“Oh, Yang Daoyou, you’re finally out.”
After Yang Che put away his Formation Flag and Formation Plate, he saw an old man, about seventy years old, walking quickly towards him with a hint of anxiety.
Yang Che recognized him as Xun Kuo, the landlord of this small courtyard.
Xun Kuo was at Qi Refinement Stage Fifth Level cultivation, clearly due to his poor Immortal Root Aptitude. If he didn't encounter any great Opportunity or fortuitous encounter in this life, he would likely find it very difficult to Breakthrough to Qi Refinement Sixth Level.
Fortunately, Xun Kuo was a native of Jiang Huo City, and his ancestors had left behind several old residences. He wasn't too concerned with Cultivation, and his life was quite comfortable.
“Xun Daoyou, what’s the rush?”
Yang Che asked calmly.
He had directly paid two years' worth of Spirit Stones for the rent, so there was no issue of overdue rent.
“Yang Daoyou, you’ve been living here for about a year and two months, right? I’ll refund you ten months’ rent, and you should find another place.”
The old man Xun Kuo directly took out Spirit Stones and forcefully handed them to Yang Che.
Although Yang Che appeared to be at Qi Refinement Twelfth Level cultivation, Xun Kuo showed no fear.
Yang Che frowned slightly and asked coldly, “Xun Daoyou, what do you mean by this? Is this breaking the contract?”
Xun Kuo’s old face flushed slightly, revealing a hint of embarrassment.
Before he could speak, a similarly cold but arrogant voice came from not far away: “So what if it’s breaking the contract? This small courtyard is now rented by me, Huang, so get out immediately.”
As the arrogant words fell, a skinny, horse-faced young man in a yellow robe slowly walked over.
Yang Che narrowed his eyes and swept his Divine Sense, discovering that this horse-faced young man was at Foundation Establishment Stage Early Phase cultivation.
No wonder he dared to be so arrogant.
Facing the skinny, horse-faced young man, Xun Kuo dared not neglect him in the slightest. After cupping his hands in a bow, he said nothing and just stood aside, ready to watch the show.
Yang Che stood motionless.
“Are you deaf? Get out now!”
The horse-faced young man’s expression was unpleasant, already showing impatience.
“Ten thousand Spirit Stones.”
Yang Che said coldly.
“What? What ten thousand Spirit Stones?”
The horse-faced young man was startled.
Yang Che said, “Naturally, it’s compensation for my losses. This courtyard was originally rented by me first, and the lease term has not expired. Now that you want to forcefully rent it, you naturally have to compensate me for my losses.”
“You’re courting death!”
The horse-faced young man cursed angrily, raising his hand and unleashing a ‘Fire Snake Spell’, which fiercely struck towards Yang Che’s chest.
A hint of mockery flashed in Yang Che’s eyes.
He stood there, still motionless.
The small fire snake directly hit Yang Che, but Yang Che stood there perfectly fine, seemingly unharmed in the slightest.
Only then did the horse-faced young man’s heart seize with alarm.
After realizing something was wrong, he immediately took out a high-grade Magical Artifact, the ‘Sea Cloud Fork’, quickly injected his magic power, and without hesitation, fiercely stabbed towards Yang Che’s body.
Yang Che remained motionless.
There was a ‘clink’ sound.
A strange sound rang out.
The horse-faced young man’s eyes immediately filled with horror.
With this stab, he actually couldn’t pierce Yang Che’s Physical Body?
“Hmph.”
Yang Che grunted softly, and his figure suddenly disappeared from his original spot.
The next moment, he was already standing behind the horse-faced young man.
The horse-faced young man only felt a chill at the back of his head.
Immediately following was a loud ‘bang’.
The horse-faced young man’s entire lower body suddenly bounced back, while his head was violently smashed downwards into the ground’s blue bricks.
Immediately after, Yang Che stepped on it, heavily stomping on the horse-faced young man’s head.
He directly surged out his magic power, and with a ‘crack’ sound, the horse-faced young man’s head was stomped to smithereens, his brains splattering.
Yang Che took the Storage Pouch from the young man’s waist, then shot out a fireball, burning the horse-faced young man’s corpse completely clean.
Xun Kuo, who had originally been preparing to watch the show, had a blank expression on his face.
He did indeed see a show, but it was completely contrary to what he had imagined, even shocking him to the point where he couldn’t speak.
The old man Xun Kuo immediately wanted to flee, but his legs simply wouldn’t obey, trembling like a sieve, unable to move an inch for a long time.
After Yang Che glanced at him, Xun Kuo’s legs gave way, and he fell to his knees with a thud, kowtowing like pounding garlic: “Senior, spare my life! This junior has been blind, I beg Senior to show mercy, be magnanimous, and be benevolent…”
“Why did you break the contract?”
A chilling light flashed in Yang Che’s eyes.
“Senior, you might not know, but in the past six months, many Cultivators from outside the city have flooded into Jiang Huo City. Almost all the habitable houses in the city are now full. This Fellow Daoist Huang also just came from outside the city and heard that a Qi Refinement Stage Cultivator was renting here, which is why he forced this junior to break the contract.”
Xun Kuo was afraid, but his speech was very fast and his words were clear, fearing that if he spoke too slowly or unclearly, some catastrophic disaster would befall him.
“Has anything major happened recently?” Yang Che asked.
“Senior has been in secluded Cultivation and doesn’t know, but the Cultivation World has changed drastically now.”
Upon saying this, Xun Kuo’s face showed terror, and he swallowed hard before quickly continuing: “About half a year ago, countless Ancient Blood Corpses appeared outside the city. These Ancient Blood Corpses are truly terrifying. The lowest among them have Foundation Establishment Stage strength. They are entrenched outside the city, and no matter what living beings they see, they directly kill them and then suck their blood dry. It’s extremely horrifying.”
Upon hearing this, Yang Che’s heart sank slightly.
It seemed those Ancient Blood Corpses had already begun searching for their original owners’ Reincarnations everywhere.
“Xun Daoyou, has Lingxia Palace in Jiang Huo City not sent anyone out to eliminate these Ancient Blood Corpses?”
Yang Che vaguely knew that Lingxia Palace, one of the five major Cultivation Sects in Jiang Country, was not too far from Jiang Huo City.
“Senior, you might not know, but both our Jiang Family in Jiang Huo City and Lingxia Palace have sent Disciples to eliminate these Ancient Blood Corpses, but… alas, it’s a long story.”
When Xun Kuo said this, the terror on his face became even more apparent, and he still seemed to be in a state of disbelief.
“Hmm?”
Yang Che snorted coldly, frightening Xun Kuo into quickly saying again: “Among these dispatched Disciples, for some reason, some chose to betray and joined the Ancient Blood Corpses. And their cultivation improved incredibly fast, turning back to frantically kill the people of Jiang Huo City and Lingxia Palace.”
Upon hearing this, Yang Che sighed inwardly.
He had long anticipated such a situation.
But he was powerless to change anything.
The number of ‘Ancient Blood Corpses’ was simply too great.
Presumably, all the major Cultivation Sects already knew about the ‘Ancient Blood Corpses’ matter.
They were already exhausted just dealing with the Magic Dao Four Sects of Shura Country, so how could they spare the energy to deal with these Ancient Blood Corpses in a short time?
Moreover, what troubled the major Sects and Cultivation Families the most was, as Xun Kuo just said, who could predict which of their Disciples would suddenly betray and join the Ancient Blood Corpses?
Not only Jiang Country, but probably the neighboring small countries of Zhuxian and Feng Country would also experience the same thing.
And if those ‘King-Level Ancient Blood Corpses’ were to awaken…
Even if it was just one, for these dozen or so Immortal Countries, it would probably be a huge disaster.
However, Yang Che quickly dismissed these thoughts and focused on the urgent matter at hand.
That was the matter of refining several Medicinal Pills and finding the ‘nine-colored fire lotus’.
Tianxie Ziyin had instructed in the Jade Slip she left behind that when she was in the Mist Hidden Sea, she had made the inner core of the fifth-level Yao Beast into a medicinal liquid. Only a very small portion of this medicinal liquid had been absorbed by Yang Che. To completely activate the medicinal power hidden within his body, another type of Medicinal Pill must be refined to stimulate it.
Yang Che prepared to go to the market in Jiang Huo City.
He glanced at Xun Kuo, moved his palm, took out a Medicinal Pill, and threw it over, saying indifferently, “I’ll give you two choices. Eat this Medicinal Pill and work for me, or I’ll kill you.”
Xun Kuo had personally witnessed the ruthlessness of this ordinary-looking young man. After a slight hesitation, he immediately ate the Medicinal Pill.
“Very good. Let’s go, take me to the market.”
Xun Kuo quickly and respectfully led the way.
As soon as the two walked onto the main street within the city, Yang Che discovered that a General-Level Ancient Blood Corpse was flying over Jiang Huo City, desperately attacking the city's protective Formation.
Inside the Formation, below the General-Level Ancient Blood Corpse, a group of people were gathered. Among them, a young male and female Cultivator were pulling at each other, loudly arguing about something.