Condemning the Heavens

Xue Wei instantly retreated. The beasts within this Ascended's Realm were very different from the beasts he was used to facing. They did not care about his bloodline at all.

It was a new feeling, but he found that he quite liked the feeling of battling beasts. They were much more straightforward to kill than humans; they did not seem to have any schemes.

The beasts had their natural advantages. Some were fast as the wind; some were overwhelmingly strong. Some had unique attributes, and others had spiritual energy.

The beasts were as different as humans were, although there were many of the same races, the beasts were still different.

The snake which had rushed towards Xue Wei was not too big, but it was so fast that Xue Wei hardly had the chance to escape.

His bloodlust erupted, and his aura was released in a moment.

Scale Shield!

Without even taking the time to think, the Qi within his body erupted in a Scale Shield, and the red snake struck it head-on.

A resounding boom spread alongside a small explosion from the impact. At the same time, a sizzling sound could be heard as the poison oozed out of the fangs of the snake, landing on the scale shield and slowly dissipating the Qi.

Xue Wei was taken aback when he saw that the poison was capable of destroying his shield.

Life Scale Shield!

Wood elemental Qi was added to the shield, and it started holding better, making the snake realize that it no longer was dissipating, and a hiss resounded before it withdrew into the thick grass once more.

Xue Wei was on high alert. Was the snake planning on escaping, or was it going to ambush them later?

Anyway, he was going to take the ginseng fast, and he quickly dug it up before he placed it in an ice jade box and tossed it into his storage treasure.

"Let's leave right away," Xue Wei made a quick decision. He had a strange and somewhat uncomfortable feeling that the snake had not given up, but it had retreated, so if they stayed, they would likely be subject to another ambush.

The others all agreed with Xue Wei. Having had such difficulties blocking the snake, they knew that it was not easy to defeat, and considering that they had already gotten the ginseng, so no one needed to defeat the snake.

Meanwhile, the Dongfang family had followed the treasure that would lead them towards the other great families, and luckily for them, the first group they met were the Ouyang family.

The Ouyang family leader looked at the Dongfang family leader; his eyes narrowing slightly.

"What brings you to our group?" the Ouyang family leader could not help but ask. Although the eight great families were officially allies, it was rare for them actually to help one another.

"We encountered a group of five youngsters," the leader of the Dongfang family began explaining. "This group was encountered within a deep underground treasure trove, a place where treasures were everywhere.

"They defeated the most of the trials and got the rarest of the treasures, alongside the final treasure, a blood drop from a God-ranked Vermilion Bird.

"After finishing the trials, all of us were moved into a big hall where there were treasure rooms all across the hall, containing ancient skills, pills, herbs, and the like.

"Unfortunately, these five people had a strength that even our entire team could not contend against.

"So the entire hall was looted by them. We were not too happy with this, but when the situation arises, we have no other option than to accept it. We have to be alive to enjoy the treasure after all.

"We put a mark on them, so we will be able to find them again, but we were looking for someone to work together with us, and then our thoughts landed on the Ouyang family. Mainly because our families both specialize in swords and are able to work together a bit better than, for instance, the Baili or the Du families."

The more he spoke, the brighter the eyes of the Ouyang family became. Everyone wanted treasures, and no one was the exception of this. Knowing that a group of mere five experts had managed to loot an entire treasure trove, they were both angry and jealous. Why had they not come across such an incredible treasure trove?

In fact, although the Ouyang family had managed to get their hands on quite a few treasures, it was nothing compared to an ancient underground world filled with refined treasures.

Although the herbs, fruits, and the like that they had found were useful, they were nothing compared to ancient pills.

Thinking like this, the leader of the Ouyang family could not help but ponder deeply. If the Dongfang family had certainty of success against this group of youngsters, then they would never have looked for the Ouyang family.

No one was willing to trade the treasures that they obtained. This also proved that even if they went together, Ouyang and Dongfang families together, then there would still be a certain amount of sacrifices.

Even so, the leader of the Ouyang family had to admit that he had been enticed by the words of the underground treasure trove. He was very eager to see what treasures they had found, and even more so to see whether or not there were any spiritual swords present.

His own sword was not bad, but it was far from being able to contend against the proper spiritual swords. If there were refined treasures, there were also likely to be refined weapons.

"We'll go," The leader of the Ouyang family finally made a decision. He could see that his group were of the same mind, and when he looked at them, he saw his own eagerness displayed in their faces.

He had never thought that it would be possible for him to go through the entire Ascended's Realm without losing a member or two, so even if it happened, then it was not a significant loss. This was survival of the fittest; he was well aware of this.

"Let us get going before the mark I placed on their leader will vanish," the Dongfang family leader said, and he began showing the way towards the south, towards summer.

It was not only the Ouyang and Dongfang families who were heading towards Summer; everyone within the Ascended Realm was moving towards this season.

Some had been arriving in Winter and thus had a further distance to travel, and some had come directly in summer, needing no extra travel time.

One of the groups which had arrived directly within Summer was Wang Xiaoyun and her Murdering Heavens Sect.

The Murdering Heavens Sect was a newfound sect within Chang'an, but although it was slightly green, the power it wielded was not to be belittled.

The sect master, Wang Xiaoyun, was a Saint ranked expert. Within Chang'an, Saints were immensely rare, and to see a sect which contained a Saint had caused many to flock to her banner.

The sect's purpose was very simple; to kill all Primordial Beasts within Chang'an.

She had made a team of Elders, all being at the minimum rank of Heavenly Knights, and a few other Saints. Together this group of ten individuals had raided many of the danger zones within Chang'an, murdering and eradicating multiple races of Primordial Beasts.

This Murdering Heavens Sect was like a breath of fresh air to the humans. It was a ray of hope for them to win the war against the Primordial Beasts.

Even so, some of the beasts struck back with relentless fierceness. Especially the Ice Harpy Chu Huiyin was famous for her lethal ambushes.

She was filled with madness. Every time the human cultivators executed one of the primordial beast races, she would descend into a murdering frenzy, bathing cities, and villages in blood.

The hatred she incurred was so immense that even more humans signed up for the Murdering Heavens Sect, and the hatred that humans felt towards beasts was also growing each day.

Initially, the Murdering Heavens Sect would have had no affinity with the Ascended's Realm; they did not even know what it was before the prophet Lan made an uninvited visit to their sect.

Here he explained that the world was much bigger than what they had expected, that the Chang'an continent was just a drop in the sea, that many other continents existed, and that the battle on Chang'an was nothing compared to the rest of the world, a place where humans and beasts coexisted.

The wonderous tales that Prophet Lan told them about was so fantastic and different from what they had expected, and Wang Xiaoyun decided that it was time to bring her Elders with her to the Ascended's Realm to see what a genius from the outside world was like.

They had been fortunate and ended in the Summer region from the first arrival. As to whether or not Lan had planned this, no one knew.

Since then, they had traveled across the entire place, taken resources with them from the many places they had come across, battled beasts, and lived a peaceful life.

The group of the Murdering Heavens Sect had not encountered any other people yet, but now that everyone was gathering in Summer, they could no longer enjoy the resources on their own.

At the start, Wang Xiaoyun did what she could to avoid other people, but it seemed that the more they avoided, the further out of Summer they came, and suddenly, they ran into a small group of people.

This group seemed to contain a few people only, five at most, and Wang Xiaoyun made a decision.

"We will fight it out with them if they try to do anything fun to us!" she said decisively as she looked at her Elders, who all agreed with her. They were double the numbers of this small group; it should be possible for them to prevail, maybe even win with these odds.

When they stepped forward to greet the five experts, Wang Xiaoyun's face suddenly showed a panicked color, and she felt her body trembling, ready to escape as fast as she could. However, she was the Sect Master, and she could not let her Elders face this group alone.

At the same time, Xue Wei had also seen Wang Xiaoyun, his eyes widened in shock, and then happiness spread in his heart. He had dreamt about this woman often and wished to see her again. He had never thought that it would be possible to see her within the Ascended's Realm.

"Xiaoyun," he said gently, and although he did not scream, the voice was high enough for the Elders to hear it, making them shocked. Was there another group from Chang'an within this realm? If not, how did this youngster know Wang Xiaoyun? At the same time, it seemed as if Wang Xiaoyun was panicked.

"Big brother, who is this pretty girl?" Luoluo stepped forward and dragged on Xue Wei's sleeve, smiling slightly as she looked at Wang Xiaoyun curiously.

"Hey, that's the genius from the Diviners who vanished some time ago! His picture was everywhere since they were trying to capture him again! They said he stole their most valuable treasure!" someone exclaimed when he saw Lin Xiao, and Lin Xiao chuckled resignedly and scratched his head.

"Why don't we talk?" Xue Wei asked and looked at Wang Xiaoyun tenderly. "This place is not for the faint-hearted. As you can see, our group is merely five people strong, and yours is not much better. Why don't we all travel together?"

"Who would want to travel with you?" Wang Xiaoyun retorted, but she was unable to sound as harsh as she wanted to.

The truth was that she had been unable to forget about him. Although he was a beast, she could not entirely hate him. As long as he was away from her sight, she was happy so that she did not have to think about her emotions, but now that he was here, she found that her heart was fluttering.