Chapter 855: Yanlin Ju

After the third soul Martial Sage of the Yanlin Clan was killed, Shang Xia quickly captured the other one. He sealed off the core region with many lower-level cultivators of the Yanlin Clan trapped within. Additionally, he suppressed them all in order to prevent them from damaging the grand formation.

“Speak. Where is the Yanlin Holy Land?” Shang Xia questioned the other Martial Sage while releasing his divine will to inspect everything of interest in the region.

That was the core region of the Yanlin City, and anyone who was stationed there was definitely in the upper echelons of the Yanlin Clan. It was natural for them to own a lot of treasures.

In just that short moment, Shang Xia managed to discover many treasures of the fourth rank or above.

“All of you actually came here for our Holy Land?” The Martial Sage seemed shocked to learn of their intentions.

However, Shang Xia sounded even more surprised than him. “Hoh? Didn’t you wonder why we’re attacking your city?”

“All of you entered our world all of a sudden and definitely needed a place to settle down. Since you decided to attack our Yanlin City, it has to be to eliminate or chase us out of our territory. Taking over the city would also mean that it would make it easier for you to obtain control over the Southern Yanlin Continent...” The Martial Sage mumbled.

With a look of surprise on his face, Shang Xia muttered, “It’s not wrong for you guys to think that way, but it’s a shame... Oh right, you can call me Shang Xia. How should I address you?”

Turning his gaze away, a desolate voice left his lips. “I am Yanlin Ju. Since you have already captured me, what do you plan to do?”

Shang Xia thought about it for a moment and he replied, “I honestly have no idea if you will be killed or not. If you hand over the location of the entrance of your Holy Land, at the very least, a good portion of people in the city will be able to leave alive.”

As he spoke to Yanlin Ju, Shang Xia started to stroll about the core region. He stuffed everything of value into his Spatial Pouch while looking for the entrance of the Holy Land.

In the short time he took to stroll around, he actually managed to fill 2 Embroidered Cloud Cases and 2 Spatial Pouches with the treasures he found.

Most of the treasures were the secret stashes of the more important members of the Yanlin Clan. They hid those treasures in secret spaces covered with restrictions, or they used special sealing methods.

Shang Xia didn’t have time to examine each one of them specially but as long as he noticed a strange region, he would shatter any restriction in his way with brute force before tossing the treasures inside into a sealed spiritual case or into his spatial artifact directly.

Shang Xia knew that whatever he was finding at the moment was merely leftovers from the true treasures. The real accumulation of the Yanlin Clan was definitely hidden in the secret region that contained their Holy Land.

The true goal of the experts of the Azure Ascension World was the world origin contained in the Holy Land anyway.

Seeing how Shang Xia was locating such a huge number of treasures in the core region, Yanlin Ju felt his eyelids jumping violently. Even he didn’t expect the higher-ups of the Yanlin Clan to store so much treasure in the core region.

He thought back to the time before he became a Martial Sage and became a core part of the Yanlin Clan. He heard a rumor that the clan leader and many important figures in the clan had been exploiting the ordinary clansmen and keeping treasures for themselves. They even embezzled some of the treasures meant for promising juniors of the clan.

He didn’t quite believe them at first. After all, he was an up-and-coming member of the junior generation. He received great care from the race and they showed him their best side. Everything that was happening in front of him proved that he was a mere exception to how the clan actually treated their disciples.

After stuffing a gourd with random strands of extermination qi, Shang Xia felt that no matter the quality of the extermination qi within, they would be equivalent to 3 complete extermination origins.

Seeing the strange look in Yanlin Ju’s eyes, Shang Xia asked, “What’s the matter? Are you really unwilling to speak?”

“What is the true motive of you outsiders invading us?” Yanlin Ju didn’t answer the question directly. Instead, he growled in a cold voice.

Shang Xia glanced at him from the corner of his eye and replied placidly, “You don’t seem to understand the situation you’re in. Do you really think you’re in a position to ask questions? I apologize. My patience has its limits.”

He had already scoured the core region once, and despite his powerful and sensitive divine will, he failed to find the entrance to the secret region that contained their Holy Land. One could imagine how well hidden it was. Only truly important figures of the clan would know where it was.

𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

Yanlin Ju started speaking all of a sudden. “After this battle, the Yanlin Clan will be severely damaged. We will never be able to return to the position of the 3 great factions of the Azure Flame World. I’m afraid it will be difficult for us to find our footing in the Southern Yanlin Continent... Since that’s the case, what’s the difference between letting the rest of the clansmen go? Even if they leave the city, they won’t be able to live without strong experts protecting them in the Southern Yanlin Continent.”

Shang Xia stared at Yanlin Ju and raised a single eyebrow. “In that case, wouldn’t that mean that you won’t talk? Looks like you have no more value to me.”

“If you truly don’t plan to kill everyone in the Yanlin Clan and don’t plan to stay in the city for a long time, I might still be of some use to you...” Yanlin Ju said seriously.

Finally, Shang Xia felt a slight shift in emotions as he started to change his view of Yanlin Ju. “How do you know what we’re up to?”

“There are too few of you. Even though all of you are experts, you would need to eliminate every single Martial Sage and Martial Ancestor of my Yanlin Clan if you wish to truly conquer the Southern Yanlin Continent. However, that’s not what you guys are doing. Instead, the Yanlin Holy Land seems to be a more important goal for you. Hmm... In my current situation, what harm can I do by making wild guesses?” Yanlin Ju forced a smile and responded.

Shang Xia shook his head and pointed at the sky above. “Your clan leader has already been killed...”

Falling silent for a moment, Yanlin Ju continued, “Twelfth Uncle said that the leader will ruin the clan eventually...”

“Hm? Now I’m interested in listening to what you have to say.” Shang Xia mumbled after a short moment of contemplation.

A soft sigh eventually escaped Yanlin Ju’s lips. “It’s simple. I can tell you the location of the secret region that contains the Holy Land, and I can order every member of my clan to stop resisting until you guys leave. However, you need to promise me that you guys won’t carry out wanton massacres. Even after you leave our world, you cannot carry out any more destruction in our Yanlin City.”

Shang Xia continued to question. “Do you wish to retain the grand formation?”

“Without the city and the grand formation, a good majority of the ordinary clansmen in my Yanlin Clan will die!” Yanlin Ju growled.

Slightly surprised, Shang Xia understood that if the Azure Ascension World wanted to obtain world origin from the Azure Flame World, they couldn’t possibly carry out massacres in the Southern Yanlin Continent either. That would only cause the World’s Will to hate them even more.

Of course, before that, Shang Xia had to think about the costs and benefits of whatever he was about to do. He seemed to have forgotten how widespread killing and wanton massacres would affect a cultivator's dao heart and morality.

Seeing how Shang Xia was quiet, Yanlin Ju finally examined the expert before him and discovered that Shang Xia looked a lot younger than himself. He seemed to have understood something and he sighed again, “I’m afraid it’s not a matter of whether I’m willing to surrender... It’s a matter of whether you’re able to make the decision.”

To that, Shang Xia only burst out laughing. “Relax. I am able to make the promise. I assure you that as long as your Yanlin Clan stops resisting, I’ll take charge of everything for the time being. After we leave, the Yanlin City will be rebuilt and be whole again... Oh. Right, before we return the city to all of you when we leave, we will ensure that the grand formation will remain in perfect condition.”

“For real?!” Yanlin Ju’s eyes lit up, but he soon shot Shang Xia a suspicious glance. “Are you really able to make the decisions?”

“I can swear an oath.” Shang Xia replied.

An oath couldn’t be made easily, especially when it concerned experts of a high level.

...

Under Yanlin Ju’s guidance, Shang Xia arrived at the entrance of one of the ancestral halls he had been to earlier.

“Here!” Yanlin Ju seemed to be testing Shang Xia as he didn’t point out the exact spot. After all, Shang Xia didn’t manage to discover anything when he passed it earlier.

Shang Xia stared at the entrance with a strange gaze. His divine will swept past it several times, but he failed to discover anything. In fact, he did the same thing when he was searching for treasures earlier.

He couldn’t help but sigh to himself. It seemed as though every world had their strengths.

Compared to the Azure Ascension World, if they ignored the Sixth Order Ancestors of the Elysiums, the advancement of the cultivation path in the Azure Flame World didn’t seem too inferior.

One of the main reasons the experts of the Azure Ascension World could successfully attack the Yanlin City was because they had an advantage in knowledge in certain areas.

The Azure Flame World probably allowed them to do as they wished as they thought that the bunch of cultivators who invaded were wandering experts in the stars and wanted a place to settle down and carry on their bloodline.

As such, they allowed the experts of the Azure Ascension World to do as they wished in the Southern Yanlin Continent. The factions of the Azure Flame World even hoped that they would fight the Yanlin Continent until both sides suffered heavy casualties.

Unfortunately, they were mistaken about the entire matter. The experts of the Azure Ascension World were there for world origin, and they were basically bandits who would be robbing the Azure Flame World of it!

“It’s here.” Yanlin Ju understood that Shang Xia was getting impatient and he quickly pointed out the real entrance to the secret region before Shang Xia blew up.

Staring at the pair of stone monsters guarding the entrance, Shang Xia couldn’t believe that the entrance was actually in the mouth of one of the statues.

“This... This is really surprising...” Shang Xia sighed as his Five Element Dipper Qi swept across the space around the stone monster. Layers of space were broken, and a spatial tunnel was eventually revealed.

“Haha! So this is where it is! Brother Shang, please hold on a moment while I head in for a quick look!” A laugh came from behind Shang Xia as a powerful force descended from the void. If Shang Xia didn’t avoid it, he might have been able to enter the Holy Land before whoever it was, but he would definitely suffer a hard hit from the back.

A frown formed on Shang Xia’s face as he chose to avoid the sneak attack.

2 figures appeared from behind as they rushed at the entrance.

“Hahaha, Brother Shang, many thanks!”

This time, Shang Xia didn’t just recognize the voice. He also saw who they were.

There were 2 of them, and the first person was someone Chu Jia and the others described. He was Han Mo, who chose to submit to the Northern Sea Mystic Sect after heavily injuring Liu Qinglan! The other was Qing Pingzi who had many run-ins with Shang Xia, and neither had a good impression of each other.

As they barreled at the entrance, a sky-blue light appeared from within the spatial tunnel and tore it to shreds.

“Crackle... Snap...”

A miserable cry came from within the spatial tunnel, and watching it collapse, Shang Xia tossed out his Five Element Ring to reopen the entrance to the Holy Land. He even used his Five Element Dipper Qi to maintain the new passage.

The figures who entered earlier stumbled out in a sorry state.

Using Han Mo as a shield, Qing Pingzi staggered out from the void. He managed to avoid the powerful lightning bolt, but Han Mo lost a Fate Dipper Clone because of it. Even his true body suffered varying degrees of injury.

At the same time, Shang Xia released a portion of his energy and forced Yanlin Ju into the ground.

“I... I really had no idea! I wouldn’t joke around with the lives of all my clansmen!” Yanlin Ju roared in terror.

Shang Xia ignored him completely as his divine will entered the Holy Land to scout out its interior.

“Shang Xia, you definitely did this...” Qing Pingzi dragged the heavily injured Han Mo out and left the core region with lingering fear in his heart.

Shang Xia didn’t even bother looking at Qing Pingzi. He snorted without turning his head. “You guys are actually fools. You went for wool, but came home shorn... Heh, The Northern Sea Mystic Sect wants to fish for benefits in a situation like this, and even sent a scapegoat out here to mess with me! If not for my help, would he be able to stay alive? What’s the matter? Are you guys trying to return my favor with enmity?”

“What’s going on?!” Multiple figures arrived above the core region of the city after hearing the explosion earlier.

However, none of them were fools. They didn’t need to ask to know what happened earlier.

“Martial Ancestor...” Qing Pingzi’s eyes lit up when he saw Lu Wuzi.

However, he was rudely interrupted before he could finish. “Shut up! You’re an embarrassment, you fool!”

Of course, with the situation they were currently in, both Shang Xia and Kou Chongxue knew that it wasn’t time to argue about what happened.

Kou Chongxue looked at the spatial tunnel that was supported by Shang Xia’s inner qi and he asked, ‘What’s the situation like in there?”

“There should be another expert in the Martial Dipper Realm guarding the spatial tunnel. However, he seems to be in an extremely poor state and he should be unable to take a single step out of their Holy Land. Mister Han Mo here was a little unlucky and ran into the other party’s final strike before death. Fortunately, he managed to stay alive. I also managed to maintain the spatial tunnel leading into the Holy Land.”

Kou Chongxue nodded slightly. However, his gaze landed on Yanlin Ju who was suppressed by Shang Xia.

Shang Xia quickly explained, “He probably didn’t know what happened. After all, it wouldn’t mean anything for him to plot against us at this point.”