Spirit Realm

Three islands sat in the ocean below the Flowing Gold Fire Phoenix, forming a triangle in the water. These islands were filled with mountain ranges, and though it was deep in the night, they shone as brightly as if it were day.

If someone were to look down at the three islands, they would discover seven bright spots on the islands, which were mines that war chariots soared in and out of like fireflies.

A black palace towered over the landscape of the very first island like a majestic mountain.

It was the Black Cloud Palace.

“There are a total of seven mines down there. They produce Fate Crystals, Aurora Stones and Thunder Sand Jades. Fate Crystals and Aurora Stones are Earth Grade Six spirit materials, whereas Thunder Sand Jade is an Earth Grade Seven spirit material!”

Xing Yuyuan’s eyes shone brightly, a wide smile on his face as he said, “Fate Crystals are a basic spirit material used to construct spatial teleportation formations, and Aurora Stones can be used to enhance the speed of a flying spirit artifact. Meanwhile, Thunder Sand Jades… contain the explosive power of thunder and lightning! It is the most important spirit material because it can be used to forge the Blazing Profound Bomb that Miss Tang created! If we can obtain enough Thunder Sand Jades, she will be able to refine even more Blazing Profound Bombs!”

Qin Lie looked excited.

“These seven mines are the most valuable mines that Black Cloud Palace has in its possession. If we can take these mines for ourselves, our trip will be worth it!” Xing Yuyuan’s eyes smoldered with greed.

“How is Black Cloud Palace faring?” Qin Lie asked cautiously.

“Ever since Zheng Zhihe and his son passed away, Black Cloud Palace has been headless in complete disarray. The elders are busy fighting amongst themselves in order to obtain the highest authority. This is, without a doubt, their weakest moment!” Xing Yuyuan smiled.

“Does Black Cloud Palace possess a great sect protecting formation?” Qin Lie asked.

“No, they don’t.” Xing Yuyuan shook his head. “Out of all the Copper rank forces under Black Voodoo Cult’s control, Black Cloud Palace is among the weakest. They don’t have a great sect-protecting formation like the Shield of Cold Moon.”

Qin Lie smiled and exclaimed, “Then what are we waiting for?”

Xing Yuyuan chuckled in understanding. He waved his hands and shouted, “Let’s go!”

Numerous crystalline war chariots flew out into the open at his command. Their sudden appearance resembled a swarm of locusts that had emerged from the black clouds in the sky, approaching Black Cloud Palace under the cover of night.

Xing Yuyuan brought his two enforcers, Guo Yanzheng and Qi Jing, with him on this trip. Mo Jun had also sent an elder of Blood Fiend Sect to protect their forces. He sat inside the Flowing Gold Fire Phoenix.

This elder, Hong Bowen, was in the early stage of the Nirvana Realm. He was Xue Li’s junior and used to be at just the late stage of the Fulfillment Realm. After cultivating quietly for a thousand years, he had finally entered the Nirvana Realm.

With Hong Bowen acting as their guardian, experts like Xing Yuyuan, Guo Yanzheng, Qi Jing and the others, and two more Blood Fiend Sect Fragmentation Realm experts hidden within their number, taking down Black Cloud Palace shouldn’t be too difficult.

This was why Qin Lie calmly stood on the wing of the Flowing Gold Fire Phoenix and didn’t join the attack in a fit of passion.

“Big… Big Brother Qin?” Xing Yao called out to him softly, a bashful look on her face. Her head was slightly bowed, and she didn’t dare to meet Qin Lie’s gaze directly as she spoke in a quiet voice. “You went to Green Moon Valley with my father last time, didn’t you?”

“Mn.” Qin Lie turned to look at her with an odd expression on his face.

Just half a month ago, Xing Yao had treated him like her greatest enemy, gritting her teeth and bombarding him with all kinds of threats.

Now she spoke to him carefully, scared that she would accidentally provoke his anger. It was as if she had become an entirely different person.

Qin Lie shook his head inwardly, thinking about how fickle the world was and how any relationship could one day turn upside down.

“Erm… what did Miao Hui do to offend my father?” Xing Yao asked in a soft voice, biting her bottom lip.

Qin Lie’s mind went blank for a moment, after which he said, “What did the first island master tell you?”

“He said that Miao Hui was unreliable and utterly immoral. He disagreed with our engagement and told me to never associate with Miao Hui ever again.” Xing Yao’s expression was gloomy. Her mood had obviously declined.

Qin Lie sighed inwardly.

It was obvious that Xing Yao had fallen in love with Miao Hui. Perhaps she even thought of Miao Hui as her future husband all this time.

In order to cover up his embarrassment, Xing Yumiao hadn’t told Xing Yao the truth. . Instead of telling her that the Miao Family had unilaterally broken away from their alliance, he said that he cancelled the engagement because he disliked Miao Hui.

Xing Yumiao did this to save himself from some of the embarrassment. He also did this so that his daughter wouldn’t be overwhelmed with sadness upon learning the truth.

However, this made Xing Yao think that Miao Hui had offended her father in some ways and pissed him off. She believed that was why her father cancelled the engagement.

She wanted to learn the truth and find a way to fix everything because she was in love with Miao Hui.

A few days ago, Qin Lie was the only one that accompanied her father and uncle to Green Moon Valley. Xing Yuyuan was her father’s brother, so he obviously wouldn’t say anything to her. She had no choice but to come to Qin Lie to learn exactly what happened.

“B-Big Brother Qin,” Upon noticing his silence, she couldn’t help but ask once more. “What happened back then? Can you please tell me?”

“Are you sure you want to know?” Qin Lie’s face was dark.

Xing Yao nodded repeatedly. “Of course. I must know the truth!”

“Miao Hui sent a letter and cancelled the engagement without regard for us. He said that you are not worthy of someone with his status!” Qin Lie snorted coldly.

“You’re lying!” Xing Yao shouted, her eyes red. She pointed at him and accusingly said, “You must be spreading lies about about him because you held a grudge against me! I know Brother Hui! H-He definitely isn’t that kind of person! You must be lying to me!”

Qin Lie’s expression was cold. “First Miss Xing, maybe you’ve been babied in Gold Sun Island for so long that you never got the chance to truly experience the cruel reality of our world, but that’s fine because you came with us today. I believe that you should be able to see if Green Valley Moon’s Miao Family is still as friendly as they used to be with your own eyes! Hmph. You really should’ve come to Green Moon Valley with and seen for yourself how they looked at us. You should’ve seen how they insulted your father and your uncle! You shouldn’t seen how that Brother Hui of yours poured salt into the wound by cancelling your engagement the second he noticed that the situation had changed!”

Xing Yao’s face was pale white. Her petite figure shivered like a flower assaulted by harsh winds.

Qin Lie let out another cold snort and walked away from her. He ignored her, no longer wanting to be entangled in her affairs.

The sounds of fighting and shouting suddenly rang out from Black Cloud Palace. Balls of flame started scattering left and right, signalling the beginning of an intense battle.

Colorful spirit energies and beams of light cut through the air with demonic beauty accompanied by the sound of flying spirit artifacts. They looked like meteors that flashed in the night sky.

Bloody battles broke out at every one of the seven mines of Black Cloud Palace. Bolstered by the aid of the middle stage Fragmentation Realm martial practitioners of Blood Fiend Sect, Gold Sun Island’s martial practitioners fought with incredible courage. They constantly pushed back the Black Cloud Palace martial practitioners.

Soon enough, Black Cloud Palace elders realized that the situation was only getting worse for them.

“Retreat!” they cried. “We will let Black Voodoo Cult get justice for us in the future!”

All of the Black Cloud Palace martial practitioners retreated, escaping from the three islands and scattering in all directions.

Xing Yuyuan laughed loudly and shouted, “Don’t chase them! We’re mainly here for the Fate Crystals, Aurora Stones and Thunder Sand Jades! Get to work transporting all of Black Cloud Palace’s spirit stones and materials to our war chariots and put them in the storage room aboard the fire phoenix!”

The Gold Sun Island martial practitioners shouted in understanding.

They went everywhere gathering spirit stones and materials onto the crystalline war chariots. Even the crystals that illuminated the darkness of the night were put into the war chariots and then transported to the fire phoenix.

Qin Lie also grew excited as he looked below and saw so many spirit stones and materials being transported to the fire phoenix.

“Black Cloud Palace is also a Copper rank force,” he cried. “Let’s head into their palace and scour it for every spirit stone and spirit material that lies inside of it!”

Xing Yuyuan’s face was red with excitement as he gave order after order while hovering in midair. “Head to Black Cloud Palace!”

A team of thirty or so Gold Sun Island martial practitioners led by Guo Yanzheng slipped into Black Cloud Palace and began cleaning it out like rats.

Before long, all of their fingers were covered in spatial rings. They danced excitedly and cried out, “They’re full! All of these spatial rings are full, haha!”

Guo Yanzheng’s group escorted a dozen or so women out of Black Cloud Palace as well.

All of these women possessed average realms, but they were incredibly beautiful and sexy. They were obviously used for other purposes.

“Second island master, all of these women belonged exclusively to Zheng Zhihe. He used them for his degenerate pleasure. What would you like to do with them?” Guo Yanzheng cried out.

The women immediately look at Xing Yuyuan with pitiful expressions on their faces. They looked like would start crying at any moment, begging him for mercy with melodious voices.

“Hmm…” Xing Yuyuan rubbed his chin as he floated in the air, thinking to himself with wandering eyes. He then coughed softly and said, “This isn’t really my style. How about…”

He suddenly looked up and stared at Qin Lie, secretly sending him a message and asking, “Qin Lie, why don’t I… arrange for them to be hidden somewhere so you may deal with them yourself? You can relax. I guarantee that Miss Song and Miss Tang will never find out. You just have to be a bit careful. What do you think?”

His lips moved as he stared at Qin Lie. Even an idiot could see that they were discussing some shameless stuff.

Some of Gold Sun Island’s female martial practitioners looked between Qin Lie and Xing Yuyuan, feeling scorn for them both.

The male martial practitioners, on the other hand, were so envious that one even cried, “If you don’t want them, give them to me instead! I happen to be lacking a few maids at the moment!”

“C’mon, Qin Lie, say something!” Xing Yuyuan urged.

Qin Lie shook his head, a smile on his face as he exclaimed, “Just keep them for yourself, second island master!”

Everyone laughed loudly at Qin Lie’s reply.

At that moment, a sneer rang out from off in the distance.

“You’re not taking even a single stone from Black Cloud Palace!”

Three Flowing Gold Fire Phoenixes emerged from the dense cloud cover and instantly descended upon the skies of Black Cloud Palace.

“You’re a fool, Xing Yuyuan. Back at Green Moon Valley, I believe I told you clearly that Black Cloud Palace, Heavenly Sea Pavilion, and the Pan Family all fall under Green Moon Valley’s control. How dare you ignore our warnings! I see that you’ve truly forgotten yourself! Hmph!” Standing atop the foremost fire phoenix, Miao Wenfan, second valley master of Green Moon valley, continued to taunt them. “The only reason why Gold Sun Island was able to get where they are today is because we, the Miao Family, watched over you. That’s why you were able to become a Copper rank force in spite of the Pan Family’s pressure. I never thought that a dog of the Miao Family would one day snatch food from its master’s plate! What a complete fool you are!”