The edges of Duan Yuyang’s mouth twitched, then he said, “Don’t tell me you’re scared now?”

　　Yan Tianhen blinked and pouted as he said, “Can’t you tell? I can’t believe you even need me to tell you that.”

　　Duan Yuyang, “…” He just knew it. How could such a kicka.s.s Yan Tianhen be a permanent existence!

　　Yan Tianhen looked at Lin Xuanzhi’s back that wasn’t too far ahead and said with a hint of melancholy in his voice, “What do I do? Dage must hate me to death right now.”

　　Duan Yuyang comforted, “Look on the bright side, he might have hated you that much in the past anyway.”

　　Yan Tianhen, “…….”

　　He only wanted to wail out loud right now.

　　Duan Yuyang sighed and said, “Don’t think too much, my rotten mouth was just spouting nonsense. Your Dage is angry at you because what you said just now was really infuriating. That just shows that he values you and cares about you, so he wants you to accompany him for a long, long time.”

　　Yan Tianhen was already immersed in his own sorrowful world.

　　He felt extremely wronged. He sniffed and said, “I only said that one sentence, and yet he was so fierce to me. Maybe he just really hates me.”

　　“Sigh, don’t be like this, my heart will ache.” Duan Yuyang turned his hand over and patted Yan Tianhen’s arm, then said, “Tianhen, be a good boy. Why not you take your cultivation seriously from tomorrow onwards? Once your Dage sees that, his anger might just turn into happiness.”

　　Yan Tianhen thought for a moment with tear-filled eyes, then nodded his head.

　　Although there wasn’t much use for him to cultivate, his Dage probably can’t stand the sight of him lazing about ba.

　　“To the east, it escaped to the east!” A young cultivator shouted.

　　A young woman holding a sword quickly flew eastwards and called out, “Third Shixiong, hurry and use the Thunder Net to capture it, don’t let it escape.”

　　Lin Xuanzhi saw a bald bird about the size of his palm in the distance — it was flapping its wings desperately as it rushed towards him. Several fierce killing intents were also chasing after the bird from afar.

　　Lin Xuanzhi didn’t want to be nosy, so he stopped his horse and moved aside to wait for the few cultivators behind to rush past him.

　　But he didn’t expect that bird to actually b.u.mp straight into him, and even chirped at him incessantly while looking very pitiful.

　　But Lin Xuanzhi doesn’t have much compa.s.sion; the strong feed on the weak — this was the natural order of things.

　　The bald bird appeared to have sensed Lin Xuanzhi’s ruthlessness, so it rushed towards the Yan Tianhen at the back and dove straight into his arms.

　　Yan Tianhen looked down, then met the eyes of the small bird who kept burying itself into his clothes.

　　His first thought was, “So ugly.”

　　And he couldn’t stop himself from blurting it out.

　　The bird had also revealed a disgusted expression, but very quickly, this disgust turned into the empathy of a fellow sufferer.

　　Looks like in this world, there was something who was as ugly as himself ah.

　　This pitiful bird definitely didn’t lead a good life amongst its own race.

　　One bird and one human remained silent, then simultaneously revealed a sympathetic look in their eyes.

　　Yan Tianhen couldn’t help but hug the bird and said, “What a pitiful bird.”

　　The small bird chirped and shivered.

　　Right at this moment, two cultivators — one man and one woman — arrived in front of them.

　　Lin Xuanzhi had already changed his mind and decided to protect this bird that Yan Tianhen took a fancy to, but when Lin Xuanzhi saw these two newcomers, he was even more sure of his decision.

　　“Lin Xuanzhi?” The young man pointed at Lin Xuanzhi with a shocked face.

　　The woman beside him was also shocked as she said, “Haven’t you already turned into a good-for-nothing? Why are you here?”

　　Lin Xuanzhi’s lips slightly curved up as he sat on his horse and said, “And I was wondering who it was, looks like it’s my old friends.”

　　“Who’s friends with you? Don’t try to flatter yourself!” Lian Xueqing immediately refuted. She furrowed her willow brows1 and said, “You’ve been expelled from Profound Sky Sect a long time ago! When you’re outside, don’t you dare use Profound Sky Sect’s name to fool around!”

　　“That’s right.” Third Shixiong Li Yang pointed his sword at Lin Xuanzhi and said, “I saw the animal fly towards you just now. If you hand it over quickly, I can spare your life!”

　　Lian Xueqing’s eyes revealed a strong killing intent, then said, “Lin Xuanzhi, I didn’t want to kill you at first. But since you’ve met me2 today, then you can only consider yourself unlucky. Obediently accept your death ba!”

　　“Aiyaya, where did these dogs come from? They have been barking incessantly since they’ve met us.” Duan Yuyang fiddled with a talisman in his hand. He narrowed his eyes as he sat on his horse and looked at these two cultivators with disdain, then said, “They talk pretty big, and they’re even blind. Lin Xuanzhi, don’t tell me that these are the disciples of the legendary East Continent’s number one sect — Profound Sky Sect? They’re dragging their sect’s name through the mud!”

　　Lian Xueqing immediately turned around to look at Duan Yuyang and coldly said, “Who do you think you are? You actually dared to insult my Profound Sky Sect!”

　　“Shimei, don’t bother wasting your saliva on these people, just kill them.” Li Yang hadn’t even finished speaking when he leaped into the air. His sword looked like a lone star on a wintry night as it swung down on Lin Xuanzhi’s head.

　　Meanwhile, Lian Xueqing wielded two swords in her hands and rushed forward to attack Duan Yuyang who was on the horse behind Lin Xuanzhi.

　　Lin Xuanzhi whipped out his backhand and a “clang—-” rang out — the sword that swung down on him had actually been pierced through!

　　Li Yang staggered and fell to the ground. He looked at his broken sword and was so shocked he couldn’t move.

　　“You’re pretty good-looking, but too bad you’re a fool.” Duan Yuyang sighed regretfully and casually threw out a talisman which exploded in Lian Xueqing’s face.

　　Li Yang glared at Lin Xuanzhi and gritted his teeth as he said, “You actually didn’t turn into a good-for-nothing? You lied to us!”

　　Lin Xuanzhi’s face was as casual as ever as he said, “The people who had harmed me — do you know who they are?”

　　Li Yang’s face immediately changed, then he sneered, “It was because of your own weakness that a demonic beast managed to harm you, yet you’re actually trying to push the blame onto your fellow sect members now. Someone as vicious and narrow-minded like you isn’t worthy of being a part of Profound Sky Sect!”

　　“Well said.” Lin Xuanzhi actually smiled. He suddenly raised his hand and used it to chop Li Yang. Li Yang didn’t even have time to sense the majestic and dreadful soul force of this attack nor have the time to block it and escape before his head was chopped off.

　　“Nice one!” Soul Bead suddenly cheered. A Qi that didn’t belong to Lin Xuanzhi rushed out of his body — and it actually absorbed Li Yang’s soul directly into the Soul Bead!

　　Lin Xuanzhi didn’t expect the Soul Bead to do something like this so he immediately furrowed his brows slightly, but he remained silent.

　　“Ah—-!” Lian Xueqing shrieked. A few b.l.o.o.d.y holes appeared on her face after she was bombed which made Lian Xueqing panic immediately. Her whole body shivered with rage as she glared at Duan Yuyang, then held up both her swords and said, “I’ll kill you!”

　　Duan Yuyang threw out another three talismans in succession which lined up in a row, then he formed a complicated magic seal; the talismans exploded in an instant and blew Lian Xueqing away along with her swords.

　　Hong—-

　　Lian Xueqing’s body had been blown up into bits. Only two swords landed on the ground, utterly mottled.

　　Duan Yuyang’s heart ached as he placed his hand on his chest and said, “Half of honourable me’s a.s.sets has just disappeared! This woman is way too fierce, and even a little formidable. Ah my heart aches, sigh, my heart really aches.”

　　Lin Xuanzhi nodded his head and said, “Duan young master is extremely wealthy indeed. These three Blasting Skies talismans must have costed at least 3000 gold or more, not just anyone can use them so casually. But what’s even more expensive than those talismans are the hand seals used to activate them. The whole set must have costed at least 10 000 gold ba?”

　　Duan Yuyang raised his eyebrow and looked at Lin Xuanzhi slightly surprised, then said, “You know this too? Expert Lin, you really aren’t simple.”

　　Lin Xuanzhi said, “I think, Ah Hen should know about this too.”

　　Yan Tianhen heard Lin Xuanzhi say his name and was stunned, then nodded his head and said, “Last time when Daddy used to let me see the talismans made by talisman cultivators, I’ve seen this kind of talisman before. But, even though there isn’t much of a difference between the hand seals and magic seals used to activate the talismans made by different people, these minor details have their respective merits. If any part of it goes wrong, the effect of the talismans will be greatly reduced. But I think the three Blasting Skies talismans used by Yuyang Gege should have been utilised to the best of its abilities.”

　　If you were to use each of these talismans by itself, they wouldn’t be worth much. But the problem is, if you wanted these talismans to be as effective as possible, then you would need to activate all three talismans at the same time.

　　And this would require the hand seals and word seals needed to activate them.

　　When Duan Yuyang bought these talismans, he would have needed to buy the method of using them as well. This definitely wouldn’t have been a small sum.

　　Even the Lin Xuanzhi who was still at Profound Sky Sect wouldn’t have been willing to spend so much money on this kind of talisman that’s only used to protect one’s life.

　　Duan Yuyang smiled as he nodded, then said, “I won’t hide it from you guys, these three talismans actually didn’t cost much.”

　　When Lin Xuanzhi heard this, he said, “Don’t tell me you made these talismans yourself?”

　　Duan Yuyang lifted his chin and said proudly, “Of course. How’s that, isn’t honourable me super amazing? Isn’t honourable me especially admirable?”

　　“Yeah yeah!” Yan Tianhen looked at Duan Yuyang with worshipful eyes, then said with admiration, “Yuyang Gege, you’re really modest! I actually didn’t know that you had this kind of skill!”

　　“He, it’s not just you, even my Dad doesn’t know.” Duan Yuyang raised his eyebrow at Yan Tianhen and said, “So? Do you want to become Gege’s apprentice?”

　　Without waiting for Yan Tianhen’s reply, Lin Xuanzhi opened his mouth to speak, “There’s still one more bug in hiding. Let’s continue talking after we get rid of him.”

　　Duan Yuyang raised his hand and another three yellow talismans appeared. Suddenly, a young man stumbled out from behind a tree and kneeled in front of the three people with his head on the ground, then shivered as he said, “Huarong Sword Immortal and these two respectable masters, I beg you to spare my life! I was only accompanying them on the road, we aren’t particularly close. I’m just a small fry who was following behind them with the intention of finding some exotic things to bring back to sell. I had absolutely no intention of killing anyone!”

　　The three talismans in Duan Yuyang’s hands gently swayed about in the air. He smiled and said, “Lin Xuanzhi, this guy actually knows you. Don’t tell me he’s also one of your Profound Sky Sect’s disciples?”

　　Lin Xuanzhi didn’t even need to see his face — he could tell who this person was based on his voice alone.

　　Even though most cultivators in Profound Sky Sect couldn’t wait to put themselves on a pedestal that reached the clouds, to transcend this world and be free from worldly affairs, there were still a few unconventional cultivators who did the exact opposite.

　　And one of them was the cultivator called Yang Dongmian in front of them right now. Although he had just entered Profound Sky Sect a few years ago, his reputation could actually be on par with Lin Xuanzhi.

　　Yang Dongmian was infamous for being thick-skinned. Many people in Profound Sky Sect look down on him as they think that he lacks the grace and arrogance a cultivator should have, and thus think beneath their dignity to befriend him.

　　However, Yang Dongmian has his own fortes.

　　He’s a broker and doing business was his hobby. Rumours has it that any business transaction that goes through his hands would never fail. Especially when it came to rare and strange items; he could get them through all kinds of means.

　　“I have a slight impression of this person.” Lin Xuanzhi admitted.

　　When he recognised this person as Yang Dongmian, he had already thought of something.

　　“Hahaha, your Profound Sky Sect is really interesting. The other two met you with fierce faces and talked about killing the moment they saw you without considering their own strength, but now this one is being all subservient and can’t wait to stuff his face into the ground.” Duan Yuyang ridiculed, “Don’t tell me that your Profound Sky Sect doesn’t even have one normal person?”

　　“We do we do, we definitely have normal people.” Yang Dongmian’s eyes immediately swept over Lin Xuanzhi and flattered, “Just like Huarong Sword Immortal — he’s the cream of the crop amongst those who are normal, you can tell at a glance that he’s different from a weird person like me!”

　　1. Willow brows:

　　↩

　　2. She calls herself Ben Xiaojie; Ben = referring to oneself, Xiaojie = young miss; so she’s saying something along the lines of “Since you’ve met young miss me” but it’s awkward so I just left it as ‘me’↩

　　T/N: Some parts may sound weird/awkward…translator is editing this in a braindead state (Ｔ▽Ｔ)