Back at the herb garden, the true inheritors of the four Rank 6 sects held Soul Tools upraised and guarded their own areas.
The original situation where Qi Yunfeng’s people dominated the place turned into four sides competing with each other, each carving out an area of their own.
If there were only the Ruling Sword Gate, Murong Yan and the others would not have much to fear, even with Qi Yunfeng holding a Soul Tool.
Even if the Dragon’s Gate disciples could not defeat the Ruling Sword Gate group, they could still leave at any time.
However, now, the people of the other Rank 6 sects—the Northern Mountain Academy, the White Sun Mountain Manor, and the Wolf Smoke Pavilion—appeared. This standoff was somewhat problematic now; Murong Yan and the others could not leave even if they wanted to.
“Friends from the Divine Dragon Empire, we have no personal grudge with you. Hand over half your gains from the herb garden, and you may leave. As for the remaining medicinal spring and pill river, you can forget about them,” the leading true inheritor of the Northern Mountain Academy said indifferently. He was dressed in scholarly attire and held a folding fan in his hand.
The White Sun Mountain Manor and Wolf Smoke Pavilion also expressed their stances, agreeing with the white-clad scholar. They did not make things too difficult for Murong Yan and the others.
This was the law of the jungle. It was already very generous for these Rank 6 sect disciples to ask for just half of the resources when they held the upper hand.
Of course, this generosity was due to Murong Yan’s group being Dragon’s Gate disciples.
If Murong Yan and the others were loose cultivators or disciples of other sects, not to mention the other half of the gains, they might even have to hand over their own resources—and that would be very fortunate already.
Situ Changfeng and Wei Hongfei discussed for a moment. Soon, they arrived at an answer: they could only comply.
They hesitated somewhat because Xiao Chen was still in the medicinal spring and had not come out yet.
Their Dragon’s Gate identity tokens could not contact Xiao Chen at all. As they did not know what happened, they worried.
Suddenly, Qi Yunfeng smiled coldly. “Stop trying to pretend to be good people before me. If you knew that they monopolized a Demonic Blood Thousand Wing Snake corpse just seven days ago, you would not make such a decision.”
“What!”
The moment Qi Yunfeng said this, the expressions of the white-clad scholar from the Northern Mountain Academy, the leading cultivator of the Wolf Smoke Pavilion wearing wolf armor, and the pretty lady leading the Wolf Smoke Pavilion’s group all flickered.
“A Demonic Blood Thousand Wing Snake, an overlord-class Sovereign-Personage-level ferocious beast! It is worth more than ten million Primeval Heavenly Pills!”
Now, these people eyed Murong Yan and the others greedily. To them, Murong Yan and the others became like a pile of glittering gold.
“Hahaha! Qi Yunfeng, oh, Qi Yunfeng! You really hide your information really well, truly a scheming person. You probably did not even tell your junior brothers. Truly independent in the way you act!” the wolf-armored cultivator from the Wolf Smoke Pavilion mocked with a smile. He held a huge, strangely shaped, and extremely tyrannical jagged saber.
Qi Yunfeng said coldly, “Cut the crap. The more urgent thing to do now is to keep these people here. They are just Dragon’s Gate outer palace disciples. What are you afraid of? Killing them won’t cause any trouble!”
“Whoosh!”
The white-clad scholar opened up the folding fan in his hand. The might of the Soul Tool slowly spread out as he smiled faintly. “Sorry, as the adage goes, it is better to offend a gentleman than a petty man. Sometimes, offending people like Brother Qi is really problematic.”
“Humph! You are just a bunch of hypocrites; none of you are good people.” Liu Ruyun frowned as she coldly eyed them. However, she did not show any fear.
As the daughter of the White Dragon King, Liu Ruyun naturally had many life-saving trump cards given to her by her father. However, once she used them, he would know.
Now, Liu Ruyun had no choice but to use them.
“You look quite pretty and have an intense character. If you are willing to follow me, perhaps I might feel happy and let all of you go.”
The Wolf Smoke Pavilion’s wolf-armored cultivator looked at Liu Ruyun with lustful eyes.
This girl before the wolf-armored cultivator exuded a special air. She appeared heroic and had an exquisite face, looking very pleasing to the eyes. She also felt different from other girls.
“Keep dreaming your unrealistic dreams!” Liu Ruyun shouted, and a flash of saber light turned into countless flying willow leaves before gathering into a White Dragon.
Then, the White Dragon charged at the wolf-armored cultivator.
“Boom!”
When the White Dragon suddenly appeared, the wolf-armored cultivator swung his saber at it. However, he got knocked away due to underestimating his opponent.
The White Dragon scattered into tens of thousands of willow leaves borne on the wind.
After the willow leaves pierced through the wolf-armored cultivator with the wind, they left him riddled with bleeding wounds. A terrifying killing Qi appeared in his eyes, and his expression turned extremely sullen.
However, the white-clad scholar’s expression suddenly changed as he looked at Liu Ruyun. “Willow Leaf Saber! How are you related to the White Dragon Holy Daughter, Liu Ruyue?!”
“Humph! No matter who you are related to, this great me will kill you today!” the wolf-armored cultivator roared as he unsealed the jagged saber in his hand.
“Boom!” The might of a Soul Tool surged out.
“Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!”
Wei Hongfei and the others quickly shielded Liu Ruyun and made their own moves, preparing to negate the attack of the jagged saber Soul Tool.
At the critical moment, a tree suddenly sprouted from the center of the medicinal spring, shooting to the sky.
The towering tree frantically absorbed all the Spiritual Energy in the herb garden and grew rapidly at a visible pace.
The Coiling Dragon Tree appeared between the two groups, completely blocking the horrifying attack of the jagged saber.
“Rumble…!”
The sudden change shook the entire herb garden; several cracks even appeared in the ground.
“What’s going on?”
This Coiling Dragon Tree’s sudden appearance startled everyone. The white-clad scholar and the others cautiously withdrew to a corner of the herb garden while clutching their Soul Tools.
“This is a Coiling Dragon Tree!” the pretty lady leading the White Sun Mountain Manor group said, her eyes lighting up.
“A Coiling Dragon Tree with a strong lifeforce. To think that it directly bore fruit!”
“What exactly is going on?!”
Just as the true inheritors of the four Rank 6 sects stewed in confusion, someone with sharp eyes suddenly cried out, “Look, there is someone on the tree!”
A trace of misgiving flashed in the wolf-armored cultivator’s eyes as he squinted at the tree. Indeed, there was a person there. Furthermore, that person held a plain-looking bow.
Wait, something is wrong. That bow is aiming at me!
The wolf-armored cultivator’s expression changed dramatically. An irremovable sense of impending doom awakened in his heart, and he yelled, “Protect me! Protect me! Quickly, help me to activate the Secret Technique of the Soul Tool!”
However, by the time the wolf-armored cultivator reacted, it was already over.
When the true inheritors of the Wolf Smoke Pavilion behind him started forming their hand seals, the arrow from the God Shadow Bow had already shot out.
“Whoosh!”
The shadow of a god, invisible and untraceable. An ordinary person would not be able to see its trajectory at all.
“Bang!” The jagged saber that the wolf-armored cultivator held flew out of his grip. A scary wound appeared on his chest, and an explosion immediately crippled him.
If not for the Soul Tool blocking most of the arrow’s might, the wolf-armored cultivator would have exploded, his body completely ripped apart.
The shock waves knocked the Wolf Smoke Pavilion true inheritors into the air and had them vomiting blood.
“A Soul Tool! That bow is a Soul Tool. Furthermore, it is even a much higher grade than ours!”
The Northern Mountain Academy’s white-clad scholar, the Northern Mountain Academy’s pretty lady, and the Ruling Sword Gate’s Qi Yunfeng were all alarmed.
When the wolf-armored cultivator tried to struggle to his feet, he suddenly found a gaze focused on him. He immediately felt like he had plunged into an icy cave. The cold froze his four limbs and all his bones.
Xiao Chen eyed that wolf-armored cultivator coldly without any expression on his face, not saying a thing.
“I’ll…leave. I’ll leave right now,” the wolf-armored cultivator said with a quivering voice. The fear lingered in his heart, not scattering at all.
“Don’t offend those you should not offend. Don’t say things that you should not say, either. It is too late for you to want to leave now,” Xiao Chen said indifferently. Earlier, while in the medicinal spring, he heard what the wolf-armored cultivator said to Liu Ruyun.
At that moment, the wolf-armored cultivator was already a dead person in Xiao Chen’s heart.
The wolf-armored cultivator’s heart turned cold. He tried to explain, “There must be some misunderstanding. I can explain…”
Seeing that Xiao Chen seemed intent on killing, the white-clad scholar said, “This brother, you should not go overboard when doing things. We are all from nearby Rank 6 sects. If you kill him, you will offend the Wolf Smoke Pavilion. If so, you can forget about leaving this ancient city alive.”
Xiao Chen said gravely, “Is that so? However, I don’t want to kill just him. I have no intention of letting you off, either.”
Saber intent silently penetrated the wolf-armored cultivator’s body. Then, Xiao Chen stretched out his hand and ferociously clenched it.
Tens of thousands of strands of saber light burst out from the wolf-armored cultivator, who was already severely injured by the God Shadow Bow. He died on the spot, turned into mush. Not even a corpse remained.
“Senior Brother!” the Wolf Smoke Pavilion disciples cried out in horror.
The white-clad scholar turned pale with fright. Stepping back involuntarily, he said, “You are seeking death. If we work together, you will not be able to survive!”
“Whoosh!”
Right after the white-clad scholar said that, he saw Qi Yunfeng mount a sword and fly away, leading the Ruling Sword Gate disciples in fleeing for their lives, while he held Xiao Chen’s attention.
As for the White Sun Mountain Manor’s people, they also left when they saw that the situation was not good.