Chapter 17

Ye Tianming was not angry; on the contrary, he was very calm, abnormally calm. He stared at the leader of the black-robed men, "The Ye family is indeed my weakness, but I know that even if I compromise today, we will ultimately not escape the clutches of your Xiao family. So, go ahead and kill me."

The leader of the black-robed men rasped, "You are not afraid of death, nor are you afraid of the Ye family's death, but you should know that there is a fate worse than death. We can make your entire Ye family suffer a fate worse than death."

Ye Tianming stared intently at the leader of the black-robed men, "I, Ye Tianming, swear by my blood that if I do not die, one day, I will make your entire Xiao family beg for death but find no way to die."

"Ha ha."

The leader of the black-robed men laughed, his laughter filled with ridicule, "Ye Tianming, you have no idea how ignorant you are, and you have no idea what it truly means to be a second-tier family. If you ever reach a higher level, you will understand that speaking such words in front of a second-tier family is as ignorant as an ant standing before an elephant and saying, 'I will bite you to death.'"

Those around him, the other black-robed men, also laughed.

Ye Tianming stared intently at these black-robed men. He had thought about committing suicide to trigger the self-investigation procedure of the Guanxuan World, but he no longer had that thought. He knew very well that even if he committed suicide and the Guanxuan World entered the self-investigation procedure, it was highly unlikely that the Guanxuan World would execute these people. The Xiao family would still exist, and before long, the Xiao family would return to its former state.

Because no one would risk their life to avenge a dead person.

The Guanxuan Divine Law?

At this moment, he truly saw through it. The law was of no use to these privileged families; it even served them.

The leader of the black-robed men stared at Ye Tianming, "I will count to three. If you do not come with us, we will kill one person from the Ye family every breath. One..."

Just then, a sudden change occurred. Above the Ye family's residence, three young people with terrifying strength suddenly appeared, two men and one woman, all in their early twenties. They rushed toward the group of black-robed men and, in a matter of moments, slaughtered them...

The sudden turn of events made the leader of the black-robed men and his companions pale.

Beside Ye Tianming, Nan Lingzhao looked at him and smiled, "Don't worry. When I came to find you, I asked my friends at the academy to protect your family."

Ye Tianming's heart, which had been hanging, finally settled. He looked at the woman in front of him and said solemnly, "Thank you."

Nan Lingzhao smiled but said nothing. She turned to look at the leader of the black-robed men in the distance, "I am taking him to the Guanxuan World now. If your Xiao family wants to silence us, you'd better act quickly."

"Nan Lingzhao!"

The leader of the black-robed men's composure was gone. He stared intently at Nan Lingzhao, his eyes filled with ferocity, "What good does this do you and your Nan Ling family?"

Nan Lingzhao stared back, "Publicly, as an inspector, I cannot stand by when I encounter injustice; privately, I just can't stand it and have to act."

Ye Tianming: "..."

"Fine, fine, fine!"

The leader of the black-robed men laughed in anger, "Kill, kill this bitch."

As he spoke, several mysterious strong men beside him suddenly rushed forward, tearing through space and charging at Nan Lingzhao with terrifying force.

Nan Lingzhao's eyes narrowed, "Half-step Emperor Realm..."

As she spoke, she took a step forward, her palm opened, and the inspector seal in her hand trembled violently, emitting a thousand rays of golden light. However, her face instantly turned pale because she had used all the power of the inspector seal, which was a great strain on her.

Boom!

The thousand rays of golden light instantly pushed back the three half-step Emperor Realm strong men by several hundred feet. Nan Lingzhao then grabbed Ye Tianming and leaped away, disappearing into the horizon.

But just then, the leader of the black-robed men suddenly rushed forward, the space in front of him exploding. In his hand, a long spear appeared, and its momentum locked onto Nan Lingzhao and Ye Tianming in the distance.

At the horizon, Nan Lingzhao's pupils suddenly constricted. She turned sharply and pointed at the inspector seal, which emitted a ray of golden light, enveloping her and Ye Tianming. However, as the spear approached, the golden light trembled violently and developed countless cracks.

Before Nan Lingzhao could react, the leader of the black-robed men thrust his spear again.

Bang!

The golden light shield shattered instantly, and the powerful spear force pushed Nan Lingzhao and Ye Tianming back violently.

Sage Realm!

Nan Lingzhao's expression was grave. As soon as she stopped, three powerful forces swept toward her, the three Sage Realm strong men.

Nan Lingzhao suddenly formed a hand seal in front of her, "Seal of Ten Thousand Dharmas."

The inspector seal in front of her trembled violently, emitting rays of golden light that hung in the air, protecting her and Ye Tianming. The three half-step Emperor Realm strong men could not break through these rays of golden light, but as the leader of the black-robed men thrust his spear, all the rays of golden light shattered, and the spear pierced through, instantly entering Nan Lingzhao's abdomen.

Just as the leader of the black-robed men was about to deliver the final blow, suddenly—

Buzz!

A sword cry echoed from the horizon, followed by a beam of sword light that streaked across the sky, heading straight for them. The sword light was extremely fast, reaching the leader of the black-robed men in an instant. The powerful sword qi made his face change, and he had to defend himself. He turned sharply, using his finger as a spear, and thrust forward, a spear glow emerging from his fingertip.

Boom!

Countless spear glows shattered, and the leader of the black-robed men was pushed back several hundred feet.

The leader of the black-robed men looked at the horizon in shock, where a woman in a black dress stood, a sword in her hand, cold and serene.

The leader of the black-robed men stared intently at the black-dressed woman, his eyes filled with deep wariness, "You are from the Sword Sect."

Sword Sect!

At these words, the faces of the black-robed men in the field changed.

In the Guanxuan Universe, there was only one Sword Sect, and it held a very special position. Even the cabinet could not directly command it; they only followed the orders of the Chancellor of the Guanxuan Universe, making them a truly transcendent force.

Why would someone from the Sword Sect come?

The leader of the black-robed men's face turned extremely ugly. Suddenly, he looked at Nan Lingzhao, realizing it was definitely this woman who called them. This woman had a special status and many friends in the Guanxuan World, so it was normal for her to have friends in the Sword Sect.

Nan Lingzhao looked at the sword cultivator woman and smiled, "Pei Buleng, if you hadn't come, we would have met in the next life."

In the distance, the black-dressed woman turned to look at her. When she saw the wound on her abdomen, her eyebrows furrowed. She turned to look at the group of black-robed men, "You have some nerve."

Nan Lingzhao said, "Buleng, the Xiao family will not let this go. Help me hold them off, and please call more friends from the Sword Sect to assist, just in case."

Pei Buleng stared coldly at the black-robed men, "You go first."

Nan Lingzhao and Ye Tianming's figures trembled and disappeared into the horizon.

In the distance, the leader of the black-robed men said in a low voice, "Sir, we..."

Pei Buleng said, "Go to hell."

With that, she charged forward with her sword.

The leader of the black-robed men: "..."

On the other side, Nan Lingzhao had just run a short distance with Ye Tianming when her body weakened, and they both fell straight down. Fortunately, just before they hit the ground, she forced herself to gather some energy, and they landed steadily.

They were now in an unknown mountain range, a vast expanse of mountains stretching as far as the eye could see.

Ye Tianming quickly took off his long robe and laid it on the ground. He helped Nan Lingzhao lie down on his robe, looking at the wound on her abdomen, his face turning pale, "Lady Zhao, do you have any healing medicine?"

Nan Lingzhao raised her right hand, and her storage ring trembled slightly, dropping a pill. Ye Tianming quickly caught the pill and fed it to her, but blood still flowed from her abdomen.

Seeing this, Ye Tianming said urgently, "Lady Zhao, this doesn't seem to be working..."

Nan Lingzhao looked at him, a faint smile on her pale face, "Do you think this pill is a legendary divine medicine that heals you instantly?"

Ye Tianming, somewhat nervous, said, "Then..."

Nan Lingzhao said, "Clean the wound and bandage it."

Ye Tianming calmed down, "I'm sorry."

He gently tore open the fabric on Nan Lingzhao's abdomen, revealing a blood hole the size of a child's fist. The edges of the wound were charred, and a strange energy was continuously corroding the surrounding flesh. Inside the wound, the flesh was visibly rotting and spreading.

Nan Lingzhao said softly, "No wonder it's a Sage Realm... If it weren't for the inspector seal, I wouldn't have been a match for him."

Ye Tianming took some water and gently cleaned the wound.

Nan Lingzhao suddenly said, "I'm sorry."

Ye Tianming turned to look at Nan Lingzhao, seeing that she was looking at him, and the words were directed at him.

Ye Tianming showed a puzzled expression, "Lady Zhao, are you apologizing to me?"

Nan Lingzhao nodded.

Ye Tianming was confused, "Why?"

Nan Lingzhao said softly, "If I hadn't compromised in Qingzhou City and pursued the investigation to the end, perhaps these things wouldn't have happened to you later."

Ye Tianming shook his head, "If you had pursued the investigation to the end, I would still have been implicated, after all, I killed people."

Nan Lingzhao smiled, "You dare to admit to killing people, aren't you afraid I'll arrest you?"

Ye Tianming said, "If you wanted to arrest me, you could have done so back then. After all, as long as I was arrested, wouldn't I have confessed?"

Nan Lingzhao looked at Ye Tianming for a moment, then asked, "In Qingzhou City, when you killed them, you were already at the Ten Thousand Dharmas Realm, right?"

Ye Tianming nodded.

Nan Lingzhao said, "Under normal circumstances, you couldn't have reached the Ten Thousand Dharmas Realm because your Ye family wouldn't have had the 'Ten Thousand Dharmas Pill' or high-level cultivation techniques."

Ye Tianming did not speak.

Nan Lingzhao smiled, "I'm being a bit presumptuous."

Ye Tianming said, "I created my own cultivation technique."

"Hmm?"

Nan Lingzhao's eyes widened. She sat up and stared at Ye Tianming, "You created your own cultivation technique?"

Ye Tianming nodded.

Nan Lingzhao stared at him, saying nothing.

Ye Tianming took out all his papers and showed them to her. Nan Lingzhao looked at the papers, her expression gradually becoming serious. After a moment, she looked at Ye Tianming, "This is at least equivalent to a Heavenly Rank cultivation technique. You started creating it at twelve and finished a Heavenly Rank cultivation technique in just four years..."

Ye Tianming said, "This is just the upper part; the lower part hasn't been completed yet. There wasn't enough time."

Nan Lingzhao stared at him intently, as if trying to see through him.

Ye Tianming did not speak, carefully cleaning her wound.

Nan Lingzhao suddenly said, "How did you pass through the Guanxuan Path?"

Ye Tianming looked at Nan Lingzhao, who said, "I'm just curious, because we all tried it back then."

Ye Tianming was surprised, "You all tried it?"

Nan Lingzhao nodded, "Many geniuses have tried it, but they all did it secretly. After all, who wouldn't want the recognition of the Guanxuan Sword Master? But unfortunately, in a thousand years, not only in Wanzhou, but even in the Guanxuan World, no one has passed it except for the two of you..."

Ye Tianming was curious, "Lady Zhao, you are so powerful, how could you not pass..."

Realizing something, he quickly stopped.

Nan Lingzhao just smiled, "I failed at the second stage. Not just me, at least ninety-nine percent of people fail at the second stage. So, I'm curious how you passed... Of course, you don't have to say if it's inconvenient."

Ye Tianming shook his head, "There's nothing I can't say to you."

He then described the second and third stages in detail.

After listening, Nan Lingzhao stared at Ye Tianming, "Those words of yours are not just a little heretical... You have a rebel's heart."

Ye Tianming: "..."

...