Nine Astra Skies

The space in the armguard was what made it difficult to fit into the Heaven-Earth Pouch. Ye Chen transferred all his prized items except the ones of little value like Chi-amassing Pills and such from the pouch into the armguard. That way, if the pouch was ever stolen, it would not be a big deal. What mattered was the armguard anyway.

Ye Chen touched the armguard with his right hand. It felt like a thin layer of skin. Ye Chen smiled and pulled his sleeves over it. With the armguard hidden beneath his clothes, people would never tell he had it.

A group of men surrounded the pool. There were thirty of them - all members of the Stalwart of the Heavenly Stars Sect. The three Earthly Venerable Ones were there.

"Right here, the object's in the water." Xi Li closed his eyes to sense the item. He then narrowed his eyes to speak as he opened them.

"Could the mystical beasts have dropped the item into the water while they were fighting?" Xi Yang twitched his brows. He walked around the pool a little. The pool was ten meters deep. Beasts resided in the waters of the Sunken Jade Towers, so long as it was a pool, making it a dangerous place to be. Even an Earthly Venerable Rank dare not set foot into them.

"Possibly. Though without any beasts fighting us, it shouldn't be a problem to fish out the stuff from the water!" Xi Li pondered. "We don't know how deep the pool is. Let's get someone to check out what's in the water!"

The clansmen looked at one another. No one could tell the number of beasts lurking within. The sheer number of Ninth, Tenth level of mystical beasts was enough to give them nightmares. If there were higher level beasts in there, they would be done for. Who would dare heed such a command?

The members of the Stalwart of the Heavenly Stars Sect discussed among themselves.

Ye Chen who had eavesdropped the clansmen's conversation grew suspicious. How did they find the pool? When he jumped into the water, he was sure his Astral Body did not detect any presence. Everyone else had left, so why would the Stalwarts of the Heavenly Stars Sect come here?

Ye Chen tried to find a plausible explanation. Could there be a tracker of some kind on the armguard, which was why they showed up at his location?

Ye Chen held out his left arm and scanned the armguard with his Astral Body. He found an unusual presence in the corner of the armguard that did not belong to it. It was a wood elemental Celestial Chi. Without looking closely, one could not have detected its presence at all!

It was the Stalwarts of the Heavenly Stars Sect's tracker that had led them here!

Ye Chen was frustrated at his recklessness. He would not have expected someone to leave a tracker of any kind on the armguard! Had he discovered it beforehand, he would have erased that trace of wood elemental Celestial Chi!

If Ye Chen did it now, it would attract the attention of Xi Li and his men.

There was no other way out of the pool and with the men of the Stalwarts of the Heavenly Stars Sect surrounding the place, Ye Chen could not come out even if it took an hour!

Ye Chen was reminded of the beasts that reside in the water. The clansmen would never dive in!

Ye Chen was cracking his head for an escape plan. There were far too many clansmen and three Earthly Venerable Ones. Even with the help of ten mystical beasts, they were no match for so many people!

Just then, Xi Li looked at the three men beside him. "Lin Yi, Lin Xu, and Li Po. You three go down there and check it out. Report to us immediately if you see anything!"

Lin Yi, Lin Xu, and Li Po had a bad feeling when they noticed Xi Li cast his gaze onto them. They turned pale at his command. Their master was the Sixth Elder, who did not share a good relationship with Xi Li. Without their master around, Xi Li was making use of the opportunity to dispose of them. Under such circumstances, they had no choice but to oblige or it would be considered an act of treason to the clan and Xi Li would be able to order their deaths!

The three smiled at one another sadly, walked to the pool, and dove in. Plop, plop, plop. The water splashed.

The rest stood around the pool to watch what was going on. Lin Yi and the two dove deeper into the depths of the water.

Someone from the Stalwarts of Heavenly Stars Sect had entered the waters!

Ye Chen frowned. He swam deeper down, using his Astral Body to lead the underwater creatures to the three men.

Countless beasts swam toward the three men. Just as Lin Yi and the rest swam deeper, they saw countless shadows charging at them. Fearing for their lives, they did not proceed further and instead swam for the surface.

Glop, glop. The beasts had grabbed hold of Lin Kun and Lin Po as they were dragged back into the water.

Lin Yi was scared of his living daylights as he watched his two comrades dragged to their deaths. He quickly used his Celestial Chi to propel himself out of the water.

Unfortunately, two beasts managed to grab hold of his leg and were trying to pull him down.

"Abominations!" Xi Yang mustered his breath and drove the creatures away with a fire palm. Lin Xu finally managed to escape to the shore. He was trembling uncontrollably, his eyes spoke of a sworn vengeance toward Xi Li.

The clansmen's faces changed. Three went in and only one survived.

Xi Li merely looked at Lin Yi indifferently and scoffed. He turned to the rest of the clansmen. "Looks like great danger lies in the pool. Have the Earth Varmint inform the sect leader of the matter and have him come over here."

"At once!" One of the clansmen quickly set free a Third Level Earth Varmint that reached for the cracks between the cave rocks and ran away.

The Stalwart of the Heavenly Stars Sect was summoning their clan leader over? Ye Chen panicked. Prince Yin once mentioned that the sect leader of the clan was a Heavenly Venerable One!

Ye Chen's expression changed drastically. He was not a match for an Earthly Venerable One, what more a Heavenly Venerable One. If he were to fight against the Heavenly Venerable One, he would never get the chance to escape!

The underwater creatures could only stall an Earthly Venerable One for a limited time. If a Heavenly Venerable One showed up, these guys are useless.

That Earth Varmint must have left to deliver the news. The Stalwarts of the Heavenly Stars Sect would probably have to wait a little longer. Ye Chen had to act before their sect leader showed up!

Ye Chen searched for a solution fast when a brilliant idea came to mind.

Xi Li twitched his brows. "Odd, the armguard was stationary but now it moved another five, six meters."

"How is that possible? If the evil spirits had already consumed the living being in the armguard, it would never be interested in it!" Xi Yang added. If it was not an evil creature that moved the armguard, was it a human or a mystical beast who had grabbed hold of the armguard and hid away at the bottom of the pool?

If so, how could they remain safe in the waters without being attacked by the evil spirits? Did the human possess a spirit artifact that could ward off the evil creatures?

Xi Li and Xi Yang looked at one another in the eye as if they were communicating telepathically. Xi Li made a gesture.

Xi Yang understood his message and nodded. "Ah, I get it!" He carefully took out a vase from his Heaven-Earth Pouch and carefully opened the lid. A pungent, foul odor came out of it.

Ye Chen's Astral Body was observing Xi Li and his men. The moment he saw Xi Yang taking out a bottle with a greenish liquid in it, he turned pale. It was poison! Those b*astards were resorting to underhanded tactics!

Poisons were ineffective against evil creatures but were lethal to humans and beasts!

Xi Yang was a little hesitant to use the poison but he bit the bullet and poured a significant amount of liquid into the water. The pool turned a sick greenish liquid and it spread outward. Soon, it would spread to every corner of the water.

"Let's give you a taste of the Thousand Year Ptomaine!" Xi Yang smiled cruelly.

While Xi Yang poured the poison into the water, Ye Chen quickly stripped the armguard of the earth elemental Celestial Chi with his Astral Body. Channeling the Water God Discourse, Ye Chen jetted through the water for the surface.

Now was the time to act before the ptomaine had a chance to contaminate the entire surface!!