Translator: CKtalon Editor: CKtalon
Steward Zhou could be described as having irrevocably committed. He could not turn a blind eye to the death of a Taixia Ancient Mining steward. But even if he wanted to press the matter, he lacked the ability to do so.
“Yi Yun, you still have a contract with my Taixia! How dare you kill my Taixia’s steward?”
“So what?” Yi Yun thought nothing of it. “Taixia’s contract doesn’t force one to clean one’s neck and wait for death, does it? I obviously knew that Zhou Fang wanted my life and counterattacked. Is this in violation of the Taixia’s contract?”
The Taixia contract’s clauses were not considered overly oppressive. It was quite reasonable. If the clauses were too oppressive, Taixia itself would have long splintered. No one would sell themselves to the Taixia to be slaves.
Steward Zhou crossed words with Yi Yun while running. With Ghost experts behind him, Yi Yun was not foolish enough to believe that the Ghosts would treat him as one of theirs after his killing of Zhou Fang. Furthermore, Yi Yun had no intention of being an ally of the Ghosts.
Steward Zhou fumed from Yi Yun’s tone. With the outcome of Godly Monarch Divineheart’s battle with the Ghosts’ Godly Monarch still up in the air, it was impossible for him to hope to gain Divineheart’s help.
He could not just continue fleeing, either. The members of the Taixia Ancient Mining would be scattered if they continued fleeing.
Although the inner valley was not perennially covered in mist like the outer valley, the suppression effect on one’s perception was identical. If they were separated, it would be nearly impossible to reunite again.
When that happened, all the Taixia Ancient Mining would have left would likely be Godly Monarch Divineheart and a few stewards.
They would be generals without an army!
As the leader, he could not escape the blame for losing all the elites of the middle echelons in one expedition!
Steward Zhou looked at Yi Yun again and realized that Yi Yun was having an easy time escaping. Although Ghost Lords were constantly delivering attacks behind him, they were easily deflected by Yi Yun.
“This punk definitely has the strength to counterattack, but he just refuses to do so!”
With this in mind, Steward Zhou burned with furious anxiety. “Yi Yun, you are from the Taixia Ancient Mining after all. There’s still a contract in place! Not only have you not helped my Taixia, you have even slain my Taixia’s steward. Now, despite having the strength to help us fend off the Ghosts, you just watch by the sidelines. Aren’t you going overboard!?”
At that moment, Yi Yun had just fended off a red beam from a Ghost Lord. He sneered, “Steward Zhou, I do have a contract with Taixia, but you seem to be mistaken. It was not I who took the initiative to leave Taixia, but it was all of you who became certain I was a traitor and chased me away. Besides, according to the specifics of the contract I signed with the Taixia…
“The Taixia hired me as a low-ranking miner. My salary is also at the paygrade of a low-ranking miner. I can be promoted based on future performance. This contract is in effect for a century.
“Now, I’m only a low-ranking miner of the Taixia. The salary I earn from Taixia is only about five kilograms of crude ores. I have already done my duty and mined. When the time comes, I will hand over some of the ores to Taixia.
“Steward, what else do you want from me? Are you expecting to hire a warrior that can beat seven or eight Ghost Lords for just five kilograms of crude ores? And one that is willing to stay employed at that rate for a century?”
Yi Yun’s retort was clearly filled with sarcasm. Steward Zhou’s expression sank. Yi Yun was not committing himself until success was certain. He was continuing to embroil himself with the Ghosts, neither attacking or escaping. Instead, he kept following the Taixia group, obviously waiting for the highest bid!
Such an act was truly insidious!
However, Steward Zhou did not say a word. He knew that Yi Yun’s words stood on the side of reason.
His Taixia had not been good to Yi Yun either, so why would Yi Yun help them?
Furthermore, an expert who could fend off several Ghost Lords simultaneously would be an honored Elder in Taixia. And the salary given to said honored Elders was not measured with Chaos Ores.
“Nice of you!” Steward Zhou clenched his teeth and said, “What salary do you want?”
Yi Yun smiled and said, “I want Blood Essence Pills! A Blood Essence Pill that can be used by Godly Monarchs!”
“What did you say?” Steward Zhou’s heart leaped. The so-called Blood Essence Pill was a specialized pill used to replenish blood essence. Typically, high-ranking warriors would burn their blood essences under extenuating circumstances. They could then use Blood Essence Pills to replenish their blood essence.
However, it was very difficult for high-ranking human warriors to replenish their blood essences after burning through them. They needed specific precious herbs—each one priceless—that were refined with special techniques.
A Godly Monarch-ranked Blood Essence Pill basically needed a Godly Monarch Alchemist to refine it. The price was obvious.
“Don’t think so highly of yourself. So what if you easily killed Zhou Fang? You want a Godly Monarch-ranked Blood Essence Pill? What a joke! Even the salary of the few honored Elders of Taixia when they act collectively isn’t worth that much!”
If Steward Zhou was not worried that Yi Yun would not take advantage of his situation, he would have already broken out into curses. Yi Yun was really making an outrageous demand.
“Honored Elders? As long as they aren’t Godly Monarchs, they aren’t anything serious from my point of view. All I want is a Godly Monarch Blood Essence Pill. If you aren’t keen on the deal, forget it,” Yi Yun said nonchalantly.
The Godly Monarch Blood Essence Pill was naturally for Lin Xintong. It was fine even if he did not obtain it this time. He was bound to get one if he spent some time.
After saying so, Yi Yun slowly pulled away from the Taixia group. He had no intention to entertain them any further.
“How arrogant!” Steward Zhou gritted his teeth. Yi Yun’s tone implied that he disparaged Taixia’s honored Elders.
“Ah, ah, ah!”
Tragic cries sounded one after another. A few more people died tragically among the escaping Taixia group.
This was the terrifying aspect of Ghosts. They were able to devour the souls of warriors from other races to strengthen their combat endurance. They did not rely on Chaos Ores as much as the others did.
If this went on, the members of the Taixia Ancient Mining was likely to be completely annihilated. It was even possible that a few stewards would perish there and then.
What use was wealth without life?
Despite knowing that Yi Yun was fishing in troubled waters, he could only give in. With this in mind, Steward Zhou clenched his teeth and said to Yi Yun, “A Nine-heart Life Rejuvenation Pill for your aid!”
Steward Zhou did not pin his hopes on Yi Yun truly fending off all the Ghosts. Just buying him time to take a breather was sufficient.
“A Nine-heart Life Rejuvenation Pill isn’t bad,” said Bai Yueyin in Yi Yun’s soul sea. There were only a handful of Godly Monarch Blood Essence Pills in the Chaos Heavens. Bai Yueyin did not expect Yi Yun to have heard of them.
“Alright!”
Yi Yun agreed immediately. He abruptly did a switch in direction as he locked onto two Ghost Lords and attacked.
The two Ghost Lords were pursuing about eight Taixia disciples. One of them had an ample bosom and a slim waist. Her clothes were a purple veil and she was Yi Yun’s superior’s superior, Purple Light Hall’s hall lord—Purple Succubus!
Back when Yi Yun first joined the Taixia, it was Purple Succubus who gave him his salary. Yi Yun chose the two Ghost Lords first also because of her. After all, they knew each other.
At that moment, Purple Succubus was nothing like her usual coquettish and alluring self. She had already witnessed the deaths of a few Taixia warriors who were hall lords just like her.
Some of them had been pierced through by the Ghost Lords’ beams and turned to desiccated flesh. Others were devoured by the Thousand-eyed Mo, having their souls trapped within to be tormented for all eternity. There were others who were swarmed by souls and eaten clean after being inflicted with severe injuries.
The way they died left her scalp tingling! Purple Succubus would rather she be completely wiped out of existence than die in such a tragic manner.
Her face was as white as a sheet and her Yuan Qi was nearly depleted. In her despair, she did not pay any notice to what was happening with Steward Zhou a few kilometers away.
A Ghost Lord had mounted a strike on her with a hundred ghosts, and just as Purple Succubus was planning to burn her blood essence to fight it out with them, a mystical cold beam flashed past her. Following that, a terrifying destructive force erupted.
“Boom!”
Space shattered as ghostly auras were swept into a destruction vortex. Haunting wails were heard as hundreds of ghosts were instantly wiped out of existence!
Furthermore, the Sword Qi did not lose its momentum as it struck the Ghost Lord’s body!
“Ah!”
The Ghost Lord let out a sharp howl. It shot out a red beam from the eye at its glabella to block the Sword Qi, but the destructive forces were artful. A wisp of destructive force traced the red beam and infiltrated its owner’s body, causing its soul body to shake violently. It seemed to suffer immense damage.
“Oh?”
The Ghost Lord’s red eyes flashed with a baleful aura as it turned its head suddenly to see Yi Yun approaching on a cauldron.
“Is shooting those ghost beams the only thing all of you are capable of? How boring.”
As Yi Yun spoke, he slashed down with Mirage Snow, and while doing so, a Dragon Emperor phantom surfaced behind him. Overwhelming lifeblood forces swept out like the ocean as they concentrated on his single strike!
The power of lifeblood hurt ghosts the most! Humans were weak in lifeblood and so were weak against ghosts. This was also why the Taixia was completely not the Ghost opponents’ matches.
“Ah!”
Two Ghost Lords raised their hands to attack Yi Yun, but as Mirage Snow slashed down, the horrifying lifeblood powers struck them ruthlessly like tidal wave. It instantly tore through their protective ghostly auras!
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
Yi Yun’s lifeblood force enveloped them as the two Ghost Lords seemed to burn in lava. Even with their cultivation levels, they found it impossible to resist the terrifying energies that resembled those of a burning sun.
Their souls were constantly battered and at that moment, Yi Yun had already arrived in front of them with sword in hand.
“Cha!”
With a swipe of his sword, the two heads of the Ghost Lords were lopped off!
However, Ghost warriors were dead to begin with. They were unlike humans who were dead without heads. The two Ghost Lords in front of Yi Yun still had sticky blood strands connecting the severed head to their bodies. They resembled the clinging fibers from severed lotus roots.
Through the tugging of the blood strands, their heads began to reattach.
Yi Yun sneered.
“Boom!”
Terrifying Heretical God Fire Seed blasted out as a sea of fire gathered from every direction, enveloping the two half-dead Ghost Lords.
The two Ghost Lords wailed in pain as a result of the destructive forces consuming their bodies while the Heretical God Fire Seed burned them away. In seconds, they were eviscerated into nothingness.
Yi Yun had slain two out of twelve Ghost Lords in just seconds!
Up to then, the Taixia disciples who were being pursued by the Ghost Lords were still reeling in shock. And among them, Purple Succubus was looking incredulously at the youth who had slain two Ghost Lords.
“You… You are… Yi Yun!?”
