answer . He had already known that Xue Wei would never abandon him, and he could not help but feel that although he was now facing a dangerous world, he was much more alive than ever before .

    Back when he was young, he had been cultivating with ease . His family was the hegemony in the entire universe; their power and influence could not bepared to anyone else, so it had been a smooth advance .

    When he had an argument with his father, and escaped to the world where Xue Wei had originated from, he had already been so strong that no one could pose any sort of danger to him .

    As such, these dangerous situations where one was walking on the fine line between life and death were apletely new emotion for him, and he could not help but feel some strange sort of excitement .

    At first, he had sealed his strength, as this was a requirement to enter the Ghost Realm and find Li Zhiqing, but now he did not feel that it was such a bad thing to be weaker .

    It was not that he was a masochist, but he felt that although he had unmeasurable power, he had never truly understood the struggle and the meaning behind having strength .

    Getting something without working hard for it might make one not value it as much, aspared to if they had genuinely fought with all their might to achieve their sess .

 Chapter 538

    Chapter 538: 538

    The youngster had moved his eyes away from Xue Wei . There was unmeasurable greed in his eyes as he looked at Lan who was resting on his shoulder .

    While it was customary for some ghosts to create mechanicalpanions, none of these had their own intelligence, nor did they have the ability to speak .

    The more he looked at Lan, the more certain he became that this thing was the treasure that the branch leader would not want to let go .

    However, if he genuinely wanted this treasure, why had he not killed Xue Wei and taken it by force? Even this ghost could sense that Xue Wei was not able to pose a threat to him, so how could he pose a threat to the branch leader?

    Was it because he wanted this young man to create more of these outstanding machines? Did he n to make use of his invention to take over more control of the ghost realm?

    Xue Wei and Lan were unaware of the thoughts that were running rampant within the mind of the young-looking ghost, but the greed within his eyes was growing in intensity .

    Xue Wei began frowning . This youngster did not even try to keep up the act of pretense any longer, and he had a bad feeling about it .

    "I guess that the branch leader has epted you into the manor for the sake of your ability to invent things?" the voice of the young-looking ghost sounded unhurried . He had made a decision .

    "However, I am different from him . I do not need your ability to create other things; I will just take that little mechanical thing on your shoulder and run away . Honestly, I feel that even if I cannot get more of these things, as long as no one else can get them either, then I will benefit!"

    Xue Wei¡¯s expression changed as he listened to the youngster¡¯s words . It was clear that he had decided to kill him, and then steal Lan, before running away .

    Lan was somewhat offended by the fact that this ghost was referring to him as being a thing, but he was even more annoyed by his intentions of wanting to kill Xue Wei .

    The two of them, man and beast, looked at one another . They noticed that they both looked solemn, and understood the severity of the current situation, but neither of them had any intention of backing down .

    Since this young-looking ghost had already intended to kill Xue Wei, neither he nor Lan decided to waste more time .

    Forbidden Rush!

    Xue Wei turned into a stream of light that agilely advanced towards the young-looking ghost . He was moving so swiftly that even the ghost was surprised .

    The moment Xue Wei arrived by his side, he raised his leg, and an attack was shot towards the young ghost .

    Kick of the Raging Tempest!

    While the ghost was surprised, his strength was not just for show, and he managed to retreat in the nick of time, as the sharp kick made the wind whistle .

    However, as he retreated, Lan had already appeared behind him . The snake¡¯s body had grown to arger size, and he sent his tail down like a whip that hit the young-looking ghost¡¯s stomach .

    The body of a ghost was not the same as the body of a human . While the wounds caused pain to surge through his body, there were no lethal points in their bodies, as they were made purely out of soul power .

    As the tail hit the ghost, he managed to avoid too much damage, sending himself shooting backward . But even so, he had to admit that the pain in his body could not be ignored .

    His ck eyes were full of anger . He hade for the sake of stealing Lan, and he had expected it to be a simple thing, but both Xue Wei and this Lan seemed to be much more troublesome than he had expected .

    He knew that if he did not be serious, then there was a chance that he might not even be able to escape from the branch leader¡¯s manor today .

    The air around the ghost began to twist, energy ripples erupted from his body, and a heavy pressure descended onto Xue Wei and Lan .

    Both of them were aware that this ghost was stronger than them, and they knew that they had to be alert if they wished to ovee this trial . Even so, they would not shy away .

    Inner Might!

    Xue Wei created a sword out of Qi, which he held in his hands . He summoned the Lightning Qi within his body and wrapped it around the de as he got ready to attack once more .

    Lightning and Wood Qi were truly the real nemesis of these ghosts . While it would not be able to directly kill this young-looking ghost, it would be able to cause some severe troubles for him, including inflicting intense pain .

    The eyes of the ghost also narrowed as he saw the purple lightning that was wrapped around the sword . He did not know what kind of energy this was, but he could sense the danger that it contained .

    Even he, who was much stronger than this Xue Wei, knew that he had to be careful if he wished to survive .

    Although it seemed as if an eternity had passed while the two sides looked at one another, less than a second went by before they attacked at the same time .

    Sky¡¯s Judgement!

    This was an attack that Xue Wei had learned a long time ago, but after gaining the Lightning Qi, he had modified it slightly .

    This was initially a channeling attack, but now he was using the sword tounch one lightning bolt after another . The nine lightning bolts that were being released were all overwhelmingly powerful, and whenbined with Xue Wei¡¯s swordy, the young-looking ghost found himself annoyed .

 Chapter 539

    Chapter 539: 539

    The attacks that Xue Wei was releasing did pose some threat to this young-looking ghost, but it was not to the point where he had to be so careful that he could not fight back .

    The difference between the strength of the two sides was not something that could be removed merely by using some elemental Qi, but it did make things trickier for the young-looking ghost .

    At the same time, it also managed to help them dy for a longer time . The ghost could not help but begin considering his options . He was unwilling to leave with no benefits .

    If he left like this, he would be a wanted figure . Xue Wei would undoubtedly inform the branch leader of his betrayal, and he would have lost both his stable position, but also the benefits that had tempted him to do so .

    The struggle was clear in his eyes, and he did not manage tounch an intensive attack, spending most of his time dodging the lightning bolts that Xue Wei sent his way .

    "Argh!" A scream reverberated through the courtyard as Lan managed to hit the young-looking ghost straight in the back with an attack that was inherent to the Mingshe race .

    It was a pearl-white crescent moon that had beenunched from his body and contained an incredible amount of Qi . Both Lan and Xue Wei had spent a sizable amount of time cultivating and unraveling the seal since they had arrived in the Ghost Realm . While it was indeed true that many of the prominent ghosts were stronger than the two of them, their strength had already grown rather drastically .

    Xue Wei was on the verge of breaking into the King rank . It had been a smooth journey to this level, but he had encountered a bottleneck . Breaking into the King rank was not something that could be solved with merely cultivating normally .

    Lan, on the other hand, did not encounter any bottlenecks that slowed down his speed of unraveling the seal . Even so, it did take a rather long time for him to slowly let his strength return to its former glory, and he could not rush it .

    The seal he had used was a very extreme method of sealing one¡¯s own strength . This seal was not made by the Ghost Realm, but by Lan himself .

    The seal was known as the Celestial Seal . It was a straightforward name, but as the name implied, even deities were incapable of reversing this seal .

    The Celestial Seal was a seal that one could ce on oneself, and the strength would then be limited until the seal had slowly been unraveled . It was not possible to break it forcefully; neither by the sealed person nor anyone else, as the body would explode the moment one tried to do so .

    Lan had used this seal before entering the Ghost Realm, and thus the seal would not be lifted just because he left the Ghost Realm again . In a way, even if they managed to survive the time in the Ghost Realm, and return to their normal world, then Lan would still have to slowly unravel the seal to regain his strength .

    Xue Wei had not known of this initially, but upon hearing the truth of the Celestial Seal, he felt a surge of extreme respect towards Lan .

    The blue-haired deity had not even hesitated to seal his strength for the sake of looking for his lover . He had been willing to be an entity on which he previously had looked upon as an ant, just to get a chance to search for his dead lover .

    Xue Wei would not consider Lan to be a good person . He was not someone who would interfere if he saw injustice, but neither was he a person who would harm the innocent .

    He was a very realistic person who understood that the world was neither ck nor white, but had many shades of grey .

    He understood that when he sealed his powers, if news of this incident broke out, then he would be hunted down and killed by the other experts within the world, and the risk was significant .

    As the Sovereign God of the world, he did have the ability to use the world¡¯s energy to attack, but the more one drew on this energy, the more likely it was for natural disasters to appear .

    The energy that Lan would be forced to use was the same energy that the earth needed to exist, so when one overdrafted such energy, the consequences were naturally severe .

    All of this coupled together was enough to show how infatuated Lan was, and such a determination was precisely what made Xue Wei respect him deeply .

    The young-looking ghost had been hit by Lan in the back, and his body had flung forward like a kite breaking free from its string .

    He had felt a tearing pain in his body, but the ghost quicklyposed himself and began retaliating .

    Every thought of escaping had been erased from his mind . He had been blinded by anger and greed . Although the situation was getting more and more precarious, he was willing to take the risk . He had faith in his own strength, so he did not believe that he could not get what he wanted .

    Lan and Xue Wei nced at one another . They saw the slight feeling of sess within the other¡¯s eyes, but they dared not linger too long .

    The sky above the courtyard had turned grey, and lightning bolts descended as thunder rolled across the clouds .

    The darkness was not only illuminated by the shing lightning bolts, but also by Lan¡¯s attacks, which had a pearl-like luster .

    The fight was swift, the number of attacks that were used in a minute had already exceeded one hundred, and sweat was beading on Xue Wei¡¯s forehead .

 Chapter 540

    Chapter 540: 540

    Gritting his teeth, Xue Wei urged the Qi within his body to run . He was continually guiding it in specific patterns through his body, and executing one attack after another, without taking even a second to breathe .

    Every move was depending on his instincts, and his eyes were glowing with a cold and fierce light .

    Xue Wei was half a beast, and he would usually get infected by bloodlust in such a thrilling battle . He would be intoxicated and excited, reveling in the feeling of ughter and fighting . Still, this time his body was taut, and there was not even the slightest feeling of exhration .

    It was not only Xue Wei who had to focus all his senses on the battle, and often depend on his instincts to make decisions; Lan was equally challenged .

    He had always been in situations where his strength was higher than that of his opponents, and while he had sometimes experienced a tough battle, it had never been like now where he and apanion had teamed up, but were unable to deal with their target .

    In fact, both Lan and Xue Wei were aware that defeating this ghost was impossible . Their aim was not to defeat, but to dy . They knew that while this ghost was much stronger than the two of them, he was not able to hold a candle next to the branch leader .

    The Ghost Realm was different from their world . Not only was it much crueler, but it was also a ce where no one would die from old age .

    Those who were strong and stood at the apex of the world would never die from aging . They were also at a point where they would continuously improve their strength, as no one posed a threat to them .

    These experts had banded together . Not because they were good friends, but because they were bored .

    They had nothing to do and no one to challenge them, so their only aim was to sometimes spar against one another . In fact, their rtionship was not very good . They had tried to kill one another time and time again, but they had never seeded .

    Xue Wei and Lan were new to this realm, but they still held a basic understanding of the branch leaders¡¯ position in this realm . The only ones who could threaten them were the Ox-headed and Horse-headed experts .

    They were the guardians of the realm, and they did not belong to the ghost race . They were the watchmen who would overlook the realm¡¯s situation, but they would only interfere if someone was trying to destroy the realm .

    Devouring Fist!

    Xue Wei had primarily been using the Wood and Lightning Elemental Qi that he had stored in his body,bined with the sword he had created from the skill named Inner Might .

    This time he made a faint with a sh of the sword, and then used a lot of strength to punch the ghost in his chest .

    The young-looking ghost had just narrowly escaped an attack from Lan, but the moment he had twisted his body to avoid the pearl-like Qi, he felt his intestines hurt as the fist of Xue Wei connected with his body .

    These ghosts did not bleed, but Xue Wei and Lan did . The ghost has been full of anger previously due to the fact that he had been injured by someone he had considered an ant, but after fighting for some time, his rationality returned .

    His eyes narrowed as he noticed that Xue Wei and Lan¡¯s bodies actually held wounds, and that blood was slowly streaming out of these gashes .

    He instantly knew that things were different from what he had initially thought, but as to what exactly was happening, he did not know .

    Ghosts did not have any memories of their lives in the world of the living; they only knew of their life in the Ghost Realm, which made it so that he did not know what blood was .

    The ghost bodies would not have injuries when they got hit or cut, as they were made out of energy, but the bodies of Xue Wei and Lan were made from flesh and blood .

    Frowning, the attacks of the young-looking ghost slowed down, and he did not rush as he did before . Instead, he slowly began to observe . He was puzzled, but his mind was no longer confused, and he knew that it had been too long since he arrived, so he hurried to throw a final nce at Xue Wei and Lan before he unwillingly left the courtyard .

    Xue Wei and Lan had expected him to continue the battle until the branch leader arrived, but it seemed that he was much smarter than they had expected .

    He knew that he would die if he stayed, but he also felt reluctant . He was even more intrigued by this person¡¯s secrets, and the greed within his eyes was growing more and more intense .

    He had initially thought that Xue Wei was merely a ghost who could invent a unique mechanical creature, but seeing the blood that had seeped through his clothes, and the wounds on his body, he understood that his initial expectations were far from the truth .

    Even so, he did not linger and rushed out of the courtyard . He understood that since he failed this time, he would have a much harder time capturing the two next time, but he was not giving up . Such treasures could only belong to him .

    Xue Wei and Lan frowned . They dared not rx their vignce . Although the ghost had run away, they did not know whether or not he would return if they dared to rx, so they stayed on high alert until they met the branch leader himself .

 Chapter 541

    Chapter 541: 541

    Xue Wei and Lan had been standing in the middle of the courtyard, but when the young-looking ghost left, they instantly moved to a wall . The reason they moved with their backs to a wall was to ensure that no one could sneak up on them .

    The courtyard was surrounded by silence . There were no sounds of any kind, as there were no beasts, not even insects, alive in the Ghost Realm .

    The ghosts, which should have been patrolling within the manor, had all turned into nothingness as the young-looking ghost had dissipated and consumed their soul power, making it so that they had been eroded of their self, and be energy that slowly became part of someone else .

    Death had always been frightening, but it was not at a point where Lan would fear it . He had been living in the Divine Beast World back when he was young, and there one could turn to the Ten Courts of Hell to drag the dead back .

    Even when Li Zhiqing died, he was not too panicked, as he held the knowledge of the Ghost Realm .

    It was not before he entered the Ghost Realm that he realized just how many souls had ceased to exist and instead be the food for others .

    When he first realized this, his heart was full of intense pain and fear . He had been able to wait those thousands of years as he knew that he would be able to enter the Ghost Realm and get her back eventually, but after knowing that he might have lost her forever, he did not know what to do anymore .

    It had taken all his willpower to maintain his sanity and not let the fear take over his mind . What would he do if she truly vanished from his world?

    It was not before the branch leader told him that he knew her that Lan¡¯s suspended heart slowly settled back in ce .

    He had expected himself to be extremely impatient, but when he found himself in the situation, he did not actually mind waiting a bit longer .

    He had understood Li Zhiqing¡¯s position in the Ghost Realm and knew that she was not experiencing any danger . Her position was at a point where no one could threaten her, and since he had already waited so many years, it was not a big deal waiting a bit longer .

    The two did not speak . They kept their senses alert as they looked around, but nothing happened . They did not know how much time had passed before they heard the arrival of a group of people, and their eyes shed with a cold gleam .

    They were not sure who had arrived . While they were expecting it to be the branch leader and his men, they dared not assume it, and thus they took a defensive stance .

    A group of ghosts appeared in the entrance to the courtyard, and they finally heaved a breath of relief as they saw the figure in the middle .

    The branch leader had appeared, and he had brought a whole group of guards alongside him . He looked around the courtyard, which was in a rather miserable state . There were many signs of the previous battle, scorch marks from the lightning attacks, broken stones everywhere; some had been crushed, others cut .

    The branch leader¡¯s face was as if covered by a dark cloud, his expression cold, and his lips pressed into a tight line .

    His eyes roamed across the destruction in the courtyard, and then theynded on Xue Wei and Lan . Their wounds had slowly started to heal as they had consumed a few healing pills while waiting, but the clothes were turned into rags, and the blood was starting to dry .

    While the living beings were a rather sorry sight as their bodies were full of injuries, the eyes of the branch leader lit up in excitement .

    While he knew that they were living beings, it was different to see the actual difference . If it were not because he needed a good rtionship with these two to leave the Ghost Realm, he would have spent some time to do some dissections and understand the body of a living being much more thoroughly .

    Xue Wei and Lan looked somewhat helpless . They naturally noticed the excitement in the branch leader¡¯s eyes and how the excitement turned to disappointment .

    They did not need to ask to understand his thoughts, and while it was somewhat chilling, they understood why he had such thoughts .

    This was, after all, the Ghost Realm . It was not a ce where living beings could visit, so when one managed to arrive, they were naturally the subject of the stronger ghosts¡¯ curiosity .

    Even so, it was somewhat awkward to be the subject of others¡¯ wish to examine the structure of their bodies .

    Clearing his throat, Xue Wei stepped forward . "One of your subordinates decided to make use of the chaos to try and benefit . His aim was Lan . I assume that he expected Lan to be an invention I had made and that he could kill me to remove all tracks . Unfortunately, he seem to have noticed the blood spilling from my wounds and will have guessed that things are not as simple as he expected . "

    Xue Wei¡¯s brows furrowed as he began exining what had happened . He was very well aware that this person woulde back at some point for the sake of gaining some benefits, but he was likely to be even more alert this time and would most likely go for both him and Lan .

    Lan was the initial target, but Xue Wei had bled even more than Lan, proving that the two of them were different . No one would let go of such a tempting treasure . Even if the ghosts did not know what it meant to have a body made from flesh, they had an instinctive urge to get it for themselves .

 Chapter 542

    Chapter 542: 542

    Ghosts were entities created purely from energy . However, their core was a soul, and it longed to belong in a body .

    Even if the body did not belong to them, they had an instinctive urge to forcefully upy any avable body . Still, due to the previous disguise that Xue Wei had used, he was not releasing the alluring temptation that ghosts had a hard time withstanding .

    Even now, when his body was severely injured, and wounds were adorning his skin, the temptation was not there, and the guards only felt that something was wrong .

    "I will send someone to check his identity, and see if we can intercept him before he leaves the city . "

    Xue Wei nodded his head when he heard the words of the branch leader, but he did not believe it was possible to catch the ghost .

    The young-looking ghost had not been the average ghost . The power he wielded proved that he had been considered a member of the upper ss within the Ghost Realm, and he seemed to have taken all things into consideration when he fled before .

    It was not that Xue Wei doubted the branch leader; he was just realistic . No matter how strong one was, it was not an easy task to locate a specific ghost within the sea of souls .

    If the branch leader made use of all his connections and subordinates, it was possible to locate this traitor . However, if he did this, then the protection of Xue Wei and Lan would be chaotic, and he might return to fish in troubled waters .

    It was not only Xue Wei who was aware of this, the branch leader could easily guess the oue, but he still wanted to show his attitude by sending someone out to search .

    "Someone, clean up the courtyard next door, and prepare for Young Master Xue and Mister Lan to rest there in the future . "

    The branch leader waved his hand as he gave the order . He had rushed here, as he had felt that something was wrong, but he still had many things he needed to clean up after the battle he had just won .

    Many ghosts had turned into nothingness during this battle, and the soul power that was lingering in the city was dense, causing many opportunistic ghosts to try and benefit .

    The branch leader was someone who cared little for the death of his followers . They had followed him for the sake of benefits, and it was well known to them that they would have to risk their lives in his service .

    Even the betrayal of the young-looking ghost was not something that caused him much distress, as he never held much anticipation or trust towards his subordinates, but he still felt rather angry for having someone trying to act out on his turf .

    Xue Wei and Lan did not ask any questions about the oue of the battle . By seeing the branch leader, they knew that he had emerged victorious . What the price for this victory was, or what power shuffles would be needed to stabilize the city afterward, they did not care .

    Although the two of them had indirectly been the fuse that ignited the battle, they were aware that this battle would have happened either way .

    The Overlords within the city had long since been eager for sess, and tried to get a higher position in the realm, but they had forgotten that although the branch leader was usually calm and carefree, he was indeed a ghost through and through .

    He was not a kind figure, nor was he good at showing forbearance . They had misunderstood his disinterest in getting involved in their matters as a show of weakness .

    Everyone in the Ghost Realm knew of the Whispering Oak Inn . While not many had been honored to see the true disy of power that these branch leaders wielded, legends had been flourishing for millennia of their overwhelming and domineering strength .

    Not many could rival them, and legend had it that when a branch leader fell, chaos would reign in the Ghost Realm for many years toe .

    Even so, it was not easy to believe in this . As long as they had not seen the bottom line of the branch leaders, they did not know the true horror they could bring to the unknowing citizens .

    It was precise because of this that these Overlords dared to move . They had lost their minds when thinking of overtaking the position of a branch leader, but unfortunately, the greed had brought them their doom .

    After the branch leader left the courtyard, Xue Wei and Lan quickly examined their new residence, before once again throwing their minds into cultivation .

    They had tasted the bitterness of being suppressed, and they were deeply aware of their weakness .

    The days went by in silence . Xue Wei and Lan did not exit the courtyard, but the heaven and earth essence slowly dissipated in the surrounding areas, showing how much Xue Wei had absorbed and refined .

    Lan had also managed to unravel quite a few levels of cultivation, and his strength was now back at the very edge of the Emperor Realm . Only one more step was needed for him to step into the realms of the Deities .

    Xue Wei was still on the verge of breaking into the King realm, but he could sense that no matter how much he absorbed, there was no upper limit .

    Previously, when he was breaking through from one rank to another, it had been enough to just fill up his current capacity of energy, and then forcefully press more energy into his body before it slowly exploded, and reached a new realm .

    However, although he was aware of the fact that he had long since reached the threshold for breaking into the King Realm, he still could not sense any method on how to do so .

 Chapter 543

    Chapter 543: 543

    "Although you cannot sense the breakthrough, it is important that you keep gathering energy . "

    Lan was looking at the frustrated expression on Xue Wei¡¯s face as he once again had spent a whole day cultivating with no signs of breaking through to the next realm .

    Xue Wei, who had been feeling listless, looked at Lan, waiting for him to exin what he meant .

    "As I said before, the King rank is not one where you can enter just due to you amassing Qi to no ends . When you go from having a mortal body to having a spirit body, you will be reborn . While it is a higher realm, it is also considered a reset . Everything you have gained prior to this rank will be washed out, and you will have to start all over, in a way .

    "This does not mean that the energy you are gathering now is useless, quite the opposite . There are even some who wait with breaking into the King rank for the sake of gathering as much Qi as possible before the breakthrough .

    "The spirit body depends on the heaven and earth energy to be created . The more energy your body contains during the process of the recreation, the more powerful your spirit body will be . While it is somewhat annoying to continue gathering Qi, and not feel an advance in strength, you have to look at it as an investment .

    "Many skip the process of gathering Qi before the breakthrough, as they feel that it is a wasted step, but it is extremely important . Also, you should have noticed this already, but it is impossible to have a normal breakthrough .

    "The most suited way to break into the King rank is by stimting your body, and triggering the soul to recreate your body .

    "Most will try and find someone to battle, in an attempt at experiencing some threat to their lives, and then burst out with their potential, making them break through to the next realm .

    "You are in a different situation . I would consider you both lucky and unlucky . Fortunately, you are in a position to continue absorbing Qi to solidify your foundation, but you are also not able to break through anytime soon due to theck of beasts in the Ghost Realm .

    "If you wish to break through, you will have to fight against ghosts, and with our current high-profile disy, that would be extremely risky . "

    Lan shook his head as he finished his exnation . He nced at Xue Wei, who was deep in thought, but he said no more . He knew that he had already exined the situation clearly, now it was up to this young man whether he wanted to risk his life and find a ghost to stimte him so that he could break through swiftly, or if he wished to keep cultivating, and wait with his advance .

    Xue Wei did not rush to reach a decision, it was clear that he was thinking through the pros and cons for each solution, and in the end, a sigh escaped his lips as he leaned back .

    "I guess that the King realm will have to wait a bit longer . " As he spoke, the expression in his eyes turned firm, and it was clear that he would not change his mind .

    "Why did you choose this decision?" Lan was curious for what had been the reason for him to decide upon continuing to gather Qi, so he naturally asked him about it .

    "Although I wish to advance as soon as possible, it really does not matter while I am in the Ghost Realm . " Xue Wei did not hide his reasons, as he began exining himself to Lan .

    "The Ghost Realm is full of heaven and earth essence . The amount of Qi that I can refine here is many times more than the outside world . You told me that the more energy that my body contains, the better foundations my spirit body would have, so I feel that it is better to spend the time here to consolidate my foundations and then advance, either just before we leave, or when we have returned to the world of the living .

    "Although there is danger in the Ghost Realm, and I do need to be stronger, the experts we will be encountering around are already so much stronger than me that even if I do reach the King rank, it won¡¯t make any difference . "

    Lan nodded his head in approval . He understood Xue Wei¡¯s position, and knew that he would want to get as strong as possible in the shortest possible time . He wanted to reunite with Wang Xiaoyun, but he also wanted to find his uncle .

    Even with these two things in mind, he chose to prioritize his future, and wait for the right time to advance . This was a decision that caused Lan to look at him as an equal, and not only as a member of the younger generation .

    It was indeed this worry that had made Xue Wei hesitate before deciding . He instantly knew that advancing would help him on a short term basis, but he also knew that he could not only look at his current problems . Even when they were solved, how was he supposed to continue to advance if he did not build the strongest foundation for his journey towards the apex of the universe?

    After meeting Hui Yue, and truly understanding the horror that was his and Lan¡¯s strength, he knew that he was merely an antpared to them .

    What he was aiming for was not only to bring an end to all the problems he was encountering now, but also to reach a new world . A ce where he, Wang Xiaoyun, and all his friends could start anew .

 Chapter 544

    Chapter 544: 544

    Xue Wei had epted that he needed a certain opportunity to break through, but upon thinking of this, he could not help but frown .

    "I understand the theory behind the breakthrough to the King rank, but I justpleted a rather intense fight against this ghost . Howe that was not enough to trigger the promotion?"

    Xue Wei could not help but ask, as he wanted to understand the whole situation . He did not think that Lan had lied to him, only that some things had not been exined yet, so he patiently waited for everything toe to light .

    Lan nodded his head approvingly as he noticed the confusion on Xue Wei¡¯s face . "It is not that the battle was not good enough to trigger your breakthrough; it is just that you were not ready for a natural breakthrough .

    "I said before that the more Qi you gather, the stronger your foundations when breaking into the King rank will be . Many will feel that they cannot enhance their strength more while gathering Qi, and they will realize that if they wish to do so, then it would be possible to be promoted .

    "However, this is actually a premature promotion . They will not automatically trigger the body¡¯s recreation, but will instead try and force this change to happen .

    "This forced promotion is possible only if the cultivator knows how to do it . The more Qi they have gathered, the smoother and easier it will be to trigger it, and even if you do not forcefully ask the body to trigger the changes, it will do so when you have gathered enough Qi, and go through a battle .

    "So, right now, you should focus on refining as much Qi as you can . You should not try and fight before you have filled your body to the brim with Qi, as you might identally trigger the breakthrough . "

    Xue Wei nodded his head as he felt that what Lan said made sense .

    While fighting against the young-looking ghost, he had indeed not felt any changes to his body . Even so, he could not say that it was impossible for him to force a breakthrough if he wished to do so, as he had no intention of trying .

    Although he did not know what differences it would make for his future achievements if he forcefully triggered the breakthrough, he could guess that it would not benefit him in any way, and as such, he was willing to continue refining Qi as Lan had asked him to .

    "I guess we will have to avoid sparring and fighting for some time then," Xue Wei said with a smirk on his face . He understood what Lan meant . If he had enough Qi, even the slightest signs of battle might trigger his promotion, but if he could find a rxed and safe environment, then he could build the strongest foundation possible .

    Looking around at the surroundings, the smile on Xue Wei¡¯s face deepened . He had found the perfect ce to cultivate . Here, he would be protected by the branch leader and his ghosts, and after what happened just before, he did not fear that anyone would interrupt him .

    Lan seemed to have understood his thoughts, and he also coiled his body upon the table, looking very rxed as he yawned .

    "I am going to continue to unravel my seal . You just focus on refining Qi; when you have enough, and are at the point where nothing more will assist your foundation, then we can have a sparring match, and I can guarantee that your breakthrough will be smooth . "

    Lan felt smug as he looked at Xue Wei, who could not help but smile while shaking his head in amusement . This snake was revered and respected throughout the entire world, but when he was in front of his friends, there was a part of him that resembled a mischievous young boy who had never grown up .

    Lan had also exined his life to Xue Wei . One had to admit that the two of them were significantly different from one another; even their upbringing was different .

    Lan had grown up in a loving family . His father had adored his mother; he had many siblings, and their family ties were good . All of them were talented, and their advance in the world of cultivation had been so simple that they felt as if nothing could stop them .

    This smooth journey had not managed to temper Lan¡¯s personality, and he ended up missing the most important things in protecting his beloved . After her departure from the world of the living, the previously sunny and innocent young man had vanished, as if he had grown up overnight .

    It was not before now that he dared show some of his childishness once more . It was not before meeting Xue Wei that he found out that things were not either ck or white . He was able to be both the innocent and childish Lan from his past, but still act mature and stable when needed .

    One of the things that Li Zhiqing had liked about him was his unspoiled personality . While he could be arrogant and ruthless from time to time, it was more like a child throwing a tantrum, and he only harmed those who had caused him severe damage .

    If he had found her before meeting Xue Wei, he might not have been able to reunite with her due to his personality changes, but now he realized that the delicate bnce was what he needed .

    Knowing this, he could not help but feel somewhat expectant of meeting Li Zhiqing again . He knew that she was no longer the same as before either . She had been living in the Ghost Realm for so many years, and it was natural that she had been fighting for survival all these years, so she could no longer be as gentle as before .

    However, just like Lan, the time had changed, and so had they . It was impossible to stay the same after thousands of years had passed by .

 Chapter 545

    Chapter 545: 545

    The city, which used to be bursting with activity, looked as if it was deserted . Few ghosts could be seen on the streets, but none of them were interested in lingering .

    Although themon ghost was not too familiar with what had happened between the branch leader and the overlords of the city, they had sensed the dreadful energy fluctuations during the battle .

    Some had been brave and tried to fish in troubled waters, but most had hidden away at home, trying to minimize their presence in an attempt at avoiding any danger that might befall them .

    As they thought that the battle outside had ended, and that they were safe to exit their homes, the ghosts found that the streets were littered with guards from the Whispering Oak Inn, looking for a traitor .

    These ghosts did not care much about traitors . They understood that in this Ghost Realm, everyone was acting for their own benefit, so if anyone betrayed another, it was not such a shocking thing .

    However, when they realized that it was the branch leader who had gotten betrayed, they were all somewhat surprised .

    Everyone knew about the Whispering Oak Inn, and that this ce was the most beneficial ce to belong . Everyone wished to be a part of this lone faction within the Ghost Realm, but their recruitment requirements were simply hell-like .

    Not many managed to enter the Whispering Oak Inn, so for someone to betray them, the benefits had to be exceptional .

    Themon citizen could not help but begin questioning themselves what treasure the branch leader had gotten his hands on . Not only had the overlords turned against him, even his own subordinate had tried to grasp it for himself .

    These ghosts could not guess that the treasure in question was actually not a thing at all, but a genuinely living being .

    There were many theories of what it could be, and even more were dreaming of how lucky they would be if they could pick up such a treasure that others envied to such a degree .

    But, everyone understood that they could not mention this treasure out loud . Looking at the frantic search that the branch leader had ordered, they understood that they wished to find the traitor with all their might .

    Meddling in such affairs would naturally result in their death, so the ghosts did not venture out of their residences more than necessary .

    Those who did have something urgent would hurry to their destination before finishing their business swiftly, and rush back home to their safeirs .

    The guards had not found the traitor that they had been looking for, but they continued to search the city . Many days had passed since then, but the tense atmosphere did not lessen . Instead, it seemed to intensify .

    The reason that the guards had not withdrawn, even after failing to find their target for so long, was that Li Zhiqing, or Mo Lian as she was called now, was about to arrive .

    The leaders from various cities were not meeting up very often, and when they did, they would almost overturn the entire Ghost Realm .

    It was not that this city¡¯s branch leader feared for their safety . He knew that all of the ghosts that were present within the city would bemitting suicide if they attempted to attack a regional leader .

    However, while Xue Wei and Lan were not like them, they were easy to kill, and the two leaders¡¯ future depended on them .

    Xue Wei and Lan had not shown their faces much in the past few days either . They had been entirely focused on cultivating . While the branch leader was assuming that it was the thrashing they had received by his subordinate that had caused this sudden desperate cultivation, he felt very relieved that they were staying within their courtyard, not taking any risks .

    Like this, time flowed slowly, and one day an elegant and refined woman appeared at the teleportation array .

    She looked gentle and innocent, but none of the ghosts present dared to take her lightly .

    "We greet Region Leader Mo!"

    The voice of the guards reverberated through the building as they greeted Li Zhiqing .

    She looked so sweet, but everyone knew that she was actually a real devil in disguise . If this world had been different, then she would, without a doubt, have been known as a true seductress .

    The guards had been waiting at the teleportation array ever since they got a message of her departure from her own city, and now that she had arrived, they bowed deeply and respectfully .

    Li Zhiqing could not help but raise an eyebrow at their polite behavior and chuckled slightly .

    "What has that old man nned for me since he has invited me from so far away and even asked his guards to show such respect towards me?"

    Although they were both leaders in their own right, and had a decent rtionship with one another, they were not so close that they would treat each other with such favor . The only reason that he would show such a disy of respect was if he wanted her to do something for him .

    She could not help but narrow her eyes as a smile flitted across her lips . It was rather amusing to see this old guy paying such attention to her .

    "Well, lead the way to that old man¡¯s mansion . "

    The guards dared not dy . They gathered around the woman, with a respectful distance between them, and led her towards the mansion where the branch leader resided .

    As soon as they entered the hall, Li Zhiqing did not even care about the subordinates that were present in the hall, as she stared at the old branch leader .

    "Were you honest when you said that you have a way to leave?"

 Chapter 546

    Chapter 546: 546

    The branch leader waved his hand to make all the subordinates present leave . Many of them could not help but send an extra nce towards Mo Lian, who had appeared .

    Even if they did not know of her actual identity, the power that was emanating from her body was enough for all of them to understand that she was not one to be belittled .

    But what made them linger and slow down their retreat was not her identity but the words she had said .

    Had she just asked the Branch Leader if he had a way for them to leave?

    These ghosts were all brilliant, and they instantly understood that what they were leaving was the Ghost Realm .

    However, leaving the ghost realm was not easy . No matter how strong one became, it was impossible to ascend to another realm . Everyone knew of the legends that a living being might be able to assist one in leaving, but this was just a legend . Living beings in the Ghost Realm? It sounded like a joke .

    These ghosts had intended to slowly leave the hall in an attempt at getting more information, but with a wave of the branch leader¡¯s hand, they all were sent out of the doors that shut behind them with a resounding boom .

    The ghosts could not help but shake their heads in regret . They could understand why their boss was this alert, though . If he had truly found a way to leave the Ghost Realm, it was a secret he would have to guard with every ounce of soul power he owned .

    But why would Mo Lian have yelled it out like that? Was she not worried about which kind of dangers it might bring the branch leader, or did she just not care?

    When the door closed, Mo Lian moved to the seat next to the branch leader . She leaned over to the table in front and picked a small crystal-like bead . These beads were the closest to food one could get in the Ghost Realm . They were crystallized soul power, and they were extremely hard to procure, but she still tossed it into her mouth carelessly . There were no signs of being a guest in this manner, more like the mistress having returned .

    The branch leader could not help but feel his lips twitch as he saw her extravagant actions, but he did not stop her . It was hard to say which one of them was the strongest, but they did not have a bad rtionship, so fighting for the sake of a bit of crystalized soul power was indeed not worth it .

    Mo Lian was not in a hurry . She had intentionally mentioned the ability to leave in front of his subordinates as if he was in a rush . Still, now that only the two of them remained within the massive hall, she was casually leaning against the chair, observing the branch leader with interest .

    "So you found a living person?" she finally asked after thinking for some time .

    While others might think that the living beings visiting the Ghost Realm were merely a rumor, those at the top of the pyramid of power were aware that it was actually true .

    "Yes . " The branch leader also answered directly as he heard the question . He could not help but take an extra look at Mo Lian when he thought of how she was the reason for them toe to this forsakennd .

    Mo Lian also had her own thoughts . Although the rtionship between herself and this branch leader was not bad, it was not considered good either . Their territories were too far apart from one another, so it was not often they interacted with one another . Why had he contacted her?

    The branch leader naturally understood her thoughts, but he was also unhappy . Why was he not so lucky? Even so, his future escape from this ce depended on this woman, so he had to do his job well .

    With that thought in mind, he moved slightly and took a drawing from his storage treasure . He then handed it to Mo Lian, who received it with a bit of doubt .

    Upon looking at the drawing, she could not help but frown .

    The drawing naturally showed her face, but the aura was vastly different . The woman on the drawing seemed refined, gentle, pure, and innocent .

    The current woman, on the other hand, was ruthless, cold, alluring, and oppressive .

    If the woman on the drawing seemed like a beautiful white lily, the ghost was like a blood-red rose, beautiful but full of thorns .

    "Where did you get this?" Mo Lian had a guess, but she still needed to have it confirmed . She had been in the Ghost Realm for many millennia already; she had never thought that one day someone woulde to look for her .

    "They gave it to me . They have been searching for you . "

    Mo Lian did not have much reaction to this . She had no memories from her time as a living being, so she was no longer restrained by the rtionship of the time she was alive .

    Even so, her eyes narrowed as a sly gleam shed by . Even if she had no intention of epting her past life, she still wanted to make use of this opportunity to leave the Ghost Realm .

    Since they had gone out of the way to deliver themselves here, why would she not ept their hard work? As for splitting up upon reaching the world of the living, she felt that it was only natural .

    Looking at the drawing in front of her, she knew that the woman they were looking for was not her at all . She was not some gentle and soft woman .

 Chapter 547

    Chapter 547: 547

    Mo Lian leaned against the back of the chair in anguid and alluring manner . When one looked at her, she was truly theplete opposite of the woman on the drawing, but neither she, nor the branch leader felt any worry due to this .

    They had braced the danger of entering the Ghost Realm for the sake of bringing her back . Even if her personality had changed, it was very unlikely that they would abandon her .

    "So, tell me about the one who hase to pick me up! How does he look?"

    Mo Lian was a person who liked beauty . It was natural that she wanted her so-called savior to look good, and she was already starting to imagine the most attractive person possible within her mind .

    However, when she asked this question, she noticed that the branch leader¡¯s face turned somewhat awkward .

    He could not help but cough slightly as he ced his hand above his lips, trying to hide the smile on his face .

    "Well, it happens to be some sort of beast . I think it is a snake . "

    Silence descended on the hall as it took quite a long time before the words managed to take root in her mind .

    "A snake?" Mo Lian was full of disbelief, her eyes widening in shock . Was this some kind of joke?

    "Ah, yeah . He came alongside a young living human . At first, I was of the impression that it was the human who was looking for you, and that the snake was his contracted pet, but after spending some time alongside them, it seems that the snake is actually not a pet .

    "As far as I understand, this snake had a human shape back in the world of the living, but to enter the Ghost Realm, he put some sort of seal on his strength, which also sealed up his human shape . "

    The branch leader would be lying if he said that he did not find the whole situation amusing .

    Everyone knew that Mo Lian preferred good-looking ghosts . All the people who worked for her had to have an attractive face, but now she was told that her savior was a snake . How was she supposed to react to this?

    While beasts did not exist in the Ghost Realm, the ones at the very top of the strength scale had the chance to meet the guardians of the ghost realm, the ox-headed man, and other half-human creatures .

    These guardians had exined many things about the outside world to them, including the existence of beasts .

    Unfortunately, the knowledge they had gotten about beasts was rather limited, and thus they could not view Lan as an equal .

    Mo Lian, who had been full of excitement after hearing that someone hade to take her from the Ghost Realm, began to wither away in the chair .

    "Could this snake have been my contract beast when I was alive?" She still held some semnce of hope that this creature was just a pet, but she also knew that it was not very likely .

    Looking at the mirth within the branch leader¡¯s eyes, she could onlyugh mockingly at herself . "So what? I was into beasts when I was alive? Well, I guess it could be worse . I could be so unfortunate as to remember those memories . "

    It was obvious that Mo Lian was resistant towards beasts . As a ghost, it did make quite a bit of sense to be so resistant towards them . They had been told that beasts were pets, mounts, and food for the humans . Their bodies were of another shape than that of the humans; some had fur, others feathers . Some did not even have legs, and ording to hercking knowledge, snakes were among these .

    The branch leader could not help but smile as he shook his head . "I do not care about your actual thoughts on this snake, but you have to pretend that you like him . This little slithering creature is our ticket out of this dreadful ce . The snake has a decent personality, so it could be much worse . Just treat it as if he was your pet; I doubt he¡¯ll mind that . "

    Mo Lian could not help but grunt in reply as she nodded her head . She removed the displeasure from her face and shook her head before she slowly rose from her chair and stretched her body .

    The thoughts of the two ghosts were no foreign to the Ghost Realm . To them, the guardians of the Ghost Realm made them tremble with fear . Although the ghosts at the peak of the food chain within the Ghost Realm could not be beaten by any other ghost, these guardians could kill them with a simple flick of their fingers .

    These guardians were scary, but also extremely ugly whenpared to ghosts . Mo Lian, who had never seen anything that resembled beasts more than these guardians, could not help but hold a strong distaste for Lan .

    "Let¡¯s go visit that little snake then . " Mo Lian decided that even if she had to force herself to be friendly with a beast, she would still do so for the sake of her future . She wanted to leave this gloomy and deste realm, and to do so, she would abuse the affection that they had for her to the fullest .

    The branch leader felt her thoughts, but he did not try to convince her otherwise . He did not care about the affection of the other party, nor did he feel connected to Xue Wei or Lan . The only reason he had been treating them well was because he wanted something from them .

    In the end, a ghost was not a kind soul . They were ruthless to the core, and their selfishness knew no bounds .

 Chapter 548

    Chapter 548: 548

    Lan¡¯s body was curled into a ball on a stone table in the front yard of their new house .

    His eyes were closed as he was slowly undoing the seal that had been cast on his cultivation base .

    This seal was made by himself prior to entering the Ghost Realm . In general, no expert would ce such a seal on themselves, as it was irreversible on a short-term basis .

    Even after leaving the Ghost Realm it would be in effect, and the time he would need to unravel the seal could easily be hundreds of years .

    Currently, Lan was not stronger than a high-ranked ghost, and the situation had caused his mentality to shift . While growing up, he had been in a soft and supportive environment, and when he finally learned of the bitterness that apanied life, he was already so strong that no one could harm him .

    Now that he was weak again, he felt depressed, but upon knowing that he would meet Lin Zhiqing again, he thought it was worth it . Even if she was no longer the woman from before, and even if she would not ept him again, he just wanted to see what kind of life she was living now .

    Lan had already lived for tens of thousands of years . While he had not experienced as much as many other cultivators, he felt fulfilled . Even if he were to die, he would have no regrets .

    Xue Wei was different . He had an urgency to cultivate for the sake of reaching the goals he had made for himself . He wanted to get to the bottom of the mysteries about his uncle, and end the whole war in the Chang¡¯an continent . He wanted to reach a realm where no one could threaten him, and he wished to slowly travel the multiple realms alongside Wang Xiaoyun to see how others lived .

    Although the two of them had be friends, their lives werepletely different from one another . One had grown up being shrouded by care and consideration, while the other had grown up facing hardship and loss .

    At the same time, one was very old and had lived for many thousands of years, while the other was young, having not even reached fifty years of age .

    Lan was aware that he was a mingshe . Although he could take on a human shape, and seem human, he was, after all, a beast .

    He knew that it might be hard for Lin Zhiqing, or Mo Lian as she was called now, to ept him since they were of different origin, and even different species, but he was not willing to try and hide who he was .

    Naturally, he wished for the two of them to end up together again, but he also epted that it was not likely to be easy . Even if they could no longer be a couple, his biggest wish was for her to live a life of freedom, no longer dragged down by her own body .

    This was the greatest difference between Lan and most others . Even though he had been at the very top of the world for a long time, he still wished to help those he cared about .

    Although he was not a person who would care about the innocent, he was willing to go the extra mile for the special people in his life .

    After knowing that Hui Yue had arrived in this world, he knew that his obsession with Lin Zhiqing had to be resolved . He had found the Rulebreaker, and had a chance to meet her again . He would help her regain life, and return to the world of the living, but after that, it was up to her to decide if she wished to spend her life alongside him .

    He would have to let go and get on with his own life as well . It was not that he did not love her enough; it was that he loved her too much, and he was willing to let her go free .

    If she remained with him purely out of gratitude for returning her to the living world, then they would likely end up hurting one another, so now he wished for life to move on .

    These thoughts were getting clearer and clearer in his mind as the meeting drew nearer . He had long been blinded by his obsession and grief, but now he knew that while he did not regret the many years looking for a way to resurrect her, he was not willing to spend his whole life solely for her .

    Lan felt his body grow light . While his previous cultivation had always been smooth and without problems, he had never before experienced an epiphany like now .

    He did not cause a great change in the surrounding energy, but it was as if countless small explosions went off within his body, causing energy to fill his meridians to the brim .

    Previously, he had been beneath the Deity Realm, but due to the sudden rupture of a significant part of his seal, he shot straight to the realm of the Immortals once more .

    The breath that hung all over Lan¡¯s body went through earth shattering changes, but only those who were strong enough could sense it . While his body changed, the surroundings remained the same, and others would never guess how much difference this sudden epiphany made to Lan .

    Xue Wei had been cultivating by Lan¡¯s side, and while he did not sense what rank the mingshe reached, he could sense that his aura became much more profound and intimidating .

    He left the meditative state and nced at the snake that still did not move . While he was still stuck in his beastly shape, his scales had begun shining with a beautiful pearl-like luster .

 Chapter 549

    Chapter 549: 549

    When Lan was at this strongest, he had already reached the rank of an Overlord . Due to the seal he had put on himself, he had previously dropped to the King Rank of the Mortal World, which was the same as the difference between heaven and earth .

    Even until now, he had still been stuck in the ranks of the mortal world . Although he had slowly been loosening the seal, he had not been able to reach the threshold of an immortal, but due to the epiphany, his seal made a jolt, resulting in him reaching the Deity Realm .

    The Deity Realm was split into numerous ranks, but one needed to fulfill specific criteria to reach the next ranks .

    Unlike the mortal realms where one could be promoted as long as they had gained enough energy, the promotions through the ranks of a Deity depended on one¡¯sprehension .

    As the rank implied, the New Gods were those who had just ascended to godhood . They began to use a new type of energy called Ancestral Worldpower, and their pool of energy was limited and unstable . It was a realm that could be reached by gaining enough energy, and at this rank, one did not have to haveprehended any Daos .

    When a deity had managed toprehend at least one minor dao and stabilize their Ancestral Worldpower pool, would it be possible for the Deity to advance to the Primordial Immortal rank .

    Although it sounded good that one only needed toprehend one minor dao, this in itself, was hard enough . The dao was elusive and hard toprehend . One could not brainlessly gather energy to master a minor dao; it required a deep grasp of the dao¡¯s structure and an ability toprehend the secrets of the universe .

    Only one out of ten experts that ascended to godhood managed to reach the ranks of a Primordial Immortal, and only one out of five hundred could seed within the first one thousand years .

    The next rank was known as the Immortals of Creation . There were two ways to reach this rank, but the two different ways also determined the strength that the cultivator would control .

    If one wished to gain the best benefits by reaching this rank, then they should haveprehended at least one major dao . Byprehending a major dao, the cultivator¡¯s body would be imbued with the energy of the dao, and would reach a level that other deities could not contend against .

    Another way to reach this realm was to have previously be a Primeval Immortal and forcefully collect enough Ancestral Worldpower to remake one¡¯s body . Although this method would not produce the same results as the one gained byprehending a major dao, it was still able to help one reach the rank of an Immortal of Creation .

    This rank was called Immortal of Creation for a reason . Upon remodeling their bodies, they would be able to use their Ancestral Worldpower to create independent spaces .

    Depending on one¡¯s understanding and strength, it was possible to create independent pocket dimensions, but also realms; and upon reaching the very peak of the rank, the most talented were able to create whole worlds .

    There was another rank of deities known as Sovereigns . This rank was more of a title than an actual rank, as one could reach this rank while they were New Gods, Primeval Immortals, or Immortals of Creations .

    A Sovereign was a deity who had fused a world¡¯s core with their own energy . This was the same as what Lan had done with the previous world, and it allowed the Deity to rewrite the rules of the world and change them as they pleased . They were also allowed to use the world¡¯s energy for their own purposes . However, to do this, they would often cause the world¡¯s energy to be overdrawn, resulting in natural disasters such as droughts, gues, and so on .

    It was possible to fuse with more than one world . However, it was not advisable to fuse with too many due to the world being able to influence the deity .

    Among the Sovereigns there was also a rank known as the Crowned Sovereign . To be a Crowned Sovereign, one needed to have the world they were fused with be ranked within the top one thousand of the Heavenly Ranked Worlds .

    The final two ranks of the Deity realm were known as the Half-Step Overlord, and finally the Overlord rank . A Half-Step Overlord was a deity who had begun toprehend the Great Dao .

    When one began toprehend the Great Dao, even before fully understanding it, they would gain ess to a bit of Archaic Energy .

    While they would not be capable of fully controlling this energy, it was enough to be used when in an emergency . Still, it was not before one fullyprehended the Great Dao that their entire body and energy pool would be changed by Archaic Energy, and they would be reborn .

    The ce they lived in currently consisted of thousands of worlds . Each world was independent, and followed different rules, the cultivation system was also different depending on where one came from, but it was not before one became an Overlord that it was possible to break free from the Thousands of Worlds, and face an even bigger stage . This realm beyond the Thousands of Worlds was shrouded in Archaic Energy, and one needed to be an Overlord to go there .

    Although Lan had the power to go there, he had still not left the Thousands of Worlds to take a look, but ording to Hui Yue, it was an intriguing ce .

    Just now, due to the epiphany, and the loosening of his seal, he had reached the rank of a New God but also that of a Sovereign . He had the ability to jump straight to the Overlord rank as he had alreadyprehended the Great Dao, but most of his energy was still stored behind the seal, and he could notmand it yet .

 Chapter 550

    Chapter 550: 550

    When Mo Lian arrived at the courtyard, she felt an oppressive aura that was very different from the kind of energy that was being cultivated within the Ghost Realm .

    Although the ghosts were capable of cultivating, they would never be able to reach the immortal realm . They would forever be stuck in a limbo between the realms of the mortals and immortals, never able to progress unless they escaped their eternal prison .

    The strongest experts within the Ghost Realm were at a ce where their strength could only be improved by consuming extreme amounts of energy, but to do this, they would have to massacre countless ghosts .

    As such, their strength wasparable to a new god, but it would never reach above this strength . Now that Lan had broken through to be a deity once more, he was able to fight even the strongest experts within the Ghost Realm .

    Luckily, having reached the immortal realm, Lan was able to regain his human form, and the moment the doors to the courtyard opened, Mo Lian was face to face with a blue-haired young man .

    A tremor ran through her body, followed by a strange feeling of confusion . She could not help but frown as she wondered if she knew this person, but ording to the branch leader, the one who hade for her was not a human being, but a little snake-like beast .

    Following behind Mo Lian was the branch leader, and uponying his eyes on Lan, he could not help but frown .

    He had assumed that this person was an intruder, but after noticing Xue Wei, who was seated by the side and calmly cultivating, his frown smoothened out .

    After a closer look at the young, blue-haired man, he noticed that the hair had the same color as the mingshe, and even the eyes had a strange resemnce .

    Lan was also somewhat surprised . He felt a strange tranquility deep within which he had never encountered before, and while his raw power was much less than before he sealed his strength away, he felt much more at ease with himself and the world around him than he had previously .

    It was also at this point that Lan had figured out many things which previously had made him obsessed, so although he noticed Mo Lian in front of him, he did not lose his mind in happiness, nor did he rush to her side .

    His eyes lit up in happiness, but upon looking at the confused expression on the woman¡¯s face, he knew that she did not recognize him .

    Li Zhiqing was a gentlewoman . Although she was gentle, she was also very stubborn, and did everything ording to her own beliefs .

    Even when she had been abandoned by her loved ones, she was not willing to be bitter and full of anger . Instead, she got the best out of her situation, and it was precisely this positive mindset that had made Lan fall for her . Her bright personality and gentle smile were like a ray of sunshine which shrouded him in warmth .

    The woman who stood in front of him looked exactly the same as the woman he had dreamt of for so many years, but much of the gentleness was gone .

    This was a strong and sessful version of Li Zhiqing . She had changed from a peach flower to a rose; both were beautiful in their own way, but while one was soft and harmless, the other was alluring and thorny .

    Although she was different, Lan still felt his heartbeat increase, and a warmth spread in his body . Even so, he knew that they had to get to know one another all over again .

    Mo Lian had expected to be disgusted by some snake wishing to coil itself around her neck and act intimately with her as if it was her pet, but she had forgotten all these negative thoughts the moment shey eyes on the man in front of her .

    Appearances were not very important for ghosts, but it was natural that some would be more tolerant towards beautiful creatures, and Lan, who was standing right in front of her, was truly beautiful .

    His hair was shining like sapphires in the sunlight; the blue eyes were like the vast and cloudless skies of her dreams . His facial features were sharp and attractive, but the most memorable part of him was truly those blue eyes that seemed to entrance her .

    The branch leader was aware of Mo Lian¡¯s reputation of beingpletely uninterested in other people . Still, seeing her being stunned by the appearance of the person in front of them, he began to truly believe that they had known one another while this regional leader was still alive .

    He could not urately describe his own emotions . He was a bit sour, but also joyful . If they truly knew each other, there was a much bigger chance for him to escape this godforsaken world, but he was also slightly envious of the fact that someone had braced numerous dangers toe and save her .

    "You are?" It took some time for Mo Lian to regain her senses, and when she did, she could not help but feel somewhat confused . How could a mere nce make her feel so disturbed?

    Xue Wei was standing on the sidelines observing the way things were developing . He recognized Mo Lian right away from the previous image that Lan had given him, but he was not in a hurry to step forward .

    This was not his battle to fight, this was Lan¡¯s own matter, and only he himself could figure out the way to solve it in a manner that would make him satisfied .

 Chapter 551

    Chapter 551: 551

    "My name is Lan She . We knew each other before, but many millennia have passed since then . You were a very important person to me, and I have been searching for a way to meet you once more .

    "I understand that the person I knew back then is not the same as the one who stands in front of me now, but still, I have been looking for you, and wish to offer you the opportunity to leave the Ghost Realm alongside me . "

    Lan paused for some time while looking at the self-confident woman in front of him, and he felt relieved .

    "Do not worry, I am not looking to have anything in return, nor do I wish to tie you by my side when we leave; my only hope is that you can be happy . "

    Mo Lian felt conflicted when she noticed the sad but sincere light within Lan¡¯s eyes . He did not seem to be trying to trick her, but genuinely just wished for her to live a good life .

    "Why?"

    Although she knew that she had been living in another world before, Mo Lian¡¯s memories were limited to her time within the Ghost Realm . Here, no one would be gentle towards others without wanting to gain something in return, and the acts of Lan made her puzzled .

    When she had arrived, she had already been ready to try and find the lower limits of the snake-like creature . She had no interest in following him for life, but she also did not wish to stay in the Ghost Realm .

    Now that she knew that she could get away without paying any cost, she suddenly felt ufortable . She could not help but to nder herself for being too emotionallyplicated .

    Lan understood her confusion and sighed deeply . Since she did not know of her previous life¡¯s experiences, it was indeed hard to believe a person like him was so good towards others .

    "I am not a native to the world where you were born . When I arrived there, you were already an adult, but life was hard . The world had many different races living among one another, and these races often mixed their bloodlines .

    "These children of mixed blood were either highly gifted and talented, or they werepletely unable to gain strength and cultivate .

    "Li Zhiqing, your previous reincarnation, was one of these mixed-blood descendants without the ability to cultivate . You had been chased away by your family, and when I found you, you were living by ake in a small wooden hut .

    "The experiences you had gone through would have been enough to make any person bitter and full of hatred, but whenever I looked at you, all I saw was satisfaction .

    "One day, I asked you how you were able to ovee the sadness of being chased away, and you told me that while no one can change the past, there is always the option of living for the future .

    "As a person who could not cultivate, life was short . I was by your side every day of your life, watching as you slowly grew weaker and weaker, until one day, you were gone .

    "The time I spent with you was short, but it was the most impactful and happiest time of my long life, and I could never forget about your ability to dispel any negativity from my mind .

    "I am aware that many things have changed, but I do not believe your core personality will change . It is because of this that I wish to help you gain a second chance at life .

    "All the things you could not experience the first time due to your weak body, I wish you can see now . All the things you dreamt of trying out, I hope you can attempt them now .

    "I am aware that our rtionship might never be what it was, but I will be satisfied as long as you are able to live freely and full of happiness once more . "

    Lan had decided to express his honest emotions to Mo Lian . He had no intention of hiding the truth for her, or trying to sugarcoat the reality .

    Li Zhiqing was the most important person in his heart, and Mo Lian deserved to know what kind of person she had been before .

    The honesty in Lan¡¯s words caused everyone present to be taken by surprise . Xue Wei had never seen Lan acting this free and happy, and he could not help but feel that no matter what would happen in the future, this silly snake had at least managed to let go of his obsession .

    Mo Lian had understood that this human was the mingshe she had expected to look like a little pet .

    Every thought that she had prepared beforehand, she had crumbled in front of this strangely familiar face, and she had felt her innermost being soften and felt afortable warmth spreading through her frozen core, while listening to his words .

    She was aware that their rtionship could not be what it had been before, but she was no longer that resistant to getting to know him .

    His words showed a significant amount of consideration, and she felt pampered and spoiled in a way she had never experienced before .

    "Do not overthink . For now, we still have a few things we need to wrap up here in the Ghost Realm, and when we leave, we would like for you toe with us . If you wish to join us in our return to the world of the living, then the future is in your own hands . "

    Lan nced at the branch leader who was standing by the side and remembered the words that the Ox-headed expert had told Xue Wei when they entered the Ghost Realm . They had a limited number of slots for people to travel from one world to the other, but it should not be too much to also bring the branch leader along .

 Chapter 552

    Chapter 552: 552

    The moment that Lan¡¯s eyesnded on the branch leader, the ghost could not help but feel his body tense slightly . Heughed at himself with some mockery and disdain as he realized that this was the most nervous he had ever felt, but he could not stop these uncontroble feelings .

    No ghost wished to stay within the Ghost Realm . It was a barren and deste ce that would challenge anyone¡¯s mind to their limits . If one did not have a ferocious will to survive and a hope for a future, they would easily sumb and turn into nothingness, bing the energy consumed by others, and vanishing from the world forever .

    "The reason we could enter this world is due to Xue Wei being a Rulebreaker . These entities are ranked based on which rules their existence has broken, and the amount of people they can bring with them out of this realm also depends on the rank reached .

    "Although we are still looking for one or two others, we have enough space to bring an extra ghost, so I would like to extend an invitation for you to join us . "

    Although Lan was merely extending an invitation to the branch leader, everyone knew that he would never decline this offer, as it was the reason for which he assisted them throughout their time in the Ghost Realm .

    The reason that Lan also mentioned Xue Wei¡¯s position as a Rulebreaker was also to ensure that they would continue to protect him while they were in this world .

    Lan had already broken through to the world of the immortals once again, and he did not fear for his own personal safety, but having more people protecting Xue Wei did not seem like a bad idea . Also, by knowing that it was this young man who held the key to leave the Ghost Realm, they all felt that his identity must remain confidential .

    Although Lan was the one who had broken through to the Immortal Realm, the most important person to these ghosts was still Xue Wei .

    Xue Wei might seem much more ordinary next to a Deity, but Lan¡¯s strength had no influence on them, while Xue Wei was the ticket to leave the deste Ghost Realm, hence he was the pearl that would be held securely in their palm .

    The branch leader looked at Xue Wei with a bit of hesitation . It was Lan who had invited him to leave with them, but in the end, Xue Wei was the one who held the actual power .

    The thoughts of the branch leader were obvious to all, and Xue Wei could not help but chuckle slightly . It was not every day that you saw an illustrious God being ignored, while the decision-making was left to a mere mortal .

    "Since Lan has already invited you, there will naturally be a spot for you, should you wish to leave alongside us . "

    It was not only Lan who wished to offer the branch leader a chance to leave; Xue Wei also felt that they owed this ghost such an invitation .

    Although he had always been acting with a purpose, he had truly been polite and friendly towards them . It was also the branch leader who had helped them locate Mo Lian this quickly, so no matter what his purpose had been, they had to thank him for his help .

    Xue Wei was a ruthless figure . He would not bat an eyelid when killing, but he was not someone who would not return the favors that had been given him .

    Those who were helpful deserved his repayment many times over, while those who harmed him had to experience his wrath a thousand times back .

    Xue Wei did not believe in good or bad . There was no one who waspletely good, nor was there anyone who was fully bad .

    Everything depended on their mindset . Xue Wei was half-beast, half-human, and he had understood many things .

    Humans were against murdering other humans, but to them, beasts were nothing to care about . They could be caught and used ording to their wishes, and even killed to be eaten .

    He would not consider himself a good person . He would kill humans and beasts alike, not caring what origin they had . He did not feel a reason to distinguish between the two, and as a half-beast, he even revelled in the feeling of bloodlust and ughter .

    However, although the feeling of ughtering was like an addiction, he still maintained his rational mind . Only those who opposed him would be the subject of his rage; others would be left alone . Not due to his benevolence, but because he did not wish to lose control of who he was .

    Every person had their own guidelines to follow . In a world where only strength determined the position one held, it was easy to lose control and use any means to get the results one wished for, but Xue Wei wanted to stay true to himself .

    He was ruthless when it was needed, but he had not lost all his ability to care for others .

    As he was deep in thought, he could not help but think about thepanions he had left behind in the world of the living . He was worried about their wellbeing, and was curious about their whereabouts, but he decided to trust in their abilities . He believed that they would meet again soon .

    At the same time, he also thought of Wang Xiaoyun . He often remembered the hostility she felt towards him when she found out that he had beast-blood running through his veins, and this hostility was what had caused him to truly spend some time to consider the mindset of humans and beasts, and the nature of good and evil .

 Chapter 553

    Chapter 553: 553

    While it had been decided that the group would be leaving the Ghost Realm, they were not in a hurry . They were still searching for Tie Haolong, but more importantly, they were notpletely sure of how to find the Ox-headed man who would have to send them away .

    Mo Lian and the branch leader looked at Lan when he mentioned the Ox-headed man . They, naturally, knew about the guardians of the Ghost Realm . In fact, they often met with these guardians, but they had never expected that the exit of the Ghost Realm was controlled by them .

    If so, would it have been possible to leave without waiting for a living being before? If they had somehow bribed or forced these guardians to let them go, would it have been possible?

    Both Lan and Xue Wei understood the helpless expressions of the two ghosts, but they were not in a hurry to exin the details . It was not possible for them to leave unless they had the guidance of a Rulebreaker, but they did not understand this .

    By looking at the reactions of the two, both Lan and Xue Wei wished to see their reactions . Were they going to turn on them and then try to leave without their help, or would they continue with the previous ns?

    Although Mo Lian was the soul of Li Zhiqing, she was no longer the same as the one whom Lan had known before, so he would not dare to assume that she would be friendly towards them .

    From the gruesome nature of the Ghost Realm, both Xue Wei and Lan held the assumption that the two would act against them soon, but after a bit of time, it seemed that their greed vanished .

    "I understand; we can help you locate the Ox-headed man . "

    The one who spoke was the branch leader . Although he had been tempted, he actually curbed the desire to kill these two living beings after careful consideration .

    Although the Ox-headed man was the one who helped them leave, it was not certain if other things were required to leave . There was no loss in working together with Xue Wei and Lan, but if they died, they might lose their only chance to leave .

    Mo Lian had been quiet from the very beginning . It was hard to guess what she had been thinking, but looking at her narrowed eyes, the branch leader suddenly felt a chill down his back .

    If he had decided to act on these two living creatures in front of him, he would likely have been stopped by this woman .

    Xue Wei could not help but smile when he realized the attitude these two ghosts held towards them .

    Since Lan had be a deity again, he was confident that if it came to a confrontation, they would be able to emerge victorious . Still, he would have preferred if their partners were sincere while working together .

    "We need the Ox-headed man to open the gates, but for him to be able to do so, he needs the Rulebreaker . Xue Wei is such a Rulebreaker, so we are relying on him to let us out of this ghastly dimension . "

    The branch leader could not help but feel relieved when he heard that Xue Wei was the key to leave . He had indeed made the right decision this time!

    Mo Lian and the others clearly noticed his relief, and they felt somewhat amused . None of them were insulted by his actions; they understood the rules of survival here, but knowing that he was sincere was enough .

    "This person you are looking for, Tie Haolong, did he die recently?"

    Mo Lian looked at the portrait of Tie Haolong, which Xue Wei had passed over . The guy was good-looking, but he did not seem familiar to her .

    Xue Wei contemted for some time before he nodded his head . Although it had felt like a whole lifetime for him since his good brother died, it had actually not been that long .

    For someone who had been within the Ghost Realm for more than ten thousand years, his age was truly insignificant .

    Mo Lian kept looking at the portrait with some interest . She could not recognize the appearance but was thinking of where such a young ghost could have hidden, or if it had been consumed already .

    "What was his personality like? Most ghosts who enter the Ghost Realm will be somewhat timid at the very beginning and hide away from others to gather strength . They are cautious and willing to take the path of a slow advance, but there is one ce where new ghosts can grow rapidly . Unfortunately, the danger involved with entering this area is also great . Only one or two out of a hundred ghosts will survive . "

    Xue Wei could not help but raise an eyebrow in surprise . He had not heard of this area before, but after considering the short time he had spent in the Ghost Realm, he realized that it was rather reasonable .

    He frowned as he began to consider Tie Haolong¡¯s personality . Although his memories were gone, his personality would remain .

    He had always been a confident figure who would boldly advance . Although he was unwilling to throw his life away for no purpose, he would be willing to go against the sky for what he believed in .

    When he was thinking of his action to go against his Kingdom for the sake of Xue Wei, even to the point of dying to ensure his safety, there was no doubt of where he would be hiding now .

    "Let us enter that area . "

    Xue Wei¡¯s eyes grew firm upon realizing that the usually steady young man was actually hot-blooded and willing to risk anything for what he believed in . He would be able to fit into such an area very well .

 Chapter 554

    Chapter 554: 554

    Although Xue Wei did not know much about this specific area, he could easily guess that there were certain restrictions that made it hard for ghosts such as Mo Lian and the branch leader to enter .

    From what Mo Lian said, it was a ce that could allow new ghosts to gain strength rapidly, but the risks were imaginable .

    Before reaching any conclusions, Xue Wei looked at the two ghosts to exin the details of the area, and after a bit of hesitation, Mo Lian began to exin .

    "The area is gruesome, even whenpared to the usual cruelty of the Ghost Realm . The regtions make it so that only those who have been within the Ghost Realm for less than fifty years can enter; anyone else will be automatically rejected .

    "This also means that it is purely age that determines if one can enter, so the difference in strength among those that live within is very different .

    "Some enter as soon as they arrive in the Ghost Realm, but if they are unlucky and encounter someone who is stronger, their energy will be consumed right away .

    "It is quite simr to the rest of the Ghost Realm, in that the strongest survive, but due to the smaller size of the area, it is much moremon to encounter someone else .

    "Also, it is usually only a few ghosts who reach a particr strength within, while the others be prey to the strong .

    "Upon realizing the reality of this area, many might try to escape, and while the experts will often let these ghosts inside, they never let them out . "

    Xue Wei nodded his head understandingly . He knew that this world was coldblooded, and he was not feeling any aversion due to it; however, even though he epted that this was the reality for all ghosts, he still feared for his friend, and wondered if he still existed .

    Before knowing of the existence of the Ghost Realm, Xue Wei had never considered reuniting with Tie Haolong . For him, death was final, and there was no way to change it .

    Now he knew that there was this chance to find out what happened with this friend, to whom he owed so much, so he was not going just to throw it away . He felt that he should at least try his best to locate him, and give him a new chance at life .

    Although Xue Wei was now aware of the existence of the Ghost Realm, he knew that this was not a ce he coulde to often . In fact, he understood that this was likely to be his only possibility to visit, so he did not want to leave with regrets .

    Even if he could not find Tie Haolong, at least he would have given it his all in trying to find him .

    "We, the branch leader and I, can¡¯t enter the area, so you and Lan will have to depend on each other inside . We will keep looking for your friend in the rest of the Ghost Realm while you are inside .

    "It is possible to bring short-rangemunication devices inside, but they do not have a long reach . We will ce a ghost outside the area to receive all your messages and deliver them to us, but it will still be slower than if we are by your side . "

    Both Lan and Xue Wei nodded their heads . Truth be told, Xue Wei could not help but nce at Lan with a bit of hesitation . They had arrived in the Ghost Realm for the sake of meeting Mo Lian, but now that they had found her, they had to split up for some time to locate a person Lan did not even know .

    Lan looked at Xue Wei¡¯s furrowed brow and could not help but chuckle . How could he not understand his friend¡¯s thoughts?

    "It is fine," he said reassuringly . "If I am by your side, there should be no danger in this area, and I also do not fear that Mo Lian will vanish . Even if she does regret her decision of leaving the Ghost Realm with us, then I will respect her choice; the main reason to locate her was to see if she was okay . I wish to give her the best, and let her experience life once more, but I am not in a position to force her to ept my desire . It is her life, and only she can make her own decisions . "

    Lan had understood many things, and he waspletely sincere while assuring Xue Wei that it would not be a problem to enter this area with him .

    The words showed respect and understanding towards Mo Lian, but he was not saying it to get her favor; everyone present could see that after meeting her, he had indeed found an inner peace .

    This form for respect was new and foreign to these ghosts, and a strange feeling was bubbling inside Mo Lian¡¯s chest .

    She could not understand what kind of rtionship she had with Lan before, but currently, she felt that she wished to get to know this person again . When he looked at her, he did not look at the person she was before, but at who she was now . The feeling of being epted for who she was now was truly making her feelplicated .

    Initially, she just wished to make use of his previous affection, but now she felt that she was not able to do so . She truly wanted to see the world of the living with this man by her side .

    Xue Wei could not help but raise an eyebrow in surprise . Although Lan seemed extremely casual when he said these words, the ghosts were not aware of his personality, but he was .

    Lan might have understood certain aspects about his obsession with Li Zhiqing, but he had always been a trickster . Even this unintended confession was actually a sleek way of showing emotions to the woman whom he decided to bring home and marry .

 Chapter 555: â€œShould I Learn to Act?â€

    <h4>Chapter 555: ¡°Should I Learn to Act?¡±</h4>

    Lan had always been a trickster. While the emotions he shared with Li Zhiqing were pure and innocent, he was still willing to use every possibility to give Mo Lian a positive opinion on himself.

    Lan was never a humble person who would suffer in silence. Even if he truly did mean what he said, he would only mention such sentimental topics if he wished to gain something from them.

    The branch leader and Mo Lian were not aware of this, but Xue Wei knew it very well. His lips twitched slightly as he noticed how deep in the act Lan was. Even he, who knew him well, was easily tricked into believing that he was speaking on impulse to show his sincerity.

    The two ghosts had all their attention on Lan, and thus they did not notice the sudden stagnation that shed past Xue Wei¡¯s expression before he adjusted his mindset.

    They were cold-blooded creatures who would kill without blinking, but they had to admit that the words Lan had spoken made a strange and foreign emotion sprout within their hearts.

    Lan was well aware that Xue Wei had seen through him, but he also understood the young man¡¯s personality after traveling together for so long.

    Xue Wei was not a nosy person, nor was he full of righteousness. He was very simr to Lan in many ways, and he, too, found it a rather useful strategy.

    Usually, the two of them were able to use strength to get what they wished for, but there were certain people whom they did not wish to be forceful towards.

    While it might seem somewhat despicable to use such an emotional way to sway others, neither Lan nor Xue Wei saw an issue with this course of action.

    These ghosts had not experienced any positive emotions for thousands of years. Even if they were somewhat using an emotional way to forcefully make them feel positive towards themselves, it was not that bad, as it proved that even ghosts were able to feel something about others.

    Neither Xue Wei nor Lan continued the subject, but instead, they began discussing the new area they were about to enter.

    The area did not have a name. Most who had experienced the hell of surviving within that area would happily forget all about the nightmare upon leaving, while those who never escaped would be lost in the rivers of time.

    Every ghost within the Ghost Realm knew of this area, but they would not willingly mention it; it was more of a taboo subject, and the fear that surrounded the area had only grown with time.

    Xue Wei and Lan would not know the instinctive fear that was rooted within the ghosts when they were living within this area, but they were living beings, so the rules that were forced onto the ghosts would not be able to limit them.

    It was also due to this that Mo Lian dared to mention the area. She was aware of the dangers that surrounded it, and even she felt an instinctive fear when mentioning it, but she understood that they were fundamentally different.

    The things which ghosts feared were not likely to be feared by those who were living. As such, she dared to mention the ce.

    The branch leader had onlymented on a few things after she told them to look there for their friend. He understood the severity of the topic, but he also understood that it might be different for them.

    Unlike Mo Lian, he had never been there, but he still felt fear from deep within the core of his soul whenever the area was mentioned, so he could imagine the amount of courage it took to tell them about the only ce that could bring fear to the ghosts.

    Both Xue Wei and Lan noticed the strange attitude towards this area, but neither of them mentioned it. They understood that the two ghosts would not harm them intentionally, as they currently depended on them to escape this ce that they had been so fed up with for so many years.

    "We will start preparing for the journey."

    Mo Lian had already said what there was to say. She could guess that the two living ones had a lot to discuss now, things that were not suitable for them to overhear, so she proposed for herself and the branch leader to retreat.

    She had offered the suggestion to go and have a look, and from the look of the two, she could see that they had decided to go. Even so, she also understood that they would be full of certain doubts and thoughts that could not be shared with others.

    Although they hade for the sake of saving her, she was no longer the same person as before, and it was clear that everyone was aware of this. She was not suitable to listen in on their private conversations.

    Lan and Xue Wei politely led the two ghosts out of their courtyard, and when the door closed, Xue Wei could not help but chuckle when the sad and piteous expression on Lan¡¯s face returned to the same arrogant smirk that he was used to.

    "I am truly in awe of your ability to collect goodwill."

    Xue Wei was not mocking Lan; he genuinely felt respect for this deity who was willing to put down his pride and act shamelessly for the sake of chasing his beloved.

    Many would love their partner, but if it was a question about their own pride and honor, they might be hesitant. Not many could act like Lan and be so thick-skinned that everyone waspletely convinced by his acting.

    Should he start to learn some tricks, in case Wang Xiaoyun also felt dislike for him due to his heritage?

 Chapter 556: Leaving the City

    <h4>Chapter 556: Leaving the City</h4>

    Lan did not seem to care about being exposed at all. He just snorted proudly and raised his chin.

    "To chase your wife, you have to disy the ability to coax her. For me, women are a nuisance. Only my true love can make me put down my pride and arrogance to amodate unconditionally."

    Xue Wei smiled wryly and had to agree. For Wang Xiaoyun, he was also willing to do almost anything to see her happy. He was not one who would feel soft for other females; only she was special to him.

    Lan understood Xue Wei¡¯s thoughts as soon as he saw the softness in his eyes and shook his head a bit helplessly. It seemed that the two of them were both caught in the trap called love.

    Both of them were extremely talented, and they also both had an illustrious identity. While Xue Wei was still not as strong as him, he had the bloodline of the Holy Maiden. He was also a Rulebreaker, and he had unlimited potential to reach the ranks of a deity at a young age.

    He was the kind of person that would be able to attract countless women, and could easily build a harem, but it was clear that he did not wish to be with any other woman than Wang Xiaoyun.

    Lan was the same. His godfather, Hui Yue, had more than one wife, and while they were happy, he could not live such a life himself.

    He was not one to judge others and their way of living, but he understood that for him, there was only space for one wife in his heart, and Mo Lian had taken all the space. It was also due to this desperation that he could do anything to meet her again.

    Both Lan and Xue Wei were deep in thought for a short while, but they quickly epted their lot in life. So what if they were willing to give up almost anything for the one they loved? It was their choice, and others¡¯ thoughts did not matter to them.

    They slowly settled again, and while Xue Wei continued to cultivate, Lan examined the remaining part of the seal, trying to find a way to unravel it faster.

    Time flowed like water while the two were immersed in their cultivation. The branch leader and Mo Lian were both busy preparing for the trip to that special area, but no one interrupted the two living creatures in their courtyard.

    It was not before a few dayster that they got summoned and asked to prepare. It was clear that everything was now ready, and it was about time for them to depart.

    After finishing up the preparations, it was decided that the branch leader would take the task of showing the way towards the area. Mo Lian was busy getting other things ready, and she had to rush from one area of the Ghost Realm to another.

    Many of the strongest ghosts had long since realized that something was happening with the branch leader and Mo Lian, but both of them kept their mouths shut, and refused to go into details of the situation.

    As such, many felt more and more curious, but their questions got no real answer, and they decided to change their strategy.

    Many experts tried various methods to get news, and this was what Mo Lian had left to intercept.

    She released many fake news. At the same time, she also added many interesting details, making it so that those who received the word were unaware of what was true and what was fake.

    Under the veil of rumors and confusion, an ordinary carriage left the city. The carriage was just one among many that were going in and out every day, and no one paid it any attention.

    Within the carriage were Xue Wei and Lan, who were focused on their cultivation once more, while the branch leader was casually looking at the screen that showed the crowd outside the carriage.

    He could not help but feel a little disillusioned when he saw how simple it was for them to escape the city with no one paying them any attention.

    He and Mo Lian had spent many hours trying to find the most inconspicuous way to escape so that those who were aiming for their secrets would not find them, but none of them had thought of this method.

    When Xue Wei casually suggested it, they both felt as if a whole new world had opened up to them, and they felt rather surprised.

    The branch leader had never before considered just pretending to be an ordinary merchant. It was not that he looked down upon these ghosts, but he had never considered pretending to be someone he was not.

    When he looked at Xue Wei and Lan, who both acted as if this was amonce experience, he could not help but feel that he had a lot to learn about the world of the living.

    The Ghost Realm was very violent, but not many were that scheming. Most preferred to fight with strength, so while a few schemed against others, it was not something that the branch leader was very familiar with.

    As the carriage left the city behind, his wound-up nerves slowly rxed, and he too began to cultivate.

    What he was cultivating was not Qi, but instead soul energy. He was consuming soul crystals slowly, and while the advance in strength was minimal, he still felt that it was better to try and get at least a bit stronger than to waste the time spent in the carriage on the way to the haunted area.

 Chapter 557: Sand Dunes

    <h4>Chapter 557: Sand Dunes</h4>

    Xue Wei looked across the tnd in front of him with a solemn expression. Lan and himself had entered the area they had previously debated of with Mo Lian and the branch leader, but what he experienced upon entering the ce was very different from these expectations.

    The area was, on the one hand, very simr to the rest of the Ghost Realm. It was deste with no traces of living organisms. It resembled a desert with sand covering the ground. The sand had gathered in dunes, and while one could look far into the distance, the dunes were of varying size, making it difficult to distinguish if there were other souls present.

    ording to what Mo Lian had said, this area was full of battles and that when one entered, it would be tough to leave again, but everything seemed silent and eerie.

    "Ghosts are different from living beings. Their bodies do not consist of flesh and blood, so even if there are battles ongoing there will be no bloodshed."

    Lanmented offhandedly while ncing at the surroundings. In a war zone like this, one would expect a heavy scent of death and blood, but Xue Wei realized that after entering the Ghost Realm, all scents had vanished.

    The world was deste and grim. Life¡¯s only purpose was to gain strength, but there was no enjoyment in living. Even the small pleasures that one could find in the living world were missing here, making it even harder to adjust.

    The area they had entered was not too big, but it was big enough for Lan and Xue Wei to be troubled when thinking of locating every ghost within.

    They did not know if Tie Haolong was inside, but they were grasping for straws. They would have to leave the Ghost Realm soon, and before they did so, Xue Wei wished to do his very best to search for this man who died for his sake.

    Even if it was a futile search, Xue Wei wanted to be able to look back on this visit to the Ghost Realm without any regrets. He wanted to be able to say that he tried his very best.

    Upon entering the area, Xue Wei and Lan had been teleported to a random location within. They were not sure of where they were; they only understood that anyone who entered wouldnd at a random destination. However, there was only one exit, and if one wished to leave, they would have to go there.

    "There is a battle ongoing in front."

    Lan¡¯s senses were much better than Xue Wei¡¯s. After bing a deity once more, Lan had many of his previous abilities and was able to urately find the battles around them.

    "Let us go take a look."

    Although Lan had determined that there was a fight, he had not decided if they should look or stay away. He had already located Mo Lian thanks to the help that Xue Wei had given him, so he did not feel it humiliating to follow the lead of the young man.

    In fact, he felt that he owed Xue Wei much from the way he had treated him throughout the years and the respect he had gotten in return, but he also understood that Xue Wei was not willing to listen to his words.

    It would be much better to just remember all the feelings of gratitude within his heart and show with action how grateful he was.

    The trademark sly smirk was everpresent on Lan¡¯s lips. Now that Mo Lian was not present, there was no reason to pretend to be an aggrieved and pitiful person. Although he truly felt himself quite pitiful for searching for his love for more than ten thousand years, he had long since epted this.

    Now that they had entered the special area, hepletely let go of his aura and once again resembled a hedonistic young master who was not caring about anyone else than himself.

    This was the expression that Xue Wei was most familiar with, and he could not help but chuckle slightly and shake his head in amusement. He did not dislike such a side of Lan, so he did notment as he increased his speed to see who would win the battle that was ongoing in front.

    The moment Lan and Xue Wei stepped at the top of the dune, their eyes focused on two figures fighting beneath them. Whenparing their strengths to the other ghosts that they hade across up until now in the Ghost Realm, it was clear that they were both new to this world.

    Their bodies were still translucent, and soul energy seemed to be leaking from their bodies throughout the battle. The soul energy was not being gathered by either of them; it was simply dissipating into thin air, making Xue Wei shake his head in regret. What a waste of good energy!

    After focusing on the facial features of the two ghosts in front, Xue Wei found both of them unfamiliar, so he had no intention to participate in any battle. Instead, he sat down on the top of the dune and observed the action with interest.

    These ghosts had lost all memories of their past life; they were also foreign to their new world, which made the whole situation somewhat confusing for them.

    When one encountered another in such an environment, the first instinct should not be to fight but to exchange information, so why were they suddenly fighting to the point of desperation?

    His brows furrowed as he felt a little confused. He understood the ghosts which came here for the purpose of a rapid increase in strength, but these two clearly had no basic understanding of the Ghost Realm. What were they doing here, and why were they fighting like this?

 Chapter 558: Sensing a Secret

    <h4>Chapter 558: Sensing a Secret</h4>

    It was not only Xue Wei who felt that something was amiss. It was as if these ghosts had a primitive and uncontroble need to fight one another.

    Their bodies were different from that of living beings, and they did not sustain injuries as such. Still, their energy was being spent at a rapid pace, some of which even dissipated into thin air, but they were still desperately trying to emerge victoriously.

    It seemed that to them, it was not enough to beat the other. Even in the current situation where they were almost even, they did not retreat to tend to their injuries and returnter when they had gotten stronger. Instead, they fought more and more ferociously as if there was no other option.

    Lan frowned as he looked at the two ghosts, but before he had the time to guess the cause behind their odd behavior, another ghost appeared on a sand dune opposite to them.

    This ghost was stronger than the two fighting ones, but even with danger approaching like this, the two battling ghosts did not hesitate to continue their fight.

    The newly arrived ghost seemed to be very familiar with this behavior, and he did not even mask his approach.

    He slid down the sand dune and calmly began absorbing the energy that was swirling in the air.

    After consuming all the wayward energy, he did not rush to attack the two fighting ghosts. All he did was to wait patiently until both of them were at a point where they were so low on energy that even though they continued to fight, their abilities were no longer able to deal any damage to the opponent.

    Even at this point, the two were still unwilling to give in. They were submerged in a frenzy, and did not seem to realize that they would soon be prey to another ghost. Even though this ghost did not try to hide his presence, the two did not seem to notice him at all.

    It was at this point that the newly arrived ghost attacked. The attack was swift and ruthless. He appeared to have done such actions numerous times, and the two unwilling ghosts rapidly disappeared, bing nothing more than mindless energy, which soon would be part of the stronger ghost.

    Lan and Xue Wei were observing everything that was happening in front of them with great interest. The two fighting ghosts had not taken the approaching danger seriously. Still, simrly, this ghost who had consumed the two previous ones did not seem to actually care about the presence of the two of them.

    Unlike the first two ghosts, which had not even noticed the new arrival, they were certain that the final victor was very aware of their existence.

    The ghost had nced at them a few times, clearly noticing their existence, but disregarding them as if they were air.

    Although they were not a threat to this ghost, they still found it interesting that he did not fear them, or that he did not even show the slightest vignce.

    Lan raised an eyebrow as he witnessed the ghost slowly leave the area at a calm pace as if he was not the one who had just consumed the two unfortunate souls.

    He already had a theory as to what was going on, but he dared speak about it as he did not feel confident before he had seen a few more simr situations.

    "Should we follow him?" Xue Wei also had a feeling that this ghost might have some information that could help them understand the area they had entered.

    At first, they had expected this area to be simr to the outside, and the only difference was that it restricted those who could enter, but from what they had seen just now, it seemed that there were certain powers at y that could affect the ghosts in various ways.

    The way that these ghostspletely lost control of themselves would make the fear that Mo Lian and the branch leader held towards the area much more reasonable.

    One has to remember that they had seen countless deaths. They had personally murdered more ghosts than they could remember, but they feared this specific area.

    If it was merely due to the gruesome survival rate, then it did not make sense, but if there was some sort of power that could control their minds and bodies, then the fear would make much more sense.

    Lan nodded his head, and the two slowly began to follow the ghost that had left calmly.

    They did not hide their purpose of following him, but they were also not close enough to make him feel threatened. If he wished to initiate contact, then they would be willing; if not, they would merely observe his actions.

    Although the ghost was the only soul they could see, it seemed that it had a very precise way of navigating around the desert area.

    He was walking in a straight line, and he never once stopped to consider the direction. After walking for half a day, the sounds of battle sounded once more in the distance, and both Lan and Xue Wei found another couple of weaker ghosts battling one another.

    The situation was the same as the one they had experienced previously, and once again, the battling souls ended up as energy within the other¡¯s body.

    After consuming four ghosts, the aura of the winner had be chaotic. The energy was initially that of four different souls, so they were not easily blended into his own to be part of himself.

    He seemed to contemte continuing his journey or slowly adjust the energy he had consumed, but eventually, he decided to first get all the energy merged into his own.

    He sent a nce at Lan and Xue Wei once more before he sat down and closed his eyes. For some reason, the feeling of being treated as a guard suddenly appeared in Xue Wei¡¯s mind.

 Chapter 559: Manipulating Emotions

    <h4>Chapter 559: Manipting Emotions</h4>

    Lan and Xue Wei exchanged nces yet again. Although Lan had returned to being a deity once more, he was still a foreigner within this realm, and he did not understand much of what was going on around them.

    Even so, it seemed that most of the ghosts they encountered were caught in some sort of illusion, and only the one they had been followed seemed to be sober.

    "Let¡¯s guard him?" Xue Wei was naturally a little confused as to why this ghost would trust them enough to let the two of them guard him while digesting the overflowing essence, but based on their current situation; this guy seemed to be their best chance to understand the circumstances of the area.

    "For now, we should stay. It all depends on how long it will take for him to cultivate. If it is less than a day or two, then I don¡¯t really mind staying around to guard him, but if it takes longer than that, then we can begin to discuss if it is worth the time wasted."

    Xue Wei contemted for some time. He was not against guarding this person, but if it took too much time, it might not be worth their effort.

    The entire Ghost Realm was a deste and barrennd, but this area was like a desert. As far as one could see, dunes would rise into the distance, but no wind would appear, which could have caused these dunes to form.

    The whole area contained a great feeling of uncertainty. Even Xue Wei and Lan felt ufortable being here, though they could not put their finger on exactly where this unexinable emotion came from.

    The air felt stagnant and heavy. It was dry and ufortable to breathe, and although there was no strong sunlight, it still felt unpleasant to stay within the desert.

    Although they had decided to take a break, neither Xue Wei nor Lan was exhausted. They had merely walked around in the sand for some time and witnessed the battle of a few ghosts.

    As experts of a high rank, this was not enough to cause them any strain, but they still felt as if someone was grasping their heart, ready to squeeze it at any time, which was causing their minds to be overly active and vignt.

    Their minds were never able to calm down, and the strain of their minds was much more intense than that on their bodies.

    It was clear that there was something very wrong with this area. Could this sense of difort have anything to do with the ghosts losing their minds or falling into a hallucination?

    Even the heaven and earth essence within this area was much lesser than that of other ces within the Ghost Realm, so even though Xue Wei was also cultivating, his speed was much slower than before.

    Even so, since they had decided to wait for some time, he still felt the need to enhance his strength rather than waste the moment.

    Lan was also seated cross-legged by his side. His seal had be increasingly hard to unravel as the upperyers were much more thoroughly sealed than the lower ones.

    To him, the sealing process felt a bit as if he was an ant trying to push away a boulder. Every push seemed useless, but slowly another ant would help. The push would still seem hopeless until enough time had passed and a whole tribe of ants seeded in pushing one boulder away.

    Unfortunately, the tribe would vanish. A new and bigger boulder would appear, and he would have to start all over.

    The process was tedious but necessary, so he patiently continued to work hard.

    Time flowed like water, but no matter how much time had passed, it was impossible to tell in the desert. There was no moon, no change in the position of the light. Everything seemed the exact same as before, and the eerie feeling was starting to cause both Lan and Xue Wei a certain strain on their mental abilities.

    Lan stopped trying to unseal his strength while Xue Wei stopped cultivating. Both looked at one another and noticed the worry within the other.

    This area was able to mess with their minds in a way they had not experienced before. Usually, there should not be anything in such a forsaken ce that could cause them to be so alert, but the feeling was impossible to control.

    Clearly, something within the area was controlling their emotions!

    Xue Wei stood up unhurriedly. He dusted the sand off his clothes before he nced at the ghost that was still cultivating.

    "I don¡¯t think we should keep waiting. I would like to know who is trying to influence my emotions like this."

    Lan nodded his head with a sneer on his lips. "I have never before experienced the feeling of having my emotions controlled like this. I am quite curious as to what can influence us to this extent."

    Both Xue Wei and Lan had initially intended to protect the ghost, but for now, the strange phenomenon was much more critical.

    "Do you think we should wait and guard this guy before we go?" Lan looked at Xue Wei¡¯s face as he asked. He was, personally, not interested in doing so, but he had found that Xue Wei¡¯s personality was ratherplex. The mixture of human and beast could make his personality alternate depending on the situation.

    "We never agreed to guard him. Also, he has not actually assisted us throughout the time we followed, so it should be fine for us to leave. If he does get attacked, then that would just be his own bad luck."

    Although Xue Wei was willing to return any favor he received, this ghost had not actually helped them. At most, he had refrained from trying to escape their vision, but they had also guarded him up until now. They could be considered even.

 Chapter 560: The Uncomfortable Emotions

    <h4>Chapter 560: The Ufortable Emotions</h4>

    Xue Wei and Lan looked around their surroundings. They had already decided to search for the cause of their manipted feelings, but they felt somewhat helpless.

    Lan was especially puzzled. He was already a deity; although his strength was merelyparable to those who hadprehended a minor dao, he was still not an easy target if someone wished to target his mind.

    When hepared his own state to Xue Wei¡¯s, he found it even more inconceivable that the two of them seemed very equal in reaction. It was as if their maniption had nothing to do with their strength and that no matter how strong they were, they would be unable to guard against this unknown phenomenon.

    This kind of experience was new to Lan, and while he felt how dangerous it was, he also experienced an excitement he had not felt for countless of years. The thrill was very satisfying, even though it also caused him to walk on the line of death.

    Xue Wei was unaware of Lan¡¯s thoughts. He kept searching the area with his eyes, trying to find a clue as to where the feeling came from, and suddenly he felt as if his heart tightened while looking in a specific direction.

    "There is something over there." Xue Wei pointed towards the direction that made his heart clench.

    "It looks pretty much the same as any other direction," Lanmented while slowly moving forward. Although he did not know why Xue Wei wished to walk that way, he did not oppose to his decision. To him, it was the same no matter where they went.

    "There is something in that direction. I do not know what it is, but it makes my heart palpitate."

    Xue Wei did not try to hide the strange feeling that had overwhelmed him, but his brows did furrow while trying to understand the feeling.

    "Is it trembling in fear or excitement?" Lan observed the surroundings while they slowly made their way towards the direction that Xue Wei had pointed out. Even so, he still tried to understand the feeling that Xue Wei had experienced. The more they understood, the more they could prepare for what they would encounter.

    "I don¡¯t know." Xue Wei shook his head regretfully. "It is a strange feeling of wanting to go there but not daring. It is as if my heart is excited but also fearful. There is something that calls for me to arrive as soon as possible, but I also fear what I might find."

    Xue Wei knew that his thoughts were messy and that his exnation was quite bad, but he did not know how to describe it.

    "The fear I feel is not the kind of fear of death. It is also not the fear of something dangerous. Instead, it is a fear of regret and disappointment."

    The feeling was very foreign to Xue Wei. He had previously been confused due to his mixed blood and heritage, but even so, he had tried to live a life without regrets. Even when looking back on his past, there were very few things that he regretted, but he had already epted these episodes, so why was this sudden ufortable feeling growing inside of him?

    The strange feeling grew more and more intense as they advanced. At the start, it was not noticeable, but after walking for a day, he felt as if something was calling for him. A strange summon was making him slowly lose his sanity, and his mind was starting to be confused. It took him all his willpower to maintain a sane consciousness.

    Lan had been silent throughout the day. He had been very vignt, but the majority of his focus had been on Xue Wei. While it took some time for the younger man to realize the changes that were happening around him, Lan noticed it right away.

    He had not mentioned it earlier, as it did not seem to do any harm to Xue Wei, but he was still very curious as to what could have such an influence on Xue Wei.

    He also felt that the strange behavior that this young man showed was very different from the hallucinations that the ghosts were showing previously.

    Could it be that the ghosts would react in one way to the phenomenon while living beings would behave differently?

    He, too, felt a weird emotion stir within him, but it seemed that the emotion he felt was very constant. It had not changed from when he first experienced it, but Xue Wei¡¯s seemed to evolve the further they went.

    It was hard to say if this change in emotions with Xue Wei was due to him closing in on whatever caused the change in feelings or if it was simply because he had spent more time in this strange area.

    Xue Wei felt his mind was bursting with mixed inputs. His rational mind tried to calm him down, but the excitement had even managed to spread to his blood, causing it to boil in anticipation.

    The feeling of fear of being disappointed had slowly be less and less, while the excitement had grown to a level where he could hardly control it.

    It was obvious that something was wrong. He was usually cautious, but right now, it required all his energy to withstand the urge to let go of all thoughts and rush to the source of this feeling.

    He could not help but fear that his senses wouldpletely disappear, causing him to be nothing more than a fool that could no longer control his own actions.

    "Can you knock me out? I need to rest my mind."

    Having made a decision, Xue Wei nced at Lan. He hadplete faith that this trickster would be able to make him lose consciousness instantly.

    As he understood this, everything turned ck, and his tight mind slowly rxed.

 Chapter 561: The Desert Trembled

    <h4>Chapter 561: The Desert Trembled</h4>

    Lan sat on the sand as he looked at the silent surroundings. He could feel the strange fluctuations of his emotions, but he was not close to losing sanity like Xue Wei and the ghosts they had encountered previously had done.

    Was the ability to keep sane due to his strength, or were there some hidden causes behind the changes that had urred within this area?

    Xue Wei was not acting as the ghosts. He was not violent or eager to fight; however, he had been blinded by the temptations of something unknown, which made him lose all sanity.

    Such maniption of feelings made Lan ufortable, as even he was unable to counter them. There had been no fluctuations within the heaven or earth energy, nor had the soul energy been stirred, causing him to find no clue behind the strange phenomenon.

    He was not even capable of bringing Xue Wei elsewhere, as he did not know where to go. He could only hope that the brief break would clear up the younger man¡¯s thoughts.

    There were no changes in the surroundings, no matter how much time passed. Lan could do nothing but sit and observe the unconscious Xue Wei while waiting for him to slowly wake up.

    Even before Xue Wei opened his eyes, he felt as if something was pulling him in a special direction. The urge to grow wings and fly there was impossible to ignore, but his mind was much clearer than before.

    His eyes opened, and he noticed that Lan was seated by his side, slowly unraveling his seal. His hands dug into the sand as he tried to stand up again.

    The sand slowly slipped through his fingers as he put his weight on his arms and slowly stood up. The strange feeling of urgency made his mind feel as if there was a buzzing fly constantly causing him to lose his focus.

    Lan felt his movements right away, and noticed that his expression was ugly, but he was still sane. "How are you?"

    Xue Wei considered the question seriously before he shook his head and said, "I feel pretty horrible. However, I can still withstand the strange maniption. Let us make our way towards the source of this strange influence and see what might be the cause."

    Lan nodded his head as he looked around. It did not matter much to him which way they went as everything seemed the same here, but he was still alert and kept an eye on Xue Wei¡¯s expressions.

    Every time he was about to lose his sanity, he would be knocked out, and by the time he woke up, his mind would have cleared, and they could continue.

    Time went by, and the frequency of the times he needed to be beaten by Lan also became less and less, until they eventually reached an area where Xue Wei¡¯s mindpletely sobered up.

    Even the strange feeling of urgency slowly calmed down as if he had reached his destination.

    Lan noticed the sudden calm that surrounded his friend, and understood that this ce held something special; however, when looking at his surroundings, ck lines formed on his forehead.

    How was this ce any different? The dunes were very simr to those they had passed on the way, even the sand had the same color.

    Even Xue Wei felt somewhat perplexed. If not for the strange feelings that had dominated his mind all the way here, he would not have been so confident of his arrival.

    With furrowed brows, he began to examine the ce where they had arrived, but there was truly nothing special about it.

    He moved a few steps forward, but the feeling did not return. Everything had calmed down, and it felt as if the emotions he had experienced prior to this were simply his imagination.

    Feeling puzzled and starting to doubt himself, Xue Wei touched the sand beneath him to see if he could get any hints.

    As his palmnded on the sand, a tremor ran through the whole area. The tremor was so strong that even the dunes shook and began to copse.

    The sudden reaction took both Xue Wei and Lan by surprise. They could not help but share a nce before they put their focus on the sand beneath their feet.

    There was no fear in their eyes. Instead, interest was brewing within as they finally felt that they had taken a step forward toward solving the topic that had confused them.

    Xue Wei withdrew his hand, but the shaking of the ground did not diminish. Instead, it grew stronger and stronger, to the point where it could no longer be considered a tremor but an earthquake.

    Thend beneath their feet suddenly cracked, and the sand fell into the abyss that had formed beneath their feet. Xue Wei and Lan both retreated rapidly to observe the changes in their surroundings, but there was only one crack on the ground; the one in front of them.

    The crack continued to expand, but it did not grow much in length. Instead, it grew wider until it slowly became a hole that opened up to a whole new world beneath the desert.

    There was a set of stairs visible in the sand, but the hole itself was as dark as the moonless midnight sky, and it was impossible to tell what was hiding within the darkness.

    Xue Wei raised an eyebrow in surprise. He had expected many things, but he had not thought that there would be an entrance to something hidden beneath the sand.

    It was a dangerous choice to enter, as the world below would clearly be hard to escape from, but he was not a person who would shy away from danger. With a smirk, and a nce towards Lan, Xue Wei unhesitatingly walked to the stairs and began his descent.

 Chapter 562: The Power of Faith

    <h4>Chapter 562: The Power of Faith</h4>

    The stairs were neither narrow nor wide. It was possible for Xue Wei to walk with Lan by his side, but neither of them spoke.

    Although the descent was done inplete darkness, the two were not worried about slipping on the steps and falling, as their eyes were able to at least see the next meter in front of them.

    The air within the staircase was not humid nor dry. It did not feel unpleasant to walk further and further down under the ground. Instead, the air felt as it had above ground, and even the steps were covered in sand. The only difference was thepleteck of light.

    The stairs went deep into the ground before they ended in a long tunnel. The tunnel was the same width and height as the staircase, and the walls were smooth and felt pleasant to the touch.

    Even here, beneath the sandy desert, no life could be found. There were no signs of insects, snakes, or the like, and the silence was overwhelming.

    Neither Lan nor Xue Wei spoke as they advanced. A strange feeling enveloped them, a mixture of mncholy and sacredness.

    It was as if they were reaching the most important and holy area of the whole Ghost Realm. A ce where it was no longer allowed to y and murder ording to ones wishes, but instead one had to stay pious and courteous.

    The tunnel was long, and the two advanced forward without knowing how long they had been walking for. The world beneath the sand was silent and tranquil, it was as a small haven in the middle of a battlefield, and neither of the two men felt the need to break the silence.

    Time was impossible to keep track of due to theck of light or changes in the environment. They walked for a long time which felt like days, but it might have been as little as one night.

    When they finally reached the end of the tunnel, they found that another set of stairs was present, however these stairs were not leading further into the depths of the earth, but instead they took the two towards the surface once more.

    Lan and Xue Wei had not encountered any signs of life throughout their long walk, not even the smallest sign of a ghost had appeared, so they did not stop to rest before stepping onto the stairs, and once again aimed for the world above.

    As to why this tunnel had been built underground, it was likely to make it much harder to locate it. Had it not been for Xue Wei¡¯s touch of the sand, the two would never have known that this tunnel existed, so it was likely that the ghosts were also unaware of its existence.

    Both Xue Wei and Lan had their own thoughts of what might be at the end of the stairs, but neither of them felt a need to discuss.

    Although they no longer felt as if their emotions were directly manipted, they were both aware that this strange mncholic mood was caused by the strange phenomenon they had encountered.

    However, throughout their long walk, they had not seen any traps. It did not seem as if they had stepped into a dangerous area, and the sacredness of the ce was much more obvious to Lan who had returned to a deity, so he did not need to fear the ce.

    As a deity, he understood that faith was important for mortals and immortals alike. The mortals managed to gain a certain feeling of safety and security through faith, and sometimes they might even be granted help by the deity they believed in.

    The deity, on the other hand, would be able to benefit from the faith in a very vague way. Although it did not directly influence cultivation or strength, it would often help the one being worshipped with luck or good fortune. The more people who believed in the deity, the more smooth their path would be while practicing.

    This ce had a trace of a forgotten faith, but it was very weak and seemed lost. The previous owner of the faith was likely gone, but due to the sheer amount of worshipping that they had received during their lifetime, a trace still lingered on.

    The steps were taken one after another before they reached the top of the stairs.

    What met their eyes caused both Lan and Xue Wei to feel amazed but not shocked. They had previously expected to encounter a grand scene at the end, and it did not let them down.

    In front of them was a great pce and temple-like city. The buildings were all connected in a specific formation which was meant to increase longevity and luck, but each of the pagodas, courtyards, and houses were all long since abandoned.

    They had all been built from a material that neither Xue Wei nor Lan had seen anywhere in the Ghost Realm before, it was shining with a gentle and soft lustre like a midnight pearl, but every wall was made from this material, showcasing the great cost of building the structure.

    The middle of the pce had a great square which led to a set of stairs and up towards a temple.

    Every building had been adorned with intricate and delicate designs, most of which held pictures of a ck turtle, but there were also less frequent disys of a white tiger, an azure dragon, and a vermillion bird.

    From the appearance of these designs, it was easy to guess that this pce held some connection to the four divine beast races, making it reasonable for Xue Wei to have felt such intense connection and longing towards this ce.

 Chapter 563: Black Turtle

    <h4>Chapter 563: ck Turtle</h4>

    Lan had been staying in Xue Wei¡¯s home world for more than ten thousand years, and he had also witnessed the decline of the four divine beast ns.

    As he looked around the temple-like pce in front of him, he could not help but frown.

    He knew that the four divine beast ns were the Azure Dragon n, the Vermilion Bird n, the White Tiger n, and the ck Turtle n.

    The ck Turtle n had always been very mysterious and withdrawn. They resided within a mountain range, on a continent that was hard to approach, and they did not try to get involved in mundane affairs.

    He had encountered them very few times throughout his years as the Sovereign of the world, but he did not know what connection they had with the Ghost Realm.

    Looking around, although the other three divine beast ns were also portrayed, they did not even add up to half as many patterns and designs as the ones depicting the ck Turtle n.

    "This is quite intriguing."

    Lan could not help but mutter to himself as he slowly stroked a piece of the wall in front of him. The material was soft to the touch, shimmering slightly in the dim light, but it was clearly abandoned for many years and was not kept well maintained.

    Xue Wei also felt perplexed. He understood that this was something that even Lan had no knowledge of previously, but there was no doubt that it was connected to him.

    He was the son of the Holy Maiden, and he had the bloodline of the ck Turtle within his body, although it was still not activated.

    Even so, he could feel the power coursing through his veins, and felt a strange excitement as he looked around.

    Lan was also sensing a special power within these forgotten buildings. Unlike Xue Wei¡¯s uncertainty, he knew that the trait of the energy that he could sense belonged to the element of faith, and it had baptized the whole forgotten city with its might.

    From the look of the buildings, they had been abandoned for many years, most likely even more than the years Lan had spent waiting to be reunited with Mo Lian, but the energy of faith was still lingering behind, showing how powerful and frightening the amount of faith had been when it was still in use.

    Such an amount of faith was only possible if the whole realm had worshipped the ones living here, and they had to be sincere in their belief.

    Lan and Xue Wei were not walking together. Although they understood the severity of splitting up, they were willing to take the risk as they each had their own goals now that they had arrived.

    Xue Wei wished to find a connection to his bloodline, while Lan was contemting if there was some sort of token which had gathered all the power of faith, and he would dly take it away to absorb it for himself.

    The power was long lost, and it did not have an owner, so even if Lan did not consume it, it would merely dissipate throughout the passing of time, so he did not feel any mental resistance to take away such potent power.

    Xue Wei stepped through the open gate that let one enter the forgotten city. The gates had been left open, but there were no signs of struggle or battle.

    The buildings were not taken care of, but due to the quality of the materials used, it was also able to withstand most of the time that had passed, and only a few of them seemed to be unstable.

    Although it was a pce, it resembled a small city more than anything. Streets were leading to different parts of the pce, and from his estimation, there seemed to be hundreds of buildings within the pce walls.

    He did not spend much time admiring the beautiful scenery or the overgrown gardens. Instead, he walked steadily towards the very center of the forgotten city.

    Here, he found a big pagoda that was towering into the sky. Where all the other buildings within the pce were made from the beautiful pearl-like material, this pagoda was built with some sort of ck stone.

    Even the white pearl-like material would disy a certain degree ofck of care, but this ck pagoda was full of an overwhelming aura, and there was not even the slightest spec of dust on the walls that shone with a ck lustre.

    The doors to the pagoda were closed. They were made from a very heavy kind of iron, and it had been adorned with two great ck tortoises that seemed to judge anyone who went close.

    Xue Wei looked at those two life-like tortoises, but he seemed to feel that what was needed to enter the pagoda was the bloodline of the ck Turtle.

    He had no logical reason for this assumption, it was merely a thought that suddenly appeared in his mind, and he stepped forward to put his hand on the gates.

    If he would have been required to use brute force to open the doors, he was not likely to seed, but if he could enter with the help of his bloodline, then he wished to give it a try.

    As his hand touched the door, a sharp gleam of light lit up the whole pce. The light came from the very top of the pagoda, and it gently fell on the pce as a protectiveyer.

    Xue Wei was stunned upon witnessing this, but he did not have much time to consider the meaning, as he felt a suction force acting against his body, and everything went ck.

    He felt as if the world was spinning, and he lost connection to all his senses, but shortly after, he was able to adjust himself and look around.

 Chapter 564: The Pagoda Hall

    <h4>Chapter 564: The Pagoda Hall</h4>

    Xue Wei was no longer in therge square in front of the pagoda, instead he seemed to be inside arge hall. It did not need much thought to realize that the room was likely the first floor of the ck pagoda he had been looking at before.

    The walls of the hall were made from the same strange ck material as the pagoda itself. Although no windows were present, and he could no longer see the door frame, the building was not dark.

    There did not seem to be any light source, but the whole room was as clear and bright as the outside during the day.

    He looked around, only to see the beams that were supporting the upper floors. There were no stairs leading upwards, but he did not doubt that there were more floors above.

    Looking around, he could not help but frown slightly. He slowly began to consider the situation he had encountered.

    This forgotten city was likely to have a connection to the ck Turtle n. He did not know much about this n, but he had no doubt that there was a bit of the ck Turtle bloodline within his veins, as he had already been considered the Holy Son.

    It was just a bit troublesome, as he was not a purebred sovereign beast, and he needed assistance to activate these bloodlines. Even the most powerful Azure Dragon Bloodline had needed help to improve and activate.

    This ck pagoda was likely to be a very important part of the forgotten city, but he was not sure of what purpose it held. Was it for training their younger generations, or perhaps a ce to store treasures?

    The first floor did not seem to hold any clues, but Xue Wei was not in a hurry to look for a way to escape. He could clearly see that there were no visible doors or stairs, but he did not believe that he would be locked inside this room until he died, so he calmed down and began to consider what he had experienced in the Ghost Realm up until now.

    The Ghost Realm was devoid of life. Even the ghosts were merely soul energy which had no actual life, but who maintained their form by cannibalism.

    The only reason for these ghosts to survive was because of the constant arrival of new ghosts which could sustain the living of the others. Many ghosts died every day.

    This world itself seemed to be faulty, as if it was never meant to exist. Even the strongest ghosts were unable to leave this Ghost Realm without the help from someone who did not belong to the realm, so it seemed as if this ce was not as natural as he had initially expected.

    Xue Wei did not have much understanding of the different worlds, but during the time he had spoken with Lan, he had understood that there were thousands of worlds. These worlds were split into different regions, and one could travel in their own region as soon as they became a deity.

    To travel to another region, one needed to break through and be an overlord, the rank that Lan had previously been at.

    However, to travel from world to world, one needed to break through the boundaries of mortality, but it seemed absolutely impossible to do that in this world.

    No matter how much energy they consumed, it would just be nothing else than a tonic to stay alive for these top ghosts.

    Xue Wei had always felt that this world was weird, but he could not put his finger on the what or why. The more time he spent within the Ghost Realm, the more doubtful he became.

    With a sigh, Xue Wei stopped considering the Ghost Realm and decided to focus on his current situation.

    The pagoda hall he was inside waspletely empty. There was nothing else than a tiled floor and the beams above which held up the ceiling.

    His initial expectation was that this would be some sort of trial that would allow him to increase his strength, or that it would be a ce to gather treasures that only the bloodline disciples could ess.

    Unfortunately, it seemed that he was somewhat unlucky. There was nothing that resembled a test, nor any treasures remaining.

    Even so, he did not panic. What made him confident was that the doors had vanished. If there would have been some stairs here, he might be much more doubtful as to the purpose of the pagoda, but right now, it seemed as if he had to pass a certain trial to be let out.

    He could not reach the upper floor, nor could he exit as the door had vanished, so he had to stay calm and slowly prove his worth.

    The only problem was how to do this. With no leads or hints, he could only slowly begin to walk around within the hall.

    He started by walking to a wall and began to observe the ck stone to see if there were any marks that could give him some hints, but the smooth ck material was without any depictions or markings.

    Xue Wei frowned slightly, but he did not get impatient or panicked. He slowly began walking with his hand on the wall in order to feel the material and to ensure that there were no traces at any ce in the hall.

    After making sure that the wall was fine, he slowly began to walk across the room to the pirs that held up the beams, but they did not seem to have any traces of hints either, and he slowly went directly to the center of the room.

    As he stood in the center, he felt that a strange buzzing sound slowly began to hum in the hall. His brows furrowed and his body became alert.

 Chapter 565: Black Turtle Clan

    <h4>Chapter 565: ck Turtle n</h4>

    "Bloodline density is quitecking."

    A strong voice boomed in the empty hall and created an echo, which made Xue Wei look around again, but nothing appeared from where the sound could originate.

    He did not panic. Even if his bloodline was not as great as a pure ck Turtle, he was at least considered a member of the n, and no one would kill him for no reason.

    Not to mention, he felt absolutely no killing intent. Instead he felt that this location was most likely a training field made especially for the descendants of the ck Turtle n.

    While Xue Wei was contemting on whether or not to inform the unknown voice of his other bloodlines, the voice sounded once more.

    "It seems that the bloodline is not hopeless. Although it is a bit weak for now, it has the potential to evolve into a better purity."

    The voice was hoarse and sounded old, but there was an arrogance and domineering aura that swept all over the hall with each word.

    It was clear that the voice belonged to someone who held a certain amount of power.

    Xue Wei did not rush to converse with the voice. Instead, he waited for it to describe the situation in more detail, so that he could understand the situation better.

    "I guess I should just make do, it has been more than ten thousand years since thest descendant entered my tower, so even if you are somewhatcking, I¡¯ll still make you into a genius!"

    "Senior, where is this, and who are you?"

    Xue Wei heard that the voice was getting more and more positive towards him, and he took the chance to fish for information.

    "How can you not know of me! What an unfilial junior!" The voice sounded very displeased and shocked by theck of knowledge, but Xue Wei still did not feel any hatred or real anger, as if the owner of this voice was happy as long as it had someone to talk with.

    Not that he could me it, ording to the previous words, he had been alone in this tower for more than ten thousand years, it made sense that he was feeling pretty lonely.

    "Senior, this junior is named Xue Wei. I am a foreigner who arrived here by luck; the whole city is deserted and seems to have been left alone for many thousands of years already. As I have never been here before, I hope you will forgive my rude behavior, but I also wish to ask if it is possible to be given some information on where this is, and what purpose it has."

    Xue Wei was not usually this polite to others, but he felt a strange reverence towards the owner of this voice, and he also somehow understood his loneliness. To be alone for so long, but not losing its mind was truly enough to deserve some respect.

    "Fugui City has been deserted?" The voice seemed somewhat surprised, but Xue Wei could not hear much distress or unhappiness in it, as if he had long since assumed that this would be the result.

    "Well then, young man, can you tell me how you, as a descendant of the ck Turtle n, has arrived within this cursed realm and even found our Fugui City?"

    Xue Wei seemed to consider his options, but in the end, he still nodded his head and exined the situation in a few words.

    "So you are looking for your friend to bring him back to the world of the living?" The voice sounded less hoarse after having spoken for some time, but it was still low and mellow. It was pleasant to listen to, and brought a bit of tranquility to Xue Wei.

    "That was our original purpose, yes. Things have gone a bit out of hand, and I feel as if I need to understand why a city belonging to the ck Turtle n has appeared within this realm. Even if I have never met a member of the ck Turtle, they are still part of my bloodline."

    The voice was silent for some time before a loud sigh floated through the air.

    "This is Fugui City. It was meant to be the most brilliant ce within the new realm, and the spiritual center for the new realm.

    "Our world was not connected to the Ten Courts of Hell, and thus, those who died would never be able to regain a second chance at life, but slowly dissipate, and be energy.

    "The ck Turtle n was a n known for longevity. Many visited us to get help and methods to increase their lifespan as everyone feared the end that could not be fought.

    "The ck Turtle n decided to use their abilities and create a haven for all those who died. The initial intention was to create our own version of Diyu, a ce where souls would be sent when they died, and a ce where they could start all over.

    "The ck Turtle n had always been very proud of their ability to bless others with longevity, but they had overestimated their own abilities.

    "They seeded in creating the Ghost Realm, but things were not as simple as they expected.

    "Souls and living beings are fundamentally different. Everything which contained any yang energy was able to harm these souls, while the excessive yin energy was hurting the ck Turtles.

    "They also soon found that while they had ensured that the real had dense heaven and earth essence, the ghosts were unable to consume and refine this energy, and it just kept storing itself within the world.

    "In return, they found that these ghosts still needed energy to keep their existence. What they needed was not an energy that the ck Turtle n was capable of providing them with, and these ghosts quickly began to cannibalize themselves."

 Chapter 566: A Spirits Request

    <h4>Chapter 566: A Spirit''s Request</h4>

    Xue Wei¡¯s brows were furrowed as he listened to the history of the Ghost Realm. He had never expected that things would end up like this, but he did feel that this realm was not suitable to exist.

    "The Ghost Realm was made with the best intentions in mind, but the ck Turtle n misjudged their own abilities. This is a realm on its own, but at the same time it is connected to the world of the living, and thus it can merely be considered a pocket dimension attached to the real world.

    "Those who enter will have to constantly struggle to keep existing, but this realm is unable to ept anything living.

    "I can imagine that nts, beasts, and even the ck Turtle n have ended up dying. The only trace of them left behind is likely this forgotten city."

    Xue Wei narrowed his eyes and nodded his head. It was indeed true that no living beings had been seen since he entered the Ghost Realm, but he still felt that it was a sad fate.

    The ck Turtle n wished to help others and give them hope even after death, but instead they created a world full of cruelty and constant despair.

    Perhaps it was for the best that they had not lived to see the result of their hard work. They had so many good ideas, but reality proved that things often turned out differently.

    It seemed that the voice was also well aware that his guess had been correct and a sigh resounded in the empty hall.

    "I warned them long ago. If we were supposed to give these souls a chance for reincarnation, and life after death, then we had to be connected to Diyu, but those old fogies were unwilling, and refused to admit defeat.

    "Look at us now, the old guys have be nothing, and I have been trapped within a pagoda for such a long time that I almost wish I could disappear as well."

    Xue Wei did not doubt the truth of what the voice was saying. There was endless regret within each word, and he could feel that this soul no longer wished to continue taking over the position as a tower guardian.

    "Senior, if you die in the world of the living, then you wille to the Ghost Realm, but if you die in the Ghost Realm, will you remain here, or will you dissipate and return to be energy for others to feast upon?"

    The question was met with silence, but Xue Wei was not in a hurry for an answer. In fact, he was quite certain that even the owner of this voice did not know if the ck Turtles had be ghosts, or if they simply disappeared.

    "In the end, it does not matter much which result the ck Turtle n faced. They would not remember anything, even if they had be lingering ghosts, and their initial intention would also vanish as they would be fighting for survival rather than intending to create a peaceful realm."

    Xue Wei could merely nod his head in agreement as he looked around the hall. He had not spoken much since his arrival, but he had gotten the whole history of the Ghost Realm and also the one of this forgotten city.

    Even so, he still did not know what he was supposed to do to escape this pagoda. He did hope that it was a chance for him to increase his strength, or the purity of his ck turtle bloodline, but he also understood that due to the current circumstances with the Ghost Realm, it might no longer be possible for the pagoda to work as before.

    "Little fellow, your bloodline purity is really quite pitiful, but it does exist, otherwise you would not be able to enter this pagoda. You gave me news about the world outside, and about the unfortunate loss of the ck Turtle n.

    "I have a request, in fact it would be more of a trade really, that I hope you would consider.

    "When the ck Turtle n migrated to the Ghost Realm, we left behind a branch of our n within the world of the living. I would like to request of you to bring this ck Pagoda to the ck Turtle n within the world of the living.

    "The ck Pagoda is a heritage treasure that was created by the first ck Turtle Ancestor, and it is also the most powerful tool to teach and forge the younger generation.

    "This pagoda can only be handled by an Elder of the ck Turtle n, but since I am the pagoda spirit, I can shrink the size and allow for it to enter your storage treasure.

    "I understand that this is an unreasonable request, so I will give you a great reward in advance. The blood in your veins is different from themon ck Turtle Blood.

    "When a ck Turtle Descendant is born, their blood purity is very hard to change, but I can sense that yours can be upgraded by absorbing the essence blood of others.

    "My spirit has long since left my body behind, and the essence blood, even the heart essence blood, has been left untouched below the pagoda.

    "If you agree to my request, then, when the pagoda shrinks, you can take my body and extract some of the essence blood, and allow for your ck Turtle Bloodline to upgrade."

    Xue Wei raised an eyebrow in surprise. This would, without a doubt, prove to be the most suitable solution for him, but he also felt somewhat perplexed.

    Everything had been going extremely easily for them since they arrived in the Ghost Realm. It felt as if it was almost unreal.

 Chapter 567: Puppet

    <h4>Chapter 567: Puppet</h4>

    Xue Wei could not help but to be cautious by nature. He had experienced many setbacks, and he did not trust anyone easily anymore.

    He had long since understood that if something sounded too good to be true, then it was likely to be the case.

    The ck Pagoda was not the only thing that made him question the things that had transpired since he entered the Ghost Realm, but it was the final words that made him suspicious.

    One has to know that his identity was special. As the Holy Son who had all Sovereign Beast Bloodlines within his body, he was very much in need of the essence blood of a ck Turtle to activate his bloodline, and now he had suddenlye across such a good opportunity while helping out Lan.

    The current situation had be like this based on many choices and coincidences that had happened throughout his journeys, but he could not help but feel as if he was actually being guided to act the way he did, and that someone was pulling certain strings in the shadows, deciding everything he experienced.

    This unreasonable feeling of being manipted was extremely detestable, and Xue Wei could not help but frown.

    Many things throughout his life had been decided by himself, and he could me no one but himself, but he still had a strange feeling of being guided in a specific direction.

    But, even if this was the case, he could not easily give up the temptation of the possibility to activate the bloodline, and thus he agreed to the spirit¡¯s request after considering the consequences it might bring.

    Xue Wei had expected that the owner of the voice would say a few more words, but before he had the chance to hear them, the world began spinning in front of his eyes, and his body felt as if it began floating.

    When he regained his senses, he was once more standing at the za in the forgotten city. The great ck pagoda that had been towering in front of him previously had vanished, and in its ce a great hole with stairs leading downwards had appeared.

    The ck pagoda had shrunk to a size where it could fit within Xue Wei¡¯s hand, and he casually tossed it into his storage treasure. Although he did not have many positive thoughts towards the owner of the voice he had heard within the pagoda, he still wanted to keep his promise of returning it to the ck Turtle n in the world of the living, as long as he had the chance to do so.

    As to whether or not his decision was correct, Xue Wei did not know. Even so, he had already decided, and he had no regrets, no matter what the consequences might be.

    Xue Wei did not wait for Lan to meet up with him. He walked directly down the staircase leading to the underground where no light shone.

    Although it was dark, Xue Wei was not afraid. The forgotten city within the Ghost Realm was deste and devoid of life, but it was also the most peaceful ce that he had ever encountered.

    Although this quietness came from theck of living creatures, Xue Wei did not mind. In fact, he found that he actually enjoyed such silence. Areas like these, which seemed somewhat otherworldly, were veryfortable.

    The further down he stepped, the colder it became. The air had been dry and hot, but now it was slowly turning cold and humid.

    Such conditions were not great when it came to maintaining the corpse of the ck Turtle, but Xue Wei somehow did not doubt that since the voice had told him about the possibility of getting the essence blood here, it would have a certain belief that his body would still maintain a somewhat proper condition.

    It was unknown how long Xue Wei walked, or how deep below the ground he had ended up, but eventually the stairs stopped, and a wide corridor appeared instead.

    This corridor was arched and was ckared with stones. It did not seem as if it had casually been dug underneath the ground, but as if it had been created with care and consideration at the same time as the whole forgotten city.

    This corridor was not too long whenpared to the staircase he had just walked down, and it did not take him long to reach arge circr room.

    The room was massive, at least the same size as the square above, but where the square above had the great ck pagoda, this room had a big altar in the middle, and on top of the altar was the body of a ck Turtle.

    The body seemed to be in perfect condition. The shell was glistening like onyx, while the skin itself was the color of ebony.

    The whole body seemed peaceful, but the aura that surrounded it was overwhelmingly powerful; so powerful that even Xue Wei felt his breathing slow down.

    He could not help but furrow his brows as he looked at the body. Although he was aware that Lan was extremely strong, he somehow felt that this turtle did not lose out in terms of power to him, which made him feel somewhat perplexed and confused.

    Could it be that many hidden experts were living in hiding within the world of the living? If not, how could this ck turtle be so strong?

    Xue Wei decided to toss the worries about power levels to the back of his mind, and he calmed his breathing and heartbeat before he slowly made his way towards the altar.

    Looking at the massive body, he could not help but frown. It was great that he had found this body, but the biggest problem was the great condition it was in. How exactly was he supposed to extract its essence blood?

 Chapter 568: Pondering

    <h4>Chapter 568: Pondering</h4>

    Xue Wei was feeling somewhat perplexed as he kept circling the massive body of the ck Turtle.

    He had previously used many methods in an attempt to cut a hole in the hide, but he found that it was impossible to prate, and even the stronger of his weapons had directly shattered upon impact.

    Although the body was considered a great treasure, the fact that Xue Wei could not ess this treasure was making him feel helpless.

    Fortunately, this setback was not enough to make him dejected. While he was currently incapable of prating the hyde, Lan would be able to help him.

    As such, Xue Wei did not continue to struggle with the matter, and instead he waved his hand, which resulted in the whole body being sucked into his storage treasure.

    After taking the body away, he continued to roam the room, in an attempt to find more valuable items.

    Although he was not short of treasures, he did not like the idea of being wasteful. Even if these things were not useful to him now, he might find a need for themter, and even if he did not, they could be sold to amass arger amount of wealth.

    Unfortunately, he did not find many valuable items within the room. The altar was sculpted alongside the room and could not be taken away, but everything else was quickly tossed into a storage treasure, after which Xue Wei nodded his head with satisfaction.

    He had taken everything of value within the room, and he happily began to return to the surface. The chamber was cool, but the air had been stale for a long time, making Xue Wei feel slightly stifled.

    Even after reaching the surface, the gloom from the room underneath had still not dissipated. The whole Ghost Realm was full of gloom and depression, and Xue Wei felt even more agitated due to the words of the ck Turtle within the ck Pagoda.

    Although the owner of the voice was unaware of what had happened after arriving in the Ghost Realm, Xue Wei now knew that this entire realm had been created with the purpose of pursuing longevity.

    However, while the original wishes were well-intended, it had turned into a wed world.

    Although the souls had the ability to live on, they would forever be held captive within this world, with no ability to transcend.

    At the same time, the price for their survival was the death of other souls. To keep living, they needed to sustain their own souls by consuming the soul power of others, which had turned into a negative spiral.

    Also, the mentality of the Ghost Realm had copsed over time. While this area might have been a ce of hope and gratification due to the ability to keep existing, it had changed upon realizing that there was no way to remain innocent and pure.

    Their lofty aspirations had failed, and with the slow corruption of the Ghost Realm, the decline of the ck Turtle n was imminent.

    Even though this realm had enough heaven and earth essence to allow for their descendants to cultivate, there were no resources present, as nothing living could grow.

    Without the aid of herbs and natural treasures, their decline was to be expected.

    Xue Wei could not help butment about their fate. They had done their best to help others, but had suffered in the end.

    Although they were full of hope and wished to help others, they ended up causing a great disaster to their own n.

    Xue Wei was not a person who was willing to care about others. Although the world of the living was not as ruthless as this Ghost Realm, it was not a ce where one would spread love and care for others.

    In fact, Xue Wei somehow felt that the ck Turtle n had been arrogant to try and change the fate of others. Even if they meant well, certain things were not meant to be touched.

    Xue Wei was deep in thought as he was standing at the square, facing the gloomy Ghost Realm once more. Lan witnessed the young man standing next to a great chasm in the middle of the empty ground, seemingly absentminded.

    The square was great, and the details on the walls were also exquisite. The majesty of the square was not suitable for such a chasm, but while it seemed a bit abrupt, it also looked as if it had been made intentionally, and not by a destructive st.

    Lan had seeded in swallowing the faith left behind by the previous residents of the forgotten city, and he had also managed to gain certain understandings towards the original creators of the ce, but unlike Xue Wei, he had no conclusive evidence to understand the heritage and the connection to the Ghost Realm¡¯s history.

    "Hey, what are you thinking about? You look so focused."

    Lan¡¯s voice awoke Xue Wei from his thoughts, and he raised his head in surprise. He had expected the deity to locate him at some point, but he had not thought that it would be so soon.

    "I had an interesting encounter." Xue Wei did not go into details about the situation yet. It was not that he did not trust Lan, but he was in a hurry to solve the problem of the essence blood that belonged to the ck Turtle.

    The body already belonged to him, so he had to determine the most suitable location for him to activate the bloodline.

    Was it really a good idea to do so here in the Ghost Realm, or should he wait until they returned to the world of the living?

 Chapter 569: Struggling to Gain Strength

    <h4>Chapter 569: Struggling to Gain Strength</h4>

    Lan could see that Xue Wei had some special encounter, but whether it could be considered a fortunate one with great results, he was still not sure.

    His cultivation base and his mental state did not seem to have changed since they split up earlier, but still, there were less worries in his eyes, alongside some rity.

    Both Lan and Xue Wei had, naturally, guessed that this forgotten city was built by the ck Turtle n, but while Xue Wei had heard the majority of its history, Lan still had to guess everything from the clues he had found.

    Xue Wei was smiling as he looked around the forgotten city. "Do you think there is anything left of interest in this city?"

    Lan nced at the city, but he shook his head. Although they had not entered the main building yet, he could guess that the important treasures left behind had already been picked up by himself and Xue Wei.

    He did not know exactly what Xue Wei had picked up, but he had felt the change in the atmosphere earlier, and knew that it was Xue Wei who had gotten something good once again.

    Even so, he was not jealous. The power of faith that he had absorbed was also a very good harvest for him, and he felt content as he could sense the increase in faith, and knew that although the luck would not be much better, it might still be able to help him in dangerous situations.

    "Let¡¯s go. We still have to look for that friend of yours."

    Lan was not willing to spend too much time within the forgotten city. He knew, as well as Xue Wei, that it had been abandoned a long time ago, and that they would not achieve their goal if they lingered.

    Although they mighte across certain treasures, they did notck anything currently, and thus they prioritized something else.

    "I encountered an old soul from the ck Turtle n."

    While they made their way out of the city, Xue Wei exined what he had encountered in the ck pagoda.

    "I am not able to get through the thick skin of that old turtle for now, but I don¡¯t think we should be in a hurry to activate my ck Turtle Bloodline. This is not a very suitable ce to do so."

    After exining everything, Xue Wei also made it clear that he had no intentions of activating his bloodline with the current situation.

    While he was eager to see how much his strength would soar after such a bloodline activated, he understood that the conditions were not suitable.

    The Ghost Realm was a pocket dimension where the members of the ck Turtle n had tried to be the lords of life and death, and their karma hadpletely destroyed the ones left behind.

    Although he understood that he himself had no influence on these things, such karma might have an influence on him, but the main reason for his decision was theck of time.

    The Ghost Realm was not a ce where he could feelfortable. Theck of life and the constant gloom was making his mind feel strained, and his mood could not stay positive for too long.

    With such an obvious influence on his mood, he understood that it was not suitable for him to try and trigger the ck Turtle Bloodline, so he intended to wait until he returned to the world of the living.

    Lan could not help but raise an eyebrow in surprise when he heard about his encounter with an old soul of the ck Turtle n. Although the city had already been abandoned for thousands of years, Xue Wei still managed to encounter a lingering soul and obtain the body which could help him progress.

    With a curious gaze, Lan had to admit that the luck of this young man was truly outstanding. Even he, who had always collected the energy of faith, was not as lucky as this young man, but after considering the identity of the Holy Son, he seemed to understand.

    Xue Wei was not a deity yet, and thus he was unable to contain the energy of faith, but due to his identity, constant streams of faith would enter his body and increase his luck at any time.

    This faith could not be stored in his body, but it did not affect the ability to increase his good fortune.

    The energy of faith did not onlye from the Sovereign Beasts, but also from the Primordial Beasts. All of them revered and believed in the might of the Holy Son. He had be their spiritual leader, and even if they did not know him personally, their unstoppable worship still produced a steady stream of faith.

    Lan could not help but smile wryly as he shook his head.

    He had always been raised with a golden spoon in his mouth. He was a genius above his peers, an expert that all envied. His path of cultivation had been so smooth that many would doubt whether or not it was real, but only he himself knew that he might not be as fortunate and amazing as the outside world expected.

    When he looked at Xue Wei, he understood many things. An expert like Xue Wei was truly deserving of respect and praise. He had experienced suffering and abandonment. He had experienced having his heart ripped apart in pain, and doubted his entire existence, but he still persevered.

    Although he was met with many challenges and difficulties throughout his life, he never backed down, and the rewards he gained were also things that he deserved.

    The power of faith that Lan had just found belonged to others, but he still easily consumed it and made it his own. However, the power of faith that connected to Xue Wei was given to him by the sacrifice of his mother.

 Chapter 570: Formation of Life

    <h4>Chapter 570: Formation of Life</h4>

    When Xue Wei and Lan returned to the path leading back into the desert, they found that the surroundings had changed.

    While no living nts were present, most of the sand that had been whirling around previously had vanished, and in its ce, a dry and cracked ground had been revealed.

    Lan and Xue Wei noticed the change right away, and they could not help but feel that something had changed after their visit to the forgotten city, but they did not know what this change meant yet.

    The two did not have much vignce as they went towards the forgotten city, but on their return trip, they were on high alert. They could sense that the previous maniption of their emotions had vanished, and at the same time, they also noticed how the previous sandy ground had be solid dry soil.

    It was as if all the sand had flown away or, in some other way, vanished without a trace.

    However, both Xue Wei and Lan were reasonable people, they knew very well that such a phenomenon should not have happened, as the sand had no ce to disappear to.

    "This path looks exactly the same as the previous one, and the location is also the same, but something seems off."

    Xue Wei was the first toment on the pathway they were walking down. Although logic told him that they were walking back the same way as they had arrived, something kept nagging at him, telling him that things were not that simple.

    Lan also had a frown on his face. While he could not pinpoint what the difference was, he too felt that something was wrong.

    To be able to trick even his mind was quite an achievement, as he had already unraveled enough strength to once more reach the ranks of a deity, but it seemed to be able to confuse even him.

    This kind of feeling was just as disgusting as the previous maniption with their emotions.

    While neither Lan nor Xue Wei were ones who would cover in fear of the unknown, they did not like the feeling of being in the light, while something was lurking in the darkness, trying to manipte them ording to their own wishes.

    The further they walked, the more this unreal feeling of something being different appeared.

    "If this was in the world of the living, I would have been worried about various monsters appearing from the shadows, but somehow I don¡¯t think that is very likely to happen here."

    Xue Wei could not help butment as they made their way forward. Although the sense of danger was ever present, they both felt somewhat perplexed due to this feeling, as they both knew that the chances of encountering danger from souls or living creatures was not likely, but they could not let go of the feeling that the Ghost Realm itself wished to attack them.

    Their speed was not slow, but they were also not rushed as they made their way to the end of the tunnel.

    Thendscape that spread out in front of them made them certain that they had not returned to the same location as they had entered the tunnel from.

    There was no sand, and thend was no longer a desert without any traces of life, but instead, it was reced by a t expanse ofnd that seemed to stretch into the horizon with nothing to interrupt it.

    There was nothing to obstruct the view, everything was the same t and cracked soil, making the ce seem deste and forsaken.

    As Lan and Xue Wei scanned the surroundings, they felt a fluctuation of energy from their back, and when they turned around, they found that the tunnel entrance had vanished, leaving another expanse of t soil behind them as well.

    "Is this all an illusion?"

    Xue Wei could not help but frown as he looked around. He was not that familiar with independent dimensions such as the Ghost Realm, so he did not know if it was possible to have more dimensions within each other, or if they had entered some sort of illusion formation which confused their senses.

    Lan heard Xue Wei¡¯s question, but he was not in a hurry to answer. His eyes slowly surveyed the horizon to see if there were certain energy fluctuations in the air, but everything he noticed made it seem as if they had encountered a minor realm within the Ghost Realm itself.

    However, such smaller dimensions, hidden within another domain, would usually only have one purpose, and that was to gather the realm¡¯s formation of life.

    The formation of life was the core and heart of a realm. This was the formation that would provide the realm with the energy andws that the world would follow, and due to the importance of such a formation, it was extremely well guarded.

    "I need to look around a bit more in detail to make a qualified guess."

    Lan did not mention the Formation of Life right away, as he was not certain that this would be its location. Although he did not lose anything by mentioning it, he would most likely end up confusing Xue Wei even more than help him understand, as the younger man was not likely to know what a Formation of Life was just yet.

    The reason that Lan was uncertain was because the only Formation of Life he had ever interacted with before was the one in the world of living where they had been residing before.

    That Formation of Life lived up to its name and truly disyed life and energy. The whole dimension was full of the breath of life; energy was rippling in the air, and nts were growing in abundance.

    When that dimension gotpared to this lifeless one, he could not help but begin to doubt his own guess.

 Chapter 571: Forging a Plan

    <h4>Chapter 571: Forging a n</h4>

    The Formation of Life was the very core of a world. Even without a sovereign deity to control a world, it would be possible for the world to stay alive, as long as the formation was capable of keeping the energy in bnce.

    However, while it was not impossible for a world like Lan¡¯s to keep thriving, things were different for the Ghost Realm.

    The Formation of Life was, as the name implied, a formation to keep the life and energy of a domain flourishing. However, the Ghost Realm had no life; there was no way to keep the nts growing, and the living beings breeding.

    Here, the only way to enter was to be a dead soul, and the only way to leave was to vanishpletely and turn into energy that others could consume.

    The Formation of Life had thus gone wrong. Its purpose was to create the heaven and earth essence, but due to theck of living beings to absorb this essence, the world was simply overburdened.

    At the same time, these ghosts were unable to use the energy, and had to find their own way of survival, which had resulted in this dystopian world that no one could like.

    The ck Turtle had truly wished to do their best for these lost souls, but the results had ended up bing a prison that could not be escaped.

    Lan and Xue Wei kept walking around the small dimension, and it did not take them long to arrive at the Formation of Life.

    While the world was full of dark grey and gloomy colors, this formation was shining with golden light. The whole formation seemed magnificent, and one could easily see the attention and pain that the ck Turtle n had put in it to create a suitable formation to keep this world alive.

    Unfortunately, they had not thought that a world without life would be unable to be normal.

    "This looks like a treasure."

    Lan had still not described the true purpose of this formation, and Xue Wei had already put his eyes on the Formation of Life in front of him. Although there was no greed in his eyes, there was scrutiny and curiosity towards the unknown.

    "It is the core of this world. This is a Formation of Life, and it is the sole reason that this world has managed to keep existing, even though it is so wrong and not suitable for life."

    Lan slowly began to exin the purpose of this formation and what it was capable of doing. He had no other intention than to educate Xue Wei, but he soon found that the younger man seemed to have some interesting thoughts.

    "If I were to take this formation away, what would happen to this world? You already told me that the Formation of Life is the only thing that keeps the bnce of the world, but the Ghost Realm has no bnce. Would all the souls here vanish if I were to remove the formation?"

    Lan furrowed his brows as he became deep in thought.

    "The Ghost Realm is a bit of a special situation. If this was apletely independant world, then it would slowly copse, and all things on it would be nothing, but this world is still bound to our living world, so in a way, it is also bound by the rules I have made for that world.

    "This means that the souls here will not die, nor will the world vanish, but no other souls will arrive. The souls that are here depend on one another to live. If we refuse the arrival of new souls, they will slowly die, as the soul energy within will eventually run out."

    Xue Wei nodded his head as he looked around once more. He was going through a myriad of thoughts, but he could not find a solution that easily.

    Walking to the Formation of Life, he remembered the words that Lan had told him.

    A world could either have a sovereign or not. The sovereign would be the one that would determine the world¡¯sws, and he would also be able to change the world ording to their wishes.

    To be the sovereign, one had to bond with the Formation of Life.

    This world was a bit special, as it was already connected to Lan¡¯s living world, but in a way, it was still independent. Although Lan was the sovereign of his world, he did not control the Ghost Realm.

    Xue Wei looked at his own hands. He was still an ordinary expert, and had not crossed to the deity realm yet, so connecting with this Formation of Life was impossible. Even if he wished to try, his body would be unable to withstand the blow and explode.

    He understood that he could not be too greedy, as such greed could result in his death, but he could also not help but wonder how to solve the predicament.

    "You said, it is possible to control more than one realm at a time?"

    Xue Wei turned around and looked at Lan, as if he finally began to forge a n in his mind.

    "Yes."

    Lan began to have an inkling of what his ns were, but he was notpletely certain, and he could not see the purpose of this idea, so he patiently waited for Xue Wei to fully form the n in his mind.

    "If you were to contract this Formation of Life, and then link your current world to the Diyu World you told me about once before, what would happen?"

    Lan¡¯s eyes narrowed. He had actually not considered this option as he dared not connect to Diyu due to the risk of losing his lover before. But was it not an option now?

 Chapter 572: â€œIs It a Coincidence?â€

    <h4>Chapter 572: ¡°Is It a Coincidence?¡±</h4>

    "If I were to connect my world to Diyu, then the dead would no longer arrive in this Ghost Realm, but instead they would travel to Diyu where they will be judged ording to their sins before entering the wheel of resurrection."

    Xue Wei nodded his head when he heard Lan¡¯s words. That was what he had expected, and while it would be the most beneficial solution for those living beings, it would also sentence the souls within the Ghost Realm to death.

    No new souls would be introduced, which would naturally result in a slow but certain decline in the number of the ghosts, and eventually, even the strongest ghost would sumb to theck of energy.

    "That ox-headed man who helped us arrive in the Ghost Realm, he seemed to have the ability to open and close the gates. Is there any way to convince them to expel all souls from this world?

    "If they were to return to the living world, they would likely be a new type of spirits. While they were human once, they no longer possess a human body, but I believe that it would be possible to create such bodies with enough resources.

    "Even if they do not gain a living body, they will still be able to live as souls, and they might even convert their energy into the same as those of living cultivators.

    "When we reach the Deity rank, we no longer use a body of flesh and blood, so if their power is no longer suppressed by thews, then they should also be able to be deities at some point?"

    Lan¡¯s eyes narrowed. He did remember that Ox-headed figure from before, but he had never really considered his position in the Ghost Realm.

    If the Ghost Realm was a failed dimension created by the ck Turtle n, then what were the identities of these guardians? Why would they ensure that only a Rulebreaker was capable of entering their dimension, and for what purpose had they put down thews to block the advancement of these ghosts?

    Lan went closer to the Formation of Life. He had taken it for granted that it was not owned by anyone before, but something made him feel as if the Ghost Realm might not be ownerless.

    He had no doubt that the Ghost Realm was created by the ck Turtle n, and he also understood the mindset of these beasts enough to know that they would not stage their own demise, so they had naturally failed.

    But after their failure, had anyone arrived and done something to the Ghost Realm? What could their purpose be?

    Lan began to inject his energy into the Formation of Life as one would if they wanted to take possession of a world, but he soon encountered a stumbling block.

    As he had just expected, the Ghost Realm was not an ownerless world!

    However, since it was not ownerless, what was the purpose of those who had taken it over? The more he thought about these questions, the more doubtful he became.

    "What do you remember about the Ox-headed expert that opened the gates for us?"

    Lan¡¯s brows were furrowed as he looked at Xue Wei, but the young man merely shook his head.

    "I don¡¯t seem to remember anything out of ce or important about him."

    "The Ghost Realm already has a deity controlling it, but from the current looks, it does not seem as if the deity has any intentions of helping this world prosper."

    Xue Wei had not expected that there would be anyone who would bother to own this realm, and he felt more and more perplexed.

    "Actually, this person might have been the real cause for the realm to look like this now."

    Xue Wei suddenly realized some things which had puzzled him before.

    "The ck Turtle n created the Ghost Realm for the sake of helping those who died to continue existing in this world, but there is a limit to one¡¯s cultivation in this world.

    "If the ck Turtle n truly wished to help, they should have done their utmost to support these ghosts in bing deities, as they would then be able toe to life once more.

    "However, thews are very strict, and throughout the past ten thousand years, it has not been possible for anyone to ascend from this Ghost Realm."

    Lan suddenly caught an important message in Xue Wei¡¯s words.

    "Did you say that it is roughly ten thousand years since no one has ascended?"

    "Yes. I asked about this before, and the legends tell that long ago, if one reached a high enough rank, then they could break apart the wall of this realm and leave."

    Lan¡¯s brows furrowed even further than previously, and he could not help but think that things were far too coincidental.

    "Mo Lian died around ten thousand years ago. When she died, I was in a panic to get her back, but after knowing that the Ghost Realm was impossible to enter without a Rulebreaker, I have been looking for one for ten thousand years.

    "The fact that I have been searching for a Rulebreaker is no secret, and many know my purpose for looking for one.

    "If it was possible for Ghosts to ascend back into the cultivation world previously, then it might be intentional that the realm suddenly got shut off from the rest of the universe, but this theory will only make sense if the one who took control of the world was aware of or nned on your existence."

    Xue Wei frowned deeply. He had previously felt as if he was a puppet, but he had never beenpletely certain.

    Even with this theory, he could not be sure, but he knew that if anyone was silently controlling things from the shadows, then that person was far too horrifying as he was able to n so many years in advance.

 Chapter 573: Hiding Behind

    <h4>Chapter 573: Hiding Behind</h4>

    Lan and Xue Wei were both feeling somewhat ufortable. If this had been a n hatched long ago, then many things would be exined, but at the same time, certain parts were also sounding rather unreasonable.

    "If it is prenned, then the seal on your power would put you in a very dangerous situation, but after arriving at the Ghost Realm you have not encountered anything too dangerous."

    Lan also felt that it was a bit confusing. If there was someone hidden behind, and they had been nning for this all along, then they would naturally take this chance to get rid of him.

    The seal he had made on his power would not be broken even if he was close to death, so if he were to face off against an Overlord with his current strength, he would, without a doubt, die.

    "Wait!" Xue Wei suddenly remembered a certain detail he had forgotten previously.

    "Your friend that arrived. That guy with the white hair! How strong is he?"

    Lan instantly knew who he was talking about and his frown deepened.

    "It¡¯s Hui Yue. He is an Overlord, and a good friend of my father. If anything were to happen to me, he would know it instantly, and his strength is above the average Overlord, so I assume that if anyone is behind this, they would feel a certain hesitation to attack, in case he might try to get revenge."

    Xue Wei¡¯s expression turned solemn and he nodded his head. His brows furrowed, and he could not help but feel that things were very confusing.

    "But it is all extremely weird. Mo Lian died due to her genes being defective as a mixed race, which, in turn, was what caused you to change thews of the world; making it impossible for mixed races to create descendants.

    "This was around ten thousand years ago, but the changes that happened here in the Ghost Realm also took ce around that time.

    "If they had this n, it is something that has been in the works for thousands of years, but everything seems to have been caused by our own decisions.

    "Not to mention, how could they know that my mother would fall in love with a normal human man? This is causing me to be extremely confused."

    Lan also felt that something was a bit hard to exin.

    "I have heard about many impossible things throughout my life, but I have not heard of those who can foresee the future. However, this is the only exnation I can find."

    The whole situation was confusing, and they did not know how to handle it with their currentck of knowledge.

    "It might be too quick to determine that there is someone who is nning it all, but I would rather be alert and assume the worst than to be caught by surprise and suffer. However, the scope of experts involved in this scheme, should it be human-made, is great. And even you, an Overlord, have been involved without noticing."

    The severity of the situation was making both Lan and Xue Wei feel an unprecedented vignce that they had never experienced before. Although they were not scared, they felt ufortable, and they understood the danger that was connected to their assumption.

    "Can you forcefully take control of this Formation of Life?"

    Xue Wei frowned as he looked at the formation in front of him.

    "If you can take control of this world, we will remove thews that limit the ghosts ability to ascend. Although it will no longer be possible for new ghosts to arrive within this realm, it will be possible for those who work hard to find a way to escape.

    "We will bring Mo Lian and that branch leader along with us as we leave, and then rush to discuss with Mr. Hui about the guess we had.

    "Although you are officially an Overlord, your strength is currently still sealed, and we might require his assistance to investigate certain things."

    Lan nodded his head. With the current situation, this would be the most suitable solution. Although Xue Wei had initially wished to reunite with Tie Haolong, he also understood that what he was doing now was giving his friend an opportunity, and it was up to this lost soul to grasp the chance.

    Had Xue Wei not been aware of the risk that was looming at the back, he might have been more casual, and taken some more time to investigate the whereabouts of his friend, but now that he understood the danger, he had to return to the world of the living as soon as possible.

    "Can you look for that Ox-headed man?"

    Xue Wei asked Lan, as he was preparing to forcefully gain control of the Formation of Life in front of him.

    "We can find him when I am the new Sovereign of this domain."

    A cold gleam shed across Lan¡¯s eyes as he felt murderous intentions towards the Ox-headed man as he thought that this person might be involved with those threatening figures that kept to the shadows.

    Xue Wei nodded his head and sat down to allow Lan enough time to take over the Formation of Life.

    Fortunately, the previous sovereign had not been in the Ghost Realm often. He had only imed the formation, but never cared for the world, nor attempted to create any connection between the two, making it easy for Lan to destroy their link.

    His energy slowly flowed into the formation, and he felt how he was gaining control over the realm little by little.

    The Ghost Realm was deste and poor, but Lan could feel that a frightening amount of energy was hidden within. If he paid some attention to it, he believed that the Ghost Realm could be a great realm on its own, after life would be invited to enter.

 Chapter 574: Snake Soup

    <h4>Chapter 574: Snake Soup</h4>

    Xue Wei had been standing aside to observe the changes in Lan¡¯s expression. At first, he had been fully focused, and even Xue Wei could sense the ripples of energy in the air.

    When the energy converged within the Formation of Life, Xue Wei noticed how Lan¡¯s expression eased, and a slight smile curled on his lips.

    It was evident that the attempt to take over the Formation of Life had been a sess.

    "This world has a lot of potential, but the ck Turtle n killed it on their own."

    Lan¡¯s voice was slow but pleasant. There were no signs of unhappiness or unease after taking over the Formation of Life, and Xue Wei understood that things were better than he had initially expected.

    "The Ghost Realm is now under my control."

    Lan understood that while Xue Wei had reached a tentative conclusion, he still needed some sort of verbal assurance.

    "So, how do we advance from here?"

    While Xue Wei had a basic idea and had formed a n, he had never before been a Sovereign Deity, so he did not know how difficult it would be to alter the heavenly rules within this domain.

    "The rules are simple to change, at least a rule like this, which only requires for me to unleash the ban on the experts¡¯ cultivation base."

    Lan sat down cross-legged and closed his eyes. Unlike before, no ripples of energy could be felt throughout the air, but Xue Wei still felt a strange change in the atmosphere.

    It was as if the Ghost Realm had be a little less gloomy, but he could not put his finger on exactly what had caused this change.

    Lan slowly opened his eyes and nodded his head approvingly.

    "To change the heavenlyws of a world, one has to interact with the Formation of Life. I am able to change the rules here in the Ghost Realm while I am present, but I might need to return to the living world before I can connect it to Diyu."

    Xue Wei was not disappointed when hearing this. While he understood that it would naturally be for the best to connect to Diyu as soon as possible, the fact that the ban had been removed was already enough. Now the ghosts had the hope to ascend.

    "How do we inform the Ghost Realm¡¯s citizens about this opportunity?"

    Xue Wei frowned slightly. He understood the importance of the changes made to the Heavenly Law, but he also knew that they had to find the right time to announce it, not to mention finding a way to spread the news.

    "For now we won¡¯t tell anyone. When we reunite with Mo Lian and the others, we will inform them of the changes, and let them make their own decision on whether they wish to follow us back to our world, or if they want to stay here and fight for the opportunity to ascend."

    Xue Wei nodded his head, and he could not help but feel admiration for Lan in his heart.

    Lan had spent ten thousand years waiting for his lover, but when he finally found her, he did not be overbearing, or used his power to force her.

    Although he did not hide his emotions, he left the choice to Mo Lian herself to decide her future.

    He did not even use the name that she had when they were together, but fully epted her new identity. To him, she was now Mo Lian, and while he loved the woman in the past, he also adored her now.

    In fact, he felt relieved to see that she would not allow anyone to bully her now. To him, there was nothing more important than for her to live a life of happiness. Even if she did not wish to include him in her life, as long as she was happy, he would ept the decision and move into the shadows.

    "Well then, let us find Mo Lian and the others. This special area should no longer have much importance to the ghosts, so we have no reason to keep searching."

    Lan nodded his head, and he waved his hand. After bing the Sovereign Deity of this world, he could move around as he wished, and a tear in the wall of reality appeared.

    Without fearing the consequences, Xue Wei and Lan entered through this gap in space, but the darkness did not swallow them up, instead they stepped out of thin air in front of Mo Lian and the branch leader.

    Such high-profile arrival caused the two ghosts to feel very conflicted, especially the branch leader.

    When he first met Xue Wei, Lan was merely a small snake that liked to cling around the neck of this expert, but now this small snake had be an entity that no ghost could trouble. Such obvious change in identity was hard to ept, but he tried his best to not show the confusion on his face.

    "That was an interesting way of returning."

    The first of the two ghosts to sober up was Mo Lian. She could not help but gaze deeply at Lan with inquiry in her eyes, making Lan smilezily.

    "If you keep looking at me like this, I might fear that you intend to eat me up. I would prefer not to be eaten, so why don¡¯t I dedicate my body to you instead? I promise that snake soup is not delicious, and when you realize how useful my body is, you will be grateful for today¡¯s offer."

    Mo Lian looked at him as if she looked at an idiot. She had not even grasped the hidden meaning within Lan¡¯s words, but Xue Wei had.

    Looking at the female ghost who was about to fall into the trap set by Lan, he smirked slightly and leaned back to enjoy the show.

 Chapter 575: The Judges

    <h4>Chapter 575: The Judges</h4>

    "What does it mean to eat?"

    Mo Lian¡¯s words stumped both Lan and Xue Wei, causing the Mingshe tough dryly.

    He had forgotten that they were currently within a world popted by ghosts with no living creatures. There was simply nothing to eat.

    Lan looked helplessly at Xue Wei who spread his arms in amusement. It was quite good to see the cheeky Lan being beaten at his own game.

    "Eating is something that exists in the world of the living. Don¡¯t you want to experience it with me?"

    Lan was notpletely sure how to exin the experience of eating, but he still wanted to try and tempt the young woman to join him in this endeavor.

    "So we are supposed to eat one another?"

    Mo Lian¡¯s brows were furrowed as she looked at Lan with a bit of confusion. What was the point of eating one another? Was there something special about this hobby?

    Lan could not help but cough slightly after hearing her words, and his eyes rolled a bit.

    "Let¡¯s just start figuring out a way to leave the Ghost Realm."

    Lan gave a grateful nce at Xue Wei, before he mentioned the Ox-headed expert that had brought them to the realm before.

    "These Ox-headed experts are known as the judges of the Ghost Realm. They live in a very secluded area of the realm, and it is not allowed to trespass there without permission."

    "Well then, let us go and pay a visit to this area. I am very curious as to what kind of information they might have for us."

    Lan¡¯s voice was not gentle or even remotely friendly. He was convinced that these Ox-headed experts were actually the subordinates of the previous Sovereign Deity of this realm, but they had no clue as to the identity of this god, nor did they know his purpose, or if he truly had nned everything in advance.

    Perhaps these Ox-headed experts would be able to give the slightest hint that could help them get a better understanding of the current situation.

    "The area is rather far away. It will take us some time to arrive."

    Mo Lian was already starting to n, but Lan shook his head.

    "I have taken over the control of this world. Let¡¯s get going."

    He waved his hand, and the surroundings suddenly began to warp, before they slowly settled again. However, this time it looked very different; they wereno longer in the previous location, but the outskirts of the area that they had previously mentioned.

    Mo Lian and the branch leader were usually able to stay confident and in control of their expressions, but with the sudden change in surroundings, even their stoic faces cracked with surprise and shock.

    "This is pretty practical."

    It was, once again, Mo Lian who first got control of her emotions, and she had to admit that the power that Lanmanded was very beneficial. The instant transfer throughout the whole world was especially useful when one was in a hurry.

    The branch leader and Mo Lian both tried to seem casual, but it was clear to see in the gestures of their taut bodies that they were both worried.

    "These Ox-headed experts are not good characters?"

    Xue Wei asked as he furrowed his brows and looked at the magnificent building in front of him.

    It looked gloomy due to theck of life, but it was still much more detailed and overwhelming whenpared to the various cities that they had encountered during their time within the Ghost Realm.

    It was clear that this building was meant to intimidate the ghosts residing within the realm.

    It was obvious that it had a very good effect as both ghosts were rather nervous and ufortable the closer they came to the building.

    "Why are they called judges?"

    Xue Wei noticed their worry, and while he understood that such questions could make their fears even more prominent, he still felt a need to understand the cause of such fear as it might affect themter.

    Although Lan was the new Sovereign Deity of this realm, there might be unexpected surprises waiting for them, as there was a chance that everything had been nned previously.

    "These judges can determine the life and death of any ghost within the realm. There had previously been a few ghosts at the very top of the hierarchy, but they troubled these judges, and they were killed instantly. Even though there were no other ghosts which could rival them, they were unable to even fight back against these Judges."

    Lan nodded his head, and Xue Wei frowned. He could not help but feel a little worried about the current situation. He was not a ghost, but if these judges were capable of destroying even a top ghost in seconds, then how was Mo Lian supposed to survive?

    If anything happened to Mo Lian, then Lan would naturally go insane, and the whole Ghost Realm, alongside everyone connected to her death, would suffer.

    "Don¡¯t worry, the ability they used was the world¡¯s ownws. I have a wild guess that the previous sovereign had given these judgesplete power to determine the life and death of all ghosts."

    "Do they still hold this ability?"

    Xue Wei did not care much about the past, nor about how much fear these judges held in the mind of the ghosts, he just wanted to ensure that Mo Lian and the branch leader would not be in danger.

    "After I took over the sovereign position, they are no longer able to use this power, but I cannot guarantee that they have not prepared another kind of surprise for us. Even so, I do think it will be safer if we all enter together."

 Chapter 576: Spiritual Puppet

    <h4>Chapter 576: Spiritual Puppet</h4>

    The creaking sound echoed in the empty hall as Xue Wei pushed open the heavy door. The door was made from a strange kind of ck stone, and it seemed to have be smooth after being pushed open time and time again throughout the passing of time.

    However, while the stone had be smooth, the ground had hollowed out from being walked too often, and the hall behind was deste and empty.

    Not only was it empty, it also seemed to have been abandoned many years ago, and a thickyer of dust had settled on the floor. The windows were no longer transparent and the dirt made it hard to see what was present inside.

    Xue Wei could not help but furrow his brows as he looked at the empty hall. There were a set of stairs at the end of the hall, but even they were covered in dust and did not seem to have been used for a long time.

    "Are you sure that these judges reside here?"

    Xue Wei could not help but turn around and look at the others with doubt in his eyes. If they truly lived here, they should not have been able to make this residence abandoned to this degree.

    Even if they had found out about Lan taking over the realm, they should at most flee, but the house had clearly been abandoned for countless years already, so how could this add up?

    "They lived here, there is no doubt about it."

    Mo Lian frowned as she looked around the hall. "I have never actually entered the house, but I often noticed them enter and exit when I came to discuss certain topics with them."

    Xue Wei¡¯s frown deepened and he nced at the branch leader, who also seemedpletely confused by the sudden change.

    Lan could not help but begin to reexamine his memories of the ox-headed experts they had encountered when they first entered, and his expression suddenly turned solemn.

    "Would they push open the door when entering?"

    Lan began asking questions about these judges, as if he had a theory, but needed to find enough evidence to base his guess upon.

    "Yes, they would usually open the door when entering and exiting. Sometimes we would not be able to see how they had arrived next to us, but most of the time, they would calmly enter and exit through this door."

    Lan suddenly rubbed the bridge of his nose as he seemed somewhat frustrated.

    "They were spiritual puppets with a trace of the owner¡¯s soul."

    Xue Wei and the two ghosts had never heard of such things before, so they all seemed confused and waited for Lan to continue to exin.

    "They were not real beings, but puppets that had been created by spiritual energy. Unlike other entities made from energy, they do not have their own mind, as they are created to work only based on their creator¡¯s thoughts. At the same time, these puppets had likely been infused with a trace of the creator¡¯s soul, as that would exin how they could use the power of this realm to their own advantage."

    Xue Wei was somewhat confused, but he also understood that if this was the case, then there was no longer any doubt that someone was urging all his actions from behind.

    "Will the creator know everything about their actions?"

    Xue Wei had already guessed the answer, but he still could not help but ask.

    "Yes. And they will only act if they have been given direct orders from their master, so it seems that our entry into this realm has been prepared a long time ago. It also exins why this residence seem abandoned. These puppets has likely gone into hibernation the moment they crossed the door, and then woken up when a new order has been given."

    "So, now that their owner, and the old sovereign of this realm, know that you have squeezed his position away, they have been called back by the creator?"

    Xue Wei could not guess any other reason for these puppets to vanish like this, but he was also somewhat reluctant to let them leave just like that.

    He understood that it would be impossible to get any information from them, as they were created as the most loyal subordinates to their creators, but he could still vent some of his frustrations and destroy them.

    He did not believe that these spiritual puppets were easy to make, and considering that a sliver of the creator¡¯s soul had been imnted into these puppets made Xue Wei understand just how important they were.

    Killing them would definitely cause damage to the guy who was hiding in the darkness, and Xue Wei was more than willing to see this mastermind behind the scenes suffer.

    "They have been retracted by their creator."

    Lan had already used his connection to the realm to search all over for these judges, but their disappearance was not out of his expectations.

    "Since they are gone, we can¡¯t keep wasting time on worrying about them. I have no doubt that we will encounter them againter, as they seem to be rather important to our enemy."

    Lan nodded his head, hepletely agreed with Xue Wei¡¯s thoughts, but he also felt somewhat confused. Had this mastermind behind the scenes intentinoally summoned him to the Ghost Realm for the purpose of sealing his powers?

    If so, this guy had worked hard for many thousands of years to prepare for Xue Wei and himself to enter his trap. Such a person was terrifying and he did not even know what his ultimate goal was.

 Chapter 577: Returning to the Living

    <h4>Chapter 577: Returning to the Living</h4>

    While the branch leader and Mo Lian felt this assumption frightening, it did note close to the emotions that spread in Xue Wei and Lan¡¯s hearts.

    One has to know that Lan arrived at this world for more than ten thousand years ago, but Xue Wei was not even one hundred years old yet, however everything seemed to have been nned in great detail before anyone had even considered his birth.

    "The one orchestrating this whole scheme is in the dark, while we do not know where to look for traces or hints, but I would suggest that when we return to the world of the living, then we will look for my uncle Xiao Lei."

    Lan nodded his head, and his usually flippant aura had turned somewhat solemn.

    He knew about Xiao Lei, and he was even aware of how this Azure Dragon had killed Xue Wei¡¯s biological father, but he had not intended to participate in the chaos previously, as he felt that it was a personal matter for the young man.

    However, with how things were going now, he understood that nothing seemed to be as he had initially expected, and he dared not make any assumptions any longer.

    Currently, they truly had no other leads that could provide them with information, so it would be most suitable for them to locate Xiao Lei and see what kind of answers he could provide.

    "I have already changed thews for this realm already, and while it was previously known as the Ghost Realm, I have not found a more suitable name for now. I expect it to be a living world soon, but it is currentlycking nutrients, so it should take a few hundreds of years before it will be a world full of life.

    "Even so, these ghosts are no longer forced to stay. When I removed the previousws, I also made it possible to ascend to the realm of a Deity, so those with enough perseverance will be able to move on."

    Lan did not feel a need to provide these ghosts with more chances. He knew that they would still depend on a cannibalistic method of escaping this realm, and the ability to escape might even bring a massacre to the realm, as some would be frantic in the attempt to leave as soon as possible, but this was not within his consideration.

    The ghosts already had a skewed world view, and he did not see the need to release countless of such ruthless cultivators into the ranks of immortals, hence he just let them kill of each other, and allowed for the strongest to survive.

    To him, the most important thing was for the realm to be able to restore itself and create a living ecosystem that could sustain itself. He even found a bit of curiosity towards this realm to see how it would manage to go from such a barren world into a flourishing environment hundreds of years in the future.

    Xue Wei and Lan walked around the building but found no traces of living. It seemed that since the time it was built, it had actually never been used, as even the doors showed no signs of ever being opened.

    Since they found no longer found anything interesting in the house, they both left.

    "We should return to the world of the living."

    Xue Wei felt that there was no more reason to stay in the Ghost Realm, and he also felt a strange and ufortable pressure brought forth by this unknown enemy.

    "You brought a ghost to my mansion when you arrived, do you wish for us to fetch her before we leave?" The branch leader was eager to leave this Ghost Realm as soon as possible, but he still remembered the fortunate ghost that they had initially brought.

    Xue Wei did not consider her future as a part of his responsibility.

    "Leave her."

    While his words might sound harsh, he had never intended to bring her for the rest of his life. He had already gone above and beyond to save her and give her a chance of survival. Now that Lan had also changed thews of the world, then she had to depend on herself to keep living.

    As for whether or not she seeded, that depended on her own fate.

    Lan did not feel anything wrong with Xue Wei¡¯s decision, and the two ghosts were not creatures of empathy, so for them, it did not matter if they left her alone to die, let alone now that they had given her the chance to save herself.

    "Gather together."

    Lan had been an Overlord for many thousands of years, and he had travelled through the various realms and worlds numerous times, so for him, now that thews had been changed, it was no problem to move them from this Ghost Realm to the old world of the living.

    "When you reach the new world, be aware that the vibrant energy that will surround us is full of lifeforce. For someone who has stayed in the Ghost Realm for this long, it might not be easy to handle, and it might also give a strange feeling of getting drunk. Take the time needed to adjust your mind before you move around."

    Lan gave a few various warnings before he initiated the migration. He understood that Xue Wei had handled the journey into the Ghost Realm well, but it did not mean that he could adjust equally fast when returning.

    The Ghost Realm wascking in life force, and this did not cause much else than a bit of gloom and difort, but the sudden influx of lifeforce could blind and overwhelm others, so they had to be prepared.

    Xue Wei understood the logic behind it easily, as he had previously been in their old world and knew how energetic the aura was, however the two ghosts had no experience, so they needed a few more exnations.

 Chapter 578: Becoming a Spirit

    <h4>Chapter 578: Bing a Spirit</h4>

    Lan waved his hand, and the transparent air in front of the group began to twist and churn. The sight was umon, making both Mo Lian and the branch leader feel anticipation rushing through their veins.

    With another move, a strange energy erupted from Lan¡¯s body and wrapped itself around the three other figures before he stepped into the distorted space he had created, bringing the others with him.

    The energy that had covered Xue Wei, Mo Lian, and the branch leader was gentle, but it also prevented them from moving. While Lan still had to unravel the whole seal, his strength was currently enough to handle their return to the world of the living.

    When they felt that they could not move, Mo Lian and the branch leader felt somewhat nervous, but they soon found that even the strongest ghost, Mo Lian, was unable to move even the slightest, as the energy had wrapped them tightly.

    The moment Lan passed through the hole in the wall of their worlds, everything plunged into darkness. Unlike the previous world where light shone, this ce between the worlds was so dark that nothing could be seen.

    The air was also so cold that Xue Wei felt how the vapor that left him as he breathed would freeze in less than a second.

    The feeling of coldness began to invade their bodies, and the darkness made them feel drowsy. Although they were expected to show a great amount of interest in this unknown area, all three began to doze off as if they were in a daze.

    Unlike the time where the judges took Lan and Xue Wei to the Ghost Realm, the return trip was much longer. Xue Wei and the two ghosts had lost their sense of time and surroundings only moments after arriving in this strange area, but Lan had full control over the direction and the speed with which they were moving.

    If he had the ability to use his full strength, then they would not have noticed this area, as he would be able to bring them through it in less than a second, but due to the current limitation, he had to slowly advance.

    While the area was ufortable to traverse for those below the rank of a deity, it was a safe ce without any dangers. The coldness was able to make them feel chilled, and the confusion was also troublesome, but for Lan, it was not a problem.

    By the time Xue Wei regained his senses, he found that he was in the depths of a forest. Although the lush and green trees were covering the sky with a dense roof of leaves, the light was already much stronger than what he had encountered in the Ghost Realm, and he found that he had missed the sunlight.

    Although he was not one to care much about his surroundings, he found that after experiencing a barren and deserted world as the Ghost Realm, he found the scenery with abundant life pleasant. Even his mind seemed to be much morefortable as he breathed in the fresh air.

    By his side was Lan sitting on a tree stump. He had his eyes closed as his head rested against a log behind him. While he was clearly not sleeping, he, too, seemed to be enjoying the breath of life that was surrounding him.

    Mo Lian and the branch leader were both lying on the ground. Their consciousness was clearly lost. Their bodies were made from energy, but their previous dim aura seemed to be more and more energized.

    It was clear that their bodies were being constantly nourished by the life energy, and Xue Wei could not help but look at the process with a bit of admiration. The swift adaptation that their bodies were going through was beyond his expectations.

    After witnessing their bodies¡¯ rapid changes for a while, Xue Wei finally collected his mind and looked towards Lan.

    "You should be able to locate Hei Gou and the others, right?"

    Lanzily opened his eyes and straightened his back. He nodded his head, and looked to the right.

    "I picked this location as your friends will arrive here within a day or two. They are currently moving this way, so, depending on their speed, we will soon reunite with them."

    Xue Wei nodded his head. He was not certain whether the time flowed at the same speed in this world as it did in the Ghost Realm, and thus he did not know how long they had been gone.

    However, he waspletely certain that his friends would have been waiting for his return, and he was eager to see them again.

    "Mo Lian and that other ghost are in the middle of bing spirits." Lan suddenly exined the reason for the changes Xue Wei had seen in the two ghosts previously.

    "A ghost is made from a different type of energy than the spirits in this world, but in theory they are pretty much the same. However, theycked life force in the other world, so they could never sustain their bodies with cultivation alone. They were in need of something to keep them alive, and that was why they were absorbing each other.

    "Now that they are here, they will have ess to both spiritual energy, but also life force. It is going to be easy for them to live in this world. I will follow you, since the one behind the scenes is still in the dark, and if Mo Lian wishes to follow us, then she is wee; otherwise, she can chase her own dreams for some time."

 Chapter 579: The Beauty of a Living World

    <h4>Chapter 579: The Beauty of a Living World</h4>

    Xue Wei could not help but feel respect for Lan. Lan had been waiting patiently for more than ten thousand years to reunite with the love of his life, but after finding her and realizing that she had forgotten their time together, he did not try to force her to ept him.

    When Xue Wei looked into his eyes, he could see that Lan was genuinely just wishing for the well-being of Mo Lian. To him, the most important reason to search for her for so many years was to make sure she was able to live a good life, and if she decided not to include him in it, then he would just ept it.

    Many might consider this kind of decision, to step back and let her decide on her own, as weak, but Xue Wei found that he admired such a personality very much.

    Lan was able to ignore what others thought and to let the one he loved free. This was true love, as he did not try to force her to stay by his side, but respected her own choices. It was clear that he did not view Mo Lian as a trophy, but as a life partner. Such respect was rare for many male cultivators, but it resonated with Xue Wei¡¯s own feelings for Wang Xiaoyun, so he could not help but respect this deity.

    Xue Wei nced at the area, and after enjoying the lush scenery once more, he slowly settled down and began cultivating. Since Lan had told him that hisrades would appear here, he was not in a hurry to rush and find them.

    Especially since the branch leader and Mo Lian were already cultivating, focusing deeply on changing from being ghosts into bing spirits.

    The adaptation was not slow, but it would still take time for the two of them to fully adjust to the great changes between this world and the Ghost Realm.

    The sun was moving up in the sky, dragging a red trail behind it as it slowly sank into the horizon, dying the clouds in an ethereal luster.

    It was this beautiful and serene sight that greeted Mo Lian as she opened her eyes. Her beauty was overwhelming, and the ruthlessness formed through endless years of killing slowly evaporated from her soul.

    Although Mo Lian was known as a true powerhouse within the Ghost Realm, and while everyone knew that she would kill without caring, she was not a mindless murderer who executed others for fun.

    For the ghosts within the Ghost Realm, murder and cannibalism were the only ways to survive.

    Now that they had escaped from their nightmare, they soon found that the world of the living was beautiful. While it was equally dangerous, it brought a lethal danger to these ghosts, and they were seduced the instant theyid eyes on all those vibrant colors.

    They could have stayed as kings within the Ghost Realm and reigned supreme for all years toe, but neither the branch leader, nor Mo Lian were willing to do so. For them, even if they would die after a few days of living in this realm, it would be worth it.

    The living world contains a beauty unlike any other. Only by living in darkness can you understand how important color is to your life.

    They had never witnessed such beauty before, and it had the ability to cleanse their souls and make them yearn for a world like this. They could feel that after their bodies and souls had adapted to this new world, they felt a strange connection to it. To them, this was where they now belonged.

    Xue Wei was not witnessing their shining eyes as they woke up, but Lan could see all the emotions swirling deep within the pupils, and he felt grateful for never giving up.

    Although he understood that this woman was no longer the one he had met, she was still the woman he loved, and he wished for her to be a powerhouse in her own right. His greatest wish would be for her to be powerful enough to roam the thousands of worlds alongside him, but if she did not wish to do so, then he would let go.

    Fortunately, her current amazement was a great start for Lan. The various worlds were all different, and they had their own charming points that would be able to keep dazzling her with their beauty. If she wanted to look at all these stunning sceneries, he would bring her to see them all.

    At this moment, when Mo Lian¡¯s eyes were shining and full of happiness, Lan had forgotten about the mastermind hidden in the shadows. He had forgotten about the person who was pressing down on both himself and Xue Wei, and even seeded in scheming against them.

    Although this man was dangerous and a great threat, this moment was pure and full of gratitude and joy. It was impossible for Lan to spoil such a wonderful moment by worrying about something he could still not affect in the current situation.

    The tranquil atmosphere was not broken before the sun hadpletely vanished from the horizon, and the moon had started to shine its soft and gentle light on the ground.

    The changes in day and night were truly marvelous and Mo Lian began to ask many things that could be considered as trivial knowledge, but to her, it was all new and exciting.

    The branch leader was listening in on the many exnations given by Lan, and he had to admire the deity¡¯s ability and patience to coax his lover.

    No matter what question Mo Lian asked, Lan would exin it in the most detailed manner, and he would not stop before he was sure that she understood everything.

 Chapter 580: The Expert Shrouded in a Black Cloud

    <h4>Chapter 580: The Expert Shrouded in a ck Cloud</h4>

    As the sun broke through the skies and released its soft light, a rustling sound made the group of experts alert.

    Xue Wei frowned slightly as he detached himself from the state of cultivation, and the two ghosts, which had now be spirits, also turned towards the origin of the sound.

    Xue Wei nced at Lan, and upon noticing his calm demeanor, he could, more or less, guess the identity of the ones who were arriving.

    The advancing experts had also noticed that someone was waiting for them, and thus their movements had be slower. They did not attempt to hide their sounds or breath, as they knew they had already been found, instead they were clearly preparing for battle.

    The sounds came closer and closer, and soon the thicket had been pushed aside to reveal a group of experts arriving.

    Xue Wei felt excited upon witnessing the ones who arrived, and he smiled happily as he rose to his feet and rushed over.

    The ones who came forward were Bai Tianyi, Hei Gou, Luoluo, and Lin Xiao. The four of them seemed to have experienced a rather rough journey through the forest, as their clothes were dirty and had numerous rifts, but they did not seem to have sustained many injuries.

    The group of four were, at first, on high alert, but upon recognizing the one that was moving towards them, their eyes lit up in happiness.

    The time in the Ghost Realm and this realm turned out to be the same, so the war that had been started before their departure was still ongoing, however it was currently in the final phases.

    "How long have you been back? Are you okay?" Luoluo was the first to regain her senses and she beamed a brilliant smile towards Xue Wei as she began examining his body with her eyes to ensure that he was not suffering from any injuries.

    The excitement in her eyes was obvious, and the other friends also regained their minds before happyughter erupted in the small clearing.

    Everyone was excited about the reunion but not many words were spoken. The group all considered each other as family, and thus they could sense the happiness without the need to put it into words.

    "So, what did you encounter in the Ghost Realm? Can you tell us about it? Also, who is this prettydy, and the weird guy?"

    Luoluo was a spirit, and her mind was different from that of normal humans. As she looked at Mo Lian and the branch leader, she had already gotten her first hand impression, and Mo Lian was clearly ssified as a good person due to her beautiful features, while the branch leader was simply weird.

    Her words caused the two previous ghosts tough. Even the branch leader thought it was rather amusing to be called a weird guy, and they quickly introduced themselves, after which Xue Wei made a rough exnation of their previous travel.

    "So, you are telling me that everything so far has been nned by some sort of mastermind in the shadows?"

    After listening to the full exnation, Bai Tianyi was the first to question. His eyes were solemn and his brows furrowed. He began to wonder about the things that had happened when he had attempted to be a spirit, and his heart suddenly turned cold.

    "I might know who he is."

    His words caused both Xue Wei and Lan to focus their eyes on him, as he seemed to be trying to recall certain memories from his mind.

    "When I was a human cultivator, I was actually trying to aim towards the realms above, but one day, someone came to tell me about the benefits of bing a spirit. The person was very weird, and I don¡¯t really remember how he managed to convince me to attempt to change into a weapon spirit, but he seeded, and I became what I am today.

    "However, I have only met the guy twice. The first time was when he convinced me to be a spirit, and the second time was when he guided the families to seal me in that forgotten vige."

    His words were very subtle, but everyone understood what he was hinting towards. Bai Tianyi had, most likely, also been controlled by this guy and ced in the vige intentionally, just to wait for Xue Wei.

    "This is a little scary." Luoluo frowned as she looked at the group. "I remember when an expert hidden in a ck cloud arrived, and he was the main reason for the Garden of Shadows to trap me."

    Luoluo seemed to be deep in thought as she tried to find any trace of information concerning the expert, but she could only remember that ck cloud that made it impossible to gain any leads.

    Xue Wei and Lan both narrowed their eyes as they began thinking. It seemed that the person in the shadows had truly nned everything very well. He seemed to know where Xue Wei would travel and what would happen, which was somewhat horrifying, especially when considering that their journey to the Garden of Shadows should have been avoided, had they not encountered difficulties during the space tunnel that Lan had opened for them.

    If this expert had prepared upon realizing their arrival, then it would not be that frightening, but the traps had beenid so many years in advance, showing that this expert waspletely certain that Xue Wei woulde by.

    Such meticulous nning for thousands of years made both Lan and Xue Wei feel very conflicted. In a way, both of them were excited and eager to try their hands at a fight, but at the same time, they were also aware that they had to be cautious and safe. This person was, clearly, not easy to deal with.

 Chapter 581: Consolation Prize

    <h4>Chapter 581: Constion Prize</h4>

    "When an expert bes a deity, they will sense something called the daos. The daos are split into minor daos, major daos, and heavenly daos. These be very important when cultivating as an immortal.

    "To be able to see this far into the future, one has to control either the Minor Dao of Time, or the Heavenly Dao of Fate. An enemy with these abilities is not easy to handle, but if we are willing to destroy our original fates, then it is still possible."

    Lan struggled for a moment before he decided to speak. The daos were very difficult to understand for those who had not yet reached the ranks of gods, and thus he was not willing to exin too much.

    However, their enemy did seem to control these two daos, which would make things much more difficult for them, if they could not make their preparations in advance.

    The biggest problem was that fate was hard to understand. Even if they knew that this expert could see and manipte their fate, how were they supposed to prepare? They did not know their own future, and if they began to overthink every single action, they would never be able to escape their worries, and a heart demon would be sure to appear.

    If it was any other expert, then Lan would not have exined his theory, but Xue Wei was not easily demoralized. While they could not change their future, they might be able to find traces and hints in the past.

    "You said that to control these two daos, one has to be, at least, an ordinary god?" Xue Wei¡¯s brows were furrowed as he thought about what Lan had told him. He had a theory, but he did not know whether or not it was right, and he was somewhat scared by his own thoughts.

    "Yes." Lan nodded his head, but he did not go into details. First of all, it was not suitable for Xue Wei to know too much about the daos yet, but also, he felt that if he said too much, it would influence the thoughts that were starting to connect in the young man¡¯s mind.

    "If we assume that this expert has targeted me and you, he needs to have a certain reason for doing so. If he can see through time and fate, then he must either think that there is something special about us, or he has an extreme hatred towards us.

    "If it is hatred, then it is a bit confusing, as his strength is that immense. He has nned for so many years, and it seems a bit redundant to do that for revenge alone.

    "However, if we consider the other option, that we have something he might want, then I can only guess that it would be the bloodline that I have.

    "This would also suit his current path, guiding me towards the various Sovereign Beast ns and activating the bloodlines. While my strength is also rising alongside the activated bloodlines, the main thing is that the bloodline purity is getting better and better.

    "If he has a purpose, then I would assume that he wants to get my bloodline for some reason. However, I have a bold assumption that made me curious for some time, but it could be exined by your theory.

    "When we arrived in the Ghost Realm, you had to seal your powers. This is not a normal kind of seal, but even after returning to this realm, you cannot unravel it instantly. Your strength is no longer the same as before, so I assume that the guy in the shadows wanted to take the opportunity to remove you.

    "However, that uncle of yours, with the white hair, appeared just before we entered the Ghost Realm. While this Shadowman is hoping to remove you, he will not dare to do so while you still have your family member present, and thus you are still alive."

    Xue Wei frowned. He had said everything that hade up in his mind, but even after saying it all, he could not help but feel that he had overlooked some very important clues and leads.

    Even so, no matter how much he thought about it, he could note to any better exnation than what he had found.

    Lan, too, found that this would be the most reasonable exnation, but there was indeed something wrong with this assumption.

    "Although we can work with this theory, we have a major problem. The Shadowman has worked hard for so many thousands of years to trap you, but your bloodline is nowhere near as potent as your mother¡¯s. Although you are able to increase your bloodline purity by activating your hidden potential, it does not remove the fact that you are half-human.

    "If this expert truly wanted to do this much for your bloodline, he should have focused on your mother and not you. This is something which brings me great confusion."

    Xue Wei knew what Lan meant. It was true that his bloodline was special, but it was not as strong as his mother¡¯s.

    His mother had died while giving birth to him, so while she did not die of old age, she was still notpletely young either. If this Shadowman had aimed at her from the beginning, she would not have been able to avoid his trap, but she did not seem to have been influenced at all.

    Such realization made the whole situation much more difficult. Xue Wei was not so silly as to think that he was more useful than his mother, as even the Primordial Beasts had taken him as a constion prize, so how could this hidden enemy not know who to prioritize?

 Chapter 582: â€œFind Your Uncleâ€

    <h4>Chapter 582: ¡°Find Your Uncle¡±</h4>

    Lan and Xue Wei were the ones who understood the depth of the mastermind the clearest.

    Although the others also found it frightening that someone had managed to n for so many years in advance, they did not understand what it meant that the person in the shadows had picked Xue Wei instead of his mother.

    To them, Xue Wei was already an impressive figure. His identity could bring out miracles, and his bloodline was sacred.

    However, they had forgotten that the reason he could bring forth miracles were due to his mixed heritage, and that this mixed heritage was also the reason for his bloodline to be less pure and weaker than that of his mother.

    "How strong does one have to begin understanding these daos?"

    Xue Wei was aware that he still had a distance before he could reach the realms of immortals and be a deity, but if he could gain a certain understanding of these daos, maybe he would be able to control his fate better than now, when everything seemed to be in the hands of an unknown enemy.

    Lan could guess his thoughts, but certain things could not be forced.

    "You will not be able to sense the dao before you be a deity. Although there might be some influence on your life due to the various daos, these will never take the time to let youprehend their secrets before you be a deity.

    "Also, your soul and body will not be able to contain the energy that will merge into you when you fully understand the dao and merge with it."

    Xue Wei felt somewhat regretful, but he could only nod his head helplessly.

    Although he had merely kept a small hope, it seemed that he had to look for other methods to improve his survivability.

    Lan understood Xue Wei¡¯s worries, but when thinking about how things were currently looking, he did not know how he should act to lure out the hidden enemy.

    "Well, for now, this person has no intention to kill you. Since we cannot lure him out right now, then we might as well keep going ahead with his ns and wait to see what his purpose is."

    Xue Wei lowered his head and no one could see what he was thinking. His eyes were hidden in the shadows, but he seemed to be considering the possibility of Lan¡¯s words.

    After considering the current situation they were in, Xue Wei raised his head once more, and the eyes which had been showing a tinge of uncertainty before had bepletely firm.

    "Since we can¡¯t do anything to this person for now, then let us wait and see what his purpose is. I do not believe that he has chosen me randomly, there has to be some sort of enmity, so he will show up at some point."

    Xue Wei had no doubt that the one in the shadows was an enemy. Anyone who wished to help would not act this way, so there was no other possibility than to want his suffering.

    Lan and Xue Wei had decided to use themselves as bait to lure out the mastermind, but while this was the most suitable way for the both of them, they also knew that a lot of danger was connected to this path.

    Xue Wei was not eager to die, but he was not willing to cower in the face of danger either. Now that he understood that his future was nned by someone else, he could only face this path that had been prepared for him, and try to find a way to break out.

    Danger and opportunity co-existed, so Xue Wei did not despair. He knew that what he was going to face would be challenging and dangerous, but he was ready to fight for his survival.

    "That uncle of yours, is he still in this world?"

    Xue Wei could not help but have a sh of inspiration after thinking about the man named Hui Yue whom he had previously encountered.

    Although Lan was incapable of breaking the seal on his own, perhaps this expert would have a way to unravel his seal.

    If Lan could return to his previous strength, their situation would be much safer than it was now.

    Lan did not answer right away, instead he closed his eyes and began to connect with the world. He searched the whole area, and soon he found that Hui Yue was indeed still within the world, but he was not in a hurry to locate them.

    Before they left for the Ghost Realm, Hui Yue had been very eager to locate Lan, and try to convince him to return to their old world together, so that he could reunite with his family, but the Overlord did not seem to be eager to follow his previous ns for now.

    Although Lan could sense the location of Hui Yue, which happened to be the Chang¡¯an Continent, he could not see what he was doing there.

    Lan had lived on that continent for many thousands of years, and Xue Wei was also born there. To the two of them, this continent held a special meaning, but he did not know why Hui Yue had decided to stay there.

    "Well, then you should go and visit your uncle. See if he is capable of unraveling the seal on your power, and while you are on the Chang¡¯an Continent, see if you can find my uncle to see what kind of information he can provide that might bring a bit of assistance to our current situation."

    Lan contemted for a short while. Currently, Xue Wei should not be in danger for his life. At least, the one behind the scenes should not be aiming for his life for now, and the ordinary dangers that he might encounter should not be able to threaten him too much, so Lan could leave without too many worries.

 Chapter 583: The Groups Split Up

    <h4>Chapter 583: The Groups Split Up</h4>

    Lan spent a few moments to consider the current options they had, and realized that Xue Wei had already found the most suitable path for them to take.

    Although they would have to split up for a short period of time, it seemed that now would be the most suitable period to do so.

    They could, naturally, also go to find Lan¡¯s uncle together, but that would dy Xue Wei¡¯s journey to locate the final sovereign beast bloodline, so they were not willing to do so.

    Although the intricately nned trap was likely to have been prepared for when he managed to activate all the Sovereign Beast Bloodlines in his body, Xue Wei and Lan both felt that it would be better to have an extrayer of protection than to slow down their advancement.

    Their current status was extremely risky, and they had to constantly bnce at the edge of life and death. If it was an ordinary life, then they would have been able to determine their fate on their own decisions, but now they would have to consider the consequences, not only for themselves, but they also had to factor in this hidden expert¡¯s thoughts.

    After having reached an agreement, Lan gave Xue Wei a different spiritual treasure. This treasure was able to allow for them tomunicate across the entire world, but the cost for sending such a message was naturally great.

    One had to use a very rare type of spirit stone that Lan gave him twelve of, and the treasure would need three days of recharging before it would be able to send out another message.

    The message would arrive at the paired treasure immediately, but due to the cost and wait time, it was not something used to send casual messages.

    Also, if Xue Wei sent a message and his treasure was on cooldown, it would not be able to receive any messages before the three-day period was over. In a way, this treasure was somewhat useless if given to an ordinary expert, but due to Lan¡¯s status as the Sovereign God of this world, he would be able to appear instantly upon receiving a message, and thus he gave the treasure to Xue Wei.

    Xue Wei understood that this treasure could be of great assistance to them, especially with their current predicament, and thus he did not stand on ceremony and epted it instantly.

    After discussing the details of their ns, Xue Wei took his friends and began to venture into the forest once more. Although the war was in the final stages, Xue Wei had no intention to stay and see the end, so he had discussed their future travels together with Lan, and found the most suitable way to move towards Dongfang Continent where the White Tiger n should be located.

    Lan, on the other hand, took Mo Lian and went to look for Hui Yue. They had offered the branch leader to tag along, but after looking at the two groups, he had declined politely.

    He was not willing to join Xue Wei¡¯s group, as it was clear that they were already as close as family, and he did not feel any urge to follow alongside Lan and Mo Lian, as they used to be lovers. Who knew how much his single heart would be tormented along the way.

    "Although we are splitting up now, I am very grateful to you for bringing me out of the Ghost Realm. Although the other ghosts still have a chance to ascend, their journey will be bloody and much more depressing than mine.

    "We ghosts are known to be ruthless and coldblooded. We murder without constraint, and we do not mind to backstab those who stand on our side, but this was based on our previous lifestyle.

    "When we were in the Ghost Realm, there was simply no other way to survive. You have given me a new lease on life, and I will forever be grateful towards you. While I am not willing to give my life for you, I will do my best to assist you in troubled times, and I can promise not to fight against you."

    This was already the best promise that a ghost could give. Although Xue Wei and Lan had led the branch leader out of the Ghost Realm, he had also provided them with help and even made it possible for them to locate Mo Lian that swiftly, so they did not owe one another anything.

    When he reached this living world, it made perfect sense for him to split up from their group and slowly find his own path in the world.

    Lan was also not disappointed by his decision to split up. He had been working alongside the branch leader for some time, but he had not gotten to a point where he trusted him, nor did he like him very much. To him, he was merely a partner, and now that their business had concluded, they had be a bit more familiar than strangers, but could not be considered friends.

    Thest ones to set out were Lan and Mo Lian. Neither of them spoke much, but it was clear that Mo Lian had no intention on traveling on her own, and she slowly began to ask questions about her past.

    When she was in the Ghost Realm she did not care much for who she was before, but after knowing how important she once was to Lan, and after seeing this living world, she suddenly got curious.

    Lan was also patient and exined everything slowly. The things she found more interesting he would exin in great detail, and those she was not too curious about were swiftly glossed over.

 Chapter 584: No Manâ€™s Land

    <h4>Chapter 584: No Man¡¯s Land</h4>

    Lan could, in fact, have ripped apart another hole in space and made them appear next to Hui Yue within moments, but after realizing that Mo Lian was very curious about their past and the current world they live in, he was patient and answered every question before showing any signs of nning to leave.

    Mo Lian did not understand his abilities well, and after listening to the conversation between Lan and Xue Wei, she knew that his strength had been sealed, hence she assumed that they would have to walk all the way until they located this so-called uncle.

    Lan could guess her thoughts, but he was not willing to change her impression as he truly enjoyed their time spent together. For him, the situation with the ones hidden in the shadows was urgent, but this small dy would not affect much.

    Xue Wei, on the other hand, did not spend his time leisurely chatting. Unlike Lan, he did not have the option of suddenly moving from one continent to another, and thus he had to travel across the rivers and mountains.

    "We will leave the battlefield soon, and thend we are set to enter is a nomannd. Not many dare to venture into this area, mainly due to the difficulties it takes to traverse, but we do not have much of an option if we want to go to the Dongfang Continent."

    The one who had nned their route was Bai Tianyi. He had been living for countless years, and while he identally split the world into numerous continents before, he was still capable of doing some simple guidance after looking at the map Lan had given them.

    "Do you know this area well?"

    Xue Wei could not help but furrow his brows as he heard Bai Tianyi¡¯s words. While he was eager to reach the White Tiger n as soon as possible, he also knew that they had to be careful on their journey.

    He also had a ck Turtle bloodline which he had to absorb and integrate into his body, but he had not found a suitable ce to do so yet.

    Lan had helped him get through the shell of the corpse he had found underneath the ck pagoda in the abandoned city within the Ghost Realm, but he had not consumed it right away.

    The Ghost Realm was not a suitable ce to activate the bloodline, and after returning to the living world, Xue Wei had merely stabilized his body and mind.

    The knowledge that someone had nned such an intricate web behind him and was pushing him into a certain direction was extremely ufortable and affected his mind negatively.

    It was not before he and Lan spent some time discussing their options and ns that he slowly felt at ease and slowly began to adjust his mentality.

    Now that they had begun traveling again, his initial intention was to merge with both the ck Turtle Bloodline and the White Tiger Bloodline at the same time, but after hearing Bai Tianyi mentioning this dangerous area up ahead, he began considering merging with the ck Turtle Bloodline ahead of time.

    The bloodlines were not only able to boost his own abilities and strength, they could also assist Hei Gou in mutating further, and while it would be excruciatingly painful, his advance would be a great benefit to their entire group.

    Bai Tianyi did not know of Xue Wei¡¯s concerns, so he began to twist his brows as he rapidly went through his memories.

    "This area also existed when I was roaming the world. There are all kinds of environments that you can imagine, both imprable jungles and barren deserts.

    "Some of the areas are without much life, so they are not worth spending enough effort into visiting, but others are the homes of fierce beasts with strength rivaling even Emperor Experts."

    Xue Wei nodded his head. He had not thought that the area would be this vast, and that it was merely one kind of environment, but if they could pick the ones with less danger, then that would naturally be suitable for them.

    "I have gotten my hands on the bloodline of a ck Turtle n member. I will activate my bloodline and then, if Hei Gou is willing, I will help him mutate once more before we enter this area. Although it will not provide us a guarantee when crossing the dangerous zones, it should improve our chances."

    Xue Wei looked at Hei Gou to hear his opinion. It was not an easy thing to ept the mutations brought by his bloodline, and the more mutations he went through, the more dangerous and agonizing they became.

    "There is no way I will back down. Although painful, I can manage."

    Hei Gou was not one to back down in the face of pain or danger. To him, he had been given a future where he could fight for his dreams, and to him, it was worth it, even if he died along the way.

    He would much rather die while chasing his goals than to be a coward that gave up when there was a chance of sess.

    Considering the previous mutation, Hei Gou was well aware that the chances of survival would not surpass fifty percent, but he was still willing to try. He would use his willpower to hang onto his consciousness and seed!

    The determined gaze made Xue Wei feel both gratified but also worried. This Celestial Dog had followed him for so many years already, and the two of them were very familiar with one another.

    Xue Wei respected his choice as he, too, would have made the same one, but he still worried for his friend. Even so, he did not try to persuade him otherwise, and he showed hisplete belief in the ck dog¡¯s sess.

 Chapter 585: Everyone is Different

    <h4>Chapter 585: Everyone is Different</h4>

    "Thest two times we entered another continent we encountered some trouble. The first time was when Lan sent us through that dimensional tunnel and we got diverted, and the second time was our journey through the Enchanted Sea which took a long time.

    "This time, we do not have to spend a lot of time crossing the sea. If you look at the map, the tip of this and the Dongfang Continent are very close to one another. We should be able to cross it in a day or two, but the biggest problem will be to enter the no-man¡¯snd and reach the sea."

    Bai Tianyi had made a copy of the map Lan had shown them earlier, and spread it out on the ground in front of them. Each corner was held down by a heavy stone, and he began pointing at the narrow strait between the two continents.

    The strait was narrow, it was not likely to contain much danger, but to reach this location, one had to cross the no-man¡¯snd, and the danger threatening them there was not ordinary.

    "Are there any other ways?"

    Xue Wei was not going to be arrogant and assume that they could easily handle the dangers lurking within this hostile and untouched zone, but he was also not willing to waste too much time to bypass it.

    "No." Bai Tianyi shook his head with regret. "While we could, in theory, take another route, it is not a question about a few weeks or months more. Instead, we would likely have to spend a year or more traveling to reach the Dongfang Continent by this other route."

    Xue Wei furrowed his brows as he looked at the simple map in front of him. It was made quickly, and it only showed the different zones and where thend met the sea. There was no detailed exnation of what environments one would encounter when inside the no-man¡¯snd, so everything would have to depend on luck.

    While Xue Wei was very well aware that his luck was rather good, he still did not like to fully depend on such things to survive, as he could not control it at all.

    It was always best to improve his own strength. He preferred to have his fate in his own hands.

    "The no-man¡¯snd is dangerous, so we have to prepare as much as possible before we enter. I am going to integrate with the ck Turtle Bloodline, but due to our current situation, there is no suitable location to do so.

    "I will need you all to protect me while I try and stimte the bloodline in my body, and don¡¯t let anyone attack me.

    "If I manage to seed, then I will use my blood to have Hei Gou attempt another mutation. During this time, the rest of you should also take turns between cultivating and guarding."

    Xue Wei quickly decided on how to move forward for now. Although they would be somewhat dyed with their entrance into the no-man¡¯snd, it would bring them more security and a higher chance for survival.

    Bai Tianyi, Luoluo, Hei Gou, and Ling Xiao naturally did not object to his decision. First of all, they were very curious as to how he would look as a ck turtle, but they were also very intrigued as to what changes another mutation would give Hei Gou.

    Luoluo was the first to settle down. She was, in fact, an ancient monster, but looking at her youthful and happy gaze, one would assume that she was a young woman who was traveling the world for excitement.

    The way she simply sat down on the ground and crossed her legs before focusing on her breathing and cultivation. Luoluo was very focused on cultivation, as she feared her past returning, and once more being imprisoned and used as a battery for others to benefit.

    Only by bing stronger would she be able to protect herself and her dear ones, so she would never take her cultivation lightly.

    Contrary to Luoluo¡¯s focused attention, Ling Xiao could not help but smile flippantly and lean against a tree trunk.

    "I guess I will take care of the first watch. I don¡¯t feel like cultivating right now, so it is just right for me to observe the surroundings and drink some wine while you guys are busy training."

    Ling Xiao had been forced too much at a younger age, and the Diviners put far too much pressure on him and their wish for him to cultivate.

    Now, he was cultivating from time to time, but most of the time, he would rather rx and adjust his mentality.

    The interesting thing about Ling Xiao was that if he had enough time to rx, then his cultivation speed would soar and be almost inhuman when he finally sat down to absorb energy; while, if he was forced to cultivate continuously, the speed of which he absorbed and refined Qi was constantly getting slower and slower.

    Everyone had their own special way of cultivating, and their group was able to keep open and not interfere with one another. This was one of the reasons that they managed so well together and that none of them expected the others to be the same as themselves, but understanding that they were individuals who were able to find their own paths.

    Xue Wei looked at his good friends as they gathered around him. Luoluo, Bai Tianyi, and Hei Gou were cultivating at first, and Ling Xiao was on watch-duty, but even so, the three others had gathered around Xue Wei in order to protect him, if anything should happen.

 Chapter 586: Enlightenment

    <h4>Chapter 586: Enlightenment</h4>

    Xue Wei descended into the familiar feeling of nothingness. His senses were cut off, and he would not be able to know what happened around him. Even if a great beast appeared and roared by his side, he would not notice, unless it began tossing him around. It would not be enough if it just touched him.

    Xue Wei felt various contradicting emotions at the same time. His soul was light as a feather and seemed to float around his body, but at the same time, something heavy was grounding him.

    The world surrounding him was a constant change of ck and white colors, but none of them were sharp enough to cause any difort.

    Time passed slowly, and the white color began to slowly lose the struggle against the ck, but the darkness that began to surround Xue Wei was not unpleasant.

    The feeling he experienced was simr to that of a small hatchling hiding within an egg. There was a shell of protection around him; he felt serene, and an innocent happiness was bubbling within him.

    Xue Wei felt how his body was slowly getting warmer and warmer, but the heat was not unpleasant but gentle. It was like a summer breeze that broughtfort.

    Xue Wei could not move, and he did not intend to struggle either. The feeling offort was overwhelming, and he wished to just rx and sumb to the drowsiness that swept over him.

    The essence blood of the ck Turtle was slowly moving through his body and reshaping his bloodline once more.

    Xue Wei¡¯s mother was the Holy Maiden of the Sovereign Beasts, and her bloodline was much more pure than Xue Wei¡¯s. Although he was able to activate the individual beast¡¯s bloodline with the help of their essence blood, he would also lose a bit of his humanity with each merge.

    Although the change was very subtle, Xue Wei had instinctively noticed it after merging with the Vermilion Bird blood. He was not aware of how much of a difference these changes would bring him, but although the bloodline was less potent, he was not willing to let go of his humanity.

    While he was not willing to be a saint that would protect others or suffer for their sake, he still wanted to be gentle towards those he cared about, and protect the ones that he had identified as his own.

    However, this merge was strange. It feltfortable and protective. There was no fiery temper or disdainful superiority trying to interfere with his mind.

    All he could feel was gentle andfortable warmth. His thoughts did not slow down, but he felt much more at peace and rxed. He had never experienced such a state before.

    By the time Xue Wei¡¯s mind began to wake up, he stretched his body instinctively, and it felt as if he broke out of a shell.

    The ck shell was pierced by the gentle light outside, and he felt refreshed. Although there were no obvious changes, Xue Wei realized that he had been mistaken all his life.

    Although his bloodline had evolved even further, there was no anger or frustration churning in his body. He did not feel any uncontroble urge tomit murder or harm others.

    Beasts and humans were actually not that different. Some beasts were controlled by an urge to kill and harm, but after experiencing the world, Xue Wei knew that there were also humans like this.

    The ck Turtles were a race that truly wished to protect others. It was a gentle and refined beast that would never use violence unless necessary. It would also rather defend than attack, however one should not underestimate its power.

    Beasts could not be grouped together as a fierce and ferocious bunch. They were, indeed, more violent than humans, but that might be their straightforward nature. When a beast was unhappy, it would confront the one who made it unhappy. When a human was unhappy, they might smile towards their enemy, but prepare to stab them in the backter.

    The fierceness and violence were different, but just as humans were different from one another, so were beasts. The vtile and uncontroble murderousness that had lurked within Xue Wei¡¯s body for so long had been calmed by the activation of the ck Turtle bloodline.

    Xue Wei¡¯s brows furrowed as he seemed to understand yet another truth. So far, he had always held an unconscious distaste towards the part of himself which was a beast. Although he had truly believed that he had long since epted himself, every time something went out of control or was unexinable and troublesome, he would use his beast blood as an excuse.

    However, upon feeling the strange tranquility that the ck Turtle bloodline brought him, he understood that it was not that these bloodlines were inherently evil, but that they had been out of bnce.

    Xue Wei was the son of the Holy Maiden, and due to his mixed blood, he was a never-before seen creature. His bloodline was already very unstable, and due to the unbnce brought by activating multiple bloodlines, he had been suffering from various side effects.

    The four bloodlines were ferocious and powerful. Each Sovereign Beast race was already standing at the top, so for the four bloodlines to coexist in one body, a certain bnce was needed.

    Thebination of these bloodlines¡¯ imbnce, and the mixture of human blood, had caused various troubles for Xue Wei, and he had never taken the time to truly consider the situation.

    Now that the ck Turtle¡¯s bloodline was able to calm them all down, he suddenly felt much more at peace, and experienced a great enlightenment.

 Chapter 587: Compressing Qi

    <h4>Chapter 587: Compressing Qi</h4>

    Xue Wei felt that the different bloodlines were fullybined, and he could sense a powerful current rush through his body.

    The current felt slightly electrifying, but as soon as the jolting feeling had vanished, an indescribablefort lingered.

    The electricity seemed to diminish in power the further through the body it went, and as thest spark vanished, an uproar broke out in the heaven and earth essence surrounding Xue Wei.

    While the previous merge of bloodlines had happened without any visual differences, the sudden change in the aura around Xue Wei made the others wake up from their cultivation and nce at him in curiosity.

    The powerful energy made them certain that he had seeded in the merge, but they still felt a need to look him over to ensure that nothing had gone wrong.

    They had all seen Xue Wei cultivating before, and it was not the first time he had been absorbing the bloodline of a Sovereign Beast either, but unlike before, he did not seem to be struggling.

    His face was ruddy and seemed very healthy. His eyes were closed, and he was clearly rxed. It was as if he was sleeping, and the tranquility that surrounded him could not be interrupted by anyone.

    Although the others had smiles on their faces as they understood that he had truly seeded, none of them made any sounds to celebrate. They understood very well that although Xue Wei had passed the hurdle of integrating yet another bloodline, he was still not out of danger.

    The activation of his ck Turtle bloodline had clearly triggered some sort of response, and all the essence in the air was turning turbulent to a point where it was possible to see the gleams of energy with the naked eye.

    All the energy rushed towards Xue Wei. It entered his body with no intention to slow down, but although most people would be overwhelmed with this amount of essence, it was as if his body had turned into a great ck hole that absorbed everything greedily.

    Usually, such wanton absorption was dangerous, but it was not the first time for Xue Wei to experience this phenomenon, and hispanions had also witnessed it before, so they took no action to interrupt.

    Since he dared to absorb all this energy, then he definitely had some method to deal with it, and they patiently waited for him to wake up.

    Xue Wei was indeed able to deal with therge quantities of energy. The energy that had appeared after merging the bloodlines had slowly diminished alongside the electricity, but a certain vacancy had appeared in his body, and it was greedily absorbing the essence to refine it and fill up the emptiness inside.

    Xue Wei had never before felt like this. H dantian was empty, but he still felt veryfortable.

    However, as the Qi swiftly filled up the dantian once more, he began to experience a strange bloating sensation.

    His dantian had been filledpletely, but the energy was still rapidly entering his body, and it showed no signs of stopping.

    Under normal circumstances, it would be very dangerous if he did not stop it, but a strange feeling kept telling him that it was fine.

    He had to grit his teeth and stand firm in the face of the pain, but as more and more energy pressed its way into his dantian, he began to feel excruciating pain, as cracks began to appear on the dantian wall.

    Such a situation had never happened before, and Xue Wei was well aware that if his dantian got hurt, then he would suffer great repercussions. One could not cultivate in this mortal world without a dantian, and thus he had always protected it well.

    However, due to his mixed breed, his dantian had always been very weird, and now that the energy was threatening to copse it, he witnessed how the dantian began to fight back.

    In the center was a strange translucent shadow of the azure dragon, the vermilion bird, and the ck turtle, and the three of them suddenly began to spin around each other at a rapid speed.

    All the energy that entered his dantian was absorbed by them, and a dense ball of Qi had gathered in the middle of their circle, resulting in powerful eruptions of energy emitting outwards, but not interfering with the three shadows at all.

    As the Qi within his dantian was constantly beingpressed, more and more essence was frantically entering his body and getting refined, before it, too, got swallowed by the spinning ball.

    Xue Wei began to feel very perplexed. Although all of this was happening within his body, he was more like a bystander who observed the changes curiously. No matter the oue, he would not be able to change what was happening, so instead he decided it was better to try to understand the situation.

    As the ball grew in size, the dantian¡¯s walls became more and more unstable. Large cracks appeared all over, and he was unable to mend them; not to mention, it was clear that the energy ripples thrown out from the ball in the middle were intending to destroy his dantianpletely.

    It stands to reason that such an experience had to be extremely painful, but Xue Wei was still feelingfortable, and he even felt as if the energy that leaked out of his cracked dantian was nurturing and healing his body instead of harming him.

    Also, it wasmon knowledge that a cultivator would be useless without their dantian, but for some reason, Xue Wei did not feel as if the energy was diminishing less and less. Instead, the constant influx of refined Qi made him feel more powerful than ever.

 Chapter 588: Great Strength

    <h4>Chapter 588: Great Strength</h4>

    The dantian was suffering from more and more cracks, and even the walls began to copse as Xue Wei¡¯s energy continued to stream inside and gather energy in the shape of a great spinning ball in the middle of the three sovereign beast spirits.

    Had it been a normal expert, such a situation would, definitely, be considered impossible to survive, but Xue Wei could sense his body¡¯s changes, and was not in a hurry to stop this change.

    He had always been a half-breed. Previously, he had been half-human and half-beast, but the constant struggle between his bloodlines had caused him to have a constant vtile temper and murderousness within his body.

    However, now that the ck Turtle bloodline had been activated, the human bloodline became even weaker, and unable to fight back. While he would always have this bloodline, it would no longer be a prominent part of his body, and even the dantian, which he had previously used as his core for his cultivation base, was slowly copsing and he could guess that the energy ball that was constantly spinning was the creation of his beast core.

    This phenomenon had not appeared in this world for many thousands of years, as mixed breeds had be extinct, and now that it showed up once more, Xue Wei¡¯s body was almost glowing with light.

    Bai Tianyi did not spend too much time looking at Xue Wei, instead he raised his head to look at the heaven and earth essence that continued to rush towards Xue Wei and enter his body.

    "It is quite reasonable to say that these mixed breed descendants were either geniuses or wastes."

    Although Bai Tianyi muttered the sentence, the others heard it clearly, and they understood what he meant.

    Back when mixed breed children weremonly seen, they were often intentionally born from talented families, as they wished for their offspring to be true monstrous cultivators.

    Xue Wei was clearly one of the children that were greatly talented. While he had suffered much hardship throughout his childhood, he had also managed to overtake all other geniuses, and even many adults could no longer rival his power.

    Many things had happened throughout Xue Wei¡¯s life, and although they had encountered many disasters and dangers, he had grown up, mature and cautious. However, he would never have expected that someone was hiding in the shadows nning all these episodes ahead.

    Was this enemy not afraid that Xue Wei would die before he managed to seed his ns, or did he know that he would survive no matter how many difficulties came his way?

    Xue Wei was not thinking about these troubles at all, his entire focus was on the bodily changes, and the vague signs of a breakthrough.

    Bai Tianyi looked at this young man who was fully focused on cultivating, and his eyes began to light up with energy. He felt how the changes were making Xue Wei¡¯s cultivation base erupt, and he too, as a contracted tool spirit, was benefitting from this sudden explosive breakthrough.

    The eyes, which had turned golden, quickly closed, but the golden light began to make his body shine, and small ripples of energy began to erupt from him, as he could not contain the entire energy within.

    Luoluo looked at the two that were fully focused on cultivation and a smile appeared on her lips as she shook her head.

    They had nned to enhance their strength before entering the no man¡¯snd, but it was never expected to be such an amazing progress.

    Although Xue Wei was nning on activating the ck Turtle bloodline, he would never have guessed that it would result in a breakthrough for the two of them.

    Time passed by slowly, but the energy that rushed towards Xue Wei never decreased in intensity, and the body continued to swallow this energy as an endless ck hole.

    Day turned to night, and along the setting sun, the disturbed heaven and earth essence slowly began to settle down once more.

    Alongside the dropping temperature, Xue Wei slowly began to regain control of his body, and he felt a strength, unlike any he had before. He clenched his fist as he opened his eyes, and the explosive strength caused the air within his palm to explode, resulting in his skin being ripped apart.

    "So powerful?" Xue Wei could not help but exim, as he looked at the shredded skin on his palm. Usually, clenching his fists would not result in such injury, but due to the newly promoted rank, he could not fully control his own Qi yet, and it could harm anyone, not caring for friend or foe.

    Bai Tianyi was still in trance, but Luoluo, Lin Xiao, and Hei Gou all looked at him with sparkling eyes, full of admiration.

    Although Xue Wei had always been their mental leader, and the one who made all decisions, even though his rank of cultivation had been lower than theirs for a long time.

    However, they all found that after he had managed to merge the many bloodlines within his body, his cultivation base had also reached apletely new level that even they could not grasp.

    Although they were eager to hear what had happened, none of them moved, nor did they ask their questions.

    Bai Tianyi was still cultivating, and he could not be interrupted. His breakthrough had begunter than Xue Wei, but he had benefited greatly from this strange change that had happened to the younger man, so he would need time topletely adjust to the energy.

    As the night grew darker, the weather fell, and the ground was covered in ayer of frost. The warm day and the freezing nights were in great contrast to one another, but this cold air brought even greater benefits to Bai Tianyi.

 Chapter 589: New or Old Image?

    <h4>Chapter 589: New or Old Image?</h4>

    Bai Tianyi and Xue Wei had contracted one another a long time ago, and while they did not usually pay attention to this, now they could see the extreme benefit that Xue Wei¡¯s advance brought Bai Tianyi.

    Although the night was cold and the wind was howling as it blew above the frozen ground, Xue Wei and the others were cultivators, so it had no influence on them, as they all protected Bai Tianyi and kept vignt to ensure that nothing would be able to attack them by surprise.

    The moon was high in the sky, and although it was a frosty night, the darkness was not dense, as the moonlight cascaded the pale and soft light down upon their group.

    The surroundings were silent, and not even hunting beasts could be heard in the vicinity, the only noise was from the howling wind as it passed by.

    A situation like this would have long since frightened a mortal, but the people present were all extraordinary cultivators, and none of them found the atmosphere stiffening or frightening.

    In fact, all of them enjoyed the cooling air as it caressed their skin and kept them alert. The beautiful moonlight brought out an ethereal atmosphere in the frozennd, making the surroundings seem otherworldly.

    Bai Tianyi was sitting on a patch of ground. The moonlight surrounded him, but even the pale and beautiful silver light could not rival the bright and rich golden shes that constantly pulsed out from his body.

    Unlike Xue Wei, who kept wantonly absorbing the energy from the area, Bai Tianyi kept releasing bursts of energy, which strongly resembled golden lightning bolts.

    These lightning bolts looked terrifying, and one could sense the lethal energy contained within, but none of them touched their group, making it clear that they had no intention of harming any of them.

    As the moon began to descend from the sky, a rumbling sound reverberated through the heavens and earth. The sound of thunder was unexpected, and the entire ground shook alongside the noise.

    Alongside this unexpected thunder, the golden lightning bolts suddenly became agitated, and numerous golden sparks erupted from Bai Tianyi¡¯s body.

    Bai Tianyi was different from Luoluo. He was an artificial spirit, and his existence had always been a challenge whenpared to the true spirits. However, what he was experiencing now was simr to the metamorphosis that Xue Wei went through just before.

    Bai Tianyi was bing a true spirit, and his body was slowly changing from an artificial spirit body into a projection made by his own energy.

    This change was much slower than Xue Wei¡¯s. Although they both changed, they were, after all, twopletely different kinds of creatures, and thus, their advances were also different.

    Xue Wei was eager to find out what changes had happened in his body, but he understood the severity of protecting Bai Tianyi first.

    Although his own body had already undergone tremendous changes, and he wanted to figure out what these meant to him, he also understood that these changes would not disappear, nor would they harm his body if he waited for Bai Tianyi to break through before he took the time to examine himself thoroughly.

    On the second day, Bai Tianyi¡¯s body had be translucent. The previous body was slowly being destroyed, and when he seemed to vanishpletely, a new and surprising version of his body appeared.

    Bai Tianyi had always had problems showing off his age, as the cost of creating a new body was rather high, but now that he no longer needed to use these artificial bodies, he appeared in front of them with a mature and beautiful face. Even Lin Xiao, who was the most mature-looking of them all, seemed to be slightly younger than this version of Bai Tianyi.

    "You have grown taller."

    Xue Wei was notpletely sure how to praise this spirit that had gone from being youthful to bing mature in such a short time. In fact, the cute and fun version of Bai Tianyi waspletely gone, and it would be a lie to say that they were not somewhat confused.

    Even Bai Tianyi seemed to frown as he looked at his body and the distance to the ground.

    "I seem to have forgotten that the world looks like this from up here."

    After saying this, he observed them all once more before his frown deepened. It was clear that hispanions were somewhat stumped by his new appearance, and he also had to admit that he found it somewhat hard to ept.

    "Bah, who cares."

    Just as the words escaped Bai Tianyi¡¯s mouth, the golden light once more enveloped him, and the body seemed to change again.

    By the time the light was gone, Bai Tianyi had reemerged as a child at the age of ten. His body was youthful, and while the eyes still carried the same wisdom, he looked cute once more.

    "It is quite hard to ept your current appearance after seeing how you looked before."

    Although he had changed back, all that filled Hei Gou¡¯s mind was the figure he had seen just before. Who would have thought that Bai Tianyi¡¯s real figure would look like that?

    "Stupid dog. I haven¡¯t looked like that for many thousands of years. Honestly, I don¡¯t like looking like that either. I am no longer the living Bai Tianyi, so why should I look the same?"

    Bai Tianyi¡¯s words woke up the whole group. That was true. The body he had used was likely created from his memory of how he looked while still being a living human; however, he was no longer who he was back then, so it would be wrong to look like that.

 Chapter 590: The Past is Gone

    <h4>Chapter 590: The Past is Gone</h4>

    Bai Tianyi¡¯s life had always been the search for something better. As a human, he had constantly aimed towards immortality, and did not care much for the consequences such direct approach could have.

    It had been impossible for him to be satisfied after his failed attempt to be a spirit, and during his time as an artificial spirit, he had often thought back to the time when he was still a free human being.

    Although he had not managed to find immortality, he still had the slightest chance to seed in ascending the realm one day, but after bing an artificial spirit, all his dreams had been extinguished.

    This, alongside with the many years of being sealed up, had given him many years to think, and he had often thought back upon his life where he roamed free. The nostalgia and the yearning had made him wish to return to back then and not make such a great mistake.

    It was also this yearning and unwillingness to ept reality, that had caused him a constant wish to return to his adult form.

    However, the past was never going to return, and it was not possible for him to be a human being once more. Even if he did seed, he would not be satisfied, as the immortality that he had pursued would be further away from him by then.

    The time he had spent alongside Xue Wei and theirpanions had made him aware that although things did not go ording to n, it was still possible to get the best result.

    As soon as he managed to be a true spirit, his years of yearning made his figure take on the form that he had been longing for, but after experiencing this appearance once more, he suddenly felt bored.

    All his life, he had been chasing something weird. He had gained much knowledge about cultivation and the world, but the cost was unimaginable.

    The obsession with immortality was not beneficial for his cultivation and had even pushed him to change who he was. He had forsaken many things, but ended up with nothing more than a cold seal and thousands of years locked up.

    Now that he had a chance to redo many things, he had decided that it was not his past that should determine his future.

    To him, the sudden transformation he had undergone now was no longer just another step towards immortality, but instead the birth of a new spirit.

    He was leaving behind the Bai Tianyi who had been obsessed with being undying, and instead focused on all the things that brought color to the world. He was going to live wantonly and happily, and while he would still pursue strength, it would no longer be at any cost.

    To him, the moment he finally managed to be a true spirit, he gave up his past. He was no longer going to be chained down by obsessions or regrets, but instead experience the process of living.

    This was also why he had regained his childish figure. To him, this was now who he was. Although he could change it at will, he would never return to the mature adult he once was, and even if he had to be mature at some point, he would choose another personality.

    It was not that he loathed or hated his past. This past was part of who he was and had ultimately shaped whom he had be, but he still felt that it was an ended chapter in his life, and he no longer needed to return to there.

    He would never abandon or refuse to admit his past, but now he was much more than the obsession.

    This sudden change in his personality made the aura surrounding the young man shine with a sense of tranquility that had beencking before.

    He stood in front of them, clearly the body of a child, but the mature aura and the calm outlook on life was in sharp contrast to the immature figure.

    His changes were earthshattering for he himself, but the otherpanions clearly noticed a great change that had happened within him, and they also felt that he had found his own path in life.

    Such an enlightenment was truly important for any kind of cultivator, and when they noticed his sess, they did not feel envious but grateful. Bai Tianyi was their friend, and he had finally found the way in life that he wished to pursue.

    "Well then, Tianyi has seeded in bing a true spirit, and Wei has turned into a weird hybrid beast, so now I would assume that it is my turn to mutate?"

    The jovial voice of Hei Gou suddenly sounded and brought all out of the awe they felt after looking at Bai Tianyi. Their feelings, however, turnedplex right away, as they thought of the risk that Hei Gou was about to undertake.

    Xue Wei walked in front of his friend.

    "You are sure that this is what you want?"

    Although they were all eager to gain strength, they had to remember that their lives were the most important. Hei Gou was Xue Wei¡¯s very firstpanion and an important friend. If he was notpletely certain that this risk was worth taking, then Xue Wei would not let him endanger his life.

    Hei Gou could sense the worry that they all held for him, and his smile turned warm.

    "I was abandoned by my pack, but found that blood-rted rtives are not the most important. To me, you are all my important family, and I am not willing to fall behind. I believe in myself and I believe in the faith you all have for me. I will not let myself die while mutating my bloodline."

 Chapter 591: Bloodline Mutation

    <h4>Chapter 591: Bloodline Mutation</h4>

    Hei Gou¡¯s eyes were full of grateful and happy emotions, but deep within a stubborn and decisive gleam could be found.

    It was obvious that while he was grateful towards the worry and care hispanions showed him, he was not willing to back down. The risk he was facing was, indeed, big, but to him, it was worth it.

    Hei Gou was, naturally, not willing to die, but he did not fear death either. To him, death was inevitable, and it would catch him at some point sooner orter. Even if his lifespan turned out to be unending, he was painfully aware that there would always be someone stronger out there, and just like those he had killed throughout his life, he would, too, one day encounter an expert that he would be unable to beat.

    Since death would one day im him, then he did not worry too much about the when or how. To him, the most important part was to make sure that by the time he did die, he would be able to look back on his life and nod his head without feeling regret.

    This was also why he was willing to take this risk. To be able to keep advancing among his friends, to keep improving and moving forward, he had to take certain risks.

    He understood fully well that if he did not take this mutation, then no one would me him, but eventually his advance would halt, and he would be a hindrance to those he wished to fight alongside.

    He would much rather end his own life than turn out to be a hindrance to his dear ones, so risking it while fighting for what he believed in was truly nothing.

    Although these were Hei Gou¡¯s most genuine feelings, he had no intention of sharing them with the others. This was his own decision, and he would stand by it for the rest of his life, no matter how long or short it might be.

    Xue Wei could see that he waspletely set on this decision, and he no longer tried to convince him otherwise.

    When Xue Wei had been advancing, the group had formed a protective circle around him, and the same happened when it became Bai Tianyi¡¯s turn to break through.

    Now that Hei Gou was going to mutate his bloodline, the group would naturally focus on him, but unlike before, they were not in the mood to cultivate while patiently waiting for him to seed.

    The mutation of bloodlines was not simr to when one broke through. While a breakthrough was indeed important, it was mainly important since others were not allowed to interfere with the expert, but a blood mutation was a constant battle between life and death.

    Neither Xue Wei, nor the others, would feel at ease cultivating while theirrade was facing such a dangerous battle.

    Xue Wei took a deep breath while Hei Gou found afortable position to sit in. The two were both solemn and stoic as they faced one another.

    A clean cut was made on Xue Wei¡¯s wrist, and the blood began to flow freely. However, to mutate Hei Gou¡¯s bloodline in the most beneficial way, essence blood was needed, so Xue Wei began to rouse his energy and forced out some of the most important blood he possessed.

    This essence blood was important to him, and by the time it was forced out from his cut, the air surrounding him began to tremble and boil as if it hade into contact with burning water.

    The amount of energy stored within was easy to guess, but Xue Wei did not hesitate and sent it to the young beast seated in front of him.

    The moment the blood made contact with Hei Gou¡¯s body, it appeared as if a suction force from within aggressively dragged it through the skin, and not even the slightest trace was left behind.

    At the beginning, Hei Gou seemed the same, but as time went by, his handsome face became pale, and sweat began to bead on his forehead.

    It did not take long for his fists to be clenched so hard that the fingers had turned white, and soon his entire body was trembling. The pain that Hei Gou was experiencing could not be understood by anyone other than himself, but even so, everyone understood that this was an important time for him, so no one spoke, they all patiently waited for him to seed.

    Hei Gou had previously undergone the bloodline mutation, but from the previous experiences, Xue Wei had noticed that each mutation was harder than the previous, and he was painfully aware of how many had sumbed when he helped the Vermilion Bird n mutate their experts.

    Even the slightest distraction could prove fatal, and although his determination was admirable, it was uncertain if it would be enough to keep him alive.

    Xue Wei hadplete faith in Hei Gou. He knew his determination and his willpower, but he was still worried. To him, Hei Gou had be a brother whom he could fully trust. He dared not think about what would happen if anything went wrong, so while he was worried, he hadpletely convinced himself that it was going to seed.

    Thest time that Hei Gou underwent the bloodline mutation, he had been in such an agonizing pain that his body had been twitching on the ground uncontrobly, and he almost lost his consciousness, but although his reaction this time seemed much more controble, Xue Wei was worried whether or not it was truly like that.

    Only he himself knew how great the influence of the ck Turtle Bloodline had on himself, so he could not imagine it being as simple for others who got a bit of this blood to temper their own mutation.

 Chapter 592: Mutation Failed?

    <h4>Chapter 592: Mutation Failed?</h4>

    Although the ck Turtle bloodline had the ability to bnce his blood, it also meant that it had increased the strength of his bloodline multiple times over.

    While this was, indeed, a very beneficial thing when considering the final oue, it might also cause a higher chance of failure, if Hei Gou could not handle the sheer amount of energy that it infused into the mutation.

    Hei Gou was not born with the sovereign bloodline. To him, this was a foreign treasure that could rouse his own bloodline¡¯s potential and cause it to mutate which would bring him to a higher state, however, it was, after all, a foreign treasure.

    Unlike Xue Wei, who was the owner of this energy, Hei Gou was not, and he would not gain any help from his body or bloodline, so he would have to face this potent energy on his own.

    The area had descended into silence. Xue Wei and the others kept their eyes on Hei Gou, worried that they might miss something important, but the ck dog did not react.

    It was clear that he had sealed his senses away from the outside world and was fully focused on his body and the changes happening within.

    The sweat had beaded on his forehead and kept rolling down one drop after another. His body was trembling and his lips had turned pale. The appearance was even more haunting than if he had been rolling on the ground shaking and screaming in pain, as no one knew what exactly was happening.

    The time went by slowly. Although all of them were cultivators and had a good patience, some of them had even lived for thousands of years, but right now, it felt as if the time was going slower than ever before.

    Xue Wei released a breath of foul air and felt a stiffling feeling in his chest. He was not an emotional person, but thesepanions had been through mountains of knives and rivers of blood alongside him, so he could not stay calm and uncaring.

    It was unknown how long time had been spent waiting for Hei Gou¡¯s mutation to end. The sun had risen and fallen more than once, but suddenly, as the full moon rose to the sky, a tremor ran through Hei Gou¡¯s body.

    The body began to twitch, and the arms began twisting into strange shapes, before his legs and body followed suit.

    When looking at his face, it did not seem as if he had realized the strange change in his body, but Xue Wei and the others instantly knew that something was happening.

    The body, which was twitching and moving around like a broken spider, suddenly began to transform.

    The limbs turned from human-like to beast-like, and ck fur began sprouting out from his skin.

    Hei Gou¡¯s body was transforming into the original shape, but many of the changes that had happened before were vanishing one by one. His wings seemed to slowly wither and the feathers fell off one by one. The bones became visible, before slowly turning to dust and spreading in the air.

    The previous mutations were slowly being removed one by one, and Hei Gou¡¯s body was returning to the appearance he had before the first bloodline activation.

    Hei Gou was a Celestial Dog, but he had long since lost most resemnce to this race as his bloodline mutated further, however now he was returning to back then, and they all held their breath in worry.

    They knew how much Hei Gou had sacrificed and gambled to be stronger. Even his life was on the line, but instead of getting stronger, it seemed that all his previous advantages were being removed one after another.

    Unfortunately, Xue Wei and the others were unable to tell Hei Gou this worrying news. They found that he was still sealed off from the outside world, and if they forcefully pulled him back, he would suffer great injury.

    Since the bloodline had already reverted back to the original version, there was no way they would be willing to risk his life by forcefully telling him the bad news.

    They all wanted to speak together, but none of them dared. They did not know what could have gone wrong for his bloodline to return to the origin like this, but they found that even after the orginal Hei Gou had vanished and a Celestial Dog had appeared, there was no signs of waking up.

    "Wait. He is still breaking through."

    Bai Tainyi looked at Hei Gou with a frown on his youthful face. He felt that the situation was a bit out of control, but he could sense that something was different from the expected mutation.

    Hei Gou¡¯s mutation had likely gone wrong somewhere along the way, but he still managed to pull through with his life intact.

    To Xue Wei and the others, this was, without a doubt, the most important thing.

    The energy that the blood had brought Hei Gou had still not dispersed, and the others dared not act rashly.

    Hei Gou stayed in his celestial dog shape, but unlike before, he was no longer trembling. The dog was lying down calmly with the eyes closed, and the air around him continued to fluctuate as the energy was being consumed by him.

    It was not before the next morning that these ripples of energy finally subsided, and the mutation could be consideredplete.

    Although it seemed obvious that it had been a failure, Xue Wei and the others still held their breath, as they kept looking at the dog in front of them, as he slowly opened his amber eyes.

 Chapter 593: The Price for Success

    <h4>Chapter 593: The Price for Sess</h4>

    Hei Gou¡¯s eyes were shining with a golden light, and the amber pupils were cold and unemotional.

    There was not even the slightest ripple of emotion to be found upon realizing that a group of experts were seated around him. Instead he moved his head and observed everyone present.

    His shape was still the original Celestial Dog shape, but Xue Wei could not help but furrow his brow as he noticed a lot of subtle differences whenpared to the original shape that he had disyed before the first mutation.

    "Who are you?"

    Hei Gou¡¯s body quickly transformed into the familiar human shape, but his lips no longer held the perpetual smile, and the happy expression on his face had been wiped out.

    Before Xue Wei and the others had the time to answer, Hei Gou asked his second question as he looked at himself with a bit of doubt.

    "Who am I? Also, why do you seem familiar?"

    These questions were enough to cause Xue Wei and the others a great deal of worry, but they were not rushing to exin to him.

    "What is the current rank of your strength?"

    The one who took the word first was Bai Tianyi. He looked at Hei Gou with narrowed eyes and observed every little detail that the dog was making, and started forming a theory in his mind.

    "I... don¡¯t seem to know."

    Hei Gou¡¯s already furrowed brows turned even more scrunched up. He was clearly feeling physically well, but his mind seemed to be covered by a mist that was impossible to disperse.

    "Would you mind if I were to test your strength?"

    Bai Tianyi wanted to check the likelihood of his theory being correct and asked politely. Hei Gou hesitated for a moment, but the strange feeling of familiarity made him nod his head.

    Bai Tianyi stepped forward and ced two fingers on the ck dog¡¯s wrist. A wisp of energy entered Hei Gou¡¯s flesh and examined the inside of his body.

    "His mutation did not fail. He has seeded in returning to his original bloodline, but the cost of this sess is that his memory has been sealed.

    "The biggest problem with the various bloodlines is that prior to Lan¡¯s rules that made it impossible to breed across races, everyone would try to do so, but after this became impossible, only one dominant bloodline would prevail.

    "This does not mean that the ones mixed in from back then did not exist, but they became weaker and had less influence on the descendants.

    "The previous mutations that Hei Gou has undergone has all ignited his potential, but many of these mutations were actually not based on his dominant bloodline, the Celestial Dog.

    "Now, with this mutation, his bloodline has returned to its origin. All the initial mutations have been dispersed, but the energy from these previous mutations and the energy that was gained this time has caused his bloodline to reach the most optimal version possible.

    "Hei Gou has be a true Celestial Dog with the most outstanding potential possible, but the effort that he has spent was too much, and his soul has taken an injury.

    "Although it can be healed, it has still caused a few parts of damage, and his memories have been sealed off for now."

    Bai Tianyi had expected that this was the case, but he dared not reach a conclusion before he had fully examined Hei Gou¡¯s body.

    When his wisp of energy entered the Celestial Dog¡¯s body, he found that it was exactly as he had guessed, and he spoke clearly and exined everything to them all.

    Hei Gou was also listening intently and tried to understand his words. He felt very confused and addled, but this was due to the strange mist that had upied his mind.

    If things were as this child said, then everything would make sense. He could feel his body was bursting with energy, and he was not familiar with this strange feeling of lightness.

    However, when he looked at these people, he felt that they were all important to him, but he could not recognize them at all. This strange emotional unbnce was enough to cause him even more difort.

    "Hei Gou. Your name is Hei Gou."

    Although Bai Tianyi had already mentioned this name before, Hei Gou was not familiar with this name, and he felt a sudden feeling of relief as the introduction was made.

    "My name is Xue Wei. We have been traveling alongside one another for many years, and I consider you my important friend and even a sworn brother."

    "As you have lost your memories, there are some things that I need to exin to you.

    "We are currently in a very perilous situation. We have someone scheming behind our backs, and while we are in the light, he is in the dark, so we do not know when he will hunt us down.

    "Our future is uncertain and we have no other option than to move forward. The one that this unknown enemy is targeting is me. I have no doubt that you would be ignored if you wish to leave and take the time to clear your mind."

    Xue Wei did not wish for Hei Gou to leave them, but he would not force him to wade through danger alongside them now that he had the chance for a new beginning.

    Hei Gou could also sense that Xue Wei was mentioning this for his own sake. It was not to force him away, but to give him another option. This selflessness made Hei Gou¡¯s heart ache for some unknown reason, and he took a deep breath.

    "Although my memories are gone, some things cannot be forgotten. I will not leave."

 Chapter 594: An Important Friend

    <h4>Chapter 594: An Important Friend</h4>

    Hei Gou¡¯s memories had been sealed deeply within his mind, and no matter how hard he tried, he could not remember anything. He understood that while the memories were sealed, the future was actually uncertain. It was unknown if they would return or not, so he had to fully consider his future.

    Although he had decided to stay with Xue Wei in a decisive manner, only he himself was aware of how difficult the decision had been.

    Right now, everything he knew was shrouded in a dense mist, and he felt confused. If he encountered such a situation, he, naturally, understood that he should trust no one.

    Although Xue Wei and the others had said a lot of inexplicable things, he could not verify what was correct, and what was just said for the sake of tricking him.

    Even so, a strange intuition made him trust this person in front of him. Whenever he looked at Xue Wei and the others, he felt an inexplicable sense of familiarity and happiness.

    While his memories were gone and one could trick him into believing almost anything, he was also smart enough to realize that this feeling could not be caused by trickery.

    It was also this strange intuition and feeling that had been the deciding factor behind his decision. Usually, he would do his utmost to stay away from anything until he had licked his wounds and found a n for advancing, but now he took a risky path forward.

    To bepletely frank, he was not sure whether the decision he had made was the right choice. He did not know much about the danger they were facing, nor did he understand their rtionship well, but he felt as if his heart was grasped by a hand and squeezed hard at the thought of leaving them.

    Since they had been important to him previously, then he would not mind reexperiencing the building of their rtionship. However, unlike before, he would not be influenced by previous emotions, and would look at their rtionship with more objective eyes.

    "We will rest for another day and night. During this time I will try to exin our current situation to you, and what we might face in the future."

    Xue Wei decided that since Hei Gou had chosen to stay, then he had to be as prepared as possible before they entered the No-Man¡¯s Land.

    "Do you want to be told about our past, or would you rather wait for the memories to return on their own? Even if they do not return, it does not influence your identity as ourrade. Your life belongs to you, and if you do not want to be weighed down by the past, then we can move on with this as a new starting point.

    "If you want to hear our anecdotes, then we will naturally be happy to share. Unfortunately, we can only exin how we experienced these past memories, and it might not do your own experience justice."

    Xue Wei tried to be as thorough as possible. The current oue was already the best among the oues he had feared while watching as his previous mutations were slowly disintegrating in front of him.

    He would, naturally, prefer if his friend could keep his memories, but he also understood Hei Gou¡¯s mentality well. If he had retained his memories, but returned to the strength he had before their first mutation, then the blow he would suffer was much more than what he could handle.

    The reason he was willing to risk this mutation was that he assumed that death and sess were the only two options. Now that they understood that there were many possible results, they were much more worried.

    "Thank you. I would like to hear about the enemy that we are facing, and I am very curious about this No-Man¡¯s Land that you mentioned. About my past, we should leave it alone for now.

    "Right now, I am struggling to figure out who I am. If we further confuse it with how you all see me, it might be harder to find my real self.

    "If I ever have a need to know certain things, then I hope you are still willing to answer my questions."

    The Hei Gou that was standing in front of them now was not as cheerful and silly as in the past, but his core had not changed, and they all respected his choice.

    "You can ask us anything whenever you wish to do so. We arepanions that have depended on one another through life and death battles, and you are one of the few people in the world that we are willing to entrust our backs to during a fight."

    Xue Wei was not usually a person who would speak emotionally. He was taciturn and felt that actions spoke louder than words.

    Even so, to ensure that Hei Gou would understand him, he still went the extra mile to exin his thoughts. As Hei Gou had lost his memories, he was also unable to have the same innate ability to understand his intentions, and thus Xue Wei took the time to exin. He was meticulous in a way like never before.

    Lin Xiao and the others were also showing their sincerity towards Hei Gou, and the pure friendship made the Celestial Dog feel relieved. His heart, that had been hanging in his throat, finally settled, and he felt as if the decision he made was the right one.

    Although he did not remember these people, they still felt important, and the way they treated him was enough to make him understand that he too was a valued member in their group.

 Chapter 595: â€œA New Step of Our Journey Beginsâ€

    <h4>Chapter 595: ¡°A New Step of Our Journey Begins¡±</h4>

    "So this is the No-Man¡¯s Land that you have described?"

    Xue Wei stood on top of a cliff. The cliff was not high, only around ten meters, but it felt as if they would enter another world the moment they jumped down.

    Although the area they had crossed so far felt different from the rest of the world, the No-Man¡¯s Land that was spread in front of them was truly hard to describe.

    Unlike the Ghost Realm, it did not seem deste. There were nts, but none of them were very tall, and most of them were brown and withered.

    The ground itself was, right below the cliff, covered in sand, but in the distance, one could see various environments appearing. To one side, something resembling a jungle seemed to appear, but on the other, a strange swamp had sunk into the ground.

    The No-Man¡¯s Land was truly a dangerous ce, as thendscape would change, and one never knew what to expect. Some of these ces would have weaker beasts residing within them, while others would be home to strong and fierce beasts that could cause them a great deal of trouble.

    Xue Wei¡¯s expression was grave, but he could not deny that a sense of eagerness arose within him.

    As he stood on the cliff and looked at thend that spread out in front of him, he could not help but feel as if he was bncing on the edge of life and death.

    Retreat would mean death, but even moving forward did not promise great chances for sess. Even so, he had no other option, and this hopeless situation had ignited his will to fight.

    Although the future was uncertain, he would never give up before he had done his best. This unyielding spirit had made him more solemn than before, and also more mature.

    His previous attitude had been heavily influenced by his negative emotions. He had fought for survival, but he had also held an innate hostility that could not be dispersed.

    Everything he did was for the sake of him and his friends, but he always viewed themselves as a group that was up against the rest of the world.

    Even the other Sovereign Beast ns were nothing more than partners that could provide certain benefits, but required something in return. He never considered himself part of this group, and felt as if the entire world was his enemy.

    It was not before now that he understood that they were not enemies. Also, the world was not split into friends and enemies, and many could beplete strangers who would have neutral impressions of others.

    However, although his life had gained many more nuances, he did not have the time to experience these changes yet.

    The No-Man¡¯s Land was not like the other continents he had traversed so far. This area was famed for the ruthless and brutal death that almost all who entered experienced.

    To survive, Xue Wei had to empty his mind. He could not be influenced by the many thoughts that had upied his mind recently. For now, he had to give his all for their survival, and the whole group would have to work together.

    "This area is strange and treacherous. Although it seems very simple, we can never know what we might encounter. Even so, it might be an important chance for us to mature and grow. We now know what we are up against, and while we do not know what this enemy has nned, it is clear that we have to prepare for a great battle ahead.

    "Although we have been fighting for survival all this time, it has never had much of a purpose or direction. We would float around depending on where our tasks took us, and it would result in many strange adventures.

    "Although they have managed to help us gain a further understanding of ourselves and enhance our strength, it is still not possible to gain the same results as when we have a clear goal ahead of us.

    "Just look at us now. Xue Wei, Hei Gou, and myself, we have all managed to reach the King rank. While my strength is greatly influenced by Xue Wei¡¯s breakthrough, and Hei Gou¡¯s is depending on the mutation brought by his blood, our current advance is truly more outstanding than we expected."

    Bai Tianyi was speaking to the group, but his eyes were roaming across the horizon. His childlike features did not match the vicissitudes of life that could be found in his eyes.

    After breaking through and bing a true spirit, many things had be clear to him, and he felt as if he had managed to leave behind the fog that kept shrouding his mind.

    "I guess that there is no reason to wait any longer. Mdy, why don¡¯t you take the first step?" Lin Xiao looked at Luoluo. He bowed slightly as he spread his arm, resembling a waiter that would invite ady into their premises, but what he did was to offer her the first, and the most dangerous, position down the cliff.

    "What a gentleman." Luoluo could not help but snort, as she shook her head in amusement. Most would not make a fragile-looking girl, such as herself, take the most dangerous step, but considering that her appearance did not match her strength or age, she decided not toment on the issue.

    Luoluo stepped forward. She nced down at the sand dune that was below the cliff and smiled happily.

    "Here I go!"

    As she spoke, she jumped off the cliff, andnded in the soft sand, quickly followed by the rest of the group.

    They all stood together as they looked towards the horizon, but afternding on the sand, they could no longer see the different environments. Everything in front of them was sand and withered nts.

    "Well then, a new step of our journey begins."

 Chapter 596: Retreat from the Start

    <h4>Chapter 596: Retreat from the Start</h4>

    "Prepare for a retreat! Hei Gou, you take care of the scorpions on the left side. Lin Xiao, you¡¯re on the right. Don¡¯t let any of them get through. Luoluo and Bai Tianyi, you two will take the front. I¡¯ll bring up the rear, get moving!"

    Xue Wei¡¯s voice was calm, but the urgency within was not hard to hear as he gave the orders sternly.

    It had not been long since they entered the No Man¡¯s Land, and they were still in the desert-like area where the sand had covered the ground, but even so, they had already encountered their first life-threatening situation.

    Unknowing whether they were unlucky, or if this area was much more dangerous than first assumed, they had managed to encounter a swarm of ckscaled Vine Scorpions.

    These ckscaled Vine Scorpions, on their own, were not a great danger, but when they gathered in groups, they could number more than ten thousand, and their lethality became much more remarkable.

    The swarm that they had encountered did not number a full ten thousand, but it was not less than eight thousand, and when faced with their small group of five experts, they truly had no other option than to retreat.

    Even so, they could not run headlessly into the sand dunes in front, as Xue Wei had already understood that this area was not simple. To survive, they had to stay together, so his orders were orderly and easy to follow, and the group began to fight their way through the agitated swarm of ckscaled Vine Scorpions.

    "Why is it that your Sovereign Beast Aura has absolutely no influence on the beasts of the No Man¡¯s Land?"

    While they began to retreat, Lin Xiao could not help but feel frustrated. He had grown up in a monastery where he was taught about the dangers that these Sovereign Beasts posed to the human world, as they could control all living beasts, but after traveling alongside Xue Wei, he found that, at least this Sovereign Beast, seemed to be quite defective.

    "Focus!"

    Xue Wei was also somewhat exasperated. He was aware that the ckscaled Vine Scorpions in front of him were considered Fierce Beasts, but it was as if they had a strange barrier surrounding their mind that kept them from thinking clearly, or even following their instincts.

    It was even more clear that something was wrong when they kept killing these beasts, as the ones at the back kept advancing without caring for the death of theirrades.

    It was as if these ckscaled Vine Scorpions had entered a strange berserk state where they could not connect to the outside world, and even the innate fear they should have when facing off against a Sovereign Beast waspletely gone.

    While the phenomenon was quite intriguing, now was not the time to pay attention to these details, and Xue Wei grit his teeth as he transformed his arms.

    Azure scales had sprouted from his skin, and his fingers had turned into strong ws that ripped apart any scorpion that dared to get close.

    Lin Xiao was wielding his staff with familiarity as he swept the scorpions on the ground, and even cracked their protective shell, causing them to slowly die.

    However, those that did not die right away would struggle to continue the battle, and they would only stop if they were physically incapable of continuing their assault.

    This strange and desperate attack was not normal for any kind of beast, but while Xue Wei and his group noticed these things, they were not in a position to ponder the cause or the reason, and they kept retreating further and further away.

    Their formation had proven to be working. Luoluo and Bai Tianyi were working together, but both of them possessed great strength, so they would also lend a helping hand to all others when needed, which managed to keep some of the pressure away from the other nks.

    Their retreat was slow but orderly, and they seemed to maintain a manageable routine that could be kept going.

    "We have to keep an eye out for other dangers on the way."

    Although they were currently facing a swarm of ckscaled Vine Scorpions, they all knew that this was not the most dangerous thing within No Man¡¯s Land, so when Hei Gou mentioned the need to constantly observe their surroundings as well, they all felt cold sweat wet their backs.

    Their retreat had been in a random direction, and they did not have much control over their path, so the only thing they could do was keep vignt and try to protect themselves.

    "Something is happening!"

    Bai Tianyi¡¯s childish voice suddenly sounded, but unlike the usual cheer and joy one could find in the voice of a child, this one was full of gloom and solemnity.

    The moment Bai Tianyi had finished speaking, the ground began trembling. The group of ckscaled Vine Scorpions seemed to have sensed something special, and their bodies began shivering, before they stopped all actions they were doing altogether.

    Even when Xue Wei and the others continued to kill them, none of them reacted, it was as if they all had their entire focus on the trembling of the ground.

    "I would suggest we change our direction right now."

    Luoluo seemed to sense something, and she nced towards the distance in the direction they were walking.

    "Right now!"

    Hearing the urgency in her voice, Xue Wei understood that the situation was dire and he called out to the rest of the group. "The scorpions are dazed, let us cut a route through them!"

    His ws began to rip apart the scorpions without much care as he no longer spent the time cautious and worried, but simply rushed through the dazed group of scorpions to get away. He made the road, and hisrades followed behind him, all hoping that their escape would be timely.

 Chapter 597: Overwhelming Pressure

    <h4>Chapter 597: Overwhelming Pressure</h4>

    Xue Wei had initially been bringing up the rear, but now that they found the increasingly dangerous pressureing closer, he was using his transformed arms and ws to rip apart any scorpion that was in their way.

    Luckily, the scorpions seemed to have entered a strange state where they did not seem to realize what was happening around them, and even when they were being brutally harmed, they did not even seem to register the pain.

    "Don¡¯t fall behind!" Although Xue Wei was the one at the front, he would often look back to ensure that the others could follow, and was trying to maintain such speed that they would not be left behind.

    While survival was important, he had no intention of running away on his own, but fortunately, the scorpions showed no signs of fighting back, so they easily created their own path of blood and flesh.

    Although the group was able to flee at a much swifter pace whenpared to the speed previously used when trying to escape the horde of scorpions, they did not feel much joy.

    The pressure that was emitted from the unknown creature that was advancing on their location was enough to make them understand why the No Man¡¯s Land was known as a deadly area.

    Although they had experienced great breakthroughs, and some of them had even shed their mortal bodies, they still felt the pressure emitted from this unknown creature, so they could easily guess that its strength would have, at least, reached the Emperor rank.

    They were not naive enough to think that they could sessfully fight with such a gap in strength, so they were eager to get away.

    "It is catching up!"

    Just as the pressure came closer to them, Lin Xiao¡¯s expression turned grim, and his brows furrowed worriedly.

    Just as his words were spoken, a resounding screech reverberated through thend, and the ground beneath their feet began to tremble.

    "It has reached the scorpions!"

    Luoluo had looked back, and her eyes widened as she gasped out a few words.

    "It is eating them, run!"

    Her words made all of them see a glimmer of hope, as this unknown creature had begun to feast on the scorpions. As long as it was stopped in its tracks for a short while, their chances of survival would increase, but they were also aware that they could not rest yet.

    The final line of scorpions was quickly broken through, and their speed increased drastically, as they no longer had to pave a usable road.

    The group¡¯s speed increased many times over, and they seeded in opening up arge distance between the scorpion group and themselves, but they did not stop running before they had gone a long distance.

    "Do you think that it can find us here?"

    Although they had run far away, they were still able to be found if this beast truly wished to do so, so when Lin Xiao asked this question, his body began trembling slightly.

    "It might, but I don¡¯t think it will be willing to spend the effort to chase after us. This No Man¡¯s Land is not simple, and if we keep running, we might unintentionally run into another danger zone controlled by some even stronger creature.

    "Also, Luoluo said that the beast began eating the scorpions, so I don¡¯t think that it will need to continue to hunt after eating them all, so we should be safe. As long as we do not threaten it, and it is not hungry, then we should be fine."

    After considering their situation, they all agreed that the current location was better than looking for anywhere else, so they quickly began to settle down and restore their energy.

    Even so, they did not dare to leave no one to guard, so while Xue Wei kept watch, the others began to cultivate and restore their strength, before they switched.

    Their current location was not bad. There were no strong beasts or beast packs around, and they could easily rest and restore their health.

    "We will stay here for a night. Let us get some good rest, because I fear that we will only encounter more and more dangers as we get deeper into the No Man¡¯s Land."

    Xue Wei had been the one to make the decision, but his reasoning was very understandable, and they all agreed.

    Before entering the No Man¡¯s Land, they had stocked up on all the items that could allow them to set up a resting area, but they dared not take out any lights or start a fire. Although their strength was known to be extremely high, this ce seemed to defy all logic, and their fire was likely to attract the braver beasts, which would destroy their intentions of resting.

    During the time they had been traveling, Hei Gou had been quiet. He had stood by their side, but at the same time, he also seemed very distant.

    His eyes were currently unfocused as he looked at the moon in the sky above. There was a strange longing in his eyes that Xue Wei did not understand, but he was also not willing to break the tranquil, but slightly mncholic, atmosphere that surrounded his good friend.

    Although Xue Wei would like to help him regain his memories, he also understood that Hei Gou was no longer aware of their past together. Although some feelings were still present, Hei Gou was still not aware of what they had gone through, so he would not be able to fully understand the bond that they shared.

    Xue Wei frowned as he contemted what to do. Their team was relying on one another for survival, so he needed Hei Gou to feel the same connection that had be natural to the others.

 Chapter 598: No Regrets

    <h4>Chapter 598: No Regrets</h4>

    "I feel a strange sense of tranquility, but a longing for something unknown is also growing inside my heart. It is as if there is something important that I have forgotten, but every attempt at grasping it just pushes it further away."

    Hei Gou had sensed the worry within Xue Wei¡¯s gaze, but even though he knew that this young man was very important to him, he was simply incapable of finding out why, and how deep these feelings ran.

    Xue Wei went to Hei Gou¡¯s side and sat next to him. He did not look at the other, but instead gazed into the dark sky above and sighed gently.

    "Life is unpredictable. Although neither of us are old, we have already experienced many things. I grew up thinking that I was a human, and my entire childhood focused on the enmity with the fierce and primordial beasts.

    "I thought that I could be a hero and save humanity. I believed that only if I could carve my name into the history books as a savior of humanity would I have lived a worthy life.

    "Later, I realized that I was not purely human, and due to the unbnced Sovereign Beast Blood in my body, many thoughts were chaotic and contradicting. The constant worry and fear about who I was and what I was almost swallowed my reason, but I managed to keep sane and stay alive due to you and the rest of our friends.

    "Although we are not old, I have already realized that my childhood dreams were useless. I do not live for anyone else, nor do I need the world to recognize me as a hero or to have expectations from me.

    "The current situation in this world is not my problem. Lan is the one in control of this world, and his responsibility is that the world itself will not suffer.

    "At the same time, it is the residents themselves that have to ensure that their lives are worth living. We face danger again and again. Every time we enter a battle, it is uncertain if we will die or live, but if we want to live, someone else will have to die, and one day, our luck and abilities will no longer be enough.

    "After considering my current life and all these hidden secrets I have reached a new rity in life. I am not in control of when I will die, nor do I know what the world will think of me, but these things are not actually important.

    "When the day of my death arrives, I wish to be able to look back at my life and think that it was not such a bad life. I wish to die with no regrets while working towards my own dreams. I do not need others to approve of me or my actions, all that matters is that I live with no regrets."

    Xue Wei had been thinking about many things after his bloodline had be stable. He had understood many things, and knew that the danger he faced was much more severe than he had been able to guess previously.

    Although he wished to ovee these dangers, there was a chance that he might not. Even so, he refused to cowardly hide and give up his dreams. He would rather shine brightly but die young than hide in darkness and regret for eternity.

    Xue Wei did not speak about their past but their future, and his words made Hei Gou feel better. The emptiness within his heart slowly began to fill, and he no longer felt a strange sense of loss and depression.

    Although their past was still not mentioned in the details of their conversation, Hei Gou found that this pleasant conversation was enough to calm his frazzled nerves, and he slowly felt at ease. Even Xue Wei could feel how he slowly began to ept the feelings that upied his mind.

    Although it was not mentioned with words, Xue Wei knew that Hei Gou was ufortable with the feelings of attachment he felt towards Xue Wei and the others.

    All his memories were gone, and his mind was very vignt. He was unaware of many things, but he knew that he had to be careful, so this almost controlling need to stay by this group¡¯s side was enough to make him unhappy and worried.

    However, as the hours went by and he slowly began to speak with Xue Wei, his suspended heart slowly settled and he began to feel as if he could integrate in the group without suffering.

    Not once did Xue Wei ask if he had remembered anything, and he truly managed to make him feel at ease and epted for who he was now. Such a feeling made the sense of resistance his logical mind had raised slow down again.

    "This No Man¡¯s Land is going to be a challenge for us. Not only will it test our ability to fight and react in dangerous situations, it will also test our group¡¯s cooperation. I am aware that I am currently a weak link, but I will try my best to be a part of the group once more."

    As the sun¡¯s first rays of light broke over the horizon, Hei Gou seemed to have finally found his inner peace once more. He was no longer feeling worried or ufortable, but began to willingly ept Xue Wei and the others.

    While he could no longer trust them as before, he was willing to open his heart, which was a great start, and his words caused Xeu Wei¡¯s cold face to soften as a smile adorned his lips.

    Although Hei Gou¡¯s personality had changed after forgetting his memories, Xue Wei still felt that deep within, the core of the two versions of the ck dog were the same. As long as he was willing to openly give their group a try, then Xue Wei had no doubt that they would soon return to being a very steady group that could depend on one another.

 Chapter 599: Merging Two Worlds

    <h4>Chapter 599: Merging Two Worlds</h4>

    "Where do we go from here?" Lin Xiao looked at the vast expanse of t ground that stretched in front of them. Although it seemed peaceful and without danger, they all knew that it was full of creatures beneath the ground or hiding themselves from sight.

    These beasts would, in normal situations, not pose much of a threat to their group, as Xue Wei had an overpowering Sovereign Beast Aura, but their previous encounter had already made it clear that in the No Man¡¯s Land, this aura was useless.

    For now, all of them had to depend on one another to survive, and even the slightest mistake might lead to their demise.

    "From what we have seen so far there are not only hordes of scorpions in this area, there is also some sort of overlord. This overlord is likely to be much more dangerous than the other beasts since it is able to petrify them and make them lose their ability to fight back while being consumed.

    "Even if we encounter another group of scorpions or some other beasts around this level of strength, then we can fight our way through, but if we encounter this overlord, then we might be facing some real danger."

    Xue Wei was also feeling a little uncertain as to how to progress.

    "It is a beast, and the amount of scorpions it ate yesterday should be enough to make it feel full for a period of time. I would suggest that we find the most direct way away from this area and hope that it will not feel hungry before we have left."

    Hei Gou had not taken the initiative to participate in these conversations after losing his memories, but after the talk with Xue Wei the previous evening, he was willing to open up.

    Among their entire group, Hei Gou was without a doubt the one who understood beasts the best. Even Xue Wei, who was at a higher rank would not have the same kind of understanding since he was raised as a human and had been in constant confusion about what it meant to be a beast.

    "Since the collosal is likely to have fallen asleep now that it has eaten, it should be the most suitable time for leaving. However, even though this beast is sleeping, the many others are likely to be more active since they are the most used to the habits of this killer, so we still have to be careful and alert."

    Lin Xiao was not a beast himself, but after Hei Gou, he was the one with the most experience in how to hunt beasts, and thus also on how to avoid them.

    As an inheritor of the Diviners within the Chang¡¯an Continent, he had been taught how to hunt and subdue beasts from a very young age, and he used some of this knowledge to warn the others.

    Xue Wei and the spirits were painfully aware how important it was to stay vignt, so all three nodded their heads in agreement. This No Man¡¯s Land was truly dangerous, and not a ce that could be easily traversed.

    "It feels as if we have entered some sort of alternative world. While this area is still connected to our own world, it is more as if a pocket dimension has been forcefully attached. The usualws and regtions that control the rest of our world do not seem to have any influence here, also the air seems different, and even the beasts are unlike any we have encountered before."

    Bai Tianyi could not help but speak suddenly. They had walked for a whole morning, and it was close to noon when he pointed out the things he had noticed this morning throughout their movement.

    Ever since they began moving, they had not encountered any other beasts, so he had a good time to examine their surroundings.

    Although he heard about this No Man¡¯s Land, he had never been here before, and thus the knowledge he had was purely based on rumors. Now that he was here himself, he found that it was as if they had entered a new world, and many things did not seem to add up.

    "Is it possible to integrate one world with another?" Xue Wei could not help but frown. He was reminded of his visit to the Ghost Realm, and while they had removed the inability to ascend, he had never thought it would be possible to physically move the realm and then merge it with the world they lived in now.

    Yet, after considering it, he decided that even if it was a possibility, he would not have been a great supporter of this. Although the Ghost Realm was a ruthless and dangerous ce, the major problem was that it was extremely glum and depressing. The ghosts living within were ruthless and used to killing for survival, and if a whole realm of ghosts were merged with their world, it was likely that these ghosts would end up destroying this world.

    Bai Tianyi was looking around and could not help but frown. "I think it is, in theory, possible, but it would have to be done prior to Lan¡¯s arrival. I doubt that he is the one who merged the two realms, and it could not be done after he took over the position as the Sovereign God."

    Xue Wei frowned and nodded his head. Many things were unclear, and after realizing that someone had schemed against him for so many years, he could not help but wonder if this merger of worlds had anything to do with the culprit in the darkness.

    However, if the merge was done prior to Lan¡¯s arrival, it should not? However, it was hard to say, when considering that even their visit to the Ghost Realm was calcted so urately.

 Chapter 600: True Horror in No Manâ€™s Land

    <h4>Chapter 600: True Horror in No Man¡¯s Land</h4>

    Xue Wei was somewhat confused about the purpose of merging two different worlds. When merged, they would, in theory, belong to the same world, but due to the various rules and regtions, most things could be ignored and they would end up shing against one another instead.

    This was also the reason why the No Man¡¯s Land was considered a dangerous area where no one would venture to unless they had no other option.

    While this area was located in their world, it was actually uncontrolled by thews that the local cultivators were used to, so they would have to either adapt quickly, or simply be lucky to survive.

    However, it was also because of these contracting things that ensured that the beasts within this pocket dimension would not wreak havoc on the rest of the world. None of the strongest beasts had the ability to leave the No Man¡¯s Land where they were locked up within.

    "If this is the case, then the dangers we will face in the future will only get worse."

    Although they had all thought of this, only Hei Gou was willing to mention it, and his words made the others feel somewhat helpless.

    It was indeed the case. Since this No Man¡¯s Land was in conflict with the rest of the world, then it was clear that the beasts within would not be able to ascend to a higher realm upon breaking through to the immortal realm.

    However, even if they could not break through the realm itself, they would have been in this No Man¡¯s Land for so long that they would be considered equally strong to a weaker immortal, and if they were to encounter these beasts, then they would be helpless, no matter how swiftly they fled.

    "Fortunately, thatst creature was only interested in the scorpions. Also, I don¡¯t think that it was at the immortal realm, but even that thing was able to make us flee in fear, imagine those true overlords of this area."

    Since Hei Gou had already mentioned the danger of those near-immortal beasts, Lin Xiao could not help butment as well. It was clear to them all that although they had been prepared to face danger upon entering this area, they did not know just how severe the threat to their lives were before now.

    Even so, none of them had any intention of backing down. They had not gone here for fun or to experience the environment. To them, the journey through the No Man¡¯s Land was purely done for the sake of moving forward and not bing passive in the hands of their hidden enemy.

    Since they were likely to die if they stayed passive, then they might as well take this great risk and try to move forward.

    "I am sorry." Xue Wei was aware that none of them would back down. Even Hei Gou, who had forgotten his memories, did not seem to have any intention of leaving them behind, but the target of this hidden enemy was clearly Xue Wei, and they were risking their lives only to ensure that he could keep living.

    Such willingness to gamble with their own lives made Xue Wei feel moved. Although he was not a person who would show off his affection, and while he knew that his verbal thanks was pale whenpared to the surging emotions inside, he still wished to say a simple thanks.

    He was not going to try and convince them to turn back, because he knew that if any of them were the targets of this viin, and they tried to persuade him to step back, he would get angry and stay back anyway.

    He was certain that hispanions felt the same, so he was going to show his gratitude with his actions and ensure that none of them would die in front of him. Even if they faced an unresolved danger at some point, then he would stand in front to face these threats and try to buy them enough time to escape.

    Lin Xiao, Hei Gou, Bai Tianyi, and Luoluo all understood Xue Wei¡¯s thoughts, but none of them said anything. Even so, they all just smiled knowingly and shook their heads.

    To them, they did not need Xue Wei to risk his life for their escape. In many ways, he had given them a future, so to them, he was a very important person.

    Lin Xiao had fled the Chang¡¯an Continent to break away from his fate as the chosen heir to the Diviners. He had nothing to return to, and even if he could keep living on his own, he had long since acknowledged Xue Wei and the others as true family.

    While life was important, it was not worth living at all costs. Rather than living a life of regret, he would prefer to shine brightly and rush ahead.

    Bai Tianyi had also finally found peace with his past, and he was no longer obsessed with immortality. To him, the most important thing was to simply enjoy every day and not worry about the future.

    So many years have been spent worrying, so why not just take it one day at a time?

    Luoluo was saved by Xue Wei and the others. Although she was no longer childlike and weak, she was well aware that her future was a gift from them, so even if she died alongside her friends and family, she would never regret it.

    These people, although none of them were rted by blood, they were closer than many families. To them, life was important, but they were not willing to do anything to live.

    They never imed to be good people, but that did not mean that they were without their own views and morals. While they would rather kill an innocent than risk their friends and family, they would also rather sacrifice their lives than to see their dear ones suffer.

 Chapter 601: Gloomy Aura

    <h4>Chapter 601: Gloomy Aura</h4>

    The vast sandy dunes in front of the group were seemingly never ending. Although their group had seen the end of this area on the horizon, it was as if their journey would continue forever before they could reach this border.

    Their journey had been hurried as they dared not rx. They did not know if the overlord of these sandy dunes would suddenly get hungry once more, and if it decided that it no longer wished to eat scorpions but wanted to taste humans, so they dared not linger.

    Although their speed was as swift as possible, they still got dyed by a few groups of beasts here and there, and even now, two days after their decision of getting out of the area before the big beasts reawakened, they still had not reached the border.

    "Is there really a reason for us to keep all these corpses?" Lin Xiao could not help but kick the carcass in front of him as he was starting to get frustrated.

    During the time they had fought against these beasts, Xue Wei had been adamant about keeping all the scorpion corpses in their storage treasures, as he felt that they might be usefulter.

    This area was not native to this world, so everything that lived here was kept hidden because of their inability to leave. This meant that many things here could not be found elsewhere. Even the corpses of these scorpions were different from the rest of the world, so Xue Wei felt that it would only benefit them and not harm them to keep them.

    Also, in case they encountered another of these gluttonous beasts, they could always throw a whole mountain of beast corpses in front of these strong beasts to slow them down.

    Even though there was a reason behind Xue Wei¡¯s ns, Lin Xiao and the others were starting to feel disgusted when looking at these ckscaled Vine Scorpions as they were more numerous than ants in a forest.

    "We should leave this area soon. I know that the scorpions are really annoying, but you can just think of them as an extra safety charm. If the stronger beasts suddenly feel like hunting for food and we happen to be in the way, then they can be thrown out to, hopefully, let them eat these annoying things."

    Lin Xiao could not hide the disgust in his eyes, but he still gathered all the corpses within his storage treasure.

    "This area is very gloomy." Although they had been here for a longer time, Luoluo had been feeling uncertain about the gloom in the air. She had felt ufortable from the start, but from the very beginning, she had felt uncertain whether or not this difort was due to the dangers and their current situation, or if there was something truly wrong with this area.

    As they kept moving forward, she had tried to figure out the origin of her feelings, and only now could she determine that the worry she felt was not based on their situation or the danger of this area. There was a sense of gloom in this pocket realm that had been connected to their world that made her feel ufortable.

    Xue Wei and the others all paused as they looked at Luoluo. Although she had not said anything special, her words were enough to prove that something was wrong with this area.

    Luoluo was a pure spirit. She was created by the heavens and earth essence themselves, so she was very sensitive towards evil and changes in the aura.

    Since she dared to say that the aura was gloomy, then there was definitely something wrong.

    "Do you feel anything in particr, or is it more of a general feeling since entering No Man¡¯s Land?"

    Xue Wei could not help but frown as he began to survey their surroundings once more. He was already very guarded about their journey through this area, but now he had to consider other things as well, as she would never have mentioned this without a reason.

    "At first, I was merely worried. I felt that something was wrong, but was uncertain of the cause. During the time we have been moving forward, the feeling has been getting worse, but I had to ensure that the feelings were not based on our current situation, but the area we are in."

    The more Luoluo spoke, the more her brows furrowed as she kept thinking and trying to separate her emotions.

    "The feeling I have is full of depression. It is as if this entire world is drenched in blood and souls that died in agony. I can feel the despair and the heavy air that is everywhere, but when looking around, no traces of souls with such intelligence have appeared."

    Xue Wei could not help but frown as well, as he began to reexamine the memories of the time they had traveled through this area.

    Although it was full of sand and beasts, there were no human remains to be found. There were also no traces of battles or deaths to be found anywhere.

    "Could the traces of battles be hidden under all the sand?"

    While they looked around, Bai Tianyi also felt a bit of gloom, but he had only be a true spirit recently, so while he was also more sensitive towards the surrounding aura, it was nowhere near Luoluo¡¯s degree.

    None of the members in the group doubted Luoluo¡¯s words. Instead they began to ponder the cause of this gloomy aura and tried to figure out a solution or find a cause, as it could turn out to be a great threat to themter on.

 Chapter 602: Familiar Feelings

    <h4>Chapter 602: Familiar Feelings</h4>

    "ording to the gloom and depression in the air, this realm should be full of death and despaired souls.

    "Even if the physical remains had been hidden somewhere under the sand, it should not make the air this ufortable, unless countless souls died in extreme agony and never got to leave this area.

    "However, if the souls never left the area, the air should also not be like this. The soul energy should be present. Even if we can¡¯t use it to cultivate, I should still be able to sense it somewhere, but this realm ispletely devoid of soulpower."

    Luoluo¡¯s brows were furrowed, and the more she spoke, the more solemn the whole group became. Many things did not add up, and these things made them all feel ufortable.

    "Let us take a step back and guess that maybe these chaotic souls had gathered together and be a vengeful spirit, there has to be some sort of ripple in the aura, but what I sense is not pure hatred that should be present within a vengeful spirit, instead it is despair and hopelesness."

    Luoluo¡¯s frown suddenly loosened as her eyes widened and a trace of disbelief and confusion appeared within her eyes.

    "I feel as if I have experienced this feeling before."

    Although Luoluo spoke hesitatingly, she would not mention it unless she was confident in her memory of this feeling, but her hesitation was still obvious.

    While she remembered the feeling very clearly, she could not remember when or where it was from.

    "My memory of when I was locked up at the Garden of Shadows is faulty, but I am quite certain that this feeling originates from there."

    Xue Wei and the others looked doubtful, but they did not question the truth of her words, instead they tried to figure out why this feeling would appear both ces.

    "Actually, this feeling is not only from the Garden of Shadows. I might not bepletely certain, but after spending some time trying to recognize the feeling, I also find it somewhat simr to the aura that we encountered on the ind within the Thunder Twilight Zone that we entered during our travels in the Sea of the Enchanted."

    Bai Tianyi was also trying to sense the aura, but unlike the uncertain Luoluo, he seemed to remember this gloomy feeling much more certainly.

    "Why would the same feeling appear in both the Thunder Twilight Zone and the Garden of Shadows?"

    Lin Xiao could not help but ask the question that all of them were thinking about. Although he had been part of their group during both of these adventures, he did not remember many things these two areas had inmon.

    Xue Wei seemed to have a thought shing past, but it was too quick for him to grasp, and he felt as if he was ignoring something important.

    Hei Gou was standing aside. He was present during both adventures, but his memories were locked up somewhere within a mist in the depth of his mind, so he was not able to help them figure out anything if it depended on their past experiences.

    "I feel as if I am missing something important. There is a memory looming in my mind, but I can¡¯t grasp it properly." Xue Wei¡¯s eyes were narrowed and he looked into the horizon as he tried to catch this vague memory. He felt that it might be a lead to figuring out what was happening.

    Luoluo frowned. She did not remember much details about her time in the Garden of Shadows. Her spirit had been severely harmed and even the time she spent being locked up was was vague and hazy, not to mention the rescue.

    The time in the Thunder Twilight Zone were a bit more distinct in her memory, but even so, she could not pinpoint anything specific that could exin the current situation.

    "We have to keep moving. Even if we are facing something more dangerous than initially expected, it is no longer possible for us to retreat."

    Xue Wei¡¯s brows were still furrowed, but he knew that they could not spend too much time considering these vague worries.

    "For now, the most dangerous thing are the creatures that keeps looming around us. Even if there is something more dangerous hidden within this No Man¡¯s Land, we should not worry about it for now.

    "The dangers that are in front of us cannot be ignored. If we are preupied with these hidden threats, we will end in the stomach of some beasts before we can get harmed by something hidden.

    "If this gloomy feeling has some sort of connection with our previous adventures, then it is very likely that it also has some sort of connection to the unknown enemy we are facing. Since this is the case, then things will be unraveled at some time, so for now, we just have to do our best to survive."

    Although Xue Wei¡¯s words might sound as if he was pushing aside the troubles, there was truly no other option. The No Man¡¯s Land where they were right now was not simple, and surviving was already difficult. If they had something else to confuse them, they might end up dead.

    "It is truly a desperate situation."

    Lin Xiao could not help but smile wryly as he shook his head. The unknown enemy had pushed them to their limits. Although they were perfectly well aware of the dangers within this No Man¡¯s Land, there was truly no other way to get to their destination.

    They had to risk their lives and suffer unmeasurable horrors, and even so, their future survival was still uncertain.

 Chapter 603: The Gloomy Forest

    <h4>Chapter 603: The Gloomy Forest</h4>

    "Look!" Lin Xiao''s excited voice startled the depressed group and they raised their heads and looked ahead to where he was pointing. The time spent in this sandyndscape was truly dreadful, and during thest couple of hours, a strong wind had been blowing, causing a sandstorm to increase the troubles they faced in their advance.

    "That''s a forest. Look, it is so different. It is as if this sandy area and the forest are twopletely different worlds, not to mention that the border between the two areas is so distinct and clear that it seems fake."

    The rest of the group had noticed the phenomenon that he was talking about. In front of them was the border between the sandy areas and a strange forest unlike any they had ever seen before. The forest was, as any others, dominated by trees, but these trees were all crooked and their bark was covered in grime.

    Green leaves were at the very top of the trees, but instead of the majority of trees with countless leaves on each branch, these had fewer leaves but their sizes were also many times bigger than ever seen before.

    In fact, each of these leaves was double the size of Xue Wei.

    "Although I am tired of these scorpions and the sand, I feel that our current area is many times more peaceful and less dangerous than that forest."

    Bai Tianyi could not help but gulp as he spoke. Although he had heard many things about this No Man''s Land before, what had met them after their arrival was much more dangerous and terrible than he had ever expected.

    "Indeed. The sandy area seems prettyfortable right now. In fact, I wouldn''t mind, even if the sandstorm continues to blow."

    Luoluo and Bai Tianyi were the ones most sensitive to the aura around them. Although the sandy areas had been gloomy and depressing, it was much more manageable than this forest in front of them that made their hearts palpitate just by looking at it.

    "The forest is naturally more dangerous. Not only due to the nts we have never seen before, but also since, most likely, a wider variety of beasts live within.

    "Not only will we be likely to encounter more beasts, they will also be much more camouged, so we have to constantly be alert when moving. We don''t even know if the nts are carnivorous too."

    Xue Wei was not as sensitive as Luoluo and Bai Tianyi, but even he felt a strong resistance towards this forest. The trees were gloomy and the dim light that breached through the leaves was not enough to release a gentle light.

    Even the grime on the trees made him painfully aware that the further into this No Man''s Land they got, the more dangers they would encounter. Instead of sumbing to this danger, they had to keep fighting and move forward together.

    "Understood."

    Xue Wei was the youngest in their group, but he was also their moral support. He had brought them to see a much vaster world than they had ever known, or taught them the important things in life. Luoluo even felt that he was the reason for her to gain her freedom, so all of them were willing to listen to this young man as he spoke.

    Although they all knew about the dangers they were to face, none of them mentioned the option of going back. To them, there was only one way; to keep moving forward.

    The most intriguing thing was that they had walked for so long. The sandy area was not full of hills and dunes, and although the sandstorm had limited their view a little, they should have noticed this forest way sooner than they did.

    By the time Ling Xiao had called out, the forest was only a few steps away from them, so they did not have much time to gather their thoughts.

    "Should we rest here before we enter, or go straight away?" Hei Gou looked at the forest in front and the sandyndscape behind. His eyes were dim, and he was feeling somewhat troubled. It seemed that no matter which option they picked, they would suffer and be unable to rest properly.

    "The sandstorm will not allow us any rest."

    Although Xue Wei would have liked to gather strength before entering a new area, he understood that it was not possible. The sandstorm had be more and more fierce as they approached the border, and they would be unable to benefit, even if they took a few moments to sit down.

    "In that case, let us give this new area a try." Hei Gou naturally respected Xue Wei''s decision. He, too, understood the reason for this decision, but still felt that the dangers ahead could not be belittled.

    "Wait!"

    Just as they got ready to enter, Luoluo called out. "I am not the most familiar with these various realms, but if this realm was merged with our world, could it, perhaps, be a realm made from different pocket dimensions? Then, each of these smaller realms has their own rules and regtions?

    "If that is the case, then, maybe this forest has other secrets and traps waiting? Some of the pocket dimensions I entered before getting caught had the habit of splitting apart groups when entering.

    "I am not sure if this is possible here, but I would rather ensure that we do not get split than to take a risk."

    As Luoluo finished speaking, the others felt somewhat fearful. Amongst their group, only Luoluo had entered more than a few pocket dimensions, so she had a better background knowledge than the rest. Even Bai Tianyi had not experienced this before, but he could already feel fear upon imagining what would happen if they got separated from one another.

 Chapter 604: The Bloody Mud

    <h4>Chapter 604: The Bloody Mud</h4>

    The air in the desert had been dry and unpleasant. Although they were all cultivators of a higher rank, they still suffered when breathing in the sandy air that made their throats dry.

    However, upon entering this strange forest, the air had changed from dry to humid, but the change was not something that they appreciated. The humid air was stale, and the smell resembled a puddle of stagnant and rotten water that could contain almost anything disgusting.

    The trees were all stretching towards the skies, but unlike the usual green leaves that hungered for sunlight, these trees seemed to shield themselves against the rays of light.

    "This ce is extremely ufortable."

    Luoluo could not help but frown as she looked at the grime on the ground. The forest floor did not contain fallen leaves, moss, or other standard things you would imagine from this type of environment.

    With each step that Xue Wei and the others took, they felt how their feet would sink into the mud, but the mud itself did not seem to be the regr kind that was made from water and soil; instead, it seemed that the liquid used to create this mud was blood.

    One could only imagine the amount of blood needed to create this much mud, but the amount was not the biggest issue, the stench was enough to make any weak person sick, and even this group was influenced by the disgust they felt.

    "The gloom is getting more intense the further we go. I am not sure if this area is especially bad, or if it is going to be even worse when we reach the next area."

    Xue Wei could not help but frown as he looked around, but he did not reply to Luoluo''s statement. Although she might have some theories, it was not possible for them to reach any conclusions as it was now, so instead of wasting time on these worries, he would rather focus on surviving for now.

    Even so, he did not admonish Luoluo either. Although she was worried about something that was unimportant for now, she was merely worried about their future path.

    "Don''t you find it too silent?"

    After looking around for some time, Xue Wei finally asked. They had been in this strange forest for a long time, but up until now, they had not encountered even one living being.

    In fact, they had not even heard any sounds, not even a rustling of leaves or a snapping branch. The silence was almost suffocating.

    "Before arriving, we were already aware that the beasts would have a better chance of camouging in this forest, but we have not met anything at all. Do you think that there are no beasts at all?" Hei Gou could not help but frown as he asked. He looked around with some confusion in his eyes.

    "I cannot perceive any breath of beasts. It is as if this region is indeed devoid of all living beings."

    "But, if there are no living beings, then where does the bloode from?" Ling Xiao did not doubt Hei Gou''s words, but after looking around, his gaze could not help butnd on the mud underneath their feet once more.

    Although they had not personally seen the blood wetting the soil under their feet, they had shed enough lives to know that it was high graded blood that created this muddy ground, and thus they dared not rx their vignce.

    "Could the blood have flowed here from another region?" Although it sounded unlikely, Xue Wei could not help but ask. He was not familiar with these strange smaller dimensions, and thus he had to ask the two experts, Luoluo and Bai Tianyi.

    "This realm is weird." Luoluo was the first to speak, and her eyebrows were deeply furrowed as she looked around. "It does not feel like one realm but many that have been cut apart and put together. If they are all from their own worlds, then it might be difficult for the blood toe from elsewhere, as the two smaller regions are unwilling to integrate."

    Xue Wei nodded his head and looked around. It turned out that thend itself was unwilling to assimte with this new world, so it would not likely ept blood from elsewhere.

    "Maybe the blood is the reason for the silence?" Ling Xiao finally rubbed his chin.

    "Look at how soggy the ground is, it is clear that the blood is fresh. At the same time, the silence in the area can only show that all the creatures close by have died. Hence, I assume that this ruthless forest has killed all beasts for some reason."

    While Ling Xiao was usually the least likely toe with reasonable theories, his sudden idea made sense.

    "Could the forest have killed all these animals after knowing that we have entered No Man''s Land?" Hei Gou looked around the area, but the only thing he felt was that while the theory was reasonable, some things seemed a little off.

    "Even if we have entered this realm, there does not seem to be enough reason for this forest to ughter all beasts. We are not the only humans who have entered No Man''s Land, so there is no need for such desperate actions.

    "At the same time, you also have to remember that if the forest wanted to kill all the beasts, it would suffer greatly. Beasts, if there had indeed been beasts living here, then they would have been a part of the natural habitat, and would have an influence on the survival of the forest in one way or another.

    "At the same time, if the forest really killed off all these beasts, then where are their carcasses? Even if the trees are able to absorb the nutrients of the beasts, why would the blood flow like this? Also, if they are consuming the corpses, why are we only finding their blood?"

 Chapter 605: The Stagnant Sun

    <h4>Chapter 605: The Stagnant Sun</h4>

    Hei Gou had made a clear analysis of the current situation. The bloody mud underneath their feet was not likely to have appeared due to the forest suddenly killing and consuming the beasts living within, so where could ite from?

    "For now, this might be to our advantage. We have already been walking through a fairlyrge patch of this forest, but we have not encountered much danger yet.

    "While we have to stay alert and be prepared to fight at any moment, our current situation could be much worse. We have been in many forests before, and the ones with wet grounds like this one usually are filled with insects.

    "While insects are not that troublesome in those forests, we are all aware that No Man''s Land cannot bepared to any other ce, and the insects here are likely to be a true threat if they appear.

    "Since this is the case, we should make use of our current peace. While the area is disgusting and disturbing, we can still advance without much trouble for now.

    "So what if the mud is made from blood? It is not as if we have never seen rivers of blood before, so what does a little mud matter?

    "What we have to focus on is not the bloody mud or its origin, but the threats and dangers that might jump at us at any moment. We should focus on the most secure, but also quickest, way to exit this grim forest."

    Xue Wei''s eyes were full of vignce as he looked around. His words contained a solemnity that could not be ignored, and the others also understood that his point was correct.

    Although the bloody mud was disturbing, it would not threaten them for now. If the forest had truly massacred all living beings within its borders before their arrival, it might even have done them a favor, so they should be more alert of anything living left behind.

    "Should we increase our pace then?"

    Ling Xiao looked around and found that there was not actually any visible dangers for now, so if they wanted to leave this area as soon as possible, it might be viable to speed up their movements.

    "We can''t."

    However, his question just made Bai Tianyi frown as he sternly shot down his suggestion.

    "Although we have not encountered anything dangerous yet, increasing our speed is a very bad idea. If we increase our speed, we will be much more easy to spot by any danger that might be lurking in the darkness, and attacks are also much more likely to seed.

    "Although I understand your eagerness to leave as soon as possible, it has to be done in a timely manner. We cannot rush anywhere, since it will just rouse the troubles we are working hard to avoid."

    By now, Bai Tianyi had gainedplete peace with his appearance, so his facial expressions were natural and did not try to seem mature on purpose.

    Even so, the words spoken were heavy and contained a lot of wisdom and intelligence that was unheard of when looking at such a young boy. The contrast would have been intriguing, if they had been in an environment where they had the option to appreciate it.

    "Let us keep going." Luoluo ended the conversation with a few sigh and kept moving forward. None of them dared to be less alert, as they moved forward little by little, but they never really knew how much time had passed.

    "The sun does not move."

    Hei Gou was the first to mention the phenomenon. Although the others had been feeling odd about their current circumstances, they had not know exactly what the origin of this strange feeling was, but after hearing Hei Gou''s words, they suddenly understood.

    The sunlight could not break through the leaves of the trees, so it was reasonable to say that they were not influenced by the sun at all, but even if it could not break through, the light would still be present, as it gave a dim light in the forest thicket.

    However, ever since they entered the forest, the light had not changed in intensity at all. There was no signs of the sun moving around on the skies at all, and it was impossible to say if it was day or night. This sudden discovery made them feel apprehensive.

    "I would assume that each of these areas are truly their own individual pocket dimension from this discovery.

    "The sun is not acting the same way here as it was in the area with the many scorpions, so it makes sense to believe that each area we enter will have its own rules and regtions. We have to keep alert for these details too.

    "In the scorpion area, your Sovereign Beast Aura had no influence, but it might help here, in case we encounter a beast. However, just take it as an extra benefit if it does, do not assume that it will be the case."

    Luoluo was the one who had been in the most of these individual small realms, so she also gave some cautions to each of them.

    "However, since the sun does not move here, we might as well ignore the time spent. For now, we should focus on leaving as soon as possible. Since we can no longer depend on the sun to know when to rest, we have to be more alert when listening to our bodies.

    "Although we want to leave this area as soon as possible, the constant strain on our minds as we keep vignt will make us exhausted, so we do need to rest from time to time. Without rest, we will not be able to fight back if anyone wants to fight us."

 Chapter 606: They are Here

    <h4>Chapter 606: They are Here</h4>

    "Let''s continue."

    The group had been wandering for days on end. Because the dim light that reached the forest floor was constantly present, they had no way to determine how many days had gone by and could only travel depending on their current condition.

    They had rested more than ten times already, and usually one rest a day would be enough. However, their surroundings were exactly the same as when they entered the forest at the very start, so they did not know how far they were, or what their progress was.

    As the cascading light was constant, they also did not know if their rest time was the same as in the other regions, or if it had changed after entering this forest. In fact, their normal sense of time had gotten lost, and they could only progress little by little.

    "This ce is even worse than the damn scorpions!" Ling Xiao was getting frustrated, and he could not help but pull his hair in helplessness.

    Although he had felt annoyed when they were being constantly besieged by the cksed Vine Scorpions, it was much better than this constant worry and uncertainty. Also, the time spent when battling the scorpions felt much shorter than the time they had spent in this timeless jungle.

    "Quiet." Xue Wei''s brows furrowed as his eyes quickly roamed across the surroundings. His frown deepened as he felt something wrong.

    From the time they had entered and until now, they had not met any other living being than the trees, and they haven''t yet found an exnation for the origin of the bloody mud.

    However, for the first time, Xue Wei felt the breath of living creatures closing in on them. But instead of feeling relieved to experience this change in their surroundings, he got extremely vignt.

    The breath of living beings that approached them was not a single breath, but countless, and the speed by which they were advancing was also worrying.

    "Prepare for battle."

    The others had also realized that something was wrong, so when they heard Xue Wei''s order, they all gathered in pairs, so they could guard each other''s backs. Luoluo and Bai Tianyi stood back to back, while Ling Xiao and Hei Gou made up the second pair.

    Xue Wei remained on his own intentionally, but the position he took was just in front of Bai Tianyi and Hei Gou, so although he did not have anyone standing back to back, he had full faith in the two of them and their ability to avoid letting anyone sneak up on him.

    Xue Wei''s hands were already transformed into dragon ws, and the others were tightly holding onto their weapons as well. Even Bai Tianyi had conjured a sword from his spirit energy, so that he would be able to react at the first possible moment.

    The group had been feeling frustrated due to the neverending gloomy forest, but now that a change had happened, they did not know if they should feel relieved or depressed.

    The number of beings that were rushing their way was in no way small, and since they could not see what kind of creatures they were, they felt very helpless in their preparations.

    "If it is any kind of insect, then make sure to use the inscriptions. They are only one time use, but I made a lot of them. Take the ones that explode and conjure up fires. Insects should be easy to burn, and we might not be able to fight them with our weapons.

    "In case there are bigger animals, then you can use the freezing inscriptions to either slow them down or even stop their advance. With the number of approaching enemies, we need to use anything we have to keep an upper hand in the uing battle."

    Xue Wei was giving out orders, and he had at no point considered that these creatures that were approaching would be friendly. The whole No Man''s Land was full of dangers and traps; any wrong move would cost them their lives.

    The atmosphere had turned tense, and all of them felt their heartbeat speed up. The adrenaline was rushing through their bodies, and they began to feel the familiar anticipation before a battle.

    This group of people had been dancing at the edge of life and death time and time again. They had gone from arrogant and hotheaded youths to more mature and hardworking experts.

    Throughout their short lives, they had already experienced many things, and seen through the brutality and greed of man. The world was not ck and white, it was not possible to speak about good or evil, and only those with enough strength could stand out.

    "They are here."

    Ling Xiao''s voice was no longer as carefree andnguid as usual, instead it was tense and hoarse. While he was the most casual and carefree of them all, he also understood the reality of their predicament, and knew when to reign in his nonchnt attitude.

    He could be cynical and casual when the situation allowed for it, but right now, they depended on one another, and the serious gleam in his eyes was not fake.

    "Throw the zing Fire Inscriptions!"

    Xue Wei had also noticed that their opponents had arrived, and the sight that greeted him made him feel chilled to the core.

    He had initially expected to see either a huge swarm of insects or some beasts arriving, but what was in front of him made him feel disgusted.

    There were indeed countless insects and beasts standing in front of them, but none of them were alive. Their bodies were partly rotten, and decayed flesh could be seen through their fur.

    These undead beasts were emotionless as they charged at their group, making Xue Wei call out his orders as he too tossed out the first inscription at hand.

 Chapter 607: Rotten Flesh

    <h4>Chapter 607: Rotten Flesh</h4>

    "They are not able to feel pain!" Ling Xiao''s voice reverberated above the sounds of battle, as he had tried to kill a beast that had charged at them.

    The staff in his hands had been full of power, and the beast in front of him had its lower body crushed, causing it to be unable to move as freely as before. Even so, it did not seem to have any sense of pain, and continued to drag its body forward with the purpose of attacking their group.

    "Use the inscriptions!"

    Xue Wei had realized the same thing. Although these beasts were breathing, they were not actually living. Their bodies were more like dolls than living creatures, and they seemed to be unable to sense anything else than a desperate need to attack and kill the intruding group of humans.

    As Xue Wei called out, he threw a few zing inscriptions out, as the beasts in front of him were all surrounded by the disgusting bugs that could not be killed one by one.

    "They burn well, but it truly smells."

    It was not only Xue Wei who had taken the inscriptions in use. Bai Tianyi was standing on to of a sword conjured out of his soul, and was flying around the group of beasts, tossing inscriptions at them at random angles, ensuring that the inscriptions caused heavy damage and casualties to these attacking beasts.

    The beasts had rotten flesh showing in their wounds, and while the fire would usually transform animals into roast meat, there was a nauseating stench released from these creatures, making all of them feel sick to the stomach.

    "Their tenacity is insane, but they aren''t that hard to kill. It is as if their bodies are already at their limits, so the only benefit they have is the sheer numbers and inability to sense pain."

    Luoluo also seemed to find the battle easier than she had initially expected, but she still dared not look down on the horde of half-dead beasts in front of her.

    Due to the rot on their flesh, it was hard to know if there was some sort of poison that could infect them, so they had to keep alert and do their best to eradicate this beast horde.

    The only one who did notment on the battle was Hei Gou. He was the only real beast present. Although Xue Wei was also a beast, he was different, and thus he could not sense the agony and despair that was surrounding these beasts, but Hei Gou was strongly influenced by their emotions.

    He could sense the unwillingness and sadness that these beasts felt. He knew that they did not actually want to battle, and they were not willing to die here, but they could no longer control their bodies. They were going to die no matter whether they won or lost this battle, so while their bodies were ferociously charging ahead, their minds were full ofplicated emotions that resonated with Hei Gou.

    It was also this knowledge that caused Hei Gou to not hold back his attacks as he ughtered the beasts without any pity or regret. Only by destroying their bodies would they be able to escape. The bodies that were supposed to be their strongest weapon that would follow them for the rest of their lives had instead be a prison that they could not escape. Such helplessness was hard to understand if they had never experienced it before.

    Although these beasts were not overly powerful by themselves, their biggest threat was actually the sheer number of creatures that had gathered.

    Xue Wei had created numerous inscriptions before entering the No Man''s Land, but currently, he felt that he had truly looked down on the dangers they were to experienced.

    This was only the second area within, but he had already used this many inscriptions to ensure that they would be able to handle the bugs, while also fighting the other beasts.

    They were not close to running out of inscriptions, but they had used around a quarter already, and while it might not seem to be uneptable whenpared to the sheer number of beasts they fought, it was still troublesome when considering their future journey.

    For some reason, he had a feeling that there would not be any peaceful ces where he would be able to carve more inscriptions to help them during future battles.

    Even so, he could not save the inscriptions more than he already did. Although the beasts were not overly strong one by one, they were still countless in numbers, and they feared how to keep them under control.

    "We will not try to find an exit from this gloomy forest for now. Instead of trying to get out of the area at the same time as battling, I think we will benefit more from finishing this before moving elsewhere."

    When fighting against the scorpions in the previous area, Xue Wei would always guide their group to move backward while battling, but this tactic was not possible here.

    Here, Xue Wei did not have a good overview to analyse their next moments, as the trees would block their advance and the distance he could see. Who knew, maybe an ambush was waiting for them.

    Although this decision was made for the sake of their safety, Xue Wei still felt ufortable, as he looked at the rotten carcases that were lying in the mud, slowly sinking down, and turning into a disgusting grime that merged with the rest of the ground.

    Only then did he understand that the mud was not made from soil and blood. The mud was simply the rotten flesh and bones left over by the beasts that once lived here.

 Chapter 608: Soulless

    <h4>Chapter 608: Soulless</h4>

    "They are still alive."

    While their group was busy struggling to maintain control of the beast horde that was attacking them ferociously, Hei Gou was feeling more and more influenced by the heavy grief and despair that shrouded the bodies of the beasts.

    Although he did not pause his actions as he cut down one beast after another, he still did not manage to protect his mind from the despair that was surrounding him.

    He could feel the grievances that these beasts had, but he also knew that there was no way he could stop and try to speak with them to find out the cause for theirck of control over their own bodies.

    Also, even though they were still alive, the festering flesh on their bodies was clearly infected and inmed. They would not be able to survive for long either way, so killing them might even lessen the amount of pain they would have to go through.

    The insects and bugs were not much of an issue, as their intellect was already very limited, so although they were confused, he did not sense much suffering from them; however, therger beasts were truly in agony.

    Xue Wei frowned as he looked at Hei Gou. He had sensed that something was amiss with his friend, and after hearing his exnation, he understood that the problem was much more intense than he had initially expected.

    "How do the rest of you feel?" he suddenly called out as he randomly threw away another inscription that exploded upon colliding with the swarm of wasps that were charging ahead.

    Luoluo and Bai Tianyi both heard Xue Wei''s question, but neither of them felt any different; even Ling Xiao mainly snorted as he answered, "I feel disgusted. The beasts are pretty gross with all this rotten flesh, and the bugs are nauseating, so I hope they can all die as soon as possible."

    While Ling Xiao''s disgust was obvious from his words, there did not seem to be any actual difort in his expression, and Xue Wei narrowed his eyes as he looked at the many beasts again.

    Hei Gou''s mental state was clearly wrong, and even he could feel some difort, but as to where these feelings came from, he did not know.

    "Beasts!"

    Suddenly, Xue Wei called out a word that did not seem to have much of a connection with anything, as the rest of his friends were unaware of how he wanted them to react, but even so, they did not lose their grasp of the overall situation.

    "There is something wrong with this forest and it will influence beasts! Hei Gou is already infected in one way or another. His mind is slowly being overwhelmed by the despairing beasts, and if he is allowed to keep being shrouded in this gloom, he will definitely be the same as them!"

    Although Xue Wei was notpletely certain about his theory, it was the one that made the most sense. Only he and Hei Gou were influenced by the strange feeling surrounding them, and Hei Gou was a Primordial Beast, while he was a Sovereign Beast.

    It was reasonable for him to be less influenced by the creatures around them as he was a natural emperor of the beasts, and the deaths ofmon citizens wouldn''t matter much to such a noble figure.

    Hei Gou was different. While he was not among the most basic Fierce Beasts, he was still merely a Primordial Beast, and he was thus much more affected by the despair.

    "Have you guys realized that even after we kill these beasts, there does not seem to be any soul leaving their bodies?

    "Although they are clearly alive, their bodies seem soulless, and even the air is devoid of any soul power."

    Luoluo was looking around as she spoke. She was not aware if this observation was of any use, but she still felt the need to mention it.

    Hei Gou''s eyes widened as he looked around. He had never been skilled in Spiritual Cultivation, but he could still sense if there was spiritual energy around, and Luoluo was correct. Not even one of these dead beasts had released any soul power.

    Did this mean that the bodies, which were acting like puppets, were actually without a soul? Had their souls been taken away, and their bodies left to be a tool for hunting down the troublesome intruders in the forest?

    This would also exin why the emotions were still present, as the bodies would maintain the state of mind that the soul had at the time it was dragged away. Such despair had to be overwhelming, and thus, Hei Gou was also affected by the remnant emotions.

    "Hei Gou, go to the center. You will not keep facing these beasts head-on, Instead, you will focus on tossing inscriptions at therger hordes of bugs and insects."

    Xue Wei felt that if Hei Gou continued to battle against these beasts, the lingering emotions might overwhelm him, and such terrible negativity could truly harm him for good.

    He had already lost his memories, so Xue Wei was not willing to allow for his mind to be injured further.

    Hei Gou did not pretend to be a hero either. He quickly retreated until he was standing in the middle of the four fightingrades, witnessing how all of them killed off any beast that might try to approach him.

    The overwhelming gloom and depression that had swept over him previously slowly disappeared, but Hei Gou was not able to pay attention to these emotions as he kept his eyes open and focused on thergest swarms of insects to kill, one group after another.

 Chapter 609: In the Depths of the Forest

    <h4>Chapter 609: In the Depths of the Forest</h4>

    "There is something wrong with this forest. It does not seem to target everyone who enters but it seems to specialize in targeting beasts." Xue Wei looked at Hei Gou, only to see that the depressive aura that had surrounded him was slowly dissipating as they were retreating further and further from the front of the battle.

    "For now, we don''t have any need to know why the beasts have lost their souls and their bodies have be puppets that attack, our only aim is to leave this cursed forest as soon as possible."

    Once again, Xue Wei decided to put emphasis on their purpose. Since entering No Man''s Land, they hade across many things that could not be exined with logic, and that they needed to truly spend more time trying to examine if they wanted answers.

    No Man''s Land had existed for many years, and while it was dangerous and known to bring peril to any that entered, it had never brought danger to the rest of the world. Thus, Xue Wei felt no obligation to try and solve the problems in this ce for the greater good.

    In fact, right now, he had a hard time to ensure his own survival, so how would it be possible for him to spend time trying to solve these mysteries that would not benefit him in the long run?

    Bai Tianyi, Luoluo, Ling Xiao, and Hei Gou were all brought back to reality by Xue Wei. They had, indeed, been lured into the mysteries of this strange forest once more, but to them, it did not matter what had caused the fate of these beasts. As soon as they left this area, they were not likely to return again in the future. Since it brought them no danger, they also did not need to dwell on these confusing things.

    One had to be aware that to save the world, they had to be alive first. Why would they get involved in more dangerous mysteries when they were already deeply entwined by some unknown enemy that was lurking in the darkness.

    "I will provide ranged support. I still have quite a few inscriptions in my storage treasures, so do not worry. Charge ahead while I will cover your backs." Hei Gou had to retreat, but he was not willing to be useless during the battle.

    The others all smiled as they nodded, and their attack turned fiercer than before.

    While they were busy fighting, their full focus was on the situation in front of them, however deep within the dark and gloomy forest two figures were present.

    Unlike the grime and disgusting mud that was present elsewhere, this small area had turned into a beautiful clearing, with expensive spiritual jade having been ced on the ground alongside furniture made from ancient magnolia.

    Even the light came from priceless luminous pearls, and the gloomy aura could not prate into the center.

    "I see that everything is going ording to your expectations." The one who spoke was the only one of the figures who was seated. His posture was rigid and solemn, and it contained immense nobility. Anyone would be scared off by looking at such a figure, as his aura was simply too holy.

    "I have to thank you, Milord, for assisting me with my search for vengeance."

    The second figure was a mature man. He was above and beyond the age of a young man, but still did not look so old that one could consider him middle-aged.

    Although he also possessed an outstanding aura and seemed very powerful, he was stillcking whenpared to the other male.

    "I have provided you with a chance for revenge, but you were the one who made it possible. You have been nning for more than ten thousand years, but even so, many things are different than before.

    "However, you have to beware of your greed. I understand your need for revenge, and the urge to ensure that the future you witnessed never bes reality; however, your decision of toying with these mortals is questionable.

    "You are doing your best to activate the young man''s full bloodline and then use it to break through, but have you ever considered that doing this might even cause your many years of hard work to fail?

    "Upon the birth of this young man, you should have killed him immediately to gain your revenge, and then used your own abilities to progress. Your current choice of raising him for ughter is a double-edged sword.

    "While I was willing to help you seek out vengeance, I am not willing to clean up any mess you might cause. If, one day, Lan She realizes that you have been behind the scenes the entire time, then I will not protect you.

    "I have used my abilities to shield you from his vision for now, but everything will resurface one day. I am not willing to be the enemy of Lan She and his family for the sake of protecting you.

    "Although your connection to the Heavenly Dao of Fate is great, it does not change the fact that your value is only so high. You are not able to fully utilize this Dao just yet, and if I were to be enemies of Hui Yue and Lan Feng''s families, then I will lose out much more than I can gain."

    The other man dared not voice hisints against this person, as he knew that he was currently depending on his goodwill to reel in the andplete the revenge he had been nning for more than ten thousand years.

    Even so, he could not help but feel indignant.

    "Milord, I understand your worries. This young man is indeed talented, but he is also blindly arrogant and confident. I am aware that by letting him grow, I will endanger myself, but I also have great trust in my own abilities, and I am convinced that I will seed."

    "I see. In that case, you can continue to move forward in ordance with your own beliefs. Just remember, I am not going to help you if anything goes wrong. Your memories of this young man are, after all, influenced by a life that never seems to have existed, yet."

 Chapter 610: Dangerously Beautiful

    <h4>Chapter 610: Dangerously Beautiful</h4>

    "Finally."

    Xue Wei took a deep breath as the final beast copsed on the muddy ground. Although the battle had gone on for a long time, it was impossible to say exactly how many hours had passed due to the never-changing environment.

    Although their energy had not yet run out, they were still feeling frazzled, and the constant need to be on high alert was taxing on their minds. If their mental state began to be unstable, then their survival would be in jeopardy, and thus Xue Wei was eager to find a ce to rest as soon as possible.

    "The beasts'' corpses have no value to us, so we should hurry up and leave. Although I do feel ufortable with their fate, we are not in a position where we can try to avenge them.

    "For now, we need to survive. When we have enough strength to wander these grounds without the constant threat of losing our lives, then we can return to find the reason behind their loss and give them justice."

    Xue Wei''s voice was stern. Although he also pitied these beasts, he was not willing to risk his life, and the lives of his dear ones, for the sake of investigating their unfortunate deaths.

    However, at the same time, he also understood that the gloom and depression had rooted itself deep within his heart, and if he did not find a solution, or at least an exnation, he might develop a heart demon.

    "I understand." Hei Gou''s voice was hoarse and a bit depressed, but his eyes were not weighted down by the gloom he felt. Although it had a great influence on his emotions, he still knew how to think logically, and understood that there was no way to risk his own life, and the life of his friends, for the sake of some unknown beasts. He was not a saint.

    The group quickly fixed their clothes and left the battleground behind. They were eager to leave this obscure forest as soon as possible, but they still did not dare to rush. Although the group of beasts was not impossible to beat, it was not a pleasant experience either, and who knew if even more dangerous creatures loomed within the darkness?

    The forest was filled with a bloody smell, but even the initial disgust that the group felt upon entering the forest had slowly evened out. Although they did not like the forest, they no longer felt influenced by the macabre surroundings.

    The rest of their journey through the grim forest went without encountering any other living beings. The beast horde from before seemed to be one of a kind, and although the forest was somewhat repulsive, it was not as dangerous as the previous area.

    Even so, the group felt excited upon witnessing the border of a new area appearing in the distance.

    The area in front of them was in sharp contrast to the forest they were currently in. The lush green grass seemed to be well nourished, and the gentle breeze made it sway in the wind.

    Among the leaves a few colorful flowers were spread, bringing a gentle color to the beautiful area, and the skies above were of a clear blue with only a few white cumulus clouds drifting around.

    The area seemed so idyllic and beautiful that anyone who witnessed it would want to charge ahead and take a well-deserved rest.

    "Wait." Although Xue Wei was also momentarily dazed by the beauty and temptation of peace in front of them, he quickly regained his senses, and awakened the others from their stupor.

    "Although it looks innocent and tranquil, please remember the two areas we have passed so far. Nothing here in No Man''s Land can be considered peaceful, so we need to be even more alert when encountering something as dangerously beautiful as this."

    The words were said in a very in tone of voice. Xue Wei did not need to put any emphasis on certain words, or even try to stress his meaning, as he was well aware that all of them knew what he meant.

    Such beauty was likely to be even more deadly than the previous areas, and if they truly underestimated it, they would not know how they had died.

    "The flowers are unlike any I have ever seen before. Although they seem very beautiful, I fear that they might be very dangerous." Ling Xiao could not help but shudder as he looked at the beautiful flowers in front of him.

    Although he was a mature man, he still felt an unexinable fear towards the colorful petals, as if they were trying to absorb his life-force, or even lure him into an eternal sleep.

    "You can''t appreciate the beauty of flowers," Luoluo said, as her eyes glistened. She looked at the flowers with ardent admiration, but unlike ordinary women, her focus did not seem to be the beauty of the flower, but instead, it seemed as if she wished to eat it.

    "I bet this is a certain kind of ghost flower. I am not sure about how it is created, but it is bursting with soul power. If I eat it, I am sure that my strength will increase."

    Such words made Xue Wei and the others stunned as they looked at the young girl. Luoluo was usually a very calm and controlled person. Because she had undergone many different experiences throughout her life, she was more calm than most, but even she was drooling upon looking at the flowers in front of her. This meant that they had to be truly delicious in the eyes of a spirit.

    Upon seeing her extreme reaction, Ling Xiao, Xue Wei, and Hei Gou''s faces all turned to look at Bai Tianyi to see if he was equally tempted, and it was as they thought, even this usually arrogant sword spirit looked like a child that had entered a candnd. The drool was almost dripping from his mouth.

 Chapter 611: So Perfect it Appears Fake

    <h4>Chapter 611: So Perfect it Appears Fake</h4>

    Xue Wei''s reaction to the two drooling spirits was somewhatical. Although they were in the middle of a dangerous area where they could lose their lives at any moment, he still felt somewhat amused by their identical reactions.

    "Since these flowers have such an abundant soul power, I guess that they have witnessed many deaths. Otherwise, where would all the soul powere from?" Xue Wei was aware that although neither Luoluo nor Bai Tainyi were impulsive spirits, they might be blinded by some sort of temptation that the flowers sent out, and thus he decided to help them regain their senses.

    "Maybe this is where the souls of those previous beasts ended." Hei Gou was also trying to figure out what might have happened before, and although the beast horde had been defeated, he was still somewhat affected by the episode.

    Now, by seeing these flowers that were bursting with energy that could onlye from numerous souls, he had a strange thought that perhaps the souls had been dragged from one area to another and swallowed by the beautiful herbs before leaving the gloomy looking bodies to wander the forest as helpless puppets.

    "It is still unknown. This No Man''s Land is very confusing, and while every area seems to be independent, there has to be some sort of connection between them. Even so, this is not important for us. Let us just rush through the area and try to find the shore as soon as possible. We have to reach the White Tiger n as soon as possible. The more time we waste on the way, the less time we have to prepare for the hidden enemy in the dark."

    Although Xue Wei was very intrigued and curious about this No Man''s Land, he understood that they could not risk their future to adventure through an unknownnd. They had to protect themselves, and if they seeded in winning against their enemy, then they coulde back to find the reasons behind this peculiar area.

    One of the reasons that Xue Wei had to constantly warn about their purpose was not only to remind hispanions, but also to dampen the excitement that kept trying to grow in his own heart. At any other time, he would have been eager to examine and venture deeper into this area and get to know the secrets behind these weird things, while hopefully also gain something in the process.

    However, he could not take the risk now, so he was trying to stop their excitement and focus only on the task at hand.

    "The area in front is a new zone, much like the ones before. We still do not know what rules this area follows, so I suggest that we, once again, ensure that we cannot be separated upon entry.

    "Also, considering the temptation that these flowers have to Luoluo and Bai Tianyi, we have to be extra alert so that they will not be influenced by them."

    The group had reached the border of the new zone. Only one step was needed to enter this new area, and they all felt eager to leave the gloom behind for something more beautiful. Even if the danger was higher, their mental state should also improve when looking at something more pleasing to their eyes.

    The group did the same asst time, and after ensuring that they would no longer be separated upon entry, they took the deciding step into the new ce.

    The moment they crossed the border, their entire environment changed. It was not only a question about the visual difference, but also the floral scent in the air and the sound of birds in the sky.

    The gloomy aura that seemingly had be familiar to Xue Wei and the others was swept away, as they involuntarily became more rxed. However, moments after, their muscles turned taut, and their mind tense.

    This area was much more dangerous than the gloomy forest. Even a mere step inside had almost made them feel at ease, and thefort was about to make them lose their senses and sumb to the tranquil surroundings. Who knew what would happen to them, if they were to give in and let go of their vignce?

    "We will keep the chains that are holding us together throughout the entire time in this area." Xue Wei''s eyes were solemn, and he kept surveying the surroundings.

    Upon entering, the group had used chains made from Blood-Infused Iron to hold them together, and while this type of iron was fairly easy to obtain, it had a great benefit in this seemingly idyllic area.

    The Blood-Infused Iron was made by being infused with the essence blood of special beasts, and had enhanced durability. However, the downside was that the iron itself had a somewhat bloodthirsty aura that it carried with it, and could interfere with any ordinary person''s mind, if kept around for too long.

    However, this bloodthirstiness was precisely what they needed in this dreamy ce. Everything seemed way too perfect, making it appear fake. Who knew how many corpses were hidden beneath the seemingly lush green carpet of grass.

    "The flowers are very tempting." Luoluo''s voice was strained as she spoke up. Although the Blood-Infused Iron was somewhat keeping her mind anchored, she was constantly assaulted by the scent of the overwhelmingly sweet and alluring soul power that these flowers exuded, and she was afraid that if she did not have the chains holding her back, she would have rushed towards these nts a long time ago.

 Chapter 612: â€œLetâ€™s Tryâ€

    <h4>Chapter 612: ¡°Let¡¯s Try¡±</h4>

    "Do you feel that there is a very ufortable smell around here?" Hei Gou''s words suddenly interrupted the group as they progressed through the idylldscape.

    After getting their first taste of the area, they slowly managed to keep their minds under control, but this also caused them to realize many weird things that they had overlooked at first.

    The floral scent that they had, at first, enjoyed and found pleasant was suddenly bing sticky and a bit overwhelming. It even caused some disgust when breathing in, as if they just longed for fresh and clean air without this overly sweet fragrance.

    "It does resemble the smell of rogue and perfume that you can find in a brothel." Ling Xiao suddenly answered without time to consider which words he used. However, moments after the sentence slipped from his lips, he suddenly felt embarrassed.

    Diviners were considered monks at the Chang''an Continent, and thus they usually stayed away from carnal pleasures unless their partners were a wife.

    However, Ling Xiao had always been troublesome, and he was not happy with the leaders of the temple, and thus he snuck into a brothel once before. Although he had only visited once, he would never forget the trauma he experienced after going there, and thus the scent here was somewhat familiar and he instantly remembered this episode that he would never be able to forget for the rest of his life.

    The words were truly surprising. The entire group knew of Ling Xiao''s personality and he was not usually a yboy, nor someone who would indulge in pleasure at brothels, so they could not understand where his profound knowledge of such scent came from, however they did not delve into it, although their eyes turned subtle and slightly amused.

    In fact, all of them knew him well and were perfectly aware that there had to be some other reason behind his words, but the current scenario was rather amusing as they witnessed his mental copse after blurting out these words.

    "The scents in brothels are usually fake and made to cover the foul odors that are present. Ever since we arrived here, thend does not seem as perfect as first assumed, and there are a lot of smaller details that makes me wonder if it is truly as idyllic as it seems.

    "Luoluo and Tianyi, do you think that it is possible for the two of you to absorb any of the soul power within these flowers? I want to see if this area will react differently after losing some of the energy?"

    Xue Wei would usually not have decided to be the one actively looking for trouble, but he had a feeling that everything around them was fake. If he did not find a way to shatter the current illusion, then he would not be able to get out of this ce that became more and more unsettling the longer they stayed.

    His question was a bit abrupt, but although both Luoluo and Bai Tianyi were constantly being tempted by the energy surrounding the flowers, they dared not rush to answer his question.

    "I do want to try, but only one of us can make an attempt. At the same time, the rest of us have to be ready to interfere at any given moment in case we lose control of ourselves." Bai Tianyi looked at the flower closest to their location and a frown appeared on his brows.

    He knew that it was a risky strategy, but he was also aware that it might be their only chance to break the current deadlock they faced with this strange zone, and thus he contemted about what the best solution was.

    "Why don''t you try, Wei? Currently, the Soul Power within these flowers are trying to lure Tianyi and me to gobble them up whole, but you also cultivate Spiritual Energy, so perhaps you won''t be as influenced by them, since you also have Qi cultivation?"

    Luoluo also considered the current situation when she made the request. It was not that she was unwilling to try, but for now, she truly had no belief in her own or Bai Tianyi''s self-control and ability to hold back if they gave in to the temptation. Xue Wei was different. Although he cultivated Spiritual Energy, it was clear that these flowers had no actual influence on him, so he should be able to keep his mind clear during the absorption.

    "Let''s try." Xue Wei quickly agreed. Although he cultivated Spiritual Energy, his level of cultivation hadgged behind recently, as the soul power in the atmosphere was limited, and the two spirits solely relied on this to advance. He, on the other hand, had found that after his bloodlines were activated, Qi had be much more familiar to him, and while Spiritual Cultivation was still an option, it was not as beneficial as focusing on one path.

    "Although I am not currently being tempted by the flowers, we cannot guarantee anything when ites to the actual absorption process. All of you should be ready to stop me, in case I get too obsessed.

    "If I lose my consciousness, you should at first try with pain, and if I do not react after you injure me, then simply knock me out right away. I believe that if I am fully focused on these flowers, my defense should be very low, but just to be safe, please make sure to have some inscriptions ready with high bursting abilities. If I fight back, I have to be beaten down as quickly as possible. Don''t mind if I get injured."

 Chapter 613: Targeting Spirits

    <h4>Chapter 613: Targeting Spirits</h4>

    The caution that their group showed these nts could be easily considered too exaggerated to others, but they were currently within No Man''s Land, and none of them felt any sense of security.

    Their current area was making them feel veryplicated, and although it appeared to be the most approachable zone they had visited so far, everything seemed fake and staged.

    This surreal feeling was enough to make them feel as if all the hairs on their bodies had stood up in horror, and thus they did their utmost to guard themselves.

    These nts were the only thing within the whole zone that appeared to contain energy, and the energy they contained was Soul Power.

    Under normal circumstances, Soul Power was already difficult to encounter, as it was connected to a person''s death and soul, but here they encountered a massive amount of energy without any living beings in sight.

    This made them feel even more surreal, as the soul power should slowly diminish after thest death, but even with the current state, each of these flowers seemed to be bursting with energy, making Xue Wei and the others feelplex.

    "Okay, I will start now." Xue Wei took a deep breath as he eased his mind and began to delve into the mindless state that apanied him every time he began to cultivate.

    Even if he knew that there was a risk, he was much more calm now that he was the one taking the risk, and he tried to cultivate with full focus.

    It was some time since he hadst actively cultivated using spiritual energy and he could feel that his body was like a dry sponge that had been plunged into a bowl of water.

    The main reason for this extreme effect was naturally the sheer amount of soul power that these flowers contained, and although his mind was nk, a subconscious tremble ran through his heart as the overwhelming amount of energy seemed to tempt him into wantonly absorbing everything without a thought for the consequences.

    However, even with this subconscious feeling, Xue Wei kept cultivating. Had it been an ordinary situation, he would have automatically stopped the absorption as any kind of threat would be multiplied many times over while cultivating, but the whole purpose of their experiment was to see if there was any extreme danger with these flowers.

    If there was none, then it would be stupid not to let his twopanions gobble up all the useful energy for themselves.

    Xue Wei''s cultivation had slowly settled down. He felt the rxation and constant improvement of his soul and mind, but there was no danger to him as he kept cultivating. Even by the time he woke up naturally as the flower had run out of energy, there was no danger to him at any point.

    "How do you feel?"

    The first to ask was Luoluo. Although they had stood by his side the entire time, none of them had noticed anything strange or wrong with Xue Wei; even his facial expressions had beenparable to a stone, utterly rigid with no movements.

    "I felt no problems when absorbing the energy. It was easier to refine than usual soul power, and my spiritual energy has increased vastly from what it previously was.

    "At first, I felt a strange sense of temptation, but it was quite subtle and not enough to make me pay extra attention.

    "I would suggest that either Luoluo or Tianyi try to absorb a flower next. I do not approve of both of them trying at the same time, since the temptation they have felt before is much stronger than mine, and they might be obsessed while cultivating. We have to be able to stop them at any time."

    Although Xue Wei was not one who would spend time unnecessarily, he also understood that their strength needed improvements. Although they were in No Man''s Land now and wished to leave as soon as possible, they needed strength to leave, and perhaps these flowers could boost their strength.

    Even so, he was aware that many things seemed too simple and straightforward, not to mention fake, so he was extremely alert as he made his decision.

    Both Luoluo and Bai Tianyi frowned as they understood the severity of the matter. They were both more than willing to risk themselves if it meant protecting the other, but they also knew that they should bepletely assured that they had the ability to take on the task. If they were harmed for the sake of one of theirpanions, even if they felt relieved, theirpanion would, without a doubt, feel guilty.

    "Let me." Luoluo finally made the decision. Even after being locked up for so long and drained for her energy, she was, after all, still an ancient spirit and her foundations could not be easily manipted. She should be able to withstand the energy more than Bai Tianyi.

    "Wait!"

    Xue Wei suddenly stopped the young woman before she sat down.

    "Let Tianyi. I have a guess, and ording to my theory, you might be more influenced than Tianyi is."

    Xue Wei''s eyes were subtle as he looked at the many flowers surrounding them.

    "I was the one who absorbed the first flower, and although I felt a slight temptation, it was not difficult for me to suppress it.

    "The reason that I made the first attempt was that I am able to absorb spiritual energy, but I did not feel the temptation, so I would imagine that the more spiritual you are, the more the flower will influence you."

    Xue Wei was not certain about the purpose of such flowers, but he felt that there could not be so many coincidences without reason.

    "Well, then, I''ll give it a go." Bai Tianyi stepped forward and his eyes were solemn as he prepared to absorb the energy within a nearby flower.

 Chapter 614: Corruption

    <h4>Chapter 614: Corruption</h4>

    Xue Wei''s brows were slightly furrowed as he kept an eye on every move that Bai Tianyi made. Although he knew the risks involved, they had no other option than to try and figure out the secrets hidden deep within this zone.

    If possible, he would have ignored it and kept moving forward, but a nagging sensation kept telling him that this zone was different from the others. If he wanted to leave, he would have to shatter the illusion of it being perfect.

    So far, apart from the strange intuition that everything was fake, only these flowers had shown their difference, which made Xue Wei assume that their escape from this area would be connected to the said flower.

    However, it did not take long for them to realize that when Bai Tianyi began to absorb the soul power, a huge change happened in the area.

    The previously clear skies became overcast, and the gentle breeze turned into gusts of wind. The temperatures dropped and even the fake feeling offort vanished. It was clear that these changes had not happened when Xue Wei was trying to absorb the energy from these flowers.

    "Stop him." Xue Wei had noticed the many changes in the surroundings, but his eyes had never left Bai Tianyi throughout the whole process, and he began to be worried.

    Before Bai Tianyi had begun absorbing the energy, it was clear that the tempting soul power within was enough to make him eager and a bit impatient, however, after he began absorbing, his facial expression had turned calm and unmowing.

    If this was any other time, Xue Wei would not have noticed, but no matter how focused he was during cultivation, many things could influence one''s ability to refine energy, and when considering the earlier obsession, his expression was now too calm. Something was definitely wrong.

    Ling Xiao was also quick at responding, and he waved his staff before the others had the time to react.

    The staff was made from wood and seemingly not able to do as much damage as the ded weapons, but one should not underestimate the sheer destruction this staff could cause when used right.

    No one was more familiar with staves than Ling Xiao, and Hei Gou could not help but wince slightly as he looked at the quickly descending staff that hit Bai Tianyi on top of his head.

    Although Hei Gou knew that Bai Tianyi was a spirit, and that his body was made from energy and that this hit would at most make him lose consciousness, the body would not be destroyed. Even so, the pain that was apanied by such a hit was not to be belittled.

    Thump!

    The sound of the wooden staff hitting Bai Tianyi''s head was loud and managed to make him lose consciousness right away, and this caused a domino effect, as the gusts stopped and became a gentle breeze once more. The sun came out from behind the clouds, and even the tranquil feeling returned.

    The change between the two situations was simply so extreme that the others were shocked to their cores.

    "I guess that this zone has some prejudice against spirits." Luoluo could just gulp as she looked at the sudden change in the weather, and she once more looked at the little beautiful flower in front of her that kept luring her closer.

    However, while she previously had a very hard time fighting against the temptation, she now felt more grounded. Although she was eager to absorb this energy, she had to stay alive first. Her reasoning had lowered the eagerness significantly, and she went to Bai Tianyi''s side instead.

    As a spirit, Luoluo had a better understanding of spirits, and she was quick to check if he had suffered any damage.

    "His spiritual energy has increased drastically, but the soul power he absorbed is not pure. I am afraid that if we do not get rid of the impurities quickly, his spiritual core might be corrupted."

    Xue Wei did not know much about spirits, but the word corruption alone was enough to make him feel wary.

    "A spirit is created from pure energy, but anything can be a spirit, if enough time and energy is used to nurture it. Bai Tianyi is a sword spirit, and his core is still the sword itself.

    "However, when a spirit''s core bes corrupted, then the spirit will lose itself and be a creature that will either be controlled by others, or simply lose its mind and wantonly seek to kill and absorb more energy to fuel the urge for power."

    Luoluo''s brows were furrowed as she looked at Bai Tianyi. The two of them were spirits, but their cores were different. Even so, the stronger a spirit was, the more important the core became, and thus she felt that Bai Tianyi''s situation could be considered dangerous, but she was also relieved that he had just recently be a true spirit.

    If it had been her, then the corruption would have already taken hold. However, even though Bai Tianyi had been considered a spirit for long, he was more identical to an artificial one, and thus his core was still fairly new after his transformation. The impurities had still not stained him.

    "How do we remove the impurities?" Although Xue Wei was not a spirit, he had a great understanding of how dangerous the situation could be.

    When cultivators consumed pills, they also had to remove the impurities, or their futures would be severely affected. No matter who they were, they knew how to value themselves, and this was merely their bodies. It was easy to guess that the core of a spirit would suffer greatly if corrupted.

 Chapter 615: Purification

    <h4>Chapter 615: Purification</h4>

    Luoluo''s brows were furrowed as she looked around with vignce and hesitation.

    "Corruption is not simple at all. If you have a piece of white cloth, and it gets tainted by a ck dye, it might be ruined. Even if you manage to clean it and try to get all stains off, the affected area will never return to be as pure white as it was before.

    "Even if we do manage to remove the corruption from Tianyi''s energy, he will have certainsting seque. Even the best solution will make it so that he will be extra sensitive to corruption in the future, and that another corruption will invade his core instantly, and not like now, where he is still savable."

    Xue Wei could not help but frown as he understood the severity of this corruption. Although Bai Tianyi was stopped in time, he would not be able to get away without consequences. Even the least invading after-effect would be dangerous for his future.

    "We have to remove the corruption as soon as possible. The longer it stays, the more severe the consequences will be." Luoluo understood this situation better than any of the others, but it was also because of her understanding that the others were able to take it seriously and act ordingly.

    "Under normal circumstances, the spirit has to absorb energy with the same nature as their origin. Tianyi is in a special situation though, as he was an artificial spirit before bing a true sword spirit.

    "Even so, I would assume that he should be consuming sword energy if possible, but this area iscking all special kinds of energy."

    Luoluo was trying to stay calm, but her quivering voice was making it clear how panicked and worried she was inside.

    "Can he use sword energy from me?"

    Xue Wei looked at Bai Tianyi. Unlike Luoluo and Bai Tianyi, he did not depend on spiritual energy, and he also had the ability to use a sword well, so, in a situation like this where they had no other option, he was willing to use his own spiritual energy to purify Bai Tianyi.

    "It is possible, but the price is also high." Luoluo''s expression was somber as she took a deep breath and exined.

    "A spirit is made when too much energy gathers at one ce. It can be at a big river or a small nt. However, when created, all the energy will be part of this spirit, and if you wish to use your spiritual energy to help purify Tianyi, the situation will be very simr.

    "Your energy is actually not the best option, but for now, it is our only option. If you use your spiritual energy to purify Bai Tianyi, he will take away all of your energy of this kind, and you will lose all you have.

    "You will either have to give up all soul cultivation for the future, or you will have to recultivate it all over. Whatever decision youe to, you have to act swiftly, as Tianyi cannot continue to hang on."

    "How do I help?" Xue Wei did not need time to consider the situation, as he already knew the decision he would make. Xue Wei''s cultivation was currently dependent on Qi, and even though he was cultivating his spiritual energy from time to time, it had long been his secondary choice.

    Although it was able to help him in some situations, it was not worthparing to Bai Tianyi''s well-being, so he was instantly willing to remove all the energy for saving his friend.

    "Gou, quickly hold Tianyi in a sitting position. It does not matter how he sits, as long as he is sitting upright and his back is facing Wei."

    Luoluo began to exin the process they had to follow, and none of the people present wasted any time as they hurriedly began working in ordance with the instructions.

    "ce your palms on his shoulder des, and let the energy enter his body through the meridians that are ced between the shoulderdes and the neck."

    Luoluo was exining the steps in detail as she stared at every change happening to Bai Tianyi. She, Xue Wei, and Hei Gou were focused on Bai Tianyi, while Ling Xiao was keeping a vignt watch on their surroundings in case something would use this opportunity to attack them.

    "Ensure that the energy is flowing clockwise, and do not let it be jerky. It has to flow smoothly, otherwise the corruption cannot be removed.

    "Your spiritual energy has to flow through his entire body. Although his body is a spiritual body and not made from flesh and blood, the meridians are still created as channels for the energy, so you should be able to find them.

    "The corruption is centered around his core, so you have to be extra careful when reaching this ce. You cannot let the energy flow be stagnant, nor can it be too rapid. Keep a slow but secure pace, and just keep running your energy through his body until you run out.

    "The energy you use will be gone for good, but every strand of energy that you transfer will make Bai Tianyi more likely to ovee this challenge."

    Luoluo was very solemn as she exined the consequences and the cost, but she also knew that their only option was for Xue Wei to sacrifice his spiritual energy. When considering the current situation, Bai Tianyi was much more important than this secondary cultivation method.

    Xue Wei also lived up to their expectations. He did not hesitate to follow her orders, and every action was done carefully and with deep concentration. He was doing everything he could to ensure that Bai Tianyi would have the best chances for purification.

 Chapter 616: The Sound of Chanting

    <h4>Chapter 616: The Sound of Chanting</h4>

    Xue Wei could feel how his spiritual energy was slowly diminishing, but unlike usual, he knew that he could no longer replenish it as before.

    When cultivating any kind of energy, the expert would be trying to progress through variousyers of strength, and for eachyer, the cultivation base would change.

    The cultivation base was the core of their strength. Even if Xue Wei used all of his Qi or his spiritual energy in normal situations, he would merely need to wait or cultivate for the energy to refill his body once more.

    However, the strength one could wield would be based on theyer one''s strength had reached, so thisyer of cultivation was known as the core.

    For spiritual energy cultivators, they indeed had a core within their bodies. It was a bit simr to that of spirits, but humans and beasts would never be able to control a spiritual energy as pure as these spirits, and thus their cores would be weaker and smaller.

    However, when one cultivated spiritual energy, it was this core that would determine theyer of strength the spiritual energy would reach.

    Xue Wei was currently pouring his spiritual energy straight from his own core into Bai Tianyi''s body, but he was well aware that it was not only the energy that was leaving his body.

    It was also because of this that Luoluo had stressed the fact that he would lose his spiritual energy cultivation if he wished to do the transfer to Bai Tianyi.

    The energy within his core was being depleted little by little, and a strange ck slime began to force its way outside of Bai Tianyi''s body through his pores.

    There was not much of this ck slime, but it was clear the influence it would have on anyone that got their energy tainted by it, and Xue Wei suddenly understood why Luoluo hadpared the corruption of Bai Tianyi with something white sshed by a ck dye.

    "Keep the flow of your energy steady, and continue until all your spiritual energy runs out on its own. Only then will the core of your spiritual energy be forced out, and the majority of the hidden dangers in Bai Tianyi''s body be resolved."

    Xue Wei grunted to indicate his understanding, but he did not answer or nod his head since he knew that any movement could affect his pace.

    The energy he had gathered for so long was slowly disappearing, and he could feel the strange sensation of his soul cultivation base bing hollowed out. Even so, although his efforts through many years were slowly ebbing out, he still did not regret his actions; in fact, he felt relieved to see how his actions were making a genuine difference, and how Bai Tianyi''s body was slowly bing better again.

    Knowing that he could actually make a difference made him feel aplished for the first time in a long time.

    Throughout his life he had lived in a muddle-headed manner. He had constantly hunted for the truth of his past and tried to fight the invisible chains of fate that had him held down, but only recently did he realize that while he needed answers, answers were not the most important aspect.

    To him, hispanions that had been by his side for so many years were the ones who truly mattered. Although he longed for answers, he was not willing to trade for the information at the cost of their lives, and the only reason he was fighting for survival now was due to this hidden enemy that seemed to have trapped and nned their every step.

    He knew that while he was the core of this group, he was also the one who needed their help and support throughout their journeys. Now that the consequences of him asking Bai Tianyi to absorb the energy of the flower were this severe, he felt grateful for the fact that his energy was able to make a difference in treating the corruption.

    This determination was making him even more focused, and while he was eager to heal Bai Tianyi, he was not in a hurry, and kept the pace of his energy steady.

    "Keep it flowing!"

    As time went by, the energy became less and less, and Xue Wei was struggling to keep the flow even. He felt as if he was trying to squeeze out the final drops of liquid from a sponge, but knew that it would soon bepletely empty.

    This feeling of being emptied of energy was unlike the usual experience when he was using his Qi to the limits. Even if it was made in a somewhat simr way, he could feel that this was not merely an overexertion but a devastation of his spiritual cultivation base, and the final stretch was the hardest.

    Suddenly a chanting sound reverberated in the surroundings, and the tremors brought by the sound caused the entirendscape to react.

    The chanting sound was continuous, and the intensity increased as the energy left Xue Wei''s body.

    Luoluo''s eyes were solemn as she observed every change that was taking ce. She knew well that what caused the sound was the spiritual energy core that was about to leave Xue Wei''s body.

    Spiritual energy and Qi were two very different types of energy, and the spiritual energy was connected to the soul. Although it would not injure his soul when it was removed, he would still feel ufortable, and his soul would send out warning sounds when it felt this internal danger approaching.

 Chapter 617: Successfully Transfer Energy

    <h4>Chapter 617: Sessfully Transfer Energy</h4>

    Xue Wei grit his teeth as he persevered. He was feeling ufortable and sweat was beginning to bead on his forehead as he took deep breaths in an attempt to keep his stream of spiritual energy even while roaming through Bai Tianyi''s body.

    While he was trying to keep squeezing energy out of his body, he felt as if some sort of barrier was holding his energy back, trying to slow the speed of which it was leaving him, in an attempt to avoid letting thest few drops leave his body.

    Even so, with the decisive actions of Xue Wei, the barrier was not enough to hold it back, and suddenly, as if a plug had been released, the final strands of spiritual energy left Xue Wei''s body, alongside his entire cultivation base in this particr field.

    He was aware that with this change, he would no longer be able to refine medicinal pills, nor would he be able to make inscriptions or formations, but these things could be ignored. For now, he was focusing on Bai Tianyi, hoping that the treatment had helped him clear the corruption.

    "He should be fine."

    Luoluo took a deep breath and released the stale air that she had held in. She had been fully focused on any move that Xue Wei had done during the energy transfer, and she had to admit that she admired this young man more and more.

    If Xue Wei had even the slightest doubt or hesitation when doing the transfer of energy, then the consequences would be grave for both him and Bai Tianyi. If not for being their only solution, Luoluo would never have suggested this option.

    Fortunately, Xue Wei lived up to her trust and did not hesitate to give away his spiritual energy base in return for a hope that Bai Tianyi would be purified.

    "Will he wake up soon?"

    Xue Wei was feeling feeble and nauseous. Although he was not suffering any direct damage, his soul had weakened drastically, and so had his senses.

    The spiritual energy had usually helped him be able to oversee the entire area with his spiritual energy, but now that he was no longer able to do so, he felt as if all his senses had been crippled or at least weakened greatly. Such an experience was not pleasant at all.

    "He should wake up within a day or two." Luoluo looked at Bai Tianyi''s condition, and the heart that had been hanging since he became corrupted finally fell to its ce.

    "The treatment was in time, and while he will not be able to be saved if he bes corrupted again, this time, the consequences are already the best possible."

    "In that case, let us just camp here for now. Get some rest, and try to see if you can regte your condition."

    Xue Wei was not eager to pause anywhere within No Man''s Land, but he did not have much of an option. No Man''s Land consisted of many areas, and each area was different. It was clear that while the danger in each zone would not be the same as the one before, they were all dangerous to an extreme degree, so although he felt ufortable while being here, it was much better than being chased by endless hordes of beasts.

    As such, they should take the time to take a short rest and prepare for continuing their travels when Bai Tianyi woke up again.

    "Rest first; I will keep an eye on the surroundings and Bai Tianyi for now. After some time, someone else can take over."

    Luoluo volunteered to take the first watch, as she needed to keep an eye on Bai Tianyi. Although it seemed as if the energy was delivered in a timely manner, she still had to ensure that the spirit body would ept the energy properly and purify the corruption.

    Since the energy did note from his original source, there was a small chance of his core suddenly reacting violently and consider the energy as a hostile force. If this happened, she would have to sacrifice her own cultivation base to save Bai Tianyi, but doing this, she would suffer greatly.

    Xue Wei was not aware of Luoluo''s thoughts, but he was currently feeling ufortable, and his head was heavy, so he epted her offer right away, as he closed his eyes and began to adjust his breath and slowly begin to clear his mind.

    Although his difort was not due to pain but the sudden change by his sensitivity and senses, he still had to take some time to adjust his current body. Before he had gotten used to the current situation, he would feel ufortable, and it would also influence his fighting and general behavior.

    Time passed slowly. A few hourster, Luoluo woke up Ling Xiao and asked him to take over the watch as she rested. She had made certain that Bai Tianyi would not have any violent reaction to the energy and that he was absorbing the energy as nned, so it was merely a question about time before he woke up.

    Luoluo had not used any of her energy on Bai Tianyi, but she had been very focused and her entire mind had been focused on ensuring that the corruption could be purified, which had caused her to be tense and worried.

    Now that she was assured about Bai Tianyi''s sess, she no longer tried to hold on and quickly made Ling Xiao take over the watch, while she also sat down in a simr way to Xue Wei and began to adjust her breath. Unlike Xue Wei, she was not going to deal with the actual strength, instead she needed to calm her mind.

 Chapter 618: Final Adjustments

    <h4>Chapter 618: Final Adjustments</h4>

    The time in the flower zone was longer than any of the other areas they had encountered so far. Although it was, so far, the one where they encountered the least danger, it was still necessary for them to readjust to their current conditions.

    Bai Tianyi had awoken, but his mind was not as clear as it had been before. He felt as if he had woken up after a long sleep, and his mind was slowly clearing itself. Although the process took time, it was much better than Luoluo''s initial expectations.

    The two who had the hardest time adjusting to their current conditions were Xue Wei and Bai Tianyi. While Bai Tianyi was slowly clearing his mind, Xue Wei was trying to get familiar with his currently weaker senses.

    Theck of spiritual energy had notpletely removed his abilities to sense his surroundings, but it had lessened by at least seventy percent, and this was making him feel extra worried as he did not know what influence it might have.

    At the same time, he also knew that his abilities to create various pills and inscriptions were gone, but this was not that big of a worry, as he had no intention of crafting other things while being in No Man''s Land.

    During the two days where Bai Tianyi got sober again, Xue Wei also managed to adjustpletely, and he was once more able to fully exert his strength in a battle.

    As for whether or not he was nning on recultivating his spiritual energy, Xue Wei was not in a hurry to decide, as he had many other pressing matters that needed to be solved before he could slow down.

    "Nothing at all has happened while we have rested here?" Xue Wei could not help but frown as he asked Hei Gou and Ling Xiao about the details during their break.

    Although he was relieved that their rest had not been interrupted during their break, he still felt that things were not as simple as they seemed.

    From their experiences at the previous zones, he knew that the area would suddenly erupt in intense danger, and that when this happened, their ability to respond was what determined their survival.

    So far, the only thing they had encountered was the flowers that caused problems, but these flowers did not seem to be actively attacking them. Could the dangers in this zone truly be this simple?

    Xue Wei looked around and narrowed his eyes. He had an ufortable feeling of being observed, but he did not know why he would feel like this.

    This sensation hade after he finished adjusting to his current condition, and was not there before, when his spiritual sense was much more sensitive, so he did not know if he should believe in this strange nagging feeling, or simply ce it aside.

    He nced at Luoluo and Bai Tianyi, the ones with the strongest spiritual sense in their group, but neither of them seemed to have noticed anything.

    "The flowers has bloomed twice during the time you have been cultivating. When the petals open up, the sickening feeling offort and perfume will increase. It feels as if their scent is trying to influence our feelings and lure us into an illusion, but when the petals close up again, the scent will lower slightly, and we can keep our minds clear."

    Hei Gou was frowning as he spoke. He and Ling Xiao had been fully focused on every change in their surroundings while the trio had been focused on getting better, so such details were naturally noticed.

    There had been nothing else happening, only the increase and decrease in the sickening scent and the petals opening and closing. Even the gentle breeze had turned very stable, without any increase or decrease in the strength of the gusts.

    The entire world was too perfect, and the peace they had now seemed too unreal, so while they were not under attack, for now, they could not help but feel ufortable and vignt.

    Xue Wei nodded his head as he looked at Luoluo and Bai Tianyi.

    "When the flowers bloom, do you feel anything?" Although Bai Tianyi had only just gotten sober, he could still remember every sensation he had experienced since trying to absorb the energy of the flower. Even the corruption was painfully clear to him, and he had witnessed how Xue Wei''s energy had forced the corruption away and purified his core.

    Although he was not a person of many words, he was truly grateful to Xue Wei for the sacrifice he had made.

    Although it was Xue Wei who had asked him to try and absorb the energy, there was no me in his heart. They were at No Man''s Land in a group, and none of them had any knowledge of what these flowers would do.

    Xue Wei had been the first to absorb the flowers'' energy, and he had been fine, so it was only natural for him or Luoluo to try their hands at the energy.

    The roads of cultivation was a constant battle for survival. To be a deity, one would have to experience numerous tribtions and experiences, and not even one percent of those who set out on such a journey to be strong would seed.

    Bai Tianyi and the others were very well aware of this. They knew that their chances for survival were low, but this was not news to them. Since they had already stepped onto this path, they had to face the consequences of their actions.

 Chapter 619: Intractable Mirage Peony

    <h4>Chapter 619: Intractable Mirage Peony</h4>

    "I sensed nothing." Bai Tianyi shook his head regrettably as he furrowed his brows. Previously, these flowers had made him tempted to throw away all decency for the sake of absorbing them, but after having been corrupted and purified by Xue Wei''s energy, he no longer felt affected by them.

    Looking around, Bai Tianyi found that the flowers were as numerous now as before, but their scent no longer lured him and made him feel somewhat disgusted instead.

    His brows furrowed deeper before he looked at Luoluo. "How do you feel about the scent? Is it the same as when we first arrived?"

    Bai Tianyi was unable to sense the original temptation, but looking at Luoluo, she did not seem to have gotten past this overwhelming temptation, as her eyes continued to disy a certain degree of restraint.

    "I am still affected." Luoluo looked around with her brows deeply furrowed. She did not like this scent at all, as it tried to make her lose all control of herself and indulge in the wanton soul power that surrounded her.

    "Strange." Bai Tianyi looked around as he took a deep breath. The scent that was originally tempting him now made him nauseous after taking a deep breath, and he gagged in difort as his stomach churned.

    Although he was a spirit, and his body was no longer human, the instinct to get the air out of his system was still real, and he felt genuinely ufortable after the deep breath.

    Such obvious change was clear to all, and their behavior could not help but get even more vignt as they nced around their surroundings.

    However, no matter how much they looked, the fields of flowers were still spread out in front of them, and nothing dangerous seemed to approach. It was only a few momentster that Hei Gou looked into the sky with doubts and suddenly asked, "why did it turn so silent?"

    "The wind is also gone," Ling Xiao added, as he noticed these minor changes.

    "The flowers no longer seem to change either, their state is very stable." Xue Wei also noticed that some time during their conversation, the previously perfect and peaceful area had turned silent as a grave. Even so, the strange feeling offort was still present, trying to blind their senses and make them indulge in tranquility.

    "Aren''t the flowers changing color?" Hei Gou had been observing during the whole time, as he tried to find any traces of change, and he quickly noticed that the beautiful flowers were turning ck.

    The petals changed from red to a darker red, and from dark red they began to be pitch ck. Such ck petals were devoid of any life, and they did not seem beautiful and mysterious but grim and depressing.

    "The air is also changing." Ling Xiao also noticed that the air was bing less pleasant. Although the area was still trying to convince them about the tranquility, he could sense the depression and gloom from beneath the surface.

    "I feel tired." Xue Wei suddenly spoke up. He did not usuallyin about such things, so when he mentioned this sudden urge to rest, the others also began to sense the simr changes in their own bodies.

    Even the two spirits, Bai Tianyi and Luoluo, could feel that their bodies were getting heavy and that their minds were blurring slightly. It felt as if they were exhausted and needed to rest. Such a strange urge was making them feel highly alert, but their senses were still trying to suppress this vignce.

    "We need to move." Luoluo gathered her final energy and began jumping on the spot. Although the action seemed to be a pointless waste of energy, the forced exercise managed to clear her mind slightly, and she was able to regain her senses.

    "Hurry up and move, or you will be unable to fight back!"

    Luoluo could see how the entire group was already bing increasingly listless. From the moment Xue Wei had mentioned that he was tired, their energy started depleting at a rapid pace, making it hard for them to gather their remaining force and fight against their exhaustion.

    This kind of invisible attack was hard to battle against, and the entire group had been caught unaware. Even when inflicted with countless wounds, their group would not be struggling like this, but when their bodies were trying to convince them to rest, the determination and mental strength needed to force them to move was overwhelming.

    Even so, the group was soon on their feet and jumping up and down in session, as they tried to get their blood pumping quicker, and their minds clearer.

    "I think that while this area might becking in other beasts or moving dangers, the hidden danger is much worse. We will not be able to take a break, as any rest will only make it harder to continue moving forward once more, and even worse is the constant temptation to rest."

    "I think I might know what these nts are." Bai Tianyi looked around with conflicted eyes, and his words were tentative as he slowly moved forward, followed by the rest of the group.

    To keep themselves awake, they would jump a little every now and then, as they could also not rush through the area, in fear of their energy depleting before leaving.

    As such, conversations would be able to keep their minds sober, and thus the rest quickly grabbed the words said by Bai Tianyi.

    "What kind of nt is it, then?" Ling Xiao was always curious about these new and strange things, and his eyes nced at the many ck flowers that were surrounding them endlessly.

    "I think it is the Intractable Mirage Peony. It is a flower that makes illusions, and although it is a part of the peony family, it is a dark and sinister nt."

 Chapter 620: The Evil Plant Spirit

    <h4>Chapter 620: The Evil nt Spirit</h4>

    Bai Tianyi kept frowning as he looked at the flower with some hesitation. "Although it does have a lot of simrities with the Intractable Mirage Peony, there are many differences as well, and it is simply impossible to guess its true origin. Maybe what we are witnessing right now is an illusion as well, and there are no flowers at all."

    Although Bai Tianyi was feeling uncertain, he still thought that it was likely to be the peony flower. The few differences were not enough to take away the evil air that was lingering around, and the danger it brought upon their group was also simr to the flower''s nature.

    However, Bai Tianyi had seen illustrations of the Intractable Mirage Peony before, and it did not look like the ones in front of him. It was as if the nt in front of them was some sort of mutated version.

    It was precisely due to this difference in appearance that he had casually mentioned that their entire world in front of them could be an illusion. If the true Intractable Mirage Peony was hiding in the shadows somewhere and weaving together illusions and lies, then they might truly be caught in a nightmare that would be hard to escape from.

    Xue Wei was listening to Bai Tianyi''s words, and he also sensed the uncertainty in his voice.

    "Although there are some differences between these nts and the Intractable Mirage Peony you mentioned, please tell us how we can guard against these flowers, assuming there is some sort of connection between them." Although they did not know anything for certain, Xue Wei still felt that it would be better for them to prepare for some unforeseen events, and he also felt that if they kept conversing as they advanced, their mental state would also not suffer as badly as if they were focusing on their worries and fears.

    "The Intractable Mirage Peony is considered a peony. Although the nature of this nt is evil, Peonies are known to be the kings of flowers, and they were used by the royal families back when our world was still ruled solely by empires and kingdoms.

    "The various types of peonies usually bring prosperity, fortune, honor, and love, but this special version is theplete opposite.

    "The Intractable Mirage Peony is known as a peony that wishes to bring destruction upon the world. It is said that in legends, a peony had bloomed for thousands of years within a royal garden, and due to the old age, many of the monarchs considered it an heirloom of their empire.

    "The peony was bringing fortune and prosperity to their empire, and many sent offerings and treasures to honor this flower.

    "The treasures they sent as offerings often contained heaven and earth essence, and due to the increase of energy in its surroundings, it slowly turned into a spirit.

    "This spirit was different from most others. The majority of spirits are born in a tranquil and peaceful area which has a good connection to the heavens and the earth, but this spirit was created by offerings and treasures.

    "It was, from its very creation, used to being admired and worshiped, so it took all the treasures it received for granted. The spirit began to consider the monarchs as its ves, and its world-view became twisted.

    "This peony spirit began demanding more and more treasures before it was willing to bless the empire, but as a symbol of prosperity and luck, the peony itself had no such overwhelming abilities, as it never was willing to use its personal energy for the sake of the people.

    "The peony spirit''s constant requests for treasures pushed the empire towards a road of doom and destruction. Themoners were the first to encounter problems as theirnds could not produce enough resources to feed their poption, and slowly a famine spread through thends.

    "Even so, the peony never stopped its demands for more treasures to increase its powers, and it resulted in the monarch having to fight for their empire''s survival against this evil spirit.

    "Unfortunately, the many treasures that had been absorbed throughout the many years had contained a lot of energy, and the peony could not be defeated.

    "As revenge, the peony spirit went on a massacre and killed every citizen within the empire, but its revenge was not over yet.

    "None of these people gained a pleasant death. Their corpses were all used as fertilizer, as one seed was nted in each corpse.

    "These seeds took root within the corpse itself and it used the flesh and blood as nourishment as they grew. The nts that grew from the evil peony spirit and the countless corpses were the Intractable Mirage Peony.

    "As for whether or not this legend is true, I do not know, but it is certain that the nt itself is evil. Unlike a true peony, it only lures its victims with promises of peace and tranquility, yet when they die, their bodies will be used to nt even more of these horrible flowers.

    "Their speciality is soul energy, and ording to the legend, this is due to the original peony having turned into a spirit who always hungers for more soul power."

    Bai Tianyi finished retelling the legend, but looking at the many nts around him, he could not help but feel ufortable.

    "So, each and every Intractable Mirage Peony is grown from a corpse, or was it only the legend that said this?" Ling Xiao looked around with a bit of difort as he noticed the sheer amount of nts in front of them. If each of them had to originate from a corpse, then the corpses used to nt this flower field had to be in the hundreds of thousands.

 Chapter 621: The Corrupted Flower

    <h4>Chapter 621: The Corrupted Flower</h4>

    Bai Tianyi looked at the ground beneath his feet. The lush green grass seemed more gloomy than before, and he could not help but clear his throat a little ufortably.

    As he looked at the many flowers surrounding them, he knew that the Intractable Mirage Peony looked different from these flowers, but he was also quite certain in his own guess. Their abilities and reactions were exactly the same, and even if the origin of these flowers was not as the legend had exined, he knew for a fact that they needed to grow in corpses to gain nutrients.

    "I always felt that this ce is a little too fake. It is as when you enter the Red Light District. Although it looks morous and opulent, it is only on the surface. Beneath the beauty lies a gruesome and disgusting world full of death and blood." Ling Xiao could not help but shiver as he looked around. He felt rather ufortable and wanted to leave the area as soon as possible.

    Although he was not a superstitious person, he still felt rather disgusted when he knew that these flowers had grown by consuming corpses. Even if he had found them somewhat beautiful before, he now just wished to be far away from them.

    However, Ling Xiao''s words did not make his friends feel worried. All of them knew that this area was nothing like how it portrayed itself. Instead, it was rotten to the core, but they still found it amusing listening to Ling Xiao continuing topare it to the Red Light District. He did not even realize how much this ce had influenced his mind to makeparisons with bad things whenever he encountered them.

    Luoluo, who was still very sensitive towards the strange temptation surrounding the flowers, had also listened to Bai Tianyi''s words. She had, however, never heard about this legend before, and could not help but feel amazed.

    While Bai Tianyi had heard the legend back when he was still a human being, he had focused on the flowers that needed to be nurtured within a human corpse, but Luoluo was a spirit herself. She knew more about spirits than human emotions, and she could not help but feel that many things made sense.

    There were both demonic and righteous spirits. Although the righteous spirits were no saints, they would not harm the innocent as the evil, or demonic, spirits would.

    Even so, a spirit had a specific core that made them what they were even up to this date, much as how Bai Tianyi was a sword spirit, she also had a core.

    This core was very important when the spirit was created, and it was also the decisive factor about whether or not the spirit would be righteous or demonic.

    A peony was inherently righteous. They were the symbol of prosperity and fortune, so it was not possible for this spirit to be demonic upon creation. Especially when one considered the many treasures it had been gifted, and the reverence it had gained throughout the many years as it was admired.

    "Corruption." Luoluo''s voice was somber as she suddenly uttered a single word.

    She did not speak loudly, but everyone was silent as they tried to ept the legend that Bai Tianyi had recounted and thus heard her uttering the word with such solemnity.

    "What is it?" Xue Wei continued to survey their surroundings as he asked Luoluo about her sudden outburst. Although he did not seem fully focused, everyone who knew him understood that he was in fact very interested to hear her words.

    "The spirit was corrupted from before it even gathered enough energy to be sentient." Luoluo lowered her eyes and looked at the ground in front of her.

    "A peony will not be a demonic spirit. Even if it was drenched in blood or surrounded by gloom, they would not willingly submit to evil, so for this spirit to submit to its desires, it can be said that there is something wrong with the spirit instead." Luoluo sounded hesitant as she spoke.

    She had always known that corruption was something that spirits had to fear. It was not an issue for the demonic cultivators, as their core already reeked of death, but the righteous spirits were often preyed upon by these demonic cultivators that wished to eat their cores and consume their cultivation base.

    However, these Intractable Mirage Peonies were no ordinary flowers when looking at them with their naked eyes. They were clearly peonies, but they seemed to becking something. Perhaps due to the extravagant amount of treasures, the spirit had been tempted from the moment of creation, and thus the corruption had been deeply rooted within this spirit''s core?

    "I fear that the spirit has been corrupted from the moment of creation. Look at these flowers. If they truly are what Bai Tianyi assumes, it would make sense why any pure spirit-core gets corrupted upon touch.

    "This Peony Spirit that Tianyi mentioned should have been powerful and noble, but from its very creation, it was used to being admired and served with too much admiration and faith.

    "Its world-view was twisted from the very start, and its energy was not pure. This energy slowly twisted together and made the peony be corrupted little by little, which also allowed it to be the only kind of spirit that is able to live with a corrupted core.

    "This kind of spirit is much more dangerous than the evil spirits. Although the evil spirits are ruthless and bloodthirsty, they are perfectly well aware of the consequences their actions have. Some of them might choose to destroy to satisfy their own happiness and bloodthirst, but they do know that their actions are wrong, while the corrupted spirits are just twisted.

    "Their minds are in a constant daze that makes them experience reality different from the rest of us. We never know what they are thinking, nor what their next movements will be.

    "Such a spirit is hard to control, and also many times more difficult to prepare against. Just listen to the legends about how the spirit got his revenge by nting its own seeds in these numerous corpses and creating a new bloodthirsty version of a peony."

 Chapter 622: Scared Monk

    <h4>Chapter 622: Scared Monk</h4>

    "So, from what you exined, demonic spirits are not able to be corrupted? Is it then possible for a righteous spirit to purify an evil spirit in some way?" Ling Xiao had never known much about spirits and after finally hearing Luoluo''s exnation about their ways of existing, he could not help but ask many questions.

    Even so, Luoluo was not impatient and answered slowly. "The demonic spirits and the corrupted spirits are different. The demonic spirits are perfectly well aware of their actions. They are ruthless and murderous in nature, and their entire core has been evil from creation.

    "The corrupted spirits have a pure core, but they have be corrupted. The best way to exin it is that if you have two pieces of paper side by side. One piece is white with no blemishes while the other is ck. Now imagine dropping ink onto these two pages.

    "The white page, which resembles the righteous spirits, will be tainted by the ink right away. It will slowly but surely take over all the white paper it touches, and it is more or less impossible to remove as soon as it has been stained.

    "The ck page, on the other hand, is already ck. The corruption can do nothing but be swallowed up by the darkness already existing within the demonic spirits'' cores already.

    "About the purifying of demonic spirits, it is not possible. These demonic spirits are not corrupted so there is nothing to purify. They are as they were created, and the demonic spirits are much more eager to consume the righteous spirits and use their energy to enhance themselves instead.

    "The righteous spirits can, in the same way, consume the evil spirits, but due to their dark cores, most righteous spirits will feel absolutely disgusted by the heavy sin and murder connected to these cores that they never wish to do so."

    Luoluo exined with many details, so even Ling Xiao understood the differences between the three types of spirits. Even so, he was even more conflicted.

    This peony spirit was able to stay alive and sane due to the corruption that it had been gaining ever since its creation. From the very start of it forming its core, the corruption had been a part of itself, and thus it had never made it lose its mind, as the great shock had been missing.

    Even so, its view of the world was messed up and twisted. The peony flower clearly was as evil as the demonic spirits, but due to the righteous core, it had be even more outrageous, as it genuinely considered every action it made for the better. No matter how messed up the world became, it would never be the fault of this peony. Such delusions were much more horrifying than those spirits that were murderous by nature.

    The group continued forward. Their conversation hadsted a long time, and their advance had been without any troubles so far, but no matter how far they walked, it seemed that there was no end in sight.

    The sickening smell that was sweet but nauseous was also getting more and more prominent, and the entire group was feeling queasy by now.

    "Do you think we are within an illusion of some kind? Tianyi mentioned that they are specialized in tempting others, so I assume that their proficiency in the arts of illusions have to be quite outstanding." Hei Gou had been quiet for a long time, but he finally spoke out.

    He looked around their surroundings and found that the area looked very simr to their previous position and feared that there might be something wrong with the visual impression in front of them.

    "This should not be an illusion." Bai Tianyi looked around. As a spirit, he should have some sensitivity towards illusions, and right now, he did not feel anything special from this area. Even so, he also felt that things were a little out of control.

    On the surface, everything seemed peaceful, yet ufortable, but something had to be happening for them to have walked for so long without any sess in leaving.

    "I think that we are getting closer to the germination grounds. The stench is sickeningly sweet and overwhelmingly ufortable. It can only mean that the original stench in the air needs even more of these disgusting perfumes to cover up the rotting scent."

    "Germination grounds?" Ling Xiao could not help but gulp in difort. He was not a timid person, but he did not enjoy watching the gory and disgusting sights of ripped apart corpses, so he was already starting to feel even more ufortable while imagining what they might encounter next.

    "Let us move forward. Even if we do encounter the ce where these flowers grow, we should not be afraid. The information we found stated that these seeds need to grow from corpses. Corpses are already dead and can not prove to be dangerous to us.

    "At the same time, the flowers are also still very young, and since not even these fully grown versions are able to threaten us, then we should be fine, even if facing the sprouts." Xue Wei''s voice was cold as always, but he did try his best to assure Ling Xiao about theck of fear he had for what they were about to face.

    Unfortunately, his words reminded the silly monk that the nts around them had sprouted from within a corpse, and a chill ran down his spine.

    "This ce is wicked! I would much rather fight against some sort of unreasonable beast than these disturbing flowers that are trying to tempt us intomitting sins!"

 Chapter 623: Ling Xiaoâ€™s Sheltered Upbringing

    <h4>Chapter 623: Ling Xiao¡¯s Sheltered Upbringing</h4>

    Ling Xiao''s personality was indeed a much-needededic feature in their dangerous world. He had left the Diviner''s temple because he felt that it was not the life he wanted, and after traveling alongside Xue Wei and the others for a long time, his true character had long since surfaced.

    He had been taken to the temple at a very young age, and his entire childhood had been sheltered. He did not know much about the outside world, but his hunger for knowledge, and his curious nature made him escape the temple time and time again, with the purpose of learning about the real world.

    It was not that Ling Xiao was ungrateful to the old men who had raised him, but he was smart from a young age, and he could sense the entricity in the way they tried to influence him. The constant belief that beasts were all evil and that the world needed them to subdue these beasts and make them work as ves.

    The way these old men had told him about the gruesome stories of destruction caused by the Primordial Beasts and their hordes of fierce beasts made him feel that while it might be true, there had to be some sort of scale that had gone wrong somewhere.

    He would listen to the double standards of how the beasts were ruthless and cruel for not treating human lives as important, but at the same time, they, as Diviners, treated these beasts the same way.

    From a young age, he found it hypocritical, and he began to listen to their words with a grain of salt. He wanted to see what the real world was like, but the old men would never let him leave.

    Once he had fled and hidden in a brothel, and the experience had truly caused him to be traumatized for life. Although he had not experienced any of the services offered at this ce, he had seen how the many beautiful women and men were treated as goods that could be used for satisfying the wealthy people.

    He could see the despair in these prostitutes and their helplessness as they had to offer themselves to the rich.

    The reason he managed to escape the brothel was due to a prostitute who got too despaired and murdered her customer, after which she beganughing manically and killed herself.

    He witnessed how the entire brothel was thrown into chaos as the man''s identity was special, but the poor woman was ignored, and many even felt that her death was too simple.

    To her, no matter how gruesome the death would be, it would still be freedom. Such recognition made Ling Xiao realize that the world he was fighting to protect was not ck and white.

    He was not able to protect these people who could act like beasts, and harm the beasts who had done nothing wrong.

    After that event, he returned to the temple, stole the staff, and then fled. It was onlyter that he encountered Xue Wei, and began to realize that the world was beautiful but cruel. He should fight for his own survival and those he considered dear to him, instead of caring for some noble course. In the end, history was written by the victorious and the winner became the king, while the loser turned into a bandit.

    However, no matter how much he had matured, he had grown up in a sheltered environment, and he did not see as much blood and gore as the rest. During battles, he would not mind it much, as he would feel the thrill of the fight, but now, knowing that these flowers had grown by absorbing the corpses beneath the ground, he could not help but shiver in fear. How ufortable!

    Ling Xiao felt the constant shivers run down his spine, but he tried to force himself to calm down. His outburst was already not suitable, and if anyone were around, their location would be noticed without a doubt. His actions could bring danger to everyone around him.

    However, Xue Wei and the others did not me him. They found Ling Xiao''s somewhat naive personality very reassuring and made them keep touch with human emotions. Often, they would feel that the coldbloodedness needed to murder again and again would numb their minds, but when they encountered horrible scenes, Ling Xiao would sometimes erupt in the most unexpected way, bringing their moods back to a bnced state.

    It was the same here. This zone was much more taxing on their minds than any of the previous ones. The story about the evil peony spirit had made them all feel frustrated and also caused them to contemte about how big a difference it was when the corruption became a part of the spirit''s core from creation, but none of them had been too bothered by the nts that grew by absorbing nutrients from corpses. To them, the dead were already dead, so it did not matter much.

    However, seeing how agitated Ling Xiao had gotten, the heavy aura that had surrounded them all was instantly cleared up, and they managed to look at the whole situation from a different angle.

    It genuinely did not matter what origin the peony spirit had. It did not matter how it acted or if it was evil or corrupted. To them, it was an enemy, and if it arrived, they would have to fight it.

    Right now, it was unknown whether or not the original spirit was present, and they should focus on the flowers in front of them instead. For now, these flowers were the real danger they were facing.

 Chapter 624: Teleportation Array

    <h4>Chapter 624: Teleportation Array</h4>

    Xue Wei looked at the nurturing ground in front of him. This area was different from the rest of the zone, and it was clear that no matter how powerful the illusion might be, it would not be able topletely mask the true horror that was hidden beneath the surface.

    "Don''t you all find this entire No Man''s Land quite weird?" Xue Wei could suddenly not help but frown slightly.

    "The first area in which we arrived, the scorpions seemed to hunt the humans for food, and in turn, they got eaten by the giant beast. The sheer amount of humans needed to sustain that horde of smaller scorpions cannot be low, and from their habit of living in groups, I doubt they are cannibals."

    Xue Wei looked around and his brows furrowed deeper.

    "Then, as we arrived at that strange forest, the entire ground was turned to mud from the amount of blood that had been shed, not to mention the many beast puppets that had lost their souls.

    "This area is not less troublesome, as each of these nts would need a corpse to grow, but the numerous nts are already making it clear that corpses keep arriving here to let new nts grow."

    Xue Wei looked around and felt that he had started to realize something amiss.

    "Not just this zone, but all the other zones we have walked through so far depend on a significant number of lives to sustain themselves. The scorpions will likely die from hunger if they do not eat regrly, and the soil in the forest would not be so muddy if it was not constantly irrigated by blood.

    "Just look at this area, the flowers keep growing, and we are nearing in on their nurturing grounds where more nts will grow. Each nt requires a corpse, but the corpses cannot be from any of the other zones as each zone needs the corpses for themselves.

    "So, where do all these livese from? No Man''s Land is a dangerous area, and people from our world will not usuallye here unless absolutely necessary. Even Tianyi said that it is almost unknown, and if so many corpses vanished here, more people would be familiar with this area."

    Xue Wei''s words were reasonable, but also opened up to a great mystery. Where could these corpses and creaturese from so that No Man''s Land could keep existing the way it was now?

    "These various zones seem to have been taken here from various locations, but we do not have anywhere even remotely simr in our world, so do you think that they might be from other nes or realms?" Hei Gou frowned slightly as he spoke.

    "There are two possible situations; either these zones have been simply taken away from the various original locations and merged together to create this No Man''s Land, but this is not very likely, considering the sheer amount of lives that are still lost.

    "The second possibility is that we might not be in our own world any longer. Each of these zones are not, as we previously thought, an independant dimension of any kind. Instead, when we enter these zones, we have been teleported to the actual location where they are ced.

    "For us, it seems as if they are part of No Man''s Land, and we can only enter them through the various zones, but maybe, they are truly ced around the universe, and others can go there, if they live close by. That would exin why so many keep dying here."

    Luoluo looked around as she spoke. She could not help but shudder as she was more inclined to believe the second possibility, but the sheer amount of power needed to make such teleportations possible, without the ones involved even realizing, was genuinely horrifying.

    If this was done by the enemy hidden in the darkness, then Xue Wei was fighting a losing battle. To fight against someone who could teleport you from one world to another, without you even noticing, that was scary.

    Even so, none of them said anything and instead took a deep breath to calm their restless emotions. Even if it was frightening and overwhelming, it was not impossible to fight back. For now, they had some freedom, and although their actions might be the same as entertainment in the eyes of their enemy, it was worth giving it their all, instead of just giving up.

    "Actually, No Man''s Land might be used as a passway by this guy to enter our world." Bai Tianyi was standing by the side and furrowed his brows as he looked around.

    "The various zones are from vastly different environments, and it would make sense that they came from different worlds. The creator might be at the same level as Lan, so he can travel between the various worlds, but it might still be a bit troublesome to return to our world, so he made a teleportation array and ced it together in a specific location, which turned into No Man''s Land.

    "This is just my theory, but No Man''s Land is likely a collection of dangerous zones from various worlds. He might have picked these zones since the majority of those who enter will end up dying, and thus he can keep his teleportation array a secret.

    "The reason we are merely walking from zone to zone is that the areas themselves are part of the teleportation array.

    "We are not actually transported to the other area itself, we are merely walking through the array, and have to cross them all to get to the other side?"

    Bai Tianyi was notpletely certain that his theory was correct, but he felt that it was more reasonable than if they were genuinely transported from one world to another, time and time again.

 Chapter 625 - Molten Stones

    <h4>Chapter 625 - Molten Stones</h4>

    Xue Wei frowned slightly as he looked around. "It would make sense," he said.

    The various zones they had entered so far were genuinely horrible, and each location was worse than the previous. They clearly changed significantly, but each one of them was full of death and disaster. cing a teleportation array in such danger zones would limit the amount of people who would approach.

    "We need to find a peaceful ce; I have to contact Lan about this." Xue Wei knew that this was something way beyond his own capabilities. No matter how much he was struggling, he would not be able to defeat an enemy that could create these teleportation arrays, and it no longer only included their own world, but also others.

    Lan was the Sovereign Deity that was responsible for this world, but even he was not aware of the existence of these arrays, and this worried him greatly.

    After splitting up with Lan, Xue Wei had gotten his hands on a fewmunication devices that could be used in emergencies. He had, initially, not nned on using these things, but now he knew that it was not a question of determination and stubbornness.

    Although Xue Wei was not willing to let others deal with his problems for him, this was no longer just his problem, and he was worried that things might be moreplex than initially expected.

    "We will watch out for dangers. Just take the time to send the message now." Luoluo was, just like Xue Wei and the others, worried that their current predicament was much more serious than initially feared. The scheme might not be aimed at Xue Wei, but at the entire world, and might even expand to the whole universe, as there were many worlds that could connect to here, using the various teleportation arrays.

    Xue Wei quickly withdrew a jade tablet from within his storage treasure. The tablet was made from a special spiritual jade, and there were two matching tablets, so that what was written on one would appear on the other.

    They were both very suitable for use, but they needed to restore energy each time a message had been transferred, so Xue Wei would not be receiving any answer this time and could only inform Lan about their current situation.

    The tablet was, fortunately,rge enough for Xue Wei to quickly exin the different areas they had been through so far, but also describe their theory for now. He felt that the teleportation arrays would bring more danger than anything else, so his focus was not on the various dangers they had faced, but about how the constant influx of corpses never stopped, and how each ce seemed to lead to different worlds.

    Xue Wei wrote quickly, and it did not take long for him to finish. "Let''s leave this area as soon as possible."

    They all wished to enter another zone. Although they had not encountered intense danger here, the constant temptation and illusion from the Intractable Mirage Peony was straining their minds to their limits. In many ways, they would rather fight a physical danger than an invisible enemy like this.

    The group was haggard and they could feel the exhaustion as they moved forward. The nurturing grounds of the Intractable Mirage Peonies was very simr to the rest of the zone, but they dared not rest their vignce or lower their guards as they slowly moved forward.

    However, unlike previously, the group was no longer able to look forward to what the next zone would bring, as they knew that it would no longer be a pleasant location. Everything they could visit was going to be more dangerous than what they experienced before.

    Upon witnessing the border in the distance, the group finally took a deep breath and sat down. One after another, they slept and rxed their minds as they tried to regain their energy before they dared venture into the next dangerous zone.

    "Are you ready?"

    After everyone managed to get, at least a little, energy back, they took a deep breath before looking at the area in front of them. They no longer felt any hope of having an easier time, but instead tried to adapt to thendscape that was evident in front of them.

    "It looks pretty warm" Bai Tianyi could not help but say dryly, as he felt a little resistant towards the new zone they were to enter.

    The others could not help but feel slightly speechless. Warm might not be the right word, as theva was running in deep gashes through the cracked ground, and even the geysers were not sprouting warm water, but seemed to spew out magma and ck smoke.

    The air that rose from the ground even caused heat mirages, and it was clear that not only was theva deadly, thend itself was not going to make their advance much smoother.

    "Well, let us give it a try." They already knew that they had to get through this before they could leave No Man''s Land, but they could not help but feel listless as they looked at the zone in front of them. Even so, they did not hesitate as they stepped into the new zone, and what met them was a wall of heat.

    The zones were split apart, and thus, the heat that was within this molten rock area was contained within its own borders. It also meant that the heat was simply like a punch in the face, and even they, who were stronger than most, could not help but feel as if the air they breathed burnt their entire body inside, and their lungs were set on fire.

    Fortunately for Luoluo and Bai Tianyi, their entire bodies were made from energy, so they did not sense the same extreme difort, but the other three could not help but cough as soon as they stepped into the new area.

 Chapter 626 - Can Flames Get Corrupted?

    <h4>Chapter 626 - Can mes Get Corrupted?</h4>

    Xue Wei and the others were on the path of changing their bodies to be immortals, but they had not truly reached the deity level yet, and thus this extreme heat had an influence on their bodies.

    Also, when surveying around, Xue Wei''s face turned solemn, and his brows could not help but furrow.

    "This me is wrong." After he finished coughing, Xue Wei could not help but force out a sentence through his painful voice as his eyes focused on theva that was ever present in their current zone.

    After having managed to rouse the bloodline of the Vermillion Bird, Xue Wei had gotten a good affinity with the fire element, but even he felt his hairs stand up whenever he looked at theva as he could sense that a very domineering and destructive me was running rampant within the molten rocks in front of them.

    "Some of the more powerful mes will gain a certain degree of spirituality but not be genuine spirits." Luoluo''s voice sounded from the side as she also looked around. She was truly a living encyclopedia on anything that had to do with spirits, and having her around helped them a lot.

    "The me is fierce and evil. It is destructive and domineering, but it also feels as if it is corrupted, much like how Tianyi was before." Xue Wei did no longer have his spiritual energy, but he could sense that something was wrong with the me at first nce, and looking at the current situation, he could not help but feel that it was somewhat simr to Bai Tianyi and the description of corruption that Luoluo had mentioned before.

    "Do these mes with spirituality have a chance of being corrupted?" Xue Wei was not aware of many details when it came to spirits and corruption, but when considering his strange feelings and how Luoluo had said that it had a spirituality, he feared that there was a possibility of the me being corrupted. He could not help but shudder at that thought.

    Luoluo''s eyes also somewhat shed ufortably. "Although they are not genuine spirits, it should be possible to be corrupted. However, since it is not a spirit like us, their me does not have an actual core, and thus the corruption will influence it, but it will not be in the same way as it is with genuine spirits." Although she had never seen a me being corrupted, it should be possible, and thus she spoke based on her theoretical knowledge.

    "These mes are very much like treasures and pills. Although they can get spirituality, they do not be actual spirits.

    "The main difference can be exined if you look at Tianyi. He is a weapon spirit, but he is now much more than just a weapon. The sword was his origin and his core, but he is no longer a sword himself.

    "These mes are the mes themselves. They do not be more than that, nor can they shed their mes and change their forms. Unless they manage to break through and gain so much spirituality that their me turns into their spirit core, they will forever remain the mes they are now."

    As Luoluo tried to exin, Xue Wei and the others listened intently. They could not help but feel that the world of spirits was truly peculiar since they could have spirituality without being actual spirits, but when he remembered that there were even artificial spirits, he eventually decided to just ept the exnation and not try to think too much about why or how.

    "So far, the previous zones have not had much to do with one another, and it might just be me who is thinking too much into this and makingparisons with the previous area without reason." Xue Wei could not help but frown as he became slightly doubtful.

    Although he had a theory that there was a corrupted me within the area, he had no proof to base his assumptions on, and he also felt that it might be too much of a coincidence if two areas in a row would have something to do with corrupted spirits.

    Luoluo heard his words and hesitated slightly as she looked around the cracked, burning ground.

    "I cannot sense any corrupted spiritual energy around here, but the mes are not spirits after all. What kind of emotion is making you feel apprehensive?" Luoluo had searched the area but had not sensed anything out of the ordinary.

    Xue Wei took a deep breath and tried to figure out what his true feelings were. It was hard to separate the various emotions that filled him, and it took a moment before he had seeded in finding the best way to exin the difference.

    "After merging with my Vermillion Bird bloodline, I have been very sensitive towards various mes and fires. Usually, I will not feel ufortable when I am close to fire, and instead want to absorb the good stuff for myself, but whenever I sense the fire energy within this zone, I feel as if I am currently ced in the middle of a bowl of rotten food and forced to eat it.

    "It is truly disgusting and it makes me feel as if the me itself has be dirty and different from its intended nature. Hence Ipared it to the corruption which ruined the purity of the spirits. Here it feels more like the me has been ruined instead, though."

    Xue Wei did not know how to best describe the strange sensation that this entire area gave him, but he knew that even if the me was not corrupted, it was definitely not a good thing either.. The entire aura and atmosphere was making him feel sick.

 Chapter 627 - Corpse Flame

    <h4>Chapter 627 - Corpse me</h4>

    Luoluo had been listening to Xue Wei''s desciption, but she could not help but furrow her brows. Although she knew many things about spirits, these mes were not actually the same as a real spirit and not even that simr to the artificial spirits, so she did not know.

    "It feels rotten. Decayed." Xue Wei, who had been busy feeling the various emotions connected to the me, finally found the right words to describe the sensation that rose in his body whenever the me got close.

    "I might know what it is." Hei Gou''s voice suddenly sounded, and everyone looked at him curiously, but also somewhat surprised.

    Hei Gou had lost his memories previously, but he had, instead, gained the heritage of the Celestial Dogs and knew many details about their origin and history. If these mes had appeared at some point in history and had an influence on the Celestial Dog Race, then there was a chance for them to have memories passed on.

    Seeing that everyone were curious, Hei Gou did not rush to exin but quickly went through all his memories once more. Although he had some details already, he wanted to ensure that he had not missed anything else.

    "If things are as I think, then it is not a corrupted me. Most mes are warm and contains yang energy, but there are a few which are yin in nature.

    "These mes are not necessarily evil or bad, but just like how the spirit will get corrupted by evil if it enters their core, the mes are also influenced by the energy they consume.

    "The mes will increase in strength based on the energy they consume, but the yin mes usually depends on the energy of the soul and the dead to increase in power.

    "If these people have had horrible deaths, if their souls are dirty and evil, then the me will naturally be influenced.

    "When you said that you felt disgusted and rotten, I could not help but wonder if the me is the Corpse me. It is somewhat simr to the Ghost me, but where the Ghost me is absorbing the soul of a person, the Corpse me feeds on Corpse Qi.

    "Corpse Qi is a phenomenon that, ording to my inherited memories, is not very well-known. It is a useless form of energy for most people, and only the Corpse me and necromancers can benefit from this specific kind of Qi. Even puppeteers has to ensure that the corpses they use for their puppets do not gather any of this Corpse Qi.

    "The Corpse me is especially disturbing. It feeds on corpse qi and the more mutted a corpse has be, the more it decays, the more Corpse Qi will be stored within."

    Hei Gou spoke in ordance with his inherited memories, but he had no idea how much of this wasmon knowledge for the others, so he decided to simply exin in detail.

    "Corpse Qi will slowly dissipate after the corpse has dposedpletely. It is a strange type of Qi, as it will build up within the corpse during dposion but also vanish alongside the corpse as it turns to nothingness. Necromancers are using this Corpse Qi to increase their strength, but due to their constant soaking in Corpse Qi, they often have many severe sideeffects that will influence their future."

    Xue Wei had never heard about Corpse Qi before, nor did he know about Necromancers or the Corpse me, however, if this me truly feasted on corpses, then he did understand the feeling of decay and death that was heavy all around.

    "I can''t help but think that this trip to No Man''s Land has broadened my horizons. I have learned many things during the various zones, not only about spirits, but now even about the various types of mes." Ling Xiao could not help but marvel out loud as he looked at Hei Gou.

    Truth be told, all of them had their own speciality. They knew different things and would not usually brag about their knowledge, but now that they encountered these specific situations, they all had to share their information and theories in the hope of preparing for the dangers ahead.

    Even so, they had indeed been taught many new things during their trip through these different zones, and Xue Wei also began to realize just how vast the world was.

    Although he was already considered a powerhouse within the continent, he wascking in knowledge. Strength was important for survival, but at certain times, knowledge could make many things simpler, and also allow for survival when meeting an overwhelming foe.

    "This me is very simr to the previous zones. Also, just like how the Intractable Mirage Peony grows in corpses, this me, if it is genuinely the Corse me as Hei Gou said, also thrives only if many deaths appear around it.

    "Although every world has its own danger zones, it is not often that many will venture into them, as the strength needed to survive is more than what most can get.

    "We know it from our own world here. No Man''s Land is a danger zone that is known to be extremely deadly. It is to the point where many stay away and tries to ignore it, to the point that most have not even heard about it.

    "I would imagine tat it would at most be a few hundred or thousand cultivators venturing into No Man''s Land a year, but in these other worlds where the zones originate from, it is as if the corpses and people needed are unlimited.

    "Do you not think that this is strange? If numerous people die there every day, then why do others keep visiting? And, if it is deserted, how can it be that the zones are filled with death and despair?" Xue Wei''s voice was somewhat low, but he also felt frustrated as he thought about yet another mystery that he could not crack.

 Chapter 628 - Flaming Hell

    <h4>Chapter 628 - ming Hell</h4>

    Xue Wei felt as if he had finally stumbled across a very important secret. He looked around the area that looked so different from any of the other areas and could not help but frown in contemtion.

    "There is somethingpletely wrong here." He finally felt that from the very first moment they stepped into these zones, something had been wrong.

    At first, their confusion had been looking for numerous exnations. They had been finding the ones causing the many deaths, but not the ones who died.

    They also found out that these areas were the teleportation arrays to different worlds, but this also contradicted with the sheer amount of corpses everywhere.

    "These are not only teleportation areas, but also butchering grounds." Xue Wei narrowed his eyes as he looked around.

    "I can imagine that the person who created these teleportation arrays has a need for the many people who died. So far, many of the areas have been absorbing flesh and blood or the soul power, but what is the ultimate purpose to gather so much evil in one ce?"

    Xue Wei was not expecting anyone to answer; he was merely stating the many thoughts that were in his mind and trying to get them straightened out.

    "There has to be a reason. These people have to be moved here for the purpose of ughtering them, much like how beasts are brought to the ughterhouse.

    "But when the beasts are being ughtered, it is for a special purpose, so these deaths have to be caused for some reason as well. Why would the people who created this ce send people here to ughter them?"

    Xue Wei had the feeling as if he was grasping for a certain thread of reason. It was just outside his reach, but so close that he could sense it.

    Taking a deep breath, Xue Wei tried to calm his mind. Just as he closed his eyes and eased his breath, he felt a fireball that suddenlyunched itself towards them, andnded onto the ground with an overwhelming explosion that caused a resounding boom.

    The entire group became alert in an instant and looked around their surroundings, only to realize that multiple fireballs wereing towards them.

    The fireballs came down like rain from the sky, but their size was many times bigger than a raindrop, and each time they came into contact with something, an explosion would follow, destroying all things in sight.

    These fireballs were different from the other enemies that they had met up until now in the various zones. Although many of the previous enemies had been fierce, it had been possible to defeat them. These mes, however, were not like a nt or a beast that could be killed or destroyed.

    "Try to make them detonate in the air!" Bai Tianyi was shouting as loudly as he could, but among the noise caused by the exploding fireballs, his words were almost swallowed and hard to hear.

    Even so, the others understood his intentions, and upon witnessing how he conjured a great sword more than double his own size out of spiritual energy and began to chop down all the fireballs in front of him with sword Qi, the others quickly followed his example and attacked the fireballs.

    "They do not detonate one another." Ling Xiao''sints could not be heard by the others, but they had all realized that even if they made one of the fireballs explode in the air, their explosion did not cause a domino effect, causing them to keep draining their energy with the purpose of making all these mes burn away.

    "We have to find another way to deal with these fires." Xue Wei was yelling at the top of his lungs to ensure that they could understand what he said. Unlike the other zones where they had been able to survive by struggling against the hordes that attacked them and needed to be chopped down one after another, these mes were never-ending.

    The group quickly converged and stood in a circle, their backs facing each other so that they could protect one another.

    "We do not need to attack the fireballs that are far away, let us focus solely on the ones that will arrive at a distance where it can harm us. Also, bring out some of the inscriptions that create shields.

    "Although I am no longer an inscription master, I made quite a few of these before, and they can help us now!"

    Xue Wei had quickly found the most suitable way to deal with their current predicament.

    They could not retreat, and advancing was the only option. However, during the chaotic appearance of the fireballs, their energy had been rapidly drained, and now they needed to regain some energy, even though the mes in the air did not seem to diminish.

    "While we walk behind these shields, try to see how much of your energy you can restore. I can''t sense much heaven and earth essence in the surroundings, so make sure to take a few pills to boost your recovery, if needed."

    Although Xue Wei was the youngest in their group, his natural leadership made situations such as these much more survivable, and the whole group had thrown out one inscription each, so their group had been covered in a transparent shield that blocked the mes that came crashing down upon them.

    With the exnation from Xue Wei, they all ced a few pills in their mouths and began to rotate their energy to absorb and restore their energy as quickly as possible.

    The mes did not seem to have any intentions of stopping, so their group understood that they would need every simple ounce of energy they possessed to cross this ming hell.

 Chapter 629 - â€œIt Is Too Alikeâ€

    <h4>Chapter 629 - ¡°It Is Too Alike¡±</h4>

    No one spoke as they tried to move forward, one step at a time. The energy used to shield themselves against the ming orbs that kept volleying towards them was overwhelming, and every extra help was used on the way.

    They did not know how long they would need to travel before they could leave the ming zone, but as they progressed, they noticed that the fire seemed to be more and more hot, causing the temperature to rise drastically, and no matter how much energy or how many inscriptions were used, the heat could not be shielded against.

    The mes also seemed to be sentient as they advanced, and some of them would merge together intorge ming balls that would explode with tremendous power and cause devastating damage, while others would fly in strange paths, attempting to look for weaknesses in the defense.

    Sweat was beading on Xue Wei and he others'' heads, and their clothes had be soaked as they tried to grit their teeth and continue forward, even when they knew that their energy was draining at a rapid speed.

    Although this ming hell did not seem to contain any living beings, and only the Corpse me could control the attack, they struggled much more than in any other zone.

    The mes had caused Xue Wei and the others to focus on the assault, and it seemed to take away all the attention, which caused the ground underneath their feet to be less noticed.

    The heat had already caused the ground underneath their feet to crack in many ces, and the dry soil was so unassuming that by the time when Xue Wei and the others noticed that there was a problem, it was already toote.

    The ground beneath their feet began to tremble, as the heat had reached an unprecedented high, and the already visible cracks turned into great fissures in the ground. These gaps spread out like a spiderweb and increased at a swift pace, causing Xue Wei and his friends to be taken by surprise.

    The ming orbs that kept assaulting them were also increasing in intensity, and their group was under attack from every side, making them feel helpless and uncertain of how to react to the sudden situation.

    "Jump down!" Eventually, Xue Wei had to grit his teeth and make a decision. If they kept staying on the surface, they would have to continue facing off against the aggressive and destructive fireballs, but at some point, they would be unable to hold on.

    The underground was also dangerous. Although the fissures had been created by the extreme heat, Xue Wei did not know whether or not the Corpse me was capable of controlling the ground, and if they fell into the underground and the me decided to close up the cracks again, they would be trapped beneath.

    Even so, he had more faith in their ability to survive underground than in the current ming inferno that seemed to be endless, so after yelling out his order, he was the first to jump into the fissure to ensure that the path was safe for his friends to follow behind.

    No one hesitated to follow behind, and soon, the whole group had entered deep into the ground. The zing mes that had blinded them before were gone, and instead they had plunged into an eternal darkness.

    The heat underground was fortunately not as scorching as it had been on the surface, and while the air was dry and dusty, it was also not burning their lungs in the same way.

    The gap in the ground was quite deep, and although a few mes could be seen when they looked upward, they were protected at the bottom of the fissure and could finally breathe a sigh of relief.

    "Look around, it appears as if there is some sort of tunnel-structure down here." Just as Xue Wei had focused his gaze on the mes above, as he tried to ensure that the gap would not close up again, Hei Gou''s voice sounded behind him.

    Hei Gou had, clearly, found something unknown, and their entire group quickly returned to a defensive formation as an underground tunnel system would definitely have been created with some purpose in mind.

    Xue Wei finally looked around their current location and found that Hei Gou was correct. The location where they hadnded was indeed a small tunnel, and while the tunnel wall and ceiling was not smooth, it was clear that it had been crafted to ensure quick travel through the zone.

    "Do you think that every zone has an underground tunnel like this?" Ling Xiao looked around and could not help but narrow his eyes with some confusion as he looked around, butpared to the others, Xue Wei was the most stumped as he stared at the stone walls.

    "It is too alike." He could not help but narrow his eyes as he stepped forward and touched the walls. The walls themselves seemed to have been dug in a rough and quick manner, but upon taking a closer look, the rough surface was caused by numerous scratch marks. These scratch marks had varying degrees of depth, and many had also been filled with dried blood.

    "It is like that weird room in the Garden of Shadows, and the cave in the Twilight Thunder Zone." Xue Wei could remember these two areas as they had caused him to feel very confused upon entry. They had both seemed abandoned, but at the same time also very important. Even so, he had never been able to understand their purpose or origin, so he had not spent too much time pondering upon their existence.

    However, now that he was in No Man''s Land, he found that this underground tunnel was very simr to those chambers.

 Chapter 630 - Soul Power Farm

    <h4>Chapter 630 - Soul Power Farm</h4>

    Xue Wei''s brows furrowed, and his eyes were full of doubt as he kept looking around. His primary focus was on the simrities between this strange tunnel and the chambers he had found before, so he did not pay much attention to the ming hell above.

    "Don''t you think that this is very strange?" Hei Gou had no previous memories of the chambers that were causing doubts in the minds of the others, and this made it possible for him to notice other things they had overlooked.

    "When we were on the surface level, the magma was bursting through the cracked ground, and the scorching heat was simply overwhelming. It was clear that the underground was full of molten stone, and the dangers we should have faced after dropping down the fissure should not merely be this tunnel."

    Hei Gou''s words were like an awakening from a dream. Xue Wei and the others quickly wrested their gaze away from the familiar scratch marks on the walls and began to observe their current situation instead.

    When looking up, they could hardly see the vtile fire above, and the magma that seemed to be bursting through the surface had also vanished. It would not be reasonable for this magma to leave such a spacious tunnel like this alone unless something was holding it back.

    "The heat in here is also not unreasonable when we consider the strange condition of the zone we entered. Although we are underground, it should still be hot and ufortable, but I can''t help but feel a chill while being within this tunnel." Bai Tianyi had also begun to consider the various doubts in their surroundings, and all of them began to feel that they had stumbled across something important.

    "This ce is very wicked. There is no actual soul power present within this area, but I can sense a lingering despair and death tainting the walls, making it obvious that many souls have been lost here." Luoluo said as she looked around with furrowed brows.

    Although both she and Bai Tianyi were spirits, Bai Tianyi had not been a spirit for as long as she had, and his sensitivity was not as fine-tuned as hers. He could feel the chill and the difort in his mind after arriving in the tunnel, but he did not know what caused this emotion, as it was new to him.

    "Let us keep moving." Xue Wei could guess that the many scratch marks that were evident on the stone walls were made by those despairing souls as a final struggle for survival, but from the countless traces left behind, it seemed to have been a futile effort.

    Even so, Xue Wei did not focus on the loss of life, but instead felt a strange anticipation and hope to finally understand the purpose of those previous chambers they had encountered. Although he had absolutely no leads to base his thoughts on, he had a theory that these chambers and this tunnel were closely connected to his hidden enemy.

    Xue Wei took a deep breath as he steadied his mind and took the lead in moving forward within the tunnel.

    The tunnel was dark, and the only source of light they had encountered was the light that came down through the fissure in the ceiling, so as they advanced forward, the darkness quickly shrouded them.

    "Let us use the luminous orbs to light up the surroundings. Although we might be easier targeted by others when we are lit up like that, we are also in less danger when we can see our surroundings." Hei Gou had already taken out the ss-like orb that contained light as he spoke. Although he understood that the light sources could turn into a double-edged sword, he also knew that they had no other option than to use them for now, as their safety would be even more at risk without these lights.

    "I believe that this tunnel is not actually a part of the zone we were in just now. Keep in mind that the zones are just projected into our world, so while we have been walking in another world every time we have been in these zones, I don''t think that they can prate deeply into the ground of our world, so this tunnel should belong to our own world." Luoluo looked around and spoke out her thoughts as she felt that the chill and ufortable air within the tunnel was almost making her sick.

    "I would imagine that this tunnel might run through every single zone within No Man''s Land. The many corpses and deaths that are needed to fuel the various monsters and creatures in the different zones might also be linked with this tunnel." Xue Wei did not know exactly what was happening, but he had already begun wondering about the sheer amount of deaths they had encountered so far.

    He did not believe that so many people would be stupid enough to enter the danger zone one after another, so the only exnation would be that they had been taken there, either against their will or willingly. Even so, it was clear that they had lost their lives, and their souls had likely been trapped within this tunnel system underground.

    However, what purpose could there be from gathering souls like this? Spirits like Luoluo and Bai Tianyi were, indeed, in need of soul power to advance, and the cultivators that cultivated spiritual energy also relied on this specific type of energy, but soul power was easily corrupted.

    Spirits would not be able to consume soul power that had been tormented to the point of corruption without refining it, but the refining process would take long, and the sheer amount of deaths that had been happening within these zones made it clear that they were mass-producing soul power. A spirit could never be this ruthless unless it was an evil spirit.

    Humans, on the other hand, could be the cause, but the power needed to make this borate soul power farm was also overwhelming.

 Chapter 631 - Bone Eroding Chill

    <h4>Chapter 631 - Bone Eroding Chill</h4>

    "Harvesting lives, one after another, with the sole purpose of gathering soul power is rather frightening." Ling Xiao was the one who spoke, and his voice was hesitant as each word left his lips.

    Although all of them had started to fear for this being a spiritual energy farm, none of them had mentioned it out loud, and with these words, it seemed more real than when they had the theories on their own, as others were sharing the same idea.

    "The sheer amount of deaths that ur in these zones every day is so overwhelming that it would exin why so many regions are needed. Each zone is already causing tremendous deaths daily, but together, the number of lost lives is so overwhelming that we cannot even begin to fathom it."

    Although the group was not considering themselves good people, they were not evil either.

    They would kill anyone that could threaten themselves and their dear ones, but they were also equally disgusted by those who used others like resources in this way.

    "What is the purpose of gathering this much energy? Soul power is different from heaven and earth essence.

    "The essence that most cultivators refine into Qi is created by heaven and earth itself. It is a natural phenomenon and has no emotions.

    "Soul power is apletely different kind of energy, but no matter whether the person who it originated from had a good or a despairing life, their energy will contain a trace of emotions belonging to the original soul.

    "The ones who have died in these tunnels clearly suffered great torment, so their soul power is definitely tainted with negative emotions.

    "Most spirits will ignore this, and while the evil spirits might consider it, they won''t bother with farming energy but instead revel in each and every murder and reaping of energy."

    Although Luoluo was not an evil spirit, she had been alive for long enough to know of their thoughts as well and knew that they were not eager to harvest energy like this.

    The evil spirits were also very different from Luoluo, and they would never be able to understand one another, but it was exactly thisck of understanding that had made Luoluo try to gain as much knowledge as she could.

    She had found out that evil spirits loved tormenting others. They might also create a massacre every now and then, but they would rather look for a specific target and put theirplete focus on this target as they waited for them to wallow in despair and ruin their entire lives before they would consume their soul power.

    This entire process of farming energy was not their style at all, and since it was neither done by righteous nor evil spirits, then it had to be either humans or beasts.

    While some primordial beasts also cultivated spiritual powers, not many of them would be his devious when gaining energy, and it had an aura of human treachery all over.

    It was not that humans were all inherently selfish, but many humans had developed a twisted mind, and they would not mind using such gruesome methods to increase their powers.

    "The corpses we encountered earlier are all varying in age, and some are not that old. The beasts we encountered in the strange forest were not even dead, but their souls were missing, so it seems that each zone has its own way of harvesting the various souls."

    Bai Tianyi was not as experienced in the matters of spirits, but he was very good at observing and connecting things. From the information they had found so far, he had begun to analyze andpare the different corpses in the various zones.

    "Looking at the scratches on the wall, it would appear that the vengeful souls have been dragged in this direction." Xue Wei had been observing the walls for some time. While he also had the same thoughts as the others, he did not have time to consider many of the details but simply felt that these walls were extremely eye-catching and also made him feel very ufortable.

    Following the direction, the tunnel appeared to be shrouded in darkness, and the heat from the surface had long since vanished, leaving behind a bone-eroding chill that caused the group to shiver.

    The sharp contrast between the heat from above and the chill from beneath made their bodies feel ufortable, and the swift change between the extreme temperatures was now making them have to adjust quickly.

    Although Xue Wei and the others were no longer ordinary mortals, they had not stepped into the world of immortals yet, and thus their bodies would still be influenced by the physical conditions. No matter how strengthened their bodies were, they were still mortals and would be harmed if they were in extreme environments.

    "This ce might seem less dangerous than the surface, but I fear that we have encountered the true horror of No Man''s Land.

    "If the surface level is meant to lure in and harvest the many souls, this is where they go after being ripped from their bodies. It should be here that the resentment is chained, and also here where the souls will be forced and tormented.

    "While we have not harmed the souls, if we doe across a vengeful spirit, they might still assume that we are the cause of their grievances. They can attack at any moment, and if anyone notices our arrival, some might even release the evil souls with the purpose of targeting us."

    Xue Wei''s eyes narrowed, as he felt an eagerness that had not been present for most of their time within this No Man''s Land.

    The previous mysteries had already piqued their interests, but now that they guessed that there was some sort of connection to their hidden enemy, they knew that they now had a reason to investigate.

 Chapter 632

    632 Vengeful Emotions

    ¡°Something ising!¡±

    The group had walked down the tunnel for an unknown amount of time. The tunnel was dimly lit, and the chill that permeated caused their bodies to shiver, but nothing threatening had jumped out so far.

    Even so, a surge of energy fluctuations could suddenly be felt in the distance, and a strange sound of wailing and whimpering echoed in the empty space.

    ¡°Prepare forbat.¡± Xue Wei¡¯s eyes darkened as he looked at the still dark tunnel in front of them. However, the sounds of despair seemed to increase in intensity, and the fluctuations were growing in magnitude. It was clear that the creatures causing this strange sound had noticed their group.

    Hei Gou and Ling Xiao were both quick at preparing, but Luoluo and Bai Tianyi were moving in a stiff manner. Their movements were jerky, and did not seem to work well with their intentions. The chill in the air seemed to have infiltrated their current limbs and caused a strange disconnection from their cores.

    Both spirits had clear minds, but they quickly noticed that the closer these wailing creatures came, the harder it was for the both of them to control their bodies.

    ¡°This chill feels very familiar.¡± Luoluo could not control her body fully, but she could still sense the difort that was wrapping around her entire being, making her feel as if her core was being suppressed almost to being paralyzed.

    Bai Tianyi was severely affected by the chill just like Luoluo, but he did not recognize the strange power that seemed to chain his core and immobilize his body.

    Bai Tianyi had been an artificial spirit when their group was at the Garden of Shadows, so although he was considered a spirit, he would not be able to feel the same minute changes in the world as Luoluo could. Also, Luoluo had been imprisoned within the Garden of Shadows for such a long time that to her, this strange aura that permeated through the chill was all too familiar.

    .....

    ¡°Although we have not found any concrete evidence that proves the chamber we encountered in the Gardens of Shadows to be connected to the spirit devouring formation that kept on draining your energy, I believe that the two have something to do with one another.

    ¡°Also, this tunnel is clearly targeting you and Bai Tianyi, and you are the only spirits by our side, just like how the spirit devouring formation also seemed to swallow up all your hard earned energy.¡±

    Xue Wei knew that they could find no proof, but that did not mean that he had to pretend that it was not connected. To him, it was much better than considering everything to be a conspiracy theory and assume the world to be evil, rather than to be a fake saint and think the best of the various possibilities.

    ¡°We will deal with these theoriester, if we manage to survive. The wailing ghosts have arrived.¡± Hei Gou did not remember anything from when they were at the Garden of Shadows, but he was still able to keep his mind clear.

    The many woven in traces and leads they had encountered throughout their journeys were starting to show as pieces to a puzzle, but they still needed many more to piece it together into one piece. Even so, the mysteries had to wait until a suitable time, as Hei Gou looked at the strange creatures that were rushing towards them while sounding as if they were experiencing the most horrible grievances in the world.

    ¡°Are they spirits?¡± Ling Xiao could not help but frown as he stepped forward. Since Luoluo and Bai Tianyi were both restrained by the current aura in the tunnel, neither of them would be able to participate in the battle, so Ling Xiao, Hei Gou, and Xue Wei formed a triangr protective formation around them, leaving their backs to one another, and got ready to face the onught of creatures that were rushing their way.

    ¡°They are somewhat like humanoid worms.¡± Ling Xiao was feeling quite ufortable as he looked at the strangely writhing and squirming movements of the group of disgusting white silhouettes in front.

    These strange humanoid figures did not have any distinguishable features. All of them were white like snow, but their faces had no facial features; no eyes, nose, nor mouth, simply just a white face that resembled a sheet. There was no hair nor clothes, but their bodies still appeared as if they had been covered with arge white sheet, making them all seem to be pure white mannequins with no feelings, emotions, or personality.

    Even so, a heart-gripping and soul-shattering wailing and whimpering kept appearing around this group of white figures that had somehow managed to be entangled into onerge ball of despair.

    They were unable to walk as an ordinary human would, but instead had different ways to advance. Some were rolling around, while others were crawling or writhing. The appearance resembled a nest of earthworms and Xue Wei feltplicated emotions.

    ¡°They are vengeful and grievous emotions that have been left behind after their bodies and souls are torn apart. They have nothing to sustain themselves, apart from the emotions that they cannot vent, and they have banded together like this to be a genuine danger to others.¡±

    Although Luoluo¡¯s body was suppressed, she still had a great amount of knowledge, and her mind was still clear.

    Looking at the wailing creatures in front, she had recognized their origin, but her heart could not help but drop in difort. How gruesome did the death of these people have to be for so many grievances to gather together?

 Chapter 633

    633 Helpless

    ¡°Do they have any weaknesses?¡± Xue Wei did not know much about grievances, and he was even feeling a little iprehensible when he understood that the creatures in front of them were neither dead nor alive. They were simply overwhelming resentment that had taken shape.

    ¡°Lightning. The purer the lightning it is, the more powerful it will be towards this conglomeration of vengeance. Just like how lightning can purify evil, it can also soothe these negative emotions.¡± Luoluo knew more of these things than the others, and she also knew how to handle them.

    ¡°Well, I have an affinity with the lightning element, so let us give it a try!¡± Xue Wei had previously gotten good control over this specific element, but he also knew that the current conditions were not suitable. They were, after all, in arge tunnel underground.

    ¡°Try your attacks and see if they have any effect. Also, Luoluo and Tianyi are unable to fight well, so be sure to protect them.¡± As soon as Xue Wei had given the various orders, he got ready to attack.

    His arms began to change their shape and scales sprouted from his skin, while his hands and fingers turned into ws.

    It had been some time since Xue Weist used this partial transformation, but doing so would increase his affinity with the thunder element, and he felt how the many sparks of lightning began to appear around his hands.

    ¡°We can¡¯t get into the melee range of this strange thing. Attack from afar!¡± Xue Wei flickered his arms as he spoke, and multiple smaller sparksbined into arge orb of lightning that shot towards the strange creatures in front.

    The many vengeful emotions had banded together into a huge amalgamation of various strands, but each strand had a somewhat human-like shape, so the appearance was truly disturbing. However the moment the lightning orb collided with these emotions, the sight turned even worse.

    The body that had been created was notpletely urate with how a real living person would look, and naturally, the inside was also very different from flesh and blood.

    .....

    The moment the lightning orb collided with the many bodies, a wailing and screeching sound erupted, causing the hairs on their skin to stand up, and a shiver to run down their spines in difort.

    ¡°This...¡± Ling Xiao felt ufortable as he did not know how to describe the scene in front of him. Ripped apart body parts were crawling all over the ground, and the insides of these figures were actually a disgusting ck slime that stretched out into tentacles.

    These tentacles were grabbing other body parts strewn across the ground, and slowly merged together once more. Unfortunately, these bodies were now no longer human-shaped as they could even be two legsbined together and rolling towards Xue Wei and his group.

    ¡°The damage does not seem to do much.¡± Xue Wei¡¯s brows were furrowed and he could not hide the feeling of difort as he tried to figure out a way for them to fight.

    He tossed lighting orbs into the pile of bodies, one after another, but every time they were broken apart, they would simply reattach themselves to whatever they could find and continue their approach.

    Ling Xiao and Hei Gou were also attacking to the best of their abilities. They used both inscriptions and attacks, but little did it seem to help. The vengeful emotions kept approaching.

    No matter which attack was thrown at these strange bodies, it did not stop them, and although their advance was slowed down, the vengeful emotions kept nearing in on them.

    Xue Wei felt how the atmosphere turned gloomy and depressing, and he could not help but feel ufortable as his heart clenched in unease.

    Throughout his long journey, no matter what he had faced before, he had felt that no matter what, he had to do his best and even if the result was death, he would not have any regrets.

    However, these strange bodies made from vengeful emotions were slowly starting to prate his mind, and causing him to feel regretful, hateful, and unhappy. He began to feel indignant and negative, as he also cursed at the hidden enemy that they did not even know the identity of.

    These emotions were starting to run out of control, and he did not even notice that they became more and more intense as the horde of strange emotional bodies neared in on them.

    ¡°Wake up!¡± Luoluo¡¯s voice was full of pure spiritual energy, and it managed to cleanse the negative emotions and restore tranquility to the minds of those around them.

    Xue Wei awoke from his strange overwhelming depression and anger, but when he looked back, he noticed how Luoluo¡¯s expression had turned pale, and beads of sweat were dripping down her chin.

    The call she had made was clearly not ordinary, not to mention she was already shackled by the overwhelming despair, so calling out like this had likelye at a great cost.

    A dignified look appeared in Xue Wei¡¯s eyes as he understood the severity of their current situation. He cast a quick nce at their current group, and found that although Ling Xiao and Hei Gou were slowing down the approach of the embodied emotions, they could not stop them.

    At the same time, Luoluo and Bai Tianyi were both suppressed and unable to fight back, so they were truly facing a deadly attack.

    Xue Wei could not avoid feeling helpless. Although they had faced many dangers before and been in various dangerous situations, he had always been able to fight back. Even if it had not been very effective, at least a few of their opponents would be harmed by their attacks. However, these embodied emotions simply kept grabbing other limbs or body parts and remade themselves while continuing their advance.

 Chapter 634

    634 Soothing Emotions

    Her arms were weak as she tried to lift her fingers and activate the spiritual energy within her body, but Luoluo found that she was unable to control even the slightest part of her current shape.

    She had initially tried to make Xue Wei attack with lightning elemental Qi as she knew the weakness of all evil spirits was lightning. However after seeing the result she could not help but feel her heart sink.

    The situation they were currently facing was perilous and she could imagine the devastation that these rampant remnant emotions would cause if they reached their group.

    Emotions were not spirits, nor were they souls or even humans. These rampant emotions had been umting for thousands of years, merging together to be the current amalgamation, and they could not be harmed by pure force. Even lightning was useless, and thus she knew that there was only one other way to solve the current issue.

    Luoluo took a deep breath as she looked at therades that had gathered around her. She could still remember how Xue Wei and the others had found her in the Garden of Shadows, and how she slowly regained her senses and became the spirit she was now.

    Back then, she had been close to disappearing, but only by Xue Wei and the others by his side had she bloomed once more, enjoying a life of freedom.

    She slowly looked at the stoic Xue Wei that was constantly using his Qi to push back these eternally regenerating emotions, and even the naive and foolish Ling Xiao had a solemn expression on his face.

    Hei Gou had lost his memories, but even so, he was still faithfully standing by their side and fighting with everything he had.

    Finally, Luoluo nced at Bai Tianyi by her side. This little spirit was a weird creature. He had, initially, been a human, but he kept searching for something else. Finally, he had seeded and understood what it was like to be satisfied with his current life.

    .....

    Looking at the four people by her side, Luoluo could not help but smile slightly. Her heart was filled with a strange feeling of happiness, but also slightly mncholic.

    She knew that there was a special method to handle the remnant emotions in front of her, but she was also painfully well aware of the cost.

    Emotions had no consciousness, they were purely created from the despair and anger that the dying souls felt, so the only way to solve their current situation was to soothe and calm down these frustrations until they became nothing.

    However, the cost would be that Luoluo had to use her entire core to soothe them. She was a spirit, and her entire spirituality was based within this core. If she were to use this core to soothe the emotions, she would return to her original shape.

    While it did not sound like death, it was not far from it. Luoluo¡¯s original body was a white lily. When she first gained consciousness, she was still a beautiful flower swaying at the riverbed.

    It took her thousands of years before she turned from a spiritual herb into a true spirit, and even longer for her to reach the point where she was now.

    If she used her core to soothe these emotions, she would once more turn into a white lily, and this time, her consciousness would be lost.

    Although it would be possible for her to be a spirit once more, the likelihood of this happening was immensely small, and she dared not expect it to happen, so the decision she was making now was not possible to share with the others.

    Luoluo knew that her decision would never be approved by Xue Wei and the others. Even though they did not care about the rest of the world, their care and consideration towards theirrades was sincere, and she was well aware of their refusal for her current n.

    Looking at her body that was no longer acting as she wanted, Luoluo could not help but smile wryly. It seemed that she would need to act decisively if she wished to give her friends a chance of survival.

    ¡°I am sorry.¡± Although she knew that they would never approve of her decision. Luoluo¡¯s eyes filled with determination as she witnessed the panicked expression of those in front of her. She knew that the current situation might seem under control, but the rampant emotions could not be stopped.

    It was better to act swiftly before anyone was injured than to drag it on and lower their chance of future survival.

    ¡°Break.¡±

    Luoluo¡¯s voice was low, and in the chaos and noisy environment, it was not easy to hear the ethereal whisper that floated past, but the strong energy fluctuations that followed caused Bai Tianyi to panic.

    ¡°Luoluo!¡± His eyes widened as he looked at the spirit by his side. Luoluo had been a pir of support for the entire team and an importantrade for so long, but while Xue Wei and the others did not understand her current actions, Bai Tianyi could sense the destruction of her core.

    ¡°Thank you all, I am really grateful foring this far with you. I was supposed to die in the Garden of Shadows, but you gave me a new life full of freedom. Roaming the world alongside you all has been a great joy. If possible, please protect my original shape in the future.¡±

    Luoluo¡¯s voice was still low, merely a whisper, but this time it was infused with spiritual energy.

    The entire spiritual energy had been filled with her own state of mind at the moment of breaking her core. Unlike most, she did not have any regret or despair, but only tranquility and serenity.

 Chapter 635

    635 Little Flower

    Xue Wei, Ling Xiao, Hei Gou, and Bai Tianyi had all been frantically trying to figure out a way to solve their current troubles, and thus, none of them had paid much attention to Luoluo, who was being protected behind them.

    By the time her voice reverberated through the tunnel, her body no longer had a humanoid shape, but instead turned into a giant ball of light bringing tranquility and peace to anyone close by.

    The light that lit up their darkest hour came from the cracked core that contained Luoluo¡¯s spirit, and by the time these cracks had appeared, it was no longer possible for her to keep her spirituality.

    Even so, she did not regret it. As she felt her consciousness slowly blurring, all she could remember was the time she had spent alongside their group traveling. It was as if the thousands of years she had lived before encountering Xue Wei and his group were not as important as the few years spent by their side. Even now, where she had to give up her eternal life, she felt relieved and happy to know that her sacrifice would give them a chance of survival.

    ¡°Thank you.¡±

    Luoluo¡¯s final words were soft and gentle. They swept across the gloomy tunnel and brought peace and calmness to everyone present.

    The gentle voice and peaceful mood was not only affecting Xue Wei and the others, but it also managed to calm down the remnant emotions that had gone berserk.

    These emotions were not alive, nor had they gained consciousness. It was merely an amalgamation of negative emotions that had ended up bing physical, much like how water vapor would condensate into clouds and finally fall as rain once more.

    An amalgamation like this, created by excessive negative emotions, was extremely rare, and many worlds would never even be capable of creating one throughout its entire lifespan, so to encounter one like this, it was their bad luck.

    .....

    Unlike evil spirits and souls, these emotions had no other weakness than their anger itself. They were not considered evil creatures and thus were much harder to deal with.

    However, it was this bad luck, coupled with the emotional amalgamation¡¯s survivability that had pressured them to a point where Luoluo decided to give her spirituality away in return for their future.

    ¡°No!¡± Xue Wei felt shocked when he noticed what had happened, but he was unable to stop anything at this point in time. He had already given away his spiritual energy, and was unable to get close to the fractured core. He could only stay at a certain distance and feel helpless and frustrated.

    Although Xue Wei did not love Luoluo as one would their life-partner, he still considered her his family member. To him, each of these people who had traveled alongside him for so many years, they were his family and his friends. They were the ones he relied on and could show his weakness in front of.

    In many ways, the ones who were following him were his closest people, and even closer than Wang Xiaoyun, who had stolen his heart.

    However, no matter how helpless he felt, and how he wanted to stop the scenario in front of him from continuing, he was unable to change anything.

    By the time the bindings that kept him away vanished, LuoLuo¡¯s core had long since dissipated into thin air, and in its ce a small nt was left on the ground.

    Unlike most nts that would grow from the ground, this one did have its roots, but it did not have any soil to hide them in, and the flower itself seemed fairly young, as only the leaves had grown.

    Unfortunately, this young flower did not seem to have the energy that most sprouts should have, and instead, the leaves were hanging weakly and seemed tock nutrients.

    By now, the peaceful atmosphere hadpletely eradicated the amalgamation of remnant emotions, and all the danger they had encountered before had turned to nothingness.

    The strong contrast between the chaotic despair from before and the silence now present was overwhelming, but none of the four remaining people had time to care about such details.

    All of them had put all their focus on the little flower on the ground, fearing and worrying about how to protect it.

    ¡°I do not have any useful soil right now, but she seems to be in a bad shape. I have an Ice Jade Box which I used to carry some of the more important herbs when refining pills. For now, I can only suggest we ced her in this.

    ¡°When we leave No Man¡¯s Land, we have to find a ce with spiritual soil to nurture her. Although her spirit has cracked, her original body is still present, so we should be able to nurture her again. As long as we live, we should never give up.

    ¡°If possible, I think we can also try to see if pills and other spiritual items can be used to fertilize her soil and help her grow up.

    ¡°However, we need to protect her. Although we want her to grow up and be a spirit again, we can¡¯t take a risk and make her burst with energy. This is what we owe her.¡±

    Xue Wei gently took out a special kind of box he had used before. Currently a few high-end herbs were ced within, but he quickly took them out and tossed them back into his storage treasure with no care before he kneeled down next to the little flower on the ground.

    The box was ced on the floor and Xue Wei gently and slowly used both hands to lift the flower and cushion it into the box, fearing that the slightest move might hurt the roots or cause her difort. Although her spirit was gone, Xue Wei still felt that his good friend was still present. He just needed to wake her from an eternal sleep once more.

 Chapter 636

    636 Determination

    The atmosphere had be downcast, as Xue Wei and the others felt an ufortable pressure and heaviness in their hearts. They all knew that Luoluo¡¯s decision had saved their lives, but this knowledge only seeded in making them feel weak and useless. Why would their good friend have to sacrifice for their future?

    However, they could not change the past, and thus their only option was to keep fighting to gain strength. With enough power, they would be able to protect her as she grew up once more.

    ¡°Her sacrifice will not be in vain.¡± Hei Gou¡¯s eyes were full ofplex emotions. He still had no actual memories of the past, but the time he had been in No Man¡¯s Land alongside this group of experts, he had found that he did not need his past memories. From their short time of getting along with one another, he had understood many things and respected them as his friends andpanions.

    Seeing that Luoluo was willing to give up her spirit for their future, he now knew how important they were and how much they valued one another. To him, having these friends was a blessing, and he was willing to follow them to the end of the world. Even if his end was no different from the brave little flowerspirit, he would face it with his head held high and no regrets.

    ¡°We have to keep moving forward. No matter what the purpose of this tunnel is, the one who build it is also the one that caused the numerous malicious emotions to gather and take form. The least we can do is destroy everything around us.¡± Xue Wei¡¯s voice was calm, but it contained an iciness that made the others shudder.

    Although none of them cried or despaired, they all knew that this time, things were different.

    They had encountered many things during thest short time. Hei Gou had lost his memory, Bai Tianyi had be corrupted, and Xue Wei had lost his spiritual energy. However, all of these were possible to handle, but the loss of Luoluo¡¯s spirit was too harmful.

    ¡°Up until now, although the world has been hostile towards us, our lives have actually been smooth-sailing.¡± Bai Tianyi could not help but shake his head with a bit of depression.

    When he had first attempted to turn into a spirit, his goal had been to be immortal, but only now did he understand that life was not something that could be extended for eternity without a certain price.

    .....

    His core had been corrupted before, and although Xue Wei had sacrificed his spiritual energy to purify him, he knew that it would be easy for him to be corrupted once more. This was the same as making him a fragile spirit that could easily be crippled.

    At the same time, Xue Wei¡¯s strength had also been lowered drastically, and Hei Gou¡¯s strength was bigger, but his memories were gone. Their current life was in danger at all times, and they were ced in one perileous situation after another.

    ¡°Well, the world might be against us, but we will never give up. Although we have been saying that we will fight to the end, I think that it is not before now the real truth of our situation is in front of us.

    ¡°However, at the same time, I also think that this sudden wake-up call is making us stronger. We are no longer fighting purely to stay alive, but our responsibility has grown. Luoluo was willing to sacrifice her spiritual core for us, but now we have to fight for her future. She deserve to be a spirit once more.¡± Ling Xiao was usually the most casual and cheerful in their group, but he was also the kind of person that understood loyalty.

    He was a person that believed in what he witnessed and his own morals over what the rest of the world tried to make him see. As such, he knew that something had changed now. Before their enemy was hidden, and they held some hostility towards this unknown viin that had nned against them for their entire lives, however now, they hated the one responsible for Luoluo¡¯s sacrifice.

    ¡°Perhaps our hatred is able to make us reach other heights in the future, but never let these emotions control us. I do not want us to let go of who we are for sess. Luoluo would not want us to sacrifice ourselves for revenge.

    ¡°If needed, we will take a step back and regroup. The viin has spent so much time preparing. We will give him the fight that he clearly is waiting for.¡±

    Xue Wei was also feeling that the helplessness and unwillingness he had felt before was slowly dissipating, and instead, a great determination rose within. Even if he had to die, he would make sure to do as much damage as possible along the way.

    ¡°Leave any kind of explosive inscription you have on the ground as we progress forward. When we find the end, we will blow up this tunnel. Although we can¡¯t know for sure what purpose it has, since it was part of the reason for Luoluo¡¯s death, let it be destroyed.¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡± Bai Tianyi, Hei Gou, and Ling Xiao all agreed with Xue Wei, as they found various inscriptions hidden deep within their storage treasures. Hei Gou even found some kinds of explosives he had been tinkering with in the past, and all of these were slowly being ced in the tunnel as the group moved forward.

    Unlike before, they no longer held a worried and helpless attitude but were stubborn and determined. They had to ensure that Luoluo would wake up againter, and to do so, they had to provide a safe environment. They had to fight this hidden enemy.

 Chapter 637

    637 The Tunnel Ends

    Xue Wei took a deep breath. His heart was hurting, but he understood that he could not let his sadness and despair overwhelm him. Although he wished to mourn for Luoluo¡¯s sacrifice, he would have to wait for when they had gained vengeance on her behalf.

    The group had all known that their journey was dangerous and that many risks had to be taken time and time again, however, this time they were understanding the consequences of failing for the first time.

    ¡°The greviances are all gone, so let us move forward quicker than before. Although there might be other dangers in this tunnel, I would imagine that any living being, wether good or bad, would have been swallowed by those negative emotions long ago. After all, they do not consider who is friend or foe.¡± Hei Gou looked at the dim tunnel in front of him. His eyes were dark and the thoughts and emotions he felt were hidden deep within.

    Even though his memories had been missing for some time, he still felt an overwhelming pain in his heart, and wanted to destroy this tunnel as soon as possible.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡± Bai Tianyi also managed to get himself pulled together. Their movements were much swifter than before, but they still maintained a certain amount of vignce so that they would not be surprised again.

    Although they were vignt and kept observing their surroundings as they advanced, nothing unexpected happened, and the tunnel began to rise towards the surface level once more.

    After arriving in the tunnels, Xue Wei and the others had lost all contact with the surface levels, and thus they did not know what the various regions above ground had contained, and as such, they had no idea whether they would arrive in another dreadful zone or at the other end of No Man¡¯s Land.

    The group had moved swiftly forward. Although they had stayed vignt and on high alert, their advance had been rapid as no trace of danger had arrived since the devastating battle with the negative emotions.

    However, if they were to return to the surface level, they understood full well that they were likely to face danger once more, so the speed slowed down drastically, as they continued to ce their explosives at the side of the tunnel. Their goal of destroying this dreadful ce had never been forgotten.

    .....

    ¡°Be careful of what we might experience when we get out, and do not explode the inscriptions or armaments right away. If the outside is unfavorable for us, we might need to withdraw to safety. Although this ce should be destroyed, we cannot ignore our own safety for it.¡±

    Xue Wei¡¯s eyes were cold as they approached the ending of the tunnel. Although he was relieved to leave this gloomy underground passage, he was not overly eager to see the outside again either.

    Ever since they had arrived at No Man¡¯s Land, many things had been going against them, and their path had been difficult and dangerous. The sacrifices made were also overwhelming, as all of them seemed to have lost something throughout the journey.

    Before arriving at No Man¡¯s Land, although Xue Wei and the others understood the severity of the situation, they still had not experienced the genuine hardships that were waiting for them. At the same time, they also had a safety talisman sent by Lan to them, but only after experiencing the deadly danger did they realize that they could not rx at all. Even the safety measures previously nned by Lan were useless.

    As the various regions in No Man¡¯s Land were actually small independant worlds, it was not possible to rely on the previously nned protective measures, resulting in them being on their own and paying such a high price.

    However the difficulties they had experienced had made them grow up from one moment to another. Their original mindset had already tried to be prepared for the worst, but when it actually happened, they found that they could not adapt at all.

    ¡°There is no sound.¡± Ling Xiao could not help but furrow his brows as he looked at the light that had begun cascading into the gloomy and dimly lit tunnel.

    ¡°Advance, but try to avoid making any noise.¡± Xue Wei nodded his head as he advised through voice transmission. Although the light had already reached into the tunnels, there could still be a certain distance before they would reach the surface levels once more. However, theplete silence made them extra alert. Even the most ordinary forest would have natural sounds; a breeze fluttering through the leaves, birds or insects moving around doing their daily chores, the sounds of running waters or shallow creeks.

    The four experts all tried to lighten their steps as they advanced, and they kept all senses on high alert. The tunnel itself had not changed. It was as ufortable as before, but nothing dangerous had appeared, making them feel extra tense, as they could not believe that things would be this simple.

    The various regions they had gone through so far were all different types of hell and suffering, so their first impression was that even if the outside region seemed peaceful and tranquil, it was likely to hide some gruesome creature or a challenge waiting for them to suffer.

    Taking a deep breath, the group arrived at the very end of the tunnel. The sight before them caused them all to be stumped for words, as a sandy beach was leading down to a gushing river. The river was so vast that it was hard to see the other side in the horizon, and the waves were wild and full of power. Crossing this river was not going to be an easy task.

 Chapter 638

    638 The Strait

    ¡°This looks like the river at the end of No Man¡¯s Land. The river that is near-impossible to cross.¡± Ling Xiao was looking at a small leather map andparing the current surroundings with the typography drawn on the map itself.

    ¡°The reason that we choose to cross No Man¡¯s Land was that the waters between the two continents are treacherous and dangerous. Crossing this river will be difficult, but only through No Man¡¯s Land can we reach the safest location for traversing the waters.¡± Bai Tianyi looked around the river bank and tried to see if he could find anything special around the current area.

    ¡°No matter where we are, we will have to cross the water, but most ces will only result in death. Although No Man¡¯s Land is dangerous, it seemed to be a more reasonable adventure to travel through a dangerous path but reach a more secure location to enter the new continent, however the decision seems to be different than we had initially expected.¡±

    Bai Tianyi could not help but frown as he looked at the waters in front of them. Although they did not know what the current No Man¡¯s Land was like before arriving, none of them had expected it to be this dangerous.

    However, now that they had crossed the dangerous zones and left behind the extreme danger and countless sufferings, they still did not get any time to breathe out. The gushing waters in front of them was a constant reminder of the next dangers they would encounter on their way.

    ¡°The strait in front of us would appear dangerous, but if wepare it to the map, then it is one of the most narrow locations and one of our initial goals.¡± Ling Xiao had beenparing thendscape in front of them with the map in his hands, and the conclusion was depressing.

    Xue Wei could not help but look at thendscape andpare it to the map as Ling Xiao showed his discoveries and assumptions. As expected, Ling Xiao was very likely to have found the right location on the map, but unfortunately, the strait in front of them was much wider than first assumed.

    ¡°We are unable to cross the water without a vessel of some kind.¡± Hei Gou could not help but look at the water in front of him and frowned slightly.

    ¡°We have plenty of boats and ships.¡± Xue Wei looked at the waters in front of him, but although his words were meant to sound uplifting, the frown between his brows did not loosen.

    .....

    ¡°When we crossed the Sea of the Enchanted, we got many useful vessels. Especially the many ships and boats of various grades in the Twilight Zone, but I fear that a boat might not be enough to protect us.¡±

    Xue Wei¡¯s words made them all remember that they did, indeed, have numerous ships to help them cross the water itself, but this strait had always been known to be extremely dangerous.

    ¡°The reason that we had to enter No Man¡¯s Land and cross the water where the strait is the most narrow is that the water itself is much more dangerous than most Danger Zones in the entire world. The rumors im that the waters bordering the next continent are all filled with dangerous creatures that can shatter any boat and ship with a mere p of their fin.¡±

    Xue Wei understood the severity of the situation, but he was refusing to give up. Even if he was unwilling, they had no other path than to move forward.

    ¡°We will stay here and rest until we have returned to our best condition. Since this is the safest ce to cross the strait, then we will cross it here.¡±

    ¡°Do you think that perhaps the waters are so dangerous because some beasts and dangers has left the various zones on No Man¡¯s Land?¡± Ling Xiao was looking at the vtile waves in front of him with a deep and obscure look in his eyes.

    ¡°Although we experienced the dangers of No Man¡¯s Land, our encounters were far from enough to genuinely experience the full horror of this area. Various zones are ced next to one another, and each zone has its own dangers and characteristics.

    ¡°The various zones we entered were dangerous and made us experience helplessness and despair unlike anything before, but it was not even one fourth of all the zones that are present in No Man¡¯s Land.¡±

    As Ling Xiao continued to exin his thoughts, everyone felt a shiver run down their spines, but he still continued.

    ¡°Do you think that, perhaps, one of the zones has crumbled and the transportation array has entered the waters, making it easy for the beasts to live freely in the surrounding waters? Or, maybe, they were ced in the water intentionally, blocking the experts that, by one way or another, managed to survive the countless dreads and dangers floating within the different zones.¡±

    Ling Xiao was considering all options and the more he spoke, the more chilled the others began feeling. Although they did not know whether or not any of these options were real, they felt ufortable thinking about the possibility.

    ¡°No matter what, we can¡¯t back down.¡± Xue Wei could see that everyone was affected by Ling Xiao¡¯s hypothesis. ¡°Even if it is the case, then what can we do? Give up now? Do you guys want to walk back through No Man¡¯s Land? Give up Luoluo¡¯s sacrifice and live with our tails tucked between our legs for the rest of our lives?¡±

    Xue Wei¡¯s voice was not harsh nor condemning; instead it was gentle and polite, making it seem as if he was genuinely asking for their opinions, however the words he said made their blood boil in anger and their hearts ache in pain. Luoluo¡¯s sacrifice could never be ignored.

 Chapter 639

    639 Hailong

    The group had sat down and began to adjust their state to their best condition. Their breaths were calm and controlled, but although they seemed to rx, they still kept vignt and never rxed their nerves.

    Even so, the surroundings stayed as before, and nothing dangerous seemed to approach. Hours went by and soon the moon illuminated the night sky as the sun had retreated behind the horizon.

    As the darkness engulfed the final rays of sunlight, the chaotic waves in the strait also slowly seemed to settle down, and the gushing waters became as silent and clear as a mirror.

    Xue Wei and the others were still regting their condition, but the strange change made all of them awaken from their meditation.

    ¡°Do you think that the easiest time to pass the waters is during the night?¡± Ling Xiao could not help but ponder as he looked at the still surface which was reflecting the beautiful starry sky above.

    ¡°No.¡± Xue Wei¡¯s voice was firm and decisive. Although the surroundings would appear to have been soothed, he could not help but feel that the current situation was much more dangerous than earlier during the day.

    Although the chaotic and powerful waves were dangerous and full of crisis, he could not help but feel that the current dangers were much more than that. It was easier to guard against a visible enemy than one hiding at an unknown location, lurking and ready to move their hands.

    ¡°I feel that, right now, the strait is many times more threatening than during the day.¡± It was not only Xue Wei who was feeling uneasy with the sudden change, even Hei Gou could feel his senses tingling as he felt approaching danger.

    Beasts always had an acute sense of danger, as their instincts had been honed through countless years of evolution.

    .....

    ¡°Should we retreat?¡± Bai Tianyi was a bit hesitant as he spoke. Although he also felt that the current surrounding was somewhat odd, he did not have as sensitive a feeling towards approaching dangers, and his core had been corrupted earlier, making him still feel somewhat unable to fully merge with the aura in the air.

    ¡°Not yet. Let us look at the changes as they appear.¡± Xue Wei nced at the riverbank and also looked at the sandy beach leading down to the water, but it all seemed as tranquil as a painting, however, the threatening aura seemed to approach rapidly.

    ¡°Gather together.¡± As Xue Wei called out, all four of them stood up and protected each other¡¯s backs. Hei Gou and Xue Wei were standing back to back, while Bai Tianyi and Ling Xiao also protected the backs of the other.

    They knew that with the current atmosphere, it would no longer be possible for them to cultivate and rx their minds, so instead of wasting their time, it was better to simply prepare for battle.

    ¡°Hey, Wei, why don¡¯t you transform into an Azure Dragon. Your full body transformation is making you massive, and although you are the descendant of a Sovereign Beast, you won¡¯t die from bing our mount once in a while.¡± Ling Xiao could feel how his palms were getting sweaty as he tightened his grip on the staff within his hands.

    He looked around, and the yful gleam in his eyes had turned solemn as he joked. He knew that his suggestion was not possible, but he still wanted to try and lighten the mood.

    It was not because of pride that Xue Wei had not turned into an Azure Dragon and given them a lift, but because there was something strange in the waters that seemed to block not on the waves and undercurrents but also the air above. It would make no difference whether they were on board a ship or on top of Xue Wei¡¯s dragon back, so the ship would provide more security, as it was usually adorned with inscriptions and formations ¨C both defensive and offensive.

    ¡°It¡¯s here.¡± Xue Wei¡¯s voice was not loud, but the short sentence was enough to cause all the nerves to tense and all weapons to be grasped tightly as they looked around, eager to defend against whatever might appear.

    ¡°It is a Hailong, a sea dragon!¡± Xue Wei¡¯s voice had be solemn and his hands had already begun to transform into dragon ws. Scales sprouted on his skin and created a protective armor across his body, while his nails became sharp ws, ready to attack at any moment.

    ¡°If it is a dragon, shouldn¡¯t you have an upper hand when ites to identity?¡± Ling Xiao was trained as a Diviner, and he knew that the bloodline pressure that the Sovereign Beast held over other beasts could not be easily ignored, but even though he asked like this, he did not hold much hope in his heart. Looking at the serious expression on Xue Wei¡¯s face, it was not likely that he could overwhelm the dragon that was lurking in the sea.

    ¡°It is not from our world. My bloodline ispletely useless against this dragon.¡± Xue Wei could not help but knit his brows in frustration. Although he had known that there would be some kind of danger, the Sea Dragon was not what he had expected.

    ¡°It is strong.¡± Bai Tianyi¡¯s voice had also be dignified as he could not help but take a deep breath. Although he was not able topletely merge with the aura yet, he could still feel the energy ripples made by the dragon in the sea. It was more powerful than any of them.

 Chapter 640

    640 Waiting and Observing

    Xue Wei and the others were not in a hurry to attack, and upon observing the Sea Dragon for some time, they also realized that it had no intention of leaving the waters and merely nced at them all without hiding the hostility within its gaze.

    ¡°Do you think that it has been ced here intentionally?¡± Ling Xiao looked around and frowned as he asked.

    ¡°On the map, it is clear that this strait is the only way to enter the Dongfang Continent unless we are willing to spend a few years to bypass No Man¡¯s Land.

    ¡°If others somehow manage to get here, they would still have to cross the strait itself, and the Hailong will block their advance. It is quite clear that whomever has built this area will not allow anyone to enter the Dongfang Continent by these means.¡±

    Xue Wei and the other two could easily guess who Ling Xiao was referring to. Although they had never met the enemy behind the scenes, they could all guess that No Man¡¯s Land had more than just one purpose, but they also realized that he was very cautious and not willing to take any risks.

    It would stand to reason that Xue Wei and hisrades should not have been able to reach this strait at all. If they had not dropped into the tunnel below ground, they would definitely have faced grueling challenges and dangers one after another, but now they had reached the end, even though it had seemed impossible before.

    ¡°He is very meticulous. Although the chances of us reaching this strait were very small, we still arrived. Considering his extreme cautiousness throughout the years, it is clear that although it is merely a small chance of our sessful arrival here is not something that would be overlooked.¡±

    Xue Wei was feelingplicated as he had to praise the enemy that seemed to have trapped them deep within a spiderweb. He could not fully understand why anyone would be willing to spend such an overwhelming amount of time and effort to n against him, as his actual force value was still too low to pose any real danger to an expert of the strength needed to set up this giant trap.

    It was not that Xue Wei looked down upon himself, but he understood that one had to be realistic. Since the enemy had managed to avoid even the powerful Lan, then it was no wonder that he couldn¡¯t defeat him for now, but even if the future looked bleak, he had no intention of backing down. Who knew, one day they might get a lucky chance to turn the whole thing around.

    .....

    ¡°Well, whether the Sea Dragon has been ced here to block us or if it is unintentional, it won¡¯t make much difference for us. The current strength of this Sea Dragon has just broken into the realms of immortals. When I get close to it, I can sense a divine energy, but the energy is still very chaotic, and it would appear to be disrupted from time to time.¡±

    Bai Tianyu was trying to sense the current situation in front of them, and although his core had been corrupted previously, he still managed to sense the energy surrounding this Sea Dragon right away.

    ¡°Since it has already be a deity, we won¡¯t have much chance to fight against it during the times where the energy is avable. No matter whether it is newly promoted or it has been a deity for years, it is a level of strength that we are simply unable to withstand.¡± Hei Gou had listened to Bai Tianyu¡¯s words, and he had a few ideas.

    ¡°You said that the energy is chaotic, and that it will be disrupted from time to time. I would suggest that we camp here for a day or two and keep observing this Hailong. If possible, we should make use of the time when it is in a state of energy disruption and rush over the strait.

    ¡°The strait is not short, but if we hurry on board one of those ships you mentioned from earlier, then we might be able to use the moment of weakness to get enough of a headstart to escape the dragon¡¯s reach.¡±

    Although Hei Gou was trying to stay calm and reasonable, he also understood that this specific gamble was, indeed, possible, but it could also be extremely dangerous. If their ship was not swift enough, they would likely be caught by the dragon, and after that, they would definitely suffer a fate worse than death.

    ¡°I agree. For now, let us take some time to try and observe this dragon. Although it has many simrities with the dragons on our continent, there are still quite a number of differences. Maybe we can learn something from observing them.¡± Ling Xiao could not help butment curiously. Although he no longer wished to work as a diviner, he had still been growing up in a temple that focused on teaching information about beasts.

    ¡°Cough, cough.¡± Xue Wei had taken a mouthful of water to moisten his throat, but he had never expected to hear those wordse from Ling Xiao. Even more surprised was he when he witnessed the eyes that were filled with excitement and wonder, and he began pondering if he even knew Ling Xiao enough. To be this excited about such a small thing, it meant that he had to give him more pocket money.

    However, he had to admit that Ling Xiao truly had some guts. To even consider examining the Sea Dragon and trying to understand it better was beyond his expectations.

    ¡°I think we should consider itter when we get strong enough. When we are so strong that nothing here can threaten us, then we should return. If nothing else, then we can have a Sea Dragon Mount by then.¡±

 Chapter 641

    641 Forceful Breakthrough

    Xue Wei and the others were all sitting at the water¡¯s edge, observing the dragon that was iling around in the water. They did not show any hurry when it came to crossing the strait. Instead they wanted to bepletely certain that their chances of sess were as high as possible before they began moving.

    ¡°Have you all noticed that although the energy levels suggest that this seadragon is a newly promoted deity, the attacks seem to be somewhat faltering. It is as if it is unable to fully control the energy that it possesses.¡± Hei Gou asked after spending a long time observing.

    He had not been certain before, but as he continued to look at the surrounding ripples of energy that were constantly being released by the beasts in the sea, he had begun to notice a few details.

    ¡°Not only is the energy notparable to that of a real deity, it is also very chaotic. Sometimes the ripples are almost as powerful as expected, but they also seem to diminish in power and be on par with ours.¡± Bai Tianyi was also looking around and furrowing his brows.

    His ability to sense energy in the surrounding air was not influenced by his previous injury, and just as Hei Gou had noticed the strength not beingparable with a beast of the God Rank, the energy was also overwhelmingly chaotic and appeared to be out of control from even the dragon itself.

    ¡°The dragon should be tied to the strait by some sort of formation. I believe that it is unable to leave here. From what I have observed so far, it was intentionally ced here, and had not moved to the strait by some ident. I would imagine that it has been waiting here for a long time.¡± Ling Xiao had also been observing the surroundings, but unlike the other two who had been focusing on the energy, he had focused more on the terrain and the formation that kept the dragon in ce.

    Inparison, Xue Wei had been focusing on the dragon itself. Whenever he looked at the Hailong in front of him, he could sense the hatred and anger that was etched into its bones.

    It would appear that the dragon had descended into madness and was unable to regain its sanity. Its mind seemed to have be maniacal and the creature seemed unable to straighten its thoughts. The eyes were hazy but bursting with murderousness, and it did not seem to really register them as a threat or living beings.

    However, he had made a few experiments throughout the day, and found that as soon as his hand touched the water, the dragon would be caught up in hysteria. The eyes would glow with a red and bloodthirsty light, and energy would gather as the dragon would thrash around violently, preparing for an attack. However, as soon as his hands no longer touched the water¡¯s surface, the dragon would once again be deranged, losing sight of the target and violently smashing the air instead.

    .....

    ¡°I am not sure if we are lucky or unfortunate. The Hailong in front of us is clearly a newly promoted deity, and thus we should bepletely unable to fight against it.

    ¡°However, its mind is clearly not right. We might have a chance to get past, as long as we find some way to trick it, but at the same time, we will encounter more danger on the way, as we will be unable to fullyprehend and understand the reactions it will have to our movements.¡±

    Xue Wei could not help but furrow his brows as he looked at the turbulent waves in front of them and the violent dragon that kept roaring and iling about.

    ¡°Wait!¡±

    Just as he was trying to think of a possible method of passing, Bai Tianyi suddenly screamed out. His voice caught the attention of them all, and they could not help but look at him with inquiry.

    ¡°The energy seem to be draining, somehow.¡± Bai Tianyi¡¯s voice was slightly hesitant as his eyes kept staring at the dragon that had slowlye to a standstill in the middle of the water, and slowly began to submerge under the waves once more.

    Ling Xiao, Hei Gou, and Xue Wei were able to sense therger movements of the energy-ripples in the air, but the exact details of the dragon itself, they could not understand, so none of themmented but waited for Bai Tianyi to keep observing and see if he could find anything special.

    Bai Tianyi kept observing the dragon and its actions. From time to time, he would ask Xue Wei and the others to create waves in the water, rousing the dragon from its slumber once more in order to see how it would react.

    A few days went by, but the longer they spent, the more certain Bai Tianyi became, and after some time, he finally called them all back to exin what he had figured out.

    ¡°The beast¡¯s breakthrough to the God Rank seems to have been done forcefully by the formation underneath the strait. I would imagine that the Hailong has been ced here for a long time, and that when it first arrived, it should have been quite a lot weaker than now.

    ¡°The formation is likely to have contained a lot of treasures containing huge amounts of energy, and the dragon has been absorbing this energy throughout the years to break through to higher realms.

    ¡°As for why it has gone mad, I can imagine that the dragon refused to absorb the energy and was not willing to grow stronger, as the treasures were ced by the same person as the one who trapped it in the strait.

    ¡°Not long ago, all the energy within the formation entered into the dragon¡¯s body and made it ascend to God Rank forcefully. However, the mind and body had been greatly harmed in the process.¡±

 Chapter 642

    642 To Release or Not to Release?

    ¡°It is also quite pitiful.¡± Xue Wei looked at the Heilong in front of them, but although he felt sympathetic towards it, he had no intention of halting their ns of fighting against this beast in an attempt to cross the strait.

    Their current situation did not give them the luxury of helping others while their own lives were at risk. In this position, showing sympathy would only bring them more danger and trouble. Even the innocent that stood in their way would have to be removed forcibly if necessary.

    ¡°It is true that it is pitiful, but if it feels hatred, it should aim it towards the one that locked it up inside the waters. Although this Hailong has lost its mind, the hatred within seems to be quite clear. I would imagine that it was a fairly smart creature before the forceful breakthrough. As such, we might still be able to benefit.¡± Ling Xiao was narrowing his eyes as he contemted on the sess of his sudden theory.

    ¡°If we were to release this Hailong, there is a chance that it might attack us in fury, but there is also the chance that it will ignore us and just escape. Although it will not be able to get revenge right away, it is quite smart, and it should know that having amon enemy is making us less likely to deal with each other. Although the madness has fogged its mind, it should not have removed the unconscious thoughts.

    ¡°As such, the risk is whether or not we want to see if we can cross the strait while it is thrashing around, or if we should look for a way to make it escape. If it escapes, we can¡¯t expect it to pose a threat to our hidden enemy, but at least it should be able to cause them a bit of a headache.¡±

    The others could not help but lower their heads as they considered the possibility of them actually surviving if they were to release this maddenned dragon.

    Although the idea was risky, they were currently grasping for any kind of solution, as crossing the strait was going to be harder than climbing a mountain of swords and crossing a sea of fire.

    ¡°We have two options. One would be to cross the strait and look for a method to avoid the Hailong, while the other is to release the Hailong and hope for the best.¡± Hei Gou could see that all of them were confused and a bit apprehensive about which option was the best, and he decided to list the consequences and benefits each option would have.

    ¡°As it is now, although the Sea Dragon has been forcefully advanced to be a Deity, it is still a realm that we cannot handle. The strength is unsteady, but it is still overwhelming and able to crush us with a single thought.

    .....

    ¡°Our options would be to either look for loopholes where its energy is exhausted or out of control, so that we can cross, but this will risk our safety, as the Hailong might regain its strength at any moment, or might be furious at our attempt at crossing while it is still imprisoned.

    ¡°Although there is a high chance of the Hailong releasing its anger on us when we release it, I still think this is the most suitable option.¡± Hei Gou paused for a moment before he continued to speak.

    ¡°We have been observing for some time, and although the Sea Dragon has lost its mind, it does not seem to bepletely controlled by the madness. We also need to remember that it is a Deity, so it can sense many emotions that we can¡¯t. I would imagine that even without its sanity, it should sense that our aim is to release it, and it will not cause too much trouble.

    ¡°As for whether or not it will release its anger upon us after releasing him, I don¡¯t think this is likely. We are mere ants in front of him, and although we should not expect to be shown any gratitude, I think it would rather just leave this strait as quickly as possible, and not pay any attention to a few ants. Instead of wasting time to squash us, it would, most likely, try to find another ce with a newndscape.¡±

    The group was silent as they all began to scrutinize the words and points brought forth by Hei Gou.

    Although there was a certain level of risk in releasing the Hailong, they all had to admit that when considering their current situation, it would be the solution with the most chance for sess. Although it was a dance with death, it could bring sess, and they had to pave forward bravely.

    ¡°The Hailong is trapped within this strait, and the trap itself is clearly created by our hidden enemy. His strength is not something that we can fight against, and the Hailong has not escaped even after thousands of years. How can we free him?¡± Ling Xiao, who had brought up the idea of freeing the dragon at first, was suddenly disheartened.

    Although it was his idea, they still needed a way to make it possible, otherwise, their thoughts alone would not be able to change anything.

    ¡°No matter what kind of formation has been made, there has to be some sort of energy depot to keep it running. Some formations can draw energy from the heavens and the earth, but there is nowhere near enough energy surrounding this strait to keep a deity trapped.

    ¡°As such, the energy depot has to be ced somewhere around the formation, and it can¡¯t be inside the strait itself, as the Hailong would be able to break it on its own. As long as it is outside, if we break it, the formation will crumble, and the Sea Dragon can escape.¡± Bai Tianyi knew many details of trapping and formations, so he quickly exined what he knew, and they all began to feel that this method was truly usible.

 Chapter 643

    643 The Energy Stone

    ¡°What should we look for?¡± Hei Gou looked around the various stones and vegetation that led down to the bank of the water. Although Bai Tianyi said that the energy depot was somewhere surrounding them, nothing appeared to be out of the ordinary, and neither were there any fluctuations in the air to show where the formation¡¯s foundations might be hidden.

    ¡°The energy deposit is likely to be hidden within another kind of formation that is meant to enclose the ripples of power that would fluctuate in the air. It cannot be deeply buried into the ground either, so we have to scour the edge of the water and the band ofnd from No Man¡¯s Land¡¯s end until we find it.¡±

    Having said this, Bai Tianyi began to look at the surroundings and picked a group of bushes not far away to examime. As they could not sense anything with spiritual energy, they simply had to look at everything in front of them and locate the formations that they were searching for.

    Xue Wei was standing still, ncing at the strait where the waters had be calm once more, and then looked at hispanions that were turning over stones and pushing through leaves and felt a little helpless.

    He lifted his hand and clenched his fist as he looked at the numerous azure scales that began prating his skin from the flesh beneath, and ced a protective armor above his body.

    The speed of his scales¡¯ appearance was swift, and it only took a short time before his entire body had finished the transmorphing from a young human man into a majestic and collosal Azure Dragon.

    The shape wasrge, and the physical force hemanded was also growing rapidly alongside his body¡¯s expansion. Thrashing the ground would be much simpler now than before.

    And that was exactly Xue Wei¡¯s n. Bai Tianyi had said that the formation to hide the aura and energy was somewhere alongside the banks of the strait, so his n was to simply thrash everything until the formation had been broken. As long as it was broken, things would be much simpler.

    Hei Gou and the others observed how Xue Wei had be a great dragon full of vitality, and how he was thrashing everything in his path. The stones were shattered and the nts uprooted. Trees were shattered and turned into fragments and woodchips fell to the ground.

    .....

    Thendscape that had appeared idyllic only moments before had turned into an area filled with chaos and disaster.

    The strait was long and the ground was big. Although Xue Wei was working hard at wrecking havoc, it still took him some time, as he did not leave a stone unturned.

    However, after spending the majority of the day, Bai Tianyi¡¯s excited voice cut through the air, stopping Xue Wei in his movements.

    ¡°It is here!¡±

    Xue Wei¡¯s body slowly reversed the previous transformation and therge body shrunk into the original size. Even so, he did not retract his azure scales, and the hands remained scaled with sharp nail-like ws.

    ¡°Look at this, this is really a treasure.¡± Bai Tianyi¡¯s voice was filled with astonishment as he looked at the blue gem that was lying in the middle of a sandy pit created by Xue Wei.

    The gem was not overlyrge, only the size of Xue Wei¡¯s fist, but it was pulsating with overwhelming vitality, and the air seemed to be much more clear and pleasant as the formation hiding it had been destroyed.

    ¡°This is a special kind of spirit stone. Unlike most spirit stones, this one is likely to have been the foundation of another world. Usually, the many different worlds have their own formations of life, which will be able to provide the worlds with energy and resources that can make it develop and grow, but these formations often have a special foundation containing a heaven and earth treasure.

    ¡°The treasure in front of us is such a thing, and it makes sense that it has been capable of keeping the Hailong trapped for so long.¡±

    The blue luster was pulsating within the gem and caused the surrounding people to look at it with fascination. Although the surrounding formation had been broken, the energy it emitted was not overwhelming or obvious, but the air was clearer and felt more pure, making no one doubt the power contained within.

    ¡°So, if we remove this gem, then the formation will break and Hailong can escape?¡± Xue Wei looked at the stone within the ditch. Although this gem was supposed to be the fuel that kept therger formation in ce, there were no traces surrounding it to hint towards its important function.

    ¡°Yes. The current situation of the formation is being maintained solely by this gem. The gem itself is also a great benefit for us. Although we are too weak to absorb the energy contained within directly, we can ce the gem next to us while cultivating, and the energy surrounding us will be of a better quality, not to mention the speed with which we will advance.¡±

    Bai Tianyi could not help but nod his head approvingly as he looked at the gem. It seemed that their decision to look for the formation had been the right one.

    ¡°Can we just take it away?¡± Although Xue Wei had already asked if they could take the gem, he still felt somewhat ambivalent when he found out that he could merely reach out his hand and just take the gem without encontering any troubles or dangers.

 Chapter 644

    644 Taking a Deep Breath

    ¡°You can.¡± Bai Tianyi looked at Xue Wei with a bit of a smile. ¡°However, this is the stone that keeps the Hailong in ce. As soon as you remove it, the formation will shatter. We might want to make some quick preparations first.¡±

    Xue Wei understood his point right away, and he did not grasp the gem immediately.

    ¡°Everyone, step back. If possible, try to find a ce where the Hailong can¡¯t reach you, a cave or something would be most suitable.¡± Xue Wei quickly called out.

    They were in a hurry to get the Hailong away so that they could cross the strait, but they were also very well aware that no matter which option they picked, there would be risks involved.

    Bai Tianyi, Hei Gou, and Ling Xiao retreated backward and hid underneath a few stones that had been overturned during their previous havoc. If the dragon really wished to cause damage, these stones could not protect them, but hopefully, they would be enough to block the dragon¡¯s sight, and make him not care about them.

    Xue Wei kept observing their retreat until they were hiding far below the stones and straightened his back. He took a deep breath as he felt the gentle breeze slowly making his hair flutter in the wind.

    He looked at the strait in front of him, but the water surface was still, and there were no signs of the Hailong that was hiding beneath the waves.

    Although the Hailong had been forcefully promoted to the ranks of a Deity, its strength was unsteady, and its mind had be confused, it would definitely sense the moment the formation shattered.

    All Xue Wei could do was hope and wish for this unstable dragon to not target them, and be on its way as quickly as possible.

    .....

    Having steadied his mind and taken a deep breath, Xue Wei felt clearer than ever before. He knew that the next moment would determine his life and death, but he did not hesitate as he reached out and picked up the gem.

    A tremble ran through the air, and an invisible fluctuation of energy rushed towards the strait in front of them. The still surface suddenly rippled slightly, only for it to vanish within a brief moment.

    This slight ripple did not appear to have a great effect, but only a fraction of a secondter, the previously still surface had turned into a cascade of water as the Hailong shot towards the heavens above.

    A continuous sound of cracking could be heard, and numerous chains seemed to slowly disintegrate and turn into dust as the dragon ascended into the air. The debris of the chains crashed into the water once more, and sunk to the depths, never to be seen again.

    The Hailong shook its long, serpentine body, and water droplets fell from its scales, glistening in the sunlight.

    The long body was coiling up in the air, and a breathtaking roar reverberated throughout the air, shaking the skies and making the ground tremble.

    The dragon nced at Xue Wei. But while its eyes were red and full of madness, it did not rush to attack him. Looking at the stone within Xue Wei¡¯s hand and the destruction on the shoreline, the dragon seemed to regain a certain degree of sanity, after which it rushed into the skies, and vanished within a mere moment.

    Watching the dragon disappear in the sky, leaving behind the crashing waves that slowly began to settle and the destroyed shoreline where Xue Wei was standing still with the gem in his hand, Bai Tianyi and the others slowly came out from their hiding ces.

    None of the four young men spoke. They all kept looking into the sky where the dragon had disappeared, and at the crashing waves that had slowly returned to only weak ripples. It would appear as if nothing had changed, but everything was different.

    ¡°Well, then, I guess we should move on?¡± Finally, after some time, Xue Wei finally broke the silence. They were in a hurry and could not afford to waste too much time standing still.

    Although they had encountered a rather emotional situation, they could not spend too much time delving into the sudden danger and liberation as they had to move on.

    Xue Wei went to the shoreline, and took out one of his boats from the storage treasure. There were numerous ships like this within his possession as he had collected many during their time in the Sea of the Enchanted.

    ¡°Keep the spiritual gem. We can use itter since it still contains a lot of energy. I would imagine that it might be able to make a difference for Luoluo if we ce it next to her flower¡¯s roots.¡± Bai Tianyi kept looking at the gem within Xue Wei¡¯s hand, and he could not help butment after some time of consideration.

    The gem was filled with energy. Although it was not soulenergy, it would still be able to enrich the soil and make Luoluo grow stronger and faster.

    Xue Wei and the others did not even consider if it was worth wasting such a powerful gem on Luoluo¡¯s growth, and all of their eyes lit up with happiness. To them, no matter how rare or precious the items they found were, if they could save or protect theirrades, then that was the most important.

    Ling Xiao, Bai Tianyi, and Hei Gou boarded the ship first, and Xue Wei followed behind. With a final look at thend they left, and knowing that No Man¡¯s Land was finally going to be left behind, they straightened their backs, and finally took a deep breath. The loss of Luoluo could not be ignored, but they had to soldier on. They could not sumb to the current situation.

 Chapter 645

    645 Dongfang Continent

    The ship began to cross the strait, but unlike before, where the process would have been filled with perils, this time, the journey was smooth and uneventful.

    Previously, the Hailong had been detained in the area around the strait, so whether it was in the air above, or in the sea below, everything had been within its control, and any living creature that came close was killed instantly.

    Now that the dragon was gone, nothing could stop their advance, and it was not even noon by the time they reached the other shore.

    ¡°Although everything went smoothly, I can¡¯t help but think about what would have happened, had just the slightest thing been different.¡± Ling Xiao was emotional as they once more stood on firm ground, and his heart was somewhat restless as he tried to calm down his frazzled emotions.

    They had seeded in crossing the strait, and they had not needed to fight at any point, but their mental exhaustion was not less than when they were fighting hard battles, as they had to keep worrying about the movements of the Hailong. It was, after all, the one that held their fates in its hands. Their survival was only due to this sea dragon¡¯s willingness to let them go.

    Such an experience, where they could no longer control their own fate, was truly horrible, but they had been pressed further and further into a corner, and to fight for their future and survival, they had to keep struggling and even gamble with their lives on the line. Fortunately, it was a sess this time.

    ¡°Let¡¯s move on.¡± Xue Wei did not refuse Ling Xiao¡¯s words, and he, too, understood the varied emotions, but he was not as positive. The Hailong had left for now, but he feared that many things might go wrong along with this step.

    If the Hailong returned, they would be in a bad position, and it would be even worse if the expert that had imprisoned the Hailong noticed that they had shattered the formation, and decided toe by and check up on the situation.

    Although he also felt relieved that they had survived in the first ce, he did not believe that as long as they crossed the strait they would be fine.

    .....

    Apparently, both Hei Gou and Bai Tianyi agreed with him, so they did not hesitate but started to move ind of this new continent they had reached.

    The Dongfang Continent was the home of the White Tiger n, and also their next stop, but even so, none of them knew in which direction they were meant to walk.

    Having just arrived, the Dongfang Continent was a new experience for them, and they were sure that they would face new challenges and difficulties, but they might also find another breakthrough point in their quest to regain control of their own fates.

    ¡°Let us aim for the mountain range over there.¡± Xue Wei pointed towards a distant location, where a range of mountains could be seen, standing tall in the horizon, spreading across the entire view as a slumbering snake, upying the entire territory.

    ¡°Such arge chain of mountains has to be a perfect location for numerous experts to temper themselves and locate treasures. Even if we do not find anyone on our way there, we should be able to gather a lot of information as we reach the mountains and find other cultivators.¡±

    Although Xue Wei was not an overly outgoing person, he was currently fed up with theck of vitality around him. At first, he had been in the Ghost Realm for a long time, where everything was different from what he was used to, and afterwards they had entered No Man¡¯s Land, which was so bizarre and unreal. Now, what he wanted to see the most, was simply an ordinary cultivation society, where the young talents were aiming to be heroes or experts. Even if he had to face many pampered young masters, or young misses that thought they were the reincarnation of fairies, he was willing to look at these strange people, just to experience what the real world was like once more.

    Not only Xue Wei, but also Bai Tianyi and Ling Xiao shared these thoughts. None of them were eager to keep struggling on their own, and wanted to see if they could meet others, not to mention, try to dig for some information on the way.

    Hei Gou was not familiar with crowds, but he was not repulsed by them either. For him, life was curious and interesting, but he did not know much about human society. However, he wished to know more about the past him, and also about hispanions whom he valued greatly, so he had to get to know their origin too.

    Having made their decision, the group of four instantly sat out and began moving towards the distant horizon with the towering peaks. Although they had been mentally exhausted while trying to cross the strait, their bodies had not been worn out, and thus they were still full of energy as they pressed on.

    However, unknown to them, not long after their departure from the strait, a ripple ran through the air, and a middle-aged man appeared by the shore. Looking at the direction where the group had gone, he smiled slightly and shook his head. He, then, continued to face the water that had be calm and sighed gently.

    ¡°What a shame. I hoped to raise the dragon a bit longer.¡±

    Although his voice seemed to contain some regret, it was hard to see any form of regret on his face, as he was fiddling with a dragon fang in his hand.

 Chapter 646

    646 The White Tiger Sect

    Xue Wei looked at the tall trees that towered in front of him. The pine trees were dark green, and their height could easily reach fifty meters. The lowest five meters of the trunk werepletely devoid of needles and the few branches that were present werepletely bare.

    The sunlight from above was unable to prate through the dense tree crowns, and the ground below had been shrouded in a dim light that resembledte dusk or early dawn.

    Many pine needles and other nts were half rotten on the forest floor, releasing an earthy and moldy scent, making it slightly ufortable.

    The half-rotten forest floor was slippery and soggy, and although it was not dangerous, it was still somewhat ufortable.

    ¡°Do we really have to cross this forest to reach the mountains?¡± Lin Xiao looked around at the scenery in front of him. He could not help but frown slightly in difort, but he knew that this was not something he could influence.

    ¡°What a spoiled child. We are here to experience the dangers and hardships of the real world. How can you back down just because of a bit of mold and rot?¡± A voice arrived from the back, and Lin Xiao turned around, only to look at another group of young people approaching their side.

    It had been a week since Xue Wei and hispanions first arrived at a location filled with experts from the Dongfang Continent. The location had been chosen as a starting ce for a special trial, and many young talents from all over the continent had rushed over to do their utmost and make a name for themselves.

    At first, neither Xue Wei nor any of the others had any ns of participating in these trials, but after knowing that the organizers were a sub-faction of the White Tiger n, they decided to stay and take a better look.

    Unlike most of the other Four Divine Beast ns, the White Tiger n did not only ept members with a pure bloodline.

    .....

    The White Tiger n was the top sect in the Dongfang Continent, one which everyone wished to join and train themselves to be a top powerhouse.

    However, the highest ranks within the sect had to be held in the hands of the pureblooded nsmen, and all those who joined the sect epted this readily.

    Many wished to marry into the n as well, either to marry a daughter home or to marry their daughters to the male descendants. However, because of this process throughout thousands of years, the bloodline had be diluted and only few had retained their pure White Tiger bloodline.

    Even so, Xue Wei liked the White Tiger n more than many of the previous ns he hade across. They were able to adjust to the current world while also keeping their own integrity intact. Although their bloodlines were not the purest, he also had a weaker bloodline, and he did not think that there was anything wrong with this.

    However, to join the White Tiger n, one needed to prove their outstanding talents. The White Tiger n only epted the geniuses from their branch sects once a year, and bing one of these geniuses was as difficult as finding a specific pearl in the sea.

    It was also because of this that Xue Wei and the others decided to stay and take part in the trials.

    It turned out that even the branch sects had high requirements for their members, and if they wanted to be disciples, they would have to get a good result in the current trials. Only the top one hundred experts would be brought back as disciples.

    However, unlike the others, Xue Wei and his friends were very unustomed to the current Dongfang Continent, so they had tried to stay behind and not make themselves known. However, now that they were told to ascend a specific mountain peak, everyone was on the move, and many details that had previously been ignored were found.

    Lin Xiao looked at the speaker behind him and raised his eyebrow in disdain.

    ¡°I do not like dirtiness. I don¡¯t know why you are so hostile to me, but if there is a cleaner way, anyone with a sane mind would choose that path, would they not?¡± Lin Xiao did not try to sound aggressive or angry, however he was still sounding somewhat provocative and indirectly suggested that this young master did not care about his hygiene.

    The man had wanted to target Lin Xiao, but his actions backfired, and his face alternated between ck and red in embarrassment and anger.

    However, the organizers of the trial had made it clear that they were not allowed to fight one another on this stretch of the trial, and thus, no matter how angry he was, he had to hold back his emotions.

    Lin Xiao could not help but snort slightly, as he witnessed how the man had angered himself, before he stepped into the slippery and dim forest in front of them.

    Xue Wei shook his head in amusement as he witnessed Lin Xiao¡¯s actions, but he did not disagree with his approach and instead gestured for Bai Tianyi and Hei Gou to follow, as they quickly walked behind theirrade into the unknown.

    Looking at the group, which had already vanished in the forest thicket, the other groups quickly pulled themselves together and followed behind. None of them tried to rush to keep up since they feared what dangers might be lurking in the darkness, waiting for them to make the slightest mistake.

 Chapter 647

    647 Traps in the Forest

    ¡°This path is going to be difficult to traverse. Although we are not likely to encounter many living dangers, the terrain itself is enough to trouble us.¡± Xue Wei was looking around their surroundings as they walked.

    There were norger animals attacking them on the way, but the forest floor was hidden beneath a nket of rotten leaves and old branches. It was slippery, but the biggest danger was the numerous traps that had been ced on the path.

    It was not only one kind of trap, but any trap that their mind could think of, and not all of them were made by humans, some were created naturally by the environment.

    If any of them were to rush through the path, they would, without a doubt, die before they could reach the destination, so all of them were moving forward, little by little, while also examining their surroundings at the same time.

    At a ce like this, Bai Tianyi should have had a natural advantage with his spiritual sense, but as this was a trial, a certain formation had been ced outside the trial grounds, and it was impossible for anyone to use their spiritual sense to gain a better understanding of the surroundings.

    As a result, the group had taken the most primitive measures they could find. They had taken a stick each, and were using it to test their path; never cing down a foot before they were certain that the location was safe.

    They were also walking in a straight line, trying to minimize the path they needed to test, and each of them had their own category of dangers to look out for. Some of the dangers were, as previously expected, on the ground, but many of the dangers also came from above or the sides, so they could not focus all their attention to only one direction.

    Xue Wei was walking at the front, and his stick was the shortest, but also the thickest. He was aiming at the ground to see if anything would appear on the path where they sat their feet. Behind him was Bai Tianyi. He had a longer stick which was above Xue Wei¡¯s head, and kept checking to see if anything woulde down from above. In the case of a trap being triggered, it would fall to the ground in front of them all, and it would not hit any of them in the passing.

    Both Hei Gou and Lin Xiao had long branches too, but where Bai Tianyi was focused on the above, the two of them took care of a side each. Their aim was all in front of the group, but in this way, they had managed to trigger many traps before they got caught in the dangers involved.

    .....

    Although this process did trigger almost every trap they could find, and their speed was lowered drastically by this method, it also protected them in their endeavor to get safely to the top.

    ¡°Don¡¯t you find it weird? When we entered the forest, everyone seemed to be on the same path, but now, we have note across anyone else. Not only this, no traps have been triggered in front of us, so I dare to say that we are the first to step on this road.

    ¡°On the other hand, we are triggering every trap possible, so those that would be walking behind us should be having a fairly safe journey, but we have not been caught up with any other groups, and you can still hear the mournful screams throughout the forest from time to time.¡± Lin Xiao was looking around as he spoke. He did not forget to keep looking for traps, but he did find the current situation rather weird.

    ¡°Since the judges were able to ce a formation with the purpose of blocking spiritual sense, then it should not be a challenge for them to make each group step onto a path of their own.¡± Bai Tianyi was not surprised by the current situation.

    ¡°You have to remember that we are merely inside a trial. We are here to be tested, and to ensure that everyone has equal rights and chances, they will most likely send the teams on their own paths. A few might share a path, if they are lucky, but that might not be an advantage.¡±

    Xue Wei considered Bai Tianyi¡¯s words, and he agreed deeply.

    ¡°We are on high alert as we are moving forward, because we know that everywhere in this path, traps will be hidden and waiting for us to step into them, however, if a group has walked half of the way without having triggered the traps themselves, they might not know which ones are dangerous and which ones are activated from which direction. They might becent and easily swayed, resulting in dangers they had not expected.¡±

    The group was still making their way forward slowly, when the sound of arrows shot through the forest.

    ¡°It¡¯s here again.¡± Xue Wei called out, and the whole group stepped into formation. Xue Wei kept looking forward, Bai Tianyi went to face the right side, Lin Xiao remained facing the left, while Hei Gou turned around to face the back where they hade from.

    The group did not know what kind of danger they would encounter, so every time a trap was triggered, they would stand up in a protective formation and face the dangers that came their way, taking them head on.

    Unbeknown to Xue Wei and the others, a group of experts was standing at their destination, looking at a mirror-like treasure in the air that disyed the situation of all the participants.

    ¡°That group is really quite good. I would imagine that the dangers they have gone through together cannot be little.¡± A woman spoke gently, with a simple smile on her face, but her eyes did not leave Xue Wei even one inch. A fervor she could not conceal lit up her eyes and the rest of the group looked at her with reverence.

 Chapter 648

    648 Main Sect

    Xue Wei and his group managed to get through the challenging area without much trouble. Although the traps were unexpected and made to surprise and stop their groups, they all had a somewhat simr pattern, so as long as they did not let down their guards, there were no problems with their advance.

    The speed was naturally slow, but the steady advance was notparable to any of the other groups, and the experts that were observing them kept nodding their heads in approval. They all felt that this group of youngsters did well.

    ¡°There are a few other groups that are doing quite well.¡± While the majority of the experts were focusing on Xue Wei and his group, a few also tried to draw the attention to others as well.

    Although the White Tiger Sect was meant to be essable for all those with the talents, there would always be some who would use their favors or wealth to gain benefits, and some of the experts that were overseing the tests had also epted the benefits promised by the parents of these participants.

    They had already informed about the main themes of many of the tests, but although these groups were doing better than most, they still failed whenpared to Xue Wei and his friends, who had been dancing at the edge of life and death countless times.

    Even so, they did not do too bad, but when theparison was in front, the experts had to intentionally praise them, without it seeming too abrupt.

    The woman looked at the other groups, and a sneer passed by her eyes. She was fully aware that some would look for benefits in entering the sect, and in a way, they did not block this entrance of these talents. To them, luck and background was, to a certain degree, part of their strength.

    The world was not a fair ce. Although they righteously imed that everyone had the same chances for entrance into the White Tiger Sect, and that only talent mattered, this was, in fact, not the case.

    To be a real genius, talent was needed, but more than that, determination and countless resources was necessary to reach the realms that made them able to survive in this dog eat dog world.

    .....

    Only those with the financial resources or lucky chances could go to the top of the world of cultivators, and it was also because of this that they did not block all those who used their own ways to enter.

    This kind of option was avable to everyone, but not everyone had the chances to use this option, and even if they tried to be secretive about this practice, it was still well known. Even if some people were indignant, no one verballyined, and even if they did, they would not cause much of a stir.

    The current challenge took a lot longer than the contestants had expected. The speed could not be increased, and no one dared to ck on their mental state, as the sligthestck of attention would cause evesting regrets.

    ¡°Look, the forest is ending.¡± Ling Xiao looked ahead, and he quickly noticed that the thicket was getting less dense, and the light much brighter.

    However, this observation did not make the young diviner less alert, in fact, being this close to the end of the trial made him even more alert.

    It was not only him who became extra cautious. Xue Wei and the others naturally slowed their pace even further and now they resembled the speed of slugs as they slowly maneuvred closer to the end of the forest.

    Many times, when the end was close at sight, one would lose their vignce and waste all the previous effort. This had happened to them before, and they had learned from their previous experiences.

    ¡°Not bad.¡± A middle-aged man could not help but caress his beard as he praised Ling Xiao for his natural reaction after noticing how close they were at seeding.

    ¡°Most young people are unable to realize how dangerous the final part usually is, but to this group, it seem to be natural for their vignce.¡±

    Although many of these experts were supposed to praise certain talents and ensure that they could enter the White Tiger Sect or a subsect, they were also realistic.

    Xue Wei and his group were certain to join, so praising them more or less would not do much of a difference.

    ¡°I think they are quite interesting.¡± The woman smiled happily, and her eager expression had never before appeared in one of these smaller trials.

    ¡°I am going to bring this team directly to the main sect. The rest of the tests can be split ording to whoplete. The first ten groups toplete the trial after these ones will be epted at the sub sects. You can distribute them ording to your own wishes.¡±

    The experts were all relieved and excited when hearing what she said.

    None of them had expected to be able to enter the main sect, so they were not jealous of Xue Wei and his group, instead, the fact that they could go to the main sect meant that there were ten spots at the sub sects.

    In total, six of the participating talents had paid for benefits, and even if they all six were chosen, another four would still have the chance to join.

    This in itself was a great achievement for the experts, and they were eagerly observing the young geniuses that were struggling within the forest.

    ¡°We should start determining which youngster goes where.¡±

    As the experts began to discuss where to send the various talents, Xue Wei and his friends had exited the forest.

    ¡°That was it?¡± Ling Xiao was feeling somewhat perplexed as he looked back at the forest behind him.

    His nerves were still taut and his brows furrowed. He could not help but feel somewhat ambivalent as he had expected the final stretch to be very difficult, but in fact, it was the simplest of the whole trial.

 Chapter 649

    649 Sovereign Beast Aura

    Xue Wei and the others looked around the meadow that stretched in front of them, as they stepped outside the forest. There did not seem to be anyone else than themselves here for now, so they did not rush to advance.

    Their trial had been to reach a certain mountain range that could be seen in the distance, and only the first part of the trial had been sessfully aplished.

    The forest had not been a test for their ability to fight, but merely to check whether or not they were vignt, and also their ability to remain vignt throughout the entire journey.

    ¡°As far as I can see, there is only a meadow and ake in front of us, before we reach the mountain in front. The trial is to reach the mountain top, so I would assume that there is another three sub-trials toplete.

    ¡°The first trial focused on our vignce, but I am not sure what the other three is about. One of them ought to focus on actualbat ability.¡±

    Bai Tianyi looked at the mountain in the distance, but his eyes contained a firmness and unwillingness to give up as he began to analyze the rest of their challenge.

    Hei Gou also looked in front, but unlike Bai Tianyi, he did not focus on theter challenges, but merely looked at the meadow that spread out in front of them.

    He could not help but furrow his brows as he looked inquiringly at the seemingly tranquil meadow. There were low sounds of insects buzzing around in the lush grass, but norger animals could be seen. Even so, Hei Gou could sense that many beastly auras were present in the area in front.

    He could not help but look hesitatingly at Xue Wei, wondering if he also sensed the beasts in front, but looking at Xue Wei¡¯s expression, he did not appear as dignified and solemn as Hei Gou.

    .....

    ¡°These beasts, unlike the ones we encountered in No Man¡¯s Land, has an innate fear for the Sovereign Beast Aura. Although they might be numerous within the grass in front, none of them will dare to attack, as soon as my aura has been released.¡±

    Xue Wei did not have any doubt about his aura. The Dongfang Continent was a part of his home world, and the rules of the world also existed here. Although he had encountered issues with his aura before, he did not doubt the pressure and power it contained.

    Hei Gou nodded his head understandingly, and no longer felt any pressure from the meadow in front. He had already guessed that the next part of the trials should bebat ability, and that groups of beasts would appear one after another, requiring the teams to work together to y them, as they tried to cross thendscape.

    However, now that their group had Xue Wei, this part would not be troublesome at all, so they all started to meditate one after another, leaving only one person at a time to guard their group.

    ¡°They are quite vignt. Although they already left the forest, they still keep an eye on their surroundings to ensure that no one will attack them while they adjust their mindsets.¡± The middleaged man who spoke was one of those who had been given certain benefits to let another person seed, but since they had already been promised to control who got which spots, he no longer shyed away from praising this group of talents.

    ¡°I am very eager to see how they will manage in the next part of the trial. Depending on their performance, I assume that their rank in the sect will rise.¡± As the other person spoke, he nced at the female Elder from the White Tiger Sect.

    They had all sensed her eagerness to bring Xue Wei and his group directly to the White Tiger Sect, but she had not ended the trial yet, so they clearly had to go through every stage, before they got the good news.

    ¡°I am afraid that you might be disappointed.¡± The woman kept her eyes on the mirror-like image of Xue Wei and his group, but she stillmented on the previous words.

    ¡°I believe that they will cross the meadow without even fighting against one beast.¡± The more she spoke, the brighter her eyes shone, and she was very eager to see to what extent this young man had managed to control his Sovereign Beast Aura.

    The Sovereign Beast Aura was very special, and even among the White Tiger descendants, not many were able to control this pure aura, so she hoped that this young man could prove what the true aura of the sovereigns were like.

    The other experts present could not help but furrow their brows in confusion and even look somewhat confused. They did not understand how this female Elder was able to say that they could cross the meadow without fighting, but they did not question her either. Although she was younger than them, and also a woman, she held much more power than they would ever have, and her identity was not something they could challenge either.

    Even so, they were much more curious to see what was going to happen, and when Xue Wei and his group finally got ready to move forward again, all eyes focused on their reflection in the mirror-like disy.

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