Ye Fei's sudden appearance beside him left Chen Shi unable to suppress the terror in his heart any longer.
With a thud, he dropped to his knees before Ye Fei.
"As long as you spare me, I'll tell you everything."
Tears streamed down Chen Shi's face as he begged for mercy.
"Talk. Why were you staying here?"
Ye Fei asked again.
"If I tell you, will you spare me?"
Chen Shi gritted his teeth as he asked.
"That depends on whether what you tell me is worth enough."
Ye Fei shrugged and smiled faintly.
"Fine! I'll talk!"
Left with no other choice, Chen Shi reached into his Storage Pouch, took out a map, and handed it to Ye Fei.
"What's this?"
Ye Fei took the map and asked curiously.
"A map of the spirit stone mine vein."
Chen Shi answered honestly.
"A Spirit Stone Mine!"
Ye Fei's heart jolted, and he looked up at Chen Shi.
"That's right. There's a tiny Spirit Stone Mine beneath Hidden Dragon Village. Its reserves aren't large, and I've been in charge of mining it."
As he spoke, Chen Shi pointed beneath Hidden Dragon Village.
"Does this mine belong to the Void-Surpassing Gate?"
Ye Fei raised an eyebrow and asked meaningfully.
"No, it doesn't belong to the Sect. It's the private property of Law Enforcement Elder Wang Changqing..."
At this point, Chen Shi no longer concealed anything and told him everything he knew.
It turned out that Wang Changqing had accidentally discovered the Spirit Stone Mine beneath the village back when he was still at the Qi Refining stage.
However, he hadn't reported it to the Sect, instead treating it as the Wang Household's private property.
With the help of this Spirit Stone Mine, despite having only a water-and-wood dual spiritual root, he had reached the Core Formation stage in just fifty years and become the Void-Surpassing Gate's Law Enforcement Elder.
His limited aptitude meant that late Core Formation was his ceiling, so he had lost the motivation to cultivate and rarely mined the Spirit Stone Mine anymore.
He wanted to leave this Spirit Stone Mine to the Wang Household's descendants.
It wasn't until a year and a half ago, when Ye Canglong killed an Inner Sect Disciple of the Void-Surpassing Gate, that Wang Changqing began to feel threatened.
He suspected that Ye Canglong was there for the Spirit Stone Mine.
Thus, he had secretly sent his disciple Chen Shi here to oversee the mining.
To improve efficiency, Chen Shi had recruited some mortals to perform simple tasks.
To win a chance at survival, Chen Shi left out no detail, spilling everything he should and shouldn't have said.
"Can you spare me now?"
After revealing everything he knew, Chen Shi looked at Ye Fei with hope in his eyes.
"Did I say I'd spare you?"
The corner of Ye Fei's mouth rose. Catching Chen Shi off guard, he thrust out his right hand and seized his neck.
Crack!
With the sound of snapping bone, Chen Shi's head immediately drooped, and his life was snuffed out.
After putting away the map and taking Chen Shi's Storage Pouch, Ye Fei's gaze sharpened as he looked at the dozen or so burly men trembling nearby.
"Immortal master, spare us! We won't breathe a word of this!"
Meeting Ye Fei's gaze, they all fell to their knees and kowtowed without stopping.
"You may go."
Looking at these mortals, Ye Fei sighed inwardly and waved them away.
They were victims too. He couldn't bring himself to kill them.
"Thank you, immortal master!"
Hearing this, they felt as though they had received a grand pardon. Rather than return to Hidden Dragon Village, they all fled into the mountains.
Once they had left, Ye Fei turned his gaze toward the Wang Household Estate in Hidden Dragon Village.
Just moments earlier, he had spotted Wang Lin fleeing in panic.
"Did you see it too?"
Ye Fei narrowed his eyes, then flashed away in pursuit.
The Wang Household Estate, Hidden Dragon Village.
Wang Lin was trembling all over. After returning home, he hadn't alerted anyone-not even his wife.
He entered the study alone.
Soon, he rummaged through the bookshelf and found a yellowed sheet of Talisman Paper.
Holding the Talisman Paper, Wang Lin finally let out a breath of relief.
"Uncle said this talisman is as powerful as a Foundation Establishment cultivator's strike. Ye Fei will never be able to dodge it."
Muttering to himself, Wang Lin tucked the Talisman Paper into his robes and cautiously approached the study door.
But before he reached it, Ye Fei walked in from outside.
"Don't shout. If you alone die, your family can live."
Ye Fei fixed him with a fierce stare and spoke coldly.
"You killed my son! I'll make you die a wretched death!"
To Ye Fei's surprise, Wang Lin paid no heed to his words and roared hysterically.
"You're courting death."
At this, Ye Fei hardened his heart and reached for Wang Lin's neck.
The instant his fingers touched Wang Lin's body, brilliant yellow light suddenly flared around Wang Lin.
Ye Fei immediately felt an overwhelming sense of danger.
Without the slightest hesitation, he pushed off with his toes and shot backward.
Even so, he was a little too slow.
The yellow light enveloping Wang Lin had already formed a Giant Sword, which rose high before slashing swiftly toward him.
So powerful!
Sensing the energy contained in the Giant Sword, Ye Fei's heart quivered. As he continued retreating, he willed a small, sword-shaped Jade Talisman into his hand.
The moment the Jade Talisman appeared in his hand, Ye Fei injected a thread of true qi into it, activating it at once.
Whoosh!
The instant the Jade Talisman activated, a streak of yellow light flashed out of it.
It was a Short Sword roughly two inches long.
Moving at incredible speed, it flew straight toward the Giant Sword slashing at Ye Fei, as though it had eyes of its own.
Despite its tiny size, the Short Sword unleashed tremendous power. The moment it met the Giant Sword, it actually stopped the larger blade cold.
Boom!
Immediately afterward, both exploded with a deafening roar.
The blast wave swept outward, carrying searing heat.
At the sight, Ye Fei's eyes widened. He pushed his speed to the limit and hurtled backward.
Even so, he was too close. The blast wave still struck him and hurled him far away.
Fortunately, he had already undergone body tempering, making his skin as tough as a Magic Artifact, so he suffered no serious injuries.
But Wang Hai and the rest of the Wang Household were not so fortunate.
Since the study stood at the center of the Wang Household Estate and the blast wave covered such a wide area, the entire estate was leveled.
Not a single member of the Wang Household within the estate survived.
Was this heaven's will?
Watching the billowing smoke and dust before him, Ye Fei felt his emotions stir.
Before the villagers could react, he silently recited an incantation and used the Earth Escape Technique, sinking straight underground.
He stopped twenty feet below the surface, then willed Chen Shi's and Wang Hai's Storage Pouches into his hands.
Chen Shi's Storage Pouch contained nothing but Spirit Stones. Ye Fei swept through it with his divine sense and counted more than five thousand.
Wang Hai's Storage Pouch held a slightly wider assortment.
Besides his two Magic Treasures, there were several bottles of medicinal pills, a Cultivation Method Jade Slip, two Divine Ability Secret Art manuals, and three thousand two hundred Spirit Stones.
I've struck it rich.
Seeing so many Spirit Stones suddenly in his possession, Ye Fei couldn't help growing excited.
Now he no longer had to worry about lacking the Spirit Stones needed to accelerate the Spirit-Washing Tree's growth.
After putting away the two Storage Pouches, Ye Fei took out the map of the mine vein.
Since it's a Spirit Stone Mine, there must be even more Spirit Stones down below.
At the thought, the corner of Ye Fei's mouth lifted. After memorizing the map's contents, he prepared to burrow farther down.
But just then, an enraged roar suddenly rang out above his head.
"Who was it? Who annihilated my Wang Household?"
The roar boomed like a great bell, carrying for miles around, shaking the earth and startling every bird and beast.
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