Chapter 210: Interception!

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Franklin was somewhat worried as well. Although Yang Yan’s attainments in weapon refinement had genuinely astonished him, that did not necessarily mean the young man possessed the same monstrous talent in spiritual cultivation.

As a fifth-rank weapon refiner, Franklin understood all too well how difficult it was to cultivate soul power while simultaneously advancing one’s spiritual energy. The reason Yang Yan had reached such heights in weapon refinement at such a young age was most likely that he had devoted the greater part of his time and energy to it. Consequently, Franklin held little hope for Yang Yan’s combat strength in spiritual cultivation.

However, Franklin and a powerful member of the Weapon Refiners’ Guild were currently being held at bay by Oba Niu, whose strength had temporarily surged through the use of a secret technique. If they wished to break free and relieve the crisis threatening Yang Yan and Xue Qing, they had only one option: defeat Oba Niu.

Having made up his mind, Franklin no longer held anything back. The vigorous spiritual energy within his body erupted in an instant, while a formidable, invisible fluctuation of soul power suddenly spread through the air.

Seeing Franklin launch his strongest battle state without wasting a single word, the peak Spirit Communion Realm elder beside him also became solemn.

She understood the gravity of the situation. Yang Yan had already joined their Weapon Refiners’ Guild and become one of its members. Moreover, the matter at hand was enormous in scope. It was no longer merely a conflict between weapon refiners from two countries; it had already implicated the great sects and forces standing behind both sides.

Therefore, to ensure that the intelligence from this place was sent back to the guild at the earliest possible moment, they had to guarantee the safety of both Yang Yan and Xue Qing.

Feeling the terrifying auras radiating from the two before him, Oba Niu’s expression changed slightly.

Had he not relied on the power of his secret technique, even fighting Franklin alone would have been extremely troublesome, let alone facing two opponents at once. Yet he had no choice. The matter concerning the Spirit Core was simply too important. If the Spirit Core were truly lost, the consequences would be immense.

Nor could he wait until he returned to his own country and summoned reinforcements. This was the territory of the Flying Cloud Empire. If Yang Yan escaped now, then by the time they gathered their forces and arrived, the young man would already have vanished into the vast world. Finding one person within such a huge empire would be scarcely easier than finding an ant.

Thus, after reaching his decision, Oba Niu acted without hesitation and chose this dangerous course. His plan was to seize Yang Yan and immediately withdraw with his men, then make further arrangements after returning to the territory of the Heavenly Dragon Empire.

For that reason, he could only do his utmost to hold back Franklin and the peak Spirit Communion Realm elder, buying time for Elder Hu, who had gone after Yang Yan.

Leaving the fierce battle behind for the moment, Yang Yan was currently pulling Xue Qing along as they raced toward the Weapon Refiners’ Guild without slowing.

At first, Xue Qing felt somewhat uncomfortable as Yang Yan clasped her delicate hand. After thinking it over briefly, however, she gave up struggling.

Xue Qing was not the sort of woman who failed to understand the larger picture. The situation was critical. Although her weapon-refining skills were only slightly inferior to Yang Yan’s, their spiritual cultivation was worlds apart.

Because she had always been obsessed with weapon refinement, she had neglected the advancement of her spiritual energy. Thus, despite possessing considerable cultivation talent, she had only just entered the first level of the Spirit Communion Realm.

In Yang Yan’s eyes, such strength posed no threat whatsoever. If they were comparing only the strength of their spiritual energy, Yang Yan was confident that he would not fear even five first-level Spirit Communion Realm opponents.

Supported by his vast and vigorous spiritual energy, the speed of the Cloud-Walking Steps he employed reached a terrifying level—far beyond what Xue Qing, who had only recently entered the first level of the Spirit Communion Realm, could match.

The situation was urgent. The two of them had to return to the Weapon Refiners’ Guild as quickly as possible and report everything that had happened near the Spirit Pagoda so that the guild elders could decide how to respond.

For the sake of the greater good, Xue Qing could only allow Yang Yan to hold on to her.

Being carried along by Yang Yan required almost no effort from her. Her beautiful eyes shifted slightly, and she glanced discreetly at the youth beside her. For some inexplicable reason, an unusual feeling arose in her heart.

Her heart, which had been pounding wildly during the battle between the two sides, had now become strangely calm. It was as though, in this desolate wilderness, only she and the seemingly youthful boy beside her remained.

Under the glow of the setting sun, his handsome yet slightly immature face seemed coated in a layer of gold. Even now, there was no trace of panic on his features—only solemn composure. Xue Qing had seen that same calmness during the Weapon Refiners’ Guild competition. It seemed that the crises and challenges considered dangerous by ordinary people could not pose the slightest threat to the youth before her, nor stir even the faintest ripple in his state of mind.

For a moment, Xue Qing stared blankly at the face so close to hers and suddenly lost herself in thought.

“Be careful. Someone’s catching up!”

Just as the girl’s heart began to beat wildly, the youth flying through the air suddenly turned his head and spoke softly. A trace of gravity appeared in his eyes.

At his words, Xue Qing abruptly came back to her senses. A captivating blush instantly spread across her cheeks, and she hurriedly turned her head away.

Yang Yan, who had been watching the movements behind them, naturally failed to notice the change in her expression.

Seeing that he had not noticed her embarrassment, Xue Qing secretly breathed a sigh of relief. The flush on her cheeks faded slightly, yet alongside her relief came a faint sense of disappointment.

But she clearly had no time to dwell on such things now. The moment she heard Yang Yan say that someone was approaching, her heart tightened.

She had already witnessed the terrifying lineup that had confronted them earlier. Any one of those people could have crushed her beneath their aura alone. From that, it was easy to conclude that whoever was pursuing them had to be a Spirit Communion Realm expert.

These people truly were like vengeful spirits that refused to disperse. Yet her teacher’s side also had the same number of peak Spirit Communion Realm experts. How, then, had their opponents managed to spare someone to pursue her and Yang Yan?

Xue Qing naturally had no way of knowing the answer. Nor was this the time to investigate it. A Spirit Communion Realm expert was personally coming to capture the two of them. If he caught up, she had no confidence that she could withstand even a single exchange.

As these thoughts raced through her mind, Xue Qing suddenly felt their speed increase once again.

She saw an extremely dense, semi-transparent current of water-aspected spiritual energy surge over Yang Yan’s legs. Thick mist, resembling smoke, rose from beneath his feet. In the space of a few flashes, she felt as though they had instantly crossed nearly a dozen yards.

“Damn it! How can that boy be so fast?”

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Not long after Yang Yan and Xue Qing left the area, an aged figure appeared at the place where they had stopped moments earlier. Shock filled the old man’s face as he watched the distant black speck grow smaller and smaller, and he could not help cursing aloud.

This old man was Elder Hu, the peak Spirit Communion Realm cultivator whom Oba Niu had ordered to capture Yang Yan.

“I am a peak Spirit Communion Realm cultivator with one foot already in the Spirit Sea Realm. If I let a brat who has only recently entered the Spirit Communion Realm escape right under my nose, what face will I have to return to the Heavenly Dragon Empire?”

The anger on his aged face lasted only an instant before being replaced by a cold smile.

“Sky-Drifting Step!”

As Elder Hu’s furious shout rang out, his entire body seemed to lose all weight. He floated through the air in a swaying, drifting manner, looking almost comical, like a clown performing onstage.

Above the ground, Elder Hu’s figure drifted forward like a rolling ball. In the next moment, he suddenly thrust one foot against the earth. His body spun like a top, and he shot forward as though he had broken free of gravity, covering fifty or sixty yards in a single instant.

After Elder Hu unleashed his movement technique, the distance between him and Yang Yan rapidly narrowed. In barely three or four minutes, the gap of nearly ten miles that Yang Yan had created had shrunk at astonishing speed. They were now only three or four miles apart.

As he flew, Yang Yan occasionally glanced back from the corner of his eye. Seeing Elder Hu approach with that bizarre movement technique, a solemn light appeared in his eyes.

Yang Yan had also cultivated a movement technique, the Cloud-Walking Steps, but it was only a high-grade Yellow-tier martial technique. Although movement techniques were quite rare, that was merely because such a claim applied to a small place like Jinzhou.

Now that Yang Yan’s strength was increasing day by day, he was coming into contact with more and more powerful experts. A high-grade Yellow-tier martial technique would inevitably prove somewhat inadequate when facing top cultivators from all over the world.

The movement technique displayed by the old man from the Heavenly Dragon Empire had clearly far surpassed Yang Yan’s Cloud-Walking Steps. Otherwise, it would have been impossible for him to catch up in such a short time with the speed of a shooting star chasing the moon.

In other words, the seemingly comical movement technique Elder Hu was using was at least a low-grade Profound-tier martial technique.

Now that Yang Yan had reached the Spirit Communion Realm, ordinary Yellow-tier martial techniques could no longer provide him with much combat strength. Of course, the Annihilation Three Seals inherited by the Zhang family were an exception.

Although they were only a high-grade Yellow-tier technique, their power was beyond that of some Profound-tier martial techniques.

Moreover, as his strength continued to rise, Yang Yan could sense that although the Annihilation Three Seals were extremely powerful—far stronger than techniques of the same rank—they seemed to contain certain flaws and were incomplete.

He had only sensed this after successfully entering the Spirit Communion Realm, when he performed the fusion of the three seals. He had already intended to return to Jinheng City and ask his father for more details.

“Go on ahead. I’ll stop him!”

Slowly suppressing the distracting thoughts in his mind, Yang Yan’s expression became slightly solemn. He released Xue Qing’s slender hand, abruptly halted, and turned his head toward her.

Xue Qing was not foolish. The old man rapidly approaching from behind already gave her an overwhelmingly terrifying sense of pressure. She understood that an expert of that level was far beyond what they could currently withstand.

“How could you possibly be his match alone? I’ll stay and help you!”

Xue Qing was startled at first. Then, as though she had made some decision, she spoke to Yang Yan with great firmness.

“Suit yourself. Just be careful and protect yourself.”

Looking at the aged face approaching in the distance, its cold smile steadily widening in his eyes, Yang Yan had no time to argue with Xue Qing. He merely waved his hand as he spoke.

“What’s wrong? Not planning to run anymore?”

Seeing the two come to a halt, Elder Hu wore a cold smile on his face. His gloomy gaze fixed on Yang Yan and Xue Qing as he slowly approached them.

“Hand over the Spirit Core, then cripple both your arms. Perhaps we will no longer pursue your crimes of injuring Ying Lingsi and stealing the Spirit Core. We may even spare your life.”

Elder Hu’s indifferent voice echoed across the empty wilderness, but his words were exceedingly cruel.

“You noisy old dog. I don’t even know what sort of worthless Spirit Core you’re talking about. Even if I really had taken it, with that foul attitude of yours, I would never hand it over. If you want to capture me, stop wasting your breath and make your move!”

Before Elder Hu had even finished speaking, impatience appeared on the face of the youth not far away. He waved his hand casually, and his words caused the smile on the old man’s face to freeze instantly.

Beside Yang Yan, solemnity filled Xue Qing’s pretty face, but after hearing his outrageously arrogant words, shock still lingered in her eyes.

Had this boy gone mad? Deliberately provoking a peak Spirit Communion Realm expert was an extremely unwise choice!

Ever since she had met Yang Yan, he had always maintained a calm and composed attitude. In her understanding, he was absolutely incapable of behaving so irrationally as to boast recklessly before a Spirit Communion Realm expert.

Yet now, he seemed to have lost his mind, his tone arrogant beyond measure. Even she felt thoroughly infuriated simply hearing it. It was difficult to imagine what kind of reaction the peak Spirit Communion Realm elder involved would have.

With these thoughts in mind, Xue Qing turned her gaze toward the old man.

Elder Hu’s aged face first showed astonishment. Then it shifted from pale to livid as a terrifying fury suddenly erupted within him. The vigorous spiritual energy around his body surged violently, whipping up a fierce whirlwind. Even several inches of grass were torn from the ground.

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“Good! Good! You truly are an arrogant little brat! Once I capture you, I will pull out your teeth one by one, then cut out your tongue and throw it to the dogs!”

Only after a long while did Elder Hu recover from Yang Yan’s nearly insolent words.

Ever since he had reached the peak of the Spirit Communion Realm, no one—not even an expert of equal rank—had ever dared to speak so recklessly before him. Yet today, he had been humiliated by a boy of barely seventeen and even called an old dog. The insult drove him nearly to the point of madness. He wanted nothing more than to rush forward and tear Yang Yan to pieces.

Yet in the face of Elder Hu, who had fallen into a state of fury, Yang Yan’s expression did not change in the slightest. Under Xue Qing’s astonished gaze, he merely extended one finger toward the murderous old man in the distance and crooked it in a beckoning gesture.

It was a provocation—an utterly blatant provocation!

As expected, Yang Yan’s frivolous gesture drove the already enraged Elder Hu nearly insane. His eyes turned scarlet, and the pale golden spiritual energy surrounding him surged wildly, stirring up waves of spiritual-energy storms.

The sharp metal-aspected spiritual energy within those storms was like countless razor-edged blades. Even with spiritual energy protecting her body, Xue Qing still felt a searing pain, as though her skin were being sliced apart.

“Brat, come and die!”

With a furious roar, Elder Hu’s slightly stooped body suddenly erupted with an extremely fierce aura. The instant his shout faded, he shot toward Yang Yan like a straight spear, his toes striking the ground as his body flew forward like an arrow released from a bowstring.

In the blink of an eye, Elder Hu had reached a position less than ten yards from Yang Yan. He extended two fingers of his right hand together. At their tips, a dense golden point of spiritual energy slowly took shape, so concentrated that it seemed almost liquid.

Yang Yan could clearly sense the violent metal-aspected spiritual energy contained within it.

Elder Hu appeared directly before him and, without the slightest hesitation, thrust his two fingers lightning-fast toward Yang Yan’s chest. Judging by the force behind the attack, if those fingers struck him directly, they would surely leave a bloody hole in his chest.

Faced with Elder Hu’s powerful attack, which contained not even the slightest trace of restraint, Yang Yan’s expression also became solemn. Without hesitation, he stirred his mind. The blue Lunar Yin Force within his spirit core instantly began circulating through his body, gathering like countless rivers flowing into the sea before converging in the center of his right palm.

But as the Lunar Yin Force finished gathering, Elder Hu’s terrifying attack, powerful enough to tear through the air, had already arrived.

The intensely concentrated golden radiance at his fingertips was as dazzling as the blazing sun. Hidden beneath that brilliant light was an incomparably sharp killing intent and an unstoppable edge capable of piercing through anything.

As the attack closed in, Yang Yan spread his right hand, abruptly turned his palm outward, and slammed it forcefully toward the two fingers shining with golden light.

Xue Qing’s expression changed drastically when she saw this.

She could not understand why Yang Yan had chosen to meet a peak Spirit Communion Realm expert head-on.

In her view, although the two of them were being pursued by a peak Spirit Communion Realm expert, they were not entirely without hope of survival.

After all, this was the territory of the Flying Cloud Empire. Within Dalin City, the Weapon Refiners’ Guild wielded overwhelming influence. As long as she and Yang Yan joined forces to delay the old man, the disturbance caused by their battle would eventually attract the attention of other guild experts.

Even if someone merely happened to pass by, they would almost certainly be a citizen of the Flying Cloud Empire. Asking them to deliver a message would not be difficult.

Thus, in Xue Qing’s opinion, they possessed the advantage of terrain and local support. Charging forward to clash head-on with a peak Spirit Communion Realm expert was unquestionably the most foolish course of action.

This boy had always been clever and composed. Yet ever since emerging from the Spirit Pagoda, he seemed to have become an entirely different person.

Xue Qing was anxious, with the helpless frustration of someone watching a promising person throw away his advantages.

Although she could not understand Yang Yan’s decision, she still began circulating her spiritual energy, preparing to attack the old man who was charging toward them.

“Overestimating yourself!”

Seeing Yang Yan choose to meet him head-on, Elder Hu paused slightly. Then a mocking smile appeared on his aged face.

This saves me a great deal of trouble. If the boy relied on that strange movement technique to keep me occupied, I might not be able to capture him quickly. Since this is the territory of the Flying Cloud Empire, any delay could lead to complications. But now that he has chosen to clash with me directly, he has given me an excellent opportunity.

With that thought, the smile on Elder Hu’s face deepened.

At last, under the three vastly different gazes, Yang Yan’s palm collided violently with Elder Hu’s two fingers, which were enveloped in concentrated golden light.

The collision did not produce any earth-shaking explosion. There was only deathly silence.

Yet the instant Elder Hu’s fingers touched Yang Yan’s palm, the cold smile and disdain that had filled his face vanished. In their place appeared utter shock and disbelief.

He discovered that the powerful metal-aspected spiritual energy he had believed would guarantee victory had disappeared the instant it touched Yang Yan’s palm, vanishing like the last snow beneath the blazing sun.

At the same time, the icy aura transmitted from Yang Yan’s palm was like ten-thousand-year-old frost. It caused the flow of spiritual energy through the meridians in Elder Hu’s hand to become sluggish and obstructed.

End of Chapter

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