Chapter 214: Xingyang Huo

　　“Thunderwind Trading Company?” Duan Yue’s eyes grew wide as he said in surprise, “There is a Thunderwind Trading Company in Skyfragrance Empire. But, isn’t it just a small trading company? I remember its front door is only as wide as a man’s shoulder, and it only has one or two workers. And it doesn’t seem to have any business all year long.”

　　Yunxiao looked at him as if he were an idiot and said, “Their branches look like that all over the continent. Do they have to build a grand building to be a huge trading company?”

　　Duan Yue had already become accustomed to his cocky manner. “And you said they are bold enough to accept any business? I think that is an exaggeration. If someone asks them to kill the Martial Sovereign Tyrant, Ao Changkong, will they accept it?”

　　Yunxiao snorted coldly. “Of course, they will, but no one can afford the price! It will take at least one hundred million supreme-grade Primordial Stones to kill Ao Changkong. Moreover, all business with the Thunderwind Trading Company must be paid in advance.”

　　Duan Yue’s mouth dropped open. That was just another way of refusing to accept the business. He wondered what the Thunderwind Trading Company would do if someone really came out with one hundred million supreme-grade Primordial Stones.

　　Yunxiao glanced at the sea and pointed at an island ahead, “We’ll land on that island. The Blueluan warship is too huge, and it can’t be put inside a storage ring. I’ll lay out an array on the island and hide it temporarily. After that, we will go to find the people of the Thunderwind Trading Company.”

　　Soon, the warship was driven over the island. Yunxiao studied the terrain and then called the six alchemists down and taught them how to lay down the array.

　　An array that could hide such a large object was beyond the knowledge of the six alchemists. Their eyes gleamed as they listened to Yunxiao’s teaching and absorbed the knowledge hungrily. Arrays were the foundation of the Dao of alchemy, because any kind of refining required a continuous supply of energy through arrays. So, a senior alchemist was definitely an array master as well.

　　But, there were also those who were not interested in the Dao of alchemy and focused solely on the Dao of arrays. Martial Sovereign Teng Guang, who was given the title of Throne by the Holy Realm and ranked the seventh on the Heaven and Earth Power Chart, was a peerless master of arrays. If he were given enough time to construct an array, he could attract the Law of the World and pour the power of the earth, mountains, rivers, the sun, the moon and stars into it, trapping all the other top nine Martial Sovereigns at the same time.

　　The array Yunxiao wanted to build was just a simple cover-up array, which could erase the spatial influence of the Blueluan warship and make no one notice it. If he could recover his strength of a ninth-tier Alchemy Sovereign, he would be able to rip the void with an array and pull the warship inside. In this way, even a Martial Sovereign would not be able to find it.

　　Soon, an array over a hundred meters wide was laid down, filled with numerous Primordial Stones. The island, together with the Blueluan warship over it, gradually became blurry, as if the void was distorted, and then disappeared slowly.

　　The six alchemists were filled with a sense of accomplishment. They had been in great awe of Yunxiao ever since he repaired the warship’s primary offensive and defensive arrays. They knew he must be an existence far superior to them in the Dao of alchemy. In just one day, they had learned more from him than they had studied in a year.

　　“I’ve been out for more than half a month. I wonder how Yanwu is now.”

　　Yunxiao was a little worried. He took out a Bluewolf chariot, and the eight of them sped in the direction of the Firecrow Empire.

　　The six alchemists were nervous, but their lives were no longer their own now. They guessed they could only follow Yunxiao from then on. In fact, they felt a little bit of joy in their hearts, hoping that they could progress further in the Dao of alchemy.

　　A day later, the Bluewolf chariot drove into the realm of Firecrow. Duan Yue asked abruptly, “Lad, who exactly are you? Can you tell me now?” That was the biggest question in his mind.

　　Looking at a large city in the distance, Yunxiao chuckled and said, “I’m the City Lord of Yanwu, a city in the state of Tianshui, which is an upper-state attached to the Firecrow Empire.”

　　Duan Yue did not believe that. He arched his eyebrow and said, “The City Lord in a vassal state? Do you take me for a fool? Given your strength, talent, and your age of fifteen years, if you are not the disciple of some superpower, I’ll lop my head off and let you sit on it!”

　　He began to guess, “The strongest sect in Firecrow is the Jutian Sect, followed by the Heartbroken Mountain and the Heavenly Pearls Sect. I guess you are probably a disciple of the Jutian Sect. It is said that their sect leader, Qi Feng, has stepped into the Eight Desolation realm, and his master is the Martial Sovereign Hua Qianshu. In the whole Firecrow Empire, only the Jutian Sect can cultivate an inhuman disciple like you!”

　　Yunxiao smiled faintly and said, “I do have some kind of relationship with the Jutian Sect.” Hua Qianshu was his first disciple, and that meant Qi Feng was his disciple’s disciple.

　　“Haha! I knew it!” Duan Yue finally felt proud and elated for once. He said happily, “Tell me, what’s your relationship with the Jutian Sect?”

　　“The relationship is…I know them, but they don’t know me.”

　　Duan Yue gave him a look of contempt as he snorted coldly and said, “I don’t believe that!”

　　“You don’t believe it?” Yunxiao glanced at him and said meaningfully, “Then would you believe if I said Qi Feng is my disciple’s disciple?”

　　That took Duan Yue aback. He wiped the cold sweat off his forehead and said, “Lad, you are really bold to say that. If this were heard by the Jutian Sect, I fear you would be ripped into pieces in the next moment. Now that I’ve decided to follow you, I’ll know your roots sooner or later. Hmph! Let’s see how you’re going to deny it when the time comes!”

　　…

　　In the city of Yanwu, the City Lord’s mansion had been reduced to ruins. Amidst the ruins stood the crude pill pagoda, unharmed.

　　Dozens of people looked nervously at an old man in front of them, who wore fiery-red clothes. With his eyes fixed at the pill pagoda, the old man suddenly threw out a punch, which burst into a large fireball and smashed onto the pagoda. But, a golden light emerged and blocked the flame.

　　“You, come over here!” The old man pointed to a one-armed man in the crowd, his face unsightly as he said, “What’s going on with this pagoda?”

　　The one-armed man walked up nervously whiel shivering. “My…my lord, I…I have no idea.”

　　The old man frowned, and that made the one-armed man fall backward and crawl back into the crowd in panic.

　　“It’s Li Yunxiao, it’s all Li Yunxiao’s work! My lord, as long as you capture Li Yunxiao, everything will be explained!” The one-armed man pulled a long face and began to wail.

　　The man was Li Yi. After the treasure he intended to steal in the Supreme Palace was seized by Yunxiao, he had been nursing grievances, thinking all day about how he could reveal the truth to everyone, so that Ma Tianhe and his son could find Yunxiao to settle the scores.

　　Just when he thought of a perfect plan, the old man who called himself Xingyang Huo suddenly appeared. Without saying anything, he attacked and slaughtered more than half of the Supreme Palace’s disciples, and then tortured Ma Tianhe and his son for three days and three nights before killing them.

　　By the time Ma Tianhe and his son died, they had not been able to figure out who had framed them. Not only did they lose everything in the square tower, but now they also lost their property and their lives.

　　After Xingyang Huo killed the father and son, he did not get the answer he wanted, and he was still furious. Just when he was about to level the whole Supreme Palace, Li Yi realized what was going on and an idea came to him. So, he blamed everything on Yunxiao.

　　He did not know if Yunxiao was the one who wiped out the Xingyang family, but at least he saw Yunxiao frame Xingyang Ming with his own eyes, and he guessed there must be some grudges between them. By blaming everything on Yunxiao, not only would it keep him alive for a while, but it would also bring Yunxiao a great enemy. He could kill two birds with one stone.

　　Later, Xingyang Huo took Li Yi and the remaining disciples, about a dozen of them, to Yanwu. After searching the city and not finding Yunxiao, he flew into a rage and destroyed the whole City Lord mansion with one punch. That was when he found the strange pill pagoda, which was unharmed under his powerful attack.

　　“Get out of my sight, you piece of crap!” Xingyang Huo said with a cold snort. He glanced at the dozen of people and said, “I want you scum to search the whole city and bring me all the beautiful girls between the ages of ten and twenty now! If anyone dares to flee from the city, I’ll kill you!”

　　The whole Xingyang family was wiped out, save for him. Now, in addition to revenge, he had another important task, which was to populate his family. He could not let the line of the Xingyang family be cut off. He had already planned and prepared to bed several girls in a day to bring himself more descendants.

　　With his present cultivation base, he was only one step away from the Seven Constellations realm. As long as he could cross the threshold in the next few years, he could live for another two hundred years at least. So, as long as he worked harder, it was not an impossible dream to make the Xingyang family flourish again before he died.

　　The disciples of Supreme Palace thought he wanted them to search for Yunxiao, and they were struck dumb when they heard what he really wanted. But soon, they quickly spread out into the city, as if they had been given an imperial pardon.

　　Li Yi scrambled to his feet and wanted to run away, but Xingyang Huo glanced at him and said coldly, “You stay!”

　　It was like a basin of cold water pouring down, which chilled the other’s heart instantly, and he could only stand on the side in fear and wait carefully.

　　Xingyang Huo walked around the pill pagoda, and then he gave a cry, repeatedly pushing his palms forward and throwing out streams of fire. Soon, a sea of flames engulfed the whole pagoda, slowly burning it. In response, a golden light opened up from the pagoda, forming a shield and blocking the flames.

　　Xingyang Huo frowned and gave a cold snort as said to himself, “Let’s see how long you can hold on. My Bluelotus Earth Fire will not die off and can burn for one whole year. I don’t believe you can last that long!”

　　He thought Yunxiao was hiding inside the pagoda and was using an array to defend against the flames. Such a strong defense cost a lot of Primordial Stones, so although he could not break it now, as long as he burned it long enough until the energy was depleted, the people inside would have to face their death.

　　He simply sat cross-legged down and closed his eyes to rest right in front of the burning pagoda.

　　Meanwhile, all that made Li Yi suffer. The blazing fire almost charred his skin, but he dared not walk away, so he could only resist it with his energy. However, his energy was draining fast.