The Soul Clan appeared (1 / 2)

"It was my momentary negligence that gave that Xiao Clan boy an opening. Please give your subordinate another chance, Clan Chief." Seeing killing intent rise in Gu Yuan, Ling Ying hurriedly kowtowed and begged for mercy, admitting his fault over and over.

He hoped the Clan Chief would spare his life on account of his years protecting the young miss—even if he had earned no merit, he had certainly toiled hard.

Gu Yuan snorted coldly and paid Ling Ying no further attention. He merely said, "If this happens again, you won't need me to act. Find somewhere to take your own life, Ling Ying!"

With that, Gu Yuan curled his hand into a claw and tore open a spatial rift. He punched through the space within and plunged straight inside.

Chen Yang headed for Wutan City while Gu Yuan went to the Misty Cloud Sect, so the two neatly missed this clash between kings.

Upon arriving in Wutan City, Chen Yang released his Emperor Realm soul power.

His mighty soul power instantly blanketed the sprawling Wutan City.

Every sight within the city lay before Chen Yang's eyes.

Finding no trace of a powerful expert in the city, Chen Yang could not help furrowing his brows.

Could that surge of power that had headed straight toward Wutan City, no weaker than my own, have been an illusion?

Or perhaps that person wasn't heading for Wutan City at all.

Otherwise, if he were in Wutan City, he couldn't possibly fail to react to a search on this scale.

Chen Yang withdrew his soul power and decided to visit the Xiao Clan to see how Xiao Yan and Yao Chen were getting along.

He wanted to see whether the plot had gotten back on track. If it still had not, perhaps he could trigger another system mission or something of the sort.

With a spatial flash-step, Chen Yang arrived inside the Xiao Clan compound.

Considering that Yao Chen's soul power was considerable and might allow him to detect his presence, Chen Yang used the thirtieth art of the Thirty-Six Heavenly Stems Treasure Art this time: Heavenly Robe Secret Art. He completely concealed his aura and turned invisible, merging entirely with the air.

After becoming completely transparent, Chen Yang entered through the front door and made his way into Xiao Yan's residence.

But upon arriving at Xiao Yan's residence, Chen Yang saw a scene that made his jaw drop.

How could he put it? In short, normal language could not describe it.

The sight before him was so painfully eye-searing that Chen Yang covered his eyes, unable to bear looking.

Chen Yang silently backed out of the room, then flash-stepped to the outskirts of Wutan City. He plopped down on the rain-damp grass and lay there gazing at the sky, carefully mulling over what he had just witnessed.

Since Xiao Yan dared to do that right in front of Yao Chen, they must have been getting along fairly well. Presumably, there were no system missions for him to trigger for the time being.

"This is so damned annoying!" Chen Yang shook his head and picked up two leaves to cover his eyes for a nap. "The world is full of worries. Only sleep is sweet."

Suddenly, Chen Yang had a nightmare.

In the dream, the Misty Cloud Sect's mountain gates lay in ruins, and everyone had fallen in pools of blood.

Chen Yang woke with a start. Deeply unsettled, he tore open a spatial rift and returned to the Misty Cloud Sect.

What Chen Yang did not know was that after he left the Xiao Clan compound, Xiao Yan immediately collapsed from exhaustion, flopping onto his bed with his limbs splayed.

Panting for breath, he muttered to himself.

"Teacher, do I really have to do this to cultivate the Flame Mantra?"

Xiao Yan swore he had never seen such a bizarre cultivation method.

Cultivating this technique even required him to expel all the vital essence from his body before drawing the primordial energy of Heaven and Earth into it.

Xiao Yan seriously suspected that whoever had created this cultivation method was one hell of an N-type masochist.

Hearing this, Yao Chen glanced at Xiao Yan without so much as lifting his eyelids, then spouted nonsense with a perfectly straight face. "Naturally."

"Why else do you think it's an unranked cultivation method capable of devouring heavenly flames?"

"And do you know that the prerequisite for devouring heavenly flames is having nothing in your body that clashes with them, while kidney deficiency belongs to water among the five elements?"

Yao Chen delivered his nonsense with such emotional persuasion and seemingly sound reasoning that Xiao Yan could not find a single flaw in it.

Still, Xiao Yan vaguely felt that something was off. He kept feeling that Yao Chen was toying with him.

But seeing Yao Chen pat his chest in assurance, he thought no more of it.

As an unranked cultivation method capable of devouring heavenly flames, the Flame Mantra possessed limitless possibilities. It was only natural for it to be a little bizarre.

Thus, he followed Yao Chen's instructions and cultivated it step by step.

Before it had devoured any heavenly flames, the Flame Mantra was only a high-grade Yellow Tier method, so Xiao Yan's cultivation yielded no remarkable results.

Once Xiao Yan had mastered the basics of the Flame Mantra, Yao Chen began teaching him Alchemy hands-on.

Perhaps playing that prank on Xiao Yan had left Yao Chen feeling guilty, because when he taught Xiao Yan Alchemy, he poured out everything he knew without holding anything back.

While teaching Xiao Yan Alchemy, Yao Chen discovered to his astonishment that Xiao Yan possessed extraordinary talent for it.

Xiao Yan's talent for alchemy was the greatest he had ever seen.

In an instant, Yao Chen grew thoroughly excited.

Heaven had smiled upon him, giving him someone to inherit all his Alchemy skills.

Meanwhile, after arriving at the Misty Cloud Sect, Gu Yuan used his strength as a Nine-Star Dou Sheng to storm straight through its gates.

Having two experts beyond the Dou Zong realm storm their gates in succession within just a few days left the Misty Cloud Sect disciples utterly numb.

What on earth were they trying to do?

What had their Misty Cloud Sect done to incur the wrath of heaven and men, that two experts beyond the Dou Zong realm had stormed their gates in just a few short days?

They simply did not know what this expert beyond the Dou Zong realm had come for.

The previous one, Chen Yang, had come for their beautiful sect master, Yun Yun.

Now that their beautiful sect master Yun Yun was a flower with an owner, could this one have come for Nalan Yanran?

Although their new sect master was a beauty too, just how old was she?

The Misty Cloud Sect disciples watching the spectacle silently mourned for Nalan Yanran for three seconds.

Alas!

The position of sect master had now become a high-risk occupation.

"Who is the sect master? Come out and meet me at once." Gu Yuan looked down upon the entire Misty Cloud Sect from above and spoke coldly.

Having been singled out, Nalan Yanran knew she could not hide and had no choice but to step forward.

"This junior is Nalan Yanran, the Misty Cloud Sect's Tenth-Generation Sect Master!"

"May I ask what brings you to our Misty Cloud Sect, Senior?" Nalan Yanran emerged from among the disciples and addressed Gu Yuan neither servilely nor arrogantly.

Hearing her, Gu Yuan turned his gaze toward Nalan Yanran. When he saw that her cultivation was merely at the seventh stage of Dou Qi, a strange look flashed through his eyes.

He then turned to Yun Yun, who had just advanced to Five-Star Dou Emperor, his gaze doubtful.

He was more inclined to believe that Yun Yun, a Five-Star Dou Emperor, was the Misty Cloud Sect Master.

Still, the name Nalan Yanran sounded a little familiar, as though he had heard it somewhere before.

Gu Yuan thought carefully and finally remembered.

Had his dear "little padded jacket" not suffered because someone called Nalan Yanran had gone to the Xiao Clan to break off her engagement with Xiao Yan?

Once he remembered, Gu Yuan's gaze gradually turned hostile.

What right did this little girl have to make my precious daughter suffer?

Just as Gu Yuan was about to seize Nalan Yanran and take her back to apologize to his precious daughter, he suddenly detected a loathsome aura.

He was extremely familiar with this aura.

"The Soul Clan's aura! Someone from the Soul Clan!"

In an instant, Gu Yuan's eyes turned vicious, and he struck across the sky toward the place where that aura was concealed.