Nine Astra Skies

Ye Chen scowled coldly at Yun Yixuan. He did not have a single reason to treat anyone from the House of Yun with anything resembling courtesy. After all, Ye Chen was sure that the crooks who had attacked and severed his meridian channels three years ago were people from the House of Yun, even though he had yet to uncover any solid evidence.

'Oh, you watch your back. I'll repay that debt in due time.'

"So, what should I be expecting from the three Lords of their respective Houses?" Ye Zhantian did not gesture to Qin Yu nor Yan Yin to take a seat. Instead as the master of the household, the Patriarch only minded his own seat, grabbed and sipped a cup of tea placidly, and did not address the two other Lords at all.

The House of Qin and the House of Yan had always been nothing more than lapdogs to the House of Yun, and Ye Zhantian was not in the mood to treat them as anything more than that.

Qin Yu and Yan Yin looked angry for a while, but they managed to grab their own chairs and sat beside Yun Yixuan.

"So, I heard that Brother Zhantian had just attained the Ninth Stage." Yun Yixuan's eyes were fixed squarely on Ye Zhantian. "Congratulations."

Alas, Yun Yixuan and his envoy were here only to verify this piece of information!

"Oh, I didn't know all of this was to congratulate me. I suppose I should say thank you," Ye Zhantian replied flatly.

"I, for one, wonder about that little punk, Yun Yiyang. How's his Concentrated Celestial Construct going, eh? This old man here hasn't had fun with that for a while." Ye Changxuan chimed in and ran his fingers through his long white beard. In terms of seniority, he was definitely a generation older than both Yun Yixuan and Yun Yiyang.

'Some people do wear their age like a badge—as if it means anything,' Yu Yiyang sneered in contempt as he thought.

"Well, thank you for your concern. My Big Brother's Concentrated Celestial Construct has already reached its Fifth Grade. I'm very sure that he would make a breakthrough to the Sixth Grade soon and attain the peak of the Ninth Stage in the process," Yun Yixuan replied arrogantly.

Once Yun Yiyang gets to the peak of the Ninth Stage, only his words would be treated as the law among the Eighteen Houses of Lianyun. After all, many could be training themselves earnestly for decades and yet never progress from the Mid-Ninth Stage to the peak. Every step becomes as hard as scaling a mountain once one reaches the Ninth Stage. Frankly, if it was not for this spike in difficulty, Ye Changxuan would not have been stuck in the early Ninth Stage for so many years.

Of course, no one could tell if Yun Yixuan was telling the truth or if that was just a power move.

"It's a pity for someone renowned to be quite sloppy in his training! I remember how the House of Yun's elders used to drag Yun Yiyang around just to train. If it wasn't out of fool's luck that he ate a Blood Fungus, he might still be in his Seventh or Eighth Stage even by now, no?" Ye Changxuan grinned, his eyes narrowed.

Every Ye clansman in the room burst into laughter.

Yun Yixuan was indignant. 'I cannot believe they were still obsessed with this stupid issue!' He fumed internally. 'Ye Changxuan planned on telling the audience about every single story from the past today, wasn't he? This old lout!'

He scanned the House of Ye's younger crowd with a firm look, and they subconsciously cowered whenever the Ninth Stage fighter's sharp gaze landed on them—all except for Ye Chen who stared back at him without any fear.

'This must be Ye Zhantian's third son, Ye Chen, isn't it?' Yun Yixuan thought. He remembered hearing about a boy who had been proclaimed as the most promising and talented amongst the younger generation between the Eighteen Houses. However, ever since the boy had his cultivation base completely voided by the Eighth Stage fighters from his own House, Ye Chen had been demoted to a good-for-nothing instead. Of course, that was until Ye Zhantian somehow managed to obtain a Nexus Pill for the kid, and now not only were his meridian channels all patched up, he even joined and won and a duel which made him the Successor Patriarch.

Well, let me see how powerful are, kiddo.

A surge of Ninth Stage Pressure emanated out of Yun Yixuan and silently snaked toward Ye Chen.

The young Successor Patriarch immediately felt a sudden load of gravity weighing down on his chest and churned the blood in his body. In retaliation, he revolved his own Celestial Chi to fight back the Pressure.

Yun Yixuan was surprised by Ye Chen's response. Had it been any other Fifth or Sixth Stage acolyte being subjected to the brunt of a Ninth Stage fighter's Pressure, they would have already broken down instantly. Yet here Ye Chen was; he fought back Yun Yixuan's Pressure head-on and his body did not even shudder while doing so.

Ye Zhantian was quick to notice that Ye Chen's expression changed. With a sneer, the Patriarch immediately emanated his own powerful Pressure and encased his son.

Ye Chen instantly felt the fading force.

It was unmistakable that it was the Pressure of a Ninth Stage fighter! Ye Zhantian had truly attained the Ninth Stage!

With his interest piqued, Yun Yiyang wanted to test just how strong his opponent truly was. He revolved his own Celestial Chi more forcefully and fought Ye Zhantian's Pressure with his own.

Thus, these two Ninth Stage masters began a silent duel with each other only using their Pressure. The air in the hall seemed to have coagulated into a dense, thick vapor because of it and forced the younger crowd to reel farther backward as they were unable to brace the torrents of tremendous pressure. Even Eighth Stage fighters like Ye Zhanlong and Ye Zhanxiong could feel their blood sizzling and churning as the Pressure persisted against each other, and had resorted to revolve their own Celestial Chi to forcefully maintain the equilibrium in their body.

Among the crowd, only three other people remained calm—Ye Changxuan, Yan Yin and Qin Yu!

Yun Yixuan and Ye Zhantian were considered early Ninth Stage pugilists, but the power disparity between each fighter was still significant. This was why Yun Yixuan frowned as he was angered at the realization that his Celestial Chi somehow could not overcome Ye Zhantian's in any way. This was despite the fact that the latter had only attained this Stage recently! He should have struggled when he tried to stabilize his Celestial Chi!

Yun Yixuan had attained the Ninth Stage for at least three years, aided by every rare and powerful herb the House of Yun's deep pockets could afford from all around the Donglin county. Common sense would dictate that Ye Zhantian was vastly inferior to Yun Yixuan!

'Could it be?' The Second Lord of Yun shot a side glance at Ye Changxuan. Yet, the old geezer was peacefully sipping his tea; it was not possible for him to aid Ye Zhantian secretly.

Color from Yan Yin and Qin Yu's faces was clearly draining. These two were several levels weaker than Yun Yixuan, yet here before them, Ye Zhantian proved that he was on the same level as Yun Yixuan. Now, if the Patriarch of Ye amplified his power with a technique like the Primordial Thunder Body, he would have easily defeated both of them!

On the other hand, Ye Zhanlong, Ye Zhanxiong, and the others were positively excited. This was a testament to the power of the Thunder Emperor Technique! Ever since their Big Brother trained with it, his powers improved by leaps and bounds. Now, it seemed that just half a month of training with the Thunder Emperor Technique was enough to rival Yun Yixuan's efforts over the years!

Mindful that his power was not going to oppress Ye Zhantian's, Yun Yixuan retracted his Pressure. Ye Zhantian retracted as well instead of trying to overwhelm Yun Yixuan with his.

"Hmm, Brother Zhantian had truly made some impressive advances," Yun Yixuan said as he quietly calmed his Celestial Chi.

However, Yun Yixuan was shocked internally. 'How did he improve so much?! Was he like my Big Brother, who had improved a lot because he managed to eat some sort of panacea before?'

"Now, I don't think the three Lords of their respective Houses paid me a visit just to have a little chat with me, did they?" Ye Zhantian asked unfazed as he quietly revolved his Celestial Chi to direct the roaring streams within his body to settle down. Honestly, if Yun Yixuan persisted, Ye Zhantian's Celestial Chi would have inevitably fallen into chaos, since that he recently joined the ranks of the Ninth Stage. He could not possibly challenge Yun Yixuan who had already attained the Ninth Stage for the past three years.

Still, the Chief was secretly ecstatic. He had only trained with Thunder Emperor Technique for half a month and yet he had already proven himself to match Yun Yixuan. Give Ye Zhantian one or two more months, and Yun Yixuan would be easily left in the dust!

'Ye Zhantian must have already attained the Ninth Stage for a year or more, he must have! Then on the outside, he coyly posed as an Eighth Stage fighter,' Yun Yixuan thought and tried to justify what had happened. He simply could not believe that anyone who had attained the Ninth Stage so recently could match him in power. What was more damning was that when it came to sheer talent in martial arts, Yun Yixuan had always been more superior to Ye Zhantian.

"I'm here on the issue of that mining mountain behind Ye Castle," Yun Yixuan said.

He had barely finished his sentence when Ye Changxuan's eyes glinted dangerously. Finally, someone decided to cut to the chase.

That sudden sharp gaze from the old man had somehow chilled Yun Yixuan to the bones. A strange thought arose in his mind, 'What if Ye Changxuan had been concealing his true powers for all these years, too? I have to report this to Big Brother when we return.'

"Explain yourself, Second Lord of Yun." Ye Changxuan placed his teacup down on the table and spoke in an angry tone.

Solemnity lingered in the air of the hall once again.