Nine Astra Skies

"Ye Meng is okay. He won't die. It's just that there's something strange lingering in his body. Ye Mei, I'll leave you in charge of taking care of Ye Meng," Ye Chen said while glancing at Ye Mei.

"Okay." Ye Mei hurriedly wiped the tears off her face.

After having wiped out the Dark Troopers, the six Tenth Level mystical beasts went out of the Ye Castle and proceeded to attack at the Second-rank Prince's Palace army. Seeing as even the Dark Troopers had been annihilated, these palace army troops stood no chance against the beasts since they consisted of only ordinary Third Level and Fourth Level combatants. Thus, the army was hunted down aggressively and was soon defeated.

The House of Ye went into a busy state. They could hardly recover from the damages inflicted by the Second-rank Prince's Palace in such a short time.

"Little Chen, Liu Xun had made Little Meng and Zhanlong take some type of poison. Hurry up. Don't let those people at the Second-rank Prince's Palace destroy the antidote." Ye Changxuan's voice sounded hoarse as he used the last bit of his strength to speak to Ye Chen.

It finally made sense to Ye Chen why he had detected that strange force in Ye Meng's body. It was because Ye Meng had taken some kind of poison from the Second-rank Prince's Palace. Since he did not know how lethal this poison was, Ye Chen did not dare to delay the matter and quickly sat on the Raven Hawk's back with Little Tanuki. He also brought along the Vermillion Spirit Condor and the Zephyr White Ape as he hurried on his way to Donglin City.

The Raven Hawk and the Vermillion Spirit Condor flew across the sky at an incredible speed while the Zephyr White Ape's gigantic head looked like a small mountain moving rapidly on the ground as it knocked down all the trees in its way in a continuous crashing noise.

This trip to Donglin City would result in everyone finding out the House of Ye's true capabilities. However, Ye Chen was not afraid at all as he wanted to send a warning to everyone in the world. Whoever dared to attack the House of Ye, he would kill them all!

Ye Chen was aware that he had gotten himself into huge trouble by killing two important courtiers of the Xiwu Empire. Great Emperor Mingwu probably would not let him off the hook that easily. 'Even if the imperial court deploys its army, I, Ye Chen, will courageously engage them in battle!'

While he was traveling, Ye Chen had already thought about the situation carefully. Indeed, given his current capabilities, he was no match for Great Emperor Mingwu. It would still be fine if Great Emperor Mingwu decided not to attack the Ye Clan after all. However, if the emperor dispatched his troops to deal with the Ye Clan, then Ye Chen would either seek help from the Three Major Sects or lead his clan members out of the Xiwu Empire.

It would take at least a month for Great Emperor Mingwu's troops to come to them from Capital City, so the House of Ye could still afford to recuperate and build their strength during this one month's time. Ye Chen could make arrangements for his clan members to hide in the valley that used to be home to Little Tanuki first and then think of a way to escape.

That valley was such a remote and secluded place. The Xiwu Empire's army probably would not dare to enter the Lianyun Mountains to search for them anyway, so that should be a safe hiding place!

As he thought of this, all of Ye Chen's worries faded away. 'When I reach the Heavenly Venerable Rank in my cultivation, I'd like to see who else in the Xiwu Empire is capable of defeating me! When that time comes, I'll seek all those who have oppressed the House of Ye and settle accounts with them!'

Ye Chen let out a long howl at the sky to vent his melancholy emotions, which had been triggered by Liu Xun's actions. His voice sounded like rumbling thunder as it echoed through the Lianyun Mountains and startled all the mystical beasts within the mountain range, causing them to flee in all directions.

Ye Chen wondered if Qiu Ying was present at the Second-rank Prince's Palace in Donglin City. If Qiu Ying was there, Ye Chen would not mind killing the guy too. In any case, he had already killed the Second-rank Prince of Donglin and the Minister of War. It would not make a difference for him to kill the Prime Minister Zuo as well!

Donglin City was the most prosperous place in Donglin County. This was a place where many people would come and go as well as gather to do business. After all, most large families and clans living within the borders of Donglin County had set up shops here to sell goods and materials produced by them and would also buy their necessities from other shops in this place.

Donglin City had a population of five to six million people. The city could be divided into two parts, which were the inner city and the outer city, and was surrounded by tall city walls while its streets were wide and spacious. A ten-thousand-man army was stationed at a base camp in the city, which Liu Xun had taken a lot of trouble to manage.

These days, certain rumors have travelled to a certain restaurant in the city.

"I heard that the Second-rank Prince has brought along the Dark Troopers and a troop of five to six thousand men to lay siege to Ye Castle. They've been under siege for ten days now. The House of Ye is probably going to get annihilated soon!"

"Does this House of Ye have any powerful backing? Why would the Second-rank Prince mobilize so many people this time? They're just a small clan. Did he have to dispatch all Dark Troopers? I find this very difficult to understand."

"Haven't you heard? The House of Ye has been in the limelight lately because a genius at cultivation has appeared in their clan!"

"These so-called geniuses would only cause trouble to their clans. Who has the highest authority in Donglin? Of course, it's the Second-rank Prince. Any clan that produces a genius at cultivation would be posing a challenge to the Second-rank Prince, so it's no surprise for them to be suppressed and get beaten up."

"This particular genius from the House of Ye is an extraordinary figure. He became an Eighth Level combatant at the age of seventeen and has made a great name for himself during the Grand Martial Tournament of the Eighteen Houses of Lianyun. The Master Apothecary, Xuanyi, has chosen this person to be his protégé. It's said that this guy is exceptionally talented and is capable of becoming a master apothecary someday! However, for some reason, he hasn't gone to the capital with Master Li."

"This genius is indeed impressive. Logically speaking, such a genius would never stay in a small place like this. Why would the Second-rank Prince become enemies with the House of Ye then?"

"There's more to the situation than you know. That genius once suffered an ambush when he was still young and had his meridians severely damaged. The Ye Clan Chief, Ye Zhantian, knelt before the Second-rank Prince of Donglin and begged for the Nexus Pill on his behalf but got beaten up and driven away by the Second-rank Prince. That was how they became enemies."

"The Second-rank Prince of Donglin has lacked foresight. Had he given them the Nexus Pill, he would've become a great benefactor to them. When that person becomes a master apothecary in the future, the benefits the Second-rank Prince could gain would be far greater compared to a Nexus Pill."

"The Second-rank Prince can't foretell the future, unlike those people from the Oracle Sect. How could he have known that this person would be able to reverse his hopeless situation after having suffered such serious damages to his meridians and proceed to become a genius at cultivation within such a short amount of time?"

The people sighed among themselves. Indeed, one could never know what would happen in the future. At this point, even if the Second-rank Prince of Donglin made up his mind to annihilate the House of Ye, he would most likely end up offending the Master Apothecary Xuanyi, who was the only master apothecary of the Xiwu Empire!

While the people were still chatting in the restaurant, two chirping sounds could be heard from outside as two dark silhouettes swept across the sky. Instantly, the streets fell into chaos.

"What are those things?" Many people pointed at the Raven Hawk and the Vermillion Spirit Condor in the sky.

"Those are mystical beasts — a Raven Hawk and a Vermillion Spirit Condor!"

"Could these mystical beasts be planning to attack the city?"

Donglin City was in a state of disorder and panic. Nonetheless, when the people saw that the Raven Hawk and the Vermillion Spirit did not swoop down to prey on any of them but continued flying toward the Second-rank Prince's Palace, they became anxious and uncertain as they could not understand what was going on.

Outside the city wall, a group of Donglin City guards were chatting among themselves when they suddenly caught sight of an enormous white figure charging in their direction from afar. Trees kept tumbling down around the beast while dust and dirt rose from the ground and filled the air. The sound of this enormous beast running over echoed like rumbling thunder and caused these guards' expressions to change at once. What on earth was happening?

When they could finally get a clearer view of this white figure, they found that it was a giant white ape that was around four to five meters tall. Their hearts trembled in fear when they saw how tall it was.

"Mystical beasts are attacking the city!"

"Mystical beasts are attacking the city!"

Fire beacons were lit on the city walls as all the guards became nervous and got drenched in cold sweat. They wondered what level this mystical beast was, given its enormous body size.

They began operating the huge crossbows and catapults on the city wall and launched large rocks to attack the Zephyr White Ape.

"Roar!" The Zephyr White Ape thumped its chest while roaring furiously. When it saw the incoming rocks, it swung its arms around abruptly and smashed them into pieces. As those large rocks shattered in the air one after another in a string of booming noises, broken pieces of rocks flew all over the place.

As some of the broken rocks fell on the Zephyr White Ape, it seemed as though these shattered rock pieces were falling on a steel plate seeing as they did no harm to the beast at all and merely bounced off its body. These large rocks might have been more of a threat against Ninth Level combatants but were useless against Tenth Level fighters.

The Zephyr White Ape suddenly increased its speed and charged toward the city gate.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh. A wave of arrows shot toward the Zephyr White Ape but it paid no attention to them and allowed the arrows to shower down on its body. Ding, ding, ding. Countless arrows were bent or broken by the time they fell to the ground yet the Zephyr White Ape remained completely unscathed.

One round of attack from the crossbows and catapults on the city wall was sufficient to kill any Ninth Level mystical beast. However, at that moment, these weapons could not do the slightest harm to the Zephyr White Ape. This was an extremely powerful Tenth Level mystical beast! The guards on the city wall turned pale with fright as they found that compared to facing a magnificent army with thousands of men and horses, it was more terrifying to go up against a Tenth Level beast like this one!