248: Chapter 248 Sending Troops to Suppress the Rebellion

At this point, Ye Xuan further analyzed the pros and cons.

"The Ye Family can also use this opportunity to expand its strength and protect the territory of the Yan State. It is a win-win situation. What does Your Majesty think?"

Zhao Yuanyi thought it sounded good; now that he was the Emperor, his vision was incomparably broader than before.

How could he not know? The Ye Family was currently on good terms with the Yan State; if the Ye Family was strong, his nation could be strong.

Zhao Yuanyi naturally cooperated, saying, "Excellent! This plan achieves multiple goals at once and resolves the chaos caused by the Loose Cultivators. I approve! At tomorrow's morning court, I shall issue an imperial decree to announce this to the entire country and grant you full authority to oversee this matter."

"The entire imperial court will give its full cooperation. If you need people, I will give you people; if you need power, I will give you power!"

Ye Xuan rose and said, "This official thanks Your Majesty for your trust. I will certainly do my utmost and not fail Your Majesty's mandate. Within three days, results will surely be seen."

Ye Xuan and Ye Yi received the imperial order and left the palace. They immediately dispatched the elite Cultivators of the Ye Family to work alongside the Imperial Guard. The two split into two routes, sweeping through the various provinces and commanderies of the Yan State with the momentum of a thunderbolt.

Ye Xuan sat at the central hub, coordinating the overall situation. He divided the Yan State's territory into twelve purging zones. To each zone, he dispatched a trusted aide leading a hundred Imperial Guards, carrying the Emperor's Decree and the Ye Family Command Token, with the authority to execute first and report later.

Ye Yi personally led a unit of elite Heavy Cavalry, specifically heading for those bandit dens of Loose Cultivators entrenched in the deep mountains where their influence was most rampant, establishing prestige through iron-blooded methods.

The evil Cultivators within the Yan State, who usually committed arson, murder, and every kind of evil, had thought the imperial court was too busy to deal with them and that they could act willfully. Little did they expect to face a catastrophic disaster.

During this period, Ye Xuan and Ye Yi killed over a hundred Loose Cultivators causing trouble within the Yan State. On one of those days...

The vanguard sent out by Ye Yi arrived at a town. That town was already empty; the ground was covered in white bones, but not a single living person was to be seen.

He immediately summoned the Snow Feather Eagle to circle overhead, searching for traces of Loose Cultivators in the area.

By this time, the sky had gradually darkened. A thick scent of blood wafted through the surroundings, indicating that the tragedy here had occurred not long ago.

He immediately ordered the soldiers, "Wait here on standby. Without my command, do not act rashly!"

"Yes!"

Ye Yi stood at the entrance of the town. His Black Martial Attire fluttered loudly in the evening breeze, and the sword at his waist glinted with a cold, sharp light.

His handsome face was covered in a layer of frost, and anger surged in the depths of his eyes.

He looked up at the Snow Feather Eagle circling in the sky. The divine bird let out a sharp shriek, abruptly folded its wings, and dove toward a dense forest to the west of the city, its talons pointing directly at a hidden lair deep within the woods.

Ye Yi immediately rose on his sword and flew off, his figure streaking out like an arrow from a bow. He followed the Snow Feather Eagle into a remote, dense forest.

After a short while, he saw firelight reflecting in the forest. From within came coarse laughter and curses, as well as the occasional sobbing of women. Clearly, those Cultivators had not gone far and were still making merry in their den.

Passing through the final layer of bushes, Ye Yi saw over a dozen Loose Cultivators dressed in fine silk sitting by a campfire, drinking and making merry.

They were surrounded by naked women, and piles of looted gold, silver, and valuables lay on the ground. The leader was a burly man with his chest bared.

He grabbed a woman with one hand and took a deep breath. The woman screamed instantly as a stream of Blood Qi surged from her seven orifices. In less than half a moment, the woman was reduced to a pile of white bones.

"Big Brother! This Cultivation Technique of yours is amazing! To be able to absorb so much Blood Qi... little brother here has only just reached Qi Refining Level 3!"

A man with a monkey-like face below him flattered the leader, giggling lewdly as he held a woman.

With a face full of lecherous smiles, his rough palms violently tore at the woman's clothing.

This caused the woman to cry out in despair and struggle desperately. The other Loose Cultivators burst into loud laughter, completely treating the slaughter of commoners and the violation of weak women as a source of amusement.

"Stop!!"

An angry shout exploded like a clap of thunder over the dense forest.

The spiritual energy around Ye Yi's body erupted completely. He drew a large saber and charged forward to kill.

The gang of Loose Cultivators was deterred by this sudden pressure. Their bodies froze in place, and the lewd smiles and arrogance on their faces instantly stiffened. They turned toward the bushes, each face showing terror.

The pupils of the blood-tattooed burly leader shrank. Sensing the unfathomable cultivation level of Ye Yi, he immediately pushed away the woman in his arms.

He smiled with a fawning expression and said, "This Fellow Daoist, we are merely seeking some diversion. If you don't mind, why not join us? Let's mind our own business, and there will surely be a heavy reward in the future!"

As he spoke, the burly man secretly gave a look. The Loose Cultivators beside him immediately understood and hurriedly grabbed the gold and silver jewelry from the ground, piling it in front of them in an attempt to pay their way out of trouble.

This was because they were all Loose Cultivators who had broken away from aristocratic families. Because their main families had been destroyed, they had ended up wandering in this Mortal nation.

In the burly man's eyes, they were all Cultivators, and it really wasn't worth meeting in battle over a few Mortals.

"Diversion?" Ye Yi's footsteps stopped. The blade of his saber pointed diagonally at the ground, the cold light reflecting his frost-covered, handsome face, making it look even more frigid.

Anger surged in his eyes like a volcanic eruption. "Slaughtering innocent commoners, consuming Life Qi and Blood Qi, and violating weak women—in your eyes, this is actually diversion?"

Ye Xuan hated this kind of Cultivator who did not value the lives of Mortals the most. Thinking back to how the Ye Family had come this far, how many times had they encountered such slaughter by Cultivators?

Previously, when he dealt with that Red Lotus Cult, he had nearly lost his life. Now, looking at the tragedy in this town, he was incredibly furious.

"Why must this Fellow Daoist be like this? How can Mortals compare to us Cultivators? They are nothing but pigs and dogs. So what if I eat a few or play with a few?"

The burly man found it strange and even justified himself, saying, "Even the great Sects don't care about this, so what is there to be angry about? This world is fundamentally about the strong devouring the weak. If you don't eat them, they will turn around and eat you! You are too soft-hearted; this will hinder your path to immortality."

In the burly man's former Family, they treated these Mortals as if they were worthless trash. He couldn't understand why Ye Yi was so angry.

"Heh, hinder my path to immortality?" Ye Yi gave a cold sneer, brandishing the saber in his hand. "That's right, this world is indeed about the strong devouring the weak. Therefore, it is only right that I kill you!"

With that, Ye Yi flew forward. The saber in his hand hummed incessantly, bursting with bone-chilling cold light, as if even the air was frozen into stagnation by this killing intent.

The burly man's face changed drastically. His previous arrogance and fawning vanished, replaced only by deep-seated terror. He never imagined that the Cultivator before him would actually strike to kill for the sake of a group of ordinary Mortals.

"Fellow Daoist, it's a misunderstanding! If you don't want to eat people, I'll give you all my Storage Pouches! I beg you to spare our lives!"

The burly man begged for mercy repeatedly in fear: "I've cultivated for forty years just to reach the Qi Refining Sixth Layer! It hasn't been easy for any of us!"

Ye Yi was utterly disgusted by this Cultivator and was unwilling to waste any more words.

His figure was as fast as a ghost, leaving only an afterimage.

The long saber, carrying the momentum to split mountains and crack stones, hacked straight toward the Blood-tattooed burly man.

*Puchi—*

The sharp saber light easily tore through the burly man's blood-light defense and pierced straight through his chest.

The burly man looked down in disbelief at the saber blade piercing his chest. A large amount of black-red foul blood gushed from his mouth. That evil technique he had refined by consuming the Blood Qi of countless Mortals...

...was actually vulnerable and unable to withstand a single blow before Ye Yi's absolute cultivation.

The arrogance in his eyes turned completely into fear. He opened his mouth, but before he could even utter a single word of plea, he crashed to the ground, his aura completely gone.