Chapter 23: Undercurrents

Ye Chentian looked at his resolute expression, a faint smile curling the corner of his mouth. "Good. As long as you have the heart to grow stronger, that is what matters!"

"Furthermore, the Blood Shadow Hall has committed countless atrocities in the Eastern Region—kidnapping cultivators and crafting evil artifacts. They have long been a malignant tumor that everyone wishes to see destroyed. Now, they dare to set their sights on my Xuantian Sect, coveting our spiritual ley lines and harming my disciples. It is truly detestable. Three months from now, you and Su Wan shall go together and completely raze their lair to the ground."

Upon hearing the words "Blood Shadow Hall," Xiao Yi was deeply shaken.

How could he not know of the evil deeds of this band of villains? How many cultivators in the Lingwu Kingdom had their spiritual roots extracted and been refined into puppets by them? How many sects had been exterminated simply because they possessed treasures that caught the interest of these scoundrels?

Now that these wretches dared to lay a finger on the Xuantian Sect and had nearly cost Junior Sister Su Wan her life, a monstrous wave of fury surged through his entire being.

"This disciple understands!" He looked up abruptly, bloodshot veins swirling in his eyes.

"Such conscience-less scum only bring disaster to the world by existing! Three months from now, I will accompany my Junior Sister to level their headquarters and make them pay the price for coveting our ley lines!"

"Good!"

In Ye Chentian's mind, his communication with the system rang out clearly: "System, exchange for one hundred supreme-grade Spirit Gathering Pills."

[Understood, Host.]

[Ding! 10,000 Sect Points consumed. One hundred Spirit Gathering Pills exchanged successfully! Remaining points: 50,000!]

"These are 'Spirit Gathering Pills,'" Ye Chentian said, his voice carrying an unquestionable majesty as one hundred shimmering jade bottles appeared in his palm. "These pills are refined from thousand-year-old spiritual root marrow and ninth-grade Spirit Gathering Flowers. A single pill can condense three years of arduous cultivation into pure spiritual energy, directly solidifying your foundation. They are most suitable for your breakthroughs."

Ye Chentian distributed the pills to the two of them.

Xiao Yi and Su Wan both gasped. They had seen records of these in the ancient books of the Ten Thousand Laws Pavilion.

The Spirit Gathering Pill was considered a "shortcut to cultivation" in the eyes of Eastern Region cultivators. A single pill could cause a Foundation Establishment cultivator's spiritual energy to surge, and for a Golden Core cultivator, it could directly trigger a breakthrough into a minor realm.

Last year, at an auction held by a prestigious Western Region sect, a single high-grade Spirit Gathering Pill sold for the astronomical price of 800,000 low-grade spirit stones, inciting a fierce brawl among hundreds of cultivators!

To think that their Master would produce so many at once!

The two received the jade bottles with both hands; the warmth in their palms felt less like the heat of medicine and more like the heavy weight of expectation.

"Go," Ye Chentian waved his hand, gesturing toward the practice chambers in the back mountain. "Hurry and refine these pills; do not waste this opportunity. Three months from now, I want to see that your strength is sufficient to raze the Blood Shadow Hall."

"Yes, Master!" The two replied in unison, turning and bolting toward the practice chambers. Their figures soon vanished at the end of the mountain path, leaving behind only two streaks of light cutting across the sky.

The moment they turned to dash toward the chambers, a system notification exploded in Ye Chentian's mind:

[Ding! You have gifted your disciples, Xiao Yi and Su Wan, a total of one hundred Spirit Gathering Pills, triggering a hundredfold return! Congratulations to the Host for obtaining one hundred 'Ten-Thousand-Year Spiritual Essence Pills!']

As the two figures disappeared, Ye Chentian turned and walked toward the meditation chamber on the top floor of the Scripture Repository.

He brushed his finger across his storage ring, and a Ten-Thousand-Year Spiritual Essence Pill silently materialized. Purple-gold light shimmered in his palm, and the vast spiritual essence contained within the pill's fragrance caused the very air to ripple.

He whispered a soft word and took the pill. A pure spiritual essence, far exceeding his imagination, instantly surged through his limbs and bones, pouring into his Dantian along his meridians.

Ye Chentian sat cross-legged, a faint golden light rising around him. The Saint Body of the Divine Sword fused perfectly with the Ten-Thousand-Year Spiritual Essence; every breath he took stirred the tidal waves of spiritual energy between heaven and earth.

Within the Zixiao Sacred Land's Main Hall, the Sacred Lord, Zi Qingcang, was consumed by rage. The thousand-year-old jade ornament displayed on his desk shattered upon impact, and as jade dust scattered, Zi Qingcang’s roar nearly blew the roof off the palace.

"Ye Chentian has such immense gall! The Biluo Sect offers our Zixiao Sacred Land thirty thousand low-grade spirit stones and ten disciples of excellent talent every year."

"In plain terms, they are dogs raised by my Zixiao Sacred Land! He kills them as he pleases and even forces Liu Ningxia to kowtow a thousand times at the Xiao family ancestral hall—this is pressing the face of the Zixiao Sacred Land into the dirt!"

"After that Ye Chentian wiped out the Biluo Sect, he even declared that 'if anyone from the Zixiao Sacred Land dares to come, I will kill them one by one'! Every sect in the Eastern Region is laughing at us, saying... saying that you, Sacred Lord, dare not stand up for a vassal sect!"

"Death it is!" Zi Qingcang struck the table, a Zixiao Divine Thunder cracking in his palm, shattering the bronze incense burner beside him into powder. "My Zixiao Sacred Land has stood for a thousand years, and yet no one has ever dared to crap on our heads like this! Great Elder Lei Yao!"

The white-haired and white-bearded Great Elder, Lei Yao, stepped out from the shadows, lightning patterns faintly flickering around him: "I am here."

"Assemble one thousand Sacred Guards and bring the 'Prison-Suppressing Thunder Tower,'" Zi Qingcang’s voice was laced with ice. "Within three days, wipe out the Xuantian Sect. I will let everyone know that those who dare to offend my Zixiao Sacred Land must pay with their lives!!"

"Yes!"

Lei Yao bowed to receive the order. As he turned, a look of gravity flashed in his eyes—the Prison-Suppressing Thunder Tower was the sect's greatest treasure, possessing extraordinary power. This showed that the Sacred Lord had reached the peak of his fury.

Meanwhile, by the side of the Blood Pool at the Blood Shadow Hall's headquarters, the Hall Master, Xue Wuchang, let out a low laugh: "To wipe out the Biluo Sect and then dare to pull the whiskers of the Zixiao Sacred Land—this Ye Chentian is truly a tough bone."

The gray-robed elder, Gu Hen, held a sheepskin map, his finger pointing to the location of the Xuantian Sect's back mountain: "Look, Hall Master. This is the distribution map of the ley lines drawn by the spies we planted on the outskirts of the Xuantian Sect. Judging by the concentration of spiritual energy escaping, it is at least of the mid-grade superior tier, more than ten times stronger than the Blood Fiend Vein we currently use!"

"I have also heard that the Zixiao Sacred Land has gone mad. The Great Elder is leading a team himself, and they have brought the Prison-Suppressing Thunder Tower. It is clear they intend to fight the Xuantian Sect to the death."

"Mid-grade ley lines? The Prison-Suppressing Thunder Tower?" Xue Wuchang licked his lips, his fingernails carving deep blood-red marks into the map. "That old man is quite interesting; it just so happens he can test Ye Chentian's mettle for us."

He rose slowly, his hands covered in blood-red veins visible beneath his black robes, and shouted into the shadows: "Ghost Claw Ming Luo, Poison Scorpion Jue Ying!"

Two figures wrapped in black robes appeared silently by the side of the Blood Pool.

"Take eight hundred Blood Guards and bring out the 'Nine Nether Death Coffin,'" Xue Wuchang’s voice carried an excited tremor.

"At the same time, set up the 'Blood Fiend Spirit-Locking Array' in Black Wind Valley, ten miles outside the Xuantian Sect. They want revenge, and we want the ley lines; we are each taking what we need."

"Once the Zixiao Sacred Land and the Xuantian Sect have both been battered and exhausted, we shall seize the opportunity while Ye Chentian is off-guard to steal the ley lines!"

"And if that Ye Chentian dares to pursue us, we shall lure him into the Blood Fiend Spirit-Locking Array and execute him!"

At this moment, a sinister, gloating smile reflected on Xue Wuchang’s face.

"Yes!" The two acknowledged the order and withdrew.

Back at the Xuantian Sect's mountain, two pillars of spiritual light were continuously climbing toward the sky.

Xiao Yi's nascent soul phantom solidified within a sea of fire, and Su Wan's Sword Domain was already resonating with the spiritual energy of heaven and earth.

The golden light around Ye Chentian grew increasingly intense; the medicinal power of the Ten-Thousand-Year Spiritual Essence Pill was continuously scouring his meridians.

A storm was coming. The winds and clouds of the Eastern Region had been completely stirred up by this small Xuantian Sect.