288: Chapter 288 Obtaining the Elixir

The white ape was beginning to feel its strength failing.

Its wounds were being continuously scorched by Ye Jing's flames. This human old man's entire body was ablaze, and the cold mist it spat out held no offensive power against Ye Jing.

The Ice Claws it condensed shattered and reformed, shattered and reformed again.

It began to grow agitated; it had originally thought Ye Jing would be like other Cultivators, constantly using Magical Artifacts to besiege it while it looked for a weakness.

But it hadn't expected this old man to fight it using pure physical strength, and his power was so enduring it was nearly crushing it.

The white ape was unwilling to admit defeat just like that. It threw its head back and let out a roar, its eyes and mouth simultaneously shooting out a cold light, a chill so intense it could almost freeze the air.

It wanted to freeze Ye Jing along with everything else; if it couldn't win in physical combat, it would win with Spells!

Seeing this, Ye Jing gave a slight cold laugh. Several deep black throwing knives instantly flew from his hand. Their speed was incredible, like eagles striking from the sky, forcibly slicing through the cold light as they flew toward the white ape.

The white ape was shocked. Just as it thought the throwing knives would tear its head apart, the blades stopped a mere fraction of an inch from its pupils, then nimbly turned and stabbed into the snow beside it.

It struggled to get up, but its left leg buckled, and it fell heavily to the ground again.

The light from the blood bead on its chest dimmed slightly, and the Spiritual Qi around its body was nearly exhausted. In its crimson eyes, the defiance gradually faded, replaced by a hint of resentment and a trace of undeniable awe.

Ye Jing put away his meteor hammer, and the flames around him gradually subsided.

He walked up to the white ape step by step, looking down at it from above. His voice was calm yet carried an indisputable power: "You lost."

Seeing this, Hei Feng approached and let out two low growls at the white ape while baring his teeth, as if asserting his status or testing the waters.

The white ape glanced at him but didn't retaliate. It simply lowered its head slightly, showing a posture of submission.

Though defiant, it understood strength and weakness; since it had lost, it would honor the agreement.

Seeing this, Ye Jing collected the Spirit Medicine and used Immortal Light to refine it.

Then he looked at the Cold Marrow Spirit Spring; he saw it was brimming with Spiritual Qi and looked like a very precious spiritual material.

A look of reluctance appeared in the white ape's eyes. It stepped forward and cried out a few times.

Seeing this, Ye Jing knew it wanted the Cold Marrow Spirit Spring to Cultivate. He thought of the Immortal Willow within his body, which seemed capable of simulating a frozen mountain to house this spirit spring.

So he took out a jade bottle and collected some, then said: "Work hard by my side, and don't worry, you won't lack for Cold Marrow!"

Hearing this, a faint light instantly lit up in the white ape's cloudy crimson eyes. Its previously lowered head lifted slightly, and the awe in its gaze toward Ye Jing grew even stronger.

Ye Jing collected a portion of the Cold Marrow, leaving some of the source behind so as not to exhaust the resource completely.

He hurriedly rushed toward the Qingyun Sect.

The round trip took less than two or three days.

When he arrived at the Qingyun Sect, an Immortal Attendant was already waiting on the mountain peak. Seeing this, Ye Jing descended from his sword, cupped his hands, and said, "I have not failed the Sect Master's request; I have found the Spirit Medicine!"

The Immortal Attendant was startled and bowed hurriedly. "Patriarch Ye, please hand the Spirit Medicine to me so I may present it to the Sect Master."

Seeing this, Ye Jing gave the Spirit Medicine to the Immortal Attendant.

After the Immortal Attendant vanished inside, he returned a moment later and said with a respectful tone, "Many thanks, Patriarch Ye!"

Ye Jing's tone was flat. "It was a small matter. The Sect Master's safety is what's important; there's no need for formalities."

With this matter concluded, Ye Jing hurried toward home.

Just as he was about to arrive home, a warning signal sounded in his mind, and he suddenly felt uneasy.

Within a breath, he teleported to Lingyun Valley in the Qin Mountains. It was a peaceful place, showing no signs of trouble.

As he arrived through the air, there were still several farmers planting rice seedlings by the field ridges, and the Ye family houses showed no signs of damage.

Ye Jing instinctively withdrew his Divine Sense and flew down into the mountains.

And that Aura seemed to become a bit more turbulent because of his approach.

Standing in the house, Ye Jing said calmly, "Your Excellency, please come out!"

Ye Jing's Spiritual Qi began to circulate quietly. The previously suppressed Aura of flames was hidden within his Meridians, gathered at his fingertips but not yet released. His Divine Sense swept over the roof beams, the tables, and every shadow in the corners.

He could feel that the other party's cultivation was not weak, at least equal to his own, and they were skilled at concealment. If they hadn't intentionally released their Aura as a warning, he might have been deceived by this outward appearance of peace.

"Patriarch Ye is indeed sharp. I have been waiting for you for quite some time!"

That voice made Ye Jing's heart tremble.

This person was very strong. From the voice, it was... Fan Lang of the Lingxiao Sect?!

From the shadows, a black-clad figure slowly emerged; it was indeed Fan Lang.

A faint, enigmatic smile played on his face. His Spiritual Qi was well-contained, yet it still couldn't hide the pressure of the Golden Core Middle Stage.

"Patriarch Ye, why don't we find a place to talk? I happen to have something to discuss with you."

Ye Jing's brow furrowed. The difference between a Golden Core and a Foundation Establishment was vast; he couldn't defy this man, especially since this was his Ye family's territory.

They went to a secluded bamboo hut, a small tea house run by a Mortal for the laboring farmers to rest.

The bamboo hut wasn't large. A few rough wooden tables and stools were polished bright. Half a bag of freshly picked tea leaves was piled in the corner. The air carried a faint scent of coarse tea mixed with the valley's Spiritual Qi, yet it held a strangely eerie calm.

He said critically, "Patriarch Ye, you are an Immortal family after all. To be so lacking in decorum, having no boundaries with Mortals?"

Ye Jing remained impassive. "Sect Master of the Lingxiao Sect, instead of managing your Sect's affairs, you've snuck into my Ye family's Lingyun Valley. Surely you didn't come just to judge my family's etiquette?"

The faint smile on Fan Lang's face finally faded slightly, and his gaze became as sharp as a blade. "Patriarch Ye, I have come here, naturally, because I wish to enter into a cooperation with you."

Ye Jing was a bit puzzled. "Cooperation?"

"Exactly. I want your Ye family to submit to my Lingxiao Sect. What do you think?"

Fan Lang went straight to the point, saying with undisguised contempt, "The current Sect Master of the Qingyun Sect is only at the Golden Core Early Stage. He's mixed up with the Shuangyue Sect; do you think he can handle the Xuanyou Sect? Better to join my Lingxiao Sect and create a hegemony together."

Ye Jing picked up the coarse ceramic tea bowl from the table, his fingertips rubbing the cool rim. The steam from the tea blurred the expression in his eyes.

He thought to himself that Fan Lang's arrival boded ill; he was aggressive.

Ye Jing knew that if he said a single "no," he would be dead the next second.

"Sect Master Fan certainly talks big.

Create a hegemony? I recall that the Lingxiao Sect has recently been at daggers drawn with the Qingyun and Shuangyue Sects over the Ganglei Sect matter. Instead of resolving the crisis, Sect Master Fan has come to win over my small Foundation Establishment family. Aren't you afraid of neglecting one thing while attending to another?"

He was naturally referring to the fact that the two Sect Masters had not met with the Lingxiao Sect Master since the destruction of the Ganglei Sect.

Fan Lang looked at Ye Jing and said with a fake smile, "So, Patriarch Ye, does that mean you wish to decline me?"

Suddenly, the pressure of the Golden Core Stage surged, attempting to force Ye Jing to the ground.

But in the next second, several phantoms of Yao Beasts appeared around Ye Jing, some of which had reached Rank 2 strength.

Although Fan Lang was at the Golden Core Stage, facing so many Yao Beasts, he was momentarily constrained, not to mention the strange dagger that had already appeared in Ye Jing's hand.

The surrounding Mortals were pressed to the ground by this heavy pressure, unable to move at all.

The surrounding Mortals were pressed to the ground by this heavy pressure, unable to move at all. Muffled groans escaped their throats, their faces were as pale as paper, and even breathing became difficult.

Ye Jing's peripheral vision swept over the farmers curled on the ground outside the window. A cold light flashed in his eyes, and the dagger in his hand vibrated slightly.

Wisps of cold light emanated from the pitch-black blade, forcibly tearing a gap in the Golden Core pressure Fan Lang was emitting.

"Sect Master Fan,"

Ye Jing's voice was calm but carried an indisputable hardness, the Spiritual Qi at his fingertips becoming increasingly concentrated.

"Lingyun Valley is the Foundation of my Ye family and a place where Mortals live in peace. If you release your pressure again and harm the innocent, don't blame me, Ye Jing, for ignoring the gap between Golden Core and Foundation Establishment to fight you to the death."