Xi Yingchen tossed Leng Che aside with a flick of his wrist.

Bang!

The unexpected sound of a muffled explosion came from the servant’s body and Leng Che coughed up a nasty mouthful of blood.

“You… you destroyed one of my arcane dao fruits!” Leng Che howled hoarsely, his voice losing any semblance of an even tone. He was a two-fruit arcane dao expert, but Xi Yingchen had taken one away in an instant!

The powerhouses nearby gasped in wary unison. What was a dao fruit?

A marvelous artifact of the greatness of creation, an impregnable fruit that contained immeasurable power. 

However, Xi Yingchen had crushed one with the most cursory of gestures!

If he was the leading disciple of the Destiny City lord, how much stronger was his master?

“Scram, unless you want to lose your other fruit.” Xi Yingchen declared coldly.

Leng Che scurried off with a mixture of fear and shame.  

“Don’t be afraid. The Destiny city lord is an origin dao immortal who probably sustained a grievous injury during his origin dao tribulation. I doubt he’ll be able to fight at full strength.” The Silvermoon Wolfking’s hungry eyes seared inexorably into Xi Yingchen’s skin. 

He was an eight-fruit arcane dao expert, one who’d reached the zenith of his realm and was nearly at the point of obtaining his ninth fruit. The others near Jadeite Manor were similar in strength.

“Out of the way, Xi Yingchen,” another voice cut through the crowd as a man shrouded in silvery starlight slowly walked down from the sky.

Donglin Taihuang!

The number one genius of the Donglin clan

—

nay, the entire world!

Despite being only a hundred years old, he was already a seven-fruit arcane dao immortal, a definite entry in the ranks of the truly strong.

“The person breaking through to void realm possesses a cosmic constitution. I would like to see exactly who this ‘Qing Yu’ is, and if they are male or female.” Donglin Taihuang spoke with an aloofness that showed his wanton disregard for Xi Yingchen.

Although his clan had lost its ancestral home and become the laughingstock of the world, its resources and connections were still there and it was still one of the strongest factions around. The strongest members of the clan had been absent during Lu Yun’s attack. If they’d been there, things could have turned out quite differently.

“Senior.” Jadeite Manor’s doors opened for an ordinary-looking youth to walk out from within.

All eyes gathered on the young newcomer. Xi Yingchen glanced at Lu Yun before sparing an imperceptible nod.

The one who’d purchased Jadeite Manor earlier was a three-fruit arcane dao immortal. Their comparative youth meant that there had to be a great faction or heritage behind them. Moving in shortly thereafter were two youths who were similarly gifted. Indeed, their talents were practically unrivaled by anyone in the known world. This alone confirmed his earlier suspicions.

“This junior offers another hundred billion premium crystals, in exchange for Donglin Taihuang’s life.” A milky river flowed out of Lu Yun’s hands as he spoke, encircling the entirety of Jadeite Manor. It glistened brilliantly under the light of the fiery sun, filling the air with an intense aura of energy.

A hundred billion premium immortal crystals! That was enough to 

buy out

 a first-rate sect or faction! Even the greatest races and clans didn’t typically have this much wealth on hand!

Xi Yingchen was dumbfounded, and everyone could see his hard swallow. Next, his head swiveled toward Donglin Taihuang in murderous keenness.

Shoom—

A slight ripple of energy indicated Donglin Taihuang’s departure; he’d vanished without a trace.

“My offer remains entirely valid. Anyone who can kill Donglin Taihuang and bring his nascent spirit to me will be paid this hundred billion.” Beneath the river of crystal, Lu Yun had issued an ultimatum with hands clasped behind his back.

The bounty was heavily enticing, causing plenty of nearby experts to cast meaningful looks at the Donglin clan members. Everyone knew that Donglin Taihuang was in trouble now.

His kinsmen gnashed their teeth, but there was nothing they could do about the hundred billion crystals that weighed upon their hearts like a metaphorical mountain. Thankfully, the youth’s vendetta was against Taihuang alone, and not the entire clan.

……

“Where do you get your crystals from, child?!” quavered a vicious crocodile from its hovering perch. This peak arcane dao monster didn’t hesitate to show its true form to the world. Evidently, it’d joined the banner of the North Sea Scarlet Ape as a member of the monster spirit sacred land.

“Are all monster spirits as stupid as you?” Lu Yun rolled his eyes.

“There are many people in the world rich enough to afford such a sum, and apparently there’s six profligates rich enough to produce a crystal mountain on demand,” jeered some of the bystanders. “Tsk tsk tsk, I’m glad none of them came to the Sovereign Ranking battles. Even a dao immortal would die under the weight of so much crystal. Aside from Dusk Province’s Lu Yun, who else would be able to handle them?”

By now, the destruction of the North Sea’s Myriad Returns Market at the hand of the infamous six was known all around the world. The crocodile had no reply to that.

Xi Yingchen took his eyes off the hundred billion crystals.

“Child!” An old man in grey strode forward and surreptitiously swallowed his saliva at the sparkling river of crystal over Lu Yun’s head. “Yi Tianling is a member of our sect. The spirit root he had with him is one of our invaluable treasures—isn’t it a little untoward for you to seize it from us?”

The old man was an avian monster spirit, although his humanoid form was indicative of his allegiance… or lack thereof. Unlike the crocodile, he didn’t belong to the North Sea Sacred Land.

The Scarlet Ape was powerful, but it could hardly command every monster beneath the sun.    

The old man in grey cut straight to the point: he wanted the Blood Ganoderma. The spirit herb was quite large, and breaking through to void realm certainly didn’t demand all of it. There had to be a part that was left over. Plus, even if it 

was 

all gone, they could refine the person who had used it to reacquire its medicinal properties.

“Yi Tianling is a member of your sect, you say?” Lu Yun squinted at the old man eagerly.

The old man blinked, then nodded. “Yes, Yi Tianling is a disciple of the Sky Peng Sect. This person has killed our disciple and stolen our treasure… does Destiny City intend to harbor such a criminal?”

The Sky Peng Sect was the foremost sect of Horizon Land, one of the ten lands among the facets. It was near enough to the leading factions of the nine majors in its own right.  

Moving on from conversing with Lu Yun, the second half of the old man’s words were an interrogative toward Xi Yingchen.

“I’m glad to know that Yi Tianling is a disciple of the Sky Peng Sect. I’ve been trying to find out who you are.”

Clatter!

Lu Yun opened up a storage ring, allowing several hundred Life Glyphs to tumble onto the ground. All the glyphs had gone dark, signaling the deaths of their previous owners.

Eyes shot wide as gasps of surprise sounded. Every glyph here corresponded to a young genius! Any cultivator who could leave their mark upon the stone stele was undoubtedly gifted with great potential.

“Sky Peng Sect. Allowing your disciple to murder several hundred cultivators in cold blood is one thing, but now you’re suing the victim of your own crime. Do you wish to die?!” Xi Yingchen struck before Lu Yun did.

Yi Tianling’s exploits were common knowledge to his peers, but they’d abetted his actions in order to feed the Blood Ganoderma. Lu Yun’s revelation sent waves through the crowd.

“No, no, no!” The old man in grey quickly panicked. “The Sky Peng Sect abandoned Yi Tianling long ago. His actions have nothing to do with us!”

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