“Who do you think you are to dare demand something from us?” Yun Lan said while staring at the elders of the Ironwood Mountain Clan.
The Ironwood Mountain Clan elders increased the pressure on Yun Lan and the other elders while speaking, “We do not want to start a war with the Radiant Lotus Sacred Sect over a minor outer sect disciple. Just hand him over.”
As the clan elders continued to increase the pressure, all of a sudden, a massive outburst of Qi hit the elders.
BOOM!
They spurted out blood as they all fell to the ground, and a chilling voice echoed in the surroundings, “Let’s see who dares to touch even a single disciple of my sect. Looks like you guys have lived long enough.”
Xiang Mei descended from the clouds while staring at the elders of the Ironwood Mountain Clan.
The lead elder tried to raise his head shakily as his gaze landed on Xiang Mei, “Se-senior Xiang Mei.” His eyes widened in horror as he hurriedly rolled around and kneeled in front of her.
“FORGIVE US, SENIOR!” he loudly begged as the other elders looked at him in confusion.
“Why is he acting so meek in front of her?” one of the elders whispered, confusion clear in his voice.
The lead elder hurriedly turned around and shouted, “What are you bastards doing? Come here and beg for mercy from senior!”
“No need. If I don’t make an example out of you guys today, then the world will think there is no one in the Radiant Lotus Sacred Sect left.”
Her voice remained chilly as the elders felt their hearts turning cold at her words.
But before they could ask further, Xiang Mei shot out a beam of radiant light that disintegrated all of the elders except the lead elder.
He shook in horror when he realized that everyone else was dead except him among the elders, “S-senior, wh-what have you done?”
His voice cracked as he felt desperation settle within him. Never in his wildest dreams had he expected all of his fellow elders to die for merely exploring a Mystique Realm.
“What have I done? Take it as you will. If you want to declare war on our sect, then our gates are always open for you.” Xiang Mei continued with a prideful tone while showing utter disdain for the Ironwood Mountain Sect.
Shen Yuan nodded his head in approval, as this was the type of stance he was hoping for the sect to have. If they showed weakness in this instance, then the sect would truly not be worth it for him to stay.
The Ironwood Mountain Clan elder opened and closed his mouth as if wanting to speak something, yet no words came out. In the end, he lowered his head as he started thinking about what to report back to the clan.
Xiang Mei glanced at the Azure Sky Sect group, who hurriedly bowed down to show respect to her. She merely nodded to them and walked toward her own sect.
Yun Lan seemed to heave a sigh of relief as she saw Xiang Mei handling the situation, “I don’t know what I would have done without you.”
Yun Lan smiled in relief, and Xiang Mei patted her shoulder, “Hehe, don’t mind it. This was the reason I was sent here by the sect leader.”
She then turned her face to Shen Yuan, “And you did an excellent job inside the Mystique Realm; all the disciples have grown considerably stronger from the looks of it.”
Shen Yuan glanced in the direction of the devastated Ironwood Mountain Clan before shaking his head, “They achieved this by their own power; I only paved the way for them.”
Xiang Mei smiled knowingly, “Let’s go back to the sect now.”
The rest of the disciples seemed to visibly relax as soon as they heard about returning home. Xiang Mei smiled softly, seeing them.
“Yeah, let’s head back now. I think the sect will also give us rewards for our exceptional performance inside the Mystique Realm.” Chen Yue excitedly spoke while looking at Shen Yuan.
He nodded at her, “Let’s see if we will get anything or not. I want to take a good rest as well. We have been inside the Mystique Realm for weeks now.”
Xiang Mei waved her hand and took out a flying ship, “Board the ship now.”
Shen Yuan glanced at the ship, ‘Oh? Quite a good ship, though it’s worse than what Mom has for sure, heh.’
Xiang Mei’s eyes twitched as she turned her head towards Shen Yuan, who glanced to the side as soon as her head turned.
‘Hmm? Is it just me, or was he looking at me with… pity?’ Xiang Mei tilted her head in confusion, but she soon saw that most of them had already boarded the ship as she followed after Shen Yuan.
…
Shen Yuan felt the cool breeze hitting his face as he stood at the top of the ship, ‘Now, what should I do next?’ he wondered while gazing into the distance.
[I forgot to remind you, but Bing Rong has finished her seclusion. She just isn’t out because there is no place for her to get out.]
Shen Yuan’s eyes lit up as he heard her words, ‘Haha, it’s been long enough. I will meet up with her once we reach the sect again.’
[Do as you wish. Anyways, what will you do next? I don’t think the Outer Sect will have anything interesting left now for you.]
Shen Yuan put aside the thought of meeting with Bing Rong for now as he contemplated, ‘I will take the test to enter the Inner Sect after chatting with Bing Rong, and I will join the same faction as Mother.’
[That’s all? That’s quite unlike you. I thought you would have thought of something grander than that.]
Yue Lan curiously asked.
‘Of course, that’s not it. I heard there are factions inside the Inner Sect for top disciples. I will make a faction of my own and use my resources to grow it into one of the strongest legions of this continent. I will start small from here.’ He replied to Yue Lan with passion, as a fire seemed to light up in his eyes while gazing at the clouds.
[But why? Won’t they be pretty much useless since they will be much weaker than you and won’t be able to help you?]
Yue Lan continued asking, as if testing how much thought he had given to his idea.
Shen Yuan chuckled, ‘Of course, they won’t be helpful to me directly, but they can help me with small tasks and major tasks where I can’t reach in time. For example, I can ask them to protect someone for me whom I can’t be there for forever. And there are many more such scenarios.’
[Good, looks like you have given it a lot of thought. Every invincible existence in the past had powerful legions to do their jobs for them. It was more of a show of power and status.]
Yue Lan acknowledged his vision. If Shen Yuan himself hadn’t said it, she would have given him a Quest to do it later.
