Nine Astra Skies

Once she saw that Ye Rou was seated on the Condor's back, Ye Min turned around and walked over to Ye Changxuan and Ye Zhantian before glancing at them and muttering, "Our sect leader said that he's indebted to the House of Ye for taking care of Little Rou all these years, so he would like to present you with these gifts as a sign of his gratitude." Ye Min held out a Heaven-Earth Pouch to Ye Zhantian.

Ye Zhantian's expression turned dark as he seemed rather upset.

"Little Rou has been staying with the House of Ye for more than ten years. We think of her as one of our own but you guys just come and take her away like this. You oppress others by force and indeed, the House of Ye can't afford to offend you but we agreed to take care of Little Rou not because we wanted to gain anything from you guys. Just bring these things back with you." Ye Changxuan's tone sounded rather harsh. He was already very upset that Ye Min had come to bring Ye Rou away but Ye Min continued to push his buttons by behaving so arrogantly and trying to dismiss them with these little gifts.

Ye Min became somewhat annoyed when she heard Ye Changxuan's harsh words. He was just a lowly person from the House of Ye and yet had the nerve to contradict her. If it had not been for the fact that the House of Ye had brought up Ye Rou as a child, Ye Min would never bother wasting her time arguing with Ye Changxuan and Ye Zhantian.

"There are five Heavenly Quintessence Pills in this Heaven-Earth Pouch. I've already brought the gifts to you. It's up to you whether or not you want to accept it," Ye Min replied coldly with a scoff. These Heavenly Quintessence Pills might not mean much to her sect but for a small clan like the House of Ye, these pills could be considered as a most valuable treasure. 'Once you've heard that this Heaven-Earth Pouch contains five Heavenly Quintessence Pills, I'm sure you'll be tempted to keep it!' she thought. In her opinion, Ye Changxuan and Ye Zhantian would certainly rush forward and beg her to let them keep those pills. Back then, was it not because they wanted to curry favor with Ye Rou's parents that the House of Ye had agreed to take care of Little Rou?

"We've been watching Little Rou grow up over the past ten years. We were perfectly happy to take care of Little Rou, so we'll never accept these pills as gifts. Please go ahead and leave, Granny Ye." Ye Zhantian turned her down decisively. Back then, the House of Ye had indeed thought of currying favor with Ye Rou's parents but as Ye Rou grew up in Ye Castle over the past ten years or so, Ye Zhantian had come to think of her as his own daughter. If he accepted these gifts, what would that make of the House of Ye?

"The House of Ye doesn't need any of your pills!" Ye Changxuan replied indignantly. He was not like Ye Zhantian, who was still keeping his composure. That sect might be powerful and influential but in any case, Ye Rou's parents still had some form of kinship with the House of Ye, so Ye Changxuan doubted that Ye Min could send her sect's people over to destroy the House of Ye! They had already seen rare items like the Flaming Serpent Berry and the Millennial Fetal Ginseng, so why would the House of Ye care about some Heavenly Quintessence Pills anyway? A person should have moral principles and integrity. One should not allow themselves to be belittled for no reason.

"Fine, the House of Ye has principles after all. Since you don't want them, never mind then. Don't tell me I should go to the extent of begging you to accept these gifts?" Ye Min was so furious that her face was starting to turn purple. After putting the Heaven-Earth Pouch away, she huffed in anger and immediately turned around to leave.

"We won't be seeing you off!" Ye Changxuan muttered unexpectedly.

Ye Min stamped her foot angrily. Her visits to the Ye Castle would always end up with her feeling upset but she could not lose her temper at their place. After all, while they were not on friendly terms with the House of Ye and their ancestors had some unresolved disputes, both sides still belonged to the same sect. No one could change this fact! Otherwise, Ye Rou's mother would not have immediately thought of entrusting Little Rou to the care of the House of Ye immediately when the sect fell into a state of distress.

Tears blurred Ye Rou's vision but she was not aware of the squabble between Ye Min and Ye Changxuan as well as Ye Zhantian. As the Condor rose into the sky and flew around in circles, she watched as the Ye Castle grew smaller in her vision and kept waving her delicate hand at the people there.

"Granduncle, uncle, father, mother, goodbye. Big Brother Ye Chen, goodbye." A long journey awaited her as she was going to leave the Xiwu Empire and go somewhere far from this place. Thus, it would be unlikely for her to see any of them again after this.

The Condor flew into the distance and finally disappeared over the horizon.

On the first floor of the Sunken Jade Tower, Ye Chen was still sitting cross-legged and cultivating at the center of the Chi-amassing Formation. The Sunken Jade Tower was completely isolated from the outside world, which meant that he could not contact the Scarlet Sky Tiger and the Stormphantom Panther with his Astral Body, so Ye Chen was not aware that Ye Rou had already left Ye Castle.

Ye Chen was in deep reverie. The Sunken Jade Tower had nine floors in total, all of which occupied independent spaces of their own with connecting tunnels between them. This tower was like a pagoda buried deep underground. Ye Chen was only on the first floor but had already found such an exquisite Chi-amassing Formation, so he began to wonder what he might find on the floors below this one and felt very curious to know more about the Sunken Jade Tower. Once he had reached the Tenth Level in his cultivation, Ye Chen should be capable of exploring the second floor.

Ye Chen recalled Senior Tian Yuan's words that the Sunken Jade Tower was a treasure itself. He wondered what type of treasure that senior was talking about and how much power this treasure contained. Most people probably would not be able to imagine it at all.

The Sunken Jade Tower was dimly lit. Ye Chen would occasionally hear the low growls of mystical beasts and shouts of human combatants echoing over.

Every day, the Chi-amassing Formation would activate once and would gather Celestial Chi and soul remnants from all directions. This would be the best time for him to cultivate.

Ye Chen's Celestial Chi gradually reached the very peak of top Ninth Level, so he was almost going to achieve a breakthrough into the Tenth Level. This caused him to feel quite excited. His Astral Body had also become more refined after some amount of consolidation, so he could concentrate and disperse his Astral Body more freely from then on. When encountering a lower-ranking Astral Body, Ye Chen would be able to examine the other party without being detected by them at all as his Astral Body could drift through the air in a faintly discernible manner. Thus, he could also use his Astral Body to survey everything within his one-and-a-half-mile radius.

As Ye Chen looked outside, he found a huge army of mystical and Celestial Beasts on the east side of the formation. Among them, there were thirty to forty Tenth Level Celestial Beasts and more than a hundred top Tenth Level mystical beasts. Nonetheless, these beasts still could not advance closer toward the formation as five evil spirits kept swooping down and attacking them. The human combatants on the west side of the formation consisted mostly of Ninth Level combatants as there were only around twenty Tenth Level powerhouses. Many of these combatants were dressed in uniform attires.

When Ye Chen saw so many mystical beasts, Celestial Beasts, and human combatants trying to force their way into the Chi-amassing Formation and failing repeatedly to do so while he had been leisurely cultivating at the center of the formation for such a long time, Ye Chen could not help feeling slightly proud of himself.

Just as Ye Chen's Astral Body was observing the situation outside, a top Tenth Level Raven Hawk suddenly dove down and charged ahead amid the ongoing battle. The mystical beast swept through a narrow space between the evil spirits and swiftly entered the Chi-amassing Formation.

The Raven Hawk was not very large and its wings were not even two meters in length when they were fully extended. Furthermore, it had been moving at lightning speed, so the evil spirits failed to bar its way.

Indeed, this was a top Tenth Level Raven Hawk!

After entering the Chi-amassing Formation, the Raven Hawk continued charging forward and flew slightly above the ground. When it noticed the Lioness, it was slightly taken aback and hurriedly changed its direction to fly toward the center of the formation.

The Lioness had also noticed the Raven Hawk sweeping past it. Instantly, a look of compassion and sympathy appeared in the Lioness' gaze.

"This rash fellow is going to meet its end soon. His Highness the Daemon King is probably going to pluck off its feathers and roast it for food," the Lioness muttered to itself. Despite feeling bad for the Raven Hawk, it seemed to be rejoicing in the other beast's misfortune too. The Lioness felt lucky that it had not charged directly to the center and offend the Daemon King. Meanwhile, this Raven Hawk was not as lucky.

When Ye Chen noticed the Raven Hawk charging in his direction like an arrow, he quickly extended his Astral Body and locked it on to the Raven Hawk.

The moment the Raven Hawk sensed Ye Chen's powerful presence, it instantly trembled in shock and fear and then collided head-on into a boulder in the Chi-amassing Formation with a loud bang. It fell to the ground and tumbled over quite a distance before stopping at last while looking all flustered and helpless.

"Chirp, chirp." The Raven Hawk stumbled back to its feet and released a few sad cries as though begging for mercy from Ye Chen. It was still quite some distance away from the center of the formation and had not seen him in person yet but it could feel the overbearing and powerful presence of his Astral Body, so it was sure that Ye Chen was a Daemon King Rank powerhouse.

A Raven Hawk?

While it was rather small, it seemed to have pretty good combat capabilities and an extremely strong body.

It would be great if Ye Chen could tame this Raven Hawk. After all, given its incredibly fast flying speed, it would certainly come in handy whenever Ye Chen needed to gather intelligence and news. However, he had already tamed three mystical beasts, so he probably would not be capable of controlling a fourth beast.

Ye Chen felt quite unwilling to accept this. Even if it could not defeat a beginner Earthly Venerable One human combatant, a top Tenth Level Raven Hawk should be able to put up quite a fight since a mid-Tenth Level mystical beast was usually on par with a top Tenth Level human.

This Raven Hawk was much more powerful than the Lynx.

"Little Tanuki, are you capable of taming it?" Ye Chen asked as he turned to look at Little Tanuki. In any case, this Raven Hawk had been frightened out of its wits and did not even dare to move a muscle in its spot. He might as well let Little Tanuki give it a try. After all, Little Tanuki was a Tenth Level Celestial Beast too!