Eastern Domain, Heavenly Profound Province, Huayun Sect.
This sect stood at the very center of Heavenly Profound Province and was a sixth-grade sect.
On the Heavenly Profound Continent, sects were divided into ten grades according to their strength.
First-grade sects were the weakest, their strongest members only at the Qi Sea Realm.
Tenth-grade sects were the strongest, with Great Emperors presiding over them.
At present, no tenth-grade powers openly remained on the Heavenly Profound Continent.
The strongest were merely ninth-grade powers, with Saints presiding over them, so they were also called sacred lands.
Heavenly Profound Province had seven major sixth-grade powers, but because the Huayun Sect had an expert at the peak of the Dharma Aspect Realm, it was indisputably the province's foremost power.
At that moment, a young man in white stood outside the Huayun Sect with his hands behind his back.
The newcomer was none other than Ye Chen.
Looking at the shabby cluster of palaces spanning a million li before him, and the stone tablet planted at its entrance, Ye Chen felt somewhat puzzled.
The Huayun Sect?
What power is this?
Could the members of a branch of the Ye Lineage have founded a sect?
But isn't this far too shabby!
What kind of trash spiritual timber did they use for those pavilions and halls? There isn't even a single piece of immortal timber.
And the Spiritual Qi here is so thin. That spirit-gathering formation must be some shoddy, unlicensed knockoff!
As for this mountain-protecting formation, it's as flimsy as paper. I could poke through it with one finger.
If the people of the Huayun Sect knew someone was disparaging them like this, they would probably have spat up several liters of blood in fury.
It was, after all, a top sixth-grade sect, and everything it used was a rare spiritual treasure.
Its mountain-protecting formation had even been laid by a grandmaster of formations and could withstand a King.
It was simply that Ye Chen's standards were too high, so everything looked like junk to him.
Just as Ye Chen was about to enter the sect to ask, a stern shout rang out from the entrance.
"Who goes there? How dare you snoop around outside our sect!"
Before long, a guard came up to Ye Chen, his face full of arrogance.
"I have something to discuss with your sect master!"
Ye Chen spoke casually.
He did not know the Huayun Sect's background or whether it had been founded by members of the Ye Lineage, so he had not forced his way in.
"Hmph, who do you think you are, asking to see our sect master? Leave at once, or don't blame me for..."
Before he could finish, Ye Chen slapped him across the face.
"What a racket!"
He controlled his strength well and did not strike to kill. He had to get to the bottom of things first.
He stepped into the Huayun Sect. Since he deliberately concealed his presence, no one noticed him.
With nothing obstructing his way, Ye Chen arrived at the main hall.
Inside, an old man with crane-white hair and a youthful face sat cross-legged in cultivation.
Ye Chen deliberately revealed himself.
"Who dares trespass in the main hall!"
The old man barked angrily and opened his eyes, about to attack.
Instead, he saw a young man in white standing before him.
He looked Ye Chen up and down and discovered that there was not the slightest fluctuation of Spiritual Qi anywhere on him, as though he were a mortal.
But how could a mortal possibly reach the main hall soundlessly without being discovered?
He probably possessed some secret art for concealing his presence.
"I have something to ask you!"
Ye Chen glanced at him and replied.
"Hmph! What arrogance. You trespass in my main hall, disturb my secluded cultivation, and still have the gall to question me!"
The old man's expression was hostile as he stared fixedly at Ye Chen.
Someone so young certainly could not have a very high cultivation.
He himself, meanwhile, was an expert at the late Dharma Aspect Realm. Killing this youth would take no more than a thought.
However, he did not yet know Ye Chen's background. If he were a disciple of some powerful faction, offending him would not be wise.
So, to be safe, he sent a message to his master, asking her to make the decision.
Ye Chen narrowed his eyes slightly. "As far as I know, this was the home of the Ye Lineage. Why has it now become the Huayun Sect? Where are the people of the Ye Lineage?"
On his way here, he had already extended his divine sense, but had detected no trace of the Ye Lineage's bloodline. An ominous suspicion had already formed in his mind.
Hearing this, the old man froze for a moment, then revealed a wicked smile. "You're a surviving remnant of the Ye Lineage?"
"Who would have thought! Thousands of years have passed, and the Ye Lineage can still produce a peerless genius like you! But..."
As he spoke, an exceedingly intense killing intent burst from his eyes. "Unfortunately, you won't live long!"
Hearing this, Ye Chen reached out and grabbed. A giant hand of Spiritual Qi clamped viciously around the old man's neck, then abruptly lifted him up.
The old man was hoisted into the air like a little chick.
"Old dog, I'll ask you one more time. Where are the people of the Ye Lineage?"
Ye Chen's face was covered in frost.
He had not expected the Ye Lineage in the lower realm to have encountered a life-or-death crisis. He could not help feeling somewhat anxious, his anger boiling.
"Forget it. I won't ask you. An even older dog is here!"
Under the old man's utterly terrified gaze, Ye Chen squeezed his hand lightly, crushing both the old man's body and soul to death.
"Wretch, release my disciple!"
A shrill scream rang out from outside the hall.
As the voice faded, a withered old woman appeared.
She watched helplessly as the old man was crushed to death, unable to save him in time.
She stared at Ye Chen with venom written all over her face. "Beast! You killed my beloved disciple! Pay with your life!"
Instantly, a presence far surpassing the Dharma Aspect Realm erupted from the old woman.
The Shattering Realm, but it was of no use.
Ye Chen released a trace of his Quasi-Emperor presence, and the old woman was immediately pressed flat against the ground.
She looked at Ye Chen in utter terror, unable even to speak properly. "A... a Saint!"
She had never seen a Saint, but she had encountered Kings.
In her eyes, Ye Chen's presence far surpassed that of a King. Only a Saint could reach such a level.
But how could a Saint appear in a sect in a mere Heavenly Profound Province?
She could not understand it.
"A frog at the bottom of a well!"
Ye Chen glanced indifferently at the old woman, then drove his divine sense straight into her mind, forcibly reading her memories.
This method would cause the subject's divine sense to collapse, turning them into a lunatic.
He could not be bothered to ask any more questions. In any case, after today, the Huayun Sect would be history, and there was no need to keep the old woman alive either.
After reading her memories, the chill on Ye Chen's face grew even stronger.
"To think so much has happened!"
A hundred thousand years ago, the Ye Lineage had been the foremost Lineage on the Heavenly Profound Continent, with several Great Emperor ancestors presiding over it.
But in the war against the other races a hundred thousand years ago, the Ye Lineage's ancestors had fallen in succession, and fewer than one in ten of its higher-ranking members had survived.
After this war, the Ye Lineage had intended to rest and recuperate. But who could have known that, because its people had always been upright and chivalrous, intervening whenever they encountered injustice, they had made many enemies.
Previously, with powerful experts presiding over it, the other powers naturally had not dared cause trouble. Now that nearly all those experts had fallen, its enemies naturally came knocking.
Without powerful experts to protect them, the people of the Ye Lineage could only sever an arm to survive, concealing their names and identities and departing for unknown destinations.
Of course, those powerful enemies would not act directly. After all, the Ye Lineage had rendered a great service to the Heavenly Profound Continent, and taking direct action would provoke dissatisfaction among other powers.
So they secretly cultivated proxies to deal with the surviving remnants of the Ye Lineage for them.
The Huayun Sect was one of them.
All these years, the Huayun Sect had been secretly investigating where the Ye Lineage was hiding, and just these past few days, it had happened upon a lead.
It had all but confirmed that the Ye Lineage was currently hiding in the Clear Wind Kingdom in Heavenly Profound Province.
This kingdom lay at the easternmost edge of Heavenly Profound Province. It was a small mortal kingdom controlled by a minor third-grade sect.
He had never expected the Ye Lineage's branch to have encountered such a tremendous crisis.
Ye Chen looked beyond the heavens, beginning to understand why the ancestor had sent him here to temper himself.
The Heavenly Mysteries Great World was hundreds of millions... hundreds of millions upon hundreds of millions of li from the ancestral land of origin. Only an existence like the ancestor, who had become an embodiment of the Great Dao, could know precisely what had happened to the Ye Lineage.
Setting aside his stray thoughts, Ye Chen rose into the air.
He glanced at the Huayun Sect beneath his feet, his heart as cold as frost.
He punched downward. The Huayun Sect's mountain-protecting formation crumbled to dust in an instant. Immediately afterward, every mountain peak, pavilion, and palace hall collapsed with a thunderous crash. Countless cries and screams rose and fell, resounding without end.
Finally, a muffled, tremendous boom rang out, leaving a gigantic fist imprint spanning a million li in the earth.
Having done all this, Ye Chen flew toward the Clear Wind Kingdom without expression.