automatic motional force.

Even if one stood there and did not move, the dimensional
transportation would still send the people inside to their destination. So the whole thing
was akin to a steady and flowing ocean current.

You XiaoMo took out the leaf boat after entering the black hole.

The enormous leaf boat let off a faint clean and fresh spiritual energy. This spiritual energy
wrapped them up and gave rise to a resonance with the ‘ocean current’-like spatial energy
and nearly doubled their speed all at once.

“What is the Eternal Evergreen Tree?” You XiaoMo sat in front of Ling Xiao and turned back
to ask him to his face.

Ling Xiao lowered his head, “It is a type of spiritual tree that has survived from ancient
times. It only exists in dimensional crevices and its leaves are green all year round.
Moreover, it will never wither.”

“So if we go to other realms next time, wouldn’t we be able to use the leaf of the Eternal
Evergreen Tree?” You XiaoMo was pleasantly surprise as he schemed.

Ling Xiao smirked, “That’s not possible as the Trans-Dimensional tunnels are unstable. If we
use the Leaf Boat, it may possibly bring us to another place. If our luck is good, it would
bring us to another realm. If our luck is bad, we may possibly end up in a place full of spatial
storms.”

You XiaoMo remembered the time where Ling Xiao exhausted so much of his spiritual
power to ward off that spatial storm they encountered in the Trans-Dimensional tunnel. If
they really ended up in a place filled with spatial storms, they would not be able to survive.

“I’m going to cultivate.” You XiaoMo was suddenly embarrassed after staring at Ling Xiao,
who had been staring into his eyes. He withdrew his line of sight and turned around after
saying that sentence. The time he had for cultivation had decreased ever since the incident
in the Boundless Sea.

However, he would take some time out everyday to cultivate, so although he was currently
still a level eight mage, he was already a high-grade level eight mage. He intended to use
this chance to break through the ninth level. He had been having a premonition that
something was going to happen, so he had a pressing need to raise his strength.

Ling Xiao drew You XiaoMo into his embrace and rubbed his cheek on You XiaoMo’s head,
“XiaoMo, do you want to try it once here?”

“No, I don’t.” You XiaoMo turned his hand over and swatted Ling Xiao’s head. This animal
was able to go into heat everywhere! After swatting, he immediately felt fear in his heart,
as this seemed to be the first time that he had swatted Ling Xiao’s head.

Ling Xiao used his forehead to softly knock on the back of his head.

The knock caused You XiaoMo to lean forward, but then he was gathered back into Ling
Xiao’s embrace again. He wanted to complain, however the hit suddenly knocked a matter
loose, “Are you able to undo the seal on the jade drive that the old geezer gave me now?”

Ling Xiao regretfully replied, “I can’t.”

“Why? Didn’t you say that you would be able to do it after three months?”

“Because this husband has been busy with waiting upon the wife.”

You XiaoMo’s mouth twitched, “…I’m asking you seriously.” Furthermore, he did not feel
that Ling Xiao was busy with waiting upon him. It was more like he had been busy
oppressing him.

Ling Xiao used a kind of ‘you don’t understand humor’ expression to look at him, “That was
a conservative estimate. We had always been in a hurry these few months. Where was
there time to digest the cultivation bases of those people? There’s still more than half
which haven’t been digested. I still need to spend quite a lot of time to do that.”

You XiaoMo touched his chest, “Then it’s fortunate that there’s time now. Let’s cultivate
together.”

Ling Xiao immediately hugged him as his eyes brightened, “That’s great, ah, let’s do it
together.”

You XiaoMo coughed, “I’m talking about cultivating separately.”

Ling Xiao had a serious expression, “Wife, this lord is more than willing to ride with you.”

You XiaoMo could not get rid of that scene in a moment and his nosebleed nearly sprayed
out. Sure enough, this animal was such a scourge, “If you don’t want to cultivate, you can
watch me cultivate. I don’t mind.”

After speaking, You XiaoMo ignored him and sat crossed-legged and began to quietly
meditate.

Ling Xiao supported his chin with one hand as he looked at You XiaoMo’s face with burning
eyes.
After five minutes, You XiaoMo’s eyelids twitched.

After ten minutes, You XiaoMo’s cheek spasmed.

After fifteen minutes, You XiaoMo grimaced and opened his eyes. Flying into a rage out of
humiliation, he whacked Ling Xiao, “Are you going to cultivate or not?!”

Ling Xiao laughed so hard that his shoulders were shaking, “Didn’t you say that you don’t
mind me looking at you cultivating?”

You XiaoMo glared, “You really believed it!”

Ling Xiao nodded, “Of course, I must believe in what my wife says.”

You XiaoMo frowned, “Then are you going to listen to what your wife says?”

Ling Xiao fell silent for quite a while before he reluctantly nodded, “Listen…”

You XiaoMo directly ignored his reluctant expression, “This is what you said. You better
close your eyes now and cultivate. Don’t look at me again.”

“Your husband obeys…”

Chapter 391: Trouble Caused by Pimples

Translated by Jouissance of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Half a month went by swiftly. On this calm day, the inside of the Dimensional Teleportation
portal suddenly began to tremble softly.
Ling Xiao noticed this abnormality and opened his eyes, seeing that the space around You
XiaoMo, sitting opposite him, had changed. He was probably about to breakthrough, and
when breaking through, he needed to absorb a lot of spiritual energy, thus the vibrations in
the air.
However, there was a huge problem with breaking through inside a teleportation
portal.Dimensional Teleportation portals contained only infinite spatial force and almost no
spiritual energy.
It was a good thing that Ling Xiao has considered this beforehand and made You XiaoMo
stash tens of bottles of spiritual water in his bag for emergencies.
Ling Xiao took out five bottle of spiritual water and placed them next to him. He turned his
palm up and five small flames sprung forth from his palm before flying into the bottles of
spiritual water at his direction.
Not long later, milky white spiritual energy floated out from the openings of the vials. As if
sensing You XiaoMo’s need for it, the spiritual energy swerved towards and into You
XiaoMo’s body as one.
Half a day passed liked that.
Seeing that the water in the bottles were almost used up, Ling Xiao took out another five
bottles and used the same method to create more spiritual energy.
After fourteen hours, You XiaoMo’s motionless body suddenly shuddered.
In the next second, the spiritual energy that had been created from spiritual water whirled
into You XiaoMo’s body even more intensely, like a small tornado, fighting to get there first.
After about another two hours, the absorption of spiritual energy finally began to peter out
before coming to a halt entirely.
You XiaoMo opened his eyes and immediately saw the magnified view of Ling Xiao’s face,
causing him to jump. “What are you doing so close?”
Ling Xiao didn’t blink as he replied, “A red nub like thing appeared on your face.”
You XiaoMo immediately grabbed his own face, calling out in shock, “Pimples?”
Ling Xiao asked curiously, “What are pimples?”
You XiaoMo answered, “Pimples are something that prove you’re young.”
Lign Xiao rubbed his chin in thought, “So it’s like that. Then why don’t I have any?”
You XiaoMo couldn’t help the sound of laughter that came from his mouth. His gaze rolled
to the side in thought before he said, delighted at a chance to mess with Ling Xiao,
“Because you’re very, very old already. You’re an old man, so of course you wouldn’t have
any.”
Ling Xiao narrowed his eyes, “You find me old?”
You XiaoMo felt the hair on his arms stand up at this gaze and couldn’t help but backpedal
in regret for his words. “Of course not, I’m just stating a fact.” He would never tell Ling Xiao
that people with good skin wouldn’t get pimples, otherwise Ling Xiao’s head wouldn’t be
able to fit through the door anymore.
Ling Xiao suddenly smiled. “But… I was messing with you when I said you had a pimple. So
that means you’re an old man, too.”
You XiaoMo: “…”
T-tricked again!
After half an hour, Ling Xiao seemed to begin to delight in calling him old. Every time he
addressed You XiaoMo, he had to add “old man” to it at the beginning. Like now.
“Old man, we still have a day before we arrive at the Southern Continent. Why don’t you
start preparing? The Southern Continent is in a more chaotic situation than Bei Dong and
the population is ten times Bei Dong, too.”
You XiaoMo: “…”
After a while.
“Old man, after getting to the Southern Continent, let your contract beasts out. Having fed
and housed them for so long, it’s time that they work to pay us back.”
You XiaoMo was now deeply experiencing the feeling of dropping a stone on his own foot.
He regretted it.
You XiaoMo gripped Ling Xiao’s arm, crying tears and snot as he said, “I was wrong. I’ll
never try and mess with you again.”
Being called old man all the time, even as a joke, felt way too weird. Plus, if he didn’t
surrender, Ling Xiao would probably continue and might even call him that in front of other
people. All he did was play one prank; did Ling Xiao really have to get his revenge in such a
way?
Ling Xiao cupped his face and said, smiling, “My dear wife, trying to change after knowing
you’re wrong is one of the best things a person can do.”
Best things, your ass!
If it wasn’t for you messing with me first, then I would’ve never tried to mess with you.
Of course, You XiaoMo didn’t dare say that aloud. Otherwise, Ling Xiao would keep dragging
things out. It wasn’t like he wasn’t used it, anyways, surrendering first he meant.
“My dear wife…”
Hearing the other, You XiaoMo raised his head.
Ling Xiao lowered his head and kissed him on the lips, “A kiss first…”
The slow, soft, gentle kiss tickled at his heart like a feather. It was so gentle that it felt like
you could squeeze water from it. You XiaoMo felt like he was getting drunk.
After the kiss, You XiaoMo collapsed into Ling Xiao’s embrace, face flushed.
“Heh…”
“What are you laughing at?” You XiaoMo raised his head, looking at him in frustrated
embarrassment.
The corner of Ling Xiao’s lips curled upwards bewitchingly as he stroked You XiaoMo’s face
with a hand. “My dear wife, you’re as pure as ever, even after having done it so many
times.”
You XiaoMo flushed again, slapping his hand away. “Do you think everyone is shameless like
you?” Then he quickly switched the topic. “You said we’d get to the Southern Continent in a
day right? Then let’s get into our disguises now.”
You XiaoMo sat up straight, taking out their disguises from his bag.
Ling Xiao had used an ugly mask in the DaoXin Academy, but the Vermillion Blood Clan
knew about that already, so they couldn’t use that anymore. The silver mask had been used
at the Boundless Sea, but Yu WenNan and the middle aged man had seen it so they couldn’t
use it either.
So…
“How about you use Lin Xiao’s face like you did at the TianXin Sect?” You XiaoMo
suggested, looking at Ling Xiao’s face.
“No,” Ling Xiao rejected it, “All I have to do is make some small adjustments to my original
appearance. It’s not like I can only transform to Lin Xiao’s face.”
“Then transform for me to see.”
Ling Xiao raised a hand over his face and his appearance suddenly changed.
Seeing this face that wasn’t much different from his original appearance, You XiaoMo made
a sincere suggestion, “Can you make yourself a little more average?”
Ling Xiao glanced at him and continued to change his appearance.
You XiaoMo continued to speak, “Just a little more average…”
Ling Xiao accepted the suggestion with an open mind. He changed his appearance again.
Afterwards, he looked at You XiaoMo with an unfathomable look. “Am I good to go now?”
The corner of You XiaoMo’s mouth twitched, “…You’re good.”
Then it came to clothing. Since not many people would look at one’s attire, Ling Xiao wore
what he originally did. However, in the future, he couldn’t just wear that white robe. He had
to wear the set of black clothing occasionally as well. Of course, this was just a personal
suggestion of You XiaoMo’s, but You XiaoMo wouldn’t tell him that.
You XiaoMo then took out a ribbon he had found in his bag. “Tie this ribbon around your
head. That way, it can change your demeanor.”
Ling Xiao tied the band around his head skeptically. Pairing the dark purple ribbon with the
black clothing added a hint of solemnity and coldness to his demeanor. If he showed less
emotion, he’s definitely be one of those abstinent cool types.
“So handsome!” You XiaoMo praised his own sense of style.
Ling Xiao’s eyes narrowed. “Who are you calling handsome?”
Alarm bells rang in his head as You XiaoMo saw the expression Ling Xiao wore and hurriedly
added, “Of course it’s you! No matter what you’re like, you’ll always be the most handsome
to me!”
Ling Xiao was only satisfied then.
You XiaoMo packed away the rest of his stuff.
Ling Xiao asked, “Aren’t you doing to go into disguise?”
You XiaoMo shook his head. “I don’t need to. After getting to the Southern Continent, I just
need to get CatQiu to change my appearance. His cultivational level has improved quite a
lot. Very few people will be able to see through his illusions.”
Ling Xiao said, “After you learn Beast Transfiguration, you can turn him into a mask.”
You XiaoMo immediately thought of the Beast Transfiguration Chant that could turn LanQiu
into a pair of wings. It was unfortunately that he only knew one chant. “Where can I learn
Beast Transfiguration?”
Ling Xiao said, “I’ll give you a basic rundown of TongTian Continent first. Apart from Bei
Dong, the Southern Continent, Xi Jing and Dong Zhou, there’s also a Zhong Tian. Zhong Tian
is the only place in the TongTian Continent that doesn’t have a dividing line. There are three
great powers there: the Mage’s Guild, the Beast Transfiguration Guild and the TongTian
Palace. Amongst them, the TongTian Palace is the religion that presides over all of the
powers in the TongTian Continent. Even the Four Ancient Beasts Clans can’t touch them.”
T/n: here’s is the gist of the TongTian’s map through location name.
Bei Dong (北动): Northern Movement
NanLu(南陆): Southern Continent
Xi Jing(西境): Western Border
Dong Zhou(东洲): Eastern Continent/Island
Zhong Tian(中天): Sky Center, in this case it’s mean that TongTian’s center.
You XiaoMo blinked. “Religion?”
Ling Xiao nodded. “That’s right, but the one I want to talk with you about is the Beast
Transfiguration Guild. If you want to learn Beast Transfiguration, you can only go there.
They have the most comprehensive collection of Beast Transfiguration in all of the TongTian
Continent.”
You XiaoMo sighed softly. Seems like this would have to wait.
Ling Xiao ruffled his hair. “After rescuing Feng ChiYun, we can go to Zhong Tian to have a
look.”
You XiaoMo frowned. “It’ll probably be very hard to rescue Feng ChiYun, right?”
They were completely clueless about the Vermillion Blood Family right now and didn’t know
where Feng ChiYun was either. If they wanted to rescue him, they’d have to first figure out
where he was being kept.
Ling Xiao said, “If we go around asking about it, we might alert the Vermillion Blood Family
to our actions. It’s not just us who want to rescue Feng ChiYun. Let’s regroup with Yin Ge
and the others before planning this out.”
Yin Ge was half of a Nine Headed Serpent King, and they were the leaders of all serpents
with hundred of thousands of snakes under their command. They would have a much easier
time gathering intel about the Vermillion Blood Family.
Chapter 392: Conflict

Translated by Crystal of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

The Southern Continent was a larger landmass than Bei Dong, thus there was more turmoil
in its overall political situation. Amongst them was the Vermillion Blood clan, who could
almost be considered as the number one family in the south. They held strong for many
years and were very prestigious.

Although the main family of the Vermillion Blood clan didn’t make an appearance often,
their left and right hand ‘men’, Yin Yang Valley and Yu Xian City, were very reputable. It was
common for them to be the topic of conversation, it was actually rarer to hear
conversations discussing the main family.

However, compared to the Cang Alliance, the Vermillion Blood clan was actually less
renowned.

With the strength of the Cang Alliance, almost of all the Southern Continent had their
scouts, countless ones so that even remote places were filled with rumors of them.

Amongst them, the liveliest was the June Mountains.

The June Mountains were one of the danger grounds of the Southern Continent because it
produced multiple levels of magical herbs and was filled with demon beasts. This drew a lot
of people over and developed the land. At this point, even though the place was remote,
there was a large flow of people and the scale of the city was spectacular.

At dusk, a city basked in the sunset glow that looked like an ancient murderous beast lying
in wait, was the June City. This was the capital of the June Mountains, it contained many
different forces and was always bustling with action.

At a street corner was a hotel shaped like a tower. It was seven floors tall, the top four were
for accommodations whereas the bottom three each contained a small tavern. Currently all
three taverns were filled with people chatting and bustling with noise.
However, this atmosphere quieted down a lot when a group of people walked in.

In a remote mountain range like the June Mountains, it was rare to meet an Emperor or
Divine leveled practitioner, but the first one to walk in did emit a strong aura of pressure.
His slim figure presented an oppressing sensation for strong and powerful. His eyes and
brows were slightly on the gentle side, giving his supposed to be masculine face a few
touches of delicacy.

When the man walked in, the everyone’s gaze focused in on him and some of the Imperial
leveled practitioners watched with hidden astonishment. They could feel that the man was
probably of the Emperor level and of a high star rank too.

As the man walked in, the people behind him walked in one by one as well.

Looking over, people became even more shocked as they were all practitioners above the
Spiritual level. Amongst them, just the Imperial level they had five or six, and almost ten for
Spiritual level.

With this many strong practitioners, in the June Mountains they could become their own
force.

The man’s gaze swept across the tavern, those who met his gaze felt as if they were pricked
by needles, their scalp felt numb and had to hold in a strong desire to run out the door.

That was when the owner came rushing out to the man in sweat, while wiping it off he said
in a humble tone, “Dear guest, are you here to stay or to have a drink?”

“Both, get it both prepared.” The man opened his mouth to speak, his voice was just as his
face expresses, not the masculine rough and bold voice but instead had a hint of sharpness
and softness. From the voice it was clear that he wasn’t someone to mess with.

Today there was a lot of guests at the bar, almost all three floors were filled. There still
were open spots but they had brought in at least ten people, there wasn’t enough
vacancies.
But before the owner said anything, a few people automatically moved to quickly free up
room.

The man seemed pleased and his mouth crooked into an arrogant smile. As he was about to
walk over, from the door sounded a loud laughter.

“Brother Hu Yin, Yu Xian City did send you over.” As the one talking walked closer, everyone
saw a man wearing an elegant robe with gold linings wearing a purple jade crown. The first
impression of him was extravagant, his whole body sparkled in gold.

Hu Yin’s eyes flashed with a hint of displeasure but that disappeared after he saw man who
was talking. His face regained a glimmer of a smile and turned to the incoming man, “I see
it’s brother Dong Qing, long time no see, hope you are well.”

“A while no see, it seems that Duan Yin brother’s level increased quite a bit.” Cheng
DongQing walked over and took a look at him, his eyes flashed with a hint of
intelligence/thoughtfulness.

Hu Yin roared with laughter and said, “Nonsense, Dong Qing brother is the one who has
improved. The last time I saw you, you were just level ten low grade, and now you have
reached middle grade. Nothing less expected of Master Dong Le’s proudest disciple, the
Mage Guild’s number one genius.”

Cheng DongQing replied laughingly, “You flatter me Hu Yin brother, compared to my

Master, I’m nowhere close.”

Although that was what he said, his expression told a different story. His smile showed an
unapologetic complacency, clearly liking Hu Yin’s flattery.

“I seldomly get to meet Dong Qing bro, so why not have a drink together.” Hu Yin and
Cheng DongQing’s personality were very similar, therefore he understood the other well.
Not only that, to connect with someone of the Mage Guild was more favorable than bad.

Cheng DongQing also had the intention of associating with him and accepted his request.
But here laid the problem.

The space made for them before was only four tables, each could sit four people and so
only sixteen seats were available. However, Cheng DongQing also brought a lot of men,
with the two groups together, there were at least thirty or so people, not nearly enough
tables.

Clearly the two realized this as well.

Hu Yin’s smile gathered a little whereas Cheng DongQing had a proud expression and
looked at others with a hint of scorn. His sense and expression of superiority was off putting
for everyone who saw.

However, there was nothing to be done, one was from Yu Xian City and the other from the
Mage Guild, neither of which they could offend. Not only that, they brought many strong
practitioners too, so even if they were unwilling, they had to comply and make room. With
a feeling of being wronged, the people around consciously shuffled out.

Quickly, another four tables were cleared.

But once they moved out, a table with only two became very out of place. It was stuck
between the eight tables, very noticeable.

Not only did those in the bar realize, Hu Yin and Cheng DongQing saw it too. They both
furrowed their brows at that, if the two had moved out of the way then they would have
exactly enough for thirty or so men to sit. However, it would seem that someone didn’t
want to give face to Yu Xian City and the Mage’s Guild.

Hu Yin turned and gave the one behind him a look. Understanding the signal, the man
walked in broad strides toward the two.

Hu Yin and Dong ChengQing swaggered over to their seats instead.

The owner knew he couldn’t offend any one of them and thus, while wiping away sweat,
called upon the waiter to bring some good wine over. He even personally poured it for
them.

Meanwhile, Hu Yin’s henchman had already walked over to that table and said in a blunt
manner, “You two, go sit somewhere else, this table’s ours.”

The handsome man who was drinking, halted his action and his gemstone like black eyes
stared straight into his, sending a chill to his heart. Then feeling vexed, he was about to take
action before the person beside him suddenly spoke up.

The young man lifted his head, showing a face that was about twenty-five years old, very
plain with a blush that seemed to say he was drunk. Currently this face looked at him
perplexed, as if surprised by his words, “Why do we have to move if you guys want to sit? Is
it that you were here before us? No, if I remember correctly, we have been sitting here for
almost half an hour.”

Immediately Hu KangNing’s face darkened in displeasure, and in a rough voice said, “I’m
telling you to move so move. Saying so much rubbish, do you still want your life?!”

After he finished, he even slammed down towards the table hard. The wind hitting the table
caused a ‘bang’ and all of the wine glass and tea sets broke.

“Ou-ou-ouch…” The young man straightened himself up and rubbed his temple with his
index and middle finger.

Complaining to the handsome man, he said, “If I had known sooner I wouldn’t have drank
this much, it’s all you, you kept telling me to drink…”

The handsome man put down his wine glass and said apologetically, “It’s my fault, let me
help you massage it.”

The young man instantly leaned over.

And the handsome man did in fact help massage his temples, and the two just completely
ignored their surroundings.

Hu KangNing looked on stupefied, the ones waiting for the drama were also dumbfounded.
Some dropped their wine glasses to the floor and didn’t react, others were even more
direct, spitting wine onto another's face. What was even more rare was that the one who
got spit on didn’t even complain…

Two men leaning towards each other, staying together intimately.

Some onlookers felt goosebumps all over, it was hard for them to imagine this kind of
image, it just had a feeling of being struck by lightning.

Hu KangNing finally came back to his senses and seeing that the two completely ignored
him, his nose almost went crooked from the immense anger. Hu Yin and the others were
still watching, this was the time for him to demonstrate his abilities. Making up his mind, he
turned to the two and said with a cold snort, “Since you want it the hard way and are
looking to die, let me help you with that.”

As he finished, with a flash Hu KangNing appeared before the two and lifted his hand,
focusing his force then with a slam, hacked away at their heads.

He was an Emperor leveled practitioner. With his strength, he could be considered one of
the top dog in the June Mountains, any normal person would weigh themselves against him
before picking a fight. If they were hit, if they didn’t die then at least they were half-way
there. However, that was for people weaker than him.

When everyone thought that they would be hit, a ‘boom’ sounded, and a force of great
magnitude, as if pulling out a mountain range, instantly exploded.
Chapter 393: Retreat In Defeat

Translated by Rachel of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

The whole inn was charged with a stronger pressure and was like a raging storm; the two
pressures battled and collided with each other inside the small inn. Some were so startled
they fell off their chairs and landed with their bottoms on the floor, each wearing stunned
expressions on their faces. Hu KangNing, who was in the path of the two pressures, was the
first to be hit.
When faced with such an aura, the Imperial level powerhouse was like a dinghy weathering
out the storms and winds on the ocean. Without the chance to retaliate, he was thrown out
of the inn by the immense force of the aura. His battered body hit the opposite stone wall
like a rag and then crashed, rolling a few rounds on the ground before coming to a stop. By
then, the guy was already breathing feebly.
Deathly silence swept across the inn. A few seconds later, a sharp intake of breath could be
heard throughout the inn, followed by many more to come. The looks that everyone gave
to the handsome man and the youth immediately had more fear and respect in them. While
they didn’t know who attacked, it was definitely one of the two and many were leaning
towards the handsome man had committed it.
Just when everyone else was still caught in a state of shock and confusion, a loud sound
suddenly caught their attention. The source of the sound had originated from the side and
everyone turned to face it. Unsurprisingly, they saw Hu Yin, who wore an expression as dark
as soot. His right hand was clenched tightly into a fist as he slammed it on the table. Clearly,
he was the one who made the sound. He glared coldly at the handsome man and the youth,
just like a venomous snake would with its prey. It was as if any second now, he would crush
their bones and swallow them whole.
The people from Yu Xian City standing behind him were also shooting them icy stares as if
they were watching corpses. They were ready to stir up trouble from the looks of it and it
seemed like they might attack anytime.
“The two of you belittle my Yu Xian City too much. You dared to hit my people in front of
me. If I don’t get an explanation today, then I’ll take it as the two of you want to challenge
Yu Xian City.”
Hu Yin stood up and the aura of a powerhouse immediately burst forth from within him,
followed by frenzied Pressure that swept towards them like a storm. The handsome man
lifted his eyes and lazily glanced at him. Hu Yin’s aura was timely blocked by an invisible wall
and could not get any closer.
After a while, the aura that Hu Yin had intentionally let burst out from himself had bounced
back at him. Not only did he not gain the upper hand, his face paled instead. The him right
now no longer had the smugness and arrogance he had previously as he stared at the
handsome man in aghast.
By solely comparing auras alone, he was completely floored. One could also say he was
utterly defeated by the handsome man. Hu Yin was an Emperor level Three Star
powerhouse and for someone to defeat him using aura alone, the person must either be an
Emperor level Seven Star or Divine level powerhouse. No matter which one he was, the
handsome man was far superior than him in terms of power.
On the sidelines, the plastered smile on Cheng DongQing’s face disappeared and was
replaced with a grim look on his face. He gave the handsome man a complicated and fearful
look as he stared at him.
“Looks like this sir really wants to become enemies with Yu Xian City. Since it’s already like
this…”
While Hu Yin had Yu Xian City backing him up, he didn’t dare to act recklessly before the
others from Yu Xian City arrived. Should the other party intend to kill him because of that,
then it would do him more harm than good. But still, he was unwilling to lose the war of
words.
The handsome man smirked and finally spoke his first sentence. “You’ve been yapping non-
stop about Yu Xian City. Do you know how to say something else? If you feel that I’ve
slighted or challenged Yu Xian City, then why not take action against me now? Or am I right
to say that you’re afraid of me?”
After hearing what he said, Hu Yin’s face turned green.
What he said was the truth. Indeed, Hu Yin couldn’t defeat him and feared his power. But
to lay it bare in front of everyone else at the inn, how could he not be embarrassed.
Hu Yin clenched his fist. With eyes were aflame and with a twisted look on his face, he
screamed at the handsome man.
“If you have the balls you stay here and don’t leave! Wait till Yu Xian City’s elders come and
teach you a lesson! I’ll see if you're still so arrogant then!’
“You’re mad!” The youth beside the handsome man quipped. The look he gave Hu Yin was
one full of frustration. His head hurt. This guy never stopped talking. After he was done
talking, the youth no longer paid any attention to Hu Yin. He buried his face in the arms of
the handsome man and mumbled something, making others wonder what he was
complaining about.
“What did you say?! If you have the guts I dare you to say it again!” Hu Yin’s sharp and
piercing voice could be heard once again. It already pissed him off enough to have one
person insulting him and now this seemingly weak youth had the gall to reprimand him!
How dare he despise him just because he had a powerful companion with him!
Being repeatedly slighted by the other party set all of Hu Yin’s rational thoughts on fire. He
was almost at the end of his fuse and he really wanted to slaughter them.
“Captain, calm down. You are not his match as of now. It’s never too late to take revenge.”
The two Imperial level powerhouses who sat at the next table were also Hu Yin’s men.
Seeing as he almost lost all rationality to his anger, they quickly came up to hold him back
for fear that he might just charge ahead.
At this moment, Cheng DongQing suddenly cut in, “Brother Hu Yin, what they said is
reasonable. Please don’t act recklessly, that man might really kill you. There’s no need to
risk your life over a fit of anger. You have a bright future ahead and if you die here, it really
won’t be worth it. Let’s just leave him to the elders.”
Cheng DongQing’s words were like a pail of water that doused the fire in Hu Yin’s heart. The
flames of fury had mostly been put out. He might not have listened to his two underlings,
but Cheng DongQing was different. He was the disciple of Master XiLe, who was one of the
board members of the Southern Continent Mage Guild. As the saying went, “Not for the
sake of the monk, but for that of the Buddha.” Even if he didn’t want to listen to Cheng
DongQing he had to, in order to give face to his Master. Furthermore, what was most
important was that he had a way out without embarrassing himself too much.
“Hng! Since Brother DongQing has already said so, I’ll do it for Brother DongQing.” Hu Yin
acted all high and mighty as he said, then grunted coldly when he looked at the two of
them. What a prideful guy. Despite clearly being on the losing end, he still had to find words
to salvage his hurt pride. Didn’t he realise he was making himself more of a joke to others?
What a classic ‘turn tail and run’ situation.
After he delivered what he had to say, Hu Yin got his men to carry Hu KangNing who was
outside and left.
He couldn’t stay in that inn any longer. Even if he wasn’t pissed to death, he had lost all face
there. He had lost all face to remain there anymore. Neither did Cheng DongQing stay
behind.
The inn once again resumed its peace. After a while, people started to whisper and discuss.
The Yu Xian City which had had their way on the Southern Continent for many years had
finally met its match in this inn. Not only were they unable to fight back, they even had to
flee from the inn in defeat. This was the first time in history that such a thing happened.
After the initial stages of shock…
“Back to the topic, why would people from Yu Xian City and the Mage Guild be in June City
at the same time? Judging from Hu Yin’s tone, it seems like some elders will be coming
over. Don’t tell me something big happened? But why haven’t we heard anything about it?”
Not long after, the crowd’s attention was redirected.
“I don’t think the Yu Xian City and the Mage Guild are here to train. Something must have
happened and the news was contained. That’s why we know nothing about it.”
“If the Yu Xian City and the Mage Guild are here, then the other forces are sure to follow.”
“This sure gets people pumped! I wonder what will happen this time.”
……
Just when everyone was busy buzzing around, the handsome man and the youth stood up.
Their every move was scrutinised by the people there and when they stood, the noise died
down a bit.
The handsome man helped the slightly tipsy youth up the stairs and they were instantly
hidden away from the inquiring looks others gave them. Yet, the crowd still refused to give
up as they stared in the direction they left.
When they returned to their room, the youth suddenly lifted his slightly flushed face and
wrapped his arms around the man’s neck. Then, he kissed him.
The youth nipped at his lips clumsily as they shared a drunken kiss that tasted of wine.
While it was sloppy and slightly painful, it had undoubtedly fanned the man’s desire. He
quickly bent down to gather the youth in his arms and carried him to bed.
As the man laid on top, he suddenly reached out to grab a ball of white stuff before
conveniently throwing it out. Following this series of actions, the youth’s appearance
underwent a drastic change.
The ordinary face transformed into one with fine and delicate features as the youth turned
into a teenager. And that teenager, was no other than You XiaoMo.
Said white ball of stuff that was tossed away by the man landed on the ground lightly. It
meowed resentfully at the two on the bed before hopping its way out of the room.
Seeing as the person under him was still dizzy, the man took advantage of it and leaned
down to seal the teenager’s lips with his. He easily pried open his clenched teeth and his
tongue eagerly swept over every corner of his mouth. Teasing as he sucked on the
teenager’s tongue, the man kept his hands busy by sliding them under the teenager’s shirt.
And when he found that nub, he pinched it forcefully.
“Ah…”
You XiaoMo couldn’t suppress his moan when he felt the stimulation. In return, he wrapped
his arms even tighter around the man.
In the next second, his lips were captured once again by the man and his moans were
swallowed in the kiss. You XiaoMo was already drunk since earlier on. His body had gone all
soft and weak and ready for the man to have his way with it.
The man released his lips and brushed his cheek.
“Looks like you only behave slightly more passionately when you’re drunk.” The man gently
smiled.
At that moment, You XiaoMo suddenly lifted one leg. His knee just brushed against the
bulge between the man’s legs which sent a wave of heat coursing through his body.
Meanwhile, the person who started it was laughing out loud inconsiderately.
The man sucked in a breath before lowering his head to kiss him.
“You little imp!”
Chapter 394: Money Making Method

Translated by Kollumceti of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

“Ohh–“

You XiaoMo let out an uncomfortable groan and slowly rolled over as he unhurriedly
opened his eyes. The first thing he saw was an unfamiliar handsome face. Shocked, he
sprang up into a sitting position on the bed, and was suddenly wide awake.

You XiaoMo did not even have the time to understand what happened before a dull pain
came from his head. There was also a trace of stinging pain from that hard to speak about
place below, “It hurts…”

A pair of hands abruptly stretched over and pressed his temple. The strength was even,
neither too light nor too heavy. He lifted his head upwards and let out a happy sigh.

“Is it better?” The man’s familiar voice slowly and lazily echoed beside his ear. The deep
voice carried the languidness of one just having gotten out of bed, making him feel
comfortably warm.

You XiaoMo had already regained his senses. He leaned against the man’s body on the spot
and roguishly said, “No, my head is still very heavy. Next time I definitely won’t drink.”

“Okay, then don’t drink.” The man said with a laugh.

You XiaoMo opened his eyes and glared at him, “You still dare to laugh. If not for you urging
me on to drink a little more, I wouldn’t have such a headache now.”

The man innocently replied, “If you feel that the wine was not tasty, will you drink it if I
pour it for you?”

You XiaoMo gave a dry cough, “That wine…was really quite tasty.”

The tavern also had many varieties of wine. However, it was best known for its fruit wine. It
was said that the fruit wine was June City’s specialty. The flavor was not spicy and also not
strong, rather it had a faint fruity flavor. It tasted good, and one would not feel tired of it no
matter how much was consumed.

You XiaoMo had thought that fruit wines would be very strong-tasting in the beginning.
After drinking it, he discovered that it tasted just like fruit juice. Ling Xiao also frequently
poured the fruit wine for him, so he drank cup after cup and unwittingly finished several
pots of wine.

“Oh yeah, something seemed to have happened when I was drunk yesterday. What was it?
My head is still dizzy now so I’m not too clear about it. You explain it to me.”

You XiaoMo felt a little guilty so he quickly changed the topic. He took a moment to recall
what had happened yesterday. Although he remembered that the YuXian City was present
and there was that something Mage Guild, but he couldn’t remember several details.

Ling Xiao narrowed his eyes. His finger skimmed You XiaoMo’s cheek as he laughed, “Can’t
you remember? Yesterday you obviously made Hu KangNing and Hu Yin choke until they
could not even refute a single sentence.”

You XiaoMo had an uneasy expression on his face as he pushed Ling Xiao’s hand away, “I
said I don’t remember, so I don’t.” He gave the slight impression of trying to hide it but
made it more conspicuous instead.

Ling Xiao did not continue to tease him upon seeing that he was about to flare up,
“Yesterday, the people from YuXian City and the Mage Guild appeared in June City. From
their conversation, it appeared that there would be more people arriving. I suppose that
there’s something here in this side of the mountain range in June City which has attracted
them.”

“Do you know what it is?” You XiaoMo asked.

Ling Xiao shook his head, “I don’t know yet. Their secrecy is actually very tight. Other than
themselves, all the people in June City do not appear to know what it is about.”

You XiaoMo replied, “Maybe there’s some sort of treasure here.”

Ling Xiao chucked, “No matter what treasure it is, this situation is a good opportunity for us.
We do not need to specially run to the territory of the Vermillion Blood Clan and their
branch forces to investigate.”

Be that as it may, but it was a fact that the people from YuXian City and the Mage Guild
appeared in June City at the same time after all. Two great powers together would draw a
lot of attention and they were not the only ones curious about this. The people who were
present at that time also were wondering about it, so someone went to investigate that
very evening.

After a whole night, the news that the YuXian City was waiting for their forces to arrive had
spread throughout June City. Moreover, it was also rumored that the members of the
Vermillion Blood Clan would also be sent over.

The two changed their clothes and You XiaoMo called for CatQiu to return again.

After dressing up, he changed his appearance into yesterday’s ordinary-looking youth once
more.

Although CatQiu’s strength was in the lower range in his Qiu team, his transformation
techniques were unusually top-notch and it was hard for people to see through them. Just
like Hu Yin from yesterday, he had an Emperor Realm cultivation base, but even he did not
see through his disguise.

Then the two went out.

Many people poured through the gates to June City in the early morning after the events
yesterday. They had all hurried over because of the news. It appeared that many wanted to
know why the YuXian City and the Mage Guild would come here.

From time to time there would be a crowd hurrying past them.

Just as You XiaoMo was having some misgivings, a peal of hectic footsteps abruptly
sounded from behind. He saw a group of people rushing over once he turned back.

“I’ve heard that someone knows why they would come to June City.”

“Is that true or false?”

“Of course it’s true, because the people from the Cang Alliance are also here.”

“That’s great…”

You XiaoMo saw this group of people running past him at a high speed, as though they
would miss the opportunity if they were late. In the beginning he did not understand, but
after thinking about the nature of the Cang Alliance’s influence, he then understood.

Ling Xiao wore white from head to toe today and he was holding a fan in hand. With a
graceful and elegant demeanor, he smiled, “Interesting, let’s go take a look too.”

There would be no lack of the Cang Alliance in any place that was bustling with noise and
excitement. In the Tong Tian Continent, this point could practically be said to be a common
understanding. Furthermore, many secrets would no longer remain as secrets at any place
that had the Cang Alliance present. This was because other than collecting information, the
Cang Alliance would also engage in the sale of all kinds of information.
When You XiaoMo and Ling Xiao arrived, they saw an enormous demon beast in a huge
plaza.

The appearance of the demon beast was very similar to a tortoise. It stood about fifty
meters tall and was about five hundred meters long. The shell of the tortoise was green and
it carried a building similar to a house on top of its shell. There were delicate and beautiful
carvings on the building and with a look, and one would know that it’s a thing of aesthetic
pleasure.

Those people who had just run past You XiaoMo were now surrounding one side of this
tortoise as they continuously chattered in discussion over the matter.

Ling Xiao walked over and cleared up his confusion, “This Green Tortoise is from a branch
bloodline of the Psychic Black Tortoise from the Four Ancient Beasts Clan. Rumor has it that
the head of the Cang Alliance subdued the entire clan of Green Tortoises. Henceforth, the
Green Tortoise Clan began to serve the Cang Alliance for many generations.”

“To even be able to subdue the branch bloodline of the Psychic Black Tortoise, the head of
the Cang Alliance is really too amazing.” You XiaoMo gutsily exclaimed in admiration.
Furthermore, this way of thinking of using the tortoise as a means of transportation was
completely new and original. At least to a person like him who had wholeheartedly believed
that a tortoise was a very slow animal, he thought as such.

People jumped down one after another from the back of the Green Tortoise just as they
were talking.

There were more than a dozen people were in the same attire, only the clothes of the
person taking the lead was different. His aura was very strong and his body was so sturdy
that he seemed to be able to carry a mountain on his shoulders. His silhouette was
unwavering and determined as the edge of a blade. On his back was a broadsword without
a scabbard.

This was an expert who used swords!

“It’s Lord Xiong Xiao, who would have thought that the Cang Alliance would actually send
him over.”

“Ah-ah-ah, Lord Xiong Xiao is the twenty-first expert on the Tong Tian Rankings. Sure
enough it’s really different once an idol appears! He’s so mighty and domineering.”

“I’ve heard that Lord Xiong Xiao was the eighth disciple that the head of the Cang Alliance
took in. He also has a high status in the Cang Alliance. However, the head of the Cang
Alliance really deserves his name, each and every one of the disciples he took in are all
formidable and extraordinary.”

“I wonder how much the price for the information this time is going to be?”

“Based on the degree of confidentiality of the information, the price should be high. Looks
like not many would be able to afford it.”

……

The chatter of the crowd discussing had not stopped ever since Xiong Xiao jumped off the
Green Tortoise. Though it was noisy, it let You XiaoMo know a lot of information.

Ling Xiao whispered an explanation in his ear, “The Tong Tian Ranking is the rankings of the
experts in the Tong Tian Continent. The rankings are judged based off their overall strength.
Basically, those in the top hundred are all the powerhouses of the present age. This Xiong
Xiao is ranked at the twenty-first place, so his cultivation base should around one star
Divine Realm.”

Both were handsome guys, but the first impression that this Xiong Xiao gave them was
much better than Hu Yin and such.

Xiong Xiao swept his eyes over everyone present, his eyes was as sharp and penetrating as
a blade. Each and every one of those who he saw felt their breathing become sluggish. His
stature was very tall. After reaching the ground, he was still a head taller than everyone,
easily giving others a feeling of oppression.

The plaza suddenly quieted down, all kinds of noises were ceased with his glance-over.

After the crowd quieted down, Xiong Xiao’s clear voice got right to the point, “With regards
to the rumors of a treasure in the mountain ranges of June City, it’s confirmed to be true. In
accordance to the past rules, those who want to know the news can purchase the
information jade drive from me.”

As soon as this statement was made, alarmed clamoring suddenly rang out.

Originally, they were not sure whether it was true that there was a treasure in the
mountain ranges of June City. Now it was confirmed with Xiong Xiao saying as such. Never
did they think that the news would be so closely guarded that they would have heard of it
only when the other forces from the YuXian City had rushed over.

If not for the Cang Alliance, they would probably have still been left in the dark this time.
“Haha, Xiong Xiao-laoge, it’s really true that you can see the shadow of the Cang Alliance
wherever you go. Looks like this time the Cang Alliance would be able to earn a large
amount of spirit gems. How then would this price be calculated?”

Just when everyone was spiritedly discussing, a candid laughter abruptly sounded from the
rear. Everyone turned their heads and looked over, discovering that it was from a refined
youth in white. The youth was beaming from ear to ear was he walked towards them.

Who else was this youth but the Beast Transfiguration Guild’s Qiao WuShuang!
Chapter 395: Not Expensive At All

Translated by Jouissance of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Qiao WuShuang was one of the young and popular leading figures within the Beast
Transfiguration Guild. Rumor had it, he was only second to that person in the ZhongTian
Headquarters of the Beast Transfiguration Guild. Though he wasn’t the one and only, his
name was widely known, especially throughout the Southern Continent.

The Southern Continent’s Beast Transfiguration Guild was a branch of ZhongTian’s. Qiao
WuShuang was mostly active in the Southern Continent, so he was more renown there. He
was also a powerhouse on the TongTian Rankings. He ranked a little under Xiong Xiao, but
he was also younger than Xiong Xiao.

When he appeared, everyone’s attention shifted.

There were rumors that Qiao WuShuang was on friendly terms with the people in the Cang
Alliance, but they never had proof because almost no one had seen Qiao WuShuang
walking together with people of the Cang Alliance. However, judging by how he referred to
Xiong Xiao just now, they could be certain that the rumors were true.

After Yu Xian City and the Mage’s Guild, people from the Cang Alliance and the Beat
Transfiguration Guild had appeared, too. People from the other guilds would probably be
arriving soon.

“Does Qiao-laodi intend to buy it, asking after the price?”

t/n: laodi: affectionate form of address for a male who is not very much younger than
oneself.

Xiong Xiao and Qiao WuShuang really did have quite a good relationship, thought they
weren’t friends that would lay their hearts bare to one another, Xiong Xiao had often had
dealings with Qiao WuShuang. This refined looking person was actually rather candid
person. Upon seeing him, that stern and solemn expression had warmed up a little, though
he still looked quite serious.

Qiao WuShuang could tell though. He shook his head and smiled, saying. “I have no
intentions of buying. I can’t afford the price of a jade drive like that. Plus, why would I spend
spirit gems to buy information I already know? I, Young Master WuShuang, am not an idiot.
If I really did buy it, there’ll probably be people saying I’ve been kicked in the head by a
donkey.”
“Qiao-laodi jokes. Who dares insult Young Master WuShuang, after all?” Xiong Xiao began
to laugh. He liked people who spoke openly like WuShuang; this was what he admired
about WuShuang the most.

Qiao WuShuang also laughed a little before saying, “Xiong-laoge, there’s no need to
entertain me further. Your business is more important.”
t/n: laoge: affectionate form of address for a male who is not very much older than
oneself.
Xiong Xiao didn’t reply, but it was clear that Xiong Xiao’s opinion of WuShuang had gone up.

In the audience, You XiaoMo couldn’t help but envy this sort of person. He lived carefree;
that was what life really was about. People who did nothing but plot against others only did
it because they had nothing better in their lives to do.

As opposed to people like Cheng DongQing and Hu YinNing, Xiong Xiao and Qiao WuShuang
had an easier time getting people to like them.

It wasn’t just You XiaoMo who was envious. Others had the same thought.

“Let’s cut to the chase. I believe everyone knows how valuable these Jade Drives are. The
price this time isn’t the highest the Cang Alliance has ever set, but the price isn’t low either.
A Jade Drive is one hundred thousand spirit gems,” Xiong Xiao declared.

With these words, many people were struck dumb by this price of one hundred thousand.

Though the South Continent was much wealthier than Bei Dong, those who truly were rich
with spirit gems were few and far between. A hundred thousand spirit gems was quite a
fortune for most people, so who would spend it on information?

So, after Xiong Xiao’s words fell, he received no response.

Xiong Xiao seemed to expect this situation and didn’t feel surprised.

This was a price he had came to after discussing with the others. When considering the
information inside the Jade Drive, it really wasn’t very expensive, but only those who
decided to spend their fortune on it would known if it was worth it or not.

When silence had fallen, laughter suddenly came from the back of the crowd. It was
especially abrupt in the silence and the owner of the laugh wasn’t at all courteous, his
laughter mocking.

You XiaoMo felt that this voice seemed familiar. He had heard it somewhere before, but he
couldn’t remember where and turned his head in the direction of the laugh like everyone
else.

A kind of familiar man, with a group of people clustered around him like stars around a
moon, came over.

Those in his way moved to the side without prompting.

This man was none other than Cheng DongQing who had been in the bar yesterday. You
XiaoMo had been drunk then, so he didn’t have a very deep impression of the other.

Cheng DongQing walked up to Xiong Xiao and Qiao WuShuang, smiling lightly. “Seems like
the Cang Alliance is the same as always, unable to escape their love for wealth. I can’t
believe you have the face to sell information that someone else gleaned. In any case, you
actually dare to sell just a little Jade Drive for a hundred thousand spirit gems. You lot really
have gone crazy for spirit gems. Now you can’t even sell it, how embarrassing.”

Xiong Xiao glanced at him coldly. “Mind your own fucking business!”

Cheng DongQing’s smile fell instantly.

“Pfft…”

Someone in the crowd couldn’t help but laugh.

In the silence, the chuckle was exceptionally loud.

Cheng DongQing’s face, having had only just been cursed at, immediately darkened. He
couldn’t vent his anger out on Xiong Xiao, so he decided to take it out on the person who
had laughed. His cold gaze immediately shot in the direction of the laugh, but, blocked by
the crowd, he didn’t know who it was that had laughed. At that thought, he was even more
pissed off.

The people behind Cheng DongQing knew that he was getting angry. One of the men
immediately pulled out his weapon, pointing it at the crowd and yelling, “Who laughed just
now? Get out here at once.”

The crowd was afraid of getting caught in the crossfire and hurriedly backed away, revealing
You XiaoMo and Ling Xiao. With the empty space around them, it was like they had been
ostracized.

The man saw them and decided that they were the people who had laughed. He was about
to yell again when he suddenly noticed a familiar handsome face. The other was watching
him with something like a smile. The scene from the bar yesterday surfaced in his mind and
the man couldn’t help but shudder.

The state Hu YinNing had ended up in after fighting this guy was still etched into his mind.
The man knew he was no match for Ling Xiao and his words seem to be lodged in his throat,
preventing him from speaking. He turned to glance at Cheng DongQing in uncertainty.

“It’s you!” Cheng DongQing saw them and immediately knew what had happened.

Only these two would dare laugh at them, others wouldn’t dare laugh, knowing of his
identity.

“Who are they?”

Seeing how Cheng DongQing knew the two, confusion flashed through Xiong Xiao’s eyes.
The two sides seemed to have bad blood between them, too, if the tone he had used and
the way he grit his teeth was any indication.

That was when a green-clothed person came up to him and whispered into his ear,
explaining what had happened and the fight in the bar. With the information network the
Cang Alliance had, they had known of this incident the day it happened.

Qiao WuShuang was close to them and also heard, immediately shooting a surprised look at
the two. They hadn’t even gotten here two days and were already making enemies with the
Mage’s Guild and Yu Xian City. These two were quite talented, weren’t they?

Seeing how they were discovered, You XiaoMo waved at them, smiling. “Hello, we meet
again.”

Cheng DongQing’s expression turned even uglier, looking like he wanted to tear that smile
apart. However, he looked at the man next to You XiaoMo with trepidation. He would
destroy them some day.

As he thought that, the two walked towards Xiong Xiao.

“Hey dage, I would like to purchase a Jade Drive.” You XiaoMo said with a smile, stopping in
front of Xiong Xiao.

In reality, he hadn’t wanted to get this sort of attention, but no one else had responded and
the whole thing had been suddenly interrupted by Cheng DongQing. They still had
something to do, so he decided to act first.

Xiong Xiao hadn’t thought that the first person to come and buy the Jade Drive would be
such a young man. Plus, Cheng DongQing had only just been mocking them about their lack
of customers. Now that he had stood out from the group, Cheng DongQing was very likely
to take his anger out on this person. He didn’t think the two hadn’t considered this. If so,
then to still do such a thing was a brave act indeed.

Xiong Xiao couldn’t help but warm up to them a little and unhesitantly took out a Jade
Drive, tossing it over. “Here you go.”

You XiaoMo caught the Jade Drive and then paid him a hundred thousand spirit gems. He
glanced at Cheng DongQing, whose complexion had gone pale green, and suddenly said
with a laugh, “A hundred thousand spirit gems for this small Jade Drive? Aiya, that’s not
expensive at all.”

Hearing this, everyone sweatdropped.

For the rich, a hundred thousand spirit gems wasn’t very expensive, but instead rather
reasonable.

Wasn’t it worth being able to gain information that no one else knew by spending a
hundred thousand spirit gems?

However, for them, who had never saved more than a few ten thousand, a hundred
thousand wasn’t just expensive. Even if they sold everything they had, they probably
wouldn’t be able to afford it, so they were just here to watch the drama.

Cheng DongQing almost spat blood.

He had just said that Xiong Xiao’s Jade Drive lacked customers because it was too
expensive, but now this person was slapping his face by saying that in front of everyone. He
had done it several times; did he really think that Chang DongQing didn’t dare act?

“Watch yourself, brat!”

After leaving behind that chilling warning, he whirled around and left with his followers.

It wasn’t a small thing to have bad blood with one of the people of the Mage’s Guild. The
Mage’s Guild was one of the greatest powers of the TongTian Continent and their presence
was scattered all across the continent. Plus, in order to ask the high ranking mages of the
Mage’s Guild for help, many practitioners would try to curry their favor. So, making
enemies with them meant to make enemies with the majority.

The crowd couldn’t help but glance at You XiaoMo in sympathy. He really had guts.
However, the handsome man beside him didn’t even act to stop him at all. Where were all
these recklessly brave people coming from?
Chapter 396: Metal Swallowing Beast

Translated by Crystal of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

“You two, please hold on.”

After purchasing the jade drive, You XiaoMo was just about to leave with Ling Xiao when
Xiong Xiao, who was behind them watching, suddenly called out to stop them. The two
both stopped.

Xiong Xiao walked over, paid obeisance and said, “I’m Xiong Xiao, us meeting was meant to
be, how should I call you?”

Those who were about to leave, after hearing this, all stopped dead in their tracks and
turned to look at Xiong Xiao, who had a courteous expression on, with astonishment. Xiong
Xiao was ranked twenty-first on the Tong Tian Rankings, for him to initiate in small talk,
that’s really giving them face!

The Cang Alliance was rich and powerful, there were many who would want to associate
themselves with them. Like the Vermillion Blood Clan and the Beast Transfiguration Guild,
even they would want to befriend the Cang Alliance.

However, only very few could catch their attention. It was not that they were prideful and
unwilling to befriend the other, rather, they were all a bunch of oddballs who didn’t care
about one’s background. If they don’t like someone, no matter who they had as backup,
they wouldn’t care.

Like Cheng DongQing for example, Xiong Xiao didn’t like him, so he rebutted him without
remorse, without giving him face. Although, it was the former who provoked first, however,
even if he hadn’t, Xiong Xiao still wouldn’t have had a better attitude.

You XiaoMo was also surprised and continued thoughtlessly, “I’m You Xiao….Ah!”
Before he could finish, a hand groped his waist at his ticklish stop, slightly scaring him a
little.

“You XiaoAh?”

Right then Qiao WuShuang walked over and after hearing the name, made a weird
expression. It was the first time he had heard of a name so strange, pairing it with the
person, it was an odd sensation. Seeing that the two looked over, he said, “I’m forgetting to
introduce myself, I’m Qiao WuShuang.”

You XiaoMo sweated a little, “Hello.”

“It’s not You XiaoAh, but You XiaoHa.” The reticent Ling Xiao slightly explained.

t/n: Ha in laughter, like ahahaha >_> ……...Poor lil Momo.

With a guilty conscience, You XiaoMo agreed, “Yes, yes, yes, it’s not Ah but Ha.”

“Not matter if its Ah or Ha, it's just a name.” Xiong Xiao said brightly and turned to look at
Ling Xiao, “How would you like me to address you?”

With solemnity Ling Xiao replied, “Ling Mo.”

t/n: Ling in Ling Xiao, Mo in You XiaoMo, and you got Ling Mo, which btw is a very
beautiful name >_> at least better than someone which the onomatopoeia of laughter.

You XiaoMo, “…”

Xiong Xiao didn’t realize the weird atmosphere between them and happily made obeisance
while saying, “Ah, I see, fellow Ling Mo, being able to meet you two means that today has
not been a wasted effort.”

You XiaoMo finally came back to his senses and said, “We are happy to be able to meet you
too.”
Xiong Xiao calmed down a bit and his expression turned serious again. In a serious tone he
said, “Fellow You XiaoHa, today you offended Cheng DongQing, from now on, you should
be more careful. With his narrow-mindedness, he will definitely come and take revenge
given the chance. If you guys decide to go to that place, then be careful of him and Hu Yin.”

Hearing the words ‘You XiaoHa’, You XiaoMo felt a little embarrassed. He imagined that
‘the place’ he mentioned was the place of the hidden treasure. He felt a slightly moved and
replied, “Thank you Xiong-dage for the warning, we will be careful.”

It was after a little more chit-chat that You XiaoMo and Ling Xiao left.

Qiao WuShuang looked at them thoughtfully before saying, “Xiong-laoge, this is the first
time I’ve seen you be so interested in two strangers.”

“Actually, I don’t know the reason either, I just find them pleasing, especially that You
XiaoHa, I’m especially fond of him.” Xiong Xiao shook his head and couldn’t help but laugh
despite himself.

Qiao WuShuang knew that this feeling was hard to explain and didn’t push any further,
“Xiong-laoge, did you pay attention to that Ling Mo?”

Xiong Xiao immediately stopped smiling and muttered, “Of course I noticed him, however, I
couldn’t detect his level. If he didn’t use any technique to hide his presence, then his power
should be above mine. I believe it’s the latter, since they dare to challenge Yu Xian City and
the Mage Guild. If he was just at the Divine level, that wouldn’t be enough.”

Qiao WuShuang said, “Hopefully they won’t meet any strong practitioners from those two
forces anytime soon. However, I did hear that a young master of the Vermillion Blood Clan
was coming, is that true?”

Xiong Xiao knew he was trying to sound out the truth but didn’t pay any mind, “Since Qiao-
Laodi already has the answer, why would you need to ask me?”

On the other hand, You XiaoMo and Ling Xiao did not hurry back to the hotel.
They wandered around June City for a while and bought a lot of souvenirs before going
back.

Once they were in the room, You XiaoMo took out the jade drive, it was black with a crystal
glow flowing through. It did not have any restrictions so it was easy to read the information
inside.

He wasn’t in a hurry to dissolve the information and handed the jade drive to Ling Xiao first.

As per usual, Ling Xiao was faster than him.

You XiaoMo said in astonishment, “It’s unbelievable that beneath the June Mountain Range
there would be such a huge natural underground palace and it could nurture a Metal
Swallowing Beast.”

Although You XiaoMo was not an extensive reader, he still had heard of the Metal
Swallowing Beast.

It was a demon beast that could attack and defend, especially its defense was incredibly
strong. However, it depended on what it had devoured, the rarer and stronger the metal,
the better its defense would be. That would also increase its levels, so basically a demon
beast that relied on eating rare metals.

As for its attack, that also had to do with it consuming metals.

The Metal Swallowing Beast had the metal element thus any physical damage would not
affect it. Instead it could control the metal elements within a human. Killing without
drawing blood, that was the real power of the demon beast.

Even if it wasn’t an Emperor beast, its attack and defense was stronger than most, thus
people would call it a false Emperor beast.

“By the looks of things, everyone is here for the Metal Swallowing Beast.” You XiaoMo
thought of the power of the demon beast and couldn’t help but be a bit tempted. However,
he knew he couldn’t push it, the jade drive didn’t mention its power level, he didn’t want to
find an uncertain fight.

Ling Xiao said, “About the Metal Swallowing Beast, there is actually a legend about it.”

“A legend?”

“The legend says that the Metal Swallowing Beast is a god blessed special beast. If one
could capture it, they would be above all living things. It is a symbol of power, riches, and
status.”

Hearing that You XiaoMo’s eyes glowed, “It’s that amazing? Then, if everyone had a Metal
Swallowing Beast, wouldn’t everyone be at the top?”

Ling Xiao looked at him with disdain, “What do you think the Metal Swallowing Beast is, a
low-leveled demon beast that you see everywhere?”

You XiaoMo let out a dry laugh, he was just making a joke, “Then, according to you, the
number of the Metal Swallowing Beasts is as low as the four great Emperor beasts?”

Ling Xiao said, “The four great emperor beasts are rare, but the Metal Swallowing Beast is
even rarer, one of a kind. It will only breed once in a trillion years, what do think is its
rarity?”

You XiaoMo swallowed hard.

Once in a trillion years? By then it was all too late.

“However, it's not that easy to breed a Metal Swallowing Beast, so there is something that’s
been bothering me.” Ling Xiao suddenly said in contemplation.

You XiaoMo asked, “What is it?”

Ling Xiao replied, “I’ll tell you once I confirm it. If it's as I expect, then we have to take of a
piece of the pie this time.”

You XiaoMo got antsy just hearing it, “Can you tell me now?”

Ling Xiao, “No!”

You XiaoMo asked again, “Why not?”

Ling Xiao looked at him and with a smile said, “Because I know you would really like to
know right now.”

You XiaoMo, “…”

Fuck.

You XiaoMo’s feeling of resentment was as deep as the black hole after being tricked. Didn’t
he know that he was very curious? To purposefully not tell him because he wanted to
know…if he had known that, he would’ve said he didn’t want to know, although that
sounded like a very dumb idea.

For the next few days, they stayed at the hotel. Beneath the hotel was a bar, there was
always someone talking about the ins and outs of June City. So, even without going out,
they had learned a lot.

Both the Vermillion Blood Clan and the Beast Transfiguration Association arrived the day
before in June City. It was said that they both dispatched a Divine leveled practitioner,
clearly with getting the Metal Swallowing Beast in mind.

You XiaoMo had initially thought that Hu Yin and Cheng DongQing would come to the hotel
to seek revenge, however since then there had been nothing. He almost thought that they
had a change of heart.
However, Ling Xiao told him that it was because the departure day was coming close.
Neither of the two Divine leveled practitioners would want to divert their attention so they
didn’t come find them immediately.

“When are we leaving?” After a few more days You XiaoMo couldn’t help but ask. It seemed
like the Vermillion Blood Clan was already on the move while they still hadn’t done
anything.

He thought that Ling Xiao would know, however he said this instead, “How would I know?
Didn’t the jade drive say that the entrance was randomized? If you want to go in, you need
to find the entrance.” He said in a very uncaring attitude.

You XiaoMo pounced on him while making threatening gestures, choking him as he yelled,
“How do you not know, aren’t you supposed to be very strong?”

Ling Xiao let him choke him, but one of his hands slide down to hold his bottom, and replied
in a gloating way, “The reality is telling you that your man isn’t invincible. He also has things
he cannot do. However, I didn’t think my wife here thought so highly of me. As your
husband I feel very honored, and thus your husband has made a decision, let’s dual
cultivate!”

You XiaoMo wanted to bite him to death, this sex-driven bastard.

And so, that was what he did. Without hesitation, he bit Ling Xiao’s neck.
Chapter 397: Imposter

Translated by Rachel of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

The next day, Ling Xiao’s neck was horribly bitten. Most people would immediately remove
the traces, but Ling Xiao did not. He saw the bite marks on his neck as a mark of You
XiaoMo’s love for him. With that thought in mind, he appeared unabashedly in front of
others.

Said other person was a staff of the hotel.

Since then, the staff had been looking at You XiaoMo more and more strangely. He was
shocked at first, but afterwards he looked at him as if he was a monster and dared not
come back.

You XiaoMo utterly regretted his actions. He should have known better than to compete
with him in terms of who was more thick-skinned. He would never win. After all, he knew
Ling Xiao was no ordinary person.

You XiaoMo ended up having to beg him to remove the marks on his neck. You XiaoMo
tearfully swore he would never do this sort of thing again. After agreeing to a number of
unequal terms, Ling Xiao finally dismissed the idea of ​walking around with the marks for
show.

He would definitely get back at him one day!

After another two days had passed, You XiaoMo had a small discussion before finally
deciding to broadcast the information he saw in his jade drive regarding the Metal
Swallowing Beast.

The news spread like wildfire, and in less than half a day, the whole of June City knew about
it. Everyone was talking about the Metal Swallowing Beast.

However, this move did not jeopardize the interests of the Cang Alliance. This was because
as early as the day before; Xiong Xiao had already stopped selling the information jade
drive. Those who bought the jade drive were also wary of the Vermillion Blood Clan and
were unwilling to freely divulge information they bought with spirit gems. So in the end,
nothing got out.

But one thing did change. After You XiaoMo leaked the news, the Vermillion Blood Clan and
the other forces lost their privileges.
The Metal Swallowing Beast symbolised power and status and almost no one could resist
this temptation. Driven by their desires, some people relentlessly probed around for
information on where the entrance to the natural underground palace was.

As the saying goes, “When there’s a will, there’s a way.” Eventually, someone really did find
out where the entrance was located.

In reality, the Vermillion Blood Clan and a few other large powers already had a plan in
mind. All this time, they hadn’t taken action because they were observing how the
underground palace moved. From their observations, they discovered that the next time
the entrance would reappear would be at the south-western part of June City’s mountain
range, along Broken Valley.

But time was very limited. The underground palace’s entrance only stopped for seven
minutes or so before shifting again. If they couldn’t get in within this time frame, the
location of the entrance would shift once more and no one knew where it’d end up next or
how far away it’d be. Basically, they only had one shot.

That being said, there was still no news on which day and what time it would make an
appearance. You XiaoMo was also starting to get anxious. He felt it could be any day now.

If he couldn’t obtain information on the exact whereabouts of the entrance, it would be

useless to search the whole mountain range of June City. The entrance would have long
since disappeared.

“What now?” Although Ling Xiao had already said that he wasn’t omnipotent, You XiaoMo
still asked him out of habit.

Ling Xiao rubbed his clean shaven chin before suddenly smiling after a moment.

“I reckon the Vermillion Blood Clan would has taken precautions after the information
leaked the last time. They won’t let many people know about it to ensure nothing is leaked
a second time. It’s useless to rely on others. In this case, we can only find out about it
ourselves.”

“How?” You XiaoMo asked with interest.

“Killing and arson,” Ling Xiao replied.

Soon, it was nightfall and what better time to set fire and kill people than on a dark, stormy
night. In the darkness of the night, dozens of figures were on the move. These people were
heading in one direction and that was the June City’s Lord’s Mansion.

That day, Hu Yin was leaving the inn after being irritated by You XiaoMo. He then accepted
the invitation from the city’s lord and proceeded to lodge in the Lord’s Mansion with his
entourage. After that, people from the Mage Guild also moved in. This gave the lord great
honor. The smile never left the lord’s face.

As to why they chose to deal with the Vermillion Blood Clan and the Mage Guild instead, it
was because they couldn’t afford to offend the Cang Alliance. They had an intelligence
network all across the Tong Tian Continent and if they dared to lay a hand on their people,
they wouldn’t even how they ended up dead. The Cang Alliance was known to be extremely
protective of its own people.

They couldn’t offend the Beast Transfiguration Guild either. They were renowned for their
beast taming techniques across the Tong Tian Continent. From the high level demon beasts
down to the lowest level ones, one might never know if they were being watched by demon
beasts as they made their move. The risks were too high. Hence, they settled for the
Vermillion Blood Clan and the Mage Guild.

While they couldn’t afford to offend the two forces either, it would be difficult to trace the
attacks back to them if they were more careful. Not long after, a group of people arrived at
the heavily guarded Lord’s Mansion. It was as if these people already had it all planned out.
They regrouped before dispersing again, sneaking into the mansion from different
directions.

Fifteen minutes had passed.

A powerful aura from within the mansion rose to the sky. Pained moans and cries rang in
succession. Soon after, they were silenced. The dark night once again resumed its peace
and quiet, as if nothing had happened.

“As expected, they don’t stand a chance when faced with a Divine level powerhouse.” From
the darkness, Ling Xiao’s voice could be heard with a hint of foresight as he spoke.

You XiaoMo, who was laying on Ling Xiao’s back, looked towards the brightly lit Lord’s
Mansion. It seemed like they already knew that the night wasn’t going to be a peaceful one.
No one was planning to go to bed as they waited for their prey to show up at their
doorsteps.

“Hu Yin probably hasn’t gone to sleep. Are we really going to start with attacking him?”

“Hu Yin may be a genius in Yu Xian City but he is nothing compared to the Vermillion Blood
clan’s member. The Divine level powerhouse is probably beside that clan member and
guarding him now. So we can only target Hu Yin.”

“Can’t we target Cheng DongQing?”

“Hu Yin and Cheng DongQing. Which one do you hate more?”

“Both.”

“Choose one first. We’ll deal with the other one another time.”

“Then, let’s stick with Hu Yin.”

“Make up your mind next time.”

“…Ok.”

The courtyard that Hu Yin was staying at was in the west wing of the mansion. They already
surveyed the place during daytime and for some reason, he wasn’t in the same place as the
others. This only made it more convenient for them to attack. However, afraid that Hu Yin
would be disturbed, the lord deliberately sent people to guard the west wing closely. On
the surface, indeed it looked like not even a fly could get in.

Ling Xiao and You XiaoMo snuck past the guards and defence lines with ease and finally
located Hu Yin’s residence—an exquisite compound.

The outside of the compound was surrounded by the Guards of the Lord’s Mansion whilst
the inside was people brought by Hu Yin. Other than Hu Yin who had an Emperor level
cultivation, there was another person who was at the same level. The difference being the
person had a stronger presence than Hu Yin and he probably was a four or five star.

Ling Xiao quickly knocked that person out.

You XiaoMo took over by stuffing the guy under the bed. Even if someone came in, they
won't be able to see him. Then, he got CatQiu to transform into the sagging old man under
the bed.

“Like this you’ve really become an old man.” Ling Xiao joked.

You XiaoMo rolled his eyes at him before starting to carry out the plan.

In order not to alarm other people, they thought of using this knocked out old man’s
identity and have You XiaoMo take on his appearance to deceive the others. The results
were successful. You XiaoMo only had to say to them he had important matters to speak
with Hu Yin and asked them and the lord’s guards to stand guard outside, which they easily
obeyed.

Knock! Knock! Knock!

“Come in.” Hu Yin answered.

You XiaoMo immediately pushed the doors open and entered. He gave the room a sweep
before concluding that it was indeed luxurious.

As expected, Hu Yin hadn’t retired for the night. He was drinking and his brows were set in a
deep frown, as if he had remembered something unpleasant. When he saw him entering,
he didn't even suspect anything.

“Uncle Lu, do you need me for something?”

You XiaoMo gave a slight cough before speaking, “I have something important to tell you.”

With his wine-addled brain, Hu Yin couldn't tell what You XiaoMo said sounded very
different from the usual Uncle Lu. When he heard there were important matters, he asked
about it.

“What is it?”

“Actually, I just want to tell you there's someone standing behind you.” You XiaoMo smiled.

Hu Yin froze for a moment before noticing that the Uncle Lu in front of him was a little odd.
Before he could even give a deep thought as to why he found him odd, he felt something
strange from behind him.

He turned around sharply only to find a familiar handsome man before him. The man was
smiling at him, which sent shivers down his spine. He opened his mouth to speak but not a
single word fell out. Hu Yin’s eyes never left that man.

Ling Xiao didn’t give him a chance to speak before knocking him out like he did with Hu Yin’s
Uncle Lu. No one caught him so Hu Yin just fell to the ground. His eyes that were staring
wide open a moment ago were now closed

“This is easier than I thought.”You XiaoMo exclaimed.

Ling Xiao glanced at him.

“You can change back now.” He was not the least bit interested in seeing the old man’s
face, not when that old face was making expressions that he was familiar with.

You XiaoMo grumbled quietly before doing as told.

Ling Xiao squatted beside Hu Yin and stuck out his right index finger. A nail that wasn't long
but had a sharp glint cut a deep wound into into Hu Yin’s neck. Blood spilled forth and soon
the floor was covered by a pool of blood. And just like that, Hu Yin was killed while he was
still unconscious.

You XiaoMo gulped.

He felt nervous and thrilled at the same time.

Chapter 398: Biggest Problem in Life.

Translated by Kollumceti of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Ling Xiao absorbed Hu Yin’s memory after he died.

Whether they were dead or alive, Ling Xiao could absorb the memories of people, but there
was still a difference.

An instinctive resistance would be produced in the person’s memory when absorbing the
memory while they were alive. This was not conducive for absorption and also wastes time.
However, after dying the consciousness would dissipate. As long as the time of death was
not more than one day, the memory would remain in the mind. Just like ownerless goods,
the memory stored in the mind would be easier to absorb.

This was not the first time You XiaoMo saw Ling Xiao do this.

Every time he saw this scene, he felt that it was like Ling Xiao was eating people.

Ling Xiao had thoroughly absorbed Hu Yin’s memory after a few minutes. He found the
answers they wanted in his memory, then said, “Let’s go.”

You XiaoMo nodded.

Ling Xiao set off a fire after walking out of the room, then the two left as easily as they
entered.

Fifteen minutes later, the fire had spread and the west rooms of the City Lord’s mansion
were alight with the blaze. The fire was very large and there were signs that it was
spreading in the other directions. Moreover, they were unable to extinguish the fire no
matter what was done. The entire City Lord’s mansion instantly sank into a panic, and roars
were heard coming from inside from time to time.

The news that the mansion of the City Lord had caught fire spread on the morning of the
second day.

It was said the fire did not go out until the morning. It was only that nearly half of the City
Lord’s mansion had been burned down by then.

There were not many casualties because it was discovered early. But amongst the several
number of dead was the insufferably arrogant Hu Yin and the other was an Emperor Realm
expert. The Divine Realm expert from the Vermillion Blood Clan was very furious about this
matter and stated that they would definitely catch the murderer. However, whether they
could catch the person was another different matter.

In the afternoon, the news of the when the entrance of the underground palace would
appear spread like wildfire.

……

Inside the City Lord’s mansion, a tense atmosphere pervaded the entire place. This was
especially apparent in a hall which had not been burned from the fire. The people from the
Vermilion Blood Clan were gathered here and there was fury on their faces no matter who
they were.

You Ming, who was that Divine Realm expert from the Vermilion Blood Clan, looked
towards the man with the highest rank amongst them, “QingShan, what do you think about
this matter?”

The QingShan that You Ming addressed was the third son of the current head of the
Vermilion Blood Clan. His looks were handsome and his talent was one of the very best in
the clan. His status was higher than You Ming. He was the one who had the most say
amongst all the people there. Even You Ming had to listen to him most of the time.

You QingShan muttered to himself irresolutely, “The cultivation base of the one who
infiltrated into the City Lord’s mansion last night is bound to be above Uncle Lu. Otherwise
it would be impossible for him to kill Uncle Lu soundlessly without a fuss. As for Hu Yin, we
still can’t find him until now?”

“We have searched everywhere inside and out. There’s indeed no trace of Young Master
Hu. We suspect that he probably has already been killed.” Hu Yin’s subordinate respectfully
replied.

You QingShan rapped the tabletop, “That person killed Uncle Lu, yet he took Hu Yin away.
Could it be that person that has some sort of grudge with Hu Yin?” Since they could not find
Hu Yin’s body, they unanimously determined that Hu Yin had been kidnapped.

“Fifth Young Master, if the other party really had a grudge with Young Master Hu, I know of
two suspects who fit the bill.” Hu KangNing who had just recuperated from his injuries
immediately stood up when he heard this sentence. When he spoke of those two people, a
trace of bitter resentment exuded from his eyes.

You QingShan gave him an indifferent glance, “Are you referring to what happened at the
hotel?”
He had heard of this incident when he reached June City a few days ago.

Hu KangNing’s scalp tightened when You QingShan’s eyes were on him, and he cupped his
hands and stated, “Yes! The strength of one of them was above Hu Yin. At that time, Young
Master Hu did not even have slightest power to retaliate. So I believe that his strength is
probably also above Senior Lu.”

A bodyguard ran in just at this moment.

The bodyguard cupped his hands and reported, “Young Master, there’s been some progress
in the search. We found Young Master Hu Yin’s dimensional ring in the ruins. Underneath
the ring was a pile of black ash. This is probably Young Master Hu Yin’s clothing and other
personal items.”

“Could it be that the reason why Hu Yin disappeared was actually because he had been
burned to ashes by the fire?” You QingShan frowned. A dimensional ring was an item that
was of a much higher grade than a magic bag. With Hu Yin’s status, it was not unexpected
for him to own one. If he had been kidnapped, it was impossible that the dimensional ring
would be left behind untouched. In addition, with there was that pile of black ash, Hu Yin’s
disappearance would be reasonable if it was interpreted this way.

Bang–

You Ming heavily hammered the table as he darkly seethed, “Truly well done, to even dare
to kill the heir of YuXian City. Apparently the fact that the Vermilion Blood Clan has made
no big moves in these years has let everyone mistakenly believe that we are sick cats.
Where is the dignity of the Vermilion Blood Clan if we don’t kill that person?!”

You QingShan’s expression was unfathomable.

“That person will definitely appear tomorrow. At that time we will see who is the most
suspicious.” Hu KangNing clenched his hands. No matter whether those two were the killers
or not, he would never let them off.

……

Before noon the next day.

The valley in the southwest corner of the mountain ranges of June City was full of people.

Almost all the experts in June City had arrived. The densely packed crowd was jammed into
a pile, the mountain range which had always been desolate was brimming with an inhabited
atmosphere.
Everyone was chattering in discussion when You XiaoMo and Ling Xiao arrived.

At this moment, there was only half an hour till the emergence of the entrance of the
underground palace.

“There’s so many powerhouses, ah!” You XiaoMo excitedly exclaimed. Although the news
had been released quite late, there were many powerhouses concealed beneath the
surface in the mountain ranges of June City, so there was still quite a significant turnout
here. Thus, everyone who was stronger than Uncle Lu were all suspects.

“Don’t be careless.” Ling Xiao cautioned.

“I know. Hey, is that valley the entrance?” You XiaoMo said as he curiously pointed at the
precipitous terrain in front.

The mountain range ahead had a tremendous fracture about two hundred meters wide.
This was precisely the fractured valley they had heard through word of mouth today. It was
rumored that a long time ago, there were two exceptional experts who fought here and this
dangerous mountain stream was the masterpiece of one of the experts.

As a result of their impressive destructive power, there was a place inside the fractured
valley where the space was torn apart. After years of precipitation, this fractured valley
became a famous dangerous spot in the mountain range of June City. The fractured valley
was filled with hurricanes of thick ice as sharp as blades. There were even a few traces of
spatial forces mixed inside the hurricane. It was able to easily split open the defense of a
Spiritual Realm practitioner, so only those experts who were Imperial Realm and above
could enter.

“The people from the Vermilion Blood Clan and the Mages Guild have arrived!”

Just then, the crowd in the front burst into an uproar.

You XiaoMo glanced in the direction they were looking at. Ten rays of light rapidly streaked
across the sky. The rays drew closer from far to near and were soon before them, before
descending onto an open space that no one dared to approach.

He did not recognize the rest other than Cheng DongQing and Hu KangNing.

You XiaoMo originally thought that Hu Feng and Tang Hao who he met in Bei Dong’s Tian
Xiang City would also be here. He determined that they really did not come since he still
had not seen a trace of their figures until now.
He did not know that Hu Feng and Tang Hao had been in confinement because they did not
complete their Heavenly Caldron mission.

Continuing after them, Xiong Xiao’s Green Tortoise had also appeared. The gigantic Green
Tortoise obscured the sky above, plunging the ground below into shadows. The Green
Tortoise searched for a piece of vacant area before descending.

Xiong Xiao and Qiao WuShuang simultaneously jumped off the back of the Green Tortoise.
Whether it was a coincidence or not, they just happened to land near where You XiaoMo
and Ling Xiao were standing, and had long caught sight of them.

“Fellow Ling Mo, fellow You XiaoHa, we meet again.”

Xiong Xiao strode over, his stalwart face involuntarily let out a hint of cheer.

You XiaoMo was once again embarrassed by his address of ‘You XiaoHa’. He would not have
let Ling Xiao speak first if he had known earlier. In the end, it became something like You
XiaoHa. Ling Xiao’s alias was great. Using one of the letters from his name, Ling Mo Ling Mo,
it even sounded good too.

Ling Xiao casually replied, “We just arrived.”

Qiao WuShuang saw that You XiaoMo’s face was crumpled into a ball and asked with a
touch of care, “Fellow You, what happened to you?”

You XiaoMo was comforted at once by his address of ‘Fellow You’. It was so much better
than You XiaoHa and he smiled in satisfaction, “Nothing, I am just pondering over the
biggest problem in my life.”

Qiao WuShuang discreetly asked, “Dare I ask what the biggest problem in your life is?”

You XiaoMo sighed, “My surname is You. The main family from the Vermilion Blood Clan is
also surnamed You. I say, you do think that I could be one of their clansmen that was
stranded outside?”

“Er… …” Qiao WuShuang was stunned.

“It seems like there are all kinds of people in the world now. Any Tom, Dick or Harry also
dares to pretend to be a person from the Vermilion Blood Clan without even considering
their own status. On what basis are you worthy?!”

A mocking sneer abruptly sounded by his ear. The malicious tone and deliberate pitching of
voice was a personal attack directed at You XiaoMo that was brimming with malevolence.
The crowd looked in the direction of the voice. It was an ‘acquaintance’ who had been sent
flying with a kick by Ling Xiao – Hu KangNing.

You QingShan and You Ming were beside Hu KangNing. The expressions of the two were
cryptic and it was hard to tell what they thought about the words that had been said to You
XiaoMo. But it was apparent that they also approved of what he said, seeing as they did not
tell off Hu KangNing.

You XiaoMo eyed them before he nonchalantly recalled his gaze and continued to look at
and talk with Qiao WuShang, “I say, do you think I should change my surname? Otherwise,
other people may think that I have some relation to that group of people who only know
how to look at people through their nostrils. Then wouldn’t the one at a disadvantage be
me?”

Qiao WuShang could only give a hollow laugh.

Chapter 399: You’ll Get Pregnant

Translated by Jouissance of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

The expressions of the “nostrils-for-eyes” Vermilion Blood Clan twisted as one.

You XiaoMo’s words truly showed his talent for offending people. Though he hadn’t
specified who he was talking about explicitly, anyone would know who he meant. Plus,
these words were even said in front of very people he was talking about, so the effects
were even more impactful.

The only one who knew the full situation was Ling Xiao, who silently gazed skywards.

Yet, what was unexpected was that the Vermilion Blood Clan’s people didn’t erupt in rage
then and there.

Hu KangNing’s complexion had turned ugly, but, as if being held back by someone, didn’t
act despite how he was trembling with rage, red-eyed, and looking as if he wanted to rip
You XiaoMo to shreds.

The person who was stopping him was You QingShan.

It was then that Cheng DongQing from the Mage Guild glanced at You XiaoMo with an
insincere smile and said to You QingShan, “Brother QingShan, I truly admire your restraint
after being insulted like that by this buffon!”

You QingShan was unmoved, mildly replying, “You said yourself that he was nothing more
than a buffoon, so arguing with him is just going to bring us down to his level. I don’t have
the time for that.”

Cheng DongQing’s complexion shifted slightly, remembering how he had argued with You
XiaoMo before. But it couldn’t really be considered arguing, and he quickly pushed it out of
mind, agreeing with the other weakly, “Brother QingShan is very right.”

This was the first time he had received such a counterattack by an opponent and You
XiaoMo didn’t know how to react..

After a moment, You XiaoMo looked at Ling Xiao with wide eyes.

Ling Xiao sighed softly. “Didn’t I tell you that you shouldn’t talk to people with ‘nostrils for
eyes’? But you didn’t believe me. Don’t you know that talking with them can get you
pregnant?”
“Pfft-“ You XiaoMo laughed so hard that his chest hurt.

He was wrong; this was the real final boss!

Around them, the expressions of those who heard this twisted. You’d get pregnant hearing
someone talk, that truly was a new phrase. Most people were like You XiaoMo and couldn’t
hold in their laughter. However, they were more reserved, turning to chuckle into their
hands.

Hearing this sentence, You QingShan’s gaze turned cold enough to create ice. Yet he didn’t
want to get into anything with them, because of what he had said before. This was the
fabled, “digging oneself into a ditch.”

“No need to bother with them. It’s almost time. Let’s go.”

Ling Ming came out to help him the out of the awkward situation.

Cheng QingShan glanced at You XiaoMo darkly, his gaze baring murderous intent. Though
he hadn’t acted, he had etched You XiaoMo and Ling Xiao’s appearance into his mind.

If You XiaoMo knew what he was thinking, he would tell the other that their appearances
were fake.

Xiong Xiao and Qiao WuShuang looked at You XiaoMo and Ling Xiao, not knowing if they
should cry or laugh. It was hard to believe they could come up with something like that.
They had managed to completely destroy any chance of a good relationship with You
QingShan today. None of the Vermilion Blood Clan’s people were forgiving.

Xiong Xiao was the first to let go of his reservations. In reality, he had long since began to
look on the clansmen of the Vermilion Blood Clan with distaste. They were all arrogant like
they had gotten ten thousand two five eights*. If it wasn’t for his position, he would’ve
done something like that ages ago.

“You two really exceeded my expectations.” Xiong Xiao was exuberant, laughing freely. “But
that was great!”

“It was nothing!” You XiaoMo said humbly, smiling so much that his eyes were slits.

Qiao WuShuang shook his head with a smile. After entering the Underground Palace, the
Vermilion Blood Clan would certainly come after them, yet they could still smile like that.

As the time got closer, tension began to fill the air.

Qiao WuShuang seemed to see someone he knew and suddenly said, “I have something to
do, so I’ll be taking my leave.”

After that, he began to walk towards a group of people on a distant mountain. They were
powerhouses that had just appeared, radiating an intense aura.

Xiong Xiao said, “They’re from the Beast Transfiguration Guild.”

You XiaoMo’s eyes lit up. “Qiao-dage is from the Beast Transfiguration Guild?”

Xiong Xiao replied with surprise, “That’s right. You don’t know?” Qiao WuShuang was very
famous in the Southern Continent. Logically, there shouldn’t be anyone who hadn’t heard
of him.

You XiaoMo laughed and said, “Now I do.”

This really was an effortless find when they had no idea how to proceed. With their
relationship with Qiao Wu Shuang now, it’d be easier for him to learn Beast Transfiguration.

Xiong Xiao glanced over at the Broken Valley, saying to them, “The entrance of the
Underground Palace is about to appear. You guys be careful. I need to go and meet up with
the others, so I’ll be taking my leave.”

You XiaoMo waved at him.

There were many people who had rushed here to the June Mountains. Apart from the a
superclan like the Vermilion Blood Clan, there were quite a few other groups, all powerful
sects of the Southern Continent and some infamous names, too. As time went on, these
people all pressed towards the entrance of the Broken Valley.

You XiaoMo and Ling Xiao were rather far back, but they had an eighth of an hour, so they
weren’t very worried.

After about ten minutes, an excited voice yelled out from the front, “The entrance to the
Underground Palace has appeared!”

As the voice rung out, the crowd raced forwards with impatience.

The crowd swarmed into Broken Valley like ants. Even the weaker practitioners and mages
ran towards their deaths as if bewitched.

The result was as expected. None of them lived and were all torn asunder by the sharp
winds, falling at the entrance in gruesome pieces. The people’s minds finally cleared at
seeing this, sorrowfully looking at the already dead people and afraid to reckless charge
inside. All they could do was stand at the entrance looking and sighing.

As for the Vermilion Blood Clan and other groups, they darted inside under the guidance of
their elites.

You XiaoMo hurriedly pulled Ling Xiao over. They hadn’t even entered the Broken Valley
when they felt a cold, dark presence, as if their very souls were trembling.

After entering with the others, two towering cliffsides appeared in view, covered in moss
that formed jagged shapes on the walls, looking foreboding. In front of them were the
raging winds, emitting chilling howls like screaming ghosts.

You XiaoMo raised his head and looked up, seeing a small crack in the air as he had thought
he would.

This crack had been here for many years and more and more Spatial Force drifted out from
the crack, so only Emperor Level and above cultivators could endure it.

No one dared to approach the crack, avoiding it with their lives.

You XiaoMo could see the Vermilion Blood Clan at the front, their figures blurring. The
others followed them like an osseous disease. They were all so careful, terrified of getting
lost.

But this was understandable. Though everyone knew that Broken Valley was where the
Underground Palace would appear, the valley was massive. From the outside, it might only
seem two hundred meters wide, but it was thousands of meters deep and the dangerous
winds raged everywhere. They couldn’t find it by walking through the entire thing. So the
best method was to follow the Vermilion Blood Clan.

“Let’s go.” Ling Xiao grabbed his hand and pulled him forwards.

You XiaoMo followed at once. Though they already knew where the entrance was, they
couldn’t show it or else the Vermilion Blood Clan would suspect them to be the
perpetrators of the incident at the castellan.

They didn’t know this, but You Ming, near to the front, was indeed observing them.

When he saw You XiaoMo and Ling Xiao, they immediately caught his attention, especially
that Ling Xiao. This man made him feel as if he could see through the other, yet as if he
couldn’t at the same time, enveloped in a mirage and difficult to identify.
Though he wasn’t sure if it was them that killed Hu Yin and Hu Lu, he was already suspicious
of the two.

“Ahhh!!!”

As everyone advanced, a sharp scream suddenly rung out. Two seconds later, with the poof
of a small explosion, the scream came to an abrupt halt.

Some poor guy had managed to get himself carried over to the crack by the winds. He had
only just approached when the special force coming out of the crack killed him. The air was
filled with blood, the winds carrying it further. Some people didn’t dodge in time and was
splattered with a face full.

You XiaoMo hid behind Ling Xiao, using him to block the blood.

Of course, the rain of blood didn’t touch Ling Xiao, not even the corners of his clothes.

After a while, You XiaoMo was dragged back in front by Ling Xiao.

“My wife, it’s just a death. It’s not like you haven’t witnessed death before. This is just a
small thing; there’s no need for fear.”

You XiaoMo rolled his eyes. “But it’s still disgusting.”

Human bodies were still fragile. Organs like the liver and guts had been blended into the
rain of blood as well. If it really had splattered on his body, he would be sick for days.

Ling Xiao smiled. “You’ll get used to it.”

You XiaoMo replied, “I’d rather never get used to it.” That was because getting used to it
meant that he might be met with even more similar situations.

That was when the crowd came to a halt.

It seemed that the entrance to the Underground Palace had been found. The powerful
groups, including the Cang Alliance and Beast Transfiguration Guild, gathered around. The
large group seemed to be confirming if this was the entrance to the Underground Palace or
not together.
Chapter 400: A Rare New Metal

Translated by Crystal of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

“On the border of this tunnel is an unrecognizable metal element mineral. This old fellow
here has seen some books about the Metal Swallowing Beast’s habits. It likes to stay in
places of the metal element minerals, so this should be the right place.” Huang FuLi of the
Beast Transfiguration Guild said first while stroking his beard.

As he finished, You Ming walked in, taking the Vermillion Blood clan members with him.

Seeing this, others couldn’t help but swear under their breath, clearly You Ming knew
beforehand this was the right tunnel, but he didn’t say anything. It wasn’t until the Beast
Transfiguration Guild members said it before he moved, his motive was clear as day.

No one was willing to fall behind and went in one after another.

It wasn’t long before the people surrounding the tunnel entrance depleted by half.

Due to the time restraint, even those further away from the entrance hurried over. Some,
who were too impatient, were almost cut by the strong wind.

By the time You XiaoMo and Ling Xiao arrived at the entrance, members of the forces were
almost all gone.

“Doesn’t this hole look like CatQiu’s mouth?” You XiaoMo tilted his head up to see the
shape of the tunnel entrance. It was a rare circular shape, it felt similar to how CatQiu
looked while yawning. However, as they were about to go hunting for treasure, he was a bit
excited.

Ling Xiao looked at him and said, “CatQiu hasn’t fully developed yet.”

You XiaoMo ignored him.

The two followed everyone and walked in. The inside was still relatively bright; however, it
wasn’t long before it suddenly dimmed. When everyone looked back, the entrance had
disappeared.

Half an hour hadn’t passed by before the entrance disappeared, it was two minutes early,
leaving those outside, who were about to go in, speechless.

“Good thing we came in early.” You XiaoMo said feeling relieved.

Everyone else felt slightly worried as well, it was a good thing that they had the foresight to
come in first. However, it also meant that the treasure inside had nothing to do with those
outside. Everyone felt some slight relief that there was less competition. However,
unbeknownst to them, who knows which group would be luckier!

Afterwards, the lucky ones quickened their pace to catch up with the main group. The
rushing footsteps created a large echo.

You XiaoMo was not as impatient as them, as he walked along with Ling Xiao, he was also
eyeing the situation inside the cave.

As Huang FuLi said earlier, the Metal Swallowing Beast did like to stay where there were
metal element minerals. Therefore, here one could see all sorts of minerals and the deeper
in, the darker the colors.

About a thousand meters in, they finally arrived at a split juncture.

There were three routes, on the right was a road filled with the metal element minerals
they saw before, giving off a slight fluctuation of soul force.

On the left was a yellowish-brown road, with the entrance covered in a yellow sand-dirt. It
didn’t seem like there would be treasures.

Last but not least was the middle, this was the plainest, pitch dark and with nothing.
Without a doubt everyone chooses the right tunnel because the Metal Swallowing Beast
ate metal element minerals and only the right-hand tunnel had it, so it must be that the
beast was inside.

You XiaoMo thought the same as them when suddenly Ling Xiao grabbed a hold of his hand
and whispered, “We are going to middle one.”

“Why?” You XiaoMo asked quietly.

Ling Xiao said, “Because the Vermillion Blood Clan also went with this route.”

You XiaoMo lifted his head, “How do you know?”

Ling Xiao replied, “This route has leftovers of their scent.”

You XiaoMo bit his lower lip and very sensibly kept the ‘are you a dog’ comment to himself.

Ling Xiao, as if noticing something, lowered his head and stared at him with his black eyes,
“What did you want to say earlier?”

With a cough You XiaoMo said, “Nothing…”

Just when they thought that only they would walk the middle path, after they went in, a
few more people followed them. It seemed that they were all solo practitioners, all with
their heads down, trying to not make eye contact.

You XiaoMo glanced over before continuing. It didn’t take long before the view in front of
them suddenly became clear.

It was a huge, as if endless, karst cave. Both the top and bottom were filled with stalactites
of all shapes and sizes. There were no boundaries in sight and the dark undergrounds were
illuminated by these stalactites.
No wonder there were people who called the June Mountain Ranges an underground
palace, if it was filled with these kinds of karst caves, then it really does look like a natural
palace.

The karst cave seemed to have existed for more than ten thousand years. Wherever they
walked, it was all sort of stalactites eroded to different shapes and sizes, all beautiful. It
itself was a sight to behold.

It was the first time that You XiaoMo had seen a karst cave this big, taking in the view, even
the smallest stalactite was twenty or so meters long. The biggest were well over hundred
meters and the stalactites above periodically dripped water creating a rhythmic on the
ground.

Everyone had a fast pacing thus it took just about an hour to reach the end of the field of
stalactites to a bizarre world of stone flowers. From the wall to the ground were patches of
stone from black sediments. These rocks had the shape of a flower thus it was known as
stone flowers.

Seeing this scene, those behind You XiaoMo and Ling Xiao finally became impatient.

There was nothing of value here, their goal was the Metal Swallowing Beast, they didn’t
have time to waste here. At the same time, they were regretting their decisions, they
should have gone with the others to the right-hand path.

Once they left, You XiaoMo immediately ran over to a meter-long black stone flower and
examined it closely. Absorbed in thought he said, “There seems to be something inside
these stones.”

“Let’s see, use your soul force and cut it open.” Ling Xiao walked over and said.

You XiaoMo had the same idea in mind, however this black material was unusually hard, he
was dripping in sweat before it finally opened. Not only that, this was the smallest stone
flower.
“What is this small thing?” You XiaoMo took out a black material from within the stone
flower, it was the size of a thumb, way too small.

Ling Xiao stroked his chin and said thoughtfully, “If my guess is correct, this is a newborn
black metal element mineral, from many years of mutation.”

You XiaoMo tried cutting this black stone however all that was left was a white streak. It
was so hard that even he couldn’t do anything about it, his expression shifted to one of
happiness rather than surprise.

“If we get a few more of these black rocks, couldn’t we use it to lure the Metal Swallowing
Beast?”

“We can give it a try.”

And thus, the two split their work while cooperating. Ling Xiao was much faster than You
XiaoMo, by the time he cut opened the second one, Ling Xiao was already on his tenth.

When You XiaoMo turned around and saw this, he just left it to him and instead ran behind
him collecting rocks. The stone flowers Ling Xiao choose were all relatively big, with the
biggest in the double digits. From the biggest he dug up a stone with a diameter of twenty
centimeters, the others were all around ten.

It was after they had dug up twenty pieces, when Ling Xiao stopped.

You XiaoMo weighted it and also felt that it was enough.

Walking further ahead, they noticed the large amounts of shattered stone flowers with the
black stones inside dug out. Clearly, someone else also knew of the contents inside.

By the time they walked out of the stone flower cave, in front of them was, once again, five
narrow passages headed towards five different directions. This time it was even harder to
choose.
Once again Ling Xiao used his sensitive…sense to find out the route that the Vermillion
Blood clan took. It was the third route, also the middle one. However, what surprised him
was that the other forces had took different paths. There was only one explanation, there
was a division of ideas among them.

Realizing this, Ling Xiao stopped hesitating and randomly choose a passage.

After walking for ten or so minutes, an echo came from ahead. It was the sound of a lot
people talking and by the time they arrived at the end of the passage, they could finally see
what kind of situation it was.

In an opened space with the size of three soccer fields, there was around two hundred
people, all ones who had gone in the underground palace. However, that were still less than
before and as expected, the Vermillion Blood Clan and the other forces were there. It
seemed like the five routes appeared to be leading to different directions but actually had
the same exit.

“What is going on, why is everyone gathered here?” You XiaoMo said quietly to Ling Xiao,
not only that, this open area didn’t seem natural at all. The walls clearly had man-made
prints on them and the tens of meters tall door, no matter how amazing nature was, it
couldn’t make a door appear.

Ling Xiao replied, “They’re probably thinking of how to push open that open.”

That door seemed to be made of a special material as a Emperor level practitioner went
ahead to push it but it didn’t budge and instead his face went red from pushing.

Now, the big forces were gathered around debating on how to open this door, Xiong Xiao
and Qiao WuShuang were included too. Although the two were young, in Tong Tian
Continent age didn’t matter as long as you had the strength to back it up.

“Ling Xiao…” You XiaoMo’s voice sounded, quiet as a fly’s buzzing.

When Ling Xiao turned around to look, he saw him plastered to the wall like a gecko. Seeing
that Ling Xiao turned around, he giggled and waved him over, eyes shining.
Chapter 401: That Ass-Kissing Chicken

Translated by Rachel of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Ling Xiao folded his arms and looked at You XiaoMo with his eyebrows raised. “Are you
imagining yourself as a lizard?”

You XiaoMo ignored his ridicule and beckoned him over to speak, “Pretend to walk over as
if nothing is happening. I have important things to tell you.”

Ling Xiao did as told. But instead of acting like nothing was going on, he pretended to walk
over as if he was a man with a purpose. “Spit it out. What are you playing at?”

“I found out that there could be a secret mechanism here.” You XiaoMo whispered.

“Really? Let me see.” Ling Xiao pried You XiaoMo away from the wall that his body was
pressed against. Sure enough, he saw a fine crack on the wall, not more than one
centimetre in width and twenty centimetres in length, forming a square.

“I suspect this could be a mechanism. Maybe if you press down on it a door of some sort
would appear.” Before this, You XiaoMo felt that for such a big place there must be some of
secret mechanism somewhere. If not, it would surely not live up to the name of being an
underground palace. So he felt around and had really found it.

“You give it a try.” Ling Xiao said.

Rubbing his hands together with enthusiasm, You XiaoMo was itching to proceed.

“Then I’m pressing it.” His hands had already reached for it.

Ling Xiao was about to say something, but You XiaoMo had already pressed down on it.

Then… there was no then.

At this moment, a female practitioner in front suddenly whipped her head around to look
back. Seeing the empty space behind her, she made a sound of confusion.

The male beside her heard her voice and turned his head to ask, “Shimei, what’s wrong?”

“Shixiong, I think I heard something from the back. And I think I saw two people there just
now. They disappeared when I turned around.” The female practitioner kept thinking that it
was her eyes playing tricks on her but it didn’t feel like it either. She seemed to have really
heard something.

“Maybe it’s just two weirdos. There are a lot of eccentric people who entered the
underground palace this time. Just ignore them. We just need to watch out for ourselves.”
The man chuckled.

“Ahhhh!!!”

In the pitch black tunnel, a high pitched scream, mixed with the sound of surfaces scraping
each other, could be heard, amplified several times in the narrow space.

You XiaoMo tightly clinged to Ling Xiao but his body was constantly sliding downwards due
to inertia. This blasted thing! He didn’t think it was really a secret mechanism. After he
activated the mechanism, a long and winding sliding tunnel appeared. They didn’t know
where it led, all they knew was that they were sliding down non-stop.

Ling Xiao wrapped his hands around You XiaoMo’s waist as he changed their positions.
After he was sure that they were in no imminent danger, he took the time to scrutinise the
sliding tunnel. The tunnel was about a meter wide and pitch black. He then felt the surface
of the sliding tunnel. It was slippery and ice cold too, like it was made from some sort of
metal.

After sliding for nearly twenty minutes, a trace of light appeared in front of them.

It was like a beacon in the pitch black tunnel.

You XiaoMo had also noticed and he asked fearfully, “There aren’t spikes at the end of the
tunnel, are there?”

“That’s great. It just happens to satisfy your hunger for secret mechanisms.” Ling Xiao
replied.

You XiaoMo chose to ignore him as he wrapped his arms around Ling Xiao’s neck even
tighter, the crushing force of his arms directly conveyed to Ling Xiao that ‘I die, you die too’.

Ling Xiao grunted.

“Ah!” When the two of them reached the end of the tunnel and fell downwards, You
XiaoMo let out yet another high pitched scream. Even though he already braced himself for
the impact, he was still separated from Ling Xiao when they tumbled out.
You XiaoMo flailed his arms in the air frantically and made all sorts of weird poses as he
glared at a gloating Ling Xiao not far away.

Ling Xiao was greatly amused. He only went to catch him after his eyes were tired from
watching You XiaoMo flail around.

Meanwhile, You Ming and the rest had finally reached a conclusion. The palace gates
weren’t just ordinarily heavy, from their estimations, they definitely exceeded a hundred
million tons. Blasting them open was not an option as it might cause the palace to collapse
so they could rely on the powerhouses to do something.

But there was the problem.

There weren’t many that were deemed as true powerhouses and You Ming and his gang
had no intention of being the cat’s paw for these people. Other than the Vermillion Blood
Clan and a few other big forces, there were many others there.

For this matter, they argued again before finally deciding that each of the major forces were
to send two powerhouses out. As for the those practitioners not belonging to any faction,
they also had to select twenty representatives. As for who to send, it was up to them to
decide.

You Ming looked at the noisy crowd and suddenly frowned.

You QingShan, who was standing beside him, voiced out his thoughts. “The two of them
don’t seem to be here.”

“It’s not ‘seem to be’, they are not here.” You Ming said. He originally wanted to take this
chance to test out Ling Xiao’s power but there’s nothing he could do if the man himself
wasn’t present.

You Ming initially thought that they would definitely show up but now, the two of them
were nowhere to be seen. He started to have his suspicions. Don’t tell me they weren’t the
ones who killed and set fire that night?

Not long after, the group of practitioners without factions had selected their twenty
representatives.

With the concerted efforts of everyone present, the tightly shut palace gates gave a heavy
rumble. Under the intense gaze of everyone, the gap between the gates got wider and
wider. When the gap widened just enough for one person to pass through, the ground
started to shake and the faint sound of chains pulling could be heard. It continued for about
ten seconds or more before the people pushing the door jumped aside at the same time.

It looked as if the gates had triggered some mechanism as they automatically opened, the
sight at the gates leaped into their eyes.

……

You XiaoMo’s butt plopped onto the ground. Not one part of his body was clean.

This wasn’t the first time he had fallen. Ever since he fell, not once was he not unlucky. He
always thought some exquisite or ornate infrastructure would be waiting for him at the end
of he sliding tunnel but what he got was an underground world made up of yellow dirt.
There was yellow mud everywhere, causing him to keep falling.

“When can we get out of here?” You XiaoMo groaned as he took a handful of mud and
flung it forward forcefully. Only a small bit left his hand, while most of it remained stuck to
it. This was the part he hated the most, he didn’t know what kind of mud it was but it was
especially sticky. He had to clean up every time.

Ling Xiao flicked the sticky mud off his robe and said, “Just bear with it for a little while
longer. We should be near the exit.”

At that moment, You XiaoMo asked in a puzzled voice, “Oh, what’s this?”

Ling Xiao looked sideways towards him. Not only did You XiaoMo not get rid of the mud on
his hands, he knelt down and started digging a hole. Not long after, a yellow crystal
appeared in his hands.

The crystal was buried in the mud and was almost not visible. It was about as big as a nail
and if not for his accidental discovery, they probably wouldn’t know that there were such
things laying around in the mud.

You XiaoMo’s intuition told him this was good stuff. He kept the crystal before resuming his
digging. Eventually, he really did dig out another crystal of a similar size.

Ling Xiao picked up a yellow crystal and studied it. He found some glittering gold spots in it.

You XiaoMo raised his head and asked, “Do you know what this is?”

“Your man isn’t multi-functional.”

You XiaoMo pursed his lips and ignored him. If he didn’t know about the crystal then forget
it. Anyways, all that mattered was that he thought that it was good stuff. The more good
stuff, the better. Even if it wasn’t, it was sparkly and it looked nice. SheQiu and the rest
should like it.

Thinking of SheQiu, You XiaoMo’s eyes glimmered. Ever since they came to Tong Tian
Continent, he had only summoned CatQiu. The main reason being that too many things
were going on during this time. Now was as good time to bring them out to help find yellow
crystals.

The once empty place now had five people and one beast after You XiaoMo hatched that
thought in his mind. The beast being the little chick that had yet to learn how to take on a
human form.

When he saw the little chick, You XiaoMo realised he had accidentally let the chicken out.
Just as he was about to put it back into his dimension, it was as if the little chick read his
thoughts and quickly flapped its way up to PiQiu’s head. Its two feet had a vice grip on poor
PiQiu’s already sparse hair as it spread its wings and chirped at You XiaoMo with a defiant
look that said, ‘I’m definitely not going back’.

You XiaoMo almost burst out laughing, but he was also quite puzzled. Why did it choose
PiQiu?

Very soon, he got the answer to his question. SheQiu and the rest seemed accustomed to
seeing this, as if it wasn’t their first time witnessing such a scene. Looked like even the little
chick knew how to choose the weak ones to pick on. You XiaoMo was once an easy target
to pick on too.

“Master, what do you need us to do?” MaoQiu, the only female present, lowered her head
to look the yellow mud that quickly stuck to her dress and frowned slightly. She was a bit of
a clean freak.

You XiaoMo didn’t notice the looks of disdain his contract beasts were giving him as he
showed them the yellow crystals in his hand. “Help me dig for this stuff.”

The beasts looked towards each other but no one took action.

In the end, the first one to react was the little chick on Piqiu’s head instead. Its claws finally
released PiQiu’s hair and flapped its bare wings, taking its own time to land before You
XiaoMo. Then, it stared intensely at the yellow crystal that peeked out from the mud. About
ten seconds later, it resolved itself and aimed its sharp beak at the crystal precisely, picking
the crystal up with its beak before quickly dragging it out of the sticky mud.

The little chick soon swelled with pride. With a yellow crystal in its beak, it flew over to You
XiaoMo to take credit for its work.
You XiaoMo had nothing to say. Clearly, he was the one who dug up that crystal and placed
it on the ground. And this chicken actually took the crystal he dug in front of him to kiss his
ass! After staring down the chicken for a moment, You XiaoMo finally extended his hand to
retrieve the crystal from its beak. But as a result of his carelessness, the sticky mud on his
hand got stuck on the little chick’s beak.

The little chick froze. A moment later, a shrill sound pierced the air.

Chirp! Chirp!
Chapter 402: A Degrading Name

Translated by Kollumceti of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Looking at the chick that was crying so sadly and shrilly, You XiaoMo was struck dumb.

After a few minutes, a hand lifted the chick. The owner of the hand casually threw it to
PiQiu. PiQiu could only accept his fate and help the chick clean up the mud on its beak. Only
then did the chick stop its crying.

Ling Xiao domineeringly shot them a glance, “What are you all staring blanking for? Hurry
up and dig!”

The five immediately took action.

You XiaoMo sighed. Sure enough, Ling Xiao had more authority than him, the master, but
he had long become numb to this fact.

The chick no longer joined the troops. He had originally wanted to stay on his master’s
head. But after seeing the yellow clay stuck in his master’s hair, he immediately abandoned
his own master and returned to PiQiu’s head once again. He fastened himself so tightly on
top as if trying to merge their bodies.

The speed increased with five people joining.

It was not long before there were several dozen piles of small yellow crystals beside You
XiaoMo. Afterwards, he let everyone stop.

Other than the clean and neat Ling Xiao and the chick, the rest had all turned into mud
men. This was especially so for You XiaoMo whose face was nearly covered completely in
clay. In the end, everyone was chased by Ling Xiao into his dimension to wash themselves.
There was a small lake in his dimension filled with ordinary water.

When they came out again, Ling Xiao had already walked out of the loess world.

The chick, which had been left with him, was already contentedly standing on his shoulder.
It probably really wanted to take the top of Ling Xiao’s head as its nest, but it didn’t dare to.

You XiaoMo was not used to seeing the suddenly law-abiding chick because it would always
be making an incessant disturbance every time he saw it.
SheQiu and the rest had also followed him out. This time, You XiaoMo did not intend to let
them enter his dimension. Everyone must be self-reliant from now on.

The taciturn LanQiu suddenly said, “Master, after we come out, I have something to do.
May I leave for a period of time?”

“What is it?” You XiaoMo did not think that the first to respond to him would be LanQiu.

LanQiu replied, “I want to go back to take a look at my hometown.” The Seven Sins Beasts
only existed in the Tong Tian Continent so his hometown was here. He had not returned for
many years and wanted to know how his other six brothers were doing.

Before You XiaoMo could reply, the chick suddenly flew up.

“Chirp chirp!”

Xiao Mo blinked vacantly.

The chick was so anxious that it started flying around in circles.

Ling Xiao opened his mouth and stated, “Take this chicken together with you too when you
go.”

You XiaoMo and everyone else stared at him. You want to abandon this chicken, huh?

Ling Xiao calmly explained, “Its hometown is also in Xi Jing and every Ancient Demon
Phoenix must return to their clan to receive their inheritance. This chicken's bloodline is
very pure. If it can return to the Demon Phoenix Clan, it may be integrated into the Demon
Phoenix Valley in the future.”

This chicken, this chicken, people were obviously Demon Phoenixes.

You XiaoMo’s mouth was wide open.

Ling Xiao lightly commented, “He is your contracted demon beast.”

You XiaoMo immediately understood what he meant and looked at him with even more
incredibility. The chick was his contracted demon beast. If it inherited the Demon Phoenix
Valley in the future, this was tantamount to having the entire Demon Phoenix Valley in his
pocket.

Sure enough Ling Xiao was the only one able to think of such a malicious and visionary idea.
The chick had a contractual relationship with You XiaoMo, so even if the two were
separated, they could still sense the each other's existence and aura through their minds.
This would not only would create a sense of familiarity, but it would even draw the
relationship of the two closer together.

The reason why the chick was frantically chirping just now was because it had the desire to
return to the Demon Phoenix Valley. Although it had been born not long ago, there was an
innate connection between the Demon Phoenixes. It could sense that the Demon Phoenix
Valley was beckoning it back.

Xi Jing was a world inhabited by demon beasts like the Four Divine Emperor Beasts, the
Seven Sins Beasts, Yin Ge’s father, the Nine-Headed Snake King, and other powerhouses.
Each and every one all dwelled inside Xi Jing.

Actually, he already had this idea long before knowing of the chick’s breed. After arriving in
the Tong Tian Continent, this idea surfaced over and over again. However, it had been
repeatedly shelved because the chick was not strong enough, and they were not able to
escort it to the Demon Phoenix Valley for the time being.

It was only until now, when LanQiu proposed his intention of returning to his hometown in
Xi Jing did he feel that this was an opportunity.

Though LanQiu was still not strong enough, as long as he escorted the chick to Xi Jing, the
people from the Demon Phoenix Valley would naturally be able to find it.

LanQiu agreed without further ado. This was a good opportunity to gain a favor from the
Demon Phoenix Valley.

Thus, the final destination of the chick was determined in this manner.

“I’ll give the chick a name before it returns. We can’t always call it chick or chicken right?
After all, it is an Ancient Demon Phoenix. That would be too degrading.” You XiaoMo
suddenly interjected.

Once this statement came out, except for the ignorant chick, everyone simultaneously
looked at You XiaoMo.

Everyone had different expressions, but they all conveyed the same meaning – do you
mean that being called SheQiu (HeiQiu, MaoQiu, PiQiu, LanQiu) wouldn’t be degrading, ma?

With their silence serving as a foil, the chick joyously chirped away. It had long felt that this
name of ‘chick’ was totally unbecoming and wanted to change it at once. Unfortunately, it
did not know how to speak and the others would thoroughly ignore it even if it was
speaking in Bird.

You XiaoMo pretended not to see their expressions and smiled, “Look at it, it’s very happy.”

Everyone rolled their eyes. Thinking about how they had been unknowingly deceived that
way in the beginning, they could only hatefully regret their past deeds.

“Chirp?” The chick found that the atmosphere was not quite right.

You XiaoMo immediately asked Ling Xiao, “What name do you think is good?”

The chick immediately looked at Ling Xiao with incomparable expectation.

Ling Xiao indifferently spit out two words, “HunQiu.”

<strong> t/n: HunQiu(混球) literally translated as Douche-ball. Ahaha! I can’t, Boss just
too strong and this is not even a pun for Qiu(Ball), it’s a real word for bastard, jerk,
asshole, etc. </strong>

You XiaoMo, “…”

The chick, “…”

SheQiu and the four’s inner voice – Master, we were wrong. You really are the kindest!

At this moment, they were incomparable grateful that the person who named them in the
beginning was not Boss Ling Xiao. If they carried such a name on their heads, they would
not dare to leave the house again in this lifetime.

Ling Xiao said again, “This matter is concluded now, let’s talk about proper business…”

Everyone's expression immediately became solemn.

……

Deep in the underground palace, a half-meter-high ancient stone platform stood in the
middle of a simple and crude stone room. A stone of one meter in size lay quietly on top of
the stone platform. The surface of the stone was suffused with black, red and gold. The
brilliant lights and vibrant colors from the stone exuded strong fluctuations of spiritual
power.

In a flash, the door to the stone room was suddenly pushed open from the outside. Two
people, an old and a young man, came in. Astonishingly, it was You Ming and You QingShan.
It was unknown why they were the only two who reached here among those who entered
the underground palace.

“Old Ming, are you certain that it’s here?” You QingShan glanced around the stone room,
only to see the stone on the stone platform. There was nothing else and he could not
refrain from doubting.

“There should be no mistake.” You Ming was actually not very sure too, especially after
seeing this extremely simple and crude stone room. He simply did not see a shadow of that
Metal Swallowing Beast.

You QingShan walked to the stone platform and frowned at he stared at the stone on top of
it, “Old Ming, come here and take a look. Is there something strange inside this stone?”

You Ming quickly walked over. As the stone was a dark gold color, so he could not see
clearly. But he could see an indistinct shadow with his strength of vision. The pupils of his
eyes suddenly shrunk and he stared at that shadow for ten seconds without blinking, before
he stuttered out.

“It-it’s the Metal Swallowing Beast! There’s no mistake! The Metal Swallowing Beast is
inside.”

A hint of ecstasy suddenly rose on You QingShan's face. His entire person was so excited
that he was about to throw himself up to take a closer look when a crack suddenly split
open on the stone with a ‘bang’.

You QingShan immediately exploded back without further ado. However, he was a step too
slow. The Metal Swallowing Beast in the stone broke through its bindings in an instant.
Shooting out from inside as fast as lightning, it directly knocked against You QingShan’s
chest. Blood sprayed out in an instant. After injuring him, the Metal Swallowing Beast fled
out of the stone room.

“Don't worry about me, chase after it.”

You Ming had wanted to take a look at his injury, but after hearing this, he did not hesitate
to chase after the Metal Swallowing Beast and rushed out of the stone room.

You QingShan wiped the blood from his mouth and a glint of ruthlessness and malice
flashed through his eyes. Fortunately, he took preventive measures and put a layer of
defense on the most vital part of his body. Otherwise, he would not be vomiting blood now,
but would have been seriously injured.

After ruminating on his luck for a while, You QingShan immediately searched for the signs
left by You Ming by the wayside and followed after.

The Metal Swallowing Beast was like a slippery loach. Although was not as strong as You
Ming, it was extremely fast. It seemed to be able to foresee when ever You Ming chased
after it and left earlier, leading You Ming in circles around the underground palace. In the
end, it was discovered by some people following its tracks.

“The Metal Swallowing Beast, I’ve found the Metal Swallowing Beast!”

The people who saw the Metal Swallowing Beast were all ecstatic, and a person even
started shouting loudly. As a result, even more people were attracted over.

“Asshole!” You Ming cursed with a black face. He had wanted to secretly subdue the Metal
Swallowing Beast. Actually making its location widely known, everything was going so
swimmingly!

As more people knew about it now, the more unfavorable it became for him. Those people
from the Cang Alliance would definitely rush over and it would not take them long. At that
time, his chances would be even lower. He needed to seize the Metal Swallowing Beast
before they came over.

After waiting for You Ming’s figure to disappear, that person who shouted loudly just now
suddenly sneered in the direction You Ming disappeared in.

You want to hog the Metal Swallowing Beast? Dream on!

If Laozi can’t get it, you all from the Vermillion Blood Clan can’t get it either.
t/n: Laozi: prefer to oneself in a very arrogant, anger way.
Chapter 403: Lying in Wait?

Translated by Jouissance of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

The entire underground was up in arms about the appearance of the Metal Swallowing
Beast.

You XiaoMo who was busy digging up rocks suddenly raised his head and looked in the
direction of the sound in disappointment. Those people had arrived so quickly, he hadn’t
dug up as much as he wanted yet.

Ling Xiao walked over. “We have to leave here soon. Another half hour and those people
will arrive.”

You XiaoMo could only pack away his hammer and chisel before putting all the crystals he
had dug out of the wall into his bag. These were all metal minerals. He had only thought of
collecting some half an hour ago. This was his only hobby after coming underground.

“Master, hurry, I can feel a very powerful person coming.” PiQiu also walked in. He had
already become a teenager of around fifteen years. However, his voice was still very
childlike. He was a kid who hadn’t entered puberty yet.

You XiaoMo sped up. “Alright, alright.”

Just over an hour ago, they had split up from LanQiu and the others. Ling Xiao had them go
look for the Eye of Golden Earth. Though he didn’t know what the Eye of Golden Earth was,
it must have something to do with what Ling Xiao had told him before. As for them, they
were going to find something called the Eye of the Sun.

According to Ling Xiao, the Eye of the Sun would be the area richest in the element of
metal, so they were walking in the direction where there was more metal.

After they left, many others came, as expected, all looking for the Metal Swallowing Beast.

One person walked into the stone room You XiaoMo was digging up crystals in and saw the
marks on the wall. He called out in surprise, “Look at this, everyone!”

The others outside immediately came inside after hearing this.

“It seems that the walls here have signs of being dug from by someone. Could it be the
Metal Swallowing Beast?” That person wondered aloud.
Another man walked over and frowned at the wall. “Why would the Metal Swallowing
Beast dig up the wall?”

That person said smugly, “You probably don’t know but the walls are filled with a type of
metal. The hardness and quality of this metal is pretty good, so the Metal Swallowing Beast
definitely would enjoy it. It’s not impossible that it dug the walls up to eat.”

As soon as he finished, the others ran out.

That person was stunned for a moment before he paled and hurriedly pursued the others.
How dumb of him. He shouldn’t have told anyone. If the marks on the wall really were left
by the Metal Swallowing Beast, that meant that it must still be nearby. Telling the others
meant that he had given himself many competitors.

Thus, You XiaoMo evolved into the Metal Swallowing Beast that everyone was fighting for.

Then, on You XiaoMo and Ling Xiao’s side, they followed the path with the richest element
of metal.

After checking repeatedly, Ling Xiao finally managed to figure out how this palace was
designed. It was designed to be like the Taichi’s yin and yang eyes, with two elements, yin
and yang.
<strong> t/n: yin: negative energy, yang: positive energy.</strong>

The yin referred to the place richest with the element of earth. That was where the Eye of
Golden Earth was.

The yang, on the other hand, was the area richest in Solar Power, and Solar Power was
closely related with the element of metal. So, the area richest in that element was also
called the Eye of the Sun.

Knowing that the palace was designed to be like a Taichi diagram made finding the Eye of
Golden Earth much easier.

<strong> t/n: Taichi diagram: <a href="Taijitu">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taijitu</a>

</strong>

However, the Underground Palace was too big. Though they knew that the Eye of the Sun
was towards the south, it would be troublesome to find. What was even more troublesome
was that the people who were looking for the Metal Swallowing Beast were all going south.
The Metal Swallowing Beast ate metal, so it would naturally flee towards more metal.

“Over there, I saw the Metal Swallowing Beast go that way!”

It was then that a delighted voice called out. With this voice, there were more and more
footsteps, but the sounds of footsteps quickly dispersed. Soon enough the tunnel was silent
again.

After a few moments, a suspicious figure appeared in the tunnel. The person looked
wretched, but his darkened eyes held a flash of clarity, laughing to himself creepily as he
walked along.

“Idiots. I would never tell you that the Metal Swallowing Beast actually ran this way. Now,
there’s no one to compete with me for the Metal Swallowing Beast.”

After that, he quietly crept along the tunnel towards a room. The room looked like a waiting
room and it was made entirely out of metal.

Just as he was about to reach the doorway, a blue figure suddenly darted out from inside
and in front of him before rapidly fleeing in the other direction.

The wretched man wasn’t surprised but delighted and pursued without hesitation. He was a
Three Star Emperor powerhouse and a speed oriented one. He had trained in many speed
techniques, so he was very confident about his speed.

As expected, though the Metal Swallowing Beast was fast, it was still being closed in on.

Anxiety flashed through the Metal Swallowing Beast’s blue eyes, but then they lit up. He
suddenly swerved and went in a different direction rich in the element of metal.

The wretched man, seeing the Metal Swallowing Beast choosing his path recklessly and
heading towards a wide, open area, laughed frighteningly. “You can’t run. Just behave
yourself and be mine.”

For speed-oriented practitioners, wide open spaces were the best place for them.

After a while, the Metal Swallowing Beast threw itself head first into a mountain of metal.

The metal mountain was around forty to fifty meters tall, stretching hundreds of meters
lengthwise with plenty of mined minerals on top. Most were black, red or gold, like the type
of rock that You Ming and You Qingshan had discovered the Metal Swallowing Beast in.
However, the rock back then was tens of times larger than the ones here, and the rocks
here also had less metal element.

Seeing the direction the Metal Swallowing Beast ran in, the wretched man wanted to laugh
about his luck. The Metal Swallowing Beast had jumped into a cavern. So long as he
pursued, he would eventually trap the Metal Swallowing Beast inside and then it’ll be easy
for him to get it.

To make sure nothing would go wrong, the wretched man immediately gave chase.

The walls and floors of the cavern were all made of black gold sand and stones. If it wasn’t
for the weak light that these metals emitted, it would be pitch black.

However, no matter how dark it was, it wouldn’t hinder the man’s sight. In this moment, he
didn’t dare let his guard down.

After chasing for around two hundred meters in, the wretched man could smell the vapor in
the air and the metal element that was getting richer and richer, richer than any other place
he had been. His spirits rose, and he sped up.

In the distance, he could see the fleeing figure of the Metal Swallowing Beast. After a few
seconds, he turned a corner.

The wretched man charged forwards. When he also turned the corner, he coincidentally
saw the figure of the Metal Swallowing Beast, glowing with a weak blue light in the
darkness, jump into the air and land in… a person’s arms?

The wretched man paused.

He checked over and over again before confirming to himself that this was indeed a person.

It was just that this person seemed to have a layer of black dirt on him, head to toe. He
wasn’t clean anywhere, except for his startlingly bright eyes. But there seemed to be a
shorter person next to him.

The wretched man wasn’t sure it was as he was thinking. Though these two didn’t seem
very powerful, he still cautiously asked, “My friend, could you give me the demon beast in
your arms?”

The person was silent for a moment before asking with a tone filled with suspicion,
“Yours?”

The wretched man’s eyes flashed. “That’s right, it’s mine!”

“Liar.” This time he had a much faster response.

The wretched man’s face fell. “What do you mean? Are you trying to steal my demon
beast?”

The other suddenly hugged the Metal Swallowing Beast in his arms tight and said in a highly
brattish tone, “This demon beast is obviously mine, how is it suddenly yours?”

The wretched man was lost for words. He hadn’t thought that such a shameless person
existed. He had chased this Metal Swallowing Beast here, so he was the clearest on if the
Metal Swallowing Beast had an owner or not. This person actually dared to say the Metal
Swallowing Beast belonged to him. Shameless! He had already forgotten that he had done
the exact same thing just now.

The wretched man said harshly. “Brat, give me the Metal Swallowing Beast in your arms, or
else don’t blame me for what I’ll do next.” Since the other ignored the carrot in favor of the
stick, then there was no reason for him to hold back either.

He would’ve never thought that not only did the other not seem scared, his eyes even lit up
with something that seemed to be delight.

He immediately asked, “You mean this is the Metal Swallowing Beast?”

His voice was filled with delighted surprise, immediately managing to deal a blow to the
wretched man’s heart. It couldn’t be that this man didn’t know that the demon beast in his
arms was the highly-sought after Metal Swallowing Beast? Then wouldn’t that mean he had
revealed this amazing news to the other?

In that instant, the wretched man felt extremely regretful and decided to deal with this as
quick as possible.

“If you won’t hand it over, then I’ll send you and your friend to death.”

With that, the wretched man lightly kicked off with his feet, his form darting towards them
with startling speed.
Chapter 404 An Ancient Well

Translated by Crystal of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Twenty meters, fifteen meters, eight meters, four meters…

The obscene man’s expression shifted from ferocious to extreme happiness as he got
closer. Almost, he almost had the Metal Swallowing Beast. When that happened, he would
tower above the rest. What Vermillion Blood Clan? What Mage Association? What Cang
Alliance? All of them would bow before for him.

“Boom!!!”

A sudden immense force struck him and broke his sweet delusion, just as he only had two
meters to go, the dream, as if a mirror, shattered instantly. The broken pieces fell down to
the floor.

The obscene man made an agonizing scream as he coughed up blood and, with a large
impact, fell to the floor, on his last breath.

In wide eyed disbelief, the man barely turned his head around and finally saw who
attacked.

In the dark this handsome man’s eyes seemed to have a flash of purple weave through
them. That handsome man looked down at him from above, as if eyeing an ant who didn’t
know their own limits. It was a look of superiority.

He had once dreamed of standing at the very top and using these eyes to look at others.
Originally, he had a chance, it was so close, yet it was shattered so easily by this man.
Until his death ,the obscene man didn’t understand why. He was sure he had only seen two
people in the tunnel.

Why was there a third person, even if they were stronger than him, in such a narrow cave?
They shouldn’t have had any place to hide.

Then, where were they hidden?!

“He’s dead?” You XiaoMo walked over with the meek Metal Swallowing Beast in his arms.
He touched the man’s head with the tip of his toes, his eyes were wide with grievances.
The one who made a move, Ling Xiao, removed the foot he used to step on the obscene
man with and said, in a casual tone, “Dead, so weak, it was just one kick.” However, that
one kick contained a piercing wind force. When it made contact with the man, it instantly
shattered his organs and almost broke him in half.

You XiaoMo was quietly speechless. Yes, it was a kick, but Ling Xiao was ruthless. If that
person had not died, they would have probably been disabled, however…

You XiaoMo looked down and pet the blue fur of the Metal Swallowing Beast. He would
have never imagined the little beast that pounced into his embrace was that Metal
Swallowing Beast. Could this be the legendary ‘protagonist’s luck’? Even if he hadn’t
searched for it, it came right to his doorstep. He couldn’t help but gloat over it.

“Guys, tell me, why do you think my luck is so good?” You XiaoMo burst into laughter as he
held the Metal Swallowing Beast, his gloating face making one want to hit him.

However, because his hands were such a dirty black, the Metal Swallowing Beast’s fur was
also tainted with black stains, creating patches and patches, making it really ugly.

Seeing that he was so shameless, Ling Xiao turned to Pi Qiu, “Pi Qiu, what do you think?”

As the saying goes, a wise man submits to circumstances, so Pi Qiu quickly nodded in reply,
“Master is second to none.”

Immediately, You XiaoMo was pleased.

Leaving behind the body of the obscene man’s corpse, the three walked out of the tunnel.
You XiaoMo temporarily handed the Metal Swallowing Beast over to Ling Xiao as he
dragged Pi Qiu to his dimension to take a shower. When he got out, the two were
completely refreshed and this time You XiaoMo had changed into black clothing. This was
because it resisted stains!

It wasn’t long ago when they had arrived at the mine, back then You XiaoMo wasn’t
thinking of collecting more rocks, however, seeing that the metal elements contained were
stronger than any they had seen so far, it caught his attention.

When the obscene man had came in chasing after the Metal Swallowing Beast, he had dug
only for a little bit.

Since it was so dirty inside, it didn’t take long before he was dusty all over and of course Pi
Qiu was the same for helping him.

The result was what the obscene man saw.

Speaking of the Metal Swallowing Beast, initially it was very calm. No matter if it was Ling
Xiao or You XiaoMo it was very tame, however, the moment Ling Xiao was about to put it
on the ground, it rebelled.

The Metal Swallowing Beast did not look ferocious at all, in fact, it was the cutesy type. He
didn’t know if its original form was the same as now because it currently looked just like an
ocelot. Both its fur and eyes were blue, it was just double the size of Pi Qiu when it was
born.

“What should we do now?” You XiaoMo asked staring at the Metal Swallowing Beast.

“Let’s get out of here first.” Ling Xiao said, he didn’t not pass the beast over to him. Before
he understood its danger, he wasn’t going to risk anything.

You XiaoMo didn’t ask for it back either and instead quickly followed him out of the mine.

Just half an hour after they left, You Ming and You QingShan finally found their way there. It
didn’t take long before they found the obscene man’s corpse, clearly, he had died with one
hit, the ones who killed him must have been a lot stronger.

Due to there being too many suspects, they couldn’t be sure who it was. Also, due to the
abundance of metal elements, it covered up all of You XiaoMo and the others scents. You
Ming and the others couldn’t figure out the number of people that had been present.

“Elder Ming, it’s very possible that the Metal Swallowing Beast has been captured by
someone else.” You QingShan said with deeply furrowed brows. There was nowhere for the
beast to hide in such a narrow tunnel.

You Ming realized that this was very likely and made his decision, “If that’s the case, we
shouldn’t dwell on the beast. Although it will be difficult without it’s guidance, we must get
the Eye of Golden Earth and Eye of the Sun.”

They could only hope that the ones who caught the beast did not know of its true potential.

After that, they swiftly left the mine.

At the same time, unbeknownst to a lot of people, a portion had already started to search
for the Eye of Golden Earth and Eye of the Sun.

As for Ling Xiao and You XiaoMo, since they had the Metal Swallowing Beast, they no longer
needed to look around blindly.
If it was someone who was ill-informed, they very well may have left after taming the Metal
Swallowing Beast. However, coincidently, Ling Xiao knew that the beast was attuned to
both the Eye of Golden Earth and Eye of the Sun. With it, they had a guide, making the
search much faster.

The beast couldn’t talk but it knew that Ling Xiao and You XiaoMo were also aiming for the
two Eyes.

Without them having to say anything, it brought them over, as if making an offering to
please.

It took two hours or so for the three men plus one beast to arrive at their destination. It was
a barren land with ruins that appeared like trash. This wasn’t somewhere one would
suspect the Eye of the Sun to be. The metal element was the weakest there than anywhere
else You XiaoMo had been to.

In a place like this, could there really be the Eye of the Sun?

With suspicion, You XiaoMo looked at the Metal Swallowing Beast who was guiding them.
Could it be lying, purposefully bring them to a trap and was going to use it to get rid of
them?

However, that didn’t seem plausible, no matter how strong the trap was, it was a dead end.
Not only that, they had Ling Xiao, a Divine leveled practitioner, how could a mere trap be
effective.

The Metal Swallowing Beast was ignorant to You XiaoMo’s thoughts. It turned to motion
them over and ran forward.

You XiaoMo immediately turned towards Ling Xiao.

Ling Xiao translated, “It’s telling us to follow it.”

The two followed it over to an ancient well, the diameter was two meters wide and it was
also built of tough metal element minerals. It was half a meter tall and looked as if had
been through years of corrosion, giving off an air of vicissitude.

“This well should be the Eye of the Sun.” Ling Xiao walked closer, his eyes shone with slight
joy, he had finally found it.

You XiaoMo was puzzled, he walked closer and looked in. The well was too dark to see the
bottom, it didn’t seem like there was water either, there wasn’t even a slight breeze.
Just as he was about to retract his gaze, his soul suddenly felt a tremor.

Not a second later an airstream shot out from the bottom of the well straight to the sky. Its
ferocious force made him jump, if it wasn’t for Ling Xiao who had caught him in time, he
would have fallen straight in.

With dismay You XiaoMo said, “This wind…”

To be correct, it wasn’t wind, but metal elements that were highly condensed.

Ling Xiao explained, “This airstream was probably the result of an Elemental Emeute that
occurs once a few days for the Eye of the Sun. You’re pretty lucky to have encountered this
right off the bat.”

You XiaoMo felt his mouth twitch, this wasn’t the kind of luck he wanted. Changing the
subject, he said, “Since we found the Eye of the Sun, are we going down now?”

At the bottom of the well was likely what Ling Xiao was looking for.

Ling Xiao nodded, however he was worried about leaving You XiaoMo on the surface and he
couldn’t let the Metal Swallowing Beast get away, so he carried them both with him.

It wasn’t until they were nearing bottom of the well that You XiaoMo realized how deep it
was.

Half an hour later they were still dropping, clearly this was abnormally deep for a well. As
he was about to comment on it, they arrived at the bottom with a ‘thud’.

You XiaoMo finally realized why there weren’t any metal elements above, they had all sunk
to the bottom. With the naked eye they could actually see the flow of the metal elements,
especially below their feet was a thick, liquid-like substance, as if created when the metal
element was condensed to the utmost.
Chapter 405: Mutual Suspicion

Translated by Rachel of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Ling Xiao bent down to scoop up the shimmering, viscous, golden fluid and as it seeped
from the gaps between his fingers, the presence of the Metal Element became thick in the
air. They couldn’t feel it when they were above as the bottom of the well was too deep.

You XiaoMo searched around the bottom of the well and found that other than the gold
fluid beneath his feet, there was nothing else. Could it be that Ling Xiao was looking for this
gold fluid?

“XiaoMo, get a bottle and store this fluid.” Ling Xiao suddenly ordered.

“Is this what you wanted to find?” You XiaoMo quickly asked. Bull’s-eye! He really guessed
it right!

“No.” Ling Xiao said.

“I’m looking for the Metal Elemental Essence. This is the Eye of the Sun where the Metal
Elemental Essence is most likely to be formed. I told you before that there's one thing you
must be sure about. The Metal Swallowing Beast can only be bred near the Metal Elemental
Essence.”

“But the Metal Elemental Essence doesn’t seem to be here.” You XiaoMo already guessed it
but he just took a look around and there wasn’t even a shadow to be found.

“It is! It’s below our feet.” Ling Xiao said affirmatively.

You XiaoMo lowered his head.

“Shouldn’t the Metal Elemental Essence be something similar to the Wood Elemental
Essence, like in a cluster? What’s with this fluid?”

Ling Xiao retrieved the bottle that he had previously used up from helping You XiaoMo
move up the levels.

“Use that negative IQ of yours and think hard. The Metal Elemental Essence and the Wood
Elemental Essence are naturally similar. Since there’s only gold fluid down here at the
bottom of the well, doesn’t that mean the Metal Elemental Essence is hidden in this gold
fluid? Hmm?” Ling Xiao reasoned, placing added emphasis as he gritted out the ‘Hmm’.

You XiaoMo knew he was being despised again and the corners of his mouth twitched.

Oh, I’m sorry! Since my IQ is already in the negative, how can I think of something so
incredibly complicated!

Seeing as Ling Xiao had started filling the bottle with the golden fluid, You XiaoMo pulled
out a big wooden barrel and three wooden ladles from his dimension.

“Use this. It’s faster.”

Ling Xiao and PiQiu each had one, and indeed their efficiency went up. Suspended in the air,
the Metal Swallowing Beast blinked at them with royal blue eyes. The image of three
people struggling to scoop gold fluid was reflected in its eyes as a puzzled look flashed
across its face.

Very quickly, they had already scooped half a barrel. There wasn’t much gold fluid left at
the bottom of the well and they could hardly scoop anything with the wooden ladles. You
XiaoMo decided to just keep the wooden ladles and took out ten or more unused jade
bottles.

Just as he was about to keep the wooden barrel into his dimension, Ling Xiao suddenly
stopped him.

“Put this wooden barrel in my dimension.”

“Why?” You XiaoMo casually asked.

“Elemental Essence that has developed a spiritual sentience will have the ability to attack to
some extent. They are more sensitive to things that are alive. It’s for the same reason why I
put the Wood Elemental Essence we got from the Boundless Sea in my own dimension
instead. If we put that barrel of Metal Elemental Essence into your dimension, it might
destroy what’s inside.” Ling Xiao explained as he kept the wooden barrel into his own
dimension.

You XiaoMo nodded in understanding. Aside from large patches of magical herbs in his
dimension, he still had two Hidden Dipper Stink Bugs that were in the midst of
metamorphosis. If they were attacked, their metamorphosis might end in failure.

They then filled up another twenty-three bottles of gold fluid. Just as they were going to get
that little bit of gold fluid at the corner into a jade bottle, they suddenly heard a few people
talking from above.

You XiaoMo and PiQiu were startled. The well might be deep but it was very likely that the
people above were speaking beside the well. Their voices echoed in the narrow well
bottom, carrying what they said to them.

Not only that, these voices were very familiar. You XiaoMo felt it must be some twisted fate
he shared with these people. Why? Because they were from the Vermillion Blood Clan and
some other forces. For some unknown reason, everyone ended up here. Could it be their
true objective was the same as Ling Xiao? They’re not here for the metal swallowing beast,
but the Metal Elemental Essence?

But now was not the time to think about this. They too wanted the Elemental Essence and
they would certainly come down. It wouldn’t be long before they were found out.

“I’m thinking their goal should be the Metal Swallowing Beast and the Metal Elemental
Essence. But since the Metal Swallowing Beast has escaped, they had to settle for the next
best thing and come here first in order to avoid someone snatching the Metal Elemental
Essence before them.” Ling Xiao kept the last bottle and spared the Metal Swallowing Beast
a look.

“So what do we do now? If we go up, we’ll definitely be discovered.” You XiaoMo was more
concerned about this issue. If they were found out, then it would be difficult to obtain the
Earth Elemental Essence from the Eye of the Golden Earth.

“Then it depends on whether the Metal Swallowing Beast is willing to help us.” Ling Xiao
looked towards the Metal Swallowing Beast once again.

You XiaoMo was skeptical. This fellow here could help them? Could it be Ling Xiao was
planning to get it to lead the enemies away? But even if they did that, they couldn’t possibly
lead them all away. Some people up there regarded the Metal Elemental Essence as more
important than the Metal Swallowing Beast.

At this moment, the Metal Swallowing Beast moved. It flew towards a wall and scratched at
it with its chubby paws. Ling Xiao walked over to pick it up and placed it in You XiaoMo’s
arms. Then, he went over to the area it just scratched and pressed on it forcefully.
Suddenly, a part of the wall caved in.

Simultaneously, the ground started to rumble beneath their feet. The bottom of the well
started to rise.

“Holy shit!” You XiaoMo couldn’t help it as he yelled.

Were they really going to be delivered to the Vermillion Blood Clan?

At this moment, the commotion at the bottom of the well had caught the attention of
everybody at the top. An even louder sound soon followed after.

Questions like, ‘What happened at the bottom of the well?’, ‘There can’t be people at the
bottom of the well?’ were fired rapidly and the people looked ready to jump.

You XiaoMo was panicking even more. Unexpectedly, the wall above their heads started to
change. Indented squares started to appear as the bottom of the well rose up and brought
them to the area that had caved in. When they got close, they finally saw its true form. It
was a pitch-black, bottomless hole and it looked just like a … sliding tunnel?

You XiaoMo had a bad feeling about it.

The surface of the bottom of the well tilted towards the black hole at an alarming speed, as
if it was a lid that could freely rotate either way.

Boom! T hree people and one beast fell into the black hole and disappeared.

About fifteen minutes later, You Ming and the rest finally rushed there. Seeing the bottom
of the well, which should have the Metal Elemental Essence, empty and bare, his expression
was furious. Unwilling to give up, You Ming and his men searched the bottom again. And
after they have confirmed that no one was hiding there, they begrudgingly went back to the
surface.

“So? How is it?” Qiao WuShuang looked towards Elder Qi.

Huang FuLi’s serious expression was sombre as he shook his head.

“There's nothing at the bottom of the well. Someone probably arrived before us and took
the Metal Elemental Essence.”

“The tremor we felt just now only happened after we arrived. Normally speaking, unless
there’s someone down there, it's impossible for the tremor to happen. You guys didn’t see
anyone down there?” Qiao WuShuang pondered.

“You are right. When we were below just now we did hear a faint sound and it was
definitely from a human. But when we went down, there was no one. There's only one
explanation for that, which is the person could have used a secret tunnel at the bottom of
the well to escape.” Xiong Xiao walked over. He was part of the team that went down.

Due to the limited capacity at the bottom of the well, only a few could go down the well
while the rest remained above. Hence, that eliminated to possibility of them escaping from
the top.

“Using the secret tunnel at the bottom of the well to escape… this person must know this
place very well. Or maybe…” Qiao WuShuang cupped his chin as he thought.

At this instant, You Ming’s cold laughter could be heard. “Let’s not pretend anymore. I bet
the people who stole the Metal Elemental Essence before us were your men. You
intentionally arranged for us to meet here so that you can deceive us into believing that you
just arrived too. But in reality, you’ve sent your men here earlier, am I right?”

Huang FuLi’s face darkened. “Watch your manners, You Ming. Others might be afraid of the
Vermillion Blood Clan, but not our Beast Transfiguration Guild.”

“Alright, seems like you plan to admit it. Admit that the Elemental Essence was stolen by
your people.” Unafraid of his threat, You Ming was dead set it was them instead.

HuangFu Li angrily shook his sleeves as he reprimanded, “This is simply outrageous and
unreasonable! You Ming, I think you're living more and more backwards as you age*! You
say we took the Elemental Essence, we can also say that that you're afraid of being exposed
so you accused us first!”

*Means backpedaling and lying

“HuangFu Li, if you don't hand it over today, don't you even think of leaving this place.” You
Ming put a menacing look on his face. There was reason why he said what he had.

Ever since they reached the June mountain range till now, first they let the Metal
Swallowing Beast escape, then they let someone get ahead of them and steal the Metal
Elemental Essence. How was he going to account for all this when he returned to his
master? Thinking about how his master would deal with him if he failed, he had to bring at
least one of the things back no matter what.

“Elder HuangFu, there's no need to waste time with him here. If we don't chase them now,
I'm afraid the Elemental Essence will really be gone forever.” Qiao WuShuang suddenly
interrupted, halting the furious elders who were prepared to duke it out with You Ming.
Chapter 406: Protagonist’s Halo

Translated by Kollumceti of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Qiao WuShuang’s words instantly eased the atmosphere that was on the brink of becoming
tense.

HuangFu Li clearly heard what he implied and with his understanding, he immediately put
away his anger and asked, “Qiao WuShuang, what do you mean by saying this?”

Qiao WuShuang replied, “What I said just now was only just one of my speculations, but the
probability of this conclusion is extremely low, at less than one percent. This is because it is
impossible for someone to know the structure of the underground palace in advance,
otherwise, the Cang Alliance would have received the news.”

“Look, Brother Yi Qiao. What kind of reason is that?” Xiong Xiao asked.

“It should be related to the Metal Swallowing Beast.” Qiao WuShuang rebutted in a flash,
“Think about it, who has seen the Metal Swallowing Beast ever since we started chasing
after it? No matter how capable and how familiar it is with the underground palace, it is
impossible it to completely escape our pursuit unless it has fallen into the hands of some
other people.”

Everyone was shocked once this statement was out.

You Ming’s expression was obscure. He recalled when he had chased the Metal Swallowing
Beast to a mine and discovered the corpses in the cave were obviously those of his men. If
this was true, the Metal Swallowing Beast must have fallen into the hands of the person
who killed those people.

You QingShan was evidently thinking along the same lines as him and his expression was
very unsightly.

Qiao WuShuang noticed their expressions but did not bat an eyelid and continued, “So,
there are two possibilities according to my assumptions. The first is that the Metal
Swallowing Beast has been subdued and it brought the person who subdued it here to take
the Metal Elemental Essence. The second is that the Metal Swallowing Beast took the Metal
Elemental Essence away by itself, but the possibility of the latter is only five percent. This is
because it’s inconceivable for it to deliberately wait until this moment if it wanted to take
the Metal Elemental Essence away. Thus the first possibility is the most probable.”

Xiong Xiao agreed, “Brother Qiao’s analysis is very reasonable. Then, I have to take
advantage of the time before that person leaves the underground palace to find him.
Otherwise, the sky would be the limit if he leaves, and it would be even harder to find him
again.”

Qiao WuShuang nodded with a smile.

HuangFu Li was very much in agreement with Qiao WuShuang’s words. However, he gave a
cold snort again when he caught sight of You Ming.

Qiao WuShuang knew that the elderly man was still unhappy with what had just happened.
His gaze shifted to You Ming as he faintly smiled, “Elder HuangFu, don't be angry. I believe
that Old You does not think this way anymore. Maybe they even know who the Metal
Swallowing Beast had been subdued by.”

His words immediately drew the attention of everyone onto You Ming.

HuangFu Li immediately asked, “WuShuang, what do you mean by saying that they know
the situation of the Metal Swallowing Beast?”

Qiao WuShuang smiled, “Just now when I said that the Metal Swallowing Beast may have
fallen into someone else’s hands, Old You’s expression had a very obvious change, as if he
had thought of something. So I believe that he should know.”

You Ming was unable to deny this even if he wanted to do so now, as everything that Qiao
WuShuang said was very logical. If he denied it, others would think that the Vermillion
Blood Clan colluded with that person to steal the Metal Elemental Essence.

You QingShan narrowed his eyes. This Qiao WuShuang was really difficult to deal with.

With his road of retreat blocked, You Ming could only tell them of the matter that
happened in the caves of mine. However, they also did not know who had taken the Metal
Swallowing Beast. Their words could only prove that Qiao WuShuang’s conjecture was
correct.

HuangFu Li was sarcastic, “You Ming, I can also say now that you could have recognized that
person and reached an agreement with him. So, you deliberately lied to us about not
knowing who he was to let him bring it out of the underground palace.”

“HuangFu Li!” You Ming's expression slightly twisted as he unwaveringly glaring at him.

This was the so-called trying to steal a chicken only to end up losing the rice used to lure it.
Retribution fell onto his own head instead!
<strong>t/n: steal a chicken only to end up losing the rice used to lure it means to try to
gain an advantage only to end up worse off.</strong>

HuangFu Li finally felt pleased when seeing that You Ming’s expression twisted malevolently
after being unable to make a single retort.

Qiao WuShuang did not stop HuangFu Li this time and only waited until he said his piece
before interjecting, “Elder HuangFu, Brother Xiong, let’s quickly chase after him.”

HuangFu Li and Xiong Xiao both nodded.

As soon as they left, the Mage Trade Union and the people from the Vermillion Blood Clan
also knew that they could no longer linger here. They immediately followed behind to leave
this ruins.

This time, it was Qiao WuShuang who led the way.

Although they were not as capable as Ling Xiao, it did not take long for them to guess what
could be hidden in uncharted depths of the underground palace. However, may had
probably deduced that there may be an Eye of Golden Earth here.

At this time, Qiao WuShuang chanced upon the realization that there was also an Earth
Elemental Essence in the underground palace in addition to the Metal Elemental Essence. It
was just that their object had always been the north side of the underground palace. So
they did not discover that the direction opposite them was pervaded with the aura of an
Earth Elemental Essence arising from the phase of Earth bearing Metal.

As for why they had to bring other people along – if he can find it, it’s likely that other
people had also found it too.

“Oh yes, I have one thing to remind everyone of.” Qiao WuShuang suddenly turned his head
back, “Though we currently assume that a certain someone has already taken the Metal
Swallowing Beast, this merely nothing more than a conjecture. There is likely to be more
than one person involved in this but not more than four according to my estimations.”

Xiong Xiao said, “Are you referring to the ancient well?”

Qiao WuShuang nodded, “That’s right. The diameter of the ancient well is only two meters
wide. It can accommodate up to four people at most. If you have more than four people, it
would be hard to move around. However, if they have are more than four people, there
should be some people remaining on top. Since we didn’t see any people, this indicated
that, all of them should have been at the bottom of the well at that time.”
“You really deserve to be called WuShuang-gongzi, as expected you’re really smart.”

<strong> WuShuang(无双) in his name means incomparable; matchless; unique; unrivalled.

Gongzhi means the young master.</strong>

At this time, You QingShan who was at the rear suddenly let out a peculiar tone that did not
sound much like a compliment, but more like jealously instead.

Qiao WuShuang gave a slight smile, “You flatter me, You-gongzi. For these things, many
people will be able to think of them as long as they ponder on it. This one merely said it for
the benefit of my people from the Beast Trade Union.”

You QingShan coldly snorted.

……

On the other side, You XiaoMo and Ling Xiao once again fell down a slideway. The feeling of
a rapid drop emerged once more and the descent time was longer than the first time.
Fortunately they had experienced this before and You XiaoMo would not panic like before.

After who knows how long, You XiaoMo suddenly discovered that Ling Xiao’s hand on his
body was touching him all over. He could not refrain from flying into a rage out of
humiliation as he slapped the back of Ling Xiao’s hand, even at this time you’re… … “What
are you doing?”

Ling Xiao unperturbed replied, “You dunce, the transmitter stone you’re carrying has a
response.”

You XiaoMo was immediately embarrassed. What’s this feeling of a row of crows flying
overhead? But it had really been a long time since he heard this phrase of ‘dunce’.

You XiaoMo promptly fished out the transmission stone. Sure enough it was shining. SheQiu
and the rest must have some news.

Just as they were getting ready to converse with SheQiu and the rest, the transmitter stone
dropped onto the slide with a ‘bang’, producing a cheerful and lighthearted beat of ‘boom
boom boom’ as it rolled down at a speed faster than they were travelling at.

You XiaoMo, “… …”

PiQiu covered his face with his hands as if he couldn’t bear to look directly at You XiaoMo.
The Metal Swallowing Beast imitated PiQiu and used its meaty paws to cover its face.

Ling Xiao was silent for a few seconds, “Never make, but always mar!”

You XiaoMo was sullen. He did not dare to retort knowing that he was in the wrong.
However, he also did expect this to happen. There was wind resistance with them sliding
down the slide at such a rapid speed and he was over-excited. As a result, the transmission
stone accidently flew out of his hands

Fortunately, the transmission stone was only just a step ahead of them. When they reached
the end of the slide, they should be able to get it back. Hopefully!

Nearly one and a half hour later, just as they started to think that this slide was endless, the
sound of a stone moving was heard from the front. They had heard this sound several times
and were very familiar with it.

But it was still pitch-black ahead… …

Though You XiaoMo was puzzled, could it be that it’s still quite long until the exit, Ling Xiao
suddenly tightly hugged his waist as his legs opened and pushed on both sides of the slide.
The severe friction between his shoes and the slide created an extremely loud noise. Before
long, the two were thrown out of the slide and fell onto a soft thing.

Ling Xiao hugged him and took the opportunity to roll two rounds forward. Then they heard
the sound of a certain heavy object falling on the ground.

You XiaoMo turned his head for a look. It was PiQiu. He had fallen at the place where he
and Ling Xiao had just dropped. The Metal Swallowing Beast was also upside down as he fell
on PiQiu’s body with an obvious look of enjoyment.

Then the body of the Metal Swallowing Beast let off a light blue glow. They could finally see
their surroundings.

“Eh… ….”

For an instant, You XiaoMo did not know how to react.

This was a narrow room. Like the ancient well, all four sides were walls and the top of the
room was just pitch-darkness. The only difference was that the floor was soft.

After You XiaoMo’s hand touched the soft thing beneath himself, he discovered that this
tactile sensation felt quite familiar. It was clearly clay. Not only that, but there seemed to be
a very strong Earth Elemental Essence here. Count it be that they arrived at another ancient
well?

To think that their destination was actually an ancient well after sliding down for more than
an hour. This was just too dramatic. No, no, no, it should be said that the Heavens assisted
them, for them to have found their second objective with such ease. Sure enough, this was
the protagonist's halo.

“Master, the transmitter stone is just behind you.” The sound of PiQiu’s childish voice
suddenly arose.

You XiaoMo turned back, Ling Xiao had already picked up the transmitter stone that was
still shining. Before he could speak, SheQiu’s voice came through first.

“Master, we have already found the ancient well that that Earth Elemental Essence is
located in.”
Chapter 407: Make Alliances

Translated by Jouissance of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

All three of them, even Ling Xiao, fell silent.

SheQiu’s voice rang out again, probably because he didn’t hear a reply, this time sounding a
little uncertain.

You XiaoMo’s cheeks kept twitching and paused for a moment before saying with a slightly
trembling voice, “I know.”

SheQiu was extremely confused. “You know?”

This was the first time they contacted each other down here. How could their master
already know? Did Ling Xiao tell him? It didn’t seem very possible there were people!

You XiaoMo said, “Because we’re currently at the bottom of the very well you speak of.”

SheQiu: “…”

Since they didn’t have very much time to explain, Ling Xiao had SheQiu and company wait
above for them to come up. Though SheQiu and the others desperately wanted to know
why, they could only hold it in for now. Ling Xiao put the Transmitter Stone away, but then
saw You XiaoMo taking out a large bucket and three water ladles and couldn’t help but ask,
“What are you doing with that?”

You XiaoMo paused in confusion. “Weren’t we going to pack away some of the mud in the
bottom of the well?”

Ling Xiao raised an eyebrow and asked, “When did I say that?”
You XiaoMo faltered. All this well had was the mud beneath them, exactly like the first one.
That was why he had thought this way. “Otherwise there wouldn’t be an Earth Elemental
Essence here!”

Ling Xiao mildly said, “There’s no value in bringing back this mud. The Earth Elemental
Essence is, in fact, hiding in the mud like the Metal Elemental Essence. I’m going to force it
out with fire. You go up first.”

You XiaoMo had PiQiu take him into the air. He wanted to watch.

Ling Xiao didn’t chase him away. After they flew into the air, he also followed. Then, he
snapped his fingers and a purple-red flame appeared above his fingers.

The temperature at the bottom of the well immediately shot up, even more overwhelming
than the hottest summer.

As Ling Xiao flicked his hand, the flames made a circle through the air, growing larger and
larger, like a roaring fire dragon. The moment it touched the mud, the mud began to burn.

The flames lit the well up like daylight, the light tinting their faces with red.

As the flames cooked the mud, it slowly began to change, melting like chocolate. The mud
that was at the bottom of the well seemed to contract for a moment before rapidly
shrinking into a ball.

Just as You XiaoMo was thinking that the mud would melt into a puddle of sticky liquid, a
muddy brown colored light emitted from the mud, as if trying to defend itself against the
flames.

However, it was a futile struggle. The muddy yellow light slowly faded, then, as if knowing it
couldn’t win, the light disappeared. Not long later, a muddy yellow ball of light wormed out
of the mud and shot towards Ling Xiao with incredible speed.
Ling Xiao didn’t even blink, flicking his fingers and encircling the light with even more
flames.

You XiaoMo’s eyes widened. He could almost see the desperate expression of the Earth
Elemental Essence, continuously trying to charge out from the flames, yet getting forced
back time and time again.

He remembered that back when they caught the Wood Elemental Essence at Boundless
Sea, it didn’t struggle like the Earth Elemental Essence. It could be seen that the Earth
Elemental Essence had long since gained a spiritual awareness and it’s own intelligence.

In the end, the defeated Earth Elemental Essence still fell into Ling Xiao’s hands.

Ling Xiao put it into a rather large jade vial and then put the vial into his pocket dimension.

After getting this last treasure, it was naturally time to leave. That was when Ling Xiao’s
transmitter stone suddenly began to glow.

It wasn’t normal for it to glow now. Ling Xiao suddenly raised his head.

A thunderous rumbling sounded.

The entire well began to vibrate. This wasn’t their doing. It came from above, as if the well
was being blasted open.

“Ouch!” You XiaoMo suddenly grabbed his head. A stone had fallen down and hit him on
the head before falling to the bottom of the well and being consumed by the flames.

That was when SheQiu and the others spoke up in anxiety.

“Master, Boss, a bunch of people are coming this way. Hurry and come out, or else you’ll be
found.”
“You guys leave first. If we are split up, then find an exit, leave and wait for us outside.”

After saying this, Ling Xiao immediately grabbed You XiaoMo, rapidly flying upwards. At the
same time, he put PiQiu and the Metal Swallowing Beast into his pocket dimension. They
wouldn’t be of much use right now, and if the Vermillion Blood Clan and the others saw the
Metal Swallowing Beast, they would be suspected of taking the Metal Elemental Essence.

In order to not drag them down, You XiaoMo thought for a moment and said, “Put me
inside your dimension as well.”

The situation was very clear to him. Ling Xiao’s should be stronger than those powerhouses
from the Vermillion Blood Clan and the Mage Guild, but having to face all those people
alone would be harder with him there, otherwise, Ling Xiao would still have to split his
attention to make sure You XiaoMo was safe. Plus, SheQiu and the others should be up
there still.

“You sure?” Ling Xiao looked down at him.

You XiaoMo replied with certainty, “Very sure.”

“Alright then…”

At the same time, the situation above the well was chaotic.

As Qiao WuShuang had thought, the others must’ve also realized that the Eye of Golden
Earth was here.

So, when they realized they couldn’t obtain the Eye of the Sun and Metal Swallowing Beast,
they all set their sights on the Eye of Golden Earth. When one of them found the Eye of
Golden Earth, the others immediately came over upon getting the news.

SheQiu and LanQiu didn’t dare fight these people.

That was because there were quite a few who were stronger than them. If they really did
fight, they definitely wouldn’t win. Instead, they’d simply become a target for everyone. So,
it was better if they just hid.

However, the well could only fit four people at a time. No one was willing to let anyone else
go in first so they began to fight at this disagreement. The fighting was very intense. Some
people even wanted to enter the well while everyone was distracted, but they were noticed
anyways.

It was only after around half an hour when Qiao WuShuang and the others finally arrived
that the situation was finally under control. Since Qiao WuShuang and the others were
here, how would anyone else get a chance at the Earth Elemental Essence?

He hadn’t thought so many people would’ve realized. Qiao WuShuang gave an discrete sigh.
Seems like these people probably realized that they had no chance at the Metal Elemental
Essence and Metal Swallowing Beast, so they found this place by coincidence when looking
for other treasures.

“How come the well is sealed? Did someone take it already?”

You Ming immediately pushed aside the people blocking his way and, upon seeing the state
of the well, cast a deadly glare at the other people.

You QingShan came up to him. “Old Ming. The entrance of the well was probably destroyed
in the fight. If someone had already taken it, no one would be so calm right now.”

You Ming let out a soft breath of relief before walking over.

“You Ming, aren’t you a little too impatient. Do you take us for corpses?” Seeing You Ming’s
impatient act, HuangFu Li mocked him.

“That’s right. You aren’t the only one who wants the Earth Elemental Essence.” Xiong Xiao
stepped forwards, displaying his own determination.
Though the people from the Mage Guild didn’t speak, they definitely had the same thought.

However, there was only one Elemental Essence, yet all four groups wanted it. It would be a
challenging problem to split it.

You Ming’s expression cooled. He had always known that taking the Elemental Essence
under their watch wouldn’t be easy, but it wasn’t impossible. Thinking of this, he
immediately turned to the Mage Guild’s Qi Huang and said, “Brother Qi, if the Mage Guild
helps us, I will promise you one favor in the name of the Vermillion Blood Clan.”

Qi Hang’s eyes flashed with consideration, but then began to hesitate again. He didn’t want
to give up the Elemental Essence. This was a legendary treasure, swapping it in exchange
for one favor seemed like an unequal exchange.

“Master Qi Hang. In reality, the Elemental Essence isn’t very useful for the Mage Guild, I
trust you know so as well. Plus, with so many people here, the Elemental Essence won’t
necessarily fall into your hands at the end. Why not help us? No matter how this ends, it
won’t be a loss for you.”

The person to speak was You QingShan.

Qi Hang knew that they were right and gritted his teeth, saying, “Alright, I accept.”

You Ming and You QingShan were delighted.

On the other side, Xiong Xiao and Qiao WuShuang glanced at each other. If the Vermillion
Blood Clan and Mage Guild worked together, then they would have to cooperate with each
other, too. As for who the Earth Elemental Essence would go to in the end, it wouldn’t be
too late to discuss this afterwards. After all, the Cang Alliance and Beast Transfiguration
Guild had quite good relations.

A war was about to start.

That was when an ominous looking man walked out of the crowd. Seeing the four powers
that had come to an agreement, he spoke up in a low tone. “I think you might be forgetting
that I’m here, too.”

Seeing the man, You Ming scowled. This middle aged man was Nan Zhan, the leader of a
very infamous group of bandits in the Southern Continent, known as Vicious Wolf. He
wasn’t a person to get on the bad side of. They hadn’t expected that he would come, too.
Chapter 408: Escaping Out of the Well

Translated by Crystal of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

In the Southern Continent, other than the four major forces, there were plenty of smaller
ones.

No matter how small, there was at least one Divine leveled practitioner present. For
example, Nan Zhan, although he was only one star, one less than You Ming, if he
participated in the fight for the Elemental Essences, their chances would dim. Behind Nan
Zhan were some pretty strong forces too, just those at the peak Emperor level, were quite a
few.

If they all decided to take a piece of the pie, it would really be up in the air who would get
the Earth Elemental Essence.

“Nan Zhan, your force truly has a chance of winning, if you collude with others, your
chances will be higher than ours. However, think carefully if you want to be on the wrong
side of the Vermillion Blood Clan. After that, your group of bandits’ position in the Southern
Continent would be in jeopardy.” You Ming gave a cold warning. He had finally persuaded
the Mage Guild, of course he didn’t want too many competitors.

Immediately Nan Zhan’s face turned sour, “Stop blabbering, if you want to take the Earth
Elemental Essence, you have to go through me.”

As someone strong with pride and face, if he backed off with a few words from You Ming,
where would he put the face of their bandit group and his Vicious Wolf’s name? If he truly
feared the Vermillion Blood Clan, he wouldn’t have come in the first place.

You Ming’s expression darkened, originally by getting the help of the Mage Guild they had a
fifty percent chance, however, if one added Nan Zhan then they would only have a thirty
percent chance or so. This was not the result he wanted.

After he thought of this, in an angry tone he asked, “Nan Zhan, what would it take for you
to give up?”
Nan Zhan made a scheming smile, “It's simple, what you promised the Mage Guild, I want
the same promise. Of course, it's fair game, if someone else gave me a favorable condition,
I’ll help them steal the Earth Elemental Essence.”

A sly old fox, You Ming cursed under his breath, of course he was up to no good. Saying that
he wanted to fight for the Earth Elemental Essence was just a diversion to gain some favors.
However, if one left him be, it was still a problem.

Although he really didn’t want to, by the look of things, he would have to, since there was
only one Earth Elemental Essence. If he lost his chance now, it would be difficult to find
another one.

However, opposite to him, Xiong Xiao and Qiao WuShuang’s expressions flashed with a hint
of hesitation.

Neither of them was one to casually rope in allies, since in the name of greed, even allies
would turn against them, unless they were truly close. Thus, they didn’t believe in Nan
Zhan’s words.

However, if they let the three team-up, that would put them in a sticky situation.

“Okay…” Seeing as they were hesitant, You Ming weighed the pros and cons and was about
to make the promise.

However, before he could finish, the stone which blocked the well suddenly blew opened
with a huge ‘boom’. The pieces of rock flew into the air and landed heavily onto the ground,
startling everyone to move back.

After everyone was startled, they looked alarmingly at the old well.

If someone exploded the rock that was blocking the exit, then there was someone inside?
With everyone’s gaze upon them, a black shadow made a light leap and jumped out of the
well. It was a man wearing black and as he tilted his head up, it revealed that handsome yet
familiar face.

“It’s you!!!” Recognizing the face, You Ming was the first to shout, his eyes filled with
disbelief and astonishment. Since he hadn’t seen them in the Hall, he thought that this man
and his companion would not be able to make it here. He hadn’t thought of seeing them
jumping out of the old well.

Xiong Xiao and Qiao WuShuang’s eyes also widened. Much to their surprise, the one who
had jumped out of the well was Ling Mo. This entire time, they hadn’t seen them, so they
thought that the two must have wandered off somewhere else. Or, they were outside and
never came in.

“Why is Ling Mo here?” Qiao WuShuang asked in surprise.

“It looks like we underestimated them.” Xiong Xiao said as he shook his head, looked like he
had misjudged the two.

“Who is he? You know of him?” HuangFu Li had never seen Ling Xiao, so he didn’t know his
appearance. Seeing that everyone looked at Ling Xiao in surprise, he couldn’t help but
wonder.

Qiao WuShuang explained, “Elder HuangFu, he was one of the two I was telling you about
outside. He is called Ling Mo.”

HuangFu Li nodded while stroking his beard, “He has pretty good luck to get in before us.
However, if he is the one with the Earth Elemental Essence then he is in a dire situation.”

Qiao WuShuang furrowed his brows as his gaze landed on the old well behind Ling Xiao. He
remembered that Ling Xiao never strayed away from You XiaoHa, but this time he didn’t see
the other. What was going on?

Beside the old well, Ling Xiao did not back off in the slightest from everyone’s gaze. Seeing
that both You Ming and You QingShan looked at him as if they were about to kill, he
actually felt happy and his lips curled. With an evil grin he made his greeting. “Yo, nice to
see you again!”

You Ming’s gaze shifted back and forth from him and the well, although he didn’t
understand why the other wasn’t with him, there wasn’t any time to think further. “The
Earth Elemental Essence is on you, right?” You Ming took a step forward and stared at him
menacingly.

Hearing his words, everyone’s gaze towards Ling Xiao changed.

No matter if it was on him or not, since he came out of the well, then eight out of ten times
he would have it.

With a darkened eerie expression, You Ming said, “Surrender the Earth Elemental Essence,
otherwise, don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

As he finished, they slowly surrounded Ling Xiao and the well.

Ling Xiao glanced at those who were surrounding him, his smile never left his face. Hearing
You Ming’s words, his smile deepened, “If I don’t, what are you guys going to do?”

In a formidable force, as if splitting everything before it, a long sword broke through the air,
creating a fierce air current. Just as it seemed that Ling Xiao’s head was about to split open,
the latter gave You Ming a look of nonchalance. That look made You Ming’s heart skip a
beat, a feeling of unease floated up.

In the next second his premonition came true.

Ling Xiao raised his leg and in a crisp, clean fashion kicked the guard before the long sword
hit. The immovable force hit the guard, making his body fly backwards above everyone’s
heads and land with a loud thud.

As everyone saw the miserable situation the guard was in, they all gasped. His chest actually
sunk inwards, an Emperor level practitioner was out-of-commission by just one kick.
How strong was this kick to destroy an Emperor level practitioner, his power may be above
the Divine level, one just don’t know by how many stars.

“You really couldn’t tell that he was actually a Divine leveled practitioner.” Qiao WuShuang
exclaimed in surprise.

Xiong Xiao nodded in agreement, “No wonder I couldn’t evaluate his strength before, it
looks like he was stronger than me. Truly unbelievable.”

With a light sigh Qiao WuShuang said, “Actually it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise
since he dared to oppose the Vermillion Blood Clan and the Mage Guild, he must have some
sort of strength.” Not only that, it was possible that Ling Xiao’s force was stronger than
what they imagined.

You Ming’s expression was scarily dark and gloomy, he had only wanted to test Ling Xiao’s
strength.

Much to his surprise, with a single kick, he finished the job. It looked like he was truly a
Divine leveled practitioner.

At this moment You QingShan suddenly stared at Ling Xiao and calmly said, “By the look of
things, your excellency was the one who captured the Metal Swallowing Beast and the one
who stole the Metal Elemental Essence from the Eye of the Sun, correct?”

In astonishment, Ling Xiao looked at him.

The others, however, were frozen, the Metal Swallowing Beast and the two Elemental
Essences were all on this one person? Could this be possible, if it could, then…

Slowly everyone’s eyes became filled with greed, if he really had it, even stealing one would
be great. Even Nan Zhan looked at Ling Xiao with intensity.

Watching this unfold, You QingShan gave a sinister simile.

To his surprise, Ling Xiao suddenly looked at him and their eyes met. His eyes flashed an
eerie simile, as if mocking him.

You QingShan was startled and broke out into a cold sweat. By the time he regained his
senses, his expression became cold. He was born with a gold spoon in his mouth, why was
he the one scared to the point of sweating. His emotions became even more unsettled.

Right at this moment, Ling Xiao, who was standing still before, moved.

His body became a ray of black light, headed straight for You QingShan and the latter. They
couldn’t respond at all, it was You Ming who quickly got in front of You QingShan in a
defensive position.

However, the ray of black light suddenly changed course in the air and in a faster speed
headed out of this barren wasteland.

“Not good, he’s running away!”

Chapter 409: Conspiring with Each Other

Translated by Rachel of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

No one expected the man to suddenly run away. Everyone else did not respond in time and
only managed to come to their senses when he left the ruins. In the eyes of everyone, his
behavior was one of guilty conscience. The ones who were originally skeptical about You
QingShan’s words all started to eagerly give chase.

SheQiu and the other four, who were hiding in a dark corner, did not leave the
Underground Palace as per Ling Xiao’s instructions. They exchanged looks with one another
and pretended to be like everybody else who wanted to hunt down Ling Xiao and they
blended into the crowd. The five of them, excluding the little chick, were all Imperial level
or above, so they weren't to worried about being discovered.

“Why did boss have to leave? Won't that just prove what the man said?” MaoQiu asked in a
puzzled voice. In her opinion, other than a handful here who were harder to deceive, the
rest didn't have a firm stance. If they were to shift the blame of taking the Metal Elemental
Essence and the Metal Swallowing Beast to someone else, these people’s hearts would
definitely waver.

“I don't understand either.” With an expressionless face, XiaoHei said coolly with an air of
royalty.

“Chirp?” The little chick peeked out from the top of LanQiu’s head and made a sound of
confusion, though no one paid attention to it.

“What's there to not understand? Whether the other people know or don't know, there's
no difference to the boss. What do you think, LanQiu?” SheQiu said simply.

“I agree with SheQiu. If there was really a reason, I think it might be because the area of the
ruins is too small and makes it hard to fight. So Boss Ling Xiao wanted to find a larger,
empty space. Furthermore, this is the Underground Palace. Who knows if it will collapse.”
Lan Qiu reasoned.

“Please don't call me SheQiu, thank you!”

“Then I would also ask of you to not call me LanQiu in future.” Lan Qiu calmly replied.

“I understand, LanQiu.” XiaoHei said expressionlessly.

“…”

Meanwhile, the chasing battle had ensued. The only ones who could keep up with Ling
Xiao’s speed were the Divine level powerhouses and they were hot on his heels. The rest
were already a long distance behind him.

“Ling Mo, you have nowhere left to run. You know what situation you're in, so hand over
the two Elemental Essences and the Metal Swallowing Beast. I can let you live.” You Ming
glared at Ling Xiao’s back with murderous intent.

As if he hadn't heard anything, Ling Xiao continued to fly towards the way he came from.
Although the entrance changed with changes in the TaiChi YinYang formation, as long as he
followed the original path he had taken, he could definitely find the exit.

You Ming knew exactly that. That's why he was worried that if Ling Xiao escaped, then there
would really be no way of capturing him. Furthermore, he seemed to be purposely keeping
a distance between them. Every time he sped up, Ling Xiao would immediately pull away.

In less than half an hour, the exit appeared right before Ling Xiao’s eyes.

Seeing this scene, You Ming suddenly thought of a plan in desperation and raised his head.
A beam of green flew out from his sleeves at high speed and just when Ling Xiao was about
to charge out, the beam of green caught up with him and bit the back of his hand.

He was supposed to stop, but Ling Xiao didn't care. He just rushed towards the exit.

The locations of the entrance and exit of the Underground Palace had changed. It was a
barren place with rocky mountains made up of oddly shaped jagged rocks. It looked like
they were still in the June Mountain range.

After he exited, Ling Xiao did not leave immediately. Instead, he stood on top of a large
boulder.

He raised his hand to look at the place he was bitten. There were two tiny holes tinged with
green on his hand and when he looked at the thing that flew back to You Ming’s shoulder,
he saw the true form of the beam of green—a small dark green snake.

The small snake had dark green scales all over its body and when it slightly opened its
mouth, a pair of fangs coated with some green fluid could be seen. One look and it was
obvious this snake was highly venomous.

“Hahaha!” Seeing as his snake really bit his hand, You Ming let out an extremely smug
laugh.

“I'll see where you can run! With my poison, it won't be long until you slowly lose all your
spiritual power. Even if you beg me now I won't let you off.” When You Ming spoke, the
others finally caught up and emerged from the ground, including SheQiu and the rest.
When they heard what he said, the four of them all frowned except for the little chick.

Boss Ling Xiao was poisoned? That's rubbish!

The QiLin’s sacred fire and the flame of the Demon Phoenix were known as the world’s two
greatest divine fires that could incinerate anything. No matter how potent the snake venom
was, how could that even bother Boss Ling Xiao.

Ling Xiao was indeed unmoved. Instead, he pondered as he stared at the overly smug You
Ming. The small snake on his shoulder was a demon beast called the Green Demon Snake.
Said snake was an ordinary high level demon beast. While its attack power was a lot worse
compared to a beast of the same kind, the Nine Headed Emperor Snake, it had an ability
that it could be extremely proud of.

And that was its venom. If people were to rank it, it would definitely be in the top three.
With just a little bit of it, it could kill an Emperor level powerhouse and greatly hurt the
Divine level ones. Most people were of the same level as You Ming and this was the reason
why many feared him.

However, there weren't many Green Demon Snakes around. You Ming only found it by
chance and ever since he realised the potency of its venom, he tied his fate together with
the Green Demon Snake.

The venom of the Green Demon Snake might be troublesome and fatal to the average
powerhouse, but for Ling Xiao, it was a different story. It was as SheQiu and the rest of the
ball team expected. For Ling Xiao, who had the divine fire, the snake venom was
automatically burned by it as soon as the green demon snake bit his hand. It was also for
that reason that Ling Xiao paid no mind to the Green Demon Snake.

You QingShan heard what You Ming said as soon as he exited the Underground Palace. At
first he was delighted by what he heard but soon, he calmed down. That was because he
saw Ling Xiao’s unusual response.

At this moment he only had two choices. One: he could immediately run for his life. Or two:
he could hand over the three things and run. But Ling Xiao did neither of these and his
expression was really odd.
“Old Ming, something isn't right.” You QingShan walked to You Ming’s side and spoke in a
lowered voice.

You Ming’s laughter came to an abrupt stop. His line of sight shifted towards Ling Xiao only
to find that he showed no signs of being poisoned. He was standing on the boulder without
a care, even shooting him a condescending look.

When he was still in shock, Ling Xiao opened his mouth to speak, “You Ming, I think you can
stop pretending now. The truth, I'm sure you know it better than me. Why bother to act like
you didn't do it when you did?”

“What nonsense are you talking about?” Hearing his nonsensical, You Ming fumed. He
somewhat guessed what he was trying to say. Ling Xiao was trying to imply that the
Vermillion Blood Clan stole the Metal Swallowing Beast and the Metal Elemental Essence!

“Whether I'm speaking nonsense, only you would know. Or else why would you need to
rush to silence people by killing them? If I wasn't lucky, I'm afraid I would really be killed by
you.” Ling Xiao chuckled.

While he didn't state it upfront, the implications in his words were enough to set the crowd
thinking. Furthermore, compared to Ling Xiao who came across as a stranger, You Ming’s
cunning ways were not unfamiliar to the crowd. So even though most still held a skeptical
attitude, their opinions had already changed.

You Qing Shan walked out from behind You Ming and spoke darkly, “I think you are treating
the people here as fools. If we were in cahoots, how do you explain the conflict in June
City? You just want to redirect the blame and drag the Vermillion Blood Clan down.”

Not only was Ling Xiao not fazed, he smiled and nodded instead.

“You're right, everybody here knows that it's impossible for us to be conspiring with each
other.”

You Qing Shan’s face quickly fell.

Another insinuation again.

Humans all had a bad habit. When a person was suspicious of another, no matter what the
other party said, that person would always tend to think in the way he wanted to and he
wouldn't require the other party to spell it out for him.

So even though Ling Xiao appeared to be replying him, he was actually leading the rest to
think of him in a certain way. Since it was impossible for them to collude, they normally
wouldn't think of him in that light. In other words, they could also make use of this point.

“The people of the Vermillion Blood Clan really can never be satisfied. I've said this before,
you will be punished by your insatiable greed. What you shouldn't have done was to try to
silence me after you've accomplished what you wanted. Since that's the case, I don't mind
going down with all of you.” Ling Xiao continued to pull wool over their eyes.

“I'll kill you!” You Ming roared. Ling Xiao said it so matter-of-factly that even if they didn't
do it, they couldn't rid themselves of suspicion anymore. Since many people already
believed what he said, even Qiao WuShuang was looking at them suspiciously.

You Ming really wanted to vomit blood. He never thought that the situation could end up
like this. Not only did he not get his hands on the Metal Swallowing Beast and the Elemental
Essence, he was slandered instead. It was really, really terrible!

They got their true retribution!

You Ming had also previously accused the Beast Transfiguration Guild and the Cang Alliance
of using the same move. Who would have thought their retribution would come so soon.

Some people had already believed what Ling Xiao said.

SheQiu and the rest were already speechless. They knew Ling Xiao could talk well, as seen
from him regularly convincing and bluffing their master, but that wasn't some great
achievement since their master had limited IQ. But to see him manipulating these people
who had lived for god knows how many years up close, it was indeed something amazing
and shocking to watch.
Chapter 410: Iron Blood God

Translated by Kollumceti of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

“It’s all just a bunch of nonsense. It’ll be hard for this old fellow to quell the hatred in my
heart if I don’t slice you into a thousand pieces.” You Ming, did not have a very good
temper. He was so angry that he was purple in the face and his eyes flashed with a fierce
and malicious gleam as he looked at Ling Xiao.

With that, a valiant aura exploded from within his body. The earth-shattering pressure of a
Divine Realm expert made the expressions of everyone present change slightly.

You Ming made his move before You QingShan could stop him.

He rushed towards Ling Xiao as fast as a bolt of lightning. However, he did not lose his head
to anger. Midway, he expelled a fist towards Ling Xiao to test him.

Though the style was simple and not gorgeous, You Ming was a Divine Realm expert. It was
not easy for a normal person to take it no matter how simple the punch was. But that was
with regards to a person who was of the Emperor Realm and lower. If both were of the
same level, this type of assessing attack did not even have the slightest effect.

Ling Xiao did not lift his eyes as he spread his hands. The violet flames on the palms of his
hands instantly changed into a beam of fire and shot towards the opposite palm blast that
exploded out.

It collided with the palm blast in an instant, and the muffled sound of an explosion
occurred. The palm blast disappeared right away and sparks splashed in all directions. Some
people who were nearby were splashed by the sparks and nearly had their skin and flesh
burned through.

“Fuck, what kind of flame is this? This is too scary.”

“What an indomitable flame!”

“This old grandpa is so frightened that his heart is beating so fast.”

“… …”

Those who had been splashed by the sparks were all suddenly privately distressed. They
lifted their heads once more and looked up at Ling Xiao and You Ming in the sky with shock.

Just at this moment, You Ming’s figure rapidly passed through the sparks in the sky.
Wearing a fierce expression, he dashed over to Ling Xiao. His demonic figure appeared
behind Ling Xiao in the blink of an eye. Vigorous force twined around his fist. The force
ripped the very space, letting off a ‘chi chi’ sound as it exploded towards the back of Ling
Xiao’s head like a hot knife through butter.

Ling Xiao had already moved one step to the side and he easily dodged You Ming’s fist.
Then he lightly bent his body a little. Violet flames encased his right fist in an instant, and
with an even fiercer and forceful strike, he punched You Ming’s abdomen.

The flames instantly burned through his clothes, and a fist mark sunk into on his weak
abdomen. The part that caved in seemed as if the bones, organs and vein beneath the skin
were crushed into pieces.

You Ming widened his blood-shot eyes and before he could be killed by Ling Xiao, he
speedily shot a palm towards Ling Xiao’s front. As they were too close together, Ling Xiao
actively retreated back to dodge this palm.

You Ming also took the advantage to retreat dozens of meters back and stopped at a point
where he thought it was safe. Now, his abdomen was already charred black and one could
indistinctly see the organs inside his body. It was extremely terrifying.

Everyone who witnessed this scene could not refrain from gasping.

At any rate, You Ming was a two star Divine Realm practitioner. It was only the first
confrontation and not only was he at a disadvantage, but he was also beaten so miserably.
When all was said and done, was the reason due to that person being that much stronger
than You Ming, or was it because his flame was too awesome?

“I feel that this Ling Mo’s cultivation base may possibly be a three star Divine Realm. His
strength is higher than You Ming’s by one star and with the addition of his unusual violet
flames, it is not surprising that You Ming lost!” HuangFu Li who was standing in the crowd
narrowed his eyes as he calmly analyzed.

“Elder HuangFu, do you really think that they are colluding with each other?” Qiao
WuShuang’s eyes turned.

HuangFu Li shook his head, “This is not easy to say. Without definite proof, it’s hard to tell
truth from fiction.”

Qiao WuShuang’s gaze moved towards that pure, handsome, tall and straight silhouette.
However, intuition told him that this Ling Mo was not lying just because his words had a
loophole. On the contrary, his words were not wrong and it was really informative and
suggestive.

However, his intuition also told him that it was absolutely impossible for Ling Mo and You
XiaoHa to cooperate with the Vermillion Blood Clan. This was just a feeling. Just by putting
them together, he could feel an especially intense air of malaise.

“If I remember correctly, that type of violet flame should be the Qilin Sacred fire.” Xiong
Xiao suddenly opened his mouth. He was experienced and knowledgeable, with the flame’s
temperature and that faint pressure, he definitely did not mistake it.

Qiao WuShuang suddenly looked towards him, “Xiong-laoge, are you certain that it is the
Qilin Sacred fire?”

Xiong Xiao decisively nodded, “There’s no mistake. I definitely did not see wrongly. But why
would he have the Qilin Sacred fire, don’t tell me…”

He did not need to continue his sentence, because there were only two results.

The first was that Ling Mo contracted with a Qilin, the second was that his true form was
that of a Qilin.

No matter which result it was, they could not afford to offend the Qilin Clan.

The Qilin Clan was the head of the four Divine Emperors. Although there were not even
twenty members of their clan left from the founding of the clan till now, it was undeniable
that the Qilin Clan was blessed by Heaven. Every Qilin was an innate powerhouse and they
were extremely protective of their short-comings. If they stirred up trouble with them,
every Qilin would come out in full-force. Even the Vermillion Blood Clan may possibly be
destroyed when faced with them.

You Ming was also clearly aware of this point. A trace of fear flashed within his angry eyes.

Now he regretted it. If he knew that he was a person from the Qilin Clan, he would not have
let matters develop to this point no matter what was said.

However, for You Ming to run away in defeat at this point, even if he did not mind losing
face, the Vermillion Blood Clan would still want their face. Thus, he could not quit in this
manner despite him being extremely terrified of Ling Xiao. Not to mention that he would
not be satisfied if he could not expose Ling Xiao’s lie.

Once he thought of this, You Ming simply retreated back within the group of people.
In this case, Ling Xiao would be the only one left above the sky.

Now, there were two roads that could be taken. He could let them go, or join hands to keep
him behind.

Qiao WuShuang looked at HuangFu Li. The latter shook his head at the former. The might of
the Qilin Sacred fire was incomparably great and unusual. He did not have the certainty that
he would be able to keep him behind. It was also not a hundred percent guarantee despite
them cooperating with others. Furthermore, the Beast Transfiguration Guild had dealings
with demon beasts, and even more they could not afford to offend the Qilin Clan.

As for Xiong Xiao, he saw Qiao WuShuang look over and did not hesitate to say, “My
teacher had said before that if we came across people from the Qilin Clan in the future, we
absolutely cannot make enemies out of them.”

This sentence also made his position clear.

If it was such, there were only Nan Zhan and Qi Hang from the Mage Guild left. These two
people, one of them was a one star Divine Realm, the other was a two star Divine Realm.
The chances of victory were not high in spite of whether they joined hands with others.
Thus, hesitation appeared in the two’s faces.

Seeing this, a violent gleam flashed through You Ming’s eyes, “Nan Zhan, Qi Hang, you
agreed to help me capture the Earth Elemental Essence. Don’t tell me that you want to re-
engage on our agreement?”

Qi Hang seriously replied, “I did agree. But if we are going to make enemies of the Qilin
Clan, the reward you promised is not equal to what I’m paying, so I need to rethink it.”

Nan Zhan did not say anything, but his stance was the same as Qi Hang from his attitude.

You Ming’s gaze chilled. This group of ‘sail with the wind’ guys, sooner or later there would
be a day where I will make everyone here pay the price.

“Qi Hang, Nan Zhan, don’t you guys forget. When we made the agreement, we did not say
who was going to be the enemy. I’ll certainly make a report to the Elders in the clan when I
return about you people who go back on your words.”

Qi Hang remained unmoved. He had the Mage Guild backing him. When comparing
influence, the Vermillion Blood Clan could not beat the Mage Guild no matter what.
However, it was different for Nan Zhan. He was just a power from the Southern Continent.
Furthermore, the Southern Continent was the domain of the Vermillion Blood Clan. If he
had an acrimonious falling-out with the Vermillion Blood Clan, there would be no place for
him to live on the Southern Continent. So after hearing You Ming’s words, his expression
was so ugly it was startling.

Nan Zhan had no choice but to gentle his tone, “You Ming, it’s not that I don’t want to help
you. But everyone has all backed out. Even you lost at his hands. I’d just be looking for
death if I went up alone.”

Though You Ming knew that his words were just insincerely courteous, he was not wrong. If
this forced him to make a move, it was hard to guarantee that he would not have a backlash
on the spot.

“Sigh, You Ming, you’ve really disappointed me. I originally thought you would be able to
complete your assignment, but in the end, not only did you fail in this, but you were also
beaten until you were heavily injured. What do you want me to say to you?”

Everyone stared blankly, could it be that someone from the Vermillion Blood Clan came
again?

You Ming and You QingShan both stared blankly, as euphoria that was hard to express
instantly rose in their hearts. This voice, don’t tell me that that old ancestor had arrived?

HuangFu Li’s expression changed, “It’s You AnTai, why is he here?”

Xiong Xiao’s expression became imposing too. This person called You AnTai, not only him,
there was probably no one who had not heard of his name out of everyone here because
he was one of the Ten Gods of the Tong Tian Continent – the Iron Blood God. A peak seven
star Divine Realm expert, he only needed one more step to become a Sacred Realm
powerhouse.

Qiao WuShuang lifted his head and looked at Ling Xiao above in the sky. If it was You AnTai,
even if he carried the bloodline of the Qilin, it would be absolutely impossible for him to
beat You AnTai. One must know that You AnTai, who was called the Iron Blood God, was
not an ordinary peak seven star Divine Realm expert.

Ling Xiao was just thinking about whether he should let You XiaoMo out. In all likelihood, he
was already holding back until he could not endure it anymore. Unexpectedly, a formidable
opponent suddenly appeared.
Chapter 411: Essence of Wind

Translated by Jouissance of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

You Antai’s voice arrived first.

When Ling Xiao raised his head to look into the distance, a blurred figure appeared,
standing against the wind. With a few quick movements, a hunched old man appeared in
front of everyone.
This person was the Iron Blood God, You Antai. He looked nothing like his title suggested,
seeming to be a normal old man. His hair and beard was white as snow, yet, on his serene
face, his eyes were bright, and anyone who came under his gaze could feel their scalp
tingling.
No one knew if he just arrived, or if he had been watching for a while. But the latter was
more probable, because he didn't come over when You Ming was almost killed by Ling Xiao.
Though You Antai was old already, the fact that he had the title of the Iron Blood God
meant that many had died at his hands. So, while he wasn't the cruelest member of the
Vermilion Blood Clan, he was definitely one of the top.
He brought a huge pressure with him that blanketed over the crowd. It was as if the air had
solidified. Even breathing became hard and silence fell.
You Ming walked over, delighted, “Elder Tai, how come you've come?”
With Elder Tai there, the entire situation had been turned around. He refused to believe
that this Ling Mo could turn the tides again. He had to use this chance to repay everything
that has been done to him.
You Antai glanced at him, giving a soft harrumph. “You think I'll just stand by while you
embarrass the Vermillion Blood Clan?” After he said this, he glanced towards You Ming’s
abdomen, frowning slightly.
You Ming didn't retort, and instead bowed and said, “Elder Tai, you're right to scold me.”
It was only then that You Antai’s expression smoothed out, and his gaze moved to You
Qingshan, whose expression was equally as excited, but much more contained. Seeing that
he wasn't injured, You Antai was relieved. His sharp gaze then landed on Ling Xiao. He
laughed, chillingly.
“I commend you on your boldness. You even dare to attack those of the Vermillion Blood
Clan. It's been a long time since I've met someone who dares to challenge the Vermillion
Blood Clan. You're the first in hundreds of thousands of years. You look quite young; I
suppose it's true what they say, a newborn calf isn't afraid of tigers. But today I will
represent your elders to teach you a lesson and let you know the consequences of going
against the Vermillion Blood Clan!”
His words might have been threatening, but his tone was dismissive.
It was as if he thought that Ling Xiao was nothing to him, as if he thought that his strength
was far above everyone else's.
However, if he didn't have this sort of confidence, then he wouldn't be the Iron Blood god,
You Antai.
The reason why You Antai was called the Iron Blood God wasn't just because he was
perfectly fine with killing people, but because he never left a single opponent alive. It didn't
matter if they were strong or weak, they would all die at his hands.
“You say that you want to represent my elders to teach me a lesson?” Ling Xiao side eyed
him, his tone incredulous as if hearing something funny. However, it was more filled with a
clear sense of disdain, and his handsome face held a hint of malice.
You Antai narrowed his eyes. “What? Do you think my words are wrong?”
The corner of Ling Xiao’s lips curled up. “You think you have the right to say that?”
You Antai’s gaze cooled, his tone chilling. “You'll know if I have the right or not once you
face the consequences of fighting me.”

Ling Xiao said, “Arrogant braggart!”

If You XiaoMo was present, he would definitely feel as if their words were more suited for
the other, because those who called others an arrogant braggart would usually be older.
Seeing that the two in prepared to fight it out, the crowd retreated to a safe distance. Most
of those present had never seen a fight between two peak Divine Level powerhouses, so
they didn't know how large of an area would be affected by their battle. They could only
back away as far as possible.
Ling Xiao tensed. This was his first time fighting a peak Divine Level powerhouse, though he
was confident, he couldn’t be careless.

Now, he was rather glad that he had put You XiaoMo inside the dimension, otherwise You
Ming would probably take this chance to strike at him.

“Brat, let this old man see your strength, and see how much talent you have.” After You
Antai said this, he took a step forward. The air under his feet seemed to ripple, and he
suddenly disappeared.
Ling Xiao had a move in mind, and used the same method that he used against You Ming to
move to the side a few steps. A blade of wind appeared from nowhere and swept past his
ear, but did no damage.
“Huh?” You Antai reappeared about seventy meters in front of Ling Xiao, making a confused
noise. He had evidently not been expecting that Ling Xiao would dodge so easily.
One had to know that he had mastered the essence of wind. This extremely rare ability only
appeared in very few lucky chosen ones and not only allowed his body to turn into wind,
but also allowed him to control all the wind within one hundred meters of his body. That
was why he had come within seventy meters of Ling Xiao, to control the wind.
Logically speaking, this man shouldn't be able to dodge unless his strength was above You
Antai’s own, or he was one of the so called ‘lucky ones’ as well.
You Antai immediately rejected the first possibility. If this man’s strength was above his,
then he had to be a Sacred Level powerhouse. He had never heard of such a young Sacred
Level powerhouse. As for a ‘lucky one’, did such coincidences exist?
“It seems that you do have some talent. No wonder you're so arrogant, but it all ends here.
I will crush your pride and dignity right here right now.” In the end, You Antai ended up
dismissing his two theories. The other probably just got lucky.
Ling Xiao suddenly laughed. “Old man, cut the chatter. What's so amazing about being able
to control the wind? At your level, your range of control is only around a hundred meters.
Do you think you can beat me with just that? You're too naive!”
You Antai’s pupils dilated; how did he know?
It was true that his control over wind was no secret in the TongTian continent, but very few
people knew his attack range. Most of them would be killed immediately.
He was shocked at hearing the other say this so easily.
Just when everyone was feeling shocked, an intense presence that made everyone tremble
blanketed over the crowd as purple fire danced from Ling Xiao’s body through the air. The
air around him was like a sea of fire, even those who were standing far away could feel the
heat burning them, their shocked expressions were lit up by the flames.
“Peak seven star Divine level?” You Ming swallowed drily. This Ling Mo’s true strength
wasn't three star, but at the peak, the same as Elder Tai. How was this possible!?
You QingShan clenched his fist, his expression revealing his shock.

Everyone felt like their throats were blocked. If he were three stars like they thought
before, they would be surprised and in awe. After all, Ling Xiao looked very young.
However, being at the peak was a completely different concept. It meant that he would
soon become a Sacred level powerhouse and one of the strongest in all of the TongTian
continent.
With this sort of talent, it could be pretty much confirmed that he was a part of the QiLin
Clan, and, if it were a contract, it wouldn't be possible for him to summon so many flames
at once.
Actually, it wasn't just them. Even SheQiu and the others didn't know Ling Xiao’s true
cultivation level.
They had always thought that Ling Xiao’s cultivation level was at most around the four star
Divine level. They would have never guessed that he was only a step away from Sacred
level.
However, they still overlooked something.
Ling Xiao’s current cultivation level was, indeed, peak seven star, but that was after he had
summoned the devouring QiLin. He had gained his current strength through devouring
Chen QingEr and the other two’s cultivation levels. Originally, he had wanted to
breakthrough directly from Divine level to Sacred level, but they had never found a time to
settle down since coming to TongTian continent.
If he were given a few months to digest the remaining energy inside him, then even You
Antai with his control of wind would be nothing more than a paper tiger.
You Antai’s expression became very serious. He hadn't determined the others true
cultivation level before now. That was because he didn't feel like it was a need. He had
thought that no matter how strong Ling Xiao was, it wasn't possible that the other would be
stronger than him. But it seemed that he was wrong
Ling Xiao, bathing in the sea of flames, opened his strange purple eyes, his cold gaze landing
on You Antai. The corner of his lips curled. “What are you going to do next? Are you going
to run away with your tail between your legs after losing to me, or are you going to be more
direct and just die here?”
You Antai’s eyes flashed, his expressions severe. “Young man, do you think that you can
defeat me just by being a peak seven star? Let me tell you, many peak level powerhouses
have died at my hands; your power doesn't mean anything.”
“Is that so?” Ling Xiao asked calmly.
“Good, very good. Let me see what gives you so much confidence!” You Antai’s cheek
muscles were twitching, clearly enraged.
Just as he finished speaking, the flames around Ling Xiao suddenly began to change...
Chapter 412: They Perish Together?

Translated by Crystal of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

What was calmly floating, the sea of flames, as if something extra was added, the flames
became twisted. Like a small tornado, it approached Ling Xiao with roaring rage.
On Ling Xiao’s handsome face appeared a slight mocking smile, was that all the heir of the
Essence of Wind could do? Such a cheap trick?
The tornado that roared in a frenzy only lasted a few seconds before it was dispelled by a
thought of Ling Xiao’s. Wanting to control his natal flame with wind, was there anything
more laughable?
Ling Xiao compressed the sea of flames to about a one-meter diameter circle. Then he lifted
his head and glanced at the frowning You AnTai. With a light smile he said, “You AnTai, to
try in vain to use wind to control my flame, is that all the IQ you have?”
A merciless attack on one’s intelligence, You XiaoMo, who was in the dimension, had much
experience.
However, You AnTai was not You XiaoMo, who was already accustomed to the attack, it
was the first for this old man.
As they all say, the first was always the hardest. One could tell by looking at You AnTai’s
livid face. This old man was probably about to burst with anger.
“Someone here is all talk. If you really want to die, this old fellow here will grant you your
death wish.” Just as his words sounded, within the space around him appeared six small
wind swirls. These swirls grew bigger and bigger until they became six gigantic tornadoes,
spinning at a crazy speed. Hidden within them was a force that could destroy the Earth and
sky. It was a force of nature, the wind power that was everywhere, which was stronger than
any attacking ability.
After You AnTai obtained the Essence of Wind, he abandoned all other skills and focused on
training the true Essence of Wind. Finally, he had become the Iron Blood God, other than
the Nine Gods that he was part of, below the Divine level, he had never lost to anyone.
“Now let me show you the first move of the Essence of Wind.”
In accordance to You AnTai’s voice, the six tornados gathered above his head, along with an
endless tearing sound of the wind. The ear-piercing sound slowly created a huge wind
dragon. It swam in the sky, its large body almost covered half of the sky. It was at least five
hundred meters long.
Once the wind dragon was formed, You AnTai pointed towards Ling Xiao’s direction,
following his direction, the Wind Dragon locked on its target and with You AnTai’s roaring
shout, “Take this---Roaring Sky Wind Dragon!”
The Wind Dragon let out a roar and its massive head twisted over towards Ling Xiao with a
burst of speed, leaving its passing dimension twisted.
Ling Xiao watched the incoming dragon and let out a snort. The purple flame around him
quickly floated above his head, creating an thirteen-meter-tall Flame QiLin. Although it was
tiny compared to a wind dragon, its natural pressure clearly towered over the wind dragon.
After a slight pause midair, the Flame QiLin jumped up and quickly rushed over to where
the wind dragon was. It wasn’t long before they collided, creating circles and circles of air
waves, its shock immediately flipped those close-by over. As for those who were weaker,
they quickly coughed up blood and fell to the ground.
The struggle between the flames and the wind, each devouring the other. It would appear
as if the Wind Dragon had the upper hand, however, in reality, the Flame QiLin’s speed and
force in which it strangled the Wind Dragon was many times stronger.
Not only that, Ling Xiao could control the Flame QiLin mentally, but due to the distance, You
AnTai could only look from afar. Comparatively, if Ling Xiao didn’t win, that would be
intolerable even by Heaven.
When the tail of the wind dragon was devoured by the Flame QiLin, You AnTai stepped back
with a slightly pale face. Clearly the Roaring Sky Wind Dragon could not win against his QiLin
Sacred Fire.
Goddammit, this QiLin Sacred Fire was the bane of him, even the Essence of Wind couldn’t
not stand up against it. Looked like he had to think of something else or the name of the
Iron Blood God would shatter today.
However, the rest were not as composed as You AnTai.
As the Iron Blood God that comprehended the Essence of Wind, their first meeting could be
considered a test without using his full strength, however, that could not stand the second
time.
The Roaring Sky Wind Dragon was You AnTai’s specialty, but it lost a bit to cleanly.
“Xiong Laoge, by the intelligence of the Cang Alliance, can you figure out who Ling Mo is?”
Qiao WuShuang asked with a face of contemplation. He couldn’t have imagined that two
random strangers they decided to befriend had a top-notch practitioner amongst them.
Even the Iron Blood God You AnTai wasn’t a match, if someone like that existed, the Cang
Alliance wouldn’t not know.
Much to his surprise Xiong Xiao shook his head and said disappointingly, “Although the
Cang Alliance has information on the QiLin clan, there isn’t anyone who matched Ling Mo, it
was as if he had appeared out of thin air.”
Hearing that, Qiao WuShuang said in deep thought, “It looks like Ling Mo and You XiaoHa
are more remarkable than we first imagined.”
“Haha, no matter who they are, this Ling Mo doesn’t look to be our enemy.” HuangFu Li,
who was standing beside them, entranced said as he overheard their conversation. With a
joyous laughter he continued, “Also, it would seem that the spot for the Iron Blood God is
changing hands.”
Xiong Xiao and Qiao WuShuang glanced at each other and in tacit understanding, and
laughed. It demonstrated that their eye for people was pretty good.
As they were talking, You AnTai, to recover his lost face, finally decided to not hold back and
a thin, skinny soul force erupted from his body. It connected with the wind around him,
upgrading the killing power of the wind by three, four folds. This was the second move he
comprehended from the Essence of Wind, the Killing Domain.
As long as anyone stepped foot within the radius of his Killing Domain, then he could
strangle anyone within 360 degrees. He had once used this to kill a few Divine leveled
practitioners, one was even before he became the Iron Blood God. At that time, they were
even above him in level.
After he finished his preparations, his silhouette suddenly disappeared.
The range of the Killing Domain was limited, just one tenth of the Essence the Wind, which
was ten meters. Thus, he must get close to Ling Xiao to use it.
It seemed that Ling Xiao found out about his intention, however, rather than backing off, he
got closer instead. No matter how one looked at it, there was some other meaning behind
it.
Seeing that, You AnTai became a little more cautious, he was too confident in his Killing
Domain that he ignored the oddity he felt in his heart.
As they say, within one’s domain, one is invincible.
But if two domains collided? Then there was only one outcome, an explosion.
Even if they were both domains, they have different elements, so when two elements
collide, especially when Ling Xiao purposely choose so, an explosion was inevitable.
It wasn’t as if You AnTai had not meet a Divine leveled practitioner who did have a domain,
however, they were all normal, so usually before they could use it, they would’ve died.
Most importantly though, he couldn’t have imagined that Ling Xiao would do this, because
once a domain has exploded, it would also harm him. It goes from extreme wounds to being
never able to summon a domain again.
When the aftermath of the explosion blew him away, all that he could think of was that he
was crazy, to choose to end in common ruin, if not crazy then what else!
However, when he saw that Ling Xiao was standing not far away safe and sound, his body
gave a violent shook and his eyes went wide. What’s going on? How was he fine!
Actually he wasn’t fine, Ling Xiao just transferred the after effects.
Because his body not only consisted of QiLin blood but also of the Ancient Phoenix, and
since ancient times they were known for ‘Rebirth’.
In reality, Phoenixes were not immortal, they just had a secret technique that only they
could practice. This secret technique didn’t need to be given, all Phoenixes were born with
it.
However, of everyone there, only SheQiu and the others knew, no one else did.
Thus, no matter how much they guessed, they couldn’t figure out why Ling Xiao was fine.
Being someone well established, You AnTai knew he couldn’t stay for long, thus with
decisiveness, he rushed down to You Ming and You QingShan. At the same time, he crushed
his Dimension Talisman and grabbed a hold of their shoulders, preparing to escape.
Just as their figures were about to be absorbed by the Dimensional Powers, half of You
Ming’s body became engulfed by flames. That burning sensation made him let out a
shrieking cry of pain.
Seeing that he was burned to a useless piece of meat, afraid that he would stall their best
window of running away, You AnTai hardened his heart, and let go of You Ming’s shoulder.
The latter fell with a face of fear and dread, and then was completely devoured by the
flames.
This whole process took no longer than a few seconds.
When everyone saw You Ming, who was abandoned by You AnTai, fall to the ground, he
was completely burned.
It was deafening silent all around, but no one looked at You Ming with sympathy.
Ling Xiao didn’t bother with You Ming since he was good as dead, as well as those disciples
of the Vermillion Blood Clan, who were abandoned by You AnTai. He flew back to the huge
rock and looked over to SheQiu and the other’s direction, then left.
Seeing as everyone was focused on Boss Ling Xiao, the five, including SheQiu quietly left
from the back.
To their surprise, a figure suddenly appeared from the side and stood in front of Ling Xiao…
Chapter 413: Taking Advantage Of Others’ Misfortunes

Translated by Rachel of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Just when they thought that things were going to end like that, something unexpected
suddenly happened. When everyone finally saw who stopped Ling Xiao, they couldn’t help
but feel surprised. It was actually QiHang from the Mage Guild!

QiHang was a level eleven Mage and his rank wasn’t low in the Mage Guild. His attack
power wasn’t as weak as the ordinary Mage and with his power, he could totally be on par
with a Divine level powerhouse. Furthermore, he also had a lifebound contract demon
beast. While it wasn’t an emperor beast, once master and beast joined hands, an average
person would have to stand aside to avoid them.

No one expected it to be him.

Previously when You Ming ordered him to take action, QiHang would be reluctant and find
ways to decline. Yet, now when You Ming was dead and even You AnTai wasn’t Ling Xiao’s
match, he actually stood up.

This move utterly puzzled many people.

“More like he’s profiting from somebody’s misfortune.” With one look at him, Qiao
WuShuang saw through his plan.

“This old fella’s really cheap.” Xiong Xiao somewhat looked down on QiHang. In his eyes, a
real man should be frank and forthright in whatever he did, whereas QiHang was just a
villain.

“The damage caused by the explosion in the area was unusually large. Even You AnRan was
so spooked he fled. I reckon Ling Xiao’s injuries aren’t light. Looking at the situation, he
most likely won’t be QiHang’s match. Should we help him?” Qiao WuShuang said solemnly.

“Just wait. I feel there’s something strange about the situation. It doesn’t seem that
simple.” HuangFu Li looked towards the two people in the sky as he stroked his beard.

QiHang was very proud of himself. Yes, he was preparing to take advantage of someone’s
misfortunes.

If Ling Xiao wasn’t injured, naturally he wouldn’t have such thoughts. But if he was, then it
would be a waste if he didn't attack.
Two Elemental Essences and one Metal Swallowing Beast were worth taking the risk.
Ling Xiao’s brows furrowed. This person must have thought he was in a hurry to leave
because he was injured. In truth, he was only trying to find a place to let You XiaoMo out
because he realised that something was happening in his dimension.

“I know you must be heavily injured. If you give me the Elemental Essences and the Metal
Swallowing beast, I can guarantee that you’ll leave here safe and unharmed.” Seeing as he
remained silent and not looking too good, QiHang thought he had guessed right.

“Old fella, get lost if you are done yapping. I have no time to play with you!” Ling Xiao said
impatiently.

Upon hearing his words, a trace of anger flashed across Qi Hang’s face. Just as he was about
to yell at him angrily, the man before him raised his hand and pushed his palm out. It was
simply a gust of wind, but how could a fist from a peak seven star powerhouse be ordinary.

QiHang’s expression finally changed. How could a man with this sort of power be fatally
injured!

Due to the shock, QiHang barely managed to dodge that attack. When he retreated about a
dozen steps, steadied himself and looked towards Ling Xiao’s direction, he saw a figure
appear in the air right above him. That person screamed as he fell straight down and Ling
Xiao extended his hands to catch him.

That person seemed to be frightened. His nerves had yet to settle as he clutched onto the
man’s clothes tightly. That person was none other than You XiaoMo. His hair was as messy
as a straw nest and patches of black and blue appeared on his clean face as if someone had
scratched him.

Seeing how pathetic he looked, Ling Xiao’s serious expression morphed into one where he
didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

“I only didn’t pay attention to you for a moment and you end up like this?”

“You think I want to? That Metal… Uh, for some reason it suddenly appeared and attacked
us. If not for the Metal Swallowing… uh, that fellow, you wouldn't see me anymore!” You
XiaoMo aired his grievances.

No wonder Ling Xiao didn't let him put the Metal Elemental Essence into his dimension.
That thing was really that powerful. Although he could fight, that thing wasn't human but
made from Elemental Essence. Normal attacks would be useless against it.
PiQiu wasn't very strong either. The Metal Elemental Essence’s intellect was similar to the
Wood Elemental Essence and it tended to be mature. It was a crafty fellow and if not for
the Metal Swallowing Beast stopping it in time, he would definitely be worse off.

“Huh? So what's the situation now?” After You XiaoMo was done grumbling, he finally
realised the odd situation around him. When he looked down, he found a large group of
people looking towards him with pairs of stunned eyes…

Still in his puzzled state, he finally realised that he was being carried by Ling Xiao.

You XiaoMo forced a smile before he said to Ling Xiao, “Looks like your battle isn't over yet.
How about you let me down first and go settle it later?”

“It's over.” Ling Xiao spared him a glance.

“Nonsense! Isn't there still the old guy? Is he not a person?” You XiaoMo immediately
pointed to QiHang who was opposite them.

“If you wish to say it like that, that's fine.” Ling Xiao replied plainly.

You XiaoMo had nothing to say. After a moment, he tried to change the topic.

“That said, who is that old guy?”

“…”

QiHang was silent throughout.

Hearing his question, Ling Xiao stared at QiHang meaningfully.

“Him? Someone's who is about to die.”

QiHang’s expression changed. Till now, how could he not tell that Ling Xiao didn't even see
him as a threat at all. All of it was just his wishful thinking. He didn't dare to stay any longer
as he immediately fled with the people from the Mage Guild.

Ling Xiao, too, didn't really intend to kill him. Before he successfully had a breakthrough
from Divine level to Sacred level, it would not be beneficial for him to become sworn
enemies with the Mage Guild.

After people from the Mage Guild left, NanZhan also led his men away from the June
Mountains. Xiong Xiao and Qiao WuShuang exchanged looks with each other and thought
for a while before walking towards Ling Xiao and You XiaoMo together with HuangFu Li.

When they discovered their arrival, Ling Xiao’s face remained unchanged whereas You
XiaoMo went on alert instantly. He knew nothing about what happened previously but he
knew they were after the two Elemental essences and the Metal Swallowing Beast.

Qiao WuShuang stepped forward and smiled, “Fellow XiaoHa, do you have to be so guarded
against us? If we wanted to take action, we wouldn't wait till now.”

You XiaoMo was embarrassed for a moment. Oh how he wanted to tell him to stop calling
him fellow XiaoHa.

“Fellow XiaoHa, you don't have to worry. I won't make enemies of people from the QiLin
clan. My original goal was the Metal Swallowing Beast. The Elemental Essence is just
something along the way.” Xiong Xiao also walked over with a smile on his face.

“From what you said, it seems like you still want the Metal Swallowing Beast.” You XiaoMo
replied.

To that, Xiong Xiao just shrugged.

“The reason why I want the Metal Swallowing Beast is different from the others. It's like
this, soon it will be one of my juniors’ birthday. I want to give him a Metal Swallowing Beast
as a gift to make him happy. Since the two of you have taken it, then there's nothing I can
do about it. It's not like it must be the Metal Swallowing Beast.”

You XiaoMo was utterly speechless. Using a Metal Swallowing Beast to make your shidi
happy? What kind of shidi was so precious?!

“Xiong-laoge, the shidi you're talking about, is it the one that your master made an
exception for and accepted two hundred plus years ago?” Qiao WuShuang voiced You
XiaoMo’s thoughts.

XiongXiao nodded.

“It's been so many years and he hasn't gotten over his complex. That's why my master got
me to take the opportunity to cheer him up on his birthday. But I feel that if he doesn't get
over his issues, then this way of doing things won't address the root cause of the problem.”

“What kind of complex does your shidi have?” You XiaoMo asked curiously.

Xiong Xiao shook his head and unexpectedly replied, “Actually, to be exact, he's still not my
master’s disciple yet. Even though my master has said before that he was, he never agreed.
Furthermore his vocal chords have been damaged before. He can't speak for a period of
time and even after my master cured him, he wasn't willing to speak.”

From what he said, that shidi did seem rather pitiful, but You XiaoMo wasn't about to give
up the Metal Swallowing Beast just because he was pitiful.

“Let's stop talking about this. What are your plans from now?” Xiong Xiao said.

You XiaoMo looked towards Ling Xiao and pondered for a while before speaking, “Xiong-
laoge, will the Cang Alliance find out about everything?”

Xiong Xiao didn't expect him to talk about this.

“Naturally they will. The Cang Alliance’s intelligence network is spread across the whole
Tong Tian Continent. They can find out about everything but it depends on how difficult the
information you are trying to find is,” he replied.

You XiaoMo’s eyes scanned around. “Can we speak in private?”

Xiong Xiao nodded.

Before they excused themselves, You XiaoMo said to the other two, “Qiao-dage, and this
elder too, could you wait for us for a bit? I also have something to speak with you about.”

Qiao WuShuang was slightly surprised and he nodded his head, “Of course.”

He and HuangFu Li then returned to where the Beast Transfiguration Guild was at and left
the space for them.

After making sure no one could hear their conversation, You XiaoMo began.

“Xiong-dage, I need a favor from the Cang Alliance. I need the alliance to help me find out
about a person but this matter is very important and concerns many things. It will be better
if fewer people know of it.”

“You can be rest assured about this point. Even if you don't say it, we won't tell others
about your situation. This is the most basic professional ethic,” Xiong Xiao laughed heartily.

You XiaoMo was glad. Then, he looked towards Ling Xiao.

Understanding his intention, Ling Xiao spoke, “We've come to the Southern Continent this
time to find a person. He was kidnapped by the people from the main family of the
Vermillion Blood Clan and his name is Feng ChiYun. The person who kidnapped him was
NanShen from the Vermillion Blood Clan. We want to know where he is held.”

Xiong Xiao was dazed for a moment. He finally knew the reason why they kept provoking
the Vermillion Blood Clan.
Chapter 414: Recommendation Card

Translated by Kollumceti of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

“The NanShen is one of the Four Great Battle Gods of the Vermillion Blood Clan. He is called
You TianNan and he controls the South battle squadron. It is a famous and impressive battle
squadron in the South Continent that goes on expeditions everywhere for the Vermillion
Blood Clan and has attained many heroic contributions. Speaking of that, I also have
another piece of news. DongShen of the Four Great Battle Gods died at some unknown
person’s hand. His position has already been replaced by someone else.”

You XiaoMo blushed with shame as he interrupted his words, “Xiong-dage, first tell us
whether we will be able to inquire about this matter.”

“Sorry, my personality is just like this. I cannot help but talk non-stop when speaking of
these matters.” Xiong Xiao embarrassedly laughed, and then he firmly said, “It’s not that
you’re not able to inquire about what you’re speaking of. It’s just that the difficulty is too
high and it’ll take quite some time.”

“How long?” Ling Xiao asked.

Xiong Xiao raised a finger, “A conservative estimate would be at least three months.”

You XiaoMo exclaimed, “So long?”

Xiong Xiao earnestly stated, “This time frame is already considered short. For reasons
unknown the Vermillion Blood Clan suddenly carried out a major purge within the internal
clan a few years ago, specifically targeting the main family. Many spies from the Cang
Alliance were either plucked out or were sent away under some random cause. So now it’ll
be three to four times harder than before if we want to gain information about the
Vermillion Blood Clan.”

You XiaoMo knew of this point. If there were no more spies, new ones needed to be put in
place and it was a very difficult process that needed a long time, “Xiong-dage, since it’ll take
so long, why not help me to inquire about news regarding two other people in passing?”

“Sure, who are they?”

“One of the two is called Yin Ge, the other is called Zhan YuXuan.”

Xiong Xiao muttered to himself irresolutely, “Do they have any distinctive traits other than
their names?”
You XiaoMo replied, “Yes, Yin Ge has a head of brilliant silver hair. Zhan YuXuan has black
hair. One is cold, the other is gentle. They’re very easy to recognize.”

Xiong Xiao smiled, “It’ll be easier to handle this with such obvious traits. However, I am a
businessman. Even if we are friends I cannot help you for free.”

You XiaoMo just knew that there would not be such a cheap matter and immediately said,
“All right, what remuneration do you want? I’ll declare first that you can forget about the
Metal Swallowing Beast and the Elemental Essence.”

Xiong Xiao burst into loud laughter, “What you say is really interesting. You can be rest
assured that I won’t do such things like taking advantage of someone’s difficulties. For the
second item, you can just take it as a free gift. As for the first item, the Cang Alliance will
not be taking spirit gems as payment due to the great difficulty. Instead, you can take out
some valuable thing and exchange it for the information. If the value of the item is not
enough, you can use spirit gems to make up for the shortage.”

You XiaoMo stared blankly, there were many treasures in his dimension and most cannot
be taken out.

Ling Xiao leaned over and whispered in his ear.

You XiaoMo’s eyes brightened, “Oh yes, there’s that thing.”

With that, he took out a small piece of the ice sculpture that had been left unused in his
dimension and passed it to Xiong Xiao, “Is this thing all right?”

Xiong Xiao accepted it and immediately felt a cold chill from it. He was momentarily
surprised, “You can refine spiritual liquid from this. How much do you have?”

You XiaoMo, “How much do you want?”

Xiong Xiao thought over it for a moment, “At least twenty one to two meter tall ice
sculptures. Although spiritual liquid can be extracted from this thing, but to refine spiritual
liquid of nearly a hundred percent purity, only three drops can be extracted from each ice
sculpture.”

You XiaoMo was startled. He remembered that the first time he auctioned the spiritual
liquid, fourteen to fifteen drops of spiritual liquid could be refined from one ice sculpture.
When he came here, it was only three drops instead.

You XiaoMo did not worry that Xiong Xiao would defraud him. A spiritual liquid with a purity
close to a hundred percent would practically be the same as the spiritual water from his
dimension. It would need to be refined many times to achieve this kind of level and the
spiritual liquid attained in the end would naturally not be more than a few drops.
Furthermore, those ice sculptures had just been left there and he did not have much use for
them.

Both parties finally reached an agreement. You XiaoMo gave him ten ice sculptures on the
spot. The remaining pieces would be paid when the Cang Alliance had the information.

Xiong Xiao still needed to look for a birthday gift for his xiao shidi, so he bid them farewell
and left first together with the people from the Cang Alliance. Seeing that the matter had
been resolved, the people spectating also walked away one by one.

The people from the Beast Transfiguration Guild were still waiting for You XiaoMo and Ling
Xiao.

Seeing that they had finished their discussion, Qiao WuShuang asked, “May I know what
you two have to discuss with us?”

Ling Xiao unhurriedly replied, “I’ve heard that the Beast Transfiguration Guild is famous for
its Beast Transfiguration Techniques. How can they be learned?”

Qiao WuShuang had never imagined that what they wanted to ask was about this. They
seemed to be interested in Beast Transfiguration techniques from their words and his gaze
could not help but move to You XiaoMo. It looked like the one who wanted to learn was
him.

HuangFu Li stroked his beard, “There are three methods you can learn the Beast
Transfiguration of the Beast Transfiguration Guild. The first is to accept a mission
announced by the Beast Transfiguration Guild. The rewards for some missions are related
to the Beast Transfiguration technique. The Guild will decide which category of Beast
Transfiguration Guild technique to award based on the difficulty of the mission.”

Based on the meaning of this, it seemed that only a couple of techniques would be awarded
for each mission. But there should be many Beast Transfiguration techinques and one
would have to continuously do missions to get all of them.

“Then what about the second method?”

“The second method is to join the Beast Transfiguration Guild and become a disciple or an
honored guest. But there are strict requirements and you need to swear an oath of loyalty
to the Beast Transfiguration Guild. Only by doing this can you get techniques of a higher
level.”
“This feels quite troublesome too, the third method ne?”

Qiao WuShuang smiled, “Elder HuangFu, let me explain this. The third method is more
unusual. You need to go to Zhong Tian to do it. That is, you need to sign up and join the
XiaoYao Institution established by the Tong Tian Palace Hall and become a student of the
XiaoYao Institution.”

You XiaoMo blinked his eyes. The XiaoYao Institution established by the Tong Tian Palace
Hall?

Qiao WuShuang nodded, “That’s right, it is rumored that the two presidents who
established the Mage Guild and the Beast Transfiguration Guild were both from the Tong
Tian Palace Hall. The XiaoYao Institution was established ten thousand years ago. On the
surface it was established by the two presidents, but in fact the Tong Tian Palace Hall
merely borrowed the hands of the two presidents.”

“The role of the XiaoYan Institution is to nurture talented people. However, they only
recruit mages, because no matter whether it is the Mage Guild or the Beast Transfiguration
Guild, the most important for them is the power of the soul. Therefore, the XiaoYao
Institution would recruit a batch of students every year and they will check if those that
pass their tests are more suitable for the path of refining pills or beast taming. Of course,
there are some geniuses who have both the aptitude for refining pills and beast taming, but
that kind of talent is quite rare.”

You XiaoMo continued, “So your meaning is that you can learn all the Beast Transfiguration
techniques at the XiaoYao Institution?”

Qiao WuShuang nodded, “This is theoretically true, but you won’t be able to learn it for
free. The complete Beast Transfiguration techniques has several grades and you need to
depend on your own strength to obtain it.”

You XiaoMo, “This is natural.”

There is no free lunch in this world!

“Please carefully consider which method you are going to choose.” HuangFu Li injected.

You XiaoMo looked at Ling Xiao. Actually, he personally preferred the third method. The
first was clearly very troublesome as they needed to continuously do missions. The second
would restrict them, so there was only the third left.

Ling Xiao frowned. Since it was established ten thousand years ago, he knew nothing of the
XiaoYao Institution as that was just when he happened to leave the Tong Tian Continent.
After pondering a little, he asked, “If we join the XiaoYao Institution, must we join the Mage
Guild or the Beast Transfiguration Guild in the future?”

Qiao WuShuang was not surprised by his question. In actual fact, most of those who joined
the XiaoYao Institution asked the same, “No, the XiaoYao Institution is very democratic.
They will not force you like you don’t wish to join the two big guilds. But there’s a point you
have to take note of. You must have a religious belief in the Tong Tian Palace Hall.”

You XiaoMo was not worried about this point as it was only just a religious belief. His mind
was his own, no one would know even if he did not have such a belief.

“When will the XiaoYao Institution be recruiting students?” Ling Xiao indifferently asked.

Qiao WuShuang calculated the time, “It should be a month later. However, it’s best for you
to set off now. It takes nearly two months to travel from the Southern Continent to Zhong
Tian. But if you have the One Leaf Boat, you can cut down the travelling time by half.”

You XiaoMo immediately rejoiced in his decision to buy that leaf from the XiaEr Clan at that
time.

Soon after, HuangFu Li took out an object that resembled a card and passed it to them,
“This is a recommendation card belonging to this old fellow. With this, you can dispense
with the rest of the procedures and directly head to the XiaoYao Institution to register. But
even if you have this old fellow recommending you, you will have to pass a few evaluations
in the XiaoYao Institution to become a student.”

You XiaoMo accepted the recommendation card. Sure enough, HuangFu Li’s name was
written on it, “I can only repay the kindness from the both of you in the future.”

HuangFu Li grinned, “There is no need to stand on ceremonies. This effort is only the
exertion of lifting one’s hand.”

<strong>t/n: the exertion of lifting one's hand is an idiom that means a very slight effort.
</strong>

You XiaoMo laughed out loud, “Then I’ll not stand on ceremonies and accept this hand.”

HuangFu Li’s smiling expression froze for a moment, why did these words sound particularly
odd?

Qiao WuShuang was finally able to figure out that this You XiaoHa was actually a person
with no head. What he said was very amusing, but one was also able to tell that You XiaoHa
was just joking. He was such an entertaining person.

Afterwards, the people from the Beast Transfiguration Guild took their leave too. Instead,
the ones who were still there were You XiaoMo and the rest. In addition, there were also
SheQiu and the few who had secretly slipped away yet had no choice but to once again run
back… …
Chapter 415: Easy to Bully

Translated by Jouissance of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

After the incident of the Underground Palace, You XiaoMo and the others returned to June
City. They didn’t have SheQiu and the others stay in their dimensions, but they didn’t return
to the tavern they had been staying in originally, either, and found a new place.

That night, Ling Xiao dealt with the Elemental Essences in his dimension. This time, to
prevent them from running around and wrecking havoc, he imprisoned them in a vessel.

As for the Metal Swallowing Beast, it never left after coming out of the Underground
Palace, clinging to You XiaoMo and Ling Xiao. Perhaps it was because it was worried that
they would send it away, but it kept using a pair of heart melting teary eyes that were even
more adorable than CatQiu’s to stare at them.

You XiaoMo never intended to send it away in the first place, so made a contract with it
directly.

It wasn’t until after they made a contract that You XiaoMo gained some understanding of
the Metal Swallowing Beast.

The Metal Swallowing Beast was only slightly younger than the two Elemental Essences. To
be exact, it had been conceived through the combined powers of both Elemental Essences.
However, since it couldn’t shapeshift naturally, it was still in beast form even now.

However, You XiaoMo thought it was lonely.

After living for so long in the Underground Palace, it was as lonely as snow. So it had
wanted to find someone strong amongst the people who had invaded the Underground
Palace to follow, and ended up choosing… him?

When You XiaoMo came to this conclusion, Ling Xiao had looked at him with disdain.

“You actually have the face to say that?” Ling Xiao glanced at him, almost smiling with
amusement. “To me, it looks like the Metal Swallowing Beast had chosen me, but it was
afraid, afraid that I might decide to kill it, so…”

So it decided to target someone easier to bully?

You XiaoMo gave Ling Xiao the middle finger in his mind. This was just insulting!
Ling Xiao, naturally, wouldn’t be able to see it. He looked at the Metal Swallowing Beast
who stood beside You XiaoMo and said, “But it knows to turn the boat when the wind
comes. It knows our relationship, and thus wanted to suck up to you.”

You XiaoMo laughed dryly.

The Metal Swallowing Beast backed away a step.

After dealing with the Metal Swallowing Beast, You XiaoMo checked out of the room and
went to find June City’s Dimensional Teleportation Portal. There weren’t many transport
circle from the Southern Continent to ZhongTian. June City had one, but since the
destination was so far, Dimensional Teleportation Portals to ZhongTian were all extremely
expensive.

After You XiaoMo and Ling Xiao found out the location of June City’s Dimensional
Teleportation Portal, they finally arrived there at around three in the afternoon. There
weren’t many people, only a few.

June City’s Castellan had control over the Dimensional Teleportation Portal, and could
wrangle a lot of profit from people who wanted to use it. However, since it was so
expensive to get to ZhongTian in the first place, most people didn’t have that sort of money,
so it was good enough if two or three people showed up in a month to be transported.
Sometimes, a month would pass without a single customer.

Hearing that they wanted to go to ZhongTian, everyone present looked over in surprise.

The people who could go to ZhongTian were all rich, because it was twenty thousand spirit
gems per person.

You XiaoMo generously gave away the required forty thousand spirit gems. Since SheQiu
and the others were already in their pocket dimension, they wouldn’t have to pay over a
hundred thousand spirit gems. He wasn’t that stupid.

Seeing how straightforward he was, the manager was smiling so much that his eyes had
become slits and immediately took them to the Dimensional Teleportation Portal. The
Dimensional Teleportation Portal was more or less the same as the one in TianXiang City.
There were many people standing guard. The managed had wanted to recommend the Leaf
Boat to You XiaoMo, but could only be disappointed upon hearing he already had one.

Not long later, You XiaoMo and Ling Xiao disappeared right at the entrance of Dimensional
Teleportation Portal.
This time, it was Ling Xiao who was cultivating while You XiaoMo watched. Apart from
shortening the time they had to spend, the Leaf Boat also protected them, thus why Ling
Xiao was relaxed enough to enter a cultivation state.

In the middle of being transported, time dragged by.

But it hadn’t been a month before Ling Xiao opened his eyes.

Since ZhongTian wasn’t a small place, they had to find a way to head to XiaoYao Institution
immediately. Thus, they were more rushed now than they had ever been.

It was just good that they hadn’t wasted their forty thousand spirit gems. The exit of the
portal was just outside a city, and with XiaoYao Institution both famous and in the Central
City of ZhongTian, many people would be heading to and from there. Therefore, many cities
would have Dimensional Teleportation Portal to the Central City.

Like transferring trains, the two didn’t stop to rest, getting on another Dimensional
Teleportation Portal.

The fee was a tenth of what they paid before. It seemed cheap, but actually wasn’t.

In just two days, the two arrived at the Central City of ZhongTian.

Central City was the most prosperous area in ZhongTian. Apart from the Mage and Beast
Transfiguration Guilds being based here, the TongTian Palace wasn’t far from here either.
Rumor had it that the TongTian Palace was at the peak of the highest mountains.

The Central City had three main specialties, magic pills, magic herbs and demon beasts.

With the Mage’s Guild there, the pills and magic herbs available were more comprehensive
than anywhere else. Apparently, there was a level 12 mage in the Mage’s Guild. As for
Demon Beasts, no matter how many Demon Beasts there were in Central City, it wouldn’t
compare to XiJing.

Having finally arrived at Central City, You XiaoMo sighed in relief.

He was exhausted by the end of it, having never been so rushed before. It was fortunate
that the next day was the registration deadline. They didn’t have to rush anymore.

“Speaking of, I’ve never seen such a clean city,” You XiaoMo said, sweating a little.

Standing there on the road, the air of prosperity smacked them in the face. The streets
were impressively wide; it was the first time he had seen a ten meter wide street, and the
sides were so clean, not a single vendor with a stall set up, only individual shops.

Ling Xiao explained, “Central City enforces its laws rather strictly. It’s illegal to set up stalls
here. Unless you’re in a special zone, you’ll be harshly punished for it. However, there are
quite a few popular trading districts in the city. If you want to go and have a look, it won’t
be too late to do so after you register.”

You XiaoMo nodded. He wasn’t in a hurry. Right now, he just wanted to rest.

Thus, the two asked around before finding the location of the nearest tavern. This tavern
was more expensive than any other You XiaoMo had ever visited, but more importantly,
there were many people and they weren’t loud. In the hall that was half filled, everyone
was talking quietly amongst themselves.

“Would you gentleman like to stay for the night or drink?”

The boss of the tavern was a lady, dressed brightly and beautifully. Her voice held a demure
gentleness to it, clear and pure. She was rather pretty.

You XiaoMo noticed that there were many people sneaking glances at the boss, their gazes
adoring.

You XiaoMo said in a business-like tone, “Is there a third option?”

The owner paused for a moment. “May I ask why you want to choose a third option?”

You XiaoMo said, “To eat!”

The owner suddenly began to giggle. The idea of a smile being like a flower in bloom was
probably describing the sort of smile she had. Her natural beauty made the guys in the hall
stare.

“You’re very humorous. Though this tavern sells alcohol, we definitely do food as well.”

You XiaoMo nodded. “Then could we have a room, please?”

The owner was stunned again. “Did you not want to eat?” So did he actually just want to
stay the night and not eat after all that?”

“Hey, brat, how dare you tease the owner like that? You wanna die?”

Just as You XiaoMo was going to reply, there was a bang of a fist hitting the table and a
displeased voice.
You XiaoMo looked around. It was a bearded and muscled man, his thick brows furrowed as
he glared. His ugly face became even scarier and the muscles on his arms swelled, almost
like you could see his veins twitching.

He said tease?

Why would he go around teasing a lady who was probably far older than him? It wasn’t like
he was some sort of playboy.

You XiaoMo ignored the muscled man and said to the owner. “I’ll have to trouble you to
rent a room to us and then bring up some food.”

The owner immediately smiled. “Alright, please come this way.”

The muscled man then realized he had made a fool of himself, angered by the laughter that
erupted around him. He glared at You XiaoMo murderously before returning to his seat.

Before going upstairs, Ling Xiao, who was at the back of their little group, glanced at the
muscled man. The latter coincidentally looked over in vexation, making eye contact
suddenly. His hand trembled, his wine cup falling and the wine spilling everywhere.

The owner brought them to a deluxe room in the tavern. It cost five spirit gems a night to
stay in a deluxe room. For most people, this was rather expensive, so she thought nothing
of it when they only asked for one room. Before leaving, the owner said that she’d bring up
their food in fifteen minutes.

After the door closed, You XiaoMo immediately lunged for the comfort of the soft bed.

You XiaoMo rolled around on the bed, groaning in satisfaction. It had been a month since
he had last slept on a bed and now he was finally where he longed to be.

Ling Xiao sat down next to the coffee table and glanced at him. “If you keep crying out like
that, I can’t promise that you’ll be able to rest tonight.

You XiaoMo went silent.

Not long later, their food arrived.

Chapter 416: The Mage Medal

Translated by Crystal of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

On the second day, You XiaoMo woke up early.

The deadline for applying for Xiao Yao Institute was in the afternoon and he had to arrive
before then. Once he finished his morning routine, he and Ling Xiao went downstairs for
breakfast.

Coincidentally, they saw the muscular man from the day before. Seeing them come down,
he instantly straightened his back.

Although You XiaoMo thought it was strange, he wasn’t curious.

After they finished breakfast, they asked the owner for Xiao Yao Institution’s address.
Hearing that they wanted to go to the Institute, the beautiful owner asked with surprise,
“Are the two of you going to signup for Xiao Yao Institution’s entrance exam?”

You XiaoMo, not wanting to explain more, nodded.

The owner smiled, “I couldn’t tell that you two would be so capable. However, you should
be prepared, there aren’t many that can pass the entrance exam.”

You XiaoMo continued nodding, HuangFu Li had told them this already.

Next, the owner told them its location. It was at the center of Central City, and was very
conspicuous. If one was close to the center, they would see it.

After thanking the owner, You XiaoMo and Ling Xiao left.

XiaoYao Institution was actually between the Mage Guild and the Beast Transfiguration
Guild as well. That piece of land was the busiest part of Central City because it had the
biggest Trade Center in Zhong Tian. Supposedly every year it would hold multiple trade fairs
of various sizes with countless attendees.

The two did not walk over and instead rode a Zhong Tian specialty, the Liger Beast. This was
because the owner had told them that Xiao Yao Institution was ten thousand miles from the
hotel. If they walked, it would have taken most of the day.

The Liger Beast was a level seven demon beast with a pair of wings on its back, so it could
soar through the sky.

The owner had said that it would take about one hour taking the Liger. Not surprisingly, an
hour later, they landed on a spacious plaza.

There were already hundreds of Ligers parked on the plaza, mostly those wishing to take
the entrance exam.

Looking up from the plaza, they saw the building described by the owner. Xiao Yao
Institution was like a giant, silently creeping amongst the many smaller structures. They
served to create a grandiose air for the Institute.

A few steps out of the plaza and they heard the bustle, as if someone was arguing, ahead. It
was a tens of thousands of square meters wide open space. The open space was filled with
moving heads in a line that was as long as a dragon.

Looking from afar, above the open space was a door engraved with three words, “Xiao Yao
Institution.” The words felt as if they were going to fly away, generating an air of
magnificence.

Xiao Yao Institution had no particular age requirement, as long as one was below a hundred
years old, one could apply. Once someone passed the entrance exam, one would become a
student with very good benefits. Every year the applicants were above the tens of
thousands, however only a few hundred would pass, due to its difficulty.

Since he had a recommendation, You XiaoMo was not stupid enough to line up. He and Ling
Xiao looked around for a bit before they finally found someone who looked like an advisor
at the institution.

Seeing the two in front of him, the advisor’s expression darkened in displeasure, “If you
want to apply for the exam then line up, don’t think you can cheat.”

By the looks of it, it wasn’t the first time he encountered something like this.

Hearing this, You XiaoMo knew he was mistaken, and hurriedly took out the
recommendation from HuangFu Li, “Advisor, this is Elder HuangFu Li’s letter of
recommendation, please give this a look.”

“Elder HuangFu Li?” The advisor paused before taking the letter. Then he realized who this
elder was, he was from Southern Continent’s Beast Transfiguration Guild and his expression
finally softened. It was then when he said, “Then come with me.”

With glee You XiaoMo dragged Ling Xiao along.

The registration was only done outside, however, if one had a recommendation, then
advisors would help then apply second. It was not technically ‘going through the back door’.

The advisor took them in to the institution and turned right, after a few hundred meters,
they arrived at a conference hall like building. He then called over a young man standing
outside.

“Tan Ze, they were recommended by an elder from the Beast Transfiguration Guild, help
them with the registration.”

The one called Tan Ze immediately walked over and answered with respect, “Yes, Advisor!”

The advisor nodded and then told You XiaoMo to ask him if they had any questions. Then
he hurried along, with other stuff to do.

“Hello, I’ll be helping you with your registration, I’m Tan Ze, nice to meet you!” Tan Ze said
with a smile to You XiaoMo and Ling Xiao, “Now, please come with me.”

You XiaoMo knew he had mistaken something but didn’t explain immediately.

Tan Ze got out a registration booklet and asked, “Excuse me, what are your names?”

You XiaoMo said, “I’m You Xiao…Ha! Actually, only I will be applying.”

With surprise Tan Ze looked up at Ling Xiao and after a few second nodded in
understanding. Clearly, he was either over age or not a mage, “You XiaoHa right? Then
please show me your Mage Medal.”

“Eh?” You XiaoMo were taken back, “What is a Mage Medal?”

“You don’t know?” This time it was Tan Ze’s turn to be surprised.

“It…is my first time in Zhong Tian…” You XiaoMo replied awkwardly. Qiao WuShuang didn’t
tell him. How was he supposed to know one needed some kind of medal?

Tan Ze explained, “To apply, there are only two requirements, to be below a hundred of
years old and have a mage medal. If you don’t have one, it good to get one now at the
Mage Guild, because any later and the registration will close.”

With astonishment You XiaoMo asked, “How far is it from here to the Mage Guild?”

Seeing he was this stressed, Tan Ze comforted him, “Don’t worry, if you ride the Liger it
would take five hours for a round trip. There is plenty of time.”

“Thanks for the warning!” Throwing out his words, You XiaoMo dragged Ling Xiao out of
there.

Before Tan Ze could react, they were out of his sight.

Once they were out of the Institute they were back at the plaza. Of the Ligers there, there
were ones going to the Mage Guild and luckily they got on one.

“Didn’t that person say there was time? You’re way too nervous.” Ling Xiao said without
care, he felt that there was no rush.

You XiaoMo objected, “What if something unexpected happened? We took a month to get
here, if something happens that brings it all to waste, who I’m I going to cry to.”

Calmly, Ling Xiao replied, “Me.”

You XiaoMo, “…”

Actually, he felt that many things pointed towards the fact that the more critical the
situation, the more likely there would be accidents.

However, they arrived at the Mage Guild in one piece, further exemplifying the stupidity of
You XiaoMo’s caution.

The Mage Guild was in the busier part of town, its headquarters were not much smaller
than the Institution. There was an endless stream of pedestrians walking by, not only for
the Mage Medal but also to see if there were any jobs to do.

When You XiaoMo and Ling Xiao walked in, the first thing they saw was the jam-packed
reception, good thing it didn’t take long for it to die down. You XiaoMo walked over to a
young receptionist and asked, “Excuse me, I want to apply for a Mage Medal, where should
I apply?”

The receptionist looked up, assessed him and then said, “If you want to apply for a Mage
Medal then please head towards the room inside. There will be a specific test engineer. The
price for the exam and medal is ten spirit gems.”

You XiaoMo paid ten spirit gems.

The receptionist immediately asked for someone to bring them over.

The room was a square with windows and a very plain interior. There was only a stone plate
and a few chairs in the middle. The stone plate was half a meter wide and about two meters
tall, filled with mottled markings. Some were very old while some were new.

The test engineer looked at them and asked, “Who is taking the test?”

You XiaoMo replied, “Me.”

Then the test engineer explained, “Later you will be asked to release your soul force at full
strength to attack the stone plate. Then I will give you a medal corresponding to the mark
you leave on the stone plate to determine your strength.”

You XiaoMo nodded, the testing method came as a surprise.

“Then let’s begin.”

You XiaoMo took a deep breath and released a streak of soul force attacking the stone
plate. At his last fight with Chen QingEr he wasn’t able do anything, so afterwards he was
set on training his soul force. He was determined to have it as sharp as a knife.

It had been a long time since then and he rarely tested its strength, so even he didn’t know
how much his soul force had improved. But as long as it left a mark and he got a medal that
was good enough, therefore he didn’t attack with full strength. Even with that though, he
successfully shocked the test engineer.

Once the dust faded, a deep mark appeared on the stone plate.

Within a sea of light markings, this was especially eye-catching.

The test engineer was simply bewildered, this stone plate had a long history and had a
record of displaying one’s level accurately. Therefore, only a high leveled mage could leave
a mark that was above one centimeter deep.
Chapter 417: The Broken Record

Translated by Rara of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

The test engineer quickly recovered from his shock. He looked toward You XiaoMo with
frightened eyes as if he just saw a monster, because the mark he left on the stone plate was
the deepest, even deeper than the previous record.

Although not every mage need to go to the Mage Guild for the evaluation, it was required
in order to enter Xiao Yao Institution. Among those mages, there were those that were
praised as geniuses, yet, their results still fell short compared to this one.

The test engineer took the final measure and confirmed the mark You XiaoMo left on the
stone plate was 4.7cm(1.85”) deep.

This record directly broke the stone plate record over the last few decades. It was deeper
than the previous by 1cm (0.4”), and it seemed like there wouldn't be anyone able to break
this record for a long time.

When the test engineer knew You XiaoMo was not an ordinary high rank Mage, his attitude
quickly changed to a more respectful manner. He took out and gave a high-rank medal to
him while explaining the function of this medal.

The Mage Guild's Medal was divided into three types: low, mid and high rank. It also was
corresponded with three colors: ash gray, brown and black in that respective order. The one
that was given to You XiaoMo was black.

Except for the registration purpose, the Medal could also be used for discounts in some
shops in the Central City. The higher the rank, the higher the discount.

After accepting the Medal, You XiaoMo and Ling Xiao immediately left.

When they left the room, they coincidently passed by a group of people that were talking
and laughing with each other. However, both parties didn't pay attention to the others.

You XiaoMo and Ling Xiao soon left the Mage Guild.
The test engineer was staring at the stone plate when he heard footsteps. He turned
around and saw who came, his face quickly showed a smile, "Sir, do you come here to apply
for the medal?"

"Duh! If we didn't come here for the medal, you think we came here to play?” The
youngster with the most vibrant manner glanced at the test engineer, accompanied him
was two men and one woman.

The two men were elegant with an extraordinary temperament, while the woman was
beautiful and gorgeous like a delicate flower that could touch anyone's heart.

When the youngster finished his words, the girl immediately scolded, "An Qiao, don't be
rude." But her voice was as if it was soaked in honey, making her scolding sound graceful
and subtle.

The youngster stuck out his tongue. His attitude didn't look like he put any of her word into
his ear.

Her name was Wan Ya. She walked in front of the test engineer and smiled elegantly. "It
seems like we have to bother manager Yang for the evaluation test."

Manager Yang waved his hand, "Young miss Wan Ya, you don't have to be polite, it's my
honor to test you. Everyone is all here for the test, correct?" He looked at the two men next
to her.

These past few years, geniuses with first-rate potential kept popping up within the Mage
Guild. Manager Yang had heard about them, but had only met young miss Wan Ya so far.
However, he heard that this time those geniuses would apply for XiaoYao Institution's
entrance exam.

Speaking of which, although the younglings of the Mage Guild could learn directly from
them, their masters couldn’t teach them very often. In addition, since XiaoYao Institution's
true backing was the TongTian Palace, they could learn more from them. Thus every year,
besides the outsiders, those who registered for the entrance exam, would be the
younglings from both the Mage Guild and the Beast Transfiguration Guild.

"Of course we also want to register for the entrance exam. You better measure us fast, or
you could just directly give us the mage medal." An Qiao said casually.
Even though this measuring stone plate belonged to the Mage Guild, the people of the guild
rarely had a chance to to use the medal. The reason being that they themselves were
already a part of the Mage Guild and they didn't need the medal to enjoy the discount.
Therefore, they only applied for one when needed. For An Qiao, this step was completely
unnecessary.

"An Qiao, stop fooling around. Even if we are from the Mage Guild, we still have to follow
the procedures." The blue clothed man standing on Wan Ya's left suddenly stepped
forward. His appearance wasn't very prominent, but his presence was extraordinary. His
soul fluctuation was quite strong, he must be a high grade mage.

An Qiao pouted and ignored him.

The blue clothed man was Zhang LanYu, and seeing An Qiao remain unswayed didn't
surprise him. An Qiao’s personality was extremely rebellious, the type that would become
more uncontrollable if one spoke against him. Only his master could move him.

But then that master hadn't been to the Mage Guild since the year before, and not many
people knew where he was. Now that there was no one to restrain An Qiao, he became
more and more undisciplined and out of control.

"Manager Yang, sorry." Wan Ya hinted at the test engineer, then said to An Qiao, "An Qiao,
you're up first."

An Qiao shrugged whatever. Among the four, his strength was the lowest, but since he
loved to steal the first spot, he didn't object what Wan Ya said.

Manager Yang nodded and said to An Qiao, "Young master An, the measurement method is
really simple, you only need to release your soul force then attack the stone plate with all of
your strength."

An Qiao took a step forward.

Wan Ya suddenly spoke, "An Qiao, this measurement could affect the rank of the medal, if
you do it half-heartedly, your result will come out terrible, which mean you will only get the
low rank medal. By then, being lookef down upon is your problem to taken care of."