True Martial World - Chapter 185: Falling off the cliff

The illusion carried on. As Yi Yun pretended to be confused by it, he was thinking of a way to catch this primordial herb.

According to the 'Divine Wilderness' book's records, many primordial herbs had the ability to tunnel into the earth or water. Just like some novels that had records of human ginseng fruits, which had the ability to "dissolve upon contact with water, entering upon contact with soil…"

This sort of primordial herb would dissolve upon contact with water, and it would tunnel into the ground upon contact with soil. As such, they would be like the fish swimming in the ocean, impossible to find!

Catching a primordial herb needed to be done in one swift strike!

If it were to escape deep into the herb mountain, even a human Sage would be helpless.

And Yi Yun was completely inadequate in terms of speed and experience in picking primordial herbs. Rushing to pick it would only result in failure.

The primordial herb still did not know that Yi Yun could see it. If Yi Yun were to draw out the Thousand Army Saber and rush at it, then the disguise from before would crumble. This would put the primordial herb on high alert.

Did he have to report this matter to the Divine City, letting a Sage handle it?

If the tip-off led to success, then he would be rewarded. But the point was if the human Sage were to come with him, would the primordial herb discover it early on and slip off?

At that time, he might even be charged with the crime of crying wolf.

And even if the human Sage had some exceptional method to capture the primordial herb, how was he going to explain his discovery of the primordial herb's location?

Many things could easily arouse suspicion.

After some thought, Yi Yun decided to do it himself, betting all on a single attempt!

But… Not today!

Currently, he was grossly inadequate in preparations.

By rashly making a move, it could startle the enemy.

Although there might be no way of finding the primordial herb if it were to escape, Yi Yun had the confidence to locate the primordial herb's location because the Blood Yang Flower did not have the ability to dissolve or tunnel through the earth.

Finding the Blood Yang Flower meant finding the primordial herb.

Yi Yun believed that the primordial herb was lurking around the Blood Yang Flower, protecting its 'property'.

"The primordial herb's hiding technique sure is good. Previously, when I used my spiritual energy to interface with the Purple Crystal, I could only detect the Blood Yang Flower and missed that primordial herb. Its distance could not have been far off, yet I didn't see it. It was only when it used its magic could I find it!"

Yi Yun also felt lucky. For him to find a primordial herb was purely coincidental.

At the same time, Yi Yun felt that he needed to cultivate more, so he could increase his spiritual energy. Without sufficient spiritual energy, whether it was a primordial herb, immortal herb or primal herb, he would not be able to find it.

As Yi Yun was thinking, he suddenly found that in the illusion, there were more and more corpses surging towards him like a tidal wave, forcing him into a corner.

It looked like Yi Yun was in a forsaken cemetery, surrounded by plains. But Yi Yun knew that behind him was a cliff.

One more foot back and he would fall off the cliff.

Although more than a hundred feet was not much, a person within an illusion would be unaware of this.

If Yi Yun hit his head first on the rocks, due to the heavy Flowing Mercury Gown he wore, his head and neck would take the brunt of the weight. He would be seriously injured and might even die from a broken neck!

Upon thinking of this, Yi Yun's urge to catch the primordial herb grew stronger.

Although primordial herbs did not have the ability to kill, by using their magic to charm a cultivator, they could still cause a cultivator's death.

Yi Yun had no room for retreat. He lowered the weight of the Flowing Mercury Gown to its lowest, and pretending to slip, he let out a cry and fell down the cliff!

Whilst midair, it seemed like Yi Yun was alarmed and bewildered, but secretly, he was maintaining his balance.

"Boom!"

Yi Yun fell to the ground on his back, sending rocks flying!

Even with the Flowing Mercury Gown's weight at its lowest, the impact from falling more than a hundred feet was still tremendous.

Yi Yun sprawled out on the ground. His body had formed a huge human-sized crater. In fact, before Yi Yun landed, he had gathered his body's Heaven Earth Yuan Qi to cushion his fall. However, it still caused his body to ache.

Although he was uninjured, Yi Yun pretended to pass out. At the same time, using the Purple Crystal's vision, he quietly observed the primordial herb at the top of the cliff.

Yi Yun could feel a faint sneer coming from the herb.

"Primordial herb, this fellow…"

Yi Yun made sure that he would make the primordial herb pay for this.

Soon, the primordial herb lost interest in Yi Yun and left in a carefree manner.

In fact, to the primordial herb, Yi Yun was like an ant to it. He was not worth paying attention to.

Ever since this primordial herb formed a spirit, it had been growing in the Tai Ah Divine City herb mountain for thousands of years.

In the thousands of years, the primordial herb had seen countless numbers of cultivators from the Tai Ah Divine City.

All these cultivators were treated as unimportant animals like ants by the primordial herb.

They were young and extremely weak. Furthermore, they were extremely dumb. They said they were picking herbs, but they were like headless flies, randomly flying around.

There were many herbs under their noses, yet they could not see them.

Although it wanted to tease these cultivators, this primordial herb knew that there were human Sages in the Tai Ah Divine City.

If it constantly teased the cultivators, accidentally killing a few, it would alert the Tai Ah Divine City's Sages.

If that happened, its days were over.

If it was targeted by a human Sage, it had to be vigilant and live underground, reducing its foray outside.

It had to be known that many human sages had the ability to hide their presence. No matter how careful the primordial herb was, or how keen its senses were, it could miss a human sage that was creeping up on it. When that happened, it was done for.

Yi Yun laid at the bottom of the cliff for an hour before getting up.

Yi Yun remembered the position of the cliff. In the Purple Crystal's vision, that Blood Yang Flower had not yet left. As it was startled, it hid underground and it was likely that it would not appear to absorb the pure Yang Qi for the next few days.

As long as the Blood Yang Flower was around, Yi Yun was relieved.

Yi Yun did not go up that cliff anymore. In fact, he walked in the opposite direction and picked a few herbs before leaving the herb mountain early.

When he handed over the herbs, Zhao Qingcheng and company were also there.

Seeing Yi Yun, Zhao Qingcheng shyly smiled. Her face was red, apparently due to her borrowing of money from Yi Yun the other day. Zhao Qingcheng was still embarrassed over it.

"Hi Sis Qingcheng," greeted Yi Yun.

Today, Yi Yun's harvest was only a hundred dragon scale runes.

After weighing it, Wang glanced at Yi Yun with a slight surprise. But it was nothing much. An expert would still suffer from bad luck occasionally. Having a smaller harvest one day was normal. But at this rate, Yi Yun would have no chance of breaking Zhong Yi's record.

"About this, Sister Wang, I want to ask if there's a book that introduces primordial herbs?" When he finished handing over the herbs, Yi Yun weakly asked. The 'Divine Wilderness' book was mainly for Tai Ah Divine City rookies to read.

As the divine city's rookies had no chance of making contact with a primordial herb, the 'Divine Wilderness' book only had brief records, which meant that Yi Yun had no idea what primordial herb he had encountered.

This naturally was a big obstacle in Yi Yun's plan to capture the primordial herb.

Hearing Yi Yun's question, Wang was speechless. This kid was still dreaming!

Even Zhong Yi did not manage to pick a primordial herb! Even the great human Sages had to carefully plan for it. With some luck, they could catch one. How would it be possible for a kid like you?

If not for Yi Yun's proof of his keen observational powers over the past couple of days, Wang would have cursed. But even so, her tone was still very mean.

"Kid, just because you have some talent at picking herbs and you have a slightly better pair of eyes, it makes you think you are awesome? Primordial herbs? Wait another seven or eight years before caring about primordial herbs! You really don't know anything!"

"Oh… I just want to read." Yi Yun said.

"Read what? Just the contents in the 'Divine Wilderness' is enough for you to read! It will be good enough if you understand everything in it!"

Wang was still mean.

Yi Yun touched his nose and felt speechless. He would not ask Wang again. He only had himself to blame for asking a question that was beyond his grasp. Wasn't asking her the same thing as asking for trouble?

"Little Brother Yi Yun, you want to find books related to primordial herbs?" At that moment, a voice transmission from Zhao Qingcheng came into Yi Yun's ear.

"Yes, you know anything about it?" Yi Yun was pleasantly surprised.

"Yes…There's a library in the Tai Ah Divine City, don’t you know that? In the library, there's a variety of information and cultivation technique manuals, etc. There are many zones in the library. The most restrictive zone has cultivation techniques in it, which makes it very precious!"

"If you want to read information on primordial herbs, it should be in the middle-ranked zones. You just need to pay a small amount of dragon scale runes to borrow it."

"Ha, I see. Thank you, Sister Qingcheng." Yi Yun rejoiced. The library suited him the most. If he had to speak with others, it would cause some inconvenience.

"Little Brother Yi Yun, don't think that I'm nagging. Why are you asking about primordial herbs? You cannot possibly be eyeing primordial herbs, right? It's not easy to come into contact with primordial herbs." Zhao Qingcheng was afraid that Yi Yun was unaware of the dangers and that he belittled primordial herbs. After reading the information, Yi Yun might feel a thrill and rush to look for the primordial herbs. When that happened, it would just be a waste of time.

For many people, those at the age of twelve or thirteen felt they were the center of the world, especially those who had some accomplishments. They could not measure themselves and thought they were different from others and were confident of accomplishing great things.

But reality was cruel. Those who had those thoughts tended to fail miserably.

"Don't worry. I know too well. I am just interested and would like to know more." Yi Yun knew Zhao Qingcheng meant well. Even that foul-mouthed Wang might have done it out of kindness.

True Martial World - Chapter 184: Mysterious Herb

Yi Yun gripped the Thousand Army Saber tightly. With all of his energy surging throughout his body, he was like a cheetah poised to strike at any moment.

Yi Yun's surroundings had changed! The cliff that was originally there had disappeared and it was replaced with a cemetery!

There were tombstones after tombstones. These ancient and crumbling tombstones were similar to the scene that greeted Yi Yun when he first came into this world.

How did this happen?

Ever since coming to this world, Yi Yun had seen the terrifying strength of experts, the grand divine cities and all sorts of weird plants and beasts.

Many things had challenged Yi Yun's knowledge, opening up his imagination.

But no matter how much his imagination could go wild, Yi Yun had never seen such a strange event. This was his first time!

One second he was at the top of a cliff, the next second he was here. Did he encounter a space-time tunnel?

Suddenly, the graves in front of Yi Yun broke open. Corpses began crawling out of the graves.

These corpses all wore tattered clothes and their eyes were dull. They gave off a feeling of death.

Yi Yun felt his scalp tingle. This sort of thing had exceeded his knowledge!

Upon seeing Yi Yun, the corpses' eyes started glowing red. It was as if Yi Yun's body attracted them.

They roared and charged towards Yi Yun!

Yi Yun's blood was surging. Feeling a burst of energy within his body, he decided to ignore the strange encounter and begin killing whatever faced him!

"Cha!"

The Thousand Army Saber slashed forwards and the seven-foot long blade traveled through the air. The three corpses in front of Yi Yun were all split into two!

Metal was like tofu when facing the Thousand Army Saber, what was rotting flesh compared to metal?

Yi Yun charged forward. He began swinging the Thousand Army Saber in all directions. Any simple slash could even split a horse apart; hence, every slash cut down three or four corpses!

The sharp blade moved without restraint and one corpse after another was swept away, sending black blood splattering everywhere.

This feeling was not much different than cutting a watermelon!

But, more corpses started to appear from the graves. About four or five corpses emerged from each tombstone. Sometimes, even more than ten.

These corpses seemed to be unending no matter how many he killed.

Yi Yun's saber was already covered in blood and rotting flesh. His blade turned extremely greasy, but there seemed to be no end to this slaughter.

Wait…

Suddenly, an idea flashed in Yi Yun's mind. The chaotic environment seemed to suddenly quieten down.

Time became oddly slow, and Yi Yun's mind turned clear.

From the herb-picking on the cliff to this graveyard, then meeting this endless outpour of corpses, he had to constantly kill.

All these changes were very strange.

This abnormal matter must be due to a demon!

Yi Yun shivered. He looked at his surroundings. While the corpses charged towards him relentlessly, upon closer inspection, those corpses…

Strangely, Yi Yun felt a sense of deja vu.

These corpses… looked familiar?

"Puah!"

A rotting corpse swiped at Yi Yun, but Yi Yun helplessly watched. He did not draw out his saber nor did he avoid it…

This swipe went through Yi Yun's body!

Pain!

Extreme pain.

But Yi Yun seemed bewitched. He just stood there regardless of his chest being pulled apart by the corpses. Instead, he closed his eyes.

His spiritual energy interfaced with the Purple Crystal and when Yi Yun opened his eyes again, his vision turned white.

When all he could see was energy, there were no illusions, only the truth!

The corpses had all disappeared. In fact, they never existed!

All of that was just an illusion.

Why did it seem familiar? That was because, in Yi Yun's past life, he had seen such rotting corpses crawl out from graves, attacking the protagonist of a movie he saw.

This graveyard scene was a common trope.

This memory had been resurfaced from within Yi Yun's mind, turning it into an illusion that attacked Yi Yun!

Hence, it was because Yi Yun was seeing something from his memories that made it look so familiar.

But, why did this happen?

Who created all these illusions?

The Tai Ah Divine City's herb mountain would seal the entrance once a cultivator entered, preventing others from entering.

Then… was it caused by the Blood Yang Flower?

No, it can't be. In the 'Divine Wilderness' book, there were detailed descriptions of the Blood Yang Flower, and it did not have such an ability.

The Blood Yang Flower's ability was to grow out its leaves to absorb the Yang Qi when it was safe. When danger approached, they would pull back their leaves and hide.

This was a very simple ability, and probably was not even called an ability. Spiritual herbs were inferior to desolate beasts. Those general-ranked or king-ranked desolate beasts could easily destroy a tribe, and a primordial strain beast could even destroy a city.

But a spiritual herb was not as dangerous.

Even the highest ranked spiritual herbs were helpless after being picked. Their fate was to be thrown into an elixir furnace.

The problem was that picking high ranked spiritual herbs was not an easy feat!

If it was not the Blood Yang Flower that caused the illusions, then what was it?

Yi Yun pushed his spiritual energy to its maximum and the vision from the Purple Crystal turned clearer!

Without all the distractions present, Yi Yun finally saw it. In his energy vision, he could see two energy blobs.

One was bigger and it was the size of a wash basin. It was blood-red in color and it seemed to burn like a flame. The energy belonged to the Blood Yang Flower!

Previously, when Yi Yun was about to pluck the Blood Yang Flower, he was suddenly transported to the graveyard, where he met the endless stream of corpses, just before he touched it.

And not far from the Blood Yang Flower, there was a tiny energy light that shocked Yi Yun.

That energy blob was like a rod, it was about a foot long and as thick as a wrist.

Its energy was extremely obscure. Compared to the Blood Yang Flower, it was much dimmer, but this dim energy light made Yi Yun jump!

The pureness of the energy within it was beyond Yi Yun's imagination!

Only the energy that Yi Yun drew out from the chimera in the Wilderness Divine Hall was comparable to it.

What is this?

Similar in pureness to a primordial essence, could it be…

A thought suddenly flashed through Yi Yun’s mind. This thought made his heart race and his breaths shorten.

Could it be a primordial herb?

Above the Heaven-ranked herbs, there were primordial herbs, immortal herbs, primal herbs and other different strains of divine medicine.

These precious herbs would even make a human Sage covet them!

In the Tai Ah Divine City, the divine city's Elders would occasionally leave the Tai Ah Divine City to search for herbs in the herb mountain. At their level, Heaven, Earth, Mystic, Yellow-ranked herbs were all useless. Naturally, they only searched for primordial herbs!

Primordial herbs were difficult to pick. But for the divine city's Elders, with their cultivation level and methods, as long as they found a primordial herb, they would definitely be able to get it.

The crux of the issue is… they couldn't find any!

Even in the Tai Ah Divine City's herb mountain, there were too few primordial herbs. They may find one with luck, but not by searching for it!

And the important point is, primordial herbs had a spirit within them. Their ways were to hide and confuse the enemy. So someone might not even know it was one when they passed by it!

Human sages had keen senses. Even people with absolute talent at sensing, like Zhong Yi, could not compare to human Sages.

The problem was when a human Sage entered a herb mountain, the primordial herb would hide far away, preventing the human Sage from finding or picking it.

And it is this reason that made it difficult for a human Sage to pick a primordial herb!

Different ideas flashed within Yi Yun's mind as his heart raced!

Calm down! I need to calm down!

Yi Yun told himself that. He knew that he was faced with a great opportunity.

If he could pick that herb, there would be great benefits awaiting him!

But picking that herb was easier said than done!

Yi Yun's cultivation was too weak. A human Sage may easily pick such treasured herbs, but it will be extremely difficult for him!

However, having a low cultivation level had its benefits!

Since the primordial herb had a spirit, it probably had a certain amount of intelligence and could tell the strength of a herb-picker.

It was because he was weak, that it did not take Yi Yun seriously, daring to appear in front of Yi Yun and even using its magic to confuse and tease Yi Yun.

If Yi Yun were a human Sage, it would have moved far away. Trying to use this magic on a human Sage was courting death.

By taking him lightly, it gave Yi Yun his greatest advantage!

Of course, the primordial herb did not know that Yi Yun could use the Purple Crystal to accurately pinpoint its location.

"What should I do?" Yi Yun racked his brains.

He did not look at the primordial herb anymore. Since it had formed a spirit, if he were to keep looking at it, it would realize that and be on the alert.

"I shall pretend I can't find its location and I will give the matter further thought!"

With this decision, Yi Yun pretended to be within the illusion, and dazed around, unable to distinguish north from south.

At the same time, Yi Yun maintained the energy vision. At the corner of his eye, he was secretly observing the primordial herb.

Yi Yun realized that the primordial herb was nearby swaying around as if it was watching a good show.

This fellow!

How could Yi Yun feel good being teased by a herb?

Oh?

Yi Yun suddenly realized that the Blood Yang Flower had quietly shifted its position into a very secluded mountain corner. It had tunneled much deeper into the ground this time round.

It suddenly dawned on Yi Yun. The primordial herb had used the illusion to confuse him, to prevent him from stealing the Blood Yang Flower.

The moment he wanted to pluck the Blood Yang Flower, the primordial herb appeared. It was obviously not a coincidence.

Maybe it was protecting the Blood Yang Flower. Or it could even be that the primordial had accidentally found this Blood Yang Flower and it was planning to nurture the fruit before absorbing it.

Some primordial herbs would nurture high-ranked herbs before stealing their energy essence to aid their own growth!

This was similar to some primordial beasts who protected a spiritual plant for thousands of years. When the spiritual plant blossomed, the primordial beast would swallow it.

Yi Yun suspected that this was the situation with the primordial herb!

True Martial World - Chapter 183: Blood Yang Flower

Yi Yun was like a diligent gardener, who gathered all sorts of herbs in the herb mountain, day after day. His dragon scale runes were constantly increasing.

Ten days later, Yi Yun had a total of 2000 dragon scale runes.

Not only that, Yi Yun's physical strength had made good progress and his movement techniques were becoming well-honed because he had been wearing the Flowing Mercury Gown for such a long time.

Now, in the depths of the mountain, Yi Yun was moving through the woods at a blistering speed. Suddenly about a dozen kilometers away, Yi Yun saw a faint flow arise.

Oh?

Yi Yun paused and interfaced his spiritual energy with the Purple Crystal and looked over.

All he saw was the light from some energy fluctuation. It was like a phantom tiger's low growl in the light and it had an extraordinary aura.

Due to the great distance, Yi Yun could not see it clearly. But without a doubt, he could tell that it was a herbal treasure!

Only high-grade herbs could create such a strong energy fluctuation that could be seen from afar. Besides, the energy essence was so strong that it formed a phantom image. It was no simple matter.

Yi Yun raised his head and saw that it was bright. It was about three-quarters of an hour past noon, the point when the sun was brightest, and the Yang Qi thickest.

Some herbs would appear at three-quarters of an hour past noon or midnight, when the Yang and Yin Qi were at their thickest respectively, to absorb the sun and moon's essence or Heaven Earth Yuan Qi.

These kinds of herbs were extraordinary!

"I wonder what rank the herb is. With that herb, I can consider entering the Wilderness Divine Hall another time!"

With this thought in mind, Yi Yun rushed toward the herbal treasure. While wearing the Flowing Mercury Gown, each step he made caused stones to fly.

While bearing a weight of 200 cauldrons and running through the mountains, Yi Yun was like a desolate beast!

Nowadays, Yi Yun felt that the Flowing Mercury Gown's weight was turning light.

"Maybe, I should consider increasing the weight of the Flowing Mercury Gown tomorrow." Yi Yun decided. After he reached the large success stage of Minute Subtlety, Yi Yun knew every change in his body's energy.

He felt that 220 cauldrons were a more appropriate weight for him now.

As his body moved through the mountain, he heard the wind blowing past his ears. Under the Purple Crystal's lead, he came to the bottom of a cliff that was more than a hundred feet tall. Looking up, Yi Yun could see the phantom tiger churning at the top of the cliff.

The herbal treasure was on top of the cliff!

But this cliff was vertical and extremely steep. The rocks that jutted out from the cliff were the about the size of a basin. The gaps between the rocks were haphazard, making it difficult for even a monkey to climb.

Yi Yun looked carefully at the cliff. Every protruding rock's position was reflected within Yi Yun's mind. He quickly calculated an optimal climbing path to scale the cliff.

He had only one chance because the protruding rocks could only withstand his weight once. Every time he rested his body weight on the rock, the rock would crumble.

And he had to borrow that moment of leverage to jump to the next rock.

Yi Yun took a deep breath of air and with his energy condensed at its limit, he leaped!

"Boom!"

When Yi Yun leaped, the ground beneath his feet cracked. Yi Yun grabbed the first protruding rock and leveraged on it.

The rock immediately crumbled under Yi Yun's grab, but before he could fall, Yi Yun grabbed the second protruding rock!

With his Minute Subtlety augmenting him, Yi Yun's control of power could be considered perfect.

He was immersed in a ethereal state. In one breath, he had jumped a few dozen times, eventually reaching the peak of the cliff that stood more than a hundred feet from its base.

Yi Yun gasped loudly when he reached the peak. All his muscles were trembling slightly.

When he continuously did high-intensity exercises, it made Yi Yun's muscles protest. A sore feeling hit him like a flood.

But Yi Yun did not care about this. He looked at his surroundings. This cliff top was especially flat. There were gravel, leaves and a gigantic skeleton on it. Half of the skeleton was buried in the ground as if it had been weathered by the elements.

The beast seemed to have been dead for a long time. There was not much Heaven Earth Yuan Qi within its corpse and it was like a set of regular bones.

The strong herbal aroma and phantom tiger image that Yi Yun had previously observed had disappeared. It was as if there was only this half-buried animal on top of the normal cliff.

Yi Yun looked around for a while and a smile formed on his lips.

The herb knew how to hide.

Some of the herbs were like summer crickets. Without anyone around, they would chirp within the grass happily. But once people walked close to the grass, no matter how silent, they will be discovered by the crickets. The crickets would then silence themselves. Every summer night, people would hear the sounds of crickets chirping as if there were hundreds. But without any tools, trying to look for one was almost impossible.

It was the same situation for warriors trying to pick herbs. It was too difficult to find a herb.

Facing the huge beast's bones, Yi Yun pondered for a while. In the Purple Crystal's vision, he could see that the beast bones had suffered from the elements and that there were very tiny amounts of energy left within the bones.

And these were not an ordinary animal's bones, they were bones that belonged to a desolate beast. And it was even a high-grade desolate beast!

An idea flashed in Yi Yun's mind. For such a high-grade desolate beast bones to be weathered down so much to have so little energy left, it gave Yi Yun a thought.

Could it be...

Yi Yun stroked his chin. Now, the herb had hidden its herbal essence and concealed itself, but… this had no effect on Yi Yun.

Yi Yun smiled, with his spiritual energy interfaced with the Purple Crystal, his vision quickly turned white.

And the hidden herb was obvious like a bright star in the night. Yi Yun spotted its position at one glance.

Yi Yun came to a clearing and drew out the Thousand Army Saber.

"Cha! Cha! Cha!"

In a split second, he sent three slashes. With the Thousand Army Saber inserted in the ground, Yi Yun smacked the saber's hilt.

"Peng!"

With an explosion, the ground blasted open!

After the dust settled, Yi Yun brushed aside a thin layer of soil. Under the soil hid a red fruit the size of a fist. It was like a red crystal and it gave off a sweet aroma. On the fruit's surface, there were small shining particles, like a ripe pomegranate without its exterior.

It was incredible that such a beautiful fruit was growing underground.

There were seven leaves around the fruit and the leaves were dropping and their color dark, as if they were about to wither at any time.

But every leaf was aromatic. In the middle of the leaf, there was a shining, blood-red wavy line.

Yi Yun took a sniff and felt a great aroma rush into his body, which nourished his body. It made his body's blood warm up and surge.

"This is a Blood Yang Flower! It's a middle-grade Heaven-ranked herb!" Yi Yun remembered a record of it in the 'Divine Wilderness' book.

The Blood Yang Flower grew underground and it liked the dense and rich sunlight.

Typically, a Blood Yang Flower's seeds would take root near a desolate beast's corpse. When it germinated, it will absorb the desolate beast corpse's energy to help it grow.

Within a short span of one to two days, it would suck the desolate beast's corpse's energy dry, leaving only its skeleton.

The energy would then be stored away for later. The fruit would slowly absorb the stored energy that aided the fruit's growth.

When the desolate beast's energy was completely digested, it would sprout out some leaves from underground when the sun was at its fullest and then soak in the extremely thick Yang sunlight!

Once people approached it, it would shrink its leaves back, looking like there was nothing, to begin with.

The only thing that could expose the Blood Yang Flower was the pile of desolate bones nearby.

As the energy was fully absorbed by the Blood Yang Flower, the desolate bones would look like ordinary bones, making it difficult for people to recognize them.

There were too many types of desolate beasts species. Even if one saw living desolate beasts, one would have a tough time recognizing all the different types. One would require an experienced Desolate Heaven Master to recognize badly weathered bones and guess which desolate beast they came from by the shape of the bones.

"Blood Yang Flower. It's a great thing. This Blood Yang Flower is probably 700 to 900 years old." Yi Yun carefully picked the Blood Yang Flower.

The Blood Yang Flower took 300 years to take root, 300 years to flower, and 300 years to bear fruit. Seeing that the Blood Yang Flower was bearing fruit, it meant that it was at least 700-800 years old!

A 700 to 800-year-old Blood Yang Flower was definitely worth above 3000 dragon scale runes!

Yi Yun greatly coveted those 3000 dragon scale runes.

But...Yi Yun also coveted the Blood Yang Flower!

Yi Yun was unsure about what to do with the Blood Yang Flower.

A typical herb-picking cultivator had no choice but to hand over all the herbs they picked, as they did not have the ability to refine such high-quality herbs. Even if they had the ability, they could not bring the refinement equipment needed to the herb mountain as they were searched prior to entering the teleportation array. This prevented people from bringing their own herbs to exchange for dragon scale runes, as well as bringing their own refinement equipment, which prevented them from brewing the herbs on the herb mountain.

But with Yi Yun's Purple Crystal, he did not need to brew the herbs. He could directly absorb the energy, so it was easy for him to steal the herb's power.

"If I were to absorb the Blood Yang Flower's energy, it will be a great supplement for me!"

Yi Yun was tempted. Previously, the Yellow and Mystic-ranked herbs he found were all turned in honestly.

The main point was that by stealing their power, it would do more harm than good. The low-grade herbs had impure energies, so they were not very helpful for Yi Yun. It had also a high possibility of revealing his secret.

The herbs picked in the Tai Ah Divine City herb mountain were given to the alchemists of the Divine City. Those old monsters were extremely terrifying. They knew all the properties of the herbs. If he had tampered with it, they were likely to discover it.

With the Blood Yang Flower, Yi Yun had three choices.

Sucking it dry, stealing the herbal essence or exchanging it for dragon scale runes.

If he didn't suck it dry, then he would not get the Blood Yang Flower's herbal essence but he would get 3000 dragon scale runes.

If he were to absorb a portion of it and then hand it over, it would be the best of two worlds, but it would increase the risk of his secret being discovered...

But upon careful thought, some loss in a herb's essence would not be a great cause for doubt.

Yi Yun was wavering between the three and finally resisted the temptation by removing the second choice.

Although the possibility of him being discovered was tiny, there was no such thing as not getting your feet wet by standing beside the river. He might not be discovered the first time, but he might try again a second time.

If that happened time and time again, he might be emboldened in his attempts.

Those magistrates and officials probably had such a mentality when they received bribes.

Yi Yun did not want to be penny-wise, pound-foolish. The road ahead of him was still long. It was not worth the risk for this petty gain.

Who would know what those old monsters would do?

So, he could only choose between the first two!

As Yi Yun was thinking, his expression suddenly changed!

Oh!?

Yi Yun was startled and went on high alert!

He quickly drew out his Thousand Army Saber!

What is this…?

Yi Yun looked around his surroundings. With his pupils constricted, he turned extremely focused.

How could this be, wasn't he on a cliff? But now...

What… is this place!?

True Martial World - Chapter 182: Door Manning Elder

Yi Yun had such horrifying speed even though he was still wearing the Flowing Mercury Gown!

Although the Flowing Mercury Gown was reduced to its lowest weight, it was still 10 cauldrons. It was impressive to not be affected by this weight and restrictive strength. But Yi Yun's understanding of Minute Subtlety allowed him to completely ignore it.

Yi Yun suddenly stalled and punched out with both fists, sending out a force wind! His body even sounded out!

Clang!

With the sound of metal, the Thousand Army Saber was unsheathed!

The saber flashed, reflecting the moonlight!

The saber's shadows conjured up a wind that could prevent water from splashing in!

Such brilliant saber flashes formed a whirlwind within the cultivation room. Yet it did not damage any of the furnishings within the room. This was due to Yi Yun's absolute control of his energy!

Done!

With the Thousand Army Saber sheathed, Yi Yun's body went from motion to stillness suddenly. The changes were done so quickly that it seemed to violate the laws of physics.

Yi Yun stood quietly within the dark room. The room was still the same. The moonlight that entered the cultivation room's array reflected off the ground, making it a layer of white. And on that reflection stood a quiet Yi Yun. It was as if he had not even moved once…

This ability to freely receive and dispatch made Yi Yun ecstatic.

"Feels great! It's really delightful!"

Yi Yun had not felt so happy in a long time. Yi Yun became more envious of the primordial strain's energy. He wanted to earn more dragon scale runes to enter the Wilderness Divine Hall once again!

Currently, he could only rely on picking herbs.

The job was really his life's blessing. It gave him the most basic ability to accumulate. If not, at his current strength, it would be difficult to quickly amass dragon scale runes in the Tai Ah Divine City. All the people that had been cultivating for more than four years were much stronger than he was.

Yi Yun sheathed the Thousand Army Saber and walked out of the cultivation room.

Not far from the cultivation room stood the old man in charge of manning the Wilderness Divine Hall. The red gem between his eyebrows shined in the moonlight.

The elder looked oddly at Yi Yun, "Oh? You have broken through?"

This old man had clearly opened up his Heaven eyes and could tell Yi Yun's cultivation level. He was surprised, as Yi Yun had entered with a cultivation level of early stage Purple Blood but he had exited as a middle stage Purple Blood.

"Not bad."

The old man stroked his beard. From an angle, the red gem between his eyebrows was like another eye, accentuating a strange feeling.

"Thank you. I was lucky to break through." Yi Yun was in a good mood. Previously, after having his fill within the chimera hall, he had rushed into the cultivation room. As a result, he did not pay much attention to the old man.

But now, upon closer inspection, Yi Yun found that the old man was like an unfathomable deep pool of water.

But suddenly, the unfathomable feeling disappeared, and the elder returned to normal. There was no shred of Yuan Qi fluctuation as if the old man in front of Yi Yun was just an ordinary mortal.

This sudden change stunned Yi Yun for a moment.

He could not help but sigh. There were all sorts of hidden dragons in the Tai Ah Divine City!

Of course, Yi Yun could not tell the cultivation level of the old man. But his intuition told him that the old man was fearsome.

In the Tai Ah Divine City, many people had unattractive positions but they were all top experts.

The old man in front of him, Instructor Qin, and even the herb office's mean Wang were all absolute experts among humans!

"A lucky breakthrough? You seem like a rookie. To be able to earn a thousand dragon scale runes and come to the Wilderness Divine Hall again is not bad at all."

The old man stroked his chin. Some rookies were strong and could go through gambling fights, trading, or obtain rewards from their instructors to quickly earn dragon scale runes.

Before Yi Yun could reply, the old man suddenly smiled and moved without warning!

He stretched out a finger and pointed at Yi Yun's glabella.

The old man's speed was not fast, but the finger seemed to contain an indescribable charm, making Yi Yun apprehensive!

Without any thought, he jumped backward and unsheathed the Thousand Army Saber!

A human length sharp blade slashed at the old man!

Yi Yun did not go easy, nor was he worried that the Thousand Army Saber would harm the old man. Those were jokes, for if he could harm the old guy with an unknown cultivation level, he could become an instructor in the Tai Ah Divine City.

"Hey!" The old man yelped. "You little rascal, you sure didn't go easy! Don't you know the need to respect your elders?"

He was just testing Yi Yun, but he had never expected for Yi Yun's reaction to being quick and decisive!

When people were suddenly tested, they would often be shocked and might even give a look of "elder, what are you doing".

But for Yi Yun, within a pause lasting less than a blink of an eye, he had unsheathed his saber!

With the sharp saber drawn, he had sliced it at the old man’s head without a word. This reaction was surprising to the old man, but at the same time, he was impressed.

Although the old man had yelped, his hand motions were precise. He simply flicked the spine of Yi Yun's saber.

With a metallic "clang", a tremor reached Yi Yun's wrist. Yi Yun felt his wrist go numb, and his sword fell away.

The spine was the weakest part of a saber.

The old man had easily found the weakness in Yi Yun's moves. And in the next moment, the old man's finger had gently touched Yi Yun's forehead, like a dragonfly landing on a water surface.

Yi Yun only felt his forehead go numb. Like an electric current, he nearly dropped the Thousand Army Saber!

Yi Yun retreated several steps backward before stabilizing himself.

"Hehe. Kid, if I wanted to kill you, you would already be dead."

The old man retracted his finger.

Yi Yun rolled his eyes. He was extremely speechless handling this old man who bullied the weak.

What sort of statement was "if I wanted to kill you, you would be dead"? Wasn't that nonsense? With your strength, it is easy to kill me. How can I block your blow?

The old man could read Yi Yun's mind and shook his head, "I know you are disgruntled, but that flick of a finger on your blade was at a speed 30% slower than yours, and only with a hundred cauldrons of strength. There were no nomological truths or Heaven Earth Yuan Qi, just a simple flick of a finger!"

"The reason why I could flick away your saber was that you had too many defects in your saber skills. It's filled with holes!" The old man said without letting up.

Hearing the old man's words, Yi Yun stayed silent. On careful thought, his saber skills were nothing. The only few saber skills he had were from 'Nine Mysterious Swords of Heaven' and 'Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist'.

These were unorthodox saber techniques. Besides, his 'Nine Mysterious Swords of Heaven' was a mess.

If he was fighting a person inferior to him, he could easily crush the other party just from his speed and strength. Just like how he defeated Zhou Kui in one swift attack. It was all because of his speed. There was no way of beating a fast move, and speed had nothing to do with saber techniques.

But like today, if he fought someone much stronger than he was, it was immediately clear that Yi Yun's haphazard saber techniques were full of flaws.

Yi Yun felt some pressure. He had a lot of imperfections!

The only thing Yi Yun was good at was his movement skills.

As for others, his strength was not outstanding. His saber techniques were full of flaws, and he only knew the 'Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist' as a cultivation technique. He had only just begun to gain some insight into the nomological truths.

Against Tao Yunxiao and Lian Chengyu, Yi Yun could easily suppress them. But compared to the young warriors nurtured by the royal family or reclusive family clans, Yi Yun was still a distance away.

Even his Tempered Body and Dragon Pulse was something many in the Divine Wilderness camp had!

Let alone the royal family or reclusive family clans.

The gap between them was large, and there was a lot to brush up on!

Yi Yun's time was precious, and so were his dragon scale runes!

The old man said, "For a warrior, one's own cultivation level is the most important, but the use of weapons must not be too careless. I recommend you to go to a place, the Sword Scar Palace!"

"Oh? Sword Scar Palace?"

Upon hearing the name, Yi Yun felt that it was a place related to swords.

"Elder, I currently use a saber. Must I switch to using a sword? Or can I change the sword skills into a saber skill?"

Yi Yun did not reject using a sword since he had just begun using a saber, so it was nothing much.

To use a sword, he still had to buy a handy weapon. A good sword was not cheap!

"Hehe, Sword Scar Palace isn't just about swords. You will know once you get there! If it's your first time going to the Sword Scar Palace, there is a 50% discount. Two hours is only 50 dragon scale runes. You can consider buying 40 hours at a go…"

The old man smiled at Yi Yun. Yi Yun gaped and was speechless. That was another 1000 dragon scale runes!

The Tai Ah Divine City's resources were too expensive!

For example, Zhao Qingcheng, who was not exceptional, had to scrimp daily in the Tai Ah Divine City.

But the top resources easily cost tens of thousands. It was a huge gap!

No wonder Instructor Qin said that 10% of the experts in the Tai Ah Divine City accounted for 90% of the resources!

"I want to go to the Sword Scar Palace. For the other places, I want to go there too. I need a lot of resources. I can't earn enough dragon scale runes! I need to raise my strength and once I'm stronger, I will go to the arena to earn more dragon scale runes, which will make it faster!"

The initial amassing of resources was the most difficult. Yi Yun was now at the middle stage of Purple Blood. Once he reached the late stages of Purple Blood or the peak of Purple Blood, he had the confidence to be in the arena!

For the past five days, Yi Yun had asked around. Among the Tai Ah Divine City's Heaven, Earth and Man roll of honor, the Earth ranking was the ranking for the arena!

The first person on the Earth ranking, which was number one in the arena, was Qin Haotian!

The previously seen Yang Qian and Yao Dao were ranked in the top hundred. For a cultivator who had come to the Tai Ah Divine City, accomplishing that in three years was a pretty outstanding achievement!

The Legend of Futian - Chapter 40: Out the Mountain

Ye Futian was looking at Emperor Ye Qing with confusion. His godfather had used to tell him the same thing. He was curious why they had such high expectations for him.

His father had told him that he inherited his natal spirit from his ancestors. However, it was apparent that Emperor Ye Qing and the Snow Ape recognized his natal spirit.

"I would not even dare to think about becoming emperor. Could you please just tell me who I am?" Ye Futian asked in a lowered voice.

"Child, you have to trust yourself. You are destined to be the emperor because of your natal spirit," Emperor Ye Qing said patiently. However, Ye Futian was dejected because he had not received a clear answer. "As you're not waiting for me, I believe it's time for me to leave now."

"You are wrong." Emperor Ye Qing now looked at Ye Futian, full of kindness. "I feel sad about meeting you in such a situation. However, no one would be more appropriate than you to inherit my power."

"Your treasures… You are giving me all of them?" Ye Futian was surprised.

"Yes, my natal spirit, my original spells, and everything else." Emperor Ye Qing nodded.

"Could you please teach my friend your martial arts techniques? He was born to be a warrior." Ye Futian was thinking about Yu Sheng. He believed that Yu Sheng would be perfect for those techniques.

"Is his surname Yu?" Emperor Ye Qing asked.

"How did you know that?" Ye Futian was surprised.

"If you had not been born into this world, he would have carried my inheritance. However, since you are here, you deserve all of them. He was born into this world only to help you," Emperor Ye Qing rejected his suggestion. Ye Futian felt sad about this. He believed it was unfair to Yu Sheng.

"Child, there's not much time left for me, even though I want to see you grow up." Emperor Ye Qing's voice was low and sad.

Ye Futian looked at him and asked, "Could you please tell me what the relation is between you and me?"

Emperor Ye Qing shook his head. He now looked at Ye Futian with kindness and a trace of sadness. Soon, the illusory figure of Emperor Ye Qing turned into a bright light, which shot toward Ye Futian's forehead. At that moment, Ye Futian felt a piercing mental power enter his head. His body was trembling because of the anguishing pain.

"This is already the third time." Ye Futian was disappointed, then lost consciousness.

When he woke up again, Yu Sheng and Hua Fengliu were sitting beside him. They had both entered the statue. The Snow Ape and the monsters were guarding the outside.

"You are so lucky." Hua Fengliu looked at Ye Futian. Xia Fan had summoned someone so powerful, an Arcana Plane swordsman, to seize the treasures of Emperor Ye Qing. They had even released the monster tide to attack the guardians of Qingzhou City. However, all that they had done had just helped Ye Futian in the end.

Ye Futian smiled wryly, yet he was still confused and depressed about what had happened.

He closed his eyes and entered his life palace. There was another natal spirit now in his life palace, the Storm of Eyes. The eyes were made up of total darkness, almost like a black hole. There was horrifying mental power inside the natal spirit. This new natal spirit came as a gift rather than a result of cultivation. Ye Futian had to admit that he was lucky.

Soon after, he opened his eyes. The next moment, his eyes became as dark as the Storm of Eyes. A robust mental power was filling his eyes. Hua Fengliu was surprised by this new power granted to Ye Futian. He vaguely felt the sense of an emperor.

His eyes then turned back to normal. Hua Fengliu asked him, "Spirit elemental?"

"Yes, it's beast mastery." Ye Futian nodded. Besides the sorcerers of the seven elements, there were some special Mandate Sorcerers. For example, Hua Fengliu specialized in music spells. There were also some beastmasters. In fact, all these special sorcerers were categorized as mind controllers, who attacked their opponents with the mental power of the spirit elemental.

"So, Emperor Ye Qing was a beastmaster," Hua Fengliu mumbled.

"And he was a powerful cultivator in martial arts," Ye Futian remembered and added.

"Sorcerers specializing in mental power were powerful offensively. However, they had weak defenses. I guess that was why he enhanced his techniques with martial arts cultivation. That just made him perfect." Hua Fengliu nodded. Emperor Ye Qing was the legend who had unified the whole continent, so his talents must have been incredible, incomparable.

"Take your time to look through the treasures you have received. Just ignore us." Hua Fengliu was happy with Ye Futian's situation.

"Okay." Ye Futian closed his eyes, and then pieces of memories were swarming in his mind. He saw the Dragon riding on the cloud, the Bird flying over the sky, and the Giant Ape stomping on the earth. They were so real that Ye Futian almost felt like he could reach out and touch them.

"The Dragon serves for my strength, the Ape serves for my power, and the Bird serves for my speed. I can make use of them and form my body to perfection."

Ye Futian was shocked deep inside. He had already possessed the soul of the Dragon, and now he was using Freedom Meditation to extract the souls of the Ape and the Bird. Gradually, the wind, earth and metal element powers raged around in his body, and new natal spirits began to show up in his life palace.

Ye Futian finally understood why Emperor Ye Qing had let him inherit all the treasures rather than Yu Sheng. He had the rarest of talents; he could actually create new natal spirits on his own.

Before long, he had two new natal spirits in his life palace.

In his life palace, he already had many natal spirits other than the original World Tree, the Sun, the Thunder Dragon, the Guqin, the Storm of Eyes, the Bird, and the Ape. It was even more impressive that the natal spirit of the Bird had two elements, which were wind and metal.

After he opened his eyes, he looked at Hua Fengliu and Yu Sheng with confusion.

"What are you looking at?" Hua Fengliu looked back curiously. He noticed that a weird smile had shown up on Ye Futian's face.

"Professor, I just… have too many natal spirits in my life palace now. The treasures I received from Emperor Ye Qing were too powerful for me." Ye Futian blinked his eyes.

Hua Fengliu was embarrassed. He only had one natal spirit, and it was destroyed a long time ago. He pretended to be mad at Ye Futian. "Get out of here."

Ye Futian also started to laugh. He took a deep breath and said, "You are also lucky, professor, to have such a lucky son-in-law."

Yu Sheng's notion about how shameless Ye Futian could be was reaffirmed entirely at that moment.

As for Hua Fengliu, he almost wanted to kick Ye Futian's *ss right now.

　　...

During the next month, Ye Futian kept cultivating in the canyon of Mount Tianyao. The relentless monsters led by the Snow Ape locked down this area to make sure no one could approach Ye Futian.

Ye Futian was practicing his skills on a bunch of demon beasts.

A Demon Bull pounced toward Ye Futian. However, Ye Futian didn't even try to evade the attack. He headed straight on to the Demon Bull to counter the attack. While he was charging, the roar of the Dragon came out of his body. He made a fist and punched the Demon Bull hard. That punch looked as if it was landed by the Giant Ape.

With a loud thump, the Demon Bull was knocked away by that punch.

Ye Futian didn't let the Demon Bull go that easily. His hands reached out to clamp down on the throat of the Demon Bull.

The attack this time changed into another form. Ye Futian almost looked like he had wings and began flying with the movement of a Bird.

A Demon Panther also started to attack, but she missed Ye Futian because he was too fast. She saw the counterattack coming, but it was already too late to dodge it. Ye Futian's arms were like the wings of a Bird, and his thunder-like strike left the Demon Panther with a deep wound on her body.

The other monsters kept growling. They had been intimidated by Ye Futian.

"Now your body moves like a Dragon, you are strong as an Ape, and your speed is like the Bird. You have made impressive progress during the last month." Hua Fengliu felt satisfied with his work.

"I am still so far away from the abilities of those true divine creatures." Ye Futian remembered the images in his mind.

Hua Fengliu understood and tried to comfort him, "Your level is not high enough to fully develop the power inside your body. You are only in Two-star Glory Plane, and you're trying to fully seize power from those divine creatures?"

Ye Futian was still sad about this fact. He looked at the Snow Ape and said, "I need to leave now."

"Okay. Have you decided on which beasts to take away with you? Your mental power is not strong enough for those giant creatures yet. However, you can control some beasts and monsters that are in the Dharma Plane," the Snow Ape told him.

"You're not coming with me?" Ye Futian tried to gain her sympathy. He believed that if the Snow Ape agreed to follow him, he would be the most powerful mage in East Sea Prefecture.

"Sorry boy, I have to stay here. As long as I am here, no one will know that the treasures have been taken. Remember, don't let anyone know that you have inherited the treasures. Otherwise, those greedy people would—" the Snow Ape stopped. Ye Futian was upset, even though he understood what the Snow Ape meant.

Ye Futian looked at the monsters around him. He needed to stay under the radar so no one would know that he inherited the treasures by picking a monster that wasn't too flashy.

"Could you please call a Dark Wind Eagle to my side?" Ye Futian asked.

"Sure," the Snow Ape agreed, then called on a Dark Wind Eagle that was in the Dharma Plane.

Ye Futian walked toward the Dark Wind Eagle. He started to release the power from his eyes, which was generated by his natal spirit, the Storm of Eyes.

The Snow Ape stared at the Dark Wind Eagle to prevent the eagle from resisting. The Dark Wind Eagle was a wind-element creature, and her mental power was also of the Dharma Plane level. Therefore, without assistance from the Snow Ape, Ye Futian would not be able to mentally control the eagle.

This was the first time he had initiated the beast mastery ability with the Storm of Eyes. He felt as if the figure of the Dark Wind Eagle was imprinted on his pupils. His ruthless mental power was planting his will inside the eagle to control her, and the body of that eagle was shaking in the process.

Suddenly, the Dark Wind Eagle reached her limit. She finally surrendered to the power of Ye Futian, and their souls started to resonate.

"Phew…" Ye Futian took a deep breath. The Dark Wind Eagle finally bowed down to him.

Hua Fengliu actually knew the reason why Ye Futian had picked the Dark Wind Eagle as his first subject. Ye Futian was still upset that Hua Jieyu had left with the black eagle.

"Goodbye, Snow Ape." Ye Futian, Yu Sheng, and Hua Fengliu finally left. They looked at the statue of Emperor Ye Qing with a sense of attachment and gratitude.

"Go now." The Snow Ape nodded.

The Dark Wind Eagle flew into the air, the sight of Ye Futian, the Snow Ape, the statue, and the monsters becoming smaller until they were tiny dots. Finally, they were gone.

"Go escort them," the Snow Ape commanded. The monsters obeyed her orders. People around Mount Tianyao were frightened by this herd of monsters. They were shocked and wondered why another monster tide was coming.

The Legend of Futian - Chapter 39: You Are Not the One I Have Been Waiting For

Hua Fengliu did not expect Ye Futian to be so determined. He even left his last words.

He tried to run toward Ye Futian's direction but was blocked by the sword-storm, cutting off his advance.

"Ye Futian! You get back here right now!" screamed Hua Fengliu.

"You should worry about yourself," suggested the Arcana Plane cultivator dressed in black. His body was surrounded by the endless sword-storm. When he swiped his arms forward, a row of swords appeared, all charging at Hua Fengliu.

"Get lost!" raged Hua Fengliu. An invisible force descended upon him, and the row of swords stopped right before they were able to pierce him. The swords shook violently in mid-air.

While the two were in this deadlock, Hua Fengliu saw Shi Zhong, Eagle Eyes, and Tang Lin jump down into the canyon to chase after Ye Futian. His heart convulsed.

His long, black hair flowed without the wind blowing, the dust beneath his feet blew like a weird storm.

"I told you I have a bad temper, why did you have to provoke me?" Hua Fengliu's voice was shaking. He felt extremely guilty. His life was just beginning; he couldn't die.

A bright light emanated from Hua Fengliu. Then, the light gathered and formed the strings of a qin. From there, the entire instrument appeared in front of Hua Fengliu. At that moment, his aura began to grow, breaking Dharma into the Arcana Plane.

"Life Spirit. That's impossible!" said the Arcana Plane swordsman. He quickly realized what was going on, and his expression changed. "Hua Fengliu, this is suicide!"

Hua Fengliu disregarded him, and began to strum the instrument with both hands. Music began to play. An abstract wave was released that pierced eardrums with a dragon-like roar. The swords formed with Spiritual Qi dissipated.

The Cangshan Dragon Chant. The swordsman could only stare at Hua Fengliu. The Cangshan Dragon Chant was a musical spell that the Qin Devil, Hua Fengliu, specialized in.

The swordsman watched as Hua Fengliu's pace quickened; his music spread into his surroundings, and the sound waves created a force field, encapsulating everyone around. The force field made its way to the swordsman and Xia Fan.

BOOM! Xia Fan received a harsh attack and moaned in pain. His face was now pale.

"Be careful, this is his musical spell. Retreat!" shouted the swordsman. His sword raced toward Hua Fengliu once more.

Hua Fengliu's fingers moved even faster. The sound of his instrument was magical, spreading far and wide.

"Kill him!" ordered Xia Fan, blood in his mouth. He felt as if he were about to explode. His people came to protect him in their retreat.

Everyone began to retreat, even Shi Zhong and Tang Lin, who were chasing Ye Futian.

"Kill," muttered Hua Fengliu. His music continued, and an even stronger wave attacked Xia Fan. His people tried to use their Spiritual Qi to create a force field for his protection, but the wave was too strong. The force field was broken, and Xia Fan was hit once again. His face was now even more pale than before.

Shi Zhong, on the other hand, was not so lucky. Under the power of the music, he screamed in pain. He was killed by the power of Hua Fengliu's instrument, bleeding from every orifice.

"The Qin Devil," someone said. Many people had heard of this name, but seeing him in action made them realize how truly extraordinary Hua Fengliu was.

"Let's go," said the swordsman. Protecting himself with a force field, he went to Xia Fan's side to retreat together.

Seeing this, Tang Mo and Gu Mu also ordered an evacuation. Qing Shuai led the Dark Qilin Knighthood away from this place of trouble. Hua Fengliu attempted to chase after his enemies, but stopped after taking a single step. He began to cough up blood. This was going to be the end of the legendary Qin Devil. He could no longer chase after them.

Even so, the sound of his instrument never ceased.

...

Ye Futian jumped down the canyon and felt the wind around him. Just as he was about to land he was swept up in the wind but not even the wind could defy gravity. He began to fall once more and Ye Futian felt no strength in his legs. Would he die like this?

He did not die but he did see the demons and monsters gather around him. They looked as if they wanted to swallow him alive.

"Are you trying to get yourself killed?" asked the Snow Ape. Just as he spoke, Ye Futian's Thunder Dragon Spirit was released.

"Senior Dragon and I are linked by fate. I have my Life Spirit thanks to him, so I came to express my gratitude," said Ye Futian loudly. He was not going to give up a chance to live even at a dead end like this.

Demons and monsters stormed towards him, not paying attention to anything he said. Ye Futian could smell blood. It came from the mouth of a demon boa. He was out of hope now.

PANG! A large hand smacked the demon boa far away. The Snow Ape stood in front of Ye Futian like a large mountain. It looked down on Ye Futian and asked "This Life Spirit. It was given to you by the old dragon?"

Ye Futian's eyes twinkled and he spoke, "Last year when I was training on Mount Tianyao, Senior Dragon's image appeared. After observing it, my Life Spirit was created."

"You created the Life Spirit by observation?" The Snow Ape stared at Ye Futian. "Show me your Natal Spirit."

Ye Futian nodded. The World Tree appeared. The ancient tree swayed in the wind, just like a real tree.

The Snow Ape shuddered, his eyes suddenly turning red. His large body fell to the ground, his head landing in front of Ye Futian.

"What's wrong?" asked Ye Futian, withdrawing his Life Spirit. The Snow Ape looked extremely sad.

"Child," the Snow Ape stuck out its finger to caress Ye Futian's face. Tears formed in his large red eyes, and he began to cry. This was enough for Ye Futian to share his deep sadness.

"Why is it you?" the Snow Ape's body shook as he continued to cry.

"Do you know me?" Ye Futian's voice lowered, seemingly affected by the Snow Ape's emotions.

"You poor child." The Snow Ape was unable to pull himself out of his melancholic state. Slowly, he stood up, lifted his head, and let out an earth-shattering scream. His fists pounded down on his chest repeatedly. The Snow Ape's scream resonated throughout the mountain, and the demons and monsters bowed down as they shook in fear. The Snow Ape then got down on his knees and gave Ye Futian a deep bow, one fit for royalty.

"Senior," Ye Futian was dumbfounded. The demons and monsters of the canyon were bowing down to him.

"May you bring me back up there?" asked Ye Futian. He was worried about Hua Fengliu.

"Of course," answered the Snow Ape. He lifted his head and held on to Ye Futian with his huge hands. His feet stomped down on the ground, shattering it, and in a second they were catapulted back to the peak of the mountain. The whole mountain shook along with their movements.

Letting go of Ye Futian, the Snow Ape placed him on the ground.

"Master!" Ye Futian's heart squeezed at the sight of Hua Fengliu. He was still strumming away at his instrument, the strings now tainted with blood.

"Ye Futian," called out Hua Fengliu. He could not believe his eyes; Ye Futian was safe and sound.

A chord snapped, and his instrument disappeared. Hua Fengliu spit out blood once again and fell to the ground.

"Master!" Ye Futian sprinted to his side and held Hua Fengliu in his arms.

"There's someone over there," the Snow Ape looked ahead. Ye Futian raised his head to see that the swordsman had returned. When he saw Ye Futian and the Snow Ape together, the swordsman's heart pounded. How could it be?

"Kill him," Ye Futian said coldly. The Snow Ape took big steps toward the swordsman, who began to run, but his speed was no match for the Snow Ape.

The Snow Ape gave out a loud growl and stomped down on the swordsman. Before his demise, he managed to shout out a warning to his companions, "RUN!"

Three roars came from the Snow Ape, and from a distance the swordsman's companions shook in fear. What was the demon king doing outside the canyon?

...

Hua Fengliu's life was hanging on by a thread, but he still smiled at Ye Futian. "Don't worry, this isn't enough to kill me. My powers were disabled once, doesn't matter if it happens a second time."

"I told you to leave me be, why did you do this? If I was already dead, then you would have died in vain," shouted Ye Futian. His eyes were red.

"As your Master, I couldn't just let you be driven to your death and do nothing about it. That's humiliating," laughed Hua Fengliu. "Besides, you know I have a bad temper."

"So, you feel good about yourself now? Well, I'm pissed. If something had happened to you, what would I do about Fox?" asked Ye Futian.

"You would marry her," chuckled Hua Fengliu. Ye Futian lowered his head, tears streaming down his face as he closed his eyes, in pain.

"Why are you crying? My daughter is beautiful! Are you not willing to marry her?" Hua Fengliu was acting as if nothing had happened.

"I'm crying because you messed up my life. If you die, then I don't even get the chance to kick you to the curb when I'm successful," said Ye Futian as he placed Hua Fengliu on his back, carrying him into the canyon.

"You make it sound like you got the short end of the stick here," Hua Fengliu said from behind.

"Of course! If I become emperor, then you're the emperor's father-in-law," Ye Futian answered nonchalantly. Hua Fengliu lifted his head to watch the sunset and smiled.

Yu Sheng approached them from the edge of the canyon. Ye Futian stared at him. "What are you trying to do now? Are you also trying to die with me by jumping off?"

"No," replied Yu Sheng, shaking his head.

Ye Futian was even madder now. "What happened to being loyal to friends?"

"If you had died then I would have avenged you." Yu Sheng lifted his head, finally looking Ye Futian in the eyes. His eyes were also red.

"Fine, I forgive you," said Ye Futian. He looked over at the Snow Ape who had just returned. "Can you bring me to the statue?"

"Okay, but anyone who sees us together has to die," said the Snow Ape seriously.

Ye Futian was shocked at his words and looked over at Yu Sheng. "They are some of my closest friends and family. Don't even think about it. As for the others, leave it to me."

The Snow Ape nodded and brought the three to the entrance of the statue.

Ye Futian pushed open the door and entered alone.

The inside was empty. All that was there was another statue of Emperor Ye Qing but this one was life-sized.

The Spiritual Qi inside was packed as if there was a matrix somewhere. When Ye Futian took a step inside, the matrix lit up by itself. It got brighter as endless amounts of Spiritual Qi rushed into the life-size statue. This caused the statue to break apart, releasing a virtual image. It was Emperor Ye Qing!

The two met eyes and Emperor Ye Qing spoke softly to ask, "What is your name, child?"

"Senior, my name is Ye Futian," he answered. He was not sure why he felt so at peace even though the most legendary character in history was standing in front of him.

"We share a surname. Release your Life Spirit for me," requested Emperor Ye Qing. Ye Futian did exactly that, as requested.

Upon seeing his Life Spirit, Emperor Ye Qing froze. Then, he let out a pained expression. It was the same reaction that the Snow Ape had, it seemed like he was about to cry.

His virtual image approached Ye Futian and embraced him. He then said, "My dear child. Why is it you? Why must it be you?"

His voice cracked as he cried. Ye Futian wanted to cry with him. Softly, he spoke, "Senior, haven't you been waiting for me? Who exactly am I?"

"You are not the one I have been waiting for. I didn't think it would be you." His voice was filled with sadness. His virtual image returned to its original place. Emperor Ye Qing looked at Ye Futian with gentle eyes and told him, "Child, you are the future emperor of the Divine Prefectures. The ruler of the world."

The Legend of Futian - Chapter 38: Bad Fate

The monumental statue in front of them was vivid and dignified. Black hair casually spread across the shoulders. The eyes were so bright that they seemed to be looking through people. The statue had already demonstrated the unsurpassed charm of Emperor Ye Qing.

Emperor Ye Qing was the legend of the Divine Prefectures of the East. Even though his name became a taboo after he died, it was still mentioned privately.

The name had come as a shock. They had never expected that in Mount Tianyao there was such a lifelike statue of Emperor Ye Qing.

And they were wondering whether the dragon was his mount.

"Wow, look at this, the relics of Emperor Ye Qing." Tang Mo, the Headmaster of Heiyan Academy, narrowed his eyes. He realized that Xia Fan had concealed his true intentions about coming in here.

Qin Shuai gazed at the coiled dragon in the canyon below. He frowned with doubt. Several years ago, when he had come here with his master, he hadn't seen the coiled dragon. There were only the statue and monsters at that time. The dragon must have come later.

"Everyone, these are the relics of Emperor Ye Qing. There's an entrance behind the statue, and I believe the treasure of Emperor Ye Qing is hidden inside. Even without the relics of Emperor Ye Qing, the corpse of this dead dragon is a valuable treasure itself." Xia Fan pointed below. He looked so greedy that he would have started the exploration already if not for the monsters lurking below.

Tang Fei went to tell Xia Fan that the monsters below were entirely different from the ones in the monster tide. "Mr. Xia, these monsters are different." These monsters were just being lazy. They didn't even care about the people and kept laying there.

"So, we all need to work together," Xia Fan said.

"I didn't know Emperor Ye Qing was a native of the City of Qingzhou, and that there were relics in this place. How much longer were you going to hide this from me?" Tang Mo asked Xia Fan tentatively.

Xia Fan looked at Tang Mo and then smiled. "In fact, I didn't know that Emperor Ye Qing lived in this city until recently. However, it's still unknown whether the relics are behind the entrance of that statue or not. I didn't tell Mr. Tang because I wanted to keep it confidential information."

"Okay." Tang Mo nodded. Ye Futian was telling the truth. Emperor Ye Qing had been a native of the City of Qingzhou.

However, what he didn't know was that Ye Futian also felt shocked about this fact. He had totally made it up, and he had no evidence to support it. To his surprise, Xia Fan admitted that Emperor Ye Qing had lived in the City of Qingzhou.

"Time to get to work," Xia Fan commanded.

Awkwardly, no one started moving. None of them were going to risk their lives for Xia Fan at this time.

"General Qin, Mr. Gu?" Xia Fan looked at Qin Shuai and asked.

"We have already finished our job. I am not going to let people of the Dark Kylin Knighthood and Qingzhou Academy die for your interests," Qin Shuai said coldly. Due to the huge amount of monsters below, Xia Fan would basically be sending them in as bait to distract these monsters from guarding the entrance.

"Mr. Xia, there are so many monsters and, to be honest, some of us will die if we fight them. If you get the treasure from Emperor Ye Qing, what will we get? I don't want my people to die for nothing," Tang Mo protested. Xia Fan was caught off guard, then smiled. He realized that Ye Futian had talked with Tang Mo about his plan.

"Uncle." Xia Fan looked at the man in black next to him. Then he went silent. The next moment, a fierce storm of sword power burst out of his body. This storm became so intense that it enveloped all the people.

People were nervous. The power of this sword storm was so overwhelming that it could destroy everything, monsters and people alike.

"He's in the Arcana Plane, that's incredible." Hua Fengliu realized Xia Fan was serious this time. He had summoned his uncle from the City of Donghai who was, in fact, a powerful swordsman. The treasure of Emperor Ye Qing was so precious that it was hard for Xia Fan to fully trust his army.

Tang Mo also looked uncomfortable and shot Ye Futian a despising glance.

"Do you have other questions?" Xia Fan laughed out loud. He had gained control over the situation now.

"The Dark Kylin soldiers will fight for you. Let the young students of Qingzhou Academy go," Qin Shuai responded.

"You're asking for death." Xia Fan was impatient. His uncle suddenly launched a powerful strike. The strike was too fast to evade. The dark Kylin under Qin Shuai was killed by this strike, and one of Qin Shuai's arms was cut off.

"General!" The Dark Kylin soldiers gathered around Qin Shuai. They were terrified of what had just happened.

"Dad!" Qin Yi screamed in horror.

The man in black hurried into the air. He could have launched another strike at any moment.

"Any more questions?" Xia Fan sounded indifferent.

"I insist that only the Dark Kylin soldiers join the fight, and the young students of Qingzhou Academy should leave," Qin Shuai was persistent. Blood gushed out of his missing arm, but he was still peaceful.

Xia Fan was mad. He needed Qin Shuai's army to fight against the monsters, but he knew they would not do so without their commander.

"Okay, let the young students go." Xia Fan then looked at Tang Mo, "Mr. Tang, do you have anything to add?"

"I obey your orders." Tang Mo had to comply. He didn't have the same courage as Qin Shuai.

"So, let's move," Xia Fan commanded. The army began to attack the monsters below. The Dark Kylin soldiers were the vanguards of this troop, and those powerful people beyond the Dharma Plane level were following them. Xia Fan observed the fight. He wanted to test the power of these monsters with the bait he had just sent.

"Go away, or die!" A heavy voice came out of the canyon, which stiffened the members of the army. Soon, they saw a white-skinned monster standing apart from the herd. She soon started to grow huge, and she looked almost as big as a hill. The rest of the herd were awakened by this voice. Suddenly, the whole herd became active.

"What the…" Xia Fan was frightened. He didn't know there was a Monster Lord in this herd.

How could that be possible?

He looked at the statue of Emperor Ye Qing. Was the Monster Lord the guardian of this statue?

People were shocked. The Monster Lord was a Snow Ape. When it stood up, it was so giant that it seemed invincible.

"Die, you intruders!" the Snow Ape roared. The mountain began to shake from this roar.

"Sorry for the intrusion," Xia Fan said. He knew that this was an inevitable failure.

They had lost quite a lot soldiers from their army and all of that for just a tour of this place?

All of the armies retreated back to the top. Tang Mo started speaking, "I'm sorry, Mr. Xia, we can't do anything about it."

Xia Fan's face was gloomy. It seemed that he needed to release his anger desperately.

"Go fight the monsters and die there," Xia Fan told Tang Mo. Tang Mo was caught off guard.

"Mr. Xia, please forgive him. Mr. Tang was encouraged by the others." Murong Qiu approached.

Ye Futian knew that the conspiracy had been revealed now. He had tried to cause a crack between Xia Fan and Tang Mo, but he had not expected that Tang Mo would surrender to the power of Xia Fan.

"Yes, Ye Futian tried to turn me against you! He told me that he was planning to mess with Xia Fan with help from the students of Qingzhou Academy and the soldiers of the Dark Kylin Knighthood!" Tang Mo sold Ye Futian out. Tang Yue was embarrassed by her grandfather. She had already started to consider Ye Futian as a friend.

"So, Qingzhou Academy sent Ye Futian to Heiyan Academy to mess up my plans, am I right?" Xia Fan's voice was gloomy and cold.

"Mr. Xia, Ye Futian was expelled from Qingzhou Academy long ago. His activity had nothing to do with this academy. I will kill him for you to prove that," Shi Zhong explained.

"Is that true?" Xia Fan looked at Gu Mu for confirmation.

Gu Mu gave Hua Fengliu a glance, then nodded. "This has nothing to do with Qingzhou Academy."

"So, I will believe whoever kills him first." Xia Fan was laughing out loud.

"I'll do it!" Shi Zhong rushed toward Ye Futian.

Tang Lin also rushed toward Ye Futian. They had already had plans to kill Ye Futian, so even without being interrogated by Xia Fan, he would have been killed anyway.

Hua Fengliu appeared next to Ye Futian to protect his disciple. He glanced at Shi Zhong and Tang Lin. "Do I not exist?"

"Mr. Guqin Devil, this is none of your business." Xia Fan was complacent.

"Even your father didn't dare talk to me like that." Hua Fengliu stared at Xia Fan.

"That was in the past, Mr. Hua," Xia Fan sneered at him, "I am in a bad mood. Stay out of this, now."

The moment he stopped talking, the man in black stepped forward. He soon started to attack Hua Fengliu with the sword-storm.

"I am also in a bad mood. You better stay away from me before you get in trouble." Hua Fengliu sounded peaceful.

"Your natal spirit has been destroyed, and I'm kind of curious how bad your temper could be." He urged his power toward Hua Fengliu, and it looked like he was going to tear Hua Fengliu into pieces.

"Professor!" Ye Futian was worried about Hua Fengliu. This man in black was in the Arcana Plane, he was even more powerful than the people from Heiyan Academy who were in the Dharma Plane. Qingzhou City had never seen someone as powerful as he was. He had no idea what plane Hua Fengliu was in, but the confidence of that man worried him.

"He has fallen under the Arcana Plane since his natal spirit was destroyed." The middle-aged man next to Xia Fan confirmed Ye Futian's fear.

"You don't have to die for me, Professor," Ye Futian ran away and yelled, "Just tell Fox I love her and tell my godfather I have to let him down."

The second half was to Yu Sheng.

Shockingly, Ye Futian began running into the canyon with the endless monsters!

Ye Futian was upset that he had to end his short life in such a way. He was not prepared to die yet.

"Go after him!" Xia Fan commanded. Suddenly, some powerful mages rushed out of the group to pursue Ye Futian.

The Legend of Futian - Chapter 37: The Statue and the Coiling Dragon

The army of people headed into Mount Tianyao together. The City of Qingzhou had never had an expedition of this level before.

Mount Tianyao covered a large area of terrain, far larger than that of the main urban areas of Qingzhou City. It was difficult to imagine how many demons and monsters lurked in these mountains. Many people had attempted to clear Mount Tianyao of demons and monsters but to no avail.

Now, because of Xia Fan, Qingzhou Academy and the city's first line of defense, the Dark Qilin Knighthood, were forced to send troops of people into the mountains. In addition, the Qingzhou Guards and Heiyan City's army were following behind them. The sheer number of people there was seemingly more impactful than the monster tide.

The Dark Qilin Knighthood charged forward on the path that Qingzhou Academy's School of Divination Arts had cleared for them using sorcery. Their advance forced the demons and monsters deeper into the mountains, but Qin Shuai was not excited about this at all. The troop was attacking at full-force, but there were still demons and monsters slipping past them left and right into the main city. All they could do now was try their best to eliminate as many demons and monsters as possible.

"Lead the way," Xia Fan ordered the middle-aged man ahead of him. His people had left markers in the mountains the last time they were here looking for the historical remains of Emperor Ye Qing.

Ye Futian and the people of Heiyan Academy were walking at the back of the group. He had already made some inquiries. Ye Futian found out that the girl beside him was named Tang Yue, twenty years old. She was definitely a flirtatious beauty. Ye Futian and Tang Yue got familiar with each other fairly quickly.

"Senior Sister, a beauty like you must have many suitors, right?" asked Ye Futian.

"Why do you ask?" laughed Tang Yue.

"Do I have a chance?" he asked her. She looked at Ye Futian and chuckled, "You do look pretty handsome but it's a shame that you're a little too young for my liking."

"Senior Sister, I'm already an adult. Sixteen is not too young," said Ye Futian. When Tang Yue saw how serious he was, she could not help but burst out in laughter. The young men of Heiyan Academy glared at Ye Futian when they heard Tang Yue laughing.

"Senior Sister, do you know why we're here?" asked Ye Futian.

"The elders say that there are historical remains in Mount Tianyao," explained Tang Yue.

Ye Futian shook his head. "Senior Sister, let me tell you a secret."

He then leaned in close to whisper softly in her ear, "In Mount Tianyao, there is a secret methods index left behind by Emperor Ye Qing.

Tang Yue's expression turned serious and she looked at Ye Futian. "Is what you said true?"

It looked like Xia Yan had, indeed, kept this information to himself. It was hard to blame him though because this had to do with Emperor Ye Qing so, of course, he would keep quiet about it.

"Of course! My master is 'THE' Hua Fengliu and I also know General Qin. It's only natural that I know this secret. Why else would they have made such a big fuss?" said Ye Futian.

"Wait for me here," Tang Yue finished her sentence and left. Ye Futian watched as she walked up to speak with the elder that had wanted to challenge Hua Fengliu and made her way back. "Come with me," she said to Ye Futian.

He followed her to stand in front of the elder who had his eyes closed. "Where did you hear this information?" the elder asked Ye Futian.

"May I ask what your position is at Heiyan Academy?" questioned Ye Futian.

The elder opened his eyes, his gaze sharp, "Why do you ask?"

"Since I'm going to pursue an education at Heiyan Academy, it's only common sense to want to learn from the best of the best," explained Ye Futian.

"I am Tang Mo, the Headmaster of Heiyan Academy. If you do well maybe I will think about teaching you myself," said the elder. Beside them, Tang Yue smiled and explained, "He's my grandfather."

Ye Futian bowed down and began to blabber baseless information. "Since you're the headmaster and Senior Sister Tang Yue's grandfather I would not dare withhold information from you. There has always been a rumor in the City of Qingzhou that our city was where Emperor Ye Qing originated and that he had left an heirloom here. To obtain the heirloom was to obtain the right to inherit his position and his secret methods index. A lot of people think it's just a legend but it's all true. The heirloom is up in Mount Tianyao; General Qin has personally seen it in the past."

"Why didn't he take it then?" Tang Mo was skeptical.

"Headmaster, do you really think Emperor Ye Qing's heirloom is that easy to obtain? If it were, why would Xia Fan do all of this?" asked Ye Futian.

Tang Mo squinted his eyes in suspicion. "Do you know what happens if you lie to me?"

"I didn't know that Headmaster was kept in the dark about this. I was simply making conversation with Senior Sister Tang Yue, why would I purposely lie to her? It's just that Xia Fan has already gathered professionals from the East Sea Prefecture but he's using people from both academies to fend off the demons and monsters instead. I think he's up to no good," answered Ye Futian.

"Are you trying to turn us against each other?" Tang Mo was extremely sharp. His great aura was suffocating Ye Futian.

"When you reach the site of the remains you'll know whether or not Xia Fan has been lying to you. If what I said was false, then my life is in your hands but if what I said was true, then you should start being wary," said Ye Futian.

"Why?" asked Tang Mo.

"I don't know what Xia Fan promised you but I'm sure you know what the inheritance of Emperor Ye Qing signifies. When the troops are done dealing with the demons and monsters, it would be easy to get his hands on the heirloom. After he accomplishes his goal, it would be a piece of cake for him to kill off all the witnesses. Headmaster, you must take caution," Ye Futian spoke solemnly. Up ahead, it was loud as the troops advanced and the boundaries of the mountain were on lockdown by the aces of Heiyan Academy. There would be no need to worry about a leak of information if worst comes to worst.

"Do you hate the Vice Chief?" Tang Mo asked suddenly.

Ye Futian lifted his head to look at Tang Mo. After a short silence, he nodded, "Of course! Xia Fan will do anything to get his way. He even started the monster tide to get us all on the mountain. The City of Qingzhou is my home, I can't allow him to bring harm to our city. If his plans succeed, it would be difficult for even me to make it out alive. If you don't believe me, then forget it; but if you choose to believe me then please join hands with us. My master is Hua Fengliu, and I'm acquainted with General Qin. Even if the two schools have always been rivals, it's not impossible to work together just this once. If we can get our hands on Emperor Ye Qing's heirloom, wouldn't it all be worth it? You would be able to do anything you want, without fearing repercussions from a prefecture chief.

"Tang Yue, take him away," Tang Mo ordered abruptly with a sullen look. Tang Yue walked towards Ye Futian.

He bowed once more to Tang Mo and left with Tang Yue, not saying another word.

"What do you think?" Tang Mo asked the eagle-eyed man at his side.

"That guy has got quite a mouth on him. We can't trust him completely. The key now is to wait and see if what we find is truly the historical remains of Emperor Ye Qing," reasoned Eagle Eyes.

"And if they really are his remains?" Tang Mo continued to question.

"Father, if it is actually the heirloom of Emperor Ye Qing, then what would a city like Qingzhou be to us? If we got our hands on the heirloom, not even the entire East Sea area would be able to stop us," said Eagle Eyes. Tang Mo went into deep thought. Even though Ye Futian's words were evidently trying to make the groups question one another, he had a point. With the heirloom in his hands, he would be unstoppable.

"Do you think he'll be of use to us?" Tang Mo asked.

Eagle Eyes thought for a while then shook his head. "Whether it be his gift or his personality, he's too hard to control."

"That's true. Yun Tianhao is naturally prideful and thinks only of cultivation but this young man is different," Tang Mo agreed with his son.

"Even though Yun Tianhao lost to this fellow, he is still a Mandate Sorcerer. Yun Tianhao will only get stronger and more powerful. He has already left for the City of Donghai to seek more knowledge. He will definitely make a glorious return. Ye Futian on the other hand, if we don't get him under control...," Eagle Eyes looked at Tang Mo and then shared an unspoken understanding.

The large group was advancing very quickly. Along the way, they stepped over countless carcasses of different types of demons and monsters but they had also suffered many attacks. Both Qingzhou Academy and the Dark Qilin Knighthood made many sacrifices, some dead, some hurt.

The fog on Mount Tianyao grew thicker. It would be impossible to locate anything in the mountains from up in the air. This was the only reason Xia Fan chose to advance on foot.

During their long expedition, Headmaster Gu Mu of Qingzhou Academy and Qin Shuai went looking for Xia Fan. When they found him, they made their intentions clear, "If everyone else continues to take a back seat while our people from the academy and the knighthood clear the way, we will leave the way we came."

"Are you threatening me?" Xia Fan stared at Qin Shuai who had just listed his terms.

"Think what you will," said Qin Shuai calmly. They were no longer in the City of Qingzhou. They had initially agreed to Xia Fan's forceful request because of the monster tide but now that they were deep into Mount Tianyao, things were different.

Xia Fan did not dare to push his luck.

"Fine," Xia Fan gave in and called out, "Headmaster Tang Mo."

"I understand," Tang Mo nodded and ordered his people to take the place of the people of Qingzhou Academy and the Dark Qilin Knighthood at the front line. Ye Futian stepped up with them. This area with the deeper fog housed more powerful demons and monsters. Sometimes, there were even high-leveled Dharma rank demons and monsters. To defeat these creatures, the elders would have to step in.

Time passed, and day by day, there were fewer and fewer people in their expedition, and a large number of those who were hurt were actually their most powerful people in the group. The weaker people were being protected in the back of the group. Nobody would send the weak out to die, so they were the safest.

Whenever Ye Futian was met with danger, he ran to hide amongst the Heiyan Academy aces so he would be safe as well. He was not about to risk his life for the Heiyan Academy. A lot of people scorned him when he did this, but he did not care at all.

Finally, when they had gotten far enough within the mountains, the fog began to clear. This area was bright, maybe even brighter than it had been off the mountains. Spiritual Qi was gathered here.

"This area is heavy with Spiritual Qi, but the surrounding areas are layered in fog. Could it be...," someone in the group spoke up.

"That's right. We're here," said an ace beside Xia Fan. He was excited. The lot continued to advance, and they started to realize that there was not a single demon or monster in this area.

"What is that?" someone pointed ahead and screamed. As they got closer, the view became clearer, and everyone's hearts began to pound. What they saw was an enormous statue. It rose from the valley below and stood in the middle of the mountains.

Everyone was shaking, but they continued to advance until they were all standing on a cliff above the valley, looking out at the statue. Spiritual Qi was flowing like crazy through the entire area.

"Look down." Someone pointed with a shaking finger down at the base of the statue. There, they saw a dragon coiled around the statue. It was an actual dragon! Right now, it had its eyes closed shut, seemingly asleep.

"That's the dragon," someone from Qingzhou Academy said. Everyone, including Ye Futian, was surprised. This dragon was the same one they saw last fall.

Around the statue and dragon, the valley was swarmed by powerful demons. They were revolving around the statue, greedily absorbing it's Spiritual Qi.

This was a valley of a million beasts.

"Emperor Ye Qing," someone said in shock as they stared at the giant statue.

Sixteen years ago, the death of Emperor Ye Qing became tabooed and it became forbidden for anything in his image to exist but right in front of their eyes was this magnificent statue of Emperor Ye Qing!