16: The Grand Elder is numb

Ye Family, Main Residence.

Under the care of the Ye Family Patriarch, who personally channeled pure spiritual power into him, the Grand Elder, who had been unconscious for a long time, finally let out a painful groan and slowly woke up.

"Grand Elder, how do you feel?" The Ye Family Patriarch withdrew his palm. His voice was gentle, but his brows were tightly locked, clearly filled with suspicion regarding the recent incident.

The Grand Elder slowly sat up. His complexion remained as pale as paper, and his eyes, which were usually sinister and vicious, were now filled with endless grief and disbelief.

He did not answer the Clan Chief's question, only muttering to himself in a daze: "Dead... Crimson Flame Tiger... dead..."

"What?!"

Hearing this, the Ye Family Patriarch's expression changed drastically!

The Crimson Flame Tiger was an Early Second-Rank Yao Beast that the Grand Elder had spent countless efforts to cultivate. Its combat power was enough to rival a genuine Cultivator at the Foundation Establishment Early Stage!

For the Ye Family, which only had three experts in the Foundation Establishment Realm, every bit of combat power at the Foundation Establishment Realm was a pillar supporting the Family's standing!

The death of the Crimson Flame Tiger was an immeasurable loss for the entire Ye Family!

"This matter must not be spread!" The Ye Family Patriarch immediately realized the gravity of the situation.

He made a prompt decision and said in an unquestionable tone, "Otherwise, if the other two major Foundation Establishment Realm powers in the city learn that our Ye Family's strength has been damaged, they will surely harbor malicious intentions against us!"

Although the Grand Elder's mind was in chaos, he understood the stakes involved. He nodded with difficulty, effectively agreeing.

"What did you send the Crimson Flame Tiger to do? Why did it suddenly die?" The Ye Family Patriarch pressed.

The Grand Elder's heart skipped a beat, and his eyes flickered.

He naturally dared not say that he had sent his son to lead the Spirit Beast to intercept and kill Ye Feiyan, so he had to fabricate a lie on the spot.

"I... I saw that Tian'er's cultivation had reached a Bottleneck, so I had him take the Crimson Flame Tiger to the Luoyun Mountain Range for some training, but I never expected..."

As he said this, as if remembering something, he suddenly grabbed the Ye Family Patriarch's arm and said in a hoarse voice, "Clan Chief! Before Crimson Flame Tiger died, it sent me one last message through the contract!"

"Only one word—"

"Snake!"

"Snake?"

The Ye Family Patriarch frowned slightly, and countless flashes of insight instantly crossed his deep eyes.

In a flash of lightning, all the clues connected in his mind!

Last night, the Grand Elder had engaged in a fierce battle with a mysterious black snake that had just broken through to the Second-Rank in the back mountain, resulting in a draw.

Today, the Grand Elder's son and the Second-Rank Spirit Beast, the Crimson Flame Tiger, had died tragically in the mountain range, and the key message sent before their deaths was the word "Snake"!

The truth was almost ready to come out!

The Ye Family Patriarch's expression instantly became extremely grave. He looked at the Grand Elder and said word by word, "Grand Elder, you attacked that black snake last night; I'm afraid... it has set its sights on you."

"Your son and the Crimson Flame Tiger were, in all likelihood, victims of that black snake's... revenge!"

Boom!!!

These words were like a thunderbolt from the blue, striking the Grand Elder fiercely on the head!

He realized it instantly!

That's right! Besides that terrifying black snake with Heaven-Defying combat power capable of rivaling him, who else could so easily wipe out his son and the Crimson Flame Tiger?!

"Tian'er... my Tian'er!"

Having realized this, the pain of losing his son, like the most vicious curse, instantly devoured all his reason!

He felt his vision darken. His already weak body suffered another heavy blow, and he nearly fainted again.

"Clan Chief! Hurry!" He gripped the Ye Family Patriarch's sleeve tightly, as if grasping at the last straw of hope, and roared in a shrill voice, "Quickly, go with me to the Luoyun Mountain Range! Go save my son! Perhaps... perhaps he is still alive!"

Watching his near-mad state, the Ye Family Patriarch sighed in his heart and finally nodded.

Two streaks of light shot into the sky and sped away at top speed toward that mountain range filled with death and the unknown.

...

In the mountain range, in another dense forest.

After a period of breathing exercises, Ye Feiyan slowly opened her eyes.

The vital blood of that Late First Tier Steel-bristled Wild Boar had been completely refined by her. At this moment, the spiritual power in her Dantian had reached the Peak of the Seventh Level of Qi Refining. She was only one opportunity away from naturally breaking through to the Qi Refining Eighth Level!

"Just a little bit more..." She felt the Bottleneck in her body, and could not help but feel a bit of regret.

Just then, Mysterious Ink, who was acting as her Protector, suddenly raised its massive head. Its huge nose sniffed the air in an incredibly human-like manner.

Immediately, it turned its head, let out a low hiss at Ye Feiyan, and pointed its tail toward a certain direction in the dense forest.

—Over there, there is a very strong smell of blood.

Looking at its "professional" appearance, Ye Feiyan was stunned at first, then understood.

She pondered for a moment, and in the end, her desire for a Breakthrough overcame her caution.

"Okay, you lead the way, let's go see."

Having received permission, Mysterious Ink was delighted. It immediately stepped forward and began a precise "search" through the dense jungle.

A moment later, the human and the python arrived at a devastated place filled with traces of a battle.

The moment she saw the scene in the clearing, even with Ye Feiyan's calm state of mind, she could not help but stand frozen in place, her beautiful eyes filled with endless shock!

In the center of the devastation, two corpses, already cold, were lying quietly in a pool of blood.

One of them was none other than the Ye Family Great Elder's only son, Ye Tian!

And the other...

"An... Early Second-Rank... Crimson Flame Tiger?!"

Ye Feiyan's heart skipped a beat!

She instantly understood everything!

This must have been the Great Elder's arrangement! He had sent his son, Ye Tian, to bring this powerful Early Second-Rank Spirit Beast to intercept and kill her!

It's just that they never dreamed that before they even found her, they would die tragically here for some reason!

"Is... is it that unknown 'Senior' who acted again?" Ye Feiyan guessed in her heart, but soon, she cast these distracting thoughts to the back of her mind.

Her gaze was locked tightly onto the corpse of the Crimson Flame Tiger; in those cold eyes, a scorching flame was now burning!

The corpse of an Early Second-Rank Yao Beast!

How immense must the life essence contained within it be?!

If she could refine it all...

"You really chose a path to Hell when there was a path to Heaven."

"Since you and your son were bent on killing me, I will gladly accept this big gift!"

A cold arc curled up on the corner of Ye Feiyan's mouth, "Just right, it's my gain!"

She did not hesitate any longer, walked quickly to the corpse of the Crimson Flame Tiger, sat cross-legged, formed hand seals, and the Myriad Dao Furnace Scripture roared into operation!

In an instant, the wind and clouds surged!

A visible torrent of blood-colored energy, several times richer than when she refined the Crimson Fire Demonic Ape last time, was forcibly stripped from the Crimson Flame Tiger's corpse, turning into a huge blood-colored vortex that madly surged into Ye Feiyan's body!

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Her cultivation, which was already at a Bottleneck, was as fragile as thin paper under the impact of this immense energy and was instantly broken through!

Qi Refining Eighth Level!

However, this was just the beginning!

The energy of the Crimson Flame Tiger was far purer than she had imagined!

After the Breakthrough, her cultivation continued to rise frantically, unstoppable!

Qi Refining Eighth Level Middle Stage!

Qi Refining Eighth Level Peak!

Boom!!!

When the last trace of blood energy was devoured, a terrifying aura, many times stronger than before, erupted from Ye Feiyan's petite body and swept in all directions!

Ninth Level of Qi Refining!

Success!

Only then did Ye Feiyan stop her cultivation and stand up, satisfied. And at her feet, that majestic Crimson Flame Tiger had long since turned into a shriveled tiger skin, as if it had been air-dried for hundreds of years, with not a single trace of energy remaining.

Just at this moment!

Two streaks of light, fast to the extreme, descended from the sky and landed exactly in this devastated place!

The people who arrived were none other than the anxious Ye Family Patriarch and the Grand Elder!

When they saw the familiar figure in the clearing and that powerful aura belonging to the Ninth Level of Qi Refining, the Ye Family Patriarch's face revealed incomparable shock and horror!

And the Grand Elder, upon seeing the cold corpse of his son, and... and that shriveled tiger skin at Ye Feiyan's feet that he knew all too well...

He was completely stunned.

His brain, in this instant, completely shut down, leaving his mind blank.