Nine Dragons Saint Ancestor

”So this is the Spirit Hall where Murong Huchen’s bones are buried?”

The figure who rushed in ahead of the Emperor Palace crowd into the main hall was precisely Yun Xiao, who had long been hiding to the side. Only, when he entered the Spirit Hall, killed that Meridian Spirit, and then turned his gaze around, he could not help but feel a surge of emotion in his heart.

In truth, Yun Xiao did not harbor much fear toward that Half-step Holy Rank Tan Qigong. He appeared to flee far ahead, but in fact, with a single detour he had instead slipped around to the rear of the Emperor Palace group.

That terrifying Unfeathered Arrow from before had given Yun Xiao quite a scare as well. He secretly thought that, caught off guard, even he himself might have been in some trouble. Fortunately, those fellows from the Emperor Palace had gone ahead to probe the dangers.

Seizing the opportunity to enter the Spirit Hall, Yun Xiao naturally would not take a mere Heavenly Rank Advanced Meridian Spirit into account. Yet at this moment, an unmistakable look of disappointment surfaced on his face.

As for the owner of this Spirit Hall, Murong Huchen, with Yun Xiao’s past-life friendship with the Murong Family, he naturally knew this man’s background. He also knew that this was an exceptionally brilliant figure recorded in the Murong Family’s ancestral history.

One could say that, in the Murong Family’s ancestral history, Murong Huchen was second only to the founding ancestor of the Murong Family. His status in the hearts of many Murong clansmen was incomparably lofty.

This was precisely why Yun Xiao chose to hide in the dark and pick up the ready-made bargain. He had originally thought this hall might house many Secret Treasures, but at this moment he was undoubtedly somewhat disappointed.

This Spirit Hall belonging to Murong Huchen was utterly empty. The situation in the hall was clear at a glance: only at the depths of the main hall was there a desk, and behind it a skeletal corpse seemed to be seated cross-legged. It appeared this was the so-called Murong Huchen.

”You little bastard, let’s see where you can run this time!”

Just as Yun Xiao was sizing up that skeleton behind the desk, a familiar angry shout rang out from behind him. Without even looking, he knew that the Chief of the Murong City Emperor Palace, Tan Qigong, had arrived.

”Run? Do I look like I’m trying to run?”

Yun Xiao turned around, looking at Tan Qigong, who had already entered the hall. The expression on his face was half-smile, half-not. The words that came out of his mouth made the Emperor Palace Elders who had followed Tan Qigong in all reveal cold smiles.

”If I wasn’t mistaken just now, you people should have lost one Elder and a few Heavenly Rank Advanced Meridian Spirits, right?”

Yun Xiao had no intention of caring about what those Emperor Palace Elders were thinking. Hearing him speak so calmly, Tan Qigong’s face darkened like the bottom of a pot, while the Elder who had lost a full five Meridian Spirits glared at him with fury.

”What a pity. I regret to inform you that in this Spirit Hall of Murong Huchen, there is no Treasure at all. Your Elder and those Meridian Spirits probably died for nothing!”

Perhaps this was what Yun Xiao truly wanted to express. Watching these fellows from the Emperor Palace, who had gone through untold hardships to enter the Spirit Hall, only to learn this was the final outcome and see their enraged expressions—that was exactly the scene he most enjoyed.

Hearing Yun Xiao’s words, Tan Qigong and the other Emperor Palace Cultivators all had a change of expression. Especially this Chief of the Emperor Palace, who faintly felt something was very wrong.

Just now he had gone to such lengths, not only losing five powerful Meridian Spirits, but also sacrificing an Elder’s life, all to finally open the gate of this Spirit Hall.

Who knew that Yun Xiao, this oriole behind the cicada, would seize the lead instead? This made Tan Qigong feel as if he had swallowed a dead fly, utterly disgusted. Now, hearing this bad news, he felt as though his heart was about to burst.

Especially when Tan Qigong narrowed his eyes and saw for himself that there was indeed only a desk and a skeleton, he knew at once that Yun Xiao was not lying. That hateful youth couldn’t possibly have emptied the hall of Treasures in such a short time, could he?

You had to know that Tan Qigong’s movements had not been much slower than Yun Xiao’s. Even if those Treasures had been taken by Yun Xiao, there should have been some trace left behind, at the very least some lingering aura.

Yet now, the entire main hall was empty. Aside from that suspected remains of Murong Huchen and that ordinary desk, there was not a third object. To Tan Qigong, this was simply the most disappointing outcome.

”Hmph, even if it’s just a skeleton, I’ll bring you back to study!”

The next moment, however, when Tan Qigong’s gaze swept over that skeleton, a sliver of hope rose in his heart instead. He thought to himself that since Murong Huchen’s name had been so resounding back then, perhaps some secrets were hidden within these remains.

”But before that, I’ll tidy up this little bastard first!”

Retracting his gaze from Murong Huchen’s skeleton, an extreme killing intent flickered in Tan Qigong’s eyes. This coarse-clothed brat of unknown origin had disrupted his plans again and again; he absolutely could not be allowed to live.

”Boy, ordinary people say men die for wealth, but you haven’t even seen the wealth yet and you’re about to die here. Do you have any last words?”

Seeing that, aside from the main gate, there was no other exit from this hall, Tan Qigong did not mind playing cat-and-mouse with this youth for a bit. If he could learn the mastermind behind him from this boy’s mouth, that might count as a great merit as well.

One had to know that above the Nine-layered Dragon Cloud, a cultivator daring to openly kill an Emperor Palace Elder had already become exceedingly rare in the past hundred years; Tan Qigong simply didn’t believe the other side had come alone.

Right now was exactly when the Emperor Canglong Palace was integrating the major Family Sects, trying to forge the Nine-layered Dragon Cloud into an unbreakable iron plate. For someone like this to suddenly jump out and sing against the Emperor Palace’s plan, Tan Qigong had every reason to believe this was definitely an undercurrent of some opposing force.

”Oh? Why did you steal my line?”

Hearing the mockery from this Emperor Palace Director in his ears, a strange look appeared on Yun Xiao’s face. What he said next made all the Emperor Palace Elders think they’d misheard.

Even though Yun Xiao had easily killed the Second Elder Yue Qizhai outside, these Emperor Palace Elders simply didn’t believe this coarse‑clothed youth could really be a match for the Half-step Holy Rank Lord Supervisor.

After all, Yun Xiao’s clash with Yue Qizhai earlier had been far too short, and at a glance Yue Qizhai had clearly died from heavy poison. In a sense, this brat had only taken advantage of a loophole.

There were plenty of Poison Vein Masters in this world; their vicious poisons could indeed make cultivators of the same level turn pale at the mention. But that didn’t mean Poison Vein Masters were truly invincible at the same level—so long as one carefully guarded against their poison techniques, the odds of victory were still extremely high.

What’s more, that youth was only at Heavenly Realm Late Stage. He’d had to rely on catching Yue Qizhai off guard to kill him. Now that all his methods had already been exposed before everyone’s eyes, how could the Half-step Holy Rank Lord Supervisor possibly fail to deal with him?

”Since you have no last words, then go die!”

Tan Qigong was so enraged by Yun Xiao’s bizarre mocking words that smoke practically shot from his seven apertures; just looking at the youth’s face for another moment felt like torture, so in the next instant he erupted directly.

The aura of Half-step Holy Rank Meridian Qi burst forth, making the nearby Emperor Palace Elders subconsciously retreat a step. At the same time, a hint of astonishment rose in their hearts as they secretly muttered that the Lord Supervisor’s strength seemed to have improved again.

Half-step Holy Rank was already the final half-step for the Heavenly Realm to break through into the Holy Vein Three Realms. So long as he crossed that threshold, he would become a true Holy Rank Hua Xuan Realm expert.

The Holy Vein Three Realms were divided into Hua Xuan, Cave Nether, and Supreme Saint. Even the lowest Hua Xuan Realm was more than a hundred times stronger than a Heavenly Realm Peak expert; they were two completely different Realms.

On this Nine-layered Dragon Cloud, one could say Heavenly Rank experts were as common as dogs, but to reach the level of the Holy Vein Three Realms required a certain amount of opportunity and a certain amount of luck.

Many times, even some long‑inherited Great Sects wanted to cultivate a single Holy Vein Three Realms expert and still found it extremely difficult; at most, they produced a Half-step Holy Rank.

For example, the genius Jiang Jingyu of Chongxiao Sect whom Yun Xiao had encountered back in the Chongxiao Stairs Space was a Half-step Holy Rank super genius, and that so‑called Chongxiao Sect could already be considered on the verge of joining the ranks of the First-class forces.

Back then, Murong City had been extremely prosperous, and Holy Rank experts of the Murong Family emerged in an endless stream. Unfortunately, a hundred years later, Murong City was no longer the Murong City of old; even an Early Stage Hua Xuan Realm expert was exceedingly rare.

It could be said that this Emperor Palace Director of Murong City, Tan Qigong, was the strongest person in this region. Thus he had absolute confidence that he could completely kill this hateful little bastard right here.

What Tan Qigong feared most about Yun Xiao was merely that extremely poisonous item he had used to poison Yue Qizhai to death. Aside from that, what kind of waves could a greenhorn at only Heavenly Realm Late Stage possibly stir up?

Unfortunately, what Tan Qigong didn’t know was that the methods of Yun Xiao he had seen were merely the tip of the iceberg among Yun Xiao’s many techniques. He had no idea at all what sort of existence he was facing.

”Covering Water Spirit!”

They only heard a deep shout from Tan Qigong’s mouth, and then in front of him appeared a strange Meridian Spirit whose entire body was wrapped in water, constantly shifting form like flowing water.

The north belonged to Water Attribute, and the cultivators of the Murong Family were mostly Water Attribute. Therefore, Tan Qigong, chosen by the Emperor Canglong Palace as Murong City’s Chief, was naturally also a Water Attribute cultivator.

The so‑called Covering Water Spirit he was currently summoning had been refined by him in a stroke of serendipity; it was truly a chance encounter, impossible to seek out deliberately. Although, like that Elder’s Meridian Spirit earlier, it was likewise Heavenly Rank Advanced, its combat strength was simply on a whole different level.

The ever‑changing Covering Water Spirit twisted its form again and again as it attacked toward Yun Xiao, and seeing this scene, a faint trace of hidden amusement flashed in the depths of the latter’s eyes.

”Summoning a Water Attribute Meridian Spirit in front of me?”

There was naturally a reason Yun Xiao would have such a thought, and the greatest reason was the Ice Cold Attribute Ancestor Veins within his body, as well as the Water Extreme Fire he had once refined.

Although the Water Extreme Fire manifested before people in the form of flame, its essence was still water—moreover, it was the Water Extreme Fire of Chaos Fire. Toward all Water Attribute energy in the world, it possessed an extremely powerful suppressive effect.