Plundering the Heavens

When Fang Xing later heard about Huangfu Qielan, even he felt sorry for him. It had to be said that the reason Fang Xing and the golden crow were able to escape from the stone cave was that the cave itself was trivial for them to navigate and the Huangfu clan’s Golden Cores had drawn all of the Yin Ghost Thralls’ attention. Huangfu Qielan, however, used his own ability and battle prowess alongside the sacrifices of the other Golden Cores’ lives to forcibly rush through the obstacles in his path, so much so that he’d immediately torn off his own arm without a second thought when it was caught by a Yin Ghost Thrall.

“Little demon, even if I have to travel through all of heaven and earth, I will kill you!”

Huangfu Qielan started howling in extreme rage after rushing from the fog. As one of the most talented Golden Cores within the Huangfu clan, he’d truly never been so disadvantaged in his life. Before he could even finish his howl, however, he was forced back into the fog by the two masked men who’d suddenly appeared.

A countless number of Yin Ghost Thralls had been chasing after Huangfu Qielan, and although they didn’t dare to leave the fog to continue after him when he escaped, they instantly began rushing towards him again when he was forced back inside. In mere moments, no fewer than half a dozen latched onto Huangfu Qielan’s body….

“What the f*ck is all this sh*t?”

Even up to the point he was turned into a dried-up husk, Huangfu Qielan still didn’t know who was responsible for his death….

The old Wanluo laughed towards the two other masked Golden Cores. “Hehe, you two old bastards finally acted…”

One of the two held a frigid longsword and didn’t bother arguing. “Since we’ve already acted, we may as well finish things. Not a single one of Huangfu’s cultivators here can be left alive!” With that, he began attacking the Golden Cores alongside Wanluo.

The old Wanluo was a little surprised at such a response and muttered to himself, “Why are all the young people nowadays so vicious? Have I really become that f*cken old?” The two masked Golden Cores who appeared later were naturally Mu Longyin and Ephemeral Butterfly’s Zhang Daoyi, two of the five grand elders from Snowy Mountain. Mu Longyin was more than two hundred years younger than the old Wanluo, making him indeed quite young by comparison.

While the two newcomers acted, the power the old Wanluo and Hu Qin exerted over the other cultivators became even more obvious; unless a Budding Soul Stage cultivator from the Huangfu clan came here personally, the current situation wasn’t something that could be reversed any longer.

Since Xiao Xue was still within the depths of the Mysterious Domain, the Snowy Mountain had never actually left, and they’d even watched from not too far away when the young master of the Huangfu clan was leaving the domain. This group of old men experienced all kinds of feelings when they saw the talented young master achieving such glory, such as how the Huangfu clan was indeed very unique, how it was showing off such brilliance, and how it was clearly suppressing all of Jambu. These men were all experienced old foxes, and although the Huangfu clan had quietly endured three thousand years, they could tell the Huangfu clan had decided to use the Mysterious Domain’s opening as an opportunity to push their young master into the spotlight and prepare to become the true ruler of Jambu. Simply put, Jambu’s Huangfu clan had already grown bored with being called “the hidden royal family” and were preparing to step center stage and become true royalty.

Nine coffins hung from the heavens with countless opportunities, and they represented different things to different cultivators. Some saw the nine coffins as an unlimited amount of resources and treasures, others might see the coffins and interpret it as an inheritance of numerous techniques, alchemy, and weapons. For those with great ambition, however, the nine coffins represented even more….

The Huangfu clan, for example, had seen the opening of the Mysterious Domain as the chance for them to walk out into the spotlight rather than remaining “hidden royalty”. By taking advantage of the Mysterious Domain’s opening, they sought to establish their presence by obtaining the treasures and opportunities within and demonstrating their battle prowess. It was a clever action killing three birds with one stone!

When the old Wanluo and Chu Taishang teamed up to chase after Grand Elder Jing Guang, they’d ended up running into the current master of the Huangfu clan who swiftly resolved the issue. Of course, considering just how incredibly vast the world was, how could such a chance encounter actually come to be?

In truth, the Huangfu clan had simply seen this as an opportunity and chose to appear at the most suitable place at the most suitable time to display their might and resolve the issue at hand. On the surface, it might have seemed like simply smoothing out the enmity between two parties, but the purpose was deeper than that: first was to win a favorable impression from the grand elders of clans like Jing Guang’s, and second was to use the chance to make an announcement to the world reminding all of Jambu about the Huangfu clan’s might. The Huangfu clan’s young master had demanded for Fang Xing to immediately enter the depths to see him for precisely the same purpose; they’d wanted to use Fang Xing as a means to establish their presence.

Everything had originally gone incredibly smoothly, even more so than the Huangfu clan had imagined, yet they hadn’t anticipated that the single bounty given by their young master would cause so many problems. All the schemes and plans they’d carefully managed were completely tattered in the end, and nothing seemed to be going according to plan. Things continuously got worse, to the point even their young master’s life was taken in the end….

When they saw Fang Xing assassinating Huangfu’s young master, the shock the four grand elders of the Snowy Mountain felt was indescribable. Each step taken by this little bastard was truly surprising, enough to shake people to their very core. Even they felt a slight sense of admiration towards him; although their cultivation levels were greater, their guts were truly not nearly as great as his.

When the old Wanluo later saw Fang Xing escape, he left a message behind with the other three grand elders: “The name of the Huangfu clan will forever be a joke if that little bastard doesn’t die….” With that, he’d flown up into the vast sky with the implication he’d save Fang Xing; even though he knew the dangers of opposing the Huangfu clan, he didn’t bother to care anymore.

The other three knew the old Wanluo intended to save the boy primarily because he saw him as an important pupil, but they also felt what the old Wanluo said was reasonable and began to feel some uncertainty. The second person to make a decision and follow behind was the old man Hu Qin, who merely showed a faint smile, said, “I owe him a favor anyway!” and disappeared into the vast skies as well. The two of them quickly decided to save Fang Xing’s life and help him escape, and although Zhang Daoyi and Mu Longyin hesitated with all manner of thoughts, they eventually acted as well.

Zhang Daoyi had spent the most amount of time hesitating, as he felt the trouble Fang Xing had caused was simply too large and the Huangfu clan’s response would be beyond imagination. It was likely that anyone associated with Fang Xing wouldn’t be able to escape the Huangfu clan’s wrath, and although the Snowy Mountain had been able to show a straight face and cut off all ties with the little demon before, such a thing wasn’t possible any longer.

If that was the case, rather than having the little demon die here, perhaps it was better if they helped him escape so the Huangfu clan at least had a target—as long as the Huangfu clan was desperately trying to kill Fang Xing, they wouldn’t focus so much on the Snowy Mountain. The Snowy Mountain wasn’t the Qing-Yun Sect, nor was Wanluo the same as Tie Rukuang; with the additional protection of the Spirit Mountain Temple, the Huangfu clan wouldn’t make the Snowy Mountain their public enemy without catching Fang Xing first, and would put all of their effort into that.

As for Mu Longyin, his thoughts were far more simple: after seeing Fang Xing’s actions, he suddenly felt that as long as this little bastard didn’t die, his future potential would be limitless. He wanted to take this opportunity to form a good relationship with him.

These people placed a considerable amount of importance on their own personal interests but once they made their decision, their viciousness was even greater than Wanluo and Hu Qin, to the point they intended to ensure no one was left alive. Although they were masked, they were Golden Cores with extraordinary spirit sense; how could they actually hide their identities from the Huangfu clan? It was only a matter of time before their identities were found out, so they might as well kill everyone here so there wouldn’t be any proof.

Wanluo wasn’t a good bird either, and not only did he go along with it once he understood their reasoning, he gave it some thought before releasing a loud shout with spirit sense that shook the entire sky, “All of Huangfu’s men will die here today, and all the resources and treasures they’ve gained from the Mysterious Domain will become ownerless. I wonder who will become the new owners of all the treasures they’ve obtained?”

All of the faces of the Huangfu cultivators dropped when they heard this, while the countless eyes of the spectators lit up.

Old man Hu Qin knew what Wanluo was thinking and messaged to him, “This is such a venomous scheme!”

Wanluo snickered and coldly replied, “I am merely borrowing the petty tactics of that little brat. It must be said, though, that such schemes are very effective; cultivators might put on a show of being sacred and so distant from those in the mortal realm, but their heart is black with greed and hot with ruthlessness, and this won’t change until they pass through the nine tribulations. All of them are so greedy only a single catalyst is needed; we don’t even have to worry about the rest!”

What the old Wanluo said was indeed correct. Not long after his yell, a person hidden within a golden mist appeared in the air and threw themselves towards the Huangfu clan’s Foundation Stage cultivators like a lion pouncing upon a rabbit. With his Golden Core power, how could the group of Foundation Stage cultivators fight back whatsoever? In mere moments, three were killed and their storage sacks were taken.

“Since they’ve dared to do such a thing, how could I let myself fall behind?”

“Dammit, the Huangfu clan has showed off for so long already. The chaos is already certain, so I shall take a slice of this cake as well….’

“With the opportunities ahead, who cares about ‘hidden royalty’…. That storage sack, I was the one who f*cken saw it first….”

Even more people quickly jumped in to attack, like lions and tigers baring sharp claws and fangs. The Huangfu clan—the great, ancient, and mighty hidden royal family—was actually showing signs of experiencing complete destruction in such a place….