Nine Astra Skies

Little Tanuki blushed for a moment and stuck its tongue out at Ye Chen before touching its face with its paw as though saying, "How shameless. I'd never seduce you!"

"How dare you tease me, Little Tanuki! I'm going to give you a spanking." Ye Chen became upset and red-faced as he held Little Tanuki up and spanked it on its bottom.

Little Tanuki struggled in his grip for a while as its entire body became flushed. It seemed as though it was speaking with its eyes as it glared at Ye Chen while looking rather self-conscious and bashful.

Its charming behavior made Ye Chen's heart flutter, which caused him to think, 'Oh, no! I'm getting enticed by Little Tanuki."

"Little Tanuki, you're both Tenth Level Celestial Beasts but why can that Lioness speak while you can't?" Ye Chen asked. The very thought of that Lioness sent a chill down his spine and immediately caused his hair to stand on end, so the impure desires in his heart vanished instantly.

Little Tanuki made a few gestures with its chubby paws while wearing a somewhat proud expression on its cute little face.

"You're saying that the Lioness is a lower-ranking Celestial Beast while you're a higher-ranking Celestial Beast?" Ye Chen asked in astonishment. Why was Little Tanuki higher in rank when it could not even speak yet?

Little Tanuki proceeded to explain with gestures for quite a while and Ye Chen finally understood. Whether or not mystical and Celestial Beasts could speak human language depended on their age as well. They had to not only achieve the Tenth Level in their cultivation, but they must also reach a certain age before they could learn to speak human language. Little Tanuki was still too young whereas Lioness had only achieved the Tenth Level when it was over two hundred years old. After understanding Little Tanuki's explanation, Ye Chen's heart shuddered again as he recalled how this two-hundred-year-old Lioness had been flirting with him earlier. Two hundred years old! He felt a sudden urge to vomit blood.

"In that case, does your age also affect your ability to transform your appearance?" Ye Chen asked while staring at Little Tanuki, feeling a little disappointed for some reason. If Little Tanuki could only transform its appearance after two hundred years old, he probably would not be able to live long enough to see it happen. If Little Tanuki had to live past two hundred years to transform its appearance, would it not turn out to be an old hag?

Little Tanuki's cheeks turned red again as it stared at Ye Chen with its bright and limpid eyes. However, it did not answer his question but walked over to his side and lay down comfortably on his lap happily.

Since Little Tanuki refused to give him an answer, Ye Chen thought about this further and decided that it did not matter to him whether or not Little Tanuki could transform its appearance. Either way, he would still take good care of it. At this thought, his heart became calm and at ease.

After receiving its instructions from Ye Chen, that Lioness obediently remained in its spot without moving a muscle. Since the Daemon King had allowed it to move around only within a ten-step radius of its original spot, would it not be seeking its death if it dared to roam about beyond that area? The Lioness was very grateful to Ye Chen for allowing it to cultivate in the formation but was also somewhat afraid that he might kill it if he happened to fall into a bad mood. After all, many Daemon King Rank powerhouses were subject to unpredictable mood swings and it would not take much effort for a Daemon King to kill it. Escape? That would be impossible too. Even if the Lioness had managed to slip away right under his nose and escape out of the Chi-amassing Formation, it would still lose its life the moment the Daemon King tracked it down using his Astral Body!

Thus, the Lioness could only pray in fear while cultivating in its spot.

This entire incident had been just a brief interlude so Ye Chen did not think much about it anymore and carried on cultivating after scanning the area with his Astral Body to make sure that the Lioness had not run away.

In the coming days, Ye Chen managed to advance quite rapidly in his cultivation. After having reached the True Adroitness Attainment Level in the mid Tier Seven Kunlun Sundering the Mountains martial arts technique, he began to gain some understanding of the top Tier Seven Heavenly King Rupturing the Sun martial arts technique as well. Heavenly King Rupturing the Sun was a Fire elemental martial arts technique that was multiple times more powerful and destructive than Crimson Clouds Searing Skies. When it was being performed, this technique would produce a brilliant and fiery beam of light that would shoot up to the sky, making it seem as though the radiant sun was shining right above his head. Indeed, it contained incredible, formidable power. Fortunately, the center of the Chi-amassing Formation was wide, so he had sufficient space to practice this technique.

After practicing it repeatedly and making adjustments accordingly, Ye Chen had gradually grasped a few tricks on how to perform Heavenly King Rupturing the Sun. With his current capabilities, he could only unleash twenty to thirty percent of its full power. Ye Chen wondered when he would be able to advance to the Tenth Level. If he managed to do so, he would be able to produce a greater destructive force when performing Heavenly King Rupturing the Sun.

The tricky part about this technique was that it required a large amount of Celestial Chi as sustenance. Every time he had performed Heavenly King Rupturing the Sun, Ye Chen could feel his Celestial Chi being depleted all at once. Even if he triggered the Flying Dagger, it would take him quite a while to recover. Therefore, he should perform this martial arts technique only as a last resort. If he had failed to kill or severely injure his enemy within one blow using Heavenly King Rupturing the Sun, then Ye Chen would be in grave danger when his enemy launched a counterattack.

Perhaps his situation would improve once his Celestial Chi had reached the Tenth Level.

Ye Chen's cultivation speed had become a lot faster in this Chi-amassing Formation, so much so that his one day's progress here was equivalent to what he could normally achieve with half a month's hard work. Thus, Ye Chen was not going to leave this place anytime soon.

At the Ye Castle, life went on as usual after Ye Chen had left as the House of Ye carried out their daily activities as they always had. The castle was filled with youthful energy as a group of young people were cultivating diligently on the training ground.

When Ye Zhantian and a few other people walked past the training ground and saw the youths practicing energetically, they smiled with delight. Truly, the House of Ye seemed very different from before as everyone had become full of hope.

"Zhantian, how long has it been since Little Chen left?" Ye Changxuan asked.

"It's been sixteen days," Ye Zhantian blurted without missing a beat as he had been constantly keeping track of how much time had passed after Ye Chen had left.

"Well, time really flies." Ye Changxuan stared into the distance with a deep gaze. Although he felt somewhat worried, after giving it some more thought, he believed that Little Chen would not encounter anything he could not handle judging by his capabilities.

These days, quite a few groups of people came to visit the House of Ye. These people were all headed for the Sunken Jade Tower. Some of the groups were pretty tolerable as they had been on friendly terms with the House of Ye since before and had come to find temporary lodging at the Ye Castle for a day or two. However, several people came harboring malicious intentions although they tactfully left soon after witnessing the true might of the House of Ye. As for the other houses that were slightly weaker in capabilities such as the House of Yan and the House of Qin, they got into a few battles with some outsiders and suffered great losses, so much so that their clans were nearly annihilated. Similarly, the remaining few houses were affected by those ill-intentioned people as well to a certain extent.

In this chaotic world, one would not be able to survive if one was not powerful enough. When the House of Ye received news from these remaining few houses, their clan members felt all the more grateful toward Ye Chen. Without him, the House of Ye might fall to the same fate as the House of Yan and the House of Qin, and face the misfortune of having their clan wiped out.

Chirp, chirp!

The loud cries of a bird echoed from the sky above the Ye Castle where a Condor was flying around in circles. This Condor was a few times larger in size compared to a human. The moment the Scarlet Sky Tiger and the Stormphantom Panther heard the Condor's loud cries, they became rather restless.

"What happened?"

"Is it an attack from a mystical beast?"

"Get your crossbows ready and prepare to fire!"

The clan members on the castle walls quickly aimed their crossbows at the Condor in the sky. They were all well-trained and experienced, so they were able to swiftly and accurately aim at their target despite having to manage over thirty crossbows in one go. As their recent earnings had increased immensely, the House of Ye started to build their castle defense on a large scale and had even bought more than thirty crossbows of the highest quality from a merchant from Donglin County. These crossbows were indeed quite formidable and even Ninth Level combatants would not be capable of defending themselves effectively if these crossbows were fired in a volley.

When they saw the Condor, Ye Zhantian and Ye Changxuan exchanged a glance. As expected, someone from that place had come at last.

"Put away your crossbows. Without my order, no one is allowed to launch an attack!" Ye Zhantian's strong voice echoed throughout the entire Ye Castle.

"Understood, Former Chief!" After hearing Ye Zhantian's order, the clan members hurriedly kept away their crossbows with doubtful and anxious looks on their faces as they did not know what was going on. Seeing as a mystical beast was approaching the castle, why would the former chief stop them from launching an attack?

"Ye Meng, go and tell Little Rou to come here," Ye Changxuan said while glancing at Ye Meng who was standing beside him.

"Understood, granduncle." Ye Meng hastily ran over to Ye Rou's house. Ye Rou had been entrusted to the care of a certain household in the clan. This particular household belonged to an elderly couple, both of whom were kind and friendly people who did not practice any martial arts. It was this elderly couple who brought up Ye Rou as a child.

Ye Meng was still on his way there when he saw that Ye Rou had already come out of her house and was rushing over as fast as she could.

At that moment, the Condor began to descend from the sky while circling the Ye Castle and gradually landed on the ground.